Lawn Man to take over for Lawn Chief

There's really no point to this post. I just like getting on other blogs and seeing new stuff so I'll try to do the same. It's the last day of February- thank God, because that means spring is coming and winter is leaving. I question why I live in this state every winter- I hate it- and this was actually a pretty bad winter for around here. Soon though, things will green up and I'll have to buy a new lawn mower because the Lawn Chief finally kicked the bucket last fall. You might remember the Chief from earlier posts where I had repaired him at least half a dozen times. Finally, last fall, his pull-rope broke and I didn't have all the tools I needed to take him apart, put in the new rope, and then put him back together. I tired but he resisted so I kicked him to the curb on a chilly Sunday night. Monday is trash day and in the early morning light I could see that someone had taken pity on the cheif and taken him home before he became a citizen of the local land fill. It'd be funny to see him chopping down a yard out about town some day on one of my runs that I'm looking forward to when it gets warm enough to get a sunburn. But that's all fantasy and the reality is that right now I'm in ISS with four of my past students. A fight and two brothers who thought they could both skip school without anyone putting the coincidence together. It's grey out, chilly, and windy. Guess I'll just sit back and wait for spring and the thought of being here in June, after Leslie graduates with her Masters in Counseling.
P.S. Consumer Reports lists the "Lawn Man" as the best buy all around push mower. Gotta get mine yo.

The new game- running

Yesterday I went to the Starting Block. They are a running, triathlon outfitter next to the gym I go to. They put me on a treadmill and filmed me walking and running. Then they sold me these.

Notice the MU colors. I had become really frustrated the day before shopping at the mall for running shoes. First of all you can pretty much trust that the guy working at FootLocker doesn't know much about what you need. You know, "Try these on. Walk to the door and come back. "How do they feel?" "Uh, pretty good." "Good, meet me at the register." Well, enough of that. I actually got "fitted" for these shoes. Turns out there's a lot more to the different types of shoes than the colors and styling. I actually saved about $30.00 by getting the fitting done. If you are in the market for running shoes, you should find a place that does the fitting. It was free where I went.

Cute and Cuddley vs. Gross

Below are two pictures: One very nice, the other not. Can you tell which is which?

Ice fishing has been good.

More Dreams- More death and destruction

What the hell? Two nights ago I dreamed of a man being killed on power lines. Last night there was more death. I was walking down the street in a town I didn't recognize. It was warm and humid- perhaps New Orleans. I was with some guy and I'm not sure who he was, but I think it may have been Randy Jackson from American Idol. We were walking and talking. All of a sudden a man comes out of the dark, draws a large gun from his jacket, and starts shooting. Randy takes one in the gut and falls. I say I'll go get help and take off. The guy with the gun is after me, but luckily I can run fast in this dream. I somehow arrive at an apartment complex and turn to find him close behind me. I head upstairs and he starts shooting. He misses and I jump down to his floor and attack him. I put my thumbs in his eyes and poke out his eyes. I wake up... Not cool.

Winter Entertainment

When it's truly cold out to the point you really can have skin exposed, you need to find unusual things to do. Around here, ice fishing is not a popular sport. But it's truly cold out and the lake that the Conservation Dept. stocks with trout is frozen over with 6+ inches of ice. So ice fishing is popular right now. The last time I went ice fishing was about three winters ago. It's a blast and a good lesson in survival.
I went out this past Saturday and was on the ice before 7:00am. Only part of my face was exposed, so I was in good shape. The problem is you can't do much in the way of fine motor work with big gloves on- so you take them off to get the hook from the fish or bait the hook. There's a formula for how much time you can have skin exposed at different temps. before it starts to freeze. I passed that limit. It's not so much the cold and numb feeling that's a problem- it's the warming back up part that smarts. I honestly don't think I've ever been in so much pain with no way to stop it. You just have to wait. It's three days later now and my fingertips are still just a little sore. I did fill my limit of four trout though with one really nice fish. Pictures to follow.
I guess I need entertainment when I sleep too. Maybe that's why I had a dream last night that I saw a guy get electricuted on powerlines... His face melted off. That one woke me up.