Sheepleg's Blog. The Muttering Mutton

The Marathon Box is Checked

noreply@blogger.com (Sheepleg) — Thu, 02 May 2013 03:42:00 +0000

Hello all,

It is The Shepherd here with an exciting post for you. I figure since it has been forever since my last one, I should make it something good. After training for the last 3-4 months, I completed my first marathon this past weekend.

I will say all in all it was quite an experience that I won't forget. It was harder than I expected, mostly in ways that I did not expect it to be. Oddly enough, the hardest part has been the recovery; but I'll spare you those details.

My partner and I were fairly ready for training. We had done the Tough Mudder a few months earlier and had kept our miles up from training for that event. We started our official training at the beginning of the new year.

Training for the marathon this year was in many ways easier than last year when we were training for the Derby Mini. We had many more injuries to battle through last year than this one. Don't get me wrong, there were plenty of niggles to work through this time as well, but nothing like last year when I was sidelined for a bit with some nasty foot pain.

There were some bad runs for each of us. One of my worst ones was an 8 miler that I didn't think I was going to finish because my shin muscle was so tight. I worked through it with some stretching and focusing on keeping my feet relaxed on the backswing.

Jimmy had a bad run towards the end as we were tapering on a 12 miler where his knee was bothering him pretty bad. This was a bad time, since it was so close to the end and messed with his head more than his body. But he rested up, got out the good old sports tape, and was as good as new.

So after months of training and goodness knows how many amended fuel plans, we were ready to go. We spent the night in a hotel the night before the race just a few blocks from the starting line. After waking up at 3:30 am to eat / drink our shakes (much to dismay of the girls) and again at 5:30 am to get ready, we headed out.

We got to the starting area, found our starting gate (sort of), and got in line. I say sort of because we were supposed to be in corral D, but couldn't get that far because of all the people. So we jumped in somewhere around corral C. This ended up being for the best anyway because we ended up still passing many more people than we were passed by. It certainly minimized the zigging and zagging we had to do.

The sea of humanity aside, we were still able to spot our cheerleaders and give them a wave as we ran by at the start. Notice we were so fast it is blurry...either that or somebody forgot to bring their camera (inside joke).

The first 6 miles or so were nice. The crowd, assorted dj stands, and initial adrenaline are always enough to get you through the first part of the race. After mile 6, my bowels that had mysteriously been locked up in the hotel decided they were ready to be evacuated. Anyone who knows me knows that this is not out of the ordinary for me. My bowels have a history of acting up at the right time, wrong time...come to think of it, pretty much anytime. So we spent the next several miles looking for a nice place to take care of business. Side note about the race. It is always well planned and executed but if I were to have one request, it would be to have more facilities along the way.

After missing out on going as we passed through Churchill Downs (not a stitch of paper in any of the stalls or hand towel machines) we finally found a cozy green hut to lighten the load.

Funny story about this port a potty picture. I did a google search for it and found another runners blog featuring this picture. So as a shout out to her, here is her post. Not exactly the same issue as I had, but small world nonetheless.

Ok, so now I'm light on my feet again and Jimmy has had time to limber up. We are back on the trail and hit "the hill". It wasn't that we were not prepared for it. We had been staring at it on our race map for months. One hundred and twenty feet up in less than 2 miles. Now to many standards, that is probably not that much, but to us it seemed like a mountain. I even made a special playlist for it. So we plugged in and headed up. Oddly enough the major uphill was not so bad. There was a nasty little rise at the end of the downhill that caught us both off guard. I think this was the beginning of what was to come later. By my estimation it was mile 15 or so. We unplugged and kept right on trucking.

At mile 18 Jimmy started having a little more knee and quad trouble so we slowed a bit to make sure we didn't burn out. At this point we were still several minutes ahead of our goal time so it was no big deal.

As the miles piled on over 20 (which was also our longest training run distance), the fact this was a marathon and we were going to be in for some pain started to settle in. I remember my quads both cramping around mile 22 on an uphill portion and thinking this was really going to be tricky. We were losing time, but worse yet, we were losing gusto.

Every water station was a welcome site if not for the water, but simply just knowing we made it to one more checkpoint between mile markers. And for the simple fact they also were giving out gels at some of them. I had burned through the 7 GU's I packed on my waist belt and picked up a gel and a bottle of water from the last water station. Bottles of water are GENIUS at that point in the race because you can really control the water and keep it with you without spilling for long periods of time. It is certainly better than the cups of water at that point.

At mile 23 or 24 neither of us were talking much any longer and decided to just go ahead and plug back in for the push to the finish. We finished just as we had trained for months. Together.

We missed our goal time of 4 hours by just over a minute. I blame that on the tunnels under Churchill Downs where you lose reception on your watch. My pace actually read under where we needed to be, but who cares. After 4 hours of running, I am happy to have survived.

A big shout out to my oldest sister for completing the marathon as well. I know she trained hard and was pretty nervous about it but she completed it and seemed like she was in great spirits at the end.

Also a shout out to my brother in law (different sister) for finishing the mini in under 2 hours. He was at home with his feet up by the time we got done.

Now that box is checked, I had planned on starting on training for triathlon. What do you think?

The Shepherd

The Shepherd tackles Tough Mudder

noreply@blogger.com (Sheepleg) — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 04:53:00 +0000

Hello all,

It has been a while since I've made any posts and I guess you can blame it on my Mom. I just haven't had anything good to say, so I haven't said anything at all. But after completing the Kentucky Tough Mudder, I've got a few things to talk about.

For those of you not familiar with Tough Mudder, just click on the link. Then sign up for the one closest to you and get to training!

The Kentucky Mudder was held on October 20th. We set out at 8:20, which was the second group of the day. Our thinking here was that the obstacles would not be too worked over and thus easier to navigate. This was our thinking 9 months ago when we signed up and were not thinking of October weather in Kentucky. I have seen it snow on Halloween and handed out candy in shorts as well. It is a crap shoot for sure. Mr. cold weather decided to show up this year and we took off running with the temperature a balmy 42 degrees. The sunrise was at 7:49. Brr.

Normally 40 something degrees is great running weather. You can start off cool but your body heat makes it perfect after a mile or so. The main difference here is that I don't usually, and by usually I mean never, run while soaking wet after being dumped in ice water.

But I'll get to that in a minute. First let's cover the course.

Our course was roughly 10 miles through some pretty hilly terrain. The terrain actually turned out to be the second most difficult obstacle. I took this map and zoomed in on MapMyRun just to see what the elevation changes were. You can see that here. It is not a perfect representation of every nook and cranny on the course, but it serves its purpose. We were hosted by the Big Rock Off-Road Park near Maysville, KY.

