door cams, ham cams

Tuesday that feels like a Monday. I've got tutees this afternoon, and appreciate not having any  responsibilities until then. 

I was on a grateful bicycle ride this morning, and there was a bicycling woman on the pathway a few yards ahead of me. A guy riding an e-bike went past me - on the left after beeping his horn, all very cordial. I waved my hand in acknowledgement.

He then did the same with the woman in front of me - beeped before passing on the  left. She seemed about to similarly wave in acknowledgement, but as he went by, I saw that she instead raised her hand to flip him off.

What was THAT about? There are some reckless e-bike riders around, typically riding powerful e-bikes that aren't allowed on the bike path, but who's gonna catch 'em? Because of those hooligans, many bicyclists and pedestrians don't like e-bikes in general.

But this guy was not going super fast, his bike looked legal to me, and he was following the rules. I don't think he even noticed that she had flipped him off.

Then it was my turn to pass, so I'm thinking, "is she offended by ANYONE who passes her?" I dinged my bell and went by her, possibly flipped off. I didn't check.

We had a nice 3-day weekend. Saturday was very low-key. We went downtown and hung out at the Farmer's market. Sunday, our front door ring camera had crapped out. It's quite old and just didn't seem to have any get up and go. We laid it to rest, got a replacement from Best Buy, and Magnum installed it. We're back on front door surveillance,

Yesterday, we went up to Helms Deep. Meego joined us, and Wolfgang met us after for lunch. 

I've mentioned here that our "driveway" on the property is in rough shape, so I wanted to get a feel for just how rough as we've been considering hiring a contractor to clear and smooth it out for us.

So I took to it with a couple of hand tools to estimate how many "Man Hours" - to coin an outdated cost estimating term - it would take to shape it up.

Here is a view of what most of it looks like while entering.

Then I took a pic of the area I cleaned up without too much effort in about one "Old Lady Hour".

We have a dollar amount that we're willing to pay someone to clear it, but it's not like we need to have a whole road built. There's a road there, it's just been neglected for a while and needs a little makeover. We'll probably do it ourselves like old time pioneers.

The trail cam showed more deer. No cows this time, and still no mountain lions, but we know they're around. 

This guy shows up frequently. Must be a favorite branch. 

Either that, or he knows there's a trail cam there, and he's a total ham.

dinner and a show

The fire engine pulled in slowly, parking next to my vehicle. I sat a few feet away with my new friend, Jerry. We watched as three young, burly men, oozing testosterone, stepped from the cab. 

"Is that your husband?", Jerry asked, indicating the driver and largest of the trio.

"PFFFT, I wish!", I replied, giving Jerry an elbow as he gave me a big toothless smile. But really, I probably couldn't handle that much husband.

"Husband" and another approached us while the third guy took up his position directing traffic. They began talking with Jerry while I hung back like Casper the friendly (and invisible) ghost. Feeling like the 5th wheel, I decided it was time to go.

This went down yesterday around 6:30pm. Chaco's in town, and the gang was all at our house for Thai takeout. I was returning home with the goods. As I approached a main intersection near our house, I saw a heap of something in the road. It soon became clear that it was a bicycle and a person. Someone was helping the person up, and another ran over to move the bicycle from the road.

Aha, another bicycle accident I'd just missed witnessing. I pulled over to put in my two cents if needed.

"Has anyone called paramedics?" I asked the other two assisters. The one helping Jerry to the curb wagged their head, no.

So there I was, making a 9-1-1 call as my Pad Thai, Curry, Se Ew, etc. sat simmering in the front seat of the car. 

The dispatcher asked me a series of questions other than "what's happening", "where are you"... Was he breathing, what's his age, was he conscious... He was conscious, breathing, talking. I guessed his age to be about 70, then I realized I could just ask him.

"I'm 80", he said with a mouth of few teeth.

The dispatcher asked me to stay with him until paramedics arrived, help flag them down if necessary. She had me describe my car, which I suppose is why they parked the fire engine next to it. 

As we waited, I gave Jerry a certified untrained bystander assessment. He didn't seem too beat up. He had some bruises and scratches, but they were not fresh. Plus, there was the teeth situation. No new injuries I could see. 

I asked him if anything hurt, and he said, "Naw, I'm fine. Really."

He struck me as a tough old guy. I noticed he wore a "Vietnam War Veteran" hat. He had been wearing a bike helmet, which lay on the road beside us. His bike was an e-bike with a few items bungeed to it. While I'd been talking with the 911 dispatcher, I overheard him make a call to "Mama", saying he was going to be "a little late for them steaks".

