Thanksgiving Day Knitting

What to do when you finish a large pair of socks and want a simple knitting project to work on while visiting on Thanksgiving Day(Bird mittens? What bird mittens?).

Dive into the stash, grab a cone of yarn from Scotland and cast on for a lace scarf (Ploughed Acre Scarf - lace pattern from a Barbara Walker Treasury, scarf pattern by wildknits).



As you may have noticed I have started to wind off the yarn into a 'cake'/center-pull ball. Cones are not very portable and I have travel plans for this scarf.

Now, deciding to wind this off mid-project has involved a bit of breaking of yarn and then spit splicing. My intention was one break but... well the yarn had another idea! About a quarter of the way through the first cake it went flying across the room. Yup, yarn a little too slippery for the ball winder. So I applied my high tech solution to this problem



After adding the rubber band I was on my way. Due to the tangle that ensued (yarn from the outside interfering with the center pull feature during the trip across the room) I had to break the yarn once more. Finished winding the initial flying cake, spit spliced the yarn together and began winding off the cone again. Everything was going great and then I took a hard look at the ball-winder, the cone and back again. The yarn was not all going to fit! Another break in the yarn was needed. Second ball wound up in no time though, and only slightly smaller than the first.

Originally I was a little concerned about having enough yarn for a long scarf (unblocked this scarf is over 6 inches wide) but now I am less worried. This has been an amazing cone of yarn! Bought it at a knitting retreat years ago from someone cleaning out her stash. Knit a large shawl from it (gifted to our pastor when she was going through treatment for breast cancer), and have knit at least one hat with it. The yarn is a little stiff as is, due to the oils left on it for machine knitting, but once it is washed up fluffs and has a wonderful feel.

So far no recipient in mind for this scarf - we shall see what presents itself ;->


Been running consistently - at least for me - and pulled out the training plan last night I used for the Superior 25k. Time to start planning for next years races. I am running about 14 miles per week right now and need to get that up another few miles before I jump into the training plan. I have found that I need a long build-up and longer miles to 'race' well, so will start the formal plan mid-January for a mid - May race. If all goes well, I will have a perfect base and be in a good place for training for my second marathon (going back to the Half Voyageur, non-Jarrow's Beach year).

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope you all have a nice break from your routine(s), can gather with an interesting group of people, have an opportunity to be outdoors enjoying the beauty of a late fall day and get to eat your fill of delicious food.

Preparations have begun at Wildknits: Turkey was picked up yesterday from our local farmer; pumpkin was baked, pie filling was prepared and the pies are in the over; beets are cooking; bread is rising; groceries are purchased. The rest of the meal will be prepared tomorrow. Fresh turkeys cook pretty quick so there will be time for a run in the morning on one of my favorite sections of the SHT - Knife River.

This section may eventually be abandoned as the trail is built from Duluth to Two Harbors, but for now it is the site of some memorable runs year round. It is a rooty, twisty hilly section - all the best of the SHT. Portions run along the Knife River - high above and close to the riverside. Demands your attention or you will trip over a root, run into a tree or step into a puddle. Not too long - maybe 4 miles top, trendy downhill- if you start at the top :->

After the run it will be back to the house to get the turkey in the oven, start the herb puffs, make cranberry sauce and finish up all of the last minute stuff that is Thanksgiving in America.

Enjoy!

Pickled Herring, Holiday Cheer and Broken Windows

It must be winter!

The temperatures are dropping (though still no snow) and car windows are frosty - leading to comical attempts at scraping (I am short, my car has a lot of glass, attempts to reach the middle of the windshield without leaning on the car in my work clothes.... amusing). Apparently it was so cold overnight yesterday that it broke auto glass:



This window was just replaced in August (trauma induced by a bass amp). The theory is that something was wrong with the installation and the cold (low yesterday morning 7 F) lead to the break. Sigh! Thankfully the damage is covered by the warranty as that car does not have glass coverage. And lucky for me - that is not my primary vehicle. Unbelievably, I did not notice the window was broken when I left for work - too focused on scraping windows and getting going on time. In my defense, I do not park on the same side of the street as this car ;->

Over the past week there has been a large container moving in and out of our refrigerator. I am not initiated into the mysteries of pickling fish, but that is what has been happening in the Wildknit's kitchen. Started with last Sundays catch of Lake Superior Herring Once they were cleaned and filleted (saw a lot of roe which can be sold for the caviar market in Sweden) the fish was cut into chunks and went into our crockpot insert with a brine solution. After an overnight stay in the refrigerator the fish is rinsed and then covered with white vinegar for another overnight stay in the fridge. One more rinsing, and then the fish goes into the pickling jars and is covered with pickling solution. After 5 days it will be ready for consumption. This recipe does not involve canning - just refrigeration. Now, I am NOT a fan of commercial pickled herring - 'shudder' - but do find this to be quite edible.

