Chicken Palace Adventure - Round One

Blue is chicken door

Human door side

So when we still lived in Ames we talked about getting chickens and could probably have easily raised a small group of birds on our lot after Neah our husky (who chased anything that ran) passed over the rainbow, however Joe didn't want to be that family that had chickens.  So we waited until we moved out to the homestead.  

The nesting boxes in theory

Our first summer was making gardens and getting the goats setup. But this summer my plan was to build a chicken structure and get some baby birds so the kids could show chickens for 4H.  All the photos in this blog are the culmination of six weekends (not necessarily consecutive) of mostly me building this lovely structure.  These don't show the final product but you get the idea.  I'll post a couple more blogs from the building adventure and of the girls when they were just little hatchlings over the next couple of weeks.

Storage for feed and bedding in back

This design was pulled together good features from other chicken blogs, Pinterest, and with function in mind.

It needed a human sized door (I had a couple spare lying around), a chicken sized door, nesting boxes, storage, insulation, water and feeders.

Water and food

Testing out the new roosting bars

I did a bunch of sketches which I will include in a future post and then off Lowe's with Abby and our first truck load of lumber.  
The first weekend Abby and I framed out the walls including the nesting box,  built out the platform and got that set into the ground.  Then over the following weekends I had help setting the walls on the platform, and then started working through the rest on my own as everyone else lost interest in the project.  

More details in the build photo diary coming soon.  Eventually I got the windows installed (after two tries), the roof installed, the walls insulated and closed in, and the girls roosting and nesting spaces wrapped up.  Last was loading in the food and water (we now have the water on concrete blocks and sealed all the floor seams after the chickens spun the water out the first week).  I learned the nesting boxes aren't really the right size and they keep kicking the bedding out of them so I have Brady Bunch grass and a lip to install soon to see if we can get them using the nesting box which we can access from the outside.  It also needs a good cleaning before winter hits.

Bob, Lacey and Amelio the rooster

Bob the friendly girl

For now they are all just laying in a convenient pile by the human door and we are getting 3-5 colorful eggs a day.  There are light brown, dark brown with speckles, blue and white eggs.  Just as diverse as our seven breeds of chickens.  There seems to be more than enough space for all eight of them in there and they all hustle in at night.  we getting them trained to come when we bring people food treats for them.  Instead of putting everything in the compost bin we are putting some things in the chicken yard and they love rotten tomatoes and watermelon the most.

First egg

My next job is building a proper chicken yard because the girls can escape from the one they have now and come winter the coyotes will be a problem.  I have to bury the fencing and come up with an automated way to open and close the chicken hatch although that will be easier once we have a door for the chicken yard.

So far we are having fun, except for when the little buggers escape as it's usually a two person job to corner them and get them back inside.  Although after Journey and Ginger got loose this weekend, one found their way back in and the other was more than ready to go back to the flock the next morning.  Stay tuned for more chicken adventures and chicken living upgrades.  As always thanks for reading.

Family Fun on the Run - Team Runs for Popsicles

I just wanted to share a photo log from some of our family summer adventures from 2018.  To the left is Joshua and I at the MS nigh ICubs game.  It was great weather and we stayed later to see if the tshirt shooter was coming back.





The picture on the right is from the Hope run.  Joshua earned a free race pass by running almost 30 miles for mileage club at school.  It was a muggy day but a fun run where I was struggling to keep up with little mister speedy.

One of our favorite adventures over the 4th of July is the carnival at Clear Lake.  We got there after the parade this year on the last day of the carnival but made sure we rode two of our favorite rides, the ferris wheel, and the tilt-a-whirl (holding up fingers for the number of times we rode and giggled that day.)

The next two pictures are from another family run we do every year, Midnight Madness.  The race starts at 7:30 pm and ends with Popsicle and pizza.  Team Runs for Popsicle likes the bomb pops of past years but really any Popsicle will do.

