The pump for my pond is on backorder, so its getting kind of dirty. I have a pool skimmer that I scoop out leaves with, but the bottom is getting a film on it. Toads don't seem to mind, as I see them in here every few days. Birds also take drinks. And here in the film of the bottom are some footprints. I think they are raccoon, but maybe opossum. I have a book around here somewhere that I could confirm them with.

I got a solar-powered pump because I didn't want to have to run electricity all of the way across the backyard. But finding a solar-powered pump that was powerful enough was difficult. Hopefully I'll get mine in a few weeks.

(I am reflected in the pond water. Thats me, holding my hand over my eyes, over the footprints. And I don't know why its rotated. And I don't feel like messing with it to fix it.)

I am not really as tan as I look in this picture. I think its the white shirt and the lighting thats making me look so dark. I don't lay out in the sun. Its just not healthy. Besides, I break out into hives if I get too much sun. I have to work my way up to it throughout the spring and summer, a few hours at a time. But I do run in the sun, and bike, and swim, and garden, and frolic. I wear tons of sunscreen, but it can only do so much. I have tan lines from my watch and swimsuit and socks, but I'm proud of them. Its proof I'm being active.

I think this is a shitake mushroom. Jon and I were going to make mushroom bruschette and chicken with herbed dumplings for dinner and invite some friends over. But we ran out of time and only got the chicken and dumplings done. Thats ok, 2 friends couldn't make it, so we had plenty of food. And the chicken with herbed dumplings are DELICIOUS. It is the best thing that Jon and I make. We all ate until we were stuffed.

So tomorrow will be mushroom bruschette.

I am taking the H&R Block tax prep class. I love doing my taxes, and I'd like to learn more about it, to make sure I'm getting all of the details. I do a lot of research on deductions, but taxes can be complicated.

I'd also like to volunteer for VITA. Its a program run by the IRS that helps people do their taxes and get their earned income credit. I'm sure I'll have to take VITA's training, but at least with my knowledge from this class I'll be more likely to be doing returns rather than greeting people at the door.

This is my new lawnmower. It mowed grass. Once. Now it will not start. Well, it will start if I prime it, and run for about 3 seconds, and then die. The internet thinks something is wrong with the carb. I am very frustrated.

It was a long drive back to Texas. I dozed off a few times, but Jon was strong and stayed alert while driving. There are no interstates that go directly, so most of our trip was on a highway, going through small towns. We stopped for lunch in Clarendon. We went to some little local diner hole in the wall. It didn't look like much, but it had awesome food. There was a buffet with BBQ chicken, lima beans, mashed potatoes, and rolls. Yummy.

Day 2 of our camping trip. I'm fishing today, for the first time in a decade. It took some work to get my pole ready, but I remembered how to cast ok. One of my dad's friends in the campground gave me some flies and bubble floats and told me what to do, but I did not get so much as a bite. I switched to some salmon eggs, which the fish stole off the hook, but I still caught no fish. Luckily he gave us fish, so we at least did get to eat some fresh trout.

In the afternoon we visited Bishop's Castle. Its a large stone castle, with towers and turrets and balconies and bridges and stained glass windows, and even a fire breathing dragon. A guy named Jim Bishop is building it all by hand. He's doing it as a free attraction to show people what one guy is capable of, and to spite the government and its zoning laws and restrictions. He's not a big fan of the government.

Another of my dad's friends has a kayak, and she let me borrow it! I've only been kayaking a few times, but its tons of fun. I went out on the lake for a little while, and retrieved a bobber that some fisherman had lost (it was not the one that broke off of my line though, I didn't see that one). It was nice to look at all the views of the mountains around the lake.

We made Jiffy Pop over the fireplace, and Jon lost some more knuckle hair. But all in all, camping has been a complete success. We saw birds that I've never seen in the eastern US, and some deer came down to our meadow. We cooked over the campfire, and played cards after dark. The skies were full of thousands of stars. Camping is great.

Colorado is gorgeous. We camped last night in our tent in San Isabel National Park, where my dad is the campground host. The campground is at about 8800 ft high, and has an amazing view of the lake and the mountains. The temperature is in the 70s during the day, but in the 40s at night.

Today Jon and I wandered around the lake and the woods, and took tons of pictures. The forests are full of firs and aspens, and not surprisingly, the Rocky Mountains are very rocky. We wanted to go hiking, so we took off on one of the trails in the forest towards an abandoned mine. The trail was only 1.25 miles long, but it took us an hour and a half to hike up it. It was steep (we went up 1200 feet), rocky, and the air was very thin. But taking breaks allowed us to enjoy the wonderful views. I was surprised at all of the wildflowers in the meadows.

