Back is getting better

The back is a bit better today, but still sore after ice packs, biofreeze, drugs and not really doing much but some walking since our bike ride Saturday. Good thing I know a good physical terrorist (Kris), yes, I said terrorist. My mom loving called her Sarg. No slacking on her watch that is for sure! OOPS, I have not stretched today yet. Good thing "Sarg" does not read my blog! I hope it is better soon as it is not fun at all! I think the hardest thing in the morning is putting on underwear, shoes and socks....UGH! You know the dangle the underwear from your hand as far as you can stretch /reach, balance on one leg and try to lift the leg up to start the underwear putting on process, then praying you do not get your toes stuck in the underwear and fall over!....really not fun....I guess in this case a thong would be better but.....UGH.....not for me, I think it would take me two days to find the thong in the fat roll once I had it on! Anyway at least the other two hard to put on items you can sit down and put on!

I have decided not to do a lot this week as far as activities so no golf Wednesday night or this weekend. We are heading to Yankton this weekend for the play and have decided to take the bikes along also for a little riding around. I am saving myself for the up coming Alcester Golf tournament in two weeks. My partner will be Mary, I can't putt worth S*%T, Krum, which by the way is NOT TRUE! She is a great golfer and a lot of fun. The other group that will golf with us will be Mac and Gilly so we should have no lack of fun. The other teams need to bring their "A" game!! Yup, trash talk has started!

We are going to Tokyo for supper tonight. Meeting Kris's brother-in-law and niece there for some good sushi! We tend to just order a bunch of different sushi and enjoy. It is fun and gets you to try different things, of course we still have to order our favorites.

Not much else going on. A lot of the local bike bloggers are biking in the Tour De Kota so I was able to get through my blog reading fast this morning. Some are struggling today with the wind. I think today was the century option (100 mile loop) if you wanted to ride it. Sounds like that was pretty much out for a lot of riders because of the wind. BUMMER! I guess it could be worst. It could be windy and raining!

Cubs won last night and really needed to after a 2 game skid. They have a day off today before they host the Braves Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

First kind of not long bike ride.

We hit the bike trail yesterday. It was a day without RAIN and not much wind! We hopped on at Orion Foods are and headed north past the airport to Minnesota Ave. We met a few interesting folks along the way. One lady looked kind of beat up. Her face was swollen and she looked to have stitches above one eye. Looked nasty whatever she ran into. A bunch of people with very noisy bikes. I for one do not like it when my bike makes noises. Anyway after a brief stop we turned and headed back into town so to speak. We traveled on south meeting up with someone on the dirt trail riding a horse. Still further south to the Great Plains Zoo area. Kris was done at that point and I can not blame her. Some how her seat kind of shifted and so the front of the seat is up a bit and was a bit uncomfortable. This will have to be fixed before the next ride. I decided to ride down to 41st street from the zoo area. From 41st street south the bike trail is closed and so it was a good point to turn around. Kris had decided to wonder back at her own pace to the truck when I left her. I ended up meeting her at the truck about 10 min after she had arrived so not so bad at all. Her total was 12.2 miles and mine was 15.3 miles. Not bad at all. This marks the longest ride for Kris in her LIFE, YOU GO GIRL, and this is my longest ride so far this season. We were both happy as to how we felt.

We got home and I was taking the bikes off the rack and messed my back up. I do not have the best back and have really have not had a set back in quite a few years. This not as bad as the last set back but it will take a bit of patience on my part to get it back to "normal" again. So, pain meds and ice packs were in order after a shower and a recovery drink, no, not beer, Cytomax.

I decided I needed to walk a bit so we hit Best Buy and I got my new XM radio. Nothing like a little shopping to make the back pain go away...haha. We had been given a little bonus money from work that I have been carrying around in my wallet for some time so I had decided to upgrade since my old XM Radio had some issues even though they were minor it was a pain. After shopping it was off the Fuddruckers for supper. We figured we had earned a big juicy burger after our riding.

Hit the YW or YM CA (not sure which one it is) where the Tour De Kota was starting from. Lot of nice bikes. Ran into a few FAB members and chatted with them. They are excited to be on vacation but also a little nervous I think for the possible rain this next week. Looks like we are having a chance for rain every day next week. Anyway, I think the numbers break down like this: 350 riders for the whole week and 750 riders total. Not bad numbers and not sure how it breaks down compared to last year. Today they ride from Sioux Falls to Mitchell. There were some rain showers that came through early this morning but looks like they have a good window and not much wind (8-10mph) this morning. I think the FAB members were fired up for the riding with kErNel day. I believe this happens on Tuesday when they ride and stop at each town for adult beverages. They day would be pretty much all downhill for me....and literally it is all downhill that day. Anyway, you can follow along with the Tour De Kota happenings from the Argus Leader.

When we got home last night we sat out in the driveway and listened to Rascal Flatts (I really like this group) and had a Newcastle. Rascal Flatts along with Cheryl Crow were playing for one of the hospitals here in Sioux Falls at the Football stadium so we could hear it pretty well.

Not much going on today but brunch out with some of Kris's family and then just taking it easy. Not really what I had planned but it is what is needed with the back.

Oh, ya, forgot to tell you that I had my first peanut butter and honey on whole wheat bread sandwich yesterday. It was not bad and with some GU gel on the ride I fueled the engine just fine.

Also note the Cubs need to right the ship! We have lost 2 in a row!

Storms last night......

Ok, so some of you, maybe the two or three, that read my blog know, how I do not like stormy weather. So, last night was a trial in staying calm for me. I do not get hysterical but I have to say the threat of tornadoes gets the old ticker pounding a bit and last night was no exception!

We, well, I, decided we needed to fix supper, leftovers, and then head to the basement early with Wrigs, the bird, and Abe the dog, and also along with our flashlights and weather radio. We watched some of the weather stuff but decided since it was a bit before things started to pop that we would watch something else. I love HBO on Demand! We watched a little snippet on David McCullough. He the writer that penned books 1776 and John Adams along with a few others. We really enjoyed the peek into his life. He seems like a fun guy and in a way, if you watched John Adams, it was a bit how John Adams and Abigail Adams acted together only McCullough is not as crotchety as Adams was it seems. That was 40 min of fun.

There really was not much on but the weather crap so we ended up watching it. Yes, we were watching KELO and I think I know more about weather than I care to at this point. Anyway, there was the funnel spotted out by Humbolt so we called Kris's mom (Joan) and asked her if she was watching the weather, as she lives north west of Crooks a few miles. She had not heard about the possible tornado by Humbolt. I just told her to make sure she watches the weather. Our call to her was followed by other calls from family members telling her to watch the weather also. The best advice Joan received came from Kris's aunt, "Well, do something!" The kicker here is that Joan lives in a house with no basement. They built the house that way so Kris's dad could get to every place in the house as he had MS. Needless to say, here were her options: hopping in the car to drive to a relatives house, walk or run up to Kris's grandmothers house, which has a basement, or hit the bathroom in the house and hunker down in the bath tub. Of course she chose the the last option, hunker down in the tub. I am guessing that was the "Well, do something!", option also. The only problem she had was keeping the dog in the bath tub with her. Well, as the story goes, everything was fine and no issues to report...thank GOD!

I guess my nervousness of storms comes from when I was 5 or 6. We lived in Storm Lake, IA, and of course a lot of storms seem to pop in that area. I HATED THEM! We would go down in the basement and my dad would go back upstairs and watch the storms. Then of course we moved to the Des Moines area then back to Yankton when I was in 6th grade so the places we lived are known a bit for nasty weather. Safe to say, I would not willingly move to Kansas or Oklahoma unless I live in an underground bunker!

Glad no one was hurt in our area from the storms and I am sure that my niece, who is working on her masters in meteorology, is so very proud of her Aunt Banana after reading this!

I am tired of the rain!

Have you started to build your ark yet?

If not, find someone who has and reserve a room, fast!

Boise Bike Project

There are a couple of guys in Boise doing some great work! Read about it here.

Soggy golf night!

