Weather and the Weekend - Part 2

After a post-race shower and a short rest, we headed south toward home. On the way, we stopped at Indianola, Mississippi, birthplace of the blues legend B.B. King, and Wifeunit's childhood summer home. By coincidence, this day was also the opening of the B.B. King Museum.

We found the little town full of visitors and the downtown section closed to traffic. The streets were lined with food stands, crafts for sale, and musicians. The new museum was a bit too crowded for us, so we didn't go inside. We make it to Indianola several times a year, so we'll be checking out the museum on another trip. My sister ML later told us that there were probably some high profile entertainers there like Eric Clapton, but we didn't notice anything special but 3 large customized busses from the Gibson Guitar company.

Wifeunit had to sign the big birthday card, ending our adventure for this day.

Weather and the Weekend - Part 1

The weather here lately has been influenced by a couple of hurricanes. Not unusual for this time of year, but more creepy than in my memory since Hurricane Katrina changed so much of our world in the Gulf States. I read an email at work that mentioned an Ohio city was experiencing power failures and school closings from Hurricane Ike this week.

Ike was a factor at the Delta State University Triathlon this past Saturday. It was windy and humid. I had a great swim - it was a 500 yd pool swim - and I was one of the first out of the water. I even had to get spectators out of the path to the transition area. The bike ride was really strange, with a 25 mph wind from the hurricane blowing from the southeast. The ride was an out and back zig zag route, so half the time the wind was helping, but boy when it didn't it was a struggle. One of the guys who finishes in the top 5 every year said his bike leg was 6 minutes slower than his worst. I ran poorly in the high temps and humidity, but enjoyed the race. Everyone involved in this race seems to have great fun, even though they seem to have trouble with the timing and awards. This is not an official USAT race, just a fun thing put on by the DSU Swim and Dive Team.

Ag Museum

I began this beautiful Sunday with some canoe paddling to a spot at least a half mile from any houses, at the east end of Pelahatchie Bay in the middle of the huge expanse of lotus pads. The weather had the first touch of Fall about it, and the forecast promised low 80's for the day. This spot in the pads was so quiet. There were very few boats out. I think the high-tech fishermen with their obnoxious bass boats must have gotten interested in college football or dove hunting. Or maybe they knew the water was a little muddy from Hurricance Gustav last week. The only sounds were an occasional flock of geese honking by or the sound of a far off truck with obnoxious loud tail pipes. Must have been the fishermen heading for the dove field.


Later, Wifeunit suggested we go to the Mississippi Agriculture and Forestry Museum, where this weekend the Celtic Fest was going on. We paid the surprising $24 for two of us to get in and found the fest pretty weak. There were some interesting people playing unusual instruments but not much else, so we decided we'd seen enough.

We were headed back to the truckster when Wifeunit picked up the scent of a horse, her favorite animal. I picked up the scent of what the horse leaves on the ground. Anyway we had to investigate........

Here she's getting some of that horse smell on her, and she may not wash her hands for days.

Another irresistible critter gets as much massage as possible through a fence.

Wifeunit got a sloppy kiss from this guy, but I missed it. You can still appreciate his good looks and charm.










A goat. No less important, loved and admired.














This was the only farm animal Wifeunit didn't notice or spend time with. I could only think of my chocolate milk.



Best of all, the family had a great day!

One Year Totals

I've been recording my workouts on the Buckeye Outdoors site since September 1, 2007. Results....

450 miles of running

120 miles swimming

770 miles biking

1340 miles total

I know some of you readers may have done twice that distance. Actually two of you for sure, but I'm still pretty proud of myself. Blogs are all about bragging sometimes.

I'm about to check the radar again and decide whether to run in these remnants of Hurricane Gustav.