P.T. Test

Fist off I'd like to say that my audioblog sucks, I'll have to try again later. Now with that said, today we had our SWAT P. T. test. It went well, I still need to work on my sit-ups, apparently too much gut in the way, and my push-ups could have been better. So it's back to the gym. But on my one mile run I was pretty happy with it. I ran my mile in 7 minutes and 45 seconds, that's the best I believe I've ever ran a mile. After out P. T. test we had a training scenario that lasted about four hours, so I'm a little tired since right now I'm running on about 3 1/2 hours of sleep. Guess I better keep busy tonight at work. Of course I can already feel it in my legs, so I'm sure I'm going to pay for the good run with sore legs for the night, but hey it was worth it and maybe it'll help keep me awake.......

This is a willow tree in my front yard, you can see the pines also. The willow is my favorite. When my wife and I bought it, it was only about four feet tall and was on sale since it didn't look in too good of shape, but look at it now. One winter we even lost half of it to an ice storm, so I think it's done very well and I don't know why but I've always liked willow trees ever since I was a kid......
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Yard Work

Well for the last two days I've been working in the yard. The day before yesterday I began mowing. Like always I had to air up the flat tire on my riding mower. To give a little history on my mower, it's a craftsman riding mower that my dad gave to me. The mower was not very old when my dad gave it to me, but he hadn't been using it and had let my nephews use it as a go-cart, so the mower deck was all torn up and my dad had put it back together. Keep in mind that one part of the deck was pieced together with part of a bicycle frame, so you can't adjust the height of the mower deck. It worked and it was free so I have used the mower for about three years now and you never just go out and start it up and began mowing. So after airing up the flat tire I was making my second lap around a section of the yard and the front supports on the mower deck broke totally off the deck. I believe that my mower might finally be on it's last leg. So after dragging the deck across the yard I had to go borrow my in-laws mower to finish mowing the yard, of course I didn't get much of a start with mine. I was able to get the yard mowed and almost got done with the weed-eating before I stopped for the day.
Yesterday after getting home from the gym I finished weed-eating and then began to work on our ditch line which was in rather bad shape. About two weeks ago the phone company decided that they needed to put a new line in, which is fine. But they dug up the ditch line and placed the line then pushed the dirt back and left. Along the front of my yard is a line of pine trees which are on the edge of the ditch and as you can imagine where there are trees there are tree roots, which the phone company managed to dig up most of them. Not that I mind the phone company doing their job, but once they were done they didn't even try to clean up the mess they made. I had all kinds of tree roots sticking up out of the ground, holes where they didn't fill up the trench they dug and ruts from the machinery the use to dig the trench.
So most of yesterday afternoon was spent cutting tree roots, filling holes and raking dirt to try and smooth out the ruts in the ditch. All in all I think it turned out pretty good. Once my wife got home from work, we even raked up the pine needles and set them on fire. I'm no landscaper by no means, but it felt good to see that I had made an improvement on the way the ditch and the yard looks.
Now I just have to figure out what I'm going to do with my lawn mower, it may just have to rest in peace, or should I say pieces.......

This is was done by my oldest daughter. She had to take a picture and cut it in half and draw the one half to finish it. She drew the right side. Of course I think it's one of the best drawings i've seen, I believe she gets it from her mother's side of the family because I know she doesn't get it from me.
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Recovering

Well it's been almost a week since SWAT school and the last of the bruises is just about gone. During school we were introduced to a new workout program called Crossfit, which I added a link to on my blog. We have been doing the crossfit program this week, talk about wearing you out, our workouts used to be about two hours long and now they are running between 1/2 hour to an hour. The workouts are shorter but when we get done I'm more tired than I would be after a regular two hour workout and I've also been sore every morning this week, which doesn't say a whole lot since I always seem to be a little sore (guess it's the age).

While at school I was given a new nickname by the guys. "The Iceman", though I don't see myself as a iceman. I guess I was able to keep my feeling masked during the school, except once one of the guys told me they could see that I was getting a little irritated. I do like to be in control of my emotions, so I guess by receiving that nickname it shows that I was able to keep them in check fairly well. Good thing people can't read minds though, cause during the school mine was always racing, wondering what my next move was going to be. By the end of the week we were so deprived of sleep that you couldn't keep your mind focused clearly. It was weird knowing that your mind was not clear while at the same time not being able to do anything about it. At one point I went into a rant about how long I had worked in construction. The whole time I was talking I was thinking, "what the hell are you doing" but was unable to stop myself from rambling on. I also went on a talking spree for about two hours which is very unusual since I always say that you learn more by listening and that I am normally quiet and will not say too much.

All in all the school was a great experience. I believe that you only gain wisdom through age and experience and I believe that all of us at school gained some valuable wisdom to use in our lives. For me personally I found out that I can control my emotions even in a stressful environment, so hopefully in the future the "Iceman" won't have a meltdown........

SWAT School

Well, I passed, and lived through, SWAT school. It was probably the hardest week I've ever had in my life. It's funny how the mind will work with such little sleep. During the last of the week I could tell that my mind was not focused and that my thinking wasn't totally clear, but I was unable to clearly focus do to the lack of sleep and rest. All and all it was a great week, I learned more than I have in a long time, the instructors knew their stuff. Not only did I get to learn new things in a tactical sense, but I also was introduced to a new workout program, which I began today at the gym, and as my gym partner would say "pretty salty". Today's workout only took about 30 minutes, but it sure wipes you out. After the workout we got on the treadmill, I was about the same today as I was last week, I finished a mile in 9 minutes and 20 seconds.
The picture above is the operator pin we received after graduating SWAT school. I'm glad to be wearing one, it will help remind me of the effort that had to be put forth to obtain it and hopefully it will help to remind me how much I need to push myself each day and not to slack off.
Right now I'm running on about 3 hours of sleep so I'm going to take a nap........

Here is a better picture of where we went fishing, it sure was nice to get out and not have anything on the mind.....
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I finally got done with my boat and took it fishiing over the weekend. Here is a picture of where we went fishing and a picture of my boat. I was able to catch my limit in rainbow trout and the boat did fine so it was a good day all in all...
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