Out back

On a rainy Sunday afternoon, when you've got an hour to wait before the lasagna is done, what do you do to spend the time?

If you're the Johns family, you throw on your hiking boots (or old tennies) and head out back for a woods-and-swamp hike!

Our subdivision has 80 acres of land around it to form kind of a barrier so no one else can develop right on top of us. It's pretty cool. The 14 homeowners here all chip in to pay the property taxes for that land, and it's considered common property. From what I can tell, almost no one that lives here goes back there. That's a shame, because there are some neat woods and a little lake. The guy across the road and his son do go back to the lake, and he recently told me there's some good fishing (bass and pike) back there. We haven't fished yet, but we have been back to check out the lake and spent some time back there sliding on the ice with the kids this past winter.

This was at the lake late last fall.



Anyway, even though it was rainy yesterday, we decided to take a walk in the woods. We had originally planned to go to the lake to see how swampy the approach was, but we ended up running out of time, since dinner was in the oven.

We started out behind our house with the intention of seeing if we could blaze a new trail between our house and the one three doors down, where Logan's buddy Clayton lives. The boys love to play in the woods, but it's so thick back there, we're afraid of them getting lost. We managed to beat down some sort of a trail, but I'm going to go back there with the loppers and snip off some of the black raspberry briars. I'm also going to mark the trail with that colored tape stuff, so the boys don't get misled, because there are a lot of game trails back there, and they just lead right into the swamp.

After we beat our way down to Clayton's house, we cut into the woods where this crabby neighbor guy (not from the sub) has a nasty old permanent campsite set up. It's surrounded by all these blue tarps and it's visible from our neighborhood and from the main road. I hear it's been a bit of an argument over past years. He's got "NO TRESPASSING" signs up all over and the camp looks like someone set up and then just disappeared. There is a tent, hammock, sleeping bags, cookware, silverware, beer bottles and more all just lying around back there. I'm pretty sure the guy leaves it there now just to spite us. I also hear he once caught some neighborhood kids back there and marched them home and had words with the parents because they were trespassing. We've repeatedly warned Logan not to go back there.

But yesterday? We cut through. Hopefully he doesn't read my blog.





And we saw that the guy had even fashioned himself a toilet in the woods. How utterly charming.



We came to the trail that divides his property from ours, and we followed it. There, we found ourselves distracted by these beauties.





After we had our appetizer, we kept going and crossed where the power lines come through. It had been all grown up with bushes but someone came through and cut it down earlier in the year, so now it's all berry briars and wildflowers.



We entered the pretty woods out toward the lake and found the hollow tree we discovered last fall.



It was empty yesterday.



But in the fall there was a raccoon sleeping there when we found it. He wasn't that happy about me sticking my camera in the hole and taking his photo.



Then we followed some game trails



through the swampiness to the spot on the creek bank where all the deer apparently come to drink. Logan was charmed by this mucky little spot. He said he wanted to camp here. I bet he'll revisit this spot over the years, as he gets bigger and is allowed to explore the woods on his own.



After the creek, we just played in the woods for a few. Logan walked on logs and climbed on trees and stuff.







Jordan decided he'd had enough of being carried in the pack on Daddy's back.



So he freed himself from the straps. He wanted me to carry him. I'd have made him walk but silly Mama didn't put shoes on him before we left home, so I ended up carrying him after all.



Then we went home for some nice hot homemade lasagna. It was delicious!

Oh, and we brought home lots of mud, seed cling-ons and mosquito bites.





All in all, it was a good afternoon hike! I just love going out and getting dirty with my men!

Bissell

When we moved back in September, we moved into a house with very light beige carpeting. It's practically white. It looks great, but I immediately knew living in this house with two little boys was going to take its toll on the carpeting. The carpeting is in the living room and master bedroom. The kitchen, dining area and library are hardwood. I decided we were NOT going to be having any drinks or snacks in the living room. (And when I say WE I mean the kids. Hubby and I might have a little snack or a drink out there after the kids go to bed.)

A few months after we moved in, Jordan snuck out there with a cup of chocolate (whole) milk and managed to dump the whole thing on the carpet and my equally light beige glider rocker and glider footstool. Perhaps the cup exploded. I wasn't looking.

Anyway, that incident led to us calling a professional carpet cleaner. It had to be done, and we'd not had the carpets cleaned when we moved in anyway, so it was time.

After the carpet and chair were cleaned, I realized I was going to have to get SOMETHING to clean up little messes, so I did a little research and bought a Bissell Little Green for spots that come up.



