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my first plan
We had lots of fun this weekend, Austin-style. Saturday was Zac's birthday, so we headed south to the celebrate with his family. The weekend started out great; I took off on Friday and got my hair done with Leah first, then we packed up the car and shoved off. We headed to Maudie's that night for a long-overdue queso and Skinny Sheryl's fix with Llanny. Maudie's queso + Sarah's tastebuds = luv 4-ever.
Saturday, after shopping at Aunt Julie's awesome boutique on the Drag (C. Jane), a 4-mile run around Town Lake (a.k.a. my happy place), and lunch with Zac & Uncle Oak at the Tavern, we returned to Zac's mom's for a little visit with her. We ended the day by celebrating Zac's birthday on one of the gazillion decks at the newly-renovated Oasis with his dad and Peggy. What a spectacular view.
careful, you might see some peeps hanging out (uh hum) at hippie hollow
Sunday morning, I picked up some Rudy's breakfast tacos and headed to Lindsey's to hang for a while. I CANNOT believe how big, mobile, and talkative baby Em has gotten! Such a cutie! It's going to get nuts in the Lieneck household in a few months when baby numero dos arrives and makes two children under the age of 20 months!
A bit later, I returned to my happy place for a 5-miler in the chilly/humid Austin air. As I entered the trail under the Mopac bridge, I saw a shiny penny on the ground. Now, I am not the most superstitious person in the entire world, but I figure that life's hard enough without having any crazy cosmic voodoo going against me, so I always stop and pick them up. However, in my haste to begin, I let it lie. Not good. Just a few minutes later, I saw this right in the middle of the trail not 4 feet in front of me:
red and yella, kill a fella
Yeppers, that would be a Texas Coral Snake. As in the second deadliest snake, in line right behind the Rattlesnake. Sweet. I didn't know that is what it was at the time, but I took a mental picture and looked it up when I got back to Zac's mom's house. Luckily for us trail dwellers, it was not aggressive, so some brave runners were able to scare it safely off the trail. Yikes.
Crisis averted, I carry on. About 5 minutes later, I feel something cool hit my right forehead/temple region. It was not rain. It was bird poop. For the first time in my 30-year career, a bird pooped on my head! And not just my head, the face part of my head! Very luckily, I was a few steps away from one of 4 water stations on the whole 5-mile course, so I was able to duck aside and rinse the doo doo off my mug. Gag. But in recounting my story to others, I have learned that getting pooped on by a bird is good luck. So, in not having picked up the penny, I was faced with a deadly snake (but luckily I came out unscathed), and then I was shat upon by a bird (which is considered lucky). You could resonably deduce that by not picking up that penny, I actually gained luck.
Um, yeah...I think I'll pass on that kind of luck. Next time, I'm pickin' it up.
dad's icicle farm
