Bears, Mountains, Swimming and Software
I startled a black bear, but made it to the top of the mountain, grilled some delicious meat, and swam a mile. K has a Minecraft play date with a girl from school. I'm going to write an app to track my lap swimming. And Claude's Fable shows up Codex's Astra.
Hiking on Saturday
I slept in as late as my body would permit on Saturday morning, which is the only morning of the week where I can just sleep in. I think I got up at six-something. Saturday is the day for hiking or outdoor running. I finally decided to try out this new hiking route which goes up Cox Mountain, and then follows the ridge line up to Mt. Oglethorpe.
Originally, I had considered doing this route in the other direction, but it's much more difficult to identify the correct route when going that way. I figured it'd be a lot easier to "aim" for the top of the nearby mountain, and it was.
Almost immediately after finding the trailhead, I startled a juvenile black bear. Neither of us expected the encounter (hence the startling). He jumped off the trail, back some feet, and waited for me to walk on. Which I did. Carefully. But not until after I snapped a few photos, none of which came out particularly good. I need to get that telephoto lens I've been drooling over.
I've long since derided the hikers I come across with jingly bells. I'm deriding them less of late.
Both the Bear and the Buck were quite patient while I struggled to take clear photos.
I almost turned around at that point. I'm like two minutes into the actual hike (not counting the long approach on roads, that is) and I've already had a close encounter with one bear. What do the next two hours have in store for me? Also, this infrequently used trail was quite overgrown, featured so many spiders and I was wearing shorts. I'll wear hiking pants next time.
Grilling
Later on we did our usual grilling of burgers, brats and chicken thighs, but I was feeling a bit uninspired to photograph stuff, so you'll have to take my word for it. S and I had started watching The Hail Mary Project the night before, so I turned that on during dinner, which the kids enjoyed. It's rare to see a big budget, family friendly movie that isn't just an animated cartoon thing.
Swimming on Monday
As I set my 5am alarm last night, I graciously offered to make sure S woke up at the same time. She seemed to indicate that was not desirable. I then suggested that if I got some good recordings of W really screaming, I could make that my alarm ringtone. That suggestion was also, apparently, not desirable.
Helping isn't always easy.
Anyway, I got up at 5am again, and got in the pool right around 05:30.