Two Dogs and a Fat Guy Once More

Last Thursday, Dottie (the little stray that I was fostering) was spayed. A family had adopted her, but I held on to her so she could be spayed and heal up. Sunday, after showing no ill signs from her spaying, I met the family that had adopted her at the dog park and turned over her leash to them.

Upon returning home without Dottie I actually think I saw Allie (my lab) smiling. That night I sat on my couch with Buddy (my golden) and relaxed in the calm of the house. Fostering Dottie was a lot of work, and as a lazy guy, I don't like doing a lot of work. I tip my hat to, and thank all the people (especially with Golden Retriever Rescue of Atlanta(GRRA)) who bring foster dogs into their homes and give them a place to stay until they find their forever home.

So, once again I am 2 dogs and a fat guy.

The Corporate Run

Recently I ran the Kaisser Permanente Corporate Run (I did poorly). If you don’t know what the corporate run is, it is a benefit run for local charities. It is made up of businesses from around the area sponsoring teams (my company had about 100 runners).

I had been training with Buddy leading up to this run, and discovered my training was woefully inadequate. About 2 miles into the run I was done (it probably didn’t help that I worked most of the day, walked to the staging area from the train (over a mile), and walked around the staging area for 2 hours). Every time my heart rate monitor went off I would walk till my heart rate dropped low enough for me to run.

To explain how done I was; at one of the water break station a beautiful woman ran up next to me and grabbed some water (now some of you might know I’m not the most forward person when it comes to women (my friend Steve is laughing about the comment “not the most forward”), but in this environment I can usually say “how’s it going”, boy that hill was tough”, or something run related), but I couldn’t breath well enough to get out a sentence.

If that’s not proof enough; at this point the woman poured the water over herself, and continued on with the race (I’m not sure she knew or cared, but when you pour water over a white tank top it becomes transparent and when the water is a lot colder than it is outside the body reacts). Now this beautiful woman with the transparent shirt and high beams on took off. You may be thinking even if I couldn’t breath enough to talk to her, I could enjoy the view, but no, I was too out of breath to run next to her.

I continued on walking and running, but I could always tell where the wet t-shirt woman was. I would look forward in the distance and see guys with their heads turned, running into each other. It took me over 40 minutes to finish the 5K.

Fort Mountain State Park

Last week, when Lisa and I went Amicalola Falls State Park, we saw a sign for Fort Mountain State Park. Last Sunday I decided to investigate it, and determine if it would be a better hike for the group.

Sunday, I made a late start of it, and headed towards Amicalola Falls to where I saw the sign. I didn’t go to Map quest because my hiking guild said it was off of US52 and that is were I saw the sign last week. I never imagined that someone would put up a sign for Fort Mountain unless the park was close by. Boy was I wrong, oh so wrong. Fort Mountain and Amicalola Falls are about 50 miles away from each other and not highway miles - noooooo - winding mountain road miles. It took me an extra hour and a half to get there. Had I done a little research, I would have realized it is close to Ellijay and gone up I-575 (I went home that way and it took me an hour and fifteen minutes) and saved myself a lot of time and miles (I am so glad gas is so cheap) (that last comment is sarcasm, in case you thought I was rich and thought $2.78 a gallon is cheap).


Big Rock Trail
Big Rock trail is along and over an old waterfall bed. It is only a ½ mile trail but it is difficult at times. The sign say’s its moderate to strenuous, and it is. It starts off as a rocky/rooty trail that is two people wide. This part of the trail is moderate. At about the half way mark the trail is split. You can continue on the rocky/rooty moderate trail, or you can climb the dried up waterfall (it’s not totally dried up, it still has a little creek running through it). Buddy and I decided to climb the falls. This is where the trail can become strenuous. The falls were made up of platforms of large exposed rocks. If you have bad knees, aren’t too stable on your feet (you’re clumsy), or you have a small or old dog, you may want to stay on the moderate trail that runs next to it.


Lake Trail
The lake trail follows a small lake in the park. It is an easy, wide trail that is a little over a mile long. The lake has a little sandy people beach (I didn’t ask if dogs were allowed) and many camp sites off the lake. This means you will see other people on the trail. At the other end of the lake there is a picnic area with a wide open area for a dog to swim (I am assuming that the lake is OK to swim, considering they built a beach on it). All in all, it’s a nice easy hike for everyone.

Tower Trail
This trail is actually three trails in one. Buddy and I started off up a wide steep trail leading to the top of Fort Mountain. Where the Big Rock trail became strenuous because of the technical difficulty of the waterfall, the Tower trail can be strenuous at places due to the steepness. Before you get to the top you will come to a side trail with a red blaze, this leads to the scenic overlook without taking the steps (I didn’t know that at the time). Closer to the top you will come to the steps that lead to the scenic overlook (once again I didn’t know that at the time). These steps are the same type of grated steps that are at Amicalola Falls. There may not be as many as Amicalola Falls, but there are still a lot of them (this is the way I went, and Buddy was not happy). After taking photos of the scenic vista we headed back up the steps (Buddy was even less happy) and continued on to the tower.

The tower was cool. It is located at the top of Fort Mountain and is old. This is not a park ranger tower; it is an early settler’s tower. Much of the tower’s history is shrouded in mystery, but it’s thought to be built by early Welsh settlers (so bring the Corgis, they might like sniffing some of their history).

