30 Years Ago Today, and a Collective Shoulder Shrug

It was 30 years ago today that I moved into our home. That's a long time and by far the longest I've lived in one place. I was 34 years old and full of ambition—ambition I was going to need. The summer of 1992 would be a very busy summer for me with numerous landscaping projects that I'd drawn up on graph paper and needed to bring to life. I had 10 dumptruck loads of topsoil brought in and spread throughout our lot because of the poor soil condition that existed. The only other labor I paid for was to have a guy trench two main lines for our lawn irrigation system and I hired a bobcat driver to punch 50 pre-marked holes in the ground where shrubs would go. I think that was the best $50 I've ever spent. And no, I can't imagine purchasing a new home today and having to do all of the work I had to do 30 years ago to get our home up to speed. My level of ambition isn't quite what it once was.

Our home has been through a number of changes in the past 3 decades with very little of our original home still left untouched. The only room that hasn't seen a full remodel is our guest bathroom upstairs. 

We would like to remain living here another 10-15 years but as I like to say, if you wanna make God laugh, tell him your plans! I do know one thing: it's going to be very hard for me to someday leave this place for good. I won't get out of here without some tears as I say goodbye. That's the way it should be.

It's been a couple of depressing and senseless weeks of gun violence in the land of the free. Our lack of gun-control laws has been hitting us hard with some horrific mass shootings carried out by young males still in their teens, the most recent of which happened earlier this week at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas where 19 children and two adults were shot dead by an 18-year-old with an assault rifle wearing body armor. It's maddening that the U.S. stands out among developed countries as a place where this sort of thing continues to happen largely unchecked. Republicans simply shrug their shoulders and complain that anybody raising the issue is trying to politicize it, and if only more people carried guns there would be less of a problem. Does that sound sane at all? I struggle to find the "pro-life" in their love of guns. We're such a dysfunctional society and it's getting worse with each passing year. 

And now we're learning that 19 police officers waited outside the school for more than an hour before entering and killing the gunman, all the while children were inside calling 911 and pleading for someone to save them. Are Republicans complicit in each of these senseless shooting deaths? Yes, as long as they refuse to do anything to stop them. 

I thought Jimmy Kimmel's words to open his show a few nights ago were very poignant.  

Tammy has a project in the kiln in our glass studio and I'm excited to see where she takes it. It's been years since she's done any glass painting. I was mentioning to her that I would love to incorporate her talents with a stained glass project of mine and see how well they work together. I was thinking of this one in particular. I would like to do a similar scene but with a row of painted flowers in front of the house—painted flowers that Tammy would create and fire in the kiln and that I would fit into a stained glass sun-catcher.

I took part in the inaugural Heywood 110 ride in Northfield last Saturday (formerly known as The Almonzo). The temps were on the cool side ranging from 44º to 53ºf (6.5º to 11.5ºc) with a stiff breeze that gave us a push the first half of the ride but then became a mostly unabating headwind for our return. I had a moment of panic just as the ride was about to start when I realized I'd left my phone back in my car. I needed it to be able to snap some photos along the way and in case I needed to call Tammy if I was stranded with a mechanical problem beyond my ability to remedy on the road. 

The ride would take us along some of the most scenic roads in the region where we'd occasionally be met with some challenging climbs. The gravel was in really nice shape which isn't always the case this time of year with fresh gravel being laid down (fresh gravel can make for very sluggish riding). 

My legs were tired for a few days afterward. I went out walking on Tuesday and could only manage a pace of 16:00 per mile. My legs were dead! Two days later I'd found my mojo again and kept up a pace of 13:36 per mile. 

As I get older, I need to make time for recovery but I'm not always good about that. Time is no longer on my side and I need to make the most of it. I don't know that I have another 30 years in me! 

It's a beautiful day out there and my yard work is done. It's time to ride!

Extra credit viewing, part 1 and part 2.

That's all I've got.