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Twenty sandwich baggies of GORP dutifully filled with four handfuls in each. 20 days of snacks.:) The more I can do on this end, now, the less I have to do and/or buy later! I still need to make jerky, that is such a messy business. More fruit leather, too. The problem with my dehydrator is that the round, circular trays are too big for the sink, it makes cleaning them a pain in the neck. Using parchment paper at least cuts down on the mess.

Bear jokes abound at work. Courtesy of a LEGO-fan coworker, there are two LEGO buses at work, with little LEGO figures representing each of us. We take turns throwing each other under the bus. Anyway…. I bought a little hiker Lego from ebay, complete with walking stick. Now, I am told, a Lego bear will be brought in as soon as she can find it. Hmph. I get NO respect!

Oh, and I seriously mis-milestoned about a week ago, and claimed two weeks out when it was really three. But now, it really is less than two, at work, I mean. I am filling out my last timesheet. *wipes an imaginary tear away* There is an allcall on Wednesday, which will include a “hail and farewell”, I expect they’ll farewell me then.

Low blood sugar, and a scheduled dinner at Brother Sebastian’s Steakhouse to celebrate my brother’s new job – I’m not the only one leaving my job on April 1! 🙂 So…

Ciao!

Hey, did anyone catch the number of the steamroller that ran over me? It’s a good thing I didn’t have much planned for today! I still will oatmealize and genealogize, but not much else!

Ah, me. I did not lose as much weight as I meant; I will unfortunately have to do some trail-clothes shopping. But the bright spot is that the convertible pants, which is the most expensive piece, stretch just enough to fit, and will fit better in a few weeks. These wonderfully lightweight pants have legs that completely unzip and slide off to form shorts. Very handy.

Sigh. Steamroller.

Ciao!

Well, I did say it would be a busy day. It was. Half the day was spent boxing and cleaning at my place; an hour for prayer; a nap; and then helping out the brother with some of HIS stuff. We were going to rent a Uhaul and bring all the stuff over here, but it was closed today. How dare it be! So he’ll do that Tuesday…. gives me a bit of extra time for my own stuff. The room looks considerably different already though!

Tomorrow… oh, I have no idea what I will do tomorrow. More packing, I guess. I am pretty close to done on the genealogy project, so I might try to finish it up tomorrow. If only my ancestors didn’t have so many children – the next group sheet I need to tackle, they had 13 children! Oatmeal packets to fill, too. Quiet, non-stressful preparation-chores for a Sunday.

The weather today was bizarre. If it was supposed to be some kind of sign, I’m not getting it.

Ciao!

I should have done “before” and “after” pictures of the room before I moved the mattress and foldable frame, but I didn’t want to frighten anyone!

Turns out that my room DOES have a floor. it was hiding under the bed. Maybe IT was frightened.

Hello, stuff in boxes that I have not looked in a long time. How nice to see you. Some of you may even be useful on the trek!

Ashes to ashes, dust to… ooooh, donut! Dad is back from the Dunkin Donuts run! COFFEE!

Part of the preparation for the trip is making sure the Dad will be okay while I’m gone. That includes him being prepared for my absence… So I ended up at Bingo with him tonight to spend time with him. He enjoyed that.

And maybe it was for the best, this weekend will be a frenzy of boxing and moving stuff. Tomorrow the bro and I rent a uhaul van tyo empty out his place and move stuff temporarily into the garage, then I finish packing up my stuff, and his stuff and my stuff swap places… Oh, yes, and a celebration dinner for his new job!

I have a kind friend with a Sam’s Club membership (I let mine lapse), so he is picking up two huge bags of my favorite trail mix for me. I foresee much more portion bagging in the future. Also, I need to make 3lbs of beef jerky, I love that supermarkets will slice the meat thin and into strips for you, it saves so much time and effort!

Okay, tonight was a double shot of chocolate vodka to ground out a long work week, so I will say…

Ciao!

Nothing to report tonight, for a change.
Slainte!

Song of the night: What a Feeling

Ladies and gentlemen, the weights have left the pack.

Today was a good day. 🙂 The new equipment arrived from REI, the sleeping bag and tent fit into the compression sacks, compressed very well, and I was able to get the mini-backpacking stove to light. I also tried on the mosquito netting head net… talk about incredibly geeky! But hey, if it works, I suspect I won’t care how it LOOKS. I will just never wear it for pictures!

