Befuddled

If this isn't enough of an excuse to raise taxes on the rich, then I don't know what is.

- b

CJ Approves

Not only can CJ jump up in the back and have enough room to wander around (i.e. avoid Gretchen), the Prius holds 8' boards quite nicely.

If it were my car, I would have done a bike test too, but it's not my car.

- b

Certified?

We'd driven a handful of these vehicles both new and used over the last couple weeks. The only difference with this one was that it had 80k miles on it.

Ok. Whatever. It's certified right?

We jump in with the salesman and head down the road with me driving. First road he takes us down is a grooved concrete road.

"Uh. You got a better road? I can't hear anything over the road noise."

The salesman says, "Sure. Take a right here."

That's better.

Wait? Huh? What's that noise?

"You guys hear that?"

Jen and the salesman both reply, "Hear what?"

"There's some noise coming from the right front of the car."

The salesman says, "it's probably a wheel lock in the glove box."

"No. This doesn't sound like a wheel lock and doesn't sound like it's in the glove box. The noise I hear is kind of hollow sounding - sort of like when your lugnuts are loose."

Jen and I switch, so now she's driving and I'm sitting in the passenger seat. When she hits shallow bumps like little potholes or pavement ripples, not only can I hear the sound, but now I feel it in the floor board.

"Dude! Something's not right with this car. If my own car was doing this, I'd take it to the shop."

Jen and the salesman still don't acknowledge hearing any sound. We take it back to the dealership and roll it right into the garage. The salesman grabs a mechanic, tells him I heard something weird then asks me to describe it. The mechanic jumps in and takes it for a spin.

In typical car dealership fashion, we're whisked away to some other part of the building to discuss what it is we're really looking for and how much we want to spend.

I ask him if he's got anymore of that model. He says yes. There's a silver one with 19k miles on it.

"Too new. What else you got?"

He says he has a green one with 50 something thousand miles on it, but isn't sure where it is.

I tell him to find it.

At this point I'm more interested in whether I'm right about the noise in the first one. I figure if we drive the 50k one and it makes the same noise, then it's just something they do and maybe I over-reacted. Meanwhile I notice the 80K one is back on the lot and sitting out front. Hmmmm.

The salesman finds the green one and we take it out. I don't even bother driving. I'm more interested in this noise. I strain and strain to detect it, but it's not there. About the same time, Jen says, "This one doesn't make a noise. I didn't really hear it in the first one, but I do hear that this one is quieter."

The salesmen agrees.

In the course of our discussions later that evening, he finds out that indeed there was something wrong. The idler arm was screwed up and possibly stripped.

Idler arm? Certified?

Whatever.

- b

New Car

Well, new to us.



- b

Beautiful Sight

Laundry?

Yes Laundry. It's a load of "exercise clothes" as Jen and I like to call it.

After months and months of not riding and not having to do a load of exercise clothes, I'm more then happy to do it now.

It means I'm riding.

though, also means it's cold and there are more clothes to wash, but whatever.

- b

What was I Thinking?

Four dollar question isn't it?

Vermont vacation pictures are now commented here.

- b

Po Po

pulled our asses over 4 doors down from mark's

"License and registration?"

"yes sir. here you go."

"What's your destination this evening?"

"i'm taking my friend here home. He lives on this street."

"You there. You might as well give me your license too."

"surrre. No Proobblem. I'm petty surre is up to date."

"I pulled you over because your headlight is out."

"oh really? Sorry. I wasn't aware."

Occifer goes back to his car.

Mark and I quickly and without moving our upper bodies to give away that we're struggling to hide something, kick the keg tap from the center console into the floor and under the seat.

Occifer comes back.

"You boys been drinking tonight?"

"no Sir!"

"Alright then. You get that light fixed and have a nice Thanksgiving."

"i will. thank you sir."

- b

Demons in the Night

By the glow of his light, I could tell Dave was gaining.
I pushed harder.
I took every ounce of not riding this year and pushed harder.
I couldn't hear anymore.
Like a demon in the night, I just road and ran away from that goddamn light.
That light was my death.

It faded.

My vision blurred or failed.
I kept pushing. Just Fing push!
I rounded the corner to the downhill and let it fly.
Slippery wheels careening down past trees and vines, I was only present in the cold numb sting of my fingertips.
At the bottom I leapt off and ran over the logs to the finish and won.

Read more here.

- b

Good Times Ahead

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Bonfire!

Bonfire pictures here.

- b

Vermont Pictures

Finally got the pictures up from our vacation in Vermont.

Some of it is commented, but most of it is not.

You can see them here.

- b

November Blizzard

Not quite, but quite a lot more then expected for today.

- b

Leading the Pack

For three or four months now we've been dropping Gretchen off at doggie daycare and picking her up at the end of the day without really knowing what's going on.