Maysville was a nice town with friendly people, the park was a great place to have it, and most of all the event was planned and executed wonderfully. From the shuttles to the ample supply of toilets, it was great.

I was part of a team of Mudders from Elizabethtown, KY. We were supported by Sheepleg (of course) and Hardin Memorial Health, who supplied us with our team shirts.

Enough of the setup. Let's get to running.

Before you can even get to the start line you have to scale a 10 foot wall. As pumped up as you are at this point, this wall is easy. I felt like a ninja hopping over this one.

We all gathered at the start line and listened to the MC. We gave the Tough Mudder pledge and listened to the National Anthem. The MC did his thing and got us all even more amped up before turning us loose on the course...or did he turn the course loose on us?

Stay tuned for a recap of each obstacle and everything in between. You didn't really think I would give it all up at once did you?

Up Next: The start and Kiss of Mud.

Until then,

The Shepherd.

GSI Microdualist: The Perfect Cookset for Couples

noreply@blogger.com (The Shepherd) — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 02:10:00 +0000

Hello all,

Sheepish preaches more truth.

GSI Microdualist: The Perfect Cookset for Couples

For many, a camping cookset conjures images of a cast iron pan, a dutch oven, or a footlong steel fork, and while few can argue with the great taste of confections that come from these implements, they aren’t very practical for the backpacker that has to carry all of his or her gear into the backcountry while hiking or camping. New lightweight pots made of anodized aluminum or titanium shave pounds off your load in your pack and are compact enough to minimize bulk, but most of these solutions are aimed at the solo hiker. Being married with a young son, I recently decided to supplement my old trusty titanium ‘bachelor’ mug with a new GSI Microdualist.

The GSI Microdualist is a very cleverly designed kit with components that nest perfectly together to provide a glamping-style outdoor culinary experience for two at thru-hiker weights. At the core, there’s the 1.4L Microdualist pot made of a proprietary GSI hard anodized aluminum alloy called Halulite, which means there’s no coating to scratch off- you can even clean it with sand and a clean cloth. The lid of the pot has strainer holes for draining water from cooked pasta or vegetables, and incorporates a high-vis heat-resistant handle. Nesting inside the pot are two nesting sets of cup and bowl, one set orange, one set blue, with heat-insulated sleeves on the cups and sip-lids to keep you from spilling your Swiss Miss all over your self. Included are two color-coordinated telescopic “foons”. A stove sack is included in the set to keep your stove and fuel canister from rattling in your pack. Even the outer stuff sack pulls double duty, with a welded, waterproof interior you can use as a sink for washing or for carrying water.

The entire set weighs 17oz, but you can leave behind any pieces to fit the needs of the trip you’re planning to save weight. On our recent trip to Cumberland Island, Georgia, I lamented not having a small bowl to mix food in and eat from since I only use my titanium mug to boil water in; this kit will serve me well when my family comes along with me on adventures. Check out the Microdualist at Sheepleg today.

The Shepherd does the Warrior Dash

noreply@blogger.com (Sheepleg) — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 15:51:00 +0000

Hello All,

I am a bit behind on this, but better late than never right?

So as I ride the wave of my potential midlife crisis, I completed another physical challenge this on June 23rd. The Warrior Dash in Lebanon, KY.

I had a great time, but that was mostly due to having great company.

I was a little disappointed in the execution of the actual event. I find it hard to believe it was planned poorly given how many of these things they do every year. I think they were just a bit off on putting their plan into action and/or being quick to respond to anything that went wrong. But I'll get to that in a minute. Let's start off with a positive.

As it turns out, all the running, Tough Mudder workouts, and P90X routines are really paying off. The most difficult part of the course was weaving in and out of the folks on the course who were clearly not there to break any land speed records. The course was so narrow at times we could only go two or three wide and of course we would get bogged down by walkers. But I kept trying to tell myself it was for fun and don't get frustrated.

Funny how my brain says that, but my legs went off to the side and through branches sticking out in order to pass the slower folks. There must have been something lost in the translation there. Oh well.

The first obstacle (after a mile of running/weaving around people) was an easy run through some tires. Smooth sailing so far. It was the second one that was the hardest physical obstacle of the day. They call it "Deadweight Drifter" and you are supposed to "trudge through waist deep water and over the logs". Yeah, waist deep after the first step in, then swimming after that. After being kicked in the head a few times by the lady in front of me and returning the favor to the guy behind me, I made it across. Once I got over the initial funky smell of the pond we jumped in and catching my breath from swimming, we started jogging again. The wet clothes were a welcome addition to the jog, as it was fairly warm the day of the race and running soaking wet didn't seem to bother me all that much. Of course it is not like I have not run in the rain before.

That was short lived though. At some point in the next 2 miles I made the comment to my friend that I could not understand how the water in my shirt could feel hot.

Of course I have to throw a plug in here for my favorite shoes, the Vibram Five Fingers Bikilas. While most people had wet socks and heavy shoes, I had a nice foot glove on that didn't slow me down and also seemed to help on the traction once we were all muddy. Even though I soaked and washed them...then soaked and washed them again they are still a bit stained from the mud/red clay. But that is fine by me. I figure it is their badge of honor.

Back to the race. All the obstacles after the swim were a breeze. Perhaps it was because we had been training for them for months as part of our Tough Mudder training or maybe they just were not tough. It is hard to say for sure, but they were still fun to navigate over, under, but never around.

As we rounded the final turn and saw the fire, we knew it was the end so as our standing racing agreement goes, the training partner mentality went out the door and we took off running to see who could finish first. We jumped the fire together and hit the mud pit at the same time. Lucky for me, my buddy got a face full of mud that also went in his contacts and he had to swim / run the last 50 yards or so half blind. So I won this one.

We took a few minutes to clean up and waited for the rest of our group to finish.

After taking some pictures of them crossing the finish line we all wandered around a bit to take it all in, had our free beer, and left.

Now for the bad. Because the event had been moved (it was scheduled to be just 3 miles from my house originally) fairly last minute because they did not realize we were not a full wet county and our illustrious city personnel were too lazy to give it the old college try to speed the liquor license process up. I assume that the change of location must have caused some sort of calamity of errors afterwards because the shuttles that were to take us to the event were few and far between. Since there was no on site parking, we had to park 20 minutes away (for the low low price of $20 per car) and take a shuttle. Ok, I can get over the $20 just because that money goes to St. Jude, but asking people to show up at the event 90 minutes before their heat and making them wait for an hour for the shuttles is a bit frustrating.

