Birthday Girl

"Na na na na na na, today it's your birthday!"
Actually, it was yesterday, August 16th, that my daughter Lindsay was born 25 years (yep, that's a quarter of a century) ago. This year, she is half my age. That became painfully apparent on a hike we took yesterday as I ate her dust and huffed and puffed to keep up with her.
But it's all good . . .
The hike turned into quite the adventure. For one thing, it was cold--felt more like November than August. The clouds never burned off and so Lindsay was not even able to see Mt. Hood as we hiked, let alone the other four mountains from the top of Tom, Dick and Harry Ridge. But we picked huckleberries, picnicked on vintage cheese, organic crackers and hummus and made the best of it.
As Strannigans are wont to do.
The hike got really exciting on the way down the mountain. Scout decided to herd Lindsay down the trail, nipping at her heels and barking to keep her moving at an appropriate pace. (Danielle and I decided that Lindsay's white, hairy legs must have resembled sheep legs, and brought out the natural herding instinct in my dog).
Toward the end of the hike, Scout ran ahead of Lindsay and poked her nose into a hornet's nest. Yelping, she leaped back and almost fell off the side of the mountain. Lindsay ran ahead of us to see what was wrong with the dog.
"Bees!" we heard her yell, her arms flailing as she raced through the buzzing cloud.
Danielle and I followed after her, screeching and swatting at the hornets that dive-bombed our heads. When we got to a place of relative safety, we checked to see if Scout was OK. I bent down to pet her and a hornet flew out of her ear!
Miraculously, no one got stung. Scout was traumatized, but we made it off the mountain safely.
As Lindsay put it, we cheated death again!
Happy Birthday, Lindzertorte!