Before I started my anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs4Life) much of my life was, as I’ve described it, a YouTube video on buffer. Thanks to electrical storms in my brain chunks of my life were gone in 1-5 second intervals. I’d be in a conversation, a class, a meeting, etc. and suddenly things would skip ahead several seconds and continue on as if nothing had happened.

And for me NOTHING DID. This was my normal. It wasn’t until after I started the meds and I had a point of comparison that I realized the world I lived in was very different from the world everyone else lived in. This was brought home by two separate conversations with my sister Cassy and my friend Nora. Each commented that I no longer paused in the middle of sentences. My response was “I WAS DOING THAT?? WHY didn’t anyone tell me!” And the answer: Because you’ve always been like that. I thought you were collecting your thoughts. I thought that was normal.

In hindsight I’m surprised I managed to do as well as I did in school (Bachelor of Science, graduated Cum Laude and with Honors in General Studies). I missed some fundamentals in math that I don’t think I’m ever going to pick up properly unless I start from scratch at my own pace through the Khan Academy (my problems in math actually resulted in changing majors in the middle of my second year of college). This happened because, with my “buffer” there was no way to back up and see what I missed without constantly asking questions that would, I learned to fear over time, make me look stupid and as if I wasn’t paying attention. The best I could do was go back over it in my textbook at a later time, sometimes convincing myself that the teacher or professor didn’t go over it in class.

Other things that were, in hindsight, abnormal was my insistence that my vision going dark and my balance being completely gone from time to time was “just like what you get when you have an ear infection.” Turns out that no, that’s not what you get with an ear infection. “What? That’s just me?” As I was adjusting to the meds I could now feel the storm of a seizure start to roll over my brain only to stop before it turned into another “buffer.”

I have other issues now resulting from the use of the AEDs, but they’re not as severe as what I had to deal with without the drugs and, now that I, as well as those around me, have a better picture of what’s going on in my brain, it’s manageable. Even if “managing” sometimes include texting me because I can’t understand what you’re trying to say when you speak to me, and my constant need to use Google Maps to navigate to places I’ve driven to multiple times (though I blame that on moving to different geographic areas every few years).

Also, sometimes this happens.
Courtesy The Awkward Yeti.

We live in our brains. We experience everything through a filter that is purely a construct of how we process sensory inputs. I think understanding that can help us better understand ourselves and the world around us.

Halo has discovered Jelly Belly jelly beans. She will do tricks for them, including standing on her hind legs and dancing. We ate enough to make ourselves sick the other night. I regret nothing.

I am behind on my test reports for Backpack Gear Test due to some health concerns that take precedence. I had two of the three written and ready for html formatting and upload and the third mostly completed. Somehow I lost two of them. Just gone. They didn’t save and they didn’t even have an auto-save as if my program had crashed. If you have any familiarity with the memory problems that go along with seizures (and anti-epileptics) you can probably imagine how stressed this makes me.

We’re busy at work, which is awesome. We’re snowed in (sort of), which is not so awesome. The cold is way worse than the snow, at least for me. I can’t get the dogs out of the house for more than a few minutes, even with jackets. I keep saying that I’ll get them warmer coats for next year. Next year comes and goes without warmer coats. Time to start picking up pop cans, right? One bonus of being stuck inside is at least now I can catch up on some back burner items for work, including reading some great training books.

Speaking of books, I recently finished both AWOL on the Appalachian Trail
and Grandma Gatewood’s Walk: The Inspiring Story of the Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail. I highly recommend both and will be posting my take on them in separate posts.

I have about a dozen or so outdoor adventure books (backpacking, antarctic exploration, cycling, kayaking, etc), easily the same for canine physical conditioning and behavior training, plus two or three dozen science books, a handful on business, and some science fiction to work through. At one book a week I think I could make it through my entire backlog of reading in about a year. Oy. I decided I need to get sick or hurt again* just to catch up on reading, writing, unpacking from the move, and knitting. I also now understand why my dad would take a week off of work each year just to catch up on household projects.

*This happens often enough that I get things from friends and relatives with the note “This is for the next time you’re laid up.” It’s nice for catching up on sitting-down things, but not actually recommended.

Bicycling Pittsburgh to D.C.

From the event description:

Presenters: Mike and Vickie Staley. You are welcome to join us on our 335 mile bicycle adventure from Pittsburgh to Washington DC. The trail starts on the Great Alleghany Passage, travels through train tunnels and over the Eastern Continental Divide. In Cumberland, Maryland the trail transitions to the C&O Canal National Historical Park. We carried all of our gear on our bikes and stayed in a combination of backcountry campsites, hotels and a hostel.

Remember that the event is FREE  attendees receive 10% off their purchase the night of the event.

I went to a great presentation at True Heights Equipment Outfitters in Dayton, OH the other night and I’ll be going again tonight to watch a presentation from Lucy about her trip on the John Muir Trail.

For more information check out the event listing at True Heights Equipment Outfitters.

If you’re in the Dayton area, keep an eye on the Dayton Backpackers Campfire events page for more cool stuff.

