Go, you chicken fat, go away!

I woke up shortly after 3am again.  My wife was telling me how she tossed and turned the night before.  She got mad at me when I told her she might be going through the change.  I noticed that she was tossing and turning again.  Well, once I was up, I was up.  I tried to go back to sleep, but to no avail.  I decided to sit on my throne for an hour and then go running.  Right when I finished and before I could flush, I heard a crash outside.  Whenever I hear a noise outside my mind goes to - coyote jumping over the fence to steal my chickens.  So I ran to the window to look for the culprit.  There was no coyote, but the trees were getting tossed around.  The crash I heard was the sun room door slamming from the wind.

Now I was excited to go running.  Sometimes I love facing the elements.  Today was one of those days.  It was 5:26am when I started.  I thought I would have the whole loops to myself.  Who else would be this crazy to be out in the wind this early?  The sky was overcast and it was actually light out.  My theory from the other day must be wrong.  The lights from the City were illuminating the clouds and I could see quite well.  It's been a few days since I ran, so I was a bit stiff.  But I was enjoying the run, and the wind died down a little.  In the home stretch between University and Adobe, I saw the owl swoop down in front of me and land on the wall.  I was going to take a picture, but when I pulled my phone from my pocket, I realized it was raining.  I mean, I knew it was, I just thought it was a light sprinkle.  So, I opted not to take a picture.  I continued running and saw two figures approaching me.  It was two sweet old ladies all bundled up.  I, of course, was not, so one of them said, "You're getting all wet."  My response?  "Yeah, and I just saw an owl."

Just in case you're wondering, I did go back and flush the toilet.

I was awoken a few ticks before 4:30am by David crowing.  I was out the door at 5:23am.  The weather was nice.  I saw a police vehicle at the stop sign and it slowed down to check me out.  It wasn't too dark.  There were some clouds that were providing reflection from the city lights.  I looked upward and estimated between 40% and 50% coverage.  As I was about to enter the Floodway I detected the unmistakable odor of moss.  The Canal must be getting filled up.  I got to Brown and crossed the Floodway to the Canal.  The water was gushing through the radial gates.  There was water once again in the Canal.  Did they fill it up yesterday and I not know because I didn't run?  I looked down in it.  It was dark, but it didn't look full.  Hard to tell.  I could see the reflections of the clouds in the water and every now and then would spot the outline of a duck.  I got to Adobe and once again could hear the water gushing through those radial gates.  I didn't think about it at the time, but the water doesn't usually gush through.  When the Canal is full, the gates open from the bottom and water runs underneath.  This does cause some turbulence, but not a gushing turbulence.  At the half way point between Adobe and University is a well.  It only gets used about once a year.  When I passed by it, I looked down in the Canal and it was as dry as a bone.  What the heck?  I could've swore I just saw water!  I ran back to the other side of the well.  Clouds!  There's water.  Am I going mad?  Back to the other side, and ah ha!  Here comes the water.  It was just barely moving along despite the gushing sounds at the gates.  I guessed there couldn't be more than 1 cfs (cubic feet per second) moving through.  I wondered at this rate how long it would take to fill the Canal.  Maybe I'll do some math later.  Seems like it would take a while.  I texted my buddy Brad at the District to tell him that I had just passed the water as it was filling up the Canal.  I told him that I guess I'm faster than water.  Probably not the text he wanted to see before 6 in the morning.

I decided to do 3 loops today since I missed yesterday for no good reason.  I continued down to Main.  Once I crossed University it got darker.  I looked up and now it looked like there was only 20% to 30% cloud coverage.  There was quite a bit to the west of me, but nothing above or to the east.  I ran to Main and went to the other side of the Floodway.  Before I got to University, I saw a man in his backyard in the 55+ community.  His porch light was on.  I said good morning to him.  Right before University is their tennis courts.  There were no lights on, but a dog started barking at me.  I then saw the owner telling it to be quiet.  Since he probably heard me tell the other guy good morning, I said good morning to him, too.  I crossed University and looked down at the wall to see if I could see Jeff.  His sleeping bag was there, and it looked like he was in it.  On the other side of the wall is a small little neighborhood park. There's an opening in the wall for access.  Looking through the opening I saw another person.  Where are all these people coming from?  I looked at my phone and it was 6:06am.  I didn't think I was going to see anyone, but within two minutes I had seen 4 people.  I saw one more person before I finished.  They were wearing a headlamp.  I contemplated yelling at them that if they hurry they could catch up to the water.  But that would've been weird.

David woke me up again at the same time as yesterday.  So I was out and running at exactly the same time as yesterday.  5:23am.  But before that I had remembered that I left the water running in the backyard last night.  I meant to shut it off before I went to bed, but I forgot.  So my grapefruit trees are nice and watered.  But my orange trees didn't get touched.  About a month or so ago I noticed that a couple of chickens were roosting the night in one of the grapefruit trees.  This is what my remaining chickens from our previous batch use to do after the coyote attacks.  Then there were three in the tree.  The other night I saw four.  But this morning, even David was up in the tree.  I assume it was because I left the water on and it was flooding out their coop.  So, being up in the tree above the wall line, his crowing had no sound blocking whatsoever.  He usually crows when he wakes up in the morning and at least three more times for every hour after.  He also crows if someone turns on the sunroom light late at night.  And he crows if someone goes in the backyard.  So since I was in turning the water off, he started crowing again.  I bopped him on the head with a shovel.  That stopped him for about a minute, but then he was at it again.  I took the recycling and green barrel out to the street.  Then I started my stretch routine, and he must've heard me and started crowing again.  I keep saying he's got to go, but like Aunt Polly, I don't have the heart to do it.  (I'm listening to the Adventures of Tom Sawyer right now.)  So I was running north on the Floodway and I can clearly hear David again.  I'm like, "I've got to be half a mile away!"  I pull out my Strava and sure enough, half a mile.  He must be waking up everyone.  The rest of the run was uneventful.  The sky was overcast and gray.  The Canal is completely full and serene looking.
 

Saturdays are supposed to be my long runs.  But I'm not in shape for long runs.  But still, I should be able to do at least 4 miles.  Well, I got up this morning, later than the last few mornings, but it was still dark out.  My knees were sore.  Why are they sore?  I'm not running long or fast.  But they were sore.  I thought maybe I would just need to start going and they would loosen up.  I stretched out and started running.  I thought, well, I guess I'll only be doing two loops today.  I don't even feel like 3.

I got to the Floodway and I saw a coyote running down Adobe.  I turned around for a second and then turned back.  I saw it standing in the middle of the road a few hundred feet away.  It was staring at me.  The street light had turned off.  I stopped and watched it for a while.  I thought I saw something smaller dart across the street.  Maybe a cub?  Nah, must be my eyes playing tricks on me.  But why is it just standing there in the middle of the road?  I thought I would wait until a car came by to scare it away.  The street light turned back on and I tried to hide myself behind the warning sign.  Still it just stayed there staring at me and no cars were coming.  As I was about to give up, my eyes finally adjusted to the sight, and I realized I was staring at a tree trunk.  What a fool I am.

I ran up to Brown and headed back down to Adobe on the other side of the Floodway.  I saw a black figure coming toward me.  I think.  Who knows with my eyes today.  But it was.  I couldn't tell if they were running or walking.  Walking.  Man or woman?  Woman.  Then I thought, "I bet that's Edythe."  And it was.  I said, "Good morning!  I'll see you tomorrow at church!"  Shortly after that I realized my knees were still hurting and decided just to do one loop.