Catch Up Again...

The first transatlantic telegraph cable was made of 340,500 miles of copper and iron wire designed to stretch 2,876.95 miles along the ocean floor.  Once the cable was in place you could use electrical impulses and signal code to send any message you wanted to the other side of the world.  Human beings are hard wired with the impulse to share our ideas and the desire to know we’ve been heard.  It’s all part of our need for community.  That’s why we’re constantly sending out signals and signs.  And why we look for them from other people.  We’re always waiting for messages, hoping for connection.  And if we haven’t received a message, that doesn’t always mean it hasn’t been sent to us, sometimes it means we haven’t listened hard enough.   -Fox's new series "Touch"


I loved this quote that started one of my new favorite shows.  I thought that it perfectly sums up why we blog.  Why we connect to people we've never met. How we can find things in common with people across the world and why it's so addicting.  With my injury came a change of schedule for me and with that change came less time for blogging.  And even though I'm back to my normal schedule for the most part, I've gotten out of the habit of sitting down and recording my thoughts and feelings and activities and most importantly, I've really missed out reading and connecting with some of my favorite people.  That little quote got me thinking about why I do this.  Is it really worth the time that it takes.  And I have concluded that it is.  So I'm going to try to get back into this sharing of ideas and thoughts and learning from you.  I really have met some of the greatest people through this little blog and wouldn't trade that for the world.  


With that said, here's a little catch up!  I'm pretty much back to normal.  I got to run 9.5 miles of trail with my brother a couple of weekends ago.  It was hard and so good.  And last weekend I got to run with Heather and Mel for 8 miles.  I've gotten to run with my husband and my daughter as well.  I also have gotten to do a couple of speed workouts.  I didn't do any all last year because I was still working on my form.  It felt so good to be out of breath and feeling like puking.  My ankle seems to be just fine and I don't even think about it most of the time.  I've even had a few crazy thoughts of running the marathon even though I haven't trained at all, and just having fun with it.  But then I come back to my senses and realize that I'd really be hurting and could even possibly put my summer running at risk.  So I push it out of my mind...most of the time. 

 To compensate for the marathon I signed up for a bike race.  It's the Tour de Cure that benefits the American Diabetes Association.  I signed up for the 60 miler only because I don't have a real road bike (just a hybrid) and didn't think I could do the 100 miler as quickly.  I knew that I could do the 25 miler already and wanted somewhat of a challenge so the 60 miler was all that was left.  I have fundraising to do.  And the cause is very personal to me.  My husband has type 1 diabetes.  He found out as a 20 year old young man and has been dealing with it ever since.  Our goal has been to keep him healthy so that when they find a cure, he will be eligible to receive it.  He does so good.  He takes 3-4 shots a day of insulin and checks his blood sugar levels many more times than that a day.  We have had rocky times.  We have had scares in the middle of the night.  Exercise is a challenge to figure out just how much insulin to take and stress plays a bigger role in his blood sugar levels than I would ever imagine.  He was told 20 years ago that there would be a cure in his lifetime.  I believe there will be and hopefully by my participating in this event I can make a small contribution.  If you want to help contribute to this cause, I will have a button in the upper left corner installed shortly.  Any small amount would be appreciated.


Things have also been busy at home.  We've got the garden on it's way for the year with a few more things to add this weekend. 

We got new baby chickens and have been watching them grow.  

And we got bees a couple of weeks ago.  It's been quite the learning adventure thus far and I'm sure that over the summer we will learn a lot more.  

removing the sugar water to get to the queen.

dumping 10,000 bees into their new home.

checking a couple days later to make sure the queen got out and was still in the hive.

What the finished bee boxes will look like when all the layers are added in the summer.

We've also been working on the backyard.  I've made it my job to do the rock terracing walls.  I'm pretty happy with how they turned out.  The steps were the trickiest part.  Now that all that heavy lifting is done I can get back to my regularly scheduled weight work outs.  The yard work really was interfering with them leaving me sore on days I didn't want to be sore.  

So now that you're all caught back up with me, it's time I get caught back up with you.  

What have I missed?
Has something big happened that you want to tell me about?!!