Heat and Other Things

Wow did summer ever arrive today.  It is a tad bit warm right now, somewhere in the mid to high thirties...yikes.  I am waiting for the short and boisterous to awaken from a somewhat prolongish nap so I can dress them in swimming gear and head on down to the lake. 

Both German Shepherds have been partaking of that particular activity all day. 

By the way here is the formula for that. 

German Shepherd

X

Two

+

Water

+

Heat

=

Seven inches of fur on your floors

=

Sweep every two to three hours.

It's Turkey Day!

Believe it or not there is a chance that the weary travelers may arrive today, so in a fit of maternal hormones I have decided to cook a turkey.  What, you ask, a turkey in the summer, are you nuts?  Well I hate to brag, but I am in fact a little loopy.  You see I know that my daughter loves turkey, and she has been on the road for a while, and when you are visiting and doing road things junk food abounds.  And she is one of those sickeningly nutritious minded, physical exercise requiring, healthy people so I know she would appreciate one of her favourite homemade meals.  So a turkey in the summer heat it is.  (I could have easily done up a nice salad but that would have been too mundane and I really do have to keep up appearances of wack-a-doodleness on occasion or the neighbours may feel safe to come visiting on a regular basis.)

And because I am expecting visitors of the short and inquisitive size I thought I had better do some cleaning of the shack, so here I am first thing in the morning blogging before I start.  Where has the last two weeks gone?  I need them back, I had such plans, oh the humanity!  :)

Okay, just for shits and giggles, I thought I would draw another picture on the Paint program.  This one is of the cat in one of her favourite positions in the window. 

(P.S.) Don't blame me for any flagrant spelling mistakes because Spell Check isn't working today. 

Ah...ah...ah...CHooooo

Started painting this morning to try and get things finished even though it is still pretty humid.  I opened the can and when I applied the first brush stroke realized they mixed the wrong god dammed colour.  I was vexed!  (Vexed is a good word, feels kinda old fashion-ee, not too many people are vexed these days, but I felt vexed.)  The worst thing is that I have already done all the cutting in of the original colour days ago and now I will have to do the whole freakin thing all over again.  I frakin hate cutting in...with a passion.  And of course no it looks like the bathroom will be a different colour then anticipated, sigh.  It is only one shade off but now if I need to touch it up I will have to keep a whole other can...and to top it off the can I bought was so I could do touch ups with the original colour in the other rooms...grumble, grumble, grumble. 

Then I spent about four hours mowing the grass today and I am still not finished.  I ran out of gas in the small mower while working on the front yard, so I grabbed the riding mower and started working on the back...then I rode...and I rode...and I rode.  Then I figured I'd finish the front with the other small mower but for some reason it wouldn't start.  So I said, "fuck it."  And went to visit mom in the hospital instead.  Then after I left mom as I was walking down the hall I started sneezing and I sneezed, and sneezed, and sneezed and didn't stop until I made it to my car.  Not sure exactly what I was reacting to but I was happy when it finally stopped. 

Soon my time alone is coming to an end and the hubby is returning home.  He will have been gone for two weeks but it sure doesn't feel like it.  It actually just feels like I dropped him off yesterday. 

I thought I would draw another picture tonight, seeing as my camera has gone MIA. 

It's a Wet, Wet, Wet Day In Paradise

I thought I would put a quick note on the blog tonight before calling it a day.  Things got a little complicated these last few days so I have been back and forth, back and forth to town every day which pretty much just makes the days useless, which means accomplishing absolutely nothing.  Today I spent all day at home mostly because it was pouring down rain so hard that it was making the highways less of a happy place to be.  I was kind of hoping that I would be able to get the last of my painting done but it was wayyyyyy too humid in the house for that to happen. 

I did take the hell hound out for a very damp walk and returned soaked through and through.   Oh well, thems the breaks when you don't have a choice when you can get out to stretch the legs and pee the dog when the skies are bucketing down. 

