Greensboro Gobbler 2009

Posing and talking smack before the race...We mixed it up around here this Thanksgiving. Instead of popping out of bed at 6 AM to start cooking, we popped out of bed at 6 AM and hauled ourselves to Greensboro for the 8th annual Greensboro Gobbler 5K run. The race is two laps around Country Park, with cheerful little signs along the route reminding runners that "Turkey & Stuffing = 1000 calories" and "1 Slice Pecan Pie = 500 calories." Thank you for that. 

I won my age group (although I suspect all the sensible people my age were at home eating, as God intended) and Blair had a great race for his first 5K, coming in well ahead of his expected pace. 

The MadMayo Runners made a strong show - you can read the race report here. 

Will this be a new tradition? Hard to tell. I missed the smell of sweet potatoes wafting through the house by 8 AM. 

The smell of dried sweat just isn't the same...

Tacos For Thanksgiving

Against my better judgement, I made a quick run to Food Lion today to pick up some dinner and breakfast items for visiting relatives. I'm standing in the checkout line, surrounded by people whose carts are filled with yams, pumpkin puree, turkeys, cranberries, and pie crusts. I feel all eyes turn toward me as I unload my cart - taco dinner kit, Cheez-its, frozen waffles, and an orange. 

I wanted to turn to everyone and explain this wasn't the actual food I'd be serving tomorrow, but I sensed that might make the situation worse. So I kept my mouth shut. 

Happy Thanksgiving, y'all!

Fish Pop-Eye

We're experiencing FISH 9-1-1 trauma. Yesterday morning Blair noticed that one of our Corey fish had a bulging eye and a bulbous blue growth around the mouth. A quick Google search gave us a diagnosis of pop-eye. Pop-eye is less of a disease and more a symptom that something else is wrong. Still, if not caught early enough, the fish can lose sight in the eye. 

We've set up an emergency trauma tank and isolated the Corey. Poor thing is in there all alone with just a cheap plastic plant for comfort. The frustrating part is that we can't add the medicinal treatment to the water for six days. Since we just set a new tank up, we have to allow the carbon filter to run for that long before adding anything to the water. I don't know if the little Corey will make it. He does not look like a happy fish.

My biggest concern is that he's in pain. None of the material we read mentioned anything about pain but common sense tells me that if my eye is bulging out of socket due to a build-up of fluid, I'm most likely in a fair amount of pain. 

Meanwhile, we're keeping a close watch on the other fish. After the horrific snail infestation we endured earlier this year, we're doing a better job of keeping on top of fish problems as they occur. 

We'll keep you posted. Get-well cards, flowers, and donations may be sent to our home address...

Moonshine Run

MadMayo Runners Moonshine RunHad a great 8-mile run yesterday with with Blueliners in Greensboro, then raced home to run the 3-mile Moonshine Route with the MadMayo Runners. We even got our local sheriff in on the action. Read all about it here. 

♫ Bow-Chicka-Bow-Wow... ♫

By contract, I am required to supply my publisher with a photo for the back-of-the-book author shot. No problem. I e-mail my editor the photo I had professionally taken a few years ago and that I will probably still be using when I'm 90. It's lovely, she says, but given that this is a cat book, might I have some pictures of myself with my cats we could use?

I do not. Not only do our cats not cooperate in the picture-taken process, they actively sabotage it. Plus...

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