So we got to the actual course about 5 minutes before we were supposed to run greeted by signs stating you HAD to run in your allotted heat with no exceptions. That seems like plenty of time until you have to get your race packet, pin your number on, take a whiz, check your bag, and forget about stretching. So much for the mental preparation. We rushed to the gate just a minute or two late and proceeded to just stand there for about 15 minutes or so just waiting. Talk about a dump of energy.

When we got finished everything seemed fine until we wanted to get in line for the showers. Holy crap that line was long. I truly think they only had one shower going. Keep in mind we ran at 10:00. Only 2 heats before us, a maximum of 1000 people. And given the number of people we passed on the way and there being no way our heat was full there was no reason for the bottleneck at the rinse station. We said screw it and left.

Little did we know that we would be sitting on a gravel road waiting on our shuttles to arrive for over a half hour. As it turns out, there were so many people desperately trying to get to the event on time since the shuttles were not adequate that people were riding in on hay wagons, in the backs of pickup trucks and some even tried to walk. With all the additional traffic on the lane and a half country road, of course there was an accident, thus causing the road to be closed.

As we sat there knotting up and bleeding energy by the minute nobody came along to offer water. The event staff just sat under their tent and chilled while hundreds of just ran in the 90 degree heat participants sat on the road and waited.

We watched a couple of injured Warriors get carted down the path on golf carts. It really sucked to get hurt that day. We later found out that a lady we knew was hurt pretty bad later in the day and since they had no ambulances on site, she had to wait for her parents to go through the long bus line, get their car, drive back to the course, pick her up and then drive her an hour to the hospital. I can't imagine having to sit there with everything below one knee broken and having to wait that long for some medical attention.

We also learned later that they ran out of water for finishing participants and were left only with beer. I can neither confirm nor deny this, but given the shenanigans I personally witnessed; I can believe it.

Rather than leave on a negative note, I will still like to say that it was fun. Any time I get to be outside challenging my brain and/or body there is a certain level of enjoyment that even poorly executed events can't take away. I would not discourage anyone from doing the Warrior Dash if for no other reason than it supports St. Jude. I also have to imagine our event was an anomaly rather than the rule or else they would not be nearly as successful as they are. Most of all, the day left me with more eager anticipation of the upcoming Tough Mudder, where simply finishing is the goal...and getting that headband.

Anyone have any tips for training? We have constant debates now on how to do it. Gloves or no gloves? Are the monkey bars greased? How far do you have to carry the log and do you get to pick your own log? Any other thoughts are welcomed to helping Sheepleg become One Tough Mutton.

The Shepherd.

Geocaching

noreply@blogger.com (The Shepherd) — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 01:29:00 +0000

Hello All,

So I went out for a little geocaching this past weekend and had a pretty good time. We didn't have much time to spend because it was so hot outside, but at least we were outside.

I have to admit, I am not the best hunter in the world when it comes to geocaching, but I do find it fun. I felt a bit like Mantracker at times looking more for smashed leaves where other people may have been looking for the same thing and found it. Oddly enough, in doing this I found a ladies wallet that had obviously been stolen and tossed off to the side. I could tell it hadn't been there too long as it wasn't waterlogged and there were only 2 roly polys living in the pocket. There was no money in it (shocker), but there were ID cards and all sorts of other stuff you would hate to lose. So I plopped it in my pocket and decided to drop it off at the police station on the way home. More on that in a minute.

Back to the caching. After striking out on our first one because you had to cross a creek to get to it and then getting distracted by the wallet, we found a good one. It was in a graveyard which normally would be weird, but it was more like a scavenger hunt than a cache.

After finding and logging that one on my newly downloaded free app (which stunk I might add), we were on to the next one. As the sun began to melt our skin off on our way to this cache it was growing obvious that this would be the last one of the day. It was nowhere near any shade and by the time we walked to it (only a half mile) I could tell my caching partner was pretty much done. So we didn't look too hard and started back to the truck and some air conditioning.

On the way home, we stopped by the police station to drop off the wallet and were told by the officer that he thought it was probably the wallet stolen by the guy who was involved in a homicide a day or two prior. Creepy. But we were alive and on the way to grab a cold beverage and watch a Duck Dynasty marathon in the cool confines of the casa.

Now, here are some notes I have learned on just my third trip geocaching. First, make sure your GPS is charged and is one that works pretty well under trees. I have an old model that works great in the open, but under any sort of shade it is as lost as a duck in the ocean (see the tick fiasco blog).

My second tip would be to actually know how to use whatever gear you are taking on your adventure. I had downloaded several GPS and geocaching apps to try. The only problem was that we stood in the parking lot trying to figure out how to get them to work. Whether it was registering them by logging on with Facebook, figuring out how to switch from map to compass, or just the frustrating part of having to key in the points you want to find it was something that was better done at home on the couch.

My third tip is to take some gloves (gardening gloves would do the trick), a flashlight, and some bite / sting treatment. Luckily I was not bit or stung on this trip, but blindly sticking my hand under foot bridges or in stumps I have resigned myself to the fact that at some point I will. This is also where the gloves would have come in handy. I am not a huge fan of sticking my hands anywhere they can't be seen. This is probably some sort of survival mechanism built in to help me keep the other 9.75 digits attached. So gloves are a must. A flashlight will also help put some light in areas so you may not even have to put your hand in them. This could also be handy since many of the caches are black 35mm canisters or something covered in duct tape, which collects leaves like a ghillie suit.

Maybe in the next few weeks it will cool off a bit to where I can do some more caching and will be able to give more tips.

Does anyone have any tips for me on geocaching? Favorite sites, gear to take, apps to use, etc.

Until next time...

The Shepherd.

Cover your wood

noreply@blogger.com (Sheepleg) — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 02:15:00 +0000

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Hello all,

I just spent the night camping with some good friends for anight and thought I would share a valuable lesson learned.

We took a trip to Mammoth Cave National Park for some fun times not just for us, but also for their 5 year old son. We did not do any hiking, instead we spent most of out time at the Kentucky Action Park for some bumper cars, bumper boats, alpine slide, mini golf, and video games.

Fun times for sure.

Back at the camp site we got the fire going...after some coercing. As it turns out, the wood we bought was a bit on the green side. Here is a side note. We were going to bring our own wood, but since the park is having some issues with non indigenous bugs invading, they have instituted a ban on all firewood not cut within 10 miles of the park. So like good little scouts we bought ours from the store located in the park. For only $4 a bundle, it is the least we could do to support our national parks.

