Raincharm’s Weblog

Our lawn is not fabulous. It is a true drought tolerant Seattle type lawn. This means you never water, and hope nature provides enough so that the weeds are not the greenest part. We do mow, edge and pluck dandelions.

This morning Carl left for an errand, stopped home for a brief moment – to find a truck for a plumbing company parked on our front lawn. While he was running into the house another truck was maneuvering to park across our driveway – which would have blocked him in. Another truck was on our neighbors lawn. The work was for a house 2 houses away.

Carl told the man aiming at our driveway that he could not park him in. The man responded by mimicking Carl, but did not block him in. He got the name of the firm, and when he reached his destination he called me to give me the scoop. I called the company and lodged our complaint.

They took the information, but when he returned much later in the afternoon there was a different truck/trailer on the lawn.

Now technically, neither of us specifically told them to get off of the lawn. What I suggested was that they should ask before parking on the lawn, and that being rude was just plain uncalled for.

They have not completed the job, so I e-mailed them tonight and requested they not park there without express consent of the property owner, and that they improve their customer service training. I even suggested some alternative parking locations, since our block usually has very little legal parking available (for us either) It should be interesting to see how tomorrow morning starts. (Note – parking on the lawn is also illegal – I looked into it once when I was so fed up with parking far away.)

Well I am long past, but Carl and his friends are hitting it right and left.
We had a few in town for the weekend, to celebrate with Chris in particular.
The big thing about this cake was that we actually fit 50 candles on, and had them all lit at the same time. Of course the first to be lit were almost out by the time we finished.

(Chris managed to get all but one blown out in one try. And the smoke alarm did not go off.)
Great weekend, great weather, great (well good) baseball, and the best friends.

Day started out with some promise.

First and foremost, slept in until 8 AM, late considering guests in the house.
But all had been up late, with three not arriving until midnight.

Coffee – not usually an adventure, but we had to locate and plug in the Mr. Coffee I purchased in my college days. It keeps working when new versions have puked out. Carl & I usually just do the one cup at a time method. So – coffee finally put on so all could gain their footing on the day.

Kids happily playing with this and that, and Maggie doing some great cartoon drawings of those present.

I had to leave for soccer – a little late getting out, but chatting with friends is always more fun.
Soccer game – need to get back into better running shape, but a worthy contest. We tied 3-3, with our last goal coming in the last 2 minutes. I had pledged after the last game to work out several days during the week. I failed miserably to meet the goal due to 2 Mariner games, 1 late night at work, 1 late night work meeting, 1 night massage + cleaning house (sort of like exercise). Make same pledge for next week.

Work for a few hours – catch up on a few of all of those smaller, but necessary questions that arrived during last week. It was definitely a gaining work week. Hopefully next week will be different.

Now I am off to decorate toilets for a bit, and then maybe home to bake a cake.
It is a lovely afternoon, and still a promising day.

Not that it is the first time that I have missed a day, but I was actually busy at home accomplishing things:
Cleaned 2 bathrooms
Laundry – load of sheets
Made 3 beds
Laundry – folded the 2 loads that were waiting to be folded

Oh, and a massage before all of these accomplishments.
Oh, and discovered that are furnace is not furnishing any heat – 64 degrees inside.
(Will look into that more tonight to see if it is just needed to get the pilot light restarted or call a repairman type of thing)

So – moral of my story – we need more guests to come and visit (hint, hint) It provides incentives.
(3 guests arriving tonight for the weekend – last weekend of baseball, at least in Seattle)

7:30 AM to 9:30 PM
But, the meetings all went well, and I did take a break from work in the afternoon to go give blood. They took it and I felt fine, just tired. So, also had another break for dinner and a rain-shortened walk pre-dinner. Clam Chowder, soft cheese and bread – mmmm.

So – it was a long day, but not without its highlights.

Bed beckons.

Today was getting ready for tomorrow’s meetings

8 AM – Staff Safety – slips, trips and falls. Maybe I’ll try a pratfall to loosen them up.
10:30 AM – Property owner wants to fully understand sewer connection possibilities, and I am not sure they truly remember decisions they made in 1990. Hopefully I will have enough of their paperwork to jog some memories.
7 PM – City non-motorized improvements neighborhood meeting – with possible future sewer implications. We have no news for those that want it, and only pose a threat for those that don’t. But it is really a City meeting (we are not the City, just an even more local form of government), so hopefully the walking/biking/non-motorizing improvements will really be the focus.

Thanks for listening to what my mind is revolving around at this point in time.

That line from The Natural was running through my head tonight at the Mariners game. One more week with a last place team. Come April, they will all be in first place again. Tonight’s game was dismal. The score was 2 to 1 and even with only one run to tie, it never really felt like the M’s were going to come back. One more loss and it is 100 for the season. And yes, for those that don’t follow this fine sport – that is alot.

Let’s see. The walking would seem to be the easy part. Training over the last few months was sometimes sporadic, but got serious at the end and I thought I was ready.

Starts with a sleepover. This was not really all that necessary, but it saved Carl from an early morning wake-up and drive to the eastside. Since he has booked several cheering type support activities over the next three days, the least I can do is let him sleep in to his regular time.

