Lecture......

Okay I know I should keep my mouth shut but I am not going to. Instead I am going to give a lecture today.... In the last week I have  heard of several women talking about using pepper spray/mace for self defense. Now I am all for women defending themselves in any way then can if they are attacked but if you think you are going to be able to just go out and buy a can of pepper spray and it is going to save you, you are sadly mistaken. First off most women who carry it keep it in there purse. Now if you are attacked what are the chances you are going to be able to get that can of spray out and use it before the person attacking you has you in his control. And lets say you are smart enough to have that spray out and in your hand when you are attacked, are you trained in how to use it? You may think that is just a simple thing to pick it up and spray it but it is not. Chances are you will be close to the person attacking you when you spray it and when you do spray it, if you get the chance  you will also be in the mist from the spray. So not only are you hopefully getting it on your attacker you will be getting it on you, incapacitating yourself. Also chances are your attacker will be bigger and stronger then you are and they will take that pepper spray away from you before you ever have a chance to use it and then they will use it on you. You need to be trained in any kind of self defense before you carry it, pepper spay, mace and guns. When I worked in the jail we had to be trained every year in the use of pepper spray. You would be surprised on how hard it is to use it correctly when you are in fear for your life. We also had to be spayed with it so we would know the affects of it, it was no fun. I do not carry pepper spray even after the years of training. I feel like it would be a bigger risk to me then a help.
I advise all women, young and old to take a self defense class and learn a few simple things to help you get away from a attacker and be safe in your everyday life. I have taken a few  classes over the years and have leaned a lot. I also was at one time certified to teach  a self defense class.
Lastly the biggest thing you can do to protect yourself is to try not to put yourself in dangerous situations. Do not walk alone after dark, do not run or walk by yourself on isolated roads or paths. Don't be afraid to call security at the mall or at your place of work and ask them to walk you to your car if you need to be in a parking lot/ramp by yourself. Always be aware of what is going on around you and if you are running or walking take those headphones OFF. I cannot tell you how many people I have come up behind on the bike path and scared the crap out of them because they did not hear me. It would be so easy for someone grab you before you even knew they were there! If there is someone by your home or around you that is giving you the creeps call the police and let them know. Ask them to check on the person, that is what the police are for.  Being safe is mostly just common sense, we all get to relaxed in our everyday life's and forget the basic rules about safety.  
So instead of going out and buying that pepper spray etc. take a self defense class.....
Later Sharon 

Hunting Fun

These are some of my favorite pictures that we took in South Dakota. They were all taken  from the bike trail. 

Deer hunting opened last weekend and Rick and I have been out several times. I have seen a lot of deer but other then last night I have not had a shot. Last night I had a very small doe that I could have shot. I was pulled up and ready to shoot but then I decided that it was just to small. It was not much bigger then a fawn. So even though it would have been my first deer shot with a bow I decided to let it go. Rick surprised me yesterday and bought me a ground blind for hunting. I have wanted to get one but we decided to wait until the end of the hunting season to get one on sale. Rick decided to stop at Cabelas yesterday and found a really nice one in the bargain cave for a really good price so he got it. So I got to hunt in a ground blind for the first time. I was in it for less then an hour when a doe came up from behind me and was almost to the blind before I saw her. It was so funning she just walked right up to it and was looking it over then she stuck her head in the window and looked right at me. I could have reached out and touched her. Then she just turned around and walked away like it was nothing new to have a blind pop up in the woods. I never had a shot at her because when she turn and walked away from me all I could shoot at was her butt! By the time I had a good view of her again she was to far away to shoot. It sure made me laugh that she stuck her head right in the window and looked right at me and never seemed to figure out what I was. It made it worth not having a shot at her!
Later Sharon

Grandkid fun

Liam and Josie playing in the sandbox

Dexter wanted to join the fun....

Eli wanted to suck on his hand, so I let him!

Yesterday I babysat all three of Amy's kids for the whole day. I was exhausted by the end of the day! It has been a long time since I babysat for 10 hours. I also had to take Liam to pre-school and pick him back up. It is a lot of work taking three kids in and out of the car. After all it has been 25 years since I had to do it with my kids.  We did manage to have a fun day. Josie helped me frost some cupcakes that Rick had made the day before. She was a good helper, she did not even make a mess. When Liam got done with school we were finally able to go outside and play in the sandbox. Since Amy did not work all summer I did not babysit them so they only got to play in the sandbox one other time this summer and that was only for about a half hour. They were pretty excited to be able to play in it again. We stayed out for almost 3 hours. When Rick got home he came out to play with Liam and Josie too. I think he was having more fun then the kids!

Rick and I managed to get out hunting this weekend. I saw two deer but did not have a shot at either of them. But it was fun to see them. We should be able to get out hunting again a couple of time this week.

The Faribault Daily News did a story on my dad today. It was on the front page http://www.faribault.com/content/after-25000-miles-irvin-becker-still-walking  They did a great job on the story so check it out!

It is back to work for me today.

