I'm On A 30 Day Diet

So far I've lost 18 days!  

Spring is in the air!  I know that spring is here because I just had to cut my grass for the first time of the season.  I took my brothers advice and raised the mower a notch and didn't have near the trouble with rocks and roots this time.  As a matter of fact I went absolutely crazy after I finished the main part of the lawn and I raised the wheels all the way to their upper limit to tackle the steep rocky slope by my lower driveway.  Not only did I not have to worry about roots, the blade was high enough to clear some small trees.  The slope that I was dreading having to take the weed wacker to is manicured.  Sure the grass is a little higher but the slope is so steep it's not usable anyway and at least it doesn't look like I'm letting it grow wild.  I may have mentioned this before; Maureen is considering getting me a riding lawn mower this year.  But I think what I really need is a monster leaf blower.

A new riding lawn mower might be nice but I've gotten into a good routine with my self propelled push mower and I have enough sloped areas that I'd be using the push mower a fair amount of the time anyway.  But raking leaves...that's a chore.  I still have leaves from last fall in the lawn and our wooded area is just blanked with them.  And, if I had a ginormous leaf blower, a Tim the Tool-Man sized leaf blower, then I'd be set!  

My wish list leaf blower!  
(Click on the link)

Ok, so maybe that is a little overkill, and I'd still need the riding mower.  But how about a nice professional grade leaf blower.  Something with enough power you have to be careful not to peel up the lawn or accidentally remove the paint from the side of the house!

Stihl Leaf Blower Commercial

(Click on the link)

Maybe even a leaf blower with so much torque in the motor that it has to be mounted on a backpack frame.  Our local Lowes has a Husqvarna gas powered 4-Stroke backpack mounted monster that might even be able to push the woods back a bit deeper from the house.  "Husqvarna"; that name even sounds a little like the Tim the Tool-Man grunt!  Father's day is just around the corner.  We'll just have to wait and see.

Another tell-tale sign of spring is the cushions are back out on the patio furniture.  That's actually my doing.  It has intermittently been so nice temperature wise that I had been sitting out on the porch in the chairs without the cushions.  I got out (the wrong) cushions for one chair and then finally said "what-the-heck" and drug out all of the cushions.  We have covered porches.  It's not going to destroy the cushions if the weather turns bad for a day or two.

Another sign of Spring, Maureen and I both got sunburned at Liam's meet in Spartanburg, SC on Saturday.  Since I wrote the bit above the weatherman is predicting freezing temperatures and snow showers (whatever a "snow shower" is) coming up this Friday.  Last night got close to freezing and today it's supposed to be 73.  Yep, it's spring time in the mountains!

And last, the SoCon Indoor (and Outdoor) Performance List for the 2015-16 Season is out.  Liam has the 10th best indoor 3000 meter time and the 7th best 5000 meter indoor time in the Southern Conference and is the top freshman in the conference in each category.  At the moment, Liam also has the 15th best outdoor 1500 meter time (4:03.99, not his best distance) and the 4th best 5000 meter outdoor time in the conference at 14:48.92 (4:46.1 per mile for 3.1 miles).  So Liam appears to have picked up where he left off the indoor season and is having a successful freshman outdoor campaign.

I hope everyone is enjoying Spring as much as I am!

Have a great day!

Rick

What Do You Do When the Cows Get Loose?

Apparently you turn your pasture into a "Driving Range!"  I have a bit of a confession.  I went out Tuesday a week ago on the pretext of having to "check out" a couple of things.  A couple of kennels for Buddy for when we take our trip and apparently the driving range in Mars Hill which would be the closest to where we live.  With as many golf courses we have around here, golf practice facilities are surprisingly rare.  So I stumbled on this gem google searching for a driving range in this area.  I punched "Mars Hill driving range" into google maps on my phone and it gave me a location only 9 miles from the house.  I hit "Navigate" and took off in my truck with my clubs tucked safely into the back seat.  When I arrived at my destination there were nothing but barns and pastureland.  I drove back and forth a bit then finally pulled over and instead of using the range name in google maps to locate the range I input the address shown on the google search.  It turned out to still be three miles away.  Apparently I was closer than that on the right side of the freeway but this was yet another place that "you can't get there from here!"  There are quite a few places like that here in the mountains with winding dead end roads that lead into small private enclaves.  Anyway, I drove back over the freeway, wound around, passed under the freeway and arrived at the destination address very close to where I had been and found...mobile homes, barns and pastureland.  I was afraid that there was no driving range to be found.  But then I saw the yardage signs.