Our team, the Pink Flamingoes had five members. (Yes, spelled incorrectly by a sixth member that spelled it wrong on the application, and then dropped out of the walk. So I decided it was really supposed to be Flamin-goes, sort of a walking thing. Then I noticed I managed to spell it Flaming on my badge – I think I got interrupted.) Back to the team – I had only met three of the four others. One I know well – co-worker, the second is a friend of hers – restaurant manager, the third a friend of the second – teaches wine making at a local college, and the fourth an acquaintance of the third – another restaurant manager. Four of us managed to get our “luggage” onto the appropriate luggage truck (H) and rendezvous at the opening ceremony.

There were 3200 women and a few men converging at the opening ceremony, and we use our flamingo hats as a way to readily find each other among all of the pink people. The fifth flamingo was nowhere to be found and because we had not met her she did not have her flamingo hat to help us out.

After some group stretches, moments to think about what it is all for and inspiring words, we are off. Well some are off. It takes quite some time to get 3200 people through the starting gate and onto the path. And it is also rush hour in the middle of a city (Bellevue for the northwest oriented), so there are stoplights to wait for, etc. Anyway, it takes awhile to really be on the way, and then it is much like being in a parade – hurry up and wait. And don’t even think about your favorite walking pace, it just isn’t going to happen for a while, until after a few pit stops when people get spread out a bit. Speaking of pit stops. The start was slow enough that we took advantage of the starting line of outhouses, even after we had gotten through the official Goes gate.

So we are off, and walking as four flamingos with a fifth wandering by herself. Since we availed ourselves of the outhouses at the start, we were able to just grab food at the first pit stop. [There is a pattern to the walk – outhouse, water, food, WALK, outhouse, water, food, WALK, and sometimes, food, water, outhouse.] Skipping the outhouses at the first pit stop is a good strategy for getting out of the parade and into some space, and avoiding really long lines that are at the first pit stop (because of all of the slowness at the start).

At the second pit stop we make telephonic contact with our fifth flamingo. She is a few minutes behind us, so we elect to wait and bring the fifth into the fold. She is finally hatted appropriately, and a true flamingo. Off we set, with a new bird to get to know. Lunch – nice to stop and change our socks at a beautiful park in the heart of Bellevue’s downtown. Rey calls – what timing, except that I cut the call short to eat.

Off again. It is about now that we find we have two different speeds going. Two of our flock are basically fast walkers, as we found on our training walks. Our fifth flamingo has some blister issues and is a bit slower. I take off trailing the fast twosome, and soon we are in two/three groups. The fast ones don’t know I am trailing them for some time. I was not sure this was my best option as I could burn myself out for Day 2 and 3, but what the heck – see what the body can do.

At one point I happened upon a woman who looked in pain, and alone, so I stopped and stayed with her for a bit. She had some nerve thing going on in her leg. The medics had her do some stretches at lunch that had relieved the pinch/pain, but it had returned. Some of her team caught up to us, and I left her in their capable and caring hands. At the next pit stop (outhouse and water for me) I found the fast duo waiting for me. So off I continued.

Compared with 2007, the first day of 2008 was slow. A larger group, slow start, and the numerous traffic lights to contend with continuously in Bellevue made it just slow. Except for the start it was never mall-walking speed, but … Finally reached camp. Find the bags, find a tent, find our space, set up tent – Shelley, my tentmate arrived during set-up, bonus. She reported that our fifth flamingo was even tenting in a different area (time of sign-up difference). We all got together for the evening’s entertainment.

Night 1: Food, Water and Karaoke. Well – limited Karaoke. 10-12 walkers that signed up earlier. A trio of judges choose the top three to compete the next night for the Rock Star pin. Nobody was totally embarrassing. A group of three provided their own words to “Lady Marmalade” (Christina Aguilera).

The chorus is all I can remember well enough to reprint, and it was complete with dance moves.

“Got to get your mammogramma,

Got to get your mammogram,

Got to get your mammogram,

Got to give your sisters a squeeze.”

It was hilarious, and they earned a standing ovation and a return trip to night two.

The other two that moved on were just really talented singers.

Time for bed (9 PM is lights out). A few notable events. First, Shelley & I were heading for the outhouse row and she jumped about one foot up and two feet sideways – “Snake!” Now, it was dark enough to have our headlamps on, and grassy, and there was a shape in the grass. Upon closer inspection it turned out the snake in the grass was just a stick. I almost wish she had really screamed (I have seen her have this reaction to snakes before), because we had just passed a cop patrolling the campground. I bet he would have come running. Second, snorers. There was one in close enough proximity to be well heard. Luckily for me, snoring does not keep me awake. I think it is actually soothing. But all the others with me said it continued through the entire night. Third, which made the snoring a moot point, was the concert going on in the park. Some sort of rappish music. Carl said is was F____ (don’t remember the name) of Jamacian descent, although it didn’t strike me of much of anything except repetetive. Not exactly soothing. But tired as we were we all got some sort of sleep. I also had the middle of the night call of nature. Cold, damp/dew, but I won’t sleep well if I don’t take action. So – off with a few others at 3:30 AM to find the nearest outhouse. Now this is fun camping.