So before I call it a night I thought I would do a self portrait using the drawing program that came with my computer for the first time.  Yes my hair really does look like that. 

Feeling Good

I don't want to jinx this or anything but I feel Fan-freaking-tabulous!  What a great run I had today, the temperature was just perfect, coolish with a hint of water droplets in the air, no bugs (well not much), and the best thing of all, no knee/hip problems.  Even now, an hour or so after, I feel great.  So yay me.  That's what I get for being smart about starting to run again.  Instead of just giving er and figuring that it will all fix itself in time, I have been moving through the process at a nice, slow, easy pace.  Wow you do get smarter as you age.  Who'da thunk it?  So this is week number four and I think I will up the amount of days I can run to another day.  I'm pretty stoked. 

Last night just as I turned off the lights and got ready for another night of sleep the outside world caught my eye and there were literally hundreds of fireflies all around the house.  Had I not been so knackered I would have gone outside to just sit and watch the show.  As it was me, the dog, and the cat sat at the screen door and watched.  Well I watched but I'm not sure what the animals were doing, maybe wondering, "What the hell is she doing?  Is she going outside?  Does she have food in her hands?  Is this a new game?  I think I need to chew on the cat."  Anyway it was pretty cool, most especially because it was clear with only the only light being the stars which did not diminish the display. 

As I was coming in the house I noticed that the doorbell is broken.  How in the seven levels of the abyss does that happen?  Most especially because we do not have many visitors, and the ones we do have do not use the doorbell?  Did it just spontaneously disintegrate?  Shit like that has a tendency to make me shake my head and think, "WTF?"  So when I head into town today I will have to pick up a new doorbell button.  Having a house is like a never ending drain on your finances...or perhaps it is just a way of protecting your investment...either way it's expensive. 

But expenses be damned because I have every intention of winning the lottery tonight.  Imagine what a person could do with that kind of money.  I would have the best doorbell button ever! 

Sweating While Talking

Today was a day which will go down in history as the day where glaciers officially formed in the deepest levels of the abyss.  You see anyone who knows me knows that I have a little bit of an aversion to the telephone, which is a condition I developed from my days where I spent vast periods of time chatting on the phone all the live long day.  It became a titch bit better once the whole email thing became an acceptable form of communications for doing business, but even so I still spent so much time on the phone that I had to - a) buy a headset because my neck and shoulders got screwed up from trying to hold the phone while typing on the computer, b) had to go to massage therapy for years to try and reverse the above problem, c) had to have my desk and chair ergonomically tested and replaced so I could continue to do my job.  Anyway I developed a form of dislike for talking on the phone that boarders on pathological hatred.  I would rather pick ticks off the dog than actually spend time talking on the phone (330 by the way).  But today...today I went all the way over to the dark side and still haven't recovered.  Today I was on the phone for six hours straight.  You read that right....six hours....all in one shot, all to one person.  Thank dog for speaker phone, I prepared, cooked, and ate supper during the conversation, swept the floor, did two loads of laundry, made the bed, fed the dog and cat, sat on the deck and drank coffee, moved to the living room and drank water, went to the bathroom, twice, let the dog out, let the dog in, let the dog out, let the dog in, let the dog out, let the dog in...etc. 

My conversation was with a friend who I hadn't spoken to in a long time, and who is going through a rough time in her life.  We chatted about family, and friends, old times, and new, dogs and babies, houses and jobs, sad things and happy things, doctors and medicine, mothers and fathers, good things and bad.  It was a good long talk.  I think it might even be a real break through for me, I didn't feel like I wanted to open a vein at any time through out the call.  I had plans to head into town and take care of a few things but by the time I hung up everything was closed and I didn't even care because...wait for it...tomorrow is another day.  Can you believe it?  I think this whole not working thing has finally sunk in and I don't feel cheated out of my time.  Because that is what I always used to feel like whenever I would have to get on the phone while at home...cheated. 

