Fall is Here

Just this weekend it has started to look and feel like fall. I'm kinda sad.

The Puppy

A puppy followed me home on one of my runs last week. OK, so I did encourage her a little bit. But really, she was laying down in the middle of Water Dam Road. I know how I drive down Water Dam Road. It would be hard to forgive myself if I saw her dead on the side of the road the next day. All I did was say, "Hey Puppy" and she followed me the 2 miles home. She has been on our porch ever since with little trips here and there to visit the neighbors and walk with Diesel down the road. She is very sweet and I can't believe no one has responded to my fliers to take her. If you know of anyone who wants a very sweet, 5 mo old, female, 35 pound, mutt (maybe Black and Tan Coonhound and beagle?), let me know!

Not-So-Green-Thumb

I am hoping that can be learned. The lady who lived in the house that we are staying at must have been an amazing gardener. I know this because despite the house having sat empty for two years (and the garden left untended), and despite my tendency to destroy green things, beautiful flowers have continued to pop up all summer. Here is a picture of the latest. As of yet, I have no clue what it is. I am really hoping to learn enough this fall to redeem her beautiful gardens. They will probably never look as good as when she was tending to them, but maybe I can at least honor her by doing my best with what she has left for me!

Ohiopyle

Mom and I went biking at Ohiopyle yesterday. It was threatening to rain the whole time we were there, but didn't sprinkle once! Probably kept at least some of the crowd away. They do have a really nice bike trail that goes all the way from Pittsburgh to Baltimore. We didn't go that far! We also had some fun in the little outfitter stores there and we did some hiking. All in all not a bad way to spend Labor Day! Here's Mom and I high above the river on part of the bike trail. And here is a picture of the rafters far below. And here is just another picture that shows how high we were above the rafters.

Coopers Rock

Tanner, 3 of the wrestlers, and I went rock climbing at Coopers Rock yesterday. I'd never been there. It was a really great place to climb. We got quite a few climbs in and met some fun people. I've never been climbing with so many older people. There were 3 couples all in their 50s or 60s at least who were showing us all up. It was really fun to watch. I am going to be a cool old person!

I was really proud of Tanner yesterday. He is really great with those guys. They completely respect him and have a great time with him. It was fun to watch him coaching them up the climbs.


He also really makes some hard climbs look easy.

Hopefully, we will be back there a few times before it gets too cold!

Kayaking

Dad and I borrowed Jon's kayaks this weekend for a nice little trip down Wolf Creek. It turned out to be a really long, hard trip with what felt like more walking down the creek because it was too shallow in so many places. Apparently, there are websites where you check water levels. I'm going to have to learn how to do that. But despite all of that, it was fun to be out on the water with my dad. We'll just pick a better trip next time!(Yes, he is sitting in the water behind the kayak. It was that shallow!)

Triathlon

After blowing a tube in the Morgantown Tri last weekend and not finishing, I decided to race this weekend so I could finish. Mom and I drove up to Vermilion, OH. I thought it was going to be like Petoskey, but honestly, it wasn't even close. Man, have I been spoiled. Anyhow, there were 700 competitors, which I'm glad I didn't know until after the race. I felt like I did great. I did better on the bike section than I thought I would, but wasn't able to cruise through the running part as much as I would have liked. But I think that was due to the heat and running in sun on blacktop. Nothing I could do about that! I did pass a number of people and didn't get passed on the run (I got passed plenty on the bike!). There was only one other woman in my age group who did the Olympic distance, so I got a second place medal. I'll take it! The rest of us must be too busy having kids to do a tri. Mom got some good pictures, but since she can't send me digital versions, I thought I'd just give you a picture of my lovely little bike.

I know, I know ... using those fancy shoes that clip into the pedals will make me faster, but I have a faster transition when I don't have to change from bike shoes to running shoes. Maybe next year!