It was the heat, AND the humidity.

We have been busy on the weekends. And work has kept me very busy during the week.

Can I just say that I do love working from home? Although I miss seeing some of the folks from time to time, I still instant message and chat and it seems like just enough. I appreciate the people I do see so much more. Instead of coming home and saying “don’t talk to me”, I am happy to get out and be social now and again.

Although working at home, there are the unique challenges….

So, where were we?

I think we are actually in August now.

We took Beta to the Big Woods in Nerstrand which was a super nice place. Very quiet and very not crowded. We were two of about 7 people in the park that day.

It was kind of humid and there was thunder later, but it was beautiful and Beta had a good time running away from us then running back. Yes, he was running. But first he was walking with Dave.

The flowers were in bloom.

I saw this weird tree thing going on.

  

I don’t know what happened there. Man made? Freak of nature?

Here’s the hidden water fall. It’s lovely, but a little dry this time of year.

I can never get enough of “sun through trees”

I could do a whole series on my “sun through trees” shots.

But likely people would want to stab their eyes out with the monotony of 1000 “sun through trees” pics. I don’t want to be responsible for that.

All in all, a lovely day. We had lunch at the campground and went home before the storm hit.

I ran another race-this time the Western Days Stampede 10 K in Chatfield.

I have run this race many times. I have had good races here, but mostly hot and tired ones.

This year was so different.

It was really cool and fairly dry and I took about two minutes off my last few times of running this damn thing.

The calm before the race.

Get ready….

Go.

and that would be all the race pictures Dave took because he got a little distracted by this-

Instead of running for 36 hours, this year I volunteered for Ragnar. I was at one of the first water stops and I have to say, it was a lot of fun. Especially when it got really hot and I looked into those sweaty red faces after the first five miles, handed them a little cup of water, and thought-huh, better you than me my friend.

Water anyone?

Nice and shady-actually cold in the AM. I had mittens on.

Nice view too--

 

But then it got hot, mittens came off, short and tee shirt put on….

See ya runners…..Sorry for your misery…..

Of course, the weather was cool and sweet up until Ragnar, the steambath race of the summer.

I volunteered for my old Ragnar team mates, some of whom formed a new team. This is one of them, Nanci, on her first leg (it was still sort of dark and cool then).

Here she comes!!

Happy to see a familiar face!

And off she went.

I got some new sewing tables which are the most fabulous things ever.

 

Of course these pictures are terrible. I say if someone is curious they need to come over and see them in PERSON. You know who you are……

That being said. I’ve barely sewn on them although I did finish up this quilt for Rosie girl.

Also not the best picture, but it’s at the quilters now so there should be a better one coming up.

Last Sunday (08/24) Cathy and I ran what was called the Mayo Healthy Human Race 1/2 Marathon.

And may I say there wasn’t much healthy about it.

It was so humid, dew point was 70. That’s Seven-tee. In case you are unfamiliar---

Dew point:
Human perception^[1]
21–24 °C
70–74 °F
Very humid, quite uncomfortable

Follow me??

Cathy and I at the start looking quite dry-calm, cool, and collected.

And 2 hours 7 minutes later-

Are we still alive? Is this hell? Where are we?

The very sad thing is that there were runners standing at the finish—not even sweating. Not even. We were like-are those the undead or what? We didn’t know but we kept clear of them, just in case.

What I did know was that finishing in those conditions in 2:07 was some sort of super human feat that really surprised me when I crossed the finish line.

I also thanked the running gods that it stayed overcast so we didn’t have the super wet air over heated with the super hot sun.

I left the race soon after because we went up to the cities to see The Book of Mormon. It was sooo good. Please go see it. It’s irreverent, a little nasty, but you know, there is a message there.

Photo bomb----Bad selfie at the BOM .

 

Beautiful Venue at the Orpheum.

Stage-we sat high up but had great seats. Only 4 across, no in and out, unobstructed view. That’s what I like.

We had a great time. I sort of wanted to go to the Fair afterwards since we were up in the cities, but when we exited BOM it was 91 degrees, steamy, and there’s no air conditioning outside. I was also a wee bit tired from the whole run/play things.

So it was off to home we went.

Busy month it’s been. We are at the end, Labor Day, and the official beginning of fall.

Happy September!

Another challenge of the workplace…….

 

Two Weeks in July

It was General Internal Med night (or Medical Floor night or some sort of Mayo night) at the Honkers Game in July sometime. I’m not sure what day that was because they all blur together.

But suffice it to say we went. It was nothing like the Rainiers game we went to last year in Tacoma at Cheney Stadium. Not. At. All.

Mainly, there is no way those Rainier fans would have sang the whole theme song to Fresh Prince of Bel Air. And when I say the fans sang it, I mean all the fans were rapping the whole entire song. It was the best. Absolutely the Best.

We took a selfie (again a bad selfie, but a selfie none the less)

Yikes, right?

I got a nice snap with the mascot-

 

I’m holding my sock knitting. I should have made the Mascot hold my socks. Dang. Next time.

We have set a little goal to try to visit the state parks in our area. We started at Lake Louise.

The dog likes it. We like to let Beta off the leash now and then. He tends to trot on ahead to scout out the trail. The unfortunate part about that is he can’t really hear us when we are screaming at him to come. He usually doubles back to check on our progress, but if we meet someone, well, we need to be in control of our annoying barking dog.

 

The day was super nice. A little warm and very buggy when we were in the woods. We didn’t stay long but we enjoyed it while we were there.

We keep telling ourselves to get bug spray, but we still have yet to make this purchase. Something about spraying chemicals all over my bare skin makes me pause and reconsider my options. However, I am pretty sure I don’t have to worry about the risk of birth defects to my unborn children and being chased by bugs is super annoying. So I guess my mental well being outweighs the risk of exposure to carcinogenic defoliants and I will definitely be prepared next time.

