Sullen Jax, Crazy Weather, Donuts, and Beer!

Monday (1) - We were packed up and flushed out and on the road from Ascutney VT to Westerly RI by 10 a.m.  Looked to be not a great weather day North, better South, might as well get home and get all the chores done and dusted!  I think we were all ready to be home and in our own space after 4 nights away.

Tuesday (18)  - Ro and I rode with the EBAC aka "Tour de Testosterone" B Ride, the only additional person was Lucas, who has improved greatly with a proper road bike and a few more miles on the bike!  He's still a little erratic in his speed and path traveled (dramatic swerves away from storm grates, pebbles, other errata in the roadway), so we keep a wide berth around him, to not have an accident. 

A short chat with Tom about the A Ride advertised as speeds 14 - 18 MPH with two re-group points, he indicated there are some who ride in the 12 - 13 MPH as well as speed demons in the 18 - 20 MPH. 

The "water" in the middle is Dave's.
ICK.

A while back, one of the riders on Sir George's ride asked me what I was training for.  I had to think a minute, I said: "I'm training to stay healthy and active." To quote a wise man "Rest is Rust".

We all have different achievements, motivations, and goals.  I've been doing a lot of noodling on these topics as I find myself reacting to and reeling in those reactions.  I'm not sure if I have business reacting to them or not.  Depends on perspective: friendship versus leadership.

Wednesday (5.7 + 2) Hills with Ro at the normal time and our peppy pace, although we did dog the last mile, ha ha ha...  She sent out an agenda before the walk!  I cracked up! We had to have two very serious discussions, one on the team name for the Mount Washington Century (Five Top the Notches) and the other on my proposal for an 87-mile 5K elevation ride the first weekend in July (summarily shot down for being exclusionary an alternative plan put in place!).

Jax posting on "The Post" at Napatree

Rory finished her sweater, the knitting, and the blocking, so we discussed the sewing it together process.  Rory is a master seamstress and has to throw everything she knows about sewing together woven fabric out the window for sewing together knitted fabric.  It really is a challenge as you can find yourself slipping into woven fabric habits and they don't work with knitted fabric.

Jax was home all alone and lonely, he was right there at the door before I even got it open.  Woofed down his dinner and was looking for an adventure!  I took him to Napatree for a walk on the beach.  Not a lot of off-leash time as there were people there and the piping plover nesting.  He was able to scrub off what little crazies he did have in our two miles before it was dark. 

Dashing through the waves!

The walk made me remember when Dave and I would take Gizmo, Diesel, and Sage there after dinner most nights of the week, in the dark, in the winter so they could run off their crazies.  Wow, one dog is so much easier than three, or even two...  I was remembering a trip to Quonnie with Jax and Sage and keeping them away from the plover areas and not getting carried away playing and scaring people - those two could make some really ugly noises.

Watch Hill has some spectacular sunsets.  Glad to catch one before the tourists show up!
Please, tourists, show up and spend your money, our economy depends on it!!

And so ends the middle of the week and generally one of my busiest days!

Thursday (0) Oh how I hated 'wasting' such a beautiful day.  No run at lunch, no ride after work, I was tired I needed a day off.  Hmmm so what about that "Rest is Rust"?  Well "Exhaustion is a Flare" so there!  Phttttt.   

What I should have been doing after work:

• Replacing the tube in Ruby's back tire, it has a slow leak after getting stabbed by some wire on our VT/NH ride.  Fortunately, the Gatorskins were as advertised and self-healed around the puncture, alas the tube does not.  Still noodling with tubeless for the road bike. 
• Replacing the tires and tubes on Dolly to get her ready to gravel grind
• Finding a seat for Dolly, I'm over thinking this seat thing too much and am in some sort of paralysis.

