Travel day

Running:
Today was an off day from running and a travel day for me. I'm currently in Bayfield WI to spend some time with my mom and dad. My dad is currently having some health issues which make all the rest of this seem so trivial. I'll likely discuss this at some point, but for now this humble blogger is likely to take a few days away.

Hunting:

Gardening:

50 miles WTD

Running:
This morning I was able to get out for another 8 miles. I ran this in 1:06:14. This gives me 50 miles for the week. My legs felt pretty good today considering I haven't been near this weekly mileage in quite a while. This run also pushed me over the 1000 mile mark for the year. Tomorrow will be an off day. My totals as of the end of this week.
50 WTD
146 MTD
1005 YTD
24271 ODO

Hunting:
I did get out to shoot a couple more times today. I've really been pegging groups pretty well.
I'll shoot four arrows at a time and be able to get all of them within a two inch circle. Now it's just shooting enough to keep the arm strength and confidence were they need to be.


Gardening:
This afternoon I got out and sprayed the apple trees. Wouldn't you know it rained like crazy for a brief period this evening. The forecast was similar to yesterday with an even less chance of rain predicted. Yesterday we didn't get anything. I guess it's better than not doing it, but this isn't the best situation. I'll likely have to do it again in about a week instead of 2 or 3 weeks.
I finally got around to pitting all the cherries I picked earlier in the week. About four hours to pit 7.5 gallons. Good thing it rained this evening it gave me time to finish this.

Garbage day

Running:
Saturday is garbage day out here in the town of Ottawa. Because I didn't sleep well last night I slept in a bit late. Not wanting to miss bringing the trash up to the recycle center, I packed everything up and did this chore first today. I got out running at about 8:30am. Today when I was about to leave the wife was starting her walk with the dogs. I chose to just walk with them for about .5 miles until they turned off for their loop. I then proceeded to run 14.5 miles in 2:00:47. I wanted to get at least two hours in today. I just didn't have enough in the tank to extend the run to an even 15 or 16 like I thought I might get in. An update from yesterday on my Garmin. I noticed this morning the date/time were off by about 19 hours. No idea how that happened. I hit the reset buttons and it reset itself correctly. The software loaded in the unit knows where to look in the sky for satellites based on location and time. I'm sure this was the issue. It's now working properly.

Hunting:
Today I fixed up my stand that was damaged earlier this year. I added a couple of boards to make it a little bigger in addition to pounding the others back in. I noticed how much some of the scrub trees and bushes have grown this past year. I'll need to get out the clippers and saw to clean this up a bit before it can be used this fall.

Gardening:
Today was lawn mowing day again. Things have really greened up again compared to just a week ago. Amazing what enough rain will do. Didn't do much other than mow and pull a few weeds from the garden.

Compost Tumbler

Running:

I was considering an off day today, but decided to head out at my lunch break for a 5 miler instead. I ran my usual route in 40:18 today. Not hard enough to impact any long run attempt Saturday morning. My GPS couldn't pick up satellites today for some reason. Usually by the time the pre-run stretching is finished it's locked in and ready to go. I decided to just start running and about 1.5 miles in it finally started working.

Hunting:

This past winter in Wisconsin there were several guys who ruthlessly ran over and killed several deer with their snowmobiles. Well it turns out there's some kind of loophole in the law that makes it look like these idiots might get off. Here's a link to the story. http://www.fieldandstream.com/blogs/where-hunt-whitetail-deer/2009/07/snowsled-deer-slaughter-case-prompts-new-legislation

Gardening:

If you live in the US and for sure if you order garden products from anywhere you likely have gotten an add for a COMPOST TUMBLER. Here's my oldest daughter putting some stuff in mine. In my opinion they work OK if you fill them with the right mix of stuff. I've found that about 2/3 full with green product/food scraps and 1/3 leaves/sawdust or some dry product works best. Instead of turning it to mix everything up daily I usually leave it sit for a day or two before beginning turning it daily. This seems to get the center cooking better to get the process going. It really can turn the stuff to compost in two weeks if everything goes right, but usually it's more like 3 to 4 weeks.

