Relaxing!

Today was my catch-up day at home. I was like two weeks behind on all my chores, so I decided today was the day to get everything done.

I'm done! I gave up my bike ride today, but oh well, at least I'm all caught up. Now I can relax and enjoy the rest of today.

I had to take a picture of my idea of relaxing! The temperature is 68 degrees with party cloudy skies and a nice soft breeze. The spring birds are singing and the wind chimes are making music...how much better can it be?

We Really Need Rain!

I actually took this picture yesterday when I got home from work. The conditions here in Northwest Wisconsin and surrounding areas are so critically dry that Ted decided it was time to bring out the sprinkler and water part of the yard and into the garden. Currently we don't have any vegetable plants planted yet, but the blueberry bushes and rhubarb still need water. I don't even remember the last time we had snow or rain! Hopefully tomorrow will rain some.

I peeked into the little greenhouse to look at the plants. I believe we are looking at zucchini here...they are looking really healthy. What you can't see are the tomatoes, cucumbers and green beans. All is doing well in the greenhouse.

We decided to add another blueberry bush this season. This is a picture of our newest bush. We use to have eight blueberry bushes, but one just didn't survive, so there always room for one more. We love blueberries. Some summers we get lots, and other summers we produce very little.

I'm excited about spring and the fact that we are getting closer to planting our garden. It's like a ritual.... it's part of the spring and you just do it, and you don't even think twice.

A Perfect Ride

This morning was gorgeous outside with sunshine and 50 degree temps. Since I worked late tonight, I had a chance to get a bike ride in before going to work. I choose to ride the south lake loop.

Here's a picture of Tainter Lake on the south side....we live on the north end where the Hay River enters Tainter. I really like riding the south route because the road surface is smoother, plus nice gentle hills. I also see more pedestrians (other bikers, walkers, runners & Rollerblades)on this route verses the northern routes. I ended up doing the out and back ride, which meant I could get in 24 miles....I averaged 14 mph today. Thank you Ruby!

I have to show you this picture because this is my weather "check-point" on my bike route. I love that fact that this farmer put up American flag and I use it to gauge which direction the wind is coming from and the wind speed. I figure the flag wasn't totally straight out, so it meant about a 8-10 mph wind speed this morning. This is a nice clean farm, no stinky smells here.

We had a very busy day today and ended the night with a program on how to build a rain garden. It makes so much sense to redirect rain run-off into a garden area. I never realized how much rain just runs off into highways, streets, yards and is totally wasted. I really liked this subject of preserving water to slowly soak back into the environment. It was an interesting subject for both urban and rural dwellers.

More Treats...Ugh!

Who said National Library Week was all about books? Ha, it's all about food...and more food. We just completed day 3 of treats. Today was homemade cookies from the Colfax Woman's Club. Throw in some leftover donut holes from yesterday and voila.....library treats. The good thing is, I've been able to stay away from the treats, well, maybe two donut holes today!!!!



This was our leftover stash today. It's already been determined that the Police Chief will get the leftover cake!

Two more days and I (we...my staff) can relax. National Library Week is like being put up on a pedestal. You want to make your library shine (like high cadence), but as you progress throughout the week, your stamina lessons (cadence drops). We can hit our stop button on Friday @ 5 pm!

Surrounded By Donut Holes

This is a late post tonight, but I just wanted to say....donut holes! My day was surrounded by donut holes. It's amazing what people will eat when you offer FREE snacks.

Went to a Lake Association meeting tonight to learn more about Clean Boats, Clean Water. It's all about getting boaters to understand the importance of cleaning their boats after taking them out of the lake water. Invasive plants are causing lots of problems with Wisconsin lakes. I learned a lot tonight. Long day...didn't get home until 9:30 pm tonight.

National Library Week

National Library Week equals cake!!! Cake equals happy library customers. This is the one time of the year where we can get away with feeding our customers treats and also providing them with recreational reading or entertainment. It's a win, win situation. I envy those large metropolitan libraries where they feature an in-house coffee cafe with freshly brewed coffee drinks, while you browse the new fiction novels.

Ended my workday with teaching a spin class...one empty bike however. In two weeks I will try dropping one spin class and adding an outdoor group ride. I hope this group ride will gain attention, but I'm skeptical. Most fitness center people just want to workout in a building....on machines! I just want to give people another option, a real exercise option.

Because of meetings, library programs and late nights at work, I've postpone my bike commuting for another week or two. I wish I didn't have work commitments, but I do....it comes with the job. I feel really down, because I realized how much my job controls my schedule. Guess I'll just have to get creative about when and how I can ride my bike during the work week.

On the Road For Easter

Speaking of Easter eggs, I took lots of pictures of my grandma's egg collection this weekend while visiting my folks. Some of my blogger friends might remember I posted about my grandma Fannie who ornately decorated eggs as a hobby back in the 1970's. She is now deceased. Here is one of her largest eggs....I think this is an Emu egg.

We took off this morning for home and arrived in the afternoon. Our daughter took a 1 1/2 hour break at home and then took off for her home in Duluth, MN. Today was so nice that I decided to end the day by raking leaves for a couple hours in the warm temps. Conditions are dry...we need rain soon!

Here's a picture of the egg in the closed position. It's a little top heavy, so the egg has to be displayed closed. It's hard to believe my grandmother constructed these beautiful eggs with only the site of one eye. She was blinded in one eye by a car accident. I'm glad after 40+ years I can display her eggs on my blog. More egg photos to come later on.