If only we could have supported this poor deer. It was friendly enough, coming right up to us almost close enough to pet, but could have used a hamburger or two.

So we get the fire going and started to make dinner. While doing this, we also decided on taking some of the wood we were going to use in the morning for breakfast and dry it out a little next to the fire pit. Pretty smart, right. Sure was, but in true Shepherd fashion we put everything up when we were ready for bed but neglected to cover the wood we just dried out.

You want to guess what happened at about 3 am? You got it. Rain.

We thought we were smart little campers by waterproofing our tents the afternoon before and that was a great idea. We didn't get wet sleeping, but our fire wood sure did.

Fast forward to 5 am with birds sounding off like little monsters at a Lady Gaga concert and I couldn't sleep any longer. So I thought I would be nice and get the fire going for everyone and we could get the breakfast party started right after they got up.

No dice. I spend the next hour whittling little shavings off the fire wood and breaking the bark off of it so I could get a mini fire hot enough to even get the bigger logs to think about burning.

While the fire never got super hot and we probably set a world record for the longest time took to make scrambled eggs, we got full and nobody got food poisoning. Those were also the smokiest eggs I've ever had. :)

In the end it all turned out fine. Surprisingly I do not have another "I cut the end of my finger off" or an "I accidentally stabbed myself in the gut" story. As much as I would love to write a post on how great my first aid kit is, I will just keep appreciating the fact I have never needed it...knock on wet wood.

'Til next time,

Happy Hiking

The Shepherd.

noreply@blogger.com (The Shepherd) — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 00:49:00 +0000

Hello all,

Sheepish speaks the truth. This is our best selling stove for a reason.

The Trangia Alcohol Stove: My Trusty Old Friend

We’ve recently added the venerable Trangia alcohol stoves to Sheepleg and I have to admit my heart skipped a beat seeing my old friend again. For those of you who remember geeking out to games of Zork, the Trangia stove belongs right there with your trusty lantern and your glowing, grue-killing sword. Indiana Jones would go back into the Temple of Doom if he’d accidentally left it behind warming up some noodles. It’s the simplest, most reliable, tough as nails piece of backpacking gear ever. It’s a brass can with a screw-top lid with a rubber o-ring to seal in the alcohol goodness. The inside rim has tiny jet holes for the burner flame to shoot from. There’s absolutely no moving parts to fail.

To use a trangia stove, you place the burner can inside the windscreen/pot support and pour methyl alcohol (Denatured alcohol, YELLOW bottle HEET, or Everclear are the best) inside and light, the stove does the rest, automagically. First you’ll see a faint blue flame (be careful during the day, you won’t see a flame in sunlight) emit from the big hole in the center, and then, once the pressure is sufficient, the flame will come through the burner jets in a ring of water-boiling, noodle-cooking goodness. The Trangia comes with a simmer ring with an adjustable cover plate that allows you to bring the burner down to a simmer for gourmet cooking or snuff the flame completely when you’re done cooking. One thing that it has over ever other alcohol stove on the market is the leak-proof screw cap: you don’t have to deal with unburned alcohol left in the stove, just put the cap on and save it for later. If you’re planning a solo weekend or overnighter, just fill up the stove and you’ll likely have enough fuel for your water-boiling and cooking needs, no need to carry extra fuel.

The best thing about Trangia burners is they are tough and durable enough to be the only stove you need for life; the other is, since you’re only burning alcohol (not fossil-fuels) and not using disposable butane fuel canisters, it’s one of the best environmentally friendly choices you can make as a backpacker or outdoors enthusiast. The Trangia stove is available in several packages, including the relatively light mini-trangia set that comes with a windscreen/pot support, a pot, a pot handler, and a lid that doubles as a nonstick frying pan. The burner is available alone as a part replacement, but keep in mind that the burner can’t be used without a pot support. If you want to make a friend for life, check out the Trangia on Sheepleg.

Hello. My name is....

noreply@blogger.com (Sheepleg) — Sun, 13 May 2012 02:03:00 +0000

Hello all,

On behalf of Lambert and all the Sheepleg herd, thank you for your submissions and votes for our fluffy friend.

Be sure to keep an eye out on the website for Lambert's picks. Keep your eye on the site for the logo below. Lambert will be giving a shout out to our best selling products for you to check out.

Our finalists were:
Pluff
Belle
Sherman
Edison
Wooliam
Ewen
Molly
Lambert

We chose the winners based on a few criteria. First, it had to be cute like our furry friend. Second, we wanted a name that was either close to a person's name or an actual person's name. Lastly, we just said all the names a lot to see which one sounded the best.

So we chose Lambert! Hopefully the gift card will come in handy to the lucky winner.

I have to say that this decision was much tougher than we thought it would be. So we have decided to give out two additional $50 gift cards to the other two names we really argued about. Those were Ewen and Molly.

Thank everyone again for your participation. We really appreciate your help.

Happy Hiking!

The Shepherd

Equinox Gear

noreply@blogger.com (The Shepherd) — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 03:04:00 +0000

Hello All,

Sheepish loved ultralight camping. No wonder he knows so much about Equinox gear.

Equinox Gear

Equinox Ltd. is an earth-friendly gear manufacturer located in Pennsylvania that makes some seriously well-made, lightweight hiking, backpacking, and travel gear that is also very affordable. Sheepleg has their line of products in our store and we’d like to share our staff’s favorite pieces of Equinox gear with you.

The Equinox ARAS pack is durable and lightweight, constructed of 1.1oz ripstop silnylon to keep your gear dry with minimal weight. Features include generous mesh back pocket space to stow gear in and keep it readily accessible without opening the pack, compression shock cord suspension (great for strapping wet rain gear to dry as you hike), and, rare for lightweight packs, generous hip belt pockets and a lid with pocket to keep rain away from the top opening of the pack.

The Sprawler bivy sack proves that keeping things simple is always the best way to go when it comes to making effective lightweight gear. At $59.95, it’s one of the most affordable bivy sacks on the market, and at 6.6 ounces (less than many wind jackets), among the lightest, it’s constructed of waterproof silnylon on the bottom and a water-resistant/breathable top to keep water from creeping into your sleeping bag and also allow moisture to escape through the top of the bag.

The Equinox Terrapin ultralight poncho is one of my personal favorite pieces of gear. A lightweight (9.6oz) silnylon poncho like the Terrapin serves not only as excellent rain gear, but with the addition of a few stakes and trekking poles, can be erected as a tarp shelter, replacing your heavier tent. The Terrapin comes in two sizes, one with an extension on the back to fit over your pack to keep it dry as well, and one without. Using a poncho is an excellent way to knock the weight and expense of carrying separate rain gear, pack cover, and shelter.

