I unexpectedly had company Friday evening, so I cleaned out the cat's litterbox. The next day I had stomach problems when I went on my twelve mile hike. According to some, there is a logic to this.

The hike was surprisingly gorgeous. The area we were hiking did not look like it had anything particularly special in it. Some people in the group I go with are working on a five hundred mile trail in segments, and naturally not all five hundred miles can be spectacular. Last week we went nine miles in the pouring cold (about 38 degrees) rain alongside a road and only had one decent view.

This week we found a beautiful deep rocky gorge with a few small waterfalls, and ended up with about half a dozen scenic vistas of hilly, tree covered valleys. The temperature was in the high 50s and low 60s, and the air was very dry - perfect hiking weather. That may seem a little cold, but once you start moving the body generates more than enough heat. The trees were in bud and flower, with tiny red maple flowers and thin petaled juneberry being most prominent. We found some wildflowers, but I think the dry weather we been having has made a lot of the flowers slow in blooming.

Sunday, Friday's unexpected company came over. We went for a brief two mile walk at the reservoir near my house. I rolled down a grassy hill, and we spent some time skipping rocks. (This makes it sound like we were 10 year olds I'm sure) The weather was again perfect. Then I went home and took a three hour nap (make that 5, not 10), which I have just woken up from at shortly after 9 p.m.