I'm still not sure what happened. I think someone may have cut him off, causing him to crash in reaction, but didn't crash into him. If so, whoever they were didn't stay on scene. One of the earlier helpers told me he'd hit his head pretty hard. Good thing for that helmet.

Later, I checked the dispatch log and saw that the incident was closed after 22 minutes. I'm pretty certain Jerry declined an ambulance. As we'd sat there waiting, I told him he looked really good for 80, which seemed to please him. To myself, I noted, not good in an aged-like-fine-wine kinda way, but more of a he-can-handle-a-smackdown kinda way.

Nice meeting you, Jerry. I hope you got to enjoy them steaks.

captured

This week seems to have *WHOOSHED* on by. Maybe because it was a short one, starting with a holiday?

Things are back to business. My tutor schedule has filled - almost to the brim - with another batch of fun students. The mathing commences.

I mentioned that I would start sometimes bringing my bike cam along on bike rides, to possibly catch a hooligan or two. I'm glad to say that I've taken a few lovely rides  with no captures of crashes or criminal activity.

On Sunday, I did see the cutest thing I've seen all week. Yes, it remains in the top spot.

This little boy was on this teeny recumbent, hitched to (I assume) Dad's bike. I'd never seen such a small hitched tow-behind. Usually kids that small are in those little trailers.

But there he was, pedaling away, I'm sure providing no power whatsoever.  But as we passed each other, his eyes trained with mine the whole encounter, he had the cutest smile. Very proud of himself, being part of the fray, as if saying

"Hello, fellow bicycle rider!"

 Now it's off to work for another morning of testing... testing... testing.

finders keepers?

Magnum and I took a typical Sunday morning bicycle ride today. Temps were in the low 70s, which almost felt "cold" relative to recent weeks. Not complaining.

We pulled up to a red light at one point, and I noticed something interesting on the ground. So I picked it up, and popped it into a side pocket on my backpacket to scrutinize further later.

I've since scrutinized it further, and am left with more questions than answers.

The thing in question:

It clearly has a carabiner on the left there, but what was the rest? I figured it was some sort of multi-tool, but unlike my usual finds - as mentioned [HERE] and also [HERE] - in the wild, it had no sharp edges. 

Once we made it to our destined coffee shop, I whipped it out for research. It's apparently an "Artifaxing" caribiner, and other than the caribiner part, the rest is just a logo for ... some... thing?

I landed on the Artifaxing instagram page which seems like a bunch of random posts, but the page has over a million followers. Okaaaaay (I did not add myself to the following). 

There is also a website, showing the caribiner as SOLD OUT, and noting it is not to be used for any kind of weight bearing use - just keys, etc. But it appears to be a highly sought after item among the followers/ community, which appears to have started on instagram.

So the whatizzit? A small, weak, caribiner/keychain.

The whyizzit? I have no idea.

While perusing the instagram page, I noticed a screenshot where someone else had supposedly found one lying around, and advertised to get it back to its owner. Some speculated that the drop was a marketing ploy to ramp up interest in the... whatever they are.

Was that how it entered my orbit? 

I don't know what it is about. I also doubt I'm in the intended target market.

But it's mine now.

bicycles, birds, baddies

It was a beautiful morning for a bicycle ride today, and that's exactly what we did. Really feels like spring has sprung. While tooling through a particulary ritzy neighborhood - visiting how the other half lives - we came upon 4 or 5 wild turkeys.

Although rare, I've come across wild turkeys within the city limits before, but this particular "rafter" (had to look that up) of turkeys included comparatively large and quite lovely birds. Others have seemed scraggly and weak looking. 

I slowed a bit to take in this healthy bird crew as a pickup came up behind us. So I moved on along to not block the pickup, but then pickup guy pulled alongside of us and asked, 

"Didja see the turkeys?! They're HUUUUGE!"

The group let out a good gobble-gobble, just to show off, as we carried on our way. 

Shortly afterward, a lone blue heron gave us a flyby, and a while later, a pod (google again) of pelicans gracefully circled overhead. A morning of bicycles and birds it was.

I have no photos of these majestic bird sightings. Know that I at least momentarily considered pulling over and getting pics, but talked myself out of it. 

I didn't experience the local "Hands Off" rally first hand yesterday, but heard that it was peaceful. However, later in the afternoon, we got several news reports of a "possible gang-associated" shooting at the local mall with a suspect on the run. 

