I’m really pleased that the peony’s that I planted last year have returned this spring and look to be pretty healthy, as evidenced in theses photos.
Tami bought a new chiminea to replace that poor functioning thing we had before. Here is her Vanna White impression.
I was in New Orleans for the Fleet/Material Handling Council (of which I am the co-chairman) annual meeting 4/21 through 4/26.
I hadn’t been to N.O since Danielle and I went for her graduation gift in May/June 2005. That was 3 months before Hurricane Katrina.
I forgot my camera on a couple of different excursions in and around the city, and missed out on multiple photo opportunities (like getting a picture of me and Sheila.)
I had a fantastic dinner with Tom Botsford at “Tommy’s” on Tchopitoulas.
Tom had tickets to the Zurich Classic PGA golf event in New Orleans, and I went with him to the final round on Sunday. They don’t let spectators bring in cameras - so no missed opportunities there.
I stayed at the Renaissance Arts Hotel. This view across the street is part of what I love about New Orleans. My friend Brian would have loved this place, which was across the street too.
I like the decorative Fleur-de-Lis around the city. I wish I would have had my camera to take more shots like these examples.
Our group from work went out to City Park and did some shoreline planting and cleanup. I took these two photos - one of a bird, and one of a flower.
I took the “scenic” route over to Slidell Wednesday evening - basically US-90 east from I-10. This took me through some pretty devastated area, but nothing was more odd, dangerous, disturbing as these two boats that had come to their final resting place on the shoulder of US-90. (Thanks to Tim for observing this a week before and telling me about it.)
I had to take these two photos inside the New Orleans airport. I remember when I was a little guy and we would go pick up my dad after he returned from a business trip> Always love the terminal building and the “big green windows” as I recalled them.
I had a great trip. I love going to New Orleans - the people, the food, the sights, the smells - I like it all. I just hope I never get asked to live there again.
I’ll bet you though I forgot all about this little project, right? Well, as previously mentioned, the delay has been because of my own incompetence. After many struggles with the floor, the purchase of THREE toilets (the first two were broken) and a couple of plumbing issues, it is finally in and functional. Here are a few photos.
Nice work on the floor, eh?
All I have left is the tile work around the tub, the floor boards, and the shower curtain.
We had our favorite concrete guy, Frank Gordon, tear out our old front porch and driveway, and pour new of the same. Here are some photos of the construction project that occurred from 4/16 through 4/21. After nearly 12 years here, we finally have a driveway that isn’t broken up and now paved for multiple cars to the east of the garage, and the front porch isn’t an eyesore and a trip hazard.
These are my daughters.
This is Brittany.
This is Danielle.
This is Amanda.
I think the reason we didn’t get a picture of Becca on Easter was because we made her the designated photographer. Sorry Becca.
And this is a picture of Tami with Brittany, Danielle, and Amanda.
Boomer was surprised to see what Easter had for him.
He was impressed.
Here we are goofing off.
Tim and Jeanne invited us to their new home for Easter. Me, Tami, Nana, Brittany, Danielle, Amanda, Rebecca, and Boomer invaded, along with Mom and Vern.
I made Red Beans and Rice for a pretty atypical Easter meal.
Tim and Jeanne made a table full of hors d’oeuvres and other items.
Nana and Mom were enjoying themselves.
We had a good time and the whole spread turned out great. Tami and Tim seem to have been stuck with the clean-up, but Jeanne helped too.
I’ve been very busy at work since the first of April, but this post should be an indication of a little breathing room.
I still have a ton of photos from the Carlsbad trip to get posted on Flickr. My brother has given me the proper instruction to do this, and hopefully I’ll have time soon. I have a lot of photos from Easter too, of which I will share a few in later post.
I ran a few days the week after the Half Marathon, but was experiencing some pain in my left foot, so I gave it a rest 4/6 through 4/16. I ran three miles on the treadmill on 4/17 and the pain was worse. I went to the Dr. and had x-rays, which came back negative. Dr. suspects a stress fracture. I’ll rest another week then try it again. If the pain persists, I’ll go see a podiatrist. This is really putting a damper on my goals for the year. I’m still going to the gym and lifting weights and doing other forms of cardio exercise.
I was on business travel 4/9 through 4/14. I was managing a very big transport project. I’ll try to sneak a photo in right here.
I’m headed to New Orleans on Saturday for work and will be there through Thursday.
For those of you interested, the bathroom project is still not complete. Several reasons for the delay, primarily my own personal incompetence. But I do believe the end is near and will have photos to prove it in a weeks time.
I have topics/subjects and photos for several more posts, including a couple of Easter tales, some more photos of the girls, and maybe one or more other things. I know you’re all anxiously waiting.
I did it.
I ran the Platte River Half Marathon (http://www.platteriverhalf.com/) today. The time I recorded on my watch indicates that I finished in 2 hours, 26 minutes and 55 seconds. (The official time was something like 2:27:20.) My per mile pace was 11:13. My average heart rate was 155 bpm.
That was the farthest I’ve ever run.
I’m pretty proud of myself.
