On the Road Again

Thanks to my blogging yesterday I got caught up on Gunny Girl's blog and found some extra enthusiasm for hitting the road last night.  I did the Gold Nugget triathlon last month and had very few miles on my vintage Schwinn before the race.  I have no idea how many miles actually because it took me a while to realize there were two batteries on my wireless computer and get them replaced.  And then I measured my distance in km.  Mostly because I can't figure out how to change it to miles. 

It was a fun race even without enough training and my time was not much different than 5 years ago.  And I still suck at swimming.  But back to last night's ride.  I had originally planned to bike to work, but bailed when I saw it raining.  Hatman wanted to ride after work since he now also has a vintage Schwinn road bike (thanks craigslist) and he did some tuning on it last weekend.  It poured rain.  I mean really dumped.  We perservered and he got to see a bit more of the trails, including the coastal trail.  Did I mention it was 46 degrees?  Somehow the temperature is not in metric, just speed and distance.  Which turned out to be 31 km.  In a couple days he will recover and we can go again. 

Eklutna Paddle

I had a list for Memorial Day weekend.  And paddling was on the top.  But it was a reward, so I scheduled it for Monday.  I will not traumatize you or bore you with before and after pictures of the garage or the studio or the kitchen.  Just trust me when I say that I really needed a break. 

That's why I went somewhere nearby, because later in the summer I don't think I will appreciate it as much.  Also, it took me a really long time to get the rack on the car and the boat on the rack and the gear in the car (mostly because I had to find it in the recently 'organized' gear closet - modifications pending).  I probably would also not have appreciated the conditions I paddled in if I had not been working so hard.  Despite what it looks like, I was not alone on the lake.  Lots of other people were suckered in by the sunshine and suffered with me in the wind and the wildfire smoke.  I swear I thought there were mountains up there but you would never know if this was your first visit here.  It was all worth it.  And as soon as I order the missing parts for my kayak rack, I'll be out paddling again.  Until then, I will try to figure out how to install my new disc brakes on my mountain bike. 

Women Run

A little bit of my weekend adventures.  No pink this year, the flamingo needs a rest.  An amazing number of people thought I had cat ears.  I will never understand humans.  Other adventures involved cleaning the garage, scrubbing the chrome on my table and chairs, swapping said furniture with the loaned version and returning them to their owner, vaccuumming and shampooing carpets, and continuing to be amazed that there is still stuff in the garage that does not live there and needs to somehow find a home inside.  Aren't you jealous??  I also took the road bike for a spin and I might have eaten ice cream.  More than once. 

Earth Day

When I was in Denver a couple weeks ago I had a small window of time to do something fun.  I chose the Natural History Museum.  I'm actually thinking about making it a life theme - to go to as many Natural History Museums as possible.  Amazing what the interpretation of the concept manifests itself as.  Very different than Chicago.  I think Portland has one too.  Hmm....anyway, the point was to wish you all a Happy Earth Day and encourage you to find something you can do to make the world a better place.  There are several websites out there with recommendations and I trust you can pick one that fits your life.  I'm going to continue my quest for a paperless household.  Because paper is heavy to haul around....and store....and stuff.  And because before you know it you will be a fossil in a museum somewhere and it won't matter how good your paper records were that the tax man never came to inspect.  So focus instead on getting outside more and maintaining paper files inside less!

Last Ski Weekend

Technically the resort does not close until next weekend, but I won't be around to participate.  And frankly, good luck with that.  There are trees and rocks in places I have never known them to be on this mountain.  I have serious doubts about there being enough snow for any backcountry tours when I return.  But even a crap ski season is still a SKI SEASON.  

It's always amazing to me when someone recognizes me and says hello.  I totally did not recognize my boss, even after he said hello, until almost a minute later.  I was trying to be relatively incognito in my green jacket.  I was originally scheduled to do dog work, but I could not find my beacon.   The irony of that is sooo not lost on me.  And no, my dog could not find it either.

It was beautiful and sunny in town.  The extreme wind on the drive to the mountain should have made this scene not really a surprise, but somehow it still was.  The amazing part of skiing here? Constant change.  One minute it's almost sunny and you are flying down the hill.  In the blink of an eye you can not tell where the ground is and all I can think about is not getting injured.  I'm tired of injuries.  

The rest of my weekend.....was spent attempting to tame the chaos.  My legs ached immediately upon exiting the chairlift because I spent 12+ hours the previous day schlepping stuff up to the 2nd and 3rd floors.  I'm looking forward to seeing the results, both in my legs and my abode.  When did I acquire all this crap?

Spring is for the Birds

It's thinking about being spring here.  Which means some days I wake up to snow and overcast skies and some days it's sunny and icy.  It means there are more birds out talking up a storm.  It means I sometimes forget that isn't water in the driveway, it's ice.  Every time.  I'm sure it would be hilarious to show a movie of me stepping onto the driveway from the wood steps every morning and squealing as I slip on the ice.  Very Three Stooges.

It also means the return of field studies where you don't freeze as much.  I helped set up a snow/dog science methods experiment last weekend at the resort.  It's been almost a year since I graduated.  Know what I discovered?  I miss real science.  This is a picture from an article in the Dispatch today about reduced numbers of this species.  The closest I get to this these days is the science of 'where did I put that?' from my move and reading about studies other people have done in the Arctic or places that I want to travel to.

New Digs

Been a little busy ... moving....with a sprained thumb.  Simple skiing fall, but it is truly amazing how much stuff you need your thumb for.  It's been interesting and has resulted in bruising of my arm from trying to substitute that for the thumb grasping ability I'm missing.  And I might have a large shelf destined for the top floor studio (instead of vice room) stuck on the bottom floor.  In the stairway.  With a broken light fixture.  Maybe.  Don't ask.

The dogs and big white cat love the new place.  Frog especially likes the acoustics of the stairwell for 'singing the song of his people' at 2am.  I'm hoping to find enough clean socks to get me through the week without raising too many eyebrows about my work outfits.  And I'm hoping to find my running shoes so I can resume training for triathlon.  But really, since we have had winter decide to hang on a little longer I wish I could get to my skis and find my ski boots.