Hey crew! In case you didn't know I was suspended from here since last Thursday :evil:. I think it was unjust, but we all have lost friends here so I'm not going to complain. Someone made a sexist comment ( BTW such comments can be against either gender) I called her on it & she reported me. If you want to know what went down ask & I'll PM you. I missed you guys terribly :cry:! I'm going to get caught up commenting on all your blogs now :lol:. The frustrating thing was I could only contact people I have other ways to contact (EM, phone, MySpace,Facebook etc) and some of my good friends here didn't know why I wasn't around.

As all of you know--- in the nearly 3 years I've been here I have never been an Editor or a TC. I don't write reviews. I have no interest in levels, in fact I don't pay any attention to what mine even is. In my 129 blogs I've never even mentioned any TV show. I was only here to blog about twice/month, read & comment on your blogs every day and to forum post on my fave shows occasionally. Well that last part is now out. I have deleted all my fave shows from TV.com and all my fave movies from MovieTome. I will never write another forum post again. From now on I will only read & comment on your blogs and write my own blogs; I will do nothing else here. The social networking with the good friends I met here is the only reason I didn't leave this site long ago. So it's good to finally be back, I missed all of you & I'll get busy reading your blogs. Mike

Hey crew! Well I'm back from the dentist. OMG! The guy suggested he put me to sleep but I didn't want that. He had to give me 5 or 6 shots and then cut the tooth in half because it wouldn't come out any other way. It was attached to the jaw. He said he almost never has this much trouble with a kids tooth. So now my mouth is stuffed with gauze and I can only have liquids or Jello for 3 days. Hey Ky, he said no ice cream :( because a persons mouth is like 100 degrees & dairy products make it a perfect culture for bacteria because I can't brush either yet. Anyway he gave me a perscription for Vicodin which is similar to morphine (!) so I'm kinda out of it right now.

So, a long holiday weekend is coming for us guys here in the States, our Independence Day from the British Empire in 1776. Sorry my British & Canadian friends :lol: . It has extra significance around here because the Declaration of Independence was signed about 60 miles from my house in Philadelphia. Every kid I know has been to Independence Hall on school field trips. Most of the battles of the War of Independence were fought in New Jersey, where I was born. As John Adams said " it should be commemorated with parades, shows, games, sports, guns,bonfires & illumination from 1 end of the continent to the other forever." So that's what we Americans do. Typically people go to a parade, have a barbeque & then watch fireworks. We also set off fireworks. It's a fun holiday. I just hope I feel better & can enjoy it. So what are my fellow countrymen doing for the 4th of July? And I'm curious what do my friends from other nations do on their national holidays?

Hey crew! First I would like to thank everyone for all the nice things said here on my HS graduation & my 18th birthday. I am awed that I have so many good friends here.Here's how my birthday went.

First I went to the Post Office to register for Selective Service in case they ever start drafting people into the Army again. But they haven't done that since my parents were in like 8th grade so I'm not worried. You have to register or the government will block your student loans & grants; in fact not registering is a felony! And 18 means that would be adult court. But only guys have to register-- isn't that sexist? They gave us voter registration cards in school so I'm already registered to vote (bye-bye Obamination). I can also buy property (!), sign contracts and buy lottery tickets. On the down side my parents are no longer responsible for my debts and I still can't legally drink until I'm 21. That's 3 more years! How dumb is that? I can vote & be in the Army--- but I can't drink! :evil:

