Ice be Gone!

Punxsutawney Phil Predicts Early Spring!!

As the light grows longer
The cold grows stronger
If Candlemas be fair and bright
Winter will have another flight
If Candlemas be cloud and rain
Winter will be gone and not come again
A farmer should on Candlemas day
Have half his corn and half his hay
On Candlemas day if thorns hang a drop
You can be sure of a good pea crop

No shadow this year! Phil predicts an EARLY SPRING!!

Thoughts from the Road - #2111

Crazy B*tch

I was born in Washington DC and we lived in an apartment complex in Silver Spring, MD. I can't imagine that during the couple of years we lived there that they got as much snow as the DC metro area is getting this year! Many of you readers know that folks south of the Mason-Dixon line don't always know how to drive in the snow. A lot of times their tires are bald and they don't get enough practice knowing how to pull out and when to brake.

It was the winter just before I turned two that the area got a snowfall. I guess Dad hurt his back pretty badly trying to help a car that was stuck in the snow get out. The driver had been giving the car gas and spinning their wheels at such a speed they were screaming and whining. I don't know if his exasperated, "Crazy b*tch!" remark was before or after he hurt his back but it became one of the DC stories that was shared from my childhood.

My mom gave up her job with the FBI to raise me. She took me out to the park when the weather was fine and visited indoors with friends and other tenants during the rare times DC became unnavigable with snow. That same winter we were visiting one of Mom's friends in her apartment when the lady's priest stopped by for a visit. The way I imagine the next part of the story is that the adults had just enjoyed coffee and cake and clean-up was taking place. The lady turned on her in-sink garbage disposal and it gave out what to me would have been a very unusual squeal as it did it job. My comment was, "Crazy b*tch!" It must have sounded to me just like the tires I had heard spinning in the snow.

Forty-seven years later and no tire spinning for me today. School was canceled from another crazy winter storm but the weather is to turn even more icy in the next 24 hours. I got out and got my run in before the roads got even worse. I thought of Jim cheering me on, "Go, go, go!" This is also based on when I turned two and would say that as I held my two index fingers in the air. (See 1964 archives at this link.)

Today I started from the far end of our road, through a deep snow covered hill then up and into Stern's Crossing. I was really surprised that the roads in that fancy-shmancy development were so poorly maintained this morning! I dropped down onto Houserville Rd via October and Creekside Drives to add in an extra mile and was thrilled that next to no traffic was out.

Almost everywhere I ran only half of the road had been maintained. Luckily it was the side I was running on and it was a day to make certain to run facing traffic. As I jogged up Trout Rd a few people were out cleaning off their cars and I wished them a good morning. I don't think they were expecting to see me and there was a bit of surprise in their expression and voice as they returned my greeting.

I did a couple of laps on Spring Valley Rd but even the horses were staying in the barn this morning. The sky stayed grey and a spitting drizzle had started by the time I had made it 5.5 miles.

The 2 miles to home were very sloppy along Shilo Rd and through the Walmart complex. People were finally making it out into the world to get their shopping done. A Walmart employee was taking her smoke break and reading a book out in front of the store as I ran by. She looked up at me and her face had the same surprised expression as the residents on Trout Rd I had greeted. I suddenly got a clear picture of what they were all thinking about me, a seemingly insane woman running in terribly foul weather. "Crazy b*tch!"

Morning Deer!!

7 Squared Celebration

Jim's birthday weekend!

Yet another failed attempt to travel to Pittsburgh. We have been trying for almost a year now.

Jim reading of exciting local options. The snow made us stay very local.

Mooch was playing "face" with Jim and got hungry.

Zola started off our weekend, Friday after work.  Just a snack and a sip as we watch posturing professors and suck-up students.

Friday supper was a bit of Thai food at Cozy Thai Bistro.

The winter storm was in full swing Saturday but that did keep us from a light lunch at Otto's.

Our favorite waitress and fellow distance runner, Lynda.

Starting with a 10oz Apricot Wheat - Jim's brew of choice. Happy Birthday, Jim!!

Butternut Squash soup and a pretzel!

Shopping for supper at the Wegman's Olive Bar! Some of them are kind of obscene looking!

Not tappas, but a fine little spread for a couple who didn't like what was on the menu at any local Middle-eastern restaurant in the area.