So that was news for our sleepy, relatively low-crime city. Authorities were still looking for a suspect when we went to bed.

Around 4:30 this morning, I was awakened by what sounded like someone knocking on our glass door or one of our windows. About 6 knocks, followed by a pause and 4 more knocks followed by a pause and 2 more knocks in quick succession. 

A disconcerting sound, certainly. But then I figured if someone was knocking on one of our windows or doors, the dogs would be going bananas, which they most certainly were not.

"Hmmm, it's probably gun shots or fireworks", I figured, which made it strangely seem less disconcerting. 

No news of it today other than from Ring neighbors and Nextdoor people who were similarly awakened and wondering, so it was likely fireworks.

Fireworks are illegal in Colorado, but not so in Wyoming, which is about a 45-minute drive from here. So we get firework shooters year-round and learn to just go back to sleep.

Anyway, we learned that the police identified and arrested a suspect in the mall murders - yes, both victims died. Some teenager. Under 18. WTF.

onward

I took a morning bicycle ride today. We're back to high temperatures in the 90s, so best to get out in the morning when the gettin's good.  I enjoy a route that takes me along a shady path near to what is left of our river at this time of year.

As I emerged from the trail, I heard a ruckus from nearby. Further exploration in that direction revealed a morning outdoor spin class happening. 

Here I had just enjoyed a lovely ride along a shady riverside path, and there were people riding bicycles to nowhere on a slab of concrete? Oh well, to each their own. I will add, however, that it was in the outdoor area of a local brewery...

Curious, I googled afterwards, and learned that yes, [this is a thing]. It happens every third Sunday, May through October. 

For fifty bucks, cycle to nowhere, lift some heavy things, buy some beer and hit up the food trucks after. It was well attended, from what I saw. They probably think I'm a weirdo for riding a bicycle that goes somewhere.

In other news, school kids went back this week. Ugh, traffic is gross. We live near a high school, so I'm back to planning my trips around the horrendous first bell/ last bell traffic.

The college where I work and the local university start their fall semesters tomorrow. 

Mother Nature needs to heed the memo that summer's over. Turn down the heat.

adventure - party - carnage

Some catching up to do, it seems.

Been out having little adventures, this morning's featured road side blood and gore, but more on that later.

• On Friday, Magnum and I headed out for a commune with nature and hiked up to the summit of Arthur's Rock, a popular local hike.  I'd been up there once before with work friends, and Magnum wanted to give it a go with the aid of his new trekking poles. So off on our Arthurian quest we went. 

Magnum and the trekking poles, along with myself, made it to the summit and back. 

I highly recommend this invigorating hike. The summit rewards us with captivating eastward facing views where one (with super dooper vision) can nearly make out the cornfields of Nebraska.

Acrophobe me, hanging on for dear life

• Yesterday, we attended a large-ish family gathering to help Magnum's 90-year-old stepfather celebrate being 90 years old.

I grabbed a portion of one of the "Grandpa-D-with-all-the-grandkids" photos as it happened that our three contributions to the grandkid brood were right next to the man of honor. The landscape versions of the mass of grandkid humanity photos are much larger.

That's my MIL between Meego and Chaco, Grandpa D next to Wolfgang.

We each were supplied nametags with our "titles", i.e. "Abby - daughter-in-law" which made life easier at such a large gathering.

• This morning, Magnum and I headed out for a pleasant bike ride. Nothing strenuous, just meandering around our friendly town. We were rolling down a particularly picturesque street, me slightly in front, when I hear much scuffling from behind. 

I eventually looked around to see the end of Magnum's lengthy crash, he and his bicycle laying on their left sides.

The thing what happened: he was drinking from his water bottle, held in his right hand, as we approached an intersection. Upon noticing a truck approaching from our right, he instinctively grabbed his left-hand brake lever, which so happens to be the front brake. This caused his front tire to do a little hurky-doo, and the rest is self explanatory.

We assessed and briefly convalesced under the delightful shade of happy trees lining this particularly amiable street. It would've been a perfectly excellent little place of recess if not for all the blood and gore.

I whipped out my handy first-aid kit I always have with me while bike riding, almost happy for the justification to use it. It was reminiscent of that incident during my lunch lady days when young Mitch splashed nasty cleanser into his eyes, and I got to use the eye wash station for reals.

