Let the roping begin...again.

OK. I don't want to talk about the Cardinals. They are breaking my heart. Even though they are playing the Cubs the next 3 days I don't think I will watch. It hurts too much.

On a brighter note, since the garden is in and everything is on its' own for now, I have had the time to start back on the roping. Man, I forgot how much I really love to rope. I built a 7' x 7' platform in the Rec room out of 3/4" B/C plywood and painted it with gray garage floor paint. That's what I am using now to jump on. It is fantastic. I can tell already that my metabolism has shot through the roof just in the last week. I can't wait to drop about 10-15 pounds in the next month or 2.

I think I am going to also invest in a speed bag and rig. My neighbor has one and I was really amazed at the upper body workout you get from hitting that thing. So I figure that between roping and a speed bag I can get a highly intensive full body workout in less than 45 minutes.

I have also been trying to get out and throw horseshoes whenever I can. I have gotten much better at the turn throw, so much so in fact that it is now becoming difficult for me to throw the old flip shoe that I learned from Dad while I was growing up. This 1 1/4 turn style really is a superior way to throw the shoe. The way it lands and opens to the peg allows it to really "stick" when it hits. The flip shoe may open to the peg but because of the straight on angle, you have a higher percentage of bounce offs. The turn throw very rarely comes off the peg. Right now I have gotten to where I am throwing a fairly consistent 30-40% ringers. I would love to get that to 50% before I have to showcase my new skills to Dad. :)

The girls have like 1 more full day of school after today. They are so excited. Jillian told us last night that she is not going to have to attend summer school. We both told her we were proud of her, and that she may not let this happen again. Miri just wants to quit getting up at 5:30am everyday for a while.

The Adam and Kris showdown is tonight. Most people don't think that Kris has it in him to defeat Adam, but Audra and I both have a different idea. Figure it like this, Last week Ryan said that only about 1 million votes separated the top 2 (Adam and Kris), and you gotta figure that the people who were voting for Danny Gokey are more likely to throw their support behind Kris than Adam since his vocal styling are less over the top and more similar to Danny's. So, the way I see it, Kris has a real legitimate shot tonight. He just has to put some "performance" into his performance. He can't just stand there and deliver a sweet vocal, he needs to get the crowd into it. If he does that, I think we'll have a REAL showdown. Look out Adam, Kris is in da house!