What's been and going to happen

• Ran in the rain this past Monday morning. It was sprinkling a bit heavy and there was more rain coming according to the radar so I told Jonnene I better get out now since rain was predicted for the next two days. So I got in 3 miles, got a light rain in the first mile and not much at all the rest of the run. About a half hour after I finished the bottom fell out.

• We're going to Dallas and the surrounding area three times in November in a two-week period. First we have to go to the immigration offices there on the 10th so Jonnene can apply for her permanent green card...a nice day trip. Then three days later we go back to Fort Worth with some of my Centenary kids to participate in the Bronda's Duathlon at the Texas Motor Speedway. I might have as many as 8 kids racing, some doing their first ever multi-sport event. I'm doing it because I need one more race in 2009 to be ranked in my age group in the region (part of why I'm running). THEN we go back to Dallas the day before Thanksgiving so we can fly out to California to see relatives for the holidays. That's a lot of back-and-forth on I-20!

• Last Thursday we went to one of our local theaters to see "Race Across the Sky", a film about the 2009 Leadville 100. It's a 100-mile out-and-back mountain bike race in Leadville, Colorado that starts at 10,200 feet in elevation with the halfway mark at the top of Columbine Mountain at 12.500. Lance Armstrong won the race this time but the real reason we wanted to see the movie (a one-time showing, BTW) was that two of our local racers also did the event. Mat Davis finished 22nd overall (973 finishers out of 1400 starters) and David Potter got 60 miles into the race before he had to retire due to mechanical problems. We managed to catch a few glimpses of both of them in the movie where we had 150 in attendance. It was a lot of fun. Besides, it was raining outside and a movie was a good idea! There's supposed to be an encore showing on November 12th...check your local movie house for times.

Getting ready to watch the movie. Jonnene is at the far right.

Beverly, Heather, and Jason are ready for the movie to start!

That's Some High Water!

With all the rain we've had over the last month...I think I remember reading that we've had some kind of rain for 32 of the last 40 days...and now the area lakes, rivers, and other bodies of water are rising, although the local Red River is finally starting to go down a bit. Over in my hometown of Minden, about 30 miles east of Shreveport, the Dorcheat Bayou has really been on the rise.

A friend sent me these pictures, taken by Jimmy Juckett, earlier today. The building in these pictures is the Dorcheat Seafood & Grill restaurant (known as Bayou Inn to the locals) and it is totally surrounded and cut off from nearby Highway 80 at the upper right in the photo below:

I've eaten here many times and it's special to me in that it's where I introduced Jonnene to my old high school buddies, Kent and Steve, back in early 2006 before we got married. The last time we were there, Jonnene and I drove around the back of the building, now under water, to look for a parking space!

This view is looking roughly to the southwest. The bridge at the bottom was closed probably over 20 years ago and doesn't go anywhere now. The access road to the highway is at the top of the picture. It looks like some of the buildings to the south and west sides most likely have water in them but I think the main restaurant kitchen and dining room areas are okay.

Sunday and Sore Muscles

We spent some time out in the yard today and we're both sorta sore and stiff. I spent a lot of time digging and moving dirt from behind the old beat-up storage shed to around the front yard, about 5 wheelbarrows full to enrich some of the barren spots out there. Jonnene did a lot of raking leaves and cleaning up in the back yard and patio. We're trying to rake up leaves every so often so we don't have a huge pile in another month or so when the trees finally give up and let go all the leaves still clinging to the branches. Many of them are still green but they won't be for long.

Of course, this is not the only reason we're sore this weekend. Yesterday we did the annual Autumn Breeze runs here in Shreveport. I did the 10K (6.2 miles) run again while Jonnene tested out her knee in the 5K. Her run actually went pretty good for the first two miles before her knee started flaring up to a point where she walked/hobbled the last 1/2 to 3/4 mile of the course to the finish. She ended up getting third in her age group, beaten out of second place by only two seconds! The girl passed her in the last 25 meters but there wasn't much Jonnene could do about it since she was limping along and that meant no sprint at the end! But overall her time was pretty good considering the conditions and she's happy to have been able to do the whole thing.