After driving a ways to find a place to turn around I tracked back down the hill and found the "club house" for lack of a better term.  The one car you see in the picture is taking up the (one) parking space.  I had to park in front of the barn across the street.  I approached the "club house" only to find it completely open but empty.  I finally found an attendant and he informed me (in your best southern drawl) to "put yer' money in da bucket".  An if'n you need some change ther's some fivers in the bucket."  The "bucket" was a small metal file card box on the shelf beside the baskets of golf balls and the "bucket" indeed had a number of $5 bills that had been left unattended.  Can you imagine?  In California there would be a number of kids waiting to take turns taking the money out of the "bucket" as fast as the patrons put it in.

I put my money in the "bucket", picked out a bucket of range balls, got my golf clubs and went out to the hitting area.  Big surprise!  It was clay with marginally mowed grass, just like a cow pasture, except in the flat areas which were bare because of the previous golfers.  So unless you're ok hitting off the uneven areas or clumpy grass, you are hitting off almost bare clay.  I had already paid so I struggled through a bucket of range balls, never really getting comfortable with my rusty swing.  A couple of days later I was complaining to Maureen about being sore and I couldn't figure out what I had lifted or moved that could be responsible.  When I finally connected the dots I still didn't confess about my golf outing.  

About the honor system in play when paying at the range.  Back in September of last year, after we had moved into our new home but before I owned a lawn mower, I introduced myself to a man mowing one of my neighbor's lawns.  We negotiated a price for him to hit my lawn one time, I gave him the cash and drove away.  When I came home my lawn was done.  We are leaving for Ireland and Scotland at the end of April so when I saw the lawn guy again, I stopped my truck, entered into my familiar negotiation with him, gave him some cash, shook his hand and drove away.  I'll let you know how it went when I return but I love being able to do business on a handshake.  We should all be able to do more business on a handshake or be able to leave an unattended "bucket" of cash without concern.  I just love it here!

Last, I've started some basic training with Buddy.  All of the dogs I've had for the last 30 years I've taken the time to train and they've all been great canine companions.  I've been a bit at a disadvantage with Buddy because of our move and setting up our new home and I have a hundred other excuses for starting this late.  It's not like he has been running a muck the whole time, he knows his "place", he's learned about the invisible fence, and he generally minds well, but now we've started his schooling in earnest.  Buddy has been pretty quick with "sit", "touch", "free", and "place."  I'll keep you up to date as we make progress.  Here is where Buddy currently is with "fetch!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_T3istGueY

We hope everyone is having a great spring!

Your friend,

Rick

If It's True, It Ain't Really Bragging!

At least that is what my good friend Dick Haley always told me as he patiently allowed me to share Liam's latest exploits any time I passed him in the city hall lobby.  If it weren't for Liam there would be no update this week.  It's been like an episode of Seinfeld around here this month.  The "Seinfeld" show has been famously described as "the show about nothing" (a self-referential phrase from an episode describing Jerry and George's attempt to create a sitcom idea), as most of the comedy was based around the largely inconsequential minutiae of everyday life... (From WikiSein) And except for Liam this week, that is all I'd have to report.

If you happen to have seen my Facebook postings this weekend you would know that the Western Carolina Indoor Track Teams had a very good weekend.  The men's team came in first at the Southern Conference (SoCon) Indoor Track Championships for the third year in a row (the three-peat is the first in the history of the men's program) and the women came in a respectable second place.  Earlier this month I had a conversation with Coach Williamson where he described some limitations with who, or more specifically, how many competitors he could take to the SoCon Championships and the possibility that Liam, as a freshman, may not have the opportunity to compete in the season finale this time around.  Ultimately, Liam did travel with the team and had the opportunity to compete in two events and earned seven points for his team on their way to a victory in the Southern Conference Indoor Track Championship.  But I get ahead of myself.

