solar squirrel

Guys - check this out! This goes along with my dream of some day living in Ireland as a sheep herder…

Woodland House

Low impact Woodland Home

Well, we managed to make it back in one piece last night. Our luggage didn’t - but that’s ok. At least it was lost on the way back and not the way there.

Today was pretty relaxing. We went running for the first time in forever. We met Bridget and Steve at Boston Store and were planning on just winging it. The trails were a mess with mud and Bridget and I decided that we didn’t feel like running any more in the quicksand mud so we opted to only do Brandywine falls and then do the remaining miles on the towpath. I’m actually kind of glad we did that because it was really beautiful with the high river and the sky that kept changing from dark grey to blue and sunny. We did about 13 total and I didn’t really have much else in me. I felt kind of sore. Not necessarily tired, but sore. I guess it’s because I haven’t worked out for so long! Next week we’re supposed to do 24. I think I might die! We’ll see how it goes, though!

Had some lunch and then did some shopping since I haven’t spent Christmas with my family yet. It’s nice having all of the sales, but I don’t really have any money, so it’s basically just a teaser walking past all of the stores with tons of sale signs. I’m hoping that this next week will bring some new job prospects. I think it will!

Let me first of all state that I love snow and winter.  I never realized that snow could cause a flight originally scheduled on the 22nd to be delayed 5 days!

Our flight from Portland to Cleveland was supposed to happen yesterday - the 22nd of Dec.  We checked online yesterday morning and it said it was cancelled.  No big deal, we figured we would just call the airline and get the next one, so what if we ended up getting in a little later last night.  BOY WERE WE WRONG!  After being on the phone for AN HOUR I managed to get nothing accomplished but to get myself even more frustrated and upset.  The woman on the phone told me that there was nothing left for the day, so would she like me to check for the 23rd.  ‘Ok’ I said, that’s fine.

Nothing for the 23rd.
Nothing for the 24th.
Nothing for the 25th.

At this point I thought there had to be something wrong with their computers or something - how could a flight originally scheduled for the 22nd not be able to go out for 3 days?!?  The woman said that our best bet was to just wait a few hours and call back and not get a refund for our original cancelled flight.

So that’s what we did.  We waited about 4 hours and called back.  This time the situation seemed to be even worse!  It was INSANE!  Even Expedia showed NOTHING for the search results when we picked PDX to CLE for any time and any day between the 22nd and 25th.  At this point I was starting to accept the fact that I wouldn’t be home for Christmas, but I had Brian’s party the day after Christmas that I really wanted to go to!  We would certainly be able to get a flight that would get us home by the evening of the 26th, right?  WRONG!  The next available flight option for us was 12/27 - yep - a full 5 DAYS LATER!  And I’m not even going to hold my breath on this one…I may not make it home until after the new year at this rate!

The thing that really gets to me is that the weather isn’t even that bad!  I mean, yea, there’s snow on the ground, but it’s not like anything we’ve never seen.  It’s just normal winter.  I guess the reason for all of the issues is there was some type of back log of holiday travelers - people who’s flights had been cancelled and who had been stranded in the airport for days already had to get taken care of prior to us.  Top that off with the fact that they were having issues w/ the de-icing machines or something and you get a 5 day delay!

The good news is that we’re at Todd’s sister’s house, which is very nice and cozy.  We don’t have to pay for extra days at a hotel, we have plenty of things to keep us entertained including Guitar Hero and Wii and a whole cupboard full of games.  Oh - and lots of wine and beer!  I’m also happy that Todd gets to see his parents and sister and nephew for a little longer since he only gets to see them once a year.  I just don’t get to be with my family for Christmas, but I guess that’s ok.  It’s not like I have to go back to work…I”m not losing any vacation days!

So - I’ll plan on being at the SERC New Year’s eve morning run since I’m gonna miss the Christmas eve one, and I definitely want to get together with some peeps that will be at Brian’s party so if any of you read my blog let’s plan something!

As of now we get back home early evening on 12/27 - cross your fingers that it doesn’t change!

