What's On My Mind?

All the flowers got planted this week, thanks to my husband who is retired. Lucky guy, he rode 76 miles on his bicycle in the last couple days...and that includes the really windy days as well.

We finally received our itinerary for our Montana bike trip in July. The trip consists of six days of mountain bike riding (minus one day for rest) in the mountains of Montana. The miles go like this:

July 11 to July 17 Whitefish Montana

Day 1 0 Miles Kick-off meeting

Day 2 44 miles Whitefish to Big Fork

Day 3 62 miles Big Fork to Condon

Day 4 44 miles Condon to Seeley Lake

Day 5 0 miles Seeley Lake - Rest day

Day 6 67 miles Seeley Lake to Lincoln

Day 7 35 miles Lincoln to Divide Crossing and back to Whitefish

I kinda laughed to myself when I read in the Adventure Cycling Association letter when it said that everyone taking this trip should be working their way up to cycling 100-200 miles a week on hilly dirt roads...... several months before the trip....what????? It also said we should be doing back-to-back rides of 50-60 miles long! My gosh, even when I was mountain racing back in 1998-2000, I wasn't riding those kind of miles.

Because of my sporadic work schedule, I hope to do more like 100 miles a week, but mostly on paved roads thank you. As it looks like now, Monday will be my first commute day.

Bicycle Commuting....Very Soon

After a tiring day of Long Range Planning @ my library system headquarters today (library workshop), I treated myself to a little shopping.

Three new skirts and two new pairs of sandals....that's all I need, and now I'm set for the summer.

Once I start back to commuting to work by bicycle, I won't have the opportunity to go shopping, so today was my only chance to purchase ahead!!!!! Because of my hectic work schedule lately, I haven't been able to commute by bike yet, but that's about to change. Only one more meeting next week, and then my schedule starts to settle down. Well, at least for one month.

All About Weather

Kind of a weird day, weather-wise. Cloudy, cool, humid and very, very windy. Then the rain moved in! We didn't have heavy thunderstorms around here, but they did just East of us and the clouds were really, really dark this afternoon, especially when I drove home from work.

Ended my night with a bible study at church and then back home tonight to relax. Tomorrow is a new day.

Oh My Allergies Are Kicking Up

This is definitely allergy season. Since last Friday, my right eye is very red, warm and scratchy. I know it's from the pollens floating in the air right now from the trees blooming. This happens every year, but this seems to be a particularly bad spring for me. I broke down and bought some eyes drops, but haven't used them yet today. Will try tonight before going to bed.

I'm trying to practice my relaxation skills this week. My job continues to be stressful, but each day I am managing it a little better. I can't disclose too much information, but over a week ago I discovered my medical information was disclosed to other people at my place of employment. I can't even describe to you how violated I felt, because my medical history has always been private to me. All I want to advocate right now, is that if this ever happens to you at your workplace, please stand up for your privacy rights....scream, holler, stand your ground, and don't give in. No one has the right to view your medical information unless it's your insurance company or your physician! It's been an emotional week and a half, but I've learn a lot about the feeling of anger, keeping your composure, being one step ahead, and praying to God for strength to get you through this emotional situation.

The Topsy Turvy's Are Hanging!

Ok, I had nothing to do with this!!!! My husband bought the Topsy Turvy tomato planters last month and decided to see if the they really work. Have you seen the comercials on TV? Buy one, get one free, whoo hoo! To learn more about the Topsy Turvy tomato planters click here. So, in order to hang the planters, my husband decided to use the frame from our yard swing that we've had for 25 years. The wood swing and frame aren't in the best condtion, but it's suitable for hanging the tomato planters. Let's see if they will survive our first major summer thunderstorm!

You can bet I'll be taking pictures of the upside down tomato hangers all summer long to prove their reliability and strength. Anyone reading my post who also bought the Topsy Turvy, please take a picture and show me your hanging plant ok?

On a brighter note, I taught my last cycling class at the fitness center tonight....YES. Over the last four weeks, my class attendance had dropped to virtually no one. If I continue to teach next winter/spring (2010), I will have a cut-off date of April 30, because I learned that once the weather warms up everyone wants to be outside. That includes me too.

As I Turned Around and Look Behind Me......

So my husband said to me this afternoon, "let's go out and check the South Fork of the Hay River for our upcoming stream monitoring this summer. What I didn't realize is that there would be cows along the river! I noticed one cow was getting really close to me and it started freaking me out. Then my husband said, "honey, look behind you."!!!!!! As I turned I said to myself, "Oh dear God help me!!!!!! The damn cows were running towards me! Geez, I freaked out. I took one snap of the camera and then I turned and started walking really, really fast, or maybe it was running....I'm not sure because I was hyperventilating! You see, I'm not a farm girl. I never grew up around cows and I was never interested in cows either. All I know is that the cows were getting too close for comfort. Hey, just imagine cows running after you! My husband told me to just relax because they were only curious.

After my nerves settled down, I was able to take some more relaxing photos without looking behind my back!

This little girl, otherwise known as the "Brown Swiss" of cows, was extremely curious. She kept her space between us and I was really, really glad about that!

Now this beauty kept her distance from me too. This was the closest I could get. I'm sure she was just as scared as I was...."whose that crazy woman" invading my space.

At first I thought this was a cow crossing for the cows to get across the river, but then I realized it was a snowmobile bridge since the snowmobile trail went through this farmer's land. I'm sure the cows do cross this bridge, but you have to be there at the moment to catch the picture!

When we go back to this river to do our water tests, I will be watching my back. We were told by the farmer that the Bull was not out today (thank you), but next time we will have to ask about the Bull, otherwise I'll be a nervous wreck!