Halfway through!

So... my eldest son (I17) and I have been running together off and on since spring.  I have been plagued by a knee injury and ended up taking it pretty easy this summer. But, in the beginning of August, we started running again, using a wonderful training app called Zombies, Run! that tells you a story of survival during the zombie apocalypse while putting you through interval training.
This evening we finished week 4 of the 8 week training for a 5k.  Once we finish this, we will probably move on to the next app that has numerous 'missions' you can run.  I've found it fun and motivating and you never know what's gonna happen next- except it generally involves being chased by zombies!  of course, right up my alley!!  And I'm finally at the point where it feels GOOD to run again and not so much like work or "Oh, God! I'm gonna die!!"

In other news, the tomatoes are finally kicking into high gear so I guess I'm going to be spending my Friday night canning tomatoes while the boys are off at the first high school football game of the year.  Oh well, it will keep me out of trouble.

Another weekend come and gone

And once again, I'm tired.  Yesterday was a beautiful day but I didn't get as much accomplished as I would have liked.  K14 and I loaded up the tiller and headed into town to till up our friend Jim's garden patch.  With the rain in the forecast, we knew that it was now or not for several weeks.  But it's done and he is a happy camper.  Now I just need to supply him with a few tomatoes and peppers and he'll be set.  I was also distracted by other friends stopping by to get eggs and seedlings. It was great to see them and chat for a while but it put me behind.  Although, the quart of canned fatali peppers definitely makes up for anything.  We're OUT of hot peppers!  Unheard of, I know!  So this will see us through until the garden starts producing.
When we got home, I got the rest of my early garden planted.  My little romanesco, broccoli and cabbage seedlings went out and we got them mulched with straw and covered with the row covers.  Whew!  After loading the tiller in and out of the van several times and planting 36 little plants, my back is tired.
But, my lettuce I planted in the front of the pea planters is up and I'm hoping the peas will follow soon. We had fresh spinach salads from the greenhouse last night and tonight we had fettucini with nettle pesto.  Mmmm.....   I'm gonna have to harvest more nettles and get them in the freezer since they are quickly becoming a favorite here, whether in pasta, risotto or pesto.   Maybe tomorrow afternoon if it's not raining.
Tomorrow morning, we need to be at the hospital by 6am for V's biopsy.  That's an early start to the day.  But, good thing is that he is the first procedure of the day so he doesn't have to wait all day without eating.  And we should be home by noon.  Time enough to get a few things done while V sleeps.

In news that's more fun:  I16 and I have been running together.  He makes a great running partner, although I'm slowing him down.  Justine turned us onto this great running app for our phones.  It's called "Zombies, Run!"  It is a voiceover over your own music that takes you through running intervals by having you run from zombies.  Along the way you pick up things that help your community.  There is also an online component that's kind of like a game.  The 5k trainer is great.  It starts you as a non-runner and has you walk and only do 15 second running drills for the first week.  Even I can run for 15 seconds- even after the inactivity of this winter.   Anyway, it makes it fun and is just that extra bit of motivation I need.  We got out for a run this afternoon before the storms hit.
The storms were pretty violent.  Not as bad as some places but we had 60+ mph winds, heavy rain (about 2 inches in approximately half an hour!) and pea sized hail.  And it's supposed to keep raining all week.  Oh, well... we need rain, we're still behind and I can tell by the water quality from the well that the water table is low.

Still in the deep freeze

I know we're not alone in being stuck in the depths of winter. I had planned to start some little things inside to put out in the greenhouse in February.  Well... it's February and we're still having overnight temps in the minus teens.  I don't care how hardy something is, it's not gonna survive overnight with temps like that.  The sun is shining today so I'll try to get out there and water while it has the chance to be warm.  I did have a few little spinach seedlings that had somehow survived out there but I haven't checked recently.
But, I'm an optimist and this afternoon (after belly dancing class) I'm going to start some kale, chard and lettuce for the greenhouse.  Maybe by March it will be warm enough for it to survive.

I'll be honest, I'm getting tired of cold weather.  And snow.  I know there are people struggling with ice and I'm grateful that we haven't had to deal with that this year.  And there are people struggling with crippling drought.  We'll take the moisture we're getting with the snow. I just wish it wasn't so regular.  It seems like every three of four days we get another inch or four of snow.  And the wind this year seems particularly nasty.  But enough of complaining about the weather.  It has it's beauty as well.

