A Three Day Weekend.. With Subie and Nature!

 The Zebras had Monday off in the form of their annual "Z" day.   Yeah!   A three days weekend for us lowly warehouse workers is always welcome!   

So what did I do with my new found free time?  Why..  Fix the Subaru's Brakes! 

They have been squeaking for a while now and I finally had the time to do them properly.    All they needed were new brake pads.  And Easy fix!   

Still, it is nice to have plenty of time to fix them properly rather than have an unforeseen issue arise and ruin your Subie experience.  Overall,  things went together well and I did not have too much of a struggle.   And the squeak is gone.    Looks like I caught the problem before it became a REAL problem.  

Other than that,   I also fixed Dave's KIA brake light,  we recharged the battery and got the Truck started,  and I got to play Cribbage with Ellie and Dave in the afternoon.   

Today,  I went on a nature walk in the Hawthorne Hallow nature preserve.   A small privately owned nature walk on some property near a wetland.   I heard there were mushrooms there, but only found a couple Dryad Saddles.  

I also found a nice bunch of Chinese Garlic Onions!  I brought some home and we might chop them up and put them into something later.   Having wild foraged onions is kind of novel.   They taste a lot like chives... A mild onion flavor.   

Other than that,  I have tomorrow to get ready for the next week.   I guess we have next Monday off this coming weekend... meaning we have two back to back three day weekends!   How cool is that?  We just have to make it to Friday....  

Short blog post this week.   I still have to do my Onboarding for Shoreland and a few other things.  I'm also shopping for a new Subaru.   I'm not feeling confident that Silver Bullet Subie will make it to the 400,000 mile marker safely.   He has been giving me plenty of warning signs that he is getting old and should maybe retire.   So I don't want to let him down by waiting for him to let me down...if that makes sense.   It is a bitter sweet task trying to find his replacement... but I know it has to be done someday.   Because every second counts!

Friday With Christina. A Night Of Laughs....

 Last night,  I joined Christina on an adventure to see a comedian.   This was the first time I have ever seen a live comedian.   And the first time I ever went out with Christina without a chaperone. ( Or "Lion Tamer"  so to say....) I must admit... I was prepared for a crazy night...  

 To those who may not remember...  Christina is kind of like a puppy dog mixed with a bottle of lightning!   Dangerous!  But lovable and cute.    You may sum that all up into one word: "Fun"...  Unless you don't like police, vandalism, rowdy comedian heckling, or night driving.   I'll admit,  several of those things are not on my "Fun list." 

 But I did have fun.   Well,  more fun than "non-fun."   Scratch that!  thinking back.. it was rather fun...  I just don't think I could handle it as an every day thing.   And I will admit up front that I will be embellishing things slightly to make it more blog-worthy.  ( Meaning: things were not THAT crazy.. )  

 To start:  My internet map gave out a mile into the trip to her apartment.   Meaning: I got lost.   I was only a half mile away from her location, but the construction and lack of GPS meant I was driving in circles.    Not the best start.  But I found her after she came out and flagged me down.   

  After a quick tour of the apartment; The backstory of all of the neighbors; and a bite to eat....  We headed out for the show.  The show was thought to star at 7 P.M. giving us only an hour to get there.  It was the same location as the one Dave and I visited to see 38 Special and War.  Christina knew the way, so we agreed she should drive.  ( Or she did not trust the Subie....)  

 Upon arrival,  We learned that the event did not begin until 8.  Giving us plenty of time to chug a beer in the car in preparation.  ( A ritual I learned from Dave.)  I'm thinking that the comedians enjoy performing in front of slightly inebriated people better than stone sober folks.  I know I tend to laugh at things more easily after a beer or two.  

 With all of the construction in Waukegan, wouldn't you know that there was a patch of fresh cement on the sidewalk.  I should have never pointed it out, because Christina took full advantage of the uncured material. Good thing there were no police around...   Wait!   What is she doing????

 The Tickets were free, by the way.   And for this reason,  Christina had the money to spend for a one on one meet and greet with the Comedian.  I waited a bit while she got the picture,  and then we called it for the night.  

  It was late when we got back.  Way past my bed time!   So I jumped right into Subie and headed home.   Christina had to work the next day at 7 A.M....  So she went right to sleep as well.   

Overall,  A fun  night without being arrested.   I consider that a success!  

 Other than that,  I found a few more Aspen Oyster mushrooms on my run this afternoon.  I did Laundry,  worked out for nearly 3 hours!  And I completed 500 pushups today!  (I only got 400 this morning, but finished up the last 100 this evening after Church.  Still!  I consider that an achievement.  