Actually it is probably a good thing that I didn't go into town today because while I was talking on the phone the weather went from slightly overcast and cool to slightly overcast and warm, muggy, and uncomfortable.  I have been enjoying the past couple of weeks of sunny, warm, yet with a hint of coolness to the wind.  Today if felt as if someone had turned on the steam room and forgot to turn it off.  It was yucky.  And the worst part about it is that I had opened all the doors and windows as per usual and all it did was suck the coolness out of the house and make it just as hot and muggy inside as out.  Note to self, close all doors and window tomorrow before the temperatures heat up too much. 

Oh and as I was looking at Facebook this morning a friend of mine had posted a link to The Oatmeal site and reminded me that I hadn't checked it out forever.  So I spent some time this evening catching up on his craziness and ran across this old post.  http://theoatmeal.com/story/twilight  I remember seeing this several years ago before I had even heard of the whole Twilight thing and laughed my ass off, it is still funny.  If you haven't had the opportunity to check out this site I would totally recommend it.  Just remember not to take a drink before reading some of his comics, it wouldn't be good for your keyboard. 

Rocks In My Head

Well the rocks ain't exactly in my head they are more like on the trail.  You see we have two spots on the main trail that are really wet in the spring and get super trashed when we are doing the whole firewood gathering thing, consequently they look like crap once things dry out.  And because I am out of paint, and am holding off driving into the city to pick some up, I have decided to see if I can do some road repair on the smaller of the two spots.  (The big spot will need some backhoeing and a culvert, and will need four hands instead of two, so must wait for the return of the hubby to complete.)  Anyway I started a little bit yesterday...damn I should have taken a "before" pic.  My method of operendii is to see if I can find relatively large, flat rocks, and lay them down into the deep areas, then take smaller rocks and use them as fill.  Then, hopefully, find sand and or dirt of some kind and pour to pack them in tight.  It probably won't work but what's the worst that can happen?  :)

Alone Yet Not Lonely

Two days ago the unthinkable happened.  I still get the heebie-jeebies when I think about it.  The horror, the horror...our coffee pot finally gave up the ghost.  Gasp!  It had been threatening off and on for the past few months in fact the last go around was when it started beeping for no known reason, and then stopped beeping for no known reason for almost a half hour a couple of weeks ago.  As you can see it was just a matter of time, but still even when things are inevitable it can come as a shock.  So one of the first things I did yesterday after dropping the hubby off at the airport was to go and find one on sale.  To be honest even though it was listed at 40% off it still wasn't a great deal.  I almost opted for the model one step up but in the end I realized even if I bought this one I would be shattering the budget.  I brewed my third pot this morning and can say that I am very satisfied with the results.  Yes actually, this is what my life has come to in the blogging world, waxing poetic about a coffee pot. 

 And here you thought I was going to go on about ticks.  As a matter of fact I hadn't thought about it, but while I'm on the subject the dog is on 318 as of this morning.  She's pretty nonchalant about the whole process now, in fact I think she rather enjoys all the attention she gets when we hunt for the parasitic little blood suckers embedded into her flesh.  Gross. 

Today I started my painting project for the walk in closet and en suite, I was a little pouty about it though because it is such a nice day, and really, who the hell wants to be inside painting when it is so beautiful outside.  Not me.  But, you ask, how can you be blogging when you should be painting?  Ah well now there is the beauty of things, I just ran out of primer so I can not go on.  Why don't I just buy some more?  Even better - today is Sunday and around these parts the stores that sell the stuff are all closed.  Aw, that is so sad. So seeing as I hadn't blogged in a bit I thought I would sit down and write me some words before heading out the door and taking the hound for a run and to gather some new ticks.  Life is funny is that way. 

