May 2007 Archives
Jennifer had spend most Fridays this spring slowly converting our guest bedroom into Magda's room. Most of the work involved getting rid of crap and I truly appreciate her taking on this monumental task. Recently, though, the work was really about converting the room, and on Thursday we prepped the room and on Friday Jennifer painted the walls a light green color ("Fresh Apple 2"). We still need to finish staining shelves and move some furniture in, but as of this weekend, the room is actually usable as a kid's room.
Rita was spending the weekend with us, so it was still a "guest" bedroom, but on Monday it was just us. So when Jennifer was putting Magda to bed, she got to do it in her own room, rather than in our bedroom where her crib is. Magda was a bit fussy last nigh, but Jennifer convinced her that it was time to go sleep in her own big bed.
I had really mixed feelings giving Magda her goodnight kiss and hug yesterday. Her previous milestones, such as saying her first word or taking the first steps -- or even her being watched by someone else while Jfer and I went out for the first time -- hadn't really made much of an impact on me. But somehow, seeing her sleeping in that room all by herself made me really wistful.
I look forward to each of her milestones and celebrate them when they come, yet at the same time, I'm starting to dread the day we will no longer be her world and she'll break out on her own.
We're taking advantage of the beautiful wet spring and headed out to the Hillcountry again. The wild flowers are still going like crazy, but the colors have shifted from the purple of the Bluebonnets (you still occasionally see some late stragglers, but mostly they've gone to seed by now) to the yellow and orange of Black-Eyed Susans, Indian Blankets and Mexican Hats. We also saw some cool Prickly Pear cacti blooming, but they're still not in full swing.
We were going to do some hiking at Pedernales Falls State Park with the O'Reillys, but got there a bit later than anticipated (damn that GPS navigation), though still ahead of them. We walked down to the ford to see if it was crossable -- it is for adults but not for a stroller or small kids. It's maybe half a mile from where we parked, but Magda walked the whole thing (with plenty of complaining) so it took a while. The river was beautiful and pleasantly cool. The dogs had lots of fun in the rushing water and Magda loved standing in the current and proclaiming that "we're moving!"
On the way back from the river, Magda found a huge fat caterpillar in the middle of the path. It actually had the appearance of a fat slug or -- to be honest -- a decent sized turd. Once we got home, we figured out that this was most likely the caterpillar of a Titan Sphinx Moth. The adults of this species are sometimes mistaken for humming birds!
After our foray to the ford, we hooked up with Meredith, Michael and the rest of them and headed over to the falls. We took the stroll to the overlook but from then on Magda spent the rest of the hike on my shoulders. I'm happy to say that I didn't slip on the rocks, but I'm considering putting her on a diet.
After the falls, we had dinner with the O'Reillys at their camp site grilled over their camp fire/coals. Magda enjoyed being outside with "the dark". She's said that she'd like to spend the night in a tent, so that's something we ought to look into. I remember enjoying camping quite a bit as a kid -- these day's I'd pick a room with a shower over a sleeping bag any day, but I'm looking forward to sharing the fun with her.
After I ran the Capitol 10K in April, it took me a couple of weeks before my left knee and right foot stopped bothering me and I could hit the streets again. Jennifer mentioned that she'd heard about The Maze, a 10K trail run in our Walnut Creek Park organized by Austin's Rogue Training.
Unfortunately she had a conflict and would be in Kansas that weekend, but I decided to sign up. A couple of weeks before the run I switched from running my Metric Loop to running in the park. Jfer appreciated that, since I would take the dogs with me (Walnut Creek Park is leash-free) and she wouldn't be woken up by Rose making a ruckus when I go running without her. Of course, the last two weeks have been extremely wet, so running in the park is a muddy affair, but still - it's nice than watching the traffic.
The race itself turned out pretty good. Being a realist, started at the end of the pack, which isn't a good idea because for the first mile or so, you're forced to occasionally walk whenever there is traffic jam before a creek crossing or a steep descend. But once people spread out, the running went OK. It was a little strange being in "our" park without dogs or a stroller. The park had mostly dried out, but after every creek crossing (I think there were 8) you'd have to slug it through some mud. I ran most of it, but did my share of walking, too. I'd usually try to stick with someone and let them pace me, but since I had started towards the end, I actually ended up passing quite a few people -- and was constantly being passed by the 30K runners on their second loop.
In the end, I finished with a time of 1:21:11 with which I'm quite happy. That's 166th out of two hundred (co-ed). I was glad when my run was over and grateful I only had to do one loop rather than three, like the 30K runners. Meredith O cheered for me towards the end and will hopefully share some pictures.
So I currently am not training towards anything in particular. The Rogues have another 10K trail run in June, so maybe Jfer could do that one with me if we find a sitter (she likes the T-Shirt I got from the run). But I'd really like to do a 5K -- it would be nice to do a race in which I could conceivably run from start to finish,
