Good weekend!

Had a great weekend.

Mackie and I decided we were going to wear some WILD outfits for the golfing on Saturday. We hit Walmart for some interesting garments that did not match...well kind of. I was told I looked like a 70s banker. Not really sure what Mac looked like but ODD and Gilly got into the spirit of things with plaid shorts. I will have to post a picture later of us. We had a blast looking for the clothes and a certain person almost pee-d her shorts from laughing!

Saturday had us heading to Alcester for the golf tourney. I was a great time and lots of laugh was had by all. We golfed ok and I am thinking I let my partner (Mary) down. She is a great golfer compared to me. I had some good drives some NOT GOOD DRIVES but the main thing is that we had a good time and we did. Lots of laughing and I am not talking just normal laughing. It was the bend at the waist laughing. Mac and Gilly won the tourney and me and Mary finished about half way down in the first flight. Not all was lost. I won a 50/50 raffle $35.00 and then as my door price I got a $5.00 bill. Mary didn't win money but got a screw driver. Safe to say she got screwed! Anyway like I said a good time was had by all.

After the tourney we headed to Yankton. The plan was to go to Tabor Czech Days but since the sky look ominous and we needed to eat we decided to head to the Marina at Lewis and Clark Lake for supper after picking up Kris at the townhouse in Yankton. Food was good.

Sunday we headed home and had talked about going on a bike ride but Kris decided to start scrapping the house. It is in need of painting. She understood that I need to get some miles in so I hit the bike trail. I headed out and almost killed a ground squirrel. I missed him by maybe a foot. It was scary as he was a chubber. Then as I was riding along Westward Ho Country Club there was a wild turkey strutting around on one of the fairways. Got down by the fair grounds and noticed some sort of car rally type thing that had a BUNCH of cars racing around pylons. Interesting with gas prices so high and people doing this...oh well, I am sure they think with food prices so high and we are trying to fuel our bodies with the food is not any different (which we all know the answer to that!) Got to my planned area to turn around headed back. Saw circling vultures out by the airport. How did they know where I was? I did notice on the way back someone did smoke a ground squirrel over by Elmwood golf course. It was fairly new as he was still twitching. Didn't really care to see that...UGH.

ADDED:I forgot to tell you about more wildlife I saw, buffalo, cheetahs, ostrich (all by the zoo) and of course, geese and ducks.

So, this was my first 20 mile day this this year, well, 20.14 miles to be exact. Ride time was 1h39m53s with average speed 12.19mph on my mountain bike. I do need to get the road bike out and ride that for training instead but I still need to switch out the seat and clean it up and really didn't have the time to do that and get a ride in today. It was a good ride.

All in all a good weekend!

HAPPY FRIDAY!

I had a great week commuting to work! FOUR TIMES! This would be what I would call a record week and each day I have been trying to beat my ride time and speed. I did speed 25.3mph on the old mountain bike one day. That was fun breaking the law on my bike!...hahaha

Hit Spoke-N-Sport last night for the MS150 registration stuff and and the goodie bag from Spoke-N-Sport! Thanks guys that was cool plus the MS150 First Spoke Club t-shirt which I will proudly wear this weekend at some point. I even rode from the humble abode to said bike shop! It was a good ride just under 3 mile so nothing earth shattering. I even chatted with another biker, whom I knew, as we road through the Minn Ave 37th street intersection.

I had a fun thing happen to me commuting yesterday. The parks guys were out mowing at Terrace Park. I skirt along the west side of the park on my way home from lunch. Anyway the park guy was on the BIG mower mowing along the sidewalk, I ride the sidewalk because it is WAY smoother than the road, again, anyway, he pulled over and not only stopped but also stopped the blade so it was not kicking dust and throwing crap at me as I biked past. I gave him a wave as a thank you and of course he waved back. That was pretty cool, I thought anyway.

Well, off to meet some friends for chicken and rockets (big beer dispensers) at the the Keg then home to get ready for the Alcester golf tournament tomorrow. After the tourney we are heading to Bridge City and then Tabor for Czech Days! LOOK OUT!

Have a great weekend!

Commute #3 this week and golf

Had a good time last night golfing and shot my best round of the year, so far. I didn't drive the ball well but hit some other shots that were not bad. Short game was better so that is good but MAN am I tired and sore this morning! I have not golfed in a couple weeks so the 4 mile walk golfing last night, my body was not used to! The game last night was putting for cash. So, basically you had to keep track of your putts but every time you hit the ball in the fairway off the tee box you could subtract a putt. Needless to say I think I could only subtract two putts (oops...after checking my scorecard it was three fairways I hit!), so I am not in the money on that one! Kris met us at the 19th hole for supper and beverages. The food was good and they have Amber Bock on tap now so that is always good!

