26 Miles of Bliss

Is there a better way to start your day than this? I can think of very few.
In other happenings, I saw this on the photojojo news letter I subscribe to (in my opinion one of the only ones worth subscribing to) and thought it was pretty cool. 4,133 still images, arranged and put to music! Those animations, are individual pieces of paper that were printed out, shot with a digital camera. What work this would have been. Very cool.

Honk!

I found this on Smudgemo's site and thought it was pretty funny.


Tired Of Traffic? A New DOT Report Urges Drivers: 'Honk'

Spelling words with Flickr

This is cool.

Inspire

You may have heard my read here about a local recycling rack that's right by work. I went there after lunch yesterday and saw nothing. Nothing I was interested in anyways. These are slim pickens right now.
I was up in my office a little later in the afternoon when I saw this dude making is way from the recycling yard with a bike he scored. I've seen him before hauling book cases and furniture on his bike, and frankly, I admire this guy.
Most folks probably look at him as a poor schmuck who can't afford a car. But I think that what he is doing is great. Maybe he can't afford a car. Still, most people I know that can't afford cars, take a cab, or stay at home. This guy is getting on with things, he is going places.....on his bike. Good for him.

On the other hand, maybe he could afford a car, but chooses to ride. Maybe he doesn't even have a license. What does it matter? What matters is that he is using a viable means of transportation, and being an inspiration in the process. To you, buddy on the bike, Kudos. Keep it up. You are living the dream!

Bike Pooling

Well this morning, I met up with Tyler, one of my co-workers who lives on a farm 1/2 way between R-ford and S dot, and we rode in together. I don't know the distance that we rode together, but I'd say about 14 miles or so. He was on his old specialized rock-hopper and I on my Allez. Being as he hadn't ridden for the last few months, and the fact that my bike is just plain faster, I ended up having a nice relaxing ride. This is the first time in about 7 years I've ever done a ride (not like the cruising my wife and I do with our boys) with another rider in about 7 years. It's a little different for sure, and you kind of forget that drafting is actually a real concept.

I snapped a few pictures during the ride as he kept riding and I would just catch up him. When I ride on my own, I'm always trying to go fast. Not super fast, but I certainly don't ever coast. It was kind of fun to do that today. It's amazing how even when you're lolly-gagging, you end up getting to your destination. Even if it took 2hrs, 10 mins, it was fun.

I also ended up taking a different route in order to swing by his house, and the hills that way are much worse. It is nice though to have a change of scenery.

Here a few pics from the ride. I should have taken a pic of each of us actually riding being as I actually had someone else to do that today, but oh well.

U-Turn

That's what I did on the way to work this morning. Wind sucks! I hate it! Unless of course it's a nifty little tail wind pushing you along. I headed out and thought about turning around several times right away. I thought, no, I better give it a bit more of a chance. After I made the turn onto 564 west, the headwind sealed the deal and I turned around.
I'm not trying to be a hero or prove a point. I just like riding my bike. If there's a point when riding a bike isn't fun, why do it? The wind howling in my ears, struggling for 10 mph. I ended up riding about 7 miles altogether, so hey, I got a ride in today. What's more, the way home I obviously had a nice tail wind, so it was a great way to end.

More of the Other Stuff

Reporting some good news on what "we the people" want.

In a recent protest/panel discussion with our local school board regarding the notion of shutting down all of the public schools in rural southern Alberta (Wheatland County) and building one central school in the middle of a field (literally), we have done what we set out to do. For the time being at least.

In a rash decision, somehow the board thought this might be a good idea. It's not. It might be one day, but that day is not in our near future. The vote day was last Thursday and the decision was made to suspend this project indefinitely. Not the best it could have turned out, but good enough for now.

I'm looking to join the local steering board to start thinking about how we can avoid this in the future and be in constant contact with our local education board to understand what they face, and what might have been some of the circumstances that might have affected a decision like this.

The good news is that the people spoke, and the elected officials listened. Thank you to the Wheatland School Board. You have made the right decision.

Back to the fluff that is usually found here. Check out the wacked weather we've had. I took this picture while standing in beautiful sunshine, while facing one of the darkest clouds I've ever seen. Notice the blue sky reflected in the office windows. The lighting was incredible and I wish I had more time to wonder around and see what other cool pics might be had. Oh well. At least had my picture machine with me.

