We do crazy things for food! We set an alarm for 6am so we could hike a mile to the road, then 1/2 mile up the road to Qu’s Whistle Stop Diner for breakfast. We each had coffee (hurray for coffee!) and a Hungry Hiker: 2 eggs, bacon, hashbrowns, toast and choice of pancakes (Ryley) or French toast (Megan), with real Vermont maple syrup. We were planning a 23 mile day so knew we needed to fuel up – a bit on the “greasy” side of greasy diner, but good.
Back to the trail and up Bear Mountain “with a view of the Rutland airport”. Oh my! We counted 21 little orange salamanders on Bear Mountain this morning! I watched out for them and warned Ryley and he made sure we stayed on the trail. A successful morning of no salamanders impaled on our poles or smashed underfoot (I think/hope)!
We found a pretty great place for our lunch break. In the afternoon as we were hiking I turned around to a disgruntled Ryley. I thought he’d hurt himself but no – he was standing looking down at his shoe in dismay. The whole front 1/2 of the sole of his shoe had come delaminated from the rest of the foot!! This is already shoe pair #2 and he’s (only?) hiked 300 miles in them… Shoot! We have 15 miles to go till the next town still, and it’s 5pm on a Friday to boot – even if we had service and could order new shoes to the next town, they won’t get shipped out till Monday.
And we still have to make it to town! Ryley walked along for a bit with a big flappy sole tongue but was worried the whole sole would come off so we decided to use our duct tape – we each have a stash wrapped around our pole. Smart, right? Nope. Turns out the duct tape has stuck to itself so well on our poles we can’t get it off and it’s just a big sticky stuck on mess. Bah.
So we got out the hockey tape and we taped Ryley’s shoe together. Then we shredded that tape job tape over 5 miles of roots, mud and rocks. We got to a pay shelter with a caretaker and he unearthed a mini roll of duct tape for us – we’ve patched it up and hope it’ll last the 10 miles into town tomorrow. The caretaker also told us there is a New Balance outlet store in town (what?!) so we have our fingers crossed Ryley can find something either appropriate to hike in or some kind of giant wide boat shoe to get him by till we can get to wherever we order his next shoes to!
Science factoid of the day!
I look over at Ryley’s oozing shin (healing from a pretty nasty gash he got in Mahoosuc Arm in Maine, a couple of weeks ago now.
Ryley : Don’t worry, it’s just sweat.
Me: It’s not sweat, it coming out under the scab.
Ryley: Well it’s just plasma-like stuff.
Me: Where do you come up with this stuff? It’s puss and blood, not “plasma-like stuff”.
Mr. Praline: Never mind that, my lad. I wish to complain about this parrot what I purchased not half an hour ago from this very boutique.
Owner: Oh yes, the, uh, the Norwegian Blue…What’s,uh…What’s wrong with it?
Mr. Praline: I’ll tell you what’s wrong with it, my lad. ‘E’s dead, that’s what’s wrong with it!
Owner: No, no, ‘e’s uh,…he’s resting.
Mr. Praline: Look, matey, I know a dead parrot when I see one, and I’m looking at one right now.
Owner: No no he’s not dead, he’s, he’s restin’! Remarkable bird, the Norwegian Blue, idn’it, ay? Beautiful plumage!
Mr. Praline: The plumage don’t enter into it. It’s stone dead.
Owner: Nononono, no, no! ‘E’s resting!
Mr. Praline: All right then, if he’s restin’, I’ll wake him up! (shouting at the cage) ‘Ello, Mister Polly Parrot! I’ve got a lovely fresh cuttle fish for you if you show…
(owner hits the cage)
Owner: There, he moved!
Mr. Praline: No, he didn’t, that was you hitting the cage!
Owner: I never!!
Mr. Praline: Yes, you did!
Owner: I never, never did anything…
Mr. Praline: (yelling and hitting the cage repeatedly) ‘ELLO POLLY!!!!! Testing! Testing! Testing! Testing! This is your nine o’clock alarm call!
(Takes parrot out of the cage and thumps its head on the counter. Throws it up in the air and watches it plummet to the floor.)
Mr. Praline: Now that’s what I call a dead parrot.
Owner: No, no…..No, ‘e’s stunned!
Mr. Praline: STUNNED?!?
Owner: Yeah! You stunned him, just as he was wakin’ up! Norwegian Blues stun easily, major.
Mr. Praline: Um…now look…now look, mate, I’ve definitely ‘ad enough of this. That parrot is definitely deceased, and when I purchased it not ‘alf an hour ago, you assured me that its total lack of movement was due to it bein’ tired and shagged out following a prolonged squawk.
Owner: Well, he’s…he’s, ah…probably pining for the fjords.
Mr. Praline: PININ’ for the FJORDS?!?!?!? What kind of talk is that?, look, why did he fall flat on his back the moment I got ‘im home?
Owner: The Norwegian Blue prefers keepin’ on it’s back! Remarkable bird, id’nit, squire? Lovely plumage!
Mr. Praline: Look, I took the liberty of examining that parrot when I got it home, and I discovered the only reason that it had been sitting on its perch in the first place was that it had been NAILED there.
(pause)
Owner: Well, o’course it was nailed there! If I hadn’t nailed that bird down, it would have nuzzled up to those bars, bent ’em apart with its beak, and VOOM! Feeweeweewee!
Mr. Praline: “VOOM”?!? Mate, this bird wouldn’t “voom” if you put four million volts through it! ‘E’s bleedin’ demised!
Owner: No no! ‘E’s pining!
Mr. Praline: ‘E’s not pinin’! ‘E’s passed on! This parrot is no more! He has ceased to be! ‘E’s expired and gone to meet ‘is maker! ‘E’s a stiff! Bereft of life, ‘e rests in peace! If you hadn’t nailed ‘im to the perch ‘e’d be pushing up the daisies! ‘Is metabolic processes are now ‘istory! ‘E’s off the twig! ‘E’s kicked the bucket, ‘e’s shuffled off ‘is mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin’ choir invisible!! THIS IS AN EX-PARROT!!
“Plasma-like stuff”?
Must be a computer scientist!
I’m enjoying reading your posts, glad to hear it’s going well.
take care 🙂 hopefully Richard got your video fixed!