I was sitting in my hammock thinking about preparing dinner when I felt some water splash on my foot. It was raining hard, but I was nice and dry, and I thought it a bit odd. I bent down to investigate and spotted this little peeper, who’d hopped in to join me sheltering from the rain. It wasn’t at all perturbed by the attention I was giving it and it stayed for quite a while. I then remembered to hang up my shoes (top of frame — more about them later) so it didn’t take residence in them and get squished in the morning.
More clumsiness
Later in the evening I decided to have a cup of hot chocolate. Nothing wrong with that, except as I sat in my chair, it tipped over, dumping me on the ground, and in the process I sprayed hot chocolate everywhere. So much for keeping a clean camp. I’ll admit, the incident, no doubt hilarious to any onlooker, depressed me. I began to wonder if I’m safe out backpacking anymore. It was only much later that I realized that part of my lack of coordination is due to my glasses. I wear progressives while backpacking, and it’s about the only time I do. I know from when I used to wear them all the time that there is a settling-in period when your brain has to get used to the distorted view they give. For now, I’m going to hope that that is the problem and try to be more careful. In case you’ve missed out on my previous bouts of clumsiness/stupidity, here’s a list.
- Burned a hole in the sleeve of my new down jacket.
- Set up my stove in a place where it was blown over by the wind.
- Fell out of my hammock.
- Torn a hole in my underquilt protector.
- Ripped a hole in my waterproofs.
- Knocked over my stove while cooking breakfast (we won’t mention that I was cooking breakfast under my tarp at the time).
And now,
- Sprayed hot, sweet, sticky, chocolate drink over a load of my gear.
I just hope the year gets less eventful from now onwards.
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