So hubby arrived safe and sound out west yesterday and started his journey back across the country.  Unfortunately they only made it 300 kilometers before getting a flat.  Yikes, apparently some scary stuff was going on for awhile but once they got the convoy stopped they managed to change the tire and drive to the nearest town where they spent the night. This morning they realized that things are not as they should be so  they are recouping and trying to figure out the next step and hope to be back on the road sometime this afternoon.  Luckily the hubby ended up going and not me because I would have been next to useless with the issues they are having.  This is me sending Internetty vibrations of luck and an easy journey to everyone! >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>luck

:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

One Million Acres

Whew...finally finished mowing the lawn...again.  Here at Kitpu Estates we have approximately one million acres of lawn to mow.  Okay perhaps not one million, maybe it's more like four or five acres, it just seems like a million.  Today I mowed, and mowed, and mowed, and the hubby mowed, and mowed, and mowed.  Then finally we were done.  He does the big assed chunk in the back with the riding mower, I do the slightly smaller assed chunk on both sides, and the front with two push mowers.  Yes I said two.  Typically I will take the smaller one and run it until it is out of gas, then take the slighter larger one and do the same.  Today, miracle of miracles, I did not run the big one out of gas, and this is the weird part, I actually mowed more than I usually do.  WTF?  How is that possible?  Oh the oddities that are found in the land of Kitpu. 

I also took my small gas powered hedge cutters and went out to the mail boxes and trimmed the verge, then I scooted to the back forty by the small shack and did some more trimming.  Then I figured I would cut under some of the apple trees close by and when I discovered three wood ticks I decided to call it a day.  Yes have wood ticks, will travel...away from said location. 

It has been threatening rain all day but so far we have avoided it.  The neighbour guy told us that it was raining like cats and dogs on the highway turn off.  That is six kilometers away.  I'm really okay with that right now.  If it wants to rain it can do it in the middle of the night. 

The good news is that my knee and hip seemed to stand up pretty good to the kilometers I walked while mowing today.  I really have to find my pedometer and see if I can figure out exactly how far I do walk when I am mowing.  It would be interesting to know. 

Bummed

I am not sure what is up with me today but I feel kind of bummed out.  Of course, as usual, there is no reason for it.  Today was sunny, warm, and beautiful.  I went for a run and wonder of all wonders there were no bugs.  My knee and hip were sore but nothing that I couldn't deal with and a bag of ice couldn't help afterward.  I did my budget without too much cursing or swearing, had a nice lunch because the hubby caught three small white perch which I rolled in crushed cornflakes and served with a big salad.  So really...what the hell?  I even had help changing the sheets on my bed today. 

Well I guess I should just suck it up and quit whining about things, or maybe I should just do what my helpers are doing. 

Or better yet, I will do what the FSM recommends and pour myself a glass of grog, grab my Scientific America and pull up a stump out on the deck and enjoy the evening. 

Wet Weather

I am happy to report that ALL the hardwood has finally been laid down on its final resting place.  Whew.  Only one more floor, in the last room on the main floor that needs to be completed, and then we can finally say it is done.  Haha...we can't even come close to saying that it is done, there is this whole other floor, mainly the basement, which needs to be gutted and redone.  Then there is the deck, the Wookie Cave (aka my studio) to name but a few.  But the main floor is the one we spend 95% of our time living on so once that is done the rest we will do as we can and not stress about it much.  Well I will spend less time stressing, the hubby will continue to stress as usual. 

The hubby is pushing to get the drywall done in the ensuite so I can throw a coat or two of paint on it.  It may potentially be used as a temporary housing unit for small human beings for a few days so I want it to be relatively livable, and hold no possible health hazards.  Although knowing the particular mini human that will be inhabiting it, it might be impossible to make it completely safe.  Only padded walls, floors, and ceilings could achieve that.  (Maybe)

My hips and knee don't hurt as much anymore which means that it is time for another run so I can retain my Gimp Along title.

