Recharging, good food and crazy people!

We recharged a bit in Yankton this past weekend. Pretty laid back, enjoyed the weather, good food and beverages.

Saturday we drove out to the lake to see bald eagles, we saw one, we did also see two deer and also crazy people ice fishing with cars parked on the ice. It was 55 degrees out and stuff was melting like crazy. I really don't get the ice fishing thing anyway, don't get me wrong I like to fish but only when it is NICE out! Anyway we hit the bike trail along Lewis and Clark lake and decided that it was going to be to sloppy for the bikes so we walked it with Abe in tow. He was a MESS by the time we were done but he sure had a LOT of fun. We took the new cameras along and of course had fun with them. The ice on the lake was making all sorts of noises! Let me just say it was strange walking in sand on the beach with BIG chunks of ice on one side and some snow on the other side of me. What a great day it was to be outside and enjoy mother natures teasing of the spring to come...in a few months that is!

Stopped in to see Ben at Ben's Brewing Company. He was all fired up about the game on Sunday and I am sure he is happy with the out come! We tried out his new honey ale. It is good. Really light and a very drinkable beer. I have to say I kind of like 3rd street ale better. Ben is brewing good beer so stop in and see him! So, you say, you don't like beer and like mixed drinks instead? Well, he has that now also, starting today!

Yankton has a new Italian restaurant called River Rose Bistro. We went there Saturday night. VERY VERY GOOD FOOD! Take a peek at their menu here. It is not run by the same people that had the River Rose. They are still new so we didn't get our salad and bread but as it turned out that was just fine as it is a LOT of food. We ordered the cheese board for two. VERY good. I had never had hot grapes before. They actually put grapes in the oven and bake them a bit. It really makes them more sweet and VERY good. The cheese and meat were also very good. The next course would have been the salad which we were not served but the looked HUGE! For the main course I ordered the linguine with clams in a white wine sauce and Kris had the risotto with pecan encrusted chicken breast. Very good also. We both ate have and are having the other half for supper tonight! We had decided we would have desert. Kris opted for the bread pudding with a raspberry sauce and I had tiramisu (sp?). It had more of a caramel taste to it then the normal espresso but was still good. They made the gaff with the salad right by taking $4 off for the salads and bought our deserts. Oh, ya, the wine was great also!

We got home mid afternoon Sunday. Abe totally CRASHED. He was so funny lying on the floor, then the couch, snoring away. Poor guy, he was still trying to recoup from his walk, I think! We chilled and watched the game at home. Great game to watch if your team was not in it. The commercials this year were not all that great.

One thing that is scary. Kris bought stuff to learn how to knit! OMG, will that happen when I turn 50?

Busy busy.....

First off HAPPY FRIDAY EVERYONE! WHOO HOO!

I have been swamped at work and will be for the next few weeks which is all good but during all this swampiness we have had to do inventory. As many of you know I LOVE doing INVENTORY in a unheated room. Good thing the temps have not been so bad. I was double layered up yesterday but not today only double layers on the upper part of the body. Years past I remember being out there with gloves on to try and keep warm. Anyway I am SICK of it especially when I have TONS of other things to do.

This was the first FULL week back for my c0-worker. She had been a little slower getting totally back in the groove. I felt bad for her in the beginning but she has not done anything to get herself back in the groove to working until this week. Pretty much think she is milking the system so to speak. I know that sounds harsh but when you are out of the hospital back the end of September and you are just getting back to full time...not sure that is right.

Heading to Yankton after work tonight. I think there will be relaxing and of course get some work stuff done. We are planning on heading out to the dam to see if we can snap some shots of the bald eagles nesting along the river and them take Abester on a drag with us. We do plan on hitting Ben's to try out his new beer, a honey ale I believe, and maybe fill up a growler or two for Super Bowl party back in Sioux Falls.

Did our part to stimulate the economy last night. New dishwasher and garbage disposal. Quick $1100 spent with the install. Amazing how it all adds up in a hurry. We got a Bosch that has stainless steel interior with easy cleaning basket area. Imagine the nice bike I could have bought for that price! Oh, well. It won't get installed for a few weeks as it needed to fit into our schedules plus they had to order it.

Not much else going on. Ready for the snow to GO AWAY!

HAVE A FUN AND SAFE WEEKEND EVERYONE!

