Wildlife weekend...

Ok, not the 'party' wild-life but nature wild-life sightings...

One my way to work yesterday, I was sitting at a stop light and noticed something crossing the street in front of me. I quickly recognized a possum and then took a second glance. She had 8 babies hanging off of her as she ambled across the street. One of the babies fell of and she stopped and waited as it scrambled back to her and climbed onto her back. The mother possum then continued her trek across the street. The funniest thing was the expression on the face of the lady in the car next to me. She had this look of disbelief as she moved her sunglasses down her nose to get a better view... It was a true laugh-out-loud moment.

I have been hearing barn owls hooting on some of my runs lately and finally was able to see one a couple of weeks ago. Last week during an evening run, I heard the owl call across the way and then heard another call back the other direction. It was pretty cool to hear them call back and forth but they were both pretty far off. Last night, I once again heard a owl call some distance off and then the response startled me because it was real close. I stopped running and started looking up. I then spotted the owl up in a tree not 10 yards away. It turned its head and then flew away. It was very beautiful to both hear and then to see fly away.

Shortly after the owl sighting, I noticed a turtle digging a hole right in the middle of the trail. She was probably going to be laying some eggs later and I suggested to her that she may want to move to a 'less traveled' location, but she just pulled her head inside her shell and didn't listen. Oh well, living with a teen-aged daughter, I am used to that reaction...

This morning, all of us went out for a nice 4 mile run. It was really run to have the entire family out together on this beautiful day. We then decided to give both dogs a bath to help us cool off. After a nice lunch, Abby spotted something in the woods next to us. Was it our dog? Was it a deer? No, it was the local coyote wandering through the neighborhood. Gina let out a scream when we tried to get her attention from her ipod, and the coyote decided to stay in the woods instead of crossing through our backyard.

We are looking forward to a good hike this weekend. I am planning on taking the girls down to the Buckeye Trail north of Blue Hen falls for a nice jaunt. I really enjoy this section and want to share it with them. Should be fun...

Extra protein

I have been trying to get back into the habit of running in the mornings before work. I feel it helps the day to go better and I have my evenings free to do other things, like work on the basement project. Mornings are my favorite time of day, I think because it is a new day, full of the promise of things to come. Some days, this feeling lasts until noon, typically, it lasts until I open my email at work...

Anyways, as I was running along the bike path, listening to the woods come alive with bird calls and other sounds of morning, I ran through a small cloud of bugs! Since I was also running a lot faster than usual, trying to get some leg speed back, I was gasping for air and ingested a nice healthy dose of insects! After stopping for a moment to cough, gag, etc in an attempt to clear my throat, I continued on my way, wishing I had water to drink...

Needless to say, I ran the rest of the loop with my mouth closed...

6 weeks!

6 more weeks until the Lake Placid Marathon! I cannot wait to get back up to the mountains again for a week of relaxation. We are all pretty excited about the race and trying to pick which summit we want to bag the week after the race. So far, Giant mountain is leading. The view from the summit is supposed to be great and there are some exposed areas on the way up to provide good viewing opportunities, (distractions) on the climb up.

Denise and Abby are going to run in the "Run 4 Life" 4 mile run this saturday at Hudson Community Chapel. It will be Abby's longest run to date and I think that she will do great! Denise and Abby ran 3 miles yesterday and Abby felt good afterwards. Denise and I ran 12 together early yesterday morning for her last long taper run before Cleveland marathon next weekend!

I am going to try to get back into the basement project this week. I am ready to rough-in the light fixtures and run the wiring. It should not take too long, it is just the 'getting started' part that is the most difficult. I also have some outdoor projects to complete. Since the weather has been nice, the outdoor items have superseded the indoor ones.

Only 4 more weeks of school for the girls! May will be a whirlwind of end-of-year activities and then "let the summer begin!"