Well, Wednesdays are golf nights for me at Brandon. It is Ladies Night and we do have fun! Tonight though was fun but it was soggy fun. We started out dousing our bodies in vanilla (old camping trick) so the gnats would leave us alone, which they did. Then we got to about hole five and felt some sprinkles then it started in. Two of us quickly threw on our pullovers (me and Dawn) and an umbrella for Gilly. We walked some more and of course they sent the cart boys out to check on all of us. We were fine but a lot of the groups golfing went in. We figured we were not that far from being done so we walked on. By the time we were done with 9-holes we were soaked! The rain had leaked through my pullover and onto my polo shirt and under garments. Oh well. The good part is, when I started golfing tonight I weighed 890 pounds and since sugar melts in water I had lost a LOT OF WEIGHT!...hahahaha. All in all it was a good round for me, best round of 9 so far this year.

We hit the Attic Bar and Grill at 41st and Sycamore (not Sertoma) for supper after golf. Kris met us there. We got warmed up with a mug of beer and good food. Kind of a neat atmosphere there. Off to take a nice warm tub and then hit the sack.

GO CUBS! They have won nine straight games and working on, what I hope will be the 10th, win tonight! They have the best record in baseball baby!

GOOD LUCK TDK

For all you hitting the road for the Tour De Kota (TDK) this weekend (starts Sunday!) have fun, stay safe and I hope you have lots of wind at your backs!

For all of you not riding in the TDK and living in the areas that TDK passes through be on the look out for bicyclist and extra traffic in the next week! View the route here.

Candidates and snakes (one in the same?)

Seems likes things might finally shake out with all the political stuff. I am so SICK of the political ads and all the speculation on who is going to run for VPs in either party..UGH! Can we not sit back and wait until they announce this themselves, I guess. Then you get the panel of people who give their take on the speeches from each candidates last night as if we are all two year olds and can't decipher what they are saying. Go figure. Only five and a half months more of this crap! Digging up dirt on whomever and whatever...I can't wait. Don't get me wrong I do care about our country and what happens to it. I think the press just runs with stupid things that they do not give us credit for understanding or things they thing we what to hear. In reality the presidential candidates all make empty promises. Yup, you heard it here! We hear the same thing every four years. We need to have better health care, we need more jobs, we need to give tax breaks to the middle class, we need to help the farmers, we need to balance the budget? We need, we need, we need....does any of it really get changed?..........not yet!

Anyway on to more soapboxes.....SORRY.

Hyperion, I am sure is very happy today with the results of the voting last night. Union Co South Dakota gave the ok to build an oil refinery there. There are still other permits they have to obtain before it is built. I still have really mixed feelings about this. I am kind of on the NO fence. I am worried about pollution and other things this will do to our environment. The only good is that it would create jobs, but at what cost? I hope no one voted for it because they think gas will be cheaper in our area...doubt that will happen even though our consumption volume has decreased 4.7% (last I read) and yet the gas price still goes up!...how does that work?

Ok, so why snakes in the title....well use your own judgement for the above few paragraphs on what you think of politicians. I do think there are good ones out there but just about everyone of them has a slippery side hence snakes. This leads to what happened to me today. There was a snake in the backyard today, not a politician, but a reptile. It was the gardner (I called them that when I was little) variety. It had the sun hat, sun glasses, garden gloves, and garden shovel along with it so it was easy to identify. I DO NOT LIKE SNAKES! These snakes will be relocated very soon!...UGH!

Driver under the influence kills one in Mexico

This happened 15 minutes into a bike race or tour (depending on what article you read) in Monterrey, Mexico. A drunk or under the influence of drugs (again depending on what article you read) driver apparently "fell" asleep (passed out maybe?) and ran into this group of riders. Amazing only one person was killed, 10-12 others were injured.

I know it is a nasty picture to look at and should have had a disclaimer to it, but maybe the shock value is good to make some people realize how quick lives can change in a split second, when one individual gets behind the wheel, drunk or drugged or whatever. ............

One death is one to many when this could have been TOTALLY avoided! VERY SAD........

STAY SAFE OUT THERE!

More weekend recap

We did have a SUPER weekend in Bridge City (Yankton)!

Arrived Friday night after driving through some no so fun looking clouds that dumped some rain on us. We buzzed over to Murdo's for supper and had a wait of about 30 min but that was ok. We hit the bar for a couple of pours and out to the deck that overlooks the river. It was very nice out there even a bit cool. Had a great meal there then headed over the Dam to the South Dakota side of life. The sun setting on Lewis and Clark lake was awesome!

Saturday Kris woke with a migraine. She took her meds after our breakfast (Rose, made us a southern coffee cake that was really good) and I headed out to do the shopping and let her sleep it off. I hit Gundy's farmers market for some bread (they make a bunch of great bread in the pizza ovens at Charlie's), asparagus, and beef sticks. Headed to Ace hardware to toodle around the bike shop a bit then over to Hy-Vee for some groc for supper that evening.

Dawn and Christi arrived and Kris was finally among the living so we headed to River Rose for lunch. They have great sandwiches and salad or soup bar that really hit the spot but be forewarned that this is a sandwich that can easily be shared if you are doing the salad or soup bar. We got back to the Clubhouse and relaxed a bit. Then we loaded up the bikes and headed to the lake. The campground has a nice bike trail so we decided to take a nice easy ride on the trail and a little bit in the campground areas. There were at least 2 times that a family was out riding and they were not watching their kids and the kids wondered right in front of me on my side of the path...UGH. I know it is hard to keep the kids in line when out on a trail like this but I had to brake hard both times to keep from running the little ones over. Oh well, no one was hurt but I hope they learned and talked to their kids about proper trail riding. It was a nice little 8.5 mile ride. We all decided it was time for some refreshments so we hit Ben's Brewing Co for a nice mug of Newcastle. YUMMY! Then it was back to the clubhouse for some pool time. Dawn and I ended up just dangling our feet in the pool as the water was REALLY COLD! Kris and Christi sat in the chairs as they were to CHICKEN to even put their feet in the water. Or course good conversation and harassment occurred then off to fix supper. We did burgers (no buns), asparagus, potatoes (slice about 1/2" thick-precook in microwave-put on cookie sheet-drizzle with olive oil and add whatever seasoning you would like-throw on grill-flipping as needed), 3 heads of garlic (cut off the end and drizzle with olive oil-wrap in foil and grill-turn as needed-squeeze garlic heads out and onto bread or whatever), onion (slice out a wedge of onion add butter and garlic, replace wedge-wrap in foil and grill -turn as needed) and a sweet potato (same as doing potato but put butter on in instead of olive oil and then when finished grilled we added a little brown sugar)......YUM-O! IT WAS ALL GOOD!

Lots of fun was had by all.......

Sunday was the candle and hymnal dedication which you can read about in the following entry.

Memorials and dedication

This past weekend we had the candle and hymnal dedication in memory of my mom. We thought it was a great idea to have a memorial that would be used at every service and event at church. Mom was one who had a bright personality, song in her heart and she loved to belt out an old hymn at church so our choices were easy for memorials. The candles are special candles. They look like regular candles but actually you fill them with oil and add the wick and you have a candle that last a very long time with only the need for oil every so often. The candles burn cleaner, stay straight in the heat of the summer (no a/c in church), easy to light, and no wax drippings to clean up on the alter. My sister (Roz) and I got to light the candles for the first service! The other memorial that we donated in her name were a few hymnals, to replace some that were very worn. It sure was a treat singing out of a hymnal with her name on the inside cover. The memorials are great additions to Vangen Lutheran Church in Mission Hill, SD. The flowers on the alter were from two very WONDERFUL ladies and two of my mom's closest best friends, Rose and Joan. Not sure what I would do without you two in my life. I am truly blessed!

After the dedication we headed to Minerva's for brunch with my sister Roz, niece Kristen, Rose and her granddaughter Kassy, Godparents Luther and Joan, friends Dawn and Christi and of course how could I forget Kristine. It was a good time filled with laughter and good food.

We did take some time before Roz and Kristen headed home to show them were the trees will be planted in memory of both my mom and dad. They are very fitting places. Riverside Park, by the baseball diamond, will soon be the home of a new oak tree and by the tennis courts at Memorial Park there will be a new pine tree.

It is good to have these memorials finally decided on and behind us. Now, each gift will go on and flourish in it's own way in our parents memory.

