And now a messege from our security specialist.....

"RAPPY ROO REAR"

(translation-Happy New Year)

From Abraham "Abe"

Happy New Year!

Short work day today(3:00pm!)! YEAH! We are heading out to have sushi tonight and then over to friends house to watch movies and or play board games. Pretty laid back New Years Eve. Kris has to work on Friday so we are going to hang around here a few days and head to Yankton for the weekend. Lots to do there this weekend. Take down Christmas and clean up the Clubhouse better. The last time we were there we left in such a hurry. The snow was coming down and blowing all over the place so we didn't do our NORMAL cleaning. This weekend along with taking down Christmas and cleaning there will be vegging, a crackling fire and a few beverages had, of course!

Hope all of you have a fun and safe New Year!

Shout out to another blog:
Enjoy some GREAT scenic pics from my niece's blog / flicker site. By the way she will be moving up the cyclecross racing category to "A" soon! Congrats kiddo!

New Years Goal-lutions?

New Years is approaching and so is the making of resolution. We were talking about this on our commute to work yesterday. Kris decided that she does not want to make a New Years resolution but come up with some goals for 2009. Same thing? Maybe, maybe not.......

Resolution-the act of resolving or determining, as upon an action or course of action, method, procedure.
Goal-the result or achievement toward which effort is directed.

The resolution is the action and the goal is the result of the resolution. So it seems as though you can't have one without the other, none the less in Kris's mind we are process of setting goals for 2009. What will they entail?

So watch for our upcoming Goal-lutions in the next few days!

Are you making resolutions / goals for 2009?

What does Christmas really mean? Have we lost sight?

Amazing on how fast Christmas is here and gone.

Do we get sick of all the holiday retailing with Christmas stuff being stocked on the shelves before Halloween? Then there is the whole Black Friday gimmick! You know what I mean. They have a good price on a few items and might only have one or two of said items in the store to get you in the store to buy other items...GIMMICK! Don't get me wrong, I know some stores have to do this to be profitable and of course they employ more people but can there be a law out there that Christmas stuff will not go on the shelves until the middle of November? I know it still runs over the forgotten holiday of Thanksgiving but it sure might make the retail mess a bit more tolerable. I am thankful I do not work in a retail store setting and have to endure this mess for three months, I would go insane!

I really think the younger generation has totally lost focus as to the real reason behind Christmas. Oh, sure church had some visitors there for the Christmas Eve service but by no means were the pews full. Then there was a baptism the night of the Christmas Eve service. I know, I know, they had family in town so it was a perfect time to baptise the child, but isn't that being selfish and taking away part of the meaning of Christmas also?

Then the younger generation also gets so wrapped up in gifts like getting a Wii, Xbox, cell phone, stereo, mp3, ipod stuff or whatever. I have found that as I grow older I do not need gifts. Don't get me wrong they are nice but is it something I really, really need, should the money that is spent on presents go to an organization or church that is near and dear ones heart? Maybe.

Here are a few gifts to ponder that fellow local bloggers gave this year:
Life with Tony gave his wife a kidney for Christmas! CycleSD bought Livestrong wear for his family! This is great as a good chunk of the money goes back to fighting cancer. What a great Christmas present it would be to all of us if a cure for cancer or any other nasty, rotten disease out there was found!

What does Christmas really mean to you? Has it gotten out of hand in your eyes?

Good Christmas

I must have been a very good girl this past year! I know some of you might say the verdict is still out on that one!

Had a great time with family and friends but after a few nights of not getting home until one and two in the morning from festivities at the farm I am done. I need a nap and not eat for three months!...UGH!

NNNNOOOoooo..................

There goes my Christmas........read about it here.

A glimpse back at this year.........

Here it is December 23 and Christmas is nipping at our heels. Where did the year go? What did the year hold for you? Did you meet your goals if you are into those type of things? All good questions to ask as we reflect back on the this past year.

Let's see........
I guess the year started off with weight loss for both of us. Not much but I have been able to keep all but 2-3 pounds off of the 20 through out the year.

Bought season tickets for the community theater in Yankton and enjoyed good plays/musicals throughout the year.

Kris had surgery and has some modified body parts that she proudly shows off!

Took a cruise, a first for us, along with two friends. We all had a great time and of course had to spend a day and half at Disney!

We met some great people out there through the area bike clubs (FAB and Lane Hogs), blogging and twittering. Friends that do not judge you for who you are, can or can't do but are very encouraging and just love life and can make you laugh in any situation and of course like to try different beverages!

Helped with the first ever FAB newsletters. We put out three newsletters this year and are ready to take on the challenge of the up coming year. Gotta live our solving the world problems session we have at Monks...oops, I mean newsletter meetings we have.

Went to a Twins game at the Dome and had a lot of fun at an Irish pub after!

Started to do more bike riding to work with the cost of gas and really enjoyed it. Found out that it is not that bad to bike in cooler weather if you have the right gear. I also found out I am in a better mood once I get to work then if I drove to work....interesting.

I put a few miles on my bikes although not as much as some but lots more than last year for me. It gives me a starting point to my New Years resolutions. I rode in the SD MS150 this year and battled the nasty headwinds. I made it 48.3 miles into the teeth of hell and that was it but it is really about the cause and not how far you ride. I had a blast!

Received a vintage Canondale from my brother-in-law to do with as I wish. I still have it and am trying to decided on what I want to do with it yet.

Got Kris to ride 20 miles from the Clubhouse to Valley View on a hot day, on a road that is hilly and back to the Clubhouse then a month later the 30 mile loop on the Margarita ride in Vermillion. She is ready to ride it again next year and is excited about biking in general next year....YEAH!

Kris turned 50. We had a fun birthday supper for her at Spezia's. Then spent a nice week in the Wisc area in October. Even though it was cool it sure was a lot of fun.

Lance Armstrong came out of retirement and will ride in 2009 for Astana!.....YEAH!

Met some Lane Hogs in Wakonda at The Pit, the home of the throne in the men's bathroom. Lots of fun and we are planning more such trips to catch up with everyone!

Got Christmas shopping done early but have yet to wrap presents...UGH...that has to change!

Had a great holiday celebration in Yankton with our extended family!

Tried some great beers at Monks, caught up with friends that have moved away and just haven't seen in a while.

Loving some of the non-smoking bars in Sioux Falls! Hope they are all non-smoking SOON!

Pretty much a good year. We still have our health, jobs and look forward to what next year will bring! More weight loss, more bike riding, more traveling and more friends we will meet along the way!

We hope you all have a Merry Christmas and remember the real reason we celebrate Christmas!

Need something to read?

Check out the latest FAB (Falls Area Bicyclists) newsletter here.

Still crappy out.....

Ok, so I wanted a good snowstorm, right? Well, enough already! The wind is still blowing and I can't convince my body to head out and scoop / blow snow yet as it is still blowing plus it is 30-40 below wind chill. DO NOT LIKE THAT CRAP! So, inside I will stay until Kris calls for her pick-up ride home from work today. Have lots of stuff inside to do today but not really in the mood to do much but vegg. Not much on TV either unless you really want to watch football!

Had a good time Saturday. Had lunch with Kris and her nephew Zach, then talked with Dawn and Christi and we decided to meet at Monk's for some beer, solve the world problems, and sit by the fireplace there. We got there around 1:45 and left at 5:20! The beer was good (3-Surly browns and 1-Sam Adams Chocolate Bock) but what was more fun was as we sat there three ladies walked up and ended up to be three friends from my old investment club! So we chatted and got caught up and had a few beers. Lots of fun. I picked up Kris and we headed to A Taste of the Big Apple for supper. The place was hopping! Good pizza was had albeit I still really love Charlie's pizza. Big Apple pizza is different and still really good. We had the Jersey Junker which had almost everything on it! Very tasty!