Jerome

Something I don't often do

For some reason or other, I don't take many pictures when driving a vehicle. Probably because you notice so much more when on a bike.

Today I've got to pick up some lumber for my project, so I had to take my truck to work. I had an itch to shoot something, so I pull over and shot this pivot.
I thought the lighting contrast was cool as I walked back to my truck, so I took this.
Jerome

PR

I checked out what my Garmin told (just before it gave up the ghost) and Rockyford is 500ft lower in elevation than Strathmore. I knew my ride to work was more uphill, and home down, but 500ft is quite a difference.
Nice tail wind and down hill make for a quick ride home. 1hr 15 minutes for the 26 mile trip, including the time taken to snap a few pics and grab some aqua from my pack.

I flipped my stem upside down, and the inch or two higher on the bars sure make for a much more comfortable ride. I'm really beginning to enjoy my Allez.

Cheers.

On a lighter note

Great ride to work today. How could your day start any better then riding your bike, with great views like this?

And this is the other stuff

As in the name of this blog, I reserve the right to write occasionally about topics other than bikes. I generally don’t go all political, but right now I will. Not war, environmental political stuff, it’s a different level than that.

Right now the Wheatland County School Board (I live in Wheatland County) is voting today to approve the action of closing down the schools in Rockyford, Standard, Hussar, Gleichen and make a centralized school for all of the towns, instead of having a school in each town. What’s more is that the school board has stated that they do not want the school to be located in any one particular town, and are literally proposing to build it in the middle of nowhere! The location has not be confirmed, but it would be built in any one of three locations that they have proposed. The Wheatland School Board (WSB from now on) states that the schools do not benefit towns and it wouldn’t make sense to build it in a town. What a load of crap! They want to take 1400 square miles, and include every child in that area in this one school! That’s 4 times the size of Calgary, all being shipped to one central location every morning and every evening. There are children who would be looking at a 2hr + bus ride each way. Boy, how does that show the future generation that they are important and that we value spending time with them?

On the day to day side of things; you have a school that is K-12, and it’s minus 30 outside. Very real and temps like that happen several times every single winter. We can have 2 weeks stretches that hover at the equilibrium of Celsius and Fahrenheit (-32 degrees). Someone pulls a fire alarm, or heaven forbid, they actually have a fire. Where do the children in grade 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 go? Sure older kids should be able to fend for themselves as well as anyone can when it’s -30 outside, but what about the little ones? Where do they go? How long will they last? Even with emergency vehicles coming, how many vehicles does it take to hold and transport 500 students?

The grade 9 class in Rockyford has 13 students in it this year. That size of class size was a huge draw for me moving to Rockyford in the first place. I had wondered how I missed the fact that this was being proposed while I was looking in Rockyford for a home. Well, this was decided in the beginning of May 2007, the public was made aware of this at the end of May 2007, and the vote is today! Give me a break! I will say there is something going on within the WSB. The terms of almost every single board member is coming due in 2 months, and not one of them has confirmed that they will run again for their position. Over ½ have stated that they will not run again. Way to lie in the bed you make huh? If they are willing to make sure drastic decisions about our children and what they are doing to them, I think that they should only stick around and deal with their actions and the fallout from them. Corruption is evident by the very facts and this whole load of crap. Sure there might be a fiscal advantage right? It’s about 9%. I am willing to pay, fundraise or do whatever necessary to make up the difference if it means that my children are going to get the kind of education that comes from very small class sizes. Why wasn’t that ever brought to our attention? Why weren’t we as a community ever made award of this and had input when this issue was all but signed off?

There are two fundamental rules that govern humanity, and when either of the two is disregarded, injustice, chaos, cruelty is guaranteed to ensue. They are these:

1 Do all you have agreed to do.
2 Do not encroach on other persons, or their property.

Think about those for a bit. There is a lot in those two rules.

Every member of the WSB, states that they are in their position to look after the best interest of the students that are under them and give them the highest possible education. They have agreed to that. They are not doing it. Corruption. Lies.

Every community has ha protests to these and not one person has been known to be for this conglomerated school that is not on decision table. Rockyford is against it, Standard is against it, Hussar is against it, Gleichen is against it. The entire community of Wheatland County is against it! Are they not encroaching on us? On what we believe, on what we want? Damn straight they are! I understand that money always has and always will rule the world, but money has never been stated as being THE reason for this decision. The # 1 reason has NEVER been presented!

