Supper Recipe for a Greener Planet

Tonight I made supper for my sister and I. I'm a "green" person by nature, loving our planet, recyling always, using my one mug for water or a old soda bottle for water.

I cook like that, too, using leftovers, dabs of this and that, staying away from red meat and large carbon footprint animals like beef. My sister loves cheese. I use it for her. Here's what we had tonight:

Glorified Potatoes and Cheese

Heat a large frying pan with 2 tablespoons of your preferred oil or margarine, butter, or spray coating. I used margarine, for the flavor, what we had in the fridge.

Chop two green onions and several hand fulls of fresh spinach and add to the pan. Saute lightly.
Slice 4 small, washed potatoes into the pan. Salt and pepper the potatoes. Once you have all the potatoes sliced, turn the heat down, flip the potatoes, and cover with a nice tight fitting lid.

You'll be flipping the potatoes every so often, watching the heat so they don't burn. The lid helps them cook faster, with less heat. Save the planet.

After the potatoes are fork tender, if you want a one dish meal, you can push the potatoes to the edge, forming a nice open center. I used two eggs, breaking them into the center, stirring with my spatula. Once the eggs begin to set up, stir into the potatoes.  Cover and let cook until the eggs are firm.

We had a whole wheat roll. I sliced it in half, microwaved that, called her for supper.

While that was going, I opened the lid of the frying pan, sprinkled cheese on her half and recovered it.


All the ingredients to this one pot supper could be produced on a small one acre plot of land. A person could raise chickens and goats, have a nice garden and produce food without creating a huge carbon footprint.

I know there are many ways of solving the same problems. Not everyone can do the farming thing.  Some say with Yellowstone sitting on top a huge volcano, who cares about the green house effect anyway?

All good questions. I leave for Yellowstone Thursday morning. I'll be there until October. Guess I still want to be nice to the earth, no matter what.

Tree Vs. Truck

I'm hanging out near Reno Nevada, waiting for my Yellowstone Job to begin. Walking around the neighborhood, I passed this truck. I paused. My first reaction was someone went off trail and must have had a hellva time until they hit the tree. Branches still are embedded in the grill, under the wiper blade, in the truck bed.

I looked closer and saw the cracked windshield, the long scratch on the side. A sobering thought: I hope the driver survived.

Maybe the person left it out of gear at the top of a hill and it ran away? I doubt it made it home without a tow truck.

If I was bolder, I would walk up to the door, knock and ask. No one bothered me while I was taking the photos, carefully editing out the driver's licence.

Tree versus truck: tree 1, truck -0....but of course, I haven't seen the tree, but from the front grill, I figure it was big.

Preseason Work at Snowlodge, Yellowstone

Snow  Lodge is located right next to the Old Faithful gyeser complex, one of the most visited places in our National Park System. I have accepted a preseason position from April 28- May 31, and then will be heading to Lake Lodge in Yellowstone.

The absolute beauty of this opportunity is I will get to enjoy this early spring in the very popular place, before it gets very busy, able to hike on days off, meet new people and then transfer to my favorite location in the park.

Don't get me wrong. Grant and Roosevelt are marvelous too. If you ever get a chance to hang out in Yellowstone, all the locations have much to offer.

Now, bison will be enjoying the warmth of Old Faithful. There are so many hot sulfur ponds and geysers in the Snow lodge location, bison can be seen there year round. The walk to work is about a tenth of a mile. I look forward to sharing those experiences here with you.

Of course, I'll be cooking. Me and the kitchen, we get along. The other night I made supper for my sister's family. We still have leftovers! Guess I'm geared for hungry crowds who love dessert.

The Health Care Scam

So I'm shopping around for personal health care insurance.

Question, why am I doing this? Cause most bankruptcies are a result of medical crisis. Because its part of the new law (now being debated in the Supreme Court), because as we get older we might need some medical care, and that is so expensive these days.

I went on line, did some research, looked at quotes. Beware. If you ever type your telephone number into these health care insurance web sites, before you ever get the submit button hit, the phone will be ringing, and ringing. and ringing.

Then, you'll get unscrupulous people setting up plans and offering great sounding programs.

The salesperson may add stuff to the script, this happened to me today, which turns out to be totally false. His manager said it was false, and he would deal with the lie internally. Hope you fire his ass, seriously.

Once the information was sent via email and I saw it didn't match up to all the promises offered, I canceled, and they hoped to not refund my "fee". Well, that's when you tell them the salesman lied through his teeth, and thankfully paid with a reputable credit card.

I always always use American Express. Once again, they will help me get through this scam.