What next week holds....
*Kris is on vacation, that slug.
*I have presents to wrap and send out. If you are reading this and live in PG Calif or Dallas Center Ia, and you are to receive a present from us it might be LATE!...SORRY!
*Buy beer and wine for Christmas.
*Grocery shop ----EARLY!
*Make whatever we need to make for the meals.
*Laundry...UGH.
*Blow and scoop snow...again.....UGH!
*Gathering at Kris's brother-in-laws followed by Church at 11:00pm.
*Gathering at the farm Christmas Day.

I am sure more will be added to the list as the week goes on....Will I be able to sleep in one day this coming weekend? I can only hope!

Flame, BKs new cologne?

WHAT??? Yup, I said BK (Burger King) not CK (Calvin Klein) read about it here.

Can you imagine?

Yup, honey pick me up a whopper with cheese, medium combo, diet coke and some of Bks finest, a 5ml of their fast food smelling cologne. Of course they aren't selling them in the BKs as of yet but, what is next? We can only imagine......

Wednesday ramblings.........

Saw a brave soul commuting out there this morning. I know there are more than just one out there commuting and my hats off to you all! I have pretty much given into the weather unless the roads get cleaned off a bit better. ...YUP, scared I would fall and break something....can't have that!

The weather report is saying we are to get MORE snow, maybe 6 inches plus! Let me just say I love the snow, but not a fan of the below zero stuff. So it can snow all it wants. Over lunch today I finally got the snowblower started so it is ready to go now. Should have been done a while ago but it was not meant to be, I guess. They are saying next week we will be in the freezer again...UGH!

Downloaded a new program for my crackberry. It is an e-mobile planner. I like it so far. It keeps me from going back and forth from one application to another, calendar to my task list. I need to work with it a bit more yet to utilize it better.

Kris has the day off as she has to work this weekend. She is at home bonding with Abe this afternoon. I am sure it is more like he is laying there snoring and she is reading a book, drinking coffee and of course a load of laundry will be done here and there....ahhh the life.

For being organized with Christmas this year, to start with, we sure have fallen behind in a hurry! No Christmas tree up at our house and guessing with the stuff we have to do yet it will not happen this year. I think putting the tree up at the Clubhouse and helping Kris's brother-in-law with his tree this year was enough. We have all the gifts purchased so it is a matter of wrapping and sending some off which will happen this weekend. The others we will want to get out to Kris's moms before Christmas as it makes things so much easier on Christmas Eve. Good thing Kris has ALL next week off...LUCKY DUCK! We do not have Christmas cards out yet either but that has now turned into holiday cards so it gives us a bit more time! Oh yes, then there is the liquor store run for Christmas....good thing I found a coupon for 10% off!

Why am I blogging with all this to do?

Friends, food, fermentations and festivities.....

Great weekend in Yankton.

Of course hit Charlie's for pizza Friday night. Saturday we slept in as best we could. Why is it when you get older you can't sleep in anymore? Darn internal clock. After breakfast we made our shopping list and hit Wally world.

I decided to buy a couple bows and put them on the trees we donated to the city in memory of mom and dad. One at Memorial park on the northwest edge of the tennis courts and one at Riverside park on the outside of the left field fence at the baseball diamond. I thought it made them look a bit festive! I dropped our new point and shoot digital camera in the mud taking the pics of the evergreen tree (see the mud at the base of that little guy!). Thank God the camera and of course the tree were fine.

We got the soups, potato dumpling and chili, made and all the other stuff ready for our holiday gathering party Saturday night. What fun it is to get together with that group. It was the six owners of the Clubhouse and then Kris's mom (Joan), my Godparents (Luther and Joan) and one of my mom's friends (Rose). We have all become more like family than friends and we cherish the time we spend with all of them. We love to sit and share stories, laugh and have great food. As a thank you and Christmas present, Kris and I took everyone to the play which turned out to be a more of a musical of "What a Wonderful Life" it was good but different with the singing, which was unexpected. I have never seen the film version all the way through so might have to do that this year at some point. We headed back to the clubhouse for desert and an ornament exchange. What fun. We also tried to take a group photo with the new camera. We got it on the tripod. Kris tried to set the self timer. Lets just say this provided a LOT of the laughter of the evening. She did figure it out with Gilly's help and we finally got a good picture of all of us. I guess there is a bit of a learning curve on this little guy (canon SD880is).

(back row l to r) Ronnie, ME, Nanci (Kono), Joan (Kris's Mom)

(middle row l to r) Joan, Rose, Luther

(front row l to r) Dawn (Mackie), Kris and Christi (Gilly)

Sunday was nothing but ugly as far as the weather. Cold with 30-50mph winds makes a deadly windchill. We decided to head out semi-early and glad we did. From Vermillion to I-29 the visibility was not so great at all. We stopped and filled up with gas at the Coffee Cup ($1.43 / gallon) and about got blown away. This truck stop is really out in the open and the wind was REALLY BAD at that point. It had to be 40-50 mph! VERY DEADLY if you are out in that very long. We got on the indy and the road seemed to be good except we had a nasty cross wind at that point that just loves SUVs! Oh well, we survived and got Kris's mom home in Crooks with no nasty events happening. Lot more snow in the the Crooks area than Sioux Falls but Sioux Falls has more then Yankton.

I watched The Flying Scotsman (Graeme Obree)on Showtime yesterday afternoon. He fights evil demons and the World Cycling Federation to set a few world records on a bike he made out of a washing machine parts. Amazing and good story. Then it was off to ZZZZ-land after the movie for three hours! Pretty laid back afternoon that was for sure.

VERY COLD this morning 12 below zero with 30-40 below zero windchill....UGH! Don't like it this cold. I will take snow anytime but I hate this below zero crap!

Bring on the weekend!

HAPPY FRIDAY YA'ALL!

Are we going to have our first major blizzard this weekend? Secretly...I kind of hope so! I like the snow and am ready for an old fashion snow storm where you get snowed in for DAYS! Ok, well, I guess, I am hoping for a lot as that global warming thing has made a mess of the good old snow storms that we had, back in the day.

We are heading out to Bridge City tonight and ready for holiday fun. There will be six of us, clubhouse owners, 4-dogs and one clubhouse owner mom staying there Saturday night. We will have a full house for sleeping. Saturday night we are hosting a holiday gathering with our Yankton family! The beer fridge is stocked and ready. There will be FOOD ABOUND and then off to the play "It's a Wonderful Life", at the old Dakota Theater. I am stoked for this! Last year we saw A Christmas Carol and it was really good and by the review from Cycling Cathy this sounds even better. I can't wait!

I am ready for the weekend to begin!...BRING IT ON!....NOW!

Been awhile.....

Wow, been awhile since I have blogged, that darn Blackberry and all my micro blogging, twitters or tweets or whatever they call it, has clogged my brain with all sorts of stuff that makes it out in little spurts but not to the main blog page. Sorry. Yes, I have become addicted to that darn thing. I was told it would happen and it has....DANG IT!...the land of the Crackberry.

The weekend was fun. We headed to Northfield Mn where Jessie James robbed a bank at some point and was capture, I think, haven't read the whole story yet! Didn't see the bank. Went to St Olaf to see Kris's niece. Her choir had a Christmas concert. It was good. Fun to watch people and how they sing. Some are SO ANIMATED while others just stand there and open their mouths.

