The Trials of the Riverwalk

The person that invented the seasonings for the Long Grain and Wild Rice mix was a genius.

Today’s Exploit:

One of our adventures over Spring Break was a trip to San Antonio, or rather, two trips.

The first trip involved searching for running costumes, huge crowds and sore feet.  

The second was because we missed the Alamo’s open hours.  

First trip:  

We walked all around the Rivercenter mall looking for a good had for Cupcake to wear for the race.  And I looked for a St. Patricks day shirt to be my costume.  

When she found her hat we decided to attempt the Riverwalk itself.  We didn’t realize that being Spring Break it would be so completely packed that being knocked into the river was a probability, not just a possibility.  After fighting the people for 30 minutes and failing to find the desired ice cream parlor we gave up, found the Alamo 3 minutes after it closed, got lost, found the mall and got a shirt, and then went home with sore feet.  

Try II:

The next day we tried again.  First on the list:  the Alamo.  We made it with about 2 minutes to spare.  We also spent most of the time walking around the grounds looking at the Live Oak trees.  We’re not sure what the difference between Live Oak and normal Oak is.  Also we saw lots of cabbage and bark-less trees.

First success!

Then we headed back into sure madness, to find that the Riverwalk wasn’t quite so packed.  Hallelujah.  We also managed to find the ice cream shop and an Irish pub that sold Bangers & Mash and Strongbow.  

Complete success!

And Then We Saw the Crazies...

unicyclefootball.com

Evidentially this has been going on for 7 seasons.  I’m not sure if that means years, or bursts of madness, or reasonable weather for outdoor activities. 

Today’s Exploit:

My sister came to see me for a week.  

She wore sun dresses and sandals and complained about being cold.  

I almost smacked her.  It was 70 degrees out.

I also forced her to run with me.  

We ran through the trails by my house and down the road toward town.  And then she had sore feet, but I made her run some more anyway, because I’m ruthless.  

Also I was trying to make her ready for a half-marathon.  

We did have some adventures as well, though.  

Like the day we went and walked around downtown San Marcos.  

We went and got some frozen yogurt with divine blackberries and juicy bubbles that I can’t remember the names of.  And we went walking to see what was to be seen.  

We went to a running store and tried on some feet gloves, and bought some hot pink shoelaces for my neon blue and yellow shoes.  We also saw who was playing at the music hall, but didn’t go to a show.  And we kept walking until we discovered some sort of party under some steel market tents.  

Have you ever heard of Unicycle Football?  

Me either.

But we watched it.  There’s even a website.  And they had a pretty good crowd of hippies, or hipsters.  Whatever they’re called.  

You’d think just riding a unicycle would be enough of a challenge, but some crazy had to go and try to play football on one.  

Madness

The Madness of Running

I’m really regretting that decision to take the bag with the camera cord out of my car.

Today’s Exploit:

I spent the last 2 days reading Born to Run by Christopher McDougall.  It was fascinating.  I couldn’t put it down.  Not only was it an intriguing journey, it was packed with research and facts and runners’ stories.  

After the first day of reading I went out to try to implement El Caballo’s lesson.  Easy, Light, Smooth and Fast.  I focused on easy and light.  

I spent so much concentration on being easy I forgot to check my time until I turned around at 1.4 miles.  It only took me just over 10 minutes.  So I did some calculating on the way back, after a nice chat with the gate guard and a cleaning by the dog, to figure out about how fast I was actually going.  

10.6 minutes/1.4 miles = 7.6 minutes per mile! 

All that calculating slowed me down on the way back and I ended up with a second split of about 12 minutes.  

Even with a 2 minute bread to talk to the gate guard I ran 3 miles in 24 minutes.  

THAT HAS BEEN MY GOAL FOR YEARS!!!

And I did it without even thinking about it.  How is that possible?  I spent so many runs pushing and pushing to reach that time, and I end up doing it when I’m trying to run easy.  

GAH.

Anyway.  I like this book.  You should read it.  

The Results are IN!

I try to be polite and people think I’m laughing at them.  

Today’s Exploit:

So, my failed countdown ended 17 March.  It started out with a song and a bang.  And it kept on singing some maddening 80s songs that faded in and out as the dude with the speakers played leapfrog with us.  At one point it started to fizzle and that last mile seemed endless.  But then the last half mile was an all out sprint for the gates to popsicles and medals.  

