Day 151 - 07/21/2007

I decided to run this morning. So I did. After I got home, I still felt good and -- guess what? -- my knee wasn't too bothered! Of course, my feet are giving me fits, but that's par for the course. It's well past time to get a new pair of shoes. This time I'll actually get 10.5s vs. 10s so my toes have room to expand and my neuroma doesn't flare up.

My mom was picking up the kids to take them to see Ratatouille, so I decided to take advantage of the quiet around the house by cleaning the garage. No, really, this time I really did clean and rearrange (vs. just rearranging before, although I still have a few more areas to work on). I moved the tall shelves (18" x 36" x 72") to the basement and consolidated everything they contained onto three other shelves. And the trashcan.

Actually, the trashcan was the impetus behind this exercise. We had the shelves against the wall and the trashcan (and recycling containers) out in the middle of the garage. The kids' vehicles took up the rest of the bay, while the Odyssey took up the other bay. Getting the lawnmower or my bike or whatever I needed out required me to rearrange something. I decided that the trashcan needed to be against the wall so the kids vehicles wouldn't create such a barrier. At first I was going to switch the shelving units with the built in shelves, but after consulting with D, decided to just consolidate. (Actually, I really didn't consult with her, she made the suggestion and it was the right one, so I ran with it.)

Mid-way through the job, we left the front door and garage doors wide open and went for a walk through the woods. We were gone for about an hour, taking the trail down to the pond and back. While my knee wasn't bothering me too much, my neuroma was and it was during this walk that I decided I needed to get new shoes. Soon.

While M was down the street at Girls Night In, N and I rode our bikes to Walney Pond to get in some fishing. We didn't catch anything (although I did come away with a lure), we saw a few deer on the way to the pond (including a three-four point buck!) and, at the pond itself, three beavers! I've never seen beaver at the pond before, so I was excited to see them. At first I thought it was the head of an anaconda swimming through the lily pads. Once I realized that that was preposterous (for there are no 20' anacondas in Walney Pond...that I know of), my brain recognized the beaver for what it was...a beaver.

Darkness fell pretty quickly and before we left, the bats came out in full force. On the way home we saw a few more deer and then, as we were turning on our street, I saw a fox cross the street and head behind a bush while coming out of the bush was another deer. Wildlife abounds on our little bike ride!

That night I got caught up with the TdF and enjoyed a ginger mojito. I should really invest in a jigger as one was more than enough. Next time I'll pour half as much.

Of course, while trying to enjoy the race, M kept coming out complaining about her belly. We're trying to get her to be self-sufficient (e.g., requests for "I need more tissues!" are replied with "Well go to the closet and get them!") in mundane matters, but tonight was too much. She ate too much junk food over the course of the day and was now paying for it. She didn't knock it off until about 11p and ended up losing computer privileges for Sunday.