Ouch!

I've been at home most of the day with a foot that's been sore for three days.  I walked a mile this morning and this time it was really painful.  When I got home I took off my shoe and sock and finally took a good look.  The top of my right foot was swollen and warm. Not good.

Gary, in Illinois, diagnosed it as gout (both he and and his father had gout attacks), but I don't think so. The area is not red or hot, just warm.  I wore a pair of shoes that rubbed that area  for a couple of day. I think time will take care of the problem.

Either way, the treatment is RICE:  rest, ice, compression, elevation.  And that's what I'm doing.  It means I am stuck here in the house for a while, but because of that I am getting things done on projects that have been here on my desk for too long.

-----
One of the projects is re-learning to text.  I first learned about texting years ago when I visited New Zealand. Everyone there was texting even older people yet it was new to Wisconsin then. I came home and learned how to text.  Then I discovered I didn't know anyone here who texted. I gave up on it.

Later, my cell phone was going down hill, with the keys not hitting properly, so that I got doubles on numbers when I dialed. It meant re-dialing when I tried to make phone calls and made texting impossible.

A couple of weeks ago, Gary got me a new cell phone and told me to learn how to text.  Sitting here with an ice pack on an elevated foot meant time...and so I re-learned to text.  It was not difficult though I don't know the lingo. I doubt I will ever use "u" for "you" or "r" for "are" and some phrases like LOL are too trite for me, but I expect BTW could be useful.

Now I have to discover how many people I know that text. So far there are only three on my list but I expect it will grow.

---
Wade Peterson posted the first half of his story at Black Coffee Fiction. http://blackcoffeefiction.blogspot.com/2013/06/planned-obsolescence-part-1.html

Every so often Betty, Wade or I write a story too long for our goal of 3,000 words so we have to split it into two parts.  Betty and I both had that happen within the last few months, now it is Wade's turn.  He returned to his favorite sci-fi genre in "Planned Obsolescence".  Part 2 will be on the blog on July 5.

It means that I won't need to have a story until July 12, the day before I leave. That works out perfectly for me.  Otherwise, I would have had to write a story on July 26, the day I come back from the Circle Tour.

Cooling Down

The rains came and cool weather came to Wisconsin. The humidity left and took with it my arthritis pains.

I got Gary off on another trip to Illinois this morning and felt peppy, so much so that I was able to meet with Beth in Oshkosh, where she had come from Texas with Doug to visit her mother, now in a nursing home.

Odd how much that matches the experience of Norma, who also came to visit her mother.  Norma stayed with her sister whenever she came to Oshkosh.  Beth and Doug stay with his father in a house that is only three blocks away. The houses are almost identical, at least on the exterior. It was eerie.

Beth and I went to the shore of the Fox River in downtown Oshkosh.  We sat under an umbrella at a table on the patio of the Ground Round.   The food was delicious as we talked about old times.  We met at the University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh almost fifty years ago.   We exchanged photos of grandchildren. Hers is a three year old girl and mine is Evan, of course.

We caught up on what we are doing these days.  Beth is an artist, I am a storyteller. We both know we will never be rich doing what we do.  I told her about the student musicians at Juilliard who pay thousands of dollars to attend the prestigious school.  They graduate with great skills but then can't make a living here in the United States.  Often, the best they can do is teach and inspire new students who then will not be able to find jobs. Often they go overseas to countries where the governments support the arts.

We all do what we love and hope for the best.

Tonight I am at home in a quiet house.  

Pain

I'm walking more these days, averaging three miles a day.  I thought I would walk four miles today and had already done three when a storm rolled in with high winds and about an inch of rain. When it was over, arthritis rolled in, too.

My knees have given me some trouble over the years, but once I start walking, I am usually fine if I take the one aspirin a day we senior citizens are required to take for their hearts.....just before I set off. That way the aspirin does double duty. Tonight, that didn't do the trick.  

I started off but within a block I knew my knees weren't going to make it.  Even my feet and my hands were aching.  I went back home to apply muscle rub to every part of me that hurts.

It's a part of aging that I mostly accept, but tonight I resent it.

As I type, Gary is packing his gear to go back to Illinois.  There are still decisions to be made about the estate, repairs to be done on the farmhouse, and brush clearing. He expects to be there a week. I'll catch up on writing and cleaning while he is gone, and let my body heal.

Or maybe I'll be fine tomorrow.  Could go either way.