We had a small celebration, not the barbeque I wanted, because it's still raining. That's 19 days in a row: is this Pennsylvania or Forks WA? Or maybe Vasncouver (gotcha Ivy :P ) .I got an awesome combined Grad/B'day gift from my parents-- a 24 fret ESP LTD F104 electric bass. Much better than my current beginner Ibanez GSRM20 Mikro. First a new amp & now a new axe to go with it, I'm in heaven. I'm sure my parents didn't pick it out,hmmmm talked to Paul or Tommy maybe? If Nicholas was still alive :( he would have recomended it for sure. There was some new tablature to go with it, courtesy of the Rodent. I'm sure he picked it out, he knows what I like. If you don't know, tabliture is a form of musical notation indicating instrument fingering rather than musical pitches showing where and when a finger should be depressed to generate a note, so pitch is denoted implicitly. It's a lot easier to use than staff notation. Jessi gave me a silver chain; she says silver goes better with blond hair. Do you think so girls? My aunt & uncle gave me cash. Money is always welcome! I also got some CDs & DVDs. We had a cake of course and my mom made me my fave dish, soft-shell crab (hey I like it) and steamer clams. Everyone else had burgers & ribs because they think I'm weird being a shellfish fan :lol: .

Also my left jaw has been hurting lately. Today (2 days after my birthday) I went to the dentist. My bottom left wisdom tooth is trying to come in but there's no room for it. So I have to go back Tuesday when the oral surgeon is in & get it taken out of my jaw. I'm not looking forward to that. Have any of you have that done? Is it really painful?

Well thanks for being here for the most important month in my life. You guys are awesome.

Hey crew! Okay if I rant a little here?:cry: Well, I'm gonna anyway. My 18th birthday is officially cancelled. Well not the actual birthday which is Tuesday, but my annual birthday barbeque. It's supposed to rain all weekend. My mom wanted to move it inside but I told her if we can't have it outside then I don't want to do it at all. Nicky suggested putting up a tarp, but sitting under a leaky tent wouldn't be much fun. Hey, at least the kid is trying to be helpful & I appriciate that. He's not such a bad "Rodent" sometimes after all :P. I told everybody (including Jessie) that I don't want to do anything for my birthday now. This will be my first adult birthday and grown ups don't have birthday parties right? So maybe I should just begin adulthood on the right foot and stop doing anything for my birthday. :? Or am I just feeling sorry for myself? IDK.

The weather guy this morning said that it has rained 16 out of the 19 days this month & that eastern PA, northern DE and most of NJ have gotten 3 times as much rain in 2 weeks as they usually get in the whole month of June. This sucks. Schools over, I quit the deli (remember? ) and I've gone from being busy as hell to bored as hell. I'm so bored I almost wish I was back in school, how sick is that! I mean you can only play Wolf 3-D or Constantine so many times. I want to go camping or hiking or 4-wheeling but I can't: the meadows are marshes, the woods are like swamps, the creeks are raging torrents and the little waterfalls have become thundering cascades. Even when the sun does come out, 1 day isn't gonna dry anything out. On the bright side, I've been planning a 4 guy canoe trip on the Delaware River and we certainly won't have to worry about low water :P. I'm thinking of going from Dingmans Ferry to Mount Minsi, camping 2 nights on the small islands along the way. That's a good weekend trip. But first it has to stop raining.

The blog title reminded me of something. I'm sure you know the title comes from an old song by an old band called CCR. I'm sure everyone has heard it. Back in freshman year my friend Brian (who has since moved to Clementon,NJ) got really mad at a girl named Lorraine. So we sat down and reworked the lyrics in a rather obscene form. Now this is not my usual behavior as you know. I'm anything but cruel; chalk it up to immaturity at the time. So the next time we saw her in a large group of people we loudly began singing our new song "Who'll f*** Lorraine." Some people guffawed in laughter, a few just glared at us but Lorraine burst out in tears. Another girl went "You two are such a******s" and led Lorraine away. At the time it didn't bother me but it should have. I haven't thought about that event in 4 years until now. So thanks for listening to my rant. I feel better now. Next time I'll have happier stuff to write about. :D

Well crew here are the best of the photos I promised! There are only 2 because I tried for a week to post pics and couldn't. I tried EVERYTHING--- I reduced the resolution, resized them, and they still wouldn't open:evil: :cry:. So I e-mailed my 2 faves to someone here and asked her to post them for me. THANK YOU IVY! And thanks everyone for being patient! I hope they are what you expected.