Summer squash

Running:
Made it out today during my lunch break. I ran my 7.5 mile work route in 59:58. Just yesterday I was commenting on how I had been running this distance consistently in the 1:02's. Felt good today and had distractions on my mind helping to keep me going. The hamstring issue seems to be a thing of the past. I continue to stretch before and after running to keep it from reoccurring. I was just thinking if somehow I could get a 16 to 18 mile run in this weekend that maybe the Paavo Nurmi marathon is still a possibility. I might try it just to see how I feel with the distance.

Hunting:
I keep working on my small food plot. Tonight after work I spent time raking out some of the weeds and grass I tilled the other day. Starting to feel like I'll never be ready to plant anything this year.

Gardening:
Picked the first summer squash a couple days ago and forgot to mention that. They tasted really good. Continue to pick a lot of raspberries. Today I brought more in to work to share. I noticed some of the blueberries on one of my plants are huge. Probably at least nickle size. I don't remember which variety this was. I'll have to research because they really are big and sweet.

Ouch

Running:
Today the car was still in the shop all day. I wasn't able to pick it up until almost 6:00 tonight. It was $900 in parts $800 for labor + tax (Ouch). Anyway I worked from home today. It really is a benefit to have that option when I need to use it. I was able to make it out shortly after noon for a 7.5 mile run. I ran it in 1:02:14. Looking at my runs of 7.5 miles recently they have all been in this range. Back in February and March this run was more consistently 56 to 60 minutes. Just a sign I have a bit of work to do to get back where I was.

Hunting:
Took a few minutes to shoot the bow again today. I actually took about 20 shots. I really have to look into new arrows. My arrows are an older graphite Easton model with a very narrow shaft. They shoot fine, but I don't think they are compatible with my new bows faster speed. One of them completely shattered as it hit the target. This wouldn't be good if it were a real deer.

Gardening:
This past weekend my tractor must have hit something in the back yard. I noticed a flat tire on Monday. Today the service techs were over and replaced it for me. Also had them give it a mid season tune up as long as they were here. We finally have had enough rain over the course of a week. It rained again this morning and very hard but briefly again this afternoon. It's nice to get a break from watering chores for a while. As soon as we get some heat again everything is really going to take off.

Car repair

Running:
I took a day off from work today. I needed to have the car in the shop all day and thought I would use the day to catch up on a few chores here. I dropped the car off in Delafield about 6:45 am and then ran home. This route is 7.5 miles. I chose to run up Waterville road. This is really a pretty run. One section between I94 and Hwy 18 is completed shaded. You run between very large oak trees whose canopy completely covers the road. I did the run this morning in 1:02:44. Now the bad news. I need new brakes, both front and back and the ball joints are shot. It's going to be a pretty hefty bill.

Hunting:
Worked on the food plot today. I rototilled once more to loosen all the crabgrass and weeds that have started to take over. Now I need to rake it out and maybe till once more before I plant.

Gardening:
Earlier this year I cut down a big silver maple tree that was near the pool. Today I finished digging up many of the roots that were protruding though the grass. This made quite a mess of the lawn and required hauling in some top soil and reseeding of the area. I also got that done today. Besides the rototilling mentioned above I also weeded the entire pumpkin patch one more time. This will be the last opportunity before the pumpkin vines take over the area.
Here is a link to garden pictures as of 7/20. The last time I didn't give my oldest daughter credit for taking these for me. Thanks Kylli! Included are some pictures of a couple of the big blue spruce I trimmed this weekend. http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=Jeff.Paavola&target=ALBUM&id=5361083502542286881&authkey=Gv1sRgCIba6IDKoo6njwE&feat=email

Cherry picking

Running:
Today was a planned off day. After six consecutive days of running I thought it was a good idea to take a day. I feel pretty good today and was tempted to go out, but the last thing I want is to be injured again and need more time off. I went to the workout room at the office today and did some weights and core work at my lunch break instead.

Hunting:
Tomorrow is a day off from work. I'm hoping to get the food plot ready for planting among other things. Just taking a day to try and get caught up since the car will be in the shop all day anyway.

