Dead for the day, 3 feet tall, Marky Mark x 2, Four more, Chilling with chickens
Cindy and I got up a few minutes before 4AM for Saturday’s race. Cindy wanted to transform us into zombies since it was Halloween. She did a pretty incredible job for only 5-10 minutes of work. My 25 year + old Grateful Dead concert shirt was the perfect accessory for the look.
When we got on site we had to get our bearings since this was a first year race. There were several issues like power that was supposed to be run for us not being there and the onsite bathrooms being locked until 20 minutes before race time that were annoying but outside my realm of responsibility.
This race was unique because the start and finish line were at the same spot. I timed the race with the same set of mats using one file for the start and another for the finish. It worked out well from my perspective.
My timer buddy John and his family were at the race which was cool. It’s not often that I get to talk timing with someone who actually knows how much of a pain in the ass it is. He had let me borrow one of his timing clocks for the CC meets we did so I had it with to return to him.
My timing went fine with no hardware failures, the only errors coming from the human variety with runners switching bibs. The awkward interactions I anticipated were not as prevalent as I expected which was good. There were a couple people I could tell were off put by my decision to leave the team but for the most part it was business as usual which is fine by me.
I had a few brief conversations with some board members and although noone is happy about me leaving, they understand the reasons behind it. It felt weird in a good way knowing this was the first and last time I would be timing the event. It seems surreal that in three months I will be able to abandon 4AM alarms and all of the work/stress that precedes each and every race day.
It was funny going into Dunkin Donuts in our zombie make up. As you can imagine it merited more than few glances and smiles.
When we got home post race work took us up until lunch time. After eating we both headed out into the heat of the day to get outdoor chores done. We were joined out there once again by the sandhill cranes that are becoming more and more trusting of us. We have gotten within 10-15 feet of them although the key is to act like you aren’t paying attention to them.
After finishing up the weeding and other stuff I decided to hop on the tractor and mow the back of the property. I decided to go a step further and mow some of the property beyond the fence line which literally may only get done once or twice a year. The lack of frequency means the area is almost jungle-like as I was mowing down grass that was three feet high or more at spots. Mowing these spots is extremely time consuming. Not only do you have to go at a snail’s pace, you have to mow each spot repeatedly, a minimum of two to three times until it is all knocked down to ground level. Thank goodness I don’t suffer from allergies like I once did, there were bushels of organic material thrown into the air. The mowing is a precursor to another horrible yard maintenance task that we have to do shortly, the annual tree trimming extravaganza.
Halloween night Cindy and I were both beat from the combo of getting up early to time the race combined with the work around the house. We decided to skip going to the movies and instead watched our current Netflix rental, The Gambler, with Marky Mark. The character he plays is not likable at all, a degenerate gambler that comes from a family of entitlement. He plays the role well but this character was so unlikable overall that it pulled down my opinion of the movie to a B.
Sunday night Cindy and I finished watching Boogie Nights, another MM film which I never saw believe it or not. The 70’s time period and copious porn simulation in the movie of course made for good entertainment but by the end things got pretty dark and depressing. I’d still give it a B+ overall.
Oh, we kept our streak of zero trick or treaters for the last decade alive Saturday night. Not a single soul appeared at the door.
The time change over the weekend allowed us a welcomed and needed extra hour of sleep on Sunday. We decided to get out and do the same four mile run we did last week. My expectation was it would feel slightly more comfortable than the week before since that is the natural course of things. When we pulled into the park we saw cones and people running with race bibs on, evidently there was a race going on as well at that time.
We started out running against the direction the racers were going, seeing some familiar faces along the way. We were surprised by the amount of people walking the “race” even though it was only a 5K distance. Running among the racers had an undesired side effect of me running faster than I normally would during the first two mile lap. By the time we started the second loop I was already feeling miserable. The faster pace to that point combined with the annoyingly warm and humid weather considering it was November 1st was doing a number on me.
Lap two was pure drudgery, I had to declare it as a NTZ (no talk zone) about half way through it. When I declare NTZ that means I would prefer Cindy did not speak but if she does she can expect no verbal response or acknowledgement from me. When I am in the midst of feeling that shitty I just don’t want to communicate. When the end of the second lap drew close I accelerated only slightly, I just had nothing in the tank. I was very, very glad to be done.
After a DD stop we headed to Home Depot and Rural King, a near weekly occurrence. We loaded up on a number of things including an electric pressure washer. Regular blog readers know of my years of pressure washing hell with my gas powered pressure washer. This electric model is much lighter and about the half the pressure of the gas washer. We bought it so Cindy can easily use it for routine cleaning without the hassle of the gas washer and less chance of damaging surfaces with 3000 PSI.
We also bought stuff to provide some lighting in the chicken coop. The chickens have been waiting till the very edge of darkness until putting themselves to bed. As a result when they go into the coop it is very dark and they are unable to see well enough to get themselves situated on the perch. Cindy and I have been going out and placing the stragglers which isn’t a good long term solution. The plan is using a timer and an LED bulb to keep the inside of the coop lit shortly after dusk to the birds can get to bed normally.
When we got back home we went out before lunch and installed/deployed/spread the various things we purchased. During the afternoon I had mostly indoor things to attend to, including paying my bills. Later in the afternoon I spent close to a half hour just sitting in the yard watching the chickens and the cranes in the backyard. It was peaceful.
While we filmed a video Sunday targeted to let people know where their eggs come from there was this funny moment caught on tape when Pumpkin decided she didn’t want to sit on Cindy’s lap.
I had a a few different times over the weekend where I was thinking about Nicki, picturing her walking around the pool deck or sleeping in one of her beds only a couple weeks ago. The thoughts brought instant moisture to my eyes as I redirected my mind to some other subject.