Gilmore Adventure Race and a yard update!
By Justin
The race was held at Watson Lake near Prescott. While it isn't in the pines, it is very scenic.
Our three man team. The man on the left was my trainer from work and the guy on the right is Audra's brother Don who I also work with. The strapping young lad in the middle is me (one of these days I will fill out).
I had one thought running through my head nearly the whole race "If I am going to wait for someone, I will wait for Audra". I am glad she watched the kids while I did the race and I know she was a little jealous. No worries though, because she'll be on my team next year and every other year I do that race :-)
When I got home and was tired and sunburned. Audra had to run to the Women's Conference Broadcast and I irrigated. I didn't want to let the kids play in it and just wanted to chill but I thought it would likely be the last time they can play in the water before it gets too cold. So they got wet and I got the camera.
Strike a pose.
Last but not least an update on a few things I have been working on outside. When we purchased our property there was a large barn on it. When we split the property we had to tear it down because it was too close to the property line. We sold the barn and had a concrete foundation left.
I rented a bobcat with a jackhammer attachment and broke up all the foundation and slab. I learned that concrete must have been cheap when that thing was poured because it was thick. I got rid of all the thick concrete with rebar that bore the weight of the structure. I kept the slab concrete thinking I would reuse it some day. Green folks call this reused concrete "urbanite". I bought into the idea of reusing the concrete and saving space in the landfill. So I made a large pile of it in the yard. This is only about 60% of what I started with.
I used the concrete to make a retaining wall between the house and the playground. I am satisfied with how it turned out but I realize that it was anything but easy. The slab was not uniformly thick leaving pieces as thin as 2.5 inches and as thick as 5 inches. Some of the thin pieces have 2-3 inches of mortar under them while the thick pieces have nearly nothing. Five long courses took me a lot of time. I mixed a lot of concrete and mortar and spent many late nights finishing up last November. I am happy it's done and am thinking I might take the rest of the concrete to the landfill after all. Or I may try another project with it near the irrigation ditch.
On my last job as a land development project manager they had 60 feet of 3 foot HDPE pipe. It was used to temporarily divert a ditch and once used could not be reused. I brought them to the property thinking I could make an elaborate tunnel system for the kids to play in.
Once I paid a guy to laser level our yard and all the time we spent putting the grass in, I couldn't find a good place for the hills and tunnels. I think Audra suggested using the pipes for berms in the front. From there we talked about making a raised garden out of the pipe sections on the side of our house.
The dirt here was mechanically compacted and has a lot of rocks in it. It is an ordeal to dig them out by hand. My goal was to get in 6 pots for the winter garden and check that done! I want to add another 6 or 9 pots for the spring garden. Eventually we will put pavers down in the area but for now we walk on the dirt.
Our Stake President had the idea that everyone should have a garden and they gave us all tomato seedlings in the end of July, JULY! It was incredibly hot still. I had three plants. I was going to give one to my home teaching family and plant the other two. The kids got into it and Adaira and Brighton each had their own. I broke Brighton's stalk when I we planted it. Adaira's made it in the ground but went through terrible shock because of the heat. I put a shade screen next to it to protect it from the afternoon sun. It looked ragged for quite some time and I didn't think we would get any fruit. Nonetheless as you can see above we do have fruit, and it is turning red. The third plant for my home teaching family went through major shock as I put it outside in the sun. We nursed it back to health inside then Dale finished it off: http://ajowens.blogspot.com/2011/08/hurricane-dale-when-brighton-was.html
These are our pumpkin plant blossoms in the morning. The pumpkins don't do too well in the heat, growing then dying back. We have pumpkins but they won't be ready for Halloween. I am waiting to see if they will even grow larger than the size of a golf ball. I also just planted winter transplants. If everything grows well, we won't have to buy salad greens for a while. The list of plants or seeds we are trying include: peas, beans, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, cilantro, jalapeno, wild greens, romaine, spinach, broccoli, carrots, beats, onions, and strawberries.
Finally, at the same land development job I had 2 concrete pipes that I brought home. One was taken up to the cabin. Two weeks ago I installed that one up there as a burn pit. I got excited to install mine at home. I got mine placed in about an hour moving it with a 2x4. I was so proud of myself thinking it would take a tractor to move that thing but a 2x4 and some of my brute strength was all I needed. Audra wasn't too impressed though when she came out and I gave her my "Ta-Da" pose. I mean really-that thing weighs north of 200 pounds and I moved it about 70 feet over a little brick border and tipped it in place, this was between 8:30 and 9:30 at night. My secret plan is to do nothing but eat and watch TV for a month, then Audra will again be amazed at my feats of strength and handiness.
My folks are coming down for conference weekend and I am going to cook up turkey breast and chuck roast in the pit to break it in.
So that's it. I post once in a while. I admit its more about me than the family but I am a key part of this family ;-)
Audra and I have done the Gilmore Adventure Race twice now. This year was the first time I did it without her. It was fun but just not the same. My two teammates didn't train as much as I thought they would and hadn't been on a bike in a while. We came in last place in our division but on the whole we had a good time. We did finish it in a much quicker time compared to my two previous attempts however. I think both of them will be back next year.
