We got out this morning for a hike. Tried a new place I've seen along the road - parking lot in field with posts marking the way.
Eh.
The trail (if you can call it that) never left the field. It was windy and bleak. Turned out to be enough for the dogs. Got home and they were mostly quiet for the day.
Quiet enough for me to take a nap -- like out cold, drooling on myself for an hour kind of nap. Meanwhile Jen tore apart the fridge and completely cleaned it. At least she was quiet enough to let me crash.
Though things were not so quiet when I got up. Apparently my lack of participation in the Saturday chores was unappreciated.
Ok. So what to do?
Hmmm. Work on my bike? No. That will just get me in more trouble. Clean the stove? No. I like to procrastinate with that.
Ummmm. Dishes? Not while the fridge is all over the place.
How about outside? Yeah! Let's destroy some stuff!
Remember the deck rail project I started last summer? At some point before this summer it needs finishing.
The first requirement to finishing it is removing what's left of the old rail. I remembered how much we enjoyed not having the old railing on the other side of the deck, so figured it might nice to go ahead and remove this one.
Out with the grinder, off with the bolts, and voila!
It's the the manifold of our pellet stove. It's the piece/surface that collects all the heat. From behind it (away from the ash) there's a fan that blows air across it and out into the room.
It takes about an hour each week to brush and vacuum the whole thing.
I was hoping Quadrafire was going to be at the Philly Home Show yesterday so I could bitch them out about the lack of quality in their product, but the line to get in the building was over an hour wait.
There's a tradition with some folks I know who leave work early on Fridays and go ride.
The rides are rarely of the training type. It's simply an excuse to leave work and do some riding.
I haven't been able to do one of these rides in quite some time, so when I saw one posted for a 5:30pm start time I jumped at the chance.
Into work by 7:30am and out by 4pm to get home, load up, get Gretchen and head to French Creek. We actually rode nearly the same trails we rode Sunday, but this was a slacker ride so I was better able to manage.
The temps were somewhere in the mid 20sF°, and the wind was blowing. It was cold.
After a slight ascent, we went left to take Red/White (that's the name of the trail) down. Red/White is a twisty rock strewn single track trail that skirts the edge of the park near an area named Miller's Point. When I say rock strewn, I mean completely rock strewn. There's hardly an inch of the trail that's not covered in rocks.
About half-way down Ben pulled over to the side. He flatted on one of the rocks. Now we were faced with the task of changing a flat with completely frozen fingers. It took a little while, but our fingers thawed and the flat was fixed. When I went to get back on my bike, I realized I had flatted too. Finally both flats fixed, we were on our way continuing the decent.
Like Sunday it was more down, up, down, up, up, up and up, but this was a slacker ride. I wasn't the only one walking on this ride.
As painfully cold as it was, it was nice to be out in the remote woods of French Creek. When it's just you, the woods and the stars, you get a true feeling of really being "out there," which is way better then the cramped polyester world of cube-land.
Though long on time, the distance of the ride was pretty short. We finished up in the parking lot with a few beers gazing at the clear night sky.
Gretchen enjoyed it as well. She's learned now when I get the water bottles out, it's time to ride. She's excited enough to get in the car (which she hates) on her own. She's still adjusting to the group thing. Having ridden only with me for so long, it's odd for her to be following me in the middle of the pack. You can see her constantly checking her position to make sure she's near me and not in the path of a bike behind me. A few more rides and she should be just like the other members of the group - looking forward to Friday Slacker Rides.
The customer was in Japan. The demo was at 8pm my time, 10am their time the next day.
The day of, I get all these emails copied to a bunch of execs that are all "Rah, Rah, Rah, Shish Boom, Bah! This is a done deal if the demo goes well!"
No pressure right?
So how'd it go?
Could have been better.
I could have been more prepared.
The senior architect could have found a quieter room (one without a bunch of kids running around in the background) from which to call.
The prospect didn't realize we were still in development.
The prospect pointed out a glaring inconsistency that's currently under discussion, which I forgot to mention.
Stay tuned next week to see if I still have a job.
At least the drive into work this morning during the sunrise was nice. It's been a while since I've seen one of those.
The air was crisp with a slight sting to the ears.
But it was the wind, waves and ice that was truly amazing. Along the shores the waves lapped a soprano song along the frozen ledges. Out in the middle where sheets acres in size floated, the sun and waves caused a roar of timpani loud enough to make you stop and squint at nothing but the reflecting light.
As the winds changed and the sun rose, the symphony would change.
