The days keep flying by.........!

Hard to believe that there are just two more weeks before the end of the first six weeks at school! It's almost time to start my Halloween lessons with the kids and summer is officially over - way boo hiss. Where on earth does the time go? I know that running the halls of Ona on my "art cart" have sped up time to warp speed because that's about how fast I am moving during the day! I had to give up my job as "sys. op." after two weeks because I was just killing myself trying to do it all. Everyone said they hated to see me quit because I was so helpful but the cart thing and taking care of 124 computers, printers, smart boards, and elmos was taking a toll on my sanity. I would wake up at 2 am and lay awake for an hour or two. My jaw was feeling like I had chewed a wad of bubble gum all night and I was forgetting stuff at work! Tooooo much. Another teacher said she had tried it at her previous school and quit after two weeks which made me feel better. I lasted 4. I told them I would still help them...... I am such a sucker........! haha
I went out this evening for my run/walk and almost got in 4 miles in about 45 minutes. It would have been faster but I had to take time to stop and pet 6 neighborhood dogs on the way! One was a little ankle biter on what we have dubbed "chihuahua row". There are about 3 or 4 of those little terrors that just delight in barking at me no matter how I try to tiptoe by. He is INSIDE a trailer. He must have some kind of dog psychic ability because there will be no sign of him and just when I think I've snuck by, he'll run to the end of the trailer and poke his nose through the curtains at the window and bark his head off! And he goes on the whole time I am on the road. Even when I am totally out of sight! I think he could hear a cockroach cough through a cinderblock wall.The rest are pretty friendly, thank goodness. I was good and sweaty when I got back. The last dog encounter was near my house. A teeny white fluffy dog that it soooo cute but will follow you to the moon. I saw it and turned and sprinted back to the house at the end of my run. I thought I was going to lose him and he would head back home. I ran up on my deck, breathless and about to pass out, turned around and there it came trotting up the steps behind me, wagging it's tail as if to say, "Gee, that's was a fun little run. Now what are we going to do?" I will really be glad when the gnats and the humidity are gone too!

Long time, no blog!

Where does the time go?? Work certainly takes up most of that time! (Need more days off!) Dennis and I went to Lake Hope State Park in McArthur, Ohio yesterday for some mountian biking fun. We started on a trail called Copperhead, which should have given me some idea of the difficulty to come! Lots of tight turns through trees, some downhills, uphill climbs, log crossings,etc. You really had to think about every move you made or you would go flying into a tree or over the side of the hill! Like I told Dennis, there could have been a herd of elephants off the side of the trail and I would never have seen them I was so focused! It was challenging to say the least! After a little over 2 miles of this we came to a trail intersection and we decided to take the Bobcat trail. My kinda' trail! It reminded of my dirt biking days where you could just cruise through the woods and enjoy the ride. Of course, this was mainly the beginning of the trail and it got trickier towards the end of the trail. It took you down next to the creek for awhile and well, what goes down must come up! Also a challenge but you got some nice rests between which I liked! We ended up doing about 7.5 miles on those trails then headed back to Athens to ride the Hockhocking Adena Trail (6 miles). Dennis asked the guy at the bike shop when we first got there about the mountain bike trail at Sells Park there and we had to try that first. I pushed my bike more than I rode it and told Dennis there was no way after what we had just done! So we loaded up the bikes again, and headed to the Adena bike path. After that, we went to Chipotle to eat chicken burritos which were the size and weight of a brick, but were very tasty! A really great day and I came back with only one scrape on the back of my calf (peddle bite mark!)!

Days off rock!

Boy, have the last two days been great or what? Dennis and I have logged a lot of bike seat time: 10 miles on the mountain bikes at B'ville Park yesterday and 43 miles on the Hockhocking Adena Bike Trail from Athens to Nelsonville in Ohio today! The weather was beautiful and the bike trail was really nice. We decided that if we ever do it again though, we would skip the part right behind Ohio Univ. because it was only about 5 feet wide and there were lots of walkers, joggers, and bikes to navigate around. The rest beyond that was nice and wide and followed through the wooded areas. No dogs, cars, or cups or bottles being thrown at you! What a novel idea! Sweet! haha

That's me at B'ville Park. One spot where turning right could land you in the ER....

Dennis zipping down the trail ahead!

Q: How funny is it that Dennis' bike jersey matched the McD's uniforms? A: Hilaaaaarious!!!!

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall - Lee Ann sat on a fence.........

(Dennis felt he was being followed. He took a photo and sure enough!) Dennis told me it was a 20+ mile ride. He just forgot to add that that was in one direction!!!

One of the many pretty views on the trail!

On the way home, we passed the old home of my Uncle Jim Knight and Aunt Clara. This used to be the home on General Albert G. Jenkins. (Click here to learn more about him :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_G._Jenkins) This house holds many special memories for me and my family and I loved to go visit there as a kid. I was quite surprised to see what they have done with the place! The Army Corps of Engineers purchased the property from my aunt and uncle and it is now a major "wet lands preserve". It is being restored to it's original condition, which is a good thing I guess. They have removed the addition at the end which was a bedroom and kitchen and are adding new windows and paint. I am anxious to see the end result even if it will seem strange to me. I am glad that it will remain a historic site and will be cared for for many years to come. Old Al would be happy too............

I am a hamster and life is the wheel...!

