66! Switching My Focus and Bye Bye Wetlands

I turned 66 years young last week. I'm not one to celebrate my birthdays but Tammy never lets me off that easily. She took me to see Jersey Boys at Chanhassen Dinner Theatre and we had such a fun time. We've seen several shows there, and this was one of the better ones for me.  We both loved it, which may be why we spent the next several days singing Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons songs. We both have a new appreciation for their music.

The doe and her triplets that I mentioned in my last update continue to be a common presence in our neighborhood. I caught this video of them a few mornings ago as they feasted on our flowers. I can't be upset about them because they're too adorable!

Tammy has been busy for the past few weeks working on reupholstering 10 chairs from the library at Trinity Care where we volunteer our time. It's no small task that she's undertaken but she's nearly done. She's working on the last chair as I write this. The residents are happy with the work she's doing because not only do they look much nicer, but she's also adding new padding and new support straps for some of the chairs that were sagging. 

I've switched my focus from riding to golfing until the courses close for winter in about 3 months. I have to find a happy middle ground where golf is my priority but where I don't neglect my time spent riding. Fitness leaves too quickly at my age and is harder to get back so I have to be sure I'm getting enough saddle time. Plus, I do like stitching together my ride videos and sharing them. If I can golf 3-4 times each week, I'll be happy.

It's oppressively hot out today so I went to the driving range and hit a bucket of balls rather than walk the course. I'm working on making better contact with the ball by using some foot powder spray to show me where I'm striking the ball on the club face. I have a tendency to occasionally hit a little too close to the heel of the club and in severe cases, causing the dreaded shank. It's a simple yet helpful tool.

It's been another very dry and very hot summer here in Minnesota. Southern states have been hit especially hard with dangerously high temps. Even the most fervent climate change deniers must be taking notice. 

I had a friend mention to me the other day that it doesn't seem right that our summers pass by so quickly but our winters seem to drag on and on. She makes a good point! I would love for both our winters and summers to drag on because right now, my life is moving at much too fast a pace. I look at the oldest of the people I give rides to at Trinity—those well into their late 90s—and I think to myself how they were the age I am today about the time I moved into our home a little more than 31 years ago. It's a sobering thought because those 31 years have flown by.

And speaking of time passing by so quickly, I retired 8 years ago today. 

I recently saw this video in an online cycling forum I frequent. Yes, I see that the cyclist who was hit was riding to the left of the white line but there's absolutely no excuse for the RV driver to not maneuver around the group. (I assume the driver is on vacation, so why the hurry?) What's aggravating is that the driver received only a $500 fine for passing too closely. Had the driver killed the cyclist it would've only resulted in a $1000 fine. There's something seriously wrong with that but it's what Arizona state law mandates. It's why I ride with a small mirror attached to my sunglasses. It's saved me once that I can think of when the driver of an 18-wheeler forced me off the road to make his point—whatever it was—a number of years ago. I saw that he wasn't moving over even though there was no oncoming traffic so I jumped off the paved surface and onto the gravel shoulder. I can still picture the semi driving away hugging the right side of the road. What an ass. But I can't complain about Minnesota drivers because they're generally very good about sharing the road.

I have a dermatologist appointment on Tuesday morning for a session of Photodynamic therapy. It's akin to a chemical peel for my face to attack any developing skin cancer areas. I've had the treatment before but it's been at least 5 years. I'll need to stay out of the sun for 3 days afterward so I may try and make it down to my glass shop and knock out a suncatcher during my downtime if I can find the motivation.

We made it out to the State Fair on Wednesday with Rachel and Drew. I had to laugh a little because Rachel had mapped out a plan to munch her way around the fairgrounds. We were happy to tag along on her journey. We didn't get to all of them but got to most of them. I think it was Drew who wanted to try a pickle pizza but the line was one of the longer ones we saw so we opted to take a pass. One of the highlights for us all was the group karaoke singalong. We held nothing back! 

Here's a link to some photos I took at the fair.

The Supreme Court's 5-4 ruling this past May that opened up a majority of our country's wetlands to developers went into effect this week. Harlan Crow's firm lobbied for this rollback of protections while Crow secretly lavished gifts on Supreme Court Justice Thomas who voted in favor of it. Think about that when you soon see wetlands being eviscerated by developers, never to be replaced.

Additional reading: Worth a look and What are they afraid of?

That's all I've got.