Our son Wiley is currently on the PCT with a group of buddies from Vashon Island.  Three of them started at the Mexician border this Spring and have been hiking north.  Wiley flew to Bakersfield and joined them after a tough catchup march.  They are all together now and you can follow their progress on this wonderful blog: http://postholer.com/journal/viewJournal.php?sid=6b34a74cf7fe895c5864a24e075560d9&entry_id=46275

The PCT is it’s own brand of Camino for sure.   There is personal challenge.  There is camaraderie,  There is adventure.  There is a rolling party, There is a chance to get away.  There is danger of physical and physiological meltdown.  There is physical beauty in spades.  Yea.  So, we are thinking of these guys and praying for them as they journey onward.  They will come back to us inspired, healthier, wiser and new and improved.

To borrow  Dr. Seuss’ quote from Annie O’Neil’s book, “Your mountain is waiting so…. get on your way!”

I have 15 minutes to do this so a little short story is in order.  Rebecca, my dear wife, and another lady had the job once of doing an estate sale.  The people whose property was to be sold were some of those amazing folks that lived through the Great Depression.  They were very frugal and watchful and never threw anything away it seems.  So, Rebecca and Susan are sorting and pricing and displaying in preparation for the big weekend sale.  And they come across this cigar box with the writing on the lid, “Pieces of String, Too Short to Save”.   That’s it!

My personal movement numbers:

6/22/14 – 5 miles, 17673 steps.

6/23/14 – 6 miles, 17941 steps.

6/24/14 – 1 mile, 7910 steps (treatment day).

6/25/14 – 4 1/2 miles, 17332 steps.

6/26/14 – 0 miles, 8979 steps (treatment day).

Really,  poison goats came up in the last twenty four hours.  Flying monkeys in the “Wizard of Oz” I’ve seen, flying fish I have seen, poison frogs I have read of but poison goats, a really new one on me.  This all started in a dream that I had last night.  I was denied access to Mexico at the border because I had a record of trying to bring in poison goats to their pristine country.  What?  Typo, something lost in translation maybe?

Maybe you could make the argument that poison goats would be an improvement.  Maybe a vanguard agricultural project.  Maybe an activity for a new wacky holiday.  Maybe goats were given standard health shots in US that are not allowed south of the border.  Well, needless to say, I did not come up with these great goat ideas in my dream.  I didn’t get there the “firstest with the mostest”.

I am off to see one of my doctors and one of my spiritual advisers today.  I will have to run this one by them.  They have heard it all and will bring clarity to my situation.  Maybe it is some new strange chemotherapy side effect that I have not run across yet, although that would be hard to believe.  But I will bring it up.  Thanks for sticking with me through thick and thin, Phil.

I am back home and back at the Big Unit computer to pass on this info this AM.  I will get the hang of the Little Unit (Kindle Fire) given some time.  OK, so a friend of my faithful dog Sture sent me an email yesterday with a link to a NYC article.  Very interesting both.  The article is very interesting and a emailing dog, where is Ed Sullivan when you need him?  We will have to investigate that at some future point.  Anyway, here is the link:

 

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/06/24/opinion/david-brooks-rhapsody-in-realis

m.html?emc=edit_th_20140624&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=62424975&_r=0&referrer=

I just copied the top line and pasted it in the search line of Firefox and it got me there.  So if I can do it you can.  So, David Brooks in this article called “Rhapsody in Realism”  talks about the ideas of Lydia Netzer who wrote a book titled “Fifteen Ways to Stay Married for Fifteen Years”.   And here is one paragraph from the article that starts to explain her basic idea:

“But Netzer’s piece is nicely based on the premise that we are crooked timber. We are, to varying degrees, foolish, weak, and often just plain inexplicable — and always will be. As Kant put it: “Out of the crooked timber of humanity no straight thing was ever made.” ”

So, Brooks goes on to take the idea and apply it to life in general.  It is the idea that perfection as an idea is out, at least here in our lives on earth.  Heaven is another story and why it is so highly prized.  But back to earth, we need to all realize our and others shortcomings and not think that goals like perfection are anything else but goals, maybe short for preferred direction.  It is pretty arrogant to think that we can do more than approach such lofty ideas in our reality.  A quot pops into my head from a Jewish friend (good old Jewish wisdom) ” The perfect is the enemy of the good”.  I hope that that is a good approximation of it!  In other words we can stomp out so many good useful alternatives to problems searching for that final perfect one.  Yes?

