Sunday - April 10, 2005

Sunday, April 10, 2005

So, it finally rained this morning. Thunder, Lightening. A real fireworks display too, not just a little light in the sky. It was cool. And rather short. It's already sunny and Taylor's out on his bike. The amazing part is that, like magic, the grass is green and we've got plants popping through the soil. Add water, and "presto-change-o" you've got a garden!

I think I will suit up myself and go for a spin as the wind has finally calmed a bit to a more tolerable speed. Anything below 20mph is "calm" here. Sigh. A 2.5 hour ride equals a 4 hour ride to the coast back home. No wonder those mid-western bike racers are so tough! Like the Belgians. In fact, it feels sorta like Belgium here. The weather, the terrain...it's all very similar.

I was out riding about a week ago and a farm dog (they're all over the place), came barking up at me. I've never in my life been afraid of dogs and so I just kept pedaling along (into the darn wind!). Well there were three dogs and one of them came around to the other side of me and bit my ankle!! Ouch!! I luckily had leg warmers and booties on, but he still bit through! So now I've avoided that road and have found that staying on the highway roads instead of the country roads might mean more traffic, but it also means less dogs. The Bike Shop here sells "mace" and now I know why. I think I will get some!

Yesterday was Mike's birthday and we went out to dinner in a town called Currie, right near Lake Shetek. It was fun. Mike had the local liquor store special order a ton of Chimay (Belgian) beer and we took two big bottles in a cooler and went to the grounds by the lake and toasted his birthday with his mom and dad. It was warm...upper 70's and there were geese and wood ducks flying over head. Mike ate a 20oz rare (RAW!! in my opinion!) rib eye, and I had a local fish...my new favorite, Walleye. My fish came with a candle-lit bowl of butter for dipping and Mike kept putting his steak in the butter to get it hot (and to keep it from crawling away!) It was a wonderful dinner...complete with an oreo-ice-cream cake for dessert.

I've been feeling pretty tired from being on "full-speed-ahead" since we left California. I need a little R&R. But we still need to paint our bedroom (We've painted almost every room in our new house already! It looks very cool!) Sydney LOVES her new digs. All she does is play, chase BIG squirrels and eat. Our doorbell never stops from the neighborhood kids coming over to see if the small hound is available for "playing".

I've already started working a couple of days a week at the bike shop too. It's very different than the shop in Palo Alto. I was surprised at how busy they are there. A guy was in from Aberdeen South Dakota yesterday with his TT Trek bike (he was buying Zipp 404 wheels for it) and his Speicalized S-works Road bike). Getting it tuned up for the Senior Olympics. Aberdeen, by the way, is about 180 miles North and West of Marshall. I also sold a mountain bike to a guy from Edina, MN (about 150 miles North and East of Marshall.) I haven't seen a ton of riders here in town though---but there are a few and it's early yet in the season. There is a triathalon on April 30th right in town and I signed up to work the event.

Guess I'm just babbling now. I do Miss the mountains. The ocean. And you (if you are getting this message). Mike is happy as a clam---I've never lived without the mountains, and or ocean though and so it is more of an adjustment for me I think. I do love our new home though.

It's good to miss stuff anyway---