Saturday night we had the buffet straight from the land of Norway. I tried lutefisk. Ok, let me just say that I do not see what the big deal is about it. It is a bit odd, can't say I would crave it but it was edible with LOTS of butter and a WHITE CREAM sauce. Would I have it again, probably. One lady behind us called it fish jello! Tried herring also. Not a fan of it as it is either really a strong pickled taste or a bit more fishy taste than I like. This was not bad. Of course lefsa, rosettes, romugrut (sp?) which is kind of a custard type thing. The buffet was actually not bad and of course lots of fun trying the different foods.

Sunday we hit the Tavern for breakfast. It is in the basement of the Archer House an old inn along the river. Good food, service a bit slow and a bit loud in there but I zoned out while Kris and her mom rehashed each apartment Kris had lived in since college.

The drive home was kind of wild at times. Snowing and blowing. One van in the ditch. We noticed no highway crews out on the indy. Cutbacks? Not sure but thought it was odd. We got on to I-90 for a few miles and it cleared up.

Not all that much new. Have a busy rest of the week with FAB board meeting, FAB newsletter meeting, at Monk's of course!

Lots going on.....

It is a special day at our house today! It is Abe's 5th birthday! I can hardly believe he is 5. You can read his story on his webpage about how he came to us so I will not go into details here. We have a trip planned to Petco so he can pick out a treat or toy then it is off to Taco Bell for supper and of course chips for another special treat for Abraham. He loves the Taco Bell chips.

In other noise, crazy work week, COLD weather, have not been on the bike at all, recruiter called about possible job offer in Omaha (lots to consider), one of our friends has skin cancer and same friends 13 y.o. niece has Ewings Sarcoma cancer. UGH....damn cancer raises its ugly head again.

Heading to St Olaf for the Christmas concert this weekend. Should be a good time but not really looking forward to going out of town when we have LOTS to do at home...Oh well it will be fun.

Keep a few people in your prayers / thoughts, if you do that sort of thing, in the coming weeks:
Life with Tony is donating his kidney to his wife on Tuesday, my friends upcoming skin cancer surgery and positive thoughts for friends niece to get her through chemo the next 5-7 months and on to being cancer free and anyone that is having a hard time this holiday season for whatever reason.

If you are struggling with things this holiday season remember God only gives us what he thinks we can handle!

Mug Club party....

Hit up Granite City last night for their Mug Club Keg Tapping party! This was the first one I have been to and it will not be that last. It was free for Mug Club members and one guest. Of course we had to pay for the beer but we got FREE fruit, crackers, cheese, shepherd's pie and bangers and mash! So our meal last night was a little over $8.00 and that was just the price of two beers. I had the new GC brew, Mck's Scottish Ale, which I thought was pretty tasty. Kris didn't much care for it and opted for the two pull which is half Northern Lights and half Brother Benny's, which was good also. My membership has already paid for itself as I got my membership on a Sunday when it is half price, $10.00. You get $2.00 off at brunch and special drink prices plus they have these fun little parties every so often. We had other things to get done last night so we both only had one beer before heading out but it sure was worth it!

Lance to ride TDF

Lance Armstrong to ride in the Tour de France ! Read about it here.

Turkey, trainer & technology..........

Hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving! We ate turkey and then ordered a new trainer so we will have two and be able to ride together during the "off" season.

Not much going on. We bought new phones yesterday and so it has been quite the learning curve for me going to a Blackberry. WOW. I have been having fun twittering with it though.
Kris has a touch screen LG Voyager now and is trying to master the right touch it needs to scroll. It will take some time that is for sure.

I didn't hit any of the black Friday stores except Verizon and let me tell you 7:30am on black Friday is the time to go to that store. No wait and they even helped me set up a few things on Blackberry and did a small tutorial.

Last night we met up with an old friend at Stubbies for food and beverages and later hit Latitude 44. The live music was a bit to loud there as we wanted to talk so we went over to some friends house and got caught up. It was good to see Ms Allen. She has been through a lot and seems to be so happy.

We are going to brave the weekend Sioux Falls traffic to pick up a few more Christmas gifts and that might just finish it all out. We will have to see. We will be very close!

Happy shopping!

Happy Thanksgiving...........

(Pardon me?..haha)

What are your Thanksgiving weekend plans?

We will be meeting up with friends for supper tonight then off to Monk's for a FAB newsletter meeting. Thanksgiving will be not so traditional but it is the way it has to be this year. We are going to Falling Water. There have been to many things going on to warrant someone making a big festive meal. This will be great as no dishes to wash, unless it is a real expensive meal! After our meal we will head to Kris's brother-in-laws, the one with the broken shoulder, house to help them put up the Christmas tree. Friday, the usual household chores will ensue, laundry and cleaning. Kris has to work...hahahaha..although we plan on hooking up for lunch someplace. Friday night will be spent getting caught up with an old friend that will be in town, of course there is the parade of lights, not sure I am in the mood for this, this year, and supper at a local establishment.

I haven't decided on going out and about shopping on Friday. I did this last year and it was funny. I really didn't buy anything much. It was just fun to say, I did it and watched all the CRAZY people. I will have to see what is listed in the ads I guess.

I think this weekend we will be putting up our Christmas tree. Yes, this will be tree number 3 but not all at our house, that we will have put up or helped put up.

GOOD NEWS...Kris is interested in having basement races on bike trainers. I will have to get another one ordered up and then re-arrange a bit to set things up. Should be fun.

Remember that Lincoln HS band is leading the Macy's Turkey Day Parade, so don't forget to watch!

I hope you all have a GREAT & SAFE Thanksgiving and remember that nasty turkey tryptophan!

Room 302

A sweet grandmother telephoned St. Joseph's Hospital. She timidly asked, 'Is it possible to speak to someone who can tell me how a patient is doing?' The operator said, 'I'll be glad to help, dear. What's the name and room number?' The grandmother in her weak, tremulous voice said, 'Norma Findlay, Room 302.' The operator replied, 'Let me place you on hold while I check with her nurse.' After a few minutes the operator returned to the phone and said, 'Good news. Her nurse has told me that Norma is doing very well. Her blood pressure is fine. Her blood work just came back as normal and her Physician, Dr. Cohen, has scheduled her to be discharged Tuesday.' The grandmother said, 'Thank you. That's wonderful! I was so worried! God bless you for the good news.'The operator replied, 'You're more than welcome. Is Norma your daughter?' The Grandmother said, 'No, I'm Norma Findlay in 302. No one around here tells me crap.'

Dead Animal Bar and the Pit.......

Friday afternoon we had the opportunity to witness the adoption of a little guy by one of our friends. It was a fun time and I am so happy for all involved! Welcome Daniel!

We then headed to Yankton to the clubhouse for the weekend. Gilly and I took off the old thermostat at the clubhouse and replaced it with a simple digital type that was a hand me down from their house when they put in a set back thermostat last week. Everything WORKED! Dawn was reffing a game at MMC and Kris headed down after she was done with work. The gathering spot was Charlie's of course! The pizza was good as always.

Saturday was fun. We took Kris to the Walnut Tavern or some people might know it as the Dead Animal Bar. The four of us shared a pitcher of beer and a pack of cigarettes with the locals without a single cigarette touching our lips. Man it was smokey in there but I have seen it worse! I so do appreciate the smoke free bars in Sioux Falls! We hit some shops at the mall then out to Walmart for a few things.