Interesting bumper sticker

Saw this bumper sticker on a truck the other day.

"I'm nuttier than a squirrel turd"

Winter meeting and weekend recap

We had a great turn out for our FAB winter meeting! I am guessing around 45-50 people.
Our memberships for all members runs until the end of Feb so it was the time for some of us to renew for the coming cycling season. The Mayor has some pics of the event here.

For 2009 we have 40 signed up already!
20 are 3 year participants
8 are 2 year participants
12 are joining for the first time
WhoooHooo! We also have out of the 40 signed up already two yellow jersey members!

Out winter meeting committee (David) did a GREAT job organizing. The place (Pizza Ranch) worked pretty well I thought and the speakers were diversified enough so that it was informative. Our speakers talked about club racing, multi week long distance rides, sorter camping rides and then Ragbrai. All very informative. Of course there were also door prizes that local bike shops donated. As always thanks to Scheels, Harlan's Bike and Tour, Two Wheeler Dealer, Spoke n Sport, Prairie Cycles, and Cycle SD for their help in growing our cycling community!

The rest of the weekend was spent just doing misc stuff nothing to wild. This morning I am starting to feel like a cold is coming on. Zicam is on board already and going to have to push the fluids.

Busy work weeks coming up and also two days of inventory the end of this week...UGH! Inventory for me will be in a room with NO heat and with a cold this will be a blast. I will be layering up!

I think we are heading to Bridge City this coming weekend. Should be a fun time.

Upcoming events

There are a few upcoming bike events happening in our city.

The FAB (Falls Area Bicyclists) are having their winter meeting. Pizza Ranch, E 10th, 1:30pm or 1330 or for you morse code dudes: .---- ---... ...-- ----- .--. -- (I think), this Saturday January 24th! We will have speakers, door prizes and some exciting club news for the up coming year! Food is on your own. The buffet is $9.75 for all you can eat which includes tax and soda / pop. Get out there and support your local bike club. If you are not a current member or want to renew your membership it is a GREAT time to do so!

Snakebite is having a bike swap Feb 22nd you can read about it here. Good time to get rid of those old pieces parts and maybe pick up some new to you pieces parts! All the proceeds are going to FAST (Falls Area Single Track), good cause!

Get out there and support local cycling! It makes it safer for all of us!

Abe is my co-pilot

Frozen falls

The frozen Sioux River at Falls Park of Sioux Falls, SD the name sake of our city.

(Yes, first official pics with the new camera but with not a lot of color going on with the subject, not that great of picture-it is a work in progress and need better subjects, well at least until spring! Should have tried shooting in black and white..hmmmm...I guess I can always change it with a photo program.)

TDU stage 1

Ok so, I was watching the text feeds from the TDU on Cycling News last night, in between trying to get the dishwasher to drain. Even though I was FRUSTRATED with the dishwasher and didn't get it to work, YET, the racing updates did get me excited for this years bike racing season!

Tour Down Under feeds on Twitter were good then nothing for almost 3 hours then they started up again. I thought that was a bit odd but to most people, I am guessing, the middle of the race stuff is not that important to them. You know, the letting the rabbits go, catch them and make stew out of them before the finish. People want to know who crashed and then the winner of the big sprint finish, if the course lends itself to a sprint finish. Well, I for one, like to watch or read about the WHOLE race! There are so many dynamics / strategic moves going on it is just plan fun to see how it all plays out. One fun thing that happened during the race that was that Johan Bruyneel was tweeting from the Astana team car. Very fun. I had not expected that and of course everyone wanted to know if Johan was driving. He was a passenger, so he says. It gave us a different perspective on a few things. Not that he was giving away race secrets but just a peek as to what was going on. Anyway, most of you that are into racing know who won Stage 1 of the TDU but I will not spoil it for you. You can watch Versus short little micro broadcast today at 4:00-4:30 (I think those are the times). Watch for the BIG downhill in the stage, if they show it. According to a tweet from Lance the racers reached 63 mph on that downhill and I think going 27 mph on a downhill on my mountain bike is FAST! 63 mph on a bike is JUST PLAIN SCARY in my book! On to Stage 2!

Scary drive.....

Fun and scary weekend.

