5K'ing

5 King? No, not 5 kings, I mean 5K - you know? 5,000? 5,000 meters to be exact, or better yet, 5 Kilometers. Understand? No? How about 3.11 miles - does that work for you? If not then I guess you are doomed with distance.

Saturday Laura and I had a 5k road race here in town. We did better than we expected, but still a far cry from our best times. The good news for me is that I am still faster now than when I was my sophomore & junior years in high school, so I know I can still improve. On top of that, I have lost about 12 pounds and started running in a new pair of shoes and I am feeling much much better. The past few days of running with Emryk (pushing the jogging stroller) have been really good and I can feel my base mileage starting to really establish itself. In fact, on Saturday we did a mile warm up, a 3 mile race, and then I did a 4 mile cool down, so in total I had an 8 mile morning. It's been a long time since I ran 8 miles - in fact, it was the half marathon in Spokane, Washington in October 2007 - a race I desperately try to forget about!

We've got a few more chances to run a 5K this summer to try to improve our times, I'll let you know how those go...

Until again

-=Nolan=-

Up On The Roof

Laura and I are going to be moving into the house I grew up in. There have been some repairs needed for quite awhile and this summer we are jumping right in to get them going. The house is 25 years old and hasn't needed much maintenance, but in 2002 we had a major hail storm rip through the area and it did a real number on the roof. I'm not talking about small hail stones, I am talking the size of softballs. Some of them went through the roof at the house and so we had to replace some of the sheeting on the roof too. For the past seven years we have relied on the patches we made on the roof to keep the water out, but in the past few years they have started to deteriorate and so it's time to put in some time and shingle the house. Last weekend we put in over 30 hours of work and finished the entire north side of the house.
We finished the back at 11:00 p.m. on Sunday night - so I didn't get any pictures of the finished result. We were going to shingle again this weekend but the scattered rain showers have kept us off the roof. That might be for the best since we could use a few day to rest. Yesterday we ran a 5K race here in Kearney and had a great time doing it, we both ran pretty good but my dad still beat us so it appears we have some more work to do.Hopefully we can get back to the roof soon so we can finish it off and then start with other projects to help get the house back in top shape. I'll try to keep you updated on a more regular basis.

Until again

-=Nolan=-

Few & Far Between

Sadly enough, it seems like getting one blog posting up in a month is a real task. As family members pointed out to me last weekend, they can tell I am busy when I haven't posted on the blog in a few weeks. Well, that's the truth, busy is becoming the normal these days. Laura and I are really starting to slow down and relaxing when we get a chance. When we had a free minute we would run out the door and maybe find a geocache or go for a quick run - these days it seems like a few minutes to sit down and check email is about as good as it gets. In fact, here it is a little after 10:00 p.m. and I put Emryk to bed about half an hour ago - so far I have been able to check my email and make a quick cruise onto Facebook, but other than that, my evening has been filled with boogers, cracker crumbs, screams & crying (Emryk and I both) and a now a few moments to shut the eyes and think about sleep.

I don't really mind the fact that Emryk wants to play and have attention, it's the matter of finding time to get some of my stuff done once he crashes for the night. I plan on getting a quick bowl of cereal and maybe watching a few minutes of the news (while trying to catch up on the internet) and then getting to bed myself. It's amazing how someone so small can cause you to use up so much energy! I can understand why parents tend to age at a faster rate - the lack of sleep and constant thought of "where could I hide for 15 minutes to take a nap" are always wearing on them. For me, a thirty minute run is total freedom - just enough time to get about 4 miles in and then get back home to start into the evening with Emryk. Not that I'm complaining, our lives would be rather dull without him!

Until again

-=Nolan=-

A Faster Pace

I can't figure out how it's happening, but it seems to me that time is passing by faster and faster all the time. Here it is, nearly the end of April and it seems like 2009 just arrived a few weeks ago. In fact, spring is in full effect and there are flowers all around, along with leafs on the trees, and it seems like I have hardly slowed down to notice the simple things lately.

The past few weeks have been a blur it seems. I suppose if I had to sit down and retrace my footsteps I could do it rather easily, but it might take a few moments of thought......

As far as work goes, we started out April with a prescribed burn in Gosper County. For anyone that hasn't been around a prescribed burn, if you get the chance to help with one you should take the opportunity. Not only are they a lot of fun, but they can do a lot of good things for the land and habitat. Most of us grew up with Smokey the Bear and the thought that every fire should be prevented. In recent years the logic has turned to 'if it isn't going to hurt anybody then let it burn.' Depending on who you are, both sides might be a little too far stretched, but I tend to think that Mother Nature uses fire to 'flush' the old stuff and let new growth sprout. It's good to have a renewal now and again.

