PRINCETON HHH HASH #583.4

Date: December 1, 1996
Weather: Antediluvian
Venue: Stony Brook Watershed Nature Center (twice!) to Moore's Mill/Mt. Rose Rd.
Time: 1 hr. 25 min.
Set By: Wacko
Hashers: Delay LLLama, 242, Throatwarbler (!!)
Visitor:  Ken Vercammen, the Attorney from Rumson 
          (do they let hashers practice law??)

                        A MAN OF HIS WORD

Much was made in the late Presidential campaign regarding the degree to
which the contestants were judged to stick to their announced positions,
a criterion on which both contenders were in general found lacking.  It
was stirring, therefore, to find an individual of sterling commitment to
principle - even in the face of dire temptation - here in the bosom of our
humble hash; of which more anon.

The analogies of this hash to the election campaign are even more striking,
though: almost nobody turned out, the performances were uninspiring, and
there was  a profound sense of going nowhere for much of the exercise - but
at least it was over at long last.  Wacko shepherded the diminished pack to
the Watershed Nature Center (site of grumpy harrumphs about the on-on
following Throatwarbler's sole set of 1995) and sent them off into a sodden
mass of woodsy terrain.  Despite ankle-deep water, progress was fairly swift
until a missed mark caused an extra long checking process - which in turn 
allowed the astonishing running machine that is 242 to swing into action.  The
Numerical One circumnavigated the entire trail to that point, coming upon
marks (previously short-cut) leading up to the check, and running the
trail backwards to the start.  The rest of the pack were so impressed 
by his energetic checking, that they didn't immediately have the heart 
to tell him he'd arrived within 100 yds. of the start at the 15 minute mark.

After this little misunderstanding was cleared up and the true trail found,
our four wet critters splashed and slogged their way across wide, brambly
fields, spotted with endless volumes of 40 deg. water.  The Warbler livened
things up with a near-perfect 9.0 dive onto the sodden forest floor, due to
a close encounter with ankle-high barbed wire.  The real joy didn't
start, however, till the hare was encountered at the 1 hr. mark and
made the critical error of offering the hounds the chance to run for
10 min. more, 30 min. more, or what he described as "an hour plus".
Three wimps chimed in for the 10 min.  option, but
stalwart 242 said "30 and not a minute less".

With this ambivalent verdict, they disappeared into a wide swath of dense
pines straight out of the Brothers Grimm, from which the Warbler and Delay
emerged about 10 min. later hot on a set of marks.  Throatwarbler, clad in
his usual day-glo rain jacket, waved to the distant 242 - about 150 yards
down a sodden lane of brush - and headed toward the obvious telephone poles
of Mt. Rose Rd.  TW and Delay lingered at a Regroup and screamed themselves
hoarse, while the calls of Ken and 242 approached - and retreated- and
approached - and retreated - and faded away.  For a good 15 minutes Delay
and TW called in vain for the On In, but 242 was having none of it.  "I
said 30 MINUTES, dammit, and not a MINUTE less!", he muttered, as he somehow
contrived to do laps not more than a few hundred yards from the hashvan.
"Besides, that guy in orange wavin' at me 15 minutes back was probably just
a mirage".

At length, Wacko went forth from the van, and dragged the dogged 242 in out
of the rain, just about bang on his self-imposed half-hour goal. A few
slugs of Left Hand Porter lubricated the discussion at the apres, which
included speculation about Wacko's future on the hash, once the manacles of
parenthood click shut.  Stay tuned.


Next Hashes:

#584.4   Sunday, December 8, 2 pm,   Solo sets
#585.4   Sunday, December 15, 2 pm,  Delay LLLama sets, god help us