I went for a short hike today. I had a physical therapy session at 4 p.m. to treat my ailing hip/lower back and afterward decided a good little walk could do my hip some good. Such a beautiful day, too. Hard to stay inside.
So, I went to Jackson’s Dahlem Center–which feels like a privately-funded mini-state park to me. Can’t camp there, but lots of trails and good wildlife. My favorite part about it in the "Prairie Project," which is the location of this picture. It’s basically…a prairie; just wide-open rolling field with some trees, but mostly wild grass and other stuff I don’t know the name of.
There were lots of deer running around. They’d snort at me once in a while too. I’m assuming that was their way of communicating to the others that a stranger was in the ‘hood.
There are lots of good pictures to take at the Dahlem center. I was there for only a short while, as the sun was setting and I didn’t have a light with me or anything. But I could just tell that were I to spend enough time there and have enough good light conditions, I could do pretty well coming up with good frames.
In case you’re wondering what’s up with my hip, the doctor (I went to a doctor for the first time in…probably since I cut my hand in Colorado in 2001…and that wasn’t really a doctor visit. That was the emergency room.) diagnosed me with piriformis syndrome. The piriformis muscle is deep in the pelvis area and does something with the hip joint I think. When inflamed (for whatever reason) it can irritate the sciatic nerve, which runs down the back and both legs.
My physical therapist isn’t convinced it’s piriformis, so he’s treating both for that and a possible lower back problem.
Seems like it might be getting a bit better…but it’s early and hard to tell.
Speaking of that…I should probably do my stretches. Chow.
