I have a million things happening right now and no time to do anything, especially write on here, and sappy stuff isn’t really in my wheelhouse (as you’ll see).  But, for me, it’s important to slow down for just a second and take a moment to remember why I get to spend this amazing free Monday outside in the sun instead of sitting in my cubicle participating in my daily battle with Microsoft Outlook.

NPR’s Story Corps is always good for a cry on the way in to the office. This past Friday they played this story a WWII bugle player told to his grandson.  It’s an amazing story to hear first-hand.

Thank you to all those who serve, soldiers and civilians alike.

my grandfather, arlington national cemetery

Good MOOOOORNING Mississippi!

As I mentioned earlier a group of us (including Paul) headed down south this past weekend for some back-to-back races at Memphis in May: a sprint triathlon on Saturday and an olympic on Sunday.  In addition to the Paula Deen buffet, the race had an Amateur Challenge with cash prizes for the top 15 combined times for men and women who did both races.

Again, to spare you from pages of detail that most of you don’t care about anyway, below are haikus highlighting the important parts.

Race #1: Sprint Saturday (400m swim, 14m bike, 5k run)
Out of the water
Freak clown monster face like woah
So terrifying

Race #2: Olympic Sunday (1.5K swim, 40K bike, 10K run)
New triathlon suit
Means zipper chafing on chest
Legs feel like cement

Paul’s 10K leg of the Olympic Race
Paula Deen and heat
Cannot stop this beastly man
From dominating

56 minutes

Paul was super relieved that he didn’t die on the run.  I ended up 7th in the Amateur Challenge which = DOLLA DOLLA BILL!  (almost enough to cover my entry fee…ha)  Still stoked.  Spike missed us and was very happy when Paul came home to study with him again. 

Full race reports to be posted here soon.

I spent much of it here:

The transition area of Memphis in May…which was actually held in Tunica, MS.  I don’t get it either.

The race location was a hop, skip, and drive through the ghetto away from downtown Memphis.  Not that close.  So, the moral of the story is we didn’t get to partake in the MiM events.  Sad.

We did, however, have this on site:

Oh yes.  Welcome to Mississippi.

Once the pics come back I’ll do an update on the double header race weekend. Until then, I’m going to start figuring out what I need to get done before Hawaii (I fly out in 9 DAYS) and continue to wear my compression socks to work.

Cute, I know.

In other news, I came back to my cube today to find my little cube tree had sprouted a new appendage.

Hmm.  Awkward.

Happy Monday.

Saturday: 60 mile bike ride followed by a 2 mile run (called a brick, when you go for a run straight off your bike) at 10K pace.  I did 2 hours of the ride with some friends, and about 20 miles on my own.  The last time I headed out on my bike by myself I got hit by a cab and ended up in the ER getting surgery on my hand.  So making it home in one piece was a personal victory.

Sunday: Mother’s Day! (of course)

Happy Mother’s Day, Mom.

…plus a 12 mile run (at 7am in the pouring rain…yay?) followed by a 3K swim that actually looked a lot like the above. And a rainy walk with Spike.  Time to bust out the Squall again.

All fueled by R&M eggs.  Of course.

They’re still coming, 2 every day.  Look how much bigger the ones on the left are.  One of the chickens is seriously outperforming the other.

Also got a nice surprise call from my sister in Afghanistan on Sunday (she’s doing well), and did some studying for this god-forsaken online class I’m taking.

I can’t help it, I hate taking classes online.  And yes, Spike always sits like that.

Next up: MEMPHIS!  This weekend!  A friend of mine gave me the name of a friend of hers who is actually competing in the BBQ World Championships.  Woah.  This could get crazy.

And to top it all off…Paul is going to be running the 10K run leg of the Olympic triathlon on Sunday in Memphis as part of a relay team.  He hasn’t run more than 2.5 miles in a year.  That should also be amazing.

Onward and upward.

Nice job ladies.  First week, 10 eggs.  2 eggs a day, just like clockwork.

All of the eggs are brown, though one of them is laying eggs that are spotted, slightly bigger, slightly darker…and strangely reminiscent of the spotted sun in this picture from NASA APOD yesterday of the super moon.

Romy has also established herself as the head of the roost. Michele is pretty dumb, even for a chicken, but she’s easy to catch and pick up and put her where you need her to be.

the excitement never ends.  happy weekend.

Colonel Sanders and Alice Cooper, via

This picture is just…amazingly random.  I love it.

Enjoy your Thursday.

In happier news, Romy made her British soccer debut this weekend.

JK.  But we do need to get our chickens capes.  Stat.  An article and video with better announcers is here (couldn’t find the video to embed.)

