Sunday Funny

Ocean thinks climbing on the furniture is great fun. Not sure where he gets that from...  :)

Our New-to-Us Treadmill

our new treadmill

We bought our first treadmill on craigslist for $50 four or five years ago. We were the 3rd or 4th owners, but it worked.

Mostly.

Except it developed the bad habit of randomly shutting off while I was walking or running. I'd come to a complete and abrupt stop and lose the time and distance info for that workout. I'd also have to wait about 10 minutes or so before the circuit could be flipped back on so I could get back to my workout.

Sometimes this would happen multiple times during a workout, sometimes months would go by without it occurring. There was no rhyme or reason we could see to the shut-offs.

A couple weeks ago it happened again and it was the last straw. While I waited for the circuit to re-set itself, I hopped on craigslist to see if I could find a new treadmill.

The stars aligned and I found another treadmill listed for $50, and it was in much better condition than our old one. The timing really worked out well since Mr M was still on vacation so he was able to help get the treadmill. Treadmills are heavy and unwieldy, so that was a huge plus.

The treadmill hasn't actually been used much because the older lady who owned it has had too many  injuries to her legs and was told not to use it any more. She's also moving, so she decided it was a good time to get rid of it. Her loss, our gain.

It's taken a few workouts to figure out the console display, but the treadmill is leaps and bounds above what we had before. My only real quibble with it is that the digital display isn't lighted, and I'm short enough that the angle of the display is a little too high for me to comfortably see.

The belt is a little narrower and shorter than our old treadmill, and my makeshift laptop table further decreases the amount of space I can use on the belt. It's really only an issue when I'm running, so I have to be more cognizant of where I am on the treadmill. Being more aware of where I am isn't a bad thing :)

This treadmill is also much quieter than the old one: it's actually possible to hear a show on my laptop without earbuds in.

It's so nice to have a treadmill that works again!

Natural Bridge State Park

We recently went to Natural Bridge State Park. It's been on our to-do list for awhile, and we were in the area, so we decided it was a good time to finally check it out.

Ocean was in the stroller so he didn't make it into any pictures :)

It really is quite spectacular.

George Washington supposedly surveyed the Natural Bridge area in 1750. His initials can be seen carved on the side of the rock wall. Thomas Jefferson purchased a 157 acre tract of land that included the Natural Bridge in 1774 from King George III for 20 shillings. I wish land was still that cheap :)

on the back side of the arch

There's a trail that leads past the Natural Bridge to an old Monacan Indian village site that's now a living history exhibit.

If you follow the trail further, you come to an old saltpeter mine that was used during the War of 1812 and the Civil War. You can't go in, though in all honesty, I wouldn't have wanted to. It just looked like a cramped, dirty, dark opening in the overhanging rock.

The trail continued over a stream that was formed when the miners blasted the rock to expose the hidden river they could hear, but not see. No one's been able to find the beginning or end of the river despite multiple attempts.

The trail ended near Lace Waterfall. Though it looked to me like some trees had fallen down part of the waterfall, which makes it a little less scenic.

looking downstream from the falls

The trail was a nice little walk of about a mile and a half or so from the Natural Bridge to the falls and back. It was also accessible- Ocean was in the stroller the whole time without any off-roading needed. There's some caverns nearby that we plan on visiting the next time we're in the area.

Expanding the Chicken Run, Part 1

you can just see Mr M and the ditch witch, starting to dig the new run perimeter on the backside of the coop I built this spring and summer

I mentioned that a couple weeks ago we worked on expanding the chicken run. We did this for a couple reasons.

The original covered run is a little bigger than 10'x12', which I thought was a good size until 27 nearly full grown chickens were actually in it. They took it down to bare dirt in less than a week.

I always planned on having some sort of rotating setup so we could move the chickens from area to area, with the covered run reserved for the days we were away from home. I didn't have time to do it before we butchered this year's batch of chickens, though.

The original plan involved moving electric fencing around in the woods, but we have enough deadfall that I was worried about the fencing getting grounded by fallen branches. Added to that is the fact that our neighbors have a Great Dane who likes chickens, and I just didn't trust a portable electric fence to protect our chickens.

So then I came up with the idea of a large area with a secure perimeter (buried fencing, hardware cloth, etc) that could be divided internally. The internal divisions could be done with chicken wire, since the only thing chicken wire is good for is keeping chickens in, which is a lot cheaper than hardware cloth. The size would preclude covering it, so we'll put a small shelter in each section for the chickens to hide under and I will probably figure out a way to give them access to the coop during the day so they can go in if they want.

