Walnuts.

Happy little star cookies.

Something like a cross between a sugar cookie and shortbread - then, as I've recently enjoyed doing with chocolate chip cookies, I mince up some walnuts and roll one side of the little dough balls in the walnutty powder before squishing them down into the star-form trays. Not only does it add this delicious crunchy texture to the bottom of each cookie and almost enough protein to justify eating them, it also makes them Super easy to get out of the pans... no spray, butter, or parchment needed.

Differences.

It is sunny in Arizona. And our apartment seems to reach out, grab the sunlight and bring it into every little corner of the house.

This was not the case during the week I was at my parents' house in Iowa. Even if there was some sun - it never seemed to make it's way inside, due to things like -
a) Large Trees
b) Elaborate Curtains
c) Room orientation

I like sunshine. It's easier to get out of bed before 10am when there's gobs of sunlight filling the bedroom. I turned into a slug at my parents' house. I really hate the yellow light put out by most incandescent light bulbs - I'd rather leave the room in semi-darkness. This exacerbated the issue of their house.

I also like our internet - which sometimes seems slow, but is a freaking Prodigy compared to the AOL Dial-up that my mother continues to suffer through. She doesn't know what she's missing.


The plan as of now, is to have D go check out Missoula during a long, two-week road trip in June. While I really can't go with him, I'm now slightly hesitant to allow him to pick out an apartment for us - as Missoula starts out having not nearly as much sunlight as Arizona, it will be doubly important that our lodgings facilitate maximum sun-capture.

Quote of the Day.

"Viewer discretion is advised.

The Renaissance artwork in the following program contains nudity."


-20/20 intro


I'm sorry - are you kidding me???

Not the pictures.

I had everything arranged. Timed out. Scheduled. There were layers when each thing needed to be done.

We left for Decorah, went to the meeting. Ran into Dave Nice and the boys he came in with from Nebraska - as well as meeting Julia (the single speeding female) - and all was enjoyable.

Got back to the hotel, finished the last items with my bike, showered, and had my mother hack off my hair. Braided it, held it at the top, cut. She just kept hacking and hacking... I have a lot of hair. I was Really high energy at this point - all excited and giggling from having less hair than I'd ever had in the entirety of my life - and had to slow myself down to get to sleep.

Woke - mother drove me to the start. I sat in the car till I saw Guitar Ted come round. We lined up. We started.

We started up a hill and I immediately noticed my saddle was too low. This was something that was scheduled to be adjusted before we left Des Moines for Decorah - so after it had been set I hadn't thought about it again. It was not on the list to be addressed at any later point, and since I'd sat in the car at the start I didn't mount up till we rolled out.

I thought I'd just take it easy up the hill - but my legs were in the wrong position - it was stressing my knees - so I hoped off on the side of the road to adjust. With two gloves on, it took me a minute to get my multi-tool out, I was impatient, I was being passed by everyone, so I pulled it up, tightened it, and hopped back on... it was the slightest hair too high. I tried to ride, it wasn't working. I hopped off and adjusted it again. Perfection.

But I was now behind everyone. No big deal.


There was a notation a little after 1 mile to "Continue" on the road you were on - I kept riding. I got to the second direction "Turn Right at Clay Hill Road". I hit Clay Hill Road a little farther on than the milage indicated, but just presumed my computer was a tidge off and noted the difference for future calculations. I turned Right. Not long after I was suppose to turn left at Spruce Ridge Road.

I could not find Spruce Ridge Road. I passed an Aspen, and/or Oak, and/or Evergreen. Several roads in a row that were all named after trees... plus there was a tree covered ridge to my left... I thought, it's down here somewhere. So I kept riding. I kept riding till I hit a Super-Walmart, was several miles OVER what was indicated - and I could be 100% sure that Spruce Ridge Road was NOT the next road.

Turned around. Rode back, paying attention, trying to find this road. Got back to the intersection, checked that I had in fact turned the right direction. And turned around again. I was going to ride back, and turn at whatever road was exactly where Spruce was suppose to be, Milage wise. I'm not sure what the logic was here... but that maybe the road sign on Clay Hill said one name, and the road turned into Spruce, and it was just an error on the cue-sheets (this is not so crazy as it sounds, there really was an error on the cue sheets later on). I knew I was on Clay Hill Road. I knew I had turned Right - Spruce had to be there somewhere.

I rode back, noting the exact milage I was suppose to go, and saw a guy in a pick-up turn into a parking lot. So I rode over to him and caught him as he was walking into work. I'm pretty sure I freaked him out. I asked if he knew where Spruce Ridge Road was. He looked at me like I was a demon from the underworld and said he'd never heard of a Spruce Ridge Road in his life.

Shit.

So then I noticed that someone else was driving the pick-up and had dropped him off. I rode over to the truck as it turned around and asked the driver if he knew where the road was. He said the same thing his son had - No f-ing clue.

At this point I turned around again. I rode back up from whence I'd come - and realized that there was, in fact, a reason for them to have said "Continue on Quarry Hill Road" - somewhere up in the twisting woods I had not continued on the road I was on - I had merged onto Whitetail Road.

Doh!!!

So I road back up Whitetail and got back on Quarry Hill. I rode till I ran into Clay Hill Road Again... slightly different location. And when I say slightly different - I mean entirely and completely different. They didn't even look like the same road. I really can't imagine how the first Clay Hill Road I was on could possibly connect with, or be the same road as the second Clay Hill Road I ran into. I Google Earthed it when I got home, to try to make sense of it all.

