I Didn't Blow Away!

Well we survived the storm last night. After all that waiting for it to get to us it was actually fairly weak when it finally did. We had some impressive lightening (which we watched out the window for about 20 minutes) and a lot of (unneeded) rain that came down fast. But that was about it, thankfully! This is what we saw from our porch, it's hard to tell but this is rain pouring down so hard it turned our road into a river.

This morning we woke up to a cloudy day but it quickly turned bright and sunny, but a little cool. Doug worked a later than normal shift today so I got up, read for a bit and then made us

breakfast instead of heading out first thing. After he left for work I ran to the grocery store to get some mangoes for the Fresh Mango Bread I'm making tonight for Tuesdays with Dorie and then came home and got ready to head out for my walk.

It was cool enough out that I actually dug around for some long pants to wear instead of my capris or shorts. I'm happy to report that I even threw some jogging into my walk! It felt great to really get moving, although I think my form needs some work, who wants to come teach me? :)

It was so nice out I thought I'd snap some pictures with my phone to show you what I see. 

This is near the start of where I get on the walking trail. It's hard to tell but it's where the railroad next to our house splits off to head north or northeast. The walking trail was actually placed on what used to be a railroad track. The train went through the middle of our hometown (about 15 miles away from us now) years ago but those trains had long since stopped, so a few years ago they turned the path into a walking and biking trail and parts of it even allow horses. The part I walk on is paved but parts of it are just gravel. 

This is a pretty tree (bush?) that crosses into the path. See, it's not just a trail, it's an obstacle course!

You can't really tell here, but this is me looking up from the trail to the road above. This part of the state is where you start to get some hills and the path is no exception.

Interesting note, right after I took this picture I happened to look off to the other side and saw a very mean looking pit bull looking at me from one yard over. He was sitting down but right after I saw him he stood up and I think I saw another one behind him. Now, he was chained up, I do like dogs, and I know dogs are only mean when they are trained to be that way but I kinda got freaked out. I was really close to where I had intended to turn around and head back and I really wanted to reach that goal but I had to think. I was close enough that I was going to pass back by the dog very soon and the yard the dog was in was open to the path for quite a while. So this is when I decided to be a chicken and just turn back now. I didn't want the dog to think I was teasing it (or trying to play with it) by walking back by very soon, so I just turned around and casually started walking back the way I had come.

I'm sure the dog was totally harmless, I just didn't want to chance it. 

Finally, this is how I've been carrying my house key. I'm often out when Doug's at work and I don't really have anywhere else to carry the key. I've been wearing a jacket (today a fleece even) that has pockets but 1. they aren't very deep and 2. it's going to be too warm for that soon. My shorts have a pocket but it's shallow and my capris don't have any pockets. I still need an arm band for my ipod and saw one at Target that had a little zipper pocket on it that might hold my key, but the day I saw it the only one on the shelf had been sliced into and the clear cover on it was ripped.

So question, how do you runners/walkers carry your keys?

Now I'm off to read A Breath of Snow and Ashes, I've caught up with Jess, last I knew, but knowing Jenny she's probably done. And Father of the Bride is on, so I might watch part of that, even though I've seen it a million times. Maybe I'll catch the hot dog part, so I can commiserate about the ratio of hot dogs to buns.