Rocky at the playground

Our apartment complex has a little playground in front of every building, and then a bigger one in the middle of all them all. The one-two combination of really nice weather and Rocky's dislike of being stuck in our small apartment means that we've been spending a lot of time at the various playgrounds. This first set of pictures is from a series that I like to call "Rocky-in-the-swing-looking-very-melancholic-but-really-she's-just-curious-because-she-loves-to-watch-the-other-kids-at-the-playground". They're from my blue period.

Rocky has not quite mastered walking on her own, but she's already moved on to bigger and better things. We tried to get her to at least use a harness and ropes, but she feels that they hamper her style too much.



If we could only teach her how to yodel while doing this, she would look exactly like that game on the Price is Right.



We're obviously still working with Rocky on pumping her legs at the right time on the swing.




On an unrelated/closing note, we only have one more week until the marathon (and I only have six days left before venturing into the scary, uncharted waters known as my thirties). This is officially my last audition call for any song suggestions for my race playlist (as well as any ideas for things that I have to do before I turn 30). I'm looking for nice, peppy songs that will put a spring in my step down the final stretch, but I won't rule out any suggestions, especially not if they're for Burt Bacharach. So let me know if you have any epiphanies.

Spring in Oregon, a.k.a, the early runner gets to see the early bird get the early worm

Marci and I have been training for the Newport Marathon that's at the end of this month. Two weeks ago was our 16 mile run, and we tried to get it done as early as we could, because we had so many things to do that day. Anyone that knows me knows that I'm not a natural runner by any stretch of the imagination, but Eugene is the perfect place to learn how to love running. There's tons of great trails everywhere throughout the city. We've been doing our long runs on the Amazon Creek bike trail that follows a cool little creek, and it passes some beautiful wetland areas as it winds through the city. Because we left so early, we were able to see some awesome wildlife up close. Aside from the fauna that we typically see, we saw a great blue heron, a pair of great egrets, a nutria, a painted turtle sunning itself in the stream, an American kestrel, cinnamon teals, a killdeer and we saw one of these trekking across the bikeway that I later found out was a Ranchman's Tiger Moth caterpillar:

All of these new sights, plus the fact that we used power gels for the first time (it makes you feel hardcore), combined to give us a little boost. Although seeing all the new animals was great, the animal that gets the sixth-man/cheerleader award for helping us out is the red-winged blackbird.

We saw dozens of them, and they have a really cool song that kept us going. You can hear their call by going here.
Oh, and my brother-in-law Matt definitely gets an honorable mention for making our runs a success. A long time ago, he gave us the audio book of World War Z, and I've been listening to it a little bit at a time as we run, and I finished it the day of the 16 miler.

I obviously haven't posted for a long time, so I have a few more random, spring in Oregon pictures.

I rowed with the UO Crew team in the fall, and they had their home regatta at the quaint little lake where we practiced, so we took a trip out to Dexter Lake to cheer the team on. This picture is actually of the women's crew team.

This pair of massive magnolia trees are right between the building where my office is located and the building where I teach. The picture doesn't even begin to convey how impressive and beautiful they were when they were blooming. Oh well, traduttore/traditore I suppose.