New beverage? (spoof)

(Disclaimer: Ok, this is kind of naughty...so if you are easily offended then DO NOT READ IT!)

Pfizer Announcement Pfizer Corp. announced today that Viagra will soon be available in liquid form, and will be marketed by Pepsi Cola as a power beverage suitable for use as a mixer. It will now be possible for a man to literally pour himself a stiff one. Obviously we can no longer call this a soft drink, and it gives new meaning to the names of 'cocktails', 'highballs' and just a good old-fashioned ' stiff drink'.

Pepsi will market the new concoction by the name of: MOUNT & DO.

Thought for the day: There is more money being spent on breast implants and Viagra today than on Alzheimer's research. This means that by 2040, there should be a large elderly population with perky boobs and huge erections and absolutely no recollection of what to do with them.

Quit monkey-ing around!

Enough "monkey" business! I need to get off my butt and decide about the MS150. I haven't really thought about it much even though it was a goal last week to have it decided upon. I just had other things that got in the way I guess. I promise the big announcement will be made on Monday with a YES or NO. I know you will be on the edge of your seats for that one!

From previous posting you already know we are hitting Bridge City this weekend. We decided on taking the bikes and do some riding out by the campground areas followed by a dip in the pool at the Clubhouse! Should be a nice weekend!

Sunday we will take the long trip back as we will swing down to Obert to pick the flowers off the graves and then head home.

Some of the FAB members are doing BIG training rides this weekend in preparation for upcoming BIG rides. They will be riding from Sioux Falls to Brookings and Mr Bite will ride on to Huron. Then the next day they will do it all in reverse.

STAY SAFE OUT THERE GUYS!

New bike seats.......

New designer animal bike seats!

Now, this is a new meaning to a dog sniffing your, a$$ or

riding BEAR butt or getting your goat or just plain insert your own joke!

Bike lane?...UGH!

Short weeks seem long!

Happy Hump Day everyone! I hate short weeks, they seem so long......some how.

We finalized the location of the tree donation to the Yankton Parks or Forestry division this week. We have to pick out a place for the pine tree at Memorial park yet. Now it is finding the time to be there when they plant the oak tree which has yet to be worked out.

Got stuff started for the FAB Newsletter. I am in charge of the member spotlight. I am also gathered all sorts of filler info for the cycle rag.

Got home for lunch today and Abe, the dog, decided to puke a couple times in the bathroom. That is always fun. Poor guy. He is fine now. I mowed the lawn over lunch. Kris buzzed home over lunch and had my lunch all ready for me to transport back to work when I was done mowing...THANKS!

Tonight is perm and haircut night...ugh....Oh, vanity!........hahaha.....then hooking up with Kris, Jay (Kris's brother-in-law) and Zach later.

Tomorrow night we are hitting Ribfest in Sioux Falls. Seems the BBQ is overpriced and lines can be long so might hit Buffalo Wild Wings first and then check out the old rockers, Loverboy. We had fun seeing Joan Jett last year at Ribfest. Of course we are to have storms tomorrow night which is typical for Ribfest. I know one year, we sat having supper and a big group of storm chasers went by. We pretty much thought it was time to go home at that point. Oh well, we are not far from home if bad weather hits!

Friday, we head to Yankton for the weekend. The main thing happening is the waxless candle and hymnal dedication at Vangen Lutheran Church in Mission Hill on Sunday, as a memorial to mom. We are taking the bikes to do a little riding and other than that we are relaxing on Saturday. We might hit the pool also if it EVER warms up! Who knows what else. There might be a trip to the Ice House, Ben's Brewing Company, Charlie's or Murdo's.....you just never know where we might show our mugs.

Commuting goal....this week SUCKS! I will try and meet the goal yet this week but I can't make any promises, unfortunately, it is not looking good!....I hang my head in shame : (

Memorial Day recap

Saturday was spend being lazy. No excuse for not doing anything...well, I guess I did have a bottle of beer at Monk's with some friends then over to their house for a great supper, but that was it!

Sunday we golfed 18 holes. My first full round of the year and I stunk it up! I had some good shots and some really bad shots the only good thing was we rode the cart and didn't walk. Although Dawn gave me a few tips which is always good in fact I almost chipped on in!

Monday was wild. Go up early and headed to Yankton. Grabbed flowers Joan and Rose left for me to take to mom's grave. Headed to Riverside Park to look at an area where they want to replace a weeping willow with an oak tree. We donated some money to Yankton Forestry Dept to plant two trees in mom and dad's names. We really wanted one at Riverside Park (along the river). My dad was the shipping manager at Gurney's (located down by Riverside Park) and mom loved Riverside in general so we thought having trees planted there would be great. Well, they told us a spot they wanted to plant the trees almost a year ago and we were not happy about the area. It was next to the sewer pond. I couldn't imagine how I would have had to explain that to mom and dad one day, "What the HELL, were you thinking planting those trees by the stinky sewer?", so we said no at that point. Now a place has opened up in Riverside Park that is an ideal place. It is right along the bike trail, in view of the river and the bridge and of course is approx. right on the other side of center field fence at the baseball diamond. The other tree we are either going to wait on or have it planted at another park, but I think this spot is great! Anyway I got the pics taken of the potential tree planting spot (emailed them to my sister later today) then headed to Obert for the Memorial Day service. What a great thing this cemetery does. They ask for the flags from the casket of every veteran that is buried there. On Memorial Day they have flagpoles they put up that line the driveway with all their flags (you can see some of the flags in the picture above). It is quite the site. The service was good. Catching up with relatives was fun also! Kenny (cousin) helped me fill in some snake holes around the headstone base...THANKS CUZ! I hit a couple other cemeteries to put flowers by family headstones and then headed home.

One thing that amazes me is that there is a guy buried in this cemetery that served in the War of 1812! To me it is odd. I guess I would have thought he would be buried out east someplace but not to be, he is in the Obert cemetery. His grave was never decorated except for the American flag but MaryAnn (cousin Kenny's wife) started decorating his grave a few years ago and now there are other flowers there also. I think that is cool!

All and all it was a good weekend. Of course tears were shed, as always when taps was played but I can not imagine it does not bring a tear to any ones eye........

New mode of rural transportation

Have you ordered your Cowasaki yet?

Backstreet worms

Memorial Day has lost it's meaning for some.....

Memorial Day has become such a different holiday for so many people. To some it is time off from the daily grind and to others it is time off to spend with friends / family, celebrating / camping and doing whatever, and yet for others it is also a day of work with no time off.

Let us not forget what Memorial Day really is about. It is a day that commemorates U.S. men and women who have died serving our nation.

Even though you may not agree with wars or conflicts our nation has been in and still involved in, we need to respect the service men and women that have paid to keep our nation free and memorializing them for their service!

Bike cockpit?

When are you going to buy yours? Safe to say my stimulious check (whenever it shows up) will not be going to buy this!

ROS recap

The Ride of Silence was really neat. We got all ready and about 10 min before departure, Kris got paged and had to go to the big green house on the hill to help out a patient. I asked her how much she had to pay to get someone to pager her at that specific time, all in fun!

Anyway, I think they said there were 37 riders. A few of the FAB members (Cycle SD and Hooterville Mayor) were interviewed by KDLT and did a great job. We tok off and I forgot to take my cell phone off ring so the muppet show song was playing as we took off....very nice and embarrassing! The next thing is that I SUCKED WIND BAD! It is pretty much up hill out of downtown and I have not near the amount of miles / time on the bike as most of the other riders. I of course am carrying more weight then some also from the years of carbo loading, but that is getting better. Down 22 pounds (official weigh in this morning) since last summer. I could not imagine how bad it would have been riding that last night with that much more weight. Anyway made it to 21st street and the Kernel was waiting for me. He asked it I wanted to cut over to Minn Ave at that point and I said sure. The uphill was pretty much done but there was no way I would have caught the group I am guessing. THANKS KERNEL! He buzzed over and took pics of the ROS peleton cresting the hill on Minn Ave. I chugged out with the group on to Minn Ave at 21st and rode with the pack the rest of the way.

I waited for Kris to come back to Fawick park and we loaded up my bike then headed to Monk's after calling a couple friends, who had been out golfing. Had a great beer last night after asking for two other beers they were out of. Anyway it was a Rogue Shakespeare Stout. Very nice.