We headed to the big metropolis they call Wakonda to meet fellow bikers and bloggers at The Pit for supper. Amazing that the ground was white there and the streets were pretty slick. We found the place and headed on in. There sat Ride Vermillion, Biking Brady, Ed & Pat, the four of us and of course the ones that live in Wakonda, Cycling Cathy and her hubby, Charlie were not there yet! Figures the ones that live the closest are the last to arrive! Just kidding, I know you had a not so fun day. A few minutes later Ham(m)er and her hubby Nick joined us. Right away when we walked in I noticed that Biking Brady was drinking a Newcastle Brown Ale, my favorite beer, and Ride Vermillion was drinking a Leinie's Honey, Kris's favorite beer. This is not odd if you are in a bar in a bigger town or have been told that they have pretty much only standard beers, no fancy beers. Of course we had to order our favorite beers and got others to try Newcastle also. It was a nice surprise that was for sure. Kris and I ordered up the food special. 8oz sirloin with gorgonzola cream sauce, dirty jack mashed potatoes and a salad. It was wonderful! We also got to visit "the Throne" in the men's bathroom. I have never seen anything like it before. It is a toilet that is on a platform and has 4-5 steps to get up to it, just sitting on the middle of the bathroom with no walls around it. Pretty funny and glad the women's bathroom was fairly normal except they have women's stenciled on each side of the door. I guess it is so you know where you are going and once you are in there you know where you are...not sure...but funny! It was a great time, good food, my favorite beer, stories, jokes and all in all good people having fun and laughing.

Ed & Pat

Biking Brady aka Kevin

Ride Vermillion aka Craig

Cycling Cathy & Charlie

Ham(m)er aka Melissa & Nick

Dawn & Christi

Our FOOD!

The Thinker on the Throne!

A person sure does meet some great people biking....nothing like energizing the biking sole!

Thanks for a great time, everyone!

Bike club count:

Lane Hogs 6, FAB 2, (not sure if Nick is a Lane Hog or not, sorry) non-bike club people 4.

Sunday Kris and I decorated the clubhouse for Christmas before we took off for home. We did receive a phone call before we left Yankton that Kris's brother-in-law had fallen on the ice at the church parking lot and has a fractured humerus head around the neck area of the humerus. Poor guy. We got home and picked up his SUV from church, got his meds from the pharmacy and set up an area for him to sleep at his house. No surgery is needed per the ortho today but will re-evaluate in 10 days. Now he needs to sit back relax and heal.

Weekends go WAY toooooo FAST!

Where will you be Saturday night?

Busy week as far as work goes. Was a late night, early morning and will be a round trip of the same tonight and tomorrow morning!

Took tomorrow afternoon off for a special occasion! A couple of friends are adopting a little guy so a few of us are heading to the courthouse tomorrow afternoon. Congrats you two! We are then heading to Yankton for the weekend. One friend has to ref the MMC vs some team bb game then it will be on to Charlies for pizza. Saturday we are going to try and get the Clubhouse Christmas decorating done while enjoying a nice fire in the fireplace. Then it will be off to The Pit. You can read about it over on Cycling Cathy's blog. Join us if you wish! It will be fun to see the Lane Hogs gang again even though one of them was out on the loose last weekend and turned up at Monk's! I think the last I had seen of most of them was the Marg ride in September! Should be fun.

I am going to be busy the rest of the week so I am guessing this will be the last blog entry this week. I am sure there will be pics of the Pit event that will be posted next week. Check out the twitter thing on the right side of the blog for little up dates of my thoughts and whatever the next couple days.

Have a GREAT weekend...I know I will!

Need inspiration?

Looking for some inspiration? Read this. Go Wolves! (Yes, they won last night)

Feel the love?.......

Feel the LOVE in these pics?

These pictures were taken in Oct of 2005, me a few pounds heavier and mom still alive and fighting cancer. These pics, is this order just make me laugh and shows the silliness and love in each picture that both of us had for each other. This Saturday (Nov 22) will be the 2nd anniversary of mom's death. Hard to believe. I still think she will come walking around the corner at any moment or call and complain about what the heck the Cubs are doing with the team (yes, that is a Wrigley Field t-shirt she is wearing). She was a great mother that taught me a lot about life and how to live it even when facing death. Mom, you are still missed greatly.....

Starting to set 2009 goals.....

We sat at brunch Sunday and talked about some biking goals for the up coming year.

My biking goals:
1)I want to ride more than I did last year. That was the whole purpose of me keeping track of
my miles. I know there will come a point that it will not matter how many miles I ride but I think it is a good gauge for me getting back into biking.
2) Commute more.
3) Do some area rides: FABRAD, MS150, Margaretta Ride. These rides for sure and maybe a couple others...we will see.
4) Finish the MS150!
5) Loose more weight. This should be easy with riding more.

Kris's biking goals are similar:
1) Commute some. (She does not like to ride on the city streets much. We will try and find her a good safe less traveled way to the Avera Mother Ship)
2) Do some area rides: Margaretta Ride (Oh, yes), FABRAD (?), MS150 (Volunteer-if not her weekend to work)
3) Make it all the way around the bike trail.
4) Loose more weight.

They are goals that are really reachable for both of us but not too lofty that there is no way that we could not achieve them. We are looking forward to a fun biking year next year, that is for sure!

Made it.....

Busy weekend.

We made it to Monk's along with, the Mayor, the kErnEL, Double g but confused as there are three g's in his name, the Muscle and Biking Brady. Talked about all of the up coming rides in the area for 2009. A calendar will be released SOON for this or watch the next FAB newsletter!
Also found out that double G or triple G (whatever it should be) tough school with Kris's sister in Pierre. Small world, but as triple g stated, "South Dakota is not that big"! Had a good stout from Schell but one was enough.

Made it to Waussa, NE to clean out our meat locker. Amazed at how much meat we had left in there.

Made it to Obert and have the graves decorated for Christmas. Noticed two new graves there. One I knew about but the other I didn't go look at as the wind was kind of biting and it was in the old section (north west corner) of the cemetery.

Made it back to the Clubhouse in Yankton for cleaning and such. Got ALL the outside stuff done and Christi and Kris tackled most of the inside stuff. I also made sure the beer fridge was fully stocked for the upcoming weekend!

Made it back to Sioux Falls without any issues. Gas was kind of spendy in Yankton at 1.93 and then in Vermillion 1.89 but in Sioux Falls we filled for 1.79 / gallon!

Made it over to a couple friends house for supper and football playoffs. Glad Lincoln won, sorry kErNel. Was a good game to watch.

Made it home just fine last night and now it is off to do more running around today. I was going to make breakfast but after messing around this morning surfing the web, I have decided against it so we are going some place for brunch. We have to pick up Kris's moms new TV from Karl's and deliver it to her place. We are meeting Rose for supper and drinks at some point this afternoon / evening. BUSY BUSY!

I have been surfing the web gathering information on a 2009 Disney trip we are planning. Yup, almost a year in advance. Never to early to plan in my book. We might also be going to DC in a few months but that is still kind of up in the air. Still have some planning and such to do on that.

We have decided on the camera Canon 40D with the Tamron 18-270 VC lens. This will be purchase in the next month or so. Good to do some of the leg work on it early. The lens is new on the market so not so many deals on it at this point. Found the lens and camera in town and really like the fell of it. We would like to buy it in town but it would save us around $300 at this point to buy on-line. We will see what happens with this and maybe the sales around Christmas time or rebates or maybe the in town store will match but that is a LOT to come down to try and meet.

Christmas wreaths....and beer

Starting to receive Christmas presents ordered for family delivered to the office....kind of fun!

