The Final Piece

I've had several "I'm done!" moments during this past year and a half of school. I counted the end of each May, July and December as an I'M DONE moment, even if for the semester. Last December I finished all my formal coursework and I did a big I'M DONE!

Except not really. The worst may have been over, but for state licensure I still had some 60-odd hours to spend in a high school library...tough to do when I'm working full time at a school somewhere else. So, I may have gotten back to some semblance of my old life last winter, but a chunk of my summer was spent inside the local high school. When I finished at the end of July, I ran from the place, elated that I'M DONE!

Except I wasn't. I still had a reflection paper to write...bugger that. It was one of those things that I considered so simple that I'd get it done anytime.

Except I didn't...because I'M DONE?.... I spent last Sunday banging away on the keyboard writing up four pages of reflection. Yesterday morning, I took the state content test. I walked away at 10:10.

Free at last. I'M DONE! I think.

It's time to ride.

- OB

Change of Season

we rode north trying to outrun autumn
with the warm wind behind us
up Wirth Parkway through the slanted September sun
hoping this time southern breezes would follow us
north
through the park
north
past the trails that hold fall mountain biking
and the smell of autumn colors
north
around the hill that's exhilarating on skis
north up Victory Parkway
coasting, spinning, until we reached the memorial
where we rested
and listened to the breeze
to the flags rippling
to the realization that breezes shift
and
we
turned
and started for home


- The Old fall isn't so bad Bag

The Race

The only place to be conservative is on the trails....


and
then
only
rarely




- ob

Step Two

Preamble | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 4.5 | Original | 5
The foundation stucco was dropping off in chunks this summer...another home project taken on by the prior owner people need to know when they're outta their league. There were spots where the cinder block itself had 1-2" holes -- the stucco had taken chunks of block with it when it pulled away.



- O$B I was tired of hosta anyway

And So It Begins

Preamble | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 4.5 | Original | 5

Basement Window Before

Basement Window After

- TOB so far, so good

1165 Square Feet...

Preamble | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 4.5 | Original | 5

...packed with two adults, a border collie, two felines, computers, furniture, files, music, guest bed, dressers, books, bicycles, skis, camping stuff, yard equipment, a Costco membership, and all the requisite stuff of people who dabble in everything from sports to music to art....

OK, so that 1165 doesn't include the garage or the unfinished basement, but you get what I mean. It's small.

It was one of those "your house or my house or a new house?" decisions that two people have to make when they meet after having a few years under their belts. His place had more breathing room and more land, but was on the outskirts beyond some geographical hurdles. My place sported a location that fits a cycling and walking lifestyle, but it has space and layout issues.

We decided to hang out here while deciding where we really wanted to live. Initially, it was temporary, but once we started looking at other places we started reexamining our 1165 finished square feet.

What we have here is pretty OK. We've got an over-sized garage, which is a rarity in this part of town. We have an unfinished basement for bicycle and ski work and for hosing off a muddy dog when it's cold outside. We have a small yard that's a blank slate waiting for a patio and a fire pit.

From the beginning the 1165 has been enough space to live within, but it's configured in an odd way and storage is tight. So, now we're looking at how we can re-jigger spaces. Trading an attic closet for a bathroom...closing off a kitchen doorway to gain more counter space...adding an egress to the basement for a guest room. They're all great ideas, but each is one dominoe falling toward the next. Grandma's china is in that attic closet. Granddad's tool bench would be better used in the basement.

So, we reshuffle furniture and pare down our stuff. It's causing us to really examine what we need and how our perceptions and memories color those decisions.

- The feelin' Old and squished Bag

Do You Lean Left or Right?

Sometimes there is no middle ground...


-OB

Tag

It's amazing how quickly this meme has traveled. Fatty whelped it a mere week ago and already it's made its way to the East Coast, Seattle and Alaska, and now it's hovering somewhere over the midwest. He'd grown tired of the tagging games that ask non-relevant questions of bicycle bloggers, so he started his own bicycle-related meme.

This one is ever so much more relevant to my life.

But, if BSNY sees fit to answer it, then I suppose I'll take to the keyboard as well, pushed to the overhang by Tim by the way Tim, which child DO you love the most?? , Snakebite and Vito.

If you could have any one — and only one — bike in the world, what would it be?
It would be the one bicycle that gets me there -- wherever THERE may be -- with a few good friends and a few good beers and a few good burgers afterward.

Do you already have that coveted dream bike? If so, is it everything you hoped it would be? If not, are you working toward getting it? If you’re not working toward getting it, why not?
Given my criteria above, I guess I've got about a dozen of them. But a cyclist's existence revolves around the constant perusal of materials and geometries and frame techniques. The dream changes as all these aspects change.

So, basically I'm working toward my dream bike in the same vein as is my friend who is into everything automobile but who drives a used Caravan because it's cheap and hauls a lot...not that I'm cheap...but I can haul....I look at quite a bit of bling, but am pretty content with what I've got.

If you had to choose one — and only one — bike route to do every day for the rest of your life, what would it be, and why?
All this woods-and-knobbies hoo-ha is a barrel of fun, but after growing up on the prairie looking across the expanse imagining everything that's out there and beyond, I've got to be able to see off into the distance. Trees are beautiful and all, but they're so in your face. My favorite route would be on the road.

Believe it or not, I might choose my commute -- it's got trails, busy streets, quiet roads, hills, a funky coffee shop, Frosties, shopping, misty morning lakes, and even a vista overlooking a park-reserve. AND, home is at the other end.

What kind of sick person would force another person to ride one and only one bike ride for the rest of her / his life?
Yeah well, not everyone gets it.

Do you ride both road and mountain bikes? If both, which do you prefer and why? If only one or the other, why are you so narrowminded?
I ride both, and which I prefer depends upon where THERE is (see #1).

Have you ever ridden a recumbent? If so, why? If not, describe the circumstances under which you would ride a recumbent.
Yup. Parking lot test ride. As long as there's garage space there will be room for one...when my back goes or when I lose my sense of balance: a recumbent trike!

Have you ever raced a triathlon? If so, have you also ever tried strangling yourself with dental floss?
Hmmm, which would be more fun...can't decide....dental floss....

Suppose you were forced to either give up ice cream or bicycles for the rest of your life. Which would you give up, and why?
No decision there -- ice cream goes. Cholesterol, sugar, carbs, fat, chocolaty goodness, a cool bit of heaven on a hot riding day, stirred up with a bit of malt powder...bleck, hate the stuff.

What is a question you think this questionnaire should have asked, but has not? Also, answer it.
Why is TOB such a babe? Born that way. Can't help it.

You’re riding your bike in the wilderness (if you’re a roadie, you’re on a road, but otherwise the surroundings are quite wilderness-like) and you see a bear. The bear sees you. What do you do?
Considering the bear is far enough away to be a dot on the horizon, and the mile-wide river between us provides no hope of crossing, I think to myself you know, it's too bad I'll never get to see one of those things close up and I turn for home.

Now, tag three biking bloggers. List them below.
Brother Yam
Fat Lad - who owes me
Pete
KM
Jeff

- OB so I cheated on the numbers a bit....