I started riding to work last week. The mornings are still very cold, averaging around 35 degrees. There is still ice on the lake that I ride past and the wind is usually blowing icy air off of it. The bike paths are in crappy shape and haven't been swept off, inches of road sand and rocks in some places. But it's really nice to be riding again.

I have only had one encounter so far with drivers knowing right-of-way rules of the road, I wasn't sure if the lady was going to suddenly gun her big SUV and run me over or if she was actually going to stop. Since I'm typing this, it's obvious that she stopped.

I have noticed that when people do this, they usually pretend like it didn't happen; avoid eye contact, no friendly or apologetic or "oops" type of signals, just sitting there looking off with a scowl on their faces. When I screw up, I always try to make eye contact and offer a "sorry" type of signal. Manners. But that's just me.

We were in Anchorage over the weekend. This moose was in no hurry to cross the street. Traffic was backed up as the moose mosied along.

Flocks of Canadian geese are everywhere. So are the eagles, preying on the geese. The other day the sky was filled with hundreds and hundreds of freaked out geese, 3 Bald eagles were on the hunt. It was quite a sight.

Winter...again

I have a winner for the name of my latest batch of beer: Old Man wins with his entry of "A Whiter Shade of Pale Ale". Fitting for this snowy spring day. We opened a bottle at the cabin and took a taste test, it got a double thumbs up rating from 4 out of 5 drinkers (the Lost Boys). Capt'n Balance gave it a 1 thumbs up because he is not a hops head. It's nicely carbinated and in my garage clarifiying/lagering. I am going to open up another bottle tonight. The offical "ready to drink" date is 3 to 5 more weeks but it may be all gone by then!

I made a mad dash trip to the cabin last weekend, got it closed up for the summer, hopefully no bears will break in. The Weather was spectacular, sunny, warm, fresh snow. So bright outside it was painful to go out without sunglasses.

Golfing

Relaxing in the Tree Chair

I made this Crown Royal hat for one of the Lost Boys

Snowshoe Rabbit: The same bunny we saw in March, loosing it's winter coat

Fox Tracks
Post Ride Banana Daiquiri

Stuck in Deep Snow

We went for a nice, long snowmachine ride with the Lost boys. I got a slight sunburned face with white around the eyes (sunglasses). Days like that are high on the "It's Great to Be Alive" list.

I was going to ride my bike to work yesterday. I was getting everything ready but Bike Boy stopped me and told me it was supposed to snow...not just a little but inches. So I drove to work instead. By 10 am the snow was dumping down in big, heavy flakes. Now we have about 5 inches of snow....at the end of April....it's supposed to be Spring....but it's not. Maybe tomorrow Spring will come, but not today. I'm thinking of heading to Hawaii...

The Zing is gone from my Life

Well, I sold the Zing...I bought a different, much more relaxed geometry road bike, lower end components and overall a much wimpier bike....but with the more upright positioning I should be able to keep riding it. And it is PINK! By PINK, I mean BRIGHT PINK. Brighter than I thougt it was going to be. I got quite a few complements on the color in the few minutes it took me to go out to my truck - from both guys and girls - it is definitely an eye-catching pink. I will post a picture of it later, I'm still in moarning over the loss of the Zing and feeling a little resentful towards this new bike...

Selling the Zing on Craigslist was an experience. I got a few emails from interested people and uninterested people...the latter telling me it was way overpriced...which told me they didn't know much about bikes. The 1st lady who came to look at it really lost a bargin, She offered a price lower than I was selling it for plus wanted the Terry titanium butterfly seat thrown in ($145 for the seat alone) and for some stupid reason I agreed on the price including the seat. She then took it for a very short ride, said she wanted it but wouldn't have the money for a few weeks. I told her I would sell it if someone else came along. After I got it back on the trainer, I noticed she had fowled up the chain....it was obvious she didn't know how to shift correctly or about trimming the front derailleur. Another lady was VERY interested and wanted to buy it right away but she had to suddenly leave town due to a family problem so she missed out also. She emailed me when she got back but the bike was already gone. The buyer was very excited when she saw the bike, she didn't even try to negotiate over the price....she knew she was getting a good deal...and I kept my Terry seat to put on my new bike. I hope she enjoys it.

