My fears were confirmed today when the thermometer hit 82 degrees. Once again, Virginiahas gone straight from winter to summer. The forecast for this week has the highest temperature at 87 degrees and the lowest at 42. Good grief. I’m not complaining about this, though, just merely stating  a fact. I think it would be pretty hypocritical to have complained about the cold and then switch to complaining about the heat now that it’s warm out. But seriously, some mild spring temperatures would have been nice. We went from 6 inches of snow on Thursday to 80 degrees on Tuesday. No wonder I got sick.

Speaking of which, after feeling well enough on Saturday to run, I started feeling worse as the day went on. I’m thinking the only reason I felt better was by sheer will power… I really didn’t want to miss out on the race. Sunday I felt awful and pretty much didn’t do anything other than some cleaning around the house. Monday was another (unplanned) rest day, and a sick day from work. On the upside, my Dad is here visiting this week to help us finish putting new windows in the house (more on that in a second). We had the delicious cream cheese chicken chili for dinner. This was my Dad’s first time having it and he really liked it!

Today I am feeling better in general, except for this cough that’s hanging around and keeping me (and Barry) up during the night, which is causing me to feel really tired during the day. But after work I just couldn’t pass up the nice weather, so Dad and I headed to the Dora Trail (the trail in town). I ran 3 miles just under a 10 minute pace and Dad biked 6 miles. Holy moly it is tough to run in 80 degrees after having colder weather!! I guess my cold had something to do with it as well….. maybe.

So this window project. Back in November, my Dad and sister came to visit the week of Thanksgiving. Aside from spending time together as a family for Thanksgiving, the week also had a purpose. We spent it replacing the four front windows on the house.

One of the front windows from last November

We moved into our house last May (first time homeowners.. woot woot! (yes I just said woot woot)). The folks who owned it before us were in the process of replacing the windows in the house, when they inherited another house and had to move. So out of the nine windows on the main level, only three had been done. Dad helped us do the 4 front windows in November, with plans of coming back down this spring to do the last two. So that’s what he’s here to do, along with visiting for the week 🙂 I’m looking forward to more trips to the trail for him to bike and me to run, with this warmer weather!

This has nothing to do with this post, but I came across this picture while I was looking for the picture of the window from November.

This is how Hank likes to sleep while we’re in the truck traveling. He sits in the backseat and leans his head on my shoulder and sleeps (and snores). Don’t mind my squinty eyed weird face… I’m sure the sun was in my eyes or something. 🙂

Did you skip straight from winter to summer? Do you get 4 separate seasons where you live?
We usually at least get summer, fall, and winter.
What types of do-it-yourself  home projects have you done in the past?
If you have pets, do they have a funny way of traveling when they’re in your vehicle?

Since my Sundays usually consist of a rest day, cleaning, laundry, and regrouping for the coming week (not very interesting blog material) I decided to start a mini series on chickens!

You read that right- chickens. Barry and I decided to get some chicks, so on Friday I went down to Tractor Supply and picked up six 4 day old baby chicks. They are all supposed to be female and the breed is Red Sex Link.

Source

When you bring home baby chicks, you have to have a brooding area where they will live for the first 60 days or so. We used a cardboard box, covered the bottom with 2-3 inches of pine shavings, and have a heat lamp. You want your brooder to have at least 18 inch walls, to guard the chicks from drafts. For the first week or so the chicks need it to be 90 to 100 degrees under the lamp. After that we will decrease it by 5 degrees (by raising the lamp) each week until they have their feathers.

Brooder all set up and ready for chicks!

You can guage how much heat they need just by looking at where they are in the brooder. If they are huddled together under the light they are cold (they’ll also peep a lot when they’re cold). If they are spread out along the edges, as far from the light as they can get, they are too hot. If they are just kind of scattered throughout then they are comfy cozy! The intent of the brooder is to keep the chicks near the heat source and protect them from drafts.

We have the brooder (cardboard box) in the garage, where the dogs won’t mess with the chicks. For the first two weeks they need one-half square foot per chick and after that they’ll need one square foot per bird. That means I will need to find a bigger box in about a week and a half!

Say hello to Cecilia, Reba, Agnes, Beatrice, Lady, and Dolores. Yes I named them. No I don’t know who is who.