I think that it was General Patton (WWII US Army General that lead the final thrust toward Berlin to bring organized Nazism to its knees.  He thought like a cavalry officer and borrowing another quote from Confederate cavalry officer Bedford Forrest, the cavalry’s job is to “get there the firstest with the mostest”.)  So, Patton said, “It is better to implement a good plan in a timely manner than a better plan late”.  I might have butchered it but heck it was good and done in a timely manner!  See how it works?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the comfy chair and ready to blog! So yesterday was the first walk with the boy pack. I think that it really is going to be comfortable. Didn’t have the full load in and will have to build up to that. I heard that a full load is less than 10% of your body weight. That would be 19 lbs for me. I think that I will have to quit for now. Man, I was falling asleep and was worried that the Kindle was going to slip out of my fingers and smash on the floor. But not too worry, I “m back after some coffee. I will write on and continue to learn this little unit. That is my nick name for our new grandson who is doing great by the way. Littlle Unit yea, he is not quite ready for bows and arrows yet but close.
Look at that, I learned how to start a new parapraph. I was really born in the wrong century for this kind of stuff. Maybe my new grandson could help me with this. Perhaps I should switch over and blot on this Little Unit starting July 1. We are trying to learn how to operate with all the gear that we will have on the Camino.
OK, so both of my Spiritual advisors are coming out to the ranch to walk this Sunday afternoon. I had better clean the trail up. It really doesn’t’ look as good as it did when I was on it everyday. How extravagant really to have two spiritual advisors, I am now thinking but hey I ‘m worth it, right? Apparently.

Tuesday again and I am off to Swedish Hospital for treatment.  Well, I go every other Tuesday to get it right.  This a chemotherapy treatment that pretty much takes up my whole day.  And it is the kind of deal that any normal person wants to run away from.  Going through the door at the hospital takes a lot of courage.  It is not because the experience is so bad, really the contrary.  It is just that the volume of chemicals that will enter my body this afternoon I don’t want to think about too much.

But beside that it will be fun to see my doctor and nurses.  It is a great crew that are fun to be with.  I have people that I don’t see for two months and we will pick up on the conversation where we had left it.  Maybe it’s books, movies, sports, movies or wine.  All good.  I always try and remember to bring some sort of healthy snack for them.

Anyway, I will take the Kindle along and do more blogging from there.  I have about three hours of being confined to the comfy chair and if I don’t nap off I can get something done.  I will think of something fun to do.  OK, till later, Phil.

Annie pointed out a weakness in the details of the blog.  Due to the fact that we switched over to this new format all the posts from May 21st (when we started) to June 19 are treated as one post.  So for now if you want to comment on any of those go to May 21st and comment there.  The last few posts from June 20 – 23 you can comment individually on those.  Maybe I can figure out how to correct that.  Later, Phil.

Kelly and I went to the big flagship REI (Recreational Equipment In case your pockets are bulging with money, we will help you out)  store yesterday.  We had a list of gear to check out and maybe buy.  On top of my list was a backpack.  Having my backpack is going to lend a bunch of realism to all this training we have been up to.  Did I tell you that Annie and I had a plan for me to carry her pack across Spain but then I learned about boy and girl packs.  Who would have thought?  Yea, boy and girl packs.  I’ve also learned that there are boy sleeping bags and girl sleeping bags. The birds and the bees.  Life is getting more complicated.

Anyway, I spent an hour or two trying various models of boy packs with the help of REI expert, Rebecca.  Quite a process.  I was looking for a medium sized unit that was designed for hot weather, setup for water bladder, would house my walking sticks for the plane rides,  and would be comfortable for my boy body.  And I found one!  I settled on the Osprey , Exos 58 (58 liter capacity)  if that means anything.  It cost an arm and a leg but like the walking sticks have to be the best that can be afforded.  These new packs really fit to your body in a sense that they feel part of your body when loaded with weight.  They cinch up in about 57 ways to be close to the back and is one with the body.  You can bend, lean, turn or whatever and everything moves together.  This pack is extremely light weight and larger in capacity then recommended but all the gear that I put in it finally will cinch down even if not full.  It fits and looks like it will be cool as possible in the heat of the Meseta in August.

So, I got some other random stuff like a 2 liter water bladder, quick dry undies and a quick dry long sleeve shirt with sun protection built in.  Don’t ask me how that works.  If Lewis and Clark had this gear they would have probably gone on to several more continents while they were at it.

Tomorrow I am back at Swedish Hospital to pay a visit.  I will try and remember to take the Kindle and do a blog from there to practice.  OK, off to walk six miles WITH BOY PACK.  Tomorrow, Phil.

Yea, Rick laid that on us last evening, that the whole Camino from St. Jean to Santiago is 1,000,000 steps (of course approximately depending on your stride).  I had to get with the calculator and figure it out for myself.  500 miles X 2000 steps/ mile = 1 million.  Looks like I could have done that without a calculator.  According to the timeline that we figured out yesterday I am going to bus 130 miles to tailor my Camino to the time that I have available.  So, I will have to deduct 26o,000 steps to give me a total of 740,000 steps.  So, if I am walking 27 days that divides out to 27,407 steps per day.  Almost 3X the old thousand step “active” day.  That going to take a lot of calories and a significant amount of that good Spanish wine!

OK, off to Mass, SJA, Phil.