If you haven’t already heard, the Ratcliff’s are packing up and moving to the Crescent City. Wes get an incredible job opportunity and we are so excited about this new chapter in our lives. Change is a good thing and there are many new developments we want to share with the world. That being said, Simplyaboutg.com and 72mach1.com are merging. Visit Adventureinthebigeasy.com to read about life in a new city.
There was a big to do here in the 225 tonight. It’s all anyone could talk about today, anticipating snow in Baton Rouge. Would it really snow , would it stick, will it still be here in the morning? Well…Yes, No and it’s already gone. Forget Pat Shingleton, I get my weather updates from Facebook.
Make no mistake, Non-LA natives, snow is a big deal for us cajuns. It’s not uncommon to see kids playing outside with their new toys on Christmas morning barefeet and on shorts. So the 1/8 of an inch of frost that stuck to the ground for a half an hour around 10:30pm was enough to get everyone out in there yards building miniature snowmen. Kayla and I were having a snowball fight. Our snow balls were about the size of pecans though.
I couldn’t resist, when it really started coming down, I woke Kayla up and brought her outside to play. I can tell you that she wasn’t a big fan of the cold. We didn’t stay out too long before coming in for some late night cocoa. Not just any cocoa though, Kayla’s first hot cocoa. She was not letting go of that mug. Poor baby’s fingers were red and frozen and she did not like it when they started to thaw.
I had hoped there would be some snow left in the morning, but the rain has come since and washed it all away. Maybe we can hope for more before Christmas.
So, I was digging around in my photos this week and came across this ancient photo of me.
I think this was taken around 1989? That would have made me 6 at the time. I do remember this was taken at a family reunion in Grand Isle. We had a crawfish boil and I found this little crab. I guess I decided to keep it as a pet, I don’t remember. I was probably traumatized when I realized it was dead, lol.
There was really no point to me sharing this photo with you or the story that follows. But it’s been a while since my last post, so bear with me and I’ll share some of what I can remember from being 6.
Did you turn on the music widget? Well that was my favorite song when I was a kid. Seriously, I thought it was the greatest song ever. I don’t even remember other songs at that age, just this one. Best line of the song…”Knee deep in Hoopla. “
Even as a child, I was not a morning person. Not much motivated me to get out of bed. But Pee Wee’s play house was the reason I woke up on Saturday morning.
I’ve always been a good mix of tom boy and girly girl. Pipeworks, Legos and Barbies were my favorite toys.
Did anyone else have a set of these? Seriously, they were the greatest toy ever.
I was also in love with the blue Thunderbird
There’s no telling where I saw one of these cars, I just remember that I was going to buy one when I grew up. Well, I kept it in the Ford family anyway.
And lastly, I was totally in love with this guy.
Yes, I just knew that I was going to marry Macgyver. Don’t laugh, you know that being able to build a bomb out of a rubber band, a paper clip and a tube sock was hot. Macgyver is still the man, lol.
Ok, one more just for fun. I don’t know what birthday this was, but can you guess where we celebrated?
So there you have it, 6 year old G. I know you were all dying to know.
Yesterday Wes, Holly and I woke up insanely early and headed out to the middle of nowhere, other wise known as Opelousas, LA, or Yam city. Left around 4:30am and got there about 6:00am, but not before Wes got a speeding ticket, 58 in a 45. Gotta love Port Allen. Personally I think it’s a bogus ticket and the cop was just in a bad mood from having to work the night shift, but let’s not go there.It was still dark when we got there. I was amazed by this, because I never get up that early and didn’t know when the sun rose. But it eventually came up and this was what it looked like.
The start was delayed about 30 minutes due to fog. So we got to hang around and chat with some of the other racers. You meet some really cool people at these events. It’s a very diverse crowd. I don’t know what the minimum age limit was but there were a lot of kids in this race, looked to be as young as 10 and adults well into there 70’s. They came from all around the state to compete in the annual Yam City Tri.
So anyway, Holly ran the race all by herself, while Wes and I decided to take it easier and compete as a relay team. I did the first 2 legs of the race, 150 yard swim and 14 mile bike, Wes took the 2 mile run.
The bike was quite a haul, long rolling hills, road kill and one really bumpy service road.
Holly was still smiling at the finish line.
