Go 'Way

If'n you gotta spend a couple minutes at someone's blog, head over to Squirrel's place -- catch this vid.

- tOb but be sure to come back now and again!

How Ever Will I

a back-to-work haiku

has it been a week
since I've put together a
coherent post for

the laundry and mail
regenerate themselves in
an amazingly

how will I ever
accomplish in an evening
things that used to take

- OBZzzz but I'm not done and it's already time for b

The One that Brings Me

The cooler nights, the sun setting earlier in the evening, the dull green on the trees.... I know what’s on its way all too soon: dark mornings, fuzzy tights and the furnace kicking-in. I’m outta sorts with this transition. It's bigger than going back to a new school year. Time moves. The cycle begins again.

The wheel has rolled to the position it was in once before, yet it's not in the same place: it’s moved that much farther along the map, and the scenery is just a bit different, and the road contact has removed one more layer of wear from the tread. Everything looks familiar but nothing is quite the same.

I'm wistful because I have the time to be so. In another few days life will be crazy with kids and teachers and helpme^helpmehelpme and will-I-live-to-see-the-end-of-this-day. I won't have time for WISTFUL.

And then will come the red leaves waiting for snow to fall while hunkered-down until spring before summer sets me free again. And too soon I'll be back in this spot, but in a different place.

The wheel rolls.

Stella is starting to stomp around the garage. She can smell change on the air. Autumn is her favorite season to haul through the woods, and her impatience is setting-in. I get it, but I haven’t hopped onto the saddle just yet.

Betty knows too. She’s ancy when I get home. She knows how to cajole without allowing me to wallow. ComeON. So, you're nostalgic. SO, you're tired. SO it's getting cooler. SO the sun is setting a bit earlier. Time passes nothing stays the same you're getting old and one day you won't be around anymore bla bla bla. Girl, we've got a headlight. Flashers are on. It’s not like you have to DO anything but pedal. Let's go let'sgolet'sgolet'sgo!



....and we can stop by the Dairy Queen....

!

She knows how to get my sorry backside outta the house.

- TOB

Did I Mention

that it's time for me to head back to work?

- The Bag just isn't in her happy place....

Vintage Red

'76 was a Fine Year


It's AMAZING how much space can be found in the garage after a person has de-cluttered he did ask: what about the bicycles? and I realized he was right -- there's room for more! I picked up this Raleigh Grand Prix from a local guy who rescues old bicycles that are in decent working order. It appears to be from 1976, as far as I can tell.

I'm thinking it'll get fenders and wider tires, and I might swap-out the wheels for some others I have...or not. I think the drop bars have to go back on (the previous owner had removed them in the hopes his dad would ride it -- he sent them along with me). With the exception of some brake adjustments the components seem to be in good shape, but I do have 8-speed parts hanging around.

Leave everything as-is? Frankenbike it?

Perhaps a decision will come after I give it a few rides and see how well 10 speeds work for pushing 29 (!) pounds around the city I'm such a weenie and see how well those components actually work after all these years. The frame is in decent, but not pristine, shape.

Thoughts?
- OB we're all a little rusty after a few years

Desire

n. the feeling that accompanies an unsatisfied state

It hit me last week,
Wednesday.

Now, I fight the pull daily
as I ride-past the drive-through.

I can go without. I don't need it.
I can cold-turkey any time I want to.

And I never over-indulge...
just a cheeseburger, small fry and a tiny Coke.
Maybe once a month. Maybe. Maybe not even.

But it satisfies some primal yearning,
some sensation my taste buds scream for....

- ob and then I wonder, just what-the-heck were they screaming about?!?

Clutter

or
Rules Schmools

The Sweetie is in the midst of downsizing his life: more cycling, less driving, looking to simplify -- time to sell the big house and find something smaller and more urban. He's painting and cleaning, and is now facing the de-cluttering recommended by his realtor.

As someone who thrives on the high she gets from every bag of stuff she sets curbside for the local ARC, Disabled American Vets or Lupus Foundation, I had tons of suggestions I can make someone's head spin. Admittedly, whether or not one lives for this type of activity, one still needs to find the time to get after it.

For me, the get after it times happen during the slow parts of the year: good, rainy weekends during the spring and fall transitions between cycling and skiing (well after the school year has geared-up, and again in the spring well before it gears-up ONCE MORE), as well as during a chunk of my summer vacation when I have the time to do all things domestic...like now.

I explained some of the criteria I use. The tiny kitchen in my new, old house is woefully small compared to the kitchen in my old, new townhouse. When I moved-in things just had to go. So, coffee mugs for example. My favorites stayed. Those not used so often went into a box stored in the basement until I realized I didn't miss them and they could go out to the curb. Clothing not worn in two three?? years meets the same fate...except for certain things like the dress I wore to my 20th class reunion -- a fine piece...for 1999 anyway.

From there, the discussion moved-on to the garage which I'd just sorted-through...I recycled boxes, sorted drawers and tools, moved non-working and giveaway items over to one side, then took the leaf-blower to the floor.

My work there was done.

What about the bicycles? he says.

THE WHAT?!? I says.

The bicycles, he says.

I USE THEM...ALL SEVEN...EIGHT OF THEM. I says. EXCEPT FOR THE-

So... you've ridden the track within the last two years? he says

-FOR THE TRACK BIKE...AND OK, MARILYN...AND ALRIGHT NOT THE OLD MOUNTAIN BIKE...THE TRACK FRAME IS a work of art and it's either going on the wall or I'm turning it into a street fixie but I just haven't had the time and Marilyn doesn't GET ridden her sole purpose is to sit there and look all pretty with her magenta frame and handlebar streamers and remind me of my childhood and the day I first laid eyes on her sitting in the driveway on my 9th birthday as I got out of the truck and the old mountain bike is going to be a singlespeed and has components I'm going to transfer to my Frankenbike when I get around to getting some old frame to make a Frankenbike with and don't even get started on the drawer full of parts because they're all going to be used...

eventually

...SO OK, I'LL THROW OUT...UM...THOSE FIVE OLD PUNCTURED TUBES HANGING FROM THE RAFTERS BUT YOU KNOW THEY CAN BE USED FOR OTHER THINGS BESIDES on wheels like for loops to keep the garage door from blowing shut in the wind...and stuff....

- OB gettin' huffy

Reason #21,758 Why Cyclists

and Yards Just Don't Mix in Minnesota where somehow we believe houses should be surrounded by grass...gotta rethink that fer God's sake....

A House Haiku (housku??)

seven weed-filled bags
work put-off for months while I
toured, traveled and played

What's in these...

...was all here...

...but I doubt there's much hope for this.

- ocriminyb

Oregon's Northern Coast

The Three Arches near Oceanside (view from our rental)

Beach outside Pacific City

Cape Lookout State Park

- TOB lots of beach walking and hiking and eating....

At 45 it's Elementary

A unique group of women, some of whom go as far back as Miss Ensberg's kindergarten class...the teenaged years were better, the family struggles easier, the choices simpler because of them. We scattered around the country in the 80s and our lives have since diverged, but we're still among the best of friends.

Next trip: 2011!

- OB third from the left, still no hair dye, and not on a bicycle

Witness Tree Vinyard, Salem OR

Overlooking the Vinyard

Wine Barrels

The Witness Tree
(oak tree used as a surveyor's landmark, 1854)

-OB

My Own Slice of Heaven

After 13 days gone, a bicycle ride, a cool evening breeze and my own bed at night...cats walking on me this morning...piles on the diningroom table, kitchen counters and 2nd bedroom......

There's no place like home :-] .

- OB photos on the way