The Best-Laid Plans Still Go Awry

Today's run/walk: nada. Unplanned rest day.

Mostly because it's 10:33am and I'm still in my robe. Why? Well, I'd decided to swap out my PC towers this morning, after doing my backups and file-saves and all kinds of due-diligence last night. But this:

New Dell tower

... has a bad video card. At least, that's what I thought when I unhooked everything from the old tower, hooked this one up, and turned it on. After an initial Windows is starting screen, everything got all crazy-pants on the monitor. All kinds of pixelation and shimmy-shaking going on. I think I set up a user account, but couldn't well see enough to be sure.

So, I called Dell. "Yeah, hi... I'm trying to hook up my new tower, and my old monitor - which works fine with the other computers in the house - is all messed up. I think the video card is bad."

Nah, couldn't be that. We did a bunch of trouble-shooting, re-initializing, rechecking connections (again - I'd already done that twice), resetting to factory defaults, etc. Boot it up again - same thing. So after an hour on the phone, the conclusion: my video card is bad. And of course, it's integrated with the motherboard. At least I don't have to send it back, as they'll send out a technician. Unfortunately I won't have time to have technical guests at the house for at least a week and a half.

Ah, well... the old tower is back in place for now. I need to go take a shower and get moving.

Lazy Saturdays

Today's run/walk: Garmin says 4.7mi in 57:15.

Can we have a big hurrah for the Michigan win over Purdue? Thank you.

It was a great day for watching football and getting house chores done - if you count reskeining yarn as chores. The girls had other ideas. The front of the house faces south, and as the year gets later... there's some nice sunshine that streams in. Good for napping.

Zev dozing in the sun.

Kaje napping nearby.

Grover, being the cold-weather dog he is, was hanging out in the shade on the deck. Too cold there for the girls.

New Fiber from Far Away

Today's run/walk: 4.1mi on the treadmill. Half-mile walk to warm up, ran 5K (albeit slowly), then a half-mile walk to cool down. Time - a leisurely 54:32. I used to be able to run a 10K in that...

Yesterday I got a fun package in the mail, all the way from Sweden:

Looks innocent enough...

I got my fleece from Renee! Back in the spring, I 'adopted' a sheep. That sheep lives in Sweden. It was part of a flock that was rescued by Renee, who used to own some of them... but long story short, she (and the sheep) needed help, so I donated to help cover food and care. 'My' sheep is named Merrin Tiberius, and she's part Wensleydale. Her fleece was also  a mess this year. But, Renee sent these:

That's Spelsau lamb on the left, and adult on the right.

I got samples of fleece from a Spelsau lamb, on the left, and from an adult, on the right. The fleece can change quite a bit as the sheep ages, so it will be fun to spin both and see how it goes. I scoured this today and it's drying in the basement now. More on Spelsau later.

I also got over 12oz of this:

Wensleydale/Jacob cross

It's a very dark brown, near-black with gold tips, and I believe it's Wensleydale x Jacob. I have Jacob, and have seen Wensleydale, but not a cross. This will also be fun to spin up. I scoured this today also. Once it's dry I'll take a look at the staple length and what kind of shape it's in, and decide if I will comb or card it.

On the same (recipe) page

Today's run/walk: nada. Rest day. Though I did make a total fool of myself running on a treadmill and doing sit-ups for a video at work.

Fun mail day! But more on that tomorrow.

In the meantime... I made pumpkin bread tonight. It's that time of year when I crave all things pumpkin. (Actually, that's year-round, but it seems to get stronger in the fall.)

As I was mixing about 8 cups of ingredients into a bowl that held... well, clearly, less than 8 cups, I decided past-me was giving future-me way too much credit. I don't remember this recipe ever overflowing the largest bowl I own. After the bread - and bonus muffins - were finally in the oven, I wrote a note across the top of the worn and stained card:  SUGGEST  HALVING ALL INGREDIENTS.

Pardon me while I go vacuum the flour off the floor in the kitchen.

Thieving Little ...

Today's run/walk: Garmin says 4.8 mi in 1:00:51.

Yesterday when I walked out front to go run, I noticed a single hyacinth bulb sitting on my porch wall. It had been gnawed.

White hyacinth bulb hors d'oeuvre

I had to stay home today to wait for the furnace repair dude to show up. While I was waiting, I decided to go figure out where the bulb came from. I planted 15 on Sunday, in several groups. I figured I'd stick this one back in the ground and see what happened in the spring.

I found this.

That's not where I planted them.

Thieving little fuzzy-tailed rat bastard squirrels. At least they could have had the decency to EAT the bulbs after digging them up. I mean, what's the point otherwise? Or is this the squirrel equivalent of taking a bite out of every piece of chocolate in the box before you decide you don't like the caramel/nougat mix?

The RiverPoet is NOT amused.

It's Always Something

Monday's run/walk: nada. Rest day.

Today's run/walk: 5.01 mi in 1:01:24

Last week's mileage: 21.8 mi

This morning started out pretty good. Weird, but good. About a half mile from home, along one of my usual routes, the street lights were out. Completely out. And with no moon, it was dark. It made running that stretch a bit interesting - it's a crapshoot with the streetlights, as the sidewalk is quite uneven in places. But with the tiny bit of light I had to see, I couldn't see if the lines were just the normal breaks between sections, or a 1" height difference that would make me trip. I probably looked like I was practicing high-stepping for a marching band.... assuming anyone could see me at all. At least that was only a half-mile or so.

I did finally feel comfortable with the run - that's progress. More fun than work. That's something.

But, tonight, we figured out that the blower on the furnace wasn't blowing. No cool air, no warm air. Nada. I had just gotten my contract renewal for our HVAC company in the mail... it must have been a sign. I'll wait for their call in the morning...

An Afternoon with the Harlot

Today's run/walk: 4.1 mi in 50:52.

I went out to Carondolet Park to watch the runners in the St. Louis Rock n' Roll Marathon. I timed it right so I was able to see the lead runners, both male and female. Then I ran back along the course hoping to catch a glimpse of my friend MarkO. (When you've known someone that long, you have an idea of the person's average pace, so it was pretty easy to find him.) MarkO said he had a cold, and he did look a bit rough. But I'm sure he powered through as usual.

Paul was entered in the half, but that course split off from the marathoners up around Tower Grove Park, which would have been a half-marathon for me to run up to watch and then back again. There were too many street closings in the neighborhood to even attempt to drive.

Yesterday afternoon, I went to hear the Yarn Harlot, aka Stephanie Pearl-McPhee in real life, speak and read from her latest book, All Wound Up. It was fun to hear a few chapters read aloud.

Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, the Yarn Harlot

Afterward, I waited in line to get my copy of the book signed. I also managed to get a picture of myself and Stephanie - she holding my sock-in-progress, and I holding hers. There's a long story behind that - suffice it to say I didn't have to resort to kinnearing a photo.

Yarn Harlot and RiverPoet