August | 2025 | Blissfulbritt

1. I have to sneak these Early Morning Confessions posts into the mix when I have a lot to share, don’t have the mental bandwidth to make multiple separate posts, and am eons behind in my posting. Then again…who even cares/knows if I am “behind?” Does anyone even read this blog anymore? Beuller…Beuller…

2. Summer has been in full swing over here, and for me that means go, go, gooooinggg. I try to be mindful of how much I bite off per week to prevent any type of burn out/flair ups, but for the past few weeks I have been living the epitome of YOLO. From friends visiting town, to nice weather, to the FOMO of summer ending I have been trying to do it all.

Duncan and I have been trying to get out on our bikes more this year, and we have spent a few weekends going to an island near us where it’s safer to bike. We have biked here twice lately – one 15 miler and one 20 miler. In the middle of each ride we stopped to have a baked good and some coffee. It’s the little things for me, like finding a gluten free treat at a new to me coffee shop.

3. I went blueberry picking recently and came home with 3.5lbs of berries. I have since made two batches of muffins, and I cannot get enough. The first batch made 12 muffins, and I ate 9 of those within 3 days. Can’t stop, won’t stop with the muffins.

4. Good thing I have been hiking more than anything this summer (after those muffins), and I had a few back to back adventures this month. First I had a friend visiting who I met while working in Yellowstone. He is one of those hardcore masochists who never seem to run out of energy. We went for a 14 mile hike passing by one of my favorite alpine lakes.

We had a full 8 hour adventure and it was so lovely to catch up on life.

Next I went for a hike with a girl I met in Germany, she was one of my roommates! She has since moved to Olympia, and is close enough for occasional get togethers. I dragged Duncan with me on this one because she and he are two weirdo peas in a pod. Obviously I am also a part of this pod, but it’s always a special treat with I can combine people in my life smoothly.

We hiked Mount Storm King, giving us beautiful aerial views of Lake Crescent.

5. Something that really grinds my gears is when the egg carton is not evenly distributed with the remaining eggs. Like…when someone pulls from one side exclusively and the entire carton is off balance when you pick it up. If I stumble onto a carton like this in the fridge I will move the eggs around until they are well balanced within the carton.

6. Piggybacking off of confession #4, the same weekend of my Storm King/Lake Crescent hike I went back to Lake Crescent that Monday for a bike ride with a few of my coworkers/friends. We planned to bike this section of the Olympic Discovery Trail, and we managed a good 28 miles of fun. This time instead of an aerial view of the lake, I got to bike right next to the lake.

We stopped at a tiny yet grossly overpriced general store where I bought a canned version of Starbucks Nitro Cold Brew. It was delicious.

*If you look really close you will notice my handlebars are tilted WAY TOO FAR DOWN. I rode like this for too long before adjusting them.*

7. All this business (I have also been working more) has left me with minimal mental energy to read lately. I have managed to finish a few books this month, one of which delighted my entire soul. I read All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot, and I cannot wait to read each book that follows this one. What a joyful man. I laughed, I cried, I raged (the farmers of the 1930’s have no chill), and I learned a thing or to about veterinary medicine. 10/10.

8. While I have been active the last few weeks, I have made sure to prioritize quality time with my best pal. Call me crazy, but I can tell a difference in his well being when I am away from home for too long (hence why I don’t go far), and I prioritize spending time with him as much as possible.

9. Buckle up for this one, I am about to pop off. I would be remiss if I did not share with the public the chaos that is Black and Decker customer service. Yeah, I am about to be THAT PERSON. Last summer I bought a portable AC unit after decades without. I’m a Washingtonain, we don’t need AC. Alas, I decided to bite the bullet. I used the unit for around two months last summer and tucked her away.

Three months ago we got the unit back out, and she was acting like a basic fan. Blowing air, but not frigid air. After talking with Black and Decker customer service they advised me that the compressor was likely shot and they would send me a new one free of charge. EXCELLENT, what great service I thought.

A full month goes by and I finally receive a new unit. I immediately knew something was wrong when I saw how mangled the box was. I then saw someone else’s address on a shipping label elsewhere on the box, and when I opened the box I found a dirty unit that smelled of a woman’s perfume. It’s ok, I’m fine, it’s 90 degrees when I received the used replacement, but I know mistakes happen.

I call and get a new agent, he is clearly mortified and ensures me he will make it right and send me a new unit. Another month goes by, I am following up each week, and after my third follow up he informs me they don’t have my unit in stock, but they can send me an upgraded one. Ok, sure, fine, but maybe you could have let me know this instead of waiting for me to reach out?

I get the new unit, I open the box, and the HOSE THAT CONNECTS THE UNIT TO THE WINDOW (to blow out the hot air) IS BROKEN. At this point I can’t help but laugh, I don’t even know what is going on anymore. I tell them what happened, and they offer to send me a new hose. SURE, GREAT, that would be swell, by the time I get a working unit the summer will be over, but YES PLEASE.

