Get Set, GO!

 Euclid Timber, a local company, sponsors mountain bike races and in conjunction with that they hold a free kids bike race.  I've always wanted to get the boys to one of the races but it just never seems to be a great time.  Today we had it planned and they were excited to try it out.  The hour before the race there seemed to be all sorts of reasons, GOOD reasons, for us not to go but we went anyway.  Kade and Cole were the only ones that raced and since Cole had training wheels it made it tough but he was insistent on going so I followed along and pushed him through the rough spots.  Kade had never ridden on a mountain-like trail so he was thinking, "Full speed ahead!"  As you may guess that didn't play out very well for him.  Unfortunately I was on the track with Cole so I couldn't watch him and give him any pointers.  When he was telling me about how he crashed multiple times and flew over the handle bars because he was going so fast down the hill and came to a turn that he was going to fast for and slammed on his breaks.  When I said, "You can't drive as fast as you can on a mountain trail," he responded with, "I figured that out!"  I felt bad that he didn't have any experience but next time will be better!
SO for the back story...
I have to go back to yesterday when I went over to take care of the neighbor's, the Harneys, turtles and fish.  When I walked in the house I noticed an awful smell and found the turtles water to be very murky.  I figured the filter wasn't working so through texting Alison decided to try leaving it turned off.  Later that night I went over and got the filter going again.  It took many unsuccessful tries for me to decide that I needed to suck on the hose to prime the pump.  It worked, but I could tastes the awful turtle air for hours after.  Yuck!  Today when I went to check on the turtles the filter was still working but was just not going to be able get the water clear so I knew I needed to change their water.  I decided I would change the water later that day.  We have now arrived to an hour before the bike race.  I again started the siphoning technique.  You don't have to get the water in your mouth to taste it. Well I things were going well until... I went out side to dump one of the buckets full of water while another was filling up and when I came back in I found stinky water everywhere!  I think the turtles must have bumped the hose and when it flopped out of the tank it dumped water around.  I quit messing with the tank for a while and started cleaning up the mess which entailed serious cleaning-- the water was too nasty to just mop up without disinfecting what it touched.  I finally had that mess cleaned up and got back to work with the turtle tank.  I had taken out as much water as I dared and had started filling it back up when Kade burst through the door saying Clint had cut his finger and there was "blood everywhere!"  I ran out the door asking questions and find that he is across the street at his friends house.  Thoughts are rushing through my mind of many different finger cutting scenarios.  When I got there I found him leaning over their kitchen sink.  The story was that another friend came to play and Clint let him in the front door.  When he went to shut the door his finger was still in the door jam and it slammed shut on his finger.  It smashed his finger and didn't really cut it, it more exploded.  :(  We got it wrapped up and he's doing fine and will be fine but has a very sore finger.  I went back to the Harney's and finished filling up the tank and we headed to the race track.  Clint came along to watch but couldn't use his hand to control the handle bars so he didn't race.  Whew! What a night!