Tomorrow we are off to the Yankton area. We are buzzing down to Waussa NE to pick up the rest of our cow from the locker, then over to the Obert cemetery to put the Christmas wreaths and flowers on my parents, grandparents and uncles graves for the winter. That will be good to have done when it is not ICY on those back roads. I picked up the fresh wreaths today over lunch. The truck smells like Christmas! They look really nice. Baumgartners just got them in this morning and I was their first customer. The clerk gave me a pen for being the first customer. They didn't have the bows on them yet but I am pretty sure I can manage that. After that we are going to head back to the Clubhouse and do some dusting, cleaning and beer fridge inventory so we do not have to do so much of that next weekend and can sit back and have fun. We have to be back in town by 5:00pm since Kris has the after hour pager.

Heading to Monk's tonight for a few beers at some point....maybe! There is rumor that this guy will be in town.

Have a good weekend everyone and stay SAFE!

Another gray day...Do we live in Seattle?

Had fun last night with supper at the Attic with some friends, even though the jalapenos kicked my A$$ on my taco salad! Then off to Monk's for a FAB newsletter meeting. Sure felt good sitting by the fireplace at Monk's. Lots of fun biking conversation was had. Bald_N_Surly recapped his fun day for us. You can read it here.

I started out this morning knowing there was a 50% chance of rain but thought what the heck, there might be a window of no rain around lunch time so I decided to take the old trusty Fisher out for the commute. The weather was not bad just a little damp feeling. I think the temps are in the 30s. About mid morning it started raining and continues to rain...UGH! Looks like I am going to get a bit wet on the way home for lunch.

One good thing is that I will loose weight if it is raining when I bike home for lunch as all of you know I made of SUGAR and will melt!

Shadow dancing....amazing

Christmas shopping.........

Yup, I have started Christmas shopping and I am almost DONE! We learned this last year that it is so much better to get the shopping done early so the holidays can be enjoyed! The goal is to be totally done by Thanksgiving! Make out your list, hit the internet or stores and get it done! Then sit back and enjoy! It really works!

Dreaming and wishing............

It seems we have some weather heading our direction. I can't wait! I want a good old fashion snowstorm but we are not going to get that much snow. Maybe 1-3 inches is all. I heard at noon that Deadwood had 39" if snow! COOL!

Other news, I had a meeting down on the south part of town today at a jobsite so decided to take a longer lunch and head to the Crow Bar. Every Thursday they serve a hot meal. Pretty good deal for $5.oo. It is usually beef, pork roast or ham. They alternate the three and have beef every other week. Then of course all the fixins. Mashed tay-ddies, veggie, and relish tray. YUM! I washed it all down with a chilled beer glass of MILK! Years ago I played softball for the Crow Bar and some of the team used to go there for lunch on Thursdays. Now it is down to three of us that go there for lunch. It is good to get caught up with everyone!


So I had a bit of time to kill before I headed to the Crow for lunch so I hit one of the LBS just to look around. I walked out with three cable guides I needed for my old Cannondale and the cable end caps. I am such a big spender...$1.86 later! Anyway I did talk to the sales person about a Cannondale tandem just to check on prices and educate myself. Kris and I have thought it would be fun at some point to get one. I was surprised at the price. I thought it would have been more. $2499 and $1799 I think were the prices. The other big thing would be trying to figure something out to haul it. Anyway that is down the road a long way but good to educate ourselves.


I hope everyone has had a good Thursday and beginning part of the week...only one more day of the week left. Wow, this week went fast!...what am I saying?...this YEAR has gone fast!

Wednesday humor.........

It was entertainment night at the local Senior Center .

Claude the hypnotist exclaimed, 'I'm here to put you into a trance; I intend to hypnotize each and every member of the audience.'

The excitement was almost electric as Claude withdrew a beautiful antique pocket watch from his coat. 'I want you each to keep your eye on this antique watch. It's a very special watch. It's been in my family for six generations.'

He began to swing the watch gently back and forth while quietly chanting, 'Watch the watch, watch the watch, watch the watch . ...'

The crowd became mesmerized as the watch swayed back and forth, light gleaming off its polished surface. Hundreds of pairs of eyes followed the swaying watch, until, suddenly, it slipped from the hypnotist's finger and fell to the floor, shattering into a hundred pieces.
'S#*T!' said the Hypnotist.

It took three days to clean up the Senior Center .

GREAT DAY!

Great commute to work this morning. The temp was almost perfect. No need for wind pants, skull caps, winter gloves or face mask. Heck, my coffee was still pretty hot when I got to work. Just regular work clothes, pull over and regular cycle gloves. GOTTA LOVE IT....alas it will be short lived this week. We are expecting snow the end of the week but it is November and we are suppose to have snow!

As I was biking to work all I could think about was, what a great day it is, no, not just because I was out there biking to work, but it is the day the United States picks a new president. All registered voters get to exercise their rights as US citizens to vote for who they want in the White House. I am not going to tell you who to vote for as I know everyone has their own opinions. The important thing is to get out and vote. Exercise your right. A lot of people in the history of our country fought for your right to vote! So make them proud. It will make you feel good in return!

Monday afternoon humor....

One day Lena's car broke down on Highway #38 just outside of Sioux Falls, SD. Lena eased her car over to the shoulder of the road. She got out and opened the trunk. Two men jumped out ... Lars and Sven who were wearing trench coats. They stood at the back of the vehicle facing oncoming traffic. They held their coats open and exposed their naked bodies to the drivers who were approaching. This scene caused one of the worst pileups in history. It was not long before a police car showed up. The policeman, enraged, ran toward Lena's vehicle yelling, "What is going on here?" "Ya, vell my car broke down," Lena said calmly."Okay, so what are those perverts doing ?" asks the cop. Lena replied, "Vell, officer....... dose are my emergency flashers!"

More gear to buy?

This past weekend I took some time to do a little cool weather clothes looking. Mainly base layer type stuff.


It sure is hard to know what to get. I know some of you think Merino Wool is it and some swear by Under Armor or as I slipped up and call it Armor All to Kris at one point this past weekend. The weather will just slide right off your clothes with the new armor all cycling gear! Not sure what I was thinking when I called it Armor All, anyway, it seems the people that like the Merino Wool are more of the commuter type and the people that like the Under Armor (there I said it right....but I had to think about it before I typed it) are more the type of bikers that just go out in any weather and ride and not necessarily to work but some do wear it for commuting also.


So, having thought about it and looking at the price, I am opting for a couple Under Armor shirts for colder riding and then maybe next year get a nice wool base layer. We are a causal office so having Under Armor on is not a big deal, plus our office is usually on the cold side so layers are ALWAYS better. The Ibex shirts are so nice but at around $140 each that is a bit steep for me at this point. The Under Armor is a little more reasonable but still the thermo shirts are around $56 each. I am hoping to commute in cooler weather and yes even if there is snow on the ground but only if the streets are semi good. I am guessing I will have to purchase some knobby tires as I have the invert treads on my mountain bike now. Not sure how they will handle the snow and not sure I am truly ready to make the investment for studded tires yet.


MORE STUFF TO BUY!....hahah......in the future anyway.

Weekend recap

Buzzed out of work a bit early on Friday to finish the Halloween decorations in the yard. It was a good time with all the kids. We think we had around 75 stop. One little guy, about 3, who was a Werewolf, got so excited and was jumping up and down as he picked out his candy! It was cute. Then one of the last kids about a 3 year old little girl puked on the sidewalk. Never had that happen before. I felt bad for her. After we tore down all the decorations I had remembered that I had not "picturize" our fun evening Oh, well, another year, I guess.

