Hiking in the creek is refreshing

On a hot summer day.  As pictured, I wear my Vibrams to walk in the creek.  I stay nice and cool while the heat and humidity soak up the woods.  I've had these 'shoes' now for three years and absolutely love wearing them.  That is, in case anyone was interested.

Morris and I came down through the woods and meandered along the creek.
What was our purpose?  To check fences of course and then to just wander and look at things.

We found some Self Heal growing in the woods.  This is commonly found in the pasture also.

The Elderberry bushes are beginning to blossom:

We found poison ivy [not in my woods or near the creek, but I thought I'd add it here because those who got into it last week did not recognize it and are suffering for it now.  It was located behind the mailbox and next to where they did all the work on the phone cable.]

This was hidden in with the native pink rose.

This was near the phone 'box' near the road.

Truly truly, if you live in a wooded area please be aware of these plants!

So Morris and I continued on our merry way through the creek.

He is a pretty smart little dog.  When it is hot.  He walks right in the creek instead of fighting the tall grass.  But when the creek gets too deep, he leaps to the bank and runs through the grass until he can drop back into the cooling waters.

 The grass is so tall!  He could get lost in it!

But being the 'cool' dog that he is.  He picked a shady spot and stood in it to cool off.

And then we found the dreaded Wild Parsnip.  The roots are good to eat in the early spring and late fall, this is an invasive weed.
If you break the plant while it is in blossom and get the sap on your exposed skin, and it gets exposed to sunlight, you will get a burn from it.
Not that I am going to test it out any time soon.

As a blossom, it is pretty though.

Last stop before going home was sitting in the creek on a boulder and cooling off a bit before hiking back home.
The gnats finally made it impossible to enjoy it any longer.

We had a wonderful time doing nothing but exploring.
Morris was very happy.

Morris was also very worn out when we did get home.
He napped on the couch the rest of the day.

Whatever you do, enjoy your summer days.
Remember, winter comes too soon!

Running in Virginia

Although I am NOT the runner my son is...I am an occasional runner with a large tendency towards hard hiking on trails in the woods...

I did go running on the 'common' grounds in my brother's neighborhood with my sister in law yesterday.

I ran in my Five Finger Vibram shoes.
After using them exclusively for over a week I can say...for me, they are awesome.
Running the trails with wet grass, mud, rocks, roots, and gravel was fun in them.
I leapt over berry briers sticking out into the trail and enjoyed the feeling of running like a kid.

I haven't worn shoes since last week at my job. My feet are very happy.

So how are my legs and feet after running about 2 miles yesterday?
Just fine, thank you.

The Five Fingers may not be for everyone, but they sure do work for me.

However, I will sincerely miss hanging out in my brother's pool now that I have to fly back home today....

Barefootin'

So quite a while ago I ordered these shoes called Vibram FiveFingers KSO [Keep Stuff Out].

Monday I got tired of waiting and waiting on the back order for these shoes, so I began an internet search and ended up finding a pair at RockCreek, an outfitting company.
I spoke with a woman in the order department and she made sure these were in stock in my size.
Viola.
2nd day UPS.
Tonight I slipped them on and had heaven on earth.

And after about 4 minutes of wearing these, the odd feeling of having something between your toes goes away.

So why did I buy these?
Because basically I got tired of my regular shoes which hurt my feet by the end of the day.
I walk about and do chores barefoot and my feet are very happy except when I step on sharp rocks, or pine cones in the yard.

I slog through mud and sloppy paddocks with bare feet, garden with bare feet...so why not have 'bare feet' shoes?

As I wear them and get used to them, I'll let you know how this ol' lady gets along with the FiveFingers.

I am sorely disappointed that I have to put on my uniform shoes and go to work. I imagine these would cause quite the stir if I showed up with them on!

My hubby's first reaction to these?
*You are not going to wear those out in public are you?*

Oh yeah.
I most certainly am!

Vibram Five Fingers Shoes

Have you ever heard of them?

I hadn't until my older son showed them to me last year. I thought *weird, they look like gorilla feet*.
Who on earth would wear 'shoes' like these?
Then my son told me he was running full time in these.

He is not a 'jogger'. He is a runner with multiple marathons, half marathons, and an ultra-marathon under his belt.
He said his feet felt great. He said his feet loved these 'shoes'.

I thought he was bizarre. I mean I'd started running in the early 70's in deck shoes and progressed to real running shoes by the early 80's. I always bought cheap because that was what I could afford and the more expensive ones made my feet sore.

So I started thinking. I'd grown up running around barefoot. My grandmother at the young age 0f 85 was still going barefoot...
I still go barefoot whenever I can in the yard, but chose to wear rubber chore boots while hiking the trails.

What if
What if I decided to try these out?

What on earth is a woman who is going to be my age, doing looking at these funky shoes?

I'll tell you more after I've received them and start wearing them mid May.
Then I too can have *gorilla feet*, albeit they will be pink and gray.

Although, I really thought the blue camo ones were strictly cool.

Who knows, I may be enchanted by happy feet to start running again [mostly wooded trails!].