MORNING ROLL CALL L JUNE 2026

@Frozenoem , I don't live near SNP, but was there on Wed., when the fire started.  We were well aware of the high wind and fire danger warnings. Fortunately, for us, the fire started in the North District and we were in the South District slogging up a mountainside in search of another old family cemetery.  Found it!  About 25 uninscribed fieldstones and several depressions which had missing head/footstones.

Several of the fieldstones at the Calvin Morris cemetery in SNP

The wind wasn't really a factor for us until we emerged on a ridge where the cemetery was located. We had worked up a sweat on the climb up, but when that wind hit we chilled right out.  Not to mention another danger.  The trees were creaking and swaying and there were already a lot of fallen dead trees.

This shows a plethora of fieldstones, but note the deadfall and fallen trees. Not an ideal place on a gusty day!

Probably not a good day to be up on a ridge with all the leaning trees crackling and looking downright dangerous, but we escaped unscathed other than various greenbriar and wineberry gashes we suffered on the bushwhack in andout.

On my way home that evening, I did run into all sorts of fire engines and emergency vehicles and brush fires and smoke blotting out the sky in parts.  (This was outside the Park.)  It was downright scary. 😨 I began to worry I wouldn't be able to make it home, but I got through.  It was frightening how many fires there were and made you realize the wind was no joke.  I had also gotten traffic alerts about Rt. 1 in my county had been shut down due to fire fighting activities.  Fortunately, it was N of me (at Quantico), but it had apparently really messed up rush hour traffic since everyone was diverted to I-95.

@LaDolceVita , yep, I pulled out my first tick of the season last week.  I had used some red Repel from last year that had been in my truck and it was clogged and barely sprayed.  Obviously. 🙄 Pesky little buggers.

We are looking at a mild snow storm here in Madison, Wisconsin with around 4" of new snow on the ground outside my window. Snow to end around noon. 

They are forecasting more snow Sunday and Monday. Then some rain as the temperatures warm up.

Winter making a last gasp here.  Brisk temps and windy.  Had to plug the cat palace back in for the kids (triple tap to assorted heated kitty beds), since wind chill in the 20s tonight. 🥶  Yes, @SpringIsHereSoHappy, that would be Queen Willie Mae and Prince Giorgio. Can't have them freezing their little toe beans off.

Last Thursday, a friend and I went to a nearby state park and followed an old road trace to a early 19th-century cemetery.  On the way back, we noticed a flash of white behind some brush just off to the side and went to investigate.  It was a dead eagle. 😢 It was upsetting to find.  I'll admit we didn't know the proper procedure about what to do.  Are we suppose to report it?  (Yes, I found out later.)  The Visitor Center was closed at this time, so our options were limited.  We didn't touch it or disturb it.  I didn't think about waymarking it until we had returned to my truck and I took no pictures, because no, just no.  I called the number, but just a recorded message.  I did shoot an email to the state park and they responded the next day and thanked me.  I do not know if they found it or what happened next.

May you have a blessed day!

My second eye surgery is progressing well. I finally got a prescription for reading glasses. They are working well.

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@Therapist4u , correct, the lenses are Symfony, not Symphony.  Thought about editing and correcting my original post, but I left it.  They worked fine the first couple years, and I never had to reach for the readers, but the near vision has gradually degraded over time.  Maybe because your eyes do anyway and there's only so much that medical science can do to halt the inevitable march of time (in our lifetime anyway).. C'est la vie.

@Frozenoem , hiked in snow last December to an old cemetery in those SNP woods, not deep enough to require snow shoes, but got a little annoying when every time while bushwhacking through the overgrowth and inadvertently shaking the snow off the various low-lying branches and other annoying obstacles Mother Nature likes to throw in the way, the snow managed to find its way down my back.  Ya think you're bundled and sealed up tight, but that pesky snow will find a way to zero in on bare skin. 🥶 

And as we speak, there are already a plethora of hikers leaving or have left GA headed your way.  Should start seeing them around late summer, early fall. 🚶🚶🚶 Of course, they'll be passing through my way first. 🥾😊

@SummerOnTheWay1 , glad you are OK. 👍

Hey everyone, been MIA but I'm still hanging in there.  Rough January (bleeding into February), but back on my usual track which is usually off-trail. 😉 Literally.  Talking about daffodils, they made it a lot easier to find a homesite a friend and I were looking for in Shenandoah NP earlier this week.  Lower elevation.  Not much left of it and would have been easy to overlook had it not been for the telltale green stems and one solitary yellow bloom. And a couple of metal pots.

So I see  @SpringIsHereSoHappy deleted most, if not all, of her posts. 🤷‍♀️ Hope everything is all right with her.

Glad 2nd surgery went good, @DaveMcK . I actually paid extra to get the Symphony lens (not covered by Medicare) which is a type of bifocal lens allowing for close-up viewing, thinking it would be a good investment not to have the use readers for the rest of my life.  It wasn't; it was a waste of money.  Seven years later and I'm back to having to use them.  Glad I didn't throw out those dozens of dollar store reading glasses I have strategically placed around the home. 👓👓👓👓😎

I had my second eye surgery on Thursday and things are going well but I can not read small print very well.

Please do not send  me any private messages as it is very difficult to go back and forth. 

It will be about 1en days until I can get reading glasses.

Happy International Women’s Day

to: @LaDolceVita and @catwoman500 and Ms. Stretch @MsStretch and all the good women Front Porchers....including Dave McK’s Mrs. & all his women family & friends &  @DaveMcK ! Women help shape the future!

Take care one & all!

☮️  🌄 🍀 ~Allen 🍀 🌈  🎨