Some Memorial Weekend Hiking

We had some pretty great weather around here for Memorial Weekend. I decided that I needed to take advantage of it and get a little hiking in. So I picked a few hikes out of 50 Hikes in Central Pennsylvania and did one on Friday and another on Sunday.

Friday I hiked Jackson Trail, which is just south of Pine Grove Mills and only about 15 minutes from my apartment. I did a 7 mile loop which consisted of about 3 miles on Jackson Trail, 3 on Mid State Trail, and the last mile straight up to the top of a ridge on Pine Grove Trail. Jackson Trail is a ridge hike that gives some pretty nice views, especially to the south. Besides the extremely rocky trail and the tough uphill ending, it is a nice hike. As I was descending the ridge on Mid State Trail I got a little nervous about the hike back up. And it was a pretty steep climb; I was glad when I started to hear cars on the highway as I got close to the top. It was a little hazy on the day I went, but on a clear day this would be a pretty cool place to go and hang out for a little while if one didn't want to do the whole loop.

On Sunday I drove about 25 miles and hiked around Cherry Run Gamelands. The 50 Hikes book outlined a 10 mile loop, but made it seem like a fairly easy 10 miles. The trail starts by following a mountain stream (Bear Run) for about 4 miles. This knocks out the uphill portion and there are no difficult claims here. About half way through is a wildlife clearing and then a maintenance road that descends till Cherry Run. The trail follows this stream back at your car. The trail begins and ends at slightly different places, so you hike the first half a mile along a paved county road until reaching Bear Run. But you end right at your car, which is nice. As I was about a half mile from the end it started to POUR. That made me really glad I parked where I did and started with the road, rather than ending that way. This was a pretty nice, easy hike that I think would be pretty fun to mountain bike. The only downside is there isn't much for views, as most of the hike is through some pretty thick forest.

I put an album of the pics on took on Picasa.

EVERYONE is concerned

The price for a gallon of gas has hovered around $3 here in State College for a while. With the upcoming Memorial Holiday the price is likely to increase with all of the extra travel. So, like most parts of the country, people here are pretty concerned about the price hike for gas.

But I didn't realize how many people were concerned around here until I was I walking out of the gym yesterday and overheard a conversation between two girls about how expensive gas was around here. Now normally this wouldn't be a conversation that I would find surprising. However, I don't think that either of the two girls had reached double digits in age. Shouldn't they be more concerned about........well I don't really know what they would be concerned about. Maybe unicorns and tea parties, but definitely not the price of gas.

It all reminded me of a very funny comment made by a US Appeals Court Judge in a trademarks case I read for a class last semester. Circuit Judge Frank (in Triangle Publications v. Rohrlich) said: "As neither the trial judge nor any member of this court is (or resembles) a teen-age girl or the mother or sister of such a girl, our judicial notice apparatus will not work well unless we feed it with information directly obtained from "teen-agers" or from their female relatives accustomed to shop for them."

While I am not, nor have I ever been, an 8 year old girl, I would think they have better things to worry about than the price of gas.

when will it stop?

I awoke this morning to find another dead baby bird. The smell of death lingers all around right now - or maybe that is the stench of the new Spiderman movie. I'm not sure, I can't separate the two.

The whole tragedy inspired me to write a haiku....

you lived by my door
but you'll never get to fly
now you chirp to god

bird update

Not a good day for my new neighbors. I'm not sure what happened - maybe the strong wind we had today - but there are two little piles of dead baby bird outside my door. Very sad.....

No word on memorial services.

the birds and the beers

I know that I have been slacking some on the posts lately. But in my defense, the last stretch of the semester was really busy....I'm thinking the words 'intellectual chaos' are an appropriate fit. But that's really no excuse. So here are a few small updates.

Batch #2 was brewed on Sunday. Thanks go to The Beermaker for passing on a recipe for a pale ale. As such, naming rights are reserved for said Beermaker, so you might want to do a little brainstorming. I'm a fan of alliteration when it comes to names, so keep that in mind. We were very pleased with how the first batch turned out, so hopefully this one won't be a step in the wrong direction. One of the things that I really like about the brewing is that my apartment smells like a brewery for a few days afterwards. There is something so aromatically pleasing about the balance of sweet malted barely and strong bitter hops. I guess it is also the memories that it stirs - of the countless times our house back home had that same smell and all the good times that I've had in breweries. But is it really possible to have a bad time somewhere that beer is made?

I've also recently welcomed some new neighbors. For all that haven't been to State College and thus my place, I live at ground level and have a little patio area out back, and there is a balcony above. I had noticed a bird flying around there quite a bit lately. This morning when I went out to have some breakfast in the beloved rocking chair that I found on the side of the road in Laramie, I understood why there had been so much recent bird activity - a new family had arrived. The little guys have been chirping all day. Lucky for them I can't hear it - at least yet - when I'm inside. Maybe I can talk them in to contributing to the rent a little bit during their stay. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get a very good picture. You can kind of see the momma bird in the top of the hole, but only if you know - like I do - that she's there. And I only know because as soon as the flash went off she came screaming out of there.

And I can't end without a late shoutout to my great mom. Happy mothers day to Ma Warner! Sorry mom, I forgot to mail your present again today....you might have it by your birthday.

some demon magic....

These david blaine street magic spoofs (original and sequel) may be the funniest thing I've seen...some serious competition for charlie.

Thanks to the numerous people who pointed these vids out. The folks back home should get a kick out of them.

No gel for you!

Iran recently baned Western haircuts and eyebrow plucking for men. I wonder what they consider a "Western haircut?" Does the mullet count? What might happen if you walked into a barber shop in Tehran, sat down in the chair and confidently asked for business in the front and party in the back?

In other news, for those of you that didn't know, the first batch of homebrews is disappearing fast. Between splitting it with co-brewmaster Houle and wanting everyone in State College to try one, it is starting to seem unlikely that there will be any left over to crack during the next brew session. We were lucky to come away with a good beer this time being that the instructional video by Midwest Supplies noted the necessary first step to brewing is having a homebrew. My idea to keep a few around till then is to put a couple "somewhere I'll be able to find them later" as this ensures I won't be able to find them for a while. Last week I was sure that I lost my debit card. I called PNC to order a new one - a $7.50 replacement fee - sure it was gone. When they asked if I wanted the option of waiting a few days to see if it would turn up I told them it didn't seem like much use and to go ahead and send out a new one. Sure enough, the next morning the card 'appeared' in the pocket of my jeans.

Oh well...one final note about the beer. We decided to call the first batch the 'Branch Campus Bitter' in honor of our good friend Phil who made a hilarious comment - that I can't seem to remember - about branch campuses during a Super Bowl commercial. The branch campus is a foreign idea to people from Wyo, as we only have UW and a handful of community colleges. But Penn State seems to have them everywhere. I think there is one under the sink in my bathroom.