Hey noodle what did you do today?

Well I wound up waking up around 2:30 before heading upstairs around 3. I ate a couple chips and dip, then I ate the rest of that brownie I had from Pizza Hut. It felt super nice outside and I felt pretty guilty about letting such a pleasant day go to waste, so when I went downstairs I got my flannel on and went out through the back door on an adventure!

I headed into the woods, and while there I had many memories of my youth!

I remembered when I first got to the property and explored those woods...When I looked lakeward down the stream I swore it looked exactly like Jumanji. I remembered when I first encountered the deer-trail through a tangle of briars, and how my younger self was able to go through those briars to get deeper into the woods. The briars have since become overgrown, so I found myself having to go around them the same way adults had to. I remembered a phase when Malcolm and Adam and Jonathan and I used to mix chemicals together. Our best concoction was called 'blue snow' because when you poured it on the snow, it became blue. We once stained the carpet in my room upstairs with this makeshift chemistry, and when it came time to get rid of our experiments, instead of throwing the chems out, we stored them in empty shampoo bottles which were placed in a cut-open milk gallon, then put in a hole beside our club houses.

As I went deeper into the woods I remembered when my friends and I had a secret clubhouse city there. My sisters were never supposed to know about those club houses, and we had a load of little structures. The primary one was built on a fallen tree that was caught in the crotch of a tree, which we then built into a little log cabin. I made that one, and even turned it into a shop...I sold slingshot ammo (those spiked gumballs) and even 'cigarettes' (dried grass put in bark, which as it dried would curl into a cylinder). There were other club houses situated around this area, and even a secondary city Northward which was built entirely in trees (those were basically just 1 or 2 trees we could climb, and one where we felt brazen enough to place a board to sit on).

That area was a flood plain, and all evidence of our clubs have since rotted away. One time my sister Amber went into the woods (this predated the creation of the secret city of clubhouses) but didn't return. Mum sent me after her, and when I found her she was on a tiny tree stump surrounded by ankle-deep water. She said a snek had chased her on it, so I picked her up and carried her back to dry ground. She once found an arrowhead in the woods in the creek, and I admit as I walked I did keep my eyes open for similar relics. I did find the skeletal remains of a deer and put its skull on the end of a stick to take home, but no arrowheads.

I made my way to the deepest point of the creek, though this time of year it was nearly empty. Fallen logs can often be found there, and it's not uncommon for large alligator snappers to make the area their home. One time while fishing there Malcolm and someone else and I got a really, REALLY paranoid and bad feeling while sitting on the Hester's side of the creek...But when we went back to the Southern Komfort side, we felt fine. Childhood superstitions!

I walked down the creek toward the lake, avoiding the mud however I could and moving up past the floating chapel that was beached. When grandpa sold the resort he said that he wanted the chapel to remain. I wonder if ghosts come back because of autism pushing them to continue a goal they had in life...My dead grandpa certainly had some level of autism, but in his last years he seemed to lack the energy.

I walked back home, waving at the golf carts that passed. I wonder if they saw the deer skull I had. I did stop by the old smokehouse (behind the restaurant that burnt down in 2000) and investigated the foliage. There was still quite a bit of growth, leaving me optimistic about the passion flowers that grow there.

As I walked back I remembered my littlest sister's 13th birthday. She wanted to have a zombie-themed party, so some of my frands and I arranged for her to do that in the resort. Because the campground had very little business in those days, we pretty much had free reign of the place; especially since it was in February (the weekend of February 2nd, funny enough...Almost a decade earlier!). Despite only having a few people (Me, Wes, Amber, Adam, and a few others (Wes's blood makeup was a clown...Nose and lips and eyes)), it was really successful! I played a soldier that had cordoned off an area, and one of the few boys that had been invited ran past me toward the house...I swear I didn't see him the rest of the night, so I can only assume he got lost in the small patch of woods in our neighborhood (like 2-5 acres) and is surviving as a wild man there. Realistically I probably just didn't recognize him in the group of kiddos, but sometimes the extra story is more fun!

When I got near the house myself, I considered hiding the deer skull in the mailbox or mum's vehicle or somewhere that it would startle her...But I decided to just put it in the flowerpot as I re-entered the basement. Once down there, I decided it was time to clean the birb cage. I got it nice and pretty while watching NL play 60 Seconds Reatomized, then I decided it was time to go through all the literary agents and submit them for the Nanowrimo I'd done. I want to finish this project up so I can publish it on Amazon by mid-March!

It took about 2-3 hours, but dang it I got it done! After, I headed upstairs for some food, and I told mum about how I had wanted to prank her with the skull, but decided not to. I ate the last 4 chicken wings, and also some chips and the 1.5 cupcakes we got from Carol's. I also had some pretzels! I went back downstairs and then put in some more applications. After, I goobed off for a bit and then did a sketch commission. After doodling I spent a little time typing and watching One Punch Season 2 until about 4:30. I watched all but 1 episode!

I hope everyone has a memorable hike-through-the-woods day! <333