fast weekend

Made a quick trip up to the farm Saturday morning. We stayed overnight and came back early Sunday afternoon. Little bit cooler out in the country versus Mufreesboro. PJ and her mom picked a crop of beans, cucumbers and squash. Watermelons are starting to grow and quite a few cantaloupes as well. Peppers didn't do well at all. Tomatoes are plentiful, but difficult to pick. Planted them to close together. Bob and I worked on sealing the roof on the camper. Caulk I bought at x-mart was all dried up, both tubes. Ended up using a tube of caulk he had left over. Patched the hole I made with the hammer. Put on a coat of cool seal. We'll put on one more coat next time we come up.

Dug up a cactus to put in Aiden and Thumper's garden. Also dug up some kind of wildflower, similar to a foxglove, but different kind of flowers. Need to ask Trine what the best wildflower book is for middle Tennessee. Next time Dylan and I go to the library we can check out a few and try and figure out some of the flowers. The wildflowers and sunflowers Ryan planted are attracting all kinds of birds. Seems the mocking birds are attracted to the bugs that like the flowers and golf finches just like the seeds?

Moved some rocks from the fence row. Easy to see how someone can get hurt easily on the farm. I was lifting a rock that Bob wasn't able to get into the bucket and damn near smashed my arm between it and the bucket on the tractor. Jeez, that would be one of those farm accidents where a man looses his arm. Dylan got a kick out of the big salamander we found under one of the rocks. Solid black with yellow spots. We put him back under another rock, to live another day.

Sunday morning slept in till 7 am. Real late start for a run. Took it easy and did a 4 mile out and back down Big Creek road. 8 miles total, but the road was about 50/50 shade and sun. I could taste the heat rolling off the road, pretty warm for that time of the morning. Quiet morning, saw lots of butterfly's, more so than the birds. At least 20 different kinds of wildflowers growing on the side of the road. This is the type of run where I wouldn't mind stopping and taking pictures, if I had a small enough camera to bring along.

Saturday before we left for the farm, I was able to get in a 13.1 mile marathon pace run. Ran from the house, almost to Cannonsburg and back. Waited until almost 6 am before I left the house. Busiest the greenways been all year. Lots of runners, walkers, dog walkers and bikes. Really felt good going out. Even had visions of a fast marathon in my future. Reality on the return leg. Mostly the heat and sun in the last 2 miles, but only slowed to a 7:42 coming up the rise towards the house and still able to average a 7:27 pace for the run.

Missed 2 days of the tour. One HC climb on Sundays stage. Pretty steep climb for the finish and a change in the yellow jersey. Dennis Menchov crashed going up the hill, flashback to Lance a few years back. Just don't see how those guys are able to jump right back on the bike and recover as quickly as they do. I've hit the ground twice on the bike. I laid on the ground both times for quite a while before I felt like getting back up. Even after getting back on the bike, the rest of the ride was easy. Not balls to the wall, like these guys.