Jon and I went to Joe Pool Lake today so I could practice on the mountain bike trails. It was easy to find the park, but it took some looking to find the trails. And before I rode 15 minutes, I got a flat tire. I didn't see anything wrong with it, so I pumped it up, and it went flat again in about 5 feet. Gggrrr. At that exact moment Jon walked up (he was hiking the trails while I rode), so we walked out together, and went to the bike shop for some new tubes.

The nuts on the back tire were very stubborn, and needed some coaxing with WD-40 and a mallet. There was a tiny hole in the tube. Cursed thing. We replaced the tube, and I went for a ride, and everything seems to be working now.

I am sitting bored in class. Jon and I got our concealed handgun licenses today, and per the state we had to have 10 hours of instruction. Actually the class wasn't boring, it was very informative and I learned a lot, but it was long. The only boring part was waiting for everyone to finish at the shooting range, as there were a lot of people in class. I was nervous about the shooting part, but all of my shots hit the target. The instructor was very personable, and the first thing he did was to make me relax. The other employees at the range were helpful too, making handgun recommendations and offering advice.

So Jon and I are now gun-toting, meat eating except when we're eating vegetarian meals, tree huggers.

Jon and I ran the LMRA 5k course today. It was a few hundred yards short, because the gas well is in the way now, but it was still about 3 miles. Its the first time Jon has run in years. I'm very proud of him, not only for offering to do it, but for doing so well. He had to go slow to stay with me (I am a slow runner, a good speedwalker could probably beat me), and by the end he was worn out, but he didn't quit. The LMRA course is off-road cross-country, and mile 2 especially is very hilly. Its a nice tour of LMRA; too bad part of it will soon be sold. It was a good workout, and a lot of fun.

I went to a liquor store for the very first time today. Pretty much like any other store, I've just never had a reason to go before. Jon and I got some dry white vermouth for the zucchini-basil risotto we made for dinner. Its an ingredient, and the grocery store didn't carry liquor. We got the cheapest stuff, since we're cooking with it, so I don't see any martini's in the future. I may go back to the liquor store some more though, if we have more recipes requiring liquors.

Is chocolate milk just as healthy a recovery drink if you make it yourself? I only ran for 12 minutes today (jog 2, run 2), but then I did 4 x 200 yds in the pool. And chocolate milk sounds really good now (and is really good for you after a workout), but all I have is the syrup. Yummy and satisfying, if nothing else.

As I was leaving work today, I wished I had my sunglasses. But I thought I had left them at home because it was raining this morning. Then I got to my car in the parking lot, and my sunglasses were just sitting on the trunk. I then remembered that I had decided to put them in my car that morning in case I wanted them in the afternoon, but on my way out I decided to turn off the foundation watering system (because it was raining), and set the sunglasses on the trunk. So I drove all the way to work, including the interstate, and my sunglasses just went along for the ride. Crazy. I'm glad I have the little spoiler thing on the trunk.

I drink a lot of water. I never used to as a kid, and my mother was always telling me to drink more. Then I moved to Florida, where its hotter than hell, and only water was good enough to make me feel better. Now I keep a bottle at my desk all day, and usually carry one around the house and car. When I run, I love to drink water, and I drink a lot more than my friends. The sloshing in my stomach never bothers me. I just hate to be thirsty.

I did 3.75 miles today, and it was friggin hot. The temp wasn't so bad, in the 90s, but it was humid. Bleh.

I tried to do a brick today. I rode my bike from my house to the LMRA pool (only about 6 miles) and I wanted to swim, but the pool was closed. It rained for about 30 minutes this afternoon, and apparently thats enough to close. Boo. Its now bright and sunny and hot again. So I just rode back home. First though I showed Jon around the island. Its too bad LMRA is selling it. Its a great piece of land, with huge trees and lots of wildlife. Someone will probably buy it and put up condos.

I did use my rain barrel to catch the rain today though. I got about 3 or 4 gallons! Hooray!

We built rain barrels today. I got a bright blue 55 gallon barrel, and we added a spigot to the bottom in class. My barrel has a clamp to take off the lid, otherwise we would have had to cut it off. I don't have gutters yet, but I know where the rain flows off the valleys in my roof, so I can just set the barrel under that. Once I get gutters I will direct the downspout into it. I also think I'll get some Krylon plastic paint and paint it to match my house. Bright blue isn't the accent I'm going for. I have an asphalt shingle roof, so the rainwater won't be good for drinking, but my plants will still like it.

