Happy 4th of July

Or the one where we tried to kill ourselves by running

A while back Cathy said to me “There’s a race in Red Wing on the 4th, and I’m not doing anything that day so you want to run it?”

And me, being game for a race said “Sure, I’ll run a 10 K on the 4th”. That’s really where I should have said “Have you completely lost your mind?”

Because here’s what really happened.

My phrase all that week was something about being hotter than balls outside, which doesn’t even begin to describe temps in the 90’s with heat indices in the triple digits AND dew points in the 70’s.

And the 4th was right smack dab in the middle of the heat wave. They didn’t cancel the race, but they did add water stops so in 6 miles we would have 5 water stops-bless their hearts.

Dave drove me and I ate his breakfast because I forgot mine. The temp at 8:30 AM (start time) was hovering around 80-dew point in the 70’s. Tina was there too.

Here in front of the river. Do we look a little fuzzy? It’s because the air was so thick everything took on a sort of an unfocused quality. Or we were hallucinating because of the heat. That is certainly possible.

When we started running the air was so thick I at first thought I wouldn’t be able to breathe. But after a mile or so you get used to misery. It was hot (have I pointed that out yet?) and there was little shade. But then we ran through a patch of wooded trail which I thought would be relief but in actuality was a concentrated sanctum of hot and even thicker air, if at all possible. It almost made you want to run back into the sun. Almost.

The sweeper guy on the bike rode by about mile 4.5 and asked if I was all right. That’s never a compliment to your good looks and fabulous running technique.

But I ran the whole way, only stopping at the water stops, and then, blessed Mother of God, we finished. At 86 degrees, dew point 75.

Only a little worse for wear

We are wet.

After the collapse. We continued to sweat for at least 30 minutes. I am 4 pounds lighter here than in the original pictures.

Oh, whilst we we were running, Dave was again loose with the camera.

I found this a little disturbing. This had Charles Lindbergh's name on it. So I asked Dave if that’s who it was and he isn’t sure. He said it could be a child that was somehow affected by Charles Lindbergh. I said that’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. (I say that almost daily because Dave generally tops his previous day’s stupidity) Yes, the child looks affected but not likely by Charles L. Which only leads me to believe that Red Wing has some fanatical attachment to the man.

Fanatical. Although this could be Charles the father, who did indeed hail from Minnesota (and died trying to run for Governor, not once but twice-he died the second time, not the first time because that would mean he came back from the dead to run again and I am quite sure he didn’t do that) ANYWAY, it could be Charles the father, not Charles the aviator-who, by the way, invented the artificial heart because setting flying records just wasn’t enough.

This plaque didn’t explain it at all like I hoped it would.

But it did shed some light on this

And see, a little runner right there for scale. Thanks Dave.

A testament to humidity. Red Wing, 4th of July, 2012

But after all was said and done, this made it all worthwhile-

Recognize that step? That’s the hop, skip, and jump of a winner.

 

That lady in the pink is digging the Victory Dance. I think.

Whoa.

Later that day….

It takes a lot of tipping the Spotted Cow to get over that kind of heat.

Last weekend, after the weather finally broke, we went out to Barb and Tom’s again (Dave’s sister-see this post-only you have to wade through more race photos and crap to get to it-but it’s there). I didn’t take any pictures of anyone, but I did take some art shots

And I’m not sure what this is

Yeah? Are you feeling that one? I thought so.

That’s about when my camera ran out of batteries, exhausted.

Oh I forgot the last thing- Beta hurt his neck and could only turn to the left. (Isn’t there a song-To the left, to the left)

That’s Beta in the front row, practicing his “to the left” By God he was good at it. To the left, scream in pain, to the left…..

PS-he’s well now, and it only took 40 dollars worth of medication.

I Got Nothin’

Really, I don’t. I don’t think I took one picture last week. I was busy working and I don’t know what all. Nothing really.

It’s too hot to think. If I could think I’d think it was too hot. This week we are getting treated to temps in the 90’s all week, with heat indexes (indices?) in the triple digits.

I am doing this on Wednesday, July 4th in the AM. Yes, it’s a 10 K. Yes, the low the night before will be 75. Which equals race time temps of around 80. That should be pleasant.

So, if I don’t die before the end of that, I should have some holiday pics to share, because besides that we are going to Dave’s sister’s house to camp out on Saturday. Whoa.

So, let me leave you with this.

Or at least my family.

Recap of the Week’s Events

Maybe not specifically this week, but some week.

