Happy Five-o of May-o

When I see this, I'm hoping there's a spicy queso dip ahead or maybe buffalo chicken! What's your favorite dip?

Of course I am that dorky photographer who takes a picture and knows I'll share it 2 months later on Cinco de Mayo. 

We had a Salsa-Guac Showdown at work again this year. I only participated as a taster/voter. Did not make any this year. I would have had a pretty late start after taking track photos! But there some good entries! I have yet to warm up to the taste of guacamole, but I'll take salsa with heat any time.

After work, I met up with friends Cindy and Marigene at the movie theater to see The Devil Wears Prada 2. Loved it! Funny moments, of course, but some heartwarming ones as well. No spoilers! If you liked the first one 20 years ago, go see it!

Now I've got to get reading. I picked a book for my June book for Book Club called The Correspondent. It already reminds me of my mom – the most prolific letter and card writer of all time! Should be good.

Enjoy the non-holiday!

Cinco de My Oh My

This isn't your ordinary Taco Tuesday! It's Cinco de Mayo! Did you know that the celebration commemorates the Mexican Army's victory over the French Empire at the Battle of Puebla, on May 5, 1862?

Yup. Absolutely nothing to do with my heritage in anyway. And probably not yours either. But hey, if good nachos are involved, I'm all on board!

The photo above is from 2007 at my niece Beth's college graduation party, which happened to fall on May 5. Carter on the left and his cousin Anthony are both 9 years old here. And yes, time flies and they are both 22 now and totally can sip their margaritas legally.

Such cuties, though. I miss that age. I say that about just about every age. Until teen years, of course. (No explanation necessary.)

Hubby and I didn't do anything holiday-related today. We worked. Went over to our friend Greg's family's house to carefully deliver hugs at lunch. Then after work, we watched a few episodes of OZARK on Netflix.

Yes, you read that right. We are actually semi-binge watching a show together that is new to both of us! And we both like it. And it's pretty insane! The show, not the fact we agree on TV, but that's rare, too. We're trying to just watch two episodes a night. That'll still get us through all 3 seasons long before quarantine ends.

By the way, we just survived day cincuenta y siete (57) together! Now that's something to celebrate! Salud!

Cinco de Paddle

Step aside margaritas and nachos, when it's 71 and sunny on Cinco de Mayo, it becomes Cinco de Paddle!

Water was quite chilly so lucky we only had to touch it to get in our kayaks! There was a threat of rain later in the afternoon but we escaped it all, paddling in that sweet spot of time!

Ladies first! We managed to get a selfie without flipping our rides so that was a success for my first time out.

We dropped in at the Biron boat landing on the Wisconsin River and headed southwest around Big Island. Current was helping us with the first half.

Guys didn't even need to paddle much!

Seems like we got to the end of the island – near the dam and paper mill – in record time. I always have to laugh because you know you're from Wisconsin Rapids if this is part of your "pretty view" while paddling the river!

We were very short on wildlife sightings today, though. This is pretty much it.

Gross, lizards in a half-shell. Absolutely not one single eagle. Anywhere. Dang.

The calm before the storm...

Or I should say, the calm before we rounded the end of the island and headed back. We had to work against some wind and some riptide-type currents. They literally moved our 'yaks and we had all we could do to make forward progress. Like you're stuck and not moving forward no matter how hard you paddle. Needless to say, my shoulders were burning by the end. Not the sun – just too much muscle work. We'll all be feeling it tomorrow!

The only other wildlife was this pair of honkers. Here they are saying "What is she looking at?"

"Do you think she'll try to get at our nest? Maybe we should scare her."

Big "honk, honk" scary flyover. I yelled at them, "Don't worry, I'm leaving. Your babies are safe!" (Yes, I speak goose. Didn't you know?)

I did manage to sneak one photo of hubby and me. He was unaware, but that's how I get cooperation!

Started sprinkling right when we were getting back to the boat landing. Sun still out so we weren't sure which cloud was the culprit. Thankfully we didn't get to wet because, you know, first time out and none of us thought to bring towels! We gotta keep this momentum going.

When we can move our arms again. #WorthIt

Cinco de Royale

When the Assumption Royals baseball team shuts out a conference rival 5-0, Cinco de Mayo become Cinco de Royale!

So we celebrated.

Well, it was a good game. I actually saw it. I decided to rest the camera tonight and just watch a game. I picked a good one as there were no Royal errors, some great pitching and fielding, and some nice hits.

On the field on the other side of town, our Lady Royals also had a shutout victory and remain undefeated.

So of course we had to go out a little bit. Had a quick dinner at Ida's and I came home to get a good night's sleep since I have a race tomorrow. Well, calling it a race is like me as a Scandinavian celebrating Cinco de Mayo. I'm there for the fun part – in this case, free t-shirt and treats at the end of the race route.

We have the rest of the weekend off from any spring sports. It's raining now but it would still be nice if the weather cooperated for some "teamwork" in the yard tomorrow or Sunday. Let me get the walk/run out of the way and go from there.

Right now I am going to sink-o into my bed. Adios, amigos!