After my second turn Right on Clay Hill Road I quickly ran into Spruce Ridge Road. Right were it was suppose to be. I turned left and pulled out my camera to take a picture (see previous post). I was Really f-ing excited.

I noticed that while the cue cards said I was suppose to be at 2.something, my odometer actually said 11.something. I had lost myself to the tune of 9.5 miles. But I was really excited to be on Spruce and to know that even if I got wicked lost, it was possible for me to find my way again.

So I continued.

Really - I was feeling good. My clothes were perfectly arranged and I was staying pretty warm. My feet would get cold on fast downhills and I would have to wiggle them around to get them happy again, and my forehead and cheeks were getting wind burned and I had to pull things around and rearrange a little bit - but everything was in relatively good shape, considering the 30 degree temperatures and 15-20 mph winds.

I had managed to make myself eat some food and drink some water - which was difficult, because, while I was relatively warm I knew I wouldn't be if I stopped at all, for even a minute. The roads seemed great - from all the talk of water, there was only an occasional puddle or trickles across the road...

and then at one point, I made a turn, straight into the wind and my mind just shut down. It flashed "You're Done" and then stopped working all together. I turned around and rode a short distance to where I could get some cover from the wind and called my mother to come pick me up.

I think if I'd thought about it. Pulled out my iPod. Talked to myself. I might not have stopped, I might have kept going. But that speculation is superfluous, because my mind said NO - and that was it.

The coldest I was all day was when I was trying to tell my parents where I was and how they could reach me.

And afterwards it all seemed like such a wasted opportunity. I wasn't really cold. My legs didn't hurt. I was generally following my plans for food/water intake. So why did my mind tell me to stop???

Part of it was that I'd done the math. I wasn't riding fast enough to make it to the check point in time. Once you took off the miles I'd spent getting lost, there was just no way I could make it all up at the speed I was going. And with the wind as it was, I knew I couldn't pick up the pace enough to make up the difference.

I'd done the math a few hours after I'd "un-lost" myself, and somewhere, deep in my consciousness my mind had been dwelling on that fact - and about half and hour after I'd made that realization I stopped. It was like four nuerons in the back of my mind were conspiring against me. I'd told myself that even if I knew I couldn't make it to a check point, I should continue as long as I could regardless. But those little radical nuerons staged a coop - and it was over in five seconds when my mind said NO - and I made the call and after that, it was too late.


Really - in one respect I'm distressed, because I know my body could have taken me farther. But then my mind is part of my body and it said No - so really, while there was more I could have done, I didn't do it, and therefore, in many respects I couldn't have done it. And that's that.

I see it as an opportunity lost. I had this great opportunity, I put so many different pieces to gether to get me out there and to that very spot at that very moment, and even though I know I couldn't have made it to the first check-point in time, and my race was going to end pre-maturely, the lost opportunity is that it ended even a hair sooner than it might of - and it was such a great little adventure that I really am sorry I didn't get more of it.

The route was really beautiful. What I saw of it. Even with the evil grey clouds, the wind and the slight bit of weird hail/snow precip - it was beautiful. And I can only imagine how enjoyable the rest of the course they put together might have been. I'm sad I didn't get to see any more of the little world they assembled for us.


I'm also sad that no woman finished. Not like I can say that - because if I didn't finish I can't blame any of the other women for doing what I did. But I really thought this year would be the year. I didn't really think it would be me, but I thought it would be someone... and there's melancholy in that.


I guess the question that looms in all the competitors' minds after they process through their race is - what about next year???

TransIowa v4 Trip - a few photos.

Note: I'm working with AOL Dial-Up at my parent's house... AOL hates me... photos will eventually be posted.

Snowball.

Why you should not work on bike stuff in your childhood room that's been redecorated with hand-embroidered doilies.

P.S. Tenacious Oil is about as hard to get out of linen as it is to get off your hands.

Long Hair.
Short Hair.
At the Race Start (note oddly positioned saddle).

Spruce Ridge Road.

Waiting to GoDo

I finished up a soak in the hot tube just a little while ago - PomPom is lookin' good - bags are packed - things are charged - last minute actions are noted - (the huge bag of carmel popcorn and package of frozen corn dogs my mother gave me when I arrived in Iowa are now fully consumed) - along with a whole apple pie, like five bananas, spagetti, chocolate chip cookies, tortilla chips, and a lot of other food, but not a single vegetable... I don't think I've stopped eating since I got here - my hair is totally frizzy from the humidity - the precious kitty-cats are still agraid of me - the cycle computer is set in alignment with my current tire pressure with the second setting programed for the most likely option if I were to change the pressure for conditions - I can't think of a single other thing to do right now...

I just need to wait an hour for my mom and dad to come back home and drive me up to Decorah.


We're looking at some wet and wild fun. 40% chance of rain, with lows in the 30's for Saturday night... can't beat that!!!

Edit: Flash Flood Warnings for the Decorah Area. Hail last night. Large puddle/lake formed in back yard...

Counting it down.

I'm in Des Moines - waiting for the airport to call and let me know my bag arrived on a later flight from Minneapolis. They should be calling in about half an hour.