Our Mediterranean meal. Miles liked the tzatziki!

Time to curl up and watch a movie. Birbanto's latest favorite thing to do, sit with his "Frank."

Thoughts from the "Road" - #12811

An Unsatisfactory Start

The huge drifts of snow in January 2010 caused my running schedule less problems than the much smaller ones this year. Last year, darting out for a few laps on a local street easily ate up 20 minutes. Even when it was bitterly cold I got out, started to sweat and was back in and stretching in no time at all. This year has been harder to rally knowing I will be out in the cutting breeze, stepping through icy hummocks and looking for safe places to run for an hour or two at a go.

My right knee is a little swollen from the uneven running-on-beach-sand type workouts I have lately in the deep snow on the bike path. This morning I had a plan to mix it up a little by utilizing Penn State's indoor track at the Ashenfelter Multi-Sport Facility.

I have been scoping the location out for about a month. Firstly, it was locked because it was the day before classes resumed. I had wrongly assumed that because PSU staff had been back to work for well over a week that the facility might be open.

Next, I went on a weekend when the track had an event going on. I could at least read the track rules and building hours, 8AM until Midnight. Over this period of time, I had unsuccessfully scanned all of the web pages associated with the facility to try to determine when classes or events were being held and if the general public were limited to specific hours.

The day of the track meet there was no one on hand to ask so I spent the next week trying to call for information. No one ever answered the phone so I planned on trying a run there the following week just after lunch. I entered the building for my third time during lunch so it was pretty much abandoned. There were a couple of people using part of the sprinting course within the track so I knew it was open. With no one at the reception desk, I went to change my clothes. When I came out, the desk was manned and I asked about public use. I was told Monday - Friday 8 AM until NOON. I was a little exasperated and shared that I had been trying to glean that information but no one had been answering their phone all week. I asked if I could, for just that day, use the track since it was being under utilized at that moment. I was given the ok with the understanding that I would have to leave if students, a class or a coach needed to use the area. My use of the facility was 20 minutes, not even 2 miles of running, before students began trickling in. At least I got to try out a pair of new shoes before I bundled up and walked across campus to my bus on one of the most bitter cold days this winter. What a lot of trouble.

It wasn't the bitterly cold but the piles of snow and slush that had been a challenge this week so this morning I was ready. I had planned last night to have my gear ready to go when Jimmy-the-Eye started out for work. When he dropped me at the facility @ 7:45 AM, I wasn't concerned if I couldn't get in for 15 minutes. Sure enough the doors were locked but I had warm up clothes over my shorts and t-shirt. I was dressed to run indoors but not yet sweaty so the wait would be fine. I only had to wait about 5 minutes until someone unlocked the door. I asked if I could wait in the warm lobby until the building was open and I was told that the building would be closed all day because of an event. I wanted to scream but thanked the fellow for cluing me in as I hustled off. Even if I changed into my new sneakers and dealt with my back pack banging around, I wasn't dressed to run outside. I chose the closest bus stop to try to get home and missed the bus by 2 minutes. I was forced to call Jimmy-the-Eye for a ride home.

I am trying to get over sulking about it. It seems I have put a lot of effort into this morning for nothing. I am trying to turn it around and make something good out of a bad start. I am like that on runs and races too; if things start off badly I have a difficult time turning it around. I let my head get in the way and it can dictate the mood for a while.

I am having a second cup of tea, finally writing in this blog for a bit, planning Jimmy-the-Eye's birthday weekend as well as my my parent's 50th wedding anniversary. I have a couple of art projects to get into and can revel in completing my taxes. I may not be out in the drifts of snow working out but I will plow my way through the day and strive to have a smile or two along the way.
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addendum
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I did get a shorter more intense run in this morning. I took a round-about route in my studded shoes. Starting with a lap on my unplowed street, a quick down & up our hill then off to return a Redbox dvd to Walmart made it almost feel like I got a run in.

Thoughts from the Road - #11911

Images from Winter Runs

Mile 4/6 on Spring Valley Road, past the horses. I saw a juvenile Northern Harrier near here this day and ran directly under an American Kestrel sitting on a line.

Mile 5/13 today. I 99 passing over the Bellefonte Central Rail Trail which was 6 miles of sloggy slush, the whole way to Waddle and back.