It has served me well. I've had to bring it out a number of times, like when Jordan un-diapered himself and peed on Hubby's recliner, or when he took off into the living room after covering himself with yogurt, and then dove hands-and-face-first onto the couch. It's easy and fast. You just plug it in, turn it on and push a button to spray out some cleaning liquid on the offensive spot, then suck it back out with the hose/brush thingy. Voila. I don't think we've had a spot that hasn't come out, including pizza sauce. I think the key is catching them right away. Plus, I'm sure if I dumped a nice glass of Pinot Noir on the carpet, the Bissell might not be able to tackle it. I'm not about to try.

Around that time, I also bought a Bissell Natural Sweep, which is one of those sweepers that you don't plug in. You know, they use 'em in restaurants to get the crumbs. I wanted one so I could do daily maintenance vacuuming in the living room when Jordan is napping, since our Hoover is pretty loud.



However, the second time I used the Natural Sweep, I took it outside to empty the dirt trap and it broke on me! It was totally useless, but I'd already thrown out the box and receipt. I figured I was out of luck, and the thing has been sitting in my closet ever since. That was last fall!

Well, I came across the Natural Sweep the other day and on a whim, I contacted Bissell Customer Service online and told them about it. Almost instantly, I was pow-wowwing with a lady who was asking questions about which part broke. I e-mailed her a photo and she stuck a brand new sweeper in the mail for me that day. I had it just a couple days later.

Why didn't I just ask earlier?

Also, why aren't ALL customer service matters resolved this easily and completely? (Eh, AT&T? DirectTV? Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?)

And that's why I wrote this post. Bissell doesn't know I'm doing it. They didn't pay me or give me free stuff (except for the free replacement they gave me for the broken sweeper). They just did it because apparently that's the way they treat their customers, and for that, they get this. A post telling you that I use Bissell stuff to clean up my boys' messes, that I LIKE the things I've purchased from them, that they have EXCELLENT customer service and that I am highly likely to be a repeat customer.

So there ya go.

Backpacking tacos

I am picky about food when we're backpacking.

Not picky as in I will only eat healthy things or anything like that, but just picky. Choices are somewhat limited when you have to carry everything for your meals on your back for days and cook it on a stove that literally fits in your pocket.

Some people use those just-add-water meal-in-a-bag things. Well, for one thing, they're expensive. For another, they're NASTY. I've only tried a couple, and have never found one I liked.

Other people cook noodle dinners. Lipton ones or just mac n' cheese, etc. This would be the category my husband falls under when he's without me. But just noodles doesn't cut it for me. I want something yummy and filling after a long day of hauling a heavy pack over trails (or non-trails)!

I am not sure how I discovered that I could make legitimate tacos out in the backcountry. Maybe I was experimenting with my dehydrator. Maybe I read something about drying ground beef in one of my backcountry cookbooks (I've never really found much in those books that works for me either. Like I said, Picky).

Anyway, a few years ago, I tried dehydrating some ground beef and making tacos, and ever since then, we've had tacos on every single backpacking trip we've taken.

People are often surprised to learn that you can actually take hamburger hiking, but if you do it right, you can make tacos that almost taste as good as the ones you have at home. Sometimes, they even taste better, because there's just something about having tacos in a wilderness setting after you've been hiking all day. It's neat.

So, just in case anyone who reads this wants to go backpacking and enjoy some super yummy tacos, I thought I'd share my recipe.

The majority of the work is done at home, prepping the meat.

First, you get some lean ground beef. I say lean because you want to try to eliminate as much of the fat as possible, since that would make the meat go bad faster.



Brown it WELL in a pan. Seriously, make sure it's completely cooked. Last thing you want is food poisoning in the backcountry!



After it's browned, put it in a colander and rinse it very well with very hot water. This gets more of the fat off it. Then let it drain in the sink for a bit. You want to get as much water as possible out of it.



After it's drained, lay out some paper towels and spread the meat on it, then put more paper towels on top and pat it so it's even drier.



Then, put it in your dehydrator. I went to the fabric store and bought a remnant of tulle, and cut it into a circle with a hole in the middle so it fits on my dehydrator tray. That keeps the little bits of meat from falling through the holes as it dries.



It only takes a couple hours on the meat setting for the burger to dry completely. After it's dry, let it cool completely, then put it in a bag. You would probably be fine with just a zip-lock style bag, but I take it another step and use my Foodsaver to vacuum seal it, just to keep it fresher. I also add my dry taco seasoning to the meat before I seal it up, just so I don't have an additional packet to take hiking.





