Do you all know what an ear worm is? When you are hiking long hours, just going mile after mile, up and down, around and over, it can get pretty boring. An ear worm is what you find yourself thinking about in your subconscious. Usually it is a song that just replays over and over.
One day back in Georgia this esperienced hiker, he had hiked the trail a couple of years ago, told us that he had seen a big clump of poison ivy on the trail that day. He spent quite a bit of time telling us what poison ivy looks like since we don't know.
The result of all of his teaching was my main ear worm. It is a song from the 60's called Poison Ivy. It is a stupid song but it goes on in my head over and over till I think I am going crazy. "Poison Iiiiiiivvvvvyyyyyy. Poison Iiiiiivvvyyyyy. Every night while you're sleeping poison ivy comes a creeping around." You don't have to know all the words for it to be an earworm, just the words you know over and over. "Poison Ivy Lord will make you itch, You're gonna need an ocean, of calamine lotion., etc."
All it takes is someone mentioning poison ivy, or sometimes for no reason at all I realize I have been singing this stupid song for miles. You fight them by singing other songs, and that can work, at least until you go back into the subconscious and there is the old ear worm again. I spend a lot of time thinking about a lot of things. Like, if I ever agree to Pastor another church I have made a list of things I am going to require them to agree to first. That is another post. One day I made a list of things a church should expect from their pastor and the pastor should be able to expect from the church. Yep Another post.
One day I spent trying to figure a way to finish the trail if my knee just won't go on. My knee doesn't bother me when I am not carrying the pack so I figured out a way to hike without the pack. Fortunately my knee is doing better so I don't have to resort to that tactic yet. Maybe that is another post. This one is about ear worms. What I want to say is even thinking about things doesn't stop the ear worm. You realize that under your conscious thoughts, there is the ear worm. Usually for me, Poison Ivy.
On Good Friday though I realized that the ear worm was "Were You There When They Crucified My Lord." I was singing over and over all 5 verses. (If you look it up and there are not five verses I must have made one up.) Then on Easter Sunday the ear worm was "Up From the Grave He Arose". Guess what it was the Saturday in between. Poison Ivy.
One way to get rid of it temporarily is by getting out the Ipod and listening to something else. I really find that more distracting than helpful. But today I realized that after a full month of Poison Ivy the ear worm was now Willie Nelson's Red Headed Stranger. "You can't hang a man for killing a woman who tried to steal his horse." I got so sick of it I wished for Poison Ivy back.
By the way, I don't know if I have really seen Poison Ivy or not. It is kind of like the Poison Oak signs at Old Mill golf course. They discourage you from looking for golf balls out in the rough by putting up Poison Oak signs. I have found a lot of good balls by ignoring the signs.
Today we hiked 16.5 miles to make it to Erwin, Tennessee for a burger, a shower, clean clothes and resupply of food. Tomorrow we are heading out towards Damascus, VA. So I guess you could say we are on the Damascus Trail. Erwin is 338.7 miles from Springer Mountain, GA where we began.
Amy is going to post my journal at www.trailjournals.com and Nathan will post our pictures there. I don't think they are posted yet, but look for them in the near future.
Knee update. You know that I am slow to proclaim a miracle but let me just tell you what happened. On Monday morning when we left Hot Springs as soon as we got off of the pavement and onto the trail my knee began to hurt as bad as it did going into Hot Springs. The rest and the brace didn't help at all. We were hiking along side the river on a very slight uphill and every step was so painful I was sure that our hike was over. We stopped and I told Jen and she was as disappointed as I, but there didn't seem to be any hope. But we stopped and had our morning prayer and she prayed for my knee once again. I told her that I would try to make this climb but I didn't think I could do it.
I turned and took one step, which was a step up onto a rock and when I did my knee popped and the pain went away. The knee remains very sore, I have to be very careful not to overdo it especially on long downhills, but since Hot Springs I have hiked 14, 12, 11, and 16 miles. Praise the Lord.
Thanks for all your responses. May God bless you all.
Flint and Jubilee
One day back in Georgia this esperienced hiker, he had hiked the trail a couple of years ago, told us that he had seen a big clump of poison ivy on the trail that day. He spent quite a bit of time telling us what poison ivy looks like since we don't know.
The result of all of his teaching was my main ear worm. It is a song from the 60's called Poison Ivy. It is a stupid song but it goes on in my head over and over till I think I am going crazy. "Poison Iiiiiiivvvvvyyyyyy. Poison Iiiiiivvvyyyyy. Every night while you're sleeping poison ivy comes a creeping around." You don't have to know all the words for it to be an earworm, just the words you know over and over. "Poison Ivy Lord will make you itch, You're gonna need an ocean, of calamine lotion., etc."
