Ready for Hawk Watching?

October 19, 2012

Diligent training.  It is something people talk about a lot this time of year.  Can you eat all of that pumpkin pie?  Well, what has your training consisted of?  Are you ready for that scenic bobsledding trip down Manaslu?  I don't know.  Have you been training?  Why does your favorite team suck?  That's right, they suck!  Well, it may have to do with their training.

These were the thoughts going through my mind as I set out on a moderately windy evening to prepare for tomorrow's Hawk Watch Run at Hitchcock Nature Center.  I was training.  Here's a video clip with inspirational music provided by Electric Needle Room.  Spoiler alert, the video and/or soundtrack will probably skip around, much like my prancing feet out on this focused training run!

Another aspect of the fierce beauty of moderate competition is the art of preparation.  H, anyone can get out there and wing it like Earnest Borgnine doing stand-up.  It takes preparation to be prepared!  Armed with this thought I went out to inspect an area that was similar to the actual race course in that they are both outdoors and geographically similar. I found.that there were many small to large tree (and zombie) limbs lying around.

Yep.  Good thing I was practicing my pull-ups.  That will probably help me pull myself over some fallen limbs, and/or pull myself up off my ass after I slip in the leafy mud.

Here is another edge that I have over other competitors in this event.

Hedge apples from Osage Orange tree!  Suck on that, suckers!

That's right.  Awareness of potential natural missiles is the third corner of the triangle of competitive advantages that I am about to smack people upsides da head wid!  Booyah!

Although my preparations... H, they might smack of moderate activity to some, are not easy, they are way easier than preparing for any of the distances that were available for the currently sold out 1st annual G.O.A.T.z Trail Run.  The website offers 5, 10.5, 21 mile, and 50 kilometre (approximately 30 miles!) distances for those that are either in great shape or trying to atone for a lifetime of sloth, lechery, or some other sin, real or imagined.

It's the weekend and I am getting pretty psyched about it.  It was a hard week at the soft, noise-dampening tapestry installation firm I am currently interning with.  Time to get out and feel the eyes of the hawks!  Now it's you that're being watched, hawks!  How does that feel, eh?  My fine feathered friends!  Heh heh heh....  Haawww!  Aaahhh!

Speaking of hawks.  Let's get together and watch my favorite movies of all times, Hawk the Slayer, on Saturday afternoon.  You bring the movie and drinks and I'll provide the tv and couch.  I am getting prepared for some serious recovery/laziness following this foray into the savage world of the raptor!

Do you dare to join me?!  Caaawwww!  Kaaaaaaawww!

In Training!

May 18, 2011

Well now there's no retreating, as I have become a wheel on the tricycle known as Team Wheezy. Yes, my friends Rich, Nick and I have dedicated ourselves towards finding, killing, cleaning, combining, possibly cooking somewhat, and eating the three components of a gooduckit - (aka the Urban Omaha - the Ultimate Adventure Race). I am excited about this goal, because now I am "in training," which is a nice break from riding my bicycle. It is somewhat similar to the popular notion of breaking up the rainy weather by getting outside to water our lawns. Although a big goal can be daunting and impressive to others, I find that the smaller goals are really the most important ingredients in implementing a recipe for delicious success, which (when half baked) might taste similar to a gooduckit stew. So with this notion in mind, I set out to kill two birds (and as you may have guessed, those two birds would be a duck and a goose) with one high velocity, sling-shot propelled stone. The first metaphoric bird (the goose) was returning my movies to Blockbuster, while the second bird (the duck) was going for a run, since the Great Gooduckit Chase will most assuredly involve some transporting of oneself by foot in a speedy manner. I am quite fond of combining activities like this in a spontaneous paeon to efficient planning. Here goes!

I snapped photos of various trees on my way to Blockbuster,

and I plan to identify them using my handy-dandy Trees of North America: A Field Guide to the Major Native and Introduced Species North of Mexico (A Golden Field Guide) . If you have not perused this treasure trove of arboreal lore, then you may as well just go climb a tree, because I just don't know what you've been thinking!

My tree identification skills are rusty (kind of like the Hawthorne tree in our front yard was last spring), so I will have to get back to you on the tree types shown here. Please feel free to inform me if you can identify these shady customers. I also noticed a large washed-out portion of the soil supporting this tree. I wondered if this might serve as some type of creature's den.

Which of course led me to thinking about snaring a rabbit with a trap of some sort, rather than the traditional compound bow favored by most Neonderthal hunters.

I trotted over hill and over dale and dropped off my movies, browsed and left. Quite a small success, if I do say so myself (and if I don't, then no one else will)!

It has also come to my attention that this week is Bike to Work week. I hope that you have been enjoying it. I had a nice chat with a fellow bicyclist concerning the possibility of rain later in the week at a local traffic crossing I will henceforth refer to as Chatty Corner (since this is the location where I have been fortunate enough to be able to exchange a few words [of the non-cursing variety] with my fellow travellers).

Although I am wildly enthusiastic (to nearly unsafe proportions, whoa there pardner) about Bike to Work week, I actually prefer to think of it as Bike the Hell Away from Work week (BHAWW Ya!). So ride the hell safely outta there and enjoy some tree viewing!