Hit the Taste of Big Apple on Friday night before meeting up with the wild Starlight riders at Monks. Fun was had by all. The usuals were there, The Mayor, Cycle SD, One Speed, Double G, the kErnEl, Snakebite with wife, Russell the Muscle, and me. It was a good time. Stories were told, beer was had and fun ensued.

Saturday morning was a fun breakfast with friends at Dean-O's. Then out and about looking for a UV filter and CF cards for the new camera arriving today (can't wait!).

Saturday afternoon became REAL interesting. We decided that we were going to go up to the NSU (Northern State University-Aberdeen, SD) basketball game. They were having a reception for Coach Don Meyer. We also decided that Abe would ride along with us in case we decided to just stay in Aberdeen in stead of driving back late on Saturday night. So, we took off heading north on I-29. Things were good but the wind was bad and of course coming out of the northwest. I think we might have gotten the SUV up to 65mph once. As we are driving there were people just FLYING up the road. There were patches of snow on the indy from where the wind had been blowing and started to drifting on the road. We slowed down a lot when we got to those areas because I was thinking about black ice. SO we cruised along and of course people were HUGELY over driving the conditions and then we saw vehicles in the ditch. Looked to have just happened. Guessing these people had their cruise controls on which is a huge no-no in those conditions. So we get up the road a bit further and started to notice a lot more vehicles in the ditch. Ok, so most of you know going out in snow does not bother me as long as you can still see so I was fine, AT THIS POINT. We just slowed down and were going around 45-50 mph people are STILL flying by us. There were a couple times that there were flashing lights from plows, tow trucks and Highway Patrol in the passing lane on the indy with cars in the median and of course people driving FAST in the passing lane coming up on these accidents. Kris's comment at one point was, "We are going to see someone die!" We saw a bad roll over that involved an SUV that was still on it's side. We had slowed WAY, WAY down by then maybe doing 40mph. The road looked clear but then the back end of the SUV did a hoolie-wobble and then another and that was it, it was black ice. We turned around at the Elkton Sinai exit drove and headed home. At the rest area south of Brookings I decided to hit the rural roads instead of I-29. I just thought it best to get off the road where people were just plain being stupid! 106.2 miles and 2.5 hours later we made it home safe and sound.

I did feel bad we didn't make it to Coach Meyers reception / game with all the finagling Kris had to do to get rid of her pager that night but we both knew turning around was the right thing to do. Amazing how animals can tell when you are a bit nervous. Abe was pretty much watching everything while we were on the interstate. He would not settle down. Once we got on the rural roads he settled right down and went to sleep. Wish I could have!

Tour Down Under!

I am stoked to watch the Tour Down Under (TDU) starting this weekend. I am a little bummed that Versus coverage is SO LIMITED and will only be in 30 min segments, the best I can tell. Going to have to watch online, I am guessing! I hope this year will not be riddled with dopers trying to beat the system. The sport needs to move on and get past all that mess and have good clean racers that adhere to ALL the rules. I know, some of you out there still think they all dope. I, for one, know there are clean racers out there and I truly believe there are great teams doing their best to curb the dopers also by running clean programs. Word has it that the TDU racers could possibly be tested three times a day! Twice, by the powers that be and once by their team. They will have to do a lot of testing on a lot of the racers to catch up with Mr Armstrong. I think he is on testing #13 since he announced his come back. I guarantee no other racer has had that many out of competition test run on them in a 3-4 month period.....EVER!

Excitement will be the word for me for this upcoming pro bike race season. Is it the Lance factor? Maybe, but I was excited last year also for any American racer and of course Thor, the big Norwegian sprinter, to have a good year.

It will be a fun season to watch!

Ole & Lena......just gotta love them.

Ole and Lena had really 'packed on the pounds' by over-eating during Christmas and the New Year's Holidays, so their doctor put them on the same diet. "I want you to eat regularly for 2 days, then skip a day, and repeat this procedure for 2 weeks. The next time I see you, you should have lost at least 5 pounds."

When the Norwegians returned, they shocked their doctor by having lost nearly 25 POUNDS each. "Why, that's positively amazing!" the doctor said. "Did you follow my instructions?"

Then Ole and Lena nodded and said, "We vant to tell you though, we taut we was gonna drop dead dat turd day." "From hunger, you mean?" "No, yust from all dat skippin!"