Rockyford has a population of 375 people. 500 showed up for the protest and to interview the school board last night, myself, my wife and my two sons included in that 500. There were 3 TV stations and 7 radio stations as well as a handful of reporters for local papers. This is a big deal. We had a Bar-B-Q prior to the meeting and then we got started. As I finished eating, one of the camera men for CTV got a close up of me holding my 9 month old son. I don’t have a television, so I won’t know if they used it or not.

I will say something about the board that I appreciated. Last night they started the interview process in a format of letting 20 people into the school at a time to ask their questions to the board. Realizing that they had 500 people that all wanted in, the thought of being there until 5am didn’t look good. The spokesperson came out and stated that they will let all of the parents of the children who are currently attending the Rockyford School into the gym and they would have an open forum. That drew quite an outrage! I pay taxes that go to the WSB but my boys won’t be in school for several years yet. Does that mean I shouldn’t be able to voice my opinion? Of course not. The mayor got up and rallied the crowd and asked if that was good enough for us? No. Were we going to quit? No. One person yelled out, “You get all of us or none of us”! To which there was a roar of cheer. So, no one went in for several minutes, and we were ‘camping out’ until they agreed to let every single person who was there meet together in an open forum. Only several minutes later the spokesperson came out of the school and announced that they were going to move the meeting to the community center, where there was room to accommodate! The forum was set up with chairs to seat about ½ of the people and a microphone in the middle of the isle where one person at a time would stand up and ask their questions. The place was packed with people standing up and down the aisles and at the back of the hall. There were a few that went into ranting, to which the mayor did a great job of asking them to get to their point in a concise professional manner or leave. More of the people that stood up to talk knew the facts and made some very impressive statements and arguments. All in all, I was more than impressed with civility that the whole thing went down. The camera guy that was shooting my son and said that he had to stick around for the whole thing in case there was a riot. I asked him if he wanted one. Glad to say that the community represented themselves in a very controlled, educated manner. I don’t like speaking in public, but at the same time, I’m not going to sit around and let things happen to me without at least presenting my point. I had all 12 people on the board there, so I got up and delivered a stunning speech. Not. But I did voice my concerns, thanked them for agreeing to meet with us as a whole community and pressed them to look deep and hard and do what is right. There is an absolute right and an absolute wrong in this world. I believe that and I know why I do.

Anyway, it was a great turn out. The mayor thought that if we had 100 people, he would be happy. You could say he was blown away by the 500 that turned out. I hope that today, they make the right decision. I hope they do what’s right.

Here are some photos. (Wished to take more, but my battery died)

The protesting crowd
Some Media
Interviewing the Mayor
This is how we feel
Interviewing the protestors

The second 26 of the day

The return trip on the fixie was mucho mejor. (I'm not that great at spelling Spanish, but I usually understand it)Translates to much better. Prayers answered I had a nice little tail wind helping me along, and being as this is the first time I've made the round trip (usually my wife is in town getting groceries or something so it's worked out to have her pick me up) I was correct in thinking that the ride home was more downhill than the ride to work. There was an awful lot of the time that I ended up resisting the spin (I still don't have brakes on this bike) rather than hammering to keep going forward. That being said, there is a massively steep uphill, and it took everything I had to keep pedaling. Eyes closed, tongue hanging out, grunting kind of thing. I set a new record for the route, 1hr, 23 mins.

I think this deer wanted in on the photo-shoot.
This is the last strech of hi-way leading into the village that I now call home. I was glad to see it.

Sadly, I can't say that the fixie will make the journey all that often. Not yet at least. When you're used to riding 3 miles each way, you end up thinking you're in better shape than you actually are. I've got a ways to go before I can say that this 52 mile round trip bike commuting thing is easy. But, I must say, I've had some of the most peaceful experiences I can recall, in the last few days doing this route. There will be 15 minute intervals when you're the only sign of human life. I'll stop riding, listen and hear nothing but the birds, ground squirrels or the bushes being strummed by the wind. I'm enthralled with my new route. Sometimes, it's hard to get riding again after you've had a little time to take it all in. This is an incredible opportunity I've been given, and I shall not waste it.

Enjoy yours.

ONE SPEED IS ALL YOU NEED?