The first one is a little grainy because I had to enlarge it from a cellphone pic. It's me at the Senior picnic wearing my St P----- High School Cla$$ of 2009 shirt. And yes, I told you guys I always get a buzz cut when it gets hot out here. It's more comfortable. I will grow it back to long hair after the summer.

The second one is outside Jessies school. The guy is from her schools media arts program, interviewing couples going into the building. Doesn't Jessica look nice? As you can see my ever-present shades are temporarily pushed back on my head for a few minutes. Hey they are fashion accessories 8) and they went right back on as soon as we walked away from him. So do you like the tux. It wasn't very comfortable, I'm more of a lounging around in boxers & T-shirt kind of guy :lol: but for Jessie---anything.

Pictures:

Well I hope you enjoyed them guys. And Kyle knows what I look like now :P Later!

Hey crew! I know I haven't blogged since b4 graduation but I just can't get into the mood too blog lately. Sorry, but with all that has been going on the last few weeks like Prom & Graduation & my 18th birthday coming up soon I really didn't want to. And so many of you guys have taken off for the summer a lot of my cyber-friends won't read this until September--- or at all :( .

I know I promised you pics too & I will get to it: I found the cable to the camera but for some reason I can't copy them from the My Pictures folder to Movietome or TV.com, if anybody knows what I'm doing wrong with trying to copy them please tell me. What I'm going to do instead is ---I have to make a bunch of 4X6 prints for people and I will scan them to here. Probably sometime during the week. Kyle if you're reading this I will E-Mail them to you since you're travelling across the continent :) . Nicolaj too.

The Bacclaurate Mass was outside on the athletic field. Folding chairs and a portable altar. I think it was strange because the church was like 100 yards/meters away. But I liked it because it was more informal outside, like the field Masses you have on retreat or at camp.Then we had the Faculty/Senior picnic in the quadrangle. The food was actually edible; they must not have used the caf ladies :P JK! We had some corny games and I got soaking wet from a water balloon. :evil: That night I couldn't sleep which is usual for me the night b4 a big event. Does that happen to you too?

The next day was graduation. :o :o:D :D . We had it in the cafetorium. Note to school administrators everywhere: HS band kids can NOT play Elgar! If that was Pomp & Circumstance it didn't sound like it. Of course with our cla$$ Elgars Enigma Variations would have been far more appropriate! That's an inside joke. A lot of people had personal messages on their caps,like feet & stuff. I didn't decorate mine. It was hot as hell in there! Our school. like many in the North-East isn't air conditioned because it only gets really hot about 3 months a year. We're talking 80 F (27 C) weather plus over a thousand peoples body heat because each kid had 6 tickets. My 6 were my parents, brother, aunt & uncle and of course Jessie. The little kids didn't need tickets because they didn't take up seats, they sat on laps. We had to wear a suit with bow ties under our robes and it really bothered my neck after a while. Don't ask me why, no one could see them:evil: . Everyone was fanning themselves with their programs. Our principal, Brother Robert James ("R.J.") did not take pity on us and he droned on forever. I didn't even pay attention to what he was saying, it's all on video, I can watch it later. Little kids were getting restless, you could hear them fussing and babies crying. I thought I heard Josh getting fussy, I know what he sounds like. Of course there was the usual explosion of yells & cheers as each of us got his diploma. One kid went "YEAH!!!" pumped his arms over his head looking UP; he took a step forward, missed the stair & fell flat on his face off the stage :lol: That was hilarious. When we were marching out I was going "I did it! I REALLY did it!!!" I didn't believe it until I had that folded thing in my hand. I actually thought something was gonna happen & I wouldn't graduate but I did it after all. :D

We had a barbeque at the house--- my relatives,Jessie and my friends Paul and Tommy were there along with anybody from school that wanted to stop by, it was an open invitation. We had a TON of food. We also had beer but the adults made sure none of the kids really drank too much and that NOBODY was driving. However, Paul kind of overindulged and wound up sleeping over. I spent the next 2 days party hopping. Those two days are kind of a blurr :oops: . But I did take a few minutes to check up on you guys here and on MySpace. I wanted to celebrate with my cyber-friends too :) . So I'll write again soon and I promise it won't be this long between blogs ever again.

