It's Chequamegon Time Again

Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival

This weekend is the annual Chequamegon Fat Tire race, which starts in Hayward and ends in Cable at Mt. Telemark Lodge. The race travels along the famous Birkebeiner ski trail for 40 miles. I competed in the Fat Tire race back in 2000 or 2001....can't quite remember. It was ok, but not my kind of race, so I never competed again. Bike Man competed many times, but then finally graduated to be a spectator only. That's good too. Our big thing is to climb Seeley fire tower hill and watch the cyclist grind up the long steep, rocky hill. It's exciting to see the expert riders in the front packs climb the hill. I love it how you can hear the whine of the bike chains coming 1/2 mile away....you can hear them coming but you can't see them until they start their climb....so cool.

So tomorrow late afternoon, Chris and I will head up to Drummond and meet up with Bike Man. I hope he gets a good camping spot this year. Maybe if we are lucky, he will have a nice fire going for the night. I love this annual bike outing because it's our last camping trip of the season.

Today's Update: After today, I really have an appreciation for teacher's. By 8:05 am this morning I was starting my first presentation to the senior English class. I can't believe I was even awake! I'm not use to starting my day so early, let alone be around high school students...yikes. Anyway, I presented to four English classes and by the end of the day I was feeling exhausted...I was even loosing my voice by 2:45 pm. The students listened well and they had good questions about libraries in general. I guess tomorrow morning I will appreciate sleeping in later and drinking a full cup of coffee!!!!

Every Sunset is Beautiful

The sunset was so mystic tonight when I drove home, that I just had to stop and snap a photo. I ended up working late until 6:30 pm. It's called playing "catch-up." I've had so many deadlines lately that it's hard to keep up with everything, so I just worked tonight until I felt like I was kind of caught up. Am I caught up? Of course not.

My day tomorrow will be dedicated to the high school English classes (4 classes). The English teacher likes me to come every fall and speak to the students about how to apply for a library card and how to use our online catalog. This year I will take it one step further and talk about how to use our library databases and our Interlibrary loan service. I will also talk to the students about what is considered credible and what is not. Unfortunately, we have a generation of kids that are too accepting of whatever they find or read by way of the Internet is real or good enough. Hopefully, I can explain to the students that Wikepdia, for example, is not always a trustworthy source of accurate information. I use Wikepedia myself, but never consider it a reliable source, so I am very careful not to use it as a main reference source.

It was a long day today, but I was feeling much better.....energy level is reeving up. Now I'm going to bed at 10:00 pm instead of 9:00 pm whoo hoo!

The Fat Tire Mountain bike race (40 miles) is this weekend, so we plan on being there to watch the event from the Seeley fire tower hill. Like always we will camp out this weekend as well. This is our last big outing and then things will settle down for the fall & winter months. I'm hoping for decent weather, which looks promising.

It's a Mystery

I'm convinced I had some mystery illness over the weekend and even the doctor can't figure what I was suffering from. An ultrasound showed everything is normal, which is good, but what the heck was giving me pain and discomfort for three straight days?

I've decided to take a holistic approach and let my body heal by continuing to sleep 9-10 hour nights and eating wholesome foods along with lots of fluids.

It's so easy to neglect our bodies when our lives are busy and active. One of the things I always forget to do is drink lots of fluids after a long bike ride....bad, bad, bad. I think I might just slow down some for the next week and lay off bicycling and then pick it up again slowly. Rest is good.

So what was one of my wholesome choice for dinner tonight? I cooked up a patch of Quinoa (Quinoa is gluten-free) and had it pre-chilled in the refrigerator. When I came home tonight, I added some chopped cucumbers, diced fresh tomatoes, sliced black olives and some feta cheese. In a separate bowl, I mixed the dressing: oil olive, lemon juice, salt, pepper & tarragon. I mixed that into the Quinoa salad.

Then, I scooped several large tablespoons of the Quinoa salad on to a floured tortilla. Before folding the tortilla sandwich, I drizzled some olive oil & balsamic vinegar dipping sauce......oh my, the combination of flavors was terrific. It's always fun to try new foods, new flavors or new recipes. I still have to plug Penzey's spices for cooking and baking. Take a look at their catalog or webpage. Better yet visit one of their stores for a pleasant experience (local stores in Minnesota, Wisconsin & Iowa).

Sunset Comes Early

Under-the-weather is my middle name! Tomorrow's another day.

Try This!

Just had to tell you about this refreshing drink I tried this afternoon. I saw the ad in EveryDay with Rachael Ray magazine. Fill a glass with ice cubes and pour some Kahula into the glass...top it off with club soda. I had the Bike Man do a taste test and made him guess what the drink was made from. He kinda thought it was something like a cream soda, but informed him it was Kahlua liqueur and effervescence water (club soda), which I make with my soda machine. Try it, you might just like the refreshing sparkle & taste.

Slept another ten hours last night and woke up feeling a little better. Went to church this morning and Wally World for groceries. Headed home to just rest again today. I'm thinking another doctor's visit might be in my plan for tomorrow...we'll see. My friend wants to do another Monday trail ride, so I'm hoping that will work out tomorrow if I feel up to it.