Another fun thing about being out on an acreage is we have a lot of sky.  We can see stars and planets better than we could in town so we took advantage of the last super moon and pulled out our telescope.  Abby captured this awesome picture of the moon through the telescope with my phone. We also had the telescope out a week or so ago and saw Mars, Saturn and it's rings, and Jupiter along with several of its moons. We also saw some of the meteor shower.

Joshua joined his mom and sister this year and participating in his first triathlon.  I think he learned that while he can  swim, bike and run triathlons are harder than they look. I caught him at the finish line before he lost his breakfast on the sideline.  Super proud of the kid and I think he is already making plans for next year.

Other random things you see on the homestead.  Abby showed two goats, two chickens, a horse and woodworking and photography projects at two county fairs (long story) this summer.  We also share eggs and chores with the neighbors.  This is Abby and Poppy taking a walk to pick up some eggs.

Not all our fun stayed in town.  We had a mini vacation to the twin cities so go see a professional soccer game at Vikings Stadium.  Tottenham is Joe's favorite team and they played AC Milan.  It was a fun game to watch outside of standing in the waffle line.  And since Minneapolis has a fun baseball team we also went to a Twins game while we were there.  My favorite activity was visiting the National Wildlife Refuge right next to the MPLS airport.  14000 acres and beautiful with loads of wildflowers and wild life.  We also road the light rail several times, visited REI and the Mall of America.

We will have other adventures the rest of the year but they will revolve around school activities... 4H, sports, science clubs, scouts.  But this is all I have to share here.  Check back soon for some other blogs from our summer adventures.  As always thanks for reading.

Race Reports x3 2018 - Drake Half, Clear Lake Tri, and Bluff Creek Tri

Well, I've been a giant blog slacker... plenty to say just zero time to synthesize any of it so starting with something easy.  Three quick race reports for my fitness adventures so far in 2018.

I decided last year after being a giant slacker and doing one whole triathlon and a couple of 5k runs to get myself organized and fit again.  My gym has this Inbody measurement device that looks at hydration, muscle and fat mass for all parts of your body and such.  I did the first measurement at the end of August in 2017 when I decided to get my tush moving again.  And then did a fifth measurement in May of 2018 and found I was down 8 lbs and 4.4 % body fat (I'm sure in July I put some of the squish back on but such is life... I like sweets too much).

First the Drake Half Marathon

I set some goals as part of the getting back in shape process and that was to do another half marathon and three/four triathlons this year.  Not going to let my body or the weather hold me back so I got myself signed up.



I hadn't done this race before but it sounded like a nice small race to do.  I started doing group runs with the Vardo running group in Ames.  I ran in all kinds of weather and did a least two long grueling treadmill runs thanks to mother nature's whimsy but built a good base and was ready when race day came.  The weather for Drake was about as nice as it could be for a blustery April morning.  We saw lots of vardos and Triracers at the start and I was in good spirits.  I picked a pacer close to where I hoped to end up and then We were off.  

My carpool buddy Ashish

One of the things I was trying leading up to the race was different nutrition options.  My body doesn’t tolerate Gatorade or GU so I generally avoid all free non water offerings at aid stations.  I had been testing a couple Young Living options for hydration and energy so I had a small water bottle with Aminowise, a banana, and two Nitros with me.  I started with the prerace banana, took a nitro between mile 5 and 6.  My pace was right where I wanted to be in the mid nines and felt pretty good through the never ending rolling hills (didn’t expect quite so many), and missed the right time to take my last nitro so miles 11 and 12 I didn’t have much in the tank but pulled it together for a strong finish. My final time was 2:08 which was in my top three for fastest half marathons.  I had fun and would definitely do that course again.

Clear Lake Triathlon

Second new tom me race of the year was Clear Lake triathlon.  My folks have a condo just up the hill from this race so I spend a lot of time training on this course when I’m in town.  I was busy with kid stuff in the days leading up to the race, and I hadn’t really done any racing in 2017 (yeah it sucked and I was stuck last year so this was the year of getting it done).  I threw all my gear together at 10 pm two nights before, then had this and that for the kids after work and rushed up to the lake with Joshua.  I realized as I was getting my gear set out I forgot two things... my wetsuit (not a deal breaker as we’d swam in the lake a couple of weeks earlier) and my goggles!  

