The Myth & The Majesty

I managed to accidentally fall into daily blogging (although the quality certainly varies) so today -- the end of three weeks -- seems to be a day to not skip. Even though it's getting a bit late. Today's been a day of games with the weather, a wedding, the first FULL day of camp for the season, and a late-night run to town to pick up pictures with a race back so as to avoid a hail storm. Poor Sophie. If the whole summer is going to be like this, I fear for her safety.

I once had a real job. That's usually the phrase I use when someone gets curious about my presence here. "Well, yes, I had a real job..." Or it comes up when commiserating about certain things, like desks and fluorescent lighting. In any case, I genuinely don't know why I feel the need to make that designation. Is it because I like this job better? It used to be that I'd drag myself out of bed by seven so that I could be at work by eight. Sit at a desk most days, spend some chunk of each day in at least one meeting, eat lunch in the company lunchroom, wear the business casual, deal with the bureaucracy. [I first mistyped that as "bureaucrazy." Ain't that the truth.] There were reports to be written, paper trails to follow, codes to be consulted. Timesheets were used to designate how much time I spent on specific projects and account for most of my week. Usually. Now, I drag myself out of bed sometime between 4:00 and 7:00, depending on the...

Well! It's Day 2 of the summer of 2014 (well, not really, but from my perspective summer's started) and here's what you may get to hear about later on. - We have a wedding here this weekend. Weddings are regularly fodder for stories years later, depending on the couple and the conditions. In this case, the weather may make things interesting. - Our first camp is this weekend as well. This one gives me an excuse to pull out the Packers jersey. - Our summer staff is starting to come together. Honestly? ... It looks like a good year. - We're starting our "usual" summer stuff a week late because of a massive conference of pastors in Rapid next week (it changes locations each year and this year is RC's turn). Among other things, this means Shorty will be here for a few days. Good stuff. - I am not yet up to the summer pace. It's time for bed. Now.

I am ... marginally more ready for summer now. This helped. Marginally. But hey. It's a start.  

Can I make a confession? I'm not ready for summer. It's not just the fact that I can't seem to find all of my summer clothes, or the part where I wanted to have some stuff put together for the housekeepers by now. It's not even the fact that I had a couple days off this weekend and now all I want to do is crawl over the Hills and hike and kayak and not have any responsibilities. Although that last one in particular doesn't help at all. The big one is that this year, I have a much better grasp of what I'm getting myself into. Last year, I was the new kid -- although I'd worked out here as a summer team member, I'd never been A Boss. And I had no idea what I was getting myself into. July was half over before I got a grasp on anything and by then there was no changing things. This year, I'm looking at the summer with a much clearer view and the arrogance of a sophomore. Isn't it always the second year folks that seem to think they have it a...

A couple months back, I was paging through (the great and powerful) M-Man's most recent copy of Backpacker and I came across an article that put forward a new idea. [Note: most recent then. For the life of me, now I can't find the piece I read.] Now, if there's one thing you should know about Backpacker as a magazine, it is that it is always packed full of trail maps and hike descriptions from basically anywhere. The Hills figure in there on a regular basis -- as does the Appalachian Trail, the Rockies (rather prominently), stuff all up and down the West Coast, and plenty of spots from other countries. Packed. Full. This article suggested something different from trying to see it all everywhere. The mantra was simple: one wilderness, all the trails. Pick a wilderness and make it yours. Hike every trail in it until you know each of them forward and backward -- and then take all the side trails. And some non-trails. Hike it all till you know every body of water, every...

Strictly speaking, this wasn't on my list this weekend. But a few hours out here is a pretty good use of my time, I think.