Detail of above.

A Perfect Gift

Toolman Luke gave RGBisMe a handcarved ampersand in a block of cherry.

The printed piece, Mesquite Standard font, 572 point.

Inking it up in red.

Three very cool prints of this amazing ampersand.

Winter Blooms 5

Christmas Eve

Joyous Yule

This morning was not as bleak as yesterday and allowed us to focus the energy of the sun and light a match. This gives me hope for burning out the darkness of the season and turning a corner to future brightness. We will keep the energies of the sun burning, in candle form, until sunrise tomorrow. It will see us through on of the longest nights. Upon sunrise, we will blow out our candles and greet the new solar year. May it be a bright one for you and yours.

Kindle the Light of Peace; Kindle the light of Love.
Kindle the Light of Joy; Kindle the light of Hope.
Kindle the Light, Kindle the Light, Kindle the Light of Yule.
Kindle the Light, Kindle the Light, Kindle the Light of Yule.

Bellefonte Road Runners

We did a run with a group tonight to see the holiday lights in Bellefonte. Folks dressed up and we wore jingle bells on our shoes.


We ran over 5 miles through Bellefonte with many of the high school cross country team. The streets were dark but the Victorian houses were lovely. I cannot image how they can afford the electricity to decorate those large places with holiday lights.


After about 2 miles many of the younger folks cut back to the school for cookies and hot chocolate and probably to get warm since they had taken off their shirts. We continued on for another 3 or so and enjoyed another less Victorian but decorated residential area.

It was a fun way to start the longest night of the year.

3 Bad Boys

One way or another, they are all probably on Santa's "Naughty List" this year. Well, maybe not Miles.

Winter Blooms 4

True to form, ours is definitely a Saturnalia Cactus.

Ho Saturnalia!

Saturnalia became one of the most popular Roman festivals. It was marked by tomfoolery and reversal of social roles, in which slaves and masters ostensibly switched places, much like the Lord of Misrule in later Christian celebrations.

Saturnalia was introduced around 217 BCE to raise citizen morale after a crushing military defeat at the hands of the Carthaginians.[1] Originally celebrated for a day, on December 17, its popularity saw it grow until it became a week-long extravaganza, ending on the 23rd. Efforts to shorten the celebration were unsuccessful. Augustus tried to reduce it to three days, and Caligula to five. These attempts caused uproar and massive revolts among the Roman citizens.

Saturnalia involved the conventional sacrifices, a couch (lectisternium) set out in front of the temple of Saturn and the untying of the ropes that bound the statue of Saturn during the rest of the year. A Saturnalicius princeps was elected master of ceremonies for the proceedings. Besides the public rites there were a series of holidays and customs celebrated privately. The celebrations included a school holiday, the making and giving of small presents (saturnalia et sigillaricia) and a special market (sigillaria). Gambling was allowed for all, even slaves.

Saturnalia was a time to eat, drink, and be merry. The toga was not worn, but rather the synthesis, i.e. colorful, informal "dinner clothes"; and the pileus (freedman's hat) was worn by everyone. Slaves were exempt from punishment, and treated their masters with (a pretense of) disrespect. The slaves celebrated a banquet: before, with, or served by the masters. Yet the reversal of the social order was mostly superficial; the banquet, for example, would often be prepared by the slaves, and they would prepare their masters' dinner as well. It was license within careful boundaries; it reversed the social order without subverting it.[2]

The customary greeting for the occasion is a "Io, Saturnalia!" — Io (pronounced "e-o") being a Latin interjection related to "ho" (as in "Ho, praise to Saturn").

Winter Blooms 3

Chilled Out

So many little blog entries for me today, mainly because I am just lying around waiting to see if I am getting a cold or not. I'm sitting around, feeling mainly gross, trying to tell myself it's all in my head. The problem is, it is literally in my head; I have kinda sore throat and back of my nose and my eyes are burning.

I am feeling helpless to do anything and worry that even if I try to do something productive that I will just mess it up. I try talking to people I love and just seem to say the wrong things or get angry. I want to connect but my mind isn't stringing words together in thoughtful ways. Support becomes interference, a chat talk on the phone becomes a gripe session, and just trying to catching up is a chore that is more exhausting than it should be.