All it takes is someone mentioning poison ivy, or sometimes for no reason at all I realize I have been singing this stupid song for miles. You fight them by singing other songs, and that can work, at least until you go back into the subconscious and there is the old ear worm again. I spend a lot of time thinking about a lot of things. Like, if I ever agree to Pastor another church I have made a list of things I am going to require them to agree to first. That is another post. One day I made a list of things a church should expect from their pastor and the pastor should be able to expect from the church. Yep Another post.
One day I spent trying to figure a way to finish the trail if my knee just won't go on. My knee doesn't bother me when I am not carrying the pack so I figured out a way to hike without the pack. Fortunately my knee is doing better so I don't have to resort to that tactic yet. Maybe that is another post. This one is about ear worms. What I want to say is even thinking about things doesn't stop the ear worm. You realize that under your conscious thoughts, there is the ear worm. Usually for me, Poison Ivy.
On Good Friday though I realized that the ear worm was "Were You There When They Crucified My Lord." I was singing over and over all 5 verses. (If you look it up and there are not five verses I must have made one up.) Then on Easter Sunday the ear worm was "Up From the Grave He Arose". Guess what it was the Saturday in between. Poison Ivy.
One way to get rid of it temporarily is by getting out the Ipod and listening to something else. I really find that more distracting than helpful. But today I realized that after a full month of Poison Ivy the ear worm was now Willie Nelson's Red Headed Stranger. "You can't hang a man for killing a woman who tried to steal his horse." I got so sick of it I wished for Poison Ivy back.
By the way, I don't know if I have really seen Poison Ivy or not. It is kind of like the Poison Oak signs at Old Mill golf course. They discourage you from looking for golf balls out in the rough by putting up Poison Oak signs. I have found a lot of good balls by ignoring the signs.
Today we hiked 16.5 miles to make it to Erwin, Tennessee for a burger, a shower, clean clothes and resupply of food. Tomorrow we are heading out towards Damascus, VA. So I guess you could say we are on the Damascus Trail. Erwin is 338.7 miles from Springer Mountain, GA where we began.
Amy is going to post my journal at www.trailjournals.com and Nathan will post our pictures there. I don't think they are posted yet, but look for them in the near future.
Knee update. You know that I am slow to proclaim a miracle but let me just tell you what happened. On Monday morning when we left Hot Springs as soon as we got off of the pavement and onto the trail my knee began to hurt as bad as it did going into Hot Springs. The rest and the brace didn't help at all. We were hiking along side the river on a very slight uphill and every step was so painful I was sure that our hike was over. We stopped and I told Jen and she was as disappointed as I, but there didn't seem to be any hope. But we stopped and had our morning prayer and she prayed for my knee once again. I told her that I would try to make this climb but I didn't think I could do it.
I turned and took one step, which was a step up onto a rock and when I did my knee popped and the pain went away. The knee remains very sore, I have to be very careful not to overdo it especially on long downhills, but since Hot Springs I have hiked 14, 12, 11, and 16 miles. Praise the Lord.
Thanks for all your responses. May God bless you all.
Flint and Jubilee
5 comments:
Praise God about your knee! I am so glad that you are able to continue. Cassandra has given me an ear worm "Do a deer a female deer, Ray a drop of golden sun..." you know from the Sound of Music..well maybe you don't...anyway you don't have to be on a trail to get one. We are praying for you. Love you bunches.
Sarah and Cassandra
Great to hear that your knee is doing better. Maybe Jen should sing a VBS song from years past to give you a new earworm a day. My personal favorite is "Rickshaw Rally." So grab your kimono come on let's go! Stupid song stayed with me for months.
Trina brought Uma to school yesterday to pick up the boys. I gave her a good scratch on the nose for you both. She seems to be holding up well. She must be as tough as her owners! Take care of yourselves and God Bless.
Paula
I get ear worms on a daily basis. Some of the biggest perpetrators:
Little Boxes by Malvina Reynolds
the Snicker's commercial "brings a song of satisfaction to the world"
What Shall We Do With the Drunken Sailor
"oops I did it again" by Britteny spears. That one is the worst, because its the only one of the four that I absolutely hate.
It is great to hear from y'all again! Rodger, I'm relieved to hear that your knee is better; I will continue to pray... Are you actually writing your "lists" down? I am looking forward to discussing them with you. Go with God! -- Bill R.
Rodger and Jen, I've enjoyed the pictures. Looks like fun. It snowed again this week here in Idaho. As soon as it started snowing I thought about you two. Stay dry and keep on truckin'!
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