So all in all it was a great night even if I didn't make it the whole distance (uphills kill me!) but hey at least I was out there and supporting a good cause!

Carbo loading or not!

To carbo load or not to carbo load for the ride tonight, that is the question. The Ride of Silence is a 3.4 miles for this over weight, have not been training all that much, biker. I figure I will need all the fuel I can get! I guess some folks would say, by looking at me, that I have been carbo loading for YEARS and YEARS for this ride and a lot of other rides in the future. I will need all the help I can get and maybe something that will give me a little get up and go (gas) might do the trick, but I pity the poor fool riding behind me, no wait this might work to my advantage as there should not be anyone behind me (slow go Mo here!) until I kick in the so called "after burners" then LOOK OUT, I might be leaving everyone in a fog, green fog that is! I might even beat everyone back to Fawick!....haha....OOPS forgot this is a SILENT RIDE so this will not work!

We should be fine riding. Kris has not ridden much at all and so we will hang together and go our pace, so no big deal. I have read that it is to go no faster than 12mph so that is good news, kind of! Ok, well I better get back to my second plate of spaghetti....haha...see you tonight!

Ride of Silence

Tonight is the Ride of Silence across the world. I just looked on the website and at that point there were only 288 confirmed rides in the WORLD! One ride will be taking place right here in Sioux Falls, SD, the only confirmed ride in South Dakota!

What is the Ride of Silence?
It is a bike ride to honor those that have been killed or injured riding on public streets.

What does it do for our community?
It raises awareness that we are here and asking to share the road.

Meet at Fawick park this evening. Ride begins at 7:00pm! Distance is 3.4 miles.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Ride of Silence...
Tonight we number many but ride as one
In honor of those not with us, friends, mothers, fathers, sisters, sons
With helmets on tight and heads down low,
We ride in silence, cautious and slow
The wheels start spinning in the lead pack
But tonight we ride and no one attacks
The dark sunglasses cover our tears
Remembering those we held so dear
Tonight's ride is to make others aware
The road is there for all to share
To those not with us or by our side,
May God be your partner on your final ride
- Mugai

DAMN CANCER

I just learned that one of my aunts (mom's sister) has lung cancer. She is my aunt Goobie. Her name is really Ruthie but when I was little I could not say Ruthie so she has always been aunt Goobie to me. The spot on her lung is small and I hope they caught it in time. She has battled, I think thyroid cancer before also. She is a VERY STRONG LADY and I know she will get through this! The list is getting long of the people I think of when I look at my Livestrong bracelet everyday.

When are we EVER going to find a cure for this ROTTEN disease? Imagine what cures might have happened if all that money we are spending on a war, that no one will EVER win, had been put to use for cancer research.....just imagine!

We are all praying for you aunt Goobie! I know you are a fighter.....LIVESTRONG!

Weekend recap - Cows and Kittens

Good weekend! Headed to Yankton after Kris got off work. Good drive to Yankton chatting about Bike to Work Day. Made it in time to pick up the pool key for the clubhouse. Then headed to Charlies. Sat at the bar with a couple of regulars and ordered the Three Stoogies (cheese burger pizza) and the Jame Dean (chicken, garlic, tomato pizza) They were really good and of course a pitcher of red beer helped it go down easier!

Saturday morning got up and hit Gundy's farmers market as we had heard he picked about 75lbs of asparagus. Along with the ass-per-gas, we picked up some steaks. Rose (friend) and Joan (godmother) came over and we grilled out. Luther (godfather) was still out in the field planting corn. We grilled steaks, had twice baked potatoes, coleslaw, bread, then I made the ass-per-gas a couple different ways. In one packet I just had asparagus and butter. In another packet I had asparagus, jalapeno bacon, minced garlic, butter then I added asiago cheese to it right before serving. YUM-O! It was really GOOD! We had shrimp with garlic, butter and another batch with seafood sesoning and butter all on the grill also. There was also desert after all that...apple pie and ice cream.

Sunday got up and did some cleaning then loaded up and headed to the cemetery in Obert. Cleaned up the mom and dad's headstone along with grandma, grandpas and uncle Franklin. Trimmed the grass up around them also. Then headed east from the cemetery. We drove over the hill and there were COWS EVERYWHERE! I stopped that the next farm place to let them know about the cows but no one was home so we headed to Maskell and then over the bridge on the Missouri. There was something not right on the north side of the bridge. A bunch of cars plus a sheriffs car and a police motorcycle. Then headed up the road a bit further and met an ambulance. Got on the other side of Vermillion and met the GF&P vehicle with lights going pulling a boat. We could only think of one thing and that was I wonder if some one had drown in the river. We stopped at the Coffee Cup for cheap gas $3.59/gallon and hit the interstate then met another GF&P truck flying down the indy with lights going. I have not heard if our suspicions are true yet but it didn't look good.

Went to Coco-Palace for sushi with some friends then out to the farm to meet up with some of Kris's family. Found a litter of kittens that were cold and crying at the base of a lilac tree so we got a box with some towels in it and placed the kittens in there to keep them warm. I am guessing the mother will move them once she smells our scent but we could not leave them just stuck in the bush on the cold twiggy ground.

My goal this week is to decide if I want to do the MS150. I need to either, as my mom would say, shit or get off the pot on this! I am leaning to yes but I need to look at all things before I commit to it.

This week will of course be busy again at work. Wednesday is the ride of silence that we plan on riding in (I am skipping golf night but leagues does not start until next week) then might hit Monks after the ride for some libations before heading home. Oh yes, and there is meeting with the FAB newsletter group to look at content options for the first FAB newsletter!

BUSY WEEK!

Bike to Work Day!

We had a great turn out for the Sioux Falls Bike to Work Day today. I have not heard official results but someplace around 200 bikers enjoyed "catching their" breakfast from Chris Cakes flipping pancakes this morning. The picture above shows a couple rows of bikes but keep in mind that there were two other filled hanging racks like pictured and also bikes all over the place. I think it was the most busy around 6:45am-7:30am. All sorts of different bikes, all sorts of different people and all dressed differently. Some had the full bike garb on while others came in more sporting type wear and others came in dress pants, shirts and ties. There were road bikes, recumbent, comfort bikes, tandem with trail behind add-on, mountain bikes basically you name it and it was there. There was even a couple that brought along their dogs, of course the dogs did not eat any pancakes. Oh, I forgot that I am now legal to ride the bus and take my bike along. I took the test for the bike and bus permit and passed....not that there is a test. They show you how the bike rack works then make you put your bike in the rack on the front of the bus. A tiny bit of paperwork later and you have a permit. Pretty cool deal.

Met a few new people during the event that ended around 9:00am. Minus Car's Dad was even there. He called me Betty! Well, I am not a Betty and told him my name and he said, "You're Tez" and of course I said, "yes". He told me he reads my blog, so I thought I better give him some kudos! I have heard he has put on a lot of miles on his bike already this year. Went on a little ride down Phillips to 19th to 7th ave then along the south side of Avera to Cliff. I was sucking wind on the uphill on Phillips but the group (Minus Car, Cycle SD, Hooterville Mayor and Jody) were kind to hang with me. We hit Cliff Ave and I needed to head back home to meet up with Rose at Spezia for lunch (great seeing Rose and had a great lunch!). I was not expecting to go on a ride after breakfast so didn't have the ol'bike shorts or shoes along Oh well, it was fun!

Headed out to pick up tomato plans and misc. other plantings. Got them all in their happy pile of dirt so they can not grow like wild. Was going to fertilize but now it is windy so it will have to wait a few more days.

I better get packing for Yankton.

Have a good weekend everyone!

Visit Hooterville Mayors blog to see more pics from today!

The Onion: Human Head Found In Hamburger

I have heard burgers at Bob's are as big as your head! Have fun on the B2B ride!

Ice cream the next gas?

I saw a sign, at lunch time, at one of the local ice cream joints in Sioux Falls, we will call them Barney & Gomers.

"Don't you wish your car ran on ice cream?"

My answer NO!

