Date: 2006-04-20
From: Dutch House

To: Dutch House
Miles today: 0.0

A zero day was a good thing for my cold. I don¢t feel anywhere near 100%, but I am not completely miserable. Tomorrow morning I should be in OK shape for hiking. The Dutch hau is the perfect place for a relaxing zero day. When I woke up this morning, there was breakfast waiting for everyone. The orange juice and fresh fruit cup were amazing. It had been a while since I had either. Then Lois brought out eggs, pancakes (in my case matzah), slices of melon, and real coffee. Nothing could have been better.After breakfast, everyone headed out. For the rest of the day, I was the only one there. Lois made a good point when she said that I get to see the Dutch Haus when it was really full and when it is just one guest. It was neat to see the place both ways. In the morning, it was pretty fun to watch Lois wash the sheets and clean the floors. I offered to help, but she refused, saying that it is her type of therapy; the work is so mindless, that she can have time to let her mind wander or just think about anything or nothing.At 11am, Earl dropped me at the post office and store. I sent some of my expensive food (aka jerky) back in a priority box, since I had way too much food. I also wanted to send my digital camera card home since it was almost full. Since my pictures are so important to me and I didn¢t want them to get lost, I sent the card by registered mail. However, it took a long time since the lady who had been working there for dozens of years had never sent a registered letter before. We kind of had to figure it out together.After returning to Dutch Haus, I decided to take a nice, hot, relaxing bath. It felt so good all over my entire body. After that great experience, I walked around the house in my bathrobe. I sat in the back, covered area of the house and just watched the birds and squirrels. The squirrels were pretty funny. Although there is enough fallen birdseed below all the feeders, they still try to jump from the trees, or climb down the string to the can which they will then fall off. As birds go, there were several different kinds. Goldfinches were especially prevalent. On the front porch is a hummingbird feeder that attracted several hummingbirds, even when I was sitting just five feet away.For lunch, Lois made me matzah brei. It was amazing how well it turned out. It tasted just like my mother¢s (or dare I say better). I think the secret ingredient that Lois uses is cottage cheese.After lunch I just sat on the porch and stared off into the trees and enjoyed the nice, warm temperature. In the evening, I was able to see Lois and Earl in a rare relaxed moment. They were both just sitting on the porch. I joined them, and they told me some interesting stories.That night we had dinner at 7pm so that I could have bread/leaven. The meatloaf, zucchini, asparagus, orzo, and chocolate cake were incredible. This was probably the best dinner that I have had on the trail, possibly even better than The Home Place.I really want to thank the Arnolds (Lois and Earl) and Lois¢s parents for sharing their wonderful home. I want to thank them for their hospitality and care they put into everything. My time at Dutch Haus was simply bliss.