Busy day at work today and also next week is looking to be REAL busy, plus we will be down a person next week with the boss being gone. I am getting buried a bit again with smaller projects to bid, which is good, but sometimes when you have quoted the SAME project three different times and ways, two projects like that at present, it gets VERY OLD and hard to get motivated to do it but I need to just get them DONE!

Going to surpass my commuting goal today as this will be the third day this week biking to work. YEAH!

Heading to Spoke N Sport tonight for the MS150 registration packet and t-shirt (first spoke club). I hear there is pizza and pop that will be served also!

I had intended to do a longer bike ride tonight. That might have to be a wait and see how I feel and how I am doing work wise before I know for sure if that will happen.

That is about it...have a great Thursday everyone!

SPEEDING?....Almost!

I finally attached my computer to my bike for the morning commute on the Ol'Fisher.

Here are the factoids one way:
Distance 1.77 miles
Ride Time 9 min 27 sec
Avg Speed 11.72 mph
Max Speed 24.4mph...
YUP, I was almost speeding! (of course this was hill aided!) I better watch myself. I don't need a ticket for speeding while on a bike, of course that would make an interesting blog topic, wouldn't it?

Afternoon Update:
Ride back home from work still on the Ol'Fisher (I take a different route home for lunch)
Distance 1.72 miles
Ride Time 10 min 59 sec
Avg Speed 9.69 mph
Max Speed 15.5 mph
I am pretty much going up hill on the way home so it is not so much fun but a nice little ride!

Tonight:
Of course it is golf night in Brandon. Going to be a bit warm out there tonight. Good think we only play 9 holes! Should be a fun time. I hope my back is not very sore after but I will make sure to stretch good before and I am sure that will help a bit. Have to be ready for the Alcester golf tournament this Saturday!

MS150 Pedal the Plains Ride 2008

It is official. I signed up for the MS150, August 2-3. It was the big announcement I was to make a few weeks ago but kept putting it off for some reason. No real good reason at all, really.

Anyway with some prodding from other bike bloggers, I threw my hat in the ring so to speak.

This year the ride is from Sioux Falls to Vermillion. It should be a good time and with Hooterville Mayor offering to pull me all the way there, it will be a piece of cake! No need to worry Mr Mayor, I will do my part and train for this so I hope no pulling is needed!

Cycle Cathy had a great idea. Maybe all the bike bloggers getting together in Vermillion and chatting face to face. That would be fun but could be dangerous since we have to ride the next morning! I might be up for one of those famous Bunyon's drinks, root beer schnapps shot dropped in a mug of beer!...Now that sounds like a good recovery drink!

I have ridden the MS150 YEARS AGO but didn't ride the whole thing so this year it is to do better than I did the first year. I believe I can meet this challenge.

Make my goal or not the money goes to a good cause. There are a lot of lives out there that have been touched by MS so find a way to help if you can!

If you would like to HELP ME FIGHT MS, then please, donate to the cause by clicking here.

Happy Tuesday!

What a great morning to get out and commute to work! YES, YOU HEARD IT! I finally rode to work this morning on my bike! It has been nasty weather here for commuting and then with the back thing, I didn't want to push it, but today I decided I needed to hop on the ol'Fisher and head to work. It was an uneventful ride and I even had a bus driver wave me through his yellow flashing lights. He had stopped and kept his yellow on and I knew there was no way I was going to make it before he flipped to red so I slowed WAY DOWN, then he motioned me through. That was cool. I had one little bit of nervousness hit me as I was cruising down the hill on Prairie. A car pulled up right along side me and slowed down like it was going to turn at the intersection. I was not sure which way it was turning so to be a bit defensive I slowed to let them go by me. Ends up they turned the other direction and not in front of me so that was good.

Going to have to get me a mirror to see what is coming behind me. Any suggestions on which brand? I am looking at the Bike Peddler Take a Look mirror as it goes on the glasses and not on the helmet. From what I have read it seems to be very well liked. Let me know what you think!

Last night I got some things done around the house. Mowed the yard and did laundry. Kris got called into work so I had leftovers from the Mexico Viejo (#75 for all you Viejo lovers) in Yankton...YUM and a bottle of Old Style in honor of the Cubs.