"I can fix this!", I told Magnum as I rifled through my little IFAK 

"Mammals are pretty much all the same except for the number of tits!", a line from a show we recently watched - quoting a veterinarian coming to the aid of her freshly stabbed wife.

For the record, I cannot fix a fresh stabbing, but a little bike crash road hash, oh yes.

poodering along

Went for a lovely morning bike ride before it got too hot. Stopped to appreciate the results of spring thaw + rain.

I call it "Shadow Selfie by the Poudre" . It's the Cache la Poudre River that runs through town. Everyone pronounces it "POO-der", and today I learned it's true French pronunciation is "poo-DRAY", which sounds snobby to me.

Shadow selfie by the POO-DER. Final answer

gone, grime, and ghosts

It feels like summer now. We live in a college town, and I'm not gonna lie. As much as I appreciate the university and all it adds to our city, it's nice when the population drops for a couple of months every year. Everything becomes noticeably less crowded and just... slower. *cleansing breath*

My work schedule is a little lighter as well, so I enjoyed a bit more bike riding with no particular place to go this week despite the poor air quality alerts. Canada is burning. We should have a view of the mountain range beyond the trees, but the sky was too smokey.

The local trial gardens (another perk of the university) have begun doing their thing.

A local bicycling group also "planted" two ghost bikes this week, to acknowledge two local bicycle fatalities (so far) of 2023 during Ride of Silence, a world wide event. I didn't participate in the ride, but I did swing by the sites after the fact.

facebook.com/BikeFortCollins

Fort Collins is a very bicycle friendly city (thanks again, in part, to the university), but of course, it could always be better. I'll note that, for these two fatalities, motorists were not at fault. In fact, they likely feel pretty crappy about their involvement. 

Obey the rules. Pay attention. C'mon now.

SO, I look forward to more summer laid backness, and less congestion in our city until the fall semester brings back the U-Hauls and such. 


And NO ghosting from the lovely Violet.






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Linking up this week with Mama Kat for the prompt:

4. Summer is coming! What are you most looking forward to?

come again another day

Everything is soggy. 

We've had a gentle falling rain for the past 24 hours or so. Kind of odd for these parts. I went for a short bicycle outing this morning, and on the way back home, decided to take the long way. I had an actual raincoat on, so why not?

There's an appealing calmness when rain is gently falling like that.  Here, we're more likely to get violent thunderstorms that blast through and wreak havoc, maybe throw down some car- or roof- totaling hail. But not this gentle make-a-youtube-to-lull-people-to-sleep rain.

So I took advantage of the rain and my raincoat and the fact that I have the day off. With the spring semester over, I have no tutees for the next few weeks.

I came across this mini swamp amid a cacophony of frog noises. I recall reading once that, if you hear wildlife noises, it's usually an indicator that mating is happening or trying to. 

Expect tadpoles soon.

I snapped the soggy pic below from near the area I captured that Goldilocks snow a few months ago.


Goldilocks rain this time. 

                

Recently, at work, we were talking about how people form close "relationships" with inanimate objects. This because we had a pink gel pen left behind by a student who swore she wouldn't forget it because it was her "favorite pen". 

A cart outside in the hallway was stocked full of "favorite" water bottles left behind. 

And we all fessed up to having placed similar sentimental value on items that are otherwise easy to replace.

Pretty silly, actually.

During a short hiatus on this morning's ride, my good friend, bicycle Violet and I got a snarky kick out of the notion.

call o' nature

We went away for a few days of relaxation on the beach... but not really.

We went away for a few days of play in the mountains. I'm not really one for sitting on a lounge chair on a cruise ship or beach while sipping an umbrella drink and taking a pic of my sandaled feet. So this'll do.

We visited lovely Steamboat Springs, CO - yet another touristy resort town up yonder. A ski town fer shur, but plenty to do year-round, so the whole fam headed there for a little end-of-summer getaway.

None of us had been there before except for Magnum who'd gone there to ski once or twice in the pre-me days.

We stayed in an Airbnb or Vrbo (Magnum booked it...) condo with plenty of room for all of us and nice views off the pond.

Our condo also allowed us to bring Chaco's dog, Ella. Our dogs stayed behind at the kennel, so don't tell them about Ella.

On our first full day, we rented bicycles and rode the length of the trail that runs through town, top to bottom and then some. Along the way, we stopped at the enjoyable Yampa River Botanic Park. It sits right along the bike path and was nicely laid out and maintained. 