Today I decided it was time for the fixie to make the 26 mile ride to work. I've often said that my fixie is my favorite bike. That was before I decided to ride it 26 miles to work and on some pretty big hills. I still think I love this bike, even though, my legs were cursing it numerous times en route today. It's amazing how much of a difference it makes to be able to gear down now and then when the road rises.

I live at the end of this street (after it turns to gravel) and thought I couldn't resist this sunrise. I accidentally had forced flash on, but I still kind of like the way this picture turned out. It doesn't get much better than starting out your day like this.

Here is a picture of about 5 miles into the ride.
At about 8 miles you cross this set of tracks. I guess I have a real track bike now. (oooo, that's bad)

At about mile 22, my fixie was getting tired, so I decided I'd stop and give him a rest. You gotta be good to them you know.
All in all, it was a very difficult ride, but I'm interested to see how it is on the way home. I'm convinced it's more uphill coming to work than going home. If that's true, this bike might just might make the trip a little more often. If not, I think I'm going to gear it down a little. I was surprised though to learn that it only took me about 5 minutes longer than on my Specialized, and it is so much more comfortable. Right now, I've got 45 chain ring with a 16 cog. I'm thinking installing a 17 cog that I've got in my garage. If I can find it from the move.

Mini-Fixie

My folks were on a 3 1/2 week tour of Italy, Greece, and some other countries in that part of the world. My Dad saw this and bought it for me. Hand made, non-butted steel tubes, lugged frame, puncture-resistant wheels, areo-spoke wheel, 13/9 gear ratio, fenders, basket and rack. It's a true fixed gear and actually does spin quite smooth. Would make for a great commuter.Thanks, Dad.

Pics will be going to FGG for their art series.

Fancy That

It's actually got a post! I even surprise myself sometimes.

Wise Choice

For the last several days, I've been struggling with a decision that I can't believe I was contemplating now that I look back at it. I was seriously considering buying another car. Absurd! I started building a spread sheet comparing the cost comparisons to driving my truck (a 2004 6 liter, 3/4 ton, full crew cab monster) to a nice little compact. Obviously my truck gets pathetic mileage, but makes huge power. I bought it specifically for pulling my camping trailer.

I was looking at motorcycles, but in my past, I've been know to get in some trouble on bikes. Many crashes (last one being a major wheelie gone bad on Hegenberger road in Smudgemo's territory 3 years ago) police chases and general staying out all night riding the streets or racing at the track. Smudge, Prior to the last crash I had leaving the Oakland airport, I was pulled over 4 times in one night for racing in San Fran and somehow play stupid Canadian and got away with it! Another problem I have with motorcycles is keeping the front wheel on the ground. People love to see it, and I loved to show it to them. Based on this, my wife wasn't too keen on me getting another motorcycle. I still have two of them, an old bomb proof dirt bike and a chopper that I'm making completely from scratch (actually I haven't touched the project for 3 years, and it's about 95% complete. Even a gas tank hand-hammered by yours truly). I don't need another motor bike.

So back to thinking I need another car. I was eyeing up a 97 Mazda 626. Reasonably priced, good on gas, a 5 speed (I love standards) power options, you name it, it was a great deal. Even took it for a test drive. It was and still is a great deal for whoever buys it. I'm glad that it won't be me.

I have a very fickle mind sometimes, and it is truly one of my dreams to ride my bike 5 days a week, the full 52 mile round trip to work and back. Why was I thinking about a car?

For the next several months, I'll probably need my truck to haul stuff for the renovation that I'm doing on my old house. Tomorrow, I'm picking up from Home Depot, a set of french double doors to replace the sliding patio doors. I wouldn't be driving the 626 much of the time anyway. I only give myself less of a chance and another excuse not to ride my bike to work, if I've got a car that's good on gas in the driveway.

My wife needs our minivan, so taking that isn't an option. If I'm going to drive to work, its going to be expensive. I think that's a good thing. I will admit that if it were free to drive a car, I probably would not ride a bike so much if ever to work. I love riding my bike, but I'm also generally lazy. A little nudge in the pocket book helps, and reminds me of the joys of cycling. Besides, my insurance alone on that car would be $718.00 per year. That's a lot of cycling gear and gadgets even before you start to add up the massive savings of gas.

As a reward for not buying another car, I think that I'm going to buy myself something that I've wanted for the longest time, held in my hands at the bike shops over and over again, but have never walked out with one of my own. A Brooks B-17. Oh, how sweet that will be! Ride on!