She comes home exhausted, but for all we know she could be committed to some kind of slave labor every day - hauling goods to remote outposts across the state or something.

Well now we know.

She's playing!

- b

November Snow

Home here in PA

And down in West by god Virginia

- b

Point and Laugh

We live in an elementary school speed zone.

Every weekday morning during the school year the speed limit is 15mph on our street from 7:30am till 9am.

Tuesday morning is trash day.

As I was rolling the trash up the driveway this morning I looked over to the township park to see the cop sitting in his normal speed zone position.

At the end of the driveway I heard the telltale sound. The rush of engine, wheels and wind meant there was a car going too fast.

When the speed limit is 15mph and everyone else is crawling along, the sound of speed is overwhelming.

I couldn't help but point and laugh at the woman as she went by.

There are all kinds of reasons as to why I pointed and laughed - basically she was screwed.

Sure. Maybe she was late to work. Maybe she had an emergency she was trying to get to.

But, it's a school zone - an elementary school on a residential country road.

The cop fired up his lights and pursued.

Suppose I should have clapped to finish the show.

- b

Bang in the Night

Ever hear a loud noise in the middle of the night and never figure out what it was?

At 4am this morning there was a crash of sorts in our house that woke us both up - enough to turn on the light.

Still haven't figured out what it was.

The dogs didn't even budge. As far as they were concerned nothing happened.

It's annoying.

- b

Coma Dog

So Gretchen, what did you think of that night ride last night at Marsh Creek?

It was kinda spooky at times wasn't it?

At least the big orange moon coming up over the trees was cool right?

Hmmm. Little tired are we?

Yeah. Me to.

- b

Deck's Done

Half of it at least. The half I tore down in August (some of it started in June) has finally all been replaced.

The idea was to get the last bit done before lunch, then move inside and do some trim. Didn't work out quite like that, but at least the deck rail project is to a point where I feel comfortable leaving it till next season.

Started early today while it was cold.

At least I had company.

That were sometimes helpful.

Wind and sawdust don't really mix.

And sunsets cast shadows.

But finally it's done!

And sturdy too!

- b

Call Me Home Depot

I hate carrying inventory.

- b

Roadside Assistance

Somebody got a flat last night, so I loaded up some tools and the dogs in the truck and we went and fixed it.

- b

Anniversary Aftermath

Four course small portion gourmet meal served with 60+ oz. of beer equals ouch.

I'll have more later. We learned all kinds of cool things about hops.

- b

Anniversary Dinner

And a four course meal.

- b

Happy Anniversary

- b

Crap

The tick I pulled off me was a female deer tick.

She left a mark.

Read more.

- b

More Jump Jam

I managed to get a video before my battery died.



I also manged to get a bunch of photos up, but you'll have to view them manually here.

- b

Weekend Update

Started the weekend with Gretchen's longest ride/run to date. Though this is a picture of CJ on this morning's hike, Gretchen did pretty well Friday night. We did just under 12 miles in the quiet pitch black around Marsh Creek. It took her about 6 miles to settle in and just run. By that time I was about done.

She didn't do a whole lot Saturday, so now we know what to do if we need to put her in a coma for a while.

Saturday rained mostly. After running some errands (i.e. buying a lot of crap), we went out for a little car shopping.

Car shopping sucks and that's all I'm going to say about that.

This morning we were up bright and early for Jen to paddle and me to hike the dogs.

It's amazing how quickly the sun's inclination changes. Now the sunrise is at the south end of the lake. Seems just a month ago it was a lot closer to the north end.

The hike was good for the dogs. It simply annoyed me. CJ is either getting more deaf or more stubborn in his old age. He wouldn't listen for shit. That's not true. He did listen (sometimes) for treats, but bit your fingers off getting them.

Gretchen had her own special annoyance. She found some kind of rotten something (poop of some kind I suspect) and rolled in it. It was all over her head, neck, legs, harness, collar, you name it. It was nasty. It stunk up everything. It wasn't long after getting home that she got a bath.

After the hike and breakfast it was time to start chores. Like any weekend in the fall, this one was committed to leaf mulching. By this time in the season it gets tricky. There's so many leaves you can't just run over them like you would cutting the grass. You have to raise the mower deck real high and go backwards.

That's right. Backwards.

For some reason the tractor gets over the piles and mulches them better if I go backwards.

Whatever. It works.

After raking and mulching the front yard (nearly 3 hours!), I got to run out for a little and watch this.

There was a local benefit jump jam down the street from me. Pretty cool. Got to see, hang out and chill with some folks I haven't seen in a while.

Wish I could have stayed. Hell. Wish I could have participated, but I had to get back and finish the chores.

Not to mention pull a tick off my nipple.

Yeah. It hurts.