Running out of the lake took forever

Yes the former competitive swimmer forgot the goggles.  It was ten pm and there were no options for getting a replacement pair.  I found some kiddie goggles in the condo as a last ditch but thankfully once I set up, I was in transition talking to one of the race volunteers and told them my goggle issue and they said follow me, led me to another local woman who had three pairs of goggles and she set me up with an older pair. They were perfect.

The swim was brisk at the start with water temps in the mid 70s. I hit the start and hyper ventilated a bit the first 100+ yards and I had to do couple quick breast strokes to settle down and give myself a pep talk, and once I calmed down it was smooth swimming.  One thing to note is the lake is pretty

smiling because running is fun

shallow so many ran in a ways, but I opted to swim as soon as it was deep enough. I didn’t follow the same rules getting to shore and ran quite a ways in the lake and legs were burning so probably should have kept swimming.  Didn’t matter because my son and folks were on the shore cheering me out of the water.

The bike was full of small rolling hills and large wind turbines and while I had decent bike training going into this there was a consistent but not super strong wind and I didn’t feel as strong as I’d hoped... seriously everyone passed me.  

The run course was pretty flat and after a quick transition I was off for downtown and the Surf.  I felt like I’d have a strong run and the clouds were hanging on with the cooler air.  I was having fun and we ran through downtown and saw the family again before heading out to the Surf and back to the finish at downtown.  While I didn’t see any racers I knew It was awesome to have part of my family there.  It was a very well supported race and I’d definitely do it again.

Sprint triathlon 750 m swim 13:54, 12.5 mile bike 46:53, Run 5k 28:39 overall time 1 hour 33 minutes

Bluff Creek Triathlon

Leading up to this one I always seem to waiver between doing the sprint and the Olympic distances because the run is always a hot steamy suck fest.  I told myself this year that I was going to stay with the challenge of the Olympic and just adjust the best I can.  I brought several icy water bottles, and a cooler with my cooling shrug which keeps my skin cool when wet as well as a cooling towel on ice.


I did forget my racing sunglasses (case but no glasses) so had to run back up to the truck to get my everyday ones that are also sport ones.  I also forgot breakfast so I ate one of the granola bars I had with me.  Did I say I was nervous about doing the Olympic distance... uh yeah just a bit distracted.  Oh and this race totally snuck up on me as I didn't do any riding after RAGBRAI until the Wednesday before the race and I hadn't done any distance swim workouts until the Monday before.  Eek!

I had fun in transition despite getting arriving later than expected.  I visited with as many of the triracers and Ames folks as I could before the race started as we were well represented.  I took a few calming breaths before the swim start and I was off.  

Again I made bad decisions on goggles as I grabbed an old mirrored pair with impossible to see out of lenses instead of just my tinted pair (time to invest in some new pairs).  Needless to say that made sighting nearly impossible during the swim.  I was forced to sight off my nearest neighbors as the red bouys are really hard to see (race directors... orange or green please) and you can't see the turnaround point for the swim course until you are 1/3 of the way through the swim as you skirt the shore on your left for quite a while before things open up so you don't really sight off the bouys until you are almost to the turn around.  I ran into traffic of the two waves in front of me about half way in and spent the rest of the time weaving through people to the turn.  After that sighting was a little easier with one red and one green bouy before the slippery run out of the lake.

Two awesome ladies (three I guess :)

Once on the bike I was cruising around 18-20 mph until the turn at Pilot mound and the roll to Twister Hill.  I think my max speed on the return trip was just short of 40mph as that hill seemed steeper then the hill on the way out.  After the first big hill I was a bit wiped and it took me a few miles of grinding things out (yes with people passing me) before I pulled it together and had a more focused return trip.  The second hill was a slow grind up (4 mph) but I had taken on some steady nutrition before getting there and felt a lot better after that one.  

