It feels good to get some fresh air into the lungs. The Cup and Saucer Trail is a very popular hike that’s only about a 2 hour drive from where I’m hunkered down and I figured I’d give it a go, so many folks had said good things about it. And they were correct-it’s laid out well, the scenery is gorgeous and there weren’t too many folks so of course my mind wandered to where it usually goes…
But there was no luck on that front. Most folks I passed were hiking in pairs and those that weren’t had taken a dog as company. There was a lone person here and there but I got to thinking that there was no way to tell if someone was coming along behind them as the trail twisted and turned in certain places. You’ve got to be smart about these things-if things don’t go perfectly a scream or yell can bring some fit people running right quick and all hell could break loose then.
So I got back into my vehicle and headed back. I’d reached the junction of Highways 6 and 17 and was turning west towards home when I saw a kid on the side of the road. He was hitchhiking but had lost hope of getting a ride. His thumb was out but his head was down against his chest. Guess he’d been there for awhile. I made a quick calculation and several tumblers clicked into place-the time of day, a side road, an inventory of what was in the trunk-they told me that this was a slam dunk. I pulled onto the shoulder.
As I lowered the passenger-side window he stuck his head in-
“Where you headed?”
“Not too far, about 90 minutes west of here. You?”
“I’m headed to B.C.-gotta long way to go.”
“Well, grab your gear and throw it in the backseat. We’ll knock a little chunk off your trip.”
“Yes sir!”
His open face and bald enthusiasm gave me pause, but just for a moment. He was from a small town outside Halifax and had been on the road for four days and was actually making good time, relatively speaking.
“B.C., huh? What’s out there? What’s your game plan?”, I asked.
“I’ve got three buddies out there that have been there about nine months. They’re sharing an apartment and they tell me there are plenty of jobs in the northern part of the province. I’ve been outta work for awhile. I just want to do something. Anything. I’m 22, don’t have a girlfriend and I want to see the country and live my life.”
My heart skipped a beat and I thought I might have briefly smirked. It didn’t seem as though he saw it. If he did, it didn’t seem to register. The sun was on its way down and the sideroad was coming up.
“Hey, I have to make a small detour, drop off some stuff to a cousin that lives on a road up ahead. You mind?”
He shook his head. As I turned in he looked at the road sign. “‘Seldom Seen Road’, we’ve got a lot of strangely-named towns and roads out east but this one takes the cake!” He shook his head again and smiled to himself. The road was about 8 kilometers long with houses on the righthand side for the first half and then spaced very far apart afterwards, most uninhabited. Nothing but dense bush on the other side. I slowed down and stopped in front of a residence that didn’t have any lights on.
“Looks like your cousin isn’t home”, he said as he peered out the window.
“Not a problem, I can drop the stuff on his back porch.” I popped the trunk and got out of the car. He was still staring at the house.
As I grabbed the mace and the tire iron I could see him looking at the overgrown grass, the sagging eavestrough, the broken bedroom window. I imagine a few tumblers began to fall into place for him now too. I went back to the open driver’s side door, peered in and was about to ask a question so he would turn towards me but he already had, a look of gradual realization that “something” not right was going to unfold. I gave him a full shot of mace in the eyes, his hands were flailing about, trying for the door latch but he was in full panic mode. I managed to grab him by the back of his collar and pulled him as hard as I could out my open door. Heaving backwards I lost my footing. He was half in and half out of the car, still flailing, trying to get to his feet. As he fell to the ground I was able to get to my feet and I gave him a blow on the back of his skull. He slumped onto the ground and I gave him another, and another. I quickly dragged him into the bushes and gave him some more. And then I dragged him further in.
I staggered back to the car, completely out of breath-“maybe a bit too much fresh air”, I thought to myself. I pulled into the driveway of the abandoned house and turned around and made my way back to the highway. As I pulled out I looked at the road sign, nodded and thought, “You’ve seen plenty of me over the years, haven’t you?” I smiled.
TO THE GAME!
Steelers/Bills:
-This is a tale of two qb’s-one that holds the ball for a long time looking to run or make a pass and another that zips it out of the pocket in about 2.2 seconds on average. Which is which?