Heading down the mountain is easier than going up (duh). The trail that leads down the mountain is the original trail leading to the tower. Old platform steps (not grated steps, thank god (Buddy said you’re welcome; he’s dyslectic)) are made using the rocks from the mountain. Part of the way down you will go by a rock wall. The rock wall goes on for over a mile and at some time reaches 9 feet tall (I read that, I don’t know that for a fact). The portion of the wall by the trail is only 2 to 3 feet tall, but when you see all the rocks used you will be impressed (especially if you ever helped a friend with expanding his patio). After the wall it’s a short way back to the parking lot.

In conclusion I highly recommend Fort Mountain State Park. Along with fun hiking trails, the park offers many miles of mountain bike and horseback trails. It also has a swimming beach, camp sites and cabin rentals. All in all, I think I will try and rent a cabin there one weekend and explore everything Fort Mountain has to offer.

Amicalola Falls

As many of you already know, I hike with Golden Retriever Rescue of Atlanta once a month. I have become co-leader of these hikes with Lisa. This means any time we decide to try somewhere new, Lisa and I will go weeks in advance to try it out (we get all different skill levels, so we want to let everyone know what to expect). What they should expect from Amicalola Falls is beautiful vistas and great scenery that is trying to kill you by causing you to have respiratory failure on the way up the mountain (at least you will die somewhere pretty).

We started the climb on the Appalachian Trail Approach Trail. It starts off as a tight rocky and rooty trail with a steep ascent which leads to a much steeper gravel road. This gravel road is a gut buster and has no shade. The only good thing that can be said about this section of trail is that when you stop to catch your breath and get a drink of water it has some nice views (I took pictures of the views so I could enjoy them when my heart wasn't threatening to boycott my life). Once at the top you will come to a parking lot and the top of the falls out look. There are restrooms (pack your own TP), Coke machines, water for the dogs and a fitness trail (I am wondering what SADO-masochist would design a fitness trail at the top of a steep hike).
The way down is along the falls and down some steps (600+ steps). You may be thinking this isn't so bad, and you would be right, if it was just me and Lisa and not me and Lisa and 4 dogs. You see these steps are not regular steps; they are made out of metal grating. Many dogs don't like to go down steps anyway, but add to that the fact that the pads of there feet keep slipping through the grates, makes for a long descent for them. By the time we got to the bottom my knees were killing me (I am using that as my excuse for not jogging Monday). From the bottom of the steps the trail continues down on a paved walkway that leads back to the parking lot.

All in all, the hike was between 2.5 miles and 3 miles and took about 2 1/2 hours to complete. This is a great hike if you are into photography or nature. It is not a great hike if you are out of shape, have bad knees, want to go hiking with your dog (no place to swim and grated stairs), are afraid of heights (grated stairs make you look down), or want to do a group hike (mostly single file, especially on the stairs).

Jumping the Shark

My place of business is expanding, and it has promoted some people from the rank and file to supervisor positions. Now I believe that promoting from within is a good thing. I was promoted from within. My only problem with these recent promotions is that they are supposed to be the best of the best not the worst of the worst. They should have something going for them other than their father forgetting to put on the condom.

Every worker that has heard the names of the new supervisors has laughed hysterically. That is all workers except my friend Steve who is going to have the two worst working for him (it wasn't his choice to promote them, and he's pissed that he has to deal with them). My friend and co-worker John has referred to this series of promotions as our company "Jumping the Shark". How can you expect high standards from a company when the people enforcing the standard have set such a poor standard their entire career? Once a person moves out of their parent’s house the old line "Do as I say and not as I do" doesn't work anymore. Quality is about to go way down.

Parents often tell their kids when they get older that they hope they have kids just like they were when they were kids. I sort of feel the same way; I hope these new supervisors have workers that are as bad as they were, working for them. It would prove karma does exist.

The Great One

I would like to take a moment to welcome a new member into our pack. His name is Gretzky and my sister adopted him a few weeks ago.

Where Does The Time Go?

Where does the time go? After working all day and spending over 1 ½ hours in traffic I got home and mowed the yard (what fun). After I finished mowing I got the chance to do laundry (do I know how to party)? While I was doing laundry I made GRRA (Golden Retriever Rescue of Atlanta) phone calls to prospective adopters of Dottie.

Once I finally got a break, I decided to go for a run with Buddy. I was running at the Lockheed/Martin trail, and was half way through the run when I was approached by security and informed dogs were not allowed on the trail. The security guard was very polite and professional not like Lisa’s angry man (I think he just was trying to help me with my lack of time by stopping my running).

I am kind of annoyed by this. I know Lockheed/Martin has the right to ask me not to have a dog on the trail, but why now after all these months and after I’ve asked the security guards if I could have a dog on the trail. This means I have to find a new place to run. I could keep running the trail without Buddy, but that’s not going to happen. Buddy is my running partner and motivation to run. Plain and simple, I don’t like to run, and if it wasn’t for Buddy enjoying the run I would rather couch surf (remember I’m a fat guy, and I didn’t get that way by exercising all these years).

I am a little worried that if I don’t find a good place to run, I’ll stop. Remember, basic physics says an object in motion tends to stay in motion, and a gelatinous blob on a couch tends to stay on the couch (I think that’s one of Newton’s laws). But if I do stop running, I’ll at least know were some of the time is not going.