Western Carolina University's track program is know as a "Sprint" and "Jump" school.  At least that is how it was described to Liam by college "Distance" coaches trying to persuade Liam to decide on their schools over Western during Liam's whole recruiting experience.  In the past, Western has rarely had an outstanding distance team and has been content to concede those points for distance events to their opponents during the track competitions while still fielding overall successful Track Teams.  Although this has been Liam's first opportunity to compete indoors, except for a couple of meets when he was recovering from respiratory illness, Liam has had decent freshman college cross country and indoor campaigns which likely contributed to coach Williamson's decision to include Liam at this weekend's competition.

Liam's first event was the 3000 meter race on Friday evening.  Liam has done very well, first at the 3200 meter distance in high school where he holds the Corona High School record for that distance, and then at the college distance of 3000 meters where in his very first attempt Liam, as a freshman, won against his college competitors and qualified for the SoCon Championship Finals fast heat at that distance.  In the race Friday against twelve runners, all but two of which were seeded higher (had run better times at this distance) than Liam, Liam was hoping to have a breakout performance at his preferred distance and maybe squeeze out an eighth place finish and snag a point for his team in at least one distance event.  The indoor track at the CrossPlex venue in Birmingham Alabama is a 200 meter oval.  If you think watching eight laps around a 400 meter track is boring (high school 3200 meters), fifteen laps around a 200 meter track is twice as bad.  Liam had a strong if not exciting race; was one of only two freshman that qualified to run in the finals for that distance and the only freshman to score points for his team in that event.  Liam finished a strong sixth place with a personal best by almost :10 seconds of 8:30.85 to earn 3 points to help Western to a first day point lead in the Championship.  If you are interested (and you probably shouldn't be) I recorded the race and here is the YouTube link:  https://youtu.be/Y2jcvEuictE

Liam's second event was the 5000 meter race on Saturday afternoon.  The 5000 meter distance has always been Liam's "Achilles Heal" in track and cross country.  Liam has been surprisingly versatile in the different distances in which he has competed despite his propensity towards the longer races, even helping his high school's 4x800 and 4x1600 relay teams achieve national rankings his senior year.  And the 8000 meter cross country distance in college seemed right is his wheel house based on his very respectable freshman campaign, winning three of the six regular season events that he entered, finishing 16th (1st for Western) in the SoCon Cross Country Championship, and earning a spot on the All-Freshman Cross Country Conference Team.  And each 5000 meter poor performance came with a reasonably good excuse like an extended layoff recovering from an illness or something similar, but a poor performance none the less.  So having laid the groundwork, Liam's best indoor 5K time going into the Championship was a not so respectable 16:14.76.  The finals of the 5K was split between a fast heat and a slow heat. Of the 28 entrants, only one time was seeded lower (slower) than Liam.  Based on that I was certain that Liam would be seeded into the slow heat.

The slow heat entrants paraded onto the track and Liam was not there.  The slow heat race went off and at the finish the winning time was what I thought to be a decent 15:13.92.  All but two of the competitors in that heat were under 16 minutes beating Liam's best time for 5K on an oval.  None of the runners in that first/slow heat finished in the combined race top eight necessary to score points for their teams but we couldn't know that at the time.  Earlier in the day we were encouraging Liam to give his best effort and maybe try to sneak into the eighth position and steal another point for his team.  After the "slow heat" Maureen and I were just hoping that Liam's "Achilles Heal" would not be the cause of too much embarrassment or be too discouraging for him.  We had almost written off his chances of being anywhere near the front half of the 28 total combined entrants in the two heats of the 5K event final.  A good analogy would be the pundits that gave the Super Bowl Trophy to Cam Newton and the Panthers in the week leading up to the game.  But wait!  Even though Peyton Manning and the Broncos had no hope of winning they played the Super Bowl anyway and ultimately that trophy did not go to Carolina.  So how did Liam's 5K race go?

If 15 laps around a 200 meter oval is boring, what do you think 25 laps look like?  When you think your runner doesn't stand a chance and he surprises you it can be a little exciting!  First, the winner of the race was in a class by himself.  The Samford University runner, a sophomore, lapped the entire field once and most of the field a second time on his way to setting the CrossPlex and the Southern Conference Championship record for 5000 Meters in a blistering 13:55.73.  That is over three miles in under 14:00 minutes.  But back to Liam's performance.

