Fiber Fool

1. I’m grateful for Kathryn of Alpacmundo! In exchange for what was really a tiny bit of labor on my part (and a small Blizzard after all was said and done) she set us up with spent hay from her alpacas for mulch. She even picked me up at my house to save me a trip with the currently questionably reliable car. I’ve offered to help her put the spent hay on her garden when she is ready. The garden is so much prettier and I haven’t had to pull a weed yet :-)

2. I am also thankful that I am adventurous in the kitchen and feel comfortable taking inspiration from a restaurant and trying to recreate my favorites at home. Last week I had an amazing cucumber and watermelon salad that was soooo refreshing. I’ve recreated it with the basil I pinched back which wasn’t yet enough for pesto but was perfect for this salad. I’m excited to share it with the knitters tonight. I hope they like it as much as I did!

3. I’m again thankful for my gym membership. I had a kick-butt week last week, burning 700-1200 calories 6 out of the 7 days. On Saturday I got to take a workshop on proper form for Barre workouts — holy cow is that a workout! I burned nearly 500 calories according to my heart rate monitor and I’m still feeling it today in my legs, LOL! It is also a nice place to soak up some AC and work between group classes if I’m so motivated to attend multiple ones.

4. I am very fortunate to live in an area with some great local products. I had a really active day on Saturday starting with a 10 mile bike ride before the Barre workshop but was meeting with friends for breakfast at 9am which is too late for my early morning rise time so I fueled for the bike ride to breakfast with some Noosa yoghurt in lemon (not widely distributed yet I don’t think) and a cup of fresh blueberries - delish! Earlier in the week I had a fantastic breakfast that happened to also be all sourced locally!

5. Of course, how could I forget about my four-legged friends?!? Even with few people to talk to I always have them and they never roll their eyes, talk over top of me, or tell me to shut-up! They especially love me when bananas are a part of breakfast :-)

What are you grateful for this week?

I’m not certain I know of 10 backyard games. Well, town-friendly or adult/family friendly ones anyway. Growing up on a farm with grandparents across the street the passel of cousins always came up with interesting things to play, but most really required wide open spaces and/or woods and farm outbuildings for hiding.

1. Croquet! I grew up playing a ton of, especially in the backyard of Grandma and Grandpa Bakke in town. We played with great grandpa Davis quite a lot.
2. Boccee ball is one I didn’t play until I came to CO, but I enjoy it.
3. Cornhole seems to pop up a lot of the outdoor gatherings here in CO. I hadn’t played it until I moved here.
4. Some college friends and I used to go to the park and toss a frisbee (or similar item) a lot.
5. Just recently I’ve seen the Ladder Toss game pop up a lot, though I haven’t really tried it.

I’m afraid I’m tapped out! What am I missing? Well, other than Jarts, LOL!

1. I’m grateful for the grill. It helps me maintain a somewhat comfortable temperature in the house, despite the high 90’s temps of early last week. I even baked 100% whole wheat bread in it (thanks to the bread machine breaking the day before DH left for DC).

2. Wonderful greens! There is nothing more refreshing in the summer than salads made with local greens from the farmer’s market and my garden. Though I will confess to having given up on the arugula and letting it flower now as I’ve had enough.

3. The appearance of produce at the Farmer’s Market! Often the first month or so is kind of slow with most of the products available being processed or plants for the garden and little in the way of real produce. This week I got some wonderful beets that I roasted on the grill and tossed with kale I dressed with a Kombucha vinaigrette and sprinkled with some pecans and gorgonzola.

4. The Internet, where I learned how to make my own sugar wax from scratch allowing me to wax my legs while watching a few movies on NetFlix on Friday night. Yep, I have exciting weekends around here - waxing my legs. Next week it’ll be a long overdue pedicure ;-)

How about you? What have you been grateful for this last week or for the week ahead?

I did something completely new to me this week. My fitness adventure on Saturday was to participate in National Trails Day. It is an initiative by the American Hiking Society and there are a plethora of activities that take place around the country. Here in Fort Collins, June 1st was the 5th event co-sponsored by REI Fort Collins, Larimer County Conservation Corps and the City of Fort Collins Natural Areas Department. The Fort Collins events are service oriented. The past several years they have done trail work at Bobcat Ridge Natural Area. This year, they tackled Soapstone Prairie.

If you’ve been around this blog for long you know I’m no stranger to Soapstone Prairie. While it is a bit of trek out of town, I love the wide open vistas and the rolling hills, not to mention the historical value of the area (it is home to the Lindenmeier archeological site). So, giving back to the natural area while burning calories, getting out and seeing people and filling a Saturday morning and early afternoon seemed liked a no-brainer.