What I did:

• Grocery shopped (ok that was kind of necessary as we were down to milk that turned on Tuesday and an onion)
• Caught up on WWF while pretending to rest on the couch
• Had a beer on the front porch  (ok we rarely ever run out of beer and that doesn't count as a grocery because here in RI you have to go to a packy to buy some, when will this state get with the times?)
• Jibber jabbered with the neighbor YES he SHOULD buy the Airstream, it is a hell of a deal he was presented.   

I fulfilled my requirement/need to take a day off and I can get to my to-do list in the horrific weather we are supposed to have on Saturday and be prepared to ride on Sunday!

The last Frost till we get to VT again.

Friday (3) Back to the version of forward motion I call "running".  After talking with both Ro and Germain and watching, via Strava, Michelle muddle through recovery with interval running.  I decided to go back to the 5-minute run 1-minute walk routine.  It was a misty spitty day kind of day, very nice for running.  I enjoyed the 3 miles at my pace and process.  Somedays I miss running somedays I don't.  I absolutely don't miss the constant pain. This is going to be an interesting balance to figure out.

I wasn't sure about this one when I bought it.
Craft beer isn't cheap and if you don't like the first one you are stuck with 3 or 5 more.
I should have bit the bullet on this one.  DELICIOUS, tastes like a Nutter Butter cookie! I wanted to chase it with milk.
I recall several purchases that other people are enjoying...

For my Friday night excitement I changed Ruby's tube and cleaned her chain, so I'm ready to go for the couple hours of non-rain we are supposed to have in the morning.  I need to get the grit out of the back axle.  That can wait for one more ride, probably.  Especially if I'll probably get caught in the rain.

The hole was as I suspected, teeny tiny puncture, probably patchable despite being near the valve, I still chucked the tube, it would make for a likely blow out probably at an inconvenient time, although it could be pretty spectacular and scare the crap out of a pedestrian.  I did note I bought 42mm valve stems and not 48mm, crap.  I like the longer valve stems.  

Saturday (24) I got myself moving pretty quickly on Saturday morning.  I am not a morning person, so out the door by 8:30 is pretty damn good.  The rain looked to be starting 11:30 a.m.  I could get in a couple hours of riding and have an hour cushion in the event I found myself at Dave's Coffee Shop or Sift and scarfing down some sugar, fat, and calorie-laden goodie.  

Maple Bacon donut from Deviant Donuts in Mystic
A former boss's son makes these, very good!
I suck at taking pictures of food and frankly hate pictures of food.

What I did find were agitated drivers, Westerly has recently put up "Bikes May Use Full Lane" signs as well as marked the pavement on a few streets.  I can't really find rhyme or reason to it, it is what it is.  What it has done is rile up many of "Westerly Concerned Citizens" spewing their hatred of bikers and pointing out every bad thing we do.  I counted 10 cars rolling through stop signs and 6 on cell phones, rarely a blinker used, but who's counting?  And then there were the few that veer way right as they approach you from behind on the narrow streets.  Of course, the usual asshat who crosses the yellow to aim for the biker and Cleatus in his suped up pick 'em up truck gunning it to startle you. Gotcha buddy, hope your kids or grand-kids are out on their bikes or try and cross the street in crosswalks (also a target for drivers).  This rattled me more than I have been rattled before on the bike.   Allowing myself to be rattled upset me more than any of the the things people do to rattle cyclists.

The humidity and heat kept climbing, a sure sign of a storm.  I got back home to find Dave tearing off the fascia, soffit, and wooden gutters he put up 15 years ago.  A project that has been nagging him for years.  He never could figure out how to seal the wooden gutters and they always leaked.  I think they used to seal them with lead back in the day, and that is a verboten substance now.  And on the unpainted parts of the gutters, the carpenter bees were making a mess.  The front of the house is a sauna until about noon when the sun gets around to the side of the house.  He was a miserable sweaty covered in crud mess.  I went in and took a shower and a nap.  I'm no dummy!  The rain also looked to be delayed a few hours but I really needed a nap.  I sleep so much better in Spud.