At the end of the trail was indeed an old mine. It was awesome. The shaft has been filled in with rocks and debris, but the wooden structure over the front is still there, somewhat. Its falling down and very weathered. We climbed around it anyway, and even sat inside it to eat a snack. The name of it was the Marion Mine. I tried to research it on Google, but info is spotty. I think its from the 1880s, and was for copper, lead, gold, and silver.

This is our first time camping together, and we had to test out all of our gear. Jon hooked up our little backpacking stove and lit it. A ball of flame engulfed the stove, and his hands. Luckily he got the stove turned off, and only lost some hair from his knuckles.

That's Fisher Peak behind me, the highest point in the Raton Pass, on the Colorado and New Mexico state line. Its a long drive to Colorado, about 11 hours. For a while we drove through a lot of nothing in west Texas, then through a lot of corn, and then through some very beautiful terrain in New Mexico and Colorado. The ridges, canyons, and buttes in New Mexico were very pretty, as well as the mountains. They are some of the largest extinct volcanoes in the state. Very picturesque. In Colorado, the land was flat and barren, and then suddenly huge mountains rose up out of the ground. Even though the drive was long, we got to see some beautiful things, so it wasn't so bad.

Jon and I are going camping!!! I'm very excited. About 2 weeks ago or so we decided to go camping in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, where my dad works at a campground. We've gone on a gear-buying spree, going to Cabela's and ordering stuff off the internet. (I was actually so excited about camping last weekend, I forgot to worry about the tri.) I'm now trying to pack up all of my gear into my backpack. Its not that easy. I got all the stuff in, but I think I need some more practice before I get good at this.

I came home from work to this very sad sight. Almost every workday for the past 4.5 years, after I've eaten breakfast, I take all of the things I need to pack my lunch out of the fridge. I then make my lunch, and as I use each item, I place it next to the fridge. After I'm done, I put everything back into the fridge. This method is very efficient, I have all the things I need in front of me, I don't have to worry about forgetting something, and it minimizes the times I open the fridge. But today, for some reason, I did not return the food to the fridge. I wasn't even in a hurry or preoccupied today. So I had to throw out my peas, hummus, cucumber, cheese, and salad dressing. So sad. Those peas were expensive too.

I started working out again. No, it did not take long. I enjoy working out. But I did decide to not do two-a-days anymore, even though I skipped one workout. On the plan I'm on now, the goals are to lose 3% body fat and run 8-minute miles in 6 weeks. This morning I did the resistance exercises. I did a 10 minute run to warm up, and my legs were VERY unhappy. Its a little too soon for running.

For the first time in 20 weeks I'm not working out, I'm laying on the couch reading a book. Ok, so there were a few times that I skipped a workout, but tonight I'm not feeling guilty or worried because of it. This is awesome. And I'm very excited about my new book, Gaia's Garden. Its about how to incorporate permaculture ideas into your home garden. I can't wait to read more.

I rocked the tri. :) Was there ever any doubt? I had to get up at 4:00 in order to get to the race site, so I was too sleepy to be tired. My stomach was upset, but I think that was more tiredness than nervousness.

I maneurvered to the back of the swim group before we started, since I know I'm not a fast swimmer. Walking into the water wasn't bad, and then it got deep and we all started to swim. I couldn't get my breathing controlled, couldn't get my form down, and it felt like I was just flailing along. But I flailed in the right direction, and finally the swim was over. My time was only 12:41, much faster than practice, so I must have been flailing fast.

I went through T1 with no problems, in only 2 minutes, and took off on the bike. It started off uphill, and I didn't take off very gracefully, but I went. Nothing on the bike was too technical for me, it was all terrain that I've done before. It was just looooong. And there were lots of sandy or grassy areas where I just couldn't go fast. My bike computer was broken, so I couldn't tell how fast I was going or how many miles I'd gone, which was frustrting. At least I didn't have any flat tires. I knew by looking at my watch that I wasn't on the pace I wanted, but I just couldn't find a way to go faster. The bike was 1:23:58.

I got rid of the stinking bike quickly in T2, and took off running in under a minute. The terrain of the run was nothing compared to that of LMRA's island, so I didn't have any problems on the run. They also had a lot of water stations, which you know I love. I kept a steady pace (one guy even used me as a pacer), and finished the run in 38:17. Very fast (for me).

My total time was 2:17:59. I was hoping to break 2 hours, but I think I did awesome. I came in second in my age group! (Out of 3, but whatever.) And thank you to my cheering/support/photography section of Jon and Karyn :) It was great seeing you guys as I was transitioning, and then finally at the finish.