More to my liking is the Holiday Cheer that was also cooked up this weekend. Otherwise known as "Christmas Beer". Traditionally, we start talking about brewing this up for the holiday season in the fall and then procrastinate to the point that we are brewing on Christmas Eve and the beer will not really be ready for consumption until well into the new year. But this year we got the timing a little better. The recipe includes honey, ginger root, cinnamon, and grated orange peel in addition to the requisite malt extract, malts, hops and ale yeast. It is now sitting in a 5 gallon carboy. The first 24-72 hours involves a lot of noise! Active fermentation is taking place and there is a lot of gurgling as the excess gases escape through a hose and into a container of water. All is quiet now though - fermentation lock is in place and the carboy sits, wrapped in a sleeping bag, under the kitchen table. Rather than bottling 5 gallons of beer, we now move it into a soda keg when fermentation is complete.

Made it sound like I was busy this past weekend, huh?! I was only an assistant for all of this cooking. I do the shopping and help out with some prep, but am not the chief cook or brewer. Jon has been pretty busy of late - and I notice that the sourdough starter has moved from the fridge to the kitchen table so bread is also on the way. And we have not even started to assemble the Thanksgiving Day menu!

As non-traditional as we can be there are some stand-bys that are expected on the table. This year there will be turkey (fresh from our local CSA), herb puffs (Laurel's Kitchen - one child has already requested the recipe for her meal far away in Montana),cranberries from a local supplier and pies made from the pumpkin we got with our last summer Food Farm (CSA) share. There is talk of a brussel sprout salad (now, give it a chance! Shredded brussel sprouts, peccarino cheese, walnuts... quite tasty) and we just downloaded a recipe for a cranberry-walnut upside down cake from the Almanac (www.tpt.org) website. As you can see we cook for a crowd and like variety.

Another Thanksgiving Day tradition is to head out for a walk in the woods. For a few years now that has included spotting a porcupine! Wonder if we will see one this year? Luckily Porter has never gotten ahold of one on a holiday.

From last weekend:


Playtime at wildknits - Porter and Hobbes (standard poodle)

Deconstructing a mitten - a photo essay

Sit back and enjoy a series of photos detailing the ripping back of one of the bird mittens (while I research early signs of dementia - one possible reason I knit a whole mitten without noticing my error?):

































What I love about shetland wool - it is 'sticky'. Unlike smoother yarns the stitches hang onto each other just enough that it was remarkably easy to pick up all those stitches. Now what to do with the thumb.... should I try to kitchener it back in place or rip it out? think I will wait until i finish the hand 9again) to tackle that problem.

I finished the Bird Mittens! Or did I?

Much excitement around the Wildknits household. After months of work (well, really hours of work and months of procrastination and messing about with other knitting projects)I finished the Bird Mittens. No more stranded knitting on size 0 needles with lace weight yarn! No more detailed patterns and charts to follow! Another pair of beautiful mittens ready to be gifted to an anxious recipient!



Look pretty good, eh? Could use a blocking to even out the stitches, but overall a nice pair of mittens.

Here is a look at the palm side and the thumbs:



And that is when I saw it! Notice the thumb on the left hand mitten. Go ahead, embiggen the picture if you need to. What do you see?

Yup, I placed the thumb in the wrong spot on the left hand. Don't ask me how, or why, I did not notice until I was finished with the mittens. I've tried denial (they still fit, feel okay on the hand, no one will notice...) but this means a visit to the 'frog pond'. I am hoping I can at least salvage the thumb and not have to reknit that as well (that would make 4 thumbs knit for one pair of mittens). Though it would mean kitchener stitching the thumb to the hand... hmmm, maybe re-knitting the thumb for the 4th time isn't so bad.

And here I was looking forward to some nice 'quiet' sock knitting now that the mittens are done and the heel stitches are picked up. Guess I will put that on hold and get to work pulling out the yarn I carefully wove in after finishing the top, then pulling out the stitches, and oh yeah, joy of joys, picking up 70 or so stitches in lace weight wool with sz 0 (2 mm) needles. Best do it while there is good light and my eyes are not too tired. As attractive as a certain beverage would be for the task, I do not think it will improve my chances of picking up tiny stitches in colorwork.