Liam ran this race very much like his better races his entire running career.  At the start of the race he positioned himself at the back of a middle pack.  After the first few laps the runners had spread out a bit and Liam moved up to the front of that second pack and set the pace for that group for most of the remainder of the race.  The lead group of four runners, including the Samford sophomore, was separating itself from the rest of the race but Liam looked smooth and strong and continued to lead the second group.  At some point it dawned on us that Liam was running 5th in the "fast heat" and that he might be able to steal a point if he could just manage to get into the low 15s at the finish.  With about four laps to go a runner challenged Liam for the lead of the second group and managed to pull ahead of Liam by 10-15 meters.  The final lap bell rang for the lead runner and the rest of the field still had 1 1/2 to 2 laps remaining, some even more so it was difficult to tell just where everyone was in relation to each other but I was confident that Liam was still in sixth place and he was running smooth and not slowing down.  With 1 1/2 laps to go I heard Coach Williamson yell to Liam that he was doing great, had 300 meters to go, and to catch the runner in front of him.  The number 5 runner had not pulled any further ahead but although Liam was picking up his pace it didn't seem that Liam was closing the gap.  However while Liam was on the back straight during the final lap I looked away for a moment and when I looked back Liam was rounding the final turn at a full 6'-2" sprint stride heading to the finish and closing strongly on the runner in front of him.  Alas, from our vantage it looked like Liam just barely ran out of track at the finish.  But the official results tell a different story.  Liam, by 6/100 of a second, stole 5th place points for his team at the tape with his personal best by well over a minute for 5000 meters, with a time of... 14:54.38!!!  This is unconfirmed, but some of Liam's veteran teammates suggested that Liam's time just might be the best freshman time for 5000 meters in the history of the WCU track program.  In addition to his 5th place finish earning an additional 4 points on day two, Liam was named to the Southern Conference All-Freshman Team for both the 3000 M and 5000 M distances!

"And now you know the rest of the story..... "


Southern Conference Trophy Award Video (You can see very briefly Liam on the top step in the back)
https://www.facebook.com/SouthernConference/videos/10154035785882318/

WCU Recap after day 1
http://www.catamountsports.com/sports/c-track/recaps/022616aab.html

WCU Recap after day 2
http://www.catamountsports.com/sports/c-track/recaps/022716aaa.html

I hope everyone is having as much fun as I am!

Rick

Super Bowl 50 Special Edition. So who are you rooting for?

We are all getting ready for Super Bowl Sunday!  At least most of us are.  I still want Green Bay to win Super Bowl 50 but I don't really like their chances at this point.  I'm just a little conflicted about who to root for now.  

First, have you noticed that this is the only Super Bowl ever advertised without the use of Roman numerals?  I thought it might be because the appearance was a bit lack luster; "Super Bowl L".  Especially compared to some of the past years; "Super Bowl XXXVIII" or even "Super Bowl XL" as in "Extra Large" event.  As it turns out it's more superstitious than that.  In the NFL, a lone "L" stands for "Loser!"  And the commissioner was not going to have that represent his league.  Here is an article in Rolling Stone magazine if you're interested.

What the L? Why the NFL Sacked Roman Numerals for Super Bowl 50

So, like a lot of "old guys" my age, I'd be inclined to root for Peyton Manning.  Peyton is an inspiration to us all.  Peyton Manning will be 40 in March.  John Elway brought Peyton Manning for the 2012 season to fill a void while Denver recruited or developed a franchise quarterback.  The problem with turning the team over to a new quarterback though is that Peyton has led the team to no. 1 in the AFC West all four years he has been with the team.  Denver is in it's second Super Bowl in four years with Peyton at the helm.  Now to be fair Denver's defense, ranked no. 1 in the league, probably has something to do with their success.  Denver is the poster child for the cliche; "Offense (or rather Peyton Manning) sells tickets, defense wins championships!"  Denver's offense with Manning is only ranked 16th in the league, and at one point while Denver was still undefeated, was ranked a bottom dwelling 32nd.  I always ask my soccer teams; "how many goals does it take to win a game?"  The answer is; "one more than your opponent."  And with Denver's defense it's hard to image any number of quarterbacks could not have put Denver in this championship game once or twice over the past four years.  I mean, Tim Tebow took Denver to the top of the Division in 2011 and where is he now?  But this is Peyton Manning, the 39 year old super star who recovered from neck surgery, was released by the team he spent his career with and won a Super Bowl for, but still returned to the game we love and he continues to dazzle.  So like a lot of sentimentals that would love to see the "old guy" have one more day in the sun, I'm inclined to root for Peyton Manning and the Broncos.

