It's been weeks since I've noticed the strong and oftentimes relentless scent of smoke in my nose that I've mentioned here previously. My lungs appear to be mostly back to normal as well without the spontaneous cough from deep in my chest that I'd been experiencing. I can't say with certainty if my symptoms were Covid related but I suspect they were. Yesterday marks four weeks since crashing my bike and injuring my ribs. I'm feeling mostly healed from that as well. I took one of my golf clubs out of its bag last night and gave a few 80% swings out in our yard. I think I'm ready to at least hit the range for a few sessions before easing my way out onto the links again.
I'm not totally disappointed in being unable to golf this past month because I've used my spare time to ride more than I otherwise would have — and I needed that. My form is beginning to come around but I still have some work to do. Most of my riding lately has been on my road bike; a bike I've been neglecting the past two years since purchasing my gravel bike. It's been really nice to be on it again and riding some routes/roads that I've not ridden in a while.
Tammy and I took in the Artisan Home Tour recently. It's a tour of newly built homes that we'll never be able to afford but they're still fun and interesting to see. My favorite homes are those that feature an in-home golf simulator — something for my next life's wishlist.
On our way home from the tour, I took Tammy by the home in Wayzata that my family lived in for one year in 1964. There were two men sitting on the front porch as I parked our car on the street and walked up the driveway to introduce myself as the son-of-the-original-owners of the home. Mark was a man of few words and struck me as either suspicious of my motives or not all that interested in what I had to say. The other man offered that he'd lived in his home across the street since 1971.
I shared with them some memories I had of living here as a 7-year-old boy and how when we lived here my father used to drive a '57 Chevy and that one day he was driving on the freeway when the hood of the car got caught in the wind and was thrown back into the windshield (for whatever reason, it wasn't latched shut). It then occurred to me that I might be able to bring up some photos on my phone of his home from when we lived there. Google Photos made quick work of my query. Mark took one look at the photo with our cars in the driveway and commented, "That's a '56 Chevy". I was never good with car models and years.
I asked Mark if it would be okay if I took a quick look at the backyard of his home to see if it matched any of the fading memories I had from back in the day. So much had changed. An addition to the home that they added in 1990 altered the appearance considerably from how I remember it: side view of the house. It was in this backyard that I have a distinct memory from my 7-year-old mind that's stayed with me all these years: I was hunting for caterpillars and thinking to myself that all of the songs that could ever be written have already been written. How could there possibly be more songs to write? The Beatles had just exploded onto the music scene and would prove me wildly wrong!
I made my way back to the front porch to find that Mark's wife (standing inside their home, just behind their front storm door) had joined her husband and their neighbor. I introduced myself and showed her the pictures of their home that I'd shown her husband. Anita invited me inside to have a look around, encouraging me to take some photos. I only took a couple inside their home as it didn't feel right to take any more than that. I thought a before and after comparison with 57 years between these two photos would be nice. She and Mark have lived in their home since 1982 and it was their understanding that there were 4 previous owners. She commented that their next-door neighbors, Dave and Carol Fackler, were original owners of their home and still lived there. I recalled that Mr. Fackler was a military man. Anita told me that he retired from the Navy. He's 87 years old now which would've made him 30 years old when we lived here. A pouring rain kept me from leaving the shelter of their porch's overhang a few minutes longer than I felt I should stay. I used that time to tell them how one night, several neighor kids and I had caught a dozen or more crawfish from a nearby pond. We put them in the mailboxes along our street and laughed at how the mailman was going to be so shocked the next day when he delivered the mail — another memory from our time there. It was a good home for our family of 8 plus our pets.
I was out riding last week when I got a text from Ruth, our neighbor. She wanted to let me know that a fawn had bedded down in our back garden and that it was the most adorable sight. Hours later when I returned home I stepped out onto the deck to water our hanging baskets when I noticed the fawn was still in our garden waiting for its mother to return. I went back inside to retrieve my camera to get some better photos than my Android phone could hope to capture. The last two photos are of the fawn taken a half-hour after the first two photos as it was preparing to move places.
I got up from laying down after the all-night shift Thursday morning and figured I'd better get a ride in while I could because the forecast wasn't looking so good. The temp was just above 40 with a northeast wind steady at 15 mph under overcast skies. 40 degrees is very reasonable cycling weather but the key is to be somewhat chilled when you start out. Being warm and toasty at the beginning leads to being sweaty, cold and clammy before the ride is over. While putting air in my tires before leaving I could tell that I needed a lighter top layer. I'm glad I made the switch. I loved the ride ( Strava link ) and would like to have gone further but David Crowder was playing at our church and I didn't want to be late getting in line for some good seats as it was general admission. I considered a quick detour by Hosanna on the way home to get a pic of their tour bus but I figured I should really act my age. The concert was worth every penny and better than any of the o...
I skipped out of work a couple hours early today to take advantage of some mild weather. I took the pups for a walk then headed west on my bike putting my heart, lungs, and quads through some paces. It felt so nice to be out there. I'd have stayed out longer but I had to be back to take Rachel to dance class for 5:00. It's possible that today will be the last time I'll have to take her to class if she passes her road test this Thursday. I'd like to have taken some time to hose down my bike. It's full of road salt and that can't be a good thing. Every large vehicle that went past me had a cloud of salt dust trailing in its wake and settling on me. I'll spend some time cleaning it tomorrow and have it ready for a ride on Wednesday after work. Speaking of work—I've been kicking around the idea of bidding on a staff job. Believe me, it's not something I want to do. It's about self-preservation. I want to work another five years to get Rachel thr...
Wow, what a trip. In planning for this ride, I figured I’d have only two weekends this summer when our schedules could come together to give it a go. The first of those two times came and went two weeks ago when a steady north wind kept me grounded. There’s no way I could have gone the distance into the wind, and what I was really hoping for was a stiff southwesterly breeze, but that wasn’t in the cards either. After looking at the wind forecast on Wednesday, I told Tammy that it looked as though we were looking at another no-go. I’d been watching the forecast the previous 5 days, and they consistently said to expect a light wind from the southeast. It wouldn’t be a headwind but wouldn’t be much help either. I came home from work on Thursday morning and looked at the forecast again, but it hadn’t changed. I got a couple hours of sleep, then woke up to work in the yard. Then, I decided I wouldn’t let the lack of a tailwind keep me from going…just so long as it wasn’t a headwind. I tol...
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