Skipper

Well I guess I'm officially a Wednesday night Woods Run Skipper.  Today I had to go into school to get a bunch of stuff figured out for the new school year and by the time I was done there, I had no interest in hanging around until 6:30 waiting for a run to start. So I went to the gym and then scooted on home.  Maybe next week I'll make it back to the Woods again.  Time will tell.

I did go for a run yesterday, around Horn Pond for a change of scenery.  It wasn't a terrible run, but it is a small loop, so I did it twice, but we all know how I feel about loops.  If you've never been to Horn Pond, there's one path on the back side, near the golf course/water treatment plant that basically goes straight up.  It's about a quarter to a half mile long and it is seriously a hardcore climb.  Mostly because it's just steep and continuous.  Obviously to make my run worth more, I started on that side and made it to the top.  Unfortunately I was turned back by a Momma turkey and her little baby turkeys.  They were crossing the path and I"m not fool enough to mess with Momma birds.  So I turned right back around and ran down that path again.  On the second go around I attempted the top one more time, because it's a nice view, even when it's cloudy.  This time the turkeys were gone and I got my view.  Then I had to go back down the other side, which is much harder than it should be.  It's a rocky path/small cliff that goes down in the same way the other trail goes up.  Steep and continuous.  If I had to compare it to anything to give you a visual, it looks like a place where a river or small stream would cut through.  But I made it down and back onto the trail no problems.


At the end of the run, I managed 5 miles and some short extra workouts on the side.  Tomorrow I think I'm going to try and run around the park near our house.  It has some nice trails, but they all seem short.  I've never really explored back there though, so it's possible that there are longer trails off the main loop.  Otherwise there's always the workout circuit at Manning Forest.  Until then, I might have a picture from my run yesterday, so you can enjoy that you lucky ducks.

Made it to the top.

Surprise second picture!

Beer Bouquet

Have you ever had that someone in your life who you've known for their whole life, but just can't figure out what to get him/her for a gift anyways?  Recently I came upon this problem as I tried to figure out the perfect gift for my cousin who turned 30 this July.  I know what he likes and doesn't like, but I just couldn't figure out a gift that would be good enough for a thirtieth.  After a while, I decided that it couldn't be something bought, it would have to be made.  And I know that one of his favorite things in life is beer, of any variety.  Eventually I settled on making a beer bouquet.  Which is exactly what it sounds like.  Now, I could go into detail about how I made it, but honestly, it was a hard thing to put together and it would be hard for someone to recreate by following a bunch of steps.  Rather, I recommend taking the general idea from the pictures provided and running with it on your own.  Of course if you're extremely interested in the process, you can let me know and I'll come back with an update.  Or, if you really want one, but don't have the skills to make one, you can let me know and I'll be happy to make you one for a reasonable price! Until then, here are the pictures, good luck!

Seashell Wind Chime

Craft 1: Seashell wind chime.  Perhaps you know from a few years back that I created a simple summer centerpiece by painting a bunch of seashells and putting them in a square vase/jar.  Well, I've used this centerpiece for the past few years and I felt like the shells weren't working to their full potential, so I decided to repurpose them into something new.  I came up with the brilliant idea of a wind chime, and I have to say that it came out pretty good.  It was a basic project.  I got a wooden letter G from Michael's, drilled four holes in the bottom and one on the top for a hanger.  Then I took 12 shells of varying sizes and drilled holes in those.  Pro tip: when drilling through a shell, use a masonry bit, not a wood drill bit, it will break the wood ones.  Anyways, so after the holes were drilled, I attached one shell laying flat to the G.  This shell was the base for the rest of the chime.  I attached the smaller shells, two to a line, on the four ends of the base shell.  I also attached a larger shell to the middle, as sort of a buffer, and added two shells to the bottom of that as well.  All in all, it came out looking real cute, and it sounds pretty when the wind blows, so it's a win all over.  For the sake of the craft, I'm including these pictures here.

Materials: drill, drill bits, letter of your choice, shells, fishing line, and a pencil to mark your drill spots.

Drill spots marked

Holes drilled

Ready to be attached

Final product!

Camp life

Last week/weekend was our annual Runyan/Troisi camping trip and it was just as good as I hoped it would be.  We've been going camping together for 24 years, sometimes for 10 days, sometimes for three, but we've always managed to get in at least one trip with almost everyone there.  There's a lot that goes into these camping trips and obviously a lot that can never be explained to an outsider, but I can't let the event pass without acknowledgement, because it was a real fun weekend, as the camping trips usually are at this point in our lives.

While I was at the lake I managed to get in a few short runs, 3 miles per run.  Conveniently, two laps around area 2, a lap around the lake, and the trail back to the site is just about 3 miles.  I liked doing the lake trail because it gave that added difficultly level of dodging rocks and tree roots, as well as snakes apparently.  Aside from running, I also did a lot of swimming, a little bit of paddleboarding, and one run across the actual lake, in water, from rope to rope.  Plus there was the usual family game night, S'mores making, and general hanging out around the fire that happens every trip.  So I probably could have/should have run longer distances, but I didn't.

Since I was camping and driving back and forth to see the Impractical Jokers, I didn't make it to the woods runs this week either, much like I figured.  Generally I would end this post here, but tonight I have a craft or two to add in.   So I'm going to add the photos from camping and then create two more short posts about the crafts. Enjoy!

After my run around the lake, I jumped in, because it was humid AF out there.

Michelle hanging at Diana's Bath

The top of the bath...sort of.

sunset sketch

Impractical Jokers

Muffin Lady Legacy.  Too bad not everyone was there for the picture...

And the original photo from our first year of camping. Look how much we've grown!