OFF-SEASON: Bring It On!

Time to check in on my crazy-monster-training-experiment!  Came up just slightly short of my big  5 100-mile ride goal when I woke up in Arnold yesterday to see THIS.  I had even packed some pretty heavy duty winter cycling clothing, but it was 30 degrees out when I left.  I tried.  I did.  I'm pretty tough.  But I made it 15 miles and my toes hurt so bad I was crying.  So I had to scrap it.  Turned out we had to scrap the whole weekend pretty much when the dog started barfing (he had his chemo treatment 48 hours earlier, and it usually doesn't cause him many problems at all) and we came home early just to be sure we were nearer to the vet.  (He is eating thismorning and seems to have stopped vomitting.)  I made pretty much all the rest of my goals in the swimming and riding and running departments, and am happy to declare it Officially Offseason!  Of course the Cal International Marathon is in four short weeks, so running will not slow down much until then.  It is also time to pay some serious attention to cleaning up my diet!  Yikes, it veered off course after Vineman, what with all the animal fiascos, scheduling and crazy training.  I'm actually excited to have the time to start cooking "cleaner" fall meals and do more prep so that I have food with me and don't have to improvise, which never turns out well for me.

My monster training also took a brief week "down" (to about half hours-wise) as we had a spay/neuter clinic on October 23rd.  It went really really well, and left me with a good feeling for the first time in awihle.  We fixed 79 cats in just under 3 hours surgery time!  And it went safely and smoothly.  We also admitted four cats that turned out to be already fixed, but they received medical attention and one big boy got some much needed dental work in addition to a foxtail being removed from his mouth, which I'm sure he appreciated.

Sleepy head waking up after surgery.

Volunteers watching cats in "Recovery", making sure they are waking up after surgery without any problems.


And of course, there was HALLOWEEN last week!  This is Luke Skywalker.  We had a good Halloween, although I feel like I didn't do it justice at all.  I barely got any Halloween decorations up.  We didn't go to any "activities", like in past years.  But Sporty Spice had a good time with his class party and parade and trick or treating with friends.  I'm thinking I'll just hang little Christmas wreaths on the giant spiders I've got out and call it a day.

THIS was my major project of Halloween week!  Meet Bobette (she has no tail).  I happened upon Bobette in one of our East Bay Parks last weekend while doing my long trail run.  Now, this isn't a park you can just drive up to, like a kid park.  No..this one is out in the middle of nowhere, far from any kind of houses, and she was way far from the access road, down near some picnic tables.  I see these abandoned cats often on the trails, which KILLS me, me being me, and usually I can tell they are too feral for me to get near or I'm in a place where there is no way I can schlep a trap in to catch them.  Bobette wouldn't let me closer than about 20 feet, but kept looking at me and meowing.  I knew my fate for the week was sealed.  For the next three days, I drove back and forth, an hour each way, to the closest entry to the meadow where she was, carried traps, up and down a hill about half a mile, and SAT in the meadow waiting to see if she'd get in the trap(s).  Finally, on day 4...I got up and headed out there at dawn.  Set my traps, brought my coffee and a book....figured out which bushes she was hanging out in that day...and about 4 hours later, I caught her!  I did my little victory dance in the middle of the meadow, and drove her straight to the vet to be checked out, spayed, vaccinated and "de-bugged" (she had earmites).  I wasn't really sure how friendly this cat was going to be, or how much socializing I was going to have to do.  But when I went to pick her up from the vet the next day, the technician brought me this purring, headbutting little bundle in her arms! 

She is sweet as sugar and cannot believe the turn her life has taken!  From coyote bait to this!  Full tummy, warm "shnuggy" blanket; she fell asleep the first night home purring.  SO nice to finally have a happy ending to something!

So, with that I declare it OFFseason.  If you need me, I'll be in my scrapbook room!  I've finally started scrapping our Hawaii Ironman trip (from 2 years ago!).