Monthly Archives: July 2014

#100happydays Day 77 Nature’s little dive bombers!

Deerflies, most runners hate them, so does anyone else who wants to enjoy the outdoors in the summer.

Dark-eyed deer fly

Glenis really hates them. She does this little twirly thing when they start to buzz around and then gets a panic look in her eyes and takes off. It’s sort of amusing to me because the flies usually buzz around her more than me. So if is stay a few feet behind her, I’m usually bug free.

You usually see us running with a face cloth clutched in our hand. While it looks kind of silly, that cloth not only wipes up sweat and blood, it smacks bugs and makes a good fly chaser.

Deerflies are in family Tabanidae, genus Chrysops similar to horse flies which can also take a chunk out of you. They are blood sucking pests which can really ruin a good day. Wouldn’t you know it only the females bite, the males are nectar and pollen feeders. Did you know they are attracted to blue? I should tell Glenis…

Bug hat selection

The web has lots of ideas to protect yourself from these beasts. One involves a blue cup or bucket covered with stick stuff called Tanglefoot worn on your head! Another is to apply double sided tape to a hat and wear that with all the little suckers stuck to it! That wouldn’t be too yucky, would it? I could see Glenis doing that! Maybe if enough of them were stuck there, we would be faster. Can’t you just see us in our next race running with blue cups covered with bugs on our heads?

What do you think? Could we rock the look?

Maybe I’ll just tell her not to wear blue.

#100happydays Day 75 – Darn weather – where’s summer?

I think a lot of us are still waiting for summer. The temperatures have been below normal and there seems to have been more rainy days than necessary. I mean, I haven’t got tan lines and my grass it growing faster than ever.

This was the temperature outside this morning.

To look on the bright side of this cooler summer weather we sat down and made a list. When I asked Glenis to come up with 3-4 reasons why she liked the cooler weather, she told me that it would be tough for her unless I was asking about coolers and then she could list 3 or 4 of her favorite flavors. LOL

While this isn’t a list of cooler flavors, here are our good reasons to like cool summer weather:

• Because when I’m at work I don’t feel like I’m missing out on anything – Glenis
• I’m not drinking as much – Glenis
• The grass and weeds don’t grow as quickly (maybe on Glenis’s lawn)
• Cheaper air conditioning bill – Glenis
• Fresh air – Glenis
• Can still cuddle with my favorite blankies at night – Glenis
• Still wearing my all in one jammies – Glenis
• Can let the hair grow on my legs because no one is seeing them – Glenis
• Still feel like I have time before bathing suit weather is upon on – Glenis
• Trails are softer to run on. – Janis
• Quicker recovery in cool weather- Janis
• You can wear more clothing leaving less skin exposed to the sun and bugs – Janis
• My hair isn’t as frizzy – Janis
• There is water in the creeks – Janis
• The farmers are a little happier – Janis
• Deer flies don’t buzz around in the rain – Janis
• No sweat marks in the office  – Janis
• No frying in the sun when volunteering at races – Janis

We know this weather is better than last winter, and that alone is something to be happy about, burrr, but a little heat would go along way to make us feel like we had a summer.