Cemetery Stomping at Oddfellow's and Hiking in the Woods

Since last month, each weekend has been spent either mowing, obliterating the wilderness with my chainsaw, hauling crap to the dump, supervising other people with machetes as they take out their frustrations on the backyard rain forest, hiking.. sorta.. up mountain sides and through ancient cemeteries, trying to find someone to fix the hemorrhaging water pipe under the house and staring at the tree that missed the roof by about 12 inches during the last gully washer.

In between the weekends, it's been overtime at The Asylum, bitchy customers, doctor's appointments with Ma and nursing home stress.

This weekend, it's just been me, Dexter and the bed. I am tired. I think I'm allowed.

On Mother's Day, The Amazon came home from work and hopped in the bed and offered to take me off on an adventure. I took a quick shower, threw on an old skirt and some flip flops and we took off with Ayla in TA's little Outback.

We drove up to the top of Froggy Mountain, took the turnoff and crossed the shaky overpass onto a lumpy old dirt road, heading further up in to the wilderness. We parked at the end of the road, way up in the woods somewhere, then set off on foot.

The pasture on either side used to be tobacco fields, but are now planted with berry bushes and fruit trees to feed the bears and other wildlife that is protected here. It was weird to be at a point so high that there were no other mountains on the horizon. At the end of the clearing, the path lead back in to the woods, which must be a popular spot with the hikers.

I hung out at the top while T.A. took Ayla down the trail to large pond. It was downhill and pretty steep. I doubted I could heave my fat ass back up the trail in flip flops. While she and Ayla enjoyed the pond view, we heard the distinctive honking of an amorous stag. I told T.A. to honk back. I figured, if he mistook her for another male deer and came after her, I could get a gazillion YouTube hits. T.A., however, refused.

Dammit.

We hung out up there for a while, it was so quiet. There wasn't anyone else on the mountain top and you could hear every bird, every bug. It was pretty awesome.

When we got back to the car it was still pretty early, so we decided to head to the far side of town and up another mountain to check out the Oddfellow's Cemetery. This too was far off the beaten path. We'd gotten about halfway up there before admitting we probably should  have taken the truck, not only for the 4 x 4 but also to keep from getting stuck in the ginormous pot holes. Some of them were big enough to swallow T.A.'s little car whole. It was more of a wagon trail than a road.

We drove past the cemetery twice before we found it. T.A. insisted that it was an old dog log at the top of the hill. I'm not even sure you could call it a proper cemetery. There were no borders or paths, just a smattering of graves in the woods. We walked and walked, the stones getting older, until we thought we'd reached the end, just to look ahead and find another group of markers. 

I knew that my Great Uncle Jim is buried up there somewhere, but we never found his plot. I did find a marker for a two other greats, brother and sister, who died about a year apart. 

So that was a bonus. I didn't even know they were up there. 

I was starting to get a little nervous, stomping around in the woods in a skirt and flip flops. It was the beginning of snake season and they love the thick leaves and brush we were battling. Plus it was hot and I was running out of steam. I think we spent an hour up there before I called it a day and decided to head back to the house. But I'm going back... when it cools off.. a lot. 

In other news, Little Allen fixed my leaky pipe and refused payment. His wife, RiRi Niblett is preggers again and I'm sure they could have used some extra cash. 

At The Asylum we're still waiting for the Germans to come save the day. They're currently in negotiations with Corporate over who's going to fix the shitty roof. I wish they'd hurry up.

There'll be more soon, now that I've found my card reader. However, I've also lost my camera charger. I think I need to get organized.

But not today. I'm going to toss some clothes on and run to the Dolla Store. I don't have any clean delicate underthings, I'm hoping they have some. The laundromat closes in 30 minutes and frankly, I'm not washing anything tonight. 

Or maybe I'll go commando.

Anywho, that's all for now. We'll talk again soon.

Later Taters!