Gas is expensive enough at $3.65 / gallon. I figure a medium cone at the ice cream joint is approx 12 oz and approx $2.50 for said amount. So, approx. 21 cents per ounce. Given that, there are 128 ounces in a gallon that comes out to $26.88 / gallon! I guess the only thing good is that we would not be stick relying on other countries for oil, if our cars ran on ice cream. I am pretty sure that the middle east does not harbor any HUGE ice cream factories but then again it could be hidden in the same place as those weapons of mass destruction.

Golf, biking and the weekend

Well, golfing was a blast last night but my game SUCKED! Oh well - I didn't break a club! I had a couple nice drives but my chipping and putting was not good. I shot worse then I did the first round this year. The company was good though. We always have something to laugh at or about! Great night weather wise with no wind but in about a week I am guessing we will want a little breeze as I think the bugs are going to be bad!

The drive home I saw 19 wild turkeys. They were out in a plowed field pecking around. One big Tom had his tail all fanned out. I love seeing that stuff!

Got home and Kris was ready for her bike ride around the neighborhood. It was a nice little outing. I am guessing 3-4 miles. So I think I logged about 8 miles on the bike (not very great) and the pedometer stated 3.88 miles walking.

I have tomorrow off and am going to help with the bike to work breakfast from 6a-9a. A friend from Yankton is coming up so I will have lunch with her. I might hit the bike trail tomorrow for a bit. I also need to get some things planted. We do some container planting of tomatoes so would like to get them started and I also bought some other seeds, carrots and radishes which I am sure I am behind on planting but thought it would be fun to try. Might plant some over by our rhubarb plant. I also need to have the truck all packed up for our trip to Yankton. We will be hitting Charlies Friday night for pizza and I am guessing grilling something Saturday night. Looks like it should be a nice weekend!

Cool ride

It was a bit of a cool ride this morning. I had cold finger tips and ears by the time I got to work. The ride home for lunch was good and not near as cool.

Met more of the FAB members last night at the board meeting. I am now part of a sub-committee to try and come up with a FAB newsletter by the end of June (the goal). Should be fun and I think we have some good ideas. It can only grow from here on out!

Tonight is golf night in Brandon. It should be a very nice night weather wise. I hope I do not break a club like last week. After golf, Kris wants to do some urban riding in our neighborhood. I need to get my bike computer recalibrated (battery died over the winter) so I can track my mileage a bit better. I also need to check the air in Kris's tires...there is a story here that I will tell sometime on another entry!

Meetings.....

The City Council meeting was interesting. I had never been to one before. The room was packed and people were standing. The "bikers" were sitting in one area. We were there in support of a State Senator Sandy Jerstad. She was there to talk about a few things but mainly she talked about making Sioux Falls a bike friendly city by making it safer for bikers and also maintenance of the bike trail. I found it interesting that the Mayor (not Hooterville Mayor) didn't really make eye contact with her while she was speaking. When she was done the mayor had a park and recreation guy speak about the plan to repair the bike trail but most of it is in CIP (capital improvements plan) for the next few years. Anyway, I was home by 7:30pm. The meeting started at 7:00pm. We left after Senator Jerstad spoke, not sure how long the entire meeting lasted but I was worried that it was going to be a long night so being done that early was great!

I did get to meet a few of the bike bloggers while there, thE kErnEL, DirkBikes, Dr Dope, Hooterville Mayor (kind enough to help me get the names right-THANKS!), and Cycle SD. Snakebite and a other guy were there also but I didn't really meet them. Some headed to Monks for libations and I headed home. It was good to finally meet some of you guys! I am sure I will meet more FAB members tonight at the meeting.

The ride home from the Carnegie Town Hall was great. The wind had died down. It was a very nice evening to be out doing some pedaling!

Mowing, weekend recap and busy week ahead.....

Over lunch today I thought I better get the lawn mowed. I pulled the mower out of the garage and filled it will liquid gold (gas). I went to take the bag off and guess what I found? I found that the last time I used the mower I never emptied the bagger!...DAMN! I have no idea how that happened. I was not very happy at all. I took the bag off and mowed the front yard then headed to the backyard. It was slow going. Should have been baled or had a herd animals(insert animals of your choice) grazing back there. The grass was a bit wet from our rain on Saturday plus the grass was taller in the backyard. I got it all done but an area about six foot by eight foot. I will finish that tonight as I have to elevate the mower deck and mow it a couple times lowering the deck each time. No big deal. Bummed about the bagger though. I have to dig out all the compacted / moldy leaves....UGH!

The weekend was good. Had Saturday morning vittles with friends. We had to find a new place to gather since Boomers closed. We decided on Tinner's. Food was good. Did some errands for Kris's mom and then out to the farm to drop off errand pick-ups. Headed back in to town and to the grocery store. Hit the sack early. Sunday it was fixing kabobs for lunch. Kris's mom (Joan)came in for a mothers day feast and Zach, Kris's nephew, joined us also. Joan had watched the first 4 episodes of John Adams in Pierre last weekend so we sat and watched the last three episodes. It is an amazing story of a founding father in our history! Joan took off and Kris and I got caught up with an episode of a show we watch, Bones. We did it on the computer. Pretty cool but still has a few commercials that you deal with but not bad. This morning came early like every Monday morning does!

Oh ya, Abe needs to loose some weight! Only five pounds. The vet said he lost his waistline! So for treats he is getting carrots now! I brought a bunch to work but now have found that I ate most of them. Oh well...........at least they are not bad for either one of us!

Tonight is finish the mowing, hit the Carnegie Town Hall meeting at 7:00 with the FAB bike club. There will be talk from a state senator about cyclist rights. If you can make it, head on over on your bike.

Tomorrow is a FAB meeting and since I volunteered to help with the newsletter I am to attend.
Wednesday is golf night, Thursday is open yet and Friday morning is bike to work day which I am helping with - what yet I do not know, but in some capacity, and then Friday heading out to the Clubhouse. Another busy week to be followed by some relaxation!

Happy Mother's Day

Mother's Day, what does it mean?
To me it means it is a day we devote to our moms for having us, for taking care of us, for teaching us, for loving us, for teaching us right from wrong, for showing us how to care and for showing us how to laugh. Of course there are the other ones, cleaning our faces with spit on a hanky during church, for buying us clothes to big thinking we would grow into them when instead we would wear them out before they fit us, making sure you had clean underwear on, don't go to sleep with your socks on, your feet will rot...there are so many more!

My mom loved to laugh. She had a great laugh in fact. I can still see her throwing back her head laughing with that kind of high pitched laugh. It was an infectious kind of laugh.

My mom cared and loved us so much. When she was in the hospital, I had stayed with her in the room a few nights. It was the middle of the night and she was restless. I got up and sat next to the bed and we talked. Then she broke out in a song and tapped me on the tip of my nose as she sang it, "I love you, a bushel and a peck, a bushel and peck and a hug around the neck" I had never heard her sing that song before. It is one I will never forget. It just shows the love a mother has for her child. Mom was dying but found it in her heart to sing to me and comfort me.

I sure do miss mom. She died November 22, 2006. Sometimes it seems like yesterday and other times it seems so long ago. I know in my heart she is always here but I am also glad she gets to spend Mother's Day with her mom. One day we will be together again, until then....Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

Go By Bike (GBB)

Next week May 12-16 is bike to work week. Get out there and do your part.

Trek Bikes says it best, go by bike:

• For your health
• For the world
• For our future
• For trips of 2 miles or less

If you can't ride all week at least try and ride Friday, May 16. It is bike to work day in Sioux Falls. Head on downtown to the Museum of Visual Materials, 500 N. Main, and have FREE pancakes for breakfast from 6:00am-9:00am! There will be indoor seating!

Mellow Johnny's

Check out this article about Lance Armstrong's new bike shop here.

Stress Relief

Hey, I met my commuting goal this week of course it took me three days to commute my two days. Does that make sense? I rode to and from work Monday. Tuesday I rode to work but being that I am made of sugar (see April 21st post) I didn't want to bike in the rain on the way home so I called the sag wagon. Kris picked me up and I left the Ol'Fisher at work locked to my drafting table in my cubicle. So, today I drove to work and then at lunch time rode my bike home, had lunch and then had Kris take me back to work. It worked but is kind of odd don't you think? Oh, well, I met the goal!

