MK Stover

New Feet

2011-07-20T14:14:00.000-04:00

Maybe this post should be called 'Funny Feet', because I think these are pretty funny looking; they put me in mind of ape feet:

If you haven't seen them before, these are 'Vibram 5-Finger' shoes, all the rage in the barefoot movement.

They actually have a Vibram sole:

The sole is thick enough that it's no big deal to walk on gravel, but thin enough that I pay attention to where I'm putting my feet when walking on gravel.

I don't have to worry about glass or other sharps, but I still get the happy, care-free feeling of barefooted-ness. I'm hoping there's some truth to the idea that going barefoot can help your entire body stay in proper alignment. I sit on a ball when on the computer and it's much better for my back than a chair, so I suppose the same concept could apply for shoes (or no-shoes, as the case may be).

I just got these yesterday evening. I put them on right away and went tromping. I did my usual walk-loop, but made sure to wade through all the puddles instead of walking around them. Usually shoes feel pretty ick-y when wet and, with most sandals, my feet end up sliding around a bit. In these it actually felt GOOD to get them wet: no sliding around inside them.

They are definitely odd-looking, so if you don't want people staring at your feet, these are not going to work for you. I've had a few comments today, but they have been positive and curious comments.

I've been curious about these shoes for a long time and happy to finally have a pair.

So far, so good. Nothing negative to report yet, but I don't have enough time in them yet to tell how I'll adapt to them. I'll update in a few weeks...

I have a marathoning friend who couldn't get past the odd look of these 5-Fingers and ended up with another style of 'Barefoot Shoes.' (Okay, she called them -with vehemence - ugly, but I think they're more odd than ugly. However, it's very likely that my sense of style is ~~warped~~ non-existent.)

She's had them for a few weeks now, so maybe she'll jump on here and tell us how she likes them so far....

Half the Truth

2011-06-26T10:29:00.002-04:00

"Freedom is only part of the story and half the truth...That is why I recommend that the Statue of Liberty on the East Coast be supplanted by a Statue of Responsibility on the West Coast."

-Viktor E. Frankl
Man's Searching for Meaning

Playing

2011-06-07T19:22:00.000-04:00

I'm finding time to play, but not finding time to blog about it. Some of that is because when you get caught in the rain, the camera needs to stay in the plastic bag; it's easier to blog with pics.

So, what have I done since last check-in?

Kayaking on Tygart Lake (and getting caught in a hail storm. oops).
Geo-caching at Pleasant Creek
Hiking and hill runs at Tygart Lake State Park
Hiking/jogging on the North Bend Rail Trail
Hiking/jogging on the Spelter Smelter Trail (can't find a link for the trail, but plenty in the news about the trial...since it's one of my favorite trails, there weill be more on this in the future...)
Running on the McTrail at Prickett's Fort
Jogging/walking (8 miles! - longest distance in years) on the Mon River Trail.
Hiking (again caught in the rain - but better than getting hit with a falling tree) at the Snake Hill WMA.
Hiking - just walking out the back door and going.

Wow. I really am getting some play time.

What's next?
I'm going camping this weekend, which means hiking.
I need to get in a couple of short intense workouts coming up.
Running the 10K in Clarksburg on the 18th (that's what this playtime is supposed to be getting me ready for).

I've found a few cool websites and I have a few fun things planned, so I'll keep things up-to-date. Mostly.

Sleeping on the Ground in the Rain

2011-05-26T14:18:00.002-04:00

I spent the night at Bear Heaven and it rained.
...and rained...
...and rained some more...
A lot of rain.

Not just a lot of rain for a little bit. An-unrelenting-lot from the time it started.

I put on the poncho and wandered around, looking for the other 2 geocaches at this little campground. I found the first one (Bear Haven - as it's named on a couple of different maps, but I prefer Bear Heaven as the Mon Forest Map and road signs call it - Bear Heaven sounds like Nirvana and Bear Haven sounds like someplace the Bears have to go to save themselves. What a difference an 'e' can make.), but the other (On the Rocks) will have to wait for another day (when it's not raining).
I set up camp in the rain.
It continued to rain.
It rained some more.
It rained all night.
It rained in the morning.
I took camp down in the rain.
It continued to rain.
I threw the wet tent and tarp in the car.
It continued to rain.
I loaded up and headed home.
It rained the whole way.
And it kept right on raining.....

Sleeping on the Ground

2011-05-25T13:44:00.063-04:00

I went camping and the main thing I'm still pondering over is sleeping.
In a tent.
On the ground.

