We decided to drive up to Portland tomorrow for that dog show. The Anatolian Shepherds are judged at 9:30 and it's a two-and-a-half hour drive, so we'll be leaving early. If we don't get there in time to see them in the ring it's no big deal because at a show like this you can walk around and see each of the breeds close up in the holding areas.
It's another opportunity to talk to people and learn, in this case about breeds. I wish this show included an agility competition - those are super cool to watch - but because this event is free it's still a bargain.
I cleaned out the chicken coop today, taking the smelly fowled pine shavings up to the compost pile. I'm so hard core rural that I even enjoyed that task.
The two week notification period required for the logging operation is complete as of today. It's taking all the self control I've got not to call Charles and ask when the cutting will start. Actually, the next step is for Charles to meet here with Robyn, the Dept. of Forestry employee to draw up the specific plan about how the trees will be removed so as to not disturb the watershed.
I walked down to the creek this morning to see how far down it was as a result of the summer lack of rain - it's been weeks since we had any - and it's way down. As I was standing in the waist high vegetation I heard something moving and watched as the tops of the vegetation moved to match the sound beneath...about 3' from where I was standing.
I left.
We watched almost all of Trump's speech last night. I was pleased to see much less of the playground-level name calling that has been his habit, and he actually talked about things he would do, not just criticize opponents, whether inside or outside the party. (Though he was back at it today.)
What I didn't hear may be as, or more important than what he did say. I got nothing about...
- The evil of abortion, or the rights of the unborn
- The sanctity of marriage
- The primacy of the family as the core of society
- justice
There was nothing about morality, perhaps not too surprising from a man on marriage #3. We heard about making money, but not ethics in personal life, business, or government. It's OK that he didn't pull up the language of compassionate conservatism, but some hint of compassion for the suffering beyond restoring manufacturing jobs would have been welcomed. And counting the references to himself and his accomplishments tells us what we already knew about any sense of humility and dependence.
The qualifications to be President of the United States include both positions on key issues and personal character. Donald Trump fails both tests IMO. I saw nothing last night that changed my opinion on either aspect.
When we dropped the gym membership I determined not to drop my commitment to fitness. Given my medical history that's not something I should let go. I had grand plans to take 30 minutes every day to do what aerobic and strength activities I could here at Baker Rd. but it just wasn't happening. So a couple of weeks ago, as my knee and back were returning to normal, I returned to running. About the same time Pam started walking almost daily, incrementally increasing her distance and tempo.
Junction City is about 40 minutes north. They have their annual Scandinavian Festival the second weekend in August, and given our heritage - Pam at 100% and me at 75% - we decided we needed to make that scene. Plus, they have a race that Saturday morning (Norwegian day). We'll both do the 5k; Pam will walk and I'll run.
Pam's goal is to have a good time. I can't let it go at that; just can't. So I'm alternating distance days with tempo days. The latter involve running a total of 1.5 miles out to the stop sign and back on the clock as fast as my tired old legs will carry me, with allowances for the fact the entire distance is hilly. On distance days the goal is to go farther than last time, and with only being back two weeks I'm at just over 2 miles. Again, all hills.
The trick is to choose small races, and this one qualifies. Last year's online results page shows that my age group, 65-69, only had five runners. They give medals to the top three in each age group, so a time of 34:25 or better gets me a medal based on last year's results. The course is absolutely flat so I'm optimistic that my hill work will pay dividends if I can build up my distance sufficiently.
I am too dang competitive.
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