All may not be lost

Well, I just happened to catch this on video. It's a class from one of the shcools here in Strathmore out for a bike ride to Eagle lake. Seeing many of the riders had fishing rods in thier packs, I assume that they were going fishing. The route they were taking is actually an abandoned rail line that starts about 1 mile from where I work. It's a really nice little ride.

Seeing this almost gives me a faint glimps of hope in our education systems. Public education is a different topic for a different day, and is something that I'm quite passionate about.

Great to see young people having fun on their bikes. I know it's the end of the year and important stuff is winding down in schools, but I am glad to see teachers taking kids out on rides like this. One of the girls that rode by (you'd have heard her yell hi to me if I'd left the audio on) is the daughter of Ido, who works with me and in the past year has been riding his bike very regularly to work. Dig it.

Added a song that I thought worked. Sound quality sucks.

Jerome

Number 2

Well, today was the second time I rode my bike the 26 mile trip to work. Heaps better than the first. Just because I was doing it again. It seems that the more you ride your bike, the more you like riding your bike. It was raining when I woke up at 5, but I kept saying to myself, there are very few perfect days to ride bike, and when one comes along, I'll probably have to take my truck to pick up something or other after work. Everyday I could come up with some pretty good reasons not to ride. Cold, windy, rainy, blah, blah blah. . So, again, Damn the torpedoes, today, we ride.

I took my Allez this morning and what a difference it was. Friday when I rode I took my old Bianchi that I found in the recycling yard. The issue with that bike, is that I haven't even cleaned the chain since I picked it up. I put on some bars, fenders and a rack, but usually if I find a bike, I like to clean and re-pack the bottom bracket, headset, clean the chain everything. I do notice that the Bianchi isn't up to top shape. Going from that to a perfectly tuned race bike the difference is huge. 1 hour 45 minutes on the Bianchi, 1 hour 26 minutes on the Allez. The downside, my arse is much more happy on the Bianchi. Oh well. I was ever so tempted to take the fixie, but I'd like to get a few more commutes on a geared bike while studying my gear-changing frequency. Just to make sure that I'm not going to end up walking half the way.

Again, I couldn't get over the hills. You don't really notice hills when you're driving. Especially with the cruise on and tunes cranking.

Everyone at the office couldn't believe that I've ridden my bike all that way. It's not all that far really. Maybe for a commute, but for a bike ride, no. My wife even said she was expecting a call asking her to come pick me up! I'm thinking that if I ride 3 days a week, 52 miles a day, that would get me into pretty good shape and be a huge boost to my marathon training. More than that, it's a blast.

Ride yer bike.

Boo-Yah!!

26 miles baby. Not a marathon (I've done a few of those) but 26 miles is the distance of my new commute according to my Garmin and my cycling computer.
Hauled the trailer home yesterday evening for this weekends camping trip and worked everything out so that I didn't need my truck today. I ended up sleeping in, but that wasn't going to stop me. Nor was the rain coming down. Up, brush the teeth and ride! What a great ride it was. I went the first 8 miles without seeing single vehicle! I'm really digging this small town, middle of nowhere living. Hills were tougher than I thought they would be, but then again, I haven't done any real riding for over two weeks. I'm working out the logistics (leaving clothes at work, toiletries and schedule etc...) on how i can do this at least 3 days a week, if not daily. A 26 mile commute is so much better than a 3 mile one.
I stopped to take some pics of some deer, but just as I was fumbling my camera out of my bag, off they jumped. Oh well. I think I'm going to look into a handle bar bag so I can have better access to the snap shooter.

Cheers.

One lucky Man

I thought I was good on wheelchair. Check out this guy! Horn-swadler that wild!

Damn the Torpedoes. Tomorrow, we ride.

Last night while unloading the last and final load of oak flooring, that phrase kept running through my mind. As I stacked the piles and piles of wood around my bikes, it was irritating the heck out of me that I haven’t be riding much lately. I figured that I could afford to leave my old trek single speed at work for bombing around on at lunch time and to do a coffee run here and there. What a great idea.

Smudgemo gave me a great tip to start group rides out for lunch and even cruise around town to get a breath. Unfortunately, every one else that rode here today brought lunch with them, so I headed out solo. I’ve discovered a type of riding that I really don’t do much of. Just riding around for the sake of riding around. I decided I would check out a bunch of the roads in town that I haven’t ridden for a long while.