The tri is tomorrow. Before a race, I paint my toenails to match my outfit. It makes me fierce. There is a strip of lavender on my tri top (well, it was lavender when I bought it, now it looks more pink). My bag is packed, the bike rack is on the car, and my toes are purple, so I'm ready to go.

This is Jon's t-shirt, and it may be one of the largest t-shirts in the world. I think his brother gave it to him. I love to sleep in it, because it is so big and comfy. I also wore it when I had shoulder surgery, because it was big enough to fit over my sling. People think button-up shirts are good for slings, but have you ever tried to put one on with only one arm? And you can't wriggle your shoulder around to get it on either. No, the giant Auburn Crew shirt is perfect.

I like to bake. I'm pretty good at it too. All of my coworkers love it when I bake. My best is a chocolate chip cookie, but I can do other things too. Tomorrow at work there is a bake sale, so I made a blueberry pie for the silent auction. How does it look? I also made a dozen brownies for individual sales.

I went down to check out the silent auction about an hour before it closed, and there were four bids on my pie. Yay! It was up to $20. All of the brownies were gone too. Too bad, because I wanted a brownie.

Tonight was my last swim before the tri. Tomorrow I will do a short bike ride followed by a shorter run, and I will be done with training. The feeling is similar to exam time during school. I've done all the preparations, and now its just time to do the real thing. I know I'm prepared, and I'll do good, but I'm still nervous about everything that could go wrong.

Also, I had a toad in the pond tonight!! And two on the patio!! Its been less than a week, and the pond is working!! Unfortunately, I noticed the toad in the pond was swimming from side to side and trying to get out...and couldn't. The sides were too slippery and steep. It was so sad. I have a bunch of rocks left that I was planning on putting in the water to help out wildlife in just such a situation, so I put a few in. The toad made it out.

Archie is turning four. I don't know her exact birthdate, since I got her from a shelter. She was six weeks old, and it was the end of September, so she was therefore born sometime during mid-August. Her vet sends a birthday card every year.

Archie is not much for smiling at the camera. She does like to have her back scratched though.

Here is a view of the finished pond. Well, its not completely finished, I still need to add some water plants and a pump. I want to get a solar powered one, so I don't have to run electricity across the yard, but those aren't easy to find. But the pond is full of water, and surrounded with rocks, so I'm claiming victory. It has a mosquito dunk in it now to prevent the little buggers (although if I get mosquitos, maybe I will get bats for my bathouse....), and I got a pool skimmer to fish out the leaves and grass that get into it. It looks great in my backyard. We did a good job.

Jon baked a chocolate cake today. He cooks a lot, and he is good at it, but he doesn't do desserts. But he decided he just felt like making a cake, and the recipe looked good. He made a very yummy bundt cake, and drizzled it with chocolate frosting. I am licking the frosting wisk.

Today was a busy day. First Jon and I went for a run along the top of the Benbrook Dam. Its about 3 miles round trip, and the view is awesome. It was crazy windy though. Luckily it was from the side and not a head wind. Jon kept pushing me to run faster. It doesn't feel good, but its good for me.

After the run we went to the farmer's market on the traffic circle. It was my first time, and it was about what I expected. Lots of produce for sale, and some cheese, soaps, and jellies. We bought some peach jelly and a watermelon for breakfast. Yummy.

Then Jon and I got to the hard part of the day. We are digging a pond in my backyard. I want to certify my yard as a wildlife habitat by the National Wildlife Federatrion, and I need to add a water feature. Yes, the birdbath I have for the front yard will satisfy the requirements, but a pond is so much better. I don't remember why we decided to dig this pond in August though...but we did good. The pond is about 7 by 4 feet big, kidney shaped, and about 18 inches deep. Jon had a bunch of flagstone in his yard that he didn't want, so we dug it up and brought it to my house, then loaded up dirt from the hole into large plastic bins and took it to his house to fill in the holes from the stones. It took several trips, and my car was not happy at hauling the heavy loads. So we did two projects in one today, digging a pond and removing flagstones.

We finished out the night by hanging out with Karyn and John and playing the Wii. A very busy day.

I am all dressed up to go to court today. Back in January some guy ran a red light and hit me, totalling my car and spraining two of my fingers (hey--they hurt). I got a notice in the mail asking me to appear as a witness in the municpal court. Apparently he is fighting the ticket. All I had to do was go to court and talk to the county prosecuter. She just asked me to describe the accident. She said he could plead guilty or no contest, and could get probation or pay a fine, or he could keep fighting the ticket and we could actually go to trial. Its been 8 months and this guy is still being a pain.

