Sock Sale

I’m gearing up.   I don’t know where I’m going but I’m packed.

After buying 2 pairs of Fox River Off Road socks in 2008 and hiking over 2000 trail miles in them, 1/2 of those miles while wearing  sandals,  and then wearing them all winter, and then hiking another 500 trail miles on them and then wearing them all the next winter, and then wearing them for many long walks in socking feet this spring, they have finally started to wear.   So I’m sock shopping.

I found them at Footsmart for 1/2 off and I entered the code: wmsshoe2 and got free shipping.   The short sock and the crew are both on sale.   They only cost 5.95-6.95   a pair now.

So for 12 bucks you can buy socks for a whole thru-hike.

Related Post: Best Socks Ever

Backwoods sprouting

I’m sprouting at my cabin.  You can sprout even if you don’t have much water–just rinse all your sprouts with the same water and then drink the rinse water.

All you need to sprout is some jars, some seeds, and some thin material to pull over the jars so you can drain them.   Nylon knee highs work great but any thin sock will work.

You don’t need special sprouting seeds.   These are the things I have been sprouting: lentils, raw shelled sunflower seeds, black sesame seeds, fenugreek, broccoli seeds, clover, alfalfa, mung, wheat berries.

  • Start with clean socks and jars.  I boil the socks and then pour boiling water into the jars and let them soak for a few minutes.   I reuse the hot water for drinking.
  • Put some seeds in your jar–it’s okay to mix them.
  • Add water, I add a green tea bag to the water, and let soak overnight
  • In the morning, take out your tea bag, put your sock over the jar lid, and drain water into container.
  • Lay jar on side and prop up the end so any excess  water can drain.
  • Drink the soaking liquid
  • Rinse them again before you go to bed and drink rinse water.
  • Keep rinsing twice a day until the sprouts are the way you like them—about 4days—takes longer if your cabin gets really cold over night.
  • You don’t have to keep them in the dark.  Just keep them out of direct sunlight.

In the winter, I have an idea to put the jars in to an insulated cooler at night with a hot jar of water to keep them warm through the cold nights.

Backwoods Raw

I’m on my 82nd day of eating raw.    I don’t  remember how it all started but something on the Internet must of inspired me.  Then I asked the library to mail me a book on raw food eating and then I decided to try it.

All the stuff I read said you needed a bunch of  appliances—an expensive juicer, a 500 dollar blender, a dehydrator,  a food processor, and a refrigerator and freezer.

I have a knife and a grater.   I’m thinking about adding a potato masher to mash up avocados and tomatoes.

The book I read was called, “12 steps to Raw Foods: How to End Your Dependency on Cooked Food”

Some of her “scientific evidence” is skewed but I looked past it.

Cabin improvement: DIY Full View door

Problem: My door is blocking my view.

Solution: Buy a 450 dollar full view door, wrestle the 150lb thing home and attempt to install it.

OR

  • Chisel off the molding on the outside of door
  • Pop out the piece of plywood
  • Bring the piece of plywood to Home Depot, to the molding department, where they have a saw and miter box all set up and sell molding by the foot. Cut new molding to fit the piece of plywood.
  • Along with the molding, buy: some glazier points, water cleanup clear outdoor sealant, and some little finish nails or brads.
  • Bring piece of plywood to glass place and order a piece of tempered glass the same size as the piece of plywood. ( I asked for a little smaller, because the plywood was really tight.)
  • When you get your glass home, apply a bead of sealant around opening.
  • Press glass in opening
  • Install glazier points with a putty knife
  • Start the nails in the molding until the nail almost comes out the other side and then put on door and finish hammering.
  • Clean up the excess sealant on the glass.
  • Sit down and enjoy the view!

Difficulty level: Easy

Price: Under 50 dollars.

Web article that inspired me: How to put a window in a solid wood door

The negligible effect of age on performance

This is from “Born to Run” by Christopher McDougall.

We monitored the results of the 2004 New York City Marathon and compared finishing times by age. What we found is that starting at age nineteen, runners get faster every year until they hit their peak at twenty-seven. After twenty seven, they start to decline.

