The report.

A little sleep helps pull things together develop order and place perspective as a fine frame. The heat, and over-exhaustion while hot, and working in this situation beyond one’s interest can really be a test. Then again, it is not always bad to have these things tested now and again. Plus, after the tests, one really gets to understand good sleep, why it is needed, and how easy it is to achieve naturally. I awoke well, to an empty cave, around 9:15. She had already left, though she had used the coffee pot I had set up for her, it looks as if one cup of coffee was all she had consumed. The coffee is cold, so I am thinking she was out no later than 5:00. She was supposed to try and wake me for Scrabble or breakfast, but if she tried, I do not remember. Still, she can be just as ornery as myself at various moments, so she might have just done her thing and headed home, minus any efforts at speaking with me either because she did not feel like company or feared I might not.

Oh, something I did not mention about yesterday was that as we were getting the boat out of the water, four new or newer vehicles drove to near the boat ramp. A bunch of very well, if culturally so, dressed guys got out, only one of which could speak English. He was busy speaking with a white guy there, then relaying whatever back to the others. Then all but the white guy packed up and moved out as a single group in their various vehicles. The white guy had been there since before we arrived, though we were camped at the other end of the small park so I had not noticed if he had visitors like this often. I had noticed he had a fishing boat, a small bass boat, which he took up and down the river occasionally, for very brief periods. He did not seem to catch anything, or even be gone long enough to have fished. The park ranger and park workers did not seem at all at odds with all the events. I am sure they checked it out, which brings me great ease of mind. On the way back, I was speaking with my little open minded friend, who insisted these were not necessarily illegals. Oh, and of course the foolish conversation started from her with a, “What is “illegal” supposed to mean, anyway?”.

“No”, I told her to buy a dictionary at this point, or do a little research. If she is too ignorant or incapable, then nothing I can say would be of any value, and I will not waste my breath on her. She smarted up almost a quarter of a notch quickly. “You do not know they are illegals”. After three statements, no clarifications or reiterations, I am done and tell her she can believe whatever her brainless, evil, or both friends have taught her to believe, or at least taught her to say. But, if she intends on being a stupid liar, she must do this with them. I tell her there is no debate here, only her real or feigned disbelief of fact, and that this is a personal problem which I wish her well with. She had thought to bring a Rachel Carlson book with her, and featured it prominently on our dining table in order to cause a stir. She just does not understand that since RC is dead, she means what all liberals, leftists, communists, and other social, cultural and intellectual boogeymen mean once they become good to their word; nothing. Soon, her books complete unwriting will be done, and I do not believe the cow had children. Very soon, little will remain and no one will care about that which does. When the last of those who do care, such as my friend, pass, it will be over. I think those swamps are about to be DDT bombed, drained, plowed, planted, and turned into corn fields. Maybe it is just a hope, and yes I know of the education problem, but too I see some shifts in popular beliefs and what people might be willing to do to change a falling, otherwise doomed, nation. Even planned dumbing down cannot change the will of a freeman to remain free. Will the outfielder catch the ball or is this the end of the game?

If I dreamed, I do not recall. I still have a few itches from mosquito bites, which I ought to take care of shortly. The mosquitoes were thick out there. Applying spray every two hours helped, some. I wonder if the 4th revelers caused the populations to explode. I had heard from a daily park visitor, she walks her dog there after her third shift work, that mosquitoes had only been bad the last few days. So, I suspect this was a result of that. I did have a little fun about them though. I asked Tiger Lily if she knew the biters where all female. To my surprise, and without three hours of debate, she said she had actually learned this, much to her surprise, recently (I wonder how long it took to convince her, or if she just believes whatever anyone seemingly liberal says). For their brood, she says, why else, say I. And I agree while having to admit there are correlations. Passive is good fun sometimes, folks. And yes, she got a slight tingle, maybe or maybe not ever consciously realizing she had received one over the bow. K-Splash. Say it straight, do not crack the steady face, and walk off to enjoy the disturbance in the force you just caused where your enjoyment can not be detected by the enemy forces. Ah, life is so fine.

It could be asked, and perhaps fairly, why I bother to go camping with this persnickety feminist liberal. One who pushes for this or that to be done on a schedule of her making, regardless of any real necessity, at times. And one who seems to have only a little more or more recent experience than myself, and I would say less in the way of natural problem solving skill, only more basic modern knowledge on a few limited camping topics to date. That is pretty easy. First, she is a friend and usually a pretty good one. Agreement has never been a requirement, as a fact, disagreement is part of the keys to the kingdom of the graces I have at my disposal to dispense. And though I really prefer to do things at my pace or slow and low, just do whatever and only because and then only if there is time to do it on my schedule, in what I feel is my budget, and if I have the energy, it is good to actually have a push from time to time. She is a interested coconspirator in this endeavor, she wants to do this, and she can carry her weight if sometimes making up for mass with detail. It is good to have two brains at work, two sets of eyes, ears, hands, and feet to make a camp hum, and she usually has a thought or item which does bring a little fun to camp, surprise bing cherries up front first night for example. She is well worth the effort. AND, it is good to be an enabler. With me she feels secure to go camping just about anywhere reasonable, I suspect, while truly loving being out but with too great of fears to go alone. And beyond, even if she was not useful, why do men lend a hand to the elevation of rounded iron ingots they add to steel bars?

As for me, I suspect I will have to begin looking for places to camp solo. I would like to practice setting and breaking camp. I would like to arrange a gear list for equipment and needs, one that can for the most part double as a return check list, minus perishables. A new rod for a tent might be a minor thing, but sometimes they are genuinely irreplaceable. What might not be irreplaceable might still be quite expensive. I would like to see how I do with my day without a pusher or schedule of any kind. And, I would like to figure out how to develop security measures, longer term food storage to include food caching, and many of the tricks that allow for such a system such as packing properly, hiding from man and animal, locating after placement and concealment, and deciding what to place. That might be the best time to begin map and compass training. Small areas where a mistake will cost no more than a few miles of walking and where a mistake will be made obvious within the range of my capabilities to deal with easily.

I am excited.