The middle of April I was out running around the district checking static water levels. A pretty simple task, but we have over 200 wells we measure, and there are only two of who measure water levels - so it can become a long drawn-out process. Especially when you figure we were driving upwards of 175-200 miles everyday (not includind my drive to and from work). We have a program at work which has been in place for 30 years - checking water levels twice a year to monitor the groundwater levels - the wells are spread throughout the district. The way to measure them is to take a lead weight tied to the end of a steel tape measure (designed for groundwater measurements) that is 300' long and apply chalk to the first 4-6 feet and drop the end of the tape down into the well. Once you think you have hit the water level, you check the tape measure and remember the depth, reel the tape back up the well and if you did it right, there will be a clear wetted area (cut line) on the chalk at the end of the tape. Some simple math and you have the depth to water. Seems simple, but there is a lot that can go wrong, and there is a lot that does - but it's all part of the experience. However, the fact that I can be out of the office (especially since I have been cooped up inside all winter) is a great way to get out and start enjoying the spring.

Emryk has taken to his feet and started walking around - A LOT. He isn't walked unaided however - we have to hold his hands but he goes along like a little rocket ship. Running from one place to another. He loves his walker on the kitchen tile, well I guess its linoleum so it's even easier for him to run around on. He really likes to run across the kitchen and crash into whatever he finds on the other side - it doesn't matter if it is the cabinet or the back of your leg, he hits it at full speed and laughs the whole time.

The warmer weather has been great to take him out in the stroller for a run - it gets him out of the house which keeps him happy and it lets us get some exercise and that keeps us happy. The past few days have been a little cold and that has kept us indoors, our cabin fever didn't take long to return and we are ALL ready to get out of this tiny little apartment and get outside to stretch out! Perhaps some geocaching could cure us...

Until again

-=Nolan=-

Marching Along

Just like that, 2009 is a quarter complete. It seems like I have hardly had enough time to blink, err, maybe that's the lack of sleep that does that to me..? Either way, someone told me spring is here and that means the snow and cold will soon be gone for awhile - I think. The weather the past few days has been something else. Blowing cold and a even some snow last night. Just a few weeks ago there were tornadoes in Eastern Nebraska. Strange weather to say the least.

We did manage to get to Idaho during 'spring break.' We left on Saturday morning around 5:30 a.m. and drove the entire 940 miles by midnight - just about 20 hours in the van. Laura, Emryk and I had the back seat while Rylan and Kayla looked cozy in the middle captain seats, mom and dad saw most of the road through the windshield. Seven of us stuffed into a mini-van was a little tight, especially with all our stuff - or should I say Emryk's stuff. Either way, we all seem to get along pretty well, so there wasn't too much discontent amongst the ranks.

Lana and Kory had to put up with us crashing in their one room apartment for a few days, and they did a pretty good job of dealing with all of us invading their space. Lana gave everyone a haircut and we all were looking better right off the bat. We spent most of the time just exploring Twin Falls and checking out all the things there were to see. The Perrine Bridge at Twin Falls crosses the Snake River and it's about 500 feet off the water. It's one of the only bridges where BASE jumping is legal 24 hours a day - we saw a few jumpers while we were there too. Looks like a real rush and if I could get ahold of a parachute I think I would try it out.

We also saw Shoshone Falls and Twin Falls - although, the Twin Falls are now just a single waterfall. One of the falls was damed to creat hydro power - kind of a sad deal actually, it looks like it would have been a neat sight to see with two waterfalls.

Tuesday was St. Patrick's Day, we drove west of Twin Falls on Highway 30 to the Hagerman area where were saw the springs which flow right out the side of the cliffs into the Snake River. We also stopped and saw where the Oregon Trail was. The ruts and cuts are still visible in the side of the hills near the Hagerman Fossil Bed National Monument.

I always enjoy just driving and seeing the countryside. There were parts of the drive that looked like areas of Nebraska - especially areas north of Kearney. With the exception of a few rocks in the fields it appears nearly identical - just don't look too far on the horizon and spot the mountains off in the distance!

Tuesday night Kayla had friends coming to Twin Falls to visit her, so the rest of us loaded up the van and headed south to Nevada to be robbed by the one armed bandit in Jackpot! Well, I guess it isn't robbery when you willingly give the money, but it did make for some fun. I think Kory did sneak away with the few extra dollars in his pocket, but as for the rest of us...well, lets just say I better keep working for my paycheck. Did you see Emryk decked out in his St. Patrick's Day outfit? When we arrived in Jackpot we were adorned with festive beads and Emryk was really playing the part.

We made it back to Twin Falls a little before mid-night and we packed up our things. We tried to leave Twin Falls around 5:30 Wednesday morning since we decided to change our route home and go back through Nevada and across Utah to so I could see the Bonneville Salt Flats. That small detour added 100 miles to our drive and Wednesday we really put the miles on! It was 1,048 miles home - a new one day record drive for me. We rolled into Kearney a few minutes before midnight and we were all feeling the trip catching up with us. That's just how my family vacations though, we go 100% while we are on vacation and relax when we get home.

Besides our trip to Idaho, Laura, Emryk and I made a trip to Cheyenne this past weekend to see Laura's parents. It was another quick trip, but it was nice to have such a 'short' distance to go this time!

Which reminds me... With today being the last day of March, I snapped a picture of my GPS tonight. I have been logging the miles I travel each month, just to see how far I travel. I think this is my second farthest month I have logged since I started paying attention - 5,091 miles.

Until again

-=Nolan=-