We are in the midst of an Indian Winter...just when we thought Spring was here, Winter gives us a smack.

This is an email going around...These are different neighborhoods in and around Anchorage. I used to be a upper Hillside girl once upon a time, when it was still inhabited mostly by hippies and Gucci bags were the choice back then. The town I live in is not represented here. And I think Hummers are EVIL. Anyone easily offended, stop reading now - go get a drink and loosen up, it's just a joke.

Mattel recently announced the release of the improved limited-edition Barbie Dolls for Greater Anchorage

'Hillside Barbie'This princess Barbie is sold only on the upper Hillside . She comes with an assortment of Kate Spade Handbags, a Lexus SUV and long-haired foreign dog named Honey. Available with or without tummy tuck and face lift. Workaholic Ken sold only in conjunction with the augmented version.

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' Eagle River Barbie' The modern day homemaker Barbie is available with Ford Windstar Minivan and matching gym outfit. She gets lost easily and has no full-time occupation. Traffic-jamming cell phone sold separately.
---------------------------------

' Mountain View Barbie ' This recently parolled Barbie comes with a 9 mm handgun, a Ray Lewis knife, a Chevy with dark tinted windows, and a Meth Lab Kit. This model is only available after dark and must be paid for in cash (preferably small, untraceable bills) unless you are a cop, then we don't know what you are talking about.
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'Bootlegger's Cove Barbie' This yuppie Barbie comes with your choice of BMW convertible or Hummer H2. Included are her own Starbucks cup, credit card and country club membership. Also available for this set are Shallow Ken and Private School Skipper. You won't be able to afford any of them.

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' Wasilla Barbie' This pale model comes dressed in her own Wrangler jeans two sizes too small, a NASCAR t-shirt and Tweety-Bird tattoo on her shoulder. She has a six-pack of Bud light and a Hank Williams Jr. CD set. She can spit over 5 feet and kick mullet-haired Ken's ass when she is drunk. Purchase her pickup truck separately and get a confederate flag bumper sticker absolutely free.

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'Spenard Barbie' (aka Hey-Bra Barbie)This tobacco-chewing, brassy-haired Barbie has a pair of her own high-heeled sandals with one broken heel from the time she chased beer-gutted Ken out of Muldoon Barbie's house. Her ensemble includes low-rise acid-washed jeans, fake fingernails, and a see-through halter-top. Also available with a mobile home or 1980 Camaro.
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'Girdwood Barbie' This doll is made of actual tofu. She has long straight brown hair, arch-less feet, hairy armpits, no makeup and Birkenstocks with white socks. She prefers that you call her Willow . She does not want or need a Ken doll, but if you purchase two Girdwood Barbies and the optional Subaru wagon, you get a rainbow flag bumper sticker for free.
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'Muldoon Barbie' This Barbie now comes with a stroller and infant doll. Optional accessories include a GED and bus pass. Gangsta Ken and his 1979 Caddy were available, but are now very difficult to find since the addition of the infant.

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'Fourth Avenue Barbie/Ken' This versatile doll can be easily converted from Barbie to Ken by simply adding or subtracting the multiple snap-on parts.

Yep, I'm still here.

Just feeling a bit negative.

Selling my Zing...

I don't want to...

But the wrist issues are making it impossible to ride the Zing.
I'm ready to trade this defective 40 yr old body in for 2 twenties.

Check out
Tim's Bicycles and Icicles "Bent"
post.

Go ahead and accuse me of bragging, but I'm the inspiration for his post....last time I was someone's "muse" I ended up in court getting a protective order...I don't think I will need to go that route with Tim, but I now have this secret fear that I may end up a recumbent poster child.

Which means I may have to dress like this. .. yeah, this is real, found it while doing an image search on recumbents. Tron anyone?

This poor, poor child. Can it get worse than a recumbent and camo crocks?

While I don't think I will be sentenced to a recumbent anytime soon, Tim's post did cheer me up. Thank's Tim, I owe you a beer.

