Mr. Magoo goes on a run

This week followed the same formula as previous weeks, but there were a few things to break up the monotony at least a little bit.

Since Monday was mostly cloudy, I took the opportunity to run on the shadeless Bonneville Shoreline Trail, which is one of the busier trails. A cyclist was coming toward me, and even though the trail is wide, I hopped off the trail to be out of his way. Once I hopped off, I realized that I had hopped right next to a long snake! But I don't think it was a rattlesnake, fortunately. But the rest of the week, I got a little spooked every time I heard something moving in the grass, especially when I thought about seeing a rattler last summer.

I thought about naming this blog post "Snake in the grass."

 The main reason I wanted to go on this trail is because at this time of year, there is a large field of Palmer's penstemon, which is extraordinarily fragrant. The penstemon was in bloom, but I couldn't smell it.

 Dyer's woad is out in abundance now. It discourages me how many invasive weeds there are, and I even feel guilty when I find them pretty (like dyer's woad and hoary cress).

I came down Woodbriar and Wild Rose Trails.

On Tuesday, I went up North Canyon again, and it was gorgeous as the aspens are regaining their leaves. The best thing about trail running is that it's different every time, because different plants are at different stages.

Wednesday was cloudy again, so I went on the less shady trails again. I saw three cats on this run!

 I decided to take a really steep trail above Wild Rose, an alternative to the Woodbriar Trail. The last time I went down this trail was October 20, 2016, and the last time I went up was sometime in 2015. It was difficult, but it was less hard than I remembered, probably because I'm in better shape.

 That afternoon, my nephews wanted to get milkshakes (which they erroneously call smoothies). My oldest nephew, Preston, was talking about me getting shakes on "Leprechaun Day." Of course, he meant St. Patrick's Day. I don't quite understand what happened next, but for some reason he decided to Google "Leprechaun Day." It turns out that there really is a Leprechaun Day—and it just so happened to be that very day, May 13! We were amazed at the coincidence.

Now, back on St. Patrick's Day, I had thought about going to Pace's Dairy Ann to get a green mint milkshake, but I didn't because I had already eaten enough. And then I felt bad that I hadn't supported a small business during this difficult time. So I decided that I could have a Pace's mint shake on Leprechaun Day to make up for it.

Now, I feel a need to clarify. I do not observe those nonsensical, made-up holidays. But because of the remarkable coincidence of the day, and the desire to support small businesses, I could justify it.

But the reason I feel a need to clarify is that people often come up with bizarre reasons for me to eat out-of-season treats. (I don't know why they are so concerned with what I choose to eat or not eat.) So I don't want this incident to become a justification for future situations. I have heard people say things like, "You can eat this brownie because everything is brown outside," "Today is the birthday of the wife of this obscure general authority, so you can eat this treat from her cookbook," "Today is National Coconut Day, so you can eat this coconut cake [when he literally just made up the 'holiday' on the spot]." But I pretty much only eat treats for my nine canonical holidays. 🕛💘🍀🐣🦅🐝🎃🦃🎄 (In case you are wondering, I will start the Fourth of July season on Friday, as it will be the start of Memorial Day weekend.)

We went to my sister's house, and Preston put his hand on the rail handle and touched something weird. Then he realized it was a large jumping spider.

I must say that I am continually amazed at how good my phone's camera is!

On Thursday, my dad and brother dropped me off at Mueller Park, then they drove to North Canyon. I ran up Mueller Park, past Elephant Rock up to Rudy's Flat, then down North Canyon. It was nine and a half miles round trip. After all this time in the more challenging North Canyon, Mueller Park was refreshingly easy. Once I hit mile 5, it started to get harder, but then once I hit mile 6 it was all downhill. Since I prefer North Canyon, I had forgotten how pretty Mueller Park is. However, this run reinforced why I'm sticking with North Canyon for the present. It was so busy! I saw at least a dozen people on my way up to Elephant Rock. Between the rock and Rudy's, I saw one person. And then I saw maybe a half-dozen people between Rudy's and the trailhead.

Elephant Rock

Caterpillars!

A meadow between the rock and Rudy's

 I did feel accomplished for running six miles uphill that day.

Here's a random picture of Jimmy by a mirror, because two Jimmys are better than one.

 I did another shadeless run on Friday because it was mostly cloudy.

Tufted evening primrose!

I think I smelled the Palmer's penstemon this time, but it still wasn't as strong as I had hoped.

Then on Saturday, I planned to increase my running stamina by running ten miles in North Canyon. The trail was exceedingly busy. On the dirt road portion, I passed two people on horses. Ugh! I hate sharing with horses! A mile and a half up the trail is a little spot where I like to go off the trail for a bathroom break. When I got back to the trail, the horses had just passed. Drat! I felt like I was far ahead of them, but they caught up to me. It was going to be hard to pass them again, because now we were on singletrack trail. I took off my glasses to wipe my forehead, but I accidentally dropped them—and they broke right in half! 

 Well. I didn't think it was a good idea to do my whole ten-mile run if I couldn't see, so I just turned around. And that would solve the problem of passing the horses (and the busy trail in general).

Let me tell you, running while squinting through the blurry woods is a surreal experience. I had to go slower than usual, and I had to mostly look down since it was harder to see trip hazards. And I had to call my brother and have him bring me glasses so I could drive home.

These broken glasses came from Standard Optical in 2017. They're an old prescription, so it's not a tragic loss. But I have had other glasses that have lasted much longer. In fact, I got the glasses in February/March 2017, but I had to have the frames replaced in November 2017 because they had already cracked. It was the most I ever spent on glasses, even though I had insurance at the time, and they turned out to be some of the lowest-quality frames I have owned. It also took me longer to get them than from any other glasses place. Let's put Standard Optical out of business!

In non-running news, on the side of our garage is a plot of soil that we have never done anything with. It's just been a place for weeds to grow. A couple of months ago, my dad told me he was going to extend the sprinklers and put grass there. But that groundwater class I took in 2013 taught me things. I said to him:

"My thought is that Utah is a desert, and it's only going to get bigger, so we need less grass, not more. If we're going to do work, why don't we xeriscape it instead?"

And he said, goodnaturedly:
"If you want to do it, I'm fine with that."

So I thought once the quarantine was over, I would go to a plant nursery and ask for help in selecting xeriscape plants. (This was early on, before we knew how long it would last.)

But instead, my mom went online to High Country Gardens and ordered an entire collection of xeriscape plants that came as a unit. I was glad for this, because it sounded overly daunting to figure out what to plant.

They arrived yesterday, so I arranged them according to the map that came with the plants, and then we placed them in the ground!

I am really excited for this. I hope they survive, since we're not good at growing things. But the idea of having a garden full of of low-maintenance, low-water plants really appeals to me. And then if it works, maybe we can xeriscape other parts of the yard as well!