Tonight, I might have to get the Cannondale down from the ceiling in the garage and get the new seat (Terry Liberator) on it, fill up the tires and go for a little spin. I also have to recalculate my computer for the Cannondale or bike 2 also.

I think there is a FAB Newsletter meeting scheduled SOON, I wonder if our FAB PREZ has his letter / column drafted yet from his long miles on the TDK?

Weekend Recap

Had a good weekend in Bridge City. Kris had a course until 8:30pm so I hit BW3 for some wings with friends...YUM...picked up Kris and headed to Yankton. Saturday we got up had breakfast and hit the bike trail out by the lake. It was a nice easy pace as lots of people out with kids on bikes and dogs on leashes. The breakfast smells rolling through the campgrounds was great! The lake was calm and a nice sized sailboat was floating around. We also notice by Midway Beach that someone was setting up for a wedding. Looked like a neat area and the weather was perfect! Loaded up the bikes and drove through another campground to hook up with some friends. No activity around their camper so we headed to the grocery store for some snacks, supper and breakfast stuff. Got home unloaded food and bikes. Sat down for some cheese, salami, crackers and beer then vegged on the couch. Fixed supper and headed to the play.

The Lewis and Clark Theater Company was putting on Private Lives. The actors did a great job (5-cast members) but the play was different. I thought there would have been more humor but there was not. FYI: LCTC is in it's 47th season and for it's 50th season they want to have the old Dakota Theater exterior all renovated. This is quite the undertaking. The Dakota is like the State theater here in Sioux Falls but on a smaller scale so if you are in the Yankton area make sure you take in a play or two. Annie Get Your Gun is the next one and should be GREAT! Hit Ben's Brewing Company after the play for a great glass of Smoking Loon Merlot and finally met Ben. Seems like downtown Yankton was a bit busy outside. A wedding reception at one place, the play, and a band playing at the Moose. It was a nice night to be outside!

Sunday I made granola parfaits, vanilla yogurt/granola/fruit, for breakfast and then we started in on the work we should have done Saturday afternoon. We got all the wallpaper off the walls in the upstairs bathroom. This took lots of Downy, yes, my hands still smell like Downy, and water (2 parts downy to 1 part water-spray on wallpaper let soak and scrape off) and scrapping. The funny thing that happened was that we took the mirror down and had it in the bedroom. Abe came upstairs to see what we were doing and walked into the bedroom and saw himself in the mirror. It really startled him so he did a double take and went running out of the bedroom. He is such a goof!

Since we worked so hard we decided to hit the Mexican joint for lunch before heading out of town. It was very good. Went over to a friends house and chatted then back to the clubhouse to load up and head out but not before I took a spin on the neighbors scooter! It is pretty cool but odd having your feet planted in front of you like sitting on a chair and riding when you are used to riding a bike or a motorcycle but at 75-100mpg a person could get used to it pretty quick, I am guessing. No, I am not buying one!

The drive home we drove the MS150 route from Vermillion back to Sioux Falls. Looks like it would not be to bad except for a couple areas with some hills, of course those are at the beginning and the end both days! I need to decided! (Wasn't I suppose to decide this a couple weeks ago?)

Weekend

Finally Friday!

Today is the last day of the Tour de Kota. The bikers are riding from Brookings to Sioux Falls today. They might have a bit of a wind today but they should be used to it by now! Job well done guys and gals. From the blogs from the rode it sounded not so fun at times with the weather!

Heading out to Bridge City tonight late. Saturday we are going to do some work at the Clubhouse removing some wallpaper in the upstairs bathroom. Ends up there is a little bit of mold or mildew that had decided to grow behind the wallpaper so it needs to come down. We tried taking some of it down a couple weeks ago but the adhesive part stuck pretty good to the wall so we are on to the next plan, a roller thingy with blades and some spray stuff....all technical things! No color has been picked out for the bathroom yet but I am guessing that will not take all that long as it needs to be in the neutral hues. I didn't care much for the wallpaper in the bathroom. I told my mom when she hung it that it looked like PJs or boxer shorts fabric but she liked it and that was fine. We also plan on taking a bike ride out by the lake. This will be my first bike ride since I tweaked my back so it will be good to get out there again since the scale has been going in the wrong direction (stuck around 20 pounds lost), more biking / commuting is needed! Saturday night we are going to the play to see Private Lives. Should be good. I think it is a comedy drama type play.

We will head home Sunday. Depending on the weather and how the bike ride goes we might come back and hit the bike trail for another ride.