***************

Back from my run, which by the way I actually survived, and felt pretty good about it.  Did just over 2k and managed not to injure myself, puke, or fall.  A good day.  The pain in my knee and hip now is starting to feel like "I just started to run after a long hiatus and it feels crappy and hurts because of that" instead of like "OMG I think I need surgery" which is my book is awesome.  Yup I'm still walking around like a ninety year old who was kicked in the side by a rabid horse, but my brain is telling me that my body is starting to come around, like, "Well WTF?  If she is going to keep doing this shit again I had better start fixing things around here."  Great right? 

I had a nice chat with my bestest friendicus on the phone today, she lives all the way across the country on the other ocean so the time change is a bit of a hindrance so we don't talk much.  Plus both of us have an aversion to speaking on the phone, and that definitely doesn't help much.  But we caught up a bit and all is quiet on the western front. 

So Ms Gimp Along is going to sign off now and maybe watch a couple of episodes of Doctor Who.  

There Be Hardwood Here

Yup that is correct, hardwood has been laid.  For anyone who has lived through two years of non stop renovation you will understand the joys of finally getting in the last touches here and there.  I know that flooring isn't exactly a last touch, its more like a great big punch, but there you have it we are within a sneeze of having it finished for the shack.  There is one more room in need of flooring but that room will probably get some sort of tiling...yet to be decided. 

We were going to stop at around five thirty in the afternoon because both of us were at the point where we had enough, but the hubby suggested taking a half hour break and then going great guns to the finish, so that is what we did.  So around ten at night the worst of it was done...yippee!  We only have the small walk in closet to finish today and then the hardwood for the shack is complete...double yippee!! 

This picture shows where we had pulled a wall down which used to be part of the entryway into the house.  For months we have had to contend with vinyl glue which kept hoarding dog/cat hair and a hole in the floor, which I am happy to report is now gone.  You have no idea how exciting that is.  The rest of the floor was pine slates, very soft and very fally aparty.  (Oh and very covered in drywall mud, paint, and other items which we didn't bother to worry about knowing that it was going to be covered up sometime in the future.) 

Let the games begin!

At this stage there was some swearing but no fighting. 

Goodbye big assed hole in the floor!

Survey says...the big jigsaw puzzle for another room is complete!  Now we get to put everything back in some semblance of order.  The worst of it...making sure all the wires go into the right spot on the computer. 

Laid Right The First Time

You know what they say about guys being like hardwood floors eh?  If you lay them right the first time you can walk over them for the rest of their lives.  Okay, I know, pretty bad, but isn't that a great way to start a blog about laying hardwood flooring?  Yes today we start the last room of the shack which will be getting hardwood floor.  The sun is shining and bright, the humidity is within reason, so hopefully all will go okay and the fighting will stay at a real minimum. 

What does fighting have to do with laying hardwood floor you ask?  I'm not really sure but for some reason the hubby and I always end up in some kind of yelling match some time during the process.  Sooooo much fun.  Not.  I am hoping that today will be the exception.  That after all these hours of laying hardwood throughout the shack we have finally hit the stage where we can just get it done without pulling out the boxing gloves. 

This next couple of days will be just what I need for my sore knees and hips.  Oh yeah...fun time at Kitpu Estates.  Let us hope that is will be worth it. 

Back On The Ranch

Well I am back from the doctor's office, or perhaps it would be more accurate if I said, the alien mother ship.  Seems to me that doctors are really extra terrestrials because lately any time I go and see one all they want to do are probes on my poor unsuspecting body.  Well at least it is over for now and I can go on my merry way and try not to completely ignore what he wants me to do for the next six months.  Sadly I don't get a year's hiatus from him, I have to go back much sooner...sniff.