My trip recorder skills are so bad, I didn't get one photo, but oh well. We have the internet.

On the bike ride, I noticed quite a few rather run down, mobile home type residences on the outskirts of town surrounding the posh big expensive homes of Steamboat. Thing with these resort towns - somebody needs to do the cookin' and cleanin' for the ritzy residents.

We walked around the small downtown area, Chaco in search of a hoodie. He preferred one that did not say "Steamboat Springs" anywhere on it. Not a chance.

With biking checked off our list, we headed out the next day for some hiking. We found a nearby trail that would take us to Fish Creek Falls, a moderate hike that took us from about 7400 ft to 9000 ft to the upper falls - around 4.5 miles out and back.

The aspens had not yet begun to change. It should be really pretty in a couple of weeks when we're not there.

We rounded things out with a good deal of eating and lounging and people watching and gaming. The trip provided me a much needed nature fix, yet left me thirsty for more. Greedy, I know.

see beyond the road I'm drivin'

On Monday, I made a lousy batch of French press coffee.  I guess I wasn't paying much attention to my process, and it was really *bleccch*

I'd made the awful coffee for taking in to work, and it was there that I realized it was awful and just would not do for a rousing day of invigilating.  During a break in the action, I ducked out to get a cuppa from the campus coffee kiosk.  Nothing fancy, just hot and caffeinated, please.

The coffee kiosk is a satellite operation of a well-liked coffee shop downtown, but I'd never been to the downtown location.  Since they saved the day from my pressed sludge, got me going with a punch card (buy 9, get the 10th free), and it was an unseasonably nice day today, Magnum and I decided to bicycle downtown and check out the mother ship coffeeshop.

We often go out for coffee on the weekends and sort of fell into a rut of the same 2 or 3 places, so we were due for a new experience.  It was a beautiful day for a ride, so I'm glad we took advantage because temperatures are set to plummet this week.  

So we're out enjoying our coffee run, headed east near the university.  In my rear view  mirror, I saw a guy coming up beside us on his bicycle, so slowed a bit to allow him to pass.  The three of us continued single file in the bike lane going east until we approached the bike path that would take us north to coffee.

Turns out, Bicycle Guy - now in front of us - was also turning north (left) onto the bike path.  He didn't even check behind him for motorized traffic before beginning his left turn.  Keep in mind that we were all in the bike lane on the right side of the road.

It's like I could see it happening before it happened.  I saw two vehicles approaching from behind us, I saw Bike Guy starting to turn left... Luckily for him, both vehicle drivers were paying attention.  The one in front hit the brakes, avoiding a collision with Bike Guy, and the one behind hit the brakes in time to avoid a collision with everybody.  

I'd guess that Bike Guy was in his 40s or 50s, and not some cocky college kid being a daredevil.  He was an older guy riding an average bike.  He stopped among the burned rubber and just sort of,

"Oh, heh, sorry.  My fault", and waved the cars forward before proceeding onto the path.  

And I'm thinking, "C'mon, you're giving us all a bad rep", and "so everyone knows, I look behind before turning left!"

All that to say we tried a new coffee place because I  made a lousy batch on Monday.

I added a couple of people drawings to the sketchbook this week too.

One with a pen.

One with a pencil.

The randomness abounds.

the Silver(thorne) lining

I've got some blog catching up to do here.  I could also do some housecleaning and/or yardwork, but surely this is more pressing.

We took a couple of fun days in the mountains last week, managing to get the brood together all at the same time.  Went up Tuesday night to an Airbnb condo in Silverthorne, CO and returned Friday morning, so we had two full days to play.  

In summary, we hiked, biked, fished, gamed, and ate.  I count it all as a success.  We had access to a pool, but sort of forgot about swimming.  Dang.

The biking bit involved riding up and down Vail Pass, which I'd heard of doing, but this was my maiden voyage.  

It was a beautiful day of beautiful scenery and no threat of rain/hail/lightning.  10/10 would recommend.  

We weren't planning to go all the way to the summit, just enjoy riding along the path for however long.

We made it a mile or so passed the halfway point when Chaco's knees started creaking - it's uphill the whole way from Frisco to the summit.  Wolfgang, Meego, and I went on a couple miles further while Magnum and Chaco headed back to check out the marina. 

Everyone but myself had rental bikes, and we wanted to make sure to get back to the shop in time not to pay for an additional day.

But first, some victory pics...

In looking at the map after the fact, we turned around about 2 or 3 miles from the summit.