Holly and her medal. She took 2nd place in her division. Her swim time 4:23, bike time 43:26, run time 14:05, total time 1:07:20. Go Holly!
Team “That’s What She Said”, (yep, that was the name of our team, lol), swim 4:20, bike 57:53, run 17:53.
We had a great time, I am disappointed that the tri season is pretty much over for this year, it’ll be starting up again next spring. I plan on training this winter so I can get back into it, and there are plenty of 5K’s coming up to keep me on my toes.
So after that, we got to go visit with some great friends that just moved to Lafayette. They were nice enough to let us use their shower. That would have been a funky ride home otherwise. Got to hang out for a little while and have some lunch before heading back. It was an exhausting day. Wes and I had to run out to P-ville to pick up Kayla but crashed when we got home.
Ok, here it is…PROOF that I completed the Triathlon. So yeah, Wes forgot the camera and didn’t get any shots of me torturing myself. There were photographers out take pics of all the racers. I know it’s wrong to steal, but to buy a 4×5 of this print was $14.95. Which that seems like stealing too, sheesh. So I’ll just keep this digital reminder as proof. 
They posted the results last night:
Class position 37 out of 41
Overall 154 out of about 175
So, I did achieve my goal of not coming in last 
Holly did great
Class position 4 out of 41
Overall 9 out of 175
So finally I have something to post about. August 1, 2009 will be forever marked in history, ( mine at least), as the day I competed and COMPLETED my very first Triathlon. What a day it’s been too. I had a few stumbles here and there, just frustrating things that I didn’t expect to go wrong. But that is half the battle, to just go on and do it anyway. So anyway, if you’re interested, here is how my day went.
My day started very early this morning, about 5:30am when the alarm went off. I wasn’t the earliest riser though, I had been up all of 5 minutes when my phone rang, it was Holly and she was already at LSU looking for a place to park. I made it out the door by 6am and headed out to LSU. Parked next to Holly, who had my bike on her rack. Tried to get it out, but I thought it was locked, turns out that I just didn’t know how to work the thing. So I went ahead and got my numbers painted on my arms and legs and then to get my timing chip, all while blowing Holly’s phone up. Found Holly about 6:45 and made a mad dash out to her car to get my bike out. Had less than 10 minutes to set up my bike and all my other gear in the transition area. Did not have enough time. They announced that we had to get out and I hadn’t even undressed for the swim. So I did a frantic strip right there in the middle of the bike area, leaving clothes inside out and strewn over my bike. That would cost me time later. Made a mad dash to get out of the transitional area only to remember I left my power bar in my backpack. So I would complete this race on the one banana I had eaten in the car.
Note to self: next time, bring flip flops. Since I had to leave my shoes with my bike, I got to walk around barefoot before the race. So we gathered under the tents for the prerace meeting, last minute changes, rules instructions, etc. While standing there, I realize I had been standing in fireants both feet were now covered. Now, this was one of those frustrating moments I talked about earlier. Shook it off and headed to the pool to start the race.
It was a 350yard swim. There is a 50yard pool with 7 open lanes. Swim to the end, cross under the rope and swim back the other way, zig zagging across the pool. Since there were 400 women in this race, there had to be some orderly fashion to this. So they had signs for every 1 minute, and you line up behind the sign that you swim closest too. I can swim it in 8minutes, but I went ahead and lined up with the 9 minutes, and I’m glad I did. First woman into the pool started the time, then a swimmer into the pool every 5 seconds. First swimmer swam it in 4 minutes, it was incredible. It took 36 minutes before I got into the pool. I was nervous and excited and made my first rookie / stupid mistake. Forgot to put my goggles on my face before I jumped into the pool. They were on my forhead and when I hit the water, they were gone. I treded water the first lap, got to the end of the pool and wasn’t quite sure what I was going to do, and there was Holly, holding out her goggles for me. She was a lifesaver. My next 6 laps were a breeze and luckily I was out of the pool before Holly got in, so she got to swim with goggles too.
Off and running and trying not to slip and fall out to the bike transition. Remember when I said, “This would cost me time later”? I’m dripping wet out of the pool, no towel. Note to self: next time bring a towel. Grass stuck to my feet, trying to turn my socks on inside out and get my pants and shirt and shoes on. These ladies that have done this before, had the right idea with their tri suits. No changing, just shoes on and go.