Mike

Hey crew! I'm really sorry I haven't blogged in such a long time (several of you PMed me to ask why) but this has been an awesome 3 weeks. Plus to be honest-- now that cla$$es and finals are over I had no interest in writing anyhing. B4 I forget to tell you: I will post some Prom pics as soon as I can find the stupid cable to connect the camera to this computer. I have no idea where it is. I think I blogged last just after Senior Holiday on the 6th. Since then:

A week after Senior Holiday was the last day of cla$$. EVER! We got our yearbooks and the usual dumb comments were written. There was a pic of me in the "Activities" section taking part in a Jeopardy type academic bowl but that was the only candid pic of me. I know they took a hallway shot of me too but it didn't make the cut. Then we had the traditional Senior Walkout. All the undercla$$men were clapping. I don't know why they do it the last day of cla$$ because we all had to come back again for exams anyway. Actually I was thinking "This is the last time I have to wear a tie to school ever." Isn't that an unusual thing to be going thru my head? :P That night was the Mother-Son Dinner in the cafetorium. It was weird seeing cafeteria tables set with white tablecloths and not a caf tray in sight :lol: . My mom enjoyed it but I was kinda bored.

The following Monday to Thursday was exams. I had 5-- A&P, Calc,Constitutional Law, French & English 4. A&P was a lab, we had to walk around the room & identify things putting it down on a sheet. That was different. Oh yeah, listen to this: after our French exam Brother Ruane told us that what we have been learning for 4 years is pretty much useless. We learned textbook French (not argot ) and NOBODY anywhere actually speaks like that. Not even in Paris. People would understand you, but you would sound rediculous. So I guess we wasted our time :? Actually it was all a waste IMO. It's not like I'm ever going to use calc or A&P in real life.

Okay I know you have all been waiting to hear about the Prom. As I mentioned, I went to Jessies schools prom not mine. She goes to the Regional public HS which is much larger than my small Catholic boys HS. Jess wore a red gown and I had a white tux with grey vest & tie. And yes I will post pics when I can. There was a teacher outside interviewing each couple as they arrived. It was being filmed by the kids taking TV production. He asked where you were going next year and what are your plans. We entered under the balloon & floral arch. Now a confession: I'm a terrible dancer. Really biblically awful. I wanted to get on the floor as little as possible but Jess insisted on dancing. Do you know how embarra$sing it is to have the girl lead when you're slow dancing:oops: ? Luckily I didn't know many of the kids and NONE of the teachers so I won't be ragged about it. I really wanted to just sit at the table. I couldn't believe my ears but the theme song was The Climb. That's more suitable for an 8th grade graduation than a HS one but I guess all the schools are picking it this year. Another thing was if you went outside you couldn't get back inside and it got god-awful hot in there after a while! I actually went into the boys room to cool off because I was sweating so much. Don't get me wrong I had an amazing time but it really wasn't my thing, I just went for Jessicas sake.

We finally went home really late,around 4am. We got a few hours sleep and headed down the shore for after-prom. It's a tradition that's been done for generations. Heck, my PARENTS did it too. Kids from all over PA, NJ, DE and NY head there on their prom weekends. Picture cheap motels with 6 or 8 kids jammed into each room. We went to Seaside Heights NJ. We went in this kid Mason's car. I never met him b4, he's Jessies schoolfriend Linda's BF. His friend Tyler & Tylers GF met us there. So 6 of us shared a room with 2 beds and a rollaway at the Tower Motel. Not exactly luxury but fine for this event. Now, on the subject of partying: the locals look the other way if you don't make it open. All these kids spend a lot of money in their beach towns. We brought our "supplies" in Mason's trunk in gym bags & brought it inside the room that way. We saw some kids get busted--- but walking down the street carrying cases of beer wasn't the brightest move on their part :lol: . Anyway there wasn't any privacy so you had to be careful about errrr--- physical activity. We heard Mason & Linda (they thought we were sleeping) & I'm guessing the 4 of them heard us too. No one got much sleep anyway.

