Off Season

I am well into my off season for track.   But that does not mean that all physical activity just stops.   I have not trained at all for several weeks and I and feeling pretty good.  My feet are doing fine and I have not worn any KT tape since the District meet in September.   Overall my health is solid and I could train if needed, but I have instead worked on several projects at the Fly Farm to eliminate large quantities of overgrown landscaping and replace it with something that Linda likes and it much easier to maintain. 

The picture is a creation by Linda using mostly our own garden materials and 3 bales of straw we rounded up.  She has been really busy getting Fall flowers in place.  Her knee surgery comes up in 9 days and she wants to have her outdoor landscaping finished.   I have have been planting trees and also removed several yards of dirt that was piled next to a root cellar--aka "Bomb Shelter" or "Dorothy's House"  --so I could park my car on gravel near the house instead of in the yard.  It worked out pretty well.  We actually had some extra flat stone laying nearby and created a little flower bed some some seasonal flowers.  

On the work front, it was very very good week.  My mill activities went well in something that I had no idea what would or could happen, sometimes you just try and see.  I was pleasantly surprised on the success of the chemistry we tried.  Then things good better!!  The patent that I was part of was accepted and will publish by month end!  This is my first attempt at patenting something and it made it.  The patent process was very interesting and you must be relentless to get them through.  Our company uses a patent attorney in the DC area, but you still need to get him the info to fight thru the process.   We were rejected on our first attempt and we had to develop a better argument to get it through successfully. We made it!  That really was an exciting email to get. 

I got a raise!!  Our profitability was high enough to get a merit raise.  It always helps to get an extra 2%.  

On Wednesday we went to the Eagles concert in town.   They are really really good-- they did a 3 hour show.  Not a lot of flash and lights, just great lyrics and fantastic harmony.  The tickets were expensive and worth it!!  They actually did a lot of  story telling  about the music and people in the band,  which makes for a great show.  Then we went Waffle House to eat.  I had been up since 4:00 AM Eastern time and was tired and needed some calories before bed.  Quite a week.  I like the off season.