The way back was a total rush.  We had no idea we were climbing so steeply until turning around.  I sped down the path and watched as Wolfgang and Meego became little blue and red dots respectively.

A few heart palpitations and eaten bugs later, we were all back to downtown Frisco.

Thursday, we hung out in Frisco and hiked around Dillon Reservoir where Chaco tried his luck at some fishing.  

Yeah, no luck there...

Ella the pooch was with us.  She never sat down.  Her favorite part of fishing is when it's time to leave.

We also got in a bit of culture by visiting some historic displays downtown, engaged tourists that we were.

All in all, a positive wrap up for the summer, COVID variants and all.  

make the cold nights feel like summer days

Back in late February, I got a LinkedIn notification about  a job opening.  It sounded like something I might like to do, and I felt qualified, so I went ahead and completed an application.  Other than the automated acknowledgement that they'd received my materials, etc., I never heard anything from them.

...until a couple of weeks ago.  Seemingly "out of the blue", I got a phone call.  The hiring manager was  personable, explained the nature of the job a bit more, asked if I was still interested and if so, would I come in for an interview?

Yeah... sure... okay... despite the fact that I'd just taken on a promotion at the old folks job.  

Long story short, I've given my notice at the old folks home and start the new gig on Tuesday.  I'll be working in the testing center at the local community college - coordinating activities for various standardized tests and academic exams.  My inner test nerd is happy, and it fits well with my tutoring experience.

Although the job was posted over three months ago, they'd halted hiring until the campus had their COVID policies more solidified, which apparently has happened.  So, I'm thankful and looking forward.

In the meantime, it's been a bit of a bumpy ride lately at the nursing facility.  Short staffing (remember me fretting about this as it loomed on the horizon??) has made for grumpy conditions, and it's difficult to get applicants right now.  Our chef has seemed rather cold to me this week, but he has the right.  He was away on a much needed vacation last week.  Upon his return, he was met with

• a cook who quit and didn't complete his 2-weeks notice because the new job offered him a fat bonus to start right away.
• I put in my notice.
• various dietary aides are quitting or wanting long vacations since school just got out.

and last, but certainly not least:

• Malcolm died.

I've enjoyed my time there, but really, it feels a bit like getting in the lifeboat of a sinking ship.  I don't know what upper management is doing to increase staffing as there's a lot of competition for workers right now.  Plus, I've said it here before:  I've learned that geriatrics isn't really my bag.  

A coworker friend who will likely take my position asked why I decided to take the new offer.

"Better pay, better schedule, more along the lines of my interests... Other than that, I dunno 😉"

Self care.  It's a good thing.  Speaking of which, I was enjoying a lovely morning bike ride earlier this week and came upon some dear deer just hanging out.

Such rides sure beat the slush fest from a couple weeks ago.

Thanks to everyone for the kind thoughts and words regarding Malcolm.  There was a well-attended celebration of life at his neighborhood cul de sac last weekend, but it still seems unreal at times.  

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Linking up this week with MamaKat for the prompt:

5. Summer is coming! What are you most looking forward to?

a day of carnage and mystery

 Yesterday morning, just before sunrise, I was enjoying a morning riff-raff-bike-ride through that lovely ritzy private lake neighborhood.  At one point, I saw a dead furry thing in the road ahead.  

As I approached, I tried discerning what the carcass was.  Raccoon?  Dog?  Cat?  The fur was dark and a bit stripey.  I was leaning toward raccoon.  

There was a man approaching from the opposite direction, apparently out for a lovely morning walk.  We both acknowledged each other while acknowledging the dead furry thing in the road.  I wasn't looking forward to rolling passed it and seeing the full gore likely to be on display.  Walking Man also approached rather gingerly, like to investigate the death.  

I was about to say something to him like, "should we call to have someone properly remove this?" when that damn thing jumped up and trotted across the street!  It startled Walking Man too as he visibly flinched and took a step back.  I managed to stay upright on the bicycle.

Frickin' cat.  Big boy.  Laying in the middle of the street for grins. Probably playing games with us before returning to its millions dollar home for a bowl of caviar.

Walking Man and I just looked at each other all wide-eyed.

"I coulda swore it was dead!", he said, narrating my own thoughts.

Later, in the afternoon, I was again out bicycling on a short errand.  Again, I saw something ahead in the street.  It could've been some downed branches?  It did appear to be branch-like, but it wasn't just tree-colored.  As I got closer, it looked to be... a person?  A child?  And a downed bicycle?

