Back in the Saddle

Running:
I am finally back to running a little bit. It feels good to be back in the saddle again. About three weeks to the day between runs outside. I still need to take it easy and can’t rush things. Here is an example of how I’ve progressed the last several days. On Wed 8/4 I did my first running. I only run/walked 1 mile on the treadmill holding on to the side most of the way to keep weight off the legs. On Thursday I ran the whole mile holding on to the sides. On Friday I ran the whole mile not holding on. On Saturday I ran 2 miles on the treadmill sometimes holding the sides sometime not. On Sunday I ran 2.5 miles mostly not holding on. Yesterday Monday I ran 4 miles outside during my lunch break. No watch, just took it easy and completed the entire run in the almost 90 degree heat. I’ll gradually be increasing the length of my runs with a similar type progression. I’ll likely need 1 or 2 days rest the next couple weeks despite the low mileage. I wish I had some idea of the root cause of this injury. Without knowing and not correcting anything I could just face it again. I sure hope not.


Hunting:
I started to clear some shooting lanes by cutting down some of the scrub trees (mostly buckthorn) and brush in the back yard. I’ve been wanting to do this for a couple years. Now that I have a working chainsaw the job will go easier and faster. Last year I set up a stand in the middle of the property. The one problem with this stand was I could hear deer at the back edge of the property as they moved through but could never see them unless they came right in front of me or out into the field. The lanes I am clearing will allow me to see all the way to my bow stand to the left, as well as the back of the property straight ahead in addition to the field on the right.


Gardening:
Garden harvest of most things continues. That is when I can stand fighting the mosquitoes.  I have never in my life seen them as thick as they are this year.  Absolutely unpleasant being in the garden for any amount of time right now.  I’ve dug up about 10 gallons of potatoes so far. They are really nice size this year and so far not all chewed up by grubs. It looks like some sweet potatoes will also be ready in the next couple weeks. You can tell because they get so big the soil starts splitting where the large tubers are growing. Also pretty close to being able to harvest some pears and the first sweet corn. I’ve tried a hot pepper wax product on the beets and it seems to be keeping the mice away. I’ll also be putting this on the sweet corn to see if it discourages the raccoons.   I noticed this morning that some of the baby fish I mentioned a few weeks back have started to turn colors.  They look like they are baby Koi not Comet's.  Still not sure how many there might be.