I woke at 2am for some reason. I thought about starting in on a pile or work, but then the couch attacked me, and I just scrolled through Twitter for a while. I finally fell back to sleep listening to a disheartening politics podcast. I didn’t wake up again until after six, which put a kink in my morning rituals. Oh well. Here’s to Tuesday anyway! Remember the Donald Trump roll of toilet paper someone anonymous person sent us? Well, the mystery continues. A organic mushroom growing kit arrived last week. It is much better than the toilet paper, and we have no idea who sent it or why. So, as i ..read more

I’m going to try to write in the mornings this week. I’m just a useless salted slug by the time Ruby goes to bed at night. It’s all I can do to sit on the couch and scroll through Twitter. I can’t make actual sentences since I’m not having actual thoughts after about 3:30pm. 3pm. Okay, there is not actual thinking going on in my head after 2pm. Anyway, as you know, I’m attending on-line kindergarten right now, and I ended up with a Satisfactory on one of the assignments. When I was in kindergarten the first time, I got Outstandings. My decline was a bit upsetting. Satisfactory! I mean, I didn ..read more

We clipped the feathers on the chicken’s wings a few days ago, so we could let them roam around the backyard and not worry about them hopping the fence or roosting in the trees. I love watching them wander about. They’re just so plump and silly-looking. When I finished my run today, I found them looking for food near the fence at the end of our driveway. My clothes were soaked through with sweat, so I pulled over a chair that the kids had left out and sat down to watch them while I took a coaching call. Then I noticed the security sign. This house is protected by guard chickens. I wish I coul ..read more

I was a good runner today and stretched. I did it twice. That’s twice more than I’ve done all year. You know times are desperate when… My hamstring was bothering me a bit, and as my sanity and good humor depend on running daily, I took drastic measures. I also listened to an actual book on my run instead of a podcast. Stretching AND “reading!” I hope the pandemic gods are satisfied. I imagine most of you are familiar with the Stockdale Paradox, but I wasn’t. Admiral Stockdale was a POW in Vietnam and told the author Jim Collins (That’s not the book I was reading.) how prisoners who were optimi ..read more

It really dumped rain today. I’m afraid I let the grayness get to me… the grayness and Ruby’s whining and touchiness … and my inability to make any progress on the things I really believe I should make progress on. I made the mistake of not heading out into the weather and knocking out my run first thing. I should have gotten out of bed, put my rain jacket on over my pajamas, headed out the door and started running. Instead, I put on my big purple bathrobe and tucked into one of the wonderful egg mcmuffin’s Eliot had made. Then I worked a bit on a 1000-piece donut puzzle. And that was all I ac ..read more

It turns out Ruby is really allergic to pollen. It took me forever to realize it, and I don’t think I ever would have if Eliot didn’t suggest it. She’s been breaking out in itchy hives since the beginning of March. There weren’t many, so it was easy to ignore them. Ruby had decided they were mosquito bites. I hadn’t seen any mosquitoes, but she’d always had pretty significant reactions to mosquito bites, so I wasn’t really concerned. I’m afraid I’m like that with the kids. “Are you bleeding profusely? No? Well then, let’s rub some dirt in it and move on.” But last week ..read more

I got up at 4am to have some uninterrupted time working. It was so worth it. I’d do it everyday, but I just can’t force myself into bed at 8pm yet. Here’s today’s most interesting bulky item pickup find on the neighborhood running loop. So why do you think this family is giving up on Christmas? Or did they decide they were going to buy a real Christmas tree from now? And how did that conversation start during the pandemic? I did also find a slightly used soccer goal for Asa at the very end of the neighborhood. I called Eliot mid-run, and he hopped in the minivan, threw it in the back, an ..read more

It’s my favorite time of year in the neighborhood: Bulky Item Pickup! No more flower pictures for a while from the 2-mile running loop. Until the 31st, it’ll be treats like this: So I’m thinking these people’s grandkids have grown too old for sand boxes and tiny carts. And their dog got a lot bigger,  and they don’t want to move things around in wheel barrows anymore. I’m not sure what that box in the back is. Last year, I scored a two two-foot tall terra cotta frog-shaped planters during bulky item pickup. I almost threw my back out trying to get them home. They make me happy every time ..read more

Ruby might not graduate from kindergarden due to my ineptitude with Microsoft Classroom. Honestly, I would pay gold for an email from the teacher with the assignments. Or not! What if I just promised to read to Ruby a bunch between now and whenever she goes back to school? As it is, I already had to fake reading an article about the dessert. I couldn’t access the dang article, and after a full afternoon of trying, I decided “we’d” just do the desert worksheet without it. It’s like I’m failing kindergarden. All the work is due this Friday, and I can already see myself at 3am Friday morning ..read more

I’m working on creating a virtual run series for Band of Runners, and the folks I’m coaching, and any of you who need a race to get you out the door for a run. There will be five races from April through August. And they’ll take place right around the 19th of each month as a nod to our virus inspiration. Update: I just talked to my friend Scott Jones of Becoming Ultra and we’re going to do this as a joint project. Each race will have four distances to choose from:  5k, 10k, half marathon and 50k. We’re working on all the details, but it’ll be free to sign up. And there will be m ..read more