Early Morning Hike

I got up at 5:00 this morning to go with Jamie to Mendon Ponds Park. Jamie was meeting a friend to do some running. Sherman and I took a hike on some of the trails. It was beautiful, but unfortunately I was distracted by a couple of things. One: about 10 deer flies took to buzzing around my head and driving me crazy. When I finally decided to ignore them as best I could since I could not get rid of them, one bit me and another dive bombed inside of my ear. Two: the bathrooms were all locked. Enough said about that one.

Sherman didn't seem to be bothered by the deer flies at all and the locked bathroom didn't stop him at all. He took a dip into Devil's Bathtub when I wasn't paying attention, and was quite scummy! I took him over to the Hundred Acre Pond where it looked clear to encourage him to swim and get cleaned off. We surprised one deer who was coming through the thicket from the water's edge. She didn't see us until she was literally about 5 feet away from us. Luckily, I had presence of mind to grab Sherman's collar to keep him from chasing her. He didn't bark or anything.

After I finally found one horrible bathroom that was accidentally left open, we went back to the van to wait for Jamie. The flies weren't as bad there. I had left my book at home so I had nothing to read, but discovered a word search book that was left in the van by one of the kids. I'm not a big word search person, but it helped pass the time. After Jamie got back from his run, we drove to the village of Mendon and went to Sacred Grounds Coffee House.

I regretted that I forgot my camera. I had intended to bring it, but left in on my kitchen table. I am chalking this up to me not being much of a morning person. It takes me awhile to wake up and be able to think, plan and remember very well.