Ah well, does provide a handy excuse not to do any housework as the sun is shining - kindof - today.

Did get out the door this morning for a run. Braved the 30 degree temps and winds to run 5.3 miles of hilly road. The Saturday morning running group has officially kicked off our season. We only meet in the winter and run pretty much despite what the weather throws at us. The core group has been meeting for years, I am a relatively new recruit, joining them 3 or 4 years ago I think. Has been great motivation to get out the door and run on other days of the week so that I can handle the 'long run'.

Run went well, mostly recovered from donating blood on Tuesday. Right knee was a bit stiff at times, but I think I just need to be careful about which side of the road I am running on. When running against traffic the cant of the road aggravates my right leg so I just took to running with traffic at times to even out the stress (note: traffic is a relative term, this is run on rural roads with a grand total of maybe 5 or so cars seen the entire 5 miles). Time to get the foam roller back out, concentrate on stretching and try to hit a trail once and awhile.

So, speaking of trails. Duluth decided to "close" the trails within the city this week as they are too wet. Interesting timing. It has been wet for weeks, and the ground is now starting to freeze, so the trails are actually in better shape right now than they have been.

This weekend I am dogsitting a friends standard poodle. He is one year old, and like most standards, is very high energy and 'bouncy'. Quite the contrast to the old man of the house - Porter. Hobbes (the poodle) is almost the same height as Porter and is so agile. It is funny to watch them together. Kind of like a grandpa and a high energy young teen. Porter is not much into wrestling any longer and has been pretty clear about when he wants to be left alone. Luckily Hobbes has listened and I have not had to intervene.

Being used to a dog that doesn't demand much in the way of hands on attention (despite his separation anxiety) it is always an adjustment to go to a dog that expects to be near you and petted on a regular basis. And to top it off, my immune system apparently does not find poodles all that hypoallergenic. I walk a fine line having a dog in the first place and the addition of an extra dog has tipped the balance.

On the plus side, after a hard week at work, nothing like coming home to dogs to cheer you up! Poodle therapy anyone?

With the cold weather has come Sauna Season! The sauna is one of the few places that I am ever truly warm in the winter. The sense of relaxation after a good session.... hard to describe. We have a wood fired sauna so there is a bit of work involved up front, but nothing like a wood fire to raise the temp into the 180 - 200F range. Plus water is never an issue. The stove was rebuilt a few years ago and has a water jacket on one side so we can heat water for bathing in addition to being able to throw water onto the stove for some additional steam. One time we even made it rain in the sauna (way below zero temps outside, very hot stove, application of water, steam rose, hit the ceiling, condensed and... rain! Very cool).

Wednesday I came home from a run and the sauna was heating. Nice way to finish warming up and add another stretching session. The only downside this week was I was one day out from donating blood, so didn't have much sauna stamina and could only take three sessions before I was 'cooked'.

Well, off to get some chores done (yeah right) and fix my knitting error.

Giant Socks?!?

Why yes, that is a nickel perched on the toe of that sock!

Sz 13+. Surprisingly I know quite a few people with this size foot, so was able to get a tracing without the recipients knowledge (or was the model the recipient??? - all will be revealed around Christmas). The sock knitting is moving along quickly, the yarn is a pleasure to knit with. There is some concern around here about size, but as we are not large-footed in this house it is hard to know. Sock matches the tracing pretty well though. Heel has been turned on the second sock, now to pick up stitches along the heel flap, work the decreases and then it is back to "mindless" inches of stockinette stitch for the foot (you can get a lot read when working a sock for a person who wears a sz 13).

It is Porter's 10th birthday today! Now, depending on who you consult that makes him the equivalent of a 56 - 77 yr old (generic calculators put him on the young end, weight based/size based calculators put him on the older end). We are definitely closer to the end than the beginning of his life though. He is slowing down a bit, but occasionally still shows his goofy, playful side. If anything, he has gotten more "cuddly" in the last couple of years. To an outside observer he may seem aloof still, but we've noticed a change. As illustrated below:



Porter loves our friend because he gets hip massages when Griff's around (plus there is usually good food to be had).

Did I mention I ran without pain! Very exciting, and on pavement to boot. Didn't manage another run after last Friday (still easing into the wintery weather) but will give it a go tomorrow and see how the leg/knee/IT band is doing. If all goes well I can start thinking ahead towards training plans for this spring and summers races. Will most likely be a slower run as I donated blood, I know some folks who say they can run the same day they donate, but I really could tell I was "a pint low" today and would prefer not to get sick, so will take it easy.