It really was a nice ride even if Gretchen did kick my ass.
Went for a group ride today with Gretchen at French Creek.
I'm pretty sure it was a little over my head.
As you can see the conditions were awesome. When most places were sloppy wet mud, French was frozen with a light dusting of snow.
Gretchen started up front with the fast guys. After getting whacked a few times, she realized she was getting more then she bargained for. I didn't see how, but it wasn't long that I noticed the familiar jingle of her collar at my rear wheel in the back of the pack.
We started off from Shed Rd. and did Miller's Point. I'm familiar with Miller's Point, but I think this was the first time I'd been on an entire ride (at least for me) at just Miller's Point. The normal thing (as far as I can remember) is to bomb down to the bottom then climb back out.
Not today.
Instead we went down, up, down, up, down, up, down, up, up, up, and up.
I was so out of my league.
To top it off, I fell on a bridge and busted my knee. It hurt so bad I couldn't concentrate enough to fix the flat I got when the bike jammed itself into the rocks. Luckily Topher and Keith stepped in to take a load off.
Too bad I couldn't get any help for the climbing. Holy crap was it a lot of climbing. I really had trouble imagining or remembering riding those hills, let alone as fast as the group was doing them. Every time I got to the top to find everyone waiting for me, they'd head off down another hill to climb up once again.
It was torture.
But I was outside - plodding along and enjoying the weather. Gretchen kept me company, while I wearily wondered how many hours and miles we had gone. Without my bike computer I was blind (dead battery). I had no idea if we'd done four or fourteen miles, though I'm pretty sure it was closer to four.
I figured at some point we'd go back by the cars and I would make my exit. It was probably too short for Gretchen (she was playing fetch by 4:30), but I was done. I had only ridden once in the last two to three weeks.
This was too much.
Turns out riding my bike up all those hills was masking another issue. When I got in the car to drive home, my knee started to throb. It hurt like crazy. My pant leg laying across my knee was enough to make me wince. I thought for sure I'd get home and have to have Jen take me to the emergency room. I had to call her for distraction from the pain as I drove.
When I got home and unloaded the car, the pain subsided again. Subsided enough for me to get some lunch, sit down in the recliner and sleep. I was out cold for about an hour.
I'm so out of shape.
Oh well. Hopefully I can start riding more regularly and get back out there.
Finally got around to fixing/replacing the garage door openers.
I can't believe I waited six weeks to replace them. It wasn't even like I had to buy replacements. We had a nearly new one from when we lived in Paoli and the one in our detached garage wasn't really necessary out there.
Now Jen and I both have nice quiet openers with lights to easily get in and out of the garage.
With that being said, I decided to move the car out and work a little on my bike, but only a little. I had been running this tire on my bike for a while.
Through all the mud, slick leaves/roots, snow and ice I was running this tire. Most of the time it was just me and the dog, so what did it matter that I didn't have any traction?
I'm pretty sure it was the Mucinex DM (anti-cough) that was looping my head. I took some before bed last night to not cough in my sleep and woke up a space cadet. It's worn off now, but I'm at home another day. Just another day at the beach I won't get to have this year.
Found out Wii Tennis does wonders for my congestion. Played a couple of games last night and today to clear my head. Unfortunately things cleared up enough to also wash some dishes, so I probably won't be playing any more Wii for a while.
Yesterday I "worked from home," and actually worked. What good it did anybody is questionable.
After a fever of 100°F and soaking the sheets twice last night, I decided to call in sick today.
But we don't have sick days at my company. It's all Personal Time Off. Whether you're sick and miserable or lounging on a beach, it's all P.T.O. to them (I realize some have had this forever, but it's new to me).
The reasoning is to combat bogus sick days - when people call in sick, but they're not. Some call them "mental health days".
Ha! I need a mental health month.
Oh well. I feel somewhat better. Probably back to the grind tomorrow.
Is it the sickness or the drugs that make you feel loopy?
I take the drugs to kill the headache, post nasal drip, cough, etc., but what I get in return is La La Land.
Go to a party feeling drunk before I've had my first drink. Not stumbling drunk, but words and phrases in random order in my head. Can't speak for fear of what might come out.
Is that happening now? How many times did I second guess and rewrite that sentence?
Headache is gone, but I'm in a fog. I'm sloppy. Takes two tries to get the towel on the drying rack after I've spilled my coffee.
Can I drive this way? Should I go to work?
Go to bed, but can't sleep. It's like a wide awake coma. Eyes open in the dark and nothing's going on. Time ticks by. Still nothing.
