Ghost Gourds and Trail Work

Image credit Gary

Ysetertday was a good day.  A very good day.

I painted these small homegrown birdhouse gourds for a loved one to use as Halloween decorations for a "Haunted Hospital" function at her vet's office.  Coffee cup included for scale, besides the fact that coffee is everything.

The bulk of the day was spent doing some trail work along the Tuscarora Trail north of here.  This was with a crew of 3 long distance hikers who were at Shippensburg University for a hikers' annual gathering with the group ALDHA (Appalachian Long Distance Hikers Association). 

The gathering being over, these guys remained to donate a day of trail work. We weedwhacked and cleared blowdown trees from 2.5 miles of the trail, which has been kinda neglected for a couple of years as there is no volunteer overseer for that stretch.

Sunny blue skies, common purpose, stunning autumn foliage along a Pennsylvania ridgetop....doesn't get much better than that!

Which brings me to the topic of nicknames.  The ALDHA hikers I worked with--whose work was greatly appreciated--were trail named Canada Goose, Cool Breeze, and Spirit Hawk.

As we sat around at a picnic table at a convenience store on the way home, enjoying a cold soda, the hikers addressed each other using trail names.  Like "Hey, Canada Goose, how long will it take you to drive back to Quebec?"

Though we had just shared blood, sweat and tears along the trail (literally!), I just could not bring myself to use trail names in conversation; it just seemed too strange.  Of course, as I have previously blogged, I have a strong aversion to nicknames.  You may want to go read that post, here.

NFL Team Names Sorted by Machismo...and Ultrarunning

Once in an NCAA basketball pool I simply made my picks based upon whose team name was more macho. While I did not come very close to winning, I did go much farther in the pool that year than many who were actually followers of the college game.  For example, the Kentucky Wildcats would beat the Georgetown Hoyas (whatever the hell a Hoya is).

Now my beloved Steelers got whacked in the first round of the NFL playoffs (they were either brilliant or flat all season, and unfortunately were the latter for the playoffs).  To compensate, I must have something football-related to occupy my time.  Since the notion of team names has my interest, I decide to take a look at the NFL.

First, here are all 32 teams alphabetically by geographic name.  I was gonna say "by city" but then we have 5 oddballs.  These include the three with state teams: Arizona, Minnesota, and Tennessee.  Then we have the pair of even geographically bigger teams: Carolina and New England.

AFC: 
Baltimore Ravens  
Buffalo Bills
Cincinnati Bengals
Cleveland Browns
Denver Broncos
Houston Texans
Indianapolis Colts
Jacksonville Jaguars
Kansas City Chiefs
Miami Dolphins
New England Patriots
New York Jets
Oakland Raiders
Pittsburgh Steelers
San Diego Chargers
Tennessee Titans

NFC:
Arizona Cardinals  
Atlanta Falcons
Carolina Panthers
Chicago Bears
Dallas Cowboys
Detroit Lions
Green Bay Packers
Minnesota Vikings
New Orleans Saints
New York Giants
Philadelphia Eagles
San Francisco 49ers
Seattle Seahawks
St. Louis Rams
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Washington Redskins

OK, here's how I sorted them out by nickname.  You certainly can disagree but you'd be wrong, because, after all, this is my blog!

There are 3 major groups, Human, Animal, Other:

1. Humans fall into one of 3 groups, Heroes, Antiheroes, and Native Americans:

Heroes
--Texans
--Patriots
--Steelers
--Titans
--Cowboys
--Packers
--Saints
--Giants

Antiheroes
--Raiders
--Vikings
--49ers (the whole get-rich-quick thing)
--Bills (named after the wanton buffalo slaughterer Bill Cody)
--Buccaneers

Native Americans
--Chiefs
--Washington (I won't use the R word, sorry)

2. Animals fall into about 4 groups, Fierce Birds, Big Kitties, Other Big Macho Critters, and Cute Animals:

Fierce Birds
--Ravens
--Falcons
--Eagles
--Seahawks

Big Kitties
--Bengals
--Jaguars
--Panthers
--Lions

Other Big Macho Critters
--Bears
--Rams
--Broncos
--Colts

Cute Animals
--Dolphins
--Cardinals

3. Other...obviously there has to be an Other:
--Jets (seriously, you named your team after an airplane?)
--Browns (founder's name)
--Chargers (the owner liked the bugle call Charge!)

That's about it.  I was going to discuss how the Hero and Antihero categories are surely point-of-view dependent.  For example, Texans and Cowboys seem all-American...but maybe not if you're a Native American.  And the Patriots seem OK...until you think about the British, who would see them as ruffians.  Saints seem safe, until you consider all the bad stuff that religion has perpetrated over the centuries.

You get the idea.

The link to Ultrarunning is that I still hope to see one of the big kitties while running.  Thus far I've seen nothing larger than a bobcat.  And I surely don't want to see a Viking (think Ragnor Lothbrok) along the trail!

New Mexico's Unfortunate Nickname...and Ultrarunning

Across these wonderful 50 United States of America, here in the northeast we see such inspirational state nicknames as the "Keystone State" (Pennsylvania); the "Empire State" (New York); the "Monumental State" (Maryland); the "Old Granite State" (New Hampshire); and the "Green Mountain State" (Vermont), just to name a few.

But head out west, waaaaay out west, all the way to New Mexico, where we learn that that state's nickname is the "Vermin State."

Yes, the Vermin State.  Seriously?

Better get the Chamber of Commerce on that pronto, if they can spare some time away from trying to keep the minimum wage suppressed and blindly opposing sensible safeguards and regulations as being anti-business.

The link to Ultrarunning is that I had a couple of business trips to New Mexico where I fully appreciated its license plate nickname: "Land of Enchantment."  I did a couple of memorable runs at White Sands and near Carlsbad Caverns, both of which will absolutely knock your socks off.

[image credit here]

 

 

 

Why I'll Never Thru-Hike the Appalachian Trail

I am just finished up my Kindle book, AWOL on the Appalachian Trail, by David Miller (trail name AWOL). I am very familiar with my local sections of the AT here in south-central PA and all of MD, via my hiking and trail running.  But I have never set foot elsewhere on the AT along its 2,172 mile length as it winds its way through 13 (I think) states. 

Not that the notion of a thru-hike isn't appealing--some 1000 or so souls complete one every year. I love reading accounts of thru hikers and imagining how cool such a long trek would be. 

The obvious downside?  Freeing yourself up for the 5 months or so that a hike would take; being financially secure enough to afford it; planning and executing all the logistics.  Oh, and having the mental and physical fortitude to walk 2,172 miles in one long stretch.

Nope, all that stuff is doable for the determined.  What would be my undoing is the fact that all thru hikers are expected to assume an alias, a trail name by which they are known to the ATC and to each other on the trail.

I could not bring myself to do that.

See, I hate nicknames.  Always have.  I realize that there may be very good reasons for a person to assume or have conferred upon them a nickname, but that's not me.  I have, admittedly, an almost pathological aversion to even using a nickname for somebody else, much less having one of my own.  To me it's like, "Do I know you well enough to call you Crunchy instead of your real name, Craig?" 

So I'd have to go under my real name of Gary, to the consternation of all other thru hikers.  You just don't toy with time-honored traditions, so if I won't play the game, I'd just better not hike. 

See how easily I talked myself out of it?