What is your favorite piece of ultralight gear?

Making the most of your Outdoor Gear Budget

noreply@blogger.com (The Shepherd) — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 15:42:00 +0000

Hello All,

Some great advice from Sheepish.

Making the most of your Outdoor Gear Budget

You might think you'd never hear this from a business selling outdoor gear, but let's face it, getting together a complete backpacking kit can be a considerable investment, so let's consider how to best go about making decisions for gear. One thing I found difficult when putting together my gear was the tendency to concentrate on the super cool accessories at the expense of more vital gear. A common example? Getting several iterations of titanium spoon while not yet having a sleeping bag that doesn't have a Disney character on the front. What's the main problem with having this approach, after all, can't you just get gear over time, as you can afford it? Certainly, but consider the fact that while you can carry a regular tea spoon, you're not quite as likely to get into the outdoors with your futon mattress. Try to place a priority on your essential gear, like your pack, shelter, and sleeping bag, and that will allow you to spend more time outdoors, then you can concentrate on getting the creature comforts just right after you get more experience and learn what your actual needs are.

Shepherd's note: If you are looking to replace that Little Mermaid sleeping bag, now is the time!

What do you think is the one piece of gear you cannot be without when outdoors?

Happy Hiking!

Aquamira Frontier Pro Water Filter

noreply@blogger.com (The Shepherd) — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 18:18:00 +0000

Hello All,

Here is another good write up from Sheepish.

Aquamira Frontier Pro Water Filter

The old traditional debate for campers, hikers, and backpackers, and even lightweight travellers, when it comes to water filtration usually comes down to somewhat heavy pumps for those who can’t stand the taste of chlorine or iodine, and those light but pungent chlorine or iodine tabs. Recently, Aquamira entered a new lightweight champ into the ring: The Aquarmira Frontier Pro Water Filter.

Weighing in at a scant 2 ounces and about the size of a mini maglite, the Frontier Pro has no moving parts that can fail like filters can, and is extremely simple to use. On the mouthpiece end is a tethered cap to keep the bite valve clean and clear of debris when not in use. It’s tethered, so you can’t loose the cap. On the other end is a 28mm threaded connector, which allows it to screw onto most standard water bottle openings and Platypus hydration bag openings. The filter will also connect with most hydration bag tube systems, such as Platypus or Camelbak, so that you can filter water stored in the bladder in your pack. The system will also allow you to drink directly from a water source, using the Frontier Pro like a straw. In practice, it will probably be best to use a plastic bottle to collect water for use with the Frontier Pro since filling bladders from a water source can be difficult, and the water in the bladder can be potentially contaminated.

The Frontier Pro lightweight water filter contains replaceable prefilters (replacements included) that help to strain out the larger debris from the water, extending the life of the 3 micron porous filter and the activated carbon inside. The filter will remove 99.9% of cryptosporidium and giardia and improves the taste. The medium also incorporates Miraguard, which protects against the growth of mold, mildew, and bacteria. The Frontier Pro can also be paired with chlorine dioxide tablets to provide extra protection against waterborne viruses in areas where such conditions are prevalent. Aside from hiking use, the Frontier Pro can provide a traveller extra piece of mind while taking up very little space in a carry-on bag when visiting areas with questionable water quality.

Have you used one? Tell us your story.

Sheepleg Reuses and Recycles

noreply@blogger.com (Sheepleg) — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 16:07:00 +0000

Hello All,

One of the things we are proud of here at Sheepleg is that we try to reuse and recycle as much as we possibly can. Businesses can generate lots of trash and often times it is much more "efficient" to simply throw it away. I'll admit that after a long day, the last thing I would think about is how to make better use of our cardboard boxes that came from suppliers. But truthfully, it is those little things that can make all the difference. I guess we could lease or buy a baler, but why bother with the expense and loss of space. Not to mention the cost of running it, safety inspections, etc that go into having equipment like that. So why not just break them down and reuse them for the shipments going out tomorrow?

So we do. Certainly not in all cases. Many of our shipments are priority mail and have special packaging, but for those that are not, let's do it. So we do. And if you have received an order from us in a brown box, chances are it was either reused or recycled. They may be ugly, but they get the job done. After all, does it matter what the box looks like or how many stickers it has on it? We think of those as badges of honor. The more shipping labels we cover up, the happier it makes us.

So if you get a brown box from us, please make every effort to keep the cycle going and either reuse it or recycle it. Recycling is not that hard. I bet you can find a recycling drop off point in your town. All the ones in our little town are listed at earth911.com.

Of course we don't have the luxury of always having a great supply of boxes to reuse (certainly not the perfect sizes), so when we have to buy them, we like to go to Globe Guard for our shipping supplies. Not only do they have a great selection of recycled and environmentally friendly products, but they also donate a portion of their sales to 1% for the Planet. So working with them is win-win.

We also started a worm farm a while back to try to turn our shredded paper into compost, but I ended up messing that up. Back to the drawing board on that one. But the goal is not to be perfect...just a little better every day.

The Shepherd.

Name our Sheep Mascot

noreply@blogger.com (Sheepleg) — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 22:21:00 +0000

Hello All,

Our little friend "the sheep" is a bit saaa-aaad right now because the poor thing does not have a name. Shoot, right now it doesn't even know if it is a dude sheep or a chick sheep.

Since it took me several months to come up with the name for the website / company, it certainly behooves me to enlist support from all my virtual friends. It will certainly get named much faster that way. So rather than doing it on our own, we are requesting that all of our customers, fans, followers, and readers take a shot at naming it and potentially giving some sore of idea what gender it is. We are offering a $100 gift card to the winning contestant. If there is more than one person with the winning name, we will randomly choose the winner from those people.

We obviously won't accept anything nasty, so please refrain from those. While I will admit that I do enjoy the relatively funny things that people enter in the "sex" field of our email newsletter signup form (which if you have not already signed up for, you really should here...now, before you forget); I can't let those types of comments out there for all to see.

So that is it for today. Please head over to our Facebook page and submit your entry to name the Sheep. And don't forget to tell all your friends so they can like us and be cool like you already are if you are reading this.

Happy Naming!

The Shepherd....and "The Sheep"

Ouch! Tender Foot Meets Big Rock... Rock Wins.

noreply@blogger.com (Sheepleg) — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 21:34:00 +0000

Hello All,

Shepherd here again. This isn't a new activity, but one I thought I would share.

