The Walking and Riding and the Ear

This is part of The Highlands, a massive development going up on Grand Ridge.  The land was made available to the developers in a series of land swaps between the county and the developers.  These are apartments that are right up near a busy road.  Houses and condos are farther back up the hill.  That retaining wall is a monstrous thing.

 

There is a hospital right behind this row of apartments, complete with an ER and realistic ambulance noises.

It's been hot with a lot of thermals again.  There have been a lot of paragliders leaping off of Tiger Mountain from Poo-Poo point.  We used to do the hike up there a lot, but it's gotten so that there is nowhere to park.  Also, the local trail people have built rock steps into the bulk of the trail, and it's too hard on the knees.

This guy and his friend are skate boarding down a really big hill.  They were fun to watch.

Rose hips on the walking route.

Saturday we were out and rode in Carnation Valley.  We got too late of a start, I felt like my head was being microwaved, because it was HOT.  We started way earlier on Sunday, and it was much better for us.

I saw the ear surgeon today.  He reports that 60-70% of my ear drum is gone.  The hole has been getting steadily worse since 2009.  The recurring ear infections seem to have eroded the graft that was installed in the first surgery.  This time he will use a mix of fascia and cartilage.  Using cartilage will cost me 10db of hearing, but makes it more durable than fascia only.  I have not yet spoken to the surgery scheduler yet.  Hopefully they can do this in August because we have to stay here for two months afterwards.  So there will be no Fiery Furnace and no mountain biking in Moab this September for us.  To say that I am bummed out about this would be an understatement.