Got out this morning for a ride with Gretchen. I'd heard all week and even saw yesterday how awful the conditions were.
I'm stubborn.
I decided to try anyway.
The start wasn't so bad. There was some crunch and some slick, but not too much of either.
Then I started climbing. The trail was well hiked, so the snow was either packed, crunchy or slick - enough of a variety to provide traction yet not impede.
I passed three people hiking down. The first was some guy with a bunch of dogs. Most were on a leash except one.
The second was a kid. He was kind of in awe I think. He hardly noticed Gretchen stop to greet him.
The third was a woman obviously having trouble with the traction. So much trouble she felt the need to warn me how bad it was and suggest a route for me. I thanked her, or pretended to and continued my climbing.
At the top (for me anyway, the hill continues, but I turned off), I started across a traverse. This part was less hiked. The snow was deeper and crunchier. Here it got hard. It was like riding in aquarium gravel if you can imagine that.
Completely winded I stopped. Gretchen looked at me funny as I stood there chest heaving and wheezing (I'm sort of sick and definitely out of shape).
Time to push. The weather was nice and neither one of us cared. I pushed to the top of the traverse and headed down again. Down was definitely better. Momentum played well against the snow, but it was still slow.
And that's how it went for a while. Push the bike up. Ride it down.
There was some really hard packed snow, then it was like riding on a sidewalk. That was nice. It was just tacky enough to not scare the crap out of you like ice.
Though the ice was almost better then the crunchy stuff. If you were real careful and real steady, you could mosey right along. One slip and you were down. I think Gretchen went down more then I did on the rail road bed, but she must have gotten the hang of it as it was me going down more in the fields.
It's days like these I kick myself for not having a set of studded two-niner tires. Eh. They wouldn't have helped in the snow, which was harder to ride then the ice.
We didn't get very far, but we did get out. Gretchen even got to play with another shepherd, which was nice for the both of them.
It's cool to see how relaxed and comfortable Gretchen is at Marsh Creek. She's been there enough for it to be like her backyard. Fortunately she's not barking at everybody that passes by like she does in her own yard.
We've been on a two year emissions waiver. It expired January 09. Sure we could spend $$ to try and fix it (again), but it's led a good long 212,000 mile life.
For now it will remain parked until I can get the stereo out of it (jira JenBob-23) and get the car donated (jira JenBob-24).
Maybe I should throw it up on cinder blocks for effect? Too bad I don't have an old washing machine or fridge to sit next to it.
Took the dogs for a hike at Marsh Creek yesterday. The lake was completely frozen.
It's a 500 acre lake - frozen solid. I've seen it in the past, but not last year. We went early, so it wasn't as active as last week. The ice fishermen were out there. Unfortunately the fishermen were too far away to get a good picture of their little setups.
We took the dogs out on the ice. They didn't really like it, hence the leashes.
Of course we didn't like it much either when it started cracking.
I don't think there was any risk of it cracking up and us falling in, but it was unnerving enough to make our exit from the ice.
So into the frozen woods we headed.
The dogs were much happier in the woods.
But the dogs are always happy when they can run free and get fed treats.
We got out this morning for a hike. Tried a new place I've seen along the road - parking lot in field with posts marking the way.
How about outside? Yeah! Let's destroy some stuff!
- b
We got out this morning for a hike. Tried a new place I've seen along the road - parking lot in field with posts marking the way.
How about outside? Yeah! Let's destroy some stuff!
- b
I can't believe I waited six weeks to replace them. It wasn't even like I had to buy replacements. We had a nearly new one from when we lived in Paoli and the one in our detached garage wasn't really necessary out there.
Through all the mud, slick leaves/roots, snow and ice I was running this tire. Most of the time it was just me and the dog, so what did it matter that I didn't have any traction?
Just hope I feel the difference.
Got out this morning for a ride with Gretchen. I'd heard all week and even saw yesterday how awful the conditions were.
It was just tacky enough to not scare the crap out of you like ice.
We've been on a two year emissions waiver. It expired January 09. Sure we could spend $$ to try and fix it (again), but it's led a good long 212,000 mile life.
It's a 500 acre lake - frozen solid. I've seen it in the past, but not last year. We went early, so it wasn't as active as last week. The ice fishermen were out there. Unfortunately the fishermen were too far away to get a good picture of their little setups.
I don't think there was any risk of it cracking up and us falling in, but it was unnerving enough to make our exit from the ice.