I want to preface this post by saying I love my Vibram Five Fingers shoes. So much so that I currently have 3 pair. So certainly don't want to come across as being negative towards them. But those thin soles sure can cause some pain in the right circumstances.

I had been running in my Bikilas for quite some time and were loving them. Since the weather was getting a little colder I decided I wanted to try out the Flows since they are neoprene lined. One thing I did not notice about them as I was buying them was that they have a 2mm sole. This is 2mm less than the Bikilas. Now, at first glance you might say so what. Let me tell you, that 2mm makes a big difference.

The first few runs I noticed my calves were much more tight and tired when I finished. The thinner soles forced me to run even more up on my mid / forefoot causing the increased work for the calves. No big deal. I actually liked the change...until I hit "the rock".

I didn't look back after I stepped on it. I just yelped (probably off beat with my iPod) and kept cranking along. After another 50 yards I hit another one with the other foot. At this point I am hobbled. I finished my 4 miles sporting a new grimace with each step. When I got home and removed the shoes, I realized the damage I had done on two "little" rocks.

Let me just tell you how much fun it was not trying to walk with a bruise on the bottom of BOTH feet. Needless to say, I took a couple of days off after this little incident.

It is obvious that this was caused through my misuse of the shoes. The Flows are not made for road running. I had never and never have had any issues out of my Bikilas or TrekSports on the road. Their soles are built for it.

So my suggestion to you if you are running in the cold with Vibram Five Fingers and want to keep your tootsies warm, simply get some Toe Socks from Smartwool. They are great.

Also, check out my little miniseries on how many times you can wear a pair of wool socks without washing them before the start to stink.

Now get off your computer and hit the road.

The Shepherd

Do you wear minimalist shoes for running? What are your favorites?

Light My Fire Lunchboxes and Meal Kits

noreply@blogger.com (The Shepherd) — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 21:11:00 +0000

Hello All,

Here is a blast from the past from an old contributor. Sheepish is his name and he made some great posts I think it is worthy to share again.

Anybody who has had the pleasure of using Light My Fire’s ingeniously designed spork which combines a full, functional spoon on one end, and a real, noodle-grabbing fork on the other end, knows that Light My Fire clearly thinks outside the box.

Speaking of boxes, you might want to give some thought as to what you will be eating your lunch out of when you’re out there in the great outdoors. Sure, for the committed thru-hiker, eating right out of the dehy bag is fine dining, but getting your family and kids to follow suit may not be as appetizing. That’s where the Light My Fire Meal Kits and Lunchboxes come in.

The Lunchbox is a rounded triangular shape made of durable and heat-resistant polypropylene, you can’t cook with it obviously, but it handles boiling water for your dehy meals, ramen noodles, or oatmeal packets just fine. The Lunchbox is available alone, or forms the basis of the Meal Kit which adds a clever spill-proof cup, a waterproof sealable container, a cutting board with integrated strainer holes, and the legendary spork which all nest together inside the lunchbox.

The Light My Fire Meal Kit comes with everything you need to turn your roughing it experience into a fine dining experience for those more inclined to appreciate such things. An optional harness straps the Meal Kit together and has an integrated biner to attach to your pack, and the tiny spicebox allows you to bring three of your favorite spices along with you to add a little zest to your picnic.

What is your favorite outdoor meal or piece of camp cookware?

Do wool socks REALLY not stink after wearing several times? Episode 8

noreply@blogger.com (The Shepherd) — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 01:27:00 +0000

Hello All,

Wear 8, March 14, 2012.

This was a short 3 miler at an easy pace. We followed up this run with a nice P90 Ab Ripper X workout to make sure we concentrate on core strength. As it turns out, this was the best idea we had. I was nearly crippled the next morning.

This may be the last post for a while as my foot is pretty sore and I will be nursing it for some time so as not to miss the race. With only a few weeks left to train I doubt my time will be what I want, but I am going to finish regardless. I am too dumb to go to the doctor to figure out what it may be, and it doesn't much matter because no matter what it is, chances are the fix will be to rest it for 6 weeks or so.

I am not sure how I forgot to take a picture of the socks this week, but probably because my body stunk so bad I could not wait to get in the shower. Funny how my whole body can stink, the socks still smell like the BodyGlide I put on them the previous day.

So since I don't have a picture of the socks that refuse to smell, here is a picture of my new Yoga partner.

That is my buddy Big Grey.

The Shepherd.

A Milestone at Sheepleg

noreply@blogger.com (The Shepherd) — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 04:53:00 +0000

Hey All,

Today was a good day. After literally weeks of pain, we sent out our first real email newsletter today. What may seem like a relatively simple and probably annoying marketing tactic to most people has been driving me crazy trying to figure out the last few weeks.
First of all, let me just say that I have no skills at anything graphic. So after testing as many "free" programs as I have fingers and toes (19 7/8, but that is a whole other story), I decided on using Pixelmator. It isn't free, but had a trial period of 30 days and is relatively inexpensive after that. For the features it has, it is perfect for me. I have used Photoshop in the past, but I have found that no matter how expensive the program, they don't fix a constitutional allergy to being creatively inclined.

I would be remiss if I did not own up to having some help. The fine young gent who designed the original graphics for the site sent me some cleaned up files that I could use. I'd give him a shout, but he is too shy to take the credit.

While my shopping cart platform has email functionality, it does not have templates that are user friendly enough for me to figure out; I checked out and decided to use MailChimp. I mean, between the chimp and the sheep, we are halfway to starting a zoo. How could I not use them?

I'll spare you the rest of the boring days of fiddling with stupid graphics and fonts and figuring out all the other details that anyone who is good at it spends about 15 minutes doing. Hopefully I can start sending out 1 email per week. That is, if it doesn't keep taking me 2 weeks to create one.

Wish me luck.

PS. scroll back to the top of this blog and sign up for the emails. Goodness knows I don't want all this hard work to go to waste. :)

Happy Hiking,

The Shepherd

Do wool socks REALLY not stink after wearing several times? Episode 7

noreply@blogger.com (The Shepherd) — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 01:55:00 +0000

Hello All,

Wear 7, March 13, 2012.

Intervals. Ugh. I am not sure if I have ever expressed how much I don't like intervals, but I really don't like them. Thank goodness I knew I was going to be pushing hard today. So I slathered on the BodyGlide before putting on the socks.

We pushed so hard I am pretty sure I messed my foot up bad. Most likely from losing my form and just trying to power through the fast laps. Either way, it sucked.

As for the socks, they held up like troopers. The combination of the super comfy socks and BodyGlide was great. If it weren't for the lightning bolts shooting through the top of my foot, I would feel like I was in heaven.