But this picture is obviously not of a rain barrel. Sam had a slip-n-slide party. I've never been on a slip-n-slide, but I have always wanted too, and this one was awesome. Tons of fun. I didn't do so well feet first, but I went very fast head first, and would crash into the pool at the end.

Permaculture involves a LOT of cardboard. Karyn gave me a bunch of boxes earlier this week, and I was so excited to get them. Jon found out that we can get boxes at Sam's Club too. Yay! These boxes we found outside of a business thats being remodeled. There was a pile of boxes on the curb, and we loaded them all onto our wagon. At the bottom of the pile we found the sign saying "Free Boxes." Thats good, because we were taking them! We used these to create a row in Elizabeth Anna's nursery. We covered it with mulch and put all of the perennials for sale on it. The gardening classes are free, and in exchange we help out in the nursery. We still learned a lot though: how to trim perennials, and that 20% vinegar is a good organic herbicide. The temperature needs to be above 80 degrees for it to work though. I believe we have that covered.

BTW, permaculture is "permanent agriculture." Its a method of gardening that works with the earth to be sustainable, and the gardening skills I have been learning fall into this category. One of the guys in the class is starting a Permaculture Blitz, where a group of people get together and work on someone's yard. Check out dfwpermaculture.ning.com.

Me gusta recibir el correo. No se por que, pero quiero ver que tengo. Cuando fue una joven me gusta recibier el correo tambien.

I found a blue jay feather while running around on the island today during split training. Someone suggested I stick it in my hair to see if I ran faster. I don't think I went faster, but I finished the run. Joy decided it was too hot to do intervals, so we did Mud Run training, were we jog for half an hour and every couple of minutes we stop and do push ups or lunges or dips or something. Then in the pool I did 5 x 150's. My arms and legs were sore, but my heart and lungs were doing good. Yay me.

I did go run this morning. I only did 2.2 miles, but I did 3 hills. It felt good. Just as I was starting the third hill, "Ghost Town" by Shiny Toy Guns came on my iPod. Jon said I should get that song because I could run up hills to it. He was right. As I was running down one of the streets, a car drove by me, and the driver stuck his arm out the window and gave me a thumbs up. How cool. I'm always impressed by other people when I see them out running or walking or biking, even when I'm doing the same. I guess I'm not the only one.

I am addicted to chapstick. I have been since high school. A lot of other girls in my high school were addicted to chapstick too, and still were at my reunioun last year. I have tried to quit before, but my lips just get dry and chapped. I have researched it, and they say you can't be addicted to chapstick, but they are wrong.

I did not go ride my bike today. It was the hottest day of the year so far. The official high was 104, but a lot of people say it hit 108. I saw a couple of other bikers, and I've done bricks when it was in the 90s, but I just couldn't do it today. I'll run tomorrow to make up for it.

Jon and I went backpacking today. Its good to practice. Who wants to figure out how to use their gear in the middle of nowhere? We put 2 gallons of water in each backpack, which is about 16.7 pounds. We did the armadillo trail in the Nature Center (I don't know its real name, but the markers are pictures of armadillos), which is 3.37 miles long, and a little hilly. It was also crazy hot, well over 90 degrees. If Jon and I can manage in this heat, we can manage anywhere. My pack was heavy, but I made it. We took a break and used the field guide to identify a tree.

Yes, I am driving a backhoe. (I think its a backhoe.) We were using it to create key lines on an empty plot that will one day become a community garden. The land was surveyed, and we found that it slopes westward, so all of the rainwater will flow off of the lot to the west. Key lines are either swales or berms (berms here) across the land that will slow the flow of the water and direct it to areas we want it to go. The rain will also seep into the garden rather than flow off of the lot because of the key line.

I didn't move any dirt, another woman did that. I just drove the backhoe down the street back towards the nursery. I didn't drive it all of the way, my friend Amy finished it up.

By the way, these gardening classes are at Elizabeth Anna's Old World Shoppe on 8th Avenue. I'm learning a lot of cool stuff (and doing a lot of weeding).

I am learning chicken care today! We are clipping the chickens' wings so they stop flying out of their enclosure. We were nervous at first, but the chickens didn't seem to mind being clipped, so we felt better. Except for the poor little chicken that we clipped too low and started to bleed. We also learned how to save seeds for use next year. We gathered radish, lettuce, swiss chard, kale, and tomato seeds. I was so inspired I bought some heirloom basil, dill, and rhubarb seeds. Fun, fun.

