Go, you chicken fat, go away!

Yesterday I got ready to go running.  I was surprised at how tight my legs were for not having run in 3 days.  I got almost to the stop sign when I had a sharp pain in my right knee, so I immediately stopped and walked home.

I tried again this morning.  I decided that I would start walking if I had to, but I wanted to do at least one loop.  And that's what I did.  We got some rain during the night.  It was still sprinkling this morning.  I could hardly feel it.  I'm not sure how many times I stopped to walk.  Probably 5 or 6.  At one point I saw three ladies walking towards me.  Two of them had dogs.  So I made sure to run until I passed by them. 

When I got to the other side of the Floodway I could really see the amount of sprinkles in the Canal.  I think it started to pick up, too.  Then I saw a bird sitting in the edge of the water.  I thought that was queer, so I stopped.  Did it get its feathers wet and now it couldn't fly?  It looked so sad just sitting there.  After about a minute I decided to scoot my way down to the water's edge and scoop it out.  I could see that its wing was broken and bloody.  Did it get attacked by another bird?  Did it get zapped by the power line?  Probably the former.  I reached to pick it up, but it scuttled away.  So I crawled back up the bank and headed home.

I saw another lady coming towards me walking her dog.  No doubt she saw me.  She had a rod in her hand and she was curling it as part of her workout.  Sure enough she asked me if I was taking a look at the Canal.  I told her there was a bird with a broken wing that I was trying to save.  She asked what type of bird.  I said it was a dove.  Then I showed her the picture.  She told me that she thought maybe I was taking a bath.

I woke up this morning and used the bathroom.  As soon as I finished and shut the door, I heard my door close downstairs.  That means my wife was waiting for me so she could take her turn.  As she went upstairs, she opened the front door since it was so nice out.  When I was getting dressed I heard the chickens.  I didn't think much of it at first because they often sound like that especially when they're laying eggs.  But then I thought, "It's not even 5:30am.  Surely they're still up in the tree."  So I went to the front door and looked out the side window.  There was a cat with a jeweled collar on its neck.  It was just staring at me.  Herbie was upstairs looking out the window, but he couldn't see it because it was below him.  I said, "Herbie, get that cat!"  He barked.  The cat still didn't move, so I opened the screen door.  It ran away.

I then decided I better go check on the chickens.  I went out the back door and Herbie followed me.  I was barefoot, but there was no time to lose.  I made my way to the tree and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, all present and accounted for.  Maria was sitting on her chair, too.  But then I saw a little sparrow sitting on the ground.  It wasn't moving, but it looked alive.  I mean, it wasn't laying on its side with its eyes rolled back.  I shined my light at it.  It wouldn't move.  I pointed it out to Herbie, but he didn't notice it.  Then one of the chickens jumped out of the tree almost landing on both me and the sparrow!  One by one they all did the same thing, but I couldn't do anything because of my bare feet!  One of them actually did land on the sparrow which is how I knew it was still alive. 

Finally Herbie noticed it and started to sniff it.  That's when it sadly tried to get away.  But it was too sick or injured.  Actually, I think it got into the poison that was placed in the traps for the mice.  Once Herbie got bored of it, Maria came around.  Oh...my...gosh!  She's a stone cold killer.  She pecked it to death!  I wanted to save it.  You know how I always try to save birds.  But I was not about to get in between Maria and her bloodlust.  So I did the next best thing.  I filmed it.

Well, that story had nothing to do with running.  After I got my shoes on, I went for a walk/jog.  Yesterday I called it a jog/walk, but there was more walking today than jogging, it seemed.  I took more pictures of birds while I was out there.  So I've got pictures of sparrows, chickens, quails, and ducks this morning.
 

Today was Sarah's 2 year anniversary of running at least a mile every single day.  I had to join her.  She asked me to meet her at her house after she got off work.  Sunday the 10 day forecast said it was supposed to be 100º today.  It didn't get quite that hot, but it was in the 90's.  I got to her house and her husband, Todd, didn't recognize me because of my beard.  We talked outside on her front porch until her other friend got there to run with us.  I had a water bottle with me.  I put it in my pocket.  Also in my pockets were my wallet, keys, and phone.  As soon as we started I realized my shorts were falling off.  I took my water bottle out and held it.  I almost took my phone out, too, but decided not to.  I kept having to hike my shorts back up as I ran.

The two girls were much faster than me.  Even still, I think they were running slow on purpose.  We were doing a one mile loop around her block.  I started to lag way behind.  When they reached the final turn back to her street, they turned around and ran back to me.  I told them I would sit out the next mile and run the final one with them.  That gave me a chance to lock my wallet and water bottle in my van, and put my keys on her front porch.  I talked with Todd while they did their second loop.  Once they came back around, I joined them and stayed with them for a little bit.  Then I realized that the heat was killing me, so I slowed down so they could go on ahead and not see me suffer.  I tried picking up the pace a little when the got far enough ahead of me.  But twice they turned around and ran to me.  I didn't stick around long after finishing, but I congratulated her on reaching her two year milestone.  I went home because the sister missionaries were supposed to come over.  That's why Vickie stayed home to get ready for them.  But she canceled and we took Atticus to Culver's for his birthday dinner instead.

I might as well tell the story that happened at Culver's.  As I was getting out of the van I saw this old lady backing up in the parking lot and totally hit another car.  Well, she swiped it as she was turning.  Immediately some fool ran out of the restaurant and started cussing her out.  Then an entire mob came out and started freaking out.  By this time the old man came around and got in the driver's seat.  He wanted to park because their vehicle was in the drive aisle.  They thought he was going to drive away.  The panicked even more.  One lady was like, "Call 911!!!"  That's when I decided to get involved.  I started yelling at them to let him park.  I told them they all need to chill out.  Accidents happen.  Everyone needs to relax!  They still kept freaking out and saying, "It's a brand new car!  They can't match the paint!"  Oh my gosh.  Then my wife started yelling that they all need to take a breath.  This is what insurance is for.  A little kindness and forgiveness goes a long way.  Well, to make a long story short, the mob was baffled that the police weren't going to send an officer to arrest, imprison, and throw away the key to the mailicious offenders.  My wife ended up buying their dinner for them and telling them not to let this little accident ruin their night.  She's such a saint.
 

Vickie wanted to run Usery this morning.  I guess I did, too.  We got up, but not nearly early enough.  Even though it was 7:30am when we started, it was warm.  I wanted to run 5 or 6 miles, but I wasn't feeling great.  I was doing all right, but was very cautious of my knee.  So if I even thought it was about to hurt, I would stop and walk.  Finally, at 1.75 I decided to turn around and go back.  There was so much traffic today!  Right after crossing the intersection, there must've been 30 cars in a row!  I didn't see a single cyclist until half a mile in, though.  Anyway, when I turned around I wanted to get a drink of water from my wife, so I stayed on the right hand side of the road despite the traffic.  I took a swig and she gave me the keys.  I then crossed the road and headed down.  Right before the bottom there was a group of about 20 cyclists together all wearing white shirts and white helmets.  They looked hardcore.  I crossed the intersection again and saw that the Salt River Tubing parking lot was filling up with people ready to tube down the river.  Since Vickie was running 5 miles, I had nothing to do but watch girls in bikinis.  It really sucked.