Gardening:
This morning I was able to pick all the cherries. I picked about seven gallons. Now the hard work to pit all of them. The dead crow I hung up a couple weeks ago really did the trick. The crows hadn't been around since then so I actually had some cherries to pick. There is a chance of rain tomorrow, but I don't trust it. I watered the pumpkins this evening anyway. I hope to post updated pictures of things tomorrow. Just two weeks ago the pumpkins were just starting to come off the hills. Now some of the vines are ten feet or maybe even longer.

Tree trimming

Running:
We ended up going to the bonfire last night so it ended up being a really late one. I took time to have some coffee and read the morning paper before I headed out this morning. I got going about 7:30. I ended up with 8 more miles in 1:08:36 giving me 42 for the week. More than I ever would have guessed early in the week. This is the most miles in a week since the end of March. Sunday mornings are pretty quiet on the roads out this way. I did the entire run and didn't pass a car until I was within 1/2 mile of home. My wife was out walking the dogs and I ran in to them a couple blocks from home. I stopped running and walked it in with them.

Hunting:
No real update here today, but I'll mention my deer sightings from this morning. On my run this morning I saw six deer total. Four of them were about four miles into the run eating leaves from an apple tree. The other two were in the last mile of the run. Only a couple blocks from the house as the crow flies. One of these looked to be a nice buck with velvet on his ample head gear.

Gardening:
Spent most of the day in the yard today. I did pick berries this evening, but the only big project I was able to get done was trimming all the evergreen trees. This took about 9 hours total including cleanup of the clippings afterward. Lots of my blue spruce are getting quite tall. All of them are taller than 12 feet now with most of them at least twice that if not taller. I counted 21 spruce and 7 white pine that I worked on today. My neck and shoulders really feel this effort. Not to mention all that time is spent going up and down a ladder all day.

Grad party

Running:
Got out about 6:30 this morning. It was about 50 degrees when I headed out. I opted for a long sleeve technical shirt with shorts. I ended up with 11.5 miles in 1:37:06. This was the same route as a couple weeks ago I just didn't feel like the .5 addition at the end of the run to make it an even 12. The hamstring was better today. I tried a heat pack and some stretching before I headed out. It seemed to help. Saw one very small fawn this morning. It was strange to be July and see one this small. It must have been born very late. Also saw at least 20 turkeys.

Hunting:
This afternoon we went to a graduation party for the youngest son of some good friends of ours. A lot of the guys at the party I know are hunters. Since I hadn't seen some of these guys for at least a year we had lot's of stories to share. A good group of people and a good party. We might head back later tonight for a bonfire at their house.

Gardening:
Finally finished mowing the lawn this morning and early afternoon. Not much else today other than working the compost pile and pulling a few weeds. Tomorrow will be a busy day with gardening stuff.

Running pics

Running:
Today I went out on my lunch break again. What a beautiful day for running. It was mid 60's today, mostly cloudy, with a slight breeze in the afternoon when I went out. This compares to many early mornings in mid July. Very cool for this time of year, but excellent to run in. I did 5 miles today in 41:43. I gathered some of my older running pictures and put them in an album. These are ones I had forwarded to my work e-mail, mostly by my mom over the past few years. I have more at home, but I'll have to dig for those. Anyway here's the link to the ones I put together. http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=Jeff.Paavola&target=ALBUM&id=5359437768184816753&authkey=Gv1sRgCOyaoZaxo5HO6gE&feat=email

Hunting:
This really doesn't have much to do about hunting really, but this video is fascinating. It was posted a couple days ago on Whitetail 365 blog site that I read frequently. A python eating an entire deer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qy67XU6xEi8

Gardening:
I didn't make it home in time to mow the lawn tonight. I could have done some of it, but I needed to pick raspberries anyway. Picked 6 quarts tonight. I would say they are right about peak now. I've really got my work cut out for me this weekend. We have a graduation party to attend tomorrow afternoon, but other than that I'm going to have to spend most of my time in the yard catching up on a few things.

Piebald doe

Running:
I got out today during my lunch break. After some stretching I started off intending to run 5 miles today. After 2.5 miles I felt better than I have in a while and decided to head out further along my 7.5 mile route. That's what I ran today 7.5 miles in 1:02:00. Kind of odd to stop the clock exactly on the minute. Kind of like going to the grocery store or getting gas and having the dollar amount be exact. Doesn't happen often. For a mid month recap:
WTD 17.5
MTD 71
YTD 930
ODO 24,196

Hunting:












I had these pictures of this piebald doe passed to me today. Apparently they were taken recently in Portage county. I don't know what's more rare to see an all albino or to see one like this that's half white. Still cool to see.