I also went for a bike ride this morning, I did the Chapin Hill loop. After one loop, I wasn't sweating and wasn't breathing hard, so I decided I had to do another loop. :)

Jon and I are checking out our friends Amy and Nick's new condo downtown. We had dinner at the Flying Saucer and then went to the condo. Its a nice place, and brand new. The concrete floors look very nice.

I am very tired. The pool was closed tonight because storms were threatening the northern parts of the county (we never got anything, not even thunder). Joy told me my workout was to jog 2 minutes, run 2 minutes, and walk 15 seconds for 30 minutes total. I must have been doing this for a while, because that sounded easy to me. After about 25 minutes I decided it was not easy at all. I kept going for another 10 minutes. Since I wasn't going to be swimming, I may as well run some extra. Now I just want to sleep.

More volleyball tonight. The game was at 9, so I did not ride my bike. We had fun, but we did not win. Usually I play on the sides, but I played a little at the front tonight. I did not like it. I'm not used to blocking, and I'm still nervous about spiking. (Although I did hit a few balls overhead. There is a noticable difference between my right and left arms, and my right arm felt good. Excellent.) I also played the back for a little while. It was more fun, but its a lot harder back there than it looks. Jon came along to watch and take pictures. Here is a picture of me and Karyn springing into action as a ball comes toward us.

I mowed most of my yard today. It really needed it, what with all of the rain. I checked the oil in the mower a few weeks ago, and it was fine. I almost checked the oil before I started mowing today, but decided it would be ok. It was not ok. About halfway through the mower made a horrible noise and started running funny. I stopped it and checked the oil. Nothing. At least I got the front mowed.

The mower is fourth-hand, so its had a good life. Jon gave it to me last year, after his friend Dan gave it to him. Dan got it when it was left at the house he bought.

I'm pretty good at taping for painting. I can lay down a straight line pretty quickly, including in some awkward places. I'm not saying I'm an expert or anything, but I do a good job. Jon and I were going to dig a pond in my backyard today, but it was far too muddy because of all of the rain. But we both have a long list of projects, so we just picked another one. We painted the doorframe in Jon's hall bath, added some baseboards, and filled in some grout. Jon redid the entire bathroom (I helped), and it looks great.

I am very hungry. We made linguine with tomatoes and basil for dinner, and the tomatoes came from my garden and the basil from Jon's. It was very tasty. And why am I so hungry? I did a complete brick today. I rode the Benbrook tri course, about 14 miles, including up both sides of Nice Hill. It was my first time pedalling up both sides. Then I ran 3 miles. I did really good too. I didn't take any more walk breaks than normal, and I kept my pace up the entire time. It took me 1 hour and 53 minutes, including the transition time of putting my bike back on the car and chugging a Gatorade. My goal is to do the tri in under 2 hours, so I wouldn't have made that today, but I took it easy the first 20 minutes of the bike ride, and I don't have any race day adrenaline. But even if I don't make it in under 2 hours, I'm still going to do great.

My friend Chad is in a band called "Payin' My Dues." They played at Central Market tonight, so Jon and I went to watch. So did a lot of other people, so we sat on the grass behind the stage. Chad is in the white shirt, he plays guitar and does vocals. It was tons of fun, and the music was great, but unfortunately it started to pour rain just as they took thier first break. We tried to wait for the rain to end, but it just kept getting worse and worse.

Jon and I went to Ellerbe's for dinner tonight. Ellerbe's is a new restaurant on Magnolia. It does local, seasonal cuisine, and is pretty upscale. I was quite underdressed, and they were booked with reservations, but the patio was open so we ate there. I had bacon wrapped trout, and Jon had pork shank, and it was all very delicious.

This is my calf. It is a lovely part of my body, but its also quite troublesome. My calves get really tight running. I stretch them a lot, but they are probably the most likely part to be sore. Tonight I also got a nasty cramp swimming. I was swimming intervals, and was going about 45 seconds faster per 200. I only had 100 yards left, and my calf got all twitchy. Boo.

I subbed on my friends' sand volleyball team again today. We lost, but it was lots of fun. I made a few nice body prints like the one shown diving for balls. I think one or two of them was actually a good hit. I rode my bike to and from the game too, so I got in my workout as well. (And I went running this morning!)

I was planning on swimming today, but after work I was just tired, and I had a lot of other errands and chores I would rather do. It was kind of cloudy and overcast, and rained earlier, so I hoped the pool would be closed. I drove by it just so I could say that I *tried* to work out, and it was open. Gggrrr. So I went and swam some laps. I'm ready for this tri to be over already. I've been training since March, and I'm tired of it. Not tired of working out, I enjoy that, but tired of feeling like I have to work out. Only 3 more weeks.