June 15th and 16th I was at the Minnesota Quilters Quilt Show. They had some sweet quilts. The 15th I was there with my friend Jill, and the 16th I was there working for Pine Needles. I must say I have a new respect for the quilt show workers who go from town to town to town….Whoa. Of course, they are likely more organized than those of us that do it every once in a while.

Anyway, I took some pictures (yes, I know, duh). My favorite section was the cow themed quilts.

Seriously-

De-Calf

How Now Brown Cow

The Grass is Always Greener

 

And my personal favorite-Cowman Miranda

I know-really can’t go wrong with a cow quilt-unless-

It’s a quilt with a cat on it.

No?

Or what about this one? It gives me a start every time.

I KNOW it. It really isn’t a cat coming out of the wall at you, although with the right combination of drugs anything could happen here. Amazing.

Then there were just the clever as hell quilts.

Such as the Minnesota Geological Survey quilt (who thinks of these things?)

Or this one

I know, it looks like birds, only the other side was just as intricate (and of course I didn’t take a picture of that side to make my case, you’ll just have to believe me). Plus, that’s mostly stitchery. More than I have in me-right now anyway.

So that was the quilt show. I could have taken about a billion pictures-the quilts were beautiful and so original. But lucky for you I didn’t. It’d be like those family vacation pictures of someone elses vacation you have to sit through…..Or is that back in the day?

We also had a storm last week. So I took a picture of some mean spirited clouds

A little blurry. Still haven’t quite figured out the camera.

Either way, we survived.

But it was exhausting. Yeltsie was so tired that she fell asleep watching the birds.

Or, maybe they were watching her.

I Want to Win These

So I am blogging about it. These are ballet flat from London Sole, which I saw on one of my favorite blogs, What Kate Wore. There are some who say they don’t like the Royals, and that there is no point to them,they are completely bourgeois and hold no interest. I say-What is your problem? Are you KIDDING me? They are the Royals-the fairy tale thing I’ll never have.

But I could win these shoes. I am entering now and one of the things to enter is to blog it. So here goes.

And if you are here, go to the website. Ohh La La.

Just think of the shoes…..that’s why I want to be a Royal.

Blog and they will come.

Jeesh, I feel all irregular. The blog has been in and out and not at all on schedule.

But here I am on my Monday night. Blogging session is starting now.

Let’s see if I can remember what the hell has gone on here.

OK, lastly I was racing and sending Blane away and dodging his mean cat and picking up scattered pet barf.

Well, more and varied things have happened since then. (Although the barf hasn’t changed much, but more about that later.)

However, I just looked at the pictures and it may be that not that much actually happened at all. I mean, stuff happened, but mostly stuff I can’t repeat without being sued or fired.

I think, though, if I try really hard, I can come up with a few things that are blogable.

The weekend of June 9th we went to Northfield where my nephew Alex graduated from Carleton.

It was highly amusing. I’m also sure it was a proud moment for my sister’s family, but for me, amusing.

Since neither Blane nor Cody were there, I set up a little iPhone communiqué with Katie.

Isn’t she cute? Our little look alike niece. Then we made Dave take a picture of us-that took a while.

It started to get sunny after about an hour and, as we like to say here, it was hotter than balls. (This saying originally was the creation of my friend Nikki’s son. The same Nikki who gave my Blane the Swimsuit calendar when he was in about 8th grade. But that’s another story-and perhaps another glimpse into our somewhat strange life….)

Ok, back to the heat. It was hotter than balls but we survived.

Here’s the graduate just after he graduated. Officially. I did one of those crazy aunt things where I ran up the aisle to get the picture. I am not proud. Plus, I’m used to being the member of the family that needs to either be ignored or explained or apologized for, so making a spectacle of myself comes quite naturally. Plus, other crazy parents and relatives were all up in the graduates grills, so hey, I was right at home.

But I did get better pictures-Here’s the proud family

Wait, that’s not the family, that’s the cap throwing part. I like that part the best.

OK, here’s the fam

And the graduate with the famous geology cake

That cake was sweet-and oh so delicious. As one of the cake panel of experts, I should know.

After the cake, what else was left? I make Dave take a picture of Martha and me, but not too satisfied with the results.

Seriously? Did he not notice the shadows? We tried for sun but-sorry, those pictures are not really fit to print here. Well, ok, maybe one, but I warn you, it may not be suitable for small children.

I had some serious hat hair going on. I had a baseball cap on for the last hour of the graduation because of the sun. Not so much for the hair.

