May 24

Yesterday I jogged at Round Hill Park. I want to explain two rules before I get into my jog. One is that I am varying my routine so that I don't get bored. Secondly, as a rule, I do not take walk breaks. This is because I am training for a half-marathon and a marathon which I need to finish in a certain amount of time. If I get into the habit of taking walk breaks, I may not be able to finish these races in the time allotted. If I get to where I can't go on, I stop and rest, but then I resume jogging. I only walk if physically necessary. For example, right at the end of yesterday's jog, I was completely done and had to climb a hill back to my car, in which case I walked back.

Yesterday was a very physically demanding jog because Round Hill Park is extremely hilly, and the hills are long and steep. My first challenge was getting into the park because the ducks wouldn't move off the main road. I finally had to stop the car in the road, get out, and attempt to meet the ducks personally. Thanks to the ducks' fear of intimacy, they got off the road, and I got into the park. I also met three horses and their riders as well as two young deer during my jog.

I first did the main road in the park. Then I did a couple horse trails, which are beautiful! In the middle of the main horse trail, they have put in a picnic area. They have a fire ring stocked with fire wood, a garbage can, and benches around the fire ring. They have put in a picnic table. The only thing they don't have in there yet is a porta potty! Oh, and they don't have a traditional grill that you see in picnic areas, but the fire ring is great. Therefore, hikers or horse back riders can choose to have their picnic in this area which is quite a distance from the parking lot. I actually did not have to stop during my jog in spite of the very steep long hills, but I was done for at the end of it.

I was able to recover enough later to plant a whole row of potatoes. I had purchased two bags of fingerlings, including red, yellow, and purple. I let them sprout. Yesterday, I planted them and am looking forward to a large crop of them. I now have to get a bag of Yukon Gold and sprout them. Once they are planted, I'll have my entire potato crop for the year in. Kimberly has already planted the tomatoes and lemon cucumber, along with her corn, green beans, peas, and lima beans. I still want to plant one zucchini and one crook neck. Also, the parsley is already planted.

Last night I made a fire. Kimberly has fixed up the patio my dad put in. She put more stones and sand in it last year. As children, we had a picnic table up there. Now we have the fire pit, a bench, two Adirondack chairs and the bench my grandfather built. Kimberly put up two really nice torches my dad had bought. She got torch oil and got them going last night. It was really nice up there. She has everything cleaned out in the back of the yard and we can see way up into the field. We are probably going to build a sturdy picnic table with an umbrella so we can sit out there and look at the field. I can sit there to study. There is lots of shade up there.

I am studying Psych 101 this summer. This week we are studying social psychology. I really like it and may take a social psych course in the fall. I think it would help me to some extent with the issues I will have to deal with in my career, such as how people get into these unhealthy lifestyles and the challenges of getting them to modify their behavior once it becomes very threatening to their life and health.

The fire was still smoldering this morning so I got it going again and am going to cook more tofu in my Dutch over this morning. The last batch turned out great!