And now I have to run tomorrow early.  Best sign off on this blog post and prepare for tomorrow.    Because life is short and every second counts. 

A Weekend With Family.

Notice the body near the finish line....

 Last weekend,  Cheryl's Family came up to Kenosha for a visit.  Confused?   It's a long story of how we got here, but there it is...   Cheryl ran a The Wisconsin Half Marathon in the morning while we cheered her on.   And then we all piled into their Forester and zigzagged around Kenosha looking for things to do.  

Dad tries to take a picture...

And that pretty much summed up that section of it.   If I don't go into detail... that is.   But the Story is in the details....  so let us begin. 

I have not seen the Fam for a long time now and it was actually a pleasant event that I was looking forward to.   I did not really know what to expect, since they were mostly in touch with Cheryl and she was feeding me information second hand.   So I'm sure a certain level of detail was lost in the process.  But we managed to link up and have a fun time.  

There are not many pictures of this little gathering because my phone required recharging.   And  everyone else had a phone they could use.. right?   So I left mine in the hotel room.   

A wild ride through Kenosha.

BIG MISTAKE! 

Not only did I fail to get any pictures,  but one of the primary features I use the phone for is the google maps I was taking about in my last post.   But surely,  the other members of the family have a Maps App that they can use...  right?   

Um...  No.   Cheryl's phone kept zapping out and the Mom and Dad do not have a subscription.  They all look to me to find these places they want to go in Kenosha.   Unfortunately for them,  I have a limited knowledge of the area.   Mostly home, work, church, and a couple stores next to home.   In other words,  My knowledge is limited!   

So that made for an interesting ride.   Circles, loops,  and 90 degree turns galore!   I now think I know where Cheryl gets her sense of direction.  

But we survived.  And got to visit all the places Cheryl had planned for us.   The beach, Tenudas, The Cheese Castle, and Woodman's.  By the time we finished,  everyone was exhausted and we all retired to our rooms.  

Sunday morning, we said our goodbyes and went our separate ways.   It was good to reconnect with them after so long.   But I was ready to get back into my routine.  

I had time to make it to the 10:00 Church service when I was pleasantly surprised by another "family" member.  

Ladybird in the flowers...

Christina popped in after a long absence.   She sat next to me and we enjoyed a long chat.  She has been missed by everyone from Church.  They all wanted to greet her and say hi.  

I lost!  To Christina!

Later, after church,  she invited me for a dog walk through the Petrified Springs.   I had not seen Ladybird for as long a time.   And it is good to exchange stories and catch up while not in the middle of a Church service. 

We played Battleship and drank a beer at the Beer Garden with Dave.   Overall,  it was a nice end to the weekend.   

And lastly,  Tonight!   I found a nice cluster  of Aspen Oyster Mushrooms!  I shall be heading out there in a couple days to see if I can find some more.   I know there was another log with some just pinning out.   

There are moments where you have to slow down and count your blessings.   and I believe there are no coincidences when people from your past suddenly appear out of no where...   It might not mean anything to them,,,  or anyone else.  But it means the world to me.     And  I hope I can be that special thing that helps them along their path of life.   Because every second counts.

The Glass City (Half) Marathon

 We both survived!  And were successful!  (Despite Fate's best efforts.... ) And I would like to note that we both succeeded with each of our objectives.  Cheryl with her race time and Me with my matched Beer Mug set!   Oh!  And I finished without injury or walking...   Win Win!  (Win!)

Now the drama part.   ( There is always the drama, right?)  

I mentioned that Cheryl was relying on Google Maps a little too much in the last post.   Well....   Google Maps pulled out all of the stops and decided to take the "Intelligence" out of the A.I. program.   She/He/ It...  Put us about 10 miles away from the race course in the dark rainy morning.   Visibility near nil!   Frustration rising!   The hour and a half we set up for parking and bathroom visits was cut to 30 minutes!   The parking lots were filled.  We were forced to park further away than we had planned, and had only minutes to get in line for the bathrooms and hope we could finish before the gun went off!  

And then there was the threat of rain.  Which eventually happened about midway through the race.  By that time, it was more like a blessing rather than an inconvenience.   The temps were hot and humid, but the clouds kept the sun off of our heads. (And the rain cooled us down.)  Eventually, the clouds parted and the temps rose to 85 degrees! Very harsh running conditions... but we were both finished by then. 

Upon completion of my race, I was to link up with Cheryl at the finish line as she came in.  ( Just like last year.)   There was just one catch:   I missed her!

After all of the races we have been through, it was bound to happen.  And it happened here.  I figured I had at least an hour before she finished so I could change clothes and hydrate up to stop my legs from cramping.   Once I stopped running,  the pain set in and despite it being hot outside,  I began to shiver uncontrollably.   I ran to the car,  swapped out my clothes,  left my mug and gathered up fresh clothes and rain gear for Cheryl. I ran back tot he finish line.