My conflict is that I now live in the Carolinas and Denver will be playing the Carolina Panthers!  So why is that a big deal?  I lived in California for over 30 years and never really got behind a California team as a fan.  I have no explanation other than I've always been a Green Bay fan and maybe California had too many teams to single out just one to root for on a consistent basis.  And with the Raiders bouncing up and down the coast, the Rams exiting the state for St Louis and Eli refusing to play for San Diego, it was easy to dismiss those west coast teams in favor of being loyal to Green Bay, even in Green Bay's lean years.  The exception to that might have been the San Francisco 49ers during the Joe Montana, Steve Young years.  Those were some great teams to watch.  I still haven't really decided but I think Peyton might be seriously considering retirement and it would be great to see him go out a winner in Super Bowl "L"!

 Where do I plan on watching the game?  As it turns out, at the last minute I invited some new friends over to watch the game with us.  Now I've never been a "Monster" size TV guy but Maureen has been pushing an agenda that if we had a monster TV downstairs Liam might come home more often and even bring his friends so we could meet some of them.  On the other hand, I have been adamant that Liam would not have a better TV to play his PS4 on than I would have upstairs.  I put my foot down on that one.  Except for this perfect storm of circumstances leading up to the big game.  Between inviting my friends over, the email I got from Best Buy advertising a great sale on monster TVs (thanks to lack luster Christmas sales), the limited space I have upstairs for my own monster TV, and putting my foot down around here really doesn't mean anything (you know I have managed to stay married for 30 years), we (or rather Liam and his friends) have a nice new 55" Samsung that I will get to watch the game on occasionally with my friends.

Remember your mom always warning you; "don't sit too close to the TV, it will ruin your eyes"?  Our downstairs space is roughly 1,300 square feet and there are very few places you can be where you are not too close to a 55" TV, especially sitting on the couch in front of the fireplace!  Inside Best Buy which is probably 15-20,000 square feet by comparison with 20 foot ceilings, you don't really get a feel for how big that TV screen will be in the relatively small space of a room in your home.  I'm afraid to set up my old surround sound.  As big as the screen is if it becomes too realistic Liam might end up with PTSD from his shoot-em-up games on the PS4.  The food will be at the bar on the other side of the room so that might be far enough away to save my eyes if not my waistline.  And like everyone else, I'll only be paying attention to the TV during the commercials anyway! 

Have a great weekend and enjoy the game!

Rick       

Who Owns A Snow Shovel In Southern California???

So our first big snow storm has come and gone and we survived just fine.  It is projected to be in the 60s most of this week and 99% of the snow on the ground has already melted.  On Friday a week ago, Maureen and I stocked up on soup and bread and some other staples like snacks and beer for the weekend football games, made sure we had some good books available, and hunkered down with no intention to leave the house until Monday.  If you read my last post you remember that I hired an electrician to set up a transfer switch so I can hook up a generator to my house when or if the power ever goes down.  I've been telling everyone that I operate under the theory; "if you always carry an umbrella around with you it never rains."  So by prepping the house for an extended power outage the logical extension of my theory practically guarantees that I will never actually need a generator.  So I figured I could just wait to purchase a generator until some future date on the off chance that we ever have an extended power outage.  Uncle Keith shot a hole in that part of my theory.  It was his experience with his cabin in the mountains that when the power goes out all of the generators on the shelves disappear immediately, usually within the first hour.  And if on the off chance I'm snowed in it is likely that I wouldn't be able to make it to the store within that first hour anyway.  So looking back at my "umbrella" theory, I broke down and purchased a reasonably priced 7000 watt Honda generator from Sam's Club while the electrician was installing the transfer switch.  That evening I even took the generator out of the box, assembled it, and then ran it for 5-10 minutes to make sure it would work if needed.  Here's where Uncle Keith hit the nail on the head.  I went back to Lowe's that afternoon to buy a length of cable and a couple of 30 Amp connectors so I could make up a custom length cord and actually connect the generator to my new hookup.  I found myself standing in the electrical isle with four other guys staring at an empty box where the 30 Amp connectors used to be before they sold out.  And, except for one pathetically small portable Generac display model left on the shelf, Lowes had sold out of all its generators as well.  I ended up paying way too much for a pre-made cable that was way too long for what I needed just so there was not a loophole in my umbrella theory for mother nature or the power company to exploit.  As it turned out my theory proved itself once again; having everything I needed to keep power on at the house the power indeed did not go out.