I had to drive today because it is golf day for me. We headed to Brandon to hit that darn white ball around. Hole number 1, after my bad tee shot I was getting ready to take my second shot in the rough. I swung the club and touched some branches on my back swing then tried to hit the ball. I swung through it and hit the little tree, not really even that hard but I hit the tree and broke my first club! It totally wrapped around the tree! Sorry Gabe! (I have hand me down irons from Kris's nephew, Gabe) I am sure Gabe had used them numerous times and so the shaft was weak from him hitting whatever object out of frustration...ya, that is a good story...so, it didn't take much for the old shaft to twist in half! I like that story and think it could be plausible! I had not even used this iron before, I don't think. It was the 4 iron. Anyway, I will have to have it fixed. I shot three strokes better than the last time out so that is good. My drives were pretty good and felt good also, much better than last week. It was a great evening, well besides the club breakage!

I have noticed, when I bike to work that once there, I am more focused and able to deal with situations a bit better. I think biking clears your mind and releases all sorts of stress that has built up. I guess for some breaking a golf club does the same thing, but I found myself kind of laughing about my broken club. What does that say about me?

Oh, ya, other news, weight lost this morning was 21.8 pounds since last summer.

Ol'Fisher

Here is the old Fisher HK-II (HooKoo-II) in my office cubical today awaiting it's ride home and hopefully not in the rain!

I had a much better commute to work this morning. I was at work by 7:00am so less traffic. The traffic light was not a problem today, not sure why. I cruised up to the light and watched to see if any car was coming up behind me to trigger the light. I didn't see any cars so I was ready to run the red light, yes, you heard me, I admit it, I was going to break the law. Just as I was watching the traffic to make my law breaking ride through the intersection the traffic slowed down and the light turned green! It was like I was Moses and the sea parted for me! I must be living right!

Astana gets invite!

Astana gets invite to the Giro d'Italia! This is amazing although it is what a lot of people where talking about. A wait and see period for them. If they stay clean and do well there might be other invites? Who knows but at least they get to ride in the Giro. I found it interesting that they have co-captains on the Astana team. Andreas Kloden and Alberto Contador are co-captains. What happened to Levi? I see Levi will wear #21 for the Astana Team in the Giro and I am pretty sure that the 1 of the 21 means he is the leader. Very interesting.

Good weekend

The weather was great on Sunday. Went out for brunch at Bracco. Did some grocery shopping then home. Took some garbage out and ended up talking with the neighbor for an hour. Her brother died this past week and today is his funeral. She just needed to talk. The neighbors were at their second home in AZ when her brother died and then of course they came home but got stuck in the blizzard in Rapid. UGH. Anyway that kind of blew our timeline for biking. I did get the snow blower moved to the back of the garage so if it snows now, you can blame me! I also wanted to get the hitch mounted bike rack on the Bravada. I tried and tried to get the padlock off that holds the hitch cover on but to no avail. I will try again tonight otherwise the lock will need to be cut off.

Grilled out some pork loins (some lemon garlic and some apple bourbon)last night along with new potatoes with garlic and rosemary and asparagus. It was pretty darn good. It was topped off by frozen yogurt and Michigan blueberries! The bad part of the night....CUBS LOST.

Rode to work this morning. It was a good ride except the darn traffic lights at Russell and Prairie. I was first in line to cross at the intersection but of course the sensor did not pick up the bike so I stood there and stood there. Finally a car came up behind and triggered it. There was quite the line of cars behind me. I am guessing they were not all that happy but what was I to do? I hate that corner. It is a real dangerous area. I have been very close to crashing numerous times in my SUV there mainly from people running the light or turning in front of you as you cross Russell.

Meeting up with Kris for lunch at a park near by should be good! This is her last week home before she heads back to work on the 12. She has been doing a lot of reading and is healing very well. I think maybe a short bike ride around the neighborhood might be good tonight. We will see!

The sun is shining!

Morning Y'all! (yes, I live in southern South Dakota, hence the Y'all) THE SUN IS SHINING! The wind is still blowing but hey, we have SUN! I think it is going to be a great weekend!

Today is filled with cleaning up the house a bit, laundry and picking up Kris from the airport. I am guessing we will hit the town tonight for some food and libations someplace. I have not a clue where yet but it should be a good time.

Sunday we will try and get caught up with our shows taped from last week. We have a few to get through and might have to try and watch a couple on line since we didn't get them taped. I am also thinking of going for a bit of a pedal on the Sioux Falls greenway. Just a little biking around not huge miles. I think it would be good to get out a bit and enjoy the sunshine when we have it. I do have yard work (raking, fertilize, mow) to do also but that might have to wait for the week night.

Well, I better get at it. Abe is laying on his observation deck -the O.D., platform by the window so he can look out in the backyard. He has fallen asleep and is snoring. It is so darn funny!

Have a great weekend everyone!

French Learning English

Healing thoughts!

As a blogger you read all sorts of other blogs and become a friend to people you have never met and might not ever meet.

I have been reading Fatty's bike blog the last few months. He is an avid cyclist with a wife and 4 kids. His wife is battling cancer. His blog entry from yesterday made my heart sink and I don't even know this family. It really tugs at the heart strings. I guess maybe because I know what it feels like to see the effects of cancer, like most of us out there, and how it can be a roller coaster ride but you have to remain positive no matter what God throws at you.

If you get a chance today give thanks for your good health and family but also pray for positive healing thoughts to people struggle with the terrible disease.

Seven Bags?

Boy, I am up early this morning! Had to take Kris to the airport by 5:45am. The airport was a buzzin' with travelers. Saw a very funny thing that United is doing, well not funny but as of May 5 (I think) they will start charging for extra bags. They have the prices all listed out for each additional bag but get this, they have a price for 7 BAGS! YES, 7 BAGS! It was $200 extra for those 7 BAGS! I guess traveling with a group of some of my friends, I might be technically travel with 7 "BAGS" and hell if that is the case that would be a pretty cheap flight for them...hahaha...sorry guys! Ok, not sure about you but I can not even think about traveling with 7 BAGS! Keep in mind that those 7 BAGS are per person! What about trying to keep track of said 7 BAGS? That is WAY excessive and let me tell you if you need to travel with 7 BAGS you are VERY HIGH MAINTENANCE! ...enough said.

Last night I golfed 9 holes in Brandon. IT WAS VERY WINDY! Kris walked with us as she is NOT a golfer. I had a couple good shots but have a lot of rust. I have not golfed since August of last year. I did manage one par. I also had one interesting thing happen. As I was preparing to hit a shot, the lady that was golfing with us, honked her horn on her golf cart. Of course I chunked the ball just beautifully, walked about 6 feet and then hit an ok shot. Pretty funny. We had a good time. I was pretty stuffed up when we left there. I got home and soaked in the tub with some cold sinus bath additive stuff and then some Zicam. I was better once I got to bed. I have to report I am a little sore today from golf but not bad at all usually with me it is the second day that is a killer as far as soreness...can't wait for tomorrow to get here!...haha

On the way home we stopped at the Coffee Cup in Brandon. I had won a $20 gift card from there at the golf banquet last fall. I thought what a great thing to use it for was gas. I got the Sidekick all filled up and still had to pay $8.50 and no the tank was not empty. The gas was $3.45 / gallon out there....UGH!

Typical South Dakota weather this week. Yesterday it was shorts weather and by late tonight or tomorrow we have a chance of snow again. You know what is going to happen don't you? We are going to go from this crappy roller coaster weather right to HOT and totally skip spring. Mother Nature is making me very CRABBY!

Tuesday ramblings

Here it is Tuesday and not much going except I am SWAMPED at work AGAIN! This recession is doing our construction industry some good I guess! I have 13 jobs to bid already for the month of May and that is a bit ODD! No, I am not complaining, just one of those things that make you go, hhmmmmm.

I have picked up another bug or allergy or something dang it. Got a stuffy nose and am tired. Back on decongestants for a bit and Zicam. Had a headache Saturday, scratch throat Sunday and now stuffy nose yesterday and today. I just went through the office again and cleaned areas that are the "common area" with antibacterial spray / cleaner. Will have to do this at least once a day to get the bugs out of the office.