Should be a good weekend!

Boonen out of TDF?

According to the Tour De France officials, Tom Boonen will not compete in the Tour De France (TDF) this year if the accusations have been verified and are true. Boonen tested positive for cocaine three days before the Tour of Belgium (see yesterdays blog entry). The TDF officials said he would be barred from their tour this year once this is verified. Boonen is said to be taking some time off from racing but not a long time. The team sponsor, Quickstep, is still behind their rider and the other major sponsors of the team have resigned as sponsors until 2011, which is all good news.

Boonen was a huge favorite of the TDF for the points (green) jersey, so know who is the favorite, THOR?

Milestone....

(Que the drum roll)

Well, here it is the 200th posting of my blog. I can not believe it.

This blog was started to give me a place to separate myself from dealing with my moms fight with cancer. In that aspect, it served its purpose. For a few moments each month it got my mind off doctor appointments, cancer drugs, blood transfusion, radiation, chemotherapy, nursing home and hospitalizations that mom had to endure. Not sure if anyone was reading my blog at that time but it was an outlet for me just to think about something else.

Now, the blog has taken on almost an everyday entry as to kind of a journal into my life. It is a mix of my everyday happenings, to some biking stuff, golfing, to whatever I feel catches my ears / eyes that I might have an opinion about and feel strong to write about. Some days there is punctuation (it is never great) and the grammar is ok (again, it is never great) and other days it is not so good and for those bad days I apologize!

Since blogging, I have met some really great people who are fellow bloggers! You will find most of them listed to the right with links to their blogs. Some of the bloggers I only know through their blog and have never met them in person but nonetheless they seem to be great people and I can only hope to meet them someday.

What I find interesting is that when you get in a group of people, who are fellow bloggers, they introduce themselves by their blog title first, not their name although their name or nickname will soon follow after the blog title. For me it is "Hi, I am Journey Not Destination", then, Tez and then onto my real name. It is a fun, that is for sure.

It will be interesting to see what the next 200 blogs yield....I guess you never know!

Journey on........

Thought for the day......

Friends are like butt cheeks.

Crap might separate them,

but they always come back together!

Dauphine, TDF and drugs....

Seems that the USA is having a good Dauphine Libere so far! We have had an American rider win the prologue, Levi Liepheimer (Team-Astana) and now stage 2, George Hincappie (Team High Road)! Stage 1 was won by Alejandro Valverde and Thor Hushovd is in the yellow (overall lead), YES, my man, THOR, the big Norwegian!

It has yet to be determined if Astana will get an invite to the Tour de France but there is time for the "powers that be" to change their minds. They invited Astana a week before the Giro d'Itlalia. Astana answered with a win by Alberto Contador. It has been speculation that they would get an invite if all the Astana riders basically stayed clean, which they have, but it seems that "the powers that be" said they do not expect to overturn their decision but if things keep going well that maybe next year they will have an invite to the Tour de France.....should I hold my breath?

Tom Boonen seems to have a bit of an issue following him these days. He tested positive for cocaine three days prior to the Tour of Belgium, May 25. The Tour of Switzerland quickly banned the sprinter from their tour. Here is the kicker. WADA states that he will not be suspended because cocaine is a stimulant which is only banned when in competition. This is interesting. In January he was investigated as being a cocaine dealer and his parents house was search but nothing was found and the case was dropped. Now, Quickstep, Boonen's team he rides for, is going to have a press conference on Wednesday regarding this. Do you think they will suspend him or make him go to counseling? He has also had issues speeding and has had his license revoked two times in one month! I hope he can get his act together! This is not good for the Quickstep team and it's search for a new sponsor.

Another story hitting the internet is the use of Viagra to aid in performance...WHAT? Not that kind of performance, which is what the drug was manufactured for, but athletic performance. Andrea Moleta was to ride in the Giro D'Italia but when his father's car was search and 82 viagra pills and a syringe were found, Moleta was suspended. Do you think they could have been his father's pills? Who knows. They say that Viagra helps build endurance for athletes that compete at high elevations by delivering oxygen, nutrients and other drugs more efficiently to muscles...imagine that. When taking testosterone injections, Viagra offsets impotence, which is sometimes a side effect of the injections. UGH! It was also noted that baseball is littered with Viagra popping players, making it the hottest drug in locker rooms. That is all we need, another reason for baseball players to grab their packages and rearrange or to be in the batters box with two bats....enough said.

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!