An hour and a half later,  she is no where to be seen.   She had finished before I got back somehow and I was stuck searching for her at the finish line.   She wandered around trying to find me...  exhausted, cold, wet, and hangry!  She was thinking I was still on the race course..  Or DEAD! 

There was one other minor detail.   I had the keys to the car.  

It seemed like the right idea:   I get the car keys because I would finish first.   I could do what I did and find her...  like I had planned, and did last year.    Only things did not work out the same way this year....  Murphy's law of War:   Plans never last past first contact.  Instead, I went from Hero to Zero instantly!

By the time we finally found each other, we were both DONE with Toledo!    We managed to survive and make it back to the car.  ( After I scored a matching mug!  Yeah!)   We went back to the Hotel,  turned off Google Maps,  And found that we had everything we needed just five minutes down the road!   Stores, gas, food!  We did NOT have to navigate through downtown Toledo every time.    Thanks Google!

  Perhaps the best part of the trip was that evening meal.   After the race,  we grabbed some of our own beer and a couple of sandwiches from Meijers and ate them in the lobby of the hotel.   We had the entire place to ourselves.   It was peaceful and we managed to salvage the good stuff while talking about the bad stuff.  

 
Sometimes when you are on an adventure,  the stresses can become a   bit overwhelming.
 
  But that is short lived in comparison to the memories that are made.  And those are the things you cherish and laugh about when you are old and reminiscing about your life. I hope that tid-bit of wisdom is realized by people other than myself.    Because life is short.   And every second count!

Toledo!

 The Glass City Marathon  this weekend ( Tomorrow, to be exact!)  And today was spent gathering our things, picking up our packets and getting familiar with Toledo.   Or, more accurately:  doing the things we did not get to do last year.  

 First:  I want to say that a pilot (Cheryl) should keep their eyes on the road and listen to the navigator.(Me!)   However,  Cheryl seems to trust Google Maps more and we end up finding ourselves driving down the line up shoot of the 5K race!    Race officials scramble to cut us off before we run someone over... And in a frightened tone, tell us to back up and get off the course!   Rather embarrassing....

But we did not hit anyone.  And the 5K was almost completely over by the time we got there.   The Expo was right there but was not open yet.   My theory:  They were planning on the 5K being done before the Expo opened the doors.   They did not account for the people who were 10 minutes early. (Us.)  

Still.... Go back in time and LISTEN TO ETHAN!

Venting done.   We picked up the packet and headed to the lake shore.  Lake Erie!  That is.   The shallow , brown water called to us for another beach combing experience.  On a brighter note,   This area is known for its birding corridors.   Next week is a huge event where birders from all around come to catalog as many fly overs as possible.   While we were on the shore, a number of birders were already out and about.   I managed to capture an Egret and a Blue Heron. We also scored a lot of polished shells.  ( Not much beach glass this time.)  It was windy, warm and calming to walk along the shore once again.  

Then on to the Glass Museum.   Not as special as you might think. But they did have two actual Van Gogh paintings.  ( In a glass museum?  I guess so....)   How the paintings got there I may never know, but we also saw a Monet and Renoir.  Not sure if they were originals though.  

There were a number of other "interesting" items that captured my attention.   My personal favorite was the glass dress.    Most other things were right out of your grandmother's cupboards... minus the dust.    I found them rather boring as they looked like things I had seen before.  ( Not that special) 

  With Google Maps CONSTANTLY directing us through the city center of Toledo,   we are finally bushed!  And discovered  ( BY accident actually, )  That you could take the highway and cut a lot of traffic and time off of your route.  This is good news for tomorrow when we have to wake up and get there in the dark. 

Cheryl just informed me that the race starts in less than 12 hours.   This means an early bed time for us.  (By the way,I'm running the half,  she is running the full Marathon.) It is going to be HOT  with temps rising up over 75 degrees.   It also might rain. (Think:  Chaffing!)   Sure glad I chose the half...

So wish us luck!  My goal is to finish... Injury free!  And hopefully without any walking.   It would be nice if I could beat my last race's time... But I will aim for that as the race progresses.   My first concern is the heat and the hydration breaks.    

And also,  I would like to get an extra mug if I can.  Last time they gave me an extra beer glass,   but the finisher's prize this time is a mug.   Doesn't matter!  I want to see if I can get a matched set.   

And also..  Cheer for Cheryl.   ( She is my ride back home... so  Safe running!)  

Time is short!  And ever second counts....   Time for some rest before the storm.