Cody’s blog

When I woke up this morning, the air smelled wet, and later heard thunder rumbling in the distance. It’s not raining now, but it must have done last night, because the ground is wet. There are thick, light gray clouds covering the sky. Looks like the thunderstorms that were forecast for Monday have arrived today. At least it’s cooling things down a bit, but if the clouds clear and the sun comes out later, the heat and humidity are going to be a killer combination. It’s supposed to be in the 90s every day this week—maybe the low 100s. With added thunder and lightning. I just hope the lightning doesn’t start any fires. I wouldn’t mind a nice, soaking rain, but so far it seems to have been fairly light.

I’m also wondering how my 16-mile run is going to be affected this weekend. If it’s 100F and clear, it’s going to be hard to do a run that long. I should try to start really early—it would be nice if I could be out on the road by 6 am, rather than getting up at 6. But that would mean getting up at 4 am… not sure I can manage that.  I was thinking of running from the Old West Ranch gate to Meadowbrook Park and back—eight miles each way—but that only gives me one chance in the middle to stop for bathroom/water. If it’s going to be that hot, I might be better off staying near the middle school track, closer to water. I might need to soak my head more often. 🙂

I didn’t write yesterday because I didn’t have time after doing my midweek run. I see I skipped writing on Wednesday last week as well.

I’ve read three of the accumulated Shonen Jumps so far and am on the fourth. I like this way of reading them—I can follow the stories better when I don’t have to stop for a month after every couple of chapters. Maybe I should continue to save them up for six months or so at a time and read them all in a bunch! The Yu Yu Hakusho demon tournament arc has finally ended, and Naruto‘s chunin contest storyline is building to a close. Yu-Gi-Oh! is near its end. I am enjoying most of the stories—even One Piece, which is generally too silly for me, is keeping me interested. (Note to self: make sure you renew your subscription. I was considering letting it lapse, since I wasn’t reading it any more, but now that I’m catching up, I’m really enjoying it again.)

Also reading: a collection of short stories by Annie Proulx, including “Brokeback Mountain.” I decided that, since I was probably never going to see the movie, I’d read the story instead. It’s the last one in the book, and I’m trying to read the whole thing from the beginning, but it’s not really my thing so far. I read the first story at lunch on Tuesday, and most of the second yesterday. I’ll keep at it, it’s okay lunchtime reading material.

Here’s another photo from the rodeo. This is the team roping event. One cowboy ropes the steer by the head, and the other ropes the steer by its hind feet. If the second rope only catches one hind foot, there’s a penalty, but they still get their score.