We'll leave the chickens in one area for about a week, then move them to the next area for a week, and so on. Letting the areas rest will help plants and bugs re-populate and recover so there's more food for the chickens.

heading down the hill

When I came up with the idea I knew that digging the trenches for the buried fencing by hand wasn't going to be an option. I'd dug the perimeter of the enclosed pen by hand (about 35 feet all together, I think) and it took me days. I just don't have the time, or desire, to spend days and days digging through roots and rocks. I remembered seeing a ditch witch used by some of the full-timers when I worked for the county parks department back before my mission, and I realized that that would do the job.

While I'm comfortable doing all sorts of things by myself, ditch witching is not something I wanted to do by myself. Ditch witches are just too big, heavy, and awkward. I could probably have managed it, but it would have taken awhile and possibly more manhandling than I really could handle.

So I decided to wait until Mr M was able to take some time off work, and then we'd tackle it together. Or, more accurately, he'd tackle most of it and I'd supervise :)

We ended up with the bigger ditch witch because the smaller ones were all being used already, but it was a bit much for the CRV and our little utility trailer. The CRV could only get up to 45 mph and the trailer was creaking ominously. Despite that, Mr M was able to maneuver the ditch witch around and get the ditches dug. A few trees caused some slow-downs, but it only took him an hour to dig 115' feet of ditches.

We rented the ditch witch for four hours, and it was pretty affordable. It was definitely worth the money and worth saving the time and effort that would have been expended if I'd been digging by hand.

I hadn't quite thought ahead to when I'd install the hardware cloth, but the forecast of rain made me realize I had to get the hardware cloth buried immediately. If I didn't, and it rained, the rain would cause all the dirt to go back in the ditches and I'd have to re-dig them. No thank you.

So after the ditch witching was done, Mr M returned it to the rental place and then went to Lowes for fencing materials. While he was doing that, I made sure the ditches were clear all around (some dirt had fallen or been pushed in during the process) and then started digging post holes.

We needed nine post holes dug, which takes a while, so I hadn't finished when Mr M returned, but he was able to start setting the posts in the holes I had dug. Working together took so much less time and was so much more efficient. Who knew?  :)

look at that straight line, dug in just minutes

The next day I cut the rolls of 1/2" hardware cloth in half in preparation for burying them. 1/2" hardware cloth comes in rolls 24" tall, but I only wanted 12" tall panels, hence the necessity to cut them in half. It was killer on my hands- a week later they were still a bit sore from wielding the tin snips. Then I bent the hardware cloth out on the bottom edge and stuck it in the ditches before filling in all the dirt, leaving a few inches of hardware cloth showing.

That's as far as we got for now, but it's also the hardest parts of the project, so finishing it won't be too difficult. I'll attach the upper edges of the buried hardware cloth to boards like I did for the enclosed run as well as adding more hardware cloth, but that's a project for another day.

I have until March to get the run finished, but my goal is to have it done by Christmas since our worst weather is usually in January and February.

posts in and fencing poking up from the trenches

The enclosed run had fewer plants available to the chickens because I'd trampled or covered in dirt a good percentage of them. Doing the fencing now gives the ground more time to recover and more plants to re-grow on the dirt that was moved around.

Weekly Mileage

there's still a lot of green out there, but we did see some nice colors

Last week I spent time on the treadmill three times and went on one hike. My mileage is still a little lower than I'd like, but it's going back up. I wanted to do some running, but I just wasn't feeling it, so I just walked on the treadmill. I'm still not sleeping as well as I'd like, so I'm sure that was a contributing factor.

a slug, a hole in a tree, and a spiky caterpillar

I also had one work day: I finished staining the deck and patio in what turned out to be 80+ degree weather. Oil based stain and sweat do not mix well and I was so disgusting by the time I finished. I had planned on working on Saturday as well, but it was too windy to spray stain on the treehouse. It was a lot cooler that day, but the wind would have made a huge mess and wasted a lot of stain.

more fall foliage

We haven't been to our local park to hike for a few weeks, so it was nice to get back out there. This is the perfect time of year for it and we saw a lot of pretty leaves and critters and mushrooms. It was a lot of fun.

such a variety of mushrooms!

Last week's mileage:
Tuesday- walked 1.5 miles on our new-to-us treadmill
Wednesday- walked 3.13 miles on the treadmill and finished staining the back deck and the basement patio
Thursday- hiked 1.68 miles at our local trails park
Friday- walked 2.77 miles on the treadmill
         Total for the week: 9.08 miles

Sunday Funny

Hiking with kiddos is never dull. Case in point: this week Sunshine decided to wear a dress on our hike. Now, admittedly it wasn't a long hike, but it still wouldn't have been my first choice in clothing. 

River cheesed for the picture and Sunshine photobombed.