A Glory Day

This morning the news was good. The Defense of Marriage Act has been overturned, at least an important part of it. The married LGBT will now have the federal benefits of male-female couples. Proposition 8 is done for. Governor Jerry Brown already had the forms ready, so gay marriages in California will resume in 25 days.

All this week I was worried the decision might go the other way, and another decade or so would pass before the change happened.  Justice Kennedy, the swing vote, made the difference. I wonder if he and Justice Sotomayer will face the wrath of their Catholic church.

A few years ago, I was visiting my cousin and his partner in Colorado.  Charles asked if I would like to go to Gay Pride Day in Denver.  Our first stop was at the beginning of the Gay Pride Parade where the march was being organized.  We stopped to see the Boulder contingent which was a float containing LGBT teenagers.  They all wanted to be on the float which left their two advisers to march in front holding the long banner.  It was causing them some trouble because the wind was blowing it around.

They needed help and we didn't have anything else to do. Charles and I went to the middle, grabbed the cloth and we were on our way to march in the Gay Pride Parade.  It was great fun, waving to the crowds, being part of a happy throng.  The costumes were gay and colorful. Everyone was grinning and laughing.  I wished I had worn better walking shoes because I knew at the parades end we would have to walk back to the car, but I didn't care if I got blisters.

The only bad part of the parade was passing by the big Catholic church where members were waving signs at us, telling us where we were headed, and they didn't mean downtown.  But then a bunch of teenagers saw what was happening, stood in front of the hate signs, and began to cheer as loud as they could to drown out the awful people.

If, as the song says, we are to known Christians by their love...then Christians must learn to love and stop praying for people they don't understand to suffer the tortures of Hell.  

Later that afternoon, we heard a Methodist pastor speak in favor of gay marriage.  He pointed to his wife sitting on a balcony.  He said they had been married 49 years and he didn't think that would change if marriage became available to everyone.  That was exactly right. Since gay marriage won't change my life  one iota, why should I oppose it?  I always figure anyone that worries about other people's sex lives, must be missing some in their own.

Today's Supreme Court decision hasn't been perfect.  There is a long way to go, of course, since only 14 of the States and the District of Columbia allow gay marriage.  It will take time. Red states will resist but then Mississippi only this year officially abolished slavery.  In the end even Wisconsin will finally end its homophobic ways.

History is moving in the right direction.  It only needs a little prodding.  

Itinerary - Canada

This afternoon I was at the Seymour Farmers Market selling my books. It costs $25 for a spot for the entire summer season. My tent cost me $1 at a rummage sale.  I sold $28 worth of books so I am already in the black by $2.00.  

---

Back to the Circle Tour itinerary. 

July 17.  After the Sault Ste Marie library performance, I'll check in at the Glen View campground for two nights. Gary and I were there last year and liked it.  Then we stayed in one of the bare bones cabins, but this time I may tent. Either way, there are good showers and wi fi.  

I'll be performing at a senior residence the next day, finishing late.  

On July 19, I'll drive to Lake Superior Provincial Park. This place tends to be a zoo, so I figure on going to the same place we were last year, Crescent Lake, which is so much like one of my Wisconsin lakes.  By then a little serenity will be in order. 

A day later, I'll be at Neys Provincial Park, a new one for me.  For a while, I thought I might be performing there.  The gig fell through but I still want to see the park, which is located a short distance from the Schreiber Public Library.  I performed there last year and I was asked back for a city celebration on July 21.

The next day I'll be at Kakabeka Provincial Park where I'll stay for two nights.  Last year, our tent was too big for any of the campsites available.  I doubt that will be a problem with my $19.95 two person tent.  

On July 23 and 24, I'll be at three senior residences in Thunder Bay, finishing at the Isabella Retirement Home at 3:00 pm.  I'll cash the final Canadian checks and head across the border to the United States to Cascade River State Park in Minnesota.

On July 25, I'll drive the four hours to Lake Wanoka in the Chequamagon National Forest.  That's in Wisconsin, so I'll be heading home soon. 

The next day I hope to have lunch with my brother Carl and his wife Sue before one last senior residence performance in Ashland.  My next stop may be at one of my favorite spots, Beaver Lake.

And the morning of July 27, I will do the longest drive of the trip, five hours, to return home. 

 I expect many changes, there always are.  

