Trails in the fall

 Since May, I have been running up North Canyon almost every day. And now that we've had our first snowstorm of the season, I'm glad that I spent so much time on that wonderful trail, because I don't know if I'll be back this year. And I'm glad last week I did the 12.8-mile run, which might have been my last. Last year, we had a late-October snowstorm, and it took forever to melt, so I never made it back up North Canyon. We'll see what happens this year.

On Monday, I could tell there were horses on the trail because I saw the horse trailer at the trailhead. I hate sharing with horses! I don't like sharing with dirt bikes either, but they're better than horses. So instead of going all the way to Rudy's Flat like usual, I went up a little side ridge trail. I had never noticed it until this year, and one day I encountered an older hiker telling me about it (he was trying to describe where on the trail he had seen a rattlesnake). I decided I would run up that side trail rather than encounter the horses. 

Ugh. Blogger is adding the images in reverse order again. I feel like Google is spending 2020 making all of their products worse, as if this year wasn't bad enough already.

It took me to the top of a little peak. It was fun to see a new place, since I am so familiar with North Canyon. The trail was a little hard to follow at times, and it was a little steep (though not prohibitively so), so I don't feel a great need to go back anytime soon.

The rest of the week, though, I did get all the way to Rudy's. About a third of a mile from there is a shortcut trail, which makes me furious. It doesn't save much distance, and it skips the pretty part, and it causes erosion. I hate it when people make their own shortcuts. So all summer, I have been removing rocks from the trail and placing them on the shortcut to deter people from using it. I have become a little possessive about it, and I am dismayed when I see that rocks have been moved, or that someone has still gone up the shortcut. I avoid the trail on the weekends, so I'm always nervous at what I'm going to see when I return. But this week I saw that someone had placed tree limbs and a much larger rock to deter people. Yay! That is so much better than what I have been doing. I will continue to contribute to this new blockade. 

The rock pile in the front is mostly my contribution. The rocks between the logs are the new contribution, for which I am grateful.

The rest of the week I continued to run up there, even as it got cooler. My ideal running temperature is between 40 and 50 degrees; that's when I'm fastest. On Friday, my run was a full fifteen minutes faster than my slowest summer times. On Thursday, I did eight miles, and it still took less time than my slow seven miles in the summer. If I didn't have to worry about homework, I would go on longer runs.

This is not North Canyon but rather the ridge between North Salt Lake and City Creek. I wanted this to appear at the bottom, but Blogger put it at the top.

Lately, I've been watching spooky movies before bed. I prefer silly spooky to actually scary or gory. Here's a question I have been pondering for years. If a movie has a spooky theme, but it makes no reference to Halloween, is it a Halloween movie? Because my inclination is no. But vampires and Frankenstein are very much part of Halloween, and when the original Dracula and Frankenstein movies came out, those characters weren't really associated with the holiday. It's because of those non-Halloween movies that they are now Halloween characters. I appreciate it when there are spooky movies that actually take place at Halloween: Hocus Pocus, Ernest Scared Stupid, Casper, Goosebumps 2, and the original Frankenweenie. (Note: I don't like or endorse all of those movies. I'm just giving them as examples.) I thought about going on a tangent about Halloween movies, but I'm not going to.

Watching these movies at night has made me have spooky dreams. One dream was about an alien invasion a couple houses away from me, with aliens that could take any form, including skeletons. Another dream was that our garage door kept opening itself. I also did math in my dream, because I determined that a 43-year-old could date a 29-year-old (because of the "half your age plus seven" rule). And then I was thinking about how some people are silly and pronounce "scissors" with a "k" sound, and I was thinking that that doesn't work, because in English, a "c" before an "i" has an "s" sound, just like "cicada."

On Friday night, my grad program had a Zoom social gathering. I participated, because I think I don't pursue relationships enough, which is overall detrimental to me. But I certainly felt awkward. I admit I feel out of place in my program. And it's also hard because I've always been near the top of my class, and now I think I'm near the bottom. Oh well.