MORE COLD TEMPS AHEAD

Ok, so, it can snow all it wants, although getting one inch here and there sucks for scooping, but I can deal with that. I HATE THE DAMN BELOW ZERO COLD WEATHER CRAP! Just can't get warm and stay warm when it is this cold out plus our office is cold all the time. My feet (don't have on the wool socks today) and hands are ice cold. I am turning into an alligator or croc right before my eyes as the old skin is scaly even though I slither out of the bathroom in the morning from the lotions and potions that I apply to the scales. I still find pieces of myself all over the place. It would be a CSI DNA nightmare I am sure....haha

PLEASE TELL ME SPRING IS AROUND THE CORNER!

Lance's sweet ride.........

Twitter had a bunch of tweets about Lance's new bike making it to Australia for the Tour Down Under (TDU). Well, in case you are on the edge of your seat, it made it in one piece. From what I have read it is a stock Trek Madone frame but they took it off the line to receive a custom paint job. It has been reported that the bike has no stickers, it is all painted. It also has a few special numbers on the bike.

The number 1274 is the amount of days from his last pro race.

27.5 stands for the 27.5 million people who have died from cancer in those 1274 days globally. VERY amazing, scary numbers. All of us know someone who has died from cancer, beat cancer or are still fighting cancer. Are we winning this war at all?

Muscles...yummy!

Had a good weekend.

We rode the trainers Saturday morning...not so good. I only went 20 min and Kris made it 30 min. She kicked the trainers butt that was for sure.

Met some friends for lunch then we did a BUNCH of errands and then met up with friends for supper at McNally's Irish Pub. If you like muscles, then order their drunken muscles. YUMMY! They are cooked in garlic, Guinness and butter. I will definitely order those bad boys again.

Sunday was a LAZY day. We had breakfast at the Dinner. Seems we can never stay home and eat anymore. Then hit the groc. store before heading home. I was a lazy bum and just watched TV all day.

Watched some of the Golden Globes not sure why except that there was crap on TV. I did see January Jones was nominated for her role in Mad Men. Ms Jones was raised in Sioux Falls. Her mom worked at Scheel's when January was first getting into modeling and acting. We talked a lot about January when I would bump into her mom at Scheels ,very nice lady. Glad to see Ms Jones is doing well.

Busy week up coming with FAB board and FAB newsletter meetings at night and of course work is nuts also....which is good.

Seems the weather is not so good north of here with blizzard warnings. I think we are in a winter weather advisory. We are to get some snow but the wind is suppose to pick up and the temp is to drop all day...UGH! The only good thing, we are a day closer to spring!

Keep your plate off the list!

Biking Brady has implemented a new strategy. He is going to post license plates on his blog of people in vehicles that have put bikers, riding legally, in unsafe predicaments!

BE SMART AND PLEASE KEEP YOUR PLATE NUMBER OFF HIS BLOG. WATCH FOR PEOPLE ON 2 WHEELS !

More spinning.....

HAPPY FRIDAY!

Not all that much going on. I am addicted to Twitter. If you have no clue what it is then check it out along the right side of my blog. I have found that I have not blogged as much since the Twitter bug bit me, a good thing? Not sure yet.

Tragic news. Christi of Dawn and Christi fame found one of their cats had passed away on Wednesday night. She had just gotten home from work and found her in the doorway to the bedroom. She rushed her to the vet to see if anything could be done. Peanut, lovingly know as the Phantom cat, was already gone. She was only 10 years old and had lived a great life, in a loving home with those two and her feline buddy Pawz. Sad to see her go. She was just starting to spend more time out with us when we were there visiting last. She will be missed. If you have ever had pets that are a major part of your family you know how the loss can make a persons heart ache and how tears of pain can fill your eyes in a second and stream down your face. Keep them in your thoughts. Hang in there you two and RIP Peanut!

We are going to try and do a spinning workout again tonight. Maybe try to find out what happened to "big blue" (Kris's nick-name for the large lady in the spinerval DVD). or we might try watching a TV show and ride at a regular pace and mix things up a bit during commercials. We will have to see. Not much else going on this weekend but more cleaning, sorting and organizing our dump! ....I THINK.

Everyone have a good and safe weekend!

Kicking our arses.......