My Ames teammates

I made it back to transition and did the dance of the gear swap including my cooling shrug and I was off on a shuffle to the finish.  The course goes through a lovely prairie for 1/4 mile (this is actually the suckiest part of the run despite being lovely because the humidity doubled).  Then it spits out onto a short gravel road and onto the main paved road.  This is an out and back with a repeat and there are two decent hills so you get to run up both of them twice. Thankfully the water stops are at the bottom and you hit those each twice as well.  I was pleased with the camaraderie on the course with people encouraging each other and found I started doing it as well and kept a smile going through the slog which helped keep me moving.  I made sure to double up my water at each stop to drink and to wear, and I took a nitro at the right before the turnaround to repeat the run course.  I had a few sketchy moments where I walked part of the same hill and felt a bit icky but managed to breathe through it.  Highlights of the run... two fuzzy wuzzy caterpillars near the damn at the bottom of the hills.  Never was I so happy to plod across a finish line.  Below is my last take at Olympic distance on this course (2014).  http://blaesing-thompson.blogspot.com/2014/08/race-report-shawn-bluff-creek-olympic .html

The numbers for this go are: .9 miles swim 29:15, 25 mile bike 1 hour 36 minutes, 6.2 mile run 1 hour 11 minutes.  Total for my slowest time ever 3 hours and 32 minutes for the finish.  4th in my age group out of four but I had a great day.  As always thanks for reading.

MS Update - Another year and still marching

My family and dad around mile 10
overlooking the high trestle bridge

Just doing a quick update of the status of the MS adventures.  For those friends and family on Facebook I'm sure you saw that my whole family and my dad did the MS bike ride with me in June.  Joshua was riding a 20" bike to the ride was pretty casual compared to what I am used to. It was perfect weather and we even ran into the Dream Team, which is my fundraising team, at the turn around.  I'm just wrapping up the fundraising from that so it isn't too late if you had planned to make a donation the MS Society.  Just use this link  http://bndfr.com/6M5h9  
Thank you to the following 2017 donors: My folks, George, Bill, Theresia, Sheila, Ingrid, Shirley, Kathleen, Judy, Joe, Aaron, Blair, Julia, Henrieta, Mary, Mitch, Rhonda, Cindy, David, Amy, Barb, Bryan and Bonnie.  Hopefully I didn't miss anyone.  Many of you are repeat donors so be watching your mail boxes for a thank you! Yes I do believe in the power of snail mail.  :)

My family with the rest of the Dream Team
at the turn around point in Woodward

So for the update... I had my yearly check up with my neurologist today.  He is pleased I'm adjusting well to my new medication. For those of you just getting up to speed on this, the injection meds I was taking the first three years nearly took me out last summer.  I spent two months off MS meds and then started a twice a day pill in October.  Let's just say that I had a rough start with the standard ramp up on that, but after a couple of dosage adjustments we got things on track.  The hardest thing about this new med is that I take it twice a day after meals which means after breakfast and after dinner.  I can't take it on an empty stomach, and while I rarely miss a meal, it wasn't easy to find the right combination of vitamins and food to keep the GI and tingling side effects at bay.  I think I have it pretty well figured out now so the hardest part is remembering to take both pills.  I do good with the morning one but occasionally miss an evening one especially on the weekends.

My neurologist also felt like since none of the damage I already have from MS is getting worse that unless I have a major flare or new symptoms between now and next year's appointment that I'm in good shape.  He appreciates that I have regular fitness in my routine and continues to encourage me in that area.  That doesn't mean I'm not effected by MS every day but that I have it pretty good in the grand scheme of managing a chronic illness like MS.