Also, they sent out goodie packages, and they addressed it to "Mark and Jimmy." Jimmy liked it.

***

Halloween is this week, but luckily, pumpkinundation roundup goes through Thanksgiving!

I got this pumpkin streusel muffin from the gas station, and I suspect it came from Costco. It's fine, but not especially memorable or noteworthy. 7/10.

The Fiiz Caramel Apple Frappé was better than I expected. It was an artificial apple flavor, but less artificial than other apple things, and I liked the caramel mixed in. 8/10.

I ate the Fiiz Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookie during the presidential debate. I specifically asked for it without frosting, but they either forgot or misunderstood. The frosting was overly sweet for the cookie. And if they gave me a frosted cookie, part of me wonders if they gave me a regular chocolate chip cookie, because it didn't taste like pumpkin at all. 5/10.

 
These Birch Benders Pumpkin Spice Paleo Pancakes are officially the worst pumpkin product I've had this season. I followed the instructions, but the batter was very thick, even though they said it would be thin at first, and it didn't make nearly as much as the package said. The mix had a nice pumpkin spice scent, but the flavor wasn't much like pancakes. 3/10.

The Twisted Sugar Harvest Cookie is simultaneously creative but not creative. On one hand, just dropping candy corn on top of a cookie seems lazy. But candy corn and peanuts is a winning combo, and it's creative to put it in a cookie. It's a peanut butter cookie with marshmallow topping and peanuts and candy corn on top. It was a great cookie! 8/10.

The Invisible Man

Hi! This is a picture of some mushrooms I saw in North Canyon this week. I put this picture here so it would be the thumbnail when I post this on social media.

I have Zoom classes on Tuesday (US History to 1877) and Wednesday (borderlands). On the first day of my Tuesday class back in August, we all introduced ourselves. I said, "I do have a cat, named Jimmy, and he will probably make an appearance at some point during class." But I didn't mention that when I introduced myself in my Wednesday class.

Jimmy, for some reason, prefers to make an appearance in my Tuesday class rather than in my Wednesday class. Usually only his ears and tail are visible on the screen: his ears when he rubs his head against my face, and his tail when he leaves. One of my classmates, named Keely, usually sends me a private message when she sees him. This week, she messaged, "Jimmy spotted! Always a highlight." I told her I was impressed she remembered his name, and she said she likes it when pets have human names, so she remembered it. That same class, another classmate also sent me a private message asking, "Who is your friend? (Kitty?)" And after Jimmy walked away, yet another classmate sent a message to the entire class saying, "Mark, nice cat tail!" Which made the professor say, during class, "Let me see Mark's cat tail." I had to unmute and say, "He left." (Earlier in class, everyone had shown or talked about their dogs, so it wasn't entirely out of place.)

Then, in my Wednesday class, Jimmy made a rare appearance. I think he's only shown up one other time on Wednesday. One of my classmates sent me a private message saying, "Keely told me about your cat!" I said, "My cat has achieved celebrity status!" To which she replied something like, "It's a tragedy that Jimmy doesn't show his face more often." Not only did Keely tell her I had a cat, she even told her his name!

(Wednesday will be the third anniversary of when I got Jimmy. I love him. And not like "I love pizza" or "Look at those cute baby shoes." I truly love having him in my home, and it brings me so much joy to walk into a room and see him sitting there. It's endearing when I wake up in the middle of the night and he's sleeping next to my pillow. When he hears that I'm awake in the morning, he comes into my room and jumps on my bed, then sits on my chest, rubs his head against my face, and purrs. Back when I was working, when I would come home from work, he would go into my room and jump on my bed because he wanted to sit on me. He is so sweet and affectionate. The best twenty-five dollars I ever spent.)

But this post really isn't about Jimmy. It's more about how weird I find it that people notice me or bring it up.