You never know how the kiddos will act: happy, sad, mad, curious, or any other of a range of emotions. Despite that, it's still worth it to get outside, explore nature, and spend time together. 

Easy DIY Harry Potter-themed Costumes

Mr M took some time off his crazy work schedule at the beginning of October to spend time with us, relax, and catch up on things that needed to be done around the house. I'd already decided on the theme for costumes for the kids and I, and I realized that even though Mr M wouldn't be able to go to any Halloween parties with us he could still be included in the group if I finished our costumes before the last minute, as I've done the last few years.

check out River and Sunshine :)

With that goal in mind, in September I got busy ordering, purchasing, and creating.

too cute!

I knew I couldn't spend the amount of time I've spent in the past on costumes, so I planned on simple costumes this year. I enjoy the process of creating the costumes, but it's time consuming and time is in short supply this year.

I've thought about doing Harry Potter costumes for a couple years now, and I realized that this would be the year to do it because I'd only need to sew the robes. So I determined that Sunshine would be Hermione, River would be Harry Potter, I would be Professor Sprout, and Ocean would be a mandrake. We added Mr M to the group as Hagrid.

I'm posting our group pictures now, but I'm going to do individual posts for each costume so I can talk about what went into each one.

Individual Costume Posts:

DIY Harry Potter costume
DIY Hermione costume
DIY Hagrid costume
DIY Mandrake costume
DIY Prof. Sprout costume

Flat Trail 5k

it was a beautiful day for running

We haven't traveled to a race since the Great Smoky Mountains half two years ago. This race wasn't nearly as far away, and was close enough that I probably could have driven down that morning. However, packet pickup was only until 7am and the 5k didn't start until 8:30. I'd have had to get up super early, and then wait around.

I thought it would be easier just to drive down the night before and pick up my packet, spend the night in a hotel, and then get to the race start line 15-20 minutes before it began.

Hah.

Silly me.

The boys napped on the way down and then didn't want to fall asleep when we got to the hotel. Sunshine went to sleep pretty quickly, but River didn't fall asleep until 10, and I don't know when Ocean actually fell asleep. It was sometime after 11:30, which was the last time I checked the time.

We brought a portable crib, but he refused to sleep in it- just screamed. So we had to pull him out and hold him so the neighbors wouldn't get upset. He was so, so tired though, and not happy about not being in his own bed. He crawled this way and that way on top of us, and sucked his thumb and snuggled blankie, and then crawled around some more, and then fussed some more....

Then he'd calm down for a bit, but if Mr M or I moved even a little, the mattress would move exponentially more, and he'd start fussing again and we'd go through it all over again. And again. And again.

All. night. long.

Needless to say, we all woke up tired.

Despite the lack of sleep, my legs felt pretty good. I've run races where my legs felt so heavy it required extra effort just to walk, never mind run, but that was not the case Saturday, which was a nice change. In fact, my legs felt so good that I was able to run the whole race without stopping!

I was also able to run the whole Corn Maze 5k last year, but I'm not counting that one since there were more than 300 turns. Not exactly your normal race experience. Before that, I'm not sure when the last time was that I was able to run a race non-stop.

Hopefully my increased mileage has something to do with my improved endurance. If that's the case, then as I continue to increase my mileage, my endurance should increase as well. Though the course had something to do with it as well. The course was absolutely flat (or pretty close to it). It's amazing how much easier it is to maintain your pace and keep running when you're not struggling up and down numerous hills.

Running the race without stopping helped me maintain a more consistent pace, and I even managed to run the last mile faster than the first two miles. In fact, this was my second fastest race this year. The New Year's Day 5k was my fastest at 33:01, but I beat the March 5k by 2 seconds.

I ran exactly 3.10 miles in 33:47. I just checked the online results, and apparently I placed second in my age group! yes, it was a smaller race, but not the smallest I've run in, and I'll take what I can get :) We didn't stick around for awards because I thought they were doing them after the half marathon finished and we needed to get back to the hotel so I could shower and change. Now I'm kind of bummed that we didn't stick around... excited, but bummed.
1st mile: 11:01
2nd mile: 11:09
3rd mile: 10:41

The weather was perfect: overcast, so no sun shining in my eyes; cool, but not too cold; and not too humid either. The trail was nicely shaded, so even if the sun had been out I don't think it would have been an irritant.  The trail itself was a wide path and mostly packed gravel. It was such a great place to run- I wish it was closer :)

The trail we ran on was once a railroad bed and part of an old canal tow path. Like I mentioned earlier, it was flat and fast. I ran this race because I wanted to scope out the area and course because there's also a half marathon run at the same time as the 5k, and I'd like to run the half next year. The half marathon course apparently has a short, but steep, hill in it, though that may just be this year because of a detour because of a washed out bridge. I'll have to check the description next year to see if the hill is still a part of the course. Other than that, though, the course is flat. With proper training, I think I can run it in about 2 hours, which is quite a bit faster than any of my recent half marathons. It'll come down to the training though. And a good night's sleep, uninterrupted by screaming babies.