My family and dad around mile 14
on the High Trestle Bridge

The other thing to note related to my MS is that I have finished my clinical trial at the University of Iowa.  I was assigned to the swank diet over the Wahls diet.  This meant that for 24 weeks I had to eat foods only in low saturated fat as well as a healthy dose of grains.  I really missed chocolate and pizza with real cheese.  I'm not sure I can say I missed much else, but it is nice to be able to each what I want again.  the hardest part for me with the diet besides writing down everything I ate for 26 weeks (had to do this twice in the first 12 weeks where I ate normal also) of the was all the grains.  I'd been eating mostly gluten free for two and half years going into the study so that was tough.  I also ended up gaining eight pounds...  I blame the carbs, and still doing rehab from my summer injuries, compounded by moving to a new house and readying a house for sale.  Working hard to get back on track now and will do a deep dive in food management process in August.  I think I will end up doing some sort of combination between low saturated fat with fruits, vegetables and lean meats. 


Either way, I'm managing for now and grateful for every day that I can think straight, make it to the bathroom on time, and be active in my day.  So long as I take care of my body and my meds continue to work, I should be able to maintain my mobility long into the future.  Thank you for everyone in my life who remind me to slow down and make time for myself now and then.  Until next time I'm sending love out into the world so have a great one!

Updates - MS Adventures (Written April '17)

Well I think the last time I wrote about my MS adventures I had just survived the adjustments to my new MS meds.  I think I have things pretty much figured out.  The side effects from my new meds while more pronounced are far less dreary then my old meds and just pop up for a few minutes when the meds "kick in".  I go in for labs in the next week or two to make sure my meds aren't messing with by blood work so hopefully everything will be good and I can continue to take this one for a while.  I know there has been a lot in the news about a new MS med that just came on the market and should this one (called Tecfidera) not work out I will definitely be looking closely at the new one.  One thing is for sure, I do not miss the injections I used to have to do.

As you may have noticed with the last post things have been pretty busy for our household.  I can't say this hasn't effected my MS.  I've had some fatigue and taken a day or two of forced rest but so far am hanging in there.

In other MS related activities, I am still doing the MS clinical research trial.  If you'll recall I volunteered for a research study looking at people like me with MS and how two popular MS diets effect fatigue.  I started my study diet right before Christmas, but ended up being assigned one, while quite different from how I had been eating going into the diet, that ended up being easier for my family and I to manage without a lot of change for them.  I've also had the joy of spending time with my brother and sister in-law (and being able to closely watch her pregnancy progress) during my medical visits to Iowa City.

During my visits they review my food logs as I have to track everything I eat for the last 25 weeks of the study and for three of those weeks I also have to weigh everything I eat and record it in great detail.  They also run a battery of fine and major motor skill tests, vision tests, a lot of blood and stool collections.  As a person with a science background I wish I could learn more about the data I create but since it is a three year study they can't even share blood work results.  I am still glad to be participating especially if it will change the way the medical profession treats MS since I've always felt treatment should be more holistic and less pharmaceutically based.

The diet has been a bit of a challenge while traveling for work and family business the last few months but all in all I feel I've been true to study requirements and on my latest trip I found servers were willing to accommodate my odd requests like no cheese on my tacos and regular toast versus French toast (which would have put me over my egg allotment).  As for whether or not I think the diet is helping me, well I'm not sure what the science shows, but I can't say it has made me feel much better day to day.  I'm certain my stress has skewed the data a bit.  I do think there are some things I will pay closer attention to going forward once I complete the study, so I suspect there has been some benefit for me despite them not being as obvious as going gluten free was for me.

I am grateful for all the accommodations my family has made to allow me to participate with minimal issues.  All in all, I'm pretty blessed that most days I can roll out of bed and go about my day without much slowing me down.  I am grateful for my MS community and family community who help keep me humble and grounded but also give me hope.  So with that I'll wrap up this post by giving you all a heads up... I am signed up to ride again this year with the MS Dream Team for the MS Society.  I'll post a link below if you are interested in supporting the work the MS Society does for patients and families affected by MS.  Until next time, thanks for reading.

Oh... one more thing.  The MS Dream Team rides again this June.  Consider donating to the MS Society and sponsoring me and my team.
Thanks.

