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I knocked two things of my "baseball bucket list" this week. I got to see a Cubs/Cards game at Wrigley (I saw one at the old Busch Stadium a while back) and I went to a weekday day game at Wrigley. It was super fun. We lucked out and it was sunny for the game and didn't rain until later in the evening. Even better, the tickets were free and our seats were in the shade.
It was a long, hot day, but was a lot of fun. The game went pretty quick. We didn't get there until the middle of the 2nd inning. It was a great game and the Cubs beat the Cards 5 to 0. Not bad, considering the Cards are currently in 1st place in the NL Central.
Yesterday, I walked the Bix with my friend Tim. His wife (also my friend) Jada ran it. It was pouring down rain. I'm talking cats and dogs. For those that don't know, the Bix is a 7 mile race with some pretty big hills. The start of the race is straight up Brady Street which is a 1/2 mile hill that's steep enough I always have to downshift in the bug to climb it. Tim and I made pretty good time. We finished at 1 hour, 49 minutes. This included a stop for Tim to tie his shoe, to contemplate going down the slip n slide someone had set up in their yard at the turn around, to get a couple Twinkies from the Hostess truck, for Tim to grab a Miller High Life off the water table, me to slap the hands of all the little kids along the road and just in general having fun. Tim and I did not go down the slip n slide. Jada did. Tim and I are still kicking ourselves for not doing the slip n slide.
All that aside, it was super fun. I think Jada and I have started a tradition now of having a bloody mary after a race. We did it after the Bridge Run in March and we did it again yesterday. Here's a photo of us at Mac's Tavern in Davenport. You can't see it, but we are still soaking wet. We are all fired up for the Bridge Run next year.
Today's high was in the upper 30's. I ran 3 miles in just under 45 minutes. Outdoors. Yay, me!
High in Iowa City today? 95-degrees! And I want to go to Houston in August, why? Class is good. I am sure I will be worn out by Thursday. More later.
I wish it would quit raining. This means I am going to have to mow mid-week, because I didn't mow yesterday. Damn!
That's what the yard looks like. It's been raining off and on since Friday night. I finally bit the bullet and took Miner for a walk. It was only a mist. Now he's leaving me alone.
At least it was sunny yesterday out here (Phoenix). Monday was SUPER rainy. The demo site was a mess. Yesterday I nearly fell off a dozer trying to climb up to the cab to teach Marcy how to back it up. I got away with a big ugly bruise on the soft squishy part of my tricep. Today marks the 1 month from having the decree filed. The paperwork and everything should be relatively painless. It's all the other stuff that's painful. I now have all the keys and garage door openers back. If the weather is nice this weekend, that's my project - changing locks and reprogramming garage door openers.I'm off to get ready for work. All undercarriage, all the time. Though today, I am also being pulled into a meeting because they need someone who knows about the mining and quarrying business. See, I'll use my degree from time to time!
Miner is headed to the kennel today. He has no idea. Eh, but he likes it there...It's like the doggy resort I am coming home from work early to run him out there. Then I pack, sleep and wake up at the butt-crack of dawn to head to sunny Phoenix, AZ. :) The high in Davenport today: 39-degrees. The high in Phoenix today: 76-degrees!!!!
So, I am 2 days completely free of hives, and feeling a whole lot better. I went out for dinner and then to a winery with some girlfriends tonight. I haven't laughed that much since coming back from Houston.
Miner was a good boy and we ran around the backyard until it was too cold to breathe. How sick is it that I am getting excited that it should be up to about 22 degrees tomorrow. I mean, that's a 49 degree swing in temp...so it's a big deal!
I just feel like crap. Not physically, but certainly mentally. I am proud of myself for getting off the couch to shovel snow and take down the Christmas lights outside earlier today. This is mostly because I will get fined if I don't shovel and it's supposed to get really cold later this week. It sucks when 25 degrees feels warm.
It's pretty darn cold in Houston today. It started getting colder yesterday. It's still not below freezing, but cold enough.
My aunt Margaret passed away Thursday night. I'm really sad and it really sucks. My uncle Ed asked me to say a few words at the funeral tomorrow. I have an idea of what I will say, just not sure I'll be able to say it all. Plus, it's hard to find the right words.