Bottom line? I'll be sitting down with a local agent, at a desk, reading real hard copy. I will never trust an online site again.

Health Care Insurance

I've started looking into health care plans. So many issues come up when a person has "pre-existing" conditions. As a lay person, not used to the insurance terminolgy, I'm happy to see the government has a plan for those who may need to go this route, using a  program for people who haven't had health insurance in the last 6 months.

https://www.pcip.gov/StatePlans.html

this link also has a video linked from youtube that does a great job explaining the whole thing, who qualifies, in which states, and what the premiums might be.

View out my car window of the salt flats near Reno, Nevada. A person can easily think its water. There was some green water, in the ditches and median strip. Other places it dried to the white landscape.

Research Leads to Adventure Page

I've started researching the Mississippi River, its distances between major cities and time. The idea of taking a canoe the entire length is intriguing, following a water course for several months, human powered. This guy did it, and posted a great resource:

http://www.bucktrack.com/Missisippi_River_Canoe_Speed.html

The river is about 2311 miles long. He started on August 15, 2001, and finished in the Gulf on Oct 21, averaging 34 miles a day.

Turns out, the same year Buck Nelson did this river trip, he thru hiked the AT. See that info on the same website:
http://www.bucktrack.com/Appalachian_Trail.html

This page has a bunch of stuff on Alaska hunting and hiking, books available by different authors. Never know what a person will run across looking up an unrelated topic.

Good Bye Georgia

I'm moving across the country, visiting my sister in Nevada, then working in Yellowstone for the summer. I hope to spend at least one winter in Yellowstone, a winter in the Grand Canyon, see Alaska, and etcetera.

The etcetera is all up in the air. Georgia has been good to me. I've enjoyed the wilderness, the remote living, the minimalism. I'm still a minimalist. All my stuff fits into my Geo. The Appalachian Trail, Bartram Trail, and Foothill Trails will be missed. Its been a real adventure. I've been here 12 years.

But, to all things there is a time and season. This is a bridge near Elicot Rock, where the three states of North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia come together. I took this photo when I first moved here. All adventures are bridges on life's journey, teaching the patience and skills to move forward.

I'll keep this blog going and my femalesurvivalist one as well while I travel and meet new people.

PCT-John Muir Trail Deemed Impassable

From my Facebook updates, I read this article : http://thesheetnews.com/archives/12565 about severe distruction due to high winds and downed trees in the Seirras. Alternate routes are being planned, be aware if you're heading out on any trail, especially something as magnificent and remote as the Pacific Crest Trail, alternate routes are always a possibility.

I was very fortunate to hike through the Sierras, snow pack was low that year, yet still, in early June, a very wonderful challenge.

In terms of trails status, Morse said the 9 trailheads in Reds Meadow valley all have debris. The PCT has been deemed “impassable,” with lots of climbing required. One hiker who emerged from the trail not long after the event said it took his group about 25 minutes to go a half-mile in some parts. Officials are working with the PCT Association on alternate routes. The official kickoff of the PCT hiking season is April 30, but most hikers don’t arrive until late June. This quote is from his post at the above link. Andy Geisel

They are calling for volunteers who can handle chain saws, and those who know how to fall trees.

How About Driving?

Is the All American Road Trip about to go belly up, with the price of gas taking food our of our mouths?

Well, its really not that bad, Americans are still eating pretty good. My online friend has a blog about her trip from Florida to Alaska. She drove all by herself, meeting cool people all along the way.

Now, if your car gets decent mileage, and you do like she did, camping and having a blast, the rewards would greatly outweigh the gas money.

http://trackertravels.blogspot.com/

I've already bought my round trip tickets to Bozeman for my summer job in Yellowstone National Park. I'm going to see what its like to be afoot. Actually, it will be very easy, long as I get to and from the airport ok. I'll walk to work, have tons of trails to choose from, take the occasional employee trip.

My friend and I have a hike planned for March, several nights on the AT in Georgia. I'm looking forward to that, thinking can it get much warmer this spring. Of course, trail gods being like they are, we'll probably end up with a blizzard about the time she arrives.

gotta love the trail gods

Photo Essay Spot On

A friend posted this at Facebook, and it's spot on.

How my friends see my experience (the griz)
How my mom sees my experience (rescue helicopter)
How society sees my experience (homeless woman)

How dayhikers see my experience (massive pack)
How I see my experience (day pack-ultralighter)
My actual experience (crashed sideways in a blue tent)

A photo, or series of photos is worth a ton of words!

Happy Trails. If perception were reality, we'd all be gorgeous fools.