Sunrise this morning, shining off the frost on the trees.  Stunning!

 I caught this guy at the bird feeder yesterday.  By the time I got the camera he was up the tree, eating snow off the branch.  Must have needed to wash down all that birdseed.

The titmouse is fluffed up against the cold.   I do think they are adorable.

Things haven't been totally rosy here.  We've had some bad news and a few problems around the house.  A friend of ours slipped on his basement stairs, fell and hit his head and now is minimally responsive in a coma.  That was over a week ago and not much change in his condition.  We're all hoping and praying for the best.  And my cousin's husband got his hand in the table saw while working on a project and ended up losing a couple of fingers.  (those things terrify me every time!)  We've been lucky in that we are all healthy.
A few "mechanical" glitches around the house involving a non-working furnace this morning (intake vent blocked by snow!) and a clogged sewer pipe last week.  The sewer issues, of course, necessitated a trip to the home improvement store in the middle of a snowstorm to get a 40 ft sewer rod and poor V working outside at the clean-out pipe in terrible, snowy, windy, single digit weather. But all those problems we (or should I say V) were able to fix ourselves.
I have been working out much more regularly.  Justine and I hope to do a few runs this summer while she's home, including another shot at a zombie run.  Maybe I can survive this year!  Regardless, I do need to get in better shape and I've been working on it.  My schedule is 30 minutes on the elliptical 3 days a week, 20 minute zumba with the x-box two days, belly dance class one day and a day off.  We'll see how long I can keep that up.  I missed a day last week because of the sewer problems but I'm trying....

All in all, we're doing OK.  Hope you are all faring as well in the seemingly endless winter.

Herbs and the Apocalypse

Or...  Why more than strength and speed are needed for survival.

You all know that we did the zombie run this weekend.  It was awesomely fun.  I started on the zombie fit quest a while ago after watching a marathon of The Walking Dead.  I had the realization that I had all this awesome knowledge and great skills but may not be fit enough to survive long enough for it to be useful if I truly had to run for my life.  So, I began the quest to lose some weight and get back into shape.  I've been plagued by illness and injury but have persevered.  I've still got a way to go to be truly zombie fit but this weekend showed me that I can hold my own and do have things to offer.

The weather was a great equalizer in the early waves of the race on Saturday.  Rain made the trails muddy and treacherous so that even those who were young and fit couldn't go fast.  That meant that those who were young and fit were rubbing shoulders with those of us who were slower and possibly less young.  And sometimes... it worked to their advantage.

In trying to keep her balance on a muddy slope, a young woman (one of those young/fit people) inadvertently grabbed onto a nettle which were growing in abundance along the trail.  Her hand on fire, I offered assistance, telling her I could find a plant to help relieve the pain.  She declined and smeared her hand with mud from the trail, saying she would be fine.

Fast forward a quarter mile and a crawl through the stream later... she approaches complaining that her hand was still burning.  The mud hadn't helped and she had scrubbed it with sand in the stream which made it worse.  A few feet down the trail, I spied Jewelweed (also known as Touch-me-Nots), picked a bit and gave it to her, telling her to break open the stem and smear the juice on her hand.  She had a quite skeptical look on her face but tried it- I think at that point she was desperate. Her skeptical look turned to one of amazement, relief and joy as she realized that it actually worked.

Ha!  See... the old and slow do have their uses when running from zombies!

Zombies!!! (photo heavy)

I'm sorry to inform you that both Justine and I have been infected with the zombie virus.  We did not survive the race with any flags intact.  But we had a fabulous time and hope to do it again next year!  We made a weekend of it with Justine and I, I16 and Justine's boyfriend JC.   The guys were our cheerleaders and photographers.
A few photos of the adventure:

 We start out, clean and with flags intact.  Ready to go!

 The first hill is a killer!  The race was run on a motocross track and it had rained fairly heavily in the morning so everything was muddy.  The biggest problem was at the top of the hill where the track is bowl shaped and slippery.  I would not have made it except for the kindness of strangers pulling me up.  There was a wonderful sense of camaraderie among the participants as there is safety in numbers.

 Justine and I are sizing up a zombie zone, trying to decide the best route to take.

 Made it through this one safely!