Mom and I took Owen to the mall yesterday. We rode the carousel at the mall and then went to mickey d's for lunch. Owen had chicken nuggets and a chocolate shake. Mom and I discussed how the greatest thing ever would be to have a whopper jr. and fries from mickey d's...their fries are fantastic.
I think we got about 4 inches of snow today. I drove in it WAY more than I really wanted to.
I leave for Houston tomorrow afternoon. As if things couldn't get any worse, I woke up this morning to a 58-degree house. The furnace would kick on, but the blower wasn't working. David came over after I left and pulled the cover off, put it back on and it started working. By the time I got home, the house was at 62-degrees and the blower had quit working again. I pulled the cover off, put it back on and it started back up again. I have a furnace guy on his way tonight to take a look at it. I don't want pipes freezing while I am gone because the damn blower keeps going out.
It rained Monday off and on, into yesterday morning. Yesterday around noon, the rain changed to snow. It wasn't that bad here in Davenport, I think we maybe got an inch.
One of the things I like best about the snow is I can see animal prints in it. This gives me an idea of what Miner is sniffing at. I am fairly certain that there is a rabbit living in the drain tile that comes out of the retaining wall. There were little bunny prints right in front of the opening last night.
It's 4 AM and I can't sleep. This is mostly due to the fact that I can only breathe through my mouth and have to keep blowing my nose. It was nice and warm Sunday. By 'nice' and 'warm' I mean in the upper 40's to low 50's. I spent a couple hours outside raking leaves. That probably didn't help my sinuses, but I didn't think it would make them worse!
Sunday night, and again yesterday evening, we had our first snow flakes. I am not even sure they touched the ground. I still think our first full-on snow will come after November 5th. That's my prediction.
Is that a word? Blustery? Anyway, it's super windy here and there is a chance of snow tonight. I pulled the last of the green tomatoes off the vine and cut the plants down. It's too windy to mess with raking leaves, so that will have to wait for another day.
There's a pile of dirt and rocks on the concrete next to the garage. It's left over from the flower bed building. A friend gave me a 5 gallon bucket full of irises that her neighbor divided. 2 or 3 months ago, I planted the ones that looked good and healthy and tossed the rest on the pile. This morning, I noticed that there were about 6 or 8 of them that had sprouted up. So I pulled them out of the junk pile and planted them. Who knew a pile of dirt, rocks and dead house plants sitting on a concrete slab was a fertile environment for bearded irises. We'll see how they survive this winter. Worst that could happen is they don't make it...but they were free, so no huge loss.
As much as I hate winter in the midwest, I LOVE fall (and spring, too). Summer was strange. Rainy, so it screwed up the timing on vegetable gardening. It's been cool, then warm, then cool again. Amazingly, the $0.40 geraniums I bought from Km@rt are looking awesome.
And the front door is all dressed up for fall, too. (Note my reflection - I've started wearing overalls when working in the yard. An homage to Grandpa.)
Finally, a photo of the massive entertainment center that took over our basement for at least a month. I think David did a great job, but then, I am biased.
Last night we went to the reception for my friend Robert and his wife Lisa. They got married on the 3rd in Hawaii and had their 'Quad-Cities' party last night. It was outside at Bass Street Landing in Moline. Very nice, and nice weather, too. They had a DJ and played several country-western songs. Made me wish I had my Daddy or someone else who would dance with me for at least one of them.
Fall is here. We've had a few warm days, some flowers didn't get watered while I was trveling...so I am going to buy some garden mums today to spruce up the front porch for the fall. It's nice and cool this morning.
Now that Holly has connected IKE and IKEA, that's all I can think of. Damn, you, Holly!
Mom called at 2 PM yesterday and let me know they were OK. I was glad she did, because I was pretty worried. Lots of branches in their yard, no trees on the house, no broken windows, but without power.
Dad called this evening to give me an update. Overnight they got another 6+ inches and water was within 2 feet of coming into the house. That's the LAST thing that they need (they're almost done paying off the repairs from Tropical Storm Allison in 2001). Luckily it stopped raining and Dad said the water drained off really quickly. He did report that his okra crop is decimated. Which is really a bummer, okra is so yummy...link added to explain okra to my midwestern friends that may not know.