When did sleeping on the ground become something I'd think about?
More to the point: When did it become noticeably uncomfortable?
And can it be reversed? Is it just because I, as I am inclined to (want to) believe, am not used to it?
It never bothered me 20 years ago and I don't want to believe that it's the 20 years, by themselves, that matter.
It's not like I haven't camped in 20 years, but I guess bedroll-with-a-few-extra-blankets-because-we're-car-camping is not sleeping-bag-on-ground-camping.

I will suck it up and get over it.

Noteably: It has been 20 years since I've camped alone.
I like the solitude and the quiet. I like it so much I will be doing more of it. I'm setting up my backpack for my next trip so I can hike in and ditch the car-camping.

Mountain Spring Geocache

2011-05-24T13:17:00.001-04:00

The next Cache in this Petty Family series is PFC4 (Mtn Spring) (on the way to Bear Heaven).

I filled up all my water bottles with this cold, crisp water and checked my GPS. This cache is a 'micro,' meaning it's tiny. I found it in a tree across the road. It was quite easy to spot because a hemlock bough was stuck in the crevice of a birch tree:

Look closely:

In the micro cache, there is generally just a piece of paper to serve as a log of finders. This one was no exception.

It was starting to rain. I signed the log and put it back just the way I found it before loading up my newly filled water bottles and heading down the gravel road, bound for setting up camp.

Bickle Knob 2

2011-05-23T13:00:00.021-04:00

I have to climb it because it's there.

This is actually one of the less scary fire towers I've climbed.

It's fully enclosed with real steps (as opposed to a ladder) and handrails.

There are about 100 steps....

...and the 360 degree view is totally worth it....

....And here comes the rain.....

And on to Bear Heaven...

Bickle Knob

2011-05-22T13:57:00.001-04:00

Oh, wait! Before I got to Bickle Knob, I stopped at the Coberly Sods grazing area for the next geocache in the series: PFC2 (Coberly Sods). The coordinates seemed to be good because I was right at the gate, but the only thing I found was a film container lid held down with a rock on top of the sign. Nothing else.

Alright, on to Bickle Knob....

(Bear Heaven :). Gotta love it. I'm going there.....)

More beautiful stonework, presumably a spring, but no water was flowing:

You can't quite see the tower when you start up the hill from the parking area:

There. Now you can see it through the trees:

(wait for the next post....remember the 5 pic limit....?)

1/2 Blind Horse Pics 2 of 2

2011-05-21T16:46:00.037-04:00

Whatever the disagreement may have been, these 2 seemed to kiss and make up (giving me even better views of the eye socket - yes, I'm fascinated with the odd):

The eye socket and surrounding areas seem to have no apparent injury or scarring; the entire depression was covered in skin and hair.

As a matter of fact, the underlying muscles caused the eye socket to twitch with an attempt to move the eyeball.

Kinda' put me in mind of those skulls in the cartoon desert-west.

Only this one was alive.

This other fella' was very pushy. After talking to him for a few minutes, I could see why there could be conflict with his fellows (this applies to people as well; it's just easier to deal with in horses - at least when they're on the other side of the fence):

He was not at all happy that I had no carrot or apple or anything.

I think he would have been happy to take off with my Life-is-Good water bottle if I hadn't pulled it down off the fence. I still have horse slobber on the hair-tie that was attached to the mini-carbiner that hangs from the lid-loop.

(It's a Nalgene bottle: I haul it with me everywhere. Wide-mouth, 1 quart, doesn't leak even though I've dropped it a ga-zillion times over the 4-5 years that I've had this particular one.

While I'm not much of a wine drinker, I have friends who use these Nalgene bottles as the perfect non-breakable wine-toting apparatus for backpacking. I should think it's worth the 2 extra pounds for wine by firelight.)

Half Blind Horse (Play Time 2) Pics 1 of 2

2011-05-20T14:01:00.003-04:00

I stood at the gate and made a sound like an apple.

Okay.

Not really.

It was more like a carrot ;).

I really didn't feed them, but they must be used to visitors with yummies in hand, because it didn't take much to get them to come over and check me out. Can you see this guy's off side (right) eye yet?

Well, I guess you'll never see it, really, because it's not there. I, however morbid it might be, was fascinated by his eye socket.

Although I told them I had no food, they refused to be deterred and continued to ask. It took a little while, but they finally went about their business and I was able to snap a few shots with a clear view of the eye socket.

In the next couple of pictures, I'm not sure what these 2 are disagreeing about (see the ears laid back?), but it gave me a good view, so I didn't ask:

In addition to the laid-back ears, I think there is somewhat of an indignant look going on here.