 One of the easy obstacles:  Crawling through mud under barbed wire.

 More kindness of strangers.  He helped me, then I helped Justine and she helped the person behind her, etc.

 Up the final hill...

and down the final hill.  No graceful running at this race.  It was much more "trying to not fall".

 We start up the waterslide...

 and head down!

 Splash Down!  Into the pool of fake blood (now much more muddy than bloody)

 Through the final wave of zombies.

 On to the finish line.  Yes, it is electrified, in case you were wondering.  This was the second electrified obstacle.  And there were walls to climb over, barricades to crawl under (through both mud and a running, ice cold stream with pebbles under your knees!)

 Finished!!  Even though we were 'infected' we still got our medals.

 Don't let the smiling zombie fool you... she will eat your brains at a moment's notice!

Now I'll have to train harder so maybe next year I can survive!!!

Muddy Day!

Today, Justine and I completed the Iowa Games Mud Run.  Whew!  What a challenge.  Mother nature has been 'helping' on the course and there was more mud than expected.  In fact, they had to alter the course because some areas were under too much water to be safe to have people run through.
So we did about 3 miles in mostly shin deep mud or knee deep water.  Only having the mud two to three inches deep was heavenly.

I'll be honest, we both struggled.  But, we weren't the only ones struggling. It was tough going out there.
Here are a few photos of the day.  And, yes, I'm posting photos that are not at all flattering.

 Prior to the run, we are clean and happy.

 Justine donned her muddy paint, ready to tackle the world.

 And we're off!

 Coming up on the finish.... This is some of the shallow mud!

 We haven't even had water yet- why are you taking our photo?  I look like I really want to kill someone!

Finally... happy to take off the shoes!  We both made it through with our shoes intact.  We saw many, many abandoned shoes along the way.  We wondered at the race start why so many people were running barefoot... now we know!  Next time- barefoot it is!!  Shoes become a liability in knee deep muck.

But like they say...  What doesn't kill us makes us stronger.  One month to go before zombie race!

A day trip to the farm

We took a day trip to see my parents on the farm yesterday. With all the rain and storms they had three trees go down, falling from the creek bank into the orchard.  Dad had worked to get them cut up already but at his age, he doesn't need to be hauling that much wood.  So, we all loaded up and made the trip.  Many hands make light work and with all our teenagers and V and I working, we had the brush moved and the firewood hauled and stacked in seemingly no time.   I teased Justine that it was our strength training workout for the day.
Speaking of training... Justine and I have been doing training runs, getting in shape for the zombie apocalypse that's coming sooner than I imagined.  We're doing a 'trial run' next weekend and doing the Mud Run in Des Moines.  I think it's supposed to rain next weekend so that will mean more mud to run through.  Joy.  We did invest in trail running shoes that have better than average tread.  Good for running through mud and up and down slippery hills.

The garden is growing.  We did manage to get everything planted last weekend.  And I noticed a few little cucumbers popping up out there.  Mom gave me a few extra eggplant and tomato starts that she didn't want.  Not that I NEED more plants but one of my deer ravaged tomatoes isn't coming back very well so I may replace it.  Now if only I can manage to keep the baby bunnies from devastating the rest of the garden.

The fab four pullets have integrated pretty well into the rest of the flock. They're not exactly mingling yet but they appear to have achieved a 'mutual tolerance' policy.  Abbie (our dominant hen) took it upon herself to bother them for most of the week.  Not exactly picking on them, but standing there, giving them the 'stink-eye' if they moved toward the feeder, chasing them off the roost, things like that.  But, we made sure they had plenty of unmolested time to eat and she seems to have gotten bored with watching them so they're becoming more adventurous with the flock, even running into the mix to grab strawberry hulls when I toss them in.

Yesterday's harvest:  8 eggs, a bowl of strawberries and a handful of radishes.  I've replanted lettuce but it may be a challenge to keep it from the bunnies.

We continue the battle with chipmunks.  V has been picking them off with the air rifle but they continue to create havoc.  I've pinned deer netting over the strawberry bed but they still manage to get in and eat the strawberries.  Grrr!  And they dig in the plants on the porch.  sigh.  But we will persevere.

 And... it's raining again today.  Looks like my garden plans will be put on hold and Justine and I will be running in the rain this afternoon.

