Weekend

This weekend I am doing my main training run on Saturday morning instead of Sunday. The Broncos game starts at 10:00 am on Sunday, and there is now way that I am letting anything interfere with my enjoyment of that. Saturday is also forecast to be slightly cooler. The forecast low is 79, this pretty sweet because it has been a while since I have seen the thermometer drop below 80. The route that I have selected is not particularly scenic or interesting, along the frontage road going into town. But it has the major advantage of having places to stop buy things to drink, which means that I won’t have to carry as much water which will be very nice.

The big excitement for this weekend is the start of NFL season. As ever I am optimistic about the Broncos chances this year. I am going to go down and watch the game at a sports bar with some friends, they are Packers fans, but I guess I can forgive for that. But, beer, football, and hot wings, the good life has returned. Now if the weather would just cool off.

Crown Betta

I added to the seconf fish to my little office fish tank, a crown betta. I am really enjoying how he looks. I have always had a fascination for bettas, going back deep into my child. He makes a very nice desktop distraction.

Blueberry Oscar

This weekend K and I went into a pet shop that we rarely go to. While there we noticed a really cool looking fish, it was labeled as a Blueberry Oscar. They were very cool looking, and on impulse we bought for her classroom aquarium, despite the fact we had never heard of this type of oscar before. Though I knew better than to buy a fish without research that type of fish before hand we bought it anyway. When I got home I googled "blueberry oscar" and found out the disturbing truth.

First of all there is no such thing as a blueberry oscar, it is simply an albino oscar that has been dyed blue. Even worse thhe dye process is very bad for the health of the fish and only last for a few months. Most fish that get dyed live short and stunted lives. I feel really bad for supporting such cruel activity out of ignorance. Hopefully K's oscar will beat the odds and live long life as a once again white oscar.

Postscript: Sadly a few days after writing this post, K's Blueberry oscar died. Hopefuly other will not make my mistake ans support such a cruel actvity

Back on Track, Along the Tracks

The Run Started at the Crack of Dawn

Today was my first successful long run since I messed up my ankle about a month ago. I decided against going for the 20 miles which I had originally considered. Instead I decided on the more modest distance of 14 miles, since this run was successful I will jack it up 20 miles next week. In order to avoid the particularly brutal heat that we have been having lately I got up before dawn to start. Unfortunates because Arizona does not participate in daylight savings time, this required me getting up at 5:00. Also unfortunate is that avoiding the heat this time of year is also a relative term. It was 87 degrees at 5:00 this morning.

One of the Many Gullies Created by Saturdays Storm

On my run I was able to inspect some of the aftermath from Saturday night's violent storm. So how I totally slept through the entire thing but results were impressive. Below is some of the things that the local paper had to stay about it:

...after the weekend storm that ripped through town with hurricane-force winds gusting up to 84 mph...

...The storm dropped 1.79 inches of rain between 12:25 and 2 a.m., according to Accuweather. The area traditionally receives about 3.02 inches of rain annually...

It is to bad that I slept through the entire thing, it would have been cool to see. Impressive to me was the fact that more than 24 hours latter there was still some standing water. I have never seen anything like that around here. The soil, on the mesa at least, is pure sand, plus it was sunny and 115 yesterday, so the fact that there was still any standing water speaks to power of the storm.

Tamarisks and Railroad

I ran along the railroad service road which is one of my favorite places to run. One of the reason I like it is the thick screen of Tamarisks that railroad has planted, this is only predominantly shady runs in the area. The only problem is that Tamarisks are considered an extremely noxious weed. About two miles to the south, a major effort is being made to eradicate them along the river. Yet here, not only has the railroad planted them, they are maintaining them with an extensive irrigation system. That just seems a little messed up

Part of the Irrigation System for the Tamarisks

This weekend is the first of dove hunting season, and the hunters were out in force this morning. I was constantly being startled by the near by blast of shotguns. At times the firing was fast and furious. Fortunately I reached the city limits, where hunting is banned, before long.

One of the Dozens of Smashed Sega Dreamcasts

I came across a truly odd sight. Next to the railroad track I cam across dozens, maybe hundreds of smashed Sega Dreamcasts. The Sega Dreamcast was a failed competitor to the Sony Play Station 2 video game system. Why so many were smashed and strewn along about a quarter mile of track I will never know.

Apparently I Would Have to Wait Until I Got Home to Go for a Swim

The five miles of the run were far less pleasant than the first nine. Not only was the temperature starting to push triple digit, I left the mesa and went down into the valley. Usually this are is lush with crops. However this is one the few times of the year that the fields lay fallow and bear as the harvest of this summers cotton crop has mostly wrapped up, and the planting of the first of the lettuce crop has just barley begun. Add to this all the rain on Saturday night, and I would up running through five miles worth of steaming mudflats. Yuck, definitely not this area at its finest,

Through the Mudflats

It was a great run. I was able to confirm that I am still on track to compete in the Long Beach Marathon. I should be able to get 20 miles in next weekend, especially considering that high are supposed be about 10 degrees cooler than this weekends.

A Tortoise Mansion

This week a mention my officemate that my wife had gotten a desert tortoise, he told me that he used to have a tortoise and that he still had a tortoise terrarium setup that we could have we wanted, because he no longer needed it. Today we went over to pick it up. It is virtual tortoise mansion, he gave us a 50 gallon aquarium and the necessary basking light, and a stand. Considering it would have cost us well over $100 to buy all this, it was an extremely generous gift. So now Baby Bowser, the name K's classes picked for the tortoise, has a spacious new home. Much nicer than his old 10 gallon aquarium.

Summer Holds On

It is the 1st of Septemeber, the football season kicked off, it's Labor Day weekend, thing should be moving in autumnal direction. Unfortunately summer has really decided dig in its heals. I doubt that it is actually 128 degrees, that thermometer has always tended to read hot. However that is a high as I have ever seen it go, most likely the real temperature is closer to 120. Another indicator of how hot it is that the pool thermometer is reading 90 degrees. The fact that an unheated 8,000 gallon pool is at 90 degrees says a lot. I can't wait for fall to get here for real

Sunset Platty

My new office fish tank is coming slowly, but nicely. I add so decorations, fallen Greek temple theme. I chose them simply because I already had them from years ago. I enjoy them because they remind me of those fun years back in Peoria. The bulbs I put are also progressing nicely, I think I need some more though. The aquarium will look much better once it is fully planted.

I also added the first fish on Monday, a Sunset Platy. I have always had a fondness for platties. I will probably round on the tank with a sword tail and some guppies. Unfortunately the number of kinds of fish that can be put in such a small tank is limited.