Kris is heading to Phoenix for a one day course (Friday). She is leaving Thursday and coming back Saturday. I hope she does ok as this is a pretty big trip after her surgery. She has been doing really well and we do not anticipate any issue but she is packing smart in case. Abe (the dog) has been at home taking care of her. Not sure what kind of care he is giving. He pretty much sleeps and snores during the day. Wrigley the parakeet has been up early it seems and chirping away. Last night when I got home he was pretty noisy. Not sure what was up with that but it is funny.

I didn't meet my goal commuting last week and will not again this week, I fear. DANG IT. Might have to get out for a ride this weekend if we have good weather. Sure would be nice to have a nice week without snow in the forecast.

FAB was looking for people to help with a possible newsletter for the club and I threw my name in the hat along with it looks like two other people. Not sure how much I can bring to the table but I will try and help as much as I can. It should be fun and if anything a learning experience.

I better get back at it what it is God only knows, I think I just need to pick a pile and go through it until I meet the desk!

Weekend half recap and no biking kickoff

Had a great time last night. Headed to TOE (Touch of Europe) with Kris, her brother-in-law Jay and nephew Zach. Good food. Then it was off to Monk's for liquid desert. Couple of friends met us there to join in on the libations. MAN WERE THEY GOOD. The Young's double chocolate stout ROCKS! It was VERY GOOD! I had the Nogne (sp?) brown ale from Norway first and then had the Young's. If you like stout and stout with chocolate flavor Young's double chocolate is the ticket.

The weather was crappy Friday night and given the snow we had and the coooooooolness the FAB spring kick off was postponed for today (Saturday). We were a bit bummed but will be ready another day, hopefully we will not have a prior commitment on whichever day is chosen.

Today was spent doing a few shopping things and then meandering around Barnes and Noble after a raspberry creme soda...YUMMY! I ended up with a nasty headache so we headed home and vegged in the basement by watching episode #6 of the John Adams series. Let me say if you have HBO on demand and have not seen the John Adams series you need to! Then it was off to McNally's for supper a couple Guinness and a shot of Killbaggen Irish Whiskey. It was good. The shot was a bit sweet which was surprising and did not burn on the way down which is always good!

Not sure what tomorrow holds. I think supper across town with some friends but other than that maybe some cleaning and some work stuff.

Hi, Gene!

Ok, so big dilemma. There is the big FAB Spring Kickoff ride tomorrow and given the weather conditions (crappy, cold, wet and windy) I am thinking about not going sleek legged in order to stay warmer. My only worry is there goes the aerodynamicness of my svelte self right out the window or maybe it would be the added weight from thine leg hairs that would give me the biggest problem...whatever the fact...I am not sure what to do! It is kind of like having to go to the bathroom when you are playing softball. If you have to go bad, it makes you run the bases faster....but the flip side is that it can also weigh you down.

Keep in mind my leg hairs are FAR from getting caught in the chain length, so I might opt for not shaving and go all natural but then again I will be meeting new people for the first time and do I really want my leg hairs hanging out the bottom of my pants? Oh sure, I could always tuck them in my socks and no one would know...unless they read this blog!...oops

I think I will let the weather tomorrow dictate the shaving or not but right now I think I need to go clip my toenails so my bike shoes fit!

Remember - Bike to Work Day

Don't forget to join in on FREE pancakes during the Bike to Work Day...read about it HERE.

Tired.......

Here it is Wednesday evening and I am TIRED. Sunday night we got home late, Monday night up late, Tuesday night took Kris to Vermillion to teach a physical therapy class at USD from 6-9pm got home at 10:00pm. Actually had a glimpse of Biking Brady riding his grocery getter while I was killing time in Vermillion. He was going to church and then to the grocery store. Had supper with Kris's nephew at Granite City for his 22nd birthday. It was fun. Ate toooooo much. Had their stout beer which was pretty good. Now we are home and Abe (the dog) is sleeping in the hallway and SNORING! It is pretty funny. Poor guy! He just can not seem to get with his regular nap schedule with us going at different hours of the day and I think I am in the same boat as the furry one.

Kris had some good news today. She is doing well after her surgery according the doctor. He has lifted restrictions off of her but until she heals she can not go back to work as it would not be good lifting patients at this point. The doctor has her off work another three weeks.

We are excited about the FAB spring kickoff ride on Saturday. It should be a good time. We have been talking a lot about it tonight. I am afraid I will not make my commuting goal this week. Today I just had to much stuff going on that it just would not work and the rest of the week looks crappy...remember I am made of sugar!..Plus I need to save my energy for Saturday. Kris has already started carbo loading for the ride!

Made of Sugar

Didn't ride to work today as I thought it was going to rain. Yes, I know that there are clothes that protect you from the elements but when you are made of sugar you have to be VERY careful! One drop of rain and body parts could fall off...maybe that is a good thing but I am sure not good for traffic. I can hear the nightly report....

"This just in....
Seems there was a car accident on Russell street today. It is unclear what happened but it was reported that someones fat ass or thunder thighs were in the middle of the road causing cars to go out of control when the drivers tried to avoid the body parts. Early reports coming in state that the body parts were from a women riding in the rain. The only conclusion is that she was made of sugar".

I hope to get my two days in this week and then Saturday hit the Spring Kick-Off with some friends for a little pedal around the bike trail. Not sure how far we will make it but hey, we will be out there. Kris is going to try a bit also not sure how well that will go but again at least she will be out there.

Cubs, Work, German Food

Had a great weekend and lot was accomplished. Got to Yankton on Friday night and hit Charlie's...Pizza was excellent as usual along with sharing a pitcher of beer with tomato juice....got to get those veggies in! Saturday morning up early and made breakfast then hit the patio. Swept it then disinfected it and then got the patio furniture out and ready for the season. Washed the outside windows that face the patio. Raked the front yard all of this while listening to the CUBS KICK BUTT and sipping on Old Style beer in honor of the butt kicking. Wiped out the bottom of the beer fridge, headed to the neighbors for a lesson on Guitar Hero (Wii) then back to shower and off to the Godparents for a GERMAN fest. WOW.. we had some great food! They had cooked up some homemade sausage from their son, Rose brought over another kind of sausage, we had homemade sauerkraut, and homemade kniffel (Sp?) kind of a dumpling boiled then dried off then fried in butter...OH MY, then desert was homemade cream puffs with real whipped cream. We sat and tried to solve the problems of the world and got home at 1:10am! Got up this morning and hit Minerva's for brunch. Headed to Obert to the cemetery to put spring flowers on my parents graves and then home....but not for long! Dropped the dogs off then off to Brookings we headed to met up with Kris's sister for supper. All I can say is enough road miles for a bit. Gas was CHEAP at the Coffee Cup at the Vermillion exit like usual. We paid $3.35 in Sioux Falls and it was $3.25 at the Coffee Cup. Given the windy conditions we sucked down the gas on the way to Obert and the way home from Brookings. Even though we use more gas with the Bravada it would have been like driving a toaster cover down the road if we would have taken the Suzuki Sidekick. That was the weekend recap. Now on to the busy week ahead.....

Oh ya, regarding all that work I did this past weekend....I can not be bought!...and of course I am not looking forward to hopping on the scale in the morning!

Important How-To........

Lucky and Blessed

Well, I am sitting here after I got the home computer hooked up. It is 11:00pm-ish and I am listening to Pandora the free online radio. Josh Groban song is playing and boy, have I mellowed out!

All I can think about is how lucky I am to have such a good life. Sure I have lost both of my parents and I am only 43 but somehow I feel they have left me with great tools to make the most out of my life. I learned love and most of all respect. I have surrounded myself with great friends and friends that are family not just friends. My health is good but of course like many Americans I am overweight but, I am working on that. What more can a person want really? Not sure what that would be except a cold beer and the remote...haha ...(I was getting to serious there for a moment!) No really what more can a person need?

When you go to bed at night think about how lucky you are, no, really, just think about it. Think about how bad it could be, think about how others struggle, think about how people rebound from tragedy, think about what gets you through the hard times, think about what drives you, take a good look at yourself and I am pretty sure you will find that you are lucky also. I know there are ups and downs...hey, that is life. That is what the journey is, but what is the destination? I guess only a few know this and they have a much clearer vision than most or is it they have had such a great loss that drives them to their destination? Not sure, all I know is that I am truly blessed and thankful for what and who I have in my life, what I have learned, what I will learn but most of all I will always cherish what I have lost and will continue to journey down the path to my destination............