El campus de TCC es muy bonita. Hay un largo pequeno, y hay los carreras de barco a veces. Hay un camino de paseo cerca del un lago. Tengo solamente cuatro clases mas. Es bueno, porque no tengo el tiempo poder limpiar mi casa, o escardar mi jardin, o montar mi bicicleta. Pero me gustan los clases. Quiero practicar mas con mi iPod, or con la television por mirando las programmas en espanol.

This is a symbol of victory. These carrots are from my garden. I grew them from seeds. This is my first time ever successfully growing carrots, and look at how wonderful they turned out. Hooray! They will be great in my lunch. And they are only the beginning, there are several more carrots in the garden!

Archie is usually very carefull when she plays. She keeps her claws retracted, doesn't kick, and doesn't bite hard. But sometimes she likes to play rough. I will wrap my hand in a towel for protection, and she will slit her eyes, lay her ears flat, and growl as she bites my hand. She holds on with her front claws and kicks with the back. I think she has fun. I think its her way of exercising, or practicing her skills in case she ever has to fight off another cat.

I am getting tan lines from my bike shorts. I do not mind, though. They make me look fierce, as do the sock lines and lines across my back from my bathing suit. I've never been a big fan of laying out in the sun and getting a tan. That much sun is not healthy at all. I cover myself in sunscreen, but with all the training outside, I am still losing my paleness.

Jon and I hiked the Oak Motte Trail at the FW Nature Center this morning. Its so much fun going for hikes. Jon is very observant and inquisitive, I love the way he is so interested in nature. We found some wild grapes growing, and stole a few. They taste just like the wild grapes that grew back home in Virginia, and nothing like store bought grapes. The skins are very tough and tart, and the insides are slimy and sweet. The insides separate from the skins very easily though. Delicious. Too bad only a few were ripe.

Happy Fourth of July!!! This is my favorite holiday of the year. I just like all of the parades, cookouts, and fun that comes with it, and the birth of our nation is a great reason to celebrate. And of course the fireworks are always a blast. I love how they come up with new designs every year.

This year some friends and I went to Trinity Park to watch the fireworks from the Botanic Gardens. We grilled some burgers and hot dogs, and I made homemade chocolate ice cream. Tons of fun. The fireworks were good (although the show was kind of short), and it was great just hanging out on the river (even if it was ~95 degrees).

I am bored and waiting at Luck Optical for my eye exam. I brought a magazine, but I finished it. I showed up at 4 minutes after opening, and the line was out the door. It is a holiday, so maybe a lot of people are off of work and coming to the eye doctor. Every year I say I need to find a new place, but I never do. It took me 2.5 hours to get out of here today.

On the plus side, I did get contacts for a whole year, and a mail-in $20 rebate. After the rebate, I will have paid less than $100 for the exam and contacts. Not bad.

This is my herb garden. I love it. I have 11 different herbs in pots here on my front porch. I love to use them for cooking, they taste great. The herbs grow great too, even if they are in pots. I water them every day or every other day, and they are somewhat shaded and sheltered from the hot sun. The rosemary is about 3 or 4 years old, and the oregano, chives and thyme are from last year. They grow all year long here. The one problem I do have is that caterpillars always eat all of the dill. I've counted 7 caterpillars on my one poor little plant. But I want to attract butterflys, so I put up with it. I'd like to learn the best way to preserve the herbs, drying or freezing or whatnot.

I have been mashing the bag for several days, and today is baking day. I got two loaves of the friendship bread. I licked the spoon, and it was very tasty, so I'm expecting the bread to be yummy, too.

I have one metal loaf pan and one glass loaf pan. I greased them both, but the glass pan refused to give up the loaf once it finished baking, and I ended up with a pile of bread pieces. Still tasty. The metal pan produced the pretty loaf you see below. I gave the starters to Jon, Rosa, Amy, and Albert.

Hoy es martes, pero hoy is el dia nueva por mi clase de espanol. Tengo la clase en jueves tambien. No practice mucho cuando no tuve la clase. No es bueno. Quiero aprender las palabras nuevas cada dia, y estoy pensando quiza ir a comprar algunas lecciones para mi iPod.

Anyone see a contact on the floor? Its my last one, and I dropped it. I haven't had time to go get an exam and new contacts, especially since it takes about 3 hours. Such a pain.

Isn't the linoleum on my bathroom floor awesome? It went great with the gold striped wallpaper and the green laminate counter.