In other news, Lyndsey and Morgan stopped by last week. And look and how our girl has grown.

And, there’s another one on the way. Same with Angie. We are going to be raining babies in December. Get ready.

Lastly, at least for this week, Dave planted grass for the cats which was a big hit. See?

It’s his little piece of heaven. They have been throwing up grass ever since. Life is good.

Other things that happened that you’ll have to wait for until next week-

Quilt show. I went over on Friday with Jill and wow! There were some seriously original quilts. I especially liked the cow themed ones. I worked there for Pine Needles on Saturday. I really got an appreciation for those who make their lives travelling from show to show.

And Elvin (aka Yeltsin, otherwise known as the cat with no tail) got really tired looking at birds. Intriguing eh?

OK, off to finish up some important long distance paperwork.

The blog is back.

Conversation with my son

Or the real reason my family is so screwed up….

Blane: Hello?

Me: Blane

Blane: Mom

Me: Your cat is a biotch

Blane: My cat is not a biotch

Me: Yes, your cat is a biotch

Blane: Did you have any reason at all for calling me?

Me: Yes, your cat.

Blane: I’m hanging up now.

Thinking of evil.

Life in the Fast Lane

It’s been fast, so fast it made me tired. Things happened, moods came and went. What went around came around, only more with a vengeance.

And now I’m back, trying to blog it with what little dignity I have left.

Last week I had posted pictures of our Cora Belle, and made the inference that maybe her pictures might be cuter than pictures of my children.

Let’s see….

This

or this

OK, moving on.

Yeltsin sat in the cat scratcher

No really, now we’ll move on

I took a class from Brenda Dayne at the Yarnery. OM to the G I loved it. She is just like on the podcast-just as funny and brilliant.

Here we are together at the end of class. I am a wee bit tired at the end of the day.

I would take any class she offered.

Next AM was Med City. Aren’t we happy for being up since 4-it’s about 6:50 now.

 

(Um, could someone tell me why I am so close to her?)

I started with Cathy-

And finished by myself. (I’d like to say I passed her up but other way around, lost her about mile 6 and I broke about mile 10, oh well)

Dave did what he does-

Those brothers Mayo sure look judgmental-hey I finished in 2:06-I don’t see them out there running. This is probably the look they gave when they found out the person they just spent 7 hours operating on was on medical assistance.

It was hot and took some doing to cool off.

 

Beer-two for one. I mean, seriously. This was the hottest day since the week before and on into the week after. And it was very, very hot.

Monday was Memorial Day and we went to Dave’s sister’s house out of Melrose WI. We always wonder why Wisconsin always looks so much better than Minnesota. I mean, the minute you cross the bridge it is a nicer lookin’ state. They must have some ugly cornfields somewhere. They just hide them behind the  shrubbery.

Here’s me and Carol and Barb

 

and Joe, Carol, Barb, me and Dave

And no, I don’t think I had to go to the bathroom-unsure about the leg thing going on.

Last weekend was Chester Woods. It’s a trail race. I usually run the 10 mile race but got tired of coming in last so I decided to do the 5K

Funny thing the 5K.

Wow. Check out that start.

Apparently after I started running I had a seizure (see picture above and try to explain that any other way) and didn’t really pay attention to the instructions.

Because I thought I’d run this 5K trail in about 28 or so minutes. That’s a safe bet.

Here I am finishing in 22:50 minutes of pure awesome personal best. And I’m not even tired.

Oh, wait. Seems that the whole field wasn’t listening to the instructions either and we all, every one of us, ran the wrong course. Some ran short (me) and some ran long (up to 2 miles over the distance). Seems that I still had 1/2 mile to go. Dang it. You see, I don’t see the importance of listening to the instructions because I am never first, and I feel that if overachievers are going to be leading the pack, they should at least go the right way.

The organizer sent out a super apologetic e-mail today, but I say hey, we got out, we ran, it was a nice day, I got home in time to take a nap. I thought all is well.

Sunday (yesterday) Blane finally got on the train and moved to Grand Forks North Dakota.

He took his bike and the belongings he could get in a bag or two on the train, left Kitten with us and took off.

The Winona train station is so, well, trainy.

 

Isn’t this the picture of a train station waiting area? I think so. Too bad Kitten couldn’t go in the bike box…

Bye Blaney

So that’s the things that happened in the past week plus that caused me to go from manic to depression in about 57 hours. Exhausting.

But you know, things are looking up. I mean, how can you argue with that?

PS This is the only time Jack ever got on the table. That day. I think.