Last week's mileage:
My mileage was a little low again last week. We've been busy taking advantage of Mr M's time off work, so projects and family fun time have taken precedence over workouts. It's temporary, so I'm not worried about the dip in mileage.
Monday- walked on the treadmill 3.1 miles
Thursday- stained part of the basement patio
Friday- stained most of the back deck
Saturday- ran the Flat Trail 5k, then hiked to a waterfall, about 1.5 miles round trip (post to come)
             Total for the week: 7.70 miles plus 2 work days

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

25th race in 2016

	Month	Event	Time
1.	January	New Year’s Day 5k	33:01
2.	February	Frostbite 5k	37:37
3.	February	Mud Run	1:35:37
4.	March	4k Walk	33:19
5.	March	March 5k	33:49
6.	March	Pi Day Virtual 5k	1:01:30
7.	March	Obstacle Race	44:06
8.	April	Glow Run	35:16
9.	April	April 5k	41:15
10.	April	Evening Run	34:59
11.	May	May 5k	35:18
12.	May	Evening Cross Country Race	43:17
13.	June	June 5k	39:21
14.	June	1 Mile Glow Run	11:38
15.	June	Vineyard 5k	39:10
16.	July	July 5k	35:53
17.	August	Predict Your Time 5k	37:41
18.	August	August 5k	35:45
19.	August	NPS 100th Virtual 10k	1:49:17
20.	August	4 Mile Run	45:20
21.	September	Labor Day 5k	46:54
22.	September	1 Mile Color Run	18:25
23.	September	3.5 Mile Trail Run	41:07
24.	October	Run Long & Prosper Virtual 5k	49:55
25.	October	Flat Trail 5k	33:47

37th race towards 40 by 40 goal

	Date	Event	Distance	Event Type
1.	July 2015	4th of July 5k	5k	Pregnant
2.	August	4 Mile Fun Run	4 miles	Road Race
3.	September	All Terrain	5k	Mixed surface
4.	October	Hill Valley Half	13.1 miles	Virtual half marathon
5.	October	Corn Maze 5k	5k	Corn Maze
6.	October	Kilted Trail 5k	5k	Kilted race
7.	November	Trail Half	13.6 miles	Trail Half
8.	November	Turkey Trot	5k	Road Race
9.	December	Veteran’s 5k	5k	Mixed surface
10.	December	Army Virtual Marathon	26.23 miles	Virtual marathon
11.	January 2016	New Year’s Day 5k	5k	Road race
12.	February	Frostbite 5k	5k	Cross country race
13.	February	Mud Run	4.8 miles	Mud run
14.	March	4k Walk	4k	Walk
15.	March	March 5k	5k	Road race
16.	March	Pi Day Virtual 5k	5k	Virtual 5k Walk
17.	March	10 mile race	Not applicable	Water stop volunteer
18.	March	Obstacle Race	5k	Obstacle run
19.	April	Glow Run	5k	Glow Run, 1st of 2 races in 12 hours
20.	April	April 5k	5k	Pushing jogger, 2nd of 2 races in 12 hours
21.	April	Evening Run	5k	Evening run
22.	May	10k Kayak Race	10k	Kayak race
23.	May	May 5k	5k	1st of 2 races in same day
24.	May	Evening CC Race	5k	Evening cross country, 2nd of 2 races in same day
25.	June	June 5k	5k	Pushing jogger, 1st of 2 races in same day
26.	June	1 Mile Glow Run	1 mile	Pushing jogger with both boys, 2nd of 2 races in same day, glow run
27.	June	Vineyard 5k	5k	Vineyard run
28.	July	July 5k	5k	Road race
29.	August	Predict Your Time 5k	5k	Predict your time
30.	August	August 5k	5k	Road race
31.	August	NPS 100th Virtual 10k	10k	Virtual 10k run
32.	August	4 Mile Run	4 miles	Road race
33.	September	Labor Day 5k	5k	With all 3 kiddos
34.	September	1 Mile Color Run	1 mile	Color run, Sunshine’s first solo race, River’s first race
35.	September	3.5 Mile Trail Run	3.5 miles	Trail run
36.	October	Run Long & Prosper Virtual 5k	5k	Virtual 5k run
37.	October	Flat Trail 5k	5k	Travel to race, trail run, ran without stopping