Today, Alex and Vicki spent the day with Great Goats 4H Club at Cedars of Lebanon Farm. They learned about getting ready for shows and how to show a goat. They also learned about showing chickens, sheep, and dogs. It was a very educational day and we got to meet a lot of other families who are new to showing goats. While we are not joining 4H yet, we do plan to attend some fair shows.
The road not taken…
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood…
While I am not known for being a particularly sentimental person, “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost has always been my favorite poem. To me, it is (and has been) a mantra to live by: make a decision and move on; don’t fret over the decisions in the past.
This week, I have been on travel in Washington DC for meetings. When I travel alone, I find myself contemplating all the other what could have been’s in life (contrary to the mantra). In the end, I arrive at the same conclusion: I probably could have taken many different turns along the way, but nothing tells me where I am is better or worse than where I could have been.
While I know there are many roads ahead, as I get to each divergence, I will hold the hand of my wife, look down each, and weigh the pros and cons. Eventually, we will choose together and move on. Maybe eventually, we will come back and see what was on the other path, but I doubt it.
How do you choose your road?
Ragnar 3 of 3
I have completed my contribution to our Ragnar relay. My final 6.3 miles were run at a 8:33/mile pace. My hip was very tight and that was my limiting factor for speed. Overall, I am extremely pleased with my running. I ran 24.3 miles at an overall average of 8:00/mile!
Ragnar 2 of 3
I finished my second run. 9.3 miles at a 8:00/mile pace, in the dark. Again I was faster than anticipated. I killed 8 on that leg and finally got passed. Apparently there are only about 17 teams left ahead of us. Of course, theoretically, the faster teams actually started behind us so we should start getting passed by faster teams. Time will tell.
Ragnar run 1 of 3
I survived my first run of 9 miles. I ended up running a little faster than planned: average 7:32/mile for 9 miles. Hopefully I won’t regret that later. I did get 11 kills (overtaking another runner).
Vote for our team by texting to 53535:
Farout Icky Kitty 90
Van Icky Kitty 90
Nom Icky Kitty 90
That is for best fashion, van decorations, and team name.
What is a RAGNAR?
A couple of months ago, some running friends asked me to join their Ragnar Relay Team. From the Ragnar website:
“Ragnar is the overnight running relay race that makes testing your limits a team sport. A team is made up of 6-12 individuals; each individual runs 3 legs. The legs of the race vary in difficulty and distance, from 3-8 miles, allowing elite and novice runners to run together. Over 2 days and 1 night, teams run across 200 miles of the country’s most scenic terrain. Pair that with crazy costumes, inside jokes, a great finish line party and unforgettable stories. Some call it a slumber party without sleep, pillows or deodorant. We call it Ragnar.”
So today, I will join a large number of people who have decided to pay people for the privilege of running a lot. We are running Cape Cod, from Plymouth, MA to Provincetown, MA for about 186 miles.
I am runner #7 on our team and my total is 24 miles. Hopefully I will still be able to walk when this is over.
Who needs tv when you have dirt?
1 pile of dirt + 3 kids = endless fun!
Putting the brakes on
Literally. I stopped at Tractor Supply this afternoon to pick up about 1000lbs of feed. As I was parking, the brakes went soft and felt odd. I backed up and drove forward again, and heard a metal noise under the truck. I hopped out to to find brake pads laying under the right rear wheel.
I decided not to load a bunch of feed into the truck, and instead limped home.
Tomorrow morning I will finish replacing the pads, rotors, and calipers. Then I might check the front brakes…
Musical horses?
This week has involved a number of horse rides, but few on the normal mount pairings. On Monday, I did a trail ride with the kids – Alex on Devil, Vicki on Precious, and Amanda with me on King. Tonight, I went for a run with Amanda in the jogging stroller and came home to Vicki trotting around bareback, Alex riding King, and Anna on Precious. Amanda actually is happy riding with anyone that will let her up, and Alex thinks it is tons of fun to ride with his little sister. When they were on King together, no matter how much Alex kicked, King wouldn’t move until I let him know it was OK to walk around.
I guess it’s good to build confidence on different horses!
Farewell to Turbo
Today Turbo left us. While we still had longer we could keep him on trial, there were a few specific issues that led us to realize he wasn’t the right long term horse. For now, instead of seeking a new horse, we are going to ride King and focus on more lessons for Rob on advanced school horses.