Still kicking!

Long time, no post.

Things have been a bit busy around here and blogging has taken a back burner.  But life is still rolling along here at Troll Bridge Acres.  Here's a quick update.
On the garden front: I've got lots of little seedlings up!  But I'm having germination problems with some of my peppers.  Seed that I just got last year so should still be good is having terrible germination this year.   I'm also struggling with aphids that have migrated from one of the houseplants onto my seedlings.  Grr!  I thought we had them under control on the houseplants but I guess not.   I was hoping to till at least part of the garden but it has been rainy here lately so it is still too wet. Maybe later this afternoon... we only got a little shower this morning and it is sunny and windy this afternoon.  But I'm not holding my breath- I was out a little bit ago and it's still pretty squishy.  But, I'm not complaining about the rain- we're finally out of drought conditions!!  I15 helped me clear off flower beds last weekend and we planted a wisteria vine to climb up the pergola on the deck- something a bit more permanent than the morning glories.
On the work front (paid job): Today is my one day off after a 6 day stretch.  It has been a really, really long week and I'm dealing with a pretty tough patient group right now so it has been really sapping my energy.  I've got 4 days to work and then I get a 4 day weekend with the alignment of my Friday comp day for working Saturday and my usual every-other Monday off.  I can't wait!
Chickens: The big girls are finally back into the swing of things and we're getting 6  or more eggs/day.  I'm going to have to see if I can sell a few at work since the fridge is quickly filling up!  The little girls are growing quickly and are at that awkward 'teenage' stage.  But they are healthy and appear happy.  I came down this morning to find them all snuggled up roosting on the stick I put in there for them.  I did change the wood chip bedding I had in the kennel for them.  The downstairs bath was getting a bit stinky!
Sewing: ugh.  I haven't had much time to spend at the machine.  I've got a blouse that I started weeks ago that still isn't finished.  I don't have much left to do but just can't seem to get it done.  I've got a jacket for I15 cut out and ready to start.  Next weekend I'm hoping to spend some quality time in the sewing room.  I've also got to do another baby quilt for work.  One of the social workers I work closely with is expecting in August.  I had hoped to have my business website up and running in April but I'm rapidly losing the month.
Zombie training:  I was doing really, really well until I slipped on wet grass and twisted my knee last weekend.  It hasn't so much been painful as much as it just feels unstable and like it wants to hyperextend when I run. It is getting better but I've taken the week off running because I don't want to injure it further and REALLY do some damage.  But, I'm registered for a 5K run/walk next Sunday afternoon, the Rehab Run, sponsored by the Physical Therapy department at the University.  Even if I have to walk it I'm going to do it.  And Justine and I are going to do the Mud Run in June and our big race is in July.    I'd really like to do the Color Run but our most local race is the same weekend as Run for Your Lives.   Oh well, maybe next year.
Family:  V has been busy writing so house stuff has slowed down.  But, he's continued to put up more ceilings in the basement on his off days.  It is so nice to be doing 'finishing' stuff!  Now that it is starting to warm up, I'll probably be doing some painting as well soon.  I think I'm going to be going through LOTS of primer in the basement.  The boys are charging along through the school year and Justine will be finished with her first year of college in mid May.  Hard to believe that it's just over a month away.  Wow! Where has time gone.

Well, now that I've wasted some time here, I've still got lots on my to-do list for today that I've been avoiding.  Back to work, although I'd really much rather just sit and enjoy the weather....

I'll try to work through my blog reading backlog sometime soon and will really try to post more often.

A weekend of photos

It's been busy here... but laid back as well.  The pace has definitely slowed with the shortening days and it's rather nice.  Rather than bore you with all the details, I thought I'd share a few photos of the weekend.

I ran my first 5k race in a long, long time on Saturday morning.   I'll admit, I did walk some of it and finished in a pathetic time... but I got my old, out of shape body out there and did it!  Look out zombies!  I'm getting ready for you!

V was helpful and carved the jack-o-lanterns into chicken friendly pieces with his sword.  I love the action shot with the falling bit of pumpkin!

 Spaz, the Mighty Hunter, was successful at stopping an unwelcome intruder.

And a little light demolition occurred in the pantry.  When the addition was built onto the house, they blocked up the original basement staircase and built the pantry and a closet on the other side.  Unfortunately, they didn't remove the original door lintel.

