The flowers are in full thresh now and the mountains are filling up with colour; especially after the two days of storms that we’ve just had (path starts again tomorrow). Anyway, there was a break in the clouds today so I drove up to the original site of the Coal Creek township to take some photos. A bit of photoshopping (and why not?) later and here’s the results. Not what I usually do, but it’s nice to do something that isn’t just a straight photo.
God it’s been hot. The other day I was busy laying bricks at the front of the house (did I mention the path) when I decided to move the thermometer from the shady part of the house to the front. Well within 10 minutes it was registering 46.7C. Not there’s no wonder I was feeling a bit parched.
Must…drink…more…water…
I’ve sat in one of those – and a Lancaster Bomber. I remember thinking at the time how the latter was so small compared to the former, and had a lot more people to carry!
I’ve finally got my sh together and I’ve printed off all five of the pictures needed to take down to the artist coop. It looks like they’ll be viewed over the next month by five “panel members” who will decide whether to go on to the next stage or not. If they get through this, I will probably have to go for an interview and talk about the photos and such like. So wish me luck! These are the pictures that I’ve put together:
Dunc from mow and snow has been and gone, and there’s a shallow trench in front of the house leading to the drive. I spent part of yesterday sat on the steps thinking bugger, I’ve really got to do it now!
Well the mattock, though it’s a good thing to have, was no match for our front garden. The rocks are all over the place, so it would take a couple of weeks to get a path dug from end to end. I’ve therefore called in the cavalry, and Dunc from mow and snow will be here tomorrow or next week with a bobcat and a 4′ wide bucket to take off the top 4 inches of soil.
yaay!
In the meantime, about 10′ of the path will run through a flower bed, so I’ve been out with the spade and wheelbarrow digging plants out of the bed. Looks like I’ve been pulling teeth. Tomorrow I’ll be pulling the brick bed border out and stacking it up in case we start big time in he afternoon.
Pictures soon for the giddy.
p.s. Nice idea Keith…
Well I’m now the proud owner of a mattock. We started the front path today, and what I thought was going to be an easy enough job (though long and tiring) has turned out to be anything but. I thought we had a good six inches of top soil beneath our front lawn. Well it turns out that there is barely 1/2 inch – I’m surprised the grass even grows! The rest of it is river rock, boulders and other assorted stones left over from when the entire area was spoil from the local coal mine. History getting in the way of my path! Luckily some of my path will actually be in top soil as I’ll be digging up part of the garden, so looking forward to that bit. Anyway, hoping to get it done before Friday, well see how it goes.
Oh, now I have my mattock I can also join lynchings of Frankenstein style monsters. Still looking for a torch and a pitchfork.
I wandered into the docs today for my second check-up in 6 months. You may remember that my cholesterol was v high the last time I went in and that I was at a moderate risk of keeling over. Well it seems that I’m now in the low risk category as the total cholesterol has been reduced by 2 points – yaay. Well to celebrate I’m making burgers this evening. I’ve got the minced/ground beef already, some sauce and sliced cheese ready with white (not brown) buns. It’s been a loooong time since I last had one, so I’m pulling out all the stops (actually, Cath saw what I’d bought in Overwaitea and just laughed. The food was so bad that I felt a bit self conscious buying it). That said, I’ll be making my own burgers, and the sauce was the one with the least amount of salt in it; oh, and there will be lettuce and tomato involved, so it’s practically healthy!
Anyway, I did have the big scare during the winter at my last visit to the docs, but even so, over the course of 6 months, if you aren’t naturally sporty, the urgency can wear off. This is where Lorinda came in. If it wasn’t for her and Cath I might have given up. Lorinda’s sudden enthusiasm for all things sport has kept me on the straight and narrow. Not in the sense of competition, but more a case of not wanting to let her down – if Lorinda can get up at 5am and go swimming, running 6km, and still be enthusiastic about it, then so should I. Well except for the 5am bit, I’ve done enough of that in one lifetime.
So thanks Cath, and more especially Flo. You might not have known that you were helping, but you certainly kept me going. Next stop 13st – might be a while, and I don’t start until tomorrow 
First up, Bellamy Brothers. I remember this was in the hit parade for years!
Secondly, and most importantly is the music that’s currently on Cath’s ipod. Apparently she can loop this song for 60 minutes without getting bored as she goes out looking for bears on her mountain bike!
Well, I ran, and I nearly dropped. I did the route that I showed you the other day. Including a new section (widget below updated) I ran just over 10km. The first few km I was looking out for bears, but after that it was mostly cyclists. Apparently I had to run at 75% on my maximum heart rate. Good job really, because any less than that and you wouldn’t see me moving – you’d be using a calendar, not a watch to time me!
Anyway, done and dusted and a couple of pints of orange squash later (thanks Ben) and I’m starting to feel a bit human again. You know, it’s the furthest I’ve ever run in one go, and I think I might actually finish that 10k run in Blairmore!