The race started in downtown Littleton at the light-rail station, wound its way along the Platte River Trail through Littleton, Sheridan, and Englewood, before finishing in Denver at the Buckhorn Exchange Restaurant (http://www.buckhorn.com/) at 10th and Osage.
I’ve seen some other running blogs where people vividly remember each and every mile, the sights and sounds they encountered, and how they were feeling.
Not me.
I was merely trying to endure. I wanted to run the entire 13.1 mile length, I wanted to keep my heart rate between 150 and 160 bpm, and in order to do those things, I need to distract myself from the effort being put forth. I needed to ignore the pain in my left hip that began sometime after mile 3. I needed to ignore a toenail on my third or fourth toe that was too long and kept clicking inside my right shoe. I needed to ignore the fact that I started to slow down after mile 7. I needed to ignore the way both of my feet began to hurt during mile 8. I needed to ignore the fact that both feet were really killing me during miles 10 and 11. I needed to ignore the big, unfortunate, and unfair hill/bridge over I-25 and the railroad in miles 12 and 13. I defiantly charged up and over that bridge. Then I stumbled a couple of times at the end mile 13. I was really pleased when I turned the corner at Osage and saw the finish line. I was really pleased to see Tami at the end of the finishing chute.
In order to ignore all of that, I wore my iPod for the first time in a race. I listened to a play-list of the 181 bpm “Velociraptor” podcast from Podrunner for about an hour, the Texas Blues Cafe Session #46 podcast for about an hour, the Random Acts of Funk 2007 Season Premier podcast for about 15 minutes, and Bare Essentials by the New Beat Society from the Garage Band.com Funk Top Tracks podcast for the last 7 minutes. These “tunes” helped me ignore the pain and the effort, and helped me develop a pace and a rhythm that I was relatively comfortable with. I wanted to blame the slower Texas Blues Cafe podcast on my slower per mile pace after mile 7, but I know that my level of fitness wouldn’t let me maintain a sub-11 minute mile pace for all 13 miles. I think my play-list was a good compilation for the event.
My numbers will bore some of you, but they are important to me, and I think tell a tale of relative consistency. I’m not very fast, in fact I’m pretty slow (tortoise, Clydesdale?) But I feel like a can run all day and at an even pace, and these numbers show that.
Mile 1 10:11 pace HR 147 bpm
Mile 2 10:28 pace HR 153 bpm
Mile 3 10:51 pace HR 153 bpm (hip started to hurt)
Mile 4 10:59 pace HR 154 bpm
Mile 5 10:58 pace HR 156 bpm
Mile 6 10:57 pace HR 156 bpm
Mile 7 10:53 pace HR 156 bpm
Mile 8 11:19 pace HR 155 bpm (feet started to hurt)
Mile 9 11:13 pace HR 157 bpm
Mile 10 11:49 pace HR 157 bpm (feet are killing me)
Mile 11 11:40 pace HR 157 bpm
Mile 12 12:03 pace HR 158 bpm (begin confounded bridge)
Mile 13 12:22 pace HR 159 bpm (end bridge)
Last.10 1 min, 4 sec HR 162 bpm
I did it.
The whole point of going to Carlsbad is to go to the Carlsbad Caverns National Park. We went on day two - Tuesday, March 27th, and toured the Natural Entrance and a portion of the Big Room. I took over 200 photographs and have decided not to post them here. I’m going to ask my brother how to do a Flickr (?) site and post them there. (That’s two things I need his help with now.)
After the two tours, we drove the 28 miles back to town, had lunch and took a nap. We then went to the Pecos River/Lake Beach Park near the downtown Carlsbad area, went for a walk and let Boomer play at the massive playground.
We headed back out to the Caverns at about 6:30pm so we could watch the “Bat Flight.” It was pretty fascinating. You sit in a smallish amphitheater and wait for the precise time for dusk to begin (7:24pm on this night.) At that moment the bats begin to make their exit from the Natural Entrance. The bats fly in a large circle around the Natural Entrance, and they rocket towards the evening sky. On this early spring night the park rangers estimated the number of bats at 3500 to 4000. That’s an awful lot of bats, and their ritual departure took over 20 minutes. They say the summer population is “a couple of hundred thousand!”
On the second day to the caverns, Wednesday, March 28th, we did the entire Big Room tour and got to see the things we skipped on the first day. I have to say that the caverns at Carlsbad National Park are probably the most incredible natural environment anywhere on (in?) earth. I’d also say that a person could never map the entire topography of the “Big Room” alone in a single lifetime. There is just so much going on inside that it is almost overwhelming.
Later in the afternoon/early evening of the 28th, we went back to the Pecos River/Lake Beach Park and rented a 4-person paddle boat. The five of us boarded, and Amanda and I took the first shift at the pedals. Our goal was to get to the footbridge upwind that was almost a mile away, and get there in under 30 minutes. We hammered away and rammed the bridge in 16. Tami and Becca brought us back at a much more leisurely pace - just before our hour time limit expired.
We headed home on Thursday, March 29th and arrived safe, but tired at about 5:30pm, in spite of the occasional snow showers.
Here are a few more photos to tide over the curious.
Amphitheater
Natural Entrance
Kids in the Caverns
Me and Tami
