Tree Hugger

Good afternoon! Happy September 1st!

I started my day bright and early at 7:30 (that's early for me these days, but I promise I can wake up very early when I have work an such), noshed on a piece of nut cake and then headed out for a run. I did a 10 minute warm up, then 40 minutes steady state. I'm not sure how far I went (I ran in a nearby park that had a nice walking path, but let's just say I off-roaded it now and then to stay in the shade haha!). When I concluded my run, I was quite hot since it was just after 9, and I was sure it was already in the 80s. Wrong! When I got back in my car, the temperature showed it was only 75*F. I guess it was a humid 75? Oh well, I was just happy to have done a total of 50 minutes running.

Came home and made a smoothie:

Used about 1 cup rice milk, 1/2 cup frozen blueberries, 1 banana, some bits of peach and apple and lastly some chia seeds to thicken it a bit. Yum!

I also had some toast with peanut butter and 2 dates to round out my breakfast.

Afternoon Activity:

So, I am a self proclaimed food and running enthusiast, but I may also have to add 'arborist' (not to mention semi-professional dog walker) to my resume. Let me get you caught up to speed.

My sister's cute little pine trees look like they're withering away, no? Well, they are kinda dying, but it's not due to the lack of rain. Take a closer look:

Those things hanging off the trees are little sacs of pus/yucky stuff/possible moths? Either way, these things are killing the tree, so Melissa asked me to cut them off and either drown the sacs or burn them.

I cut off a bunch of them and threw them in water, thinking that playing with fire, (especially on a hot day) was probably not a safe idea.

Now, I love trying to be hardcore hiking, biking and running, but like most girls, bugs kinda creep me out (she mentioned that they were filled with worms!!! Luckily, no worms crawled out). However, I'm always up for a challenge, so I tried to cut off as many of the ones as I could reach.

My cutting tools. I asked Dave for some gloves so I wouldn't have to touch the sacs.

New adventures- to be continued...