Technically this is not a problem. As I told my mom when the conveyor belt stopped moving and my bag had yet to come out - the only absolutely irreplacable items are with me in my Carry-On... I'd just prefer to not have to replace my helmet, shoes, packs, and clothes in the next two days...

as I said to the other Grinnell grad I met on the flight to Des Moines (who's baggage was also not-present) as long as I have this stuff my noon on Friday, I don't really care. This garnered a scathing look from the woman in line in front of me, who wanted us all to breath fire at the poor (and helpful) desk woman taking care of finding the lost luggage.


In other news, a Hollywood acting-bear took a bit out of his trainer's neck, killing him, and The Netherlands is asking car makers to add hood-top airbags (or else, stop running over cyclists) but as we all know that won't happen, they think Outside Hood-top airbags will save lives.

And Guitar Ted continues his motivational pep-talk for all us Trans-Iowa v4 Roster Members!!! Everytime I read his comments I get more and more excited. There's that joke that if you're One In A Million, you're still just like 6,500 other people... well if G-Ted's predictions are accurate, I'm going to try my darndest to be One In Six-Hundred Million.

Seems like decent odds. Or maybe I should just buy a lottery ticket.

I thought.

This shouldn't have been an overly complicated packing experience... I thought my TSA compliance would be less complicated than normal - as I wasn't bringing a laptop. Until I started packing and realized there were a lot of other random things I was bringing that were potentially suspicious... that I had no idea how to handle...

I prefer to do all Carry-on, but I don't want to be without my knife, so I have to Check at least one bag.
I don't want to have a Checked bag, plus a big Carry-on, in addition to my purse, so that makes my Checked bag my primary bag - but I want to make sure that if something goes wrong with my Checked bag I still have all the Absolute Must Haves that couldn't easily be replaced in Des Moines, with me...

then - apparently you can take lighters in Carry-ons, but NOT Checked - so I put my first-aid kit into my Carry-on, till I realized there were other fire-starting mechanism in it that might not be allowed... and I'm not sure what they'll make of me bringing the large battery that goes with my headlamp in my Carry-on. Is a large battery suspicious??? They say batteries that are within other electronics are allowed, but does Attached qualify as "within"???


Seems odd when I have to put my make-up in my Checked and my lighter in my Carry-on... but whatever...

I just wish the TSA website covered more specific items.

I'm glad I shipped my bike ahead of time - at least I know it's safe and sound.

A bit of gardening...

With our scheduled departure of Arizona now set - this is my last spring for native flowers. It was time to plant some seeds that'd been holing up in the fridge...
so out to the garden I went.

This is my garden.

I usually kill most things I try to grow... we won't even bring up the Arizona Cypress tree D got me last year... aparently we shouldn't have left it out on the deck for a week while we were on vacation... not a good idea.

Anyway - the actual yard is growing all sorts of wild flowers - just like last year. Only hope they don't come "trim" the yard again, and kill them all with a weed-wacker!!! It was traumatic for me last year... one day we had a yard full of life - the next day it was all gone!!!

Quote of the Day.

"Remember - Any tool can be the Right tool."

- Red Green

I've decided -

I love Arizona. Particularly it's politics.

Nationally Arizona swings Republican but we have this burly Democratic woman - who's a consummate politician - as governor.

After The News Hour we have this show on PBS called Horizon (once a week it's Horizante with an Hispanic host) - where they talk about state politics. Today they're talking about the indictment of one of our members of the House (we don't do accusation, our members' transgressions are prosecutable), and a nasty verbal brawl between the Major of Phoenix and the County Sheriff - who, yesterday, told the Mayor to "Put up or shut up"... and once a week our Governor Janet comes on and talks about stuff, she's got a sense of humor - it's good times. D adds - Janet likes to joke about her Gubernatorial Condominium, as Arizona may be the only state without a Governor's Mansion.


But D also tells me not to worry - Montana will be to my liking. Apparently the other day the Governor of Montana was explaining his policy as regards national initiatives, to paraphrase "Eventually, when the fed tells us what to do but doesn't give us the money to do it, we just have to tell them to go to hell, and do what we want."

Yes - I think I will like that.

ByeBye PomPom!!!

Yesterday I took PomPom over to the Local Bike Shop to be boxed up and shipped to Iowa.
Above is the last known picture of her.
(Not yet in TIv4 - readiness State - but close)

So this really is the beginning of the end.

Food.

Before we went to Yoga tonight - I made some banana bread with a few unhappy looking specimens D managed to freeze over the weekend. Frozen bananas do not make good to eat.

Another Joy Of Cooking success story! However - when I'm home for TransIowa I'm picking up this old Fund-Raising Cookbook from the Catholic Grade School I attended. While my tumultuous relationship with my Principal started when I saw sent to her office for the first time in Second Grade - she's got a mean Banana Bread recipe (that I've further annotated) that is just waiting to be made again. If only it were here and not there. Something easily reconciled in the next two weeks - oh - look at those big chunks of banana and walnut!!!

On the way home from Yoga I didn't even have to say the name before D was convinced to stop by a certain, delicious, fast food establishment - the photo below is name "The Carnage" If you've never had a Double Double I suggest you never do - for the sake of your soul.

Quote of the Day.

Guess which half is mine - which is D's.

D - "I'm an expert at putting corn on pizza!"

Paranoia.

I just bookmarked NorthWest Airlines News Release webpage... the FAA is continuing audits through June 30th - which means Any Airline - at Any Moment - might be grounding planes and canceling flights (like American has been doing for the past several days).