Night sled ride

Test run on the sled Easter Bunny, can you find it?

I'm back from the cabin - 8 days of serenity, amazing starry skys (I only see the stars in the winter, so it's special). I lost a lot of pictures and video, somehow got deleted while tranferring them to my computer.

We built up banking corners on the trail up to the cabin, then strung lights down the trail, lighted by a generator. We then had night bobsled rides on the custom make sleds that Capt'n Balance created, very fast, feet strapped in, bottom coated with P-tex, some sort of teflon coating - very, very slick. Not a ride for the faint-of-heart but damn fun! I went off the trail once, almost impaled my neck on a tree. built up the banks higher but didn't so everything is OK!

Now back to work, over-time, school, regular life.

Bad news - arthritis in both wrists, causing lots of problems with riding my road bike.

FINALLY...The Cabin

I FINALLY will be going out to the cabin!!!

I have been working tons of overtime at the new job. No time for anything but eating, sleeping
(barely - too much thinking about the job), working and then doing it all over again.

A week off work is going to be really, really nice.

Being at the Cabin with family and friends will be the icing on the cake!

I snuck a taste of my pale ale that is fermenting....ohh, it is going to be AWESOME! Much better than the basic Hot Kiss Hef. Again, I'm taking suggestions on the name.

I will post beautiful cabin pictures when I get back!

I hope everyone is well. I haven't had any time to check out the blogs and feel out of the loop.

I've been left behind again, the boys are off playing at the cabin, I'm here working overtime.

I learned something about myself: Don't watch infommercials in the middle of the night after drinking margaritas and a credit card sitting right next to me... I'm expecting some packages pretty soon. But I did set up a differed comp plan so the money saving will balance out the money spent, right??? Yeah, that works. And the people on TV PROMISE I will be more beautifully toned and have a flawless complexion and life will be exciting and I will look and feel younger and the world will be in harmony and everyone will love me and I will love myself and my dog won't shed anymore or it just won't matter if he sheds and ....call it a retail therapy session. It's all good. But it won't happen again...as long as I'm not left behind, don't drink tequila, don't watch tv, don't stay up late, don't have a credit card or recurrence of any combination of one or more of the preceding causative factors. It good to be aware of "triggers".

I needed a laugh instead of spending money. I found these.

What makes these funnier to me is that I used to be a photographer at Sears Portrait Studio when I was a teen and early 20's so I contributed to pictures like these in once upon a time. One of my favorites from my glory days was when a chubby happy baby projectile vomited, while smiling and laughing and I caught the spew in a PERFECT arc in a timeless photo - I still laugh remembering that. When we would get bored, we would start taking pictures of each other goofing off. A few other favorites are the arrow-through-the-head portraits (Chevy Chase Sat Night Live "better put some butter on that" days) and the "R" ears ala Rainer Beer commercials. Maybe I will dig some of them out of my dusty archives and post them.
This dude wore a tie for nothing

Nothing says "Classy" like Faces in a Wine Glass and Roses

Olan Mills backdrop #4: Bucolic Meadow with Split Rail Fence.
Is that an animal carcass behind her?

I got a $20 that says he drives a Camaro

It's SOO CUTE when couples have matching haircuts!

No time to ride lately :(

We are are seriously understaffed at work, anyone want a job?? Uhhh..... disregard the Government warning on the Hot Kiss label.

BEER! I just couldn't wait any longer, I opened my 1st bottle of my wheat homebrew - I have to say the 1st taste was a little on the mild side, but it's still early, only conditioned for about 1.5 weeks after a week of carbination. And that was without the yeast. After pouring into a glass, with the yeast, the favor was much fuller. The head was nice and foamy, good retention and perfect carbination level. I then opened up a bottle of Blue Moon and did a comparison, determined the wheat is on track and with some additional time to develop the flavor, will be pretty good for a basic beer. Blue Moon is a white Belgian with some added spice and orange, a cousin to hef, so not the same but close enough due to the wheat and yeast for a comparision since I don't have any commercial hef on hand. Got a mild buzz on an empty stomach so the alcohol is there - yeah, I'm a lightweight, an advantage when buying drinks.
Me + 1 or 2 drinks = a cheap date (cuz I'm done drinking for the night )

I have a name for this batch: Hot Kiss Hefeweizen, which is my last name with the 2 middle letters removed. Yeah, I get some smack from my friends. Occasionally a client makes a comment and I slam the hammer down on it quick. Which label show I go with??