Gardening:
I started mowing the lawn tonight after work. I push mow around the house and the entire pool area. This usually takes me about 1.5 hours. That's what I did tonight. The rest of the lawn I mow with the tractor. This takes about an additional 3 hours. Once a month or so I also get the weed whacker out just to clean up the edges a bit. This can take an additional 2 hours or so depending on how much I do. How to find time for all of this is a challenge at times.

Stretching

Running:
I made it out again today during my lunch break. I took the PT's advice from yesterday and spent a bit more time stretching before I went out. It didn't really make anything feel better or easier, but I'll try it for a while. I did my usual 5 mile route in 42:42 today. I then spent a bit of time with stretching and some core work afterward.

Hunting:
One of my favorite hunting blogs had an update about food plots today. http://blog.deeranddeerhunting.com/rubline/2009/07/15/TimeToSprayFoodPlots.aspx
I think I'm basically following this advice. I have a couple weeks to be sure the soil is ready for planting. If I'm going to spray for weeds I'll need to get that done in the next couple days so I can till once more later in the month.

Gardening:
We had a surprise of about 1/2 inch of rain over night. I didn't think it was going to rain so I spent a couple hours watering things earlier in the evening. Despite how dry it's been the mosquito's have been horrendous. Picking berries in the evening has been ridiculous. This morning I noticed that the cherries are just about at peak ripeness. I'll likely be picking them this weekend.

P.T.

Running:
Today I went out for my usual five mile run on my lunch break. I didn't even take a watch with me today. I'm guessing somewhere in the neighborhood of 42 to 45 minutes. The hamstring is still sore, but the run today didn't make it worse. I made it into Aurora in Oconomowoc this afternoon to take advantage of their free injury evaluation. The P.T. that examined me wasn't able to really diagnose anything in particular. From the tests that were done she suggested it wasn't a tear or anything that shouldn't heal with time. The strength in the leg was good, but it definitely was less flexible than my left leg. Got suggestions to use heat before a run as well as more stretching. I'm still going to make an appointment with my regular Ortho guy next week.

Hunting:
I want to make sure I mention a couple of the links I've provided below.
http://www.steepandcheap.com/
This site has discounted outdoor gear. They used to have one item for sale per day until it's gone. Now they keep putting new items up every twenty minutes or so. They sell gear for everything from skiing, camping, climbing, biking, running, hunting you name it. Everything is usually 50 to as much as 80% off. I've gotten quite a few good deals here especially on clothing I use for hunting and running.
https://www.camofire.com/
This place is more like SAC was a couple years ago. They have pretty much exclusively hunting gear on sale. Usually one item per day until inventory is gone. Again most deals are usually 50 to 80% off.

Check them out.

Gardening:
The neighbor brought me a wheelbarrow full of chicken droppings tonight. Not exciting you say. This is the best fertilizer there is. Was out tilling between rows of corn and sunflowers tonight trying to keep the weeds at bay. I think I'm losing the battle.

Elderly woman article

Running:
The hamstring was still not quite right today so I ended up with another day off from running. I might try it tomorrow, but at this point I just need it to get better or I'll never be able to ramp up the miles as fall approaches. I made an appointment for tomorrow afternoon to get it checked out at Aurora. My regular orthopedic guy is on vacation this week. Hopefully at least I can get an opinion and start to figure this out. I think since the injury I've been running differently. Not purposely but maybe from running slower paces, or favoring the injured leg. It's just been different and I haven't felt 100% right since March.

Hunting:
Got my bow out and shot several times again today. The old playhouse I built for the kids is a great place to shoot from. My deer target fell apart over winter. I'll have to look into a new one before fall gets here. Shooting at a regular bag target with circles is OK at the beginning, but I think it really helps with arrow placement to shoot at a fake deer.