Closer still, and yes. It was a person and a bicycle.  A woman actually.  I'd say she was about mid-50s.  She just laid there.

Another woman appeared on the corner of the sidewalk and began speaking to downed woman just as I pulled up.  Sidewalk Woman and I asked how Crash Woman was.  Was she okay?  Could she stand up?  She remained sitting in the road.

At first, I thought maybe she'd hurt her leg/hip/knee/foot/ankle and was unable to stand.  But then a car approached and Crash Woman stood up while picking up her bicycle.  

She was a little scratched up with road hash here and there, but she hadn't hit her (helmeted) head.  Her bike saddle had a little tear.  Had she gone over the handlebars? 

Sidewalk woman and I asked her questions:  Did she feel she needed medical attention?  a ride? want to sit down? some water?  

She never answered other than to decline the offer of water.  She just kept saying, "I don't know what happened".  It was a clear day on a smooth, debris free road.

It was soon clear that Crash Woman and Sidewalk Woman knew each other.  In fact, I think maybe Crash Woman had just left Sidewalk Woman's home.  So even though Crash Woman seemed to be a bit dazed as she was smiling at Sidwalk Woman but not talking, I started to feel like a third wheel...

... and left them to it.  

Clearly some torrid affair stuff going on.  Crash Woman deliberately making a scene in front of Sidewalk Woman's home, not expecting Stranger Woman to intrude on the drama out of the blue.  

I  mean, if she's not talking, I'm left to fill in the blanks myself.  Just like with Caviar Cat.

what I did at summer camp

It's probably been around 30 years since I was last in Winter Park, Colorado.   Well, before this week anyways.  We just got back from a few days in the mountains, and I didn't turn on a computer the whole time.  Miss me?  Even notice I was gone?

We planned a family trip several weeks ago, and the stars actually aligned so that all five of us could hang out.  So I've been in and out of a mountain cabin for the last few days.  I'd like to say we enjoyed fresh air and sunshine, but various big wildfires out-performed the fresh air part.  Plenty of sunshine, though!

Obligatory sitting-around-on-vacation pic:

Don't mind the small blemish on my left shin.  I did a much better job on the right shin when we spent the day at Trestle Bike Park.  Trestle is a mountain bike resort with miles and miles of mountain bike trails.  The nice part is, you can ride a gondola to the top, so you're mostly riding your bike DOWNhill.  Weeeeeeeeeee!

Wolfgang is the most experienced mountain biker of the bunch and has been to Trestle before.  The rest of us noobs got to experience it for the first time.  

Meego and whatsherface.  Who wore it better?

It's one thing to snap a pic at the base of the gondola, another thing to get back down the mountain.  Just call me "hashtag slow and awkward"!  Nonetheless, I've got to say, it was fun!  Magnum and I stuck with repeatedly riding on one green trail in particular, aptly named "Green World".  It was great because it went for miles and miles without getting too technical.   

One of Wolfgang's friends joined us on Trestle day, so those two did their thing on the more advanced trails.  Meego and Chaco hung out with Magnum and me for a bit, but pretty much left us in the dust and did their own thing.  

And it wouldn't be a noteworthy day at the bike park without some body damage, right?  Meego was the first of us to do an over-the-handlebars move resulting in a bit of road hash and some bike blemishes.  But he was back to it in true 20-year-old fashion.  

Later on, Magnum hit a highly technical berm and ended up flying off the bike (translation:  he tripped exiting the gondola)

Finally, I attempted a particularly gnarly feature, and ended up sending it off the trail and into the foliage (translation:  I pulled my slow @ss over to let an adolescent pass me, and ended up dumping my bike).

Successful first trip to the bike park!

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Linking up this week with Mama Kat for the prompt:

4. Write a blog post inspired by the word: damage

sun's out, buns out!

I went for a lovely bike ride this morning which took me through a ritzy lakefront neighborhood that Magnum and I discovered a while back.  

Lake access is limited to residents of the neighborhood only.  Bike riding riff raff that I am, I snapped a quick pic of the sunrise before continuing on through.  I checked out some real estate prices in the area out of curiosity, already knowing we are not in the target market.  Yeah, they have M's instead of K's after the sale prices.  

I noticed some decent condos nearby for the 62+ crowd.  I thought I'd check those out for future reference and found them to be pretty cozy and decently priced.  What's the catch?  HOA fees:  like 2K/month!!  