Like I said, I did the longer race and my plan, like last year, was to finish under 50 minutes since I hadn't done as much road work as I would like. The rains we've had the last two weeks have really put a damper in my training (I don't like running in the rain ONLY because I have one pair of running shoes and it takes quite a while to dry them afterwards). I did this course in 44:47 in 2007...different course last year at 45:13...and I thought I'd just enjoy the run and use it as a training race. There were about 250 entered in the 10K and I worked my way up to the front for the start and off we went. BTW, the weather for this run was fantastic! I felt like I was loping along but surprised I was passing as many people as I was, then I found out why. By the two mile mark I saw my time was 14:02 which works out to a 7-minute mile. I train at about 8-minute miles so I was a little concerned when I saw that time. Halfway thru I was down to a 7:18 mile average but picked it up again the next two miles. But the last mile I was having a tougher time of it and about 7-8 runners passed me during that time. Still, I ended up with a 44:53 and I was happy with that. It placed me 31st overall and 2nd in my 50-54 age group. That'll motivate me for the duathlon in Fort Worth next month.

Finishing up my race with a 44:53 over ten kilometers.

Afer the races: Jonnene holds me up before I fall over!

We went out to eat and see a movie at the Louisiana Boardwalk Saturday night. Ate at Copeland's Cheesecake Bistro and I had enough fried catfish left over for lunch today....yummmm! Then we went to see "Where the Wild Things Are" at the multi-plex there. I've never read the book but I do recall seeing the amazing illustrations that went with it so I was interested to see how the movie would treat the "monsters". Overall I liked the film, I identified with much of it, and the monsters were as amazing as the book's illustrations. I was overall pleased with the look of the film. The story drove me nuts a few times since the book is not that long at all and a storyline had to be put together. Everything is seen thru the boy's imagination and it follows the logic of a child, which can be a little infuriating for many adults. It's darker than I would have wanted the film to be and a little cruel in some places but it's still a wonder to watch and the music score is so different and attractive to listen to, fully fitting the mood of the story. You begin to see that the monsters are just extensions of Max's personality and he realizes where he has gone wrong in how he treats his family.

Max, the little boy, roams the desert with Carole during his adventure.

Work has picked up even more lately and I'm quite surprised. Everything happens in bunches! I spent time in a conference call with some folks in Wisconsin about a helicopter paint scheme they were working with. I gave advice and I think I actually sounded like I knew what I was talking about. Seriously, I wonder sometimes if I really know anything at all about this business! I also have some drawings of a surgical drape system to get out by Tuesday for a surgeon at a local hospital that he wants to manufacture. Then I've got a logo design to do and another T-shirt thing to draw up. Plus a couple of pencil illustrations for somebody. Hey, it's money but I thought my free-lance workload was going to be dwindling by now...apparently not...not yet anyway.

It's Friday, Call the Kids In!

I heard a good line on Fox and Friends this morning during an interview of Mitch Albom who had a new book coming out. I'm paraphrasing here, but Mitch was relating a story about talking to someone who was dying or dying soon, and the man said he hoped Mitch would live many more years. "Why is that?" Mitch asked him. The man said, "So that when we're both in heaven we'll have much more to talk about."

So President Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize....are you kidding me? Chris Wallace of FoxNews said he was as surprised as anyone based on the Bamster's notable lack of achievement so far in office. But he stated that he could only come up with one real reason that he won: he wasn't George W. Bush. And he's right....that's the only reason that makes real sense to me, too. The Nobel Committee made it no secret that they didn't like Bush over the last 8 years, so they'd jab him by awarding the Peace Prize to people like past prez Jimmy Carter (who never has anything good to say about Israel) and Al Gore (for promoting the global warming hoax). The Nobel Peace Prize is quickly losing its credibility and stature....sometimes they get it right but more and more they're getting good at making political statements instead. And Obama is going to be on television...AGAIN!....this morning to talk about the prize he "won".

UPDATE: Found out that the deadline for nominations to this year's Nobel Peace Prize was February 1st. Obama had been in office for about 11 days at that time. Makes ya think, don't it?


Back at the homestead, Jonnene and I are talking about getting a new dog and a companion for Sophie. I think we're ready for it and Sophie looks lonely sometimes. She had Farley in her company for more than two years and she kinda got used to having another dog around. In the six months since Farley passed it's possible that Sophie doesn't remember Farley in the same way we do...she doesn't miss him but knows something is missing. I still have days when he occupies my mind and my heart, and he'll never be forgotten. I've been ready for a new dog for some time now. It won't be a replacement for Farley, it'll be a new life in the house and something to keep Sophie on her toes and active. She's getting older, 11 years now, and is starting to slow down a bit yet still chases squirrels in the back yard with reckless abandon. It'll be good for her to have another pal. We'll start looking around soon although we could get a new pet the way I've gotten ALL my animals...by accident! That wouldn't surprise me. The photo shows Jonnene being greeted by Sophie and Farley when she got home from work or from running errands, which was an everyday occurrence with great fanfare and happiness by the dogs. I think Jonnene misses that...I do, too. This is at the old house in Bossier.