Later Sharon

Back home again

tower of bikes on the Mickelson Trail

In front of one of the many tunnels on Mickelson Trail

Stockade Lake in Custer State park, near our campgrounds

Rick at Crazy Horse

Taking a rest on the trail and looking at the view

Looking out at the lake

At Mt. Rushmore

We had a great time on vacation and really hated to come back. We left on Thur. morning for South Dakota. We of course stopped along the way in the Bad Lands. It is always fun to drive through them and it breaks up the trip up a little. We managed to find our camp grounds without getting lost in Custer State park. It is a really nice campground and very peaceful. We had deer in the camp everyday. We had good weather the whole time we were out there. It got down to the low 40's every night and in the low 70's every day but Sunday when it got up to 76.
Friday we went into Hill City and got on the bike trail from there. The Mickelson Trail is a beautiful trail. You cannot beat the scenery. Of course to see all the wonderful things on the trail you have to work your ass off! We did A LOT of up hill biking. The longest stretch we went up hill was 8 miles. It just went on and on and on. Of course then you do get the reward of going down that same hill. We biked 43 miles the first day. I wore my heart monitor the whole time I biked to keep track of my workout etc. and it said I burned over 2000 calories! Good thing we had lots of food along with us so I could eat those calories right back on.
Saturday we gave our legs a rest and drove around to see all the sights. We went on the wildlife loop in the park and I was all excited to the buffalo. Well I guess the buffalo were not excited to see me because there was none around. We saw about 10 of them way far away and that was it. Stupid buffalo!! We went to Needles Hwy, Mt Rushmore and Crazy Horse. It was a long but fun day.
Sunday was are last day so we went out biking again. We biked from Pringle  to Custer. It again was a beautiful part of the trail. When we got to Custer we stopped at a little cafe/bakery for lunch. We also stopped a pie place on the way back out of town for a piece of delish pie. We only biked 24 miles on Sunday. When we got back to the camp grounds we went for a hike by the lake.
Monday we got up early and were all packed up and on the road by 7:30. We had to stop in Custer at the bakery we had lunch at the day before and get ourselfs some cinnamon rolls. They were HUGE. It ate on mine all the way home.
We are already planing our next trip back. We would really like to bike the whole 100 mile trail and also bring our road bikes out to ride some of the roads. 
We both decided that we love the Black Hills area and would love to move there. We talked to several locals about the area. If I could find a job out there I would move in a minute. Maybe someday........
Later Sharon

Proud of my Dad

I was going to write all about my vacation today but I just found out that my  75 year old Dad made a very big goal on Sunday. His goal was to walk as many miles as it would take him to go around the world. He made his goal plus more. It is 24,901.55 miles around the world and on Sunday he had walked 25,200 miles!!! That is a lot of walking. He started walking 10.5 years ago after he retired, he was 65 years old. He sometimes walks on the road and sometimes walks in the woods. He walks all year round. Sometimes twice a day. The rain and snow does not stop him, the only time he will not walk is if it lighting or we are in a  blizzard. He even goes for walks when he is on vacation. He walks most often  in boots but for a couple of winters he walked in snow shoes. He even took up a little running and with all his walking he had no trouble running a couple 5K races with me. He even ran faster then one of his granddaughters! I asked my Dad last year what he was going to do when he reached his goal of walking around the world and he told me "well I am going to walk back." I love my Dad and could not be more proud of him.

Later Sharon

Vacation!!!!

No need to say any more.......
Later Sharon

Finally a bonfire

Rick and baby Oliver

Morgan loving up Christa

Jese, Oliver, Rick and Avis

Karen holding Oliver, Jese and Dexter and Christa

We finally were able to have a good bonfire. It was so nice out on Saturday, just the right kind of weather to have a fire. Christa, Jese and Oliver came down along with Karen, Nathan and Avis. It was a fun night of visiting.
We have been busy getting ready for our trip to SD. Yesterday Rick and I went to Walmart and spent $211 dollars! We had lots of food and other stuff to get for the trip.  After we got back from the store we put the camper up so I could get it packed. We got all our clothes, bedding and most of  the food all packed and ready to go. Now we just need to get our meat and get it frozen. We are going to have beautiful weather while we are there. The temp is going to be in the high 60's to low 70's in the day and in the 40's at night! It is going to be a little chilly at night. Good thing the camper has a heater in it.
I am going to have a couple of busy days at work this week. All the freshman come in tomorrow. They always have a ton of questions about parking when they get here. Not like the upperclassmen that just come in and drop off there parking permit application. It makes the day go by fast when I am busy. Today has been long already even though I have been pretty busy. It is just so nice out I hate to be here. Oh well I just have to keep telling myself it is worth it since I am getting holiday pay.....
Later Sharon

No mountain biking for me!

Yesterday after work Rick and I decided to take our trail bikes out for a ride. We decided we should take them to Courthouse park just south of town. It is a really nice park that has lots of dirt trails that you can bike/walk or take your horses on. In the winter you can also cc ski there. I had not been there other then in the winter so I forgot how narrow some of the trails are and that  it is really hilly. We also had rain the other day so the trails were pretty muddy and ruff from the horses going on them. I was doing pretty good until we had do go down a very big, muddy hill, I got off and walked my bike down. Rick just laughed at me. Then as we went along on a very small, narrow trail I got caught up in a stick on the ground and fell down not once but twice! I finally got going again only to realize we now had to go back up the big hills we just came down. I managed to get up all but one and managed to only fall off my bike one more time. I was so full of mud by the time we got done! I have come to realize that I could never do mountain biking. I am way to big of a chicken. I spent most of the time riding my breaks. Rick on the other hand just flew down the trails and he never fell down. I would never be able to bike on those trails with my feet clipped into the peddles.  We only went 4 miles but it felt like I went about 30 on my road bike. It was a good workout. It was fun to do something different but I think I will stick to road biking.
Later Sharon