First of all, before we talk poultry, this weekend was Cinco de Derby.  After a 3 hour bike ride outside with Allison, I headed down to a new brewery that just opened up in town where a lot of this…

…and this

was going on.  (Yes, that’s a bottle of Elijah Craig 12 year she’s pulling out of her purse at the taco truck.)   The tacos were DEEELicious.  And then a Mexican jockey won the Derby, which was appropriate.

Then on Sunday, after a year-long saga, guess what I found sitting in a box when I came home from coaching.

Meet Romy and Michele.

A family acquaintance has a whole flock of chickens and said she’d be happy to give us two to “try out”.  If we still want them in a week we pay her $16 for the two of them.  So these two are year-ish old hens that have been laying eggs for a few months.  Perfect.

You may remember our coop from the spring.

It’s small and humble, but total cost was $14 for scrap lumber at Home Depot, $16 for chicken wire, and $4 for hinges.  We were fortunate enough to have an almost-certified architect home for spring break (Paul’s brother Karl) who designed and helped build the whole thing.

During the day we’re going to let the ladies out to wander around that back area, which is fenced in and has a million grubs to eat.  At night they go in the coop, where there’s still enough room to strike a pose.

The arrival of chickens also meant a big trip to one of the best stores in town.

I seriously love this place and am always blown away by the employees’ farm knowledge.  And yes, that is an animal hedge cut into the shape of a horse wearing a decorative flower wreath under the sign.  And no, we didn’t get a limited edition University of Kentucky knife.

After picking up some hay for the egg laying box, a 50lb bag of chicken feed (that was the smallest they had, should last us…oh, 5 years), and some pine wood chips…plus a few other plants were not on the shopping list (this always happens, it’s like the Target of garden stores), we headed back to finish accessorizing the coop.

Paul, being the resourceful guy that he is, hammered together a makeshift feeding trough for them, but they keep knocking it over, so we still have to figure that out.  For water we actually bought a slow drip chicken water thing from SS, which was a good call.  (Apparently a chicken can drink up to a pint of water a day.  Who knew?)  The big challenge will be to see if they can figure out how to crawl up the ladder into the roosting area to sleep.

So, how is our other farm animal dealing with this?

Pretty much like that.  He spends a lot of time doing this.

Fortunately there’s no way he can break through that fool-proof gate wrapped in chicken wire being held up by a piece of plywood and a rock!  (We’re working on the fence.)  We did hold him up to a chicken and he just smelled it, didn’t try to bite.  So that’s a good sign?  I think more than anything he’s just curious why all of our attention was not focused on him yesterday.

One other thing is when you look out into our backyard…

Magical hidden chicken farm.  The coop is in a shaded space behind the garage and the big tree in the right hand corner…which is actually really nice because we don’t have to worry about them getting too too hot in the summer.

That’s all for now, we’ll see if they survive the first few days.

The end.

Yeah buddy.  It’s getting hot up in these parts.

Hope you all had a wonderful Arbor Day.  Spike and I walked down to the Arboretum, where they were giving away free indigenous trees. Paul has been talking about these trees for about 4 months, so we picked up a Kentucky Persimmon.  His mother picked up an Eastern Pine and gave it to us…which can grow up to 160 feet.  Not sure where in our little yard that will go.

The Persimmon tree will reach it’s peak fruit-bearing in 8 years…but who knows, maybe we’ll get some little persimmons before that.

So I’ve been trying to shake this flu/cold thing that took over at the end of last week. Getting back into training hasn’t gone smoothly.  My run this morning was…kind of terrible.  I was tired.  Sore.  Not feeling it mentally.  So what did I do to break myself out of this funk?

Signed up for not one, but TWO back-to-back races the weekend of May 19th.  A sprint triathlon Saturday (400 swim, 12 mile bike, 3 mile run) and an olympic triathlon Sunday (1.5K swim, 40K bike, 10K run), both in Memphis.

Why?  The short answer is: Allison made me do it.

Memphis in May is actually an international festival in Memphis with all sorts of music and performances and exhibits…and two triathlons!  Allison encouraged me to sign up largely because I missed the race in Florida last weekend and she wants me to do at least one race before Hawaii.  I told her fine, but only if we can go to Graceland and possibly Dollywood on the way home.

This race is notorious for being brutally hot.

(this is a real picture from a finisher at the race last year)

…which is part of the reason Allison was pushing for me to do it.  Hawaii is going to be brutally hot, and I don’t tend to handle the heat very well.  So it’s kind of like heat training.  Which most likely means I’ll be regretting this decision on the run course.  Twice.

The good news is, after the races, there will be some world class BBQ.

The World Championship BBQ Cooking Contest will be happening when we’re there.  HECK YEAH.

Summer is heeeeere…

pictures via

Almost as happy as a baby elephant at the beach.