Looks very nice, and yes that is a motorcycle.
Picture 12/2006
It takes FOREVER for snow is SO RI

Took a trip to Mystic Cycle to get a new seat for Dolly as well as some tubes.  Should I get offended when I tell the guy the size and he replies what type of stem and I say 48 mm when he really means Shrader or Presta valve and shows me the sample? Aww, you are a cute little boy helping the old woman, aren't you?  How about I pat you on the head and give you a cookie like a good grandma!

The rain clearly hit Mystic, the streets were flooded!

The rain never made it to Westerly!

When the sun was around the side of the house I embarked on cleaning the front windows.  It's been a few years.  That turned into washing the whole front of the house under the porch as well as the windows and I never did get to the inside windows and now have to find a deck brush to scrub the planking on the porch deck to clean that and oil it.  It looks very nice.  When Dave was off in NC for a week I was going to repaint the trim on the windows.  Removing the layers of dirt solved that problem!  We enjoyed beers after the demo and washing and checked the weather, the rain was going to continue going all around us.  Cool!

His is the clear stuff, water I suspect but he says it is Bells Two Hearted Ale
Clearly, ha ha, mine is beer!

Sunday (36 + 3)  Made up for the lacking 6 miles to make my Saturday ride a "real ride" met up with Ro at Bartleby's in Mystic and set off for an unknown course to collect some miles for saddle time.  We both need the saddle time.  Get that bum ready for bigger miles later in the month!  It was chilly for Ro and perfect for me and even 80% humidity felt dry.

Again I napped when I got home Dave was off adventuring at, well the name now escapes me, in the NW corner of CT SW corner of MA.  Some bike park.  

Jax joined me but didn't snuggle.  I so desperately miss Gus, Gizzy, Sage, and Diesel, and most of our foster, they LOVED to snuggle.  He did his cat thing and stayed out of arms reach.

I took Jax on a hike on his loop at Burlingame and it became pretty clear to me he really was pissed off we weren't camping this weekend.  He slogged along like a sullen teenager for the majority of the hike!  Unbelievable. 

The Sullen Teenager face.

Mileage:

Feet: 14
Saddle: 79

Knitting:

Still plugging away at the Red White and Blue socks.  Stupid shoulder.

Books:

I didn't really update last week very well, I'll catch you up!

Finished:

An American Princess:  The Many Lives of Allen Tew
by Annejet van der Zijl

Very interesting bibliography of a remarkable woman and survivor.  Allene led her own life and made her own decisions in a time (late 1800's early 1900's) when women didn't dare do such things.  Plus she bested Newport society, not thumbing her nose at them (I don't agree with that), letting them know she too was worth something despite their assumptions based on her parentage.  

This was a book from Amazon Prime free book of the month.  Excellent purchase!

I also learned that reading the Kindle Fire outside does suck and I need to charge up and sync my ancient Kindle to read outside while camping.  First world problems.

In Progress:

Feast:  True Love in and Out of the Kitchen
by Hannah Howard

A woman with an eating disorder magnified by the people in her life.  Hopefully, she finds a way to cope with the people exacerbating her eating disorder versus giving into her disease. 

The Pillars of the Earth
by Ken Follett

Continues to be interesting, just long.  Jack Jackson has been found by Aliena the woman who bore his child and they are returning to Kingsbridge where Jack is vying to build the new cathedral.

All in all a good week, one full week feeling like my usual self, with a few naps.  Fingers crossed it lasts.

Sincerely,
Beth craving bacon.

Ascutney VT among other things!

This started out as a mixed up week and a last minute change of plans for the Ascutney VT trip added to the, chaos is the wrong word, but I can't find the right one at the moment.  

Also I'm getting tired of the weekly log title so I'll challenge myself to come up with something creative that may actually reflect the content...

