Orange Laces

Angie and Justin supported my fundraising by making very generous donations this week. Because of their donations, I will receive my first incentive - orange shoe laces.

Last year, when I reached $500, I also received a pair of the orange shoe laces. I put them on my running shoes, even though they are VERY orange. I was proud of the accomplishment of raising $500, but I wanted to see them when I ran as a reminder of why I was running, and for whom I was running.

You see, the laces came with a post card. It shows a young boy smiling as his hands catch water coming from a spigot. The picture always stayed with me...I could never really get the obvious joy in his face out of my mind. I thought about my kids and couldn't imagine them ever getting excited about a glass of clean cold water. Even living in Texas, a glass of cold water in August doesn't elicit the pure joy that is obvious on his face.

It's that joy that makes me get off my butt and go train. It is that joy that motivates me to fund raise and beg you for money.

I want you to feel a little of that joy - so, I am offering my shoe laces to a randomly selected gift giver. I will pick one person (randomly) from all of the people who donate $15, or more, to my fundraising up until the first race (March 24). All you have to do is donate, and I will pick an name out of a hat an send you the laces, and the postcard. That way, you can put them on YOUR running shoes and always remember that you brought joy to someone through your donation for clean water.

[[[ Click here go to my fundraising page and donate ]]]

Thanks, and good luck.

SL

It's Time to Dig Deep

With about 60 days to the New York 13.1 half marathon, it is time to officially kick of my 2012 fundraising for World Vision and clean water.

As I did last year, I will post my progress, fundraising status, information, and race results on my blog, on Facebook and on Twitter.

I hope you will visit my fundraising page to read more about this year's plan and goal. In order to $13,700.00, I plan on doing several fundraising events in addition to begging you to make a donation on my page. I will post more information as these events become more fleshed out. Fundraising will continue through the Dallas 13.1 in October.

Lastly, I am looking for corporate "sponsorship". If you have a small (or large) business and would like to make a tax-deductible donation on behalf of your business, please contact me. We can discuss options for putting your logo and website on my jersey, on this blog, FB, etc.

[[[ Click Here to Visit My Fundraising Page ]]]

I would respectfully request that you consider how you might support this fundraising effort.

As always, I thank you for your support.

SL

But Now We Have To Eat It

What a fun day. Cassie and I definitely started the year right.

We decided to lay a smack down on some squirrels today, going back to our hunting land before we have to return to our lives of school and work.

We didn't actually hit any last time we hunted, so the plan was to go a bit early, site the scope in a little better, eat lunch and then hit the blind. I would bring my big rifle, as well, since it was the last day of deer season and we had seen some hog sign near the feeder.

After we arrived at the hunting area, we set up a target and sighted in the scope. After about 15 shots, we were hitting bulls-eyes, so we knew the gun was good to go.

We ate and headed towards the blind.

It didn't take a long for squirrels to show. I shot and shot and shot and never connected. The first chance and miss particularly upset me as it was a simple shot and I shot just high. After a couple of hours Cassie started getting pretty bored and she asked me if she could shoot. I told her of course, that the only reason I was shooting is because she told me to.

Not long after I gave her my permission, she spied a squirrel out of the left window. I couldn't see it the way I was sitting. Frankly, I didn't believe her that a squirrel was there because I never heard it. I just thought she was bored and wanted to shoot. She lifted the gun and while I held it to give her support, she told me she couldn't see it's head because it was behind the tree. I told her to shoot as high on the body that she could see. She tried to switch off the safety and could not...it was too hard for her to push in. I pushed it for her. She eyed to scope and fired.

At first, I was still operating under the belief that there wasn't even a squirrel there. After all the missing I had done, I thought for sure that she hadn't really scored one.

The look on her face that followed was priceless. Her aim had scored true. One look at her face, and I knew that she wasn't kidding or trying to pull one over on her dad. She was shaking and incredibly excited. I look over and there was a grey squirrel on the ground.

We recovered the squirrel and at first she didn't even want to hold it, but ultimately, she warmed up to the idea. We took photos and continued to hunt for a little while longer. She missed on the next one, as the "squirrel fever" over took her and her heavy breathing made it hard for her to aim.

We left the blind and I told her that the hard part was coming as we had to field dress the squirrel. I had never done one before, but had watched several YouTube videos to see how it was done. I made Cassie help by by holding the legs. She was interested, and not a little grossed out, at how everything worked. She helped real well and got the squirrel cleaned without too much bother.

Cassie was still so excited, so we stopped by Angie's aunt and uncle's house to share our story. They told us of some squirrel recipes, including "squirrel dumplings" that they both enjoy very much. In fact, everyone that I have heard from think that squirrel tastes very good. I'm sceptical, but believe that if we are to hunt, we need to eat our kill, or at least find someone that will. To do otherwise is, in my opinion, wasteful. Cassie agrees and we'll try a pulled pork style recipe that we found that calls for you to slow cook the squirrel until the meat falls of the bone.

We'll likely need a couple more squirrels to have enough to actually make a meal, but now that Cassie has bagged hers, she told me I am free to hunt them without her.

Now, I just need to actually hit one.

SL