I am so glad I participated in National Trails Day! I had no clue what kind of work I’d be in for but I figured at this stage in my fitness journey I was up for most anything. I also knew some of the 80 people participating would be kids so there had to be something at my ability level ;-) They split everyone up into 5 different adult groups. The majority of us worked on erosion control along the Cheyenne Rim Trail, the main trail off of the South parking lot. The 4 other small groups did a variety of activities, including putting in a culvert if I recall correctly.

I somehow ended up with 4 college kids who worked for REI and we rocked it. It took a bit for me to find where I fit in terms of the job duties, but I discovered I was good at shoveling and hauling gravel (even with a dilapidated wheelbarrow that liked to tip over on its rickety leg) and not so good at trying to break up the clay of the trail. Together we put in nearly 1/2 of the water bumps that were installed that day. Now, we did leave ours not quite finished and the kids followed behind and completed the covering and tamping. But dang my crew was great at putting in the trenches to sink the large rocks into and we got into a good rhythm of my putting in gravel under and around those rocks.

I shouldn’t have been surprised, as I worked with some of the people putting this together for nearly a year, but I was impressed with how organized it was. I also loved how well they set it up to work with kids. The kids crew was set up adjacent to the adults. The kids (those who were done) were taken back to the picnic shelter an hour ahead of everyone else to play some educational nature games with some of the Natural Area Master Naturalists before the lunch. Really a lot of the kids stuck it out and I was surprised.

Speaking of lunch, Backcountry Provisions, a sandwich shop in Old Town on College Ave donated all the sandwiches for our lunch that day. They were really good. I’m going to have to remember that as I’ve never eaten there before and they have a lot of more interesting sandwiches on their menu. They are also accustomed to packing up the goods to take with on hikes and have the hours to go along with that — opening at 7am!

It was definitely a productive day. I had dust up to my knees! I don’t know of a better measure. Well, other than how stiff I was at the end of Now You See Me that I went to with my friends Tam & Simmon that evening :-)

You can see all the photos taken by the Larimer County Conservation Corps or by me.

Have you ever participated in an activity like this before? What physical activity have you tried recently that was outside your normal routine?

Not that those two things have anything in common. My dad is not a runner. Though, when I was younger there was one spring/summer where dad, my sister and I all trained to run a mile at the June is Dairy Month Milk Run. The person to guess their time the closest was a winner in addition to the first finishers in each age category. At the time, my sister was amazing at sprinting and I’m pretty sure she took home some ribbons for shorter races. I’m not certain how we did at the mile. We trained at the track at the Junior High near my grandparent’s house. I think about those training runs sometimes when I’m out running now. How odd that things eventually come around full circle? Dad was probably just a bit younger than I am now when we did that.

I have a question for any of you runners out there, or those who like any form of physical activity outdoors - how do you carry your phone with you? I’m developing an armband tan line and I’m not pleased. I could, in theory use a shuffle or nano for runs, except that my heart rate monitor talks via Bluetooth to my phone. Plus, for safety it is nice to have my phone with me. I will admit to wearing it when mowing and gardening as well, which is really probably the source of the tan line as when I run outdoors it is usually pretty early in the morning. But sometimes I chat with mom or DH while I’m gardening.

I had the opportunity to talk with some REI employees on Saturday at the volunteer event so I asked them what they suggested and they said to stick with the arm band because the waist packs chafe? I know that is a common way to carry water and as we get warmer I could use something in that direction as well. What is your experience? Waist packs bad? Okay? I tend to wear semi-high waisted compression bottoms to hold my excess skin in place while exercising. As long as the waist pack is over the pants I shouldn’t chafe should I?

I’ve been contemplating a FitFannyPack. It wouldn’t provide hydration, but it seems like it wouldn’t chafe and would give me a place to tuck house keys, my ID and my phone. But, I’m kind of between sizes… Is there something somewhat similar that would hold hydration as well?

I’m also getting up to needing new headphones. DH gave me a pair of the higher end Apple ones several years ago that allow you to switch out the size. I have odd sized/shaped ears and tend to have difficulties with ear buds staying put. These mostly do, but they are dying. I occasionally get small shocks in my left ear when I’m wearing them. Do you have a fav that has flexible sizing and the mic/remote? I’ve been contemplating some form of YurBuds for a few months now. I’d love to hear some personal experience on those or others.

I’m trying to decide on my usual yoga tonight with a substitute instructor or trying a group run for the first time… Hmmm….