Now on bike, down Nicholson, cross railroad tracks by old Alex Box and on to River Road, 6 miles out and 6 miles back. About mile 3 of the ride, my bicycle seat bottomed out again and I was in a bad position. Sitting way too low on the bike and seat twisting from side to side. Made it to the 6 mile turn around hoping to find someone to help. I did, wasn’t a fix by hand, he had to get the oil and pliers out for this job. But he fixed it and it it only cost me about 5 minutes.
So the ride was maybe the toughest part, mentally anyway. I had no idea where I was, distance wise. It was on the way back when it hit me I guess. I didn’t have to do this, no one made me. I am lucky to have my health and ability to get out there and exhaust myself for the fun of it. So I sang the rest of the way back to the bike transitional. Since you weren’t allowed to have iPods, the bikers that passed me probably thought I’d been out in the sun too long.
Last leg, hang up the bike and run 2 miles and then it’s all over. I got this right? Wrong, I hit that pavement and it felt like I was dragging sand bags. I was having a hard enough time putting one foot in front of the other, but picking them up and running, it just wasn’t happening. The first mile was a walk. Holly caught up to me at the 1 mile mark. ( Where they had ice cold water and sponges!) Those volunteers rocked. So I had caught my 2nd wind and was inspired to run again. It was still difficult, run, walk, run, walk…. But about the last quarter mile, there was a cheery person behind me that kept yelling at me to, “push through, you got this, finish strong.” It was just what I needed and I crossed that finish line with a smile.
Official time was 1 hour 42 minutes and 18 seconds. My personal goal was 2 hours, and I finished 18 minutes under that, so I am ecstatic. I’m not sure what my over all place was, I’ll find that out, when they post the results on the web this week, so check back for that.
The aftermath…my body is exhausted and my head and neck are killing me, and it was totally worth it. I’m looking forward to doing another one, just not tomorrow.
Title says it all. It’s just been one of those weeks. I haven’t gotten anything accomplished. haven’t even made it to the gym this week. Always good intentions, foiled by the weather or a dirty house. Or at least that’s the excuse I used. I’ll have to get back in the game next week. I only have 2 weeks left till the triathlon and I don’t want to be embarrassed out there. The race is full, so I’ll be racing along with 399 other women, and as long as I don’t come in #400 I’ll be happy.
Other than that, I did get a couple letters out to some soldiers this week. And I finished, “The Road”, last week, so I’m trying to focus on doing some bible study before I start a new book. I could really use some direction these days and that’s the only place to find it. So anyway, that was my post about nothing, but a post still the same.
By the way, the song has nothing to do with this post, but it’s still a good one.
Really day 3, posted on like day 6.
So after my last post, I decided I was going to pair honey vs vinegar to prove or disprove once and for all. So I decided to dispose of fruit in a jar and red wine since they didn’t work… or so I thought.
This was the shot of the red wine before I dumped it out
This is after
So anyway, there you go. Red wine is the clear winner, hands down.
I did go ahead and put out a glass of honey along with some fresh vinegar and vinegar wins. Not one single fly stuck in the honey. Thanks to Dave for sharing this informative comic.
Ok, now the fruit fly experiment is over and this is the last I will post about it. Thanks for bearing with me.
While last night, we may have thought the red wine to be the clear winner because it attracted more flies. The overall aroma seemed to be enough for these little pests as they just hung out on the rim of the glass. I see no victims here.
Next up we have the mason jar with fruit. This one is difficult to judge. Flies were not immediately drawn to it, actually this morning there was only 1 fly inside. However, a few hours later more flies came, I approximate 6-8. The problems with this, is that the theory that flies are stupid and can get in but not out, was proven incorrect. While shaking the jar vigorously this afternoon, I counted 3 flies. Which means, the others escaped or these are flies are insectivores and ate their fellow jar mates.
Finally, we have our leader, vinegar and dawn. While the flies were not immediately drawn to this deadly cocktail, it won out in the end. Disproving the theory that you catch more flies with honey than vinegar. What was it about this liquid concoction? Smell…appearance…availability…maybe it was curiosity. We may never know.
So, all joking aside, this killed some of these little pests, but not all. So, there may be more experiments on the way.