Not to mention I'm flying through Minneapolis - and they're currently rerouting flights through Minneapolis due to a storm today and tomorrow... but maybe this means with a storm already happening - their won't be another one in two weeks???

Yes???

Okady - so. I swear - I'm calm - I just like to think about all potentialities. The good and the bad. Presumably this just means I'll be more prepared for either.



Now if I could just find the main valve on my nose and get it turned off... if this keeps up I'm going to have one of these specially made with a slit right on top and fill it with tissues.

Midnight Sneak Attack...

I used to work at a deli/wine shop in Iowa - that offered excellent Kosher-produced corned beef and pastrami. They also got this beyond delicious Challah Bread from a local bakery - that ended up re-locating and re-focusing on sandwiches instead of bread. They stopped making their Challah and broke my heart. It's hard to find good Challah.

Low and behold - right after we land here in Arizona, I ran across this Great looking Challah bread in a grocery store!!! A grocery store of all places... made by Chompie's Bakery - Down South in The Arid Wasteland and their bread (and bagels) are delivered to all the major grocery stores here in town. Except - not their Challah bread - I've only been able to find their Challah at that one grocery store, which isn't the one we normally go to. I used to stop by, every once in awhile, to see if I could land a Challah and never did manage to after the first two.

More recently we discovered they were also one of the few stores in town to carry another of Chompie's best breads - their MultiGrain. I also recently discovered this wonderful grocery store is open till Midnight!!! Which is important - cause that's when I do my shopping...

last week - on my way home from the gym, after work, at 11:30 pm I thought I might stop by to pick up some MultiGrain. The place was deserted of customers and full of their stocking folks putting out new deliveries for the next day - and I found several loaves of Raisin Challah hidden in the stacks of Chompie's bread. While I don't like raisins, I still bought a loaf.

Last night - I thought maybe there was something special to the whole, going at nighttime thing. As I'd previously tried early in the morning, mid-day, late afternoon - and never managed to see a Challah, and then I'd gone at night and found the Raisin!!! So I stopped again on my way home and what was sitting their but two golden loaves of my lovely Challah bread.

I bought them both.

It's the best Challah bread I've had since The Heart of the Prairie Bakery on E.P. True Parkway in West Des Moines, Iowa closed it's doors (if the owners are still out there - I want your Challah recipe!!!)... of course, with the exception of the Challah roll I got at a little corner bakery in Manhattan when visiting my sissy over a year ago... and then - it was only equal to Chompie's, not better, and not better than Heart of the Prairie's either...

Killing, like, 8 birds with 1 stone.

How do you save the rainforest -
Help stop the spread of AIDS -
Revitalize a rural economy -
Reduce dependence on foreign imports -
And prove that creativity does not have to die within the bureaucracy of governments???


Think like Brazil.


Classic.

Yeah - Peaches is still here.

I was thinking maybe I should post something about the titular subject of this blog. And what a good time to do so - as my phone and fax calls to Georgia in just the first two days of this week have increased about 10 fold over the last two months...

go figure - that means stuff is actually getting done...

So here's the line up -

Frank had SL
Bank Repossessed SL
Small used car dealer got SL
Tim bought SL
Repair Shop got SL
I bought SL

Going backward, I got my bill of sale notarized from the Repair Shop. Contacted Tim - who sent me a notarized bill of sale from himself to the Repair Shop. Couldn't find any information, at all, about the Small used car dealer, or the individual who signed for the car on behalf of the used car dealer - so I skipped that step - and, six months after first contact, the bank finally faxed me a copy of the Affidavit of Repossession (and are sending me an official copy in the mail).

I was hoping the paperwork from the bank would have an address for the car dealership (as the one scribbled on the back of the title I have is not entirely legible). Tim lived in a different town as the Dealership and didn't know anything about getting a hold of them.

However - I decided to take a small leap. There was a towing company located in the same town that was owned by someone with the same last name on the person who owned the car dealership... well - when a car gets repossessed, someone has to get it right??? And the car dealership picked up the car on the 15th of April, 2005 and handed it over to someone else on the 16th of April - so it seemed like maybe they were just a mediary - and a towing company seemed like a pretty good candidate for that. Plus - it's a small town in Georgia - they share the same name - if they weren't directly involved they might be able to tell me who I could contact.

The call was placed.

Turns out the gentleman who's name is on the back of my car title passed away in 2005 - which is why I couldn't find any contact information on him or his business.

The way I know this is because I talked to one of his grandsons who owns the towing company - and has offered to do a little research and get back to me with what he can find!!!

So I felt bad - bringing up his granddad and making him go dig through his papers - but he offered and there's no other way to get this resolved. It took me a minute to reassure him that there wasn't some big problem or legal issue - the car title wasn't actually in his grandfather's name and they had no liability or responsibility, legally... just that the person who got the car from the dealership never retitled the car when they should have and this is all a big formality.

But - this is the one last step - and the young man sounded resigned but determined to get it all straightened out.


With the exception of the bank - everyone else in Georgia has been wonderfully helpful - if not always expedient :)

Selma Lee's excited she might get to leave the driveway sometime soon - but I told her not to jinx us - so she's holding her hope till I hear back from The Grandson.

Quote of the Day.

D - Take your bland food and get out of my kitchen!!!

It's a duel.

Our Stuffed Bison - Felipe - has announced his intent to challenge TRFKAChad to a Hair-Off.