As you can see, they make a mess out of their feeder. Right now they eat a chick starter in the form of crumbles. It is medicated and has an 18% protein ration. While they’re young, chicks need feed with 18-20% protein (24% if they’re broilers). When they get to be 8-10 weeks old, we’ll switch them to a chick grower feed, which has a little bit less protein. Then at 14 weeks they will switch to a maintenance ration, and at 20 weeks we will switch to a laying ration.

We also put marbles in the waterer to keep them from drowning themselves.

This is my first time raising chicks! As they grow I’ll share pictures, and things we learn along the way. I figured I can do a weekly update to show how they’ve changed and new stuff we’re doing with them. We are looking forward to fresh eggs!

I woke up this morning feeling a bit better than I did yesterday. My throat isn’t nearly as sore and my headache is gone. Since I was feeling better I went on with my plans to run 4 miles prior to the 5K, to total 7 miles for the day.

For those who know the Dora Trail, photo taken post-race from the other side of the bridge. I accessed the trail from route 99, just to snap the picture!

I’ve always said that if it’s ever under water I’d still cross it since I’m a good swimmer, but the way the water was rushing over it (see white water in above picture) I don’t think I would have tried it.

Finish line area. Notice the runner in sunglasses with green all over her face but barely anything on her shirt.

**Edited to add: During the first mile of the race we ran past the Pulaski Co. Sheriff’s Department and there was a deputy standing with an inmate on the front steps. No joke! The inmate was in an orange jump suit and handcuffs and they were just kind of standing there watching everyone go by. It was very bizarre and if I had had my camera with me I would have a picture to show you. But I didn’t bring it because I didn’t want it to get messed up.

Me with new friends Glenda, Wendy, Louise, and Anita

You’ve probably noticed I haven’t said anything about time or pace. This run was a fun run and that’s exactly what I did- I just enjoyed the run. I didn’t push myself at all and ran at or a little below my typical long run pace. Hey, you can’t help going a little faster at a race!

But before that happened they were in the process of drawing names for door prizes, and had said they had 170 door prizes to give out. We thought they were going to do all of those before the color palooza, so we did our own mini group palooza since we were tired of waiting.

Thanks for taking the picture, Glenda!

Do you like running on familiar roads/trails for a race?
Would you have tried to cross the low water bridge?
Have you ever run on a flooded trail or road?
Anyone else racing this weekend??

Do you run when you are sick?
I typically try and run when it’s just a head cold, but usually do not run if it’s affecting my chest and breathing.
Have you ever used one of those smoothie/milkshake machines?

Ummm spring?? Why does it look like this in my backyard right now? What’s that saying… April (snow) showers bring May flowers?

I told you the other day that as soon as I said it was starting to look like spring we’d get a snow storm! They had rain in the forecast for today, but then it never got above 34 degrees.

Today was supposed to be a 4 mile tempo run. Barry and I headed out to the trail this evening, but there was anywhere from 3-6 inches of snow on the trail so a tempo run definitely wasn’t going to happen. Our pace was slow today, but we got the 4 miles done. Judging by the fire in my calves during the run I know I was working hard. It is tough to run in the snow, especially when it’s deep! I’d say about 3/4th of the trail hadn’t been touched by anyone else, so we were making our own path the whole way.

I heard about this on the radio this morning and thought it was hilarious. This lady in Kingsport, TN decided to play an April Fool’s joke on her sister, so she called her on the phone and said she’d just shot her husband and needed her sister to come help her bury the body. Well instead of coming to help, the sister called the law and they swarmed the lady’s house. The funniest part is towards the end when she comments on the timely response of the law… and the interview with the neighbor.

People are crazy. I know a lot of people don’t like April Fools day, but I like the silly jokes and pranks that aren’t harmful or hurtful. However, I think this “April Fool” (as I’m nicknaming her) took things a little too far.

**If you run and have a camera or phone you can take with you, check out Olive To Run’s craziest photo while running challenge going on now through Sunday (4/7). Just bring your phone or camera along on your runs this week and snap a photo of the craziest or most bizarre thing you see. Email the picture and a description to her and she’ll do a post to share all of the crazy running finds!**

Anyone else have snow today???

Have you run in deep snow before? Did it wear your legs out like it did mine?

Do you ever do April Fools joke?
I used to do harmless funny ones, like putting a rubber band around the spray nozzle at the kitchen sink so that when you turned the faucet on you’d get sprayed. But I didn’t do anything this year.