Saturday we dropped stuff off at the hazardous waste area from cleaning out the garage. If you have never used it and live in our city you should use it! They dispose of your household chemicals properly and it is FREE for residents of Sioux Falls. It is a nice facility. They unload your chemicals so you do not even have to get out of your car! It is the right thing to do for our environment. We then hit the Phillips Ave Diner for breakfast..YUM. The other cool thing was we went to the Kitchen Store on 10th and had our knives sharpened. We heard about this event while watching the news Saturday morning. It was a fund raiser for the Banquet or the Food Pantry, I can't remember. Anyway they sharpen your knives for $1.50 each. We took in eight of them. I understand they do this a couple times a year. It sure is a good thing! Saturday evening was the golf banquet in Brandon at the Brandon Golf Course for the association members. We had a fun time as always. The entertainment was a bit to be desired. It was a magic show. We sat in the back of the room so could not see a darn thing that was going on.

Sunday we hit Cafe 334 after church. Not sure I will go to Cafe 334 for a while. I ordered a spinach feta omelet. The wait staff came back and said they were all out of spinach and said I could have whatever else on the omelet so I said, "like what?", of course she had no idea and looked VERY perplexed at me so I ordered a egg, bacon, ham, cheese scramble. It was noisy, not just with people talking, which you can't control and is what you would expect but the kitchen noise was not good. Lots of banging of plates, silverware plus the food was average. The wait staff has all changed and seems to be young kids in matching t-shirts paired with faded tight jeans. The wait staff dress code seemed a bit lax than what we have been used to there and of course our wait staffs t-shirt was REALLY dirty looking. Then we witnessed one of the host type people pick up some menus from the floor that covered the heat registers and just put them back in the pile of menus without wiping them off. UGH! That topped it for me.

Sunday we headed out to Kris's moms place to blow out the eaves for the year. The pods hadn't all fallen from the locust trees yet but with the forecast saying rain then snow this week, we needed to at least get what had fallen, blown out of there. She lives in a ranch style house so it is easy getting up there with the blower vac and blow it out. The hardest part for me is getting back on the ladder to get off the roof! Kris's mom was busy on the lawn mower chopping up leaves,a she called it. We got a few more things done for her anyway before the weather this week. We headed to Pizza Ranch in Hartford for supper, took Joan home and then we headed home.

All in all a good weekend even though no riding was done. Some things just take precedence this time of year.

US bike route system....

How fun would this be, if it all comes together!

Happy Halloween!

Guilty.....

Feeling guilty today. So far, it is the nicest day of the week and I drove to work. I biked to work on the coldest morning, so far this fall, and drove today.....how does that work?
Well, I will tell you how it works. I had a bunch of stuff to do over lunch and logistically there was no way I could have covered the amount of ground I need to and get back to work in my allotted time for lunch. Oh, well, tomorrow is another day. I will be ready to scare the kiddos tomorrow night!

Birthday......

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Guessing you and mom are cutting up the rug in heaven today!

CHEERS!

Halloween Humor....oldie but goodie....

A man is walking home alone late one foggy Halloween night,when behind him he hears: BUMP.... BUMP...BUMP...

Walking faster, he looks back and through the fog he makes out the image of an upright casket banging its way down the middle of the street toward him. BUMP... BUMP... BUMP...

Terrified, the man begins to run toward his home, the casket bouncing quickly behind him.. FASTER... FASTER... BUMP... BUMP... BUMP....

He runs up to his door, fumbles with his keys, opens the door, rushes in, slams and locks the door behind him.However, the casket crashes through his door, with the lid of the casket clapping. clappity-BUMP... clappity-BUMP... clappity-BUMP... on his heels, as the terrified man runs. Rushing upstairs to the bathroom, he locks himself in. His heart is pounding; his head is reeling; his breath is coming in sobbing gasps.

With a loud CRASH the casket breaks down the door. Bumping and clapping toward him. The man screams and reaches for something, anything, but all he can find is a bottle of cough syrup! Desperate, he throws the cough syrup at the casket.... and, then the coffin stops.

Commute and lucky.

Today I have dead legs, kind of, they are just tired Not sure way. The commute today was better then yesterday, guessing it was because there was no wind this morning and there was a NW wind yesterday. I left the sunglasses in the truck as to avoid the fogging issue, but have them ready for the ride home for lunch.

My biking issues are such small little issues compared to what life brings us. I can still walk, talk, have my mind, although sometimes that is in question, pretty much do what I want, with in reason, and most days there is not pain. There are others however that fight every second of every day for a semi normal life. Yes, I am lucky, like most of us, we have our health, but all of us know that we will be dealt a card in our lives that we really will want to put back in the deck or give back to the dealer, unfortunately we can not. We deal with the hand we are dealt. Is that where the saying DEAL with it comes from?.....who knows, but I know in given situations that is what we do is deal with it the best we can. Most deal with it privately and others share with close friends and family and still others will put it our there for all of us to be part of. Guess that is what bloggers do is put things out there, but some keep personal struggles personal. I would imagine it is very therapeutic or cathartic for a lot of us to write about our feelings, well it is for me anyway and others I assume also. It really takes a lot to open a person's life up to let the whole world be a part of it through the good times and the not so good times.

The reason behind this blog entry? If you do not read Fatty's blog take a peek over there and add them to your pray list, if you do that sort of thing. They are a brave family putting their life experiences out there even when life goes on to a new chapter.

Why does Fatty's blog hit so close to home, when I have never met or probably will never meet their family? Kris's sister, Susan, was in almost the same boat as Fatty's wife. They both have / had multiple brain tumors that are/were cancer, both named Susan and both have / had kid(s). The struggles Fatty's wife is going through is almost like a mirror to what Susan was going through. Both Kris and I read Fatty's blog last night and we both felt what the family is going through. Not easy for us to read about as it brings emotions back to the surface even after a few years. The heart still knows the heavy hurt of loss.

This is why we ride for a cause. This is why we buy Livestrong bracelets. This is why we donate money to help find a cure. This is our purpose.

Scull cap head

It is official...this is the coldest temperature (26 degrees) I have ridden my bike in! My new purchases worked pretty well, windstopper jacket, good upper base layer and the face mask. I had one big issue today and that was my sunglasses fogged up big and bad. I ended up pulling over and taking them off so then I was without my mirror and the eyes kind of teared a bit. Not a big deal as far as the mirror goes as I can still crank my head around to look but when you are used to using it and then not having it, I became a bit more "Timmy" as they say! Now, the only thing is dealing with scull cap head once I get to work.........vanity be thy name!

Missing........

Missing 1-a/c cover, gray with black trim. Similar to the picture below, minus the snow.





Last night we got home and I took Abe outside in the backyard. I noticed that the a/c cover was gone from the a/c! We cleaned the garage, somewhat yesterday, and I gave Kris the job of covering the a/c. Me and the boy went inside and I asked Kris about the cover and she said of course she covered it. So both of us armed with flashlight were sneaking around the neighborhood last night in search of $12.99 a/c cover! It was pretty funny. Anyway it was not found. Mr Mayor if you see it in Rowena give us a call....awh, hell, with this wind I am guessing it is in Tennessee by now!

Big hair / wig ALERT

WOW, is it windy! Pretty much 25-30 mph with gust upwards of 50 mph in our neck of the woods.

This is definitely bad if you have BIG hair...

Or if you wear a wig!

I called the SAG wagon....