While I'm not entirely familiar with the exact procedures involved in this highly stylized and ritualistic method of combat - I can guarantee that if TRFKAChad has enough volume to accept - it will be hilarious.

Quote of the Day.

D - "The Tofu runneth over."

Quotes of the Day.

"Does everyone here go to the gym???"


- Man at bar, after just hearing the owner (60-ish) talking to the bartender (45?) about a new workout class she's going to, and then when I came in, having the hostess (17) ask me about my training... and the answer is - YES - pretty much everyone I work with has a membership at the local Y -

including one of our pizza cooks (and his four month old daughter, who has an ID with her photo on it too!!! A photo of a baby on a gym ID!!! It's too cute to express).



Second Quote -

"I think someone over there is calling for you"

-Customer, as he pointed toward the other end of the room, insinuating that I should immediately leave the table, after I made a somewhat inappropriate, though appropriately vague joke to his wife - who was pretty much on the floor laughing.


I'm sure from reading all my quotes - anyone would get the impression that I was really, maybe, a horrible server - but I swear, I have a sense for this sort of thing, and I only go too far with the tables that can handle it...

Tastier than an Olive Branch.

While I'm sure it was partially selected because he knew I would like the flavor - I'd rather take D's bringing me home a pint of Ben & Jerry's Americone Dream ice cream as a political peace offering.

It all goes back to when Stephen Colbert tried to enter both the Democratic and Republican primaries in South Carolina. Now - I've only seen his show, maybe half a dozen times, but let's be honest - that move was just beautiful.

D's idea was that it fell more on the Stupid side of the spectrum... somewhere just shy of mocking our fine democratic process... something like that. There was not a small bit of contention in our house.

Well obviously I was heartbroken when South Carolina's Democratic Committee refused to put him on the ballot - even after he paid his $2,000-some dollars... and the Republicans wanted like $25,000 to add him... so his attempt at losing both primaries went down the tubes pretty quick...

but D still got me his ice cream :) So all must be forgiven.

Now what kind of Flavor does Stephen Colbert put his name to??? To quote the package -

Sweeter than the Bill of Rights, colder than Valley Forge & with twice as much caramel as the Louisiana Purchase. Please enjoy... or go On Notice!

I thought I didn't like Red.

When we first moved here - we moved with Josey, packed full, and nothing else. I spent about $300 the first two weeks to outfit the house (from thrift stores, garage sales, used and antique furniture stores, etc) and have probably spent $150 more since then, on furniture for the entire house. Part of that first $300 was for a futon. I'd never really experienced a futon before - but it seemed like a good idea... it wasn't. We pulled off the mattress and used it on the floor as a bed until we finally bought a real mattress not long after. The entire set up was just too cumbersome to deal with, with the mattress on it - moving it up and down all the time.

Before that, when we had set up Josey as our house, we had two main issues to deal with - one was how to fit D's large bouldering crash pad into the car, the other was what to use on the plywood bed we'd built into the back, to make it sleepable. Luckily - his crash pad fit perfectly over 2/3rds of the bed. So we cut some crash pad foam from an old pad down to fit the remaining 1/3rd and all was good.

After I pulled the futon mattress off the frame, I discovered the cut down 1/3rd chunk of crash pad foam was just the right size to fit on the futon when it was in it's upright position - so I threw an afghan over it all, added some big pillows and called it a couch.

In the time since then we've debated getting a real couch. Often. The main issues being - furniture doesn't top our priority list for large expenditures - it will end up being moved shortly - and it has to get up one flight of stairs, as our place is built into a hill with the garage and storage space downstairs and everything else Up. Plus any couch that I'd like enough to spend the money to buy new would be above our current price range... I'm not spending $400 on some god-awful number from the local furniture warehouse... I can wait for what I want.

Recently D was expressing a renewed desire for a couch. So I'd been keeping my eye out for something suitable. The other night, I left for work a bit early so I could drop D off at a trailhead, from which he rode home. Which landed me in the main part of town about 15 minutes before I had to be at work... and about 10 blocks from the best thrift store for furniture I've yet to find in the state.

I looked around for a bit and while I saw many interesting and promising pieces of furniture, none of them were couches. Then - as I was leaving, behind a big desk sitting outside, a bit of red attracted my attention... hiding, one stacked upside down on top of the other - were these two matching love seats. Couch and love seat sets are common - but how often do you find two matching love seats??? As my business has thoroughly attacked the main room of our house, we don't have a ton of extra space - but we most definitely have room for two love seats... so I talked to the woman who runs the place - as the bed was in Josey and I had to be at work shortly, I didn't have any way to take them right then and there and they were closing up for the day... so after discussing various options, she said if I was back there first thing in the morning to take them away I could have them both for $10. How absurd!!!

D agreed to help me take the bed out of the back of the truck at 6:15 in the morning, so I could take him to work and then go pick up the couches - of course this was after I woke him up at 11pm when I got home from work and tried to talk to him while he was half-asleep and fully-disgruntled... note to self - do not wake people up to ask for favors - wait till the morning!!!

They both - ever so barely - fit in the back of the truck... ever so barely... I almost agreed to make two trips till the guy helping me at the store convinced me it would work - and we know how I feel about making two trips for anything - matching love seats included.

Then when I got home I couldn't help but want to bring them in - up the flight of stairs - all by myself - and get them into a natural position so D could immediately see what a good idea it all was when he got home (even the waking up in the middle of the night part).