- b

Adult ADHD

- b

Can't Concentrate

I can't concentrate on work today.

I stare at the screen, and can't get anything done.

Documents sit empty on my desktop.

Everything just sort of spins off into a fog.






















- b

Dark and Rainy Night

I rode with my head down.

The wind had picked up and was blowing the rain into my face. Combined with a busted finger, banged up knees, and general ass whooping, it was easier to ride with my head down.

In the rustling of leaves, I struggled peddling alone in the dark and otherwise quiet woods. The wet leaves covering the slick and treacherous roots took every ounce of concentration to keep yourself upright - concentration I had lost a long time ago. Lost to the expense of energy and lack of fitness just to make it this far.

I was only half way done.

The energy and fitness required to ride a certain pace and distance is one thing. To do the same under difficult conditions requires that much more. It's like the difference between walking through the woods when it's sixty five and sunny and walking through the woods when it's five and snowing. Simply being in the harsh conditions taxes you.

I was getting cold. Two hours in the rain and falling on the ground soaks you to the bone.

I had been alone for a while. I had nearly forgotten there was a group. When the trail leveled off, I pulled up my arm warmers and continued on.

The ride didn't start this way.

I started well. I was holding my own and cruising where others were slipping. It all came at a price. A price my fitness couldn't afford and now I was down and totally out.

Regardless of the pain and disheartening soloness, I was outside riding my bike in Downingtown in the rain. My favorite place and favorite conditions. So I don't have the capacity to handle the conditions for the entire ride, that will come. At least I was outside feeling the rain and not the skull splitting stress of the office under the fluorescent lights.

- b

Physics

A body in motion tends to stay in motion.

A body at rest tends to get consumed, overtaken and destroyed by disease and/or those more powerful.

Time to put things in motion.

- b

Change is Coming

- b

Scaredy Dog

Not always so mighty...

Gretchen hates riding in my car. She finds curling up into the tightest ball under the dash on the passenger side is most comforting.

I find it annoying.

- b

Mighty Dog

After not riding with me for three weeks, Gretchen was quite a surprise this morning.

As soon as we hit the double track, she was either beside me or weaving in front in a taunting way.

Every so often she'd dart off ahead, drop back, look up at me and do it again.

She was teasing. She wanted to go faster.

Unfortunately after yesterday and fearing hunters would soon start shooting up the woods, we had to cut the ride early.

We'll go again Friday night. Give us both time to rest and go in the dark when no one hunts.

- b

Adventure Ride

OMR: "Let's do a ride at St. Pete's this Sunday morning."

St. Pete's

Me: "Sounds great. I'll bring the mutt"

The Commish: "Cool. I'll lead us on a nice loop. Meet at Warwick, ride all over the world, through French Creek then back to Warwick via the Horseshoe Trail."

Big Ben: "I'll start at French at the ass-crack of dawn and ride over to meet you guys."

Me - thinking my average ride distance since April is 6 miles and time 35minutes: "When did we go from a nice loop around St. Pete's to a 5 hour adventure ride?"

The Commish: "Ah Bob it's not 5 hours. You'll be fine."

Ride start - 9:30am
Ride finish - 1:30pm

He was right. It was only a 4 hour adventure, but fun none-the-less!

The Route

Note: picture is not the product of some fancy GPS gadgetry. It's simply a guess.

St. Pete's is a great raw (watch those derailleurs) place to ride. It's basically an old granite quarry, so there's plenty of rocks to ride - or fall on - sorry OMR. When you're all done with that, you jump on the Horseshoe trail and head over to French Creek and ride all the rocks over there.

Though not today. After crossing rt. 345 (border to the park), we climbed (by foot) to the top of a ridge. At the top was a nice green chain link fence with barbed wire on top.

Hmmmm.

Area 51

Conveniently there's a little trail (we rode) that runs around the perimeter of the fence - sort of. Eventually it comes to a road that goes through a gate into the fenced area. The road, though grass, is very well maintained. Now my curiosity was peaked. I started paying more attention to what was inside the fence then the rocks and trees in front me. I started seeing some heavy duty plumbing like wells and valves. At the point where we turned and headed down toward the actual park, I could see elevated sprinklers through the woods within the fence.

Sprinklers in the woods?

Reminded me of the Deer Pens at Penn State, but French Creek doesn't expirement with deer. In the picture above, you'll see a square outline around what looks like square ponds. These are the sewage ponds for the park. My guess is the park (sort of like the deer pens) is pumping the "dirty water" up the hill and spraying it in the fenced in woods to filter and purify the water as it seeps back into the water table.

Who knows?

It was a cool new place to ride, but it was late and we had to turn and ride back.

Ride all the way back.

20 miles later, we were back to Warwick and our cars.

I know 20 doesn't seem like a lot, but my average since April has been 6.

Ouch.

- b