Perhaps I'm reading too much into it.

Perhaps not.

Bingo! Perfect View:

(....Still following my 5 pic max rule...

One more 1/2 blind horse post coming up...)

Play Time :)

2011-05-19T13:59:00.002-04:00

Everyone needs play time.

Over the past couple of super-busy years, I've almost forgotten how important play-time can be.

I'm on a mission to remember.

First?

A trip to Monongahela National Forest.

I love this old stone work. Most of this type of stone construction dates to the 30s with the alphabet soup of The New Deal; the CCC in particular was responsible for most of these public area monuments.

There's supposed to be a geo-cache here, but I didn't find it (I also didn't post on the cache log at the geocaching.com web site). I've been known to overlook something right under my nose, so me not finding it is not a definitive 'it's not there,' merely a reason to go back later and/or follow along on the cache log.

I did, however, find the first cache in the series, a mini-cache at the turn-off from Rt 33 (onto old Rt. 33). These 6 (I think there are 6?) caches up along the Stuart Memorial Drive are a series place by the Petty Family (Thank You for the Hunt!).

Turning off of Old Rt 33 here:

Next in the PFC series is PFC2 (Coberly Sods).

BUT....this is where I got sidetracked....

...I donned the day pack and wandered off into the woods for a couple of hours (Yay for free time!)...

It hadn't yet started raining (yes, this is a presentient statement of what was in store for me at camp that night, all night, and the next morning, too ;)), so it was a beautiful jaunt down a closed forest service road.
No pictures; just take my word for it: No noise, no traffic noise, no nothing except birds and wind and the occasional scurry of a chipmunk or squirrel and the snap of a startled deer or two.

When I made my way back to the car, I was exchanging empty water bottles for full when I realized a few horses had wandered back into this part of the field. I'm not sure why I noticed from so far away, but this is what caught my eye:

I'm not sure if you can see; I'm not sure how I saw....

Ooops.

Sorry.

You have to wait for it.

The next post.... (I have a thing about posting more than 5 pics to a post. It's a pain-in-the-patootie and I don't like to do it. I don't care if Blogger changed their uploading format or not....)....

...will be up soon.....

It's been a good while...

2010-04-08T14:44:00.004-04:00

...since I've been over here (what? 10 days shy of a year?)...

Does this mean I'm back?
Honestly, I don't know. It means I'm back right now, this minute.
What I'm really doing is procrastinating. Actively.
I should be getting my filing cabinets in order, or, more accurately, getting the stacks (yes, plural) of papers filed in the filing cabinets where I can actually find something when I need it.

So, because I ~~hate~~ really dislike filing, this is much more fun. I even changed the winter pictures to springtime and maybe it will mean my blogging hibernation is over, too.

Maybe.

It's a sign...

2010-04-08T14:34:00.000-04:00

I think maybe the guy making the sign should be fined, hmm?

Indefinite Hiatus

2009-04-18T13:19:00.002-04:00

Someone asked me a few weeks ago if I'd been writing anything.
My response was immediate: "Supply Orders."

So, rather than have a nagging guilt over neglecting this blog, I've decided to make the hiatus official.
I'm still over at The 123 (and I do have just enough recreational writing going on to keep myself sane).
When I have more time, I'll be back over here, too.

Birthday Quote...

2009-04-10T06:49:00.000-04:00

...worth saving:

"Dude, that's not syrup, that's grease."

Yum.

2009-03-14T12:49:00.001-04:00

Phone Etiquette

2009-03-13T08:23:00.003-04:00

Technology seems to have killed phone etiquette.

While etiquette is not something that I am overly concerned with, I can't help but to be appalled by what has become acceptable:

-A call comes in from I-know-not who and the caller says, "Hey."
I don't even know who it is, but clearly I'm supposed to. Caller ID is not necessary, except when I get a phone call like this. Which happens more often than it should.

-I've gotten lots of phone calls from people who say stuff like, "I don't know who I'm calling, but I missed a call from this number."
If it was important, I will call you back. Or someone else used my phone and I don't know what you're talking about.

-Last night (and this is what prompted this post), I got a text from someone that read: "Who is this?"

I realize that phone etiquette is going to change as technology changes, but some of this stuff is just rude.
I also realize that this makes me sound old.
Screw it: I am old (relatively speaking, of course).

I have tried to teach my children good phone manners, but they are convinced that I am a dinosaur. To them, it's perfectly acceptable to grunt as a greeting and they expect a phone call back from someone they called even if they didn't leave a message. As a matter of fact, leaving a message is uncool - the person you're calling already knows who it is, or at least your phone number.