But as good as they felt, I was sweating like a meatloaf and just knew I was going to be smelling hot garbage when I took them off and held them up to my nose.

EUREKA! A smell!

But much to my chagrin, it was the sweet lubricative (yeah, I just made that up) smell of BodyGlide.

Seriously, there is no way they will ever stink now. Sheesh.

Until next time...

The Shepherd.

Do wool socks REALLY not stink after wearing several times? Episode 6

noreply@blogger.com (The Shepherd) — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 02:15:00 +0000

Hello all,

Wear 6. March 11, 2012

It is a nice 55 degree day with a light breeze to take a 3 mile recovery run. I took this one pretty slow to make sure not to put too much pressure on my recently rested foot.

This was a pretty uneventful run. Nothing too exciting to talk about. The socks held up great and I was home in no time at all.

It is funny how this works though. The last few times when I took the socks off, the held the shape of my foot as if they were molded like that. This time when I took them off, they totally collapsed. I am not sure if that was because it was warmers yet again today and they were just more wet than before or if I am finally reaching some sort of nastiness threshold.

There is a bit more of wear showing on both sock bottoms now. I wonder if washing them would stop that?

Nasty looking or not, the @#$@# things still don't smell!

Maybe next time.

Now go out and do something outside!

The Shepherd

Do wool socks REALLY not stink after wearing several times? Episode 5

noreply@blogger.com (The Shepherd) — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 20:07:00 +0000

Hello all,

Wear 5. March 10, 2012

Ok, so I totally broke my training schedule this week. I was supposed to run Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. But my foot was hurting so bad from Saturday, I decided to take the week off and rest it. Plus I had a soogie scheduled Wednesday. If you like getting a massage and also like yoga, then I highly recommend getting a Thai massage. I know, ha ha, happy ending...whatever. There is no such thing as a massage that ends happily. I mean, it is over for goodness sake. How is that happy? Now that the jokes are over, have you ever been in a yoga pose and wished you had help getting that extra stretch? Well that is Thai massage; lazy man's yoga. That is why I schedule 90 minutes with my girl Deborah as often as I can. If you are in the Louisville area, I suggest you give it a whirl. Just don't book in front of me. :)

Sorry, I got a bit off track.

Today was wonderful About 50 degrees at the start with 5-10 mph winds. A perfect day for a run. We had an 8 miler ahead of us. I put the socks on and they felt like I just took them out of the package. I can't express how weird that is.

As the run wore on, I noticed something I had been worrying about as we piled more miles on. Those hot spots that form on the long runs compound with the warmer weather and longer run. I started to get a really annoying spot on the side of my big toe. It was probably from my feet swelling a little (which they always do when I run), but whatever the cause it affected both my partner and I. He stopped at one point to adjust his Vibrams. It is important to note that he was not wearing socks. SO it looks like both of us are putting BodyGlide on our feet next time as well as our other "rubbing" areas.

We are in uncharted territory with Vibrams for us now. Neither one of us had run more than 7.5 miles in them before. So I am sure foot fatigue will begin to take its toll at some point. But that is what training is for.

Here is the after shot. You can actually still see some sweat on the bottom of the sock on the right hand side. I know I am no photographer, but trust me, that is sweat not a shadow. One other thing to note is that there is a bit of wear starting to form on the bottom of that right hand sock.

The real question still stands...do they stink. Nope.

Maybe next time the stink fairy will visit, but not today.

Happy Hiking!

The Shepherd

Do wool socks REALLY not stink after wearing several times? Episode 4

noreply@blogger.com (Sheepleg) — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 20:47:00 +0000

Hello all,

Wear 4. March 3, 2012

Another long run day. 7.52 miles at an easy pace. It wasn't too chilly today (41), but the wind sure was cold.

The socks were very easy to get on today since they were still in the shape of my feet. I didn't have to coax my toes into any of their respective slots, they just slid right in. Surprisingly, even though the socks were shaped, they were still quite soft. No crusty, crunchy grossness at all.

The run was easy (except I think I may have strained my foot) and I did not notice any performance deficiencies with the socks as I trudged along. I grow more impressed with them each time I wear them. I have a feeling that normal socks would have nearly disintegrated at this point in the testing. You will have to test that one out on your own though. My feet would smell so bad after the second wearing that I would have to run like The Flash to get away from the dogs chasing the rotting carcass smell emanating from my shoes.

Here are the pics.

These things still don't stink. They are amazing. I am going to keep giving them a run until I can get some sort of a smell out of them if it kills me...or my poor flat feet.

Get out there and run for fun.

The Shepherd.

Do wool socks REALLY not stink after wearing several times? Episode 3

noreply@blogger.com (Sheepleg) — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 23:29:00 +0000

Hello again all,

Wear 3. March 1, 2012

I actually got a bit ahead of schedule on this one. I think I was supposed to do a 4 mile tempo run and ended up doing a 6 mile pace run, but who cares. It felt good. The weather was nice. It was warm and I was in shorts, a tee, and of course my trusty Bikila / Smartwool combo.

These runs are always tough on the feet. Trying to keep a race pace really gets my feet sore as I lose the posture from Chi Running and revert back to trying to power run. The socks really helped keep the hot spots from forming as quickly as they normally do. That said, they did form near the end. Nothing major though. All that said, the socks are still performing very well and they do not seem to have lost anything yet.

So here is the picture. Aside from the lighting being off from the previous picture and my friend Maggie would probably beat me if she knew I was posting them online and they were shot on a workout mat with a window open in the background. Sorry Mags. :)

After removing the socks today, the one thing that stuck out to me was that they stayed in the shape of my feet almost to the point it looked like they were starched in that position. The heels did not seem to be any dirtier than the previous run.

And the moment you have all been waiting for....

Still no stink. I have to say I am very impressed so far.

Happy Hiking,

The Shepherd

61% off Snugpak Sleeping Bag

noreply@blogger.com (The Shepherd) — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 18:28:00 +0000

Hello All,

I just wanted to let you guys know of a great site we came across. It is http://inthebivvy.com/. It is like Groupon except it is only for outdoor gear. They are great folks to work with and we are running our first deal today!

Check them out and don't hesitate. You have to get them before they are gone!

Happy Hiking,

The Shepherd

Do wool socks REALLY not stink after wearing several times? Episode 2

noreply@blogger.com (Sheepleg) — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 00:56:00 +0000

Hello all,

Wear 2. February 28, 2012

The weather was much warmer this day. Again I am not sure of the actual temperature, but I ended up being sweaty and that is all that matters.