These days it is difficult for people to get a family doctor out here at the edge of the world but we managed to snag a brand new one.  Well not a brand new doctor, he actually has been practicing for awhile, but he is new to the province.  Anyway while I was gone last year the hubby actually managed to acquire a family doctor vis a vie a poster, yay us.  But unfortunately he is about an hour away, yikes us.  Which means that I had to get up rather early to be at my morning appointment today.  Afterwards we took the opportunity to drive into the city and return some items which we purchased a few days ago, but then were back in town a little after noon.  That is the kind of thing which really brings home the fact that I now live in a teeny tiny, small, wee province.  When I was out west going to the city would always be a full day's outing.  Driving there typically took hours, so consequently by the time I finished shopping and doing whatever "stuff" I had before I drove home the entire day was shot.  Always.  In fact, more times than not I would be pulling into the driveway in the middle of the night.  So instead of wasting all my time driving today I actually did doctor stuff, returning stuff in the city, buying groceries in town, and mowing the lawn.  My part of the whole lawn mowing experience usually takes about two and a half hours.  And the best part is that it is still light out.  Sweet. 

Have Fire Will Be Warmer

Hello electronic world.  It is nice to be back.  Funny how being cut off from the Internet makes one a little pissy about shit.  It isn't exactly like I am the most dedicated of all bloggers, but just because I couldn't write a blog yesterday it made me want to.  Of course I could have spent time writing and being creative instead but for some reason I am avoiding it.  Now if I were in therapy and had a good therapist I am sure that he/she/it would be able to come up with some kind of self hating/self denying/self snubbing reason that I continue to avoid writing.  I believe it is just plain old laziness, but only my hairdresser knows for sure. 

Today is cold and moist, and did I mention cold?  Which in my world means a good day to go for another run.  I went for a walk last night and whined to myself about my hip, knee, and heels. Yup what else is new eh.  Actually it has been so cold that today is day two of having a fire on to try and warm the place up.  Very odd for a June day.  And speaking of June!  Is it really June already?  Holy Popsicles Batman did last month ever fly by. 

Tomorrow I have to go to the doctor for a follow up appointment to see if I am all better now that I have had my round of antibiotics.  I feel much better, so I believe that is a good indicator.  And while I am there I also have to do my regular yearly check up...the whole shootin works.  Have I mentioned that I hate going to the doctor?  Good thing I am generally healthy, or perhaps that is just generally symptomless, well except for having a sore hip, heels, and knee, but all that shit is just self inflicted.  I am looking forward to tomorrow afternoon, that will be when I don't have to worry about going back to said doctor's office for another year.  Have I mentioned how I am not a fan of doctors?  Well not a fan when it comes to me having to have anything to do with them.  But I am a fan when something bad happens, which I am hoping never will again. 

Well the hubby has pulled out the shop vac and is now sanding the ensuite which is about two feet away from me, I would close the door but he would think I was trying to send him some kind of message.  Which might make him stop sanding, and of course I don't want that to happen because I want to get that room done before he leaves for the west.  So I either try to think and write through the din, or I give up on this post until silence reigns once again.  I choose silence. 

*************

Okay so that was a bit of a time out, now I am back and finished my run.  It wasn't too bad.  The hip hurt a little bit and the knee felt tight and not great, but all in all it was okay.  I was more concentrating on my pathetic wind capacity which is a pretty good thing.  In my opinion if a person is trying to suck air into their lungs and is having a hard time maintaining speed that must me that they are moving fast enough to have said speed.  In my case, speed = glacier. 

Anyway at least I actually managed to get another run in, so that's good right?  I should look a real prize walking...or should I say limping into the doctors office tomorrow. 



Ma Kettle Meets City Shopper

After an hour and a half car ride to the city, we parked and I got out of the car -

Me: Arghhh...holy hell my hip is killing me. (Hobble, hobble, hobble.)

Hubby: You're walking like an old lady.  Does your hip hurt?

Me: What did I just say? I said 'holy hell my hip is killing me'."

Hubby: No you didn't.

Me: My Achilles is hurting, my knee is stiff, and my hip is killing me. Man running sure is good for you.

Hubby: Maybe it's from running.

Me: Why do I bother even saying anything, you never listen to a word I say.

Hubby: Did you say something?

