Canny

Emily and I canned tomatoes today. And by "today" I mean for 9 hours. We probably produced about 10 quarts of tomatoes and some juice. We spent $46, which includes jars that will be reused next year. However, in the end, each quart cost about $4.60 and took 54 minutes to create. Emily said, "I appreciate canned food now."

August

August has been a busy month for me...and my big toe. I think an appropriate way to tell my story of August would be through the point of view of my big toe.

Day 1: Finally wearing shoes on a regular basis. The weird tan line from the sandals is a little embarrassing. It is nice to see that Donny at least has a two week job at the YMCA teaching a math enrichment class.

Day 4: Gained several blisters during a 10 mile run. Sure he may have reached his goal of a time less than 1 hour 40 minutes, but was it worth the pain?


Day 5: Blisters seem to be growing. I think my nail is coming off.

Day 6: Nail is definitely changing colors. Oh it hurts. Still working though so I spend my days in a shoe.

Day 7: OMG, he's running again!

Day 8: Last day of work for the summer. Spent all night dancing at Jake and Katie's wedding. Motown favorites, MJ; this guy never sits down! Those black shoes from high school still look good. I wish

Day 10: Large nail definitely falling off. Donny's cousin and her fiance show up for the week. Looks like there will be plenty of walking.


Day 13: Saw my third brewery tour in as many days. I can't believe they let me in here in my open-toe shoes. Also, visited the zoo and filled the bar on bluegrass night.

Day 15: Mom and Dad come to visit. Continue to walk around the city and site-see. Mom suggests that my nail be polished a natural color.

Day 19: Attacked by a cicada as big as myself!


Day 20: Return to yoga and hope that nobody notices the state of me or my 9 brethren. Realize that everyone else is sweating too much to look at their neighbor's feet.

Day 21 - 24: Camping in the UP! Some hiking in shoes but often in sandals too. Get stubbed on a bed post on way the bathroom one night. Ouch.

Day 25: Step a bee and get stung. Life's not fair! I wish I were in a shoe and at work.

Day 26: Bought new running shoes. Nice, new running shoes. Expensive new running shoes. Maybe this will prevent blisters and loss of toe nails.

Day 27: Tomorrow school begins again. Life will return to the shoe. Tonight spent playing kickball and listening to bluegrass music. Life is good as a toe.

Wheel

I think I sprained my neck at yoga today. I probably should not have been in class though given that my feet have ugly blisters on them from my run this weekend. But my muscles are not sore and I assumed that as long as I did not do anything on my toes, I would feel find. That was correct until I tried to get beyond my 5-point wheel stance. You know, when you try to lift your head off the ground. My head did not leave the ground. It just went sideways and stretched my neck in a new direction. I put ice on it, but I have no idea if that's better or worse.

Have you seen the fainting goats on YouTube? I refuse to get a dog, but my heart has sort of turned for the fainting goats.

Derby

I had a big weekend. It began with a public showing of The Wizard of Oz, which I haven't seen since I was a little kid. I could never get past the flying monkeys so this may have been the first time I watched the entire movie. I didn't remember it being so funny. For example, the Cowardly Lion, when turned away by the Wizard's doorman, complains that he just had a permanent in his mane. That's funny.

On Sunday, I ran a 10 mile race. It's certainly the farthest I have ever run. And I did it in 1 hour and 34 minutes, which is 6 minutes less than my goal of running 10-minute miles. I'm pretty happy with myself, though my blistered feet could be in better shape. I'm now going to try to do a similar race over Labor Day weekend.

In between the Wizard and the running, I went to a Demolition Derby on Saturday at a county fair. It was great and worth every penny of the admission price. However, I have to confess that I left a little early. Who knew that watching cars and trucks (and busses!) smash into each other for 2+ hours would become repetitive? I have uploaded some pictures below because my
descriptions could never do the "demo" justice.

Sarah, Chris, Emily, Trevor, Christie, and Amanda anxiously await the first heat - 4X4 Trucks.

The vehicles would line up at the beginning of each heat to receive a blessing from the Emperor before they would fight to their deaths.

Tires popped. Cars caught on fire.

Shafts cracked and broke. Engines smoked.

Like the Highlander, only one vehicle would remain at the end of the heat. The rest were dragged from the arena.

Christie reacts to the carnage.

And then the busses arrived!

They were fun to watch for a while, but then eventually it was like watching old men beat each other up. The busses would limp across the arena on less than 4 wheels only to dent the others.