I am getting better about speaking up in class, because my grade depends on it. But it can be a challenge to force myself to speak up, for several reasons:

1. I'm naturally shy.
2. I'm naturally quiet.
3. I worry that my comment will sound dumb, or that my opinion is wrong or unimportant.
4. I know some people who love to talk about themselves, even if it's irrelevant, or who love to talk about some esoteric topic that no one else cares about. These people go on and on, so that the other people are bored and/or annoyed. I don't want to be one of those people.
5. I don't like to draw attention to myself.
6. Part of me subconsciously thinks that I am somehow not quite human.

I know that last one sounds really weird. But I often wonder: Do I form my phonemes correctly so that people can understand me? Do my sentences make grammatical sense? Does blood flow through my veins the same way it flows through others? Is my muscle tissue made out of the same materials? Is my gait normal when I walk or run?

Sometimes I like to fancy that I am invisible. So when my classmate said, "Nice cat tail!" it kind of freaked me out. Not only did he notice me, but then all eyes were on me. A decade ago, I took a French class, and we were learning about describing physical characteristics, and it weirded me out when the professor described me and my clothing in front of the whole class. You won't find me talking about the clothing I'm wearing. If someone else brings it up, then I can talk about it, but I can't be the first to mention it. And I think most people have dreams where they're naked for some reason in public. When I have those dreams, my approach is to say nothing (rather than apologize or explain) and hope no one notices.

It also surprises me when I find out that people talk about me when I'm not around, so it was surprising that my Wednesday classmate knew Jimmy's name. I guess I think I'm instantly forgettable. But on Wednesday, I had two people randomly text me: one was a Sundance boss who asked if I remembered any poorly written film descriptions so she could make an editing test, and another was a friend alerting me to a source about Pioneer Day. (Of course, I already knew about it.)

Of course, I know I am not really invisible, and of course I know I'm human. But often when I think I'm the only one who feels a certain way, I later learn that I'm not the only one. So maybe others think they are uniquely invisible or subhuman.

***

Pumpkinundation roundup was fun this week.

At North Salt Lake's food trucks, I got a San Diablo Candy Apple Churro. It was a small churro with a sickly sweet filling inside. I didn't find it very appley. At least the churro was good. 5/10.

Their churros come in pairs, so I also got a San Diablo Pumpkin Cheesecake Churro. It was like pumpkin cream cheese in a churro. It was great! But there wasn't very much filling at all, and then it was just a normal churro. 7/10.

This week, I learned about Utah Taste Off. You spend $45 and they give you twelve products from local businesses, two of each. This week it was pumpkin desserts, so of course I had to try it out. I picked up all the desserts on Thursday. Earlier on Thursday, I ran up North Canyon, down to Elephant Rock, then back up and down North Canyon—12.8 miles total. So when I got my spread, I was hungry. I thought, "I could eat all six desserts in one sitting!" (I shared the other six with my family.) But I thought I should eat a sandwich first, and then I couldn't eat all the desserts at once. You try all the desserts, then rate them online.

First up was Parsons' Bakery Cranberry Pumpkin Muffin, which is how I first heard of Utah Taste Off. I think they invented this just for the Taste Off. It's a nice muffin with cranberries cooked in it—but cranberry wouldn't have been my first choice. 7/10.

The Forked Pumpkin Beignet seemed a little unfair, because I know it would have been better fresh, rather than refrigerated with everything else. But still. It really didn't taste like pumpkin whatsoever. In fact, it didn't have much flavor at all. 3/10.

The Twisted Sugar Pumpkin Cookie had chocolate chips in a pumpkin dough and a spiced frosting. The spice was more noticeable than the pumpkin, but it was still a great cookie. 8/10.

Schmidt's Pastry Cottage Pumpkin Spice Cake Donut was my favorite of the six, though it wasn't really pumpkiny. It was a maple-frosted cake donut. 8/10.