Me: Smart ass.

The hubby and I did a quick trip into the big city today to pick up supplies at the General Store (aka Costco) as well as the hardware store.  Specifically we were looking for under-counter lighting, or is that under-cabinet lighting?  Either way we needed the lighting so that I could do some actual 'seeing' when I was cutting stuff up on the counter in the evenings.  After some hemming and hawing, as well as a quick consultation with the local expert we finally picked some LED lights which we hoped would do the trick.  Apparently they will last 50,000 hours, in other words I am pretty sure if all goes well once we install said lights that chances of having to replace them are zero to none.  Yay!  We found said lights at the hardware store for $80.00, yes that is what I said.  "Holy hell," is actually what I said.  But after a quick conference of the Old Shoes and Tea Society board of directors it was unanimously decided to go with the LED lights which should last until we see our great grandchildren getting married.  Or so we hope. 

We walked away from the hardware store much poorer than when we walked in but were happy with our decision, that is until we walked into Costco and found LED lights for $50.00 cheaper a package.  The vice president of the Old Shoes and Tea Society immediately made a decision on his own.  (Can you believe it?  I couldn't.  It is a first.)  He grabbed his keys and headed out the door to return the other lights.  I believe before taxes were involved we saved over one hundred and thirty dollars.  Yay us!

So there I was wandering around the General Store picking up items and gimping around like Ma Kettle with a stick shoved up her butt when I looked up and saw a woman in front of me doing much the same.  The big difference was that she was easily pushing three hundred and fifty pounds and wearing stilettos.  Now I am the last person on earth to disparage someone because of their size but stilettos?  That just isn't right.  What the hell goes through a person's head when they decide to go shopping in four inch spiked shoes on concrete?  It can't be good for people of normal weight let alone for someone who tips the needle over to full on the scale.  My heels, ankles, knees, hips, and back ached just looking at her.  Hmm, come to think of it my heels, ankles, knees, hips, and back ached when I wasn't looking at her as well.  Okay I had to do a quick calculation, being generous and saying that the stiletto heel touching the ground is actually a square inch, and rounding out my estimate of her weight at 350 pounds, that is 2,413,164.9 avoirdupois units, or pounds per square inch.  Holy shit on a stick Batman!  That woman is crazy!!!  I believe I will stick to my runners, that is plenty o' heel for this chickie-poo. 

Lobster Shirt

I believe I am well on my way to acquiring a lobster shirt, or a Fundy shirt (oh I just realized the potential implications of that name and am extremely amused) or some other typical east coast sounding tshirt.  I did a two k run yesterday and was relatively okay during it so I am happy with my progress so far.  Unfortunately this morning my hip is in agony.  WTF?  I have never, never, ever, never had hip issues before while running, or for that matter doing any sort of physical exercise.  Is this because I am getting old and getting decreptitudish?  I refuse to acknowledge that bit of logic and propose a new one.  I think it is my cat's fault.  You see she is constantly sleeping either beside me, or on top of me in the middle of the night.  That cannot be good for a person's hip.  Most especially that whole kneading thing she does just before settling in for a sleep.  Of course I spend a LOT of time encouraging this behaviour by frequently kicking her off the bed, picking her up and tossing her over to the husband's side of the bed, or locking her out of the bedroom.  So it is my fault. 

Today dawned sunny and bright but has slowly been turning cloudy and chilly.  A perfect running day, if one was not walking like a gimp because of hip problems.  Perhaps I will suck it up and go running, or perhaps I will pull out the bike and pedal my butt to the highway and back.  I will decide after I give the walls one last coat of paint.  Sigh.

