Weeks of June 9 and 16, 2025

Posting a double header edition because I was sick from Friday-Wednesday last week with what I originally thought was food poisoning, but as it prolonged and got worse I decided was probably norovirus. It was rough. Thankfully Amanda and Charlie didn’t get it.

Today is our twelfth wedding anniversary!

I’m not sure I’ve ever posted one of our wedding photos on the blog, so today is a good time to post one.

We went out to breakfast to celebrate.

I started this blog seventeen years ago today!

I ended up getting my FreedomBox upgraded successfully to Debian 13 (trixie) and am now running my own Miniflux feed reader instance on it. Thanks to the power of the greader/FreshRSS API, it also syncs with NetNewsWire on desktop and mobile.

Amanda had to go to Miami for two days last week, so Charlie and I went on an adventure the first night. We went to King Kone for the first time for dinner and ice cream (Charlie opted for a milkshake), then we went over to Croton Gorge, which was really flowing! King Kone’s food was good. The platters all come with a side of homemade coleslaw wish scallions in it.

The next evening we hung around the house and played outside, went on a bike ride through the woods, where we caught a glimpse of a fox.

Thursday my friend Jay came over, fresh on his summer break (school teacher), and we hiked up to the top of Blue Mountain. Despite walking in the park multiple times a week for the past five years, I never actually went up to the summit of Blue Mountain, so we decided to go check it out. “Mountain” is generous, as the elevation is 680ft. Still, it is the highest point in the local area. It was about a 45 minute walk from our house to the summit. There is an old shelter foundation up there, as well as a little pond.

On the way back down, Jay and I amused ourselves by making up the beginnings of a story about The Blue Mountain Troll. Proportional to its surroundings, it is small, only 3ft tall. It lives in the rock formations up there. No one has seen it, but there are reports of hikers getting hit by acorns and small rocks while going up the trail.

I got out fishing three times in the past two weeks. Cross River, East branch of the Croton, and upper West branch of the Croton.

It is interesting how three rivers, all part of the same watershed and so geographically close together, are so different. All three have to be approached and fished completely differently if you are to expect any bend in your rod.

At a local bookstore I found a copy of a book from 1985 that details the streams in the area and has some better maps than the current guide from the local Trout Unlimited chapter. It mentions names for pools/holes that I knew were there, but didn’t know the names of. For example, here is the one for the Amawalk:

It is also interesting to compare what has changed and what remains the same. For instance, everyone knows that the Upper West branch is full of small 6-8″ brown trout, and that is about all you’ll catch. Apparently it was that way in the 80s, too!

Right now I’m reading Ride with me, Mariah Montana by Ivan Doig, the final book in his Montana Trilogy. I’ve read roughly one per year. I recently learned that there are even more books by Doig set in the same Two Medicine country, but not about the McCaskill family. I’m looking forward to reading another next year.

The past couple years Charlie has made bookmarks for me for Father’s Day. The one pictured is from last year, but I switched to this year, which was made out of orange paper (he picked orange because that is my favorite color). I treasure these bookmarks more than gold.

Related, a text from Amanda:

I started the creative discussions for your annual bookmark and I asked if he wanted to paint something or draw something or take one of the photos from his camera and make that the bookmark and he said “No I don’t want to do that. What about a heart because I love daddy.”

This has been a challenging weekend for parenting. This little guy can do something that surprises us and makes us so proud of him, then go completely feral a few hours later. We’ve learned if that happens after ~3pm, the rest of the day is pretty much shot. The only thing that reliably works to reset the mood is sleep, so you need to cancel plans, throw out expectations, order takeout, and just strap in until bedtime. Switch off every 30-60 mins so you both get a chance to catch your breath.

Keep reminding yourself that he is a good kid having a hard time and that tomorrow’s another day.

Small update on the blood clot front: I’m now wearing a heart monitor for 30 days to see if I have any signs of arrhythmia, which could throw clots.

I have to be honest, I hate wearing it. It is small and wireless, but an oversized hassle.

It is giving me a rash.

It woke me up beeping in the middle of the night because of a “low battery” (20% was the threshold, which would last for well over 24 hours) and wouldn’t stop beeping until I changed it.

I can see the light flashing through most of my shirts.

I can’t swim with it.

The receiver is a locked down cell phone that has a terrible battery life. I have to carry two phones around all day and charge the receiver more frequently than just at night.

I’m aware of it at all times.

I can’t wait to be rid of this. I hope it something comes of it.

Related: Nothing makes you want to take your health more seriously like the waiting room at a cardiologist’s office.

Charlie’s strawberry plant is producing nicely. He’s been able to pick and eat three or four strawberries off of it so far and he is so excited every time.

Garden update: Lots of borage, which we are freezing in ice cubes and eating on salads.

Heat wave this coming week, with temps nearing 100F. Thankfully we got the window ACs in a couple nights ago. This always seems to be the week it gets hot enough for us to put them in. I need to add that to my Small Seasons calendar.

I made some iced coffee, iced tea, and a bag of pebble ice to keep us cool.

This upcoming week is the final week of my sabbatical. I’m hoping to make the most of it, despite the scorching temperatures. Probably some woodworking in the early part of the week, then some more fly fishing later in the week once it cools down a little.