Saturday was nice,sunny, hot & humid & we walked down to the beach. We went back to the room to get showered & get out of our bathing suits. We started to go out to get some fast food and when I opened the room door the sun was gone & it was raw & foggy. No one had noticed because the drapes were closed. This was so thick you couldn't see the parking lot downstairs (we were on the upper level). So that killed our plans to hit the boardwalk after eating :x . We went back to the room: the girls watched a movie while we guys sat at the table drinking beer and playing cards. Actually we 3 guys spent most of the time we were in the room just in our underwear so I'm sure the girls liked that. Hey, it's comfortable :lol: . We were going to stay until Monday but Sunday it was thundering & lightning & pouring so we left a day early. I slept most of the way back, being both tired & hungover. Whew this is getting long, I better wrap it up. So next Saturday is the Bacclaurete Mass & Senior Picnic and Sunday is my Graduation. The next blog will be about them. Thanks for reading all this, I left a lot out to make it less long.

Hey crew! We decided on (drum roll) SCRANTON. We sent them the deposit :?. I really wanted to go to Rutgers (please read the last blog if you haven't already) and I still might go there next year. The finances won out: The tuition at Univ of Scranton was actually more than Rutgers because it's a private school. But Rutgers would be an additional $7,500 for residence and meal plan. That made Rutgers more expensive than University of Scranton. Now that I know where I really want to go to (Rutgers) I'm going to the other school I thought I wanted to go to but don't want to anymore (Scranton). Is that confusing enough or do you get that? :P But I have an entire year to figure out how to afford to transfer to Rutgers sophmore year. That also gives me a year to see what happens with Jessie: she's going to the county community college for a year and then transfering her credits to a 4 year school, that's what gave me the idea ^^^^. Maybe we can both go to Rutgers as sophmores. Is that a plan? :question:

I have a really busy month coming up so I might not be on as much, but I'll try to read & comment on all your blogs and I'll tell you guys all about it when I have time:

May 8---Senior Holiday. These are days off Seniors get but the younger guys don't. This is the last one for us.

May 13--- Last Day of Clas$ for Seniors. Then Senior Mom-Son dinner 7pm.

May 18-21--- Exam Week. wish me luck! :shock: Wouldn't it be funny if I don't graduate? NOT!!!! :shock:

May22--- Senior Prom at Jessica-Leighs school. I'm going to her prom not to mine. We are planning something special for the weekend, but no telling you guys yet because it might not come off :oops: .

May 29--- Very busy day. 9:30-10:30 Senior Breakfast in Cafetorium; 10:30- 12:30 Graduation Rehersal ; 12:30-??? Senior/Faculty Picnic on the Athletic Field.

May 30--- Bacclaurate Mass, outside in the quadrangle, 4pm.

May 31--- GRADUATION!!!! 7pm. We get 6 tickets so my mom, dad, brother, aunt & uncle are covered. We have to wear a white jacket (no tails), white shirt, black pants, black BOW TIE (ugh) and black shoes for the ceremony. I don't see why because we're gonna have caps and gowns over it so who's gonna see what we're wearing anyway?

Well that's all for now. See ya!

Good morning crew! I'm writing in red today because scarlet is the color of Rutgers University. My dad & I went there yesterday & I'm still psyched. IDK if I'm going there or Univ of Scranton depending on how my FAF (financial aid) works out but I loved Rutgers! First an overview: Rutgers University is located in New Brunswick, New Jersey and Piscataway, New Jersey and was founded in 1766 as Queens College making it the seventh oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. Rutgers became the State University of New Jersey in 1896. It is composed of 5 seperate colleges, each with it's own campus: Cook and Douglas are on the east, a mile away is Old Queens in New Brunswick along the Raritan River, Busch & Livingston are to the west in Piscataway. What if your residence is on Cook, your next cla$$ is at Busch and you have a club meeting in Old Queens? Well, students get around from campus to campus by the largest free university bus system in North America, with "NextBus" a GPS system for the students and it runs 24/7, how's that for convienience?