Gardening:
http://www.fieldandstream.com/blogs/hunting/2009/07/discussion-topic-elderly-women-charged-beating-fawn-death

I read this article the other day and I thought it would be interesting to share this. Take a peek at the article and comments. While I don't think I would kill a fawn that was sitting in my garden, I've certainly killed other animals that were. I can guess exactly how this elderly woman was thinking. I posted just the other day about shooting a crow and hanging it up to scare others away. Makes me wonder if one of my neighbors would turn me in for such a thing and what would happen.

Dashed hopes

Running:
I think today my hopes of being able to run the Paavo Nurmi marathon 8/8 have been dashed. Today was supposed to be a 14 miler on my schedule. My right hamstring was so sore from yesterday's effort that I just couldn't do it. I got about 1/2 mile into my run and just chose to cash it in for the day. My total for this week was a very weak 22 miles. I'll probably take a couple days off and hopefully get in to the doc to get it checked out. Since coming back from injury there have been little nagging things I've never felt before. Anytime I've tried to push it a bit there is always a setback. I guess now I have to start setting my sights on the Lakefront marathon in October. Lot's of time even if I have to take a little off right now. It's just frustrating to not be able to go like I could back in March pre injury.

Hunting:
Here's another picture I had sent to me a while ago. I've seen pictures of two bucks with locked horns before but never three. How do you suppose that happened?









Gardening:
Raspberries are coming fast and furious now. For a couple weeks now I will be able to pick several quarts of berries each day. I am able to swap lots of my produce with my neighbor for fresh eggs. Other extras go to family, friends and coworkers. The Japanese beetles are out in force now. In a couple days they have almost demolished a wild rose bush near my main vegetable garden. I saw my first Potato beetles today too. I picked about 20 in the larvae stage off the plants this morning. I knew it was to good to be true. See 7/2 post.

Run to the peak

Running:
I did end up running in the Hartland 5K race this morning. I ran the race in 21:51 and was second in my age group. This was my slowest 5K ever. I've run this race 4 years in a row now. This year the course was changed. The race name changed and is now called "Run to the Peak 5K". Now I know why. The first 1.7 miles are up hill or slightly up hill the whole way all the way past the water tower near the highest part of town. Granted there is some downhill after that, but I didn't expect this at all. Usually in a 5K race no one passes me in the last mile. Not today. I had a few guys pass me up and I had no response. My hamstring felt awful tight. I've been nursing it along the last several weeks. Today when I tried to sprint it felt like it would fall apart. My youngest daughter Alia also ran the race today. She finished first in her age group with a time of 25:02. She's going to try out for the cross country team this fall when she's in high school. Here's a link to the race results.
http://www.badgerlandstriders.org/results/09hartfest.txt

Hunting:
My daughter's soccer coach brought over some seed for me this morning. Looks like a combination of certain brassicas and some turnips. I'll have to plant at least half of my food plot with this and maybe the whole thing. Now I just have to finish getting the soil ready to plant it.

Gardening:
Finally got some rain over night last night. About 3:30 in the morning some noisy storms rolled through. They lasted for about two hours. It looks like about .7 of an inch. It wet the ground about as deep as you can stick your finger in. Better than nothing and I didn't have to water anything today for a change. I'll take it, but we need more than that.

El Nino

Running:
I'm thinking tomorrow I will run in a 5K race out in Hartland. Last year I was first in my age group at this race. Normally I would have taken today off with a race coming up the next day, but since I've already had two days off this week I figured I would get out there and take my chances tomorrow. I really don't want to fall behind on the mileage buildup. Today I ran 5 miles but not my usual loop. I ran a couple of smaller loops that didn't take me over any hills to speak of. I ran a comfortable pace and did the 5 miles in 39.50. I did about 200 strides during a long flat stretch on the last mile.

Hunting:
Here's a video of the biggest racked deer I have ever seen. A guy at work forwarded this to me a couple months back.

