Belated Birthday Presents

For me, not Conker. His birthday is still six months away.

Since I did not really get to celebrate my birthday (December 14th) I went ahead and bought myself some presents. I ended up with some Merrell True Gloves (discontinued) that I found on Gear Trade for $33! They are a tad on the biggish side but I easily modded the heel with a bit of padding from an old sleeping pad that I use for Conker when we go backpacking and some foam to make them fit better. I haven't even had these shoes for a day and I already love them!

I also got myself two more pairs of toesocks since my old ones are quite decrepit. And missing.


To make this post Conker-relevant...

I got two packages of beef meat for $1.99 a pound today.

Weather Changes

So, today and yesterday were the first two rainy days of Fall.  Once it starts raining here it doesn't stop (one or two days don't count) until late spring.  So, Fall is here, and Winter is just around the corner.  It's cold enough to run the heat and one of these days I'm going to start a fire.  The kind you keep going all winter and use to heat the house instead of electricity.
Anyways, I'm looking forwards to the cooler temperatures but not the rain that accompanies it.  It's not raining right now but it's supposed to "T-shower" tomorrow basically all day.  And maybe some hail.


The trails were wet but not muddy and I hope they stay that way.  I know some parts will get muddy but not all of them at least.  And today Conker had his first close encounter with a horse.  Two horses actually, and he did superb and I didn't even have to tell him to leave them alone.

The scenery was gorgeous, as usual.  With the small amount of rain we've gotten stuff has already begun to green up again.  While it was mostly cloudy for most of the hike, the sun did peak out in a few places, one of them was when I took the above picture.  Because of that it turned out nice.

Along with the horses, we ran into a woman with her kid and German Shepherd Rottweiler mix named Ruger.  The dog was very friendly and amazingly, Conker didn't snark at all when Ruger trotted up to him.  Unlike most dogs, Ruger was very cool with meeting Conker.
The lady instantly recognized Conker as a Shiba and once I saw Conker wasn't going to snark with Ruger, I let him off the leash to play.  (I leash up Conker when I see people, horses or dogs) Conker and Ruger had a fu time running around for a bit as I talked to the lady.  I found out why Ruger was Shiba savvy.  He lived with not one but four Basenji's.  Four.  The woman didn't have any of them with her but she enjoyed talking with me and seeing how well behaved Conker was off-leash. 
That was a fun little encounter and I'm glad Conker didn't be a jerk to Ruger.


I almost lost one of my Vibrams (they were in my pack) on the trail and didn't realize it until I was done with the loop we went on, so I backtracked all the way back around the entire loop.  Guess where the shoe was?  About 100 feet from the beginning of the loop in the direction I didn't go.

VFF

Today we went back to Cathedral Hills and hiked a little over 5 miles. 
We got there a little after 12 and stuck to the outer trails.  Though I stopped several times to take a couple pictures, adjust my shoes and talk at Conker, we still made fairly good time.  Today is supposed to rain, dunno exactly when (weather site said 3 but it's past 3 now) but it did begin to drizzle a bit right as we were nearing the parking lot at 2:15.


The rest of this post is about my shoes, so skip if you want.

My New Shoes

Those shoes I ordered online and have been talking about?  They arrived today.

Yes, I got toe shoes, and yes they are totally kickass.

Want some toes shoes of your own? Visit this site to enter a contest for a free pair!