The Rutgers Day was from 10-4. We parked in visitors parking on Cook Campus about 9:15am (yawn!) and followed the paper signs to the Neilson Dining Hall. There seemed to be a student volunteer giving directions every few feet. On the way we passed a big meadow with a small lake in the center; a sign identified it as "Passion Puddle." I would love to know the story behind that name, but I forgot to ask I got so busy :roll: We were treated to breakfast: Rutgers dining halls serve 3 million meals a year! I had blueberry pancakes, Taylor ham and scrapple. If you're not from eastern Pennsylvania or New Jersey you have no idea what those last two items are-- Taylor ham is like Canadian bacon but spicier and scrapple is similar to fried hash. It's a mid-Atlantic thing :lol: We were then given a welcoming talk by the Office of Undergraduate Admissions. Boring! Next, it was outside to the shuttle busses for a trip to Old Queens campus. Upon arriving we were given a tour of Old Queens Hall, the original building from 1766 and several other old ivy-covered edifaces. We were split up next: my dad went one way for a program called "Welcome Rutgers Parents" while we kids went to Weynan Hall for "Rutgers 101: an Intro to the University." There they told us what we should be doing now to get ready if we decide to attend. There was a lot of stuff about choice of majors, requirements, deadlines, financial aid options and more. IDK why they seperated us because it seems that the parents got the exact same info in their program as we kids did. Go figure. That lasted for about an hour. Next we went to Alexander Library for "My Rutgers: the students talk." This was much more interesting! First, there were no adults present. We were in little groups with students who answered questions & told you inside stuff like--- when is the best time to hit the dining hall, balancing courses and social life, what residence life is really like, which gym is the best, the biggest adjustment for them from HS, going Greek, doing research with a faculty member and (off the record) the partying situation 8) .

Next we rejoined our parents for a BBQ in a big open area called Bower Commons. I had an excellent pulled pork sandwich, ribs and lemonade. Next were the fun activities ;) . There was a dunk tank in front of the Student Center where you got a chance to dunk a Residence Advisor. I missed :cry: You could go into the gym next door and meet student atheletes and shoot baskets or throw a ball around with them. I also met the Scarlet Knight, the schools mascot, although to me he looked more like a Roman gladiator than a knight in armor :P .On the Common there were interactive kiosks with LCD screens and wireless webcams. Next I built a "sun-catcher." That was fun! There were also a lot ( more than 50 ! ) tables from various fraternities, sororities, clubs, ROTC etc and all of them extolling the virtues of membership in their particuliar group. There was a decent live band and in between performances huge speakers blared the Rutgers radio station 90.3 The Core. It was supposed to end at 4pm but it was nearly 5pm and people were still milling around. We however had to leave now because of the long drive. We took the shuttle bus back to Cook campus, chatting with other prospective families. I was loaded down with a Rutgers mousepad, T-shirt, mug, keychain, refrigerator magnets, notebook, notepad, binder, pens, pencils, bumper stickers and tons of handouts. I had so much stuff I was very glad they also gave me a Rutgers canvas tote bag to carry it all in :lol: . So that was my day. IDK if I'm going there or to Scranton yet & I have about another week to decide. It depends on what kind of FAF I get. And there's the whole problem of being over 100 miles from Jessica-Leigh if I go to New Jersey. IDK if I could deal with that. So IDK yet. But it was an awesome day!