Monday (5.7) - Ro and I did our Wednesday hills on Monday because she had Jury Duty on Wednesday and who knows how that is going to go...  Since we missed last week, at this moment I don't have the foggiest idea why....   This was one of our quickest hill workouts.  Ro really wants to start running again.  I think I'm ready to run with her.  I REALLY enjoy being able to talk though, so it's tough.   But if I don't do it I may lose what little ability I have left to run breath and talk?

Dave was tired from a big mile week so he volunteered to hike Jax's loop with Jax.  Cool.  I probably used the free time to get some grocery shopping done or some housewifery.  Who knows.  

Oh, I see from my camera roll I used the time to sit on the porch and drink beer.

Tuesday (0) - Was going to be a ride with the EBAC (Electric Boat Athletic Club) Tour de Testosterone but that turned into a washout, again.  

All packed up and no where to go.  :(

Wednesday (20 +1.5) - I got in late, a chat with Dr. B about this Lupus / Undifferentiated Mixed Connective Tissue Disorder diagnosis and is it possible this is undiagnosed Lyme or one of the other two, anaplasmosis or babosis?  Can we just prescribe a course of Doxy and see what happens?  That was a resounding NO.  He did humor me and give me another Lyme Panel.  I can't remember the stages of grief,  Dr. B didn't say it out loud but he did say I was going through the argumentative stage, my blood and urine workups are off the charts with inflammation and then that positive ANA test and well the rest of the Auto-Immune symptoms....  grrrrr, can't this just be Lyme or some variant of that and heavy dose of Doxy and I'm alright again?  PLEASE!!!  Maybe that's the bargaining stage of grief?  UGH...

Ro and me

Anyhoodles, I stroll in late, "Who's Dave Burr?" is in and rather lonely, lots of people "working from home".  I was there about 90 minutes and went to meet Ro for a bike ride.  We were getting some version of a ride in come hell or high water!   We did a quick 20 miles and both felt better for it.  

Pence was in town making traffic horrible

As Wednesday night is knitting night, Rory is almost finished with her sweater, only a little bit of knitting left!   We are in year 5 of knitting this sweater.

May I play Pin Ball?

Jax got an in town walk, which he rather liked!  Very much to my surprise.  He poked his head in various stores with open doors and was cordial to all the people he met.  He seemed to be most interested in the beer and pinball place, "Flip Side" and wandered in and was greeted by the patrons.    That fulfilled his requirement for a walk, to do something interesting.  He's not into miles, he's into action.  Ok, gotcha, Giz and Gus and Diesel were all about getting as far as they could in the 60 - 90 minutes allotted for their evening constitutional.  Action Jaxson wants, well action! 

Beer is always on the menu

Thursday (3) The change in Ascutney plans were to leave a day early because Saturday looked like a rainy crappy day and Dave wanted us both to have our long activity opportunity.  Cool!  We left a day early.  Knowing that Thursday was mostly a travel and set-up day we took a few hours to get moving in the morning and left by 10 a.m.  There were no hookups at the camp.  We could fill with water and dump and that was it.  A learning opportunity!  

Dorks!

The loop around the camp was 1/2 mile, and Jax had a loop after set up to burn off the crazies, after dinner, and then before bed.  Also, we did a little stroll up the auto road to see what we could see.  He was NOT into constant climbing or the asphalt so we called it after 3/4 of a  mile and headed back to camp.

Can't we go back THAT way? -- Jax

Friday (50 + 3) My day to do my long ride was Friday.  Dave's friend Bill was coming up for the night and they were going to do a long trail & gravel grind on Saturday.  I set out by 8 a.m. for a 50-mile ride where I thought I'd see 5 covered bridges.  I saw 4 and one was someone's driveway.  Vermont is not as good as New Hampshire at pointing out where their covered bridges are.  OK!  Got it.  Now to learn about Points Of Interest (POI) marking on the Garmin so I know when I'm supposed to be looking for something.  Add that to lessons learned!   

Relive the ride here.

