OK, suspend the low meat diet

I checked into my Red Cross Blood account and found that my hemoglobin was only 13.3 before donating two units of blood.  I suppose that accounts for an unusual level of fatigue when swimming butterfly.

The clams have defrosted and only wait for the right dish after tonight's swim.

modifying a pair of REI convertible pants to a hiking kilt for summer hiking.

A hiking kilt/skirt from a pair of REI convertible cargo pants?  Yes, I did it because of crotch humidity.  My best days on the PCT last year were with a single layer below the belt, either my shorts (REI pants with the legs zipped off) or my loose Island print boxer shorts (Patagonia sells the boxer shorts, but not the print)

The boxer shorts:


The converted shorts:


The back side of the converted shorts:


How?

1. Rip the seams that hold in the zipper.  
2. Let out the fabric that held the zipper in and sew a rolled hem.  
3. I was done, but for times when I hike with just that layer,
4. I sewed the top edge of a 9" x 10" square ripstop patch under the front panel so that it would fall over my private parts like a breech-cloth when I sat down. Picture below.
5. Later, I installed snaps from the bottom of the zipper to the hem in front.

Keep-outa-jail breech-cloth:

FWIW, the total bottom hem length is about 52". REI cargo shorts have really baggy legs.
Length from waist to bottom hem: 23"--removing the zipper from the cuff and letting out the fabric added 4" as seen by the color change.
On cold mornings I'd pull on a pair of pants or shorts under these and remove them as I warm up.  A pair of baggy butt pants with slim, stretch legs may fit the bill, like maybe RCMP pants or jodhpurs but I might have to make those myself.

The disposition of the pant legs:  They are too baggy to use as pant legs anymore--consumers will put up with bad design.   Ripped apart and sewn together, they may have a life as a new skirt, since the top end is nice and wide like the bottom of the shorts.   The bottom end is narrow, smaller than my waist, nothing that a couple panels of stretch fabric won't fix.

Dreams that have no meaning? And "Reading, what's that?"

I dreamed that I left my front door unlocked to let Goodwill in to take my dining room table.  That I went home and found the dining room completely empty of everything else as well, though no other room had anything missing.  In the dream I had two abodes and was trying to remember which one was robbed.

Each time I awoke to either snack or pee, I remembered none of that was true, and each time I went back to sleep, the dream persisted.    I arrived home today from a hammock hang to find all well in my only residence.

I can't define the significance of the table, the theft nor the two places of residence.  

I must understand why I can't say I'm going to eat vegetarian in a social gathering?  What keeps me going back to socialize with people who thrive on material acquisition and show no interest in reading or in having their children read?  If they don't talk about reading books or newspapers, can I reasonably conclude that they don't read?  I sure hope not.

Mugs, a new convert to DeLorme InReach, told his story:  lost, sunburned, dehydrated and hungry after four days in the Wallowa Range in August 2016.  He found his position after calling Search and Rescue (SAR) and having his position triangulated properly on the second try.  If he didn't have a cell signal, maybe backtracking to the trailhead would have saved him--could he have found his way back?  He confessed to not having acquired and read a trail guide to the area, which would have told him his route wasn't maintained.  He also only took pieces of the maps he needed.  His map ended where SAR told him to go.  Saved only by one signal bar on his phone.

Missing still:  Kris "Sherpa" Fowler. Last seen ~October 11, 2016 in Packwood, cold (and hungry?), asking for work to fund a night at a local hotel.  Determined to finish, searchers assumed he hiked north from White Pass and disappeared.  His mother and other family returned to Ohio.  If only we could turn back time and give him a DeLorme InReach or an ACR--so sad to read of his disappearance. 

I went swimming while the presidential vote was tallied

November 8, 2016.  I saw the map online of the voting trends with Florida and Pennsylvania colored pink for votes in favor of Trump.  I went to the swimming pool.  I swam for 45 minutes, working on freestyle and butterfly. 

I felt less energetic from having given two units of red cells the day before.  Given that limitation, I could work on feeling each part of the butterfly stroke.  Are my hands near the water surface as they begin their sweep backward?  How is the timing of the hip snap the knee snap and are my shoulders positioned for the arm sweep over the water?  How much of the stroke is up and down vs. forward driven?  Am I remembering to breathe deeply enough?

November 9, 2016.  Olympia.  The post presidential election mood is shocked, angry, depressed, disappointed with almost everyone I've seen.  Mark Hodgkins' house:  Alison opened the door when I rang and instantly offered me tea.  Doreen on the phone fir work related talk.  Mark changing out some part of a bike.  He has a list of to-do's that look like no one's idea of a day well spent--his RV needs a lift kit so he can go onto rough dirt roads to find a place to park overnight.    His stuff owns him--maybe more than my stuff owns me--I resolve to go home and look for stuff to give away, to simplify.  He's about to get under his RV to do some work--I'm so thrilled not to have one of those own me.  Me: what does that yellow bag contain?  Mark:  A sail for his sail board, borrowed it from Herbie--Me:  Herb and Carrie Weiss?--Mark:  Yes.
He knows Herb and Carrie!  So funny.

The Trump University trial will begin soon.  It may be interesting.