Suffice to say, they want to be reupholstered - but at the moment they go perfectly with the coffee table we painted red way back, a year and a half ago.

And they'll look a bit better when there aren't the green and white pillows and afghan that were on the previous "couch"... but they amuse me to no end - and that's what's important.

(The little green table in the back is a side table that matches the red coffee table but was painted differently - the four little drawers you can see on the front of the red table hold our folded maps - we have an Arizona Drawer, Utah Drawer, California Drawer and Eastern Drawer which has various maps mainly from Colorado but also North Dakota (Maah Daah Hay trail) and other assorted places - and now we have the perfect place for multiple people to sit around pouring over those maps.)

Quote of the Day.

While serving at The Wine Bar tonight -

Customer to me - "If you were a book, you would be the sort of book I would read, in public."




And then I essentially called another guy a bad husband - at which point his wife hugged me... she hugged me.

And we were busy and I said to another guy - "I'm so sorry for neglecting you like this." to which he replied "Oh no worries, makes me feel like I'm at home."

And another customer left this tip for me: "Don't bet on horse number five in the sixth race."

Then there was the guy who, as he left, said to the owner at the door "Well I never got my check, but I left some cash on the table that ought to cover it." He left me $60 to cover an $18 bill...


Weirdos. All weirdos, myself included.

A long way.

I was just thinking - we should really go visit Missoula sometime soon, get an idea of the town, areas where me might want to live, etc. We go to Colorado, and Utah, and California, all the time, no big deal - go visit Montana... so I Google mapped it...


View Larger Map

Just 17 hours away!!! 17 Hours!!! Idaho just doesn't exist in my mind the way it exists on a map... funny that. Montana is really far north. Like - Canada North... and Missoula is at only 3,000 feet - but is like - right in the middle of a bunch of Mountains... I think they're called The Rockies. Funny that.

Did I really sign up for this??? Is there a clause in the contract I can somehow exploit, to reverse this potential action???

Better get that block heater installed in Selma...

Quote of Last Week.

Driving through the desert in Eastern California.

M - Mind if I turn the radio on???

D - Look at the rocks and the flowers and be content.

Here we come -

Bit of scrambling in Joshua Tree - cause that's what you do when you can't climb.

The sign says - High Wings Ahead. Small on the middle horizon are a very large number of very large wind turbines.

Waves. This is right after I called my sister and left a message that included the sounds there-of. This is California.

California is green. Arizona is not. Me cycling up a big hill. It was eight miles of hill. All hill - all the time. Later they told me Mountain Lions enhabit this here stretch of green. It was good this information was imparted after my ride - as D kept going ahead and I was alone a lot - which would otherwise have left me nervous - even though Mountain Lions usually don't eat people in the middle of the day.

It also happens that a seamstresses who works for me, moved to Arizona from Ojai - but I didn't know that until she came today - which was funny. She lived in Ojai for seven years - I should have asked her for the local scoop - but alas.

Thanks to our Yorba hosts - it was invaluable for D to have a solid base those few days before the race to relax and do nothing (and cook and drink good beer).

Why Arizona can't manage to have fresh fish and interesting foods (we got this great Irish cheese while out there) amazes me... Arizona is so close to California but yet - so very far away.

Malaise.

Between the sound of waves crashing and the molasses (humidity) in the air - I believe I've discovered why surfers take such a slow approach to life.

Southern California can really sap all the motivation out of a person pretty quick.  Not that - ya know - I had a lot to start with...  but gosh there it all went.

All I want to do is sit in one place and not move.

Plus - my hair is starting to look more and more like Carol Ann's dog - Fluffy.  I realize I grew up in humidity - but after living in the desert for so long I didn't realize how accustomed I'd become to it's absence. 

This is a good reminder for TransIowa - as Iowa's April humidity hovers around 65%

:)

Outside.

If we get things together (including making some adjustments on my bike so it will be in TransIowa arrangement) we'll be leaving for California something this evening... though maybe tomorrow morning.

We were suppose to leave yesterday night - but the AZ Spring Fling stole the weekend. We had a bit of a slumber party at our place Saturday night and it's hard to sit around with eight other people excitedly talking about the rides they've done and the ride they'll be doing and not want to ride yourself. After determining that Sunday's ride wasn't really technical and there was a 60% chance of rain with highs in the 50's - it seemed like I should go. (You don't get weather like that a lot around here - so it's a great chance to test TI clothing arrangements).

When everyone went to bed I asked D a little more about the trail and decided I'd go - D and I also talked a bit about what we wanted to do during this coming week in California and about my riding and plans and TransIowa - all things we should talk about more but don't.


In the morning we drove down to the Black Canyon Trail and on the way - D told me he was going to give me his back wheel for TransIowa... PomPom is a three speed 29er with disc brakes, the only other wheel we had that fit that and was geared was the one on D's Lev (which he planned to use extensively in southern Utah during the time I'm in Iowa). While I've made improvements both with my knee's strength and my cycling style - the extra three gears D's wheel gives me will make a difference I certainly won't entirely appreciate until I'm out there - but what means so much right now, is the awesome show of support his offer embodies. And it really took me by surprise.


So we got started on the Black Canyon Trail. About a mile in we took our shoes off to cross a very cold, calf deep stream, and that was the last I saw of the rest of them as they climbed the big hill, up out of the stream bottom. It's a very hilly region and the trail has some stiff switchbacks from time to time and a decent number of long, slight uphill or downhill, side-hilling stretches.

