Weekly Mileage #62

Monday I had a mild sore throat, just like the week before. Not sure what's up with the Monday sore throats... Despite that, I hopped on my bike and got 10 miles in.

Tuesday we woke up super early and took the RV to the dealership so they could replace the water heater. We got home just in time to take a breath and then get back in the car and go to Sunshine's piano lesson. From there we went out to a playscape with our homeschool group.

We visited the playscape last summer and had fun, so we were happy to return. We've gotten so much rain lately that all the rivers are running high, and even the little stream at the playscape was too high, so we couldn't play in it, unfortunately. Despite the lack of water play, we still had fun. The last hour it rained super hard, but the kids were able to play inside, so while we missed the hike we were supposed to go on, it wasn't a complete loss. Last time we went to the playscape it rained also. Gotta love our timing.

the kiddos got to meet the resident snake

Tuesday night my throat really started hurting and Wednesday I woke up feeling awful. Not sure what crud I caught, but I spent the rest of the week feeling crummy. At least none of the kids were sick too (which means I have no one to blame for this round, so I'm not sure where I picked it up).

Saturday we went back to the dealership and picked up the <now fixed> RV. We also tried to track down some new house batteries for the RV, but received conflicting information that sent us in a couple different directions without us actually getting new batteries. We'll take care of that this week before our next renters come Friday morning.

in the rainstorm

I'm finally feeling better today, but needless to say, I didn't manage to get much done this past week. I wouldn't be too worried, except I've got a 5k this Saturday that I am not ready for. It's a race I've run before and I know it's challenging, so we'll see how it goes. I won't be getting a PR, that's for sure.

Weekly Mileage
Monday- 10.00 miles on the bike
    total- 10.00 miles

5 hikes towards #52hikechallenge

68.64 foot miles towards #365milechallenge

110.00 bike miles towards #365milechallenge

Sunday Funny

The other day I had River in the very back of the CRV and I pulled his shirt off to put a clean one on him.

He immediately hollered "I'm naked!" (he wasn't- he still had his shorts on)

Ocean chimed in from his car seat with "I'm bacon!"

We know that Ocean means that he's naked, since he's repeated himself ("I'm bacon!") when he actually was naked. He must have mis-heard River, but it sure is hilarious.

Weekly Mileage #61

Tuesday we finally made it to park day. Ocean loved having the run of the splash park.

Monday I had another sore throat in the morning, so no bike time. That afternoon I went to a chiropractic appointment and drove through an absolute deluge for 10-15 minutes- slow driving, wipers on high, could barely see the cars around me. Then I passed out of the storm and it was barely sprinkling. A few minutes later, I noticed that the ground was dry- the storm hadn't hit that part of town. So crazy.

Monday afternoon we had a hail storm come through

Tuesday I woke up early enough to exercise, but used the time instead to switch insurance companies for the RV. There's only a couple insurance companies that will cover you if you rent out your RV, and our previous insurance company wasn't one of them. It's stupid, since they only cover you when you're not renting your RV, but whatever.

Wednesday I did 10 miles on my bike- woohoo!

Thursday we were going to hike to the swimming hole, but the forecast called for rain with lightning. We had a very wet week last week, so I believed the forecast and decided it was safer not to go for a hike. I walked on the treadmill instead, and it only sprinkled in the morning and I never saw lightning, though Sunshine said she saw some. Better safe than sorry, though.

Friday I wanted to go for a hike after dropping Sunshine off at co-op, but I had too many things to do, so I opted to try to work through some of my to-do list.

Saturday I'd planned on taking the boys hiking for Kids to Parks day, but had some last minute schedule changes that made it impossible to fit it in. Sunshine was supposed to go on a campout with the YW Friday night and then go to a camp clinic in the afternoon, but the campout was canceled because of the rain and flood alert we were under. So I had to drop her off at a meeting spot just before noon, which interfered with my original plans to go to one of the Kids to Parks day activities at Shenandoah. I'd thought perhaps we could just hike at a local park, but the deluge we had Friday made me realize everything would just be too wet- a lot of the trails were closed.

In the end, not hiking was a good thing. It always takes longer than I think it will to make sure the RV is ready to go, and I spent the morning doing last minute cleaning and re-making the beds. I then started on the pre-rental inspection list and ran into a huge problem minutes before the renters who were planning on having our RV for a week showed up.

