More Geo-Artsing-and-Fartsing

Periodically, Ms. B. goes off on an arts-and-crafts retreat, usually with her regular group of artsy-craftsy friends from NC, at some location of their group leader’s choice. Hillsborough, Raleigh, and Myrtle Beach are among their preferred destinations. Sometimes, I go along too — or, at the nearer locations, head over for a day-long visit — so that, while she’s artsing and fartsing, I go geocaching. Then, later in the day, we get together to go wining and dining. For us, this is a most excellent system.

This weekend, her gang met in Raleigh, near Raleigh-Durham Airport, which is readily accessible, and especially great for me because that area is rich with geocaches. This time around, I went over just for the day and targeted the Black Creek Greenway, near Lake Crabtree, just southeast of the airport. It was hot and buggy out, but for the most part, the greenway ran through woods that offered plenty of shade. For me, one of the most appealing aspects of this particular hike — which, according to my health app, measured 6.66 miles (how apt) — was that most of the caches were a bit more creative than your typical micro hide in the woods (see photo above — a fun cache called “Skeletor”). And although it wasn’t on the greenway but at a nearby hotel, for the first time in way too long, I got to climb a tree after a cache. Not a big tree, but a fun tree nonetheless. I do so love a good tree-climbing cache.

After putting in the mileage, I returned to Kim’s hotel, cleaned up as best as this old fart can clean up, and then we headed out for dinner and drinks. When we’re in that area, it’s something of a tradition to dine at Trali Irish Pub, which is precisely where we ended up. I customarily go for their Scotch eggs and fish & chips. This time, I ordered Scotch eggs and fish & chips. Fookin’ excellent, as usual. For afters, we got on Google to see if we could find a wine bar nearby. The closest offering was a small place called dailypint, which turned out to be a very loud... no, I mean VERY loud... and altogether unremarkable dive bar that had a handful of wines on hand. They did have a reasonable selection of craft beers, so I opted for one of those. In the end, though, we didn’t care to stay very long. In our old age, Ms. B. and I like to be able to hear ourselves drink...er, think.

From there, Ms. B. went back to making art, and I returned to Casa di Rodan. Though the bar experience was “Feh,” the dinner and geocaching made the trip fun as can be (and good for a much-needed cardio workout).

G’wan. Git.

L) Finger-Lickin' Good; R) Fore!

Going a little batty

L) It's good to be up in a tree again; R) A tree real hugger

Fish & Chips at Trali Irish Pub — the "small" order

One of Ms. B.'s art journal pages, with images from our last trip to Europe

Overhauling 2

Mercy, what a week. Apart from the day job, the better part of it has been the ongoing labor shaping Casa de Rodan into a new, improved  doomicile. I painted; reattached cabinets to walls; installed light fixtures; removed more trash from the house than the law ought to allow; got married; took 18 metric tonnes of trash to our local collection station; pulled screws, nails, and anchors from walls; and rearranged furniture in three rooms in preparation for painters coming tomorrow. Next week, we get the new flooring, which will require even more extensive moving and shuffling of things. Why, yes, I am, I'm getting too old for this shit.

Yesterday, I put in a hot, rigorous hike for geocaches over in Raleigh, where swarms of huge mosquitos assaulted me relentlessly. That, though, was more in the "fun" department — which has been a bit understaffed for a while now. (Help wanted, don't you know.)

I was in Raleigh yesterday because Ms. B. had one of those artsy-craftsy thingummies she occasionally attends. Now that COVID-19 isn't such an overbearing threat, at least to the properly vaccinated, she's all kinds of excited about gathering with her artsy-craftsy peeps and creating her artsy-craftsy creations.

One of Ms. B.'s artsy-craftsy thingummies: a rendering of a critter she found at her place a while back.

After several of miles of hiking, a fair bunch of geocaches claimed, and a passel of mosquito bites acquired, I met Ms. B. at her hotel, where I did the world a kindness by taking a long, hot shower. Then we hit the nearby Trali Irish Pub, which has long been one of our favorite dining/drinking establishments when we're in that area. It's been quite a long while — since well before the pandemic set in. We both availed ourselves to Trali's excellent fish & chips. These are just as wonderful as ever.

Today, I rose early and immediately set to work prepping the house for tomorrow's appointment with the painters. They're doing the master bedroom, my office, and soon-to-be-Kim's craft room, and each room needed some serious prepping. Pulling all the furniture together, away from the walls, proved a fair task for me, myself, and I. I may be an old fart, but at least when heave-hoing must be done, I still have some ho to heave.