Once it's sealed, keep it in the fridge until you go on your trip. It should be good up to a week.

I usually also vacuum seal a chunk of cheddar cheese. Did you know you can keep hard cheese un-refrigerated for a few days and it will be just fine, as long as it's sealed up? It's true! This time, I found a cute little 3-ounce block of pepper jack at the store, so I just took that.



Soft tortillas pack better. If you take hard shells, chances are you'll be eating crumbs. I generally buy one of those taco "kits" that has a pack of tortillas, a pack of seasoning and a pack of salsa.

At camp, an hour or so before dinner, (we do this after we set up camp) put the meat in your pan with a little water to start the re-hydrating process. Don't add too much water! You can always add more later. Otherwise you might end up with taco soup.

before soaking



after soaking



If you're going to be away from camp as the meat soaks, take precautions against critters. We used straps to keep them out and also put things on top of and around the pan while we went to the lake to filter more water.



A photo I took right after we filtered water out of Lake Michigan. It was refreshing! So was the swimming!



When you're ready to cook, you just add a little more water if necessary and heat the meat until it's hot all the way through and no longer crunchy. As the meat's cooking, chop the cheese into pieces.



I make thin slices and then we put them on the tortilla before the meat, then add the meat, and finally, we top it with the salsa.

Voila! Camp tacos!



If you're lucky enough to be hiking where wild leeks (ramps) can be found and you know what to look for, some chopped leeks in your taco meat are delicious.

I picked three, but it was the day AFTER we had tacos.



Instead, we used them in the salmon & pasta salad I made for dinner the next night.

You can also dehydrate chopped bell peppers or onions and mix them in with your ground beef at home. Mmmm...

Be careful to figure out before your trip how much meat you're going to need to feed the hikers in your party, because there are no places to store leftovers at camp. SOMEONE is going to have to finish it, because you don't want to be packing around cooked taco meat for your whole trip. You DO pack out your trash, right? You better!

When you pack your tortillas for the trip, it's a good idea to put them in a gallon-size zip-lock bag. That way, you can keep any leftover shells fresh and have them with peanut butter for breakfast or lunch the next day. I try to make sure we get the 10-pack of tortillas so we can do just that. It's a welcome break from oatmeal for breakfast.

So there you have it, my favorite camping meal!

I'm a WARRIOR!

I did it!

Yes, after 7 months of waiting, I am finally worthy of the Warrior title.

I signed up for the Warrior Dash back in January. Right before the new year, a friend told me about it and said I should do it. At first I thought Yeah Right, but that thought was immediately replaced by Heck Yeah I Should!!! I thought it would be a great fitness goal to work toward, so I convinced Hubby it was a good idea, and we signed up.

As far as preparation, I planned to get strong by running, weight training and adding in lots of plyo-type body weight exercises. I figured pulling my own weight would be the best way to prepare for, well, pulling my own weight up walls and over obstacles. I also intended to drop 15-20 pounds but, well, that didn't happen. Moving on...

Prep went well up until THREE WEEKS before the Warrior Dash. One morning I went to the gym and loaded up a bar with 100 pounds to do some standard squats. No big deal, do it all the time. I'm generally very careful with form, too, so I don't get injured, but for some reason this day I was at the bottom of a squat and SOMETHING gave. My back wrenched in pain and for a while I couldn't even stand up straight. I hurt myself. It was really painful.

I went to the chiropractor and she took X-rays and found I'd compressed a lumbar disk. The adjustments she did on me over the next three weeks helped a lot, and I also was basically forced into resting. No real workouts. The back pain was (and is) still there but I'm trying to take it easy and it is getting better slowly.

Still, I was very, very worried about what this would mean for the Dash. I figured I'd still do it, but take it easy. Especially since Hubby and I had planned to leave right after the race for a 4-day backpacking trip. My goal had gone from rocking the race to just finishing without further injury, even if that meant walking it. I was kind of bummed but told myself it could be worse.

July 30 arrived and Hubby and I headed to Mt. Morris. We were running at 11 a.m. and it promised to be a very hot, steamy day. We got there and it was NUTS. Like a mix between Renaissance Festival and Lollapalooza. Loud music, mud-covered people drinking beer and eating turkey legs at 10 a.m., Viking helmets, people in costumes... Pure chaos. FUN!