That said, I had the day off today (from one job) so took the opportunity to get outside for a walk while the sun was still shining. Explored the SHT in the Hawk Ridge area, then hooked up to the Amity Creek Trail and then onto the Hawk Ridge Nature Reserve trails. Nice walk in the woods, with more climbing than I had anticipated. Wonder if it qualified as "strenuous exercise"?

To complete the randomness of this post: prepare for intense blueness when adding blueberries to oatmeal and then heating it up ;->

First Snow

And my relatives in the Twin Cities think Duluth is cold - I hear they had snow before we did!

Last Tuesday it was sunny and temps were close to 70F. I thought a "too nice to be indoors day" should be declared and everyone let out of work/school. No such luck. Perfect day to get out the vote, though. Maybe a good reflection of peoples attitudes as they headed to the polls and then waited for the results.

For Wednesday's run temps were in the low 50's with some drizzle. Fast five miles for me with only an occasional pain involving the IT band. A little stiffness later, but overall much better than things have been for months. The wet weather continued, meaning Fridays run was a bit wet also, but I found myself shedding a few layers as the temps were still in the 50's.

Woke up to howling winds and rain, which turned to snow, this morning. Temps dropped throughout the day, but not too much snow accumulated (ground is still warm). Intended to get a run in this morning with friends in Proctor but after arriving, looking at the small turnout and the big winds we decided to bag the run. I know, in a month or two these temps will seem balmy, but even us northerners have to ease into winter ;->

So, what else have I been up to:
- Work, always work (including some long hours at both jobs)
- Much more running than I have been able to accomplish in months (and boy does it feel good! - no pain at all during or after Fridays run, now not to overdue it)
- Knitting (one sock done, cuff of the second started - and finished - today, now to turn the heel and get going on the 11+ inch foot) and
- Reading

My reading list.... well, it's a mix of stuff:
- Free-range knitter: The yarn harlot writes again. The latest offering from Stephanie Peal-McPhee
- A couple of books and short stories by Ursula K. LeGuin
- Some other random short stories by science fiction authors I like (even one that had an
ultra-running theme
- The Ever-Running Man by Marcia Muller (a mystery writer whose work I enjoy)
- Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness.

This last book takes a look at the science of choice architecture... and how people make decisions and can be "nudged" into making 'better' choices for themselves and others (always with the option to choose differently). Interesting stuff to think about and not the dry read you might expect from an economist and a lawyer.

Most of my books come from the library. As much as I love browsing the aisles their limited hours make it difficult, so now I browse remotely and reserve the books online to be picked up when I am downtown for work. Libraries are wonderful community assets but in these tight budget times they are one of the services to take a cut - hence the limited hours. I once heard someone say that if the idea of a public library were brought up now a days, it would be a hard sell to convince the public to pay for them (lets all now be very grateful for the foresight of our predecessors!).


Oh yeah, ran the last race of the NMTC Fall Trail Series. Did okay despite battling a cold all weekend and getting a nasty side stitch in the last 1/3 of the race. Brought along Gypsy Soup (Moosewood Cookbook) - a hit last year and again this year - for the post-race potluck. Donated three hats to the prize drawing for the end of the series awards - which all went rather quickly. I have decided it is more gratifying to gift my hand-knits this way (and via the Mitten Tree at work) than at silent auctions. I am always rather dismayed to see what a hand-knit item goes for at a silent auction (despite the suggested retail price) and have learned not to look any longer.

Not much else going on around here. Starting to hunker down and prepare for winter (better get the rest of the straw on the garlic bed, I hear Porter likes to lay in it). One of these days I will get some photos up of the latest knitting projects.

Note to self: no chai after noon, especially not a 'medium' sized one! Hard to get to sleep with that amount of caffeine in my system. Guess I will go back to working on the heel of a sock and reading....

6 days in the life...

What's been going on over at Wildknits?

Not much and a lot!

Last post was all about mushrooms. Since then the weather took a turn for the cold. Last Thursday was beautiful - sunny, in the upper 40's - low 50's. I was at a conference that day in town and was able to walk there from home, walk to an appointment mid-morning (and back), eat lunch outdoors and walk home at the end of the day (got 7 miles in that way - including a serious hill workout on the way home). Thought about walking/running to the conference the next day...

Woke up to thick fog and the threat of rain on Friday. The day got worse from there. Not a bad day to spend indoors. On a positive note, the conference was good, attended some good sessions, made some good connections and got the cuff of a what will be very large pair of socks knit ;-> The socks are being knit form Plymouth Happy Feet (90% superwash merino, 10% nylon). will try to get a picture up at some point soon. Very pretty and pleasant to knit. Besides, beat falling asleep during sessions (which is what some folks did).