The race was held at Watson Lake near Prescott. While it isn't in the pines, it is very scenic.
Our three man team. The man on the left was my trainer from work and the guy on the right is Audra's brother Don who I also work with. The strapping young lad in the middle is me (one of these days I will fill out).
This race is based on orienteering. You are given a map and coordinates and have to figure out where to go. There were four stations we went to by hiking, three stations on the canoes and five stations on the bikes. When we got our maps I plotted the first two points then thought we should head to the lake. My teammates paddled (and complained that I was a freeloader) while I finished plotting the points. I did help out for more than half of it once I finished the map work. The canoe was rated for 550 lbs. We put about 600 lbs in it and didn't have much margin for error. While we rocked back and forth we got close to the surface but never let any water in.
When I got home and was tired and sunburned. Audra had to run to the Women's Conference Broadcast and I irrigated. I didn't want to let the kids play in it and just wanted to chill but I thought it would likely be the last time they can play in the water before it gets too cold. So they got wet and I got the camera.
Strike a pose.
Last but not least an update on a few things I have been working on outside. When we purchased our property there was a large barn on it. When we split the property we had to tear it down because it was too close to the property line. We sold the barn and had a concrete foundation left.
I rented a bobcat with a jackhammer attachment and broke up all the foundation and slab. I learned that concrete must have been cheap when that thing was poured because it was thick. I got rid of all the thick concrete with rebar that bore the weight of the structure. I kept the slab concrete thinking I would reuse it some day. Green folks call this reused concrete "urbanite". I bought into the idea of reusing the concrete and saving space in the landfill. So I made a large pile of it in the yard. This is only about 60% of what I started with.
I used the concrete to make a retaining wall between the house and the playground. I am satisfied with how it turned out but I realize that it was anything but easy. The slab was not uniformly thick leaving pieces as thin as 2.5 inches and as thick as 5 inches. Some of the thin pieces have 2-3 inches of mortar under them while the thick pieces have nearly nothing. Five long courses took me a lot of time. I mixed a lot of concrete and mortar and spent many late nights finishing up last November. I am happy it's done and am thinking I might take the rest of the concrete to the landfill after all. Or I may try another project with it near the irrigation ditch.
On my last job as a land development project manager they had 60 feet of 3 foot HDPE pipe. It was used to temporarily divert a ditch and once used could not be reused. I brought them to the property thinking I could make an elaborate tunnel system for the kids to play in.
Once I paid a guy to laser level our yard and all the time we spent putting the grass in, I couldn't find a good place for the hills and tunnels. I think Audra suggested using the pipes for berms in the front. From there we talked about making a raised garden out of the pipe sections on the side of our house.
The dirt here was mechanically compacted and has a lot of rocks in it. It is an ordeal to dig them out by hand. My goal was to get in 6 pots for the winter garden and check that done! I want to add another 6 or 9 pots for the spring garden. Eventually we will put pavers down in the area but for now we walk on the dirt.
Our Stake President had the idea that everyone should have a garden and they gave us all tomato seedlings in the end of July, JULY! It was incredibly hot still. I had three plants. I was going to give one to my home teaching family and plant the other two. The kids got into it and Adaira and Brighton each had their own. I broke Brighton's stalk when I we planted it. Adaira's made it in the ground but went through terrible shock because of the heat. I put a shade screen next to it to protect it from the afternoon sun. It looked ragged for quite some time and I didn't think we would get any fruit. Nonetheless as you can see above we do have fruit, and it is turning red. The third plant for my home teaching family went through major shock as I put it outside in the sun. We nursed it back to health inside then Dale finished it off: http://ajowens.blogspot.com/2011/08/hurricane-dale-when-brighton-was.html
These are our pumpkin plant blossoms in the morning. The pumpkins don't do too well in the heat, growing then dying back. We have pumpkins but they won't be ready for Halloween. I am waiting to see if they will even grow larger than the size of a golf ball. I also just planted winter transplants. If everything grows well, we won't have to buy salad greens for a while. The list of plants or seeds we are trying include: peas, beans, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, cilantro, jalapeno, wild greens, romaine, spinach, broccoli, carrots, beats, onions, and strawberries.
Finally, at the same land development job I had 2 concrete pipes that I brought home. One was taken up to the cabin. Two weeks ago I installed that one up there as a burn pit. I got excited to install mine at home. I got mine placed in about an hour moving it with a 2x4. I was so proud of myself thinking it would take a tractor to move that thing but a 2x4 and some of my brute strength was all I needed. Audra wasn't too impressed though when she came out and I gave her my "Ta-Da" pose. I mean really-that thing weighs north of 200 pounds and I moved it about 70 feet over a little brick border and tipped it in place, this was between 8:30 and 9:30 at night. My secret plan is to do nothing but eat and watch TV for a month, then Audra will again be amazed at my feats of strength and handiness.
My folks are coming down for conference weekend and I am going to cook up turkey breast and chuck roast in the pit to break it in.
So that's it. I post once in a while. I admit its more about me than the family but I am a key part of this family ;-)
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