Is that a thing? I’m not sure… but we’re going to go with it because I have three things to share with you!

1. Today is a cross training day. I did a level 3 30 day shred workout. I really like these Jillian Michaels workouts (as you have probably noticed). The workout itself is 27 minutes from start to finish, including the warm up and cool down, and I always sweat buckets which tells me I’m working hard.

2. Do you remember how awhile back there was a bird’s nest in one of my hanging flower baskets that had eggs in it? I don’t know if I ever updated you on that, but those eggs hatched. There were little baby birds in the nest for awhile and then they eventually left the nest.

Well now there are nests in all three of my hanging baskets! I’m not sure how long it takes for birds to mature and start laying eggs, but I’m wondering if it’s possible these nests and eggs are from the original babies.

This last one is balanced on the stems of the flowers, whereas the other two are actually on the potting soil. I have to be really careful not to knock the nest out when I’m taking the basket down to water it and putting it back up.

3. Last night’s sunset was really pretty. It’s not the best picture, but I really liked the way the sun was right in-between those two clouds. We get a lot of pretty sunsets this time of the year, because the sun sets directly behind our house in the summer. In the winter it still sets behind the mountains, but it’s off to the left a bit.

Tell me three tangents about your day!

This weekend I went to visit my best friend and we spent Saturday night at the rodeo. It is held at the horse farm where she rides, so initially we helped out the rodeo company by manning one of the gates. We got to do a lot of people watching and also saw all the bulls being hauled in.

Seriously look at that Holstein bull (the black and white one). Can you imagine getting on that thing? I actually ended up getting a picture of the guy who won on Saturday night. Here he is at the beginning of his winning ride (in the short round):

And here he is after his “dismount” once he hit 8 seconds:

But they say it doesn’t hurt when you stay on for the full 8 seconds. We were there until nearly midnight and I didn’t get to bed until after 1:30 AM. That is at least 3 hours past my bedtime.

Since my friend rides at the horse farm that hosts the rodeo (and since we usually work the gate/do whatever they need help with) we get to hang out in the VIP section. That means free VIP food! I failed to get any pictures of the food, but I do have a funny story for you. It looked like they had mini hamburgers and chicken with pineapple shish kabobs. I had one of each and thought they both tasted pretty good. Come to find out the mini “hamburgers” were actually turkey burgers and the “chicken” shish kabobs were pork. Apparently my taste buds were a little off…. but either way the food was good!

I bet you can’t guess how many miles I had on my training schedule today for the Thunder Road Marathon. Hint: it resembled the past two weeks’ weekday run distances. Sure enough it was 3 miles! Are you getting tired of me saying that? I’m kind of getting tired of writing it. But no worries- things are going to get wild next week. It was a bit of a tough run today because it is hot, hot, hot outside. I took this picture of our thermometer around 5:00 PM, and it was in the shade.

Once Barry and I got home from our run I gave one of my new hydration products from my StrideBox . Today I tried the tri-berry flavored GU Brew electrolyte tablet. I thought it tasted pretty good! Don’t mind Hank… he likes to photo bomb.

Now don’t hate me for this, because I know there are a lot of Nuun lovers out there, but I gave my grape-flavored Nuun a try last week and I did not like it. There was just something funky about the after taste. It’s not for me, but if you’re a fan of Nuun just think of it as more for you!

Would you ever ride a bull (for a bet, money, etc.)?
Nope! I would maybe ride a steer, though.
Are you having a hot week this week?

Have you tried Nuun or Gu Brew before? Did you like them?

Earlier this week I gave the chickens some strawberry tops one afternoon. This is their absolute favorite treat.

Just after I set the strawberries down, a low rumble of thunder sounded off in the distance. The second that happened they abandoned the strawberries and went running for the chicken coop. I took the bowl and put it in the coop so they could continue to enjoy their strawberries. But the crazy part? Within five minutes a huge thunderstorm rolled in with torrential rain. It was actually the day our yard flooded. The chickens knew the storm was coming and took cover! And people say they’re dumb birds.

We turn them out in the chicken run area every day and at dusk they go back in the coop themselves for bedtime. When you talk about chickens and roosters most people picture the rooster crowing as the sun comes up while the chickens peck the ground. Well I guess in the absence of a rooster my chickens have decided to be lazy. They go to bed at dusk and usually don’t grace us with their presence until 9 or 10 AM. Inside the coop they sleep up on their roosting poles.

Except that that piece of wood they’re all on is meant to hold a second pole that they knocked off. Often, I will find all 6 of them up on that piece of wood. They like to get up there because it is the highest, and therefore safest, spot. By the way, the way they are all looking at me is the look you get when you take pictures of your chickens at 5:45 AM.

They love to run back and forth in the chicken run area, especially since Barry cut down a bunch of the brush in there last week.

Pretty good stride, huh? They also will fly a few feet off of the ground when they are trying to get somewhere fast. I tried to catch a few of them in action, but I’m not much of a “wildlife” photographer.

Chickens are not great fliers, but ours are able to get a few feet off of the ground since we chose not to clip their wings. Hence the top cover on the chicken run. Lastly, this lovely lady wanted to share her close up with you:

This is either Beatrice, Ophelia, or Lady. I do not know for sure, since she is one of the three that I cannot tell apart.

P.S. I put the word verification back on the comments. Sorry for the hassle, but I got tired of the spam. Since the word verification is back I got rid of the comment modification, so at least I won’t be accidentally deleting any more comments!

This morning I went for a 7 mile long run on the Dora Trailand the New River Trail. It was overcast and 68 degrees. In July. That’s unbelievable isn’t it? It was still humid, though, so I still sweated buckets and drank a lot. I got both trails in one picture. I took this picture from the Dora Trial, looking up at the New River trail (the trestle bridge). This is just before you climb a long hill up to the New River Trail.

Flooded bridge back in April

Do you wear your watch on your right or left wrist? AND Are you right- or left-handed?
I wear my watch on my left and I am right-handed. It makes sense to me that you would wear it on the wrist of your non-dominant hand. However, Barry is right-handed and wears his watch on his right. It seems so wrong to me 🙂

Today I am 25 years old. A quarter of a century old… sounds older when you say it that way.

So what’s good about turning the big 2-5? Well my car insurance rate goes down, for one. I also move into a new age group for races. That could be a good thing or a bad one. It’s also easier to rent a car now. Did you know some companies actually won’t rent a car to someone under 25? Others will, but it’s expensive for the renter.