The forecast for the weekend was not good, rain and high winds both days and me with outside chores to accomplish. Got out Saturday morning to turn over a garden bed and prepare it for garlic. This is our first attempt at growing it. Based n the research I did we weren't getting it in too late, but with the forecast I figured I better plant it before it snowed! The day started out wet and cold and stayed that way until after the garlic was planted. I took a break to run some errands (pick up a bale of straw and some dog food, Porter's meds, etc) and by the time I got home the sun was out.

The sun and warming temps made it a lot easier to get the outside chores done. Thirty plus feet of hops removed from the front porch and hauled off. Mower put away (meaning the area under the porch had to be straightened out to accommodate it). "Dog yard" cleaned up (a chore no one likes). Even found time to take Porter for a 3 mile walk on the SHT and putz around with my bike - attempting to install some straps on the pedals.

But Sunday was the big day! NMTC race (Lester Park) and the last soccer game of the fall season. The weather forecast was for rain and winds gusting up to 50 mph. Delightful! I bundled up for the run (I would be arriving early to help set up), packed a few changes of clothes (there was a potluck after the game) and headed out.

The wind was not too bad at Lester (the trail is in the woods) but conditions on the ground were a bit... saturated shall we say. Wettest anyone can remember seeing it. No avoiding wet feet (and it is better for the trails if you don't). Of course, shortly after starting the race it began to pour - and not just rain, felt like a little sleet mixed in. By the top of the first loop I was soaked in the front and glad I went with the windproof vest. Got lapped on the way up the hill in the second loop (earliest that has happened - it was a fast group this year); IT began to hurt (in waves) as I headed down, but decided to tough it out ( ;-> ) and finish up the race.

On to the soccer game where the wind rose dramatically just as we were starting and it began to rain/sleet again. I never did get the feeling back into my hands or feet during the game. Interesting to kick a ball and watch it fly up into the air, then stop moving and drop straight down ;->

Potluck followed, hosted by our teams sponsor Carmody's Pub. Nothing like a Guinness Stout to replenish the carbs after a lot of exercise ;->

But the best was for last: got home to a fired up sauna! First time I was warmed through for weeks. Nothing like it. Good way to loosen up tight muscles.

The work week has been very busy. Can't even remember Monday. Tuesday involved both jobs and a stop by the sheriff's office to get fingerprinted (for a license application). It was pretty fascinating. Last time I was fingerprinted was when I was 17 and needed a security clearance to work for the Social Security Administration. Back then it was black ink. This time it was done digitally. No ink - at least on my fingers.

Today I got my first "winter" run in on the Lakewalk. Last year we met on Wednesday evenings to run 5 miles. This year is a process in the making ;-> Today we ran around 3.6 miles. Just enough to get my knee aching again. Felt good though - and the sunset was pretty nice today.

Tomorrow the forecast is for a high near 60F! Too bad I will spend most of my day indoors ;-P

Mushrooms!

Seen last Saturday on the SHT in my own neighborhood. The camera was unable to fully capture their color - a very nice shade of pale purple (lilac?). Any guesses on which mushroom species this is?







Furnace update: After a brief foray into heating the home on the 15th (guests over) the furnace was turned back off and stayed off until last night. It was 56 inside the house and outdoor temps were not going to be rising anytime soon. Filter was changed and the heat is on for good (unless there is a freak warm front that comes through). Predicting snow for this weekend. Can't complain too much, it has been snowing in Butte for awhile now (family out there).

NMTC - Hartley Run

Well, instead of two soccer games in a row I decided to combine a long trail run with a soccer game.

Today was the first sunday run in the NMTC Fall series. Usually they are held on Wednesday evenings, but we are rapidly running out of daylight by 6:00 pm, so it is off to the weekends. Last year I played soccer at 1:00 or 3:00 pm and the runs are at 2:00 pm. Not being particularly speedy, I gave up the runs to play soccer.

This year the games are at 2:00 and 4:00 pm and to make things even better, my last two games of the season are at 4:00 pm. Hmm, takes me about an hour or so to run a 10K, a little commuting time and changing my clothes... I can make this work! Never mind my last long run was months ago, prior to the injury. I had been playing three hours of soccer of late, so running for an hour and then playing for 90 minutes should be doable ;->

Hartley is a beautiful 600+ acre park in the heart of Duluth. I love these trails - even more so in the winter. Fall is tough as the leaves are down and it is hard to see the rocks and roots. It has been very wet in Duluth of late so the trail was especially gooey. Not a bad day to have the winter weight socks on.