Hey crew! First, let me tell you that this blog is not a prank. I am not obscessed with this stuff, despite what you may think by reading the book quotes I have above^^^^. Right now I wish I had never posted them ^^^ because now you might not believe this account. My friend Paul & I know the woods, we aren't a couple of city kids who get spooked by a chipmunk rustling in the underbrush :lol:. So here goes:

Today was a half-day to begin Easter vacation. I'm off until the 20th. So Paul & I decided to ditch. Nothing would be taught today, we're both Seniors and the forecast was for a beautiful day. I decided to celebrate Spring with my first real hike of the year. And we would do it in New Jersey, making it a road trip. I picked Coopalong Creek Wildlife Management Area. I cleared it with my mom cause I needed wheels for this. So I obtained use of the Pontiac for the day, threw some granola bars & tick spray (though it's still early) into my backpack, grabbed my canteen & picked up Paul. So we got onto Route 78, crossed over into NJ and got off it 12 miles later. Paul played navigator from there on. Note to self: Internet directions suck. After driving around on winding country roads, just like the ones @ home we couldn't find it. I was very frustrated. I was in the right area but couldn't find it :evil: . Then I spotted an Alexandria Township cop car. I pulled over & walked up to him. I was a little nervous because of my Pennsylvania tags: Until I'm 18 I'm not supposed to drive on Interstate highways, drive out of state or have kid passengers without an adult in the car & I had done all three :roll: And cut school besides! The cop was young, probably under 25 and real nice. He told me directions but seeing my confusion goes "Get in your car & follow me." I did as he said, worrying if he was leading me to the sheriffs station: "Hi mom, can you get me out of jail ?" Luckily he led us down some roads I never would have found myself, across a stone 1 lane bridge, put on his left blinker & pointed down a dirt road. Then he did a U-turn & took off. I didn't get a chance to say "Thank you."

So I drove about 2 miles & parked where the dirt road crossed what had once been a 1 lane railroad track. The rails had been pulled up long ago, but there were still no trees, I guess they kept it open as a forest fire break. It was nearly 3pm & sunset was 7:28, I checked. As you know, I'd gotten lost in woods after dark b4. Not fun. The trail was 12 miles, 6 each way. We could just make it leaving a 1/2 hour of leeway for breaks. The hike was uneventful: no houses, no people, no roads to cross. The trail ended at a farm. We respected the No Tresspassing sign, ate our granola bars & started back. We made good time. About half way bach I noticed something: It was quiet, too quiet. Animals usually become active at dusk. I didn't even hear any birds on the way back. The sun sank lower. The treetops were still hit by sunlight but we were already in gloom. By a half mile (10 minutes) from the car it was already completely grey. I'll say dusk, but the proper word begins with "T" ( you know, the title of the quotes ^^^^ ). We were about 1/4 mile out when I heard a VERY loud howl coming from somewhere across the creek that ran along the left side of trail. There are only 2 kinds of wild canines in the Eastern U.S. -- coyotes and wild dogs. I know what they both sound like & this wasn't either of them. This sounded BIG. Very big. Immediately we heard 2 answering howls-- one to our right and the other from behind us. They sounded no more than 100 yards/meters ( a football field lenth) away. I looked at Paul. Paul is no coward, I've seen him pop a bully in the face who was big enough to break him in half. Paul was pure white. I looked left & right for a branch, a rock--nothing! All this took maybe 2 seconds. We took off down the trail as fast as we could run. God I wished I had my deer rifle! We got to the clearing where the car was parked and I froze in shock. Rising just over the trees was a huge orange full moon. The keys fell out of my hand. Paul shouted "Start the f*cking car!!!!" I retrieved the keys, we jumped in & I patched out in a cloud of dirt. It's good that I live & drive in the country, because I didn't slow down until we were back on a main County road. Neither one of us said a word until we were back on the Interstate headed to Pennsylvania. Paul spoke first: "WTF was that?" I was like "IDK, & we're never f**king going back to find out." Paul was like "No sh*t." We got back about 9:30. I dropped Paul off, came home, checked for ticks, showered & now I'm writing this. I'm still shook. I'm hungry but can't eat. I know there are a lot of idiots who keep wolves (there, I said the word) illegally as pets, but this was in the forest far from any houses & there were 3 OF THEM. And these sounded too big.

So that's what happened. NOT the blog I expected to write! Again, I'm serious, this is not a joke or a prank. So what do you guys think? B4 I forget, Happy Easter to all!