Wordy Wednesday

It was a cold, windy and rainy day at the track, Circuit of the Americas, in Austin, Texas. We were attending the Formula 1 (F1) race. With that said, I am thankful that remnants from Patricia the hurricane spared us Texans from destruction other than flash flooding.

Since I knew that it was going to be a bad weather day, I opted to take just our water camera. There is a selfie picture of Dan and I; but, his face got plastered with the date time stamp. (I need to remember to disable this feature.)

Better than nothing, correct?

The day cleared up somewhat by the time the race began at 2:00pm. Both of us were hurting about halfway through the race and decided to call it quits. My poor husband was violently shivering. The jacket he wore failed to be a rain coat; so, he was soaked through to the skin. I vowed to purchase a new rain jacket for us both soon.

As for me, I was damp all over, the poncho I wore failed due to the wind. I also wore boots that were supposed to be snakebite and water proof. I think my jeans just acted like a wick and my feet were eventually wet. Fortunately, because I decided to wear layers including long john pants underneath my jeans, I was not too cold in spite of being wet.

On a different subject, I am taking a blogging break. I dealt with sickness last week and barely have the energy to do stuff I want to do let alone blog. I have a Saturday post that I will schedule. But, other than that one post, I have absolutely nothing planned.

And, to be honest, I do not feel like preparing pictures and writing up posts at the moment. I know that it most likely will be a little while before the desire to blog returns. It usually does after being down with a sickness like I had last week. It took all I had within me to go to that race last Sunday and I am glad I went with my Dan. All I want and desire to do is my usual chores and cross stitch. Yes, I am still plugging away at that huge UFO (Unfinished Object). Did I ever mention that I despise back stitching? Well, I do.

So, until I blog again, I wish you all happiness and health!

Phone {Picture} Dump III

Camera {Picture} Dump I

Camera {Picture} Dump II

Circuit of Americas (Austin, Texas) with Dan; March 8, 2015

Circuit of Americas (Austin, Texas); March 8, 2015

{I blogged about this outing here.}

Gracie; March 13, 2015

Gray Brahman Bull; March 13, 2015

I saw a face (with teeth) in the lumber. Yes, I am strange. March 17, 2015

Gracie; March 18, 2015

First Shoots of our Pickling Cucumbers; March 20, 2015

Abby Gail; March 20, 2015

First Leaves on our Grape Bush; March 25, 2015

Abby Gail (What a Rough Life); March 29, 2015

Doctor Who’s Tardis; April 12, 2015

Mis-matched Socks; April 14, 2015

{This is how I roll most of these days. I just grab socks that are more or less alike and do not care if they match color-wise.}

I thought I saw some Timothy grass, snapped a picture and sent it to Dan;

April 15, 2015

Drum Sanders for a Drill; April 19, 2015

{We were out doing some DIY work sanding small pieces when I mentioned life would be so much easier with a drum sander. Dan pointed these out at a local Lowe's store and I was thrilled with the idea.}

Gluten Free snacks are hard to find; April 22, 2015

{I was having a day out and ended up in New Braunfels. I ended up at a Buc-cee's and found these to munch on. By the way, the dill chips were a bit too much for me; but, I had to try them.}

2015 Pirelli World Challenge (March 8)

We went to Austin the weekend of March 7 – 8, 2015. I had some shopping (browsing) I wanted to do in Austin because San Antonio can be limited when it comes to stuff like tiles and cabinetry. Anyway, we planned a getaway to coincide with 2015 Pirelli World Challenge at Circuit of the Americas (COTA). The one thing we did not count on was the cold and rain!

The first race was composed of slower cars. Dan’s coworkers could not be bothered to show up for this race. However, they did show up for the other faster cars. I thought the slower cars were rather interesting. Of course, I am not into racing like my husband is; so, I am sure it can be boring to those who love FAST.

I have actually witnessed a spinout this major curve (pictured above). Three cars spun out at the same time. Fortunately, no serious accidents occurred at this spot.

This is the last curve in the track.

We could one see a very small portion of the track. The rest were on huge screens. So, we were basically watching the race on TV. I thought it was poor planning of the builders because the building(s) blocked the majority of the track. But, you still get the experience of the sounds and feelings of a race. I actually had to wear ear plugs in spite of being without an hearing-aid because the sound of cars roaring by actually hurt my ears. Yes, make that plural. It even hurt my dead right ear!

PURPLE! I loved and privately cheered for this car in spite of it being nearly last in the race. If you don't know, purple is a favorite color of mine.

The second race was composed of much faster cars. I was interested in the first race; but, once this race started, I understood why people prefer fast over slower cars.

I wanted to animate the above two pictures; but, I did not make the time to do so.

I did not take pictures of every single race as it was extremely cold and miserable. In spite of feeling miserable on account of the weather, I had fun! It was seriously raining the last race I took pictures. I was completely floored when all the cars started. The backwash from cars was seriously horrendous. I looked at Dan with wide eyes after they all turned the corner and he was grinning and exclaimed “that was so awesome”. Seriously? All I could think was it was extremely dangerous.

The above video was shot by Dan with his iPhone. This was the second start up of the race as there was a major accident that forced them all to slow down.

Word to the wise about COTA: if you are gluten intolerant or have Celiac disease, you will need to do some serious planning concerning food because COTA does not allow food to be brought in and every single food merchant was full of gluten. Granted, not many food merchants were open that day; but, still… I could not find a single item that could potentially be gluten free with the exception of drinks. I ended up eating some food with gluten and paid the price. But, I have to say it was worth the price of brain fog, bloating, stomach troubles and joint pain!

Footnote: Dan says that on days of major popular races (e.g. Formula 1), there are many more food vendors and many are huge. So, there may be some gluten free options for those types of races. He mentioned a 18 wheeler truck full of whole chickens roasting.