There have been a lot of people showing up for the races of late. The start is on an abandoned road, nice a wide, so folks can start to spread out. After that it is single track until the final third of the race when you hit the old road and then the ski trails. Fewer opportunities to pass on single-track. Okay though as I was trying to be conservative and save a little energy for the game this afternoon.

I am pretty familiar with this course and as we hit the "guard rail loop" and came near Howard Gnesen road I waited for the big hill - but it never came! Apparently there have been a few re-routes out there. Next thing I knew we were heading towards the pine plantation and my opportunity to pass was upon me. This is a great place to run - years and years of pine needles, few (if any) rocks or roots, no undergrowth - hard not to speed up in there.

The next leg involved crossing the edge of an old beaver pond. It is always wet here, but this year was another story altogether. The informal bridges that exist were under water in spots, the trail was a mucky mess. No way I was risking my neck running through this. Ran where there was "land", walked the mud-covered wooden planks and bridges, then picked up the pace when relatively solid ground reappeared. Course it was uphill by then and power walking was the order of the day.

Much of this trail is being maintained by COGGs - a local mountain biking group. They are working on some trail rehab and have been moving trail a lot. Got myself "lost" out there one time a year or two ago when I followed a new route and ended up on a road that did not lead anywhere near my car - oh yeah, and it was getting dark. Backtracked and made it back to the car before I lost all daylight.

Anyway - no lost runners today. Followed the trail as it wound in and out of the trees, eventually joined the SHT for a bit, then emptied out onto the abandoned road which led to the ski trails and... uphill. There is a short stretch near the top of the hill where you cross over a lot of sharp, pointy rocks. I think it is near the site of an old quarry. Worth slowing down here and preserving your ankles.

The ski trails are nice running for the most part - though again the leaves made it hard to see what was underneath and the trails do have more than there share of rocks. And this is where I got passed! Young woman made it by me and I did my best to keep her in sight for the rest of the race. It is hilly on this section, but by then I knew we were getting close to the end of the race and the best part was yet to come: another run through a pine plantation. The footing is so nice and it is a downhill finish, so you can get flying around the last few corners. I did my best to catch the woman in front of me at this point and it was a bit of a flying finish - especially for her. She tripped right at the end and kind of slid into the finish. Ouch! Saw her later and she had quite the scrape on her shin. double-ouch!

After a short visit with various folks I headed to the car to get out of some of my wet clothes and headed to the soccer field. Got there in plenty of time to change (first scraping the mud off my legs) and get chilled. The problem with my Raynauds is that if I get chilled at all I lose circulation to my fingers and toes. Despite changing into dry stuff on my top I got chilled and for the first 1/3 of the game did not really have circulation to my fingers.

But that was nothing compared to what happened on the field. Last week one of our players suffered a knee injury. This week it was worse. During the first half one player injured her knee and had to be carried off the field (and down the hill and around the fence) to a waiting car that transported her to the ER. By the time that was done it was the second half. Near the end another of our players injured her ankle - badly. Again, carried off the field and eventually to the ER. We ended the game at this point. Not much time was left and we were losing players pretty rapidly (for a league with few serious injuries ever). I spent a lot of my time helping to administer first aid and transport folks down the hill. Hoping everyone is going to be okay and all injuries are - relatively - minor. A good sign is when the injured party can joke by the time they get to the car ;->

All of this makes my IT band seem a minor issue. It is better overall, but a little stiff and sore tonight. Ice, ibuprofen and foam roller for me.

Stay safe this week!

October 15th - and I wasn't the one that caved!

The heat is on. A long-time friend stopped by, we went out to eat and when I came home I noticed that special smell that only happens the first day the furnace is turned on (burning dust???).

Granted it was 59 degrees indoors, but I was prepared to deal with it. Apparently the other member of the wildknits household thought our guests may want to be a bit warmer.

Thermostat is set to 60 F. Guess I will leave it there and see how often it kicks on. Goodbye under $100 gas/water/sewer bills! See you next May (or June - it is northern Minnesota after all).

(PS: any theories on where the 2 cm bruise on the outside of my right knee came from? Woke up with it this morning. Even my knee cap feels a little funny. No soccer since Sunday. No memory of bumping into anything...)