The other thing I did (not “we”, “I”.  Because, well, obviously although Dave was there to support as always) was ran the Saint Mary’s University Trail Scamper. It was unGODLY humid. But not that hot so it was kind of a different feel. It was mercifully only a 5 K (3.1 mi) so that made it bearable.

Me before-completely unflattering picture and Dave’s third attempt at getting one. Hence the “hurry up and get this over with” stance.

The bluffs in the background is the racing venue. Up and down and all around back where the air is hot and still and extremely wet.

Me, after, even more unflattering and holding my sweat soaked shirt away from my body-

Ugh. BUT-in the end I won this-

I maintain if you can finish still standing in this age group, you too can win.

My comment to the crowd---

“It’s the new 30 people”

So that’s a little recap of a couple of weeks in July.

I’m not sure this ever made it to the blog, but in closing, this is Dave’s 11th Anniversary present. Because nothing says 11 years like a tee-shirt.

A Couple of Things Since We’ve Been Back

So, after returning to the fold, I have kept my self occupied.

First of all there’s work from home. There are also barriers to work from home-

That is not my work computer. My work computer is here--

Sort of a problem any where you look.

And then there’s this-

See? No, because she’s always moving and running along the desk and interrupting in all sort of kinetic energy kind of ways.

Oh, and somewhere in the hood, at any time of the day, someone is mowing their lawn. It’s truly awe inspiring and loud.

I can’t work like this.

But I manage.

Somehow.

The following weekend after I came back, the weekend of July 4th-but on July 5th, we went to A Prairie Home Companion 40th Anniversary show at Macalester College.

The day was sunny and sort of warm, but then got cloudy and I thought it might rain. But in the nick of time the sun came out and the day could not have been better.

We sat far in the back, under a big shady tree.

This is the stage close up

This is the stage with the PHC regulars with my telephoto lens

And, as always, this is the cute kid distracting me throughout the show.

I know, right? I wanted to take more pictures but didn’t want to appear like the crazy child stalker lady. But she was very cute. And ever so entertaining.

Anyway, I took lots of pictures of the acts and then couldn’t remember who they were now that I am blogging.

The Warm Up Acts-

Old Crow Medicine Show-Really, really good. They were part of the warm up-played for an hour before the show-then played during the show. Excellent.

Buy their new album-Remedy. Shameless plug but they are that good.

And of course, Garrison Keillor. I didn’t get any really good pictures of him. He had to be sweating up there as he had his suit on and the sun was pretty intense.

Dave and I had a ton of fun. Traffic was easy-up and back an hour each way. I’m not used to that. Although an hour and back from Seattle is pretty par for the course, and half the distance….just saying.

The following weekend it was the Basilica Block Party at the Basilica of St. Mary's in Minneapolis. I went with my partner in crime, Cathy.

We went to DSW first, and I bought a bathing suit-but not at DSW-at Ellsmore-totally another story. We did eventually get to the Basillica

That place is breathtaking-

 

I only had my phone for a camera so I didn’t get the best pictures-these don’t do it justice. I didn’t know I could take pictures or I would have taken more of the statuary and other symbols of the Catholic Church. I also learned a lot about what it means to be a Basilica. Not everyone can be one you know.

AND-here’s the only picture of Cathy and me together.

With the Pope. Total Photo Op. Don’t hate us. Cathy is holding his hand, by the way. I’m sort giving him a little goose.

All in good faith, my children, all in good faith.

This day started out POURING rain, thunder, lightening. We were like-oh no, what should we wear, bring, do??? You can’t go in and out so you have to plan.

But by the time we got there it had stopped raining and within 45 minutes of opening at 5 PM, the skies cleared and it was the perfect night for a concert. Of which there were many musical acts.

The two we really wanted to see were--

1) Ingrid Michaelson

Fabulous. And she’s pretty cute. Sang good songs, did a sweet cover of Rude, and of course, Girls Chase Boys. Nice.

This is the stage-check out those blue skies-

We got up to the side of the stage. It was so cool.

I took some scenery of the Basilica too-

Hard to get a good picture with lots of people and things in the way.

“Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain…”

Seriously, who is that giant guy with a cross? Not sure. A little creepy behind the rock and roll stage. Dave thinks it’s St Francis. Why would it be St. Francis? Who knows. Anyway, I found it amusing, a little disturbing, but amusing none the less. That’s all that matters.

The second thing we came to see--

2) Train

Oh yeah-and what a show they put on.

Gave it their all for an hour and a half.

It was dark by then, and this is probably the best picture I got-which isn’t great-

But check this out-

That there, above Train is the full moon. I hate to use the word awesome, but it was totally awesome.

Cathy and I were singing our hearts out, like the rest of the audience. The lead singer, Pat Monahan (who, btw, lives in Issaquah. Coulda been neighbors-oh and neither of us had any idea that was his name till later) put on such an energetic show. We were totally gob smacked. There were audience members on the stage, he was taking selfies with the audience. It was crazy fun.

Another really perfect night.

We decided we will do that again next year. It’s on the books. And we are going to research everyone’s name. For future reference.

So, even though I just got back, it’s been super fun and busy. Weather had been, for the most part, very un-Minnesotan. I mean, low humidity? dry? 70’s?

Ca-raazzzy. But loving it.

Start work at Pine Needles again tomorrow (08/02-is it really August already? Huh)

Looking back in time, I got some pictures from the Rock n Roll-

Julie sent me the top one-

 

And I had this one sent to me-

It’s the Big Wheel!

I think, dare I say, I’m almost caught up.

Except for a couple more things.

 

This is not as comfy as a nice warm laptop.