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Bucket List




Linda and I came up with a bucket list a few years back and this week we crossed off the Ford Thunderbird entry.   Since Linda was old enough to date she was a fan of the Thunderbird, and had always dreamed of owning one.  This last week we did some Tbird shopping and drove three different Tbirds and really liked a 2004 that Waltrip had just gotten on the lot.  A couple of emails to the insurance people, and a trip to the credit union and we were set.  I was a fan of the 2004, over the two  2002 cars we also drove, because of the special wheels on the 50 th anniversery edition and it had a select shift tranny.  The select shift is huge advantage in the hills around this part of the world.  The normal wheel is a 7 spoke chrome spoke wheel, but this smaller spoke I think looks more sophisticated  and stays cleaner.  We have taken a couple of nice rides with the top down and it is a lot of fun.   We took an evening tour through downtown Franklin and also some afternoon drives.  Hot weather in a convertible will burn you up, so we will need to be careful in the real hot weather.  But it is fun, and that is what living about, getting some fun in your life.

I added a picture of the fence we have in our meadow.  I just finished some new paint on the wood and it looks pretty good now.  This fence was nearly washed out by the big flood 5 years ago. The fence was basically pushed over by the waters and was left with a very nasty lean.  Last winter I removed all the vines and unwanted growth in the fence and reset several posts.  There was also a small mesh metal fence stapled to the lower section of the fence that would be used to keep in small animals.  I removed that crap last winter as well-  bad thinking on someone's part, that stuff was a mess and was vehicle to fill the fence with vines.   Now I can periodically clean out the brush and touch up the paint.  This was your basic farm work,--cut, pull, dig, scrap, clean and paint. 

I painted the fence in two days and finished yesterday right after lunch.  Linda and I had tickets to see Kelly Clarkson  last night at the Bridgestone arena and I told her it was farming, get your work done before you can go to the show and have some fun.  Kelly was fun, she did a great show-90 minutes- looked cute and we enjoyed the evening.  The crowd was 4 to 1 , women (girls) to men.  I could get into the bathroom without any waiting--that was first for me.   A lot of parents were escorting early teens, but they had some fun as well.  Kelly has really, really good pipes and can sing it!!  Next up for us is the Foo Fighters-- I expect a totally different crowd for that one. 

I did get some training in this week.  I ran on the treadmill yesterday at our gym.  I was tired and sore from painting and more under house mining and did not have any juice in the late afternoon.   I thought I would go at a slow pace and see how I felt.  I ran at a 8:57 mile pace and did 2400 meters without a break.  My heart beat stayed below 160 and I felt I got in a good workout.  It is amazing how when you feel like crap, you can pull a good workout!!  My conditioning is staying good and this next two weeks I will work on getting prepped for the 400 race in KY.    The speed is there, I just need to 'ask' for it.  The plan is break 62 in KY in the 400, the competition is pretty stout there and the pace should be fast.  And in the last race this season, which is the TN District Qualifier,  improve on 27.7 second 200.  I still have sore painter elbow and sore hips from the 2.4 K yesterday, but I can get those items under control pretty quickly.    This next week, I will be doing some traveling and that means I can do some more intense training, I will have time in the evening to not work on the house, but run. 

I talked about a calf cramp a couple of weeks ago.  I have made a minor change in my calf stretching position to do more stretching of the soleus muscle in the calf.  This change, where I bend my knees more on the calf stretch, has been effective and has helped minimize any issues with the calf muscle.  So, that injury situation is now history. 

For those people who do not watch TV, football season is here and Linda are all in.   The Ravenwood Raptors are 3-0 after a heart stopping OT win Friday night.  Mt Juliet tied the scored late on a 46 yard field goal-- in high school!!!    A real slugfest that they finally pulled out with a couple of big defensive stops.  An interception in the end zone in OT to end it!!  The game was over in an instant, that was truly 'sudden death'   There is nothing like live sports....   Go see a game, join in the fun. 

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