Going up that first hill my shifting kept acting up and wouldn't let me get into my easier gear, but I said Heck - and pushed up it in the middle of the three- I quickly realized I was tweaking my left knee too hard and ended up finishing the hill with some walking to keep things reasonable. On the second big stretch of hill I finally managed to get it shifted and rode the rest of the ride in my easiest gear to make up for what I'd already done to the knee. I rode almost seven miles in - and then figuring my speed, the happiness of my knee and the speed the rest of the group would presumably be going at - decided to turn around.

I actually managed to get up to 14 mph during the ride - which is somewhat unheard of for me on single track (besides on the J.E.M. which is so smooth and sweat). Plus - despite some serious clouds and a bit a minor precipitation - the weather was wonderful the rest of the day - and really didn't help me evaluate a thing clothes wise... but I'll take the nice weather anyway!!!

In the last two miles - as I came back around the ridge, up above the stream bottom, I ran into three other riders, waiting for their forth to catch up - we chatted for a second and then I started down the long sidehill descent to the river. As it was downhill I started picking up some good speed. The trail is reasonably smooth there - though it's only about three feet wide and then slopes away several hundred feet to the river bottom. I thought - I'm going a little fast, I should slow down. And I slowed down. And I thought - this is a good speed - then I fell.

I didn't fall like I tipped over, I fell like my front wheel hit too close to the edge of the trail and I must have hit the brakes or over corrected or Something - but I don't actually remember anything besides riding and then realizing I was falling.

The next three tenths of a second went something like this.

My Mind: You're going to cartwheel two hundred feet down this very steep hill.
My Body: There's a ledge right there, the ledge with stop my fall.
My Mind: Not if you fly right over the ledge like you're doing right now.
My Body: Point. Just don't let me hit that cactus.
My Mind: Fine. But by the way - you're going to cartwheel two hundred feet down a very steep hill - action might be in order.
My Body: Yes - okady - feet down, head up - no rolling - grab something!!! Not the cactus!!!

At which point I lifted my head uphill and tipped onto my stomach and came to a halt about 10-15 feet below the trail - with my bike to one side, between myself and a pointy plant.

I laid there evaluating the security of my position - what hurt - and how much it hurt. Then I stood up to see three little heads looking down at me in shock... the people I'd passed had watched the whole thing unfold - aghast. They waved and yelled and I waved and yelled back that I was fine - no problem.

I looked around at where I was and where the bike was and realized that I couldn't just sit there hurting or those three people weren't going to believe me that I was really alright. So I grabbed the handle bars and dragged the bike back up to the ledge - and then finally dragged it from the ledge back onto the trail. The back wheel was squeaking oddly - but I eventually figured everything would be fine and got on and continued down the trail.

Crossed the river again - and in the one mile between the river and the trail head the rest of the group caught back up to me. The ones in front had stopped for a minute to wait for the others and ran into the three who'd watched me tumble - and heard the story from them.


In the end PomPom seems fine - I have a good scrap on my ribs where they hit the edge of the ledge in their attempt to arrest my fall - my left knee got beat and bruised (which is making it difficult to determine which percentage of hurt is over-use and which is bruise) and a few other scraps - but I'm in pretty good shape, I think, for having fallen like that.


D has taken a couple good falls in the last few days and isn't being very sympathetic... I believe the phrase "Baby's First Crash" got used :) Despite the fact that I have crashed before - and it was worse... but I wasn't going very fast that time and I was on perfectly flat ground, and I was knowingly attempting a rock garden in a stupid and conceited manner. So when I look at that crash I see what I did wrong and I know it couldn't have been any worse. When I look at this last tumble I have no clue what I did - so I don't know how to avoid it in the future - and it could have been much worse - which I think always leaves us feeling unnerved.

So now D and I are both aching and packing and retooling bikes - and we'll be off on Spring Break in the next 24 hours!!! D's got the Coyote 2 Moons 100K at the end of the week - we'll be in Joshua Tree tomorrow and hopefully do some nice biking along the way as well.


If only there had been a Llama on the trail - the day really would have left nothing to be desired!!!

Jj and my Mother.

Jj keeps trying to scare me with references to Iowa wind (which averages around 12 mph in April) - to which I respond, I spent 21 years in Iowa, the Iowa wind and I are buddies, chums, like This...

at least that's what I tell myself in the deep dark of night.


What looms as a larger specter in my mind's eye right now is TransIowa v.2... ya'll remember - the year no one finished.

This years huge snow dumps alternated with odd warm weather has not only swollen Iowa's rivers but also played havoc with her gravel roads. My Mother reports Iowa counties in a fit over where they'll find the money to re-gravel their roads... which means - regardless of the weather immediately preceding that weekend the roads are starting out in less than ideal condition - and if things don't shape up fast we could be in for a patented Iowa April SnowStorm.

They don't only happen in Colorado.

April in Iowa can range from 90 degrees to 15 degrees, plus that wind... plus more days with precipitation than without... well, almost.

Anyway - what worries me most right now are those roads. Riding 300+ miles of gravel and dirt roads is one thing... riding 300+ miles of mud bog is... well... messy.

And if I remember correctly, Iowa mud just does not exfoliate - think of my skin!!!

It worked in Macedonia.

"he kept the animal away by buying a generator, lighting up the area, and playing thumping Serbian turbo-folk music."

