46:50

My new Incline PR. I am more excited that this is after my last PR I set only three weeks ago.

AND It was after work.

AND after a big run this morning.

I had not set out to set my PR, I only set out to wear the pooch out.

Imagine what will happen next? I can't wait to see...

Stay tuned!!!

Rough

It has been a rough week.

Yesturday I had to say goodbye to a close friend that passed away suddenly.

I have a lot to report on, the fall colors, E and I's weekend in Durango, my sisters wedding and a final farewell to my friend Kelly.

I'll post some of these things when I am feeling a little more open and a little less drained and raw.

In the meantime, Enjoy a picture of my favorite baboshka kitty...



Bella, planning her attack on me when I least expect it...

My Mental Health Vacation

The last week of May I took off of work for some personal mental health time.

The vacation started off with a small adventure to Angel Fire New Mexico for E’s bike race. He took Fourth in his class and for the first time I got to see him on the podium. (when he uploads the pics from his camera, I'll post them)
In the meantime, here is a bike he wishes he could race on...


We came home on Memorial day and the rest of the week I spent working on my landscaping at my house. With the help of a girlfriend (JH) we laid down close to a thousand square feet of landscaping cloth, commandeered a truckload of ‘free’ mulch, loaded, unloaded, and distributed the mulch and ordered 3 tons of rock.



JH was my consultant behind my landscape plan. I have always admired her yard, and when she offered to help me I took her up on the offer. Without her help, expertise, sweat and muscle that is no way I could have gotten as much done this week as I did. Not to mention the pile of very cool rocks she hauled over to my house to create the border around my bulb garden.


As for the ‘Free’ Mulch we got. There is a program here in our town where the parks department offers free mulch to anyone that hauls it away. Unfortunately we found out after loading up ‘The Battlewagon’ to the brim we were not at the free mulch pile. The free mulch pile was about 100 yards away, behind another fence we didn’t see. OOOPS Who knows what mulch we stole…If anyone from the City parks department is reading this, I’m sorry….



Here is what Three Tons of rock look like in a pile



and here it is almost completely spread out…I am about 95% completed.

After moving rock on Thursday and Friday I took Saturday off of doing anything too physical, instead I worked out my credit card at home depot gathering all the supplies I will need to build Sasha’s dog run in the back yard. E and I went out to dinner and then it was home and to bed early since we were leaving for Castlerock at 5:30 am to ride in the Elephant Rock Bicycle Festival.

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE this bike?

We were both debating if we would do the 65 or 100 mile course, after starting towards Monument and fighting a headwind the.entire.way, we both decided 65 miles would be the way to go.



We met up with my friend’s boyfriend (WC) about halfway through.


Unfortunately my friend (LW) had to drop out early and SAG to the finish line due to her IT band in her knee giving her fits. She was super frustrated and hopes this won’t affect our trip to Iowa later this summer. LW, WC, and I are all meeting Miss Bick in Iowa for RAGBRAI in July.

Now I am back to work and good thing too...My body has been crying for a break.

My Dogs Smarter...

No, not really, I just wanted to say that..

This week Sasha not only completed her first night at "doggy school", which I am sad to say she was not the best behaved in class. But today was her first day at Doggie Daycare. I have to admit I spent more of my day watching her on the webcam , than actually working.

Dropping her off at school this morning was heart breaking. She recognized where we were since her school was in the same building last night, but when the nice lady opened the door to go to the playroom, Sasha got terribly scared. Her ears folded back and she kept trying to back-up to escape. All she could see was a hallway and hear dogs barking. I am guessing it reminded her of the humane society where I rescued her from. My only guess is she thought she was going back to the pound since she was less than a good student the night before. I walked in with her to go to a kennel that lead into the play area. From that kennel she was able to see dogs were not in cages and sad, but romping and playing and having a great time. There was a Saint Bernard in the kennel next to hers, he appeared to be happy to see a new friend come to school. After placing her in the kennel, I left and came to work. Of course the first thing I did was to pull up the webcam, where not only did I see her friend Oliver had come to school also that day, but she had made multiple friends and was running around like the wild pup that she is.

Update: I picked up Sasha from Daycare last night and she was awake long enough when we got home to eat dinner and that was about it. I have never seen my puppy so exhausted. What a great investment! We will definalty be going back to day care next week...

RATS!!!

Today marks Chinese New Year and Year of the Rat. I was born in year of the rat (not so long ago…really)

I like rats. I have had many as pets in different times of my life. First there were the couple my brother and I got at a local pet store when he was 8 and I was 12. I am bad, I can’t remember their names. I do remember though it was the first, and I think only, joint purchase we made that we did not fight over. Then there were the ones I rescued from work when I was in high school, no I didn’t work at Waffle House. I, ahem… how do I say this? I worked at a place that had a lot of rats in cages. (I think I said it okay without giving too much information that could be used against me on the confidentiality form I signed way back when… Nuclear Mom knows what I am talking about… Moving on…)Lets just say, I rescued quite a few pets. My parents were not thrilled. I eventually got fired from that job.

Batman and Robin were next, but Batman ate Robins head one night (gross).

In college there was Ren and Stimpy. Stimpy had four litters of babies, and eventually ate every one of them (gross again). Ren was sweet but got old and both passed away while I left them with a sitter when I was in transition between Steamboat Springs, upstate New York and back to Fort Collins.

Per wikipedia, here is an excerpt of some traits of the Rat (at least the parts that I felt applied to me)

“…Rats are leaders, pioneers and conquerors. They are charming, passionate, charismatic, practical and hardworking. Rat people are endowed with great leadership skills and are the most highly organized, meticulous, and systematic of the twelve signs. Intelligent and cunning at the same time, rats are highly ambitious and strong-willed people. They are energetic and versatile and can usually find their way around obstacles, and adapt to various environments easily. A rat's natural charm and sharp demeanor make it an appealing friend … Rats consider others before themselves, at least sometimes, and avoid forcing their ideas onto others. Rats are fair in their dealings and expect the same from others in return, and can be deeply affronted if they feel they have been deceived or that their trust has been abused. Sometimes they set their targets too high, whether in relation to their friends or in their career. But as the years pass, they will become more idealistic and tolerant. If they can develop their sense of self and realize it leaves room for others in their life as well, Rats can find true happiness….”

Yay to New Years and Yay to Rats!!!