But It's a Dry Heat!

They're not very strange.

You know, as "dry" as the alien hive the space marines infiltrate in Aliens (1986); that kind of dry heat. The intrepid Two Old Farts (friend Diefenbaker—a.k.a. Scott—and I) got together this morning at Tanglewood Park, just southwest of Winston-Salem, NC, to hunt a few geocaches (sadly minus our favorite short women geocachers, Fishdownthestair—a.k.a. Natalie—and Cupdaisy—a.k.a. Debbie, for they were indisposed—a.k.a. chickened out). Scott and I put in well over six miles on the trail in temps that reached the very high 90s, with a heat index of 106℉, so I suspect we sweated off a few pounds of otherwise healthy brain cells. Whew! We found seven caches, all of them a lot of fun. And we both survived, at least until we parted company after lunch. I dunno about later.

Speaking of lunch, we found a mighty good one at Ma'Luz Mexcican Grill (formerly MiPueblo). Street tacos are one of my most profound weaknesses, and their brisket street tacos almost had me swooning. Or maybe that was the margarita.

Nah, it was the tacos.

Last night, we hosted our regular Supper Club, with friends Terry & Beth and Joe & Suzy in attendance. I made Thai Basil Chicken, one of my staple dishes. Since we don't have any Thai restaurants nearby anymore, when we want Thai food, I head for the kitchen...

T'was all good. Imma fall over now.

Brugger caught the Supper Club crowd in its native environment.

Monster Stars, KVegas, and Korner’s Folly

The Socially Distant No-Dead-Weight Irregulars — Ms. Fishdownthestair (a.k.a. Natalie), Sir Diefenbaker (a.k.a. Scott), and a way-out old dude — managed to regroup today after too long a separation due to factors beyond reasonable human beings’ control (note that only one of us is reasonable). Since our last outing at Tanglewood Park, near Winston-Salem, NC, a few months back, a number of newer geocaches have been published, so we decided to dare the forecast for rain this morning and undertake a near-six-mile hike through the park. Hike we did, find caches we did, and get wet we did not. Well, not very, anyway. The only rain was a few drops that spat on us for about 30 seconds. Fortunately for us, that was the extent of it, for we had reached the farthest point of our hike when the dribble began.

A touch of fall color

Every year, Tanglewood Park puts on an extensive Christmas festival of lights, which draws crowds from all over the state and beyond. I have never experienced this spectacle for fear that the human multitudes would send me into a fatal apoplectic fit. However, as the show begins this coming week, the park has been fully decorated, the framework for bunches of impressive light sculptures erected. I can’t say I wouldn’t love to see the event as it was meant to be, but I would kind of like to survive the experience.

Following our scouring of the park, we moved back eastward to Kernersville, where a new-ish Adventure Lab cache — “The Hot Spots of KVegas” (GC923TV) — had come out a couple of weeks back. Kernersville is an attractive, pleasant community halfway between Greensboro and Winston-Salem — or would be pleasant if not for the goddamn over-saturation of humanity that has resulted in almost perpetual gridlock, even on off days such as Sunday during a pandemic. On the plus side, we got to re-visit some of the areas that Ms. B. and I have frequented over the years. When we were still working in the office, we were close enough to Kernersville to spend a fair amount of time there, since they had several nice dining/wine and eclectic shopping options (not to mention geocaches). Today, our hunt began at Korner’s Folly, Kernersville’s most notable historic building. From there, we hoofed it to several other stops in town before moving on to the final stage.

Triad Park, just east of Kernersville, turned out to be our ultimate destination. To locate the physical bonus cache, we had to gather information from the Carolina Field of Honor, which is an impressive tribute to NC veterans. We found the cache, all right, and that turned out to be a fitting end to the day’s adventure.

And what a week I have coming up, workwise and otherwise, as I am now going hard about the duties of being executor to my mom’s estate. For every hurdle I cross, two more pop up. A long, slow, frustrating process this is. But everyone warned me it would be. Everyone spoke truly.

Till another day.

Monster Moravian star at Tanglewood about to devour two unsuspecting victims

A charming little church at the park

An old graveyard in the middle of the park, which was built around it.

Another nay-sayer. What a poor attitude!

Korner’s Folly in Kernersville, one of the town’s most attractive historic buildings

A nice little corner behind Korner’s Folly

Have You Ever Seen a Horse Flop?

Every evening after dinner, we have a case of Siamese Flopitis, which usually involves three to five minutes of Chester falling over and flopping happily back and forth on the carpet. This has been going on since the day he came round back in 2002, so it's just accepted as a family tradition.

Today, I spent a hot, muggy day at Tanglewood Park in Clemmons, NC, hiking five or so miles and snagging a few geocaches. As I was passing by the stables, I saw an elderly lady leading a horse through the pasture to the trail. About the time he came up to me, he must have had a moment of inspiration, for he lay down and began to do the Siamese Flopitis thing — quite expertly, I might add. The lady with him appeared to take it in stride, as if this is as much a horse thing as it is a Siamese thing. I wouldn't know; I've never seen a horse flop before. I consider myself a little more educated than I was at this time yesterday. Unfortunately, the horse finished up having his fun before I could get a photo of him. Pity.

At the end of the excursion, I came out about nine caches richer and hit minor landmark #4,800. It was a fun little hide next to a church, hidden by a Girl Scout troop, called "A Trunk Full of Junk" (GCWEM2). Lovely stuff.

Yep, it's a Trunk Full of Junk!