I placed 184th with a time of 2:37:07.5.  Cupcake placed 183rd with a time of 2:37:07.4.  

Cupcake didn’t want to finish, but I told her if she didn’t I’d post all of her most hated and nerdy photos for everyone to see.  So she finished.  And we had popsicles and she wore her medal for 3 days straight.  She even slept in it, I think.  

I was going to post some pictures today, but my camera cable is hanging out at home with my newly-set-up sewing machine.  

Some day I will display all of my efforts of Thursday night.  I spent ages on making silly skirts.  Cupcake even wanted to wear hers to work, but I told her it probably wouldn’t wash well.  I also forced her to wear a nerdy hat because I thought it would be super sunny.  

PS.  The kids who cheered for everyone until they were hoarse, and then handed out medals were super-awesome.

On to the End

I have been terrible at posting, and have given much consideration to ending my blog.  I have decided that I enjoy reading and procrastinating far too much.  Therefore this will be my last post.  The end.





APRIL FOOLS!

Just kidding!  I will go on being terrible at posting, and occasionally have bursts of senseless stories.

Please enjoy your weekend responsibly.

A Poem on Drilling

Countdown:  11 Days.  The nerves.  They tingle.

They’re really trying to convert me to shrimp and crawfish out here.  By way of stuffing it down my throat.  

Today’s Exploit:

It never fails.  

The well is almost done.  You want to go home.  Things are going well. 

Go get excited about going home tomorrow or the next day.

BAM!

Something breaks.  You must stay another week.

Cry.

Addicted to Words

Countdown:  12 Days. Getting rather nervous.

No one out here seems to understand that I am not capable of eating 2 chicken fried steaks and 3 bowls of seafood ay-too-fay for dinner.  I’ll stick with just the peach cobbler and some corn, thanks.

Today’s Exploit:

I got Every Word, a free game for my Kindle.  

I have been playing it endlessly for the past week, or so.  

It took me ages to beat level six.  AGES.

Each time I surpassed my previous high score I jumped around the box in excitement.  Then I’d sit back down to lose 48 more games at level two or three.  

But today was a good day.  

I beat level six on the fourth game.  Then I got through level seven.  And immediately got one of the four winning words for level eight.  It was a miracle.  And amazing.  

And then I failed miserably at level nine.

Moving: Rig Version

Countdown:  15 Days.

Cookie Project:

Today’s Exploit:

I moved trailers the other day.

I’m not sure if the boys were glad to see me go so they had more space; or if they were just jealous that I got to be in a nicer trailer.  Now that we’re almost done drilling the living quarters are somewhat desirable.  

Granted it does smell in this trailer at times, but it’s due to someone working.  As opposed to boys letting their dishes moulder in the sink too long, or put off doing laundry as long as possible.  

The room and the bathroom are considerably smaller.  But man, is it quiet in that trailer.

Besides the room being smaller, there’s nothing like moving to make one realize just how much junk one has hoarded away.  

It took me four trips to get my junk from one trailer to the other.  And I get to move said junk to my car in another couple days.  

Currently I’m working on a strategy to cram all of it together so that it takes up less space.  Thus leaving me with fewer loads to tote out to Starla.  

The Mouse House

Countdown: 16 days.

I watched “Drive” a couple weeks ago.  I was more bothered by the blood and violence than a 3 year old.

Today’s Exploit:

Last night I walked into the trailer.  Rather, this morning I walked into the trailer.  

I was greeted by two mice having a lovely time playing chase in the kitchen and laundry hall.  

I stood and watched for a few minutes before taking off my boots and hat and heading their direction to get ready for bed.  

They waited until I was in the kitchen before hiding.  

Later, when I was doing dishes, they came back out to play some more.  Right next to me.  They acted like they owned the place.  

And they played around the sticky traps that the guys had set up.  I’m pretty sure they were taunting the person who decided to buy them.  

When I went to bed I discovered that the little monsters had left a gift on my face mask.  Also one chewed part of the earpiece of my headphones for my iPod.  

Mice.  

Ah, well.  Let the Chicken Boys deal with them.  I’m going to live next door.