End of the Year Round-Up

Sure is easier to run when you can breathe. Wrap-up for December to start the counts for 2013 going...

Dec. 14: Garmin sez 5.5 mi
Dec. 18: 5 mi on the dreadmill
Dec. 19: 5 mi on the dreadmill
Dec. 21: 5 mi on the dreadmill (sense a pattern forming?)
Dec. 22: 5 mi on the Elliptical Machine of Death
Dec. 23: Garmin sez 6.1 mi around Carondolet Park
Dec. 24: 8.5 mi walk with A at Fenton City Park
Dec. 25: rowed 5 mi
Dec. 26: 7 mi on the dreadmill
Dec. 27: Garmin sez 5.25 mi
Dec. 29: Garmin sez 5.25 mi - in the snow!
Dec. 30: 12 mi walk with A in Forest Park
Dec. 31: 5 mi on the Elliptical Machine of Death

If I have my totals right, that gives me a total of 1013.39 miles running and walking; 48.1 miles on the EMD, and 5 miles rowed. I did want to have over 1200 miles for the year, but lost a few months while I was trying to get the loss of endurance thing figured out. (Stupid BP meds. Stupid EIA.)

Anyway... onward. Allons-y!

If you are going to eat, eat well.

RiverPoet's Lobster Chowder

2 large or 3 small stalks celery, sliced thin
3 skinny carrots, sliced thin
2 small potatoes, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1 tsp parsley
1 tsp basil
--------
2 lobster tails
4 tbsp butter
1-1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp turmeric
--------
1 c. half-and-half

Bring the veggies, broth, parsley and basil to a boil in a large saucepan. Simmer 30 minutes, or until veggies are almost soft. Remove from heat.

Cut the lobster into small chunks. Melt the butter in a saute pan, and add the lobster, paprika and turmeric. Saute pieces until opaque - this usually only takes a couple of minutes.

Add the lobster and butter to the veggies. SLOWLY stir in the half-and-half. Turn the heat back on LOW, and slowly heat everything to just barely a simmer. Stir frequently and do not boil.

Once heated through, serve immediately. Serves... theoretically two, or one very hungry person. (Makes two good-sized bowls.)

Back on the road

It appears that I've got my health problems sorted for the moment. Who knew that it would take $$$-worth of tests to equate trouble breathing to asthma. Anyway, what is done is done. I'm doing the running/walking catch-up in one post.

Sun., Sept. 23: 6.2 mi
Tues., Sept. 25: 5.15 mi
Fri., Sept. 28: 5.25 mi
Sun., Sept. 30: 6 mi

... and with that lousy 6-mi slog of a walk, I took a break while I met several nice doctors, nurses, technicians, and testing apperati. Fast forward to life on inhalers...

Sun., Nov. 4: 6.25 mi  (benchmark pre-medication... yep, exercise still sucks)

Fri., Nov. 16: 1.2 mi. dog walk
Sat.. Nov. 17: 5.5 mi walk
Wed., Nov. 21: 1.2 mi dog walk
Thu., Nov. 22: 5.5 mi Thanksgiving walk
Sun., Nov. 25: 3.65 at Bee Tree + 1.35 mi dog walk = 5 mi
Wed., Nov. 28: 4.25 mi on the dreadmill. Oh joy.
Fri., Nov. 30: 5.5 mi + 1.25 dog walk = 6.75 mi

And... back to The Program, which includes the 4:45 am alarm settings. Woot.
Sun., Dec. 2: 6.1 mi
Tues., Dec. 4: 4.5 mi dreadmill
Wed., Dec. 5: 4.3 mi walk
Fri., Dec. 7: 6.1 mi
Sat., Dec. 8: 5.5 mi
Sun., Dec. 9: 7 mi walk w/A and Kev

Tues., Dec. 11: 5 mi dreadmill
Wed., Dec. 12: total of 12K between dreadmill run, dog walk, and dreadmill walk.
  ... yes... 12K on 12-12-12, including the 12:12pm dog walk. :-)

Recent Work

I've been busy with master spinner program homework lately, but have been sneaking in some turning time. Recently off the lathe...

Walnut natural-edged bowl

Cherry natural-edged bowl

Ambrosia Maple bowl

Bloodwood (also called Satine) nostepinne... in my Etsy shop

Rock Maple lidded box. That stuff is aptly named.

As the Lathe Turns: Bowl Edition

I signed up for another woodturning class at the Craft Alliance, with instructor Matt Keim. It's been a lot of fun - I hadn't turned bowls since the first class, and was quite out of practice. But I'm remembering how much I love it.

Class 1: Thin-walled bowls

L to R: Tulip Poplar; Sycamore (finished); Sycamore (unfinished)

I turned the bowl in the center in class, then practiced on the piece I brought home (on the right). The one on the left is Tulip Poplar, and a particularly dark piece at that. The two on the left have been finished with butcher-block oil.

Class 2: Natural-edge bowls

Cherry bowl, finished

In the second class, we tackled natural-edge bowls. I got a lovely piece of cherry to work on (above). It is also finished with butcher-block oil.

For practice: I tackled a piece I'd hacked at a few times over the summer - also cherry - but was destroying, rather than creating. I finally worked up the nerve to mount that, and finish it up. Far from perfect, but better than it was - and not a pile of wood chips.

Cherry bowl, finished

And - I had a neat piece of mimosa that had a lovely grain when turned. Yada yada, BB-oil.

Mimosa bowl, finished

Class 3 was a walnut bowl... I need to turn the foot off that this weekend, and get it sanded and finished.

Functional art, and a piece of history

I drove out to Wellsville, MO this morning for a farm auction. A photo of a small gypsy-style wheel, likely German, caught my eye. Unfortunately I wasn't the only one bidding on it, and it went for way more than I had budgeted. But I did snap some photos for my own edification.

It was a very small wheel - maybe a 10" drive wheel - with a small footprint. It would have needed a bit of work to get spinning again, mainly fixing the split whorl and adding new treadle leather. And the bobbin was fused to the whorl... a bit of elbow grease to loosen that up. It did come with an extra bobbin and a half, which is very rare for old wheels. It had been painted, too - in reds, yellows and blacks. Hopefully the couple that got it can restore it and keep the remaining paint intact.

Acrylic - Not My Favorite

Working with acrylic makes just about everything else seem like butter. It is hard on my tools and I'm not a fan of the smell. But when it's all nice and shiny... it's amazing.

Off the lathe recently...

Pacific Yew on left, blue acrylic (for Paul) on right

Bottom two - various laminated woods, top is acrylic

Shiny needle cases in acrylic (available on my Etsy site)

Quick rehash of recent run/walking... still trying to figure out why I can't run well recently:

Sat., Aug 25: 3.5mi walk during Clean Stream event
Sun., Aug: 26: 5.5 mi walk

Week of Aug. 27: 5.25 mi Tuesday, 5 mi Wednesday, 5.55 mi Friday, 5.25 mi Sunday
Week of Sept. 3: 4.3 mi Tuesday, 5.25 mi Wednesday, 5 mi Friday, 6.2 mi Sunday
Week of Sept. 10: 5.3 mi Tuesday, 5 mi Wednesday, 5.05 mi Saturday, 5.2 mi Sunday
Week of Sept. 17: 5.35 mi Tuesday, 5.25 mi Wednesday, 5 mi Friday.