@lazylee

Thank you.

@19dacar52

Karen was also dehydrated. She doesn't like the taste of water.

At home, Karen drinks tea (dehydrating) and vegetable water. Ick.

@LiterateHiker Its good that she has a friend like you that noticed that she was having a problem.

@19dacar52

"Thank you for taking care of me," Karen said yesterday. "I want to keep you safe," I replied. She laughed.

"You help me with scary creek crossings," I told her. "I always tell people what a wonderful person you are."

Last July, Karen and I both got heat exhaustion climbing Rock Mountain in 100-degree heat. Rocks on the trail were too hot to touch. The next step was heat stroke: often fatal.

Even though we were 1-1/2 miles from the summit (with 1,200' more elevation gain), I insisted we descend to the shade and car.

@LiterateHiker I'm glad that you had the good sense to turn around and go back to the car.

@LiterateHiker I consume vast amounts of tea, so I would get on well with Karen, provided she also likes a pint or two of ............
.......... full cream milk

@LiterateHiker I also like going up wild hills provided I'm in hot, dry weather and can go at my own pace. I hate doing so in cold and rain.
The big problem for me is not the ascent, it's coming back down. Come to think of it, even staircases are preferable in the ascent. I sometimes take the stairs up in a building, but come down in the lift.

@Petter

As a vegan, Karen does not eat milk, butter, eggs, meat, fish, seafood, etc.

@LiterateHiker No wonder she suffers exhaustion. Man is an omnivore. That means man CAN perhaps "survive" on vegetables alone, but needs a widespread diet to flourish. A few insects and grubs would help. (I like locusts and flying ants.)
Unlike gorillas, with their fat guts, man's intestines are not much use at handling leaves and roots.
In fact, until man learned to make fire and cook, vegetables were mainly useless. It was fruits and seeds (including peas, beans and nuts) that were beneficial, plus hunted or scavenged meat, insects, grubs etc.

@AndrewInVail

Thank you! Half-Irish, I'm a born storyteller.

@LiterateHiker So that explains it - you had a passionate snog with the Blarney stone!

@Petter

My 100% Irish mother was a funny storyteller. Dad had a great sense of humor, too.

@LiterateHiker 4 children, I see. Quite a good Catholic, then.

@Petter

Only my mother was raised Catholic. Mom dropped us kids off at Sunday school, shoving us into the arms of the Lord. She went back home.

Mom never attended church. Raised in First United Methodist Church (where Mom dropped us off), Dad never went to church

"Mom I decided I'm an atheist," I said at 13. "That's fine, honey," Mom replied. "I became an atheist in nursing school when I realized a woman cannot be turned into salt." We laughed.

In the 2nd photo, we were dressed up for Easter dinner at my maternal grandparents' house. We kids were born before 1963, when birth control pills were available.

"I screwed myself out of my own house," Dad joked. In 1960, we moved to a large, lakeside house in Michigan.

@Fernapple

Thank you. Half-Irish, I'm a born storyteller.

@LiterateHiker Of course I should have guessed.

@ShadowAmicus

The garnets are already faceted when we find them.

Polished by sand in the lake and creek.