I am getting ready for my next batch which will be more complex than the Hef. I have my choice of a red ale (5.3% ABV), and amber (5.5% ABV) or a pale ale (6.9% ABV!!) I'm leaning towards the amber to start brewing tonight as the airtight hops bag was pierced when the USPS tried their best to destroy this shipment.

I have been riding my road bike in my shop. I lowered the seat about an inch. My wrists are really bothering me, from all the typing I do at work. Maybe the lower seat will help.

The Little Su 50K, which was run yesterday, has a limited entry of 100. I personally know 2 people who registered to participate. I drove by their place yesterday and guess what...their they were. They didn't bother to even show for the race.

The reason this bugs me so is because this is standard procedure for these particular individuals, they do this on a regular basis and I don't know of any races they actually have done.

So they effectively block out 2 people who really would like to participate in the race. I would have a little more respect if they at least showed and then scratched.

Just a gripe.

I was talking to my son about the Susitna 100, the Little Su 50 and
Iditarod Trail Invitational ,telling him they take place this weekend and next weekend, and I was concerned about the warm temps causing bad trail conditions. He said he didn't know what I was talking about. I was surprised, then told him it was a foot, ski or bike races of either of 50k, 100 and 350 or 1100 miles. Maybe I will do the 50k someday - then I would need a new BIKE!

He said "Only someone like YOU would know about those races".

Is that a complement?

Good luck to all the racers!

A Future Cyclist is Born

I'm a Grandma! Yep, I am. And yeah, I am hearing all the comments about being young. No teenage parents though, just very early 20's. At least I'm not going to be an old, broken down grandma. Bike boy does great holding the baby, like an old pro. He has always loved babies. Capt'n Balance is good after holding her for just under 5 seconds. It's pretty funny.

My daughter and son-in-law are the proud parents of baby Autumn. She's sweet and warm and cuddly. She was born on Feb 7th, which is cool because we have a 7th and 14th birthday thing going on.

Born on the 7th of a month: Capt'n Balance, myself, my daughter and now granddaughter.
Born on the 14th of a month: All of my brothers and Bike Boy.

I'm going to do my best to get her into cycling, of course. I've already bought her a
Smart Cycle and am looking into the balance bikes. Everyone laughs at me but I don't mind. I'm looking ahead to the future.

I have been spending lots of time in Anchorage, sleeping on couches or not sleeping at all. I finally got some sleep up at my parent's house. They live in the mountains above Anchorage and have a beautiful view. I saw a total of 4 moose in just 2 days.

I have also been busy with legal junk - the ex strikes again. Out of the blue, he serves me with papers. This is becoming an every other year event. This time he's got an attorney. I don't but I'm not worried because it's all a set number calulation which is totally straight forward. It the misdt of it all, it came out that the ex fraudulently under-reported his income by about $20,000. He would have gotten away with it if he had not started these new legal procedings. I don't think the judge is going to be very understanding with this manipulation and the ex will end up paying more than he was before. But since he keeps dragging me back to court every other year and reverted to fraudulent behavior, I have no pity for him. Bike boy will be driving soon and the extra will help cover his insurance.

I had to provide my annual income for these legal proceedings and have determined this: social work has got to be the lowest paid professional job there is. Money wasn't my focus when I picked my career and I always had that drive to improve the human plight. Even though I lost some of the "save the world" idealism long ago, I still like what I do and help a tiny piece of humanity, even if they won't help themselves.

I'm also starting a new postion at work, I applied for (spent weeks on resume's, cover letters, references, interviews, whew) and got a higher level job. I will now be the second in command and responsible for training and policy leadership as well as working with the "confidential" clients - those clients who are so fraudulent or aggressive that they can only have contact with 1 single person in the Division. Wish me luck!