However, during all of my careful planning and preparation, it never occurred to me to buy a snow shovel!  And having spent the last 35 years in Southern California, of course I didn't own anything remotely resembling a snow shovel.  And if you take my "umbrella" theory to its logical conclusion, of course I needed one before our snow episode was over.  In addition to the transfer switch, I had the electrician install a sub-panel in my shop.  My entire lower level garage/shop has a half dozen receptacles (good right?) all fed by one 15 Amp circuit (not so good!).  I can't run my 13 Amp table saw and my shop vac (for dust collection) at the same time without tripping said 15 Amp breaker.  So what does this have to do with my lack of snow shovel?  The electrician was due to come back and finish up with the sub-panel on Monday but was not able to get to my house with his truck because of the snow and ice on the street/hill in front of my house.  So on Monday morning I salted the hill and in the afternoon after the sun and salt had an opportunity to soften the ice, I went after the ice and snow with my 10" flat garden shovel and my shop push broom.  No, I did not try to sweep the snow and ice.  That was about as effective as trying to move a heavy load by pushing a rope!  OK, I did initially try a bit to push the snow with my broom.  What worked eventually was breaking up the ice with the shovel and then flipping the broom head upside down and plowing the ice off the road with the solid wood part of the broom head.  And I failed to mention, generators and cables were not the only thing that sold out before the worst of the snow fell over the weekend.  Both Lowes and Home Depot were completely sold out of snow shovels.  The upside was I got a very good look at what I was up against for tackling my two long drives and the street hill in front of my house.  With snow shovels still not available and on back order I got on-line and ordered a couple of specialty items not available in stores.  Delivered this week I now have in my garage (see umbrella theory above) an Edge 24 inch Poly Blade Snow Pusher and Ice Chopper; and, a 36 inch Wide Plastic Perfect Shovel.  
 Of course I still have to clear about 50 yards of driveway and another 50 yards of street by hand but at least I now have decent tools for the job!  What are the chances it won't snow for the rest of the season now?  That's OK, it's bound to snow again eventually.

I also had a brief opportunity to deal with the local county electrical inspector.  I've always said that you should not be qualified to work in a Building Department without first having to deal with plan review, permitting, or inspection with a different Building Department.  I've previously had that privilege when I lived in Fontana, but that story is for another time.  My electrician did a bang up job on my main and sub-panel and passed the inspection on his work first time, however we failed the final inspection because of a gas pipe bonding issue that was previously approved during the original home construction, something apparently that has been recognized as acceptable forever.  But as it goes with inspection staffs, someone with a different opinion did a training session and now all the inspectors are calling what they learned retroactively.  So I did the only thing I could.  I called "our" electrical expert, Dave Dyer.  Dave helped me research the maze of code requirements that is the NEC; National Exception Code.  We agreed the bonding correction was not valid and should not be required and we outlined my argument for the inspector with code sections and the appropriate rational.  I then took my newly acquired knowledge and supporting documentation, went to Lowes, purchased $50 worth of wire, clamps and supports, and in about a half hour I made the correction by bonding the gas pipe to the service with #4 wire.  One of the more important lessons I learned from the development community during my 30+ years in the building enforcement industry is, regardless of how right or wrong you are, sometimes the best course of action is the path of least resistance.  I hope that all of my contractor friends appreciate the perspective I've developed on this particular issue.  Dave was great.  And apparently I'm not the only one that imposes on him occasionally for his electrical expertise.  Dave even let slide that "primadonna electrical inspector" comment I made.  I'm almost positive Dave won't mind that he did all that research for me and I just caved in and installed the wire anyway.  I just kept remembering that old "wrestling a pig in the mud" joke and cut my losses.  Anyway, I met the electrical inspector when he came by for the re-inspection.  He was a perfectly pleasant guy and I passed the re-inspection so all's well that ends well!          

