Ouzo and I hiked the Newbury Trail up Mt. Sunapee yesterday. It was a short hike, as you can see on the linked topo map. But the blistering heat and near saturated humidity made this hike tougher than it would otherwise be. Within 10 minutes of starting out, my shirt was completely soaked with sweat and my bandanna headband was so saturated that salty sweat was running right through dripping, burning into my eyes. I was sweating so hard that my sweat changed from liquid into a slimy mucous oozing out from the pores all over my body. When you’re covered in snot, you know it’s hot. I had never heard Ouzo pant with such a rasp before, either. That was one hot dog! I stopped several times to pour water for him. Usually, he just takes a few tentative licks at the bowl. This time, he gobbled down the water like it was beef tar-tar. When we made it to Lake Solitude at the top of Mt. Sunapee, Ouzo swam around for about half an hour biting lily pads. We made it down and back to the house just in time for the first wave of this damn summer flu to hit me. Fever, body aches, lumpy, green infected phlegm…you know, the whole sick trip. Details of my other diseased excretions coming soon, maybe even pictures! Stay tuned!

I got this summer flu that’s making its way around the northeast corridor. It’s really a bio-engineered terrorist designer disease, but I didn’t want to reveal that for fear of causing a panic so forget I said that. When I feel strong enough to stand at the computer, I’ll be either on-line for live help or answering posts in the forum. Otherwise, I’ll be laying on the couch moaning and whining, promising my kids that I’ll be dead soon. They’re already putting in dibs on my stuff. Let’s see: Sam wants all my tools, Stephen wants all my camping and hiking stuff, Ivey just wants money–smart girl, I’ve trained her well.