Just a quick hello

Hoping that this little introduction will prompt you to click “read more” and join me this morning with a few updates and a political statement.

I haven’t posted much lately as I retired from my position as an administrator with a local school board back in December and have found myself busier than I was when I was working full-time.

Christmas, New Year’s, watching our grandchild for a week, taking a 7 day cruise in honor of my retirement and our 25th wedding anniversary, and then training for our “hoping we can do it” backpacking adventure hiking the Appalachian Trail, have taken up just about all of our time.

My wife, Debbie, and I have spent nearly every day of the past 6 weeks walking, then slackpacking with 15 pounds on our backs, then graduating to a real backpack slinging 25 pounds (for her) and 35 pounds (for me), and then upping the hiking time/mileages from one to two hours, then up to four hours a day, and from 1.00 mile to 1.75 miles an hour.

We have had three practice backpacking runs already: the first was a 12 mile overnighter in the Seminole State Forest, next was a 4 mile overnighter at Jonathan Dickinson State Park, and we finished off the third yesterday with a 25 mile, four day/three night hike through the Ocala National Forest. Ugh!

I have also been busy writing notes about training, the learning curves of preparing for, and the joys and pains of beginning hiking, in hopes of writing a trail book for novices like ourselves as well as for older adults.

At the same time, I am also completing my notes about the two knee replacement that I underwent in June and September this past year, how it deeply affected me, and my work towards getting to the point that I can now backpack with a 35 pound weight on me for 6-8 miles a day. My knees don’t hurt, but so many other parts of me do. And the blisters are not fun either.

So posting regularly means having to add more hours to the day, which I do not have the power to do – nor after hiking, the energy to do it – nor do I think I even would, if I could.

But after coming off the trail yesterday, I was so deeply struck by our president’s, his staff’s, and the Republicans in general, attacking our first amendment rights and our free press. I had to post the following:

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WHEN TRUMP CRIES, “THE PRESS REPORTS FALSE NEWS,” CRY BACK TO HIM, “BERNHARD LANGER.”

Trump recently reported false and inaccurate news by stating that a famous golfer, Bernhard Langer, was denied the right to vote while two people, who did not look as if they should have been able to vote, had been waved through the polls in order to vote.

Bernhard Langer issued a response indicating that Trump never spoke directly to him to confirm his statement. Bernhard stated that he is a German and cannot vote in the United States, that he was never at the polls, and that this was simply a story told by someone to Bernard, which Bernhard then repeated to someone else, who then told it to Trump, or a member of his entourage who repeated to Trump.

Yet Trump stated it as fact to the press and to the world.

So the next time he goes off on the press being inaccurate and false, cry out,

“BERNHARD LANGER“.

pic @ Randy Mazie, Ocala National Forest, prairie scene

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