Logging Miles

I did a 10-mile hike in Hocking Hills on Sunday. It was a gorgeous day, and the temperature hit 91°. It was a four-sweatband hike. (When I sweat, it seems to do a good job of dripping into my eyes, so I wear a headband when I hike.)

On a separate-but-related note, a few weeks ago the Columbus Dispatch did a story on logging in the state forests, entitled Ohio might sell more trees. State forest officials want to double the amount of commercial logging in the state forests. According to the story, they want to go from cutting down 17% of new growth to 50% of new growth.

I find this abominable.

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Flag Etiquette

Did you know that flag etiquette is actually part of the U.S. Code? There it is, in 4 U.S.C. 7. Here are a couple of tips for flying your flag.

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Barefoot Rock

Here’s Barefoot Rock, from 1957-1958, sung by Little Junior Parker.

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Cypress

For some reason, I really like Bald Cypress (Taxodium distichum) trees (it may just be that they are somewhat out of the ordinary, as am I). These are the trees that you see in Louisiana swamps. However, they can thrive in quite a few other environments, and I have a lot of them on my property. On last count, it is something like twelve trees, many of which are along my creek.

We’ve been having a lot of rain here in central Ohio, and my creek has been doing some major flowing (at least for it). Here’s a shot after a recent rain of about one inch:

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Dual Survival — “Out of Africa”

First a reminder that there is another new episode of Dual Survival on this evening. Usual time: 9:00 EDT. Tonight’s episode is entitled “Out of the Clouds”. Here’s the official description:

The hosts take on the wet cloud forests of Panama with a broken lighter, a poncho and a specimen jar.

Now, on to “Out of Africa”.

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TOMS Shoes — She Hated It

I’m a little late on commenting on this, but I’d like to highlight this first-person description of one woman’s “A Day without Shoes”. It felt to me like a compilation of nearly every misconception possible.

She didn’t even bother to go outside until 4:00 in the afternoon, because it was wet and rainy. Hey, bare feet are waterproof, unlike shoes!

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Summerizing

This is the time of year to think a bit about summerizing your soles. Ken Bob Saxton, author of Barefoot Running Step by Step over at The Running Barefoot. says this about Summerizing Soles:

I’ve heard some interesting arguments against barefoot running, for example “you couldn’t run a full marathon barefoot in Phoenix, Arizona, in July at noon – therefore barefoot running isn’t worth trying”…

Well, reasonable people wouldn’t run marathons in shoes in Phoenix, in July, at noon either. That’s why Marathons in Phoenix are rarely, if ever, run in July at noon!

Remember, the soles can be early warning systems for all sorts of things. And that can apply to overheating, too:

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Dual Survival: New Tuesday Show

According to TV Guide, there will be a new episode of Dual Survival this evening at 10:00pm EDT. This new episode is entitled “Out of Africa” and takes place in South Africa. Here is the description:

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A Visitor

On Friday, I found this little guy wandering around my yard:

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Vibrams: Olbermann on Letterman

Keith Olbermann was on David Letterman’s show on Wednesday night. Olbermann was wearing a light cast on his foot due to a stress fracture. The episode is here (added note: Olbermann comes on at about the 17:00 mark), or you can read the transcript:

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Buckeyes Revisited

Since I showed you the Buckeye blossoms in my yard, I also thought I’d show you what the tree itself looks like while it is blooming.

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Dual Survival — “Bitten”

First, a reminder that there is a new “Dual Survival” on tonight, 9:00pm on the Discovery Channel. This episode is “Frozen Plains” and takes place in Montana in the winter. Here’s the official description:

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Gerry Spence

Gerry Spence:

Sometimes it is easier for a poor man to tolerate his corns than go barefoot and discard the shoes that cause them. Despite the existence of sharp rocks and cockleburs, there is something magical about a boy’s barefoot freedom. If only we could convince the world’s leaders not to walk in each other’s shoes but, instead, to meet and to talk to each other in their bare feet; likely, the people, as well as the Earth, would benefit immensely. I think, therefore, I shall walk barefooted herein. I think I shall walk wherever my feet will take me. I hope you’ll come too.

From the Introduction to From freedom to slavery: the rebirth of tyranny in America, (St. Martin’s Griffin, New York, 1996). p. xxv.

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Voldemārs Irbe

Sculpture Park in Riga, Latvia, has a statue of Voldemārs Irbe, a painter in pastels. He often went barefoot, and he is so depicted in the statue:

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Shoe-weak Charity

Soles4Souls is another one of the those shoe charities founded by the president of, you guessed it, a shoe company. What prompts me to write this today is one of their fundraising efforts in which they have enlisted the help of the American Association for Nude Recreation.

First of all, on the fundraising page, the name of this particular campaign is “Bare from the Toes Up”. This is a bit annoying, since if you’ve ever been to a nudist resort, you will see a large proportion of the guests wearing shoes. If you are shod, you are not nude. Nudists buy into the usual barefoot myths just like so many others.

But my real gripe is what is said on that page about why it is so
necessary to donate shoes for the Soles4Souls cause.

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