A potential strategy if we move to Montana???


Also - the Air Horn (or Sports Blaster, as the label identifies it) Strategy for Puppies during TransIowa is primary so that I won't have to scream and possibly harm my throat even more than I presume it already will be from the riding... I'm hoping the Air Horn will be just as disconcerting to possible Puppies. I don't like Puppies.

100% Pure Iowa Puppy - don't they look ferocious!!!

It weighs 2.6 ounces and will be zip-tied to my stem. If all else fails - I will throw it at them.

I don't like Puppies.


Also - does no one know what a China Marker is??? I had to ask three different people at the store today before one of them showed the smallest sign of recognition. Alas - the guy who knew What they were, didn't know Where they were... and after a serious solo search... no China Marker for me. Anybody know a store that carries them???

OMG!!!

First let me just say that every time my sister posts a comment on this blog where she uses those NetSpeak letter-abbreviation thingys - I usually have to Google them to figure out what she's saying - however after reading the most recent "indexed" I'm driven to using things like OMG...

I'm not going to link to it - because not everyone who reads my blog would find it as hilariously funny as it is - but yeah.


P.S. It wasn't Drug Abuse so much as Drug Pushing that the Vatican definitively called a Mortal Sin... but I guess she makes up for that slight in other ways.

Things I don't eat.

We got home from our favorite local restaurant - Giovanni's - and D starts chopping up veggies, and it took me like five minutes before I realized he'd just eaten, what was going on???

So this is actually for tomorrow when he's leaving straight from work to ride in Sedona... so I guess that makes sense... for a minute I really thought he'd eaten a 12 inch Mediteranean Pizza with Artichoke hearts, olives, spinach and feta, just to come home and make a salad.

Anyway - he filled this cute tupperware with all sorts of things I don't eat.

Start with half a cabbage, chopped -
Add shaved carrot-
Cilantro-
Shredded beats (Chad - he'll be forever indebted) -
And Extra Firm Tofu marinated in Orange Juice, Sriracha, and soy sauce for four days - then sauteed.

Yuck!!!

My bicycle loves me.

I had a special package with a little extra bag accessory for a loyal customer that I wanted to get out in the mail today, but no carrier pick-up scheduled.

D left this morning for work and then straight to the canyon with Josey - so what was I to do...

I rode my bicycle!!!


It's absolutely Too gorgeous here. So I headed to the post office to drop off my package, then over to the grocery store to pick up wine, corned beef and toilet paper - managed to talk a guy at the deli counter into buying the local Chompie's Jewish Rye bread, instead of the national brand he had in his hands, after I caught him squeezing a loaf of the Chompie's and looking at it hesitantly.

Then met a nice lady in the check-out line from Madison County, Iowa, she'd already been to the grocery store once that day - but forgot a bag of apples that her husband always takes to work in his lunch - so she needed to come back.

I finished by heading over to the library to drop off an almost-late book, and got an up-nod from a couple teen-aged boys on ridiculously small BMX bikes after I flew by them on the bike path home.


I love my bicycle. And my love is most definitely reciprocated.

Nothing Lost - Everything Found

The number of hours D's huge Princeton Tech light really will last on the highest setting - 7.5 hours. (50+ hours on the lowest)

TransIowa Necessities - on the left, my nutrition plan - on the right, my Anti-Dog plan... I will eat the Ice Cream and not be eaten by the Farm Dogs.

Use an AirHorn - Be a Winner - it says it all right there...

Together at last!!! (Okay - yeah I probably need new ones - but the cosmic significance of finding them can not be dismissed lightly).

I would include a photo of The Plum - which was recovered from the floor of Josey (the very recently and thoroughly cleaned floor) - but D ate it already.

Lost and Found.

Found. Both my bike gloves at the same time. Previous to now I've found either of them independently, on multiple occasions, but not at the same time in maybe six months - maybe longer.

I knew I was getting close when I found one when we were traveling and put it someone in the truck where I would remember to take it into the house.

Then I found one in the house, but outside of my room - where I thought the other one was. I didn't know if the one I'd found was the one from the car which I had thoughtfully brought into the house, or the one in the house - leaving the bedroom for a stroll.

So I searched both the car and the house and still only had one glove.

Two days ago I did the first major vacuum overhaul of Josey in too many years. Both gloves are happily reunited. This obviously is fate saying "Let me do what I can to make TransIowa go well."


Lost. When I got home from work plus gym plus grocery store and attempted to get out of the car with six shopping bags, my purse, gym bag, server apron, left-overs from my restaurant and three new books from the library (I don't make second trips) I opened the passenger door to have a bag fall over sideways and a couple Thumps where heard. I recovered an Apricot I sandwiched between my feet. When I unloaded the bags upstairs I had only one plum - I put two in my shopping cart... I returned to the cold with D's huge bike light and failed to find any produce in the driveway, I even checked the drainage ditch... as rolling was not improbable.

D - if you hear something Swash when leaving for work in the morning - I'm sorry, that's your second plum.

Company

We've had visitor's this weekend - one we broke, the other, we've done our best to insult.

He can clarify the success. Or not.

And the weekend's only half way over...

Officially.

Not only is New Belgium's seasonal - Springboard Ale in stores...


but the windows are now open.


And won't be shut again till October, when we probably won't be here anymore, anyway...



sorry to all you crazy kids getting snow - but after a week of perfection, weather-wise, I'm declaring it spring.

Officially.