The Catchement

It turns out that our backyard is the water catchement for the entire neighborhood. Any fluid H2O immediately drains into our yard. A couple of weeks ago (when the tremendous rainstorm hit) our yard turned into a swimming pool. And then a day later an ice rink. The dogs hated it. Charlie would tiptoe out into the water and then quickly head for high ground. What a wuss. That's him over in the bushes.

AATC: Torture or Euphoria?

Alex and I joined the Ann Arbor Track Club to help train for our marathon. For just 30 dollars a year (a family membership) we have permission to torture ourselves at the track every Tuesday night. There are about 30-40 other members in the AATC, including our friends Rachel, Dave, and Heather. I suppose it doesn't have to be torture, but for some reason I can't bring myself to not keep up with "the fast group" (of which Heather is a member). Last week we ran 3 6:45 miles and this week 6 3:17 half miles--it's been about 8 years since I ran that pace, and at the time I was following a hot rugby player around the track so it doesn't really count. What's great though, is after the workout. The knowledge that I didn't give up even though I felt like vomiting most of the time is somehow kind of euphoric. I think I'm glad we joined?

Riding the Bus

This January Alex and I discovered the bus.  It's awesome.  I don't have to brave icy roads and stupid drivers on my bike anymore.  In addition, I don't have to face the dressing dilemma.  In the winter, I'm always torn between dressing warmly for a bike ride and dressing appropriately.  I always choose wrong and dress warmly and then arrive at school dripping in sweat (and for those of you who are familiar with my sweat, you know what that means).  The bus stop is about a block from our house so it's quite convenient.  Plus, there are so many interesting people that ride the bus.  Just yesterday I met someone who was apparently afraid of water.  Maybe he had rabies.  I was waiting at the bus stop when I saw him approaching from down the street.  Much to his dismay, there had been a tremendous rainstorm overnight leaving behind tremendous puddles with tremendous amounts of water in them.  He was wearing sturdy hiking boots, but didn't want them to get wet so he carefully navigated his way around each and every puddle, no matter how small.  When he go to the bus stop he noticed a puddle in the grass directly in front of the bus stop sign.  Now, I'm usually quite content to wait for the bus on the sidewalk, but he apparently likes to stand directly beside the sign.  He stood next to me and stared at that puddle for a good 3 minutes.  He was shaking his head in disgust, like I might do if I saw a dirty diaper discarded in the woods.  Finally, he mapped a route out in his head.  As he made his way toward the curb I noticed he was also afraid of snow which of course was why his route had to be so complicated.  Anyhow, we eventually made it onto the bus.  Five stops later he attempted to disembark.  Unfortunately the driver had stopped directly over a tiny little rivulet of water draining down a driveway.  The man asked the driver to please move forward.  Note that moving forward involves re-airing the front tire, closing the doors, engaging the gears, grinding to a stop two feet later, de-airing the tires, and opening the doors again.  Thank god there was no water two feet down the drive.  I wonder who I'll meet next?

Folk Festival

Last weekend Alex and I went to the Annual Folk Festival. It's a two day fund-raiser for The Ark which is a non-profit club that promotes acoustic music. Alex and I saw Josh Ritter at the Ark and this Tuesday Joe Henry is playing (in case you are thinking to visit us here in Ann Arbor and want to coordinate with a good show, check out their calendar here). Anyway, the Folk Festival is a two day event with shows both Friday and Saturday nights. Saturday night (the night we went) featured, in no particular order, Emmylou Harris, Patty Griffin, Shawn Colvin, and Buddy Miller. Their show consisted of the four of them sitting in a half-circle on stage taking turns playing their own music as well as covering old classics with the rest of the group as accompaniment. It was really cool. Plus, before the big names came out there were 20 minute shows by more small-time folk artists. Some weren't great, but others I really liked. Blackie and the Rodeo Kings were awesome. One of their singers has a booming deep voice which I love. Here's a link to one of their songs that I liked best--the deep voice isn't as prominent in this recording as it was on stage, but I still like it. There's another blog with a better description of the show (as in, they remembered the names of all the artists) along with a picture here.

How About Pretty Pictures?

To appease my rabid and growing fan base, I've decided to [try and] put a picture up. As you can see, it worked. Here I am, clad in my tundra pants, tundra boots, and tundra hat "working" out on the...yep, tundra. Our friend Heather is actually doing some work, filtering water for bacteria from a typical stream a couple miles from camp. I am just posing. In fact, that's all I really did up there. Haha. The Brooks Range is partially visible in the background. I spent every weekend hiking in those mountains and I really miss them and their herds of dall sheep. I liked hiking in a place where you could drink directly from the rivers without fear of getting sick. I think all my internet fans would love hiking and exploring the Brooks Range, so hurry up and get up there before the permafrost melts and the steep peaks settle into little thermokarst hills...

Winter Excitement in A2!

First of all, let me apologize for using Ann Arbor Hipster-speak in the title. A2 is just a clever way of saying Ann Arbor. Get it? Pretty clever, eh? Internet fans beware: I plan on being very clever in my future blog writings. It's been cold here the last week or so and I have taken refuge in the house, because it's heated. I can usually find Sus in there too, huddled on the floor directly on top of a heater vent. Rambo likes the heater vents too. I generally find them too hot and too "on the floor." I've been finding warmth in good food (Maize 'N Blue Deli features over 75 different, huge, heavy, filling, delicious sandwiches), good books (Omnivore's Dilemma by Michal Pollan may change the way you eat: think local, in season, and fresh), good music (the new Drive By Trucker's album), good exercise (training for the Cleveland Marathon--May 18--has me running 6 days a week), good movies (recently liked "Enemy at The Gates" and "The Corporation"), and, of course, good beer. The cold weather has me reaching for Russian Imperial Stouts and Barleywines--beers that are strong, rich, complex, warming and should be drunk out of a snifter while sitting by the fire. Unfortunately, we don't have a fireplace, so I settle for sitting next to Sus, Rambo, and the heating vent.

Hmmmm....

It has been pointed out (by mom, probably our only reader) that this blog doesn't see much activity. Perhaps I was too optimistic in my theory that Alex and I do interesting things that don't involve animals. Although, we deserve a little understanding over these last few days since we just acquired a new puppy (see here). Puppies have a wonderful way of commandeering one's life. I hear babies are even worse.

Other than puppies, our lives consist of work, running, pretending to work (in my case), and cats. So, not that interesting really. Except every now and then we try a new beer in the evening. Last night we had Southern Tier Choklat. It was really good. Perhaps I can convince Alex to elaborate on that last statement since "really good" isn't very descriptive. He can describe it's characteristics much better than me.

Well, I think I'll get back to pretending to work.