3:30, HG, Half pressure

My Saturday morning started very early this week, the 3:30 alarm drug my body out of bed unwillingly.  The race I was timing was all the way down in Marco, making the extra time necessary.  This race has always been a bit of a thorn in the side to put on.  The long drive of course is never fun but also this race is staffed mostly with volunteers from the Marco organization that are not familiar with the ins and outs of a race.

The course logistics are troublesome as well with the registration area being several blocks from the race start/finish.  This makes processing any problems with the results very difficult. Despite these challenges, the event went relatively well.  The race also had a healthy amount of growth compared to last year, gaining an additional 80 participants.

The run itself is a tough one, back and forth over the steep bridge that connects Marco Island to the mainland.  Cindy did the race and did well, getting third place in her age group.

When we got back to the house, after doing post race duties I still had chores to do of course. One of them was tending to the freshly planted garden.  Everything that was planted is doing well except for a pepper plant that looks to be meeting an early demise.  We even were able to use some of the romaine and red lettuce in salads over the weekend.

During my yard work I felt a nasty sting on my left shin. It felt more severe than a fire ant bite, more in line with the wasp sting I took to my face a few weeks back.  Instinctively I swatted at the spot but did not see anything.

Over the weekend the area swelled up and was tender.  Cindy looked at it and saw two fang marks.  We are theorizing some sort of spider got me.  Hopefully it isn’t one the brown recluse spiders that hang around my place.

Saturday night Cindy and I went to see the new Hunger Games movie.  I never read any of the books but enjoyed the first movie so seeing number two was a no-brainer.  The theater was actually kind of full, the fullest I can remember a Coconut Pointe movie being for me.  Sure it was still easy to find a good seat but I bet the place was over half full.

The movie was good.  The reason I knew it was good was the clock.  When the movie ended I felt like there should be more to go, it felt like the movie was short.  Well when I looked at my watch when we left it was 9:45, meaning the movie was a good 2:30 minutes long.  For a movie that long to feel short means it is pretty damn good.  I’d give it an A.  I am looking forward to seeing the next installment. If you want to see my 6 second Vine recap, go here. (spoiler alert)

Cindy and I scuttled plans to go for a bike ride Sunday morning.  She was feeling some side effects from her race and I assured her my chore plans for the day would give me enough exercise.  The main target was pressure washing the sheds.  However before doing that I had a smaller chore to do, for my neighbor.

The large collection of water equipment they have apparently is doing a poor job of keeping their well water in good shape.  In an effort to combat that, they have been letting the equipment do a recharge every single night. (not recommended)  Basically when you recharge the equipment it back flushes the white rock filtration substance with brine (salt water).  This process expels tons of waste water which is dumped elsewhere via a drain hose. Well the hose for the system is buried for the most part, except for the end of it which is positioned about 15 feet from my fence line.  The nightly recharges and all the water they dump has turned the corner of my fence into a perennial swamp land for the last few months.

Of course this annoyed me.  Not only did it look like shit, the wet ground has the potential of rotting out the fence posts prematurely which be a major pain in the ass for me.  Finally a couple weeks ago I said something to the husband, telling him they need to reroute that drain line so it doesn’t impact my property.  I even went so far as to give him a big coil of 1/2″ pvc pipe I had left over from when I extended my drain line last year.  I told him all he would need to do is install a coupler to connect the existing line to the new one.

A few days later I saw there was some connector on the line but it was short lived.  It was a press/friction connector that did not hold up to the water pressure, a day or two later it came apart and my corner was again soppy.  I saw the neighbor, she said  she was the one that tried to install the connector. (husband isn’t very handy) I figured I might as well just fix it myself since it impacts me and is an easy fix.

I bought some band clamps and a connector.  The connector I bought actually was a bit small.  I wound up repurposing the one in my drain line.  I’ll just buy myself another.  Connecting the lines together was a bit of a muddy job but not difficult otherwise.  I look forward to having a dry corner.

I then moved onto pressure washing.  For some reason I had the idea in my head that I could pressure wash both sheds in a couple of hours.  I am not sure where I that idea came from.  Instead I spent between 4 and 5 hours out there blasting away.  I was having some pressure washer issues that slowed things down.  The washer would simply shut off periodically without apparent reason.  When I would start it back up it would run fine again, until it shut off again.  In total I probably restarted the damn thing 20 times.  I am going to get some fuel system cleaner to run through it.

I also consumed some time pressure washing a few other items like the exterior of the pool cage, the shed ramps, garden hardware, pavers and more.  The items I cleaned looked tons better.  I emerged from the project soaked from head to toe and covered with mud splatter, hot. The dogs were out at the house on Sunday as well.  It was overcast and on the cool side most of the day so they really enjoyed just hanging outside in the yard.

Sunday night we watched The Amazing Burt Wonderstone.  The movie was funny enough, entertaining enough and short enough to earn a solid B rating.  Worth a Netflix rental but not $20 to see in a theater.

This week is going to be a blur until the Thanksgiving race is done.  There are so many ducks lined up.  Each and everyone has to be a hit and I probably have the most bullets of anyone in this game.  I hope I don’t miss.