Great run tonight. Cool, no humidity, slow people[lapping other runners is good for the ego, unless you are the lapee I guess]. A little more distance tonight, it all counts for another marathon someday.

Another great American is gone. He made us think, even if we didn't agree with him. Anybody that can offend a fundamentalist of any religion is my kind of philosopher. He will be missed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCz0-HY1TLU

Amen

Humidity continues to close in. Running is getting tougher, but still making the distance. I keep telling myself, just keep moving it'll get easier, I know it will, but sometimes its hard to believe.

Just got a new Amy Winehouse album[Back to Black]. Strange girl, but good music, not as retro as I thought it would be, more like disco-fied Supremes with a side of Lou Reed. I go thru streaks of change in my music. I have evolved from New Grass to 80's now into early rap into Ludacris and Kanye West, on to Amy Winehouse. Strange thought pattern I know, especially with Balck Box Recorder and PortisHead blended into the middle. I tend not to be able to listen to en entire album of anything. I always have a 100+ MP3 mix in the car that I can't find anything on, so I end up just letting it play on random. Much better for the Euclectic soul.

Grape vines new and old flourishing this year. Just enough rain and hot sun to make all things tropical. Tuscany in Tennessee, who could ask for Nirvana with all this?

Recovered from the humidity and am back to my 10K distance.

A new tale from the track: Halfway thu the 14th lap, trotting along looking down at my feet and surprise, a football blocking sled in lane 1 [ Passed it 14 times in the last 20 minutes]. Hard contact with said sled. Slow horizontal roll to the right, forearm skidding along rubberized tarmac, classic road rash. Disoriented and looking for the truck that hit me. Finally realized what had happened. No serious damage just a brush burn, tho 2 walkers saw the whole thing, ego deflated. Got up and finished the run. Yes, I can run with my tail between my legs and if I remain this damage proof I may make that Marathon at 80 yet, 56 on Sunday race fans.

Humidity from hell tonight, like running underwater. Even my eyeballs were sweating. Got some running in, tho not much. Anythings better than nothing I guess. I'll try again tomorrow, maybe I can get the 15 Y.O. to run with me. Since I run more than he does, I think he's afraid I'll beat him. Grapes are growin' like weeds, just enough rain to make the hot sun work well. Two more years and we'll be stompin' grapes and hot tubin' in Pinot. Scratch the applesauce thing, grossed too many people out.

Waxed the nubian Saturday. The cat says I can fix that.

Another row of Savignon Blanc in the vineyard. My goal is to consume all of the yard with grapes so I don't have to mow grass anymore. Just sit in the patio chair sipping Pinot Gris and watching the grapes grow. It's getting a little dry again so I may have to get up from time to time to move a sprinkler. I think I can handle it tho. All organic so far, I 'm watchin' the yellow cherries so I can get a few before the birds pig out and dive bomb the cars. Usually grab a handful as I pass by on the mower, as close to a drive-by as you get in rural TN. Apples, pears and Japanese plums are really prolific this year too. Last year a late frost wiped out all the blossoms, this year was perfect, fruit everywhere. My neighbor has enough apples this year to fill his swimming pool with applesauce. That would be fun until somebody pees in it. Disgusting thought isn't it. Still dreaming of 100 nude Ukrainian ballet dancers picking grapes in my vineyard someday. Cultural exchanges are good things aren't they?

Apparently my red blood cells are pickin' up the pace now, my second wind has dropped back to about a mile and a half. Once I get there I can trot along with my tonge hangin' out the side of my mouth like a contented puppydog. Ten K plus a cool down lap is almost easy now[operative word is almost].

My Savignon Blanc vines came in Thursday, they're soakin' now so tomorrow we dig their new home. Lots of rain this year so far, so I'm optimistic about this years growth. Wine in five[years].

Been listening to some vintage Heavy D lately. Sounds even better now than when it was on MTV, very tight harmony, and people that can actually sing! Not much of that around in the last few years. I think my ears have been punked out, thus the complete genre change. Pink Martini, Hey Eugene still works well for a peaceful interlude from and to anything[where else can you get five different correctly spoken languages on one album]. And no, all Hillbillys do not listen to C&W. Much too poppy these days, almost as bad as Indie. Need to lusten to Ludacris a bit more to form an opinion, so far it appears to be high quality stuff.

Again, it's late, go to bed

Finally regaining the discipline to run everyday, everynight I should say, For some reason I've always been a dark runner. I tend to be a sac hound in the morning, can't get up early for anything, why I never eat breakfast I guess. I've started to gain some distance, more or less resolved to level off at 10 miles, beating yourself past 15 miles except in a race is really futile, for me anyway. For me it seems like my body can't repair in 24 hours at loner distances. Of course everybody has there own "wall", mine used to be at 17 miles, but I haven't trained far enough to find out yet, hopefully by this summer's end.

Applied for a job within my company that involves allot of travel, mostly Europe and Mexico, some Asia. Fully qualified for it, just have to wait and see who wins the political pool. Not really sure I want it anyway, but we'll let fate decide.

Anybody see Narnia, Prince Caspian? Heard it was too violent for the little angels. I think We have been successful in teaching our son the difference between reality and fantasy. He seems to be very peaceful at least until he detects an injustice. I have noticed that the Bible Belt has a lot of problems with that separation issue, too much literalism I guess.

Go to bed, its late.

Running distance is beginning to progress well, I have finally found my second wind point, but its out around 2 miles now, when it used to be at about 1-1/4. Still there just farther down the road.

Hoping the Savignon Blancs get here soon. Good rain this year, I'm ready to see them take-off. Last summer was so painfully dry, that survival alone was the best to be expected. This Summer will definitely require some heavy wood and the vineyard will start to look like their homeland, Dijon.

Still lighting candles for a difficult problem. Getting very anxious and worried for two very good people. I may need to recruit St. Jude on this one, never got to this point before. Still optimistic tho, good things to come soon, stand by.

Two fast night runs in a row. Maybe I just need to run more often. Tonight there was a cold rain, thought it would slow me down, but it seemed to keep me cooler and faster. the extra 5 pounds of rain soaked up in my sweats didn't seem to hurt any.

The grapevines are growing like weeds, should have some good strong vines by this Fall. Ordered another two rows of Savignon Blanc, should be in the ground in about two weeks. This vineyard thing may be gettin' too obscessive, but its fun now, we shall see when the wine begins to flow in about trhree more years.

The sociopathic motorcycle is progressing slowly. I'm in the tooling mode now to make benders to form artistic tubes. When I go near metal, blood flows, so I always put some of myself literally into any project. The running makes lots of new red blood cells so its usually not a problem.

More candles burning for things that must be. I remain quietly optimistic, always worked all the other times before, no reason to doubt now.

I know I ramble, genetic I think.

A miracle, 2 precious Merlots I thought were gone are now sprouting back above the graft. Many things happen right when you think all is lost. I remain optimistic.