RIP IT, DUDE!!!

I have survived the black streaks down the sides of my head, although it's STILL not the way it was. As Frenchy so profoundly stated in the reply, I am also a idoit when it comes to hairdressers. Why is it that I also don't just say "you did a crappy job"? Maybe because we are so helpless feeling when we are in the hairdressers chair; we can't move our arms because they are stuck under a cape which is strapped tightly around our necks, we look rather unattractive with goop in our hair that is covered with foil, and the hairdress is standing over us with very, very sharp, pointed sissors which could poke an eye out...we are totally at their mercy. They are HAIR NAZI's, in total control, because if you're like me, there's not much you can do with your hair and have to rely on the hairdresser not to look like Mortica...

I met up with the Bike Guy! He is soo awesome, he showed me how to fix a flat on a road tire and a mountain bike tire. He was asking how my road riding was going, I told him my wrists were hurting after about 5 miles. I had my bike with me so we brought it in and he determined there was an angle to the bar that turned my wrists out just a bit. He took of my bars, put on some new ones, also moved the grips inward so I will be FASTER. He also adjusted my seat. All of that and didn't charge me a penny! Went for a 10 mile ride on my lunch break a few days later; NO PAIN!! What a difference! He said he would also give me pointers on winter riding, there are places you can ride in the winter that you can't go in the summer because it's too wet. Bike Guy, You are awesome! I think I'm becoming a bike junkie...

My son and I went on a mountain bike ride today up to Hatcher's Pass again. We went on a different trail this time, it was a better one than Archangel trail. We road in about 5 mile, mostly on a uphill. The weather was looking pretty cloudy and stormy but it was perfect when we got there. Not sunny, but not pelting rain or windy. Just overcase with little spits of rain and hail now and then. There is snow up there now, but it was above us, so we were good. We went through mud, water, rocks, sand...gotta love being mud splattered. I fell 1 time, there are some wooden planks on the trail in some of the deeper wet parts. The planks are wet = slippery. My bike slid sideways, I ended up with my foot in the water and landed in mud and bushes. Not hurt really except where my seat horn hit my hip. Turned my seat a bit, but that's an easy fix, once I was able to extract myself from the bike and mud and vegatation. Then upward we went. We were riding alongside a small river, it was a beautiful sight. Snowy peaks, fall colored vegatation, river, eagle hanging on the breeze overhead. The ride up is such a workout, we had to stop just to catch our breath before going on. The ride down is such a rush, it makes the ride up worth it! I'm getting better at going over the rocks, been practicing on pulling up on the bars, but still staying in control. I think I am going to look into getting disk brakes, I have rim brakes and they grind and cause resistance when they get mucked up with mud and sand. My son has disk brakes and doesn't have that problem.
After we got back to the truck, we drove higher up the mountain to the snow. I let my son ride down while I followed him in the truck. We are talking DOWN when I say I let him ride down. There were some snowboarder type guys watching us and cheering my son on with "RIP IT, DUDE!" My son had to promise to stay in control and not go too fast.

So now I am tired, a good tired. Thank you God that I am able to ride!

Fall is Here

Been feeling pretty good lately. Joined the gym with some friends from work, we go work out on our lunch break. Finally getting in some upper body workouts. I'm also doing some leg work out, because it's part of the circut. Hopefully my legs won't turn into monster freak muscle legs. They are aready pretty buff from running. But I am working some leg muscles that running doesnt. These hip abductor machines are something: think OB/GYN exam position. Hmm, think I need longer workout shorts!!! HA! Sheesh. No pain, no gain, even if it's mental pain.
I never knew grey hair could cause some much pain. I had some grey coming in at the temples and last time I had my hair highlighted, asked it to be covered. Well, my hair stylist missed it so I went back and showed her. She said she'd fix it, boy did she ever. I came out with 2 BLACK strips down the sides of my head. What the frick is that??? My hair is light brown to blonde. My stylist insisted it was the same color as the rest of my hair but that section of my hair reacted differently because I had been under stress from being sick. Bullsh**!!! So I said it had be be fixed. Well, she CHARGED me again for the FIX. NOT HAPPY and I STILL have some black streaks in my HAIR!!!!!!!!! OMG!!! If your a woman, you know EXACTLY what I mean. If your a guy, don't even try...it won't work. But we love you anyway - :)

Fall is here, rain daily, will soon turn to snow. Leaves are yellow, not much reds on the trees here in Alaska, reds in the bushes/brush though.