Kneaders Pumpkin Pie was a typical pumpkin pie, though it tasted more squashy than most pumpkin pies. 7/10.

Momo's Pumpkin Cheesecake was the winner of the Taste Off, and it was my parents' favorite. I'm not a big cheesecake guy, so it wasn't my favorite of the lot, but it was still a great pumpkin cheesecake. 7/10.

My mom eats this Nature's Path Organic Pumpkin Seed + Flax Granola all year round. I eat it pretty much only at this time of year (back in 2010, the box mentioned Halloween!). I loved it a decade ago, but now I find it a bit bland. 6/10.

I think Arctic Circle Pumpkin Shakes are the longest-running pumpkin product (in my life, at least) I've had. I've been getting them most years since at least 2003. The spice is a little stronger than in other pumpkin shakes, but it's a classic. 8/10.

Summer, but make it October

 Lately I've been watching Halloween Baking Championship on Food Network. On this show, the contestants will be baking a dessert corresponding to a certain theme when the host comes in and tells them they need to incorporate a weird ingredient, such as pumpkin puree, black garlic, or baby food.

This show really gets my imagination running. What could I bake with weird ingredients? Specifically, what could I bake with the home-grown produce we have sitting in our fridge, such as apples and zucchini? So sometimes I will be contemplating that while I fall asleep.

Last week, I dreamed that I was making pineapple zucchini crisp. In the dream, I was coating the fruit in mayonnaise. Then I thought, "The recipe says I can use mayo or sugar, so why didn't I use sugar instead?"

When I woke up, I thought that pineapple zucchini crisp didn't sound bad. I thought it would be funny to make it. After all, two years ago I made Cap'n Crunch stuffing after dreaming about it.

So this week, on Tuesday, I got to make this imagined crisp. I specifically bought a pineapple for the purpose, and I used the yellow squash we had in our fridge, which came from our garden. (It was the squash that came from the garden. Fridges don't grow in gardens.)

You might be wondering if I can have this dessert, since it's not a holiday dessert. But if I'm using our own home-grown produce, I can have it.

I have this crisp recipe from my book How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, a book that has made me more comfortable experimenting with different ingredients. I have made cherry crisp, apricot crisp, plum crisp, grape crisp, and apple crisp, all using our own produce, and I have also made cranberry-orange crisp at Christmastime. But pineapple zucchini crisp was a first, obviously.

So how was it? Surprisingly good, especially when it was fresh out of the oven. The zucchini had a satisfying slight crunch, and it absorbed sweetness from the sugar and the pineapple. But it got less good the less fresh it got. I don't know if I would necessarily try this again, but I do think zucchini could act as filler in other fruit crisps. It would have been bland if it were only zucchini.

Wednesday night was the vice presidential debate. I felt a connection to it, since the U was making a big deal about it being on campus (as they should have!). I did apply for the student lottery to get tickets, but only one hundred people got to to, so I wasn't surprised when I didn't get any.

It seems to me like in this debate, you saw what you wanted to see. I saw Kamala Harris as a confident, compassionate, intelligent woman, while Mike Pence was domineering and deliberately avoided answering questions that might make him or the president look bad. But others thought Kamala was condescending. The debate only solidified my voting plan—and it probably did the same for those on the other side of the aisle.

Near the freeway entrance in Woods Cross, this week I noticed home-printed signs that say, "Please don't re-elect Wicked King Noah." 😆 

On Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, my family went camping in our new trailer in Wasatch Mountain State Park. We camped there in September two years ago. It's a really nice campground. There are water and electric hookups for our trailer, and there are even full-plumbing restrooms and showers at the campsite. I took two showers while there, one in the public-use shower and one in our trailer, the first time we have used the trailer shower.

I got to use the nearby trails for some fun runs. I didn't do very long ones (five miles max), but they were lovely. Maples aren't great this year, but some of them were still gorgeous. And golden aspens are always amazing.