Plans........

Weekend plans already coming together. Heading to the clubhouse this weekend for a little relaxing. Of course Friday night will be spent at Charlie's for pizza supper. Saturday going to clean up the patio with disinfectant (neighbor cats like to spray out there-UGH) and get the patio furniture out and ready for the summer! Saturday afternoon and night not sure what is going on but I do know at some point we will hook up with friends and I am guessing a little libations maybe at Ben's. Sunday hitting the road to Obert to the cemetery to take the Christmas wreaths off and put spring flowers on the family graves. Sunday night it will be spent watching the Tudors on Showtime and also getting caught up with the John Adams mini-series on HBO.

Next week there will be biking (to work and bike trail) and next weekend is the FAB-Spring Kickoff. We will be riding one of the rides...not sure which one yet but should be fun! I got some friends talked into biking also so it should be a fun time. The work load next week looks nasty but I might try and get some done during some free time this weekend. Kris also has a doctors appointment Wednesday which I am going to just in case they poke around a bit and she gets light headed.

At some point the new computer will need to get up and running. Might try doing some of that tonight. We will see......

Good Job

Adventure Cycling - Bike and Bits had a little chat about the great bike riding in SD with the Lewis and Clark Trail, mountain, road and rails-trails cycling and if these people (South Dakota Bicycle Coalition) have anything to say about it, it will only get much better. Then they had a link to the Black Hills News Bureau story about the SD Bicycle Coalition. GOOD JOB - SDBC, You are making people and organizations notice! (In case you have not read the Black Hill News Bureau story from August, you can read it here)

Take the Cliff Bar Challenge

See what the challenge is here.

I met my goal!

I drove this morning to work because the new computer was to be delivered...and it was! YEAH! Anyway drove it back home and hopped on the bike for the return to work. Of course heading north on Prairie I was going right into the wind! The only good news is that it is down hill most of the way so I can handle that. I guess this is kind of day two of commuting this week and thus I have met my GOAL kind of! I still need to mess with the derailleur. It works great in the middle or big chainring on the front but when I go to the little one it wants to shift me into a different gear.....any suggestions?

I think I will reward myself by eating pancakes tonight after work at the Lyons Pancake feed!

Commute home

The commute home last night was not as fun but I am not discouraged, I just need to tweak a few things to make it better. First off I need to get my derailleur adjusted. I had no issues on the way to work but I was in the big chain ring in the front but on the way home I shifted down to the small front chainring and .....ooooopppps....there went the chain right off the chainring so a few greasy fingers later I got it back on the ring but when I was in that chainring it kept thinking I should be in another gear and shifting for me. I got frustrated going up a hill into the wind so I walked a block to the house. Oh well. If that is as bad as it gets no big deal. The other thing is that I have a messenger bag that I use as a brief case and that was not fun to have on as it kept shifting to my right as I rode. I am pretty much done with that I think and will try and pair down to using just my trunk. So all in all it was an education and a good one.

I didn't ride today as the wind is REALLY bad (not really a good excuse) but the other is I had to take Kris to a doctors appointment south of town so in order to save time and until I get my stuff a bit more organized and my bike adjusted I drove today.

Computer update

It seems that Dell continues to LIE!...Those BASTARDS...it also seems that this is my favorite new word, BASTARD.....anyway. If you have read previous post, Dell had told us that our computer was to ship 4-2 then it was delayed to 4-9 then it was delayed until 4-16. I get to work this morning and it shipped 4-11! THOSE BASTARDS! Anyway it should be here on Wednesday at the latest so we can be hooked up to the internet once more at home. I guess technically we still are hooked up at home but our laptop is VERY SLOW so we upgraded to the desktop with all sorts of extras. Since the roomie works at Avera we got about a $500 break on it which is sweet so we got the 22" wide screen with the TV tuner. We do not have a TV in the den so we thought this was a good way to watch TV while in that room. Anyway the plan is once we get that up and running we will take the laptop in to get cleaned up and all the pictures off onto our external hardrive then the laptop will be used for travel and general farting around with. I think it is a good plan at this point anyway!

Now, I hope FEDEX does not delay the shipping......if they do you know what I will call them.....YUP, bastards!

First day commuting...kind of

I did it...kind of. I drove to work this morning and back home for lunch then biked to work after lunch! It took me a bit to get all my stuff together and pump up the tires but I hit the road at 12:21 and made my telephone phone that will guard by bike by 12:29. Of course it is all downhill from where I live and work so the way home will take a bit long being mainly uphill but HEY, I DID IT! This is the first time I have been on the bike this year...UGH. I can tell I need to wear my bike shoes as I can feel it on the bottom of my feet. I can also feel the not wearing bike shorts. I know that I just need saddle time to take care of the butt thing. I think the bike shoes will need to be worn on my commutes. My goal is AT LEAST TWO TIMES a week to start out with the commuting. Of course there will be days that there is no way it will work for me like when golf league starts on Wednesdays in Brandon. Anyway the goal is two times a week so it can only get better from there!

Kris is doing well after her surgery. I am just amazed. She has a little pain but all in all she is doing fine. She had an overnight in the hospital but was ready to break out on Friday morning. I think they are thinking she will be off work 3-4 weeks. Since she is doing well she will be taking care of Abe (our dog) in the afternoons so I will not have to commute with him in the trailer for a few weeks. It would be good to get him out in the trailer to get use to it before the commuting.

It sure felt good to get on the bike and ride a bit.

Paris-Roubaix

Don't forget to watch a great bike race Sunday on Versus. The Paris-Roubaix! Watch the riders punish their bodies riding over cobbles, VERY narrow farmland roads, usually crappy weather and then finish in the Velodrome in Roubaix. I sure hope George Hincapie (Team High Road) can pull it out this year!

BUSY WEEK & misc. crap

I have been very busy with work stuff AGAIN this week. I have been trying to cram five days of work into three. Kris is having surgery on Thursday and so I took Thursday and Friday off. So the blog will be silence for a few days up coming.

Kudos to Mackie for starting off biking this week to work! GOOD JOB MAN!
I plan to start on Monday....I hope the snow will be gone by then. Yes, I said snow..AGAIN..I heard at one point 8-10 inches but do not know if that has changed (not sure if they even know how much we will get-damn meteorologist!). It will be HEAVY wet stuff again as we are to have rain before, then turning to snow tomorrow night with temps in the 30's. Next week I think Tuesday or Wednesday they are talking upper 60's...YEA-HAA!

Congrats Kansas on winning the NCAA tourney. I will have you know that I even picked the total points for the Championship game (pool tie-breaker)!

GO CUBBIES! Even though they played TERRIBLE against the Pirates Monday they still won 10-8 in extra innings. I can only hope they keep on the positive side of .500! They are now 4-3 for the year.

We ordered a new computer March 18 from Dell. It was suppose to ship April 2 and it was delayed. Then it was to ship April 9 (TODAY) and now it has been delayed until April 16....Dell bastards. (Sorry for the profanity but this frustrates me!)

If you get HBO then you need to watch the John Adams mini series. It is REALLY very well done and really good. They are on episode #5 with a total of 7 episodes. Very good cast, costuming and set design. This mini series should win some awards, I would hope! Tom Hanks is one of the executive producers. I had forgotten about some of the early history of our nation. It was an amazing time that is for sure.

Have a good rest of the week and don't put your snow scoop away yet!

Silliness - Crazy Frog

All is right in the universe

Today is suppose to be a beautiful day and the Cubs won their first game yesterday. The world can keep turning and life can go on!

Turning the corner

It seems I am turning the corner on this darn bug finally!

Ok, so all the bike bloggers are so down because the weather has been CRAPPY! Lets face it, we are really ready for spring to hit anytime now. None of the teasing 40-50 weather to be followed by snow showers.

Come on Mother Nature.....BRING ON SPRING!

FREE HOUSE! (not an April fools joke)

Can you find it in your hearts to give this old lady (no, not the writer of this blog) a final resting spot? Read about it http://argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080325/LIFE/803250304 (sorry could not get the hidden link thing to work dang it!)