 You can see the top shelf of the pantry right underneath what's left of the door frame.  It was virtually unusable for anything larger than 6 inches wide.  But, thanks to the sawz-all and my honey...

 The old door frame is gone

 and the top shelf is opened up.

 A bit of plaster work- still currently in progress.

 And the newly opened top shelf is perfectly sized for the water bath canner and the stock pots.  Yeah!! The next phase will be doors over the top three shelves to protect the jars from light.  I do have larger shelves in the basement where most of our food stocks are kept but these are the 'immediate use' jars near the kitchen.  On the bottom shelf are my jars of dried beans and grains.  And underneath are cabinets that V built in that house small appliances, bread, potatoes and the cleaning rags as well as 'the junk drawer'.

 The chard is doing well in the greenhouse.

As is the leaf lettuce.  I see salads in the near future.

I hope you all had a good weekend as well and that all those out east are beginning to get back to whatever normal you call yours.

Heading out

I'll be heading out of town tomorrow afternoon to Des Moines for the Iowa Occupational Therapy Association annual conference.  I've got a dinner meeting tomorrow evening with the speaker to go over her plans for the Friday conference.  I managed to find an inexpensive hotel room (and they have a pool and hot tub!!) that is between my dinner location and the conference site.  Hopefully less than 15 minutes to either.  I'm out of work tomorrow at 1:30 so I can get home to get the car, drive the two hours there, find my hotel, check in and get to the restaurant where we're meeting by 6:00 pm.  It's gonna be a full day since I've got back to back patient care in the morning, a lunchtime work meeting then only half an hour to finish all my documentation before heading out.  Whoosh.   It will be a wild time.
I've been doing well on my workout schedule for getting zombie fit for next summer.  I've started hitting the elliptical hard the past few days so I'm kind of glad I'll get the day off the workout tomorrow night.  But I plan to keep up with basic strength and endurance training while I try to find some good running routes.  I've also tracked down a few 5k runs coming up this spring and early summer so I can practice running a straight race for time without zombies or obstacles.
We've been having some lovely salads out of the greenhouse this week.  But very few eggs.  I've been getting only 1 or 2 eggs a day and most of the hens look exceptionally scruffy.
But the weather has been unusual!  We hit 80+ today!  In late October.  And we've been having rain this week.  Much, much needed!
Now, I've gotta go pack and get myself organized for the next two days.

I'm sure I'm gonna regret this

Remember waaay back when... you know, when I was talking about getting into better shape.  Yeah... that...  I haven't done a very good job.  But now I have some motivation.  Zombies.  Yup... for real this time!
I have let Justine talk me into registering both of us for Run for Your Lives.  It's a 5k obstacle course filled with zombies who want to get you.  At least the race we're registering isn't until next July.  In Minnesota.
So, I've not got 9 months to whip my sorry @ss into shape... or those zombies are going to eat me for lunch!

But seriously, having this deadline (lol- DEADline) will give me the motivation I need to get moving.  And it does look like awesome fun.

Asset or liability?

Hmm...  I've been musing today while I quilted.  It was pretty mindless and made for an idle mind, ripe for wandering.  I mentioned last night that J17 and I watched a zombie marathon yesterday.  We watched the marathon of The Walking Dead leading up to the new episode.  I don't know how I have managed to miss this show before now.  I LOVE zombie/alien/end of the world movies and shows.  But, I don't generally watch all that much TV so I guess I just never stumbled onto it before now.
But, watching that got me started thinking....  Am I Zombie Ready?
Not in terms of prepping for TEOTWAWKI...  I've got lots of skills and knowledge- we've got some food stores and are working to become more self sufficient.  I mean... am I ready?  Physically?    I've got tons of skills for rebuilding society if needed, but would I survive long enough to be useful?  Would I be an asset or a liability in a true life or death struggle?  Crazy thinking, huh? Shows what happens when I've got an idle mind.
But, I'm nearer to 50 than I want to think about.  I'm overweight and out of shape.  I would never make it.

I've been needing to lose weight and get in shape for a while.  I work at it in fits and starts but never seem to stick with it for very long.  So.... I'm going to start again.  This time... I'm going to get Zombie Ready. LOL!  Maybe this will help me stick with it.

What do you think?  Do you think it will work?