-One thing that is holding the Steelers back-aside from the lack of a credible run game-is the amount of dropped passes that are occuring. Over just the last two games they’ve had 11 fall between mitts. The next team has five less.
-Wr-wise Diggs is the obvious start but Pitt has had a ton of trouble defending the slot and that’s where our man Beasley resides. He’s just come off a 130 yard adventure last week.
-What do you do with Conner now that he’s back? Does he gets the full workload or does the coaching staff throw caution to the wind and the wolves? Either way, I bet he gets injured-it just comes naturally to him.
Do as thou wish.
evening.
I’m just now coming down from the euphoria of the bears scoring more than seven points in the second quarter
Did the other team’s entire defense come down with Covid?
Steelers trying to start a fight because they are losing. I call that Presidential Level Losing.
They’re going to appeal to the Supreme Courtyard by Marriott.
I’d love to see LeMu Emu peck out and eat Doug’s eyes and throat.
Fucking this. I hate those ads
LIBERTY LIBERTY LIBERTY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxWo7yG-W-E
Ben ANGRY!
When Ben is intercepted, an angel gets its wings.
Jesus Hopping Christ. I’m done with this game!
I LOATHE this “song.”
Dinner was everything I hoped for! That Beasley looks like he could be Mrs. Beasley’s son, with those golden curls. When we were in high school, Gumby had this weird old poodle who had a hysterical pregnancy. Her “puppies” were a Mrs. Beasley doll and a squeaky toy shaped like a hamburger. She would attack anyone who got too close.
Just finished helping Mrs Sharkbait prep for cookie baking tomorrow. Molasses cookies are so bad for you, but oh so good
PEAK CANADIAN ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED
Needs to be Nanaimo bars… (not really, they’re not a particular favorite of mine)
23-7? What the hell happened?
Karma?
My dinner is almost ready, so I may just abandon this shitshow! I am making stuffed acorn squash with quinoa, mushrooms, onion, garlic, zucchini, blue cheese, and chopped pecans. Smells really good, we shall see?
Forgot dried cranberries and a little chopped chicken.
Whew, thought you were going vegetarian there.
Going with sauteed steelhead filet, quinoa, and steamed pea tendrils with garlic.
Oh, and wine. Most definitely wine.
for the best. That is far better than our crap 🙂
Ben’s dad?
When Josh Allen played at Wyoming he was a gambling gold mine.
Pittsburgh is the frauds everyone thought they were due to the easy schedule?
Maybe they should cover Diggs.
Would probably be a start.
Please don’t. Need a few more FF points from him
Seems so
I think the “Cleveland At Least We’re Not Owned By Marge Schott”s has a nice ring to it.
You ever have knee hurt so much that you’re like “shit, I should go to the doctor” but you know they will ask what happened to it, and I’d have to say…”I have no goddamned idea.”
THIS. And not just the knees. Like every body part on random days
I did 20 min yoga with Mrs. Cola today, and for some reason my calf muscles are really f’ing sore this evening.
Gotta stretch now for anything physical. We old now. It sucks
And yoga is hard. Want to try it, but like, covid and trying NOT to be the creepy dude in the class
Covid is legit, but once it’s not an issue, show up and if anyone makes you feel creepy they’re shit and you should go elsewhere
That is why we are doing at home with beginner shit on youtube. Felt superb afterwards, stretching it all out etc.
I think there are Zoom yoga classes too and shit now.
“Well I was training for a marathon and–”
“Ahem.”
“…Ok, I was trying to close the fridge with my leg because I had so much cheese in my arms…”
Is it a clicking and catching type pain? Because that would be a meniscus injury. If it’s achy this fucking sucks type pain then that’s called arthritis.
If you didn’t do anything to injure then that rules out ligaments.
It’s called old age my friend.
I have knowledge only because I got there first.
I don’t have a meniscus injury. Would need to have some for it to be injured.
Arthritis fucking sucks. I’ve had it since I was 12.
No joke. Rheumatoid arthritis.