The LMSR flows a little over a mile from my house. I no longer own a canoe (no storage space for one since we moved), but have access to a kayak or two. This will be good information for me for upcoming paddling adventures.

Kayaking the Little Miami Scenic River at True Heights Outfitters.

Note: I’m not affiliated with True Heights Outfitters in any way.

One of those questions you get asked in job interviews is where you think you’ll be in 5 years.

I hate that question. I hate it because I never know what to say. Life has a way of changing what you want.

I worked in parks and recreation in varying degrees since 2000. I started on a summer work crew taking admission fees, picking up trash, and cleaning toilets. I moved on to work in various roles in other land management systems. I helped monitor wildlife health, ran a wastewater treatment plant, worked on prescribed burns, presented educational programs, and more. Despite growing up and going to college in Michigan, life sent me to Indiana.

If you’d asked me in 2000 where I wanted to be in 2005 I’d have told you that I wanted to work in community recreation centers in Michigan. In 2005 I was on a maintenance crew in a state park in Indiana. Where I wanted to be in 2010 was at a national forest “somewhere up north.” In 2010 I was in management at a state park in southern Indiana and wanted to be farther up the food chain in 2015.

But now it’s 2015 and I’m somewhere I never planned to be.

Ohio.

In May of 2014 I made a tough decision to leave my career and move to Ohio with my boyfriend. One of the demands we both had for the relocation was to be close to the Little Miami Scenic Trail, which is used as a corridor for the Buckeye Trail and North Country National Scenic Trail. This allows us both to use the trail more, including my long-term section hike of the Buckeye Trail.

Another thing that’s happened is that I’ve been able to take on a new career opportunity: training dogs. I started training and showing my own dogs when I was in 4-H in 1997. Since then I’ve gone on to national rankings, Best in Shows, High in Trials, and multiple championships. Through my dogs I’ve met some of the best friends I could ever have. I’ve had a blast with my critters and am now happy to announce that I’m apprenticing to be a Certified Professional Dog Trainer. My dogs have taught me much over the years and I’m learning more every day.

One of my favorite parts of my new gig is that I get to work with my dogs.

Sometimes they’re more helpful than others.

Halo is a good helper. She proofread and says those words aren’t right. They aren’t all about the Halo.

I was 4 years old.  My sister and brothers were at the cool place they got to go every day while I stayed home with Mom. It was called “school,” but to me it was the greatest place on the planet because it was somewhere I couldn’t go.

One of the other places I couldn’t go was camping.  I don’t remember going before.  What I did know was that my brothers,  through the Boy Scouts,  go to go some place where you carried backpacks,  slept outside in tents,  and cooked on fires. The cooking on fires captivated my attention.

Just how did you cook on a fire?  We had a gas stove in the house and it had fire,  but certainly this wasn’t the same thing,  was it?

Of course not,  Mom said.  She said it was a fire made from sticks.  Like the sticks in the yard.

And so the questions came.  The kind of relentless onslaught only a small child can produce.

What can we cook? Can we make hamburgers? Can we use the pots and pans the boys use?  Can we do it next week?

When can we go camping?

As you can imagine,  gathering up six children,  two adults,  and a dog wasn’t something my mother really wanted to do at that moment.  It was cold and wet and there was laundry to do.

But,  as parents do,  she made a close enough approximation.

Mom raided my brother’s Scout equipment for a mess kit.  She used the little pot on top of that coffee can stove to

A church key transformed a metal coffee can into a camp stove. Inside little sticks and twigs produced enough flame to warm the contents of the tiny pot. Cream of chicken soup.

I don’t remember much else about the cooking experience,  but I remember that this was more fun than I’d had in ages.  I was camping.

Years rolled on and we didn’t do much outdoors as a family.  This continued into my late teens and adulthood.

In high school I went on a couple of spelunking trips and fell in love with the outdoors all over again. I wanted to be a geophysicist until my lack of Calculus ability made me drop the physics.  I started backpacking and paddling while learning about the geology and natural history of an area.

My love of geology was sidetracked by studying Recreation and Parks management. I met my best friend of nearly 15 years in the Recreation program at my university.  I had a career in Parks where I worked my way up from being a seasonal toilet scrubber to being an assistant manager at a large state park property in Indiana. I hiked with my dogs.  I blogged about it.  I met many new friends through my dogs and through hiking.  I stood on mountain tops, seasides,  lakeshores, and more.

I met my boyfriend.  We spent weekends exploring on bicycles and canoes.

Life threw me a curve by way of a disability. I ended up leaving my life in parks after 14 years to move to Ohio to be with my boyfriend and to pursue a different career path with my friends.

Rarely a day goes by that I don’t think about the chain of events leading me here.

I have a new life because of my friends.  I have these friends because I moved here.  I moved here for a job in a park.  I had a job in a park because I like being outside.  I like being outside because I was encouraged.  I was encouraged by cooking a can of soup.

It’s cold and damp today.

I think I’ll have soup.

For the first time I’m participating in the GoPetFriendly.com pet blogger challenge. Below are my responses

1. How long have you been blogging? And, for anyone stopping by for the first time, please give us a quick description of what your blog is about.

