April Showers...

April was a bad month, and I'm glad it's over.

It started with a joke. And just like last year, I wrote it too convincingly and people took it very seriously. This time around it had larger repercussions, so I'm throwing in the towel. No more April Fool's jokes from this blogger. Ever.

The only benefit is that by poking and prodding, it's easy to find out who my true friends/co-bloggers/work-partners/comrades are. Those who forgive the quickest are usually the best partners and the ones who I can trust and depend on. (I'll spare the game theory details of why that is!) I am quickly forgiving also. It's better that way.

The first day of the month happened to be a warm sunny day, so my girlfriend and I went for a freehike. We made it most of the way down the trail when there was a suspicious beep from the 2-way radio. Playing it safe, we dressed and hiked back to find that nobody had touched the sign or radio. It was a good hike anyway, but a bummer that we hiked in textiles for half of it.

Early in the month, my job started encouraging 60 hour work-weeks to finish up a project. That'll last until at least the end of this month. After that, I got the bad news (in April) that I'll be on the project that involves traveling to Michigan almost all the time. My summer doesn't look too good at the moment.

During the middle of the month, we almost got hit by a meteor. This was VERY close to where we live. I could drive for 10 minutes and look for fragments. (I didn't though, see paragraph above.) A friend of mine actually saw it. We all heard the sonic boom, which sounded like very close lightning (sort-of) and rumbled for literally over a minute. Scary stuff, but very cool at the same time. Check the news story link above for the video. A police car happened to be pointing in the right direction at that time.

Almost the last week of the month, we had to cancel some long-standing plans due to my work. My girlfriend has never been very far south, and has always wanted to go. We had a 10-day Florida vacation planned. We'd jump into the first Tallahassee Naturally Full Moon Skinny Dip of the season, read a lot at the ANRL at Cyprus Cove, chat with Morley at Sunsport, ask Key West why they don't have a nude beach yet, and poke at a few alligators while camping in Flamingo. But those plans are on hold until at least next winter. Maybe by then Key West will actually have their beach. It's amazing how long it takes and how much publicity surrounds the simple act of declaring a nude beach. They don't just happen overnight.... (How long has Key West been talking about it now?)

The bright side of calling off the vacation was that I could attend the Badger Naturist Road Cleanup. It didn't deserve a special post this time around. It was almost rainy, not many attended, and it seemed very mechanical this time. The usual people showed up, picked up trash, then went to Culvers. The only thing new was a snappy attitude towards me, and it was apparent even before I had anything in my trash bag. I don't care though -- I'll continue to attend the cleanups simply because it's the right thing to do.

Looking to the future, our summer will be hectic but we'll make the most of it anyway. Our preference this year is to spend some weekends camping at VVRC (now with free WiFi!) and the Homestead Nych. Mazo Beach is always good for a day-trip, but our freehikes and our naked geocaching are a bit more challenging and fun. By the end of summer, we may even have our own private acres to enjoy.