Coworker has RA, it sucks. Sorry man
Oh, that’s bad. I am sorry. Are any of the new generation drugs helping?
I just learned to accept it. It is always there but I’m not going to let it stop me.
Just some NSAIDs as needed.
Yes. Then I caved anyway. Turned out to be because at 28 I had the body of a retiree.
A non-NFL retiree.
Is Mr Mayor Ted Danson going to city officials to break up homeless encampments and side with the LAPD when they shoot an unarmed black man.
ONE MOAR catch for Ebron, and then I beat DonT so long as Jarvis Landry dies shortly after kickoff.
Insurmountable lead surmounted!
Tyler Bass needed to be a little more sharp on that kick eh?
He got the TD, but damn, tuck that proper man!
Let’s go Buffalo
Norwood’d the extra point. Lol
SHANK’LOR cares not for your wings!
Suck it, Ben!
MOAR LIEK Bass-NO-Matic if u ask me smh
2 SECONDS FROM DROPBACK TO INTERCEPTION
Fffffffuuuuuuccccckkkk!
HARF CHANGE
Ruh roh, The Ben
REVERSAL OF FORTUNE! HARF-PICK-SIX!
HARFCEPTION!
Is it just me, or is Collinsworth extra insufferable tonight?
Not just you
He’s all ecstatic from learning that Toronto is in Canada.
He’s always like this when it’s the Steelers. Prick.
Thank you brie, for making glogg palatable.
Answering touchdowns with field goals seems like a recipe to lose.
I know Allen’s making completions, but he’s throwing EVERYTHING high.
Okay, not that one, but everything else has been thrown high.
Eh, better than Tebow
Well shit, I’d take Josh Allen over Tim Tebow in that stupid car commercial too. And on football shows. And actually just everywhere Tim Tebow is, I’d replace him with Johs Allen.
*sighs wistfully*
-Demi Leigh Tebow
Yes, I can confirm I would totally prefer Josh Allen be the one to plow her in their marital bed over Tim Tebow.
That makes TWO of us! – Tim T., Gainesville, FL
“Not that we don’t have the sex. We, like, totally have all the sex. Too much sex, even. So. Much. Sex.”
-T. Tebow
Sadly (using his accuracy as a NFL QB as an example), he probably is still a technical virgin with several…um…incomplete attempts.
Probably should stayed away from the weed before kick off
Josh Gordon has entered the chat
They play tackle* football in the National Football League!
*sometimes
Ugh. Fine. There’s a half left. I’ll finish the Glogg.
Nobody: Taken without the Kidnapping and Sexual Trafficking
So falling down?
/Hasn’t seen any of the Taken movies
Only saw the first one. There was two more and and series, but to quote Kevin Smith when he was approached for a sequel for Beetlejuice “”Didn’t we say all we needed to say in the first Beetlejuice? Must we go tropical?”
Its worth seeing once though. Think of it as Liam Neeson as a retired John Wick going Papa Wolf.
With a dash of A History of Violence
Stefan Diggs is as confused as I am why he’s running a 2-yard route on 3rd and 18.
Oh shit
US Treasury was hacked
this seems
NOT ROCKINNG
But we put Rudy Giuliani in charge of teh cyberz!!!!!1
HE STOPPED 9/11!
Eh, just emails. No big. It’s not like it’s HILLARY”S EMAILSOMGLOESHAWSEKLDJLAWEO!
Lock. Up. The Treasury.
Oh wait, it already is.
/I know it’s not a giant vault of gold but just go with it.
The Fixx! I’ll allow it!
u r being Saved By Zero wen u think about it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zta1Le1Q-iI
The funk does not find favor
*favoUr
I’ll take it!
If you’d told me three teams from the AFC North would make the playoffs this year, I would have told you the divisions must have gotten realigned.
Just be thankful that the Bengals front office and coaching staff broke the franchise. All four teams could’ve made it.
Nevermind. Forgot how to count.
No, I’m right. Dammit, this year is confusing!
Insurmountable lead?
Let us pray.
So. Dumb.
Race to 3 points wins it?
Insurmountable lead!