Fast forward to two weeks ago, which is now over three months since this all started. I haven’t heard anything from them despite them telling me they would send me a tracking number for the hose. Then I suddenly see the package on my steps and I am pumped. Finally this will all be over, and I will be able to chill my bones in the hades heat of the summer. I open the box, and IT’S THE WRONG HOSE. The hose is still missing one of the end pieces, and the other end has a piece meant for a different unit.

I have reached out YET AGAIN, and they are sending me the “correct” hose. I ended up taping the broken hose to attempt to make it work in some way, but I have lost my ever loving mind at this point, and I will never be buying another Black and Decker item in my life. Thank you for listening. That is all.

10. My mom left her interior light on over the weekend recently, and when she went to start her car next her battery had died. Duncan and I decided we would change her battery ourselves (mostly Duncan), so we took the battery out of her car and took it to O’Reilly’s for them to test the battery. It was shot, so we bought a new one and Duncan put it in. Meanwhile I changed out her cabin air filter.

This was incredibly liberating, saving money always gets my serotonin flowing.

Alright. That’s enough for one post.

Q: What’s your confession?

Alternatively titled: A birthday to remember.

My dear pal Caitlin recently turned another year older. When I asked what she wanted to do for her birthday, she said she wanted to go for a hike. We didn’t necessarily want to go far from home, but we did want to do something new to us. We discovered there was a looped version of a trail we had both done many times, but neither of us had ever done the loop.

This was a no brainer as this trail would take us on new terrain, we would pass by a lake, and it would give us a solid 11 miles of hiking. We set out on the Mount Townsend Loop trail around 0930, and we had the trail to ourselves for nearly the entire first half of the hike. After a few miles we got to Silver Lake where we planned to stop and possibly swim.

It was here I decided to surprise Caitlin with a birthday cupcake.

It took me longer than expected to submerge my skin into the frigid water, but as always I am glad I did. Caitlin jumped in too, ate her cupcake, and we ate some food to prepare for the steeper sections. As we continued on towards the top of the loop the trail became familiar, and the sun felt significantly hotter.

This is when things started to get a little hairy. We had checked the temps before starting this hike because Caitlin wanted to bring her dog Poncho with us, and both of us saw that it was supposed to be a high of 65 or so. It turned out to be much warmer than this, and when Poncho started to slow down we worried it might have been because of the heat.

(Poncho has gone on many hikes with us, she is a seasoned hiker dog, so her slowing down is always cause for alarm.)

We managed to find a section of the trail with snow, and Poncho came back to life almost instantly. We were certain we were out of troubled waters, but we couldn’t have been more wrong. We blissfully savored the views from the summit of the loop without a second thought of the chaos to come.

We managed to get a bit of a way down the summit towards the back half of the loop when we started having troubles with Poncho again.

It started with her slowing down, and eventually she wouldn’t walk at all. She would sit and have little interest in continuing on, and we both still thought it was due to the heat. Caitlin would cover her fur in water, give her extra breaks to drink water, and eventually Poncho would start walking. This continued on until the stops got longer, and this is when both Caitlin and I started to worry.

We were still 3 or so miles from the car, it was getting later in the day, and Poncho did not want to move. Caitlin tried carrying her over her shoulders a few times, but ultimately Poncho was too heavy. We played a game of start stop and gave Poncho as many breaks as she needed, but during one of our breaks Caitlin noticed something was wrong with Ponchos paw pads.

We later learned that what had happened was essentially like the human version of a blister. Her entire paw pads on two of her paws were peeling off, leaving a tender layer of exposed skin underneath. We didn’t know this at the time, and all we were focused on was getting Poncho back to the car. After multiple hours we got to the end of the trail onto the gravel road where we still had a mile walk to the car. From here I let Caitlin stay with Poncho and I booked it to get her car.

I was on such high alert from the anxiety of my mental spiral that I had my bear spray in my hand the entire time. I was convinced a cougar, or a bear, (or a man lol) would find me walking alone and my wandering mind got the best of me.

I got the car, I drove back to the gals, and all was well in the world again. Poncho was down and out for a few days, but the vet wrapped her paws and gave her some happy drugs to help with the pain. She is good as new now, and thankfully Caitlin decided on the warm days of summer Poncho will stay home for these hikes. She also bought some doggy booties which I can’t wait to see her in.

This trail was beautiful, a 10/10 and likely one of my favorites in this area, but it was skewed by the scary moments with Poncho. Both Caitlin and I would like a redo. Caitlin will remember her 31st birthday likely forever, as the one where Poncho had a rough go. I skimmed over this day in a very brief blog post, but in the moment it was really scary.

We finished this hike around 1700, over eight hours after we started. Thankfully we both stayed calm and managed to get pupperoonie out safe and sound.

Q: Have you ever spent your birthday in a less than ideal situation? My most recent was 2024 when I had to take Little to the ER on my birthday. Thankfully birthday are less exciting the older I get.