Cindy - I think I'll pass on feeding that kind of 4-legged creature. Nice balance he has, though! Joe - 65-hour work week?!? Dude - you need a vacation. And the poor Budster - unfortunately, he doesn't understand it's for his own good. And it really cracks me up when you talk about having to sneek out of the house or wear different clothes until you get out the door. That is one smart pooch! Re riding the bike for an hour yesterday - um . . . I seriously need a softer seat. Sitting today is a tad, uh, tender. Much more so than when I ride on the road. I think because I was sitting straight up for most of it yesterday. Whenever I'd bend over to handlebars, my HR would quit working. Go figure . . . . . . . . . . . 25 more minutes and I get to go home . . . . . . . . . .

OK guys! that is a baby

I may be from NJ , but I bet Momma and Pappa Bear are very close by...........

Lions and tigers and bears, oh my! Ok, so it's really cats and kittens and bear cubs, but who's counting? Ah...Leslie, those cats know where do go, don't they? My neighbor is our resident "cat lady" and has done a great job of trapping, spaying and neutering almost all of them. One of them has the funniest looking squared off ears, just sort of missing the top point on both. Hope you find a cushier ride for your tush! Hey Joe...cut out that working too much stuff now! Buddy sounds like Katy. I haven't been taking her lately either. She has this tendency to seek out nice green lawns and just drop and roll. Hard to resist joining her sometimes, but I'm not sure what the neighbors would think. As for the heat, the forecasted high today is 103, and low was 80. Looking forward to a "cool wave" on Thurs 97 hi, 78 low. I ran through it last year only to not reach my goal of a fall half marathon, but hopefully this year I'll reap the rewards. Jewels...for what it's worth, I really like the Hal Higdon program. Seems like a good mix of running, cross training, and weights/stretching. I've been doing a little more distance than it calls for on running days to build a little cushion in case I need a step back week or two later on, but I'm hoping it will help me reach the starting line injury free this time. Hey to everyone else....gotta go to work or I'd read and shout out more. So just a general wooohhooo!! will have to do.

Quick weights session today. Feeling good after Sundays run. Hip issues are non existant at this point, don't know the last time I could say that. No races really on my program until a 10k that Jonathan puts on in mid August. Our local county fair has a 5 k in about a week on pretty much the same course as the July 4 run, so whats the point??? After dodging storms all through harvest seems like now we can't buy a rain cloud. Our dryland corn is suffering quite a bit now and imposible to keep up with the water on the irrig stuff, high temps don't help. We had 104 officially on Sunday but are now forcast low to mid 90's with some rain chances. We got all the lagoons, etc cut yesterday afternoon so now all the harvest equipment is needing to be cleaned repaired and put away until fall harvest. Lynda is telling me I need to get off the farm (bad attitude), maybe I will slip away this weekend for some mtn climbing with my friend Ed. Lynda volunteered to run the farm while I am gone. Leslie our dryland crops are grown in a rotational system designed to maximze our minimal rainfall. We grow winter wheat, then plant corn in the wheat stubble the following spring. The stubble catches snow and rain over winter. Following the corn is usally a year of fallow either chemical or mechanical to capture enough moisture for the following years wheat crop which is planted in the fall. The only crops that will put any nutrients in the soil are legumes like alfalfa and soybeans that fix Nitrogen and for various reasons but mostly water use it just doesn't work to put them in dryland rotations. They are included in some irrigated rotations. The nutrients must come from somewhere, if you grow a crop and turn it back under that is zero sum. If you harvest any part of it you are taking part of the nutrients with it. So without breaking out my college soils texts etc I will just say soil nutrients will come available in a certain amount every year through mineralization and breakdown of organic matter. Bottom line is unless you are growing legumes for nitrogen and legumes by themselves will not supply the total nitrogen needs of subsequent crops and or using some type of fertilizer be it cow manure or commercial fertilizer you are basically mining the soil. More later stay cool folks.

This is me wishing you call cooler weather! Thanks for the info, Jim. I was just curious as to how it all worked. Hope you're able to get away for the weekend . . . before Lynda comes after you with a pitckfork or something. Carol - Slut Cats = Well-Loved Cats = Spoiled Rotten Cats . . . I should have it so good!

Hi Kids~ Thanks for the cooler air Leslie. And Thank You Carol for telling me how much hotterit is in Texas . Now the 90's ain't so bad. That's some system you have going there Jim . Sounds like a a little break would do ya good. Cindy's forecast sounds very appealing.... I guess I'm adapting to the heat as well. Over 30 miles run in 3 days.Two runs during the middle of the day. Here's a question for you guys, can I drink too much Gatorade? I know that I can drink too much water and not have salt. I can really feel the difference when I carry a 16 -24 oz per hour bottle of Gatorade in this heat. How about with Gu? Is that too much salt?

Hi Everyone-just a quick check in because it's late and I have to get up early. Good job dealing with the heat and not letting it slow you down too much. I'm glad I don't see 100 degrees too often. Cool bear pictures, we have the same problem with bears and birdfeeders too-mostly in the spring. Jim-thanks for the crop rotation lesson. I thought of you after my great green bean harvest-5 lbs! Joe-you must have forgotten my coaching advice to work less if you want to catch up! And this will make you all envious-Jack had always been active but didn't start running until around 2002. He was asked to be on a marathon relay team and just kept going. He's got a genetic gift. I'd chat some more but I'm already past the bed time I promised myself. Later... Kelly