Wild Duluth 50K

Woke at 5:00 am to thunder and pouring rain. Would anyone show up for the Wild Duluth Fat Ass 50K/100K? http://wildduluthraces.wordpress.com

Dressed in several layers, found my rain gear, packed up wool hat and mittens and some food for the day, fed the dog, loaded him in the car and headed for Bayfront Park - meeting place for 50k runners. It had stopped raining but it was too dark to see what the skies had in store for us.

Arrived at Bayfront where one car was waiting - Phillip Gary Smith had driven up from the Cities to participate. We chatted and waited for the Holaks to arrive, then waited and chatted some more to see if anyone else was coming. Had the thunder scared everyone else off?

After a decent interval we loaded up into the two "aid" vehicles and headed to Chambers Grove Park for the start of the run. At the park we met up with one other 50K runner (no 100K this year) and our field was set. Everyone would win top honors in their respective age groups and there looked to be a race for overall men's winner ;-> All the runners were veterans of ultras: Kim Holak; Phillip Gary Smith and Rick Kucinski.

The start was set for 7:00 am but we ended up waiting a few minutes longer for the sun to rise. As the sky lightened we could see that the clouds were breaking up and it looked like it was going to be a beautiful day to run the Superior Hiking Trail through Duluth.

(At this point I realized I had forgotten my camera, so no pictures from the start)

Due to the special firearms season runners were decked out in blaze orange and would remain so until reaching Magney-Snively and being firmly within Duluth City limits for the rest of the run.

The runners headed out and Andy and I took off to set up the first "aid station" along Hwy 210 where the Grand Portage trail crosses the highway and runners would first set foot on the Superior Hiking Trail (SHT). Andy and I cooperated in providing a roaming aid station: one of us would stay until all runners had come through while the other took off to meet runners that had already passed by. This worked pretty well, as long as we kept on eye on the time and ensured one of us headed out in a timely manner.

By now the skies had cleared and it was looking to be a beautiful day. Porter and I enjoyed hanging out along the trail and it was nice to have time to read and knit in daylight.

Kim was in the lead and remained so throughout the day, looking strong every time I saw her. The guys stuck together for much of the race and I was wondering if there would be a sprint to the finish!

Made a mad dash home to grab my camera before meeting Kim at an aid station. Photos!

Kim coming into the "aid station" at 24th Ave W.

Heading towards Enger Park

Kim, leaving Enger Park, heading towards Bayfront

Kim coming into the finish.

Rick leaving 24th Ave. W.

Phillip coming into 24th Ave W.

Ultra runner glimpsed through the trees (I was on my way home via the SHT - benefit of living just off the race course).

At this point I had been "released from duty" and Porter and I enjoyed a walk along the trail taking in the fall colors and last of the flowers.



Autumn crocus

Is your heat on?

So, how long until we turn on the heat at the wildknits home?

In past years the heat did not get turned on until at least October 1st. This year I said - "No heat until the house can't be maintained at 60F during the day". Well, if you check the comments on my previous post, it was below 59 indoors when I got home today (no sunshine to help warm the house).

Any guesses on how long we can last before I cave in (and it will be me that will need the heat - Raynauds does not allow me much flexibility where temperatures are concerned)?

Just to give you an idea of our hardiness:

We spent one winter living in a larger home, heated via an ancient oil furnace (back-up) and a wood stove. The wood stove was installed late in the year and the bulk of our wood ( a logger's truck worth) was green that winter. We would cut it, split it and bring it indoors to dry a bit near the stove (or on top of it) before loading it in. The girls were three, and under one, years old at the time. The three year old was a great help in hauling in the wood. The baby.... she contributed to an elaborate gating system for the stove (she has never taken "no" well, persistence is a wonderful trait in an adult, in an infant???). This was the year that Duluth got three feet of snow on Halloween. We lived in Ashland at the time, but it was a harsh winter.

If the house got to 60F we thought we were living in the tropics! We spent a lot of our time hanging out in the living room near the stove, avoiding the upstairs and back of the house where temps were much colder. Nothing like attempting to nurse an infant through three layers of sweaters - and at the time we were also potty-training said infant. Good times!

There is a theory that you can reset your internal thermostat so you feel comfortable at colder temperatures. I am testing out that theory to some degree. Unfortunately going to work messes with things a bit as the clinic I work at is kept warmer than my house (though my office is on an outside wall and the previous occupant needed a space heater to stay warm).

So, what do you do at your home? Is the heat on? Off? What are your plans for the winter? What is the high temp in your home? What about the low?

The wildknits advantage? Warm wooly items to layer up with (and the down booties I got last winter).

