I'm back...WAY too early, after a frustrating adventure with blood, death, way too much snow, and a kitty.
We went too early. The first few days were good, but then we got to a higher area, and there were snow fields that were not safe to cross with the equipment we had. I managed to rip a hole in my foot, which has not yet healed. Once it does, though, my foot will have a heel at one end and a heal at the other end, as well.
I then tried to get back to northern California to do a different hike, but I was counting on a train, which struck and killed somebody, which caused it to be delayed rather understandably, so I gave up and came home.
Hope to get back out in a couple weeks, once a bit more snow has melted, but it will only be for two weeks, or so.
As for the kitty, it was a big one. A VERY big one. I didn't get a good enough look at it to be totally certain. I thought it was a large, mastiff-size, dog on the trail ahead of me, and by the time I realized that wasn't where the trail went, it was out of sight. I would have liked to have gotten a look at it's tail, to confirm what it was, but based on size, color, and motion, I don't think there is any alternative.
I was feeling pretty good, overall. Sitting around just isn't all that good. Of course, needing to bandage my foot each morning also isn't so good.
I had to do that for four weeks from the burn I told you about. Still not healed completely but doesn't need a bandage anymore. But you got to make sure to a avoid an infection.
I put an elaborate, fancy, bandage on the front part of my foot. The back part didn't need it. Therefore, what needs to be healed is well-heeled, while the heel is, well, healed.
Yeah. However, we're a bit better at predicting which years will be active and which won't. I haven't paid all that much attention to it, of late, since hurricanes rarely make it to Idaho, but there was some pretty cool research I was reading back in the 90s when I lived down there. It has to do with some atmospheric waves over Africa, the occurrence of which can be somewhat predicted. Of course, to some extent that is pretty meaningless. All it tells you is whether or not it is more or less likely that there will be a lot of news, without having any ability to either alter that, or predict where storms will develop.
Still, it can be summed up in Toto: I bless the rains down in Africa.
I know last year was actually an above average hurricane season, but they all got caught up in the Atlantic and went northeast instead of the typical west-northwest or north-northwest they typically take, so it wasn't that big of a deal.
Actually, I was more than wildly exaggerating. During the years I lived in Florida, the state was missed by every hurricane. I got there in the aftermath of Andrew. I got hired just before Andrew, and it took a week or two for the phone service to get back to the point where I could find out that I still had a job (the Keys were entirely missed).
However, when I was hiking back in 89, Hugo was coming towards the coast. People were telling me not to head out, due to the storm, but I knew the data: Hurricanes never crossed the mountains....until Hugo did. It proved to be a very exciting day. Quite likely, most of the trees that fell would have remained upright had the ground not been so utterly saturated, by then, but Hugo marked the 11th of 13 days of continuous rain. The ground could hardly have been more sodden. The roots couldn't hold, and the wind toppled numerous, huge, ancient, oaks, while I dodged from downed tree to downed tree, to get up to where I was pretty sure there would be caves I could hide in.
I vaguely remember Andrew. I would have been just over 1 years old and lived in Baton Rouge.
What's funny is I don't really remember the storm, but what I do remember is my dad telling me to go put on a shirt so that we could play on my basketball goal during the eye of the storm. But apparently I couldn't find one so I came outside with a pair of jeans over my head and my dad laughing himself silly.
Apparently Baton Rouge got hammered and we were out of power for weeks. I don't remember that part though.
I know nothing of the storm after it hit the Homestead area. I got down there just days after the storm, and it was awesome (in the literal sense). Whole neighborhoods were nothing but rubble...well, flattened houses, which looked more like the cardboard recycling bin that legitimate rubble. A big part of the destruction turned out to be due to building inspectors taking bribes. In south Florida, you have no winter and very little heavy weather, with those periodic exceptions. You can cut serious corners on building houses, because you might be retired before a hurricane exposes the chicanery. There were reports of roofs not being attached to walls, houses not being attached to foundations, and so on. Not a problem...until a hurricane hits.
