The Slash Pile

I bought a nice colorful souvenir sticker at Roxborough the time we went a few weeks ago, so used it last week when we went back. Plus some butterflies.

This was a decent week, though my productivity and focus were extremely variable. Enjoyed our hikes on our days off, even the Monday one that went a bit sideways. No major work issues, though there still might be some drama looming. I've been feeling okay about writing... kind of making plans for writing some stuff under an unconnected pen name, see if that removes some pressure, ha. Though feeling positively about it is largely due to Saturday, when I finally got some things done. I didn't do as much reading as I would have liked, but did at least still read every day. Looking at my goal list, I did a decent amount of what I'd hoped to.

Goals for the week:

• I did read more of Night's Edge
• We spent time outdoors
• We went down to the office to do our apartment redetermination
• I mostly caught up with DW posting (and did by Sunday of this week)
• We did go get crickets
• I watered my plants (including the ones at work!)
• I didn't update my reading page
• I did the "plushie project" - knotting a string net for Alex's Breyer plushies, haha
• I didn't clean up Berry Mad's habitat yet
• I didn't work on my book reviews
• I did start reassessing some writing ideas

Tracked habits:

• Work - 5/7
• Household Maintenance - 4/7
• Physical Activity - 2/7
• Wrote 500/1000+ Words - 1/7 - over 500 words
• Wrote on 2nd+ Draft - 0/7
• Meta Work - 5/7
• Personal Writing - 6/7
• Other Creative Things - 3/7
• Reading - 7/7 - mostly I was reading Night's Edge, though I also read some of Duma Key with Alex
• Attention to Media - 7/7 - Sunday we watched You Should Have Left, which was a decent horror movie I think we'd seen before, Sleepaway Camp the problematic horror classic, and Prom Night, which is also a classic but didn't hold my attention terribly well; Monday I listened to the previous day's Re: Dracula, and we watched Jurassic World: Dominion but I fell asleep in the middle; Tuesday I listened to Re: Dracula (very short), watched a documentary about the Idaho student murders, then rewatched Old; Wednesday we watched Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (watching the films in reverse order, lol), but since Jurassic World was the one film not available, then moved on to Jurassic Park III; Thursday we watched Jurassic Park: The Lost World, and then finally the original Jurassic Park which is still by far the best; Friday we watched Better Watch Out which was a fairly silly holiday horror, and then Tragedy Girls which was a much funnier horror comedy; Saturday I had some youtube video essays in the background at work, and exploration videos in the background at home.
• Video Games - 0/7
• Social Interaction - 5/7

Total words written: 723 primarily on planning

Last Tuesday we decided to go to Roxborough again, to do one of the other trails. We typically take the trail that goes down toward the old house, but there's another trail that goes the other direction that we've only taken once or twice.

After the more-tiring-than-intended hike on Monday, we also wanted a fairly mellow hike, which this one is. It's also a no-dogs park, which was fine, because Bella had a very tiring day on Monday too, haha.

We got a slightly later start than usual, because we had some errands to run. I discovered on the Monday hike (after I fell) that my shoes were way more worn than I had realized. They never had great tread, but the soles right at the balls of my feet were so thin they were in danger of wearing through pretty imminently. Like... could see light through them. So I needed new shoes, and we wanted to get a backpack for Alex, since the over-the-shoulder bag was what was pressing on his neck and causing problems. But success! I got better shoes, he got a backpack, and we were off!


Nice view looking back at the rocks and the valley.


A lizard on the pathway up to the visitor center. It looks like he lost his tail at one point, and has a new one growing back.


A honeybee on asters!

Ten more pictures:

I love little insect houses. <3 A mud dauber wasp nest.


Lizard on the rock!

The visitor center has a log book where you can record any wildlife sightings you have in the park. We always like to stop and check for anything interesting. This entry was in there the last time we came to the park and it made me smile, so this time I took a picture:


Wildlife: boreal toad; Location: on trail; Field notes: Cute!

(Typically "location" is asking for where in the park. A+ field note, too.)

So then we headed down the Willow Creek trail.

Of course, the start of the Willow Creek trail basically provides two things. Hemlock, and...


Just... so much poison ivy. So much.

(I have never gotten poison ivy, though I've tried hard to avoid it. Years ago in Maryland I made the foolish decision to try and climb up the side of a mountain to check out a weird building foundation we could see from a trail. It was... not really worth the trip, and I'm pretty sure that everything I grabbed on the way down to avoid plummeting down the steep hill was actually poison ivy. If so, I've simply been lucky enough not to have reached my lifetime limit on poison ivy... but who knows how long that luck will last, haha.)


So much forbidden candy! Lots of oak galls.


Some nice rock formations.


A dramatic spiderweb.


