Yard Wars

We’ve officially declared war on the enemy forces that now occupy the plant beds in our back yard. We're calling it operation Yard Wars. The ever growing population of Bermuda grass has banded together with every weed known to man to create an unimaginably invasive force. Fortunately, we’re ready to do whatever it takes to annihilate them, even if it means sacrificing the innocent.

Staging area for the first of many attacks.

The once peaceful "back bed".

 The first of many attacks was launched last Saturday morning against the very back bed, also known as “the back bed”. Once co-occupied by a group of peaceful Hibiscus and Plumbago plants, it’s now a haven for the enemy. With its “iron fist” mentality for governing plant beds, it’s managed to choke out 90% of the Hibiscus and Plumbago population. The remaining 10% has become a casualty of war. Remember, we’re after complete annihilation here.

The front lines.

 We had to systematically remove the “friendlies”, roots and all, in order to get at the opposition. With the friendlies out of the way we were able to strike a devastating blow to the bad guys. Our weapon of choice, the infamous self propelled Snapper tank. With the tank we were able to cut their forces down by 60% or 70%. Some might even say that we literally “mowed them down”. Either way, we let them know who’s in charge.

The self propelled Snapper Tank.

We did end up with a few hostages though. Don’t worry, they were properly handled. We bound them up with twine and tossed them in a holding cell until the bureau (Manatee County Waste Management) can pick them up.

Our next attack will happen within the next few days. It will be a surprise attack of the “chemical warfare” nature. We plan on flying low over their camps and rounding them up with a chemical specifically designed to “Roundup” enemies of this type.

Chemical Warfare.

We can't take all the credit for this successful attack. We did have an ally. Her name: General Dottie Pottie of the Miniature Daschund Brigade (pictured below). Her responsibilities were to quickly control any uprising of the local lizard resistance.

General Dottie Pottie Glancing at the camera during a heated battle.

The Aftermath of Operation "Yard Wars"

Aftermath of Operation "Yard Wars".

Location of the former "Front Lines".

Stay tuned for the next war report.

Long Time No Update...

It's been 3 months since our last update. What the heck have we been up to? Lots!

Theresa
Theresa's new blog, ActiveEggplant.com, is gaining momentum. She's been posting quite regularly and has developed a good following. If you haven't paid the site a visit lately, it might be worth your while to check it out. Not only is it inspirational, but it's quite humorous as well. It's also another good way to keep tabs on us.

She started the blog as a way of keeping her motivated to stay active, and it's definitely done it's job. Since the site was launched she's accomplished all of the following:

• Competed in her first ever triathlon consisting of a .4K swim, 20K bike, 2.9 mile Run.
• Ran in the St. Pete Iron Girl 15K (9.3 miles).
• Ran a couple 5K races (3.1 miles).
• Running the Picnic Island Adventure Race series.
• Ran her 5K personal best.
• Started practicing Yoga.
• Taking a spinning class
• Lost 15 lbs!!!

She has put a lot of time and effort into her blog and her fitness journey, so please, stop by the site and give her some encouragement to keep her going.

Ryan
Ryan stopped running after the Marathon, and has been struggling to get back into it since. His passion is cycling though, and he's been concentrating on that. With our pledge to become a 1 car family in 2011 looming on the horizon, he's been trying to get into a routine of commuting to work by bike so it won't be such a shock when he doesn't have his truck to fall back on. The only problem, the "feels like" temperatures have been between 100 - 109 degrees! That's a bit much.

Ryan's big accomplishment since the Marathon was a 100 mile mountain bike ride. That's right, 100 freaking miles of off road mountain biking. It was by far the most physically and mentally challenging thing he's ever done. There were 20 or so riders who attempted the epic journey, and Ryan was 1 of only 5 to finish the entire 100 miles. It took him just over 13 hours, but he did it.

Unfortunately he strained his right hamstring during the 100 miler and just about tore it a few weeks later while riding with some friends. He's been nursing it for about a month and is just now starting to get active again.

Dottie Pottie
Bark bark bark woof. Whine bark growl groan. Bark bark? Woof.