So riding has not happened for a few weeks and I'm still too tired today. I plan to start up again tomorrow morning at 5 a.m.

I am expecting another order from Mr. Beer to start a few more microbrew type of beers, I can't wait! The wheat beer is lagering for a few more weeks but I REALLY tempted to open one and try it. I know it won't be very good yet but I'm TEMPTED!!

I don't belong here

I shouldn't be here at home, I should be there. I couldn't get Monday off work so I couldn't go. Left behind while the boys play. At least I have my dog and my beer. Tonights pick: Alaskan Amber. Save your beer bottles, boys. Watch the video at the end of those post.

There is our cabin in the wilderness

Looking out over the frozen lake at the mountains in the distance.

The lake in the winter

In the summer (just for contrast)


Decorating friends who fall asleep


However, I'm not missing using the outhouse at 20 to 30 below 0.

Today's Weather
Low Temperature
-32.2°F
High Temperature
-19.0°F
High Wind Speed
0.0 mph
High Wind Direction
ESE
Low Wind Chill
-32.2 °F
High Barometer
29.409 in.
Low Barometer
29.376 in.
High Humidity
88%
Low Humidity
82%
Total Rain Today
0.00 in.
These are the temps from Lake Louise Weather. Our cabin is about 25 miles northeast of Lake Louise.

This is impressive. So, who is going to be the first one to try this?

Name that Beer

I got a Mr. Beer Kit for Christmas. I have my 1st batch of beer happily fermenting away.

I'm going to let it sit in the fermenting keg for an extra week to let the flavors develop and lager until the beginning of March. It'a a basic wheat beer, a nice refreshing brew, just right for the Spring heatwaves when temperatures might climb to the 30's!

I know the purist frown on the Mr. Beer but it has gotten good reviews. And I have a life and other stuff to do. After this 1st batch, I have some more complex brews planned, a Monk beer or Bier will be next. The hop shortage is an issue though.

Now I need a name for my beer.

Suggestions are welcome.

*my brother-in-law made some homebrew a couple years ago, he initially name it "Bitch Sisters Brew" after his wife and her sister. The sister liked the name, because she is weirdly proud of her reputation. Wife wasn't soo excited and after threats of divorce, he withdrew the name. I think it's a funny story, just thought I'd share.

We went up to Hatcher's Pass today for the Winter Trail Day. There was a bike Slalom time trial race put on by the Valley Hiker's and Bikers but I didn't get there in time to sign up and ride in the race. I did catch the last few riders at the end of the race, just in time to see a guy come down on a unicycle. We dropped Bike Boy off at the top of the mountain and he snowboarded down to where we were the bike race was. Capt'n Balance and I rode the course after the race was finished. .

Temps were pretty cold, it was about 12 below 0 at my house, warmer up there in the mountains but still cold enough that I put on my balaclava after 30 minutes because my face was freezing. Then everything was great. We had to walk the bikes up to the top of the course, a fairly steep climb, sucking in big air gulps which can be hard work in these temps - frigid air irritating the throat or warm, but not enough, air through the balaclava. But the ride down was all fun.

Now I'm home, full of food and ready for a cocktail, nicely worn out and happy.

Payback Is a Bitch

FULLERTON, California — Police said they arrested a man who acknowledged digging holes on a park bicycle trail in southern California as payback for nearly being run down by a cyclist.
Warren John Wilson, 52, faces a single felony count of vandalism, police Sgt. Linda King said Friday.
King said nearly 50 holes measuring about 1 foot by 2 feet (30 centimeters by 60 centimeters) have been found since June along a trail at Laguna Lake Park, and in some cases attempts had been made to hide them from cyclists. She said some riders went over their handlebars after hitting the holes, but none reported major injuries.
Detectives watching the trails questioned Wilson, who said he had nearly been run over by a mountain bike rider and began digging the holes in retaliation, King said.

2007

Winter Riding


Winter Tubing

Mountain Biking and Burning Weeds

Road Bike Crashes and Gashes

Amazing Sunrises while Commuting 81 miles per week

Riding under the City of Whitter

Christmas Gift: Weather Vane for my Bike Shop