I didn't even realize how much time had passed since my last blog! I just go and go and go at work then come home and die! I average about 3 miles of walking a day with my little carts and the days are flying by, which is a good thing. And finally, things are slowing down in the computer issue department. I have learned much in the past week about how to trouble shoot password issues and keeping it all running and communicating. My brain has been on overload and still, there is so much more I don't know. I am trying to organize the ink order which means getting a handle on what printers are in all the rooms and what cartridges they require. Most cost about 80$ each!! Then I have to figure out how to get them into the crazy printers!! Wheeee! Luckily, my classes are good and the kids are pretty well behaved and nobody has complained when I come rolling in late. I would probably roll over them if they did. hahaha
Dennis and I made a flyin' trip to Columbus on Tuesday evening to buy a mountain bike off some guy. The bike was great but that was a very loooong day after working all day. I stayed in the car, told Dennis to throw him the money, grab the bike, and then get the heck on home! No tales of the glory days! Of course, you can never deal that fast. When we finally did get going, I suggested we put the Garmin on "fastest" and follow the suggested route. We ended up on a road with no lines in the middle of a bunch of cornfields. Projected arrival time : midnight. WHAT!? I unplugged that sucker and said "head for a main road and get us home!" We arrived at 10:30pm and I died - again.
My allergies are doing really good right now. If only my body could process oxygen through my eyeballs cause the nose is certainly not cutting it. Ragweed and goldenrod- my new best enemies...........Boy, am I glad tomorrow is Thursday and the weekend is a long one! 'til next time!

Saturday in the park......

Dennis and I started the day going for a mountain bike ride at Barboursville Park. I wasn't real keen on the idea at first, knowing how previous rides usually involved steep, rock and root filled paths that promised to break your leg before you were done, but this one was actually pretty enjoyable. It ran parallel to the river there by the park and had just enough challenges to keep it interesting but didn't make you feel like you needed a medic along for the ride. Then it started to pour the rain. We just kept on going, getting enough shelter from the leaves overhead that we didn't get completely soaked. My backside did sport a nice brown stripe up the back though before we were finished. CUTE!

After that, we stopped by Taco Bell then headed home to shower and rest. Dennis then decided he should return the bicycle he took from his nephews about a couple weeks ago. The bike had a flat tire and needed some TLC and he thought it would be good to get it going again. I told him he should take it back or they were going to think he was like the Grinch taking the Christmas tree. "There's a bulb on the tree that won't light up, dear Cindy Lou".....hahaha We stopped for some marshmallows on the way home and roasted them on our little campfire in the side yard. Yumm. I also took a short hike in the woods with Cookie to see what the trails were like. Cookie loves to go hiking with me. Always on the lookout for something to chase. However, this time out, Cookie, a short dog, could only be tracked by the movement of the tall weeds ahead of me! I turned around and headed back home, much to her relief ! Hikes in the woods will have to wait til Fall, I'm afraid. It was great to be able to put work worries behind me and just enjoy being outside! 'til next time!

I survived the first week. Can I retire now?

Well, I survived the first week back and three of those days were with kids. The kids and the classes are fine, actually, it's just keeping up with all those darn computers that's giving me fits! I am seriously hoping that things will calm down after a few weeks or I am going to start putting a paper bag on my head when I go down the hallway. That way no one can yell at me that this isn't doing than and Johnny can't remember his password and their computer doesn't "recognize the tree". (I told her to hold it up to the window and point one out to it - I am so bad.) It's trail by fire and I hope I don't permanently destroy anything during my learning process. sigh
Being on a cart is not so bad. The kiddies don't get all hyped up like they used to coming down the hallway to my room and there's no more "he cutted" when it's time to line up! I am also able to help teachers with their computers since I am in their rooms every three days - though now it's seems more like every three minutes for some of them. I do miss my pretty room with the plants and having a chair. It's the little things that make life comfortable. I am getting lots of exercise and the days just fly by. I come home pretty tired at the end of the day but I have the best schedule I have had in years and that's good! Every cloud and all that!
I stopped by Dick's 'Sporting Goods and bought another pair of tennis shoes because at the rate I'm going, my other ones will have holes in the soles before mid September!!
Looking forward to the weekend and sleeping in til 7:00 again! Woooo hooooo!

What a beautiful day!

(Tooo bad it has to end!) I wish the weather could be like today every day of the year. Is that too much to ask? Dennis and I were watching that show that comes on Sunday mornings - the one with a big sunshine and all the cool stories. They were doing a bit on picnics and how they originated in Europe in the 1600's. They would dress up and eat all day, visit with friends, etc. It was called a piqui-nique which meant something trivial but it looked very enjoyable and so we decided to go outside and roast weenies for lunch! Of course, we didn't dress up but we ate dogs, chips with onion dip, cheese and chocolate. There were ants. It was all good.
Double weenie roaster!

That's banana and pineapple Fuze I'm drinking -really!

Relaxin' in the shade in our side yard....

After that, we dropped by Mom and Dad's on our way to Beech Fork for some kayaking. We did about 4 miles I think and saw blue herons, green herons, a kingfisher, and really fat woman in a bikini sprawled out on the bow of a pontoon boat. eeeeeuuuuw......Anyway, it was a great day to get out on the lake. We came home and then I did my 3 mile walk. I started out with just Cookie. She is the neighbor's terrier who often went woods hiking with me in the fall and winter and I guess she was bored this evening. Dennis was cleaning the boats and caught up with us later on his bike. Two little neighbor boys who live out the road were playing in their yard and Cookie thought they looked like fun. She took off after them and they ran screaming "DOG! DOG!" She is only about a foot tall and she was wagging her tail! I yelled that she just wanted to play but still felt like the mean lady who sics her dog on small children. They started shooting their water pistols at her but she was already on the scent of some small wildlife she could chase, boys long forgotten. Dennis had to go retrieve her. (sigh) So we made it back home with no one and nothing getting injured. And tomorrow is Monday already! Yikes!