Everything checked out fine on my list, and then I remembered that last time I turned the water pump on water only trickled out, so I wanted to see what was going on there. Water only trickled out of the faucets again, but I could hear water gushing somewhere else. I turned everything off and looked by the water heater, where sure enough, I could see water coming from under the cabinet it's in. I removed the access hatch, shone a flashlight in, and immediately saw the problem: a 3 inch gash in the water heater tank.

Now, you may remember that we took the RV to NC recently and we had our first renters, so why was this the first time we'd noticed this?

Our best guess is this: We had some problems with the lines freezing over the winter, which we discovered when we did an overnight trip to take pictures of everything for our how to use our RV book. We took it to the dealership, they replaced something by the inlet, and said it was good to go. We took them at their word (big mistake) and didn't check anything until we were in NC and the hot water wouldn't work. I thought it was the pilot light out or something, but Mr M took a look and said there was some valves that were shut off and keeping the water from reaching the water heater. He turned them on and we thought we were good to go, though we didn't run the water right then (also a mistake).

Our first renters didn't use the water, they only used the RV to sleep in at a family reunion, so no problems were discovered during the rental period.

It wasn't until I tried to see what was going on with the water pressure that the issue came to light. With the bypass valves now open, water entered the tank and then started pouring out the hole.

I contacted the dealership, but the earliest we can bring it in is Tuesday and it'll take a couple days to replace the water heater tank (and cost a lot of money) so our renters are out of luck. At least they were super nice and understanding about everything. I offered to help them find another RV to rent, but they said they'd just change their reservations from campsites to cabins.

One good thing is that I discovered it before they left, rather than them discovering the problem after they'd already picked up the RV and driven to their campsite.

And where was Mr M during all this? At drill, in a completely different state, unable to do anything.

Not that he could do anything anyway- plumbing issues like this are beyond both of us- but the physical support would have been nice. We won't be sending out any more rentals when he's gone- it's just too stressful. Thankfully, I'd engaged a babysitter to watch the boys (Sunshine was at her camp clinic, remember) because I was supposed to take the renters out on a test drive required for insurance purposes and our peace of mind. So at least the boys weren't climbing all over me, wanting attention and getting into everything, which would have stressed me out so much more.

Ahh, the joys of owning an RV.

I will say, between writing the how to use our RV book for renters, going through the pre-rental checklists, and dealing with this water issue, I have a much better understanding of how all the systems work. So there's that, at least.

Weekly Mileage
Wednesday- 10.00 miles on the bike
Thursday- 2.75 miles walked
    total- 12.75 miles

5 hikes towards #52hikechallenge

68.64 foot miles towards #365milechallenge

100.00 bike miles towards #365milechallenge

Sunday Funny

When asked his name, River usually introduces himself as Captain America.

What's your name?

I'm Cap'ain 'Merica!

Good thing he's 4, because it's a lot easier to get away with introducing yourself as a super hero at that age than when you're an adult :)

River went as Captain America and Ocean was Spider Man for Halloween last year

Tree Work, Part 2

Saturday Mr M cut down the tree in the center of our driveway circle. It had a beetle infestation that was killing it, and since we're clearing out the parking area to build a car port we decided to take care of this tree along with the others.

We debated about cutting down a live tree, but it was the right decision- we discovered some rot in the center as well, so between the beetles and the interior rot, this tree only had a few more years anyway. Taking it down on our terms now eliminates the chance of it landing on our house or vehicles if it were to ever fall over on it's own sometime in the future.

rot caused by tree beetles

it fell right where we wanted it

Now that there's a gap in the canopy, there's a lot more sunlight coming through the trees in the morning, but we're willing to trade the lack of shade for not having a tree fall on the house.

In the last year we've taken down four trees (2 dead, 1 dying, 1 alive but dropping branches on vehicles) around the house and parking area, but we don't plan on doing any more, so we're now moving to the clean-up stage. I finished cleaning up the pine tree on Saturday, but we have the other three trees plus the branches from the tree by the shed still to clean up.

We're stacking the branches in a pile by the chicken coop, cutting the trunk sections into manageable sections, and making piles of those logs.