NMTC - Hawk Ridge

Keeping up my grand exercise plan: run one race a week and play soccer on Sundays. Seems to be working okay:-> IT band is behaving - somewhat - and my running times aren't too far off from previous years.

Last night was the Hawk Ridge run. The race starts at the "top" of Seven Bridges Road in east Duluth, and climbs from there, going past the Hawk Ridge Nature Reserve (sight of a large birding festival in September), turning onto one trail and then another as we head back to the start on the Amity Creek trail. The first mile or so has some pretty significant grades. There are a few crests along the way where you can catch your breath before the next uphill. Once you reach the observation area at the nature reserve you have hit the high point of the race and it is downhill for a bit before the turn onto the trail, a slight uphill and then it is downhill to the finish. Hard to tell you are running downhill on the Amity Creek Trail - but you are.

Fall colors are at their peak in Duluth right now and it was a beautiful run. Temps in the upper 50's to low 60's - even with the sun going down. I think I even got bitten by mosquitoes while helping out at the end!

I felt like I ran pretty well overall and tried to push it a bit near the end. The Amity Creek Trail is a bit of an ankle twister in spots and with the leaves down it was tough to see the rocks at times. All the recent rain led to a few mud puddles and I hear the finish of the race was a bit slick for some folks. This was the last Wednesday night run - from here on out they switch to Sundays. And last night you could see why - as we hiked back up to where the car was parked it was growing dark.

This is the time of year when it is tempting to play hooky. As I was driving across the bridge from Superior to Duluth yesterday (work meeting at our other site) I had to fight the urge to call in sick for the rest of the day and go play in the woods. Looking at the hillside ablaze in color.... it was a miracle I made it back indoors. Makes me miss the years of being home with the kids and able to drop everything and go out in to the woods when days like this presented themselves.

Enjoy what beautiful days we have left - rumor has it we may have snow soon.

Superior Hiking Trail: Crosby-Manitou to Caribou River Wayside

Warning - this is another post full of pictures! Enjoy a tour along the SHT (and boy do I have respect for the runners who did this during the night!):

Bridge over Manitou River

View upriver

Manitou River

Horseshoe Ridge

Porter, SHT blue blaze and fall colors

Coral fungi - sp(ecies) unknown

Amanita sp.

View into fault line valley - Horseshoe Ridge area

Climbing out of fault line valley

Unidentified mushrooms

Looking back towards Finland (MN)

The Miller (my best guess at species)



more 'shrooms - near Horseshoe Ridge campsite

Cup fungus sp.

Even more mushrooms!

Caribou River falls

Caribou River falls - upriver view

Lake Superior from viewing platform above the Caribou River

Porter enjoying the Caribou River


Still with me? ;->

It was a beautiful day. Temps in the upper 50's. Sunny, a little breeze to cool you off after a steep climb. Lots of perfect lunch spots - sunny outcrops of rock with good views.

As you may have noticed - this hike was all about mushrooms. I brought a field guide to mushrooms with, but it stayed in my pack all day (why do I bother?). What I really needed was my "Geology on Display: Geology and Scenery of Minnesota's North Shore Parks" by John Green. Lots of questions about the geology of the area, and even though I am "retired" from naturalist work, a lot of the hikers recognized me from previous hikes and wanted to ask questions.

So, to quote Professor Green:

"The upper valley, and most of the park's area, is underlain by rocks of the Beaver Bay Complex. These rocks were intruded as several separate bodies of magma into the slightly older volcanic rocks. All of the bedrock was formed during the development of the Midcontinent Rift system about 1.1 billion years ago. The volcanic rocks in the lower section of the park are dominated by two rock types: basalt flows, most of which have ophitic texture; and rhyolite..." "...the large ridges just uphill from Highway 61 are made of ophitic and amygdaloidal basalt." "Also in this section is a layer of distinctive, reddish breccia which contains pieces of various types of basalt (mostly) and other rocks, in a finer-grained matrix. This same deposit can be seen at the Caribou River Wayside... where it forms outcrops in the river bed near the trail, and bluffs just below the dramatic Caribou Falls. This particular breccia was probably deposited as a large mudflow. Caribou Falls itself is localized by a large, northeast-trending fault, the same one that crosses the Manitou River near the highway but is less accessible. Several basalt flows can be seen in the rock face down which the river tumbles at Caribou Falls" (pg 41)

Tomorrow is another NMTC run - Hawk Ridge. One plus mile uphill at the start(steep at times), then rolling and one plus mile of gently trending downhill for the finish. This weekend is the Wild Duluth Fat Ass 100k/50k. Will I see any of my readers there?