Gardening:
Still no rain. All the channels last night and this morning were warning of severe weather and heavy rain today. All we got was a sprinkle this morning. Not even enough to get wet under the trees. Today absolutely nothing and it doesn't look like any tonight either. This has to be one of the most frustrating things about this hobby. I did see this on a local channel website:
-------------------------------------------------------------
From online weather tmj4: It is becoming more and more likely that El Nino conditions will develop this summer and continue into this winter. This means that the waters in the Pacific Ocean near the equator are expected to be warmer than normal. When this happens, it can have an affect on the weather pattern across Wisconsin and around the world. Last winter, we had La Nina conditions. That is, cooler than normal waters in the equatorial Pacific Ocean. The National Weather Service has determined that, since 1950, an El Nino winter followed a La Nina winter has occurred 6 times. The NWS did research to determine what type of weather Wisconsin experienced during those El Nino years. Here’s what they found: temperatures were colder than normal, especially in December; it was drier than normal, especially in the summer and again in November; and there was less snow than normal, especially in January and February.
-----------------
Dryer than normal especially in the summer. Yes it has been.

7.5 mile course

Running:

Today was another very busy day at work, but we finally reached the end of crisis mode I think. At least today I was to get out to run. It wasn't until almost 15:00 but at least I was able to go. I ran 7.5 miles today in 1:02:50. My 7.5 mile route from work covers 4.5 miles of my 5 mile route with a three mile extension to the loop. Mile 4 and mile 6 of this loop both have big hills. Mile 4 is primarily on Springdale road from Greenfield to Davidson. Almost completely up hill. Mile 6 is the big hill on Davidson I described before. A very challenging run. I haven't run this since March.

Hunting:

I had found this clipping a while back posted on one of my favorite blog sites. Looks like a clipping out of a local paper. I thought it was quite interesting and worth sharing.

Gardening:

A couple quick thoughts. Still no rain. Looks like maybe a chance over night and tomorrow. I heard today that Milwaukee airport had .18 inches of rain over the last 21 days. I've had less than that at my house. Japanese beetles are out in force again. They were all over the raspberry patch this morning. This is exactly when they started appearing last year as well.

Picasa test

Running:
I mentioned Monday how work just didn't allow the time to get out. Well that happened again today. For the third day in a row it has been ridiculous. There has been no time for any break let alone an extended one to go for a run. I'm really hoping tomorrow is better. I have a 7am meeting so I don't think the morning will work out for a run.

Hunting:
This year I applied for my daughter and I to hunt on the Ottawa property of the Waukesha Land conservancy. I was just thinking today we should hear some news soon. A drawing will be held for those that registered by the June 30th deadline. Here's a link to the Conservancy site.
http://www.waukeshalandconservancy.org/index.html
Many of the pictures were taken by a guy I know. Ralph Curtis.

Gardening:
A couple of days ago I mentioned I would post some pictures of the garden, pumpkin patch, Christmas trees and pond/waterfall. Below is a link to the web album I created. The pictures are dated 7/1. It'll be fun to post updates at least every other week to see how quickly things change. Things already look so much different than a week ago. Lets see if this works.
http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=Jeff.Paavola&target=ALBUM&id=5354453537802341201&authkey=Gv1sRgCNPfiM3V8Yqx4QE&feat=email

Drenalin

Running:

I wasn't able to get out in the morning as I had hoped. It really was a nice morning. I did get out to run during a late lunch break today. I ran my usual 5 mile route in 36:46. I like to run it a little faster once in a while just to mix it up.

Hunting:

Got my bow out for a couple of shots this morning. This bow was new to me last year. It was my 50th birthday present from my DW. It's a Matthews Drenalin. After trying many different models I went with this one. It just felt right to me. I was able to get two deer last year with it. It felt good to get the rust off and take a few shots. I'll try to get out at least every couple of days for a few more.

Gardening:

Still no rain. Each day it doesn't rain I have so much work to do. I had to spend what little time I had this morning to water the pumpkin patch a little extra as well as all the deck plants. I did notice my first Japanese beetles this morning. I picked several off the pumpkin plants as I was watering them. They destroyed a lot of other things last year, but left the pumpkins alone. I hope they don't take a liking to those now.

Scarecrows

Running:
Today was a scheduled off day from running. I had hoped to make it to the workout room today, but today was one of those days at work that wouldn't allow it. This past weekend was the first Saturday holiday we've had since 1/1/05 and the first July 4th that's fallen on a Saturday since 1998. This created some interesting problems to work through. There will be more tomorrow, so maybe I'll try to get out in the morning.

Hunting:
No thoughts today except my crow story that's down below. That in itself is news.