Mid-Week

Yesterday I stopped by Willis-Knighton hospital to check on my step-dad, Jim, who's been having an issue with congestive heart failure. He checked in on Monday with shortness of breathe and now he's on meds to relieve the fluid buildup in his lungs. He feels much better now and hopes to be home by today. But now he and Mom have to pay attention to their diets...REAL attention this time...and get some exercise in, too. Sucks getting older, that's for sure. When you can't eat what you want, wow.....

This morning's ride was similar to Tuesday's: lots of fog but not as much this time. Still foggy enough to cut the ride short again though we used a different route this time. We all have lights (Jonnene debuted her new front light this morning...it's bright!) but this fog really cuts down on the effectiveness. There were nine of us out there and it was a good ride.

Free-lance work really has increased the last couple of weeks. Finished up a couple of jobs this week but still have about four others to work on. The most interesting is doing the layout for the menu board on the drive-thru for a locally owned chicken dinner place. The job started out slow but it's picking up now and I might have a rendering to look at by this afternoon. I also have a logo, a T-shirt design, and some helicopter stuff going on, too.

I haven't had much of a chance in the last week or so to do more on the "aboriginal" painting I started a few weeks ago. It's coming along pretty good...maybe I'll make some progress on it today?

...dot....dot....dot.....dot.....dot....

Still Cloudy

This morning I went out for the weekly Wednesday Run at 5:45 am. It's a small group that I joined up with last year with just four of us running about 4 miles from a tennis club near my house. The group has been doing this for years and it always seems to consist of four people because some drop out and others come in...I think Matt and Jeff are original members. When I joined in, Rex had been doing this for a couple of years but had to drop out due to a recurring knee problem and we hope he'll rejoin us someday. Mike is the newest guy to run with us, joining in last spring. It's more social than training and our pace hovers in the 9:30/mile range where we catch up on city politics, youth soccer, and things in general. It was just Jeff, Mike, and I out there today since Matt is dealing with some plantar fasciitis and may be able to join us in a few weeks.

Jonnene and I stayed home last night instead of venturing out to ride. It wasn't raining but the possibility existed. Besides, I didn't really want to go out for a ride and have to clean the bikes afterward. Yeah, it's easy to tell the season is winding down although I still have some goals to look forward to. We got something to eat and watched NCIS and Dancing With The Stars...during commercials I would switch over to watch a bit of the Troy-Middle Tennessee football game on ESPN. ULM has to play those schools later and I wanted to get a look at them.

Lite Tuesday

It's been hard to get motivated to update my blog the last couple of months. When something interesting has or had happened, I've allowed a few days to pass before I even think about writing about in the blog. By then I've lost interest or forgotten certain details that make it hard to take the time to enter a story. So I'm going to try to write something every morning soon after I get up about the day before. I'm not doing that right now because it's Tuesday evening and I must procrastinate no longer.

I haven't gone over to the new laptop yet, still cranking out work and such on the old Mac Gee-fur (G4). I'm going to take a weekend...maybe one of the next two...and move everything over to the new machine and put the old one away, probably to be sold on eBay although I could use it as an internet server to host websites that I might create. But that's dumb because I don't do anything on the web except surf it. I haven't made the first website but I'm not adverse to giving it a go someday soon. I'll most likely donate it or sell it. I'll take the LCD monitor that's connected to it and make it part of the new setup...having two screens to work off of is COOL. The big deal will be getting my email and such transferred over, and that'll require connecting the two computers directly via FireWire cable. Might get my computer guy to do that if I don't/can't figure it out.

It's rained a bit today and has been overall dreary outside. There were a few spits of sunshine around noon but that's gone now. Rode with the 5:50 group this morning and there was fog everywhere. We ended up cutting the ride short...I got 17 miles instead of 21...and taking a few side roads so we wouldn't be dealing with traffic. You just couldn't see that much beyond 150 meters even with our blinky lights.

The Wife's birthday was Sunday but we did most of our celebrating the day before. Took her out to dinner, got her a nice present...yeah, it was expensive. She's worth every penny. I appreciate so much that she has let me be a part of her life for another year. I love you, Jonnene.