Today we have 400m intervals. Before I get into the stink factor let me just compliment how well these socks keep my feet from grinding when I am pushing through the uptempo portion of intervals. When I am not wearing them and I run flat out, I tend to get hot spots on the balls of my feet as I push. The socks act as the perfect liner and keep those hot spots from forming.

On to the stink. Once I got home, after my shake of course, I went upstairs and de-socked. As you can see from the photo, you can't even really tell I had them on. They were not nasty sweaty or dirty even though I was burning up. The only thing I can say (and I am not sure it is a negative thing) is that they felt thinner than the first time. It did not alter the performance of them that I could tell, but it was just something I noticed.

One thing to note is that the heel looks a bit dirtier than the rest of the sock. I think that is mostly from the ink on the bottom of the shoe coming off. Look at the picture on the previous post and you will see smudged ink from the brand logo.

So far the lore of wool repelling the evil stink spirits is proving to be true, but we are not even close to done putting these bad boys through the test. Stay tuned for more updates.

Stories from The Shepherd

noreply@blogger.com (The Shepherd) — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 16:41:00 +0000

Hello All,

It is probably only fair that I contribute on occasion to our blog. Since I am certainly not a qualified expert in the field of survival and at times in common sense, it is probably best for me to teach our readers what not to do. I'll leave the expert advice to Red Fox. And if you are wondering why we let a fox around all these sheep...well, she's house trained so it is safe.

This story begins on a summer day a couple of years ago (before I started Sheepleg). As a bit of a back story, I was recently placed back on the market by my former lady so I had ample time to do what newly single guys do. I actually have no idea what that is so I decided to heed her advice and take a hike. At this point the longest hike I had been on was about 3 miles on semi-groomed paths. Did I mention I was also about 25 pounds overweight at the time?

So I grab my trusty CamelBak Bottle two Kashi Bars and hit the road. I live about an hour drive from Mammoth Cave National Park so that was my destination for the day. I get to the park and pick up a free map from the visitors center. My eyes honed in on what seemed to be a perfect back country trail, not caring about the distance of 14 miles. So back in the truck to the trail head.

Once at the parking lot, I noticed the ice had already melted in my bottle, probably a combination of the AC in my truck not working too well and the fact it was already 91 degrees outside and it was just past 10 am. At the time I thought nothing of it. I just grabbed the bottle and hit the trail.

Yes, you are right. Two granola bars and .75L of water for a 14 mile hike in 90+ heat. I also have never really thought about wearing bug spray in the past. My ultra manly pheromone stink glands always seemed to ward off bugs...and women it seems. They would literally jump off of me to bite someone else. And lastly, I left my hat sitting in the passenger seat.

So after spending the first 2 miles walking for 50 feet then running 50 yards to keep the gnats out of my ears I was pretty hot. After the 5th mile the water and Kashi bars were gone. As you can imagine the next 9 miles were filled with total misery. At times I had contemplated asking the people on horseback I saw to just drag me out of the woods. I was so desperate to cool off I was pulling some crap I saw on Nat Geo where Cheetahs lay in the dirt to cool of from the ground.

I had a GPS with me, but it was so old and useless I won't embarrass the manufacturer with providing a link to them. It worked so badly that there were stretches of the hike that were not logged because it did not get a signal for several miles through the trees. But one thing I did notice as I reached the end of the hike was that I had 150 feet of climb in the last half mile. And so it was only fitting that I basically crawled out of the woods up the hill to end my day of pain.

I drove top speed (25 MPH in the park) to the closest gas station and bought the largest bottle of water I could find. I was hungry but figured I would wait until I got home to eat something. 1 hour back home and I swung through the drive-thru to Eat Fresh when I got home.

I hit the door and smelled so bad I decided to take a quick shower before I ate. Would you believe that the shower could have been the WORST part of my day? Well it was.

As I was in the shower I noticed what seemed to be mud specs on my legs presumably from where I had to jump a few small muddy ditches. I scrubbed my legs to get the dirt off and as expected it started to run...but how often does dirt move up your leg in the shower. It was at this point I realized I had no less than a hundred (it seemed like a thousand) ticks on my legs below my knees and they were all heading up where the sun never sees the light of day. What a dilemma. I decided to take drastic measures to ensure they did not make it to their perceived destination and shut the water off, ran downstairs, and grabbed a can of Raid Ant Spray. It was the closest thing I had to tick killer.

Now you would not think that tiny little tick bites would leave a hole big enough in your skin to cause any spray to sting when applied. But as I was, you would be wrong. As I sprayed my legs above the knee to keep a line of resistance against any invaders to the promised land the cloud made its way down to the battlefield where it seeped into each individual bite mark and proceeded to burn in a fashion I had never quite encountered before. In my past I have been sprayed with pepper spray, and let me tell you that I would prefer pepper spray to this feeling any day of the week.

Confident the advancing enemy had been slowed enough to where I could figure out my next move, I ran back downstairs to look up the proper method of removing them. After reading that burning them would cause a massive poison vomit fest in my body I decided that tweezers would be the way to go.

Back in the bathroom filled with the haze of Raid I grabbed a cup, half filled with water, got the tweezers, and commenced picking. Not too bad on the first leg. Most of the enemy had buried their heads back in and were relatively easy to get since they were not moving any longer. They came up fairly easy. As I continued plucking the ticks and the occasional freckle (ouch) from my legs, the days exhaustion and hunger start to settle in. I am a naturally shaky guy, I have no idea why, but I have never won a single game of Operation in my life. That coupled with no food and a short 14 mile hike causes trembling that would cause shaken baby syndrome in someone less thick headed than I.

Thank goodness for Yoga. If it weren't for recently getting into the practice regularly I would have never been able to get all of them off my legs. This was the time I really could have used my former lady. Only someone that close to me was going to help/see me in that predicament, much less check my brown eye for ticks! After nearly 2 hours of picking at my skin and double checking the nether-regions for any who made it that far (thankfully none did) I gave up. I really wish I would have taken a picture of the carnage inside my cup of water. It was so filled with ticks floating in the water you could barely see through to the bottom.

I did take pictures of my ankles later as they and my feet started to swell.

It is important to note that I was wearing socks during my hike so how the little turds got in my shoes all the way down to my toes is beyond me. I still have a scar on my big toe just before the nail from this trip. For two weeks afterwards I could not tie my shoes nor sleep without slamming Benadryl every night. Partially for the pain and partially because it knocked me out. Believe me, when it wore off, I woke up...immediately.

From that day forward I have a new best friend.

Happy Hiking!

The Shepherd