I've been getting my trail fix by reading through-hiker journals at www.trailjournals.com A bunch of people I came to know on the Appalachian Trail have gotten off. The ones who are left are getting close to New England! Mabe I'll see some of them when I get back on the trail :-) |
July 2nd 2003 I've been growing my hair out for the past 5 years. It's gotten pretty long! I recently decided to finally lop it all off and donate it to Wigs For Kids. Wigs For Kids is a nonprofit organization that provides free wigs to kids who have experienced permanent or long term hair loss. Hair donors get a free haircut at participating salons, and Wigs For Kids collects the hair to make wigs. They then donate the wig to a child who needs it. |
July 2nd 2003 I've been growing my hair out for the past 5 years. It's gotten pretty long! I recently decided to finally lop it all off and donate it to Wigs For Kids. Wigs For Kids is a nonprofit organization that provides free wigs to kids who have experienced permanent or long term hair loss. Hair donors get a free haircut at participating salons, and Wigs For Kids collects the hair to make wigs. They then donate the wig to a child who needs it. |
I went to a local salon called Touch Of Class. It's run by Cindy MacRitchie - a wonderful woman! She's extremely nice. She's the one who cut my hair. |
After cutting off my braid, it was packed into a ziploc for sending to Wigs For Kids. In a few weeks I'll receive a card telling me that they've used my hair. |
Ahhhh....short hair feels good! |
I'll be getting one more haircut before hitting the trail again. I think I'll have it buzzed, then grow it out while hiking. |
July 7th 2003 I miss hiking! I took a break from work today to try out a trail I've never been on before. It's called the Skyline Trail and It runs 7.6 miles from Worcester Mountain to Hunger Mountain. |
I walked 4 miles from our house to the Worcester Mountain Trailhead. It felt kind of funny to be wearing my hiking backpack around my home area. |
The trail between Worcester and Hunger Mountain made the Long Trail look like a piece of cake. It made the Appalachian Trail seem like you could hike from Georgia to Maine, asleep, with no problems. It went up down, up down, over a ledge, up a cliff, up, up, down roots, over stones, through mudpits, up down, up down ... but mostly up, over a very lumpy path. |
I love hiking in Vermont. :-) It makes everything else seem so easy! I had brought along a two way radio and was able to talk to mom at the top of every mountain. Pretty cool! I told her to go outside and wave, but I still couldn't figure out where our house was.... When I got to the Waterbury side of Hunger Mountain, Peter came to pick me up. I had a great time! A nice 14 mile day hike. |
July 9th 2003 I had been hoping to cajole our 4th of July party goers into helping me put up siding on my house. I refrained. :-) My house siding has been an ongoing project for the past year. I finally bit the bullet today and devoted my entire daylight hours to putting up more siding. |
This is the east wall ------------->> I put up siding as far as I could reach. I'll have to devise a more elaborate scaffolding system to do the rest. |
<<----------This is the south wall. Eventually I'm going to knock out some of the wall, install French doors, and build a deck along the length of the house. Perhaps a greenhouse... |
Tomorrow I'll put up more siding, and stain the existing boards. I stained some of them today. |
July 10th Mom had other plans for me today ;-) She handed me a basket of seeds and instructions on where to plant them. |
I cleared out 5 raised beds and planted 4 with carrots, basil, mesclun mix and spinach. Grow little plants, grow! Eventually I'll finish clearing out the rest of the neglected beds, and make them look all neat and tidy. There are still a bunch more things to plant. |
July 12th In the space of 10 days, my hair went from well cut to totally unruly. I woke up this morning with my hair so poofed up, it looked like I was wearing a wig. I swear my hair grew inches overnight! I whipped out the hair clippers and got buzzing. I originally planned to snip it 1" long. Giving myself a buzz cut was so fun, I went over my head again with the 1/2" attachment. Goodbye hair! We went to a community potluck an hour after I sheared everything off. I got a lot of interesting comments. About 6 people felt up my hair. It feels so gooooood :-) |
July 2nd |
July 3rd |
July 12th |
I am so antsy to get on the trail again! Just a few more weeks, only a few more...I can make it... |
July 14th 2003 The ceiling over my kitchen area has multiple personality disorder. So far it's been painted white, blue, orange, yellow, and now, green. I've finally found the color I like! I feel like I'm in the middle of a cantalope when I'm standing in my kitchen. It's nice. Today Peter and I worked on a disinegrating dock on Curtis Pond. We replaced rotten boards, braced it up so it doesn't wiggle any more, and re-installed the steps onto a sturdier backing. |
I've been getting my trail fix by reading through-hiker journals at www.trailjournals.com A bunch of people I came to know on the Appalachian Trail have gotten off. The ones who are left are getting close to New England! Mabe I'll see some of them when I get back on the trail :-) |
July 28th WARNING: Rant ahead. GAHHHHHH!! I am so frustrated! This is one of those days I would really love a punching bag. I am frustrated, angry, depressed, antsy, agitated, stressed, uptight, cross, cranky, and just want to rob a bank. It sure would fix some of my problems. :-) Since I have been home: * I have been abused and bruised by my now ex boyfriend * My mother has almost been killed (twice!) by the idiots in our local ER * I've been stung 5 times and have a more severe reaction each incident * My mom, dad and I are being sued by my ex-boyfriend in small claims court. * I'm on a payment plan with the IRS and will be paying lots in interest and fines * I've only made $200 that's actually mine and not the government's since May 19th * My health insurance plan dropped me * I'm dealing with the board of the VYCC because the president is being a real (insert expletive here) * The court system has had 8 weeks to process my ex-boyfriend, and I can't leave because I need to be here for the trial * People treat me totally differently and not anywhere near as nicely as they did when I had long hair * Our computer is deleting files randomly * Our van died, we have one truck between the three of us and it's on its last legs * My mother has been saying she feels like she's going to die. The docs have predicted her imminent demise for a while now, but this is the first time I've heard my mom say it herself in all seriousness. It scares me. It seems like everything has gone rapidly downhill since we came home. I just want to get back on the trail and not come home until I've hiked every last inch of ground between Key West and Newfoundland. I'm sick to death of stop and start, stop and start. I hate seeing my mom and the rest of my life fall apart. I despise being so darn poor. If I had money, I'd buy my mom a nice camper van. We'd travel Newfoundland as I hiked south. We'd spend time together. She'd feel better. Maybe her congestive heart failure would get better as she spent more time at sea level. Heck, maybe she would be suddenly and miraculously cured of all of her chronic diseases! I would pay off the IRS, for good.....the entire $2,000 tax bill, plus penalties, administrative fees and interest. I'd pay off my expected taxes for next year. I'd pay of my mom's taxes. I'd pay off my upcoming property taxes of $1357.28. I would pay of my mother's $15,000 credit card debt, racked up from when her monthly disability payment of $350 failed to pay for everything we needed, such as food, gas, electricty etc as I was growing up. I'm planning on chipping away at her debt starting next year... when I'm thinking of becoming a wage slave instead of an independent contractor so I don't have to shuck out 30% of my income for taxes. I just wish I had a magic wand and could fix everything with one wave. Everything seems to have exploded since we've been home. You get the idea. My life sucks right now. I'll hope for a miracle and keep plodding along. |
