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Showing posts from August, 2023

Mini-Reflection #1: The Cardinal Virtues Expressed

       I was listening to an episode of Father Mike Schmidts' Catechism in a Year this morning and he was discussion the four cardinal virtues: Temperance, Prudence, Justice, and Fortitude. Go give the episode a listen for yourself; its a 10 minute reading from the catechism and then a 10 minute or so reflection.       Here are my thoughts on the readings and podcast. How would one succinctly summarize the moral life in one sentence that contains all the fruits of the four cardinal virtues? That is one heck of a challenge but I'll take a stab at it.        Living the moral life, as God demands of us, might be put like so: it is doing the right thing at the right time for the right reason in the right way with the right implement to the benefit of the right cause especially when it is most difficult.     Let me give a example from my start of the day today. It is waking up at 5:30am in order to pray my morning prayers and devotionals in order to fan the flames of my lov

Hiking Report: Bell Mountain Loop with Johnson Shut-ins chaser in Late August

"Motivated, dedicated, and a little bit dangerous"  Date: August 26th Location: Bell Mountain and Johnson Shut-ins Route: Bell Mountain Loop from Highway A & Johnson Shut-in Footpath Stats: 14 miles @ 2,000 ft elevation gain Weather: Overcast with a little showers, mid to upper 80s.       Unable to sleep due to the sheer excitement of another day spent hiking and swimming my body was excited out of bed by 3:30am. I went about my morning routines and around 4:40 the first intrepid adventurer showed up. A steady stream of people started rolling in until we reached critical mass at 5:30am and rolled out.      The group got on trail by 7:30 after a very very high energy drive down. Starting off with a trail rosary we ascended the first big pitch of the day. The trail then petered out as we got onto the main loop and we all settled into a variety of fun and serious conversations. Things went by very quickly in a way that could be described with a thousand words or in just a

Hiking Report: Hawn State Park in Late July

 Date: July 22nd Location: Hawn State Park Route: White Oak and Whispering Pine Trail Double Loop (Figure 8)  Stats: 13.1 miles @ 1463 ft elevation gain Weather: Cool clear morning to hot mid day After making a rather pleasant hour and a half drive from my domicile, myself and a few other trepid hikers embarked on what would turn out to be a very diverse ~13 mile loop at Hawn State Park.  I was very excited to be checking out another new state park (three in as many months.) The trail we selected was two big loops with an additional small loop at the very far mid point. From start to finish we traversed steep rocky pitches, bluff lines, river side trails, hiked in the river bed for a while (off trail), some flat woodlands of both pine and oak, and a couple open spots. It was a mostly shaded trail which was much appreciated as the day aged and the cool morning gave way to sweltering heat.  The trail itself was very easy except for the last couple of miles (going counter clockwise.) In

Poem: I Can Do Anything Lights

Oh how those twin glows are abused Ignorant of all earthly laws when used Ironically lit but not terribly bright When a finger flips the hazards light No earthly vice can so quickly break me Honking and yelling I get quite angry  Amazon or Doordash will get my therapy bill All for the silly orange lights on their grill  So next time you see a driver activate their hazards which make John irate flip them the bird and honk the horn  giving idiotic drivers justified scorn