Sunday Ride

Rode to Durand this afternoon. Bike man started out from home and then met me at the trailhead in Menomonie around noon. The afternoon started out cloudy and hazy, then the clouds parted and the afternoon became hot and humid. Found this tree across the Chippewa River trail towards Durand. I'm thinking it came down in the storms over the last few days.

Met two women cycling to Northern WI. We chatted for 20 minutes and discovered these ladies were from Cinncinnati. The woman in the pink (Traci) just finish Ragbrai and was heading north to take another week's vacation to visit a friend. We also found out she has done lots of endurance races like the Eco Challenge ....how cool is that! The other gal, Cindy, met up with Traci after Ragbrai to ride north with her. It was great chit chatting with the ladies and giving them some advice on routes to ride.

By the time we arrived in Durand, we were hot and hungry. Did something different this time. We decided to try the local drive-in across the street from DQ. The menu looked great as far as I was concerned. BM and I shared a burger, while I gulped down a root beer and BM drank a strawberrry malt. The food was much needed as the afternoon ride back took it's toll on us. The heat increased and the humidity was heavy. BM and I were whipped from the heat. (BM - 55 miles and 43 miles for me).

Who's That Guy?

Saw this cyclist when I was driving home after work. Hey, wait a minute....that's bike man! Can you believe he tried racing me in my car? Geez, it's a guy thing. Well, I'm glad one of us got out for a ride today.

Weird day. Wet, humid, cloudy and cool. The sun finally appeared mid afternoon.

Enjoyable Fun

Apparently, I don't know how to bargain/negotiate at thrift sales! That's what my family told me today. Well first, I don't normally go to thrift sales and second, the prices seemed really good to me.....why would you chew down the prices even lower? Then I was told not to express your excitement if you find something you really, really like. You are suppose to act like you really don't care if you buy it or not. I didn't realize thrift sales was such a game to play. I suppose I'll get better at it, but for now, if something is priced at $5, I'll give um five bucks. That's just me.

So the pink carp......I bought that later today at an antique shop. I'm a sucker for garden artwork. It's a little bold I know, but it's art. Spent part of the day thrift shopping in the Lake Nokomis neighborhoods of Minneapolis.


The guys were hard at work back at Artena's house while we did our shopping thing. This little guy Issac, enjoyed finding the longest stick and roasting a big huge marshmallow. Little boys....you gotta love um!

Hard at work, Artena's dad put up the rain gutters today. Bike man put wood timbers along the driveway to create a garden space for perennials and hostas. It was great to just be outdoors today. Seeing all the cyclists in the Cities today gave me the biking itch, but biking just wasn't in the plan for today. Tomorrow should look more promising.

Coming home tonight, we drove along West River Parkway in Minneapolis. This is one of the trailways I've been wanting to ride since it follows the Mississippi River. Lots of trees, green space and beautiful homes along this parkway. Guess we'll just have to mark our calendar for a city ride.

All around, just a fun day with Artena's family and our daughter. The sunshine felt so good!

It's Getting Old

The green foliage is slowly emerging despite the cold temperatures this week. Discovered these green shrubs while on my walk tonight. Was hoping I'd be out cycling by now since it's the end of April, but these cold, windy conditions make me non-motivated.

Driving home after work, I passed a male cyclist struggling in the westerly winds. Of course I had to check him out.....that's just the woman in me! Tights, lightweight jacket, cycling shoes, helmet cover. Yup, he was an average cyclist, which is still kind of rare around my neck of the woods. Never seen him before, but I'll be watching for him in the next few months. I'm sure he'll speed up as the season progresses.

Man oh man, I need sunshine badly.....my spirits are dwindling.

Look At My Deal

As our life slowly gets back to normal, I wanted to show you the great deal I ran across several weeks ago. I happen to know someone that will be moving soon and she needed to get rid of lots of stuff since she will be transitioning from a house to an apartment. As I was looking through all her thrift sale items, I discovered a 7 piece cycling set....$25 dollars! The cycling gear was something she received through her work place and was never worn. Most of the cycling gear was woman's size small, plus one extra jersey in large. I was very excited since this Italian cycling gear is considered very high quality.

Bike man figured the cycling gear was valued around $250.....wow! This was basically the cycling kit for the Overdrive cycling team based out of Eau Claire, WI. All the members receive this basic kit, so guess I now own the kit, without belonging to the team! I love a good deal.

Update on Bike man: he's resting at home and is now on more aggressive medications to deal with the the heart issues. By next week, he'll be back to his exercise routine. I'm now thinking about how to make changes to our everyday eating style. We eat lots of vegetables and fruits and whole grains, but we also love our variety of meats and cheeses. Guess we'll have to treat bacon as a rare food item. And pizza? Less often and less cheese......dang it! Shoot, and here I thought all that bean soup was making a difference in our life!!!!!!

Wee Bit Wimpy

Please cut me a little slack! At least I'm not 100% wimpy, just 95% wimpy! With winds whipping around 33 mph late this morning and an outdoor air temperature of 7 degrees, I made the decision not to ride my bike on the lake, however, decided to try out my studs by riding down my driveway to retrieve the newspaper. Well, no newspaper today.....forgot it's a holiday, but I did try out my tires on our driveway that is totally ice covered. Never slipped, not once. I'm so glad Bike man bought me studded tires last year!

It was actually a beautiful day today with a frosty haze in the air. The sun finally peaked out around 4 pm when I was outdoors doing some weekend chores. I remember myself saying over and over again.....it's brutal out there! Anytime you combine single digits with significant wind, you've got serious weather. Back in the day when I was a serious runner, I ran sub zero weather. Really. However, when we had sub zero temps with combined winds, I would say no way. Especially not when your eyelashes would freeze shut halfway through your 6 mile run. Ahhhhh, I kind of miss those days!!!

So, part of our chores today were to pack up all the Christmas decorations including the Christmas tree and ornaments. Our crazy cat had to join in on the action, and once again wrapping her whole body around the top of the tree. I swear, this will be the last year we put up a Christmas tree. Before taking down the artificial tree, I had to take the time to pull cat fur out of each individual branch.....it was loaded with soft fuzzy fur! Don't get me wrong, I love cats, but this climbing, jumping and attacking Christmas ornaments thing took the fun out of having a tree this year. Does anyone have suggestions for next year?

Working Late

Left work after 7 pm tonight. A board meeting kept me working late, but I guess that comes with the job when you manage a public library. Thank heavens it's only once a month. This is the week of meetings, programs and one presentation. Tomorrow night will be another late evening since I'm involved in presenting to our County Board......presenting library services in our county. I feel like this will be a "dog and pony" show since we get shoved around from month to month on where and who we will present to. Does anyone really care about how we serve the public when it comes to libraries? Probably not. So, I'll just get up there in front of all those.....hummmm, aged men and smile and act all perky and lively about library services.

As I was heading out of town tonight, I spotted a bunch of cyclist camping overnight in the village park. I so wanted to go and talk to them and ask them where they were traveling, but I didn't....gosh darn meeting! I would have loved to have cyclists camping out in our yard tonight, but the timing just wasn't right. As I mentioned before, we love to invite traveling cyclists to stay overnight at our house....meal and shower provided. You meet such cool people that way. Maybe next time.