1. Oh, let's just say it's about 45 miles from my house to the parking lot at the top of Thompson Falls pass where the Revett Lake trailhead is located. First, though, I stopped at Byrdman's cabin up the river near Prichard, we piled into his pickup, and zoomed up to the trailhead. We hiked about two miles or so into Revett Lake. It was a steady uphill hike, described by most trail guide literature as moderate. Hiking uphill these days, however, is hard work for me. I get winded easily and going uphill makes my heart pound. I need to do more uphill walking and hiking (the trail near the Shoshone Medical Center is perfect) and see if I can build up more tolerance to going uphill.
I had no choice but to progress slowly up the trail. Several times, I stopped, sat on a log or a tree stump and let my heartbeat and breathing return to normal. Fortunately, most of the hike was shaded and, even when the trail was exposed, it wasn't too hot.
The sight of Revett Lake stretching out in sapphire splendor definitely rewarded all my struggles to reach it. A handful of people were fishing from the shore. Byrdman and I went to three or four different spots on the shore and just sat and drank in the lake's calm and the steep forested terrain growing out of the lake. After about a half an hour of admiring the lake's beauty, we started back down the mountain. I had a much easier time on the return route and was more appreciative of the magenta, white, and yellow wildflowers, the rock slides, and the waterfalls tucked back in the trees, partially visible from the trail.
It was an awesome hike and, for the day, I racked up over 9000 steps, around 4.5 miles.
2. Byrdman's property is nicknamed Camp Runamuck. We returned to Runamuck and relaxed by sitting in the chairs lined up just above the bank of the North Fork of the CdA River. Byrdman fixed us each a slushy and refreshing Prichard Mai Tai and we yakked, watched floaters slowly cruise by as well as a fly fisherman in the middle of the river. Jerome H. suddenly popped up behind us and joined us. I played ball against Jerome's brother, Clyde, but as Jerome and I shook hands, I wasn't sure if I'd ever met him over the years.
By about 3:00, I thought it would be good to get back home and make sure Charly was doing all right. She usually does fine if she's in the house for 6-7 hours on her own, but I didn't want to push it. Charly continues to move steadily into the life of an aged dog. She's not very active any longer and spends much of the day resting and sleeping with an occasional jaunt out to the back yard. Sometimes she stays out back for fifteen minutes or so sunning herself and she still wanders around a little bit, but with her hind legs and hips giving out, her wandering is limited.
I walked in the back door and Charly was fine. When Charly was younger, if she and Maggie had been in the house for 6 hours or so, they were eager to get outside and relieve themselves -- and, sometimes, Maggie had accidents in the house. Charly hobbled to the back door to greet me when she heard the garage door close, but she didn't go right outside. I left the back door open for her, but she didn't go out until after she'd eaten.
3. I settled in once I was confident that Charly was doing well. After she'd eaten, I lifted her up onto the bed and the two of us lay down for a while. I rested my legs and Charly, as always, wanted to be near me, if not pressing against me, being really close.
I was happy I had some rice left over and I thawed out a few shrimp and made myself a delicious rice and shrimp two egg scramble, seasoned with soy sauce. It was just what I wanted: a moderate amount of food with satisfying texture, excellent flavor, and just the right amount of substance to fill me up. After I ate, I bopped over to Yokes to replenish my coffee and milk supply and bought myself a small container of Blue Bunny Super Chunky Cookie Dough ice cream. Back home, I ate about three spoonfuls of it, just enough, and saved the rest for the next time I'm in the mood for a little ice cream.
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