We'll rent a stump grinder to grind down the stumps in the parking area and carport area, a wood chipper to make mulch out of all the branches (we'll spread the mulch around the garden beds and the chicken coop area), and a log splitter to split all that wood. It's really unfortunate that we don't heat the house with wood, since we'll have all this wood to get rid of now. We'll probably list it on craigslist or something.

We'll also rent a Bobcat to clear and level the center of the parking area and the carport area. We rented one a few years ago when we brought in some gravel and widened the parking area. Once we prep the parking and carport areas, we'll then be ready to bring in some gravel, maybe pour a concrete pad for the carport, and then build the carport. We're hoping to get it built before the acorns start falling in the autumn (bringing more hail damage to our vehicles), but it'll really depend on how much time we have.

Weekly Mileage #60

love all the green!

This week I did pretty good at keeping to my schedule, which meant that the number of workouts increased, and I was more intentional with my time. Time blocking and alarms on my phone are keeping me from getting hung up on one task while ignoring other tasks that need to be taken care of.

However, I didn't ride my bike on Monday because I was still fighting a sore throat. It wasn't terrible, but enough to make me feel unmotivated to spend time on my bike.

I did ride my bike on Wednesday though, and I increased my speed, so it was a better workout than I've gotten in the past (which was one complaint I had about riding my bike).

Thursday we finally went for a hike, and the weather was perfect when we started- 70*, though it was 80* by the time we finished. Spring hikes are the best- we saw baby geese, turtles, polliwogs, lots of flowers, and a large tree chewed down by a beaver (multiple beavers?). We still can't find the beaver dam, but it's gotta be around there somewhere.

We played in the stream, which is always a hit with the kiddos. Ocean walked straight into the water at one point- he was ready to start splashing around. We decided we need to bring along our water sandals next time.

We also found this tree that was rotten in the center, so when it fell over, the bark just kind of bent.

Friday after we dropped Sunshine off at co-op, the boys and I attempted another hike, but it was a disaster. We walked about a quarter mile up the trail, and then I somehow managed to spray my hand with my bear spray (the clip that's supposed to keep this from happening had fallen out), and we had to head home so I could get cleaned up.

before the disaster

I was able to wipe the spray off at the car with baby wipes, but the oils were still there. When we got home I washed and washed and washed and washed with Dawn detergent to get the oils off, but they'd been sitting on my skin for about an hour, so I was only partially successful. Let's just say the next 18 hours were not pleasant and I've decided to carry just pepper spray unless we're in the back country. I've carried pepper spray since I was a teenager, and never set it off accidentally. I've carried bear spray for less than a year and have managed to set if off twice on accident (the first time wasn't direct skin contact).

Saturday I felt a lot better, but still not great, so I skipped my run, though I did haul some branches and logs from the pine tree we cut down awhile ago, so I did get some upper body work in at least.

Weekly Mileage
Wednesday- 5.00 miles on the bike
Thursday- 2.33 miles hiked
Friday-  .5 miles walked outside
    total- 7.83 miles

5 hikes towards #52hikechallenge

65.89 foot miles towards #365milechallenge

90.00 bike miles towards #365milechallenge

Sunday Funny

A while ago Ocean walked into the bathroom while River was standing in front of the toilet, peeing. I witnessed the event, and could almost see the light bulb turn on in Ocean's head.

Several times since then, I've caught him standing on the toilet seat and peeing.

This is completely reasonable in his mind, since he's not tall enough while standing on the ground. I think he'd be tall enough if he stood on the stool in front of the toilet, but that apparently is not the preferred option.

At least he shouldn't have a problem with the squat toilets when we go to China in a couple years when we pick up the child we'll be adopting.

Tree Work

I mentioned that we were hiring a tree company to do some work for us in this post, and last week they came out and cut down a tree and trimmed the dead branches off another tree. We didn't feel confident taking this one down as there was not a safe place to drop it, in any direction. The tree company took it down in sections, and it was interesting to watch how they did it as they didn't use a bucket truck- just ropes and other climbing gear.

the climber is just below the lowest branch, about halfway up

This tree is right where we want to put our car port, and since it died last summer we had a bit more incentive to get it taken down sooner rather than later. The wood was still sound, but it doesn't take long for dead trees to start deteriorating in our damp climate.