More rocks!


The asters were blooming really nicely here, too. With a cute beetle!


Yucca and rocks!

This was a relatively short hike, but it was nice. I still generally prefer the other trail, but I'm glad we did this one again. Alex had a slightly better time on this one than the previous day, and the backpack definitely seemed to help. Still had to stop a few times to rest, but an improvement for sure, and the more frequent rest breaks are probably a good idea anyway.

Something being posted in the same week it happened? Will wonders never cease?

On Monday, we decided to go back to Castlewood Canyon. When we went the previous week, we didn't get to do the original hike we'd wanted (going to the dam ruins), so decided we'd take another shot at it, figuring that without the shorter side trails, we'd be able to do that one.

Spoiler: we have still not made it to the damn dam ruins, lol.

But it was still a good day!

We went to the middle parking lot, planning to pick up the creek trail, back down toward the falls we'd visited the previous week. The plan was to then keep following that trail to the dam, and then turn around and head back. At least the first part happened!


Down by the water, looking up at the cliff.


One of my favorite things we saw: it's a hummingbird nest! Lichens and seed fluff... It was so tiny and adorable. I was surprised it was so close to the path, though it was tucked up under the rocks.


Bella's postcard of the day, haha.

Eleven more pictures, mostly plants and critters:

Tiny baby acorns!


The asters were blooming very nicely.


Kind of a neat groundcovering plant. The leaves are very stiff.


These ants were enormous! Big carpenter ants, hauling stuff!


More pine cones at their fun "alien lifeform" stage.

Unfortunately there were a lot more people there than the first day we went... mostly unfortunate just because there were so many loud groups. I'd rather not listen to people shouting at each other.

Turns out, though, that if you keep heading toward the falls (instead of stopping at the overlook, where we had the time before), you can actually head down to the creek and get to the water.

It was a bit crowded, with a few different groups - some parents with little kids, some high school or college-age kids - having claimed most of the spots along the water itself.


Down in the creek. (Just past those rocks there is the waterfall that can be seen from higher up the trail.)

Unfortunately, I slipped and ate shit on the shore, haha. The mud-covered stone of the creekbed was SO slick, and I fell pretty hard. I was fine! Banged up my right hand a bit (didn't notice it until a couple days later, but ended up with a pretty gnarly bruise). The worst part was probably that I soaked my shoes and socks, and had to spend the rest of the day with squishy socks, haha.

On the way back out was where we found the little hummingbird nest, which I found utterly charming and adorable.

And next to that...


This guy! Doing a truly admirable job of mimicking a willow leaf! Holding itself at such a perfect angle to look like one of the leaves... very impressive! Obviously a sphinx moth caterpillar, but I didn't know there were any that used these willows as a host plant.

Up a little farther we found more raspberries, and absolutely snacked on a few.

Despite my fall, I was doing all right. Unfortunately, Alex was struggling. It was the first time in several weeks that he was having a rough time - he's done better this summer than last. Unfortunately, carrying one of the bags had really started to put pressure on a bad part of his neck, so he was starting to get light-headed spells in addition to pain. Plus his knee had been bugging him, and compensating for that was starting to aggravate his hip... so the usual cascade of one problem setting off all the rest.

So, alas, we did not continue on the trail to the dam, but instead decided to turn around.


This adorable lizard was hanging out back up at the trail.

We took a break for a bit, having a rest and a snack and all. Bella looked up, so I looked up...


SO MANY TURKEY VULTURES!

Apparently the raptor nesting program is going quite well!


One more Bella, because.

Unfortunately, sometime after this... we failed to notice the trail back up to the lot where we'd parked. I do not know how we missed it! We jokingly asked why there was more trail on the way back than on the way there... and then started to realize that we did not recognize the landmarks we were seeing.

Usually, this wouldn't be a huge issue, except we'd turned around because Alex was having a rough time, and we were trying to cut the hike short. Also, wet socks. (Though Alex's issues were way worse.) Bleh.

We should have just turned around, but knew the trail eventually would meet up with the homestead trail. Our initial thought was to get there and just walk along the road back, thinking that might be more direct... Not really considering that the road sucks and would probably not actually be a safe choice, plus wouldn't have anywhere to stop if Alex needed to rest.

So we walked extra, just to have to turn around and walk more extra to get back. Whoops.

We did get back to the homestead area, and sat at one of the benches over there for a while to rally. Bella took a power nap. Then we headed back along a different trail that was a fairly straight shot back to where we'd parked.


There was a bunny, though!

Minus the unplanned detour, it was a nice day. I was happy about the critters we saw, like the lizard and the vultures and the sphinx moth caterpillar. Also the little hummingbird nest, and some neat plants and such.

Maybe someday we'll make it to the dam, lol.