What does a $2,000 per month HOA fee get you?  

But speaking of sun and sky, I saw this notion in my instagram feed:

And then of course, the comments...

Yeah, there's one in every crowd.  At least one.

Do you have an HOA?  Likes?  Dislikes?

bloodletting, bicycling, and bad spelling

"For people without diabetes, the normal range for the hemoglobin A1c level is between 4% and 5.6%. Hemoglobin A1c levels between 5.7% and 6.4% mean you have a higher chance of getting diabetes. Levels of 6.5% or higher mean you have diabetes."


I don't have diabetes.  I don't expect to have diabetes.  Yet, for the past 3 or 4 years, each time I've had a blood test with my annual physical, the office calls and says my A1c is high, so "cut back on your carbs, blah blah..."

Yet again, after my checkup last week, I got the similar follow-up.  A1c is 5.9%.  Honestly, I have not cared a whole bunch.  I don't think I overdo the carbs.  Oh, I eat 'em, you betcha, but nothing crazy, I don't think.  Plus, the levels have remained the same.  High, but not increasing, so forgeddaboutit.  Cholesterol's fine, but higher than I would expect too, so I started to wonder about things that can affect fasting blood tests.

Before my checkup last week, I'd gone for a lovely morning run of a little over 5 miles.  I did a bit of googling.  Well, what d'ya know?  Exercise before a blood test can mess with your numbers, so in addition to fasting for 12 hours, you should just lay around. Who knew?

I came to this google revelation just as Magnum arrived home.  I read to him:
"A workout before a fasting blood test can alter the results of cholesterol and glucose tests. In some cases of cholesterol testing, if you exercise before having blood drawn your LDL cholesterol levels may actually increase..."

"I never knew this!  Why doesn't the doctor's office tell us?" I proclaimed all Wilford Brimley.

"Maybe because most people don't exercise?", Magnum offered.

Oh, c'mon.  Well, either way.  Now I know.  And you do too.


Speaking of playing outside, we hit the mountain bike trails again this weekend.  Rode the lovely Falcon Trail at the Air Force Academy.  13 miles of wonderful scenery, dirt, roots, rocks, and trees.  This was our third attempt at this trail, and I felt I've improved over the last two.  It's listed as a good trail for "advanced beginners".  Okay, I'll take the oxymoron.

























And speaking of higher learning, in news of college academia, I came across this photo from a football game over the weekend at Meego's esteemed university.

Okay, it's supposed to say "GO RAMS", but... okay...

do all the things!

I've recently been blogging about my desire to be a better cook.  That didn't actually start with my stepping over the fence into vegetarianism.  I've never been much of a cook, but just did the bare essentials to keep Child Protective Services away.

It's not that I dislike cooking, it's more of an organizational thing:  the meal planning, the stocking of the pantry, blah, blah, blah, blah.  If I get past that, I'm an awesome cook!  And hey, I've been a middle school lunch lady, and my line was always top shelf!  Probably because I didn't have to order the ingredients or plan the menus...

There are certainly other areas I'd like to improve upon. Let us count the ways

2.  Time management
I have a flexible schedule without set blocks of work hours, which is usually nice.  Lately, it feels like the time in between tutees isn't as productive or interesting as it should/could be.  Again, I chalk that up to organizational deficiency a.k.a. laziness. 




3. Mountain biking
I'd say we made a good use of time off this Monday.  Magnum and I planned a day off to explore some new-to-us mountain bike trails.  Now, there are a lot of trails around because mountain biking is quite popular here.  Weekends are crowded.  Monday was a good day to get while the gettin' was good. 

Along with learning how to maneuver the dang bike is learning the various trail systems.  We were sort of lost a few times as not all trails are marked or noted on the apps.

But we knew "in general" where we were, and getting lost is all part of the adventure, right??










4.  Correspondence
Does anybody use snail mail anymore?  I love the convenience of email and texting, but sometimes, it's nice to get something in the mail, like when you're stuck at home recovering from surgery. 
I have a friend who had foot surgery about a week ago and is temporarily confined to her house.  It's on my to-do list to send her a card, or better yet, go visit.  Have I done either?  Nope.  Today!


5.  Socializing, but  not social media 
On that note, there's nothing (currently) wrong with my feet or otherwise.  I can come and go as I please, but I stick to the same old stuff.  Time for some fresh faces and places!

What is something you wish you were better at?

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Linking up with Mama Kat this week for the prompt:
6. Write about something you wish you were better at.