We went again to see Liam compete at Marshall University (yes the same "We Are Marshall" from the movie) on Saturday.  It was about 5 hours each way but if we don't go to see him at his meets, we never get to see him at all.  Also, we have to remember that he is starting over as a freshman competing against NCAA DI athletes.  Liam beat all of the college runners in his first meet in early December qualifying for the end of season championship and only barely finished second to a professional runner in that early meet.  After spending most of his Christmas holiday with a lung infection and then catching a cold after his return to school, Liam is finally getting back to form and managed to better his time by about seven seconds for 3000 meters Saturday, but his 8:47.61 was only good for 13th place against the older more seasoned DI runners from the larger schools.     

Four hours prior to his personal best at 3000 meters Liam ran a personal best 4:23.26 mile, also good for 13th place.  Liam has run mile splits faster with his high school relay teams when they set their school records and qualified for national rankings but those times were from moving, not static starts.  Liam's 4:23 was almost :04 seconds faster than his previous best mile.  Also, Liam's previous best mile was an outdoor time.  I'm told that indoor times are always slower due to the small ovals and added turns for whatever that is worth.

Except for a little projected rain (90% chance) on Wednesday our 10 day weather forecast is looking great.  And I just got the news that this year we are looking at getting a modest tax refund from the feds for a change.  If I can be allowed a minor plagerism; "If I were doing any better I'd  be twins!"  I hope everyone is doing at least as well.

Your friend,

Rick   

Mark Twain once asserted "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco."

I'm guessing that Mark Twain never spent a winter in the Western North Carolina Mountains!  Mark Twain never actually said that you know (Snope on Mark Twain).  Apparently if you are famous for witty quotes you get credit for much more than you actually say.  After all of that bragging about clearing out the garages for our vehicles my truck has been outside for our first two snows

and last night which got down to single digit temperatures.  I've been working on a storage cabinet to get some tools off the floor and so my parking space is taken currently taken up as a work space.  

And I have boxes scattered all over the floor at the moment.  Apparently the more disorganized you are the more challenging it is to get organized.  Tools, fasteners and appurtenances that I need to build the cabinets, cabinets I need to put stuff away, I can't seem to find in a timely manner because they are scattered randomly in boxes.  Even things I've seen and had in my hand recently I struggle to put my hands on again when I need them. 

A good number of boxes were packed under the stress of moving day and more than one box has random stuff just dumped in and mixed together.   One thing I'm having to do as time allows is to sort like stuff into different boxes.  As you can see I've finished painting the shop except for the cabinets I'm in the process of building.  By way of comparison, here is what the space looked like when we were looking to buy the house.

I'm definitely making progress but there is still much to do.  I had better find a way to get my truck back inside because I think my battery might be freezing up.  The last two mornings my truck engine barely cranked over. 

My shop renovation is going to have to take a short hiatus.  I've contracted with a local electrician to install a new meter section with a manual transfer switch and a portable generator connection.  Living in the city you don't have to think about these things but we have a well with an electric pump.  If our power goes out we can't flush toilets, get drinking water, shower or heat the house.  My plan is to get the new meter section and transfer switch installed now.  I can buy the generator anytime but I can't magically get the switch gear installed after the power is out.  You fix the roof while the sun is shining, right?

Just a side note.  I used my new truck bed extender to bring home the materials for my cabinets.  It works every bit as good as advertised.  If you have a short bed truck you need one of these.

I'm sitting here typing my blog this morning drinking my first cup of coffee with a fire going and it's snowing outside again.  I think the ground is finally cold enough that we may get an inch or so to stick this time.  If you are interested there are a couple of local live web cams that you can look in on by selecting the underlined/highlighted link.

Downtown Asheville has a camera that pans to three for four different views.  

Downtown Sylva, the little town just outside of Liam's college has a camera pointed down the main drag.

And Western Carolina University has a camera in their main quad that provides a snapshot when you hit the link.  Each time you refresh the page it gives you an updated snapshot.

