Training Log Archive: barb

Excitement in the side yard this morning. Lots of squawking; it was Raspberry (our bravest and most adventurous chicken) sounding the alarm; similar to the egg-laying sqawk, but just kept going. She does that sometimes and we usually don't know why. I looked out the window and saw a hurt pigeon on the ground unable to get up. Dave went to investigate and told me that the other two chickens were missing. I went out looking for them; we ended up finding them hiding in between pots in the garden, which is quite a mystery because we have a big net fence erected to keep them out of the garden -- how did they get there? We figure the most likely explanation is that a predator dropped the pigeon in our yard; Henny Penny and Apple Blossom were so scared they flew over the fence and hid, and Raspberry did her rooster-substitute thing. Henny Penny had hidden herself so well between pots that she was wedged in and Dave had to move the pots to get her out. I called Animal Rescue and we were going to take the pigeon there but then it died. Dave did what he could to calm the birds, feeding them a neighbor's hasta plant since ours were decimated by the chickens months ago, and turning over some dirt with a shovel in the back yard to distract the girls with looking for worms.

The leg-in-the-stick saga was gripping to follow, getting the info here and there in AP threads and WMOC website and photos. I would find myself wanting to know more, like, how long were they there in the woods helping the injured Swede (I guessed about 30-35 min from looking at the live results), and how did they know they needed to help him (he shouted for help), and did they pull out the stick (they did). And the answers would just show up. And then there was some unasked-for information, like, did Thierry whip off his shirt to staunch the wound (yes).

It was great to read Eddie's account first, the puzzlement at seeing these guys, and then the practical, well, I've got a Canadian to beat, and I'd better get to it. What was really cool was to read Eddie's story, and then get to see Clem's (?) photos. And to see the photos chronologically was fun. First there were shots of Eddie finishing and, because I'd read Eddie's story, I knew the next photo was going to be of the heros. Two of them were in that photo, and neither was Thierry... As an aside, is there some kind of Thierry fan club cult thing going on these days? There's all this internet chatter, like, Oo, he's going to be at the Highlander! Will he wear a kilt? Etc. Anyway, I knew Thierry was going to be in the next photo, and I knew that he was going to be shirtless, and then there it was, the photo, him, shirtless. Hm. Compelling, as always. Extreme skill is like that.

So it was fun checking out the story piecemeal. The pictures were icing on the cake.

This morning at 6:30 after doing the chicken chores I ran around the neighborhood. I'd missed garden tours of two community gardens last night due to having a friend over for Dave's excellent fish tacos and gazpacho, so I jogged to those gardens and gave myself a wee tour. Rather warm for so early in the morning (77F); hoping for some thunderstorms to cool things off after our 3-day heat wave.

Last night we watched another episode of Hamish Macbeth. Previous episode had ended on a cliffhanger so it was fun to see where they took that. I love this series. Not only because it's Scotland. The episodes sometimes get pretty wacky; this time it involved a couple different weird religious pseudo cults and a love relationship between their leaders.

Some photos from Edinburgh; click for larger versions:





A young volunteer:


Me with my immediate ancestors and descendents. We're at Venue #34, C Chambers St. In the background there are posters for some of the shows at this venue.


The Udderbelly, one of the hundreds of venues at the Fringe Festival:


Dad:


Looking up the Royal Mile:

ha HA!

Running in terrain; CSU training. One map, 5 people. Still hot; had no thunderstorm. Nice.

To work. To Central Square for CSA veggie share. Home. To Pine Hill map and back with Dave.

We arrived back home Saturday afternoon; Caz picked us (me, Steph, Dave, Geoff) up at the airport. The chickens were fine and we spent some time harvesting. Yesterday I cooked: ratatouille, pasta with fresh tomatoes and basil, and gazpacho. And we watched the first three episodes of "Hamish Macbeth", just to remain in Scotland a little longer. A fine last day of vacation. I also made iced tea containing stevia from our gardening for sweetening; the stevia was a perfectly satisfactory sweetener! Really cool.

I need help getting exercise. Maybe someone could invite me to go hiking or running or something? Carrots, sticks, anyone? I am really having trouble getting out the door.

Izzy in the next car up, on the way to Day 6 of the Scottish 6-Day:



Photo as we were leaving Farleyer Lodge for the last time. Bob, Beth, Simon, Norma and Hadley had already left, but there will be photos of them anon.



Day 6 terrain in the background. Steep fernside, leading up to the nice hill and marsh area of the map.


Linda Moore

Our Scotland photos are posted here. Still have some days to upload.