I have to stop running at dusk

Or, My Relationship with my iPod

OK, so progress has been slow on the house, due mostly to the fact that I am spending half of each weekend running. However, we are in the middle of a big push and we should have some "gosh it's almost done" feelings by the end of Labor Day weekend. The revelation of the weekend (and there seems to be at least one each weekend) is that the new washer and dryer was lovingly installed by our contractor to a drain pipe that doesn't exist. It turns out we can't blame all this rain for our crawl space water problems (at least not all of them).

This weekend was actually light on running (and it's all relative). Today, instead of hitting the road first thing in the morning I opted to get some work done, spend some time with Rich hiking (gasp, relaxation and NOT RUNNING?), then run whatever miles were left on the schedule at the end of the day. I had sworn off running at the end of the day a couple of weeks ago. Let's just say that you don't want a fox darting out in front of you at the end of a long, hot run. I had some misgivings before I set out, but told myself I was silly because it was still plenty early (6 pm).

Fast forward a few miles: At the top of a hill I can see a wildlife jam. You know, cars stopped randomly on the road with cameras snapping. I assume it's a moose. Once it became obvious that the animal was on the same side of the road as me, I decide to look for opportunities to cross over (there are very few animals I wish to pass at close range). As I crest the hill, I see it is a black bear snacking on an overflowing dumpster about 20 feet from road (about 30 feet from me - and he was looking at the wack job running along the road with bottles of tasty gatorade). At that point, I decided to cross the road immediately; I figured I had a better chance against the cars.

I honestly don't know which is worse: the very close encounter with a bear or the realization that I became part of the show. Every car I passed had some snappy comment to the effect of "what's the matter? don't you want to run with the bears? huh huh huh". I am pretty sure that several people caught me in their photos and will show their coworkers tomorrow morning.

As this was happening, I wasn't paying much attention to the song currently playing on my iPod. However, as soon as I passed the last car in the traffic jam a new song started. I heard,"th-th-th-that that don't kill me will only me make me stronger".

There are many days I think my iPod hates me; today I think it might just have a very sick sense of humor.

Yes, Everything in this house needs to be replaced!

Or, What Would Yosemite Sam Say?
Yes kids, that is a stair tread from the much feared spiral staircase. It collapsed underneath Rich this past weekend. Fortunately, this DID NOT HAPPEN when our friend's Pete and Nora were visiting with their young daughter Laurel. Yikes.

I've been too busy to make posts, but suffice it to say that we have made a lot of progress but it just doesn't feel like it! Rich has procured a wet saw for tile and many other new toys to fill the shed. He also tiled the floor of the second bath!

The biggest news is that we were able to get things cleaned up and provide the appearance of control over chaos to have Pete, Nora, and Laurel visit this past weekend. We managed to secure the stairs using combinations of baby gates, shoes racks, and Wii boxes (that's right kids, the Wii is in the house!). Like any good toddler, Laurel figured out a way to find danger where the adults least expected it.

The Herrins helped us say good bye to Dotti for the last time. We took her ashes up a small mountain near the house and found a nice pre-existing memorial which marks the spot. The weather was a bit gray and rainy, but the Herrins survived their first hike with Laurel!

More photos:

Chandler Mountain July 2008 Updates