Well, our vacation in Oregon is almost over :(  We leave tomorrow to go back to Ohio.  It seems like we just got here!  Tuesday was a gorgeous day and we decided to go fishing since we didn’t know if we would get another break in the weather.  Todd’s dad is an experienced fisherman so he took us out on the Rogue River.  It was so beautiful!

Rogue River

We caught 3 fish, but none that we could keep.  You’re not allowed to keep native fish and that’s what I caught.  Todd caught a sucker fish and a steelhead but we had to throw them back.  It was still really fun and that was the first time I had ever caught a fish by myself!  We used fish eggs from the fish we caught last year as bait:

steelhead eggs used as bait

Notice the tweezers - Todd’s dad said that you shouldn’t touch the bait because the fish can smell if you have touched it.  He also treated the eggs with Borax (?) I think to keep them from going bad.  They looked REEEEEELY gross because after you had them in the water they got this whitish membrane on them that was sort-of hanging off.  Todd thought that was the ticket to catching a good fish though and tried to make that happen every time he put the bait on.

Todd the happy fisherman

We both were fishing and Todd’s dad was doing the rowing and instructing.  It was like we had our own private fishing guide!  He would steer the boat and tell us where to put our lines in and what bait to use.  Then when we got to the spot on the river where we would fish, he would row the boat against the current so the boat would stay in the spot as long as possible.  He must be buff constantly rowing against the current like that!

Our fishing guide and instructor (a.k.a. Todd's dad)

It’s been really snowy here ever since Tuesday.  Our drive from Grants Pass to Portland on Friday was super snowy!  There were highway patrol on the road blocking anyone who didn’t have 4 wheel drive and making them put chains on their tires!

Snowy drive north

This was driving in the middle of the day.  It was so beautiful!  The tree branches were all individually covered with white fluff.  I sure love snow!

In other news I have not really worked out at all.  I think I have gained about 40 lbs.  Yesterday Todd and I tried to go running but it was super windy and my face felt like it was freezing off so we only ended up doing about 7 miles.  Here is a current picture of me that emphasizes the weight gain in my stomach and lower half:

Me posing to show off my new winter weight gain!

So, needless to say; I will be going full force with my workout schedule when I get home (Monday late night).  And as ‘luck’ would have it, I still don’t have a job, so I’ll have PLENTY of time to workout!  Woo hoo!  (Though I still have 2 courses that I have to do work on, but at least things will be slow for the next 2 weeks because of the holidays - hopefully those 2 weeks can be used to jump back into being in shape!)

Buckeye 50k is seriously up in the air for me at the moment. I don’t know if I’m going to be in good enough shape to run it, especially having missed 2 weekends worth of running - one of which was a milestone long run (22 miles).  What do you guys think?  Should I just shoot for doing the half marathon?  Will I be able to get back 2 weeks worth of running in time to do the 50k in the middle of Jan?

Today is going on our third full day in Oregon visiting with Todd’s family.

Todd looking out at the winter snow

Yesterday we woke up to a winter wonderland!  It was so beautiful and white.

Looking out over the back yard

Todd’s sister and nephew were going to drive back north and before they left I decided that we should have a snowball fight - 2 against one - Todd’s 11-year old nephew and I against him.  Hee hee.  I didn’t get any pictures of the fight but it was pretty fun.

My running has been non-existent but here is a rundown on my ‘exercise’ so far during the trip:

Saturday 12/13:  Sat on a plane all day, then drove 4.5 hours from Portland to Grants Pass
Sunday  12/14:  Played in swimming pool.  Tried to drown Todd by standing on him while he was under water (sorry Brian, it didn’t work)
Monday 12/15: Snowball fight with perfect snowball snow.  Built a snowman with rock eyes, pine cone nose, and branch mouth and arms.  The 2nd snowman that was built was smashed when Todd threw his nephew on top of it.

We’ll be here till the 22nd.  I’ll probably be taking more pictures and posting fun updates.  Stay tuned.

Oh E-Speed - if Wii Fit counts as exercise, so does snowball fighting!!!