I’ve been blogging since late 2000. My main focus is enjoying the outdoors with dogs in ways that won’t lose us access to public areas. This includes camping, hiking, and paddling. I also give updates on some of my competitive endeavors—conformation, weight pull, lure coursing, barn hunt, and others.

2. Tell us one thing that you accomplished on your blog during 2014 that made you proud.

I’ve started to resume my posting after a hiatus. I lost one of my dogs to a prolonged illness a few years ago and it took a while to get back on the trail as that’s what we did together (backpacking). My writing got a little rusty during my hiatus, but I’m getting back into my groove.

3. What lessons have you learned this year – from other blogs, or through your own experience – that could help us all with our own blogs?

Set a schedule and stick to it. Produce content that is relevant to your readers. Write in a casual voice as this is more enjoyable to read. Proofread, then come back to your post. I always find something I’d like to tweak after I make a post go live. If I followed this advice I’d find those things far less often.

4. What have you found to be the most successful way to bring traffic to your blog, other than by writing great content?

I’ve been slacking lately during both my hiatus and due to a relocation/job change, but in the past it was through social media, going back as far as message boards and email lists. Today I’ve expanded to facebook, G+, and twitter. I’d like to make some video content as well.

5. What was your most popular blog post this year? Did it surprise you that it was your most popular?

Oddly, the most popular posts are DIY posts from years ago. It’s information that people still want, so it’s clear I need to focus on that type of post more.

6. What was your favorite blog post to write this year?

My trip report for my hike on Currahee Mountain. I was excited to do the trip in the first place, but even happier to tell others about it after it was done.

7.  Has your policy on product reviews and/or giveaways changed this year? If you do reviews, what do you find works best, and what doesn’t work at all? If you don’t do reviews, is this something you’d like to do more of? What hurdle is getting in your way?

My policy hasn’t changed. I want to give honest reviews about products I’ve used, even when it’s not favorable. What works best for me is what I’ve been doing for years—reviews through BackpackGearTest.org. It’s a great organization. I’d definitely like to review more dog-specific gear whether it’s for backpacking or not. I’m working my way through stacks of books and movies/videos that are relevant to my blog and lifestyle. My biggest hurdle, like most people, is just having the time to read/view/test and review.

8. What’s your best piece of advice for other bloggers?

Be honest. Be real. Be you.

I’d rather read a single post a month that has some meat to it (reviews, training tips, trip reports) than a rambling post or ten every day. I also want to hear it in your voice. If you have an opinion about something make it clear and be able to defend it. I may not agree with what you believe about a subject (leash/no leash on the trail, training methods, where to go, etc.) but if you explain why you think this way and give me supporting facts, I’ll understand why you believe what you believe. You might even change my mind.

9. What goals do you have for your blog in 2015?

I’ve had a lot of changes in my life lately that give me more to write about. My goal for 2015 is at least one post per week. This way my readers know when to expect new content. I have several trip reports ready to go and more trips planned to write about. I’d really like to add some video content and a few more DIY/life hacks.

10. If you could ask the pet blogging community for help with one challenge you’re having with your blog, what would it be?

Engaging my readers. I know from stats that people are reading, but I don’t get much feedback. It’s possible that’s due to the niche market ,and I’d like to expand my audience. I also want to make enjoying the outdoors more accessible for readers who may be leery of venturing beyond the sidewalk.

The idea behind Walk Off The War is to assist combat veterans transition to civilian life through the therapeutic nature of long-distance hiking.

Warrior Hike accepts applicants who are combat veterans of any US war. In 2014 hikers included veterans from WWII through current conflicts.

Warrior Hike currently fully supports hikers on the Appalachian Trail, Pacific Crest Trail, Continental Divide Trail, Florida Trail, and Ice Age Trail. During the Q&A Jesse suggested veterans contact Warrior Hike if they are interested in assistance hiking other long-distance trails.

For more information or to support the Walk Off The War program contact Warrior Hike at http://warriorhike.org/

• The Buckeye Trail
• The North Country National Scenic Trail
• Underground Railroad Cycling Route

A carsonite post marking the route of the Buckeye Trail and North Country National Scenic Trail in southwestern Ohio.

While having backcountry sections, the cool thing about the BT is that it’s not entirely backcountry. Unlike the Appalachian Trail, Pacific Crest Trail, and Continental Divide Trail, there are significant sections of the BT that are front country or even urban. This makes the BT easily accessible for section hiking, slackpacking, day hiking, and easily resupplied backpacking. Bikepacking is another option for non-hikers. Cooler still, in my opinion, is that trail users (the BT is multi use in several areas) learn the history of Ohio by visiting railroad and canal towns as they follow converted railroad beds and towpaths.

I’m looking forward to exploring my adopted home state as time allows. I’m aware that my schedule will not allow a thru-hike of the BT, at least not currently, so section hiking will be my method of viewing Ohio on foot.

As is the norm for me, I’ll be covering ground with at least one of my dogs. I’m hoping both will complete the majority of the trail. My goal is to complete by the end of 2019. While that seems a far, far distant future (seriously, we live in the future), it won’t be long at all.

A blue blaze on the BT/NCT in southwest Ohio.