Monday, July 06, 2009

Hit Me With Your Best Shot

I'm semi recovered from the 4th of July festivities on Saturday. I opted to stay home and view the fireworks from my backyard. We could see about 5 or 6 firework displays from our backyard, but most of those were way in the distance. The closest ones were from Sea World, and they put on quite the show this year. Unlike their nightly fireworks that start at 9:50 PM and ends at 10 PM, the 4th of July firworks probably lasted about 45 minutes. This drove my dog nuts, and her poor doggy voice was sore from barking so much.

Sunday we spent the day doing a ton of yard work, mostly in the back yard. My husband cut down a diseased eugenia bush (similar to the one pictured right, but not as healthy), and I talked him into chopping down a rather tall schefllera, (similar to the one pictured left, but not as lush and pretty), probably about 15 feet tall. That particular plant does well in humid, warm weather and shade. It was in direct sunlight, dry air, and not thriving. After the bushes were cut down into small pieces and put into cans for the greens recycle, we planted a palm tree where the schefllera was and planted several packs of dianthus (pictured below) in the same area. It's not that big an area, but it looks so much better. I should have photo-documented everything, but we were on a roll. Everything just sort of happened. My husband really enjoys using that chainsaw. We still have SO MUCH WORK TO DO. I really wish I could take a magic wand and suddenly have a backyard that looks like a tropical resort... HOWEVER, I don't have the staff for the continuous upkeep. The staff is just me.



Today was RU with a different PT, since my usual guy is on vacation. I did two rounds all of the usual stuff, like the squat matrix and lunge matrix, pylometrics, stability ball push-ups, and one new exercise. He had me do parallel grip pull-ups with my feet with one of those pull-up bars you attach to a door. My feet were anchored against the door, so my arms weren't completely lifting up 100% of my body weight. I easily did 10, so he added 5 more, which was no problem. I could have churned out 30 in one shot, but since I was already wiped out by just one set of the usual exercises, I used that pull-up portion of my workout to cool down. When I was done with the workout one of the assistants helped me with the ice pack for my hip, and I had a really nice, relaxing cool down, feet up. I could have easily taken a nap.

RU has three televisions all set to ESPN, all day long. Tour de France was on the tube while my hip was being iced. I happened to catch a portion of the race where two cyclists bumped into each other, causing both to crash. The weird thing was that they started swinging punches at each other. Some of the PTs commented "those guys really need boxing lessons." I never knew fist fights were a part of the Tour de France. It was so odd. I can deal with fights in hockey, and, of course, in boxing (duh), but in cycling? I don't follow the sport of cycling, so I don't know about things like that. Flat tires I'm aware of, fist fights is a whole other story.

Saturday's song:
Independence Day - Martina McBride - Katiefeldmom

PEACE

Schefllera photo from Mauroguanandi
Eugenia photo from Wikipedia.org
Dianthus photo from
Missouriplants.com

12 comments:

Aka Alice said...

Let's see...I once wanted to punch a tire...but not another person on a ride...

Wow...you have TVs at your RU? I don't...the walls. I went this morning too!

Miss Rachel said...

Love dianthus - so pretty!

Yeah, surprised to hear about fighting in cycling although I guess any sport can have people who are so crazy-competitive that they'll try to beat each down.

The song? Pat Benatar.

Relentless Forward Commotion said...

Thanks for sharing your routine with me !
The thought of all those squats make legs burn !!

Mel-2nd Chances said...

i was a little surprised at the bumping going on too, I also had no idea that was part of the sport! yikes! scary enough being packed into such a big group and having no time to react to someone falling in front of you. Crazy!

Unknown said...

I find that surprising too...

Glenn Jones said...

Ha ha! Cyclists fighting! Kind of like the way baseball players fight. I've never seen one actually land a punch....

Deene said...

you gotta love Pat Benatar!

Anne said...

I wished I'd seen the fist fight, but our cable went out. I think it's rare to see that, at least on TV.

Anonymous said...

oh man yardwork...shrubs will be the death of me

Irene said...

AKA Alice,
The TV's are always set to ESPN at RU. :)

Miss Rachel,
Winner! It was rather weird.

Heather,
The workout is killer but it helps so much!

Mel,
I knew about getting bumped and even crashing, but I've never seen a fist fight break out over it!

Lisa,
It certainly was different!

Glenn,
They were landing punches, but it wasn't pretty!

Deene,
Yes! She was the post marathon band after last year's Rock 'n' Roll Marathon.

Anne,
It will probably be posted on Youtube before you know it.

Carlee,
That was just a fraction of what needs doing!

Jo Lynn said...

I love the beautiful pictures. Thanks. ;)

Irene said...

Jo Lynn,
I can't take credit for the pics, but I do like them, too!