I knew looking at the elevation that the hard climb was in the first 25 miles.  Where exactly I wasn't sure.  But when I got to the top I knew it!  And the 5+ miles of downhill was very welcome!  Such pretty country on the uphill and on the downhill, it was so incredible. There was also an equally long climb and descent on the second half of the ride, just not as high.  OMG it nearly killed me, well brought me to tears.  I reminded myself my longest ride was 35 miles and that was a few weeks ago so adding in 15 was a HUGE jump.  Once I finally got to the downhill all was grand, then the last 10 miles 5 were up a small hill and then down...  I stopped for a few minutes and gave myself a pep talk, a snack, and reminded myself there was beer and this was less than 30 minutes of torture.

Bill arrived an hour after I got back and they decided they would go for a quick ride. Jax and I took a nap.  I needed one!

Saturday (3)  Dave and Bill were off for their long ride and I drove Jax up the auto road so he could summit Mt. Ascutney.  It was going to be a bit warm for him.  He's good until 50F and then he kind of melts. 

We took the Summit trail and chose the Slab route on the way up.  This presented the poor guy with two metal sets of stairs.  He cannot deal with these things and attempted to claw his way up the side of some ledge.  I thought for sure we were gonna be goners tumbling over the side of the mountain.   Ha ha.  We made the summit he drank a bottle of water out of my hand and wanted more.  Crap. I need to remember my hydration pack as dorky as it would look for such a short hike it would have been a good idea. 

We took the Slot trail down to the Summit trail this was free of metal stairs and Jax was much happier.  He downed another bottle of water once we got back to the truck. 

After all that we settled in to hang out at camp, I read and played on my phone, Jax kept an eye on things until he was ready to nap or needed me to take him on his rounds to go pee.  He won't pee or poop in our camp site.  Respecting the boundaries of his home?  Not really sure but he thinks it took us long enough to catch on!

Sunday (23 + 3) The weather was decent for a short bike ride and I found one over the Windsor-Cornish covered bridge into NH and several other bridges in NH.  NH is much better about tagging summits and points of interest, I'll give them major props for that.   For both states I'll give the drivers major props for being kind and considerate.  The only asshat driver I dealt with while biking had CT plates, go figure. 

Relive the ride here.

Windsor-Cornish Bridge

The Windsor-Cornish bridge is the second longest covered bridge in the US.  I thought that was pretty cool!  It was a dreary day to be on the bike, but riding always perks me up and it was early enough on a dreary Sunday not a lot of people were out on the roads. 

When I got back Dave, Jax, and I did some touristy things, went to the Quechee Gorge and then to Woodstock (where I got to see one of the bridges I missed on my Friday ride) to wander around and have some ice cream!  Jax liked the ice cream part.  On the drive home Dave decided he wanted to Summit Mt. Ascutney, via the auto road and the Summit / Slot trail.   So the three of us did that!  Having someone to keep an eye on Jax meant we each got to climb up in the observation tower!  Even on a crappy day it was a beautiful view.

Quechee Gorge

We made the best of the situation at hand, for sure!

Dave and Jax summit Mt. Ascutney

Mileage:

Feet: 19
Saddle: 93 

Books:

The Pillars of the Earth
by Ken Follett

Still plugging away.  It is an interesting book and I'm very attached to the characters, either love them or hate them!  I wonder if Kingsbridge Cathedral will get finished?

Knitting:

A couple hours progress on the red white and blue socks.   Amy loosened up the scar tissue in my shoulder and it is a lot less painful, I'm still not ready to knit more than an hour every other day.  I like being able to lift my hand above my head pain free.  This is a cumulative injury between separating my shoulder on my mountain bike crash last year and the posture I take while I knit socks all don't work very well together. 

Sincerely,
Beth we all live our days as we see best for us at the time.

Week 20: 5/14/2018 - 5/20/2018

ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Actually, I feel a bit better now.  

