TJ North

Have to interrupt my vacation with two days of work, then I can head back to the cabin. Unfortunately I have discovered that it now has cell phone service, but I am not going to tell anyone. Well, maybe my mother as she gets antsy if she thinks I can’t call for help. (That’s where I get my neurotic imaginary worry ticks from.)

The few days there were great. Loverboy left Monday night, so I had 2 nights alone and two days of absolute quiet. Ok, except for the three of four minutes of LOUD YELLING when the bear came out of the bush onto my hiking trail. (”My” trail - it was probably thinking the same thing). Everything worked out beautifully though - bear decided to leave, dog decided to stay, I stopped yelling and walked the rest of the way at top calorie burning speed, with a rock in each hand. (Total fantasy that my ‘throw like a girl’ skills would be any help in any situation.)

The hiking trail is really a recently abandoned logging road, with lots of bush piles and logs all around. There was no reason that bear should have surprised me - I wasn’t looking around. (Probably I was scanning the road for snakes as I had just missed stepping on one.) Not that I am some sort of ranger bush girl, but after all I was in the bush, and the animals have first claim, so it was up to me to stay out of their way, not the other way round.

Anyway, I think I ate rather well and healthy, and I got over three hours of hard hiking in two days. I managed to get the boat started and got home by myself, all in one piece. Tomorrow I get on the early plane for a day of business meetings in the big city. That should be a bracing bit of culture shock.

When I get back from vacation next week I will update and replace all tickers and pix so I can get a handle on what I am doing. I am feeling pretty positive though.