What a great way to ride! No agenda, not particular destination in mind, just riding for the sake of seeing things and riding. The best way to see a town is on bike. I went through parks, back alleys, older parts of town that I hadn’t been to in years.

Above is actually the spot that my wife and I had our first kiss.......10 years ago!

(I was trying out the sephia mode on my camera)

This is a great old road in an old part of town.

This is looking at the seed plant on the edge of the industrial park in Strathmore.

Well, if I'm not able to ride to work because I need to pick up stuff for my house, I'll certainly take this as a close second to riding my bike to work.
To finish up the ride, I stopped into Quizno's for a sub and was surrounded by a bunch of kids on their lunch break. On the way out, one of them was starring at the horn that I have on my bike. He walked on and then turned around and took a much closer look. Curiosity got the best of him and he honked it while his face was about 10 inches from it! Man did he ever jump! Man that was funny!

Jerome

Too big for the bike

Well, I’m beginning to wonder if I’m going to forget how to ride my bike. For the past several weeks, I’ve seemed to find something or other that I need my truck to haul it around. Everything from trees, to a monsterly huge and heavy fridge, a stove, a dishwasher and lately some oak hardwood that I’ll be installing. I scored a wack of unfinished hardwood from some in-laws that were moving and they said if I was willing to pick it up, it was mine. Can’t pass up free hardwood! This is half of it.

I’ll be picking up the rest of it tonight after work. I’m actually starting yet another blog, about the renovation that I am doing to my new (to me) home. We’re ripping out walls, gutting the kitchen, and all new flooring through out. I’ve got myself a busy summer ahead of me.
I wonder if I could get any more crap in my little garage?

Tomorrow ride my bike? Nope, I’ve got to pick up our camping trailer to get it ready for this weekends camping trip. Next week, I better be able to try out my new 24 mile commute. I think my legs might be a bit soft from not riding much the past 2 weeks. I have notice that I am fantastically grumpier when I arrive at work when it’s not on a bike. Yesterday at coffee, 2 of the guys that are riding to work were outside practicing wheelies. Me, I drove my truck to Tim Horton’s! It’s killing me this not riding! I can’t take it much longer. I’m trying to decide which bike to leave here at work so that at least if I need my truck, I can ride for lunch somewhere or for a coffee. That would definitely be better than nothing.

Bike history in Japan

Found this on the make blog. Kind of interesting if you are interested in old bicycles. Click on the picture for the full article.

Hot Head

I'd hate to come across this guy in traffic!



Looks like he could use a couple of bike rides too!

Back to the Lazy Days of Summer

Our first Sunday here in Rockyford and what a great one. A/C cranken inside the house and 30 C (86F outside) and a great day for a lazy cruise with my boys. My wife was planting her Zucini and I figured that I'd tour this little town with my boys. Load them into the Charriot, hook up the Rockabilly Boogy and of we go. What a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Lazily riding around town, checking out the tractors, old brick buildings, playgrounds and the rest that goes with a small priarie town. I didn't bring my camera with me, this one was for my boys. Where they wanted to go, we went. Rides like this bring a smile to my face and a tan to the skin. Can't beat em.

The one I was waiting for

Well, here it is. The very last load from our move to our new home. Previous pics would have shown an enclosed car hauler trailer loaded to the gills with our junk. 5 trips of this sort were made prior to this one taking the last of my bike collection and our ever so precious apple tree. I did the 20 mile trek between our homes at a whopping 60 km (40 miles)/hr. Most of the leaves remained in tack and after putting this little tree in the earth, it seems to be taking quite well.

It' amazing how much drive a truck at 60km/hr on the highway reminds me of riding a bike. There is actually a bit of time to notice what's around you, check out the cows, view the great scenery.

I must say, moving is a massive amount of work! I never realized how hard it can be. Last time I moved (6 years ago) my wife and I were just newly married, and we use 2 motor-cycle trailer loads. This move (two young boys later) we needed about 8 times the room. Amazing how much more children add to your stuff. Well worth it though. Not much better than being a dad.

Anyway, after a garage sale today, rototilling for 5 hours to make a garden, planting that garden, planting the apple tree, lugging boxes to the basement, and re-working the gas feed line to our stove, I'm about beat. I had just enough left in me for a post being as it's been a while. Now that's done, I'll enjoy the rest that I've earned.

Peace.