Cinco de No Espaniol

Apparently there is a streak of holidays we observe for no particular reason. I do get a kick out of how much celebrating goes on for St. Patrick's Day by the non-Irish and Cinco de Mayo by the contingent who believes it's National Margarita Day.

Still, I had to get into the whiteboard spirit...

Areeba! Areeba! What? Who doesn't love Speedy Gonzalez? And if you are too young to remember, he was a stereotypical Hispanic cartoon character who was, well, very fast. Very speedy, more precisely. It was the best I could do for art today. Not sure they'd want a margarita depicted in my cubicle!

I did make up for it later.

The artwork, not the drinking!

If you can see through that glass, which I swear is merely part of the photo-editing app, the final score of today's baseball game was 15-0!

Oh, in favor of the Royals. AND after only 4 1/2 innings. Whoo-hoo! Or do we say ¡Muy bien!?
That means "very good." I remember that from Spanish class. Not much else.
Anyway, our rivals in other sports, Wausau Newman Catholic, came to town. Girls softball won their game 19-4 in a few innings. And our boys lit it up and won in less than 5 innings. Awesome work! We had great pitching and I witnessed not only our first home-game home run at Witter Field, but a Grand Slam to boot!

It was pretty exciting. Hopefully this will motivate the guys, who have 3 more games in the next 2 days. I did take a ton of photos tonight but am waiting for Carter's computer to be available for my upload. I may or may not have gotten a good one of your favorite coach. But how could I get a bad one?

(I may or may not be sucking up before Mother's Day.)

OK, time to log off and get some ice. Not for a margarita. For that darn "psychiatric" nerve that has flared up big time all week.

¡Dios mío!

Overtime

Ever notice that over time, things change?

You know you've been seeing your chiropractor too long when he gives you a flower for Mother's Day...

Dr. Tom and I figured it out this morning, and I've been seeing him off and on for 12 years. Even after I said, "And you still haven't fixed me yet?!" he gave me a pink carnation. Technically, I've seen him more in those 12 years than any family member! And we've vicariously watched each other's kids grow up. So I guess we are close. Plus he's a Twins and Vikings fan.

Maybe next time I should be giving him flowers! Father's Day is just around the corner...

Over time, things change.

You know you're getting old when you prefer a siesta over a fiesta on Cinco de Mayo...

I don't know what it is about Americans putting their heart and soul into holidays that have absolutely no connection to us. But there is never a shortage of green beer on St. Patty's Day and I suspect margaritas and mucho cervezas will be flowing tonight. Personally, if I were to adopt any part of the Mexican culture, it would be their daily nap time. Gotta love a schedule with a built-in siesta. Yup, a power nap right around 2:30 p.m. would suit me just fine...

Over time, things change.

You know you're going senile when you can't remember anything unless it's written on the calendar...

With all these rain-outs and snow-outs for baseball, our calendar is a complete mess and I really don't know what's going on from one day to the next. Tonight I finally was home to make supper and had the spaghetti and fixings all ready when Jim and Carter got home from baseball practice. But they had an extra kid with them and their plan did not involve my perfectly formed meatballs I labored so hard ... to get out of the bag.

That didn't stop me from eating my supper while they swung their bats outside. I was nice and kept all the food warm for them and kept their milk cold in the freezer. (I spoil them.) That was when I stumbled upon something else I forgot. I still had my leftover Mini Cadbury Egg ice cream from Belt's in the freezer! I guess being senile has its perks.

Over time, things change.

But it's not all bad!

Siete de Mayo

Happy Siete de Mayo! Yes, I realize it is two days past Cinco de Mayo but I had something to celebrate today.

I ran 4 miles! That's cuatro milas for you Espaniolers -- the farthest this little senorita has ever run.

I have been trying to run every day since about mid-April when I met Jim's cousin Sally, a marathon runner from Chicago. She mentioned running 1,200 miles last year. I was so impressed.

No, I am NOT planning on running a marathon, but I realized later that she basically had to run a 5K a day to accomplish that. Jim said "I bet you could run 900 miles in a year." So I said "OK, I'll start keeping track on the calendar."

I try to run some each day. When I have energy, I'll do 3 miles or 3.2 (for a 5K) and if I'm tired I'll just go 2 (or hit the snooze and roll over).

Over lunch hour today (after my Tab Energy Drink, of course), I decided to see how far I could go. I went as far as the 2-mile mark, turned around and figured I could always walk when I got to 3 miles if I needed to. I made it there and kept going.

I was getting pretty tired and contemplating walking when Satan happened by. That's what I'm calling him. He was a big ugly dog. I don't like big dogs and I don't like ugly dogs, either -- especially those I don't know.

To be safe, I decided to ignore him. Right. My strategy: I didn't go faster or slower -- just maintained my speed and kept looking straight ahead while my heart was palpitating in fear. I don't even remember the last half mile. I didn't dare stop and in the end, I guess that's a good thing. Thanks to Satan (or Diablo en Espaniol), I can say I ran 4 miles.

Maybe he could be my new jogging partner. Isn't there a song about "running with the devil"?