I gave up on a ride yesterday. Yup, totally gave up. I had to call the SAG wagon to come get me. We had decided that a bunch of friends would meet up for breakfast yesterday at 9:00am at Tinner's, 69th and Minn. I decided I wanted to get a bike ride in so, I told Kris I would leave early and head out on the bike with a small stop at the bank to deposit a check. Got to the bank and it was closed so, I hit the bike trail getting on the asphalt path at 12th street to head south, into the wind, to Western then Western to 69th and 69th to Minnesota Ave. Ok, so that was the route. Anyway, I make it to Westward Ho Country Club area and start to get pretty cold. I was layered up ok but I still have not found my neck gaiter so I used a bandanna and the face and neck are was getting cold. I stopped to adjust clothing and had a GU since I had not had breakfast yet. The destination of the ride would refuel the body, so I thought. I also had cold water which some of you might know that I am not a big fan of drinking COLD water when I ride or just in general. Your body does not absorb it as fast as with a little warmer water. So I filled my bottle with cold water before I left the house and as I road it got colder so drinking it made me feel colder when I did have a swig. I had some issues also with my hands tingling since I only had winter gloves on with no padding in the right areas. With all this going on and running really late, I decided to call Kris and have her meet me at Western Ave or Yankton Trail Park area for you soccer players reading this blog. Yup, SAG wagon. DANG IT.

We had a great breakfast and good conversation with the group before heading to a winter clothing outlet sale. I figured I would get smarter about some of the things I needed for my cold weather cycling. Ends up I found a windstopper jacket and a base layer undershirt for a good price so they were purchased. I then went to Scheel's and picked up an under armour face mask. I am hoping it will work ok. It covers your nose and down your neck. I have the Pearl Izumi scull cap already and didn't feel I needed the all in one mask by UA. So it is all a trial by error for me yet with the cold weather riding.

Temp was 36 when I headed out. I only made it 5.28 before I gave in.........UGH, still learning and not giving up.

Planet Green and pork fat........

I was flipping through the channels, channel surfing as they call it, last night and found Planet Green. I had never seen this channel before and didn't know we even got this channel. It was interesting to watch. First off they shopped at a Whole Foods store which has lots of organic food. The store looked like it would be fun to shop at. Now, I am not huge on the organic stuff but this place looked fun with all the fresh fish. We watched Emeril Green. It is Emeril Lagasse, world renowned chef of pork fat, showing people how to prepare a good balanced meal from using more organic food. The chef of pork fat showing how to eat organic, IRONIC, maybe pork fat is technically organic? Anyway I decided to get on the world wide web, the internet as they call it, today and check out the Planet Green site. Look what I found. They actually have a cycling tip of the week section! I might have to check into this site a bit more in the future.

Cool commute

Cycling Cathy's recent blog was about finding motivation anywhere you can find it to get out and ride. So, last night I decided I needed to commute to work this morning. The motivation behind this was bald N surly and Dan. I thought if Dan could commute to work on Wednesday morning in the pouring rain wearing sandals and bald N surly could ride in the pouring rain and the cold of the darkness then I could ride in the cool morning drizzle. Turns out, no drizzle was to be had only damp, cool, 39 degree air this morning.

The choice of clothes, my work clothes of course, jeans, t-shirt, CUBS polar fleece pull over, thick socks and work type boots, then over that, I pulled on some lined nylon pants, my biking rain jacket, helmet (of course) and winter gloves. Turns out, I was sweating when I got to work. Those rain jackets do not breath very well. The only negative is that I could not find my neck gator so my ears and neck were a bit on the cool side but that was it. I also started out without my lights on. I never even thought of it until I met a few cars so I pulled over and put on the trusty head light and tail light. I felt better doing this. I also still had my sun glass lenses in instead of my clear lenses. Oh well, nothing hurt there. All a mater of figuring things out yet and what works best I imagine. I will figure it out soon enough. I never thought I would ever be riding a bike if the temps got below 50!

All in all a good ride to work but feels strange pedaling a bike with boots on.

Next week it is sounding like good weather. Get out on your bike, walk, golf or whatever. Just don't sit there and waste the good weather while we have it! There is not going to be many more days like it!

Artery clogger........

Well, not much to post about. Had a fun time last night with a group of us meeting at the Attic for a birthday. A day late celebration for one of our friends. Of course as always, laughter, libations and good food were had. A bunch of us had the artery clogger. It is a cheeseburger with peanut butter and a fried egg. It is good. Both Kris and I ate half ours then had the rest for supper tonight. If you have never had a hamburger with peanut butter on it you are missing out! I am not a huge peanut butter fan at all and I think they are quite good. Sometimes you need to order a side of extra peanut butter to slather more on them....YUMMY!
Later I met with a couple wild dudes to talk bike stuff at Monk's. One said dude even braved the elements last night and rode up on his bike. I am sure the zip lock baggy under his helmet made the difference....just kidding bald n surly! It was raining pretty good and cold by the time we left Monk's and he even turned down a ride. Get those miles in Mr Surly, you can do it! It sure felt good sitting by the fireplace at Monks. Gotta love that.

If it is not raining tomorrow I will hop on the Ol'fisher to commute to work. I have to reserve judgement on that until morning but I am thinking pretty strongly about it... well, at this point anyway.

Weekend plans include cleaning the garage, starting the snowblower and moving it up to the front of the garage, maybe a bike ride if the weather holds and if other life priorities do not get in the way.

Tomorrow is Friday! Kongaloosch everyone!

New to us recliner

We made a purchase last week from craigslist. I had been looking on there for bikes and occasionally browse for furniture and last week I found a leather recliner from there. I did a little emailing with the recliner owner and with a trip to see it and a little bartering we have a new to us recliner.

The only thing wrong with it is that their puppy chewed a little corner of the foot rest which you can see in the picture. That part of the recliner can be unscrewed and the leather replaced and even if we can't get the same color to match, that part of the recliner flips down and is not seen with it is upright position. This will be done soon. All in all a good experience with craigslist. I think we got a pretty good deal for $175 since it is a brand name recliner!

Bike ride and a flu shot

Bike and body were happy yesterday! I rode back to work after lunch. Abe, the dog, had been so tired from the weekend that I decided he needed to nap a bit longer and not go back to work with me. The Ol'Fisher was happy to be on the road again even though our usual route had to be altered because of road construction. The route home I went my usual way and then drove through the construction....I know, bad girl.

Since we are to get rain today and tomorrow I decided I need to get the yard mowed. I was amazed at how damp the grass was yet. Oh well, I lowered the deck on the mower and went at it. The back yard took two mowing passes each at different levels as the grass is thicker back there. Got it done and I have to say that is a good thing but boy was I tired last night. Never made it through my TV show. Pretty sure I was asleep by 9:30.

This morning I went to Lewis with all the blue hairs to get my flu shot! I paid my $28 and sat in the chair to have a nursing student give me the inoculation. Que the twilight zone music.......The nursing student told me that the lady that had been in the chair for her shot right before me had the same birthday as I did but a different year. Of course you know me....I had to say, "REALLY?" A DIFFERENT YEAR?, That seems odd!" the student laughed, since almost everyone in there to get their shots have 20-30 years on me. The older guy next to me was a bit nervous I think. He asked the student, when she didn't take the cap off the needle if she was a student! Of course she replied, "Yes". He looked a bit nervous. Pretty funny. I figure hey, they have to practice on someone and a flu shot is pretty harmless unless you have reactions to it. Not sure I would be in line if they were practicing starting IVs!

Dead Car, Death Trap and chainring bite....

Where do the weekends go?