climber up waaaay higher than I would ever go

this tree was about 100' from the ground to the top

he went up the tree, cutting branches off as he went
they had this pulley mechanism to control the fall of the bigger branches and the trunk sections

branches all off

trunk mostly down 

all done

we'll get a mobil sawmill out to cut a mantel out of that tree trunk section in the middle of the picture-
we'll finally be able to finish our fireplace that I tore apart 6 or so years ago (it was too ugly to leave as it was)

we had them leave all the wood in place- we'll clear it up ourselves as we have time 

This tree has had some dead branches for a few years, and since they're over the garden shed, we wanted to get them removed before they fell on the shed. This was not something we could do ourselves, since it required more climbing and ropes and pulleys to control the fall of the branches.

dead branches

no more dead branches threatening the shed

Weekly Mileage #59

we got our tree work done this week, but I'll talk more about it in a few days

Friday I talked about changing my schedule so I could make exercise more of a priority (along with other things). I was only partially successful last week since Ocean shared his cold germs with me and I didn't feel great the first half of the week. Not awful (I've definitely been a lot sicker this year), but just crummy enough to not feel up to exercising. So I opted to rest and allow my body to heal with as little stress as possible.

I was feeling better by the end of the week, though, and managed to get on the treadmill Friday and Saturday. In fact, I even ran one of those miles on Friday. It's a bit of a slog getting truly active again, but I do feel like I'm making good progress.

Saturday I also hauled some logs around, which was a good upper body workout. I loaded the log chunks from the pile at the side of our parking area into the trailer and used the lawn tractor to haul them down to the chicken run, where I lined up the logs along the outside edge of the chicken run to make it a bit more critter proof.

the trailer was our tax return splurge this year

Our neighbor lost most of her chickens a couple weeks ago and most of her ducks last week to critters. Probably a fox the first time, but maybe a coywolf (a coyote/wolf hybrid) the second time. The ducks were within an electric poultry net fence, but whatever got them bit through the electric fence to get to them. And yes, the fence was turned on. In any case, the remaining chickens plus some pullets she hatched are in our chicken coop (since it was sitting empty because I never got around to ordering layers this winter) and we want to make sure they stay safe.

I buried fencing, but didn't attach it to the boards right away, and when I got around to doing so, everything had shifted enough that the fencing and the boards didn't meet in all locations. The large logs prevent a critter from squeezing into that space, and adds more distance between the fence line and any digging a critter might do.

I hauled most of the 100' tree- all but two chunks that were too big for me to lift into the trailer and the smaller pieces that didn't weigh enough to be helpful- down to the chicken run. Even with multiple trips (I didn't want to overload the tractor or the trailer), it only took about an hour or so and was a very doable solo project. That trailer has paid for itself already :)

This was also much easier since Mr M had dropped the snow plow from the lawn tractor, but hadn't yet reattached the mower deck. Driving through, over, and around underbrush and saplings was so much easier without any obstructing attachments.

Weekly Mileage
Friday-  3.00 miles on the treadmill
Saturday- 3.15 miles on the treadmill
    total- 6.15 miles

4 hikes towards #52hikechallenge

63.06 foot miles towards #365milechallenge

85.00 bike miles towards #365milechallenge

Sunday Funny

I told him to smile, and he did a scrunchy-face smile. Too cute!

A couple weeks ago Ocean woke up in the middle of the night, wanting a drink of water.

I found a water bottle and filled it using the sink in the hall bathroom.

He started crying and getting upset and grabbed the water bottle from me. He then dumped the water back out and went to the sink in the master bath and filled the bottle, and then finally took a drink.

Such a stinker. But it was 1:30 am and he wasn't exactly coherent or rational, or even really awake. Though these days it could be argued that he's rarely rational...

Changing Up My Schedule

a funky caterpillar we found in our yard

As I mentioned Monday, I've been working on changing my schedule the last two weeks. For the last year and a half or so I've been staying up late to work on my businesses. This means I was going to bed between 1 and 2 am every day, then sleeping until 8/8:30/however long the kiddos would allow me to sleep.

Of course, this meant I was chronically tired and irritable, and it made it a lot harder to get my workouts in. I am most consistent with my workouts when I do them in the morning, and if my morning is half gone before I even wake up, they just don't happen.

Seeing my weight creep up again as I neglect my workouts even more than I already had been was the final straw.

They say the best sleep happens before midnight and that lack of sleep increases cortisol levels and makes it hard to lose weight and stresses the body.