There is a little nature trail with interpretive signs. It even had an old limestone mine that you could see.

We associate camping with summer, but nearly everything is better in the fall, including camping. I highly recommend Wasatch Mountain State Park.

We also saw Cascade Springs. My parents picked me up from Provo and took me there back on September 8, 2012, a day I remember surprisingly well.

I love October, because it's fully fall, but there are still many elements of summer that have stuck around. Today I was able to make a big pot of tomato sauce with the tomatoes from our own garden.

But one thing I can do without is the mosquitoes. October is one month where I can reliably count on hearing mosquitoes in my bedroom at night. After we unloaded the car last night, there were at least a dozen mosquitoes in our house. I guess October really is the month when vampires come out.

***

Time for pumpkinundation roundup!

Nielsen's Frozen Custard Pumpkin Concrete has a nice pumpkin flavor, and it's nice to know that it has less calories than ice cream (I think). 8/10.

Thomas' Pumpkin Spice English Muffins are the best pumpkin English muffins out there, with little pockets of pumpkin and spices. Since I eat so many carbs this time of year, I love to pair them with savory, protein-rich things like eggs and cheese. But I don't like that you have to cut them; they aren't presliced. 8/10.

This Good Housekeeping Spiced Pumpkin Harvest Hand Sanitizer smells more like candy corn, which is equally seasonal, so I don't know why they didn't go with that. 6/10.

I got this Bahama Buck's Caramel Apple Shaved Ice to have during the debate. I forgot to tell them I didn't need an umbrella or a spoon. I wish more businesses used biodegradable utensils. I also hate that Bahama Buck's gives these useless, wasteful umbrellas. At least they're not plastic, but they are completely unnecessary. What a waste! Also, I don't eat in my car, but I had to eat the top off so it wouldn't melt in my car. In so doing, a little piece fell off and landed somewhere, but I don't know where. So sad! That was a very long introduction to this product. It's a fake apple flavor with caramel topping. It's just what you'd expect. 7/10.

The Good Housekeeping Apple Cinnamon Cider didn't smell like anything but hand sanitizer to me. 3/10.

The Russell Stover Pumpkin Spice Caramel Pumpkin is an enjoyable chocolate-covered caramel with spicy elements. But I don't really get pumpkin. I forgot to see if pumpkin was in the ingredients, but I doubt it. 7/10.

Floss Cotton Candy is a local cotton candy company that is sold at Lee's Marketplace. I first heard of them this summer when they had a fireworks flavor (yay!). They are expensive, and they come in these heavy-duty containers. I have mixed feelings. It seems overkill to put cotton candy in such a sturdy container, but the containers are totally reusable, unlike a simple plastic bag. Anyway, they have the three pillars of fall flavors. Floss Caramel Apple Cotton Candy is an artificial apple flavor with caramel bits. The caramel bits are crunchier than you'd expect, but it works. 7/10.

The Floss Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookie somehow tastes like a pumpkin cookie, with a mild spice to it and actual chocolate bits mixed in. 7/10.

And finally, Floss Candy Corn Cotton Candy is really a weird concept, as candy corn and cotton candy don't really have their own flavor. They're just sugar. But it does taste like candy corn! 7/10.

In Midway this week, we went to Süss Cookie Company, which has only two locations, but they sell their cookies other places. The Süss Cookie Co. Pumpkin Nutella Cookie had a pumpkin flavor, but I didn't notice any Nutella at all. This tasted like a prepackaged cookie, not like the fresh cookies from the various cookie bakeries. 6/10.

But the Süss Cookie Co. Pumpkin Cheesecake Cookie was much better. The cookie was soft and chewy, and the cream cheese frosting was wonderful. 8/10.

Good & Gather Pumpkin Spice Hot Cocoa Mix is a Target brand. It tastes like dark chocolate with comforting spices. But it must be made with milk, not with water. 8/10.