I calculate that I will drive approximately 1,300 miles, with gasoliine costing me $275.00.  I am figuring on average I will spend $30 per night on campgrounds for a total of $450.  Food will probably come to $50, though that really shouldn't be factored in much since I would eat anyhow. The total: $775.00

I will earn $850 by storytelling and perhaps will sell some books.  

That is my itinerary, but it is not written in stone.  I expect many changes, there always are.  

Itinerary

I finished putting the Circle Tour itinerary on paper today.  This is what the first few days look like. 

I leave Seymour on Sunday, July 13, car packed with all that I deem necessary and maybe even a few things that Gary insists on.  My first planned stop is Camp 7 in the Hiawatha National Forest in the Upper Peninsula.  I stayed there a few years back and enjoyed it.  Before I get there I will pass into the Eastern time zone and will have to change my clocks.  As a senior citizen, I pay half-price at any national forest service campground.  This one will be $6.   

The next morning I want to visit a friend in Trout Lake then drive up to one of my favorite spots, Bay View, a campground overlooking Lake Superior. This would be my fourth stay.  It can be very cold there so I know I will find a use for that winter sleeping bag.  But oh, the joy of waking to the sound of waves crashing against the shore.

The next day, July 15, I'll drive to Drummond Island, the easternmost point of the Upper Peninsula. I'll have to take the ferry to reach the island. That night I'll camp at the Drummond Island Township Park on the shore of Lake Huron. 

The next morning, July 16, I'll perform at the Drummond Island Township Library at 10:00 a.m.  I have to finish right on time and hit the road because I have to take the 12:10 ferry back to the mainland and drive to Cedarville, Michigan.  If I miss the ferry, I won't make it so I have to have this timed just right. 

I'll perform at Les Cheneaux Public Library at 2:00 p.m.  Afterward I'll go to Loon Point for another camping night overlooking Les Cheneaux Islands.  I'll set up the tent then drive to the town of Pickford for an evening performance at the library.  By 9:00 pm,  I'll be back at the campground. 

The morning of July 17 I will pack up early. I have to cash the checks from the day before and fill up the gas tank before crossing the border to Canada.  Gas averages around $5.50 a gallon in Ontario at present.(Today I figured this out by adapting liters to gallons and the the Canadian currency to that in the United States. I like the metric system but the United States is still in its outmoded system so I worked it out for my readers.)  It makes sense to have a full tank of less expensive gas.  I can drive 530 miles in the Subaru before filling up again, so I should only have to buy one tank full of the more expensive gas while I'm in Canada. 

I have to get those errands done before I get on the bridge that marks the crossing. I've been stuck on that bridge before. Last crossing, Gary and I were pulled aside by the United States border patrol for a spot check that took two hours. I don't expect as much trouble with the Canadian Mounties, who seem laid back compared to their counterparts on the other side of the bridge.  

I'll find a bank to exchange my United States dollars to Canadian dollars if I have time before an afternoon performance at the Sault Ste. Marie library. 

Tomorrow...the Canadian itinerary.   

Lush Green

Gary gets such good ideas. This evening at 7:00 pm, he said, "Let's go for a drive."

First, a stop for chocolate shakes.  Then he aimed the Subaru west.  Just outside Seymour, a mink ran across Highway 54.  Now that is not a thing we see around here, but there was no mistaking it.

We've had rain this spring, lots of it, and it shows in the shades of green.  After years of near drought, it is a pleasure to once again see the Wisconsin I love. For years, whenever I came home from a tour, I crossed the border into this green world and knew I was home.

We were on our way to Van Patten Road once again to see what we could find in the marsh. It wasn't easy because the rye grass has grown so tall alone the dikes.  If we stopped the car and stood we could just see a few birds.

The best spot to see anything is the viewing platform.  

By the end of the evening, we had seen:  sandhill cranes, red-winged and yellow headed blackbirds, pie billed grebe, redhead ducks, and mallards.

At first we didn't see geese but in time we were able to spot them hiding in the grasses...with their gosliings. We could hear thunder pumping in the reeds and knew the American bitterns were there, though of course we never see them.

Darting over the swamp were black terns.  I hadn't seen them in the swamp for several years but now there were plenty of bugs to feast on.

We finally left as the sun was setting.

Some of the people I meet talk about birding as a stupid hobby done by boring people.  I wonder if they have ever listened to the "ka-thunk" of the bitterns as the sun goes down.  Pure romance.