I'm tired of being tired and stressed out and I really need to start exercising consistently and losing weight.

In the past I've thought about waking up early to work, but nixed the idea because River is a light sleeper and an early riser and I didn't want him waking up even earlier. Also, I do my best work when I can focus and not worry about what the kiddos are or aren't doing.

This time though, the considerations of quality sleep and decreased stress outweighed the concern about River's sleep habits. If I designate the early morning hours for writing, I can stay in bed and quietly work on my computer, which will hopefully keep from disturbing River.

For the last two weeks I've made an effort to wake up at 6 am, with good success. I actually had to change my wakeup time to 7 am the second week because I got sick again, but there have only been a couple mornings I wasn't awake by 7. On the upside, while Ocean shared his germs with me, I never got as sick as him, so hopefully that means my body is less stressed and better able to function properly.

The harder part is getting to bed by 10 pm. Sometimes it's 11, but I'm making progress. The first few nights were rough since my body wasn't used to going to sleep so early, but I'm adjusting. And my body is really liking the quality sleep- I've been waking up easier and feeling more rested.

Eventually I'll move my wake up time to 5 am, and then maybe even 4 am, but that will only happen when I'm consistently going to sleep by 10 pm and not feeling stressed and sleep deprived.

I've also looked at my daily schedule and blocked out time for exercising, for working, for meal prep, for schoolwork, for going outside with the kids, etc. I've been really bad about sticking to a schedule lately because of my variable wake up times, but waking up earlier and at a consistent time is enabling me to get back on a schedule.

I won't lie, sticking to a schedule is also a challenge, and of course the kiddos don't always go to sleep or wake up when the schedule says they should, but we're getting there. Knowing that it will allow me to use my time more efficiently and be more intentional about my tasks and activities is a good incentive to keep working on consistency.

I've also gotten in the habit of having my laptop out way more than I'd like, under the hope that I could squeeze some work in here and there. But the small amount of work I was able to accomplish doesn't compensate for having the constant distraction of the computer and the example it set for the kiddos. Trying to restrict my working time to specific blocks allows me to put aside my laptop during other hours and do less multi-tasking, which isn't as efficient as I'd like it to be. And it allows me to be more present and less distracted with the kiddos.

The first week of my schedule change was the crazy week I talked about on Monday, but the second week, this week, has been a lot more calm and productive. As I said earlier, everything's a work in progress and there is definitely room for improvement, so I'll continue to work on my sleep habits and my daily schedule.

April Mileage

I need to be speedy like these little turtles- they move fast!

I'm not sure why I struggled so badly in April, but I really had a hard time getting my foot miles in. My total for the month is pathetic: 5.31 foot miles. On the other hand, I did manage 40 miles on my bike. Half an hour on my bike yields so many more miles than an hour walking on the treadmill, though I don't feel like I'm getting as much of a workout, which means it's time to increase my speed and intensity.

After a lot of thought and looking at our busy schedule, I decided not to run a race in April. My lack of foot miles was a deciding factor as well. I'm not ready for a 5k, and I don't want to do it just to do it. I find myself wanting to focus more on quality racing experiences than quantity of racing experiences. My goal for May is get my mileage back up and start building my mileage base so I can be ready for my half marathon in September. I registered for the Great Smoky Mountains half and 5k, but the Shenandoah half won't be held this year (they're moving some of their races to an alternate year schedule to be more efficient with their money and resources).

April mileage:

1 treadmill workout + 1 hike + 1 outside walk + 6 bike workouts = 45.31 miles

52 hike challenge: 4 hikes

365 mile challenge: 85.0 bike miles + 56.91 foot miles

March mileage:

1 treadmill workout + 2 hikes + 1 outside walk + 1 race + 4 bike workouts = 33.43 miles

52 hike challenge: 3 hikes

365 mile challenge: 45.0 bike miles + 51.60 foot miles

February mileage:

0 treadmill workouts + 1 hike + 3 outside run/walk + 1 race + 0 bike workouts = 15.56 miles

52 hike challenge: 1 hike

365 mile challenge: 25.0 bike miles + 38.17 foot miles

January mileage: 

2 treadmill workouts + 0 hikes + 4 outside run/walk + 1 race + 3 bike workouts = 47.61 miles

52 hike challenge: 0 hikes

365 mile challenge: 25.0 bike miles + 22.61 foot miles