Generational differences widened by technology. How far do I lean in toward the gap? I won't jump over, but obviously a certain amount of understanding is required.
On both sides.

Health Care (or A Bunch of Shit)

2009-02-21T07:24:00.005-05:00

Argh.
I won't get into all that I think about this subject (it would take several days), but I just wanted to post a couple of effed-up examples that have had a personal effect:

I have an employee that needs surgery. Not life threatening, not dangerously, but at some point it will probably be necessary (more so than now). She was lined up for surgery before she started working at The 123 and some public fund was going to foot the bill.
And then she got the job here.
Once she had income, the funding for this surgery disappeared. Nothing.
So, what should she do? Quit? So she can have health care?
Hmmm.....
Let's reward those who don't work and screw those who do. Wonderful.

A few more details that irk the shit out of me:

She started here at minimum wage and that was enough to cancel health care funding entirely. (Minimum Wage! She's supposed to pay for surgery on minimum wage!?)
She's still working here (that's not the part that irks me - I love her and hope she wants to work for The 123 forever) and she still doesn't have health care. She's a hard worker and she's smart. She's the perfect employee.
The 123 cannot offer health care (yet) because it's too expensive and we're too new and small.
I (and my family) don't have health insurance right now either (so it's not like I can afford it for me and not for my employees), which brings me to the other thing...

My family and I don't have health insurance. We lost it along with my husband's job. Sure, we can continue with the COBRA plan, but it's not affordable.

Just how not affordable is it? It is more than $1,400. per month.

Yes, you read that correctly: $1,400. per month.

The amount for which my husband is eligible in unemployment compensation is less than that.

So, we can do a couple of different things:

1. pay for health insurance with the unemployment check (actually, after taxes -yes, they take taxes out of an unemployment check- it won't quite cover it for the month) and not eat or pay the bills

2. not have health insurance.

The health care system definitely needs some help.

People who work need coverage - even if they work at McDonald's.

McDonald's has a better opportunity of supplying health insurance to their employees than The 123 does just because of their size. However, there is no incentive to the corporation to take care of their employees.

I want The 123 to offer health insurance to employees at some time in the future. That would mean that I could have it for my family and my employees could have it, too.

I doubt that the CEO of McDonald's or Wal-Mart have to worry about health insurance.

We need to give them incentive to give it to employees, too, and we need to make it easier for small businesses to insure their employees.

Alright, I'll stop now, because this rant is headed for all the other problems of the health care system: filthy rich pharmaceutical companies, health services that cost more when you pay them out of pocket with no insurance, drug dependence....

I'm not posting this for sympathy, because quite honestly, we are much better off than a lot of families right now. As a matter of fact, The 123 is doing quite well. We're staying busy and getting busier, so we'll be just fine, as long as one of us doesn't break a leg or otherwise need medical attention anytime soon.

Icicles

2009-02-17T18:05:00.001-05:00

Winter (& more blabbering)

2009-02-03T09:53:00.003-05:00

Damn groundhog.
It's snowing.
Again.
And it's supposed to continue.

Did you know that 13% of Americans admit to occasionally operating power tools while drinking?
I didn't either, but that little tidbit was tacked onto the end of a news report this morning.
Why?
I have no idea.
I admit to drinking beer and mowing grass.

Railroading Night at The Grafton 123

2009-01-30T06:11:00.002-05:00

I know I have some cross-traffic over here from The Grafton 123 site and from The Taylor County Blog Project, but I also have a few folks who visit here regularly that don't read The 123 goings-ons.
SO- today I will call attention to The 123 goings-ons:

Tonight is Railroad Night
Tomorrow night is Live Music.

Go over there and check it out.

It's Still Cold....

2009-01-27T07:32:00.003-05:00

...and other babbling....

I think of a ton of things I ought to be blogging about, but if I don't write them down, they're gone.
Or if I lose the paper I write them on, they're gone, too.
Yes, that happens more often than I like to admit.

We are beginning to see the effects of the economic slowdown in our sheltered little corner of the world.
The one that hit me the hardest was my coffee roaster (my West Virginia coffee roaster) closing down. No, that's not true; the one that hit me the hardest was PC losing his job. After PC losing his job, the coffee roaster going under (with no hope for coming back up) hit hard.
Now, our coffee costs have gone up more than a dollar a pound and we now have to pay way more than 5.99 for shipping. Way more.
All of our syrups & sauces have increased in price.
Smoothies have increased.
Everything has increased.
[If I'm talking about the Coffee, why am I not posting this over at The 123? Because this is supposed to be a post about the economy getting personal, not about The 123 losing an important supplier.]
AGC Flat Glass -an automobile glass plant here in Taylor County- closed.
Everyday I have at least 1 person ask for a job. Somedays it's as many as 3 or 4. Everyday I hear someone personally tell me they got laid off and that they're looking for a job. It's not fun. I'm working to make more, but it's not an easy -or fast- thing to do (Yes, The 123 is now taking applications. For a short time. Call me at 304-672-6490).

