 |
Sometime
last year, Terra expressed a desire to participate in a 5k run.
Kyle also grabbed on to this idea and found one for 1st responders and
wanted to participate. Both Ethen and Nathen joined in, Terra
also wanted to, but was not in the best condition to participate.
The run was held in Oro Valley on May 19. The running was set to
begin at 7:00. |
| To get
ready for this event, Nathen and Kyle had been getting up and running
about 1.5 miles at 4:45am for 2-weeks prior to the event. Ethen
doesn't like mornings and didn't want to join in on the preparation for
the run. |
 |
 |
When we
started off running we were all three together. After about 1
mile, Ethen dropped back. Then about 2 miles I told Kyle that he
should just go on without me as I was not wanting to keep the same
pace. Out of the 170 participants, Kyle ended up at 45th place, I
was 61st place, and Ethen was 70th. |
| Kyle really enjoyed the running. He wants to do another one. When he was approaching the final stretch, there was a 25is year old that turned to him (they were running close together) and said, "Hey, do you want to race?" Kyle responded in the affirmative and put on a burst of speed. He passed this guy and three additional people before crossing the finish line. The other guy was surprised and congratulated him after he finished. This made Kyle want to do it again, but run for speed. He likes passing people. |  |
 |
I was
tired after the race was over. So was Ethen. Kyle is in
better shape than both of us. Both of the boys also have youth on
their side. After Terra has this kid she would like to do one of these, so I guess I can look forward to another one. Terra has located one in October that runs through the Bone yard in Tucson. Now that is the kind of race I would enjoy. I probably wouldn't do it very fast as the scenery would be very distracting. Anyone else want to join? |
| Terra's
sister, Sally and her daughter, Emily, came over for a few days to
visit. They live in Oklahoma, and her kids are from
Oklahoma.
Normally when they come to visit the drive to Lakeside and back.
This time they drove around the state and visited family. We
ended up going to the lake while there were here. |
 |
 |
Emily is
2-years older than Ethen, and she wanted to go faster and faster on the
raft. I think it was even more than Ethen wanted, but she had a
good time. One of Rachel's friends, Nicole, also joined us for
the trip. They both had a good time. |
| While we
were at the lake, Terra and here sister went over to Safford and
visited another sister. Emily commented that she had never seen
the tall cactuses before and always thought they were fake when she saw
them on television. She had never seen a saguaro cactus in
person. She really is from Oklahoma. When you move away
from your home and experience a different place it is
interesting. When you raise a family while an expatriate, your
family is from a different place then you are. This is one of
those interesting phenomenas of life. |
 |
 |
The boat
did well. I had changed out the propeller on it. I switched
from an aluminum 3-blade to a stainless steel 4-blade. The extra
blade, different (stiffer) material, and more aggressive pitch lead to a
slower top speed (38 vs 50mph), and a higher rpm while running at the
top end, but the bottom end is very different. When the throttle
is given the boat will pull the item towed up and out of the water
almost effortlessly. |
| As part
of the house remodel, we pulled up the tile in the kitchen, old laundry
room, and dining room. This was not as an easy of a task as I
thought it might be. While the jack hammer did a decent job at
removing the old tile, the dust that was produced was more than I
expected. You had to wear a dust mask, safety glasses, ear plugs,
and gloves to perform the job. When we took the old flooring to
the dump, the scale weighed in at 2,500 pounds. It took two
complete days to perform, with Ethen & Kyle helping me do it.
I tried to tape off areas that we were working in and put a fan in the
window blowing toward the outside, but everything in our house is
covered with dust, and every time you clean it off, it just reappears
the next day. |
 |
 |
Here is a
picture of the bathroom with the suns rays shining in. The photo
is blurry, but you can get an idea of how much dust was present in rooms
outside of the plastic and with doors shut. I will be very glad once the construction is complete and we can resume a somewhat normal existence. The current plan is to have it done in 2-weeks. |
Return to Start Page