Well built houses survived, aside from getting hammered by blowing debris. I heard that somebody got decapitated when they were riding out the storm on a sailboat and stepped out on deck as a large piece of building material came by. I have no idea whether or not that's a true story, and it likely isn't. Rumors were flying pretty thick in the aftermath of Andrew, just as we then saw in Katrina. Most of it was rubbish...and there was plenty of other rubbish for it to mix with in south Florida.
When I got to the Keys, power had been out for a bit, and no supermarkets were getting supplies. Power was back on and there was no damage at all, so all was pretty much as normal down there....except that grocery stores tended to be kind of empty, and frozen food was essentially nonexistent.
What I remember most about Hurricane Andrew was it completely obliterated the Cleveland Indians' brand-new spring training facility in Homestead that was close to completion and due to open the following February. The land was cleared and Homestead-Miami Speedway was constructed on the site. The team received a sizable insurance settlement and faced with the prospect of having no place to properly prepare for the 1993 season took that money and purchased the Boston Red Sox' rather run-down facility in Winter Haven where they played their spring ballgames from 1993 through 2008 when they moved to a new joint facility with the Cincinnati Reds in the west suburbs of Phoenix.
"Bones heal. Chicks dig scars. Pain is temporary. Glory is forever." - Robert Craig "Evel" Knievel
“Leave me alone, I know what I’m doing.” - Kimi Raikkonen
Was waiting in line to pickup my Rx. The guy in front of me started talking to me about the hot weather. Then he told me that last year he was homeless but not now. Said he found a large McDonalds bag full of money, said he turned it into the police but no one claimed it so they gave it to him. I wasn't sure how to respond so I just said, that's good, glad you got lucky. lol
What I remember most about Hurricane Andrew was it completely obliterated the Cleveland Indians' brand-new spring training facility in Homestead that was close to completion and due to open the following February. The land was cleared and Homestead-Miami Speedway was constructed on the site. The team received a sizable insurance settlement and faced with the prospect of having no place to properly prepare for the 1993 season took that money and purchased the Boston Red Sox' rather run-down facility in Winter Haven where they played their spring ballgames from 1993 through 2008 when they moved to a new joint facility with the Cincinnati Reds in the west suburbs of Phoenix.
I hadn't heard that one. I ended up buying a car that had been stored in the Homestead general aviation hangar. Only one wall of that hangar remained in any kind of shape. I assume all the windows were broken out of the car, but had been replaced. The body of the car was fine, though there was evidence of water damage in the interior, and I was never able to get all the glass out of the carpet in front of the back seat. Those seats were purely cosmetic, though, so it didn't matter that I couldn't get the glass out. Florida is hard on cars anyways. Having a hangar fall on you can't help any.
Wow, this might end up being a record for the number of consecutive days over 100. There's no end in sight. And it's been well over a 100. Suppose to be 109 today.
sapator, my daughter is heading to Greece at the end of July then going on a cruise, got any suggestions or warning for any of these places.
She is actually flying in a day earlier so they can spend an extra day in Athens, plans on going to the Acropolis one night.
Just saw this post.
"Split, Croatia" --> definitely explore the "city-core" (also called "old town"). basically the remains of the summer palace of roman emperor Dioclecian.
Which makes Split some 2000 years old.....
Beautiful markets on the east (??) side of old-town (can't miss it when coming from the port)
Warning: Don't engage the "Players" who lurk around the port, bus- and train-station (which are next to each other).
If you want to take a taxi, ask beforehand, what the total costs are going to be (guesstimated of course)
How i know that?
Nutshell: Split is in my "frontyard".... I "hail" from those shores (better said: my family has its roots there some 20 miles out of Split)
"Dubrovnik, Croatia" --> you do know, that a lot of scenes for "Game of Thrones" were filmed in Dubrovnik?
Last edited by Zvoni; Tomorrow at 31:69 PM.
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Originally Posted by dday9