Monday (5)  Woohoo 5 miles!! I had to run up and down a hill to hit it, but I did.  I felt it the rest of the week too...  That ache that says you did something.  There were points where I wanted to walk, I didn't I plodded along, maybe I'll get faster, maybe I won't, I honestly don't care, I'm happy, and what matters most for me is me.  

Dave went out on a ride leaving Jax home alone, it took him more than a full minute to recognize that I was home and for him to roust himself from the nest he made in our bed!  Poor guy is still tired.  I was glad.  If he had greeted me barking and doing his flying Wallendas routine across the foyer I would have taken him to Canochet just to get him out.  I was happy he sauntered down the stairs gave me a half-hearted whappa whappa and settled into his chair.

Crazy dog and crazy boy

Tuesday (12.5 + 1.5) The EBAC ride was called on account of thunderstorms.  I hemmed and hawed on doing the ride by myself.  Mostly deciding not to do it because of the small mishap this morning with Jax.  He ferociously sneezed and threw his paw into my eye giving me quite the gash above my eye!  He missed my eye and we can all be thankful for that.  I hollered and felt my eye socket filling up with blood from the gushing wound.  Dave got me something to mop up the blood.  Jax couldn't figure out what all the fuss was about and wasn't it time for his breakfast?  

As the morning progressed the wound kept seeping and grossing out some of my co-workers.  I went to health services and Dr. D patched me up with three suture strips and a big white bandage.  He said if he sent me to urgent care they would put in some stitches but he didn't think it needed that but IF this didn't stop the bleeding I should go to urgent care for stitches.  Oh yeah, and hold up a minute you need a tetanus shot.  

Ro texted that she might be up for a short ride doing laps around the Pfizer Tri course, was I interested.  Sure!  I'd be there in 20 minutes.  I was feeling the 5 miles from yesterday and the fatigue from the weekend and that seemed perfect, plus who knew what this head wound was going to do while I exercised.

Dave texted that Jax would like a walk and he hoped I forgot about this mornings events.  I got home and the radar looked like I had till 6:30 for a quick walk.  About 5:57 the CODE RED alerts sent by the town went off.  I had been seeing lightning and hearing thunder, but they were pretty far apart.  We were a half mile from the house.  It sprinkled, then the skies opened up and the wind picked up.  Jax was pissed his feet were wet and his ears and finally he was just so soaked he stopped caring and stopped to smell everything.  Guess things smell more in the rain?    

The seeping blood washed out of the bandage, I thought this was a good thing, and it was, no more seeping blood!  Yeah, no stitches!  I'm still miffed about having to get a shot, I did need a tetanus shot anyway, it's been about 10 years.  

Lovely

Wednesday (0) OMG I was so tired on Tuesday night and couldn't get moving Wednesday morning.  I am so lucky to not have to punch a clock.  With all the storms that rolled through on Tuesday night, I figured I'd avoid I-95 and quite possibly yet another accident on the Gold Star Bridge backing traffic up past my work exit.  I took US 1 into work and stopped to get myself some coffee on the way.  Discovered the rest of US 1 into Mystic is going to be retarred,  YEAH!     That caused the slow down I was hoping to avoid, but whatever, it is a nicer drive to work.  

Trillium I saw on my hike in NH on Friday

Thursday (5.7) The rain is relentless and unending.  Sliding down the hills, while sounding like a lot of fun could end either Ro or I up in the emergency room so we did the flat beach loop.  Rachel, Amy, Georgia, and I met up for Beer'd I said I was walking, Rachel grabbed a jacket, she was good with that.  Amy and Georgia ran.  Rachel said, "I didn't know we were going to walk THAT pace." HA!  I said, well I did say walk, not stroll.  We cut the course short to end up finishing with Amy and Georgia.  Georgia doesn't drink at all when she drives she went home.  A woman of principles and great stories!  I'll have to speed up my run to be able to hear some of her stories!  Turns out Amy and Rachel know people in common through pianos.  How awesome is that?  I figured we'd all do well being WI, MI, OH women and as long as football wasn't discussed no fist fights would break out, ha ha ha!!

