I decided that I should get outside and have some exercise today. I went to the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area, specifically the Island Ford unit, which is surprisingly near. The park Visitor Center is there so I was able to get a map and some advice that resulted in a 2.5 mile hike along the river bank. It was hot and I got sweaty, but the route was not difficult. There were many people out, and many dogs. The big winner of the day was the plentitude of fungus. I even came across some people with baskets who were collecting a certain yellow ruffly mushroom to eat.
Besides fungus, there were interesting rocks and trees to look at. I saw many large spiders, mostly on big orb-type webs. I heard ever-present cicadas and a few birds that I could not identify. I only saw one small brown bird that was moving fast around a fallen tree trunk.
The riverside trail goes about a mile north, then one can turn around and walk back or take a side trail into the hills that loops around and rejoins the riverside trail close to the start. That's what I did for the extra mileage. At the end, I detoured again to visit the turtle pond. At first, I didn't see anything. Then two big turtles appeared and swam in my direction. A third, smaller turtle briefly surfaced, but dove under when I moved to get a photo. There were also some schools of little fish in the pond.
After my hike, I thought I'd try to get a couple of things for the house so I shopped a nearby Target and Ace Hardware. It was past 1 pm by then, so I had lunch at Village Burger in Dunwoody.
This is the House Burger with lettuce, tomato, and pickles. I also had french fries and an unsweet iced tea. Not expensive, not fancy, just a good simple lunch.
Then I went across the street to Bruster's Ice Cream, because it has been a while since I had ice cream. I got $3 off for signing up for the rewards program. Um, yes please!
Small cup of Almond Chocolate Coconut.
Then I went back to the house and tried to let the sweat dry while reading a book. I had just gotten comfortable when my neighbor, Samson, knocked on the door saying that there was a water leak in his house. We also found water puddling on the floor of my downstairs bathroom. He mopped it up for me, and we couldn't find a source, so he went back to his place. After awhile, I noticed the water was still coming into my bathroom. I mopped a few times over the next couple of hours. Finally, I went next door and talked to him and his wife Chu-chu. They called a guy they knew, who showed up and did something on their side of the wall that made the water stop leaking into my house. The guy is Iraqi and was very excited when he heard I was from Michigan because of the large Arab population he knows is around Detroit. Okay, so that's fine. The guy will come back in the morning to fix the problem, but I'm relieved that whatever he did tonight stopped the water coming in without having to shut it off at the main valve. I was afraid I would need to spend the night at a hotel. Hopefully, the disaster has been averted.
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