I think the best costume I saw was Lt. Dangle from Reno 911. It was awesome! I ran by a dude in a wedding dress and another dude in full hockey goalie gear. There was a couple in front of me who had matching shirts. His said "It's not mud, it's shit" and hers said "it's not shit, it's mud." Personally, I think at times it was a little bit of both!

We met up with a couple friends and lined up for our race. I was representing the girl power in my pink camo shirt I'd found just for the event.

Here we are before the race, still clean





It was already so hot out, and when the race began, the first leg was on this sandy, sunny trail. I now call that the Desert Obstacle and I honestly think it was the most difficult part of the race. The crush of people running (they allowed 500 to run per wave) kept me from going too hard at the beginning and I think that was a good thing.

The obstacles began about a mile into the race. (3.1 mile race, 13 obstacles). The first one was a lot of tires to run through and then you had to scramble over some junk cars, then more tires, then more cars, then more tires.

Then there was an over-under obstacle that was made up of a chest-high wall to go over, then knee-high barbed wire to go under, wall, wire, wall, wire. Being a short girl, this obstacle was pretty easy for me. I think my upper body strength helped because some other women have reported having trouble getting over the walls. I was pleased that it wasn't hard.

Then came a refreshing dip in a lake. We ran into the lake and had to go over huge floating logs. I don't remember how many of them there were. Six or seven maybe? The water felt SO GOOD!

I don't remember the order of the next obstacles, but there was a big wall to climb (maybe 16 feet or something? There was a rope and some boards to help. It was cool. I did well here, too.

There was a "blackout" obstacle that was covered in black tarps. You had to crawl 30 feet through pitch blackness. It was like a SAUNA in there!

There was a sort of up-down-up-down-up-down platform covered in cargo nets to get across. I'd heard a hint beforehand to ROLL across it, so I did, and blew past everyone else who was trying to pick across it on their hands and feet.

There was a series of planks going up and down that you had to balance walk across. Easy Peasy.

There was a giant deep mud bog in the woods and a log to cross it on. Many people were opting to skip the log, but the mud was so deep. I saw a lot of people get stuck and a lot of people lose their shoes in there. Being only 5'4", I waited for the log. I had to WAIT too. It was kind of annoying to stop and wait in the middle of a race. After the logs, there was a very slick, steep mud hill to climb (got to see lots of people lose it here!) and then a bunch of up-down hills in the woods. This mud obstacle section was just a lot of fun! You got to get dirty and it was challenging.

"Arachnophobia" came after that. It was a big tangle of ropes, from head to feet, criss-crossing in all directions, and you had to make your way through that. There was this really tall guy in front of me and I actually just kind of slipped through behind him. I didn't intend to, it just worked out that way.

There was another really high wall to climb, just with pegs, and on the other side, your option for getting down was a knotted rope. I hear this one gave people some trouble too. I was good, though. What got me was after I dropped off the rope into the hay and started running, the hay was DEEP and I stumbled for a second.

The last obstacles came right at the end of the race. A big cargo net to climb--my FAVORITE! It was awesome! I guess I am made for cargo nets because I scrambled up and over and down that thing like a spider monkey. Felt so good!

Here's a photo I snapped of some people on the net after I finished my race



Then you had to jump a couple sets of Warrior fires. The fire was actually kind of weak when I hit this obstacle. I did a big ballet leap over the flames. The on-site photographers got a shot of me going over, but at the price they charge, forget it!

Here's a shot of some random dude jumping the fire.



The last thing was the mud pit. It was deepish, but as some poor guy learned, not deep enough for crazy diving. He was paralyzed from the neck down on this obstacle. It's so sad that someone's life could be so altered from a fun event.

After you plunged into the deep mud, you had to crawl under some more wire to get to the finish.



After I stood up I was so heavy with mud and the ground was so slick, I couldn't really run. I kind of lumbered to the finish.

And... here's Hubby and me, covered in mud!





Afterward, they had this huge tank truck shooting out water. This was the first time I've ever showered in public with 500 other people. Weird. And I wasn't all that clean afterward.



Hubby and I headed to the car to change into clean clothes. We found there were some water spigots in the parking area (this was held at a fairgrounds) so we got a little more cleaned up there.

I still wasn't very clean though. I know this because later, I used an outhouse and when I wiped... MUD. Ugh.

After changing our clothes, we went back in and got our free beer and took in the sights. Mmmmm refreshing!



The timing chips we tied to our shoes were our free beer token.



We also donated our abused shoes. Somehow, they take this mountain of muddiness and reuse it to provide footwear for people who don't have any.