Sitting around inside as opposed to getting out for a while feels awkward but it is terribly cold. Wind chills have been in the negative digits so even walking outside in the breeze is painful. I have been getting my runs in just fine but today I can't find it in myself to do anything except sit like a bump.

What has given me a real smile this morning is The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Please don't tell me that is woman is really some type of mean snob. I really enjoy her humor, her compassion for others seems genuine and she is a vegan. I find myself smiling even just watching people dance on her show. I like the rapport she has with her DJ and the rest of her on air staff. Her guests seem thrilled to be there and she looks like she is having the time of her life. I don't like sitting around but am glad to watch Ellen's show when I have to.

I have also been reading a bunch of other folk's blogs. My eyes are tired and I have a bit of a headache but it's nice catching up and getting acquainted with what is going on with some other people with whom I share interests.

The meteorological winter has set in and because I have been out in it too much or picked up a little something while trapped indoors with so many people, today is a chill day for me.

Winter Blooms 2

Thoughts from the Road - #1209

Making Tracks

I rose to a 16° morning but it was quite pretty out. The dawn had the promise of sunshine when the morning haze would give way. The road and yard had a thin layer of snow from the night before and I had to get out in it. I needed to shake the grumpy thoughts I was having lately and make some tracks even though it was time to take a day off.

I waited until the temperature rose to 19° until I set out around 8:30 AM. The sun had risen over the edge of Nittany Mountain by that time. I knew the battle between enjoying the protection my sunglasses offered and steaming them up to 70% opacity was on.

Still in a generally grumpy mood, I couldn't decide what route to take or how far to run. "I just want to see some f***ing beauty," I thought. Almost immediately I started remembering some of the things I loved about running in the snow when I started last January. There were some cat tracks going in their tell-tale straight line. Some leaf-bare trees now allowed me to see tiny bird's nests in their branches.

My pace was still quite slow; footing on the road was unknown and I wanted to take it easy. I was warming up quickly because of my general fatigue from the past week. The sun made it feel warmer than it was and the wind that had been relentless over the past week had finally abated. I easily broke into a sweat during the first mile.

Just beyond mile one I came across some solitary footprints in the snow. They were cutting behind a building where a letterbox used to be (gone, I assume, because the wall it was hidden behind has completely toppled). The shoes or boots the person wore had extremely pointy toes, no tread and the gap between the imprint of the ball of the foot and the small mark the heel made me imagine a pair of ridiculously high heeled boots. The the toes on these shoes were so pointy that impression of the front part of the tracks looked like a series of ice cream cones leading me to a snowy parking lot.

The tracks of the high heeled shoes made me think of a conversation I had with a couple who made fun of women who wore sneakers with their dress clothes until they reached their office buildings. Their attitude was that those women were wimps. I was shocked at their judgment and know that my reaction showed it. I didn't go into defending my reaction (that's right, I avoid confrontation) but will choose to look foolish in comfortable shoes over bunion surgery any day.

I lost the high healed shoe tracks just about the time I had to make a decision which way to go. Actually, following the tracks had taken me off the way I usually went and forced me downhill and onto Dreibelbis Road for a while. I had avoided this road for about a month because Jimmy the Eye warned me that there was a dead raccoon on it. I gave him heck a few nights ago when he turned our car onto Dreibelbis to use that road as a short cut. I told him that I had avoided seeing the dead raccoon for so long and then we had to drive by it. It was but a shell so I knew I could certainly run by it in the snow.

Darned if those same high healed prints weren't on the sidewalk along Dreibelbis. There they were, coming out of the swanky gated community where I never see anyone alive. A ghost in cruel shoes walked the same route I had, albeit in reverse.

I decided to turn up Shilo and run at least until Spring Valley Road and see the horses. I wanted to see more beauty and the prospect of the valleys and ridges from the road that leads down to the water treatment facility was quite nice. I told myself that if I saw any horses from Shilo, I would keep going down into Benner Springs because then I could have a double dose of beautiful images. I looked at the farm and the area where they let the horses out and I couldn't see any horses. I ran past the turn onto Spring Valley Road and tried to see if the horses were behind the barn. Still no horses. Hating to back track, I chose to continue on the way to Benner Springs.