Dirty Girl course - Friday's Hike

Friday (1.8)  I drove up to NH, to discover both warm temperatures and sun at nearly 44North!  How awesome was that?  I went for a short walk out on the Dirty Girl course, scared the crap (well scared a scream for sure) out of the guy fixing the bridge, and found a trillium AND a cutely painted rock that looked like a smiley face, along with parts of the very well marked and fun course.  

Cute!

Saturday (3.5)  Yes this was a 10K+ 6.4 GPS miles, so probably closer to 7 if someone took a wheel out there.  It was pretty clear to me after two miles the attack of pleurisy I was having Friday let up a lot but not completely and I was in no shape to be out on those trails running.  Hiking, hell yes, running, hell no.  Knowing when to call it a day to not suffer for weeks afterward is a skill I am learning.  After the top 3 finishers passed me I also knew getting lapped was a bad sign and to pack it the fuck in for the day.  

"Guess I better do something interesting"

Leslie was so sweet when she saw me she was very concerned and said: "Beth what happened."  All I can say is you need to fold your hand when you need to fold your hand.  Even the first finishers looked at me with concern rather than the disdain I expected.  Hoop suggested I just was looking to be FTB "First To Beer" and gave me his glass to taste the awesome Saison Garrison City Beerworks female brewmaster, Nicole Gray, and two other female brewmasters dreamed up.  The 603 runners are awesome, no judging of my decision.  I felt a lot less self-conscious about my decision but still didn't want to hang around for the awards, I had a beer, chatted a bit with Leslie, and set off for rainy SO RI.  

Wheeeeee

Along the way, I kicked myself for not stopping at a beer store and I knew what I was looking for, Hobbs Coffee Stout.  I found a beer store via the wonderful Untapped APP and headed off to Greg & Jane's Beer & Wine in Epping, NH.  Very awesome beer store, wide selection, far more than the 60 brands offered they advertise.  Always a good thing.  I was conservative in my selection, plus they didn't have a grocery cart for me to fill up.  Apparently, that is not a normal thing, filling up a grocery cart with beer?  Rachel and Amy COMPLETELY disagree, it is totally normal.  Clearly, I have found my people.

"Do I have to do it again?"

Sunday (3) The rain let up about 11 a.m. and by noon it looked like decent weather for a bike ride or a hike with Jax.  Jax didn't get out for a few days and was going crazy.  That always makes me think of the line from Fargo "We are going crazy down at the lake there"...    I know it's in reference to something else but it makes me laugh.

He started his spinning routine as soon as he saw I had socks in my hand and didn't let up until my shoes were tied and we were headed out the door.  Crazy boy. 

Jax slipping a bit on the bridge he was ticked he had to cross.

We went to Wahaneeta, I figured we'd be the only people there, I was correct.  It was still looking like it might rain or it might be sunny.  The radar looked ok.  He had a good time wading through all the streams, he is very anti-bridge.  

Stop choking me and stop taking my picture.

Mileage:

A low week in the saddle:  13
A decent week on the feet: 21

Maybe someday I won't feel like the crap that's left over after you scrape someone else's dog crap out of the tread of your shoe...

Books:

The Pillars of the Earth
By Ken Follett

About halfway through, very good!  Prince William is a horrible man and his actions are very disturbing.  Tom Builder is making good progress on his cathedral.  Prior Phillip is impressing the Bishop and can continue with his cathedral.

Knitting:

I can manage about an hour of knitting before my shoulder rebels on me the next day.  I may have to go back to knitting baby sweaters.  Amy of the pointy elbows has been working at the bound up scar tissue and suggests I take breaks every 15 minutes and stretch. She explained what's going on, that helped a lot! She's a good egg!  

Sincerely,
Beth trying really really really hard to not be frustrated and angry all the time.