Up and At 'em! - Sat., July 12

So, my first day off this week and what do I do? I volunteer to work the Finish table at a Volksmarch from 6:30 to 8:30 a.m. That meant I had to be up at 5 a.m. to eat breakfast, clean up, get dressed, and drive 20 minutes.

I arrived at Taco Cabana at Bitters Rd. (start point) at 6:25 a.m., bought a green Randolph Roadrunners (San Antonio Volksmarch Club) polo shirt and a cute roadrunner pin, then started my shift. That was easy volunteer work. When walkers finished, I stamped their event and distance books with the event stamp for today.

Me holding a finish stamp at the Volksmarch
(Photo by Martin Callahan)

Randolph Roadrunners Volksmarch Club walk start

Susan M. arrived and did her 11K walk starting at 8:00 a.m. so she would be done in time to start her volunteer shift at 10:30 a.m.

When my shift was over at 8:30, I headed out on my 11K (6.8 mile) walk. This walk went through the gorgeous San Antonio neighborhoods of Bluff View and Camino Real. I finished my walk in one hour and 40 minutes.

Impressions of the neighborhoods...

Crepe myrtles in full bloom!

These homes backed up to a busy road. They must have had some problems with people coming over their fence. If you enlarge the next photo you can see broken bottles cemented into the top of their fence. Not only that, behind the wooden fence is a solid rock wall. 

Glass shards embedded in top of backyard fence!

That's what I'm talkin' about...shade!

Pretty area.

The following house wins the award for the best front entry. Just gorgeous. The owner was out mowing her lawn. She stopped me to ask why so many people were walking in the neighborhood. She wondered if we were putting flyers on people's doors. I told her, "No flyers." Explained to her about the Volksmarch taking place today. She said she understood because she used to run with groups through neighborhoods. Now, she said, she takes care of her yard!

Gorgeous, formal front entry to this home.

More shade! Love it.

I love Tudor architecture.

A huge billiard parlor.

Mexican seafood restaurant.

All in all, this was a great walk. I always enjoy walking in neighborhoods so I can check out their landscaping, flowers, trees, homes. The significant other (of our Randolph Roadrunner's club president) built many of the homes in the Bluff View neighborhood.

Susan M. and Caryl
(Photo courtesy of Martin Callahan)

After the walk, I had lunch at Taco Cabana where I saw Susan M. and Caryl, and then stopped for a car wash, went home, showered, and headed out to do errands. Bob came with me. First stop: Wild Birds Unlimited to buy more bird seed. Second stop: Petco to buy cat food. Third stop: Costco to fill up with gas and to shop for a few items. Then it was back home, unload the car and I headed out to see "Snowpiercers." See my separate blog about that.

So, that was my Saturday.

Bob was not feeling well last night or today. This morning his face and chin were quite swollen. His symptoms included lethargy, achiness, headache. He thinks it has something to do with the new medication his doctor put him on for atrial fibrillation. I suggested he stop taking it immediately. He has an appointment with his cardiologist on Monday. Thank goodness.

All for today. Have a good Sunday everyone!

Morning has Broken - Sat., July 13

I was out of the 5er before the sun came up to do a Volksmarch in Universal City, Texas. Taco Cabana was the start point for this Randolph Roadrunner Club's sponsored event in the U.S. Volkssport headquarters town.

Another gentleman and I started out walking together at 6:45 a.m. and followed the start directions. We were half-way down the road when a red pickup truck pulled up directly in front of us. A man jumped out and said we were going the wrong way and he would give us a ride back to the corner where we were "supposed" to have turned. This completely bamboozled us because the directions were quite clear where we they wanted us to go. When he told us to go the way HE said, we skipped instructions 2-7 and were now at #8. Nonetheless, we went the direction he told us to go, only to see the road where we SHOULD have been connecting up in instruction #7 to the road we were on. I still can't figure out why he did that. He had about ten people very confused during the first light of day. (You're probably scratching your heads by now too!)

The rest of the walk went smoothly. I walked very fast and passed a number of people who had started before me. It was a pleasant walk, although quite warm and humid. We meandered back and forth through the neighborhoods.

Here are photos from the walk.

Purple martin houses.

Mural on an elementary school.

Another mural on the same school.

In the San Antonio area there are many run-off areas for heavy rainfall.

Universal City neighborhood.

Another neighborhood we walked in.

It's fitting that the AVA club we're walking with today is Randolph Roadrunners. I had to triple check that the bird on someone's roof truly was a roadrunner. First, roadrunners are usually on the ground and, second, I didn't expect to see one in the heart of a neighborhood, falsely assuming they liked being out in the desert or scrub. The roadrunner looked like it was just waking up. Kind of like I felt. (The wires in the background look pretty cool, like a musical staff.)

Rumpled feathers upon waking up.

Eyes not quite open yet.

Big ballet stretch.

The 10K (6.2 miles) walk took one hour and 35 minutes today. My best guess for the temperature at 8:20 a.m. was 88 degrees.

A couple of days ago, I watched another bird take a bath in the water puddle on our neighbor's slide out. Can anyone help me identify this bird? I looked in my Audubon Society Field Guide but didn't find it. Thank you, Betty, this is a Texas Blue jay.

Texas Blue jay

Texas Blue jay

Texas Blue jay.

When I got home, the cats wanted to play so I turned on the new SmartKitty HotPursuit toy. Bowie had a blast with it. He had already dragged the toy from the living room to the kitchen and rumpled the kitchen rugs with his skittering across the floor. Very exhuberant cat.

Then he collapsed into a deep sleep.

That's what I'm going to do now. I need a nap.

Travel Bug out.