Party Central at Kitpu Estates

I'm not sure if I ever mentioned before but I live out in the sticks on a nice little, quiet lake.  All but one of my neighbours are summer cottages only, so typically we have the place to ourselves about 90% of the time.  And although I do occasionally resent having people show up I am usually magnanimous about it and allow them to stay provided they don't try to get all friendly like with me and say hi.  Well perhaps I'm not exactly that bad, but on a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is Julie the cruise director on the Love Boat, and 10 is the guy with the chainsaw in Texas Chainsaw Massacre, I am probably a seven like the woman off Saturday Night Live who says she will keep the ball that was accidentally thrown into her yard.  I will chit chat with our regular neighbours, after all she is one of the sweetest people ever.  I will chit chat with her husband but only briefly because he annoys me.  I will even talk with summer cottage people as long as they don't make a habit of it.  LOL

Anyway one of the neighbour cabins had a party last night and I couldn't believe how rammy the animals were.  Both the cat and dog had their noses out of joint and spent a lot of time pacing and getting all pissy about the additional noise.  To be honest it was just a bunch of people having a campfire and doing sing-alongs as a group.  It sounded like fun.  The dog did what any normal German Shepherd would do, she lost her shit and acted all tough and barked like a crazy thing when someone tried walking by the house.  Hackles up, bared teeth, and Lucifer like noises emanated from her mouth. I dragged her into the house where she continued to be out of sorts.  On the other hand the cat walked around looking like she was at least three times as big as she normally is.  Actually she looked like she was sitting on one of those electricity balls which makes your hair stand up when you touch it. I pointed out to the hubby that I was by no means the most antisocial entity in the house. 

I went for a bike ride yesterday and felt fair to middling during it.  My knees held up not too bad, they just complained a bit when I was pushing up some of the more longer hills.  But all in all I think I came out of it relatively unscathed.  I managed to cover around 24 kilometers in a relatively short period of time, considering that the last 12 k was very rough.  The coolest thing about it was that just before I got home I came across a mother deer and her newborn fawn.  It was so new that it still couldn't really walk yet.  It was about half the size of my dog.  As all animals seem to be around here the mother was super skittish and high tailed it when I called out, but the little spotted thing just crouched in the long grass on the side of the road trying hard not to be seen.  Obviously I did not stop and just continued by not wanting to terrify the poor little mite. 

So today I believe I will try another run.  Yeah.  Yikes.   

Morning Thoughts

Wow it is a beautiful day today, blue skies, birds singing, and unemployed.  Nice.  I think my whirlwind of job interviews are finally over and the end result is bupkas.  A bit of a relief there, although I do wonder how my amazing, awesomeness didn't translate into a job offer.  I will try again in the fall unless I can come up with something better to do, and get paid for it at home.  In the meantime I will be concentrating on finishing the house, getting my slovenly self back into shape, and doing a bit of writing.  I happen to have a good sized novel finished in my head, and one started, the next step obviously is to get it out of my head and onto a file or two. 

My daughter and clan are 15 days away from packing up their house and making the big move across the country.  We are all very excited.  The last time she lived close to me is just before she went off to university.  That is not right, most especially since it would have saved us a heck of a lot of money in phone calls if she would have been close by. 

Speaking of the daughter she tells me that she is up for some running with me so we will be doing more then yakking up a storm together this summer we will also be doing some huffing and puffing together.  I am looking forward to it.  Although being almost fifty years younger, and a hundred pounds lighter than I am, I am betting she will be getting into shape much, much quicker.  (Yes that is a bit of an exaggeration, but my vocabulary is all about exaggeration if you haven't noticed.)  Speaking of running and not exaggerating, I didn't do any yesterday mainly so I wouldn't end up a cripple by the weekend.  I did go for a little walk yesterday and my legs were a tad bit sore, not super sore.  My hip and butt cheek were definitely sore, but again, not too bad.  This morning it is just general achiness so perhaps I will give it another go later on.  Or perhaps I will do a bit of a longer bike ride, that way I will hit different muscle groups then the running ones, that way I can have ALL my leg muscles sore instead of just half of them. 

Anyway seeing that it is a nice day and I have crappy stuff to do (painting) I had better go and get that out of my hair before I do anything else.