After Shilo passes over route 220, it takes a long steep decent down to the Benner Springs Fish Hatchery. For the first time, I read a sign at the crest of the hill that warned the road from that point on was not regularly maintained in the winter. Today was a day of no maintenance. Choosing this long and tricky hill was the best decision I made all day. It was snow covered but not icy. The lack of wind as I descended into Spring Creek Canyon allowed the 1- 2" of snow to stay quaintly perched on the branches and dead goldenrod plants.

I decided to delay my return, a serious uphill, by crossing the bridge and running on the trail along Spring Creek. This was the first real snowfall since hunting season had started so I was wearing blaze orange. No cars were parked in the lot where the fishermen park and there seemed to be only one set of booted footprints in the freshly fallen snow on the trail.

It took me a while to sort out whether or not I might meet up with the booted person but I then determined that the same footprints also retraced their steps back to the parking area. I looked down through the enchanted canyon that was glittering with snow and knew I was indeed alone. This gave my heart such a lift and I looked ahead with joy and wonder I haven't felt since some of the hikes we had taken to find a new letterbox. That had been well over a year ago.

No animal tracks were on this trail, just the hearty bootprints of the person who had preceded me. I told myself that I would follow them for a while and if they passed the cabled gate so would I. They did and I decided to continue on to the series of pretty rapids I knew lay ahead.

When I heard the rushing water of Spring Creek, I knew the rapids were close ahead. There they were, glinting in the sunlight with just a hint of vapor rising off of the creek in the frigid morning air. When I reached the crest in the trail that was parallel with the rapids, I saw that the booted prints continued on. I wondered if I too should lengthen my journey yet again to the sign were trespassing was not allowed. A glance at my watch showed I had been on the go for 39 minutes and I knew the snowy hill was going to take a long time to climb. With my lead-like legs in the cold, turning around to descend the little rise was a good choice.

It was but a few yards after I had turned around where I had a good chuckle. Initially I was surprised to see an unfamiliar tread in the prints that lay in the snow in front of me. It was the first time I had ever seen the imprint of my trail running shoes and there were all of these tiny little added footprints to the route I had just taken! I deal with just a few difficulties of my smaller shoe size. Not every store carries a 6 in women's running shoes, if they do it sells out quickly and additional things like YakTracks don't accommodate that size running shoe at all. Seeing the little prints in the snow made me realize, they are kind of small for adult feet.

My return also had me wondering just how far the booted person had gone beyond the point I turned back. Were they hunting? Was hunting even allowed out here? Were they fishing? There was one place where the prints went off the main trail and down to the edge of the creek. I chose to follow them on my return trip to see if the stopped to fish along the way. They wandered here and there, following smaller trails that gave pretty vantage points to the stream before they finally met up with their own (and my) prints on the main trail. This person was just enjoying the area! They hadn't been hunting or fishing or walking a dog. They were out enjoying the beauty of the land just as I had set out to do on my run.

The booted tracks disappeared in the parking area exactly where a bunch of car tracks picked up. It was also the start of my climb up and out of Spring Creek Canyon. The snow made the climb even slower for me than the few times I had run this route before. I had only been able to make it to the top commuter lot without stopping to walk maybe 2-3 times and it was when I had been training for the Nittany Valley Half Marathon. I allowed the very few rabbit and squirrel tracks to distract me as I followed my own tiny prints up and up and up. I took the hill so slowly that I made it to the top without walking and I think I was even less winded than usual.

Retracing my route went pretty well for the most part. The wind picked up and made me struggle between wanting my mittens on or off. I opted for off but pulled my coat sleeves way down to keep the chilly wind off of my bare skin. I know the blaze orange vest added visibility as I ran back Shilo Road but as I got closer to home it felt kind of silly. Sometimes retracing my route can be a bore but following my own tracks that had lead me to wonderful scenes of beauty kept the final miles fresh.

Winter Blooms

Potential for a lot of blooms this year!

Nittany Valley Half Marathon

The Cold; 28° and 15mph winds.

The Crowd; 650+ runners at the Ag Arena.

The Start; about 10 minutes late as we stood there freezing.

The Hill; Park Avenue after turning off Orchard Road.

The Finish; 2:14:06 - my personal best even with the added hills.

A couple of different ways to look at the elevation of the course.