So I loaded up the pack… I’ve been carrying 32 lbs lately, but the pack came in at 17! Now, granted, I did not have food or water in there, which I figure will add another 10 lbs – water especially! But that is still lighter than I have been carrying, so I am happy. There is a deep sense of satisfaction tonight. I’m finally feeling that I am almost ready. There are still things I need to do, but I can finally see that start line in the distance.

The dad and the brother will be out of town the weekend of April 2-3, so I figure I will get one more shakedown mini-backpacking trip in before the real thing. Especially since April 1 is my last day at work, I can extend it – preparations permitting. Any last minute gear I need to buy can be ordered and delivered before I head out on April 9.

I have a feeling I will go into a frenzy of box-packing and a flurry of genealogy work this weekend. I want to get both of those finished before Palm Sunday. Well, okay, there /is/ a pub crawl in Old Town Bellevue this weekend that might, um, distract me.

I came home from work smelling of smoke and BBQ. That doesn’t happen very often.

Ciao!

You’d think I’d learn after the experiences of Jay Peak to carry water with me to ward off cramps, but noooo. Fortunately, it was only a 3.5 miler, so they didn’t get bad, but I mixed up a glass of water with two tbsp lemongrass mint balsamic vinegar when I got home, and am drinking that.

At least I *think* it was a 3.5 miler – two outer loops. I took my GPS along and reset all the trip data to try to clock the distance and average speed, but apparently I am Superman’s hitherto unknown cousin, because the GPS informed me that in the course of 75 minutes, I travelled 338 miles. I never knew! You may call me Bets’El.

I have eighteen brats bubbling in the slowcooker, with another twelve in the frig waiting their turn. Office cookout tomorrow.

Hey, 3/4 done! I don’t think I’m ready yet, but I”m getting closer day by day. 🙂

Ciao!

Reporting from the sick ward… Dad has a cold and a mild fever, and the brother has bronchitis. So far, I am unscathed. *crossing fingers* Sounds of Patrick Stewart boldly going where no one has gone before are drifting in from the living room.

Otherwise, it was a good news day! The physical went well. I’ve lost almost 10 lbs, not including the muscle I’ve gained in exchange for the other fat I’ve lost. I like it. 🙂 I also have three sets of prescriptions, for three 90 day supplies of medicine. One for April – June, one for July – September, and one for October on, so I will be able to refill my meds on the trail. This is a HUGE load off my mind. And what I thought was carpal tunnel, or worse, is probably just a pinched nerve, according to the nurse.

So I check out okay, physically, and am cleared for take off!

My room *does* still have a floor. How about that. I moved ten boxes into the garage tonight. Once the gear I ordered gets here – probably Thursday – I’ll be able to set to filling the pack properly.

No walking tonight, and no Pi Day events (well, I did bring 2 pies from Village Inn to work). I was just feeling drained when I got home, I fell asleep. Oops.

Captain Picard is bouncing around in time.

Ciao!

Nine broken down boxes have arrived at my house. They are staring at me in challenge, daring me to do something about them. Tonight, I will meet some of their challenges.

Today was fairly productive, though the onions in my main dish salad are too strong. I identified the items I still need, and cannot find in the local stores, and ordered them through REI – gaiters, silk liner socks (so I can doublelayer my feet – silk on the inside, wool on the outside. It helps prevent blisters), and two compressible stuff sacks for my sleeping bag and tent, so they won’t take up as much space in the pack. I still need to pick up some first aid supplies, extra memory cards for the camera, and sunscreen, but I can find those anywhere.

I pulled out and thawed some frozen blueberries and some frozen raspberries, pureed them in the blender, and am making more fruit leather. I did have to add a lot of cornstarch to thicken; hope it turns out all right.

I suppose I should be grateful for the extra hour of daylight, but it’s too soon yet. Maybe tomorrow. I need to do some common household chores anyway, so I might end up walking in the dark all the same, or not at all. Today’s Sunay, anyway, it’s supposed to be a day of rest. It looks like tomorrow I’ll be running all over Omaha after work – plus I have that physical in the morning, whee….

Ciao!