get out-lehigh valley — stone soup

Today was the first Get Out LV walk for the new year. I signed up thru June. The theme today was Stone Soup. Each person had to bring something plant-based to contribute to the pot.  Last night I cooked quinoa and brown rice. I like soup with lots of guts.

In the meantime, a work party to help Lydia get settled into her house was formed. I told them I could come after the walk. The weather has been so crappy that i haven't gotten a decent walk in all week.

I arrived at the walk about 9:50. The parking lot was full. There must have been 100 people including children and dogs. It was packed.

There were a lot of donations for the pot. Someone was even smart enough to bring bread and butter.

When I left the house I checked my phone to be sure I have enough batteries for the event. I didn't want a repeat of my South Mountain and farm show dead battery adventures.  It was in the 50s. I plugged it into the car and when I arrived it was 69%. I took a few pics at the gathering point and then put the phone to sleep.

We broke into two groups (should have been 3) and ours started on the boardwalk trail Not usually much to see there that I haven't taken pics of before. But we heard a lot of kingfisher calls. I pulled out the phone hoping to get a shot. It was dead. F*^k. Not again. How is this possible? And yes I would have had a clear shot. He parked on a branch right across from us.

After the boardwalk trail we picked up pheasant run trail, and then the backyard trail.

On the backyard trail we saw these great bee boxes. It's pieces of cork with holes drilled in. Apparently native Pennsylvania bees like this kind of box when they don't have rotten trees. They plug the holes with mud. The kind of boxes we're familiar with are European boxes. This is more like what Winnie The Pooh stuck his paws in. This one, and several others like it were built by a Girl Scout for her gold project.

Wait, you say. You had no camera. How did you take this picture? After the walk I went to the car, started the engine to see if I could get the phone on. It came right on and said it had 39% battery. So I walked back to the bee boxes and took the picture.

Then I walked over and took a pic of the bird blind. Built by, you guessed it, Boy Scouts.  (What would non profits do without scouts?) And then the phone went dead again.

Here's 1 pot of the soup. I stole this from the Facebook page. I don't know who took it. It looks really good, and healthy too.

My containers were empty, so I grabbed them and head towards Lydia. Originally I was going to stay for lunch but there was work to be done. I stopped at Wawa and got hoagies and headed to Lydia's. I plugged the phone in again, and no life at all. I was nearly to Lyds when it turned on. 8%.

Clearly my battery has issues. I checked the Apple recall list and it didn't come up. I'm going to have to take it in.

I worked another 2.5-3 hours at Lyds and then came home to do paying work. Four classes, and a freelance project. Gonna be another long night.

I read on FB, that the Idita-Walk registration has begun again. Another set of people is doing it this year, a dog group. Clearly the program is in shambles since the Boy Scouts left. They are trying out yet another new system. I'll give it a try.

Miles/Steps: Only 3 miles. You've got to be kidding.
Bathrooms:  I-4.5. They were inside the environmental ed center. First thing in the AM.
Wildlife:       Kingfishers -- several heard, 1 saw. Red Belly Woodpecker nest, Blue heron.
Weather:     Overcast. Probably in the high 40s. Sure wasn't winter. Muddy.
Extras:        Stone soup cooked in cast iron skillets on a charcoal grill.