It's snowing today. Again.
It's not the nice fluffy stuff we've been getting, either. It's sharp and hard and piling up fast. The roads are terrible and school was called off. I've shoveled the sidewalks. Twice. So far.

No, there is no cohesiveness to this post, unless I really stretched and said the cold is the perfect hibernation weather and our economy is doing just that.

I warned you I was babbling.

Cold

2009-01-19T06:35:00.005-05:00

Cold is relative.
This morning it is a relatively balmy 25F degrees.
Last week I would have told you that 25 is cold, but after the cold snap this weekend, it really doesn't feel so bad (except when my glove fingers freeze to the shovel handle after I've pulled my hands into fists to keep them warm enough to clean the walkways and sidewalks).
Friday morning our thermometer at home said -2. Here in town it was zero. I think it made it up to about 10 degrees.
Saturday morning it was -11 at home and -4 here in town. That is cold.
Unless you live in Minnesota, then even those temperatures could feel relatively balmy.
Really.
I remember reading a book when I was a child that said if you spit at 40 below, it will freeze before it hits the ground. I never thought I'd put myself in a situation to see if that were true.
And then I grew up and moved to Minnesota.
Yep. It's true. You can hear it crackle as it freezes.
However, at that temperature, any exposed skin is not safe. Nothing is safe.
It was so cold, propane gelled in the tank. If it stayed that cold and you had to have the propane to keep the furnace going, you'd have to shovel red hot coals underneath the tank to warm it enough to be usable. Fortunately, we kept our coals in the wood burners (yes, plural - we had 2 of them) and kept feeding them. We went through about 7 cords of wood in a winter. 7 cords of good wood and we were still wearing sweaters in the house.
At that time, PC worked at the sawmill in our little community - about 3 miles from the house. The cold didn't stop them much. If it were 20 below or warmer (who would've thought you'd ever see '20 below' and 'warmer' in the same sentence?), the sawmill ran. At -21, the old man would grunt and the sawmill would stay idle.
Driving on the lake was a new thing for me, too. We lived about 2 miles north of Mille Lacs Lake. It is not a small lake. In fact, I believe it's one of the larger lakes in a state known for its lakes. Not long before Christmas, little icehouses would start appearing far out from shore. The little sheds on skis that sit along the water's edge all summer long were just waiting for the freeze. Once the ice was thick enough - about 3 feet- it was safe for a full size vehicle to drive on. The icehouses are hooked up like trailers and pulled out onto the lake. Whole little communities pop-up. Roads are plowed and the little shacks become homes away from home - one way to battle cabin fever.
In the floors of these little shacks (usually with a plywood bunk or two, a small heater, and a chair) are trapdoors. You pull the handle and it opens up to reveal the surface of the lake about 6 inches below floor level. You use an ice auger to drill a 6" hole. When the ice thickens, you use an auger extension (I am not making this up) to reach the water.
The fishing is good some days, not so good others: like any other fishing, I guess. (If you don't catch anything, you can hook up your house to your truck and move.) The walleye tastes wonderful, but if you're lucky, you catch such a big one you can't pull it in (I'm not sure that's lucky). And they have big, sharp teeth. Lots of them.
Living up there, I certainly saw things you'd never see around here.
That's okay with me.
If I ever feel the need to keep the ice open around my fishing hole, I know where to go.

It worked; I feel warmer already :).

Grafton, New Hampshire

2009-01-17T12:11:00.004-05:00

On our way to Vermont, PC & I intentionally drove through Grafton, NH.

Grafton, New Hampshire is much smaller than Grafton, West Virginia. However, it's incorporation is much older:

Can you read that? It was incorporated in 1778.

The Grafton, NH VFD:

The Country Store:

The Liberty Rock:

And, where we all end up, The Cemetery:

Robert Frost Trail

2009-01-16T08:00:00.002-05:00

PC & I met in Vermont. (I won't tell you how many years ago, but it's been a few.)
This past summer when we went on the New Hampshire family vacation, PC & I took a day to revisit the place where we met: the Green Mountain National Forest.
Here are a few pictures from the Robert Frost interpretive trail (I don't think this was here when we were there - it's been that long):