My son had a cross country meet the other day. He did fairly well, he's sore so he didn't run his fastest. On the way home, we were diverted around a car wreck; a semi truck went totally through a van, killing the woman driving the van. There was NOTHING left of the front of the van. I feel sooo bad for the woman's family. She was just driving home and then she's gone. Sigh... Prayers to the family.

The 1st local boy from my town was killed in Iraq this Sunday. It's a small town, everyone knows someone who knows someone. This guy was 22 yrs old and my husband know the stepdad, my neice and her boyfriend were best friends with the guy who was killed. I want this war to be over.

So much death lately around here. None personally with my, thank GOD. Still, it has an effect. Moral feels low here.

I will drink my wine and sing songs of sadness, which will turn to gladness once the sun shines again.

I will run and thank God I can, that it feels good just to feel normal.

We have 2 cows. 1 is pregnant, it will be cool when the calf is born, any day now!

The Bike guy says he will show me how to change a flat on my bike! I ride alone 99% of the time and want to be prepared for the inevitible. Maybe I will meet up with him this Sunday. He's a World Record marathon bike holder. He biked from Seattle to SanDiego or something like that. WOW! I wish I could do something great like that. I just want to be good at SOMETHING.

Ok, the wine is kicking in, I think I will have another glass....smile!

What a RIDE

Took my son and nephew mountain riding today at Hatcher's Pass, a mountain valley near our home. It was SOOO AWESOME!! We rode up Archangle trail, which soon became a stream due to mountain run-off. Mud, water, dirt...that's what mountain biking is all about. The scenary was amazing - fall colors, mountain streams everywhere, mountains, valleys, sunshine = awesome!! Mountain biking is alot harder than road riding, what work out. The ride in was mostly uphill. The ride down was a blast! Winter is on it's way here and today was one of those suprise sunny warm days stuck in the midst of rainy, foul weather. We had a great time and my nephew is now hooked, I think. He wants to go back tomorrow but the weather's supposed to be bad, we will see.

We went to our cabin in the wilderness over the long labor day weekend. We took extra day off work, hired a float plane (Beaver, the perfect bush plane) and flew in to the cabin. The land was soo wet, wettest I have seen there. The lake and streams were very high, the tundra was like a soggy, supersaturated sponge and many times the water would be over my rubber knee boots so I stayed closer to the cabin and didn't go hunting with the guys. It was windy and rainy most of the time. Only 1 day of hunting and no caribou seen. Did see lots of Bald eagles, which is always fun. We have an eagle nest close by and it's always wonderful to see the juvenile eagles learning to fly. We had to leave early because there was a break in the weather and the float plane pilot said he had to get us out then or the lake would be too rough to land on, so we packed up and shut up the cabins in record time. Wish we could have been there longer.

I also got my offical time from the Parade Day race:33min 24 seconds. 4 seconds slower than my fastest time!! I wish I would have known that, I could have pushed it 5 seconds faster, HA! I don't know why I always have the wrong time, probably because I never seem to know exactly where the finish line is and forget to hit the stop button on my watch. It was a nice suprise that I did better than I thought I did.

I finally got the results from my MRI, it was a struggle though because the dr's staff kept giving him my HOME phone number to call me during the day when I was at WORK. Anyway, the good news is the dr said he saw no changes in the mri films from the previous films!!! However, he didn't like where the existing spots were, in the area of the brain that deals with cognative thought. Not good, but no change is great, right??? The neurologist thinks maybe the dizziness was from an inner ear virus and he is not willing to give any reasons for the temp vision loss, which has not reoccured, thank you, GOD.
So I went home, still a bit dizzy and my ear hurting. The neurologist said my ear looked fine, no infection. So why did it still hurt weeks later?? I went to a medical walk-in clinic and was given antibiotics, nasocort and singulair. Never taken so much medicine in my life at once, I think. Anyway, the ear is feeling better and I wake up without a headache so the meds must be working even though I still feel like my nose is a little stuffed still. Still dizzy a bit, especially when I lay down. But I'm still biking....haven't run for about 1 1/2 weeks.

School has started, so far the 1st week my son has done well as far as I can tell!!!!

My daughter started college and seems to be doing well also.

So, at this moment, all is well with my world. However, my prayers are with the Katrina victims.