We hit Murdo's Friday night for a late supper with, Joan, Luther and Rose. The walleye was wonderful! Of course we went to leave and the Bravada didn't want to start. A nice guy parked next to us gave us a jump and of course we headed back to the clubhouse right away after a lot of thank yous to this kind man. Luther checked out the battery and saw the terminal was a bit corroded so we dumped some diet coke on it to clean it up and of course it started right up. Amazing to think that diet coke will clean off battery terminals. I wonder what it really does to our insides when we drink this stuff? The next morning the old bravada started right off again so we think it was a corrosion issue but still need to get it checked out this week.

Met up with some friends that so kindly agreed to haul Kris's moms love seat back to Sioux Falls for us in their camper with that has a toy hauler. AGAIN THANKS. We had lunch with them before they headed back to Sioux Falls and then Kris and I did some winter organizing at the clubhouse. We got all the patio furniture, hoses all inside and then did some organizing in the garage.

Saturday night we went to the forth play of the Lewis and Clark theater season, Death Trap, a comedy thriller. It was really good. Small cast of five and it all took place on one set. The play really takes a lot of twist and turns. A couple of older ladies that sat behind us were scared at one part and kind of screamed. It was funny. The play was good and has to be my favorite so far this theater season. Next up is It's a Wonderful Life in hitting the stage in December and we can't wait.

Sunday we went to church. I had a couple people come up to me and thank us again for the memorial in my mom's name., the waxless candles. They commented on how quick they light and how pretty they are and of course they are. Mom's spirit will always burn bright and be part of every celebration at Vangen Lutheran Church! The other thing that happened was there was a baptism. The baby's middle name was Mae which was my mom's middle name and spelled the same. Then one more thing was the we sang Borning Cry which we sang at mom's funeral. I guess we were meant to be there today! Headed over to Joan and Luther's for brunch after church before Kris and I headed back to Sioux Falls for more fun! We picked up the love seat from our friends house then took it out to her moms. We then had to move a couch, lift chair and carpet up to Kris's grandmothers house for storage then we had to take if Kris's moms patio furniture. OK, WE ARE DONE HAULING / MOVING FURNITURE FOR A LONG TIME!

The down side to the weekend. No bike ride. Today would have been the best day to crank the pedals but it was not meant to be. My bike is not happy with me. I was going to get the tie downs out of the garage and while moving my bike it kind of tipped and the chainring bit me on the shin. I guess it is pay backs and it was well deserved..........

Trail Expansion in the Hills?......

George S. Mickelson Trail to Mt. Rushmore Connector Trail Being Studied
RAPID CITY, S.D. – An open house will be held Wednesday to gather input on a proposed non-motorized recreational trail connecting Mount Rushmore and the George S. Mickelson Trail.
The meeting will take place at 728 Sixth Street in Rapid City from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. The public is asked for input into the benefits, challenges and issues that may be encountered in planning a trail connecting the George S. Mickelson Trail with Mount Rushmore.
Wyss Associates, Inc. has been contracted by the South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks to prepare a routing study for the proposed connector trail.

Reorganizing.....

Been trying to organize the bike stuff so it is not ALL over the place. Bought one of these to store all the bike gear in for two people. I put the helmets, shoes, trunks, water bottles, shorts, socks, jerseys, camel baks, lights, misc tools, pumps, GU, Cytomax in there so they are all together now. Should be nice! The only thing is that it is in the basement so trekking downstairs after a longer ride might not be so good but I guess since the beer fridge is in the basement there is a nice recovery drink that can be had before trekking back up the stairs!

Tonight I am going to try and reorganize a few things in the basement and move some furniture around in the "family room" area as we bought a leather recliner from someone on Craiglist. The recliner is in good shape and is mission style. It has one little corner of the footrest that their puppy chewed a bit but it will not take much to repair it. It was a good deal. Come to find out the guy that was selling it has relatives that lived in the Mission Hill area that used to go to Vangen Lutheran Church, my home church when living in Yankton. Small world...........

Heading to Yankton this weekend. Should be fun. Meeting up with Godparents and Rose for supper on Friday night at Murdos and then hitting the play, Death Trap on Saturday night. Should be a nice relaxing time. I think we are taking the bikes to maybe take a little trek out and about by the lake or in Yankton. Neither one of us have been on the bikes so far in October...UGH!.....longest stretch for me not being on a bike since mid-May! Don't like it. I have promised myself that the 20 pounds I have lost since last summer will not slowly start to appear on the body over the winter and in fact weight loss goals have been set to meet by MS150 next year.

Work stuff this week is messed up as we have a booth at the state architects convention today and tomorrow. I have to woman the booth on Friday morning from 9-noon and then take the booth down after that which is always fun. Today is usually the day when there is the most traffic by the vendor booths so usually Friday morning is usually pretty laid back. I might have to take a book or magazine along to read. Of course there is always the chance that one DISNEY loving architect will stop by the booth tomorrow so we can chat about Disney for 20 minutes like last year!

Well, everyone have a safe weekend and a fun ride tomorrow night for FAB starlight ride! Check out what the Mayor will be sporting on his bike for the ride...LIGHT UP THE NIGHT!

Green ride........

The reason you ride? The reason I ride? There are all different reasons why we ride but one thing is clear the fellow in the video gets a few of them figured out.

Expensive lunch........

Pretty much a sluggish start to the week....got to be the weather or my inactivity, maybe.

Kris had today off, from working the weekend, so we emailed Mackie to see if she wanted to join us for lunch downtown since Mackie works downtown. I had decided on Buffalo Berries since none of us had been there before. Lets just say we will not be in a rush to head back there. It is all organic food. Now, I am not against organic food at all, but the soup, black bean Cuban, really didn't have a lot of spice or flavor nor did the wasabi (sp?) (Japanese horseradish) tuna melt. So I had a sandwich, cup of soup and a diet root beer and Kris had a chicken salad, cup of soup and an ice tea. The bill was $23-something. Ok, now I am one that does not mind paying more if the food is good but when the food was average the price was expensive. So they do not get a good review from me. Oh, well. I guess it was a healthy expensive lunch....now I need to have some CHOCOLATE!

Being that Kris is home today she put a roast in the crock pot with tay-dees, carrots and onions. I can't wait for SUPPER!

FAB voters confused?

It seems I was voted in as a FAB Member at Large. Maybe the voters thought they were voting for the largest member not member at large when voting for me?.....

Friday blahs.....

I along with other bloggers have the blahs it seems. I have no interest in riding. I have no interest in working. I have not interest in anything at this point. I am already tired of our favorite TV shows and I have a headache.........

I am sure my attitude will get better but I do have a headache. Went to bed and had a headache and woke up with it also and it is not from having to much fun sampling beer....I could only wish. Maybe it is the post vacation blues. Maybe the change of season up coming. Maybe it is all the stuff yet to do to combat the cold and make the house a little more efficient. Maybe it is the yard work. Maybe it is work stuff. Maybe it is my 401k dropping. Maybe it is the whole world financial crap. Maybe it is our tax dollars hard at work for the CEOs spa day. Maybe it is all the political CRAP. Whatever it is like I said I am sure it will pass. I can only hope it will happen SOON!

Remedy - libations!....Bottoms up KIDS!

Different beverages consumed.........

Some of the different beverages consumed on vacation. These empties were not consumed by one person! I see I missed the spotted cow and of course the RUM!

Ride and vote

FAB Apple Orchard ride and election of officers is this Saturday, Oct 11! Might be a bit on the COOL side! Details can be found here.

Get out there bike, eat (FAB treats at the Orchard) and vote!