The Woods

Styrofoam Coffee Cups Suck

Years ago, I would occasionally use styrofoam coffee cups while camping. There convenient, they are one less dish to wash. Despite what the greenies will tell you, in a hot fire, styrofoam burns fine. It’s cheap, and it doesn’t involve cutting down trees. Then I switched to a regular coffee mug, as I like the feel of the mug in my hands on a cold morning at camp.

Barge Canal Backwaters

After a while I started getting tired of washing the coffee cup, but I want a disposable, e.g. that I could discard and burn, and that I could take in the truck to sip coffee. I got these plastic-coated paper cups with lids which were quite nice, but relatively expensive. I used up the paper cups but still had lids, so I was thinking I could get some cheap styrofoam cups, and use them with the lids. They don’t fit, and I hate how they feel in my hands, and how they make the coffee taste.

Second cup of coffee

I went back to the old ceramic coffee cup to enjoy my coffee up at camp. They aren’t that hard to wash. And maybe go green, and use a reusable cup in the truck. Coffee cups are easy to rinse out, they are much less of a pain then plates, which I think I will continue to use paper or foam ones that are disposable and burnable up at camp. I figure if they aren’t going to the landfill because I’m burning them, I don’t have to feel guilty about using them once and tossing them, although I guess you could argue that your still wasting the chemicals and trees that make up the styrofoam or paper plates. But so be it.

I’m jeaous of your adventures πŸ•οΈ

I honestly didn’t think that much of my trip up to Cole Hill State Forest over the weekend.

But somebody said to me, I am jealous of your adventure.

It really wasn’t that much of an adventure, just a quick, inexpensive overnight out to Cole Hill. I was going out to my parents house on Sunday, so it was only a little out of way, and I figured it would be a nice adventure. Maybe I should cherish the little things in life, but I really don’t because it’s not a particularly noteworthy trip, just a quick night in the hammock, decided mostly while I was at Thacher Park earlier in the day.

Jealousy is something I think about a lot these days. While one shouldn’t covert what others have, it’s hard not to compare yourself to others. It seems like other people always have all the nice toys, go on the nice adventures. Mine are relatively simple, I have that run-down apartment, that old jacked up truck, a mountain bike, and a lot of equipment that is wearing out or is junk. A lot of people have kids and families, go exotic places, see great things. I do relatively simple trips, things often not that far from home. I wish I owned my own land, had acreage, ATVs and other toys. But I don’t.

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Why I’m dimming the lights earlier

Increasingly on clear nights I’ve been killing the lights earlier after dusk then the past in favor of being able to see the stars better and enjoying the laser lightening bug light show that I have that puts pretty ever shifting green dots on the trees.

 Lights

The truth is when I got the laser lightening bug show I was concerned about pointing it up towards the tree branches with all those sensational news stories about the laser Christmas lights blinding pilots. So I did some of my own fact based research on the topic and also tried shining the lights at distant hill tops and I found very little light traveled beyond 500 feet. Maybe problematic next to an airport but not to a plane thousands of feet in the air. I also tend to angle things no more than 30 to 40 degrees.

Artificial fireflies

With the stars up above and the lights elegantly illuminating the tree branches it really is nice. Both the natural beauty above and the artificial beauty looking ahead. It makes for some nice quiet time in the wilderness.