Day two

Walk – We split into two groups from the start – fast and slower, only this time I went slower. It is not really slow, just slower than fast. Our fast duo finished 20 miles in the top 160 (they count to keep track, not as a finishing spot). Our three wended our way through Redmond and Kirkland, following along. The Kirkland Hill was notable, an average grade of over 5% for almost 2 miles – It was great. At the top of the hill was a cheering station – the number of people that turn out to cheer you on is always amazing. Just off of the cheering station our fifth flamingo announced she wanted to stretch at the corner. I noticed a rail fence that would be good for the task and redirected us to the side of the road. Of course, what I had not noticed, but the others did, was the pile of horse shit just on the other side of the fence. We did manage to move about 20 feet down the fenceline and actually stretch, all the while laughing uproariously to the bemusement of other walkers. To our further laughter a few others decided to stretch there as well, and ended up right in the same spot we had started. Returning to the sea of pink tents by late afternoon was a relief.

Night 2: The Karaoke finals were another round of great music, with a member of the Seattle Women’s Chorus taking home the coveted pin. (Important stuff this competition) The remaining hour was spent dancing – yes even me. It apparently uses different muscles. Then off to bed. I think they just try to get you so tired that you can’t help but fall asleep.

General memories: The Cowbelles from Texas cheering us on in full cow regalia, Flamingos from Florida (aka Peg’s Legs), and a wave of pink in front and behind. Showers in a truck. Rows and rows of outhouses. They even put pictures and jokes and quotes in them to keep your mind off the fact that you are in a port-a-potty. Carl’s daily supply of a diet Coke for Shelley. All the people along the route that give you a thumbs up. And especially those that greet you as you pass their homes saying they are a survivor and thank us for raising money for research so more don’t have to be “survivors”. [1 in 8 women will get the diagnosis. One of my supporters, that I had seen earlier this year, had received the diagnosis between our visit and my request.]

Day 3: This starts with a bus ride into Seattle – groan. Not the ride, but the hour wait in line to get on the bus. [For a really well run event, this was a low point.] We finally got started, out in two groups again – to meet deadlines for people along the route. Started through my neighborhoods. Arboretum, Green Lake, Lake Union, Pike Place Market, Sculpture Garden, Seattle Center. Bonus for the slow start – not a long wait at the end. And the end is spectacular – the walk into the Seattle Center is just an emotional hug – so many people cheering and yelling at you.

Then we walk into the stadium. Carl calls this part the Estrogen Bomb. I am amazed at the number of people in attendance, and more inspiring words – all to the goal of Finding a Cure and No More Breast Cancer. 3200 walkers – $8.6 Million dollars raised. WOW

Most frequently asked question – will I do it again? Maybe. Next year Seattle’s walk is in October. It sounds darker and colder and probably wetter. Still, I can be tough. But wait – what about … Michigan? It’s a thought, just a thought at this point.

1 week later I attempt to play soccer. The first five minutes provide an immediate reminder of the last weekends exploits. The bottoms of my feet are killing me. Cleats mean points instead of the nice continuous regular shoe bottom, and we are playing in dirt, wet dirt. Footing is interesting by everyone’s standards. By the end of the game, the foot bottoms soreness has faded from the primary complaint to just plain tired, and feeling slow. [By the way – we lost, but W-L is not why I play. I play to keep moving and playing as a team can be fun and it motivates me to keep moving during the rest of the week.]

As Ashlan said, “If you made it through this – it was your choice.” Thanks for listening. And thanks to Carl for his great support. He made 4 of the 5 Cheering stations with treats (strawberries and blueberries) and the finale, including picking up Shelley’s and my luggage and toting them back to the car before the closing ceremony. It basically consumed his weekend as well, and he is a great sport – wearing a pink hat, toting a blowup flamingo, and punching traffic light crossing buttons in one case. He said so many people thanked him for that small action, thinking he was a volunteer. (He really was, just not official.) Here I go again.

It was kind of a grey day today, after many, many sunny days in a row.
So I decided to try a different sort of exercise that I hadn’t done all summer – elliptical, or walking in place.
It had been long enough that I had forgotten most of my pre-workout ritual
Music or News, stretch a little by riding the bike first, maybe a book.
So I just start “walking”.

Since I don’t have my usual diversions from the sweat machine I started staring at the little readouts that cover the front.
I was focused on trying to see if there was a pattern in the last digit of the “calorie counter”. Even, even, odd, odd, odd, even, even, even, even, odd, odd, odd, etc, etc, etc
That was good until it hit 100. Then no more decimals to follow.
So on to the next thing – comparing the last digit of the calories with the last digit of the distance. Try to guess when they will match and if they will change to the next number together.

Hey – it beats prime numbers in my numb brain.

I can walk all day and just glow, but 20 minutes of “aerobic #2” and I am sweating. But it was good to use some slightly different muscles. Hopefully it will help me be ready for soccer season, since I haven’t played all summer. Well there was one game with Ashlan’s team in my walking shoes after a five mile training walk.

I know machines are not for all, but it does provide a quick, aerobic workout that feels good after work.