Hubby and I enjoyed the Warrior Dash more than longer, endurance-style racing. Neither of us are built to be real runners, but we both had an easy time with the obstacles. We have already signed up for next year's Warrior Dash and are looking into the Dirty Dog Dash in September. It looks to be a similar setup as the Warrior Dash.

As for my injury, I ended up OK for the race and the backpacking trip. I didn't have any resulting pain other than the normal nagging been-kicked-in-the-back-repeatedly sensation I've had since the day I hurt it, so that was good.

I am looking forward to getting into even better shape for next year's race and seeing how much better I can do. I wasn't happy with my time for this year's race. It took me 49 minutes and 57 seconds, making me #242 out of the 879 females age 35-39 who ran it. This was a 16:07 per mile pace (OUCH!) A lot of that was due to waiting at the obstacles and walking after the obstacles, too, though, not just my general slowness! :)

My goal is to beat that time next year by as much as possible.

Oh, and the pink camo shirt? Didn't make it. The only thing I saved that I wore was my shorts. Everything else was beyond salvage.

Money-saving laundry tip

Recently, our dryer died and I ended up hauling some loads of wet clothes to a friend's house to dry them while our kids played. While I was there, she shared a little tip with me that I thought was a really great idea, so I am going to share it with you.

It's good for the wallet AND for the planet, especially if you can find some eco-friendly liquid fabric softener.

First, you need to get some plain old sponges. I found a four-pack of yellow ones at the dollar store, and bought two packs.

Next, you need to find a lidded container that will stand up to holding liquid. I had an old baby wipe box sitting around waiting for a new job, so I hired it. (Reuse, baby!)



Now, you dilute some liquid fabric softener with plain old (free) tap water. The ratio of dilution probably depends on your personal preferences and the kind of softener you use. I used some wonderful ecoSTORE USA fabric softener, which I understand is no longer made for some awful reason, so I'm happy to stretch this precious bottle as far as I can.



Their stuff is highly concentrated, so I added four cups of water to one cup of softener.

After you make your mixture, you put your sponges in there to soak.



You no longer add liquid fabric softener to your wash loads and you no longer use dryer sheets. Instead, you squeeze liquid out of one sponge (doesn't have to be DRY but not super dripping either) and throw the sponge into your dryer with your wet clothes.



After the clothes come out all fluffy and softened and dry, just toss the sponge back into the liquid. (Reuse!)

Just keep your container on top of your dryer so it's always handy.



It's a great way to create less trash and stretch a dollar!

Thanks to my wonderful friend Crystal for this fabulous idea!

Oh, and one more little plug for ecoSTORE. I just plain love everything I've tried from this company and it has NO NASTY CHEMICALS.

See, here's me, showing my ecoSTORE love while hiking on North Manitou Island.



Oh, and they don't know I'm writing this. They didn't give me free fabric softener, either. I bought it. I buy lots of their stuff. It's good!

Check it out for yourself!

Natural Hearts

This past week, Hubby and I went on a much-needed hiking date to North Manitou Island. It had been well over a year since our last date (Also an NMI hike). North Manitou is such a pretty place to backpack and camp, completely wooded and surrounded by sugar sand beaches and aqua Lake Michigan.

One of my favorite little pastimes as we hike is to look for natural hearts. I love happenstance heart shapes, especially when they're provided by Mother Nature.

Take a look and see what I found...

As I sat on a sand dune, I looked to the left and spotted this heart in a gnarled dune tree.



Along one of the trails, this violet leaf shone bright green against the darker velvety moss at the base of a tree.



Near Lake Manitou, patches of moss grew along the trail. This one caught my eye.



This little pond on the shore of Lake Michigan was so charming. It looked like a heart as I approached. As I drew closer, it changed shape. I prefer to remember it as a heart.



I found lots and lots of mermaid's tears (beach glass) on the eastern shore of the island. Several of the pieces were heart shaped.



On that same eastern beach, I had plenty of time to collect many heart-shaped stones and make beach art out of them. I have a small collection of heart stones at home, but wasn't about to pack all of these ones around the island, so there they remained for someone else to find!





I found these two different nut shells near the island dock. Strange... I didn't see the other halves anywhere, and there were no other nuts around. I believe the smaller is a black walnut but I'm not sure about the other.



Zebra mussels litter many Great Lakes beaches, and North Manitou is no exception. At least their shells sometimes make hearts.



And this? Well, it's definitely not a heart but it certainly caught my eye. It looked just like a skull staring out of the sand as we hiked along the beach, and it was about the right size, too. Eerie.