Wolves in the distance woke me and I lay there listening. Up before the sun, peed by a log. Basic camping stuff.
David and I went down to the rock at the water to take in the sites and appreciate what ‘was’. The nice thing about having an entire lake to yourself is that you can go around in your underpants and offend no one! Well, no one but the beavers, but they’re dicks anyway.

Chester tried to do his best Sean Penn impression but failed.

We relaxed with our feet in the water, the sun still hidden behind us. We were protected by the rocks and the trees. As the sun came around I could tell it had chosen me as its special victim (because, you know, the sun has it out for me). I scooted into the shade and pulled a towel over me. I even commented that perhaps at this age I should be more responsible about my skin and avoid getting burnt. Yeah, remember the time I went to Key West and got burnt so bad my skin was purple and it radiated heat for days? Yeah, I need to stop doing that.
David slathered me in spf 8000 and we decided this would be a quiet day. As I mentioned in a previous post, my goal was to find equilibrium, to make peace with myself. Today was the day. I grabbed my book, some crossword puzzles (even junkies need a fix in the wild) and my trail mix and headed out to a shaded rock that overlooked the lake.

David was busy collecting and boiling water so Chester decided that he’s get way more passing out done near me. As the sun moved, so did I. I was determined to stay away. Screw you, sun!
Between crossword puzzles and chapters in my book I spent a lot of time thinking. Contemplating. The results are in the post previous to this.
It really was one of those days where you sit very still and allow yourself to stop projecting and start accepting what is around you. (Stop Projecting! Start Accepting! I’m totally going to write a self help book and act like a dick and be a darling of daytime talk show hosts! Better watch it Dr Phil, I’m gonna knock your ass into a spin.). Of course while I was sitting and navel gazing, David was taking the canoe out and actually doing camp related survival chores like removing Giardia lamblia from our drinking water.

Speaking of water, I am stupid! When we g camping we bring a certain amount of water with us, but it’s not intended to last the trip. At 8 pounds a gallon, you’re really not going to bring all the drinking water you need with you. You will have to collect and filter or boil the water. Getting the water from the middle of the lake allows you to have water without so many floaty bits in it. As I was watching our ‘city’ water supplies dwindle I automatically went into reserve mode. I wanted to make it last. i knew in my head that we would be boiling some soon, but I was responding to the visual. I stopped drinking water and when I did drink some it was only a small amount. On day 2 I only peed twice and the second time was right before we went to bed and I had to think of waterfalls and Dr Phil to make it happen. Lack of pee in this very hot weather with all this exercise means lack of hydration.
The headache started on day 3. Along with the contemplating and sun fear, I was also battling a headache from dehydration…in the wilderness…with no Alleve. I told David and he made me drink a lot of water and kept on me, but the headache just had to run its course. I seriously considered trying to find a willow tree and boiling its bark because I read somewhere that aspirin came from the bark of willow trees and even though there are no willow trees there…I was going to try. No I wasn’t.
To make myself feel better, I laughed at the dog.

My dog looks like a pig when he sleeps

Also, he has actual buttcheeks. My dog has buttcheeks! If my dog could dial a phone he’d totally be calling for help since I’m always pinching his little doggie buttcheeks.

fuzzy dude on the tent

I think he wants to kill me.

By mid afternoon I knew I had lost my battle. Sunscreen, shade, sacrificed squirrels, it didn’t matter, my back and shoulders were burnt all to hell. They hurt and I was not feeling very happy about this. Fucking sun! I’m going to get in a spacemobile and fly to you and punch you right in the photosphere!
We ate rehydrated food and campfire baked potatoes and some MREs and we split a bottle of wine while watching the sun go down. I felt better after that.
Hanging the food in the tree was harder for some reason and I got stabbed by an angry tree. There was cloud cover so we could not watch the stars.