Gardening:
Today my thoughts were on scarecrows. And even more general just things to keep animals away. Crows have to be about the most annoying pest there is. Besides the noise they make early in the morning, I've had them destroy entire rows of corn by pulling out the germinating seed, eating the kernel and leaving the small shoot to die. I can't hang suet for the woodpeckers because the crows will eat it all in one morning of hanging it. Lately they have been all over my cherry trees, breaking branches and eating their fill. I've tried making a variety of different scarecrows. Some of them have worked for a while, but crows are pretty smart and they figure it out. About a week ago I read that the best scarecrow is hanging a dead crow from a post or tree near where you want them to leave. Well yesterday I shot one of the pests and hung it up near the cherry tree. Guess what I had none there today. Along this same line, while I want deer to come around at certain times of the year, I don't need them now to munch on corn or sunflower seedlings. Hanging socks that have been worn and smelly t-shirts around the area has worked well. So far no damage. Now to find a way to keep raccoons out of the tomato's and corn later in the year. I read that they don't like the smell of vinegar so I'll have to see if I can find a way to use that. I do know that you can't put vinegar directly on plants or it will kill them. In fact this is one of the best ways I've ever found to kill thistle's.

Raspberries

Running:
I was able to run another 8 miles today. A little over 6 miles into the run my Garmin ran out of battery and shut down. I hadn't had that happen in a while. Based on the time for that portion I would have run probably right around 1:09 today. That's how it's going in the books. 20 in two days and 40 for the week. I run my running weeks Monday to Sunday. I've done this for years now. It seems to give you some more flexibility and take a little stress off when trying to make weekly mileage goals than a standard Sunday to Saturday. Today I saw a doe and two fawns again about a quarter mile from where I saw them yesterday. Likely the same ones but maybe not.

Hunting:
This morning a went out to survey the couple of deer stands I have on the property. It looks like one of them will need to be partially rebuilt. Some big winds a couple weeks ago must have busted several of the boards loose. I've been meaning to make this one a little bigger and more comfortable anyway I guess.

Gardening:
Today's surprise is that the raspberries have begun to ripen. When I went down to pick strawberries today I noticed a few were red. I was able to pick about a cup full. This was a pleasant surprise. In a couple of weeks this will turn out to be several quarts each day.

Long Run

Happy fourth of July. First some general thoughts. Thanks to all the vets who without their sacrifices we wouldn't live in such a great country. Because of where we live and the freedoms we have ,we can enjoy leisure activities such as running, hunting and gardening. Because of these sacrifices we have the right to keep and bear arms and own our property. These things should never be taken for granted.


Running:

This morning I was able to get a 12 mile run in. I ran it in 1:42:16. This is the first long run since March. My rule for a long run is by time. If a run takes me 1.5 hours or more that's how I put it in the books. When I'm in the best shape the run I did today would be at least 10 minutes faster and maybe even 15 where I wouldn't count it as a long run. Regardless, I'll take it.

Hunting:
I could put this under running too, but it's all about the experience this morning. About a mile into the run I saw two fawns along the side of the road. While they still had spots, I would guess they were about 1/2 the size they will be by the end of the year already. I made a couple mile loop around this area and they were still there on my return 15 or so minutes later. This time the doe was there with them. Later on in the run I passed a bean field that had at least a dozen deer in it. One was a very large buck with wide fuzzy antlers. He had a big mouth full of green foliage he was chewing on as he watched me run by. It's amazing how red they look this time of year compared to fall or winter. There is lots of deer in the neighborhood.


Gardening:
This year has been very disappointing to me in that I had three peach trees die. This morning I finished digging out the last one. I will replace all three. Before last year the peaches were awesome. A couple of years ago I was able to pick bushels of the best tasting peaches I've ever had. What killed them was a peach borer. This is a larvae of a moth like insect. There was evidence of boring activity in all three trees. I'll be researching how to keep these things away.
These were far to good to give up on.

Xtraining day

Running:

Today was a scheduled off day from running. Did some cross training and core work in the work excercise room. I had run 4 days in a row. This weekend I need to get a few more miles in. Since coming back from the injury I had been hoping to run the Paavo Nurmi marathon on 8/8. I'm thinking right now this might not be a wise idea since the comeback has been slower than anticipated. There is still an outside chance if I can get up to a 18/20 miler by the end of this month. If I can't get at least 12 in one run this weekend I don't think there's a chance. We'll see.

