Miscellaneous Musings Late on a Saturday

I came home from work late last Sunday night and noticed the backyard light was on. A doe and her fawn had tripped the motion sensor light and were nibbling on some Euonymus shrubs that line the side of our yard. I watched them for ten minutes before going upstairs to show them to Tammy. They're beautiful animals and I felt privileged to be able to watch them as they cautiously made their way around our yard. It's not in my makeup to hunt them or any other animal. I'm conflicted though because I'm no vegetarian either. I don't have issues with hunting or the processing of animals for food when it's done the right way; it just won't be me doing it.

There was a recent story in the news about singer Troy Gentry and his bogus claim to have killed a dangerous bear while on a hunting expedition. It turns out it was a total fabrication and what actually happened should cause any of his fans to use their CDs of his for skeet practice. See for yourself.

Like any sport, you've always got your cheats. Bicycle racing is deluged with them.

I saw one other video this week that caught my eye. I can tell you that I definitely don't buy into the time traveler theory but I do find the image in the video intriguing and wonder exactly what the person is doing?



Suppose for a moment that somebody was so forward thinking that they were able to plant a person in the film pretending to do something that would only be relevant nearly 3/4 of a century later. I wonder what a film producer might do today that somebody toward the end of this century would find themselves using stop-motion to watch again and again not believing what they were seeing?

Rachel texted me a few nights ago: "So a bunch of kids are dressing up like faculty tomorrow. Guess who I'm dressing up as?"

"who?"

"The chancellor :)"

And she did. She said he saw her in costume the next day and smiled but then began laughing really hard after he'd passed her by when he realized who she was pretending to be. So did the rest of the staff. Somebody took a photo of both of them together and I'm hoping she'll get me a copy of it.

Mom had another appointment with her doctor last Tuesday and the news she received wasn't good but I think it was expected. The doctor told her that her heart was too weak for any sort of procedure that could maybe help it beat more efficiently. That included another shocking of her heart as she had done last month. That procedure lasted only 10 days before her heart returned to its fibrillating state. I think she had her hopes up that they would be able to do that procedure again with better results.

She returns on Friday for a test to determine her heart's efficiency/capacity on its own. If it's at least 35% she'll have the option of having her pacemaker/defibrillator replaced. Anything less than 35% and it won't be an option for her. The doctor also stressed that a procedure of this sort on someone in her condition is risky and that they do lose people.  She's willing to pursue it as it appears she has no other option.

I spent some time with her last Wednesday and we talked openly about what she's facing. She seems content with her situation. She commented that she's not in pain and that she has a comfortable, warm home. I hope to be that accepting should I find myself in her shoes one day. Her doctor told her that it's a sudden death when people die from her condition. She repeated this to me a few times; I'm sure it's weighing on her. How can it not?

We've got to have the least inspiring collection of gubernatorial candidates in Minnesota this election cycle than we've had in a long time. All of Mark Dayton's signs must be confined to Minneapolis because I'm seeing very few in the rural areas or wherever I find myself out riding. For every single Dayton sign, I'm seeing at least a hundred signs for Emmer, his main opponent.

Dayton will be getting my vote. He's at least being honest about the need to raise taxes—none of the rest of them are.

I thought I was done with my long rides for the year but I was wrong. The temp was in the 40s today with sunny skies and all my yard work was done. I tried to get out early enough to beat the wind (9:30) but it didn't help much. It's late October though and I'm still cranking out the miles so I was smiling.

The plan was to add a couple cities to my Edge 305's database: namely Winsted and Watertown. I got those plus a few more.

133 miles

Usually, I'll shoot some photos along the way but this time I thought I'd stitch together a few videos from the day instead. No doubt a real yawner for anybody else but this is stuff for me to look back on years from now, so humor me.