So here’s the question — how old are you when you’re back to running the same speed you did at nineteen?

The answer: 64!

Great book: Born to Run

I just finished a book you’d love. It’s called “Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen” It’s by Christopher McDougall.

A good story and useful information—what more you could ask for. I couldn’t put it down.

My days of shelling out 700 dollars a hike for footwear are over.

These guys do 100 mile runs wearing homemade sandals. Their energy drink is chia seeds dissolved in water with lime and sugar added. And their energy food is pinole(roasted corn flour with sugar added, I believe). I think pinole is going to be the next corn pasta on the PCT.

When the Web was new…

Back in ’96 when the World Wide Web was new, my son and I thought it was the funniest thing to see ordinary people have web pages about their lives.

One Sunday afternoon we joked around about setting up a web page for my brother, an alcohol swilling sea urchin diver.

We laughed as we picked out a big background image that would be slow to load and yellow print that would be hard to see, as was custom in those days.

Then we set about to write a poem for the web page. This is that web page– Itcin’ for Urchin 1996 World Wide Web gold.

What’s up.

All winter there has been very little snow and even less sunshine. We are setting records for high temperatures. If there was a record for days without sunshine we would be setting that record too. The gloomy weather is getting me down. The road is a solid sheet of ice that is tedious to walk on so I put chains on all four tires and drive down to the mailbox.

I have to go out and scratch up little patches of snow to make water.

I went to Portland 3 weeks ago to welcome my granddaughter into the world. I’m hoping we will be hiking a long trail together when she is 11.

I have started a Grandma’s book of the month club for her. Well, more like books of the month since she is only 3 weeks old and so far I have sent 11 books. I’ve had a great time reading book reviews on Amazon and picking out books to send her.

My computer is still messed up, but now I have adjusted to life with a screwed up computer; which is too bad because it’s still under warranty. For me, I’d rather get ripped apart by a Grizzly then have to deal with customer service.

So that’s what’s up. I’m hoping life will improve soon or at least get more interesting.

Trail Twitter

  • I’m in a sad motel room in Portland, Or with a messed up computer. #
  • First the computer had a virus. Then I spilled a cup of tea on it. #
  • Then I replaced the keyboard. Next I reloaded windows and a bunch of Dell drivers. #
  • Then a guy came and replaced the mother board. For one brief shining moment my computer worked. #
  • Even though I loaded the pay version of my viruses and spyware program, I got another infection. #
  • A smart person would toss the laptop in the dumpster and never think about computers again. #
  • But I keep trying. #

Bedding that doesn’t roam

Five years ago I bought my Washington cabin.   My cabin came with a mattress up in the loft,  and since I had a mattress I thought I should cover it with something.

I was at my sisters and she gleefully produced an ad for a Mervyns white sale and a coupon for 20 percent off at Bed, Bath, and Beyond.    And that is how I came to enter a mall for the first time in 15-20 years.    And how I came to own bedding.

I bought a set of jersey sheets, a fleece blanket and a cheap down comforter.

Even though I’m an active sleeper, all my bedding stays in place and my bed is still made when I wake up.   I think it’s because the jersey sheets stretch when you pull on them instead of coming undone.    Also they aren’t slippery so the blankets stay put.

They’re also warm and feel good.

They’re not expensive—I paid less than 20.00 for a top sheet, bottom sheet and 2 pillow cases.

Oops

If you read this blog from a blog reader,  you may notice it posted 5 old random posts.  I’m not sure why but probably due to some monkeying  around by me.

I’m not back on the trail nor am I dropping out for a bit.

I have un-monkeyed it and it shouldn’t happen again.

Clothes wringer

After I bathe in my basin, I often use the water to wash out a piece of clothing.    I throw it in, let it soak over night, wring it out, and hang it up to dry by the wood stove.

To wring out the piece of clothing, I throw it over a tree branch that hangs over my deck and wring it out by twisting it like the illustration shows.

The illustration is from a book called Living on the Earth.   I’ve had this book since I was twelve.    From baking bread to building a home, nothing takes more than a page to explain.

That’s the way things should be—if something takes more than a page or two to explain you’re probably making it too complicated.