Storm Andrea

Honestly I don't like the Weather Channel feeling the necessity of naming every storm. Hurricanes happen so infrequently and we grew up with that standard it seems okay. But every snowstorm? Ridiculous. So the northeast had a blizzard yesterday. Even the Weather Channel set up shop for the day here with reports near Irondequoit Bay every hour. Storm Vulcan hit with 17+ inches and wind gusts up to 45mph. It was miserable.
But the Weather Channel got the storm name wrong. It should be "Storm Andrea". My daughter Andrea was born March 13. It was midterm week during my senior year of college. She made it tough to study and keep my mind on school. Ever since her birth it seems like we get a storm during this week. Anyone remember the ice storm where we lost power for 7 days? That was March, I was in graduate school. We heated the house with a wood stove and cooked meals on top of it. So much fun.
Oh yeah, Happy Birthday Andrea!

On a related note, MW came up with a new term; Snow Relocation. Perfect.
One nice thing about staying home from work yesterday was being able to go in my basement, put in a Spinerval dvd and ride 31 miles while looking at the warmth of Arizona. That sure beat the 3x I went out and did snow relocation.

Who Let the Dogs Out?

A close relative of mine (a daughter living in Alabama perhaps?) has always been fascinated and drawn to animals, and they to her. Anyone who owns two horses, four dogs, two cats and one turtle (was two, but the small one scampered away. A turtle scampering away might be the subject of a future blog article) must love animals.
Andrea...whoops... I mean "this relative", is known to run on the roads near her home. A couple of nights ago two puppies ran up to her, no collars or id's, one was injured and they followed along. Andrea tried to find their home but couldn't. She couldn't just leave them so in the car the puppies went and to the emergency vet clinic.


This incident made Andrea think about whether running is really healthy for her or not. She came up with a top ten list of the bad things running does:
1. Shin Splints

2. Worrying it’s not a shin splint but rather reinjuring my whatever that broke.

3. Being chased by dogs (although this could potentially help with my speed)

4. Having friendly dogs run up that ask me to stop and pet them.

5. Having friendly, injured, homeless dogs run up to me that need my help (although carrying them home is a good way to end the workout).

6. Jumping into the middle of the street to avoid the scary rabbit, bird or plastic bag that made a noise in the bushes. (and I wonder why my horse spooks on trails)

7. Large jeeps with 6 ft confederate flags intentionally driving/beeping at you.

8. Fire ant hills on the side of the road as you leap into the grass to avoid above vehicle.

9. My dog goes crazy if I don’t take him, more to worry about when I do when having to deal with #3.

10. It’s too cold now. It will be too hot in a month.

Andrea has one reason to keep running:

1. Despite all the crap I ate yesterday, I still lost a pound. (I think it’s from #5).

Too cold to Andrea means below 50, in Rochester we would be in shorts and singlets with suntan lotion on.
Oh, new homes are being found for the puppies, not at Andrea's or my house!