So, late last week I got the bikes up on the trainers (don't laugh Snakebite). We decided last night it was time to hop on them and try out the spinerval 1.0 workout. UGH. It kicked our collective arses! We made it 25 min of the 45 min. So they call the group on the video Team Clydesdale. The people look to be quite the mix of very fit to not fit at all and all sorts of body sizes and shapes. One lady is quite large. They showed her a couple times only and of course Kris wanted to see how bad she was suffering doing the work out and I told her that the reason they didn't show her is that she collapsed and they hauled her away already. We laughed, but my hat goes off to her for doing the video. Being a large Marge myself, not so sure I would do a video, well at least not a biking video....hahaha (keep it G-rated!). Well, anyway, we decided it was a good workout but we were not really prepared equipment wise. No towel close and no water bottles ready or a fan turned on either....not thinking I guess, but will do that the next time. We also decided that we would get burned out just doing that one video so will try coming up with some game / workout type things while watching TV. FYI-Abe is NOT a fan of us riding in the house. He went upstairs and was out of site until we were done riding. ...poor guy!

Kris made soup for supper last night along with beer bread...YUMMY! The soup was mildly spicy but not bad. Find the recipe here. She could not find red lentils so used regular ones.

Holiday recap......

Sushi platters at Tokyo on New Year's Eve. Yup, four of us ate all this and then ordered one more order of fried cheese stick with crab and salmon. Oh ya, we washed it down with a few carafes of warm Saki!

Hit Dawn and Christi's after sushi for hot tea, YES, HOT TEA, Mexican Train Dominoes and Rumikube and then at midnight sipped some sort of asiti (sp?) out of a gravy boat. Pretty funny!

(Kris drinking from the gravy boat)

Headed to Yankton Friday and met up with Rose at 7 for drinks and supper. Good place. Kind of a trendy atmosphere (little more upscale than Monk's) that is located across from the World Famous Ice House...ironic?

(Rose)

Cleaned and took down Christmas at the Clubhouse. Had a fire in the fireplace Saturday afternoon then headed to Ben's Brewing Company before supper at Murdo's. FYI-Ben's 3rd Street Ale is great. Get in there and try it, if you haven't.

(Ben)

Sunday headed home after a little more cleaning!

We feel good about what we got done over the holidays. Did some sorting, throwing and cleaning. Part of the New Years Goal-lutions? You betcha!

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

"RAPPY ROO REAR"

(translation-Happy New Year)

From Abraham "Abe"

Happy New Year!

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

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

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

New Years Goal-lutions?

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

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

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

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

Are you making resolutions / goals for 2009?

What does Christmas really mean? Have we lost sight?

Amazing on how fast Christmas is here and gone.

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

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

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

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

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

Good Christmas

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Need something to read?

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

Still crappy out.....

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

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

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

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

Flame, BKs new cologne?

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

Can you imagine?

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

Wednesday ramblings.........

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

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

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

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

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

Why am I blogging with all this to do?

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

Great weekend in Yankton.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bring on the weekend!

HAPPY FRIDAY YA'ALL!

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

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

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

Been awhile.....

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lots going on.....

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

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

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

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

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

Mug Club party....

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

Lance to ride TDF

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Happy shopping!

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

(Pardon me?..haha)

What are your Thanksgiving weekend plans?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Room 302

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ed & Pat

Biking Brady aka Kevin

Ride Vermillion aka Craig

Cycling Cathy & Charlie

Ham(m)er aka Melissa & Nick

Dawn & Christi

Our FOOD!

The Thinker on the Throne!

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

Thanks for a great time, everyone!

Bike club count:

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

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

Weekends go WAY toooooo FAST!

Where will you be Saturday night?

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

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

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

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

Need inspiration?

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

Feel the love?.......

Feel the LOVE in these pics?

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

Starting to set 2009 goals.....

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

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

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

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

Made it.....

Busy weekend.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Christmas wreaths....and beer

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

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

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

Have a good weekend everyone and stay SAFE!

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

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

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

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

Shadow dancing....amazing

Christmas shopping.........

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

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

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

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


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


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

Wednesday humor.........

It was entertainment night at the local Senior Center .

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

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

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

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

It took three days to clean up the Senior Center .

GREAT DAY!

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

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

Monday afternoon humor....

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

More gear to buy?

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


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


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


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

Weekend recap

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

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

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

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

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