At the end of it all, I figured I'd reward myself with a drink of some sort. We had a splash of Bread & Butter Chardonnay left in the fridge from the other day, so I decided to make a concoction of wine and Clamato juice, similar to the bloody something-or-another I'd had up at Chateau Morrisette a few years back. Now, I remember enjoying theirs, but mine was friggin dynamite. I reckon I'll call it Damned Rodan's Bloody Chard, and it may end up becoming a new go-to drink. Very refreshing, with the Chardonnay flavor quite prominent amid the savory, spicy tomato/clam base. I used one part wine to three parts Clamato juice, and that's all there was to it. Damned perfect.

I'm sure the house is going to be fabulous once all the work is done. I just hope getting to that point doesn't do me in.

Left: Not the cache; Right: Also not the cache; Below: the cache

Arts, Crafts, Caching, and Cowfish

Old Rodan amid the ruins of some mysterious, ancient 20th-century civilization

As a respite from the political madness in the aftermath of the November 11 election, Ms. B. and I ventured forth to Raleigh at the crack of dawn this morning, she for an arts-and-crafts seminar she's been wanting to take, and I for some geocaching, topped off with possibly the strangest lunch I've ever eaten at Cowfish Sushi Burger Bar and then some wine at Vinos Finos. Didn't find all that many caches — several were clearly gone after some serious flooding a while back, and I spent a good while on ill-fated hunts for a couple of very difficult ones — but I did get in some very enjoyable hiking in a few different wooded areas in north Raleigh. Somewhere along the line, I managed to shed the tiniest amount of blood, so I guess by Robgso's definition of fun, I had me some.

Not much sense of scale in this photo,
but this wall of boulders, with a number
of bore holes in them, along the Crabtree
Creek Trail, is quite huge

Cowfish Sushi Burger Bar is an interesting little joint, offering all kinds of strange fusion dishes (known as "burgushi") featuring sushi and other Asian treats blended with traditional American burgers and general comfort food. I had "Nature Boy's WOOOOO-shi BuffalOOOOO-shi Roll," consisting of sautéed chipotle bison, fried green tomato, grilled onions, feta cheese, and tempura flakes, topped with fresh green tomato, chipotle aioli, diced tomato, red onion, and jalapeño pepper. Yeah, it was good, not something I'd want very frequently, though. Ms. B. ordered "The Taste Explosion Roll," with beef, applewood bacon, jalapeños, spicy mayo, and tempura flakes, topped with Roma tomato, pepper jack cheese, and cashew cilantro pesto. We swapped a few pieces, and I might have actually preferred hers.

Happily, with all the reports of threats and attacks against minorities of every sort, in Raleigh, we saw people of every color, young, old, some no doubt gay, perhaps a few transgender folks, all going on about their business, playing with their kids, generally making the world move as it ought. I hope this will continue to be the norm in America.

Thank you very much and good-night.

A little waterfall at Lassiter Mill Park

Entertaining structures in a green area near Eastgate Park

Lunch — a bison sushi roll

Fears, Defibrillators, and Wankpuffins

Suntigres faces her fear. The lurking horror
behind the camera, perhaps?

For the old man and Suntigres (a.k.a. Bridget), the geocaching trail led us to numerous destinations in and around Raleigh on this gorgeous February Saturday. She needed to pick up several items from her son, who lives over that way; the Hibernian Irish Pub in downtown Raleigh was beckoning her like gold at the end of the rainbow; and the caching bug was biting with nasty great pointed teeth, so she ordered me along to navigate any unruly or otherwise challenging terrain we might chance to encounter. In the end, terrain challenges proved minor and relatively rare, but we did turn up several unique and exceedingly well-done hides. We started with a couple of caches in a series called "Face Your Fears," and face them we did, though we did not, in at least one particularly frustrating case, succeed in finding the frightening little bugger. We solved a couple of brain-challenging puzzles, discovered a comically macabre diorama underneath a lamp post skirt, and lost our marbles at a couple of expertly crafted cache containers courtesy of Motrin Man (a.k.a. Fred) and Blinky7 (a.k.a. Cindy). In one instance, what appeared to be a standard lamp post hide proved to be a bit of a shocker, damn near requiring a defibrillator at the end of it all. It wasn't a monster haul today — I think I logged 18 total — but after several difficult weeks, it was damn nice to get outdoors and get my moniker on a few new logs. Not to mention some kick-ass chicken wings at Hibernian.

A good day.

And on a completely unrelated note, I saw today, in reference to Donald Trump, the word "wankpuffin." A fine word this, a good woody-sounding word, not at all tinny. I quite like it.

Best light-pole cache I've ever found.

Old man needs defibrillator after being shocked by sneaky, springy, snaky thing.