Hunting:

I was discussing food plots with my daughters soccer coach this morning. He has experimented with several things over the past couple years and gave me some good ideas. He may even have some extra seed he didn't use for me to try. Depending what he has I may just go with turnips and forage oats again, only get them in the ground before mid September this year. If the forecast turns wetter I would get this in as soon as possible.

Gardening:

Took some pictures of the garden, pumpkin patch, Christmas trees and pond to share a couple days ago. If I can figure out how to post the whole album I'll do that. For now here's a sample. This is looking out the back yard toward the pumpkin patch.

Taxidermist

Running:

Today I ran my normal 5 mile route again during my lunch break. Today was a bit faster than yesterday as I ran it in 39:43. Some people are bored running the same routes, but not me. I don't mind running the same ground. I like being able to compare one run to the next. I try running the route differently based on how I feel. Some days as an example I might run the first 3.1 miles as a time trial. This run during mile 4 is probably 3/4 up hill and contains a fairly significant hill during it. The biggest hill is probably two blocks long, but about a 45 degree incline. Today I charged the hill cutting about a minute off yesterdays time for that mile. I've probably run about 1/3 of all my miles since 2004 along this route. I'll have to figure that out some time.

Hunting:

Today's thoughts are really a rant. The picture on the right side under the Hunting title was of a deer I shot in December 2006. I brought it to a taxidermist at that time who was recommended by a friend who I knew had some work done for him. The guy said not to expect to see it for at least one year. That didn't phase me and I kind of expected that. What I didn't expect is that over 2.5 years later I'm still waiting to see it. The last visit I paid to him was about 6 months ago. He said he would get it done before spring. Hello..... It's summer. I think it's time for another visit. The other deer picture is of one I got in November 2008. I found a taxidermist who is the husband of a woman I work with. I'll bet I get that deer back first.

Guess which guy I'll likely recommend if someone asks me in the future.

Gardening:

This morning while I was surveying the garden my thoughts turned to bugs. Every year since I've had a garden I've grown potato's. Every year I've had an issue with potato beetles.

These things are nasty and when left unchecked will totally destroy the foliage, which in turn will diminish or destroy the crop below ground. Usually these things appear almost as soon as the foliage appears out of the ground. This year for whatever reason I haven't seen a single one yet. The plants are as healthy as I've ever seen them. Now if the same thing will happen with the Japanese beetles later this year.... In future posts I'll put up pictures of a couple interesting critters I've found over the past couple years. I think you'll find them interesting.

First Post

My first post. My thinking right now is that I will post some daily thoughts into the three topics of running, hunting and gardening. All three of these topics occupy my thoughts to some degree 365 days a year. Obviously the level of thought and activity varies for each of these as we go through the year.

Running:
Man it's been tough coming back from the stress fracture I suffered back in March. First was a full seven weeks off from running. I don't remember ever having that long off in my life. Keep in mind I've run 2000+ miles every year since 2005 and was well on pace to exceed that again this year when the injury occurred. My mileage since starting back has been in the 30 per week range with nothing farther than 10 miles. I've been careful to take at least two days off per week as well. There are aches and pains I don't ever remember feeling before. The foam roller I purchased is becoming my friend.

Today I ran my usual 5 mile route in 42:04 during my lunch break. Nothing significant.

Hunting:
Started preparing the soil for a small food plot yesterday. Not sure what I'll plant yet. I'll decide over the next couple of weeks.

Gardening:
I sure wish we would get some rain. When you look at the totals for June we got near 6 inches I would imagine. The bad thing is this came mostly in one day. This creates a lot of work watering things. I've spent quite a bit of time figuring out water systems to make this job easier. The pumpkin patch is growing full tilt. This could be the best year ever unless some bug or disease takes over this summer. I've never figured out why weeds or undesirable plants grow so easily, and those you want take so much care. Pulling weeds can pretty much consume every available minute I have. Finally got the fruit trees sprayed this morning. The next project is pruning all the evergreens.