Liam has started his second semester at Western.  Good news/Bad news.  The good news is that Liam earned a 3.6 his first semester.  The bad news is that at least for the time being he is no longer subject to the mandatory study hall requirement.  I think Liam is going to find it a bit of a challenge to keep up that grade point level without the enforced discipline of the study hall periods.  If Liam's semester gpa falls below 3.0 I think he's obligated to rejoin the study hall group so there is a bit of a safety net.  Liam is also doing reasonably well with his indoor track season.  He has to get used to being a "Freshman" again.  Liam did win three events against smaller colleges during the cross country season, however WCU competes at the NCAA DI level and Liam is running against a lot of good athletes that have been competing at this level for three or four years.  Although, in his very first invitational, Liam's 3000 meter time of 8:55 was good enough to place him in the fastest 3000 meter heat at the end of season Southern Conference Championships.  So Liam is about where he should be at this level of competition.  As long as he stays healthy and keeps his grades up the rest should take care of itself.

And last, poor Buddy.  I found some doggy boots cheap at Big Lots and of course had to get them.  And once again, Buddy was not amused!

https://youtu.be/yUd3rIKIIk0

We hope everyone is having a great New Year!

Rick  

   

Happy New Year!!!

I know I said I would be out of commission for a while but as it turns out at least one body in each household has the cold or flu in Ohio so we didn't make that trip.  Instead Maureen, Liam and I had a nice night out on New Year's Eve at our favorite restaurant in Weaverville, the Twisted Laurel.  Liam even talked to us about something other than his video game prowess.  It was very enjoyable to be able to sit and talk with him.  Every once in a while we see signs of maturing but it's way early to conclude that it might be a permanent change.  We arrived home in time for our traditional beating of the pots and pans at midnight.  Maureen and I were contemplating what our neighbors were thinking of the new family on the street and all the racket we were making.  We borrowed that tradition from the current neighbors when we moved onto Citron Street.  Maybe we'll be trend setters and start this as a new tradition here in our new neighborhood.  Uncle John's watch is two minutes fast.  He almost made us miss the midnight hour when he called early to wish us a "Happy New Year."  We had to hang up on him and then call back after the whole pots and pans routine.

I hate painting!  But if you've been with me since my late November update you knew that already.  I will do almost anything to avoid painting.  It brings to mind the man who went to his doctor and said; "Doctor, my shoulder hurts a great deal every time I raise my hand over my head."  The doctor's reply; Then stop raising your hand over your head!"  That's how I feel about painting.  It hurts so I don't do it.  Our neighbors Stella and Chris were telling us about their progress painting the interior of their house.  Chris is working around the house one room at a time on his days off.  So I start into my stand-up routine with all of my one-liners about how badly I hate painting and Chris says to me; "I don't like to paint either, I just like the way everything looks when I'm done."  I hate to admit that was the motivation I needed but I just spent the last three days painting my shop.  I'm having to accomplish the job in stages because of all the shop tools, boxes, etc... I've yet to put away; because I haven't built my cabinets; because I haven't painted my shop.  It seems to be a cause and effect thing.  Anyway, here are a couple of progress before and after pictures.

All I have left is the ceiling over the garage door and truck parking space and the little bit of wall in the picture plus the wall just around the garage door.  I'm making great progress, the end is in sight, and it does look 100% better.  I feel good about what I've accomplished.  I think I'll stop looking at painting as avoiding moving a body part that's injured and start treating it like exercise.  I mean, no one really wants to exercise but we do because it feels so good when we stop!  Yeah, that's me and painting!

For Christmas I got a "Hitch Mounted Truck Bed Extender."  I love my truck but I wish I had known about this handy little device back in 2002 when I bought my truck.  The double cab is great but the resultant five foot bed is limiting at best.  I can't even begin to describe some of the jury-rigging I've had to do over the last fourteen years to carry stuff that was wider than the wheel wells and extended beyond my short bed.  I'm sharing this because if you have a short bed truck you need one of these.

I imagine this would be just as useful with a mini-van, jeep, or other cargo challenged vehicle with a two inch tube hitch mount.  I can hardly wait to get my materials to start my shop cabinets.  Full 4x8 sheets of plywood will no longer be a challenge to load and tie down.

That's all for now but to all of our friends, I'll leave you with this Irish New Year's blessing:

"In this New Year, may the saddest day of your future be no worse than the happiest day of your past!"

Happy New Year!!!

Your friends,

Rick, Maureen & Liam