Updates - Settling a new home (Written in April '17)

As I was talking to a professional colleague while traveling this week she pointed out I hadn't posted anything to the blog in a while.  It's been a whirlwind six months for my family and I.  We spent the summer last year chasing the idea that it might be nice to live outside of town with a little space.  We ventured through at least a dozen homes, mostly old farm houses outside of the Ames city limits.  When we had started to lose hope of finding anything and were shifting our thoughts towards the slow progression of getting updates done to our house in Ames, several more listings popped up, and we found "the one" and made a fast offer.  October through December was busy with lining up flooring installations, countertops and other needed repairs and updates all mixed in with the chaos of the holidays.

Come mid-January, immediately after my being in DC for work travel for a week, we moved with the help of a small army, into a farm house over 100 years old.  It wasn't any old farm house, as it had been thoroughly renovated in the mid-90s to add several additions including a three car attached garage.  The property is great, three acres even, four miles south of ISU campus, with the house and a big pole barn and the loveliest sunrises and sunsets you've seen across the Iowa farm fields. 

The beginning of the year found us adjusting to our new normal.  Careful scheduling of activities so we weren't running back and fourth to town all the time.  Learning the timing of running the kids to school in the mornings, figuring out after school schedules so everyone was rounded up at the same time or by a second parent or extended community of ours to get everyone back home again.  We also got the kids officially open enrolled in the Ames school district to keep some continuity in the kids routines.

Three months in, we are finally getting a handle on things, but with both Joe and I traveling for work in March and April scheduling remains a complicated dance.  The last part of this puzzle is figuring out the right moves to get our Ames home off the payroll.  Yes it is still listed, no we haven't had an offer despite a dozen other homes in the neighborhood going sale pending.  Ames is a pretty aggressive, constantly changing housing market but our "Ames house" still sits there empty.  I continue to go over to make improvements like paint touch up, cleaning up flower beds and putting down mulch before racing to the airport for a work trip.

Because of our haste to secure the farmhouse in a very aggressive acreage market we used a VA loan since we wouldn't have a down payment until we sold our other house which wasn't even on the market until right before New Years.  I believe we will sell soon, but all of this hasn't been without stress so as I wrap up this post I ask you to send positive thoughts out into the universe to bring our house a new family to make it home SOON!  We miss our old neighbors, but we don't miss the old house.  Needless to say the whole endeavor has been exhausting but I'm pretty sure we wouldn't change a thing.  Thank you to our family and friends who helped us make it happen. Stay tuned for adventures in chickens, and until next time thanks for reading.

Serendipity versus The F'its

Anyone who knows me well knows my life is busy most of the time.  Filled with soccer games, scouting adventures, interspersed with busy work demands and my individual adventures.  Needless to say it can be easy to get overwhelmed and things came to a head at the end of May.  We had just had my car detailed with the intention to sell it, as it had been nothing but trouble since the day we drove it off the lot.  I was called to a last minute early morning meeting so my car and I rolled south to get there by 7am.  I had just pulled off the freeway into downtown Des Moines and was passing through an intersection when things exploded around me with airbags and crunching metal.  A woman had run a fresh red light and smashed into the driver side of my SUV.  We both walked away with totaled cars but grateful that was all.  I was delivered to my meeting just 15 minutes late thanks to the kindness of a Des Moines police officer (did I mention it was my birthday?). It worked out in the end as we ended up getting a big ol Chevy pickup truck from a Federal government auction.  Its great driving a truck again despite it being a king cab with a full sized bed... yes I am running in to a fair number of curbs but we are working things out the two of us and it is great having a a vehicle to haul stuff and seat six humans.

Walking a half ironman

The crash was three weeks before I was to race in my 3rd 1/2 Ironman triathlon (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, and 13.1 mile run).  Needless to say my training was derailed after the wreck but I managed to get some shorter runs and swims in but only one trainer ride in the three weeks leading up to the race.  I had the green light to race but knew it wasn't going to be the race I had planned.  Travel for this race was part of our family vacation to Chicago and Madison with stops to see family throughout so not going was not an option.  I was realistic that this was not going to be an easy day for me and for more details you can read my race report for a day that ended up being great but not what I expected.  It was part of a string of events over the summer months that had me in a battle between serendipity and the F'its.

