Will Work For Free
I've taken hardly any time to put my feet up since signing my retirement papers 11 days ago. As most people who've recently retired will tell you, it's hard to distinguish this absence from that of being away on vacation. I think it will begin to be more real for me after my mom's Celebration of Life service one week from today. It sort of seems like a part of my life is on hold until that's behind me.
We've got several family members coming in from out of town in the next week plus a family reunion planned for next Sunday at Keith and Tracee's. I'm looking forward to so much of what the week has to offer but there are several things about Mom's Celebration of Life / funeral service that I need to tend to. So many people are stepping up and taking on big and small tasks to make this happen. Mom would be so happy to see this because to be honest, we haven't always been so united.
I spent the better part of two afternoons last week power-washing our driveway in preparation for seal-coating it.
I last sealed it about 15 months ago but I rushed through the power-washing process as I hurried to return the pressure-washer before my 4 hours had expired, and it showed. This year I decided to purchase my own gas powered pressure-washer and take my sweet time. And it shows!
It's a nice unit that puts out 2.5 gpm and 3000 psi. I can see where it's going to be a handy thing to have around as I was using it to clean other things within range when I was doing the driveway, such as parts of our house and my mowers and such.
Our deck is abuzz with hummingbirds and we're loving it! We've got at least 4 and maybe more that are continually feeding at our two feeders and several hanging flower baskets. I have to laugh as I watch them chase each other in some quite cool aerobatic maneuvers oftentimes doing some impressively close flybys of my head in the process.
Here's some video of them from a few days ago.
I actually used the alarm function on my Motorola Maxx (apparently, I'm not totally done with alarms) Sunday morning for a 6:30 rendezvous with some friends to ride the St Paul Classic Bike Tour. This year's event attracted 5000 riders of all shapes, sizes, ages and abilities.
I rode my Shaman and attracted some double-takes from people not all that familiar with a "fatty" as they're affectionately known. 30 psi and I was good to go!
I tried to talk the guys into the 48 mile loop but they weren't having any of that. We did 33 miles and had way too much fun, especially for someone my age. We'll be back again next year and I think there's a real possibility that Rachel will join us. She saw the video I stitched together of the ride (below) and said she'd like to do it. I can't wait!
I hurried home from the ride so I could attend a small family reunion at Tammy's cousin's home in Bloomington. We don't get that side of the family together often enough. It was a real nice time and Elaine was a trooper through it all. She told me that many people were coming up to her and talking to her like they know who she is but she doesn't recognize them. It's sad and we don't like to put her in positions like that. She commented to me today that it was a nice time yesterday. That surprised me some. She's such a sweetheart.
I have a new favorite walk; my Orchard Lake loop of 7.3 miles. It's a mostly quiet walk with the exception of my time spent near 35W. I was walking the loop this morning when I came upon a guy in front of a house as he prepared to get a drone airborne to get some aerial photos and video of a property that's about to go on the market. My eyes got big as I watched and all I could do was think how I'd love to do this sort of work!
The drone was airborne for about 7 minutes as he made several passes with it behind the house and out of view but fully in control as he monitored the live video (via a tablet fastened to his controller) it was sending back. I'll be watching for the listing and the video in the next couple of weeks and if I find it I'll link to it here.
I seriously think I'd work for free and offer my services for a year if I could study under his tutelage. I think I'd be good at this sort of thing.
I'm not kidding!
But for now, I've got bikes to ride and walks to walk...
We've got several family members coming in from out of town in the next week plus a family reunion planned for next Sunday at Keith and Tracee's. I'm looking forward to so much of what the week has to offer but there are several things about Mom's Celebration of Life / funeral service that I need to tend to. So many people are stepping up and taking on big and small tasks to make this happen. Mom would be so happy to see this because to be honest, we haven't always been so united.
I spent the better part of two afternoons last week power-washing our driveway in preparation for seal-coating it.
I last sealed it about 15 months ago but I rushed through the power-washing process as I hurried to return the pressure-washer before my 4 hours had expired, and it showed. This year I decided to purchase my own gas powered pressure-washer and take my sweet time. And it shows!It's a nice unit that puts out 2.5 gpm and 3000 psi. I can see where it's going to be a handy thing to have around as I was using it to clean other things within range when I was doing the driveway, such as parts of our house and my mowers and such.
Our deck is abuzz with hummingbirds and we're loving it! We've got at least 4 and maybe more that are continually feeding at our two feeders and several hanging flower baskets. I have to laugh as I watch them chase each other in some quite cool aerobatic maneuvers oftentimes doing some impressively close flybys of my head in the process.Here's some video of them from a few days ago.
I actually used the alarm function on my Motorola Maxx (apparently, I'm not totally done with alarms) Sunday morning for a 6:30 rendezvous with some friends to ride the St Paul Classic Bike Tour. This year's event attracted 5000 riders of all shapes, sizes, ages and abilities.
I rode my Shaman and attracted some double-takes from people not all that familiar with a "fatty" as they're affectionately known. 30 psi and I was good to go!
I tried to talk the guys into the 48 mile loop but they weren't having any of that. We did 33 miles and had way too much fun, especially for someone my age. We'll be back again next year and I think there's a real possibility that Rachel will join us. She saw the video I stitched together of the ride (below) and said she'd like to do it. I can't wait!I hurried home from the ride so I could attend a small family reunion at Tammy's cousin's home in Bloomington. We don't get that side of the family together often enough. It was a real nice time and Elaine was a trooper through it all. She told me that many people were coming up to her and talking to her like they know who she is but she doesn't recognize them. It's sad and we don't like to put her in positions like that. She commented to me today that it was a nice time yesterday. That surprised me some. She's such a sweetheart.
I have a new favorite walk; my Orchard Lake loop of 7.3 miles. It's a mostly quiet walk with the exception of my time spent near 35W. I was walking the loop this morning when I came upon a guy in front of a house as he prepared to get a drone airborne to get some aerial photos and video of a property that's about to go on the market. My eyes got big as I watched and all I could do was think how I'd love to do this sort of work!The drone was airborne for about 7 minutes as he made several passes with it behind the house and out of view but fully in control as he monitored the live video (via a tablet fastened to his controller) it was sending back. I'll be watching for the listing and the video in the next couple of weeks and if I find it I'll link to it here.
I seriously think I'd work for free and offer my services for a year if I could study under his tutelage. I think I'd be good at this sort of thing.
I'm not kidding!
But for now, I've got bikes to ride and walks to walk...
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