On the F'its side my body was fighting me.  I spent all summer rehabbing shoulder damage from the crash on a shoulder that already had issues from a decade old soccer injury.  The going was slow and my drive wasn't great.  I diligently did my exercises each week but always felt like I should have been working harder to be worthy of the time with my physical therapist.  The downside is being heavier with tighter pants than I've had in years, but I know I can fight back from that again because I have done it before.  The bright light from the shoulder injury is my PT is a friend and I enjoyed hanging out with her even if there was pain involved.

I was racing triathlons this summer with Pearl Izumi as my sponsor and 90 plus lady racing companions around the country, so my goal at the season onset was to do four triathlons (1 1/2 Ironman,

My best girl

2 Olympic distance races and one Sprint.). Needless to say my season turned into 1 1/2 Ironman, 1 Olympic race and two sprints combined with a near loss for the love of a sport I've been participating in since 2007.  I lost that competitive edge somewhere in the stream of medical appointments June through September.  I even had some fleeting thoughts about quitting triathlon for good.  The last two races, the sprints, I ended up just doing for fun and the love of sport with no expectation of PRs or age group wins.  My last race of the season I had my daughter with me cheering me on and that was worth more than any finishing awards so while my season was tough it wasn't without bright lite along the way.

Abby and Bella

Another time suck for me in the spring and summer was many a trip out to my friends farm.  Abby (our future family vet) and her friend Chloe have been raising goats to show at the county fair.  It feels like a family venture since I had to drive her there each time and nearly daily in the last couple of month leading up to the fair (between soccer practices, etc.). Fortunately these are some of my favorite people. I got to spend time visiting with my friends, play with kittens, feed the chickens and pigs, snuggle baby goats, weed the gardens and help with the harvest but most of all watching our girls grow in their experiences.  While it was a burden to get back and forth I think I got more from it than I gave most of the time.

Day one on the Island

While all of this was going on I had a series of not great visits with my doctors.  My blood work numbers were all over the place and continued to get worse through the summer along with a heaviness that ended up being depression fueled by my MS meds.  The veil lifted a bit in early August when a planned break from my MS meds started.  I was planning on a backpacking trip with my cousin to see the beauty and wilds of Isle Royale a National Park on an Island off the tip of Minnesota and Michigan in Lake Superior.  I knew I wasn't in the physical shape I'd hoped to be in by the time it came to head north.  My shoulder was stable but not healed, my pack was new and heavy, but my spirit was lighter and my need for time away in nature was huge.  The planned break from my meds ended up being nearly three months off but back on track now however that is a blog for another day.

Unseasonably warm weather the first days on the trail, followed by a major ankle blow out at the end of the first day hiking made things tough.  The next two days were cooler and increasingly wetter.  My shoulder had me ebbing on the edge of tears at times, and I needed a big stick to keep marching forward on my unsteady ankle, but you know I wouldn't have traded any of it.  It was an exercise in physical and mental toughness that had become my specialty this summer.  It didn't end up being the reset I had hoped for but it rekindled my love for backpacking, tent sleeping and enjoyment of the great outdoors with interesting people.  I hope to have years of great family and personal adventures hiking the trails and experiences in the parks of America.

My brother and I at the crash site in Clear Lake

My best guys

While my summer experiences were a balance of the F'its and serendipity, overall I am grateful for every one of them even if they were not what I expected.  I am appreciative of every day where I can push myself, learn from the good and bad, and spend time contemplating on my own as well as in good company.  I wrapped up the summer with the kids heading back to school, soccer and scouts... but also family camping (first time with all four of us ever!), geocaching adventures and great times with my folks, brother and kiddos.  Life is good, and while it has its challenges and rarely ends up the way I expect, I am grateful for every new day.  Sending my love out into the world to each of you until next we meet.