FINALLY!!

Big break through in the land of blogging: I MADE LINKS ON THE SIDE!! IF you would like to be added to my link list, please submit a 100 word essay on why you deserve the pleasure of being added to my "what i look at list." Pet and i will talk it over, and we will let you know. Winner will get free Chimichangas. If you are already on the list and would like to be removed, please follow the above steps. Prize remains the same.

one day, it was hot. I tend to read a lot random blogs. A recent trend of "poor me's and wahs" is the car thermometer. So far, i win. This was taken last saturday in San Bernardino, CA. Jason and i were on the way to dinner at the Aunts house. Of course no AC, the only way i didnt freak out was to take pictures as the temp went from 111 steadily up to 117. Jason said he would cry if it hit 120, thank goodness i didnt have to go through that. My tank top and skirt were drenched when we arrived. it has been lovely to drive to grad school in 98 degrees the past few days. What a treat! Really!

BINGES: Riding - super stealth training this week, multiple days. I know about it and you can only speculate. But going out this morning, covered in fog-drip was fantastic.

Cooking - since i live in a life-size home now, i can cook. I am not used to the circa 1948 propane stove however, and tend to singe the hair on my arm each time i light the over. This will make me ride faster. Things i have made: Cheese cake; pumpkin-chocolate chip bars; fruited mock-duck curry; tomatoe/basil salad; pita/watercress salad; fruit salad with lime and honey; taco soup. So pretty much i have some left overs, but it tends to act as therapy.

Dozer time - the days are ticking away until i report back to work proper and i can no longer sit around with Pupples T. I totally caught him on the futon, he is actually looking for his bone and he later ate that pillow. When i woke up this morning he was sleeping on the spare bed. Oh well. it is my fault anyways, i am the one that spoiled him.

Snack Attack!!

I went to the Elkhorn General Store up at the top of town as i was on my way to visit the old neighborhood. The Pet and i were in need of a snack so this is what we got for 60 cents: Biscuits and Razzmatazz for me!! I think i may have moved on from the Nerd Rope, but they can always be worked back into the mix of things. These salty/sour/sugary treats are quite nice. While surfing for them on the web, i only found this site which made my mouth water.

Snoop Doz and I had a hard day. We did A LOT of yard work and we are not NEAR being done!! He found his first ever pine cone, the big kind, and went at it like it was a hedgehog. Only problem is the sap he is now covered with which in turn picked up dirt, leaves, and creatures.

NOT HELPFUL: Here you get a glimps of the "SUmmer Kitchen." There is still a lot of work to be done, and many leaves to be moved from all around it, but it is a fantastic set up for bbq's and sitting in the cool air. Mosquitoes seem to be less than up the canyon, as well as spiders, all for that!! Doz loves it out here because it is so cool, and it is a perfect spot to set up the trainer for early morning rides. Doz met the neighbor today. He was grilling his hot dogs and Pet timed it jus right to meet up right as he took them off the grill and he politely sat and waited for his share. Good thing the neighbor didnt give in, others have not been so strong, and Snoop came back to the yard, sad.

PS: Do you like my new Profile Photo?? It took me quite awhile to find that one. I will break down and buy some Jose Ole Prodcuts and take pictures of me and pet eating them for a future blog.

PSS: My friend Haley is thinking of making a coffee table book titled "Baking With Barbie." Would you like to see some of the proofs? The book will highlight Barbie Stew, Barbie Kabab, frozen Barbie and many more. Feel free to suggest other forms in which a Barbie could be cooked!

8 weeks to a thinner you...

And other scams. This headline is what met me as i opened up Yahoo News this morning, i mean afternoon when i finally arose from doing some serious sleep-debt payback. But why do i still feel like i got run over by a small farm machine?

So as soon as i am done here i will start planning my next 8 weeks to being gaunt, i mean skinny. Maybe they will suggest parking in the farthest spot from the grocery store and foregoing all condiments, even cream in the coffee. sure, that is really going to shed the pounds.

I did my cycling at the gym yesterday because a) it was reallly hot outside b) free hot water, no worries about the propane % c) my ability to self-motivate is at an all-time low. I cant go in there and ride the bike for 15 minutes and pretend i am all bad, you actually have to stay awhile. I did, however, run into some problems. I go to the farthest corner of the aerobics room, by the step boxes and boxing bags and usually turn the lights off. But they still come. People see me in there, are you teaching a class?? What? In the corner with my iPod and alone? NO! But they proceed to PULL not properly move the bikes across the floor. Once again i have to digress from my workout to instruct them on proper bike movement, even though they should not be there. Then they ride it like a BMX bike, knees hitting their chest, one speed all out. They see me climb out of the saddle and they follow, leaning on the handle bars, feet spinning out of control like the Road Runner. At least it took some of the pain away while i wondered how i would tell them that they needed bilateral knee replacements.

BETTER COMPARISON:















A BIT OF A TOUR:
This is the Spare Room. i havent had one of these, ever in my life. if there was a room, someone was living in it or was at college put lived in it on weekends or holidays. please notice the yellow bike, thats the new one! Yes, the Sonoma number plate is still on it, but i HAVE NOT ridden it since!! And yes, i do know that the other bike has no seat. There is even a mattress under this bed, it is supposed to be a bunk bed but there is NO way it would ever fit! So slumber parties are definately being planned for the near future!!






LIVING ROOM: Please know that my old house was NO LARGER THAN THIS ROOM!! I realized today that Dozer sleeps on the futon, which is why there is a cover on the cover. I also have no idea what to do with the blue ethernet cord, there is only one phone jack that works. Maybe a huge rug. I am also afraid of the wood stove, but i am sure that will pass.

No more tour pictures today. Tomorrow we may head outside to the "Summer Kitchen" and i will highlight some of the other high end features!

Bikes All Around: I mentioned before that i went to my buddy Haidi's bday party. well she got hooked up with a killer bike! Basket and all. The seat was falling into the frame so i went to the car and got my tools and fixed it. THis actually made me look like a freak, so did the 37 on my calf from the race earlier that day. If they only knew...

One at A Time

One little photo at a time, you can see a bit of what im talking about. This is Ruger, Dozers brother. Bets are being placed on who would win in a tussle.

Ok, so Snoopy Dozzy Doz takes a lot of naps. I really want to super-impose the pictures of the pets on each other to see how they really match up!

Once again, Griffyn with not much clothes on. This kid is crazy and i am quite excited that he and his mom are coming over from New Zealand for my little wedding!

So i have no pictures of races or events or neat things like that. Maybe by the end of the season i will catch some good ones so that i can share! Tomorrows pictures will cover the HOUSE that i now hang out in and that has internet! Thank goodness!

I am quite void of funny stories too, a bit of a let down i must say.

SORRY!!!

Sorry for sure, it has taken me a year and a half to update this thing! So much has happened, not happened, or will happen that i do not even know where to begin!!

WHY DID I NOT UPDATE?: Thank you for asking! I no longer have internet at home. It MAY resume on the 24th, but who really knows. At the same time, my computer was taken at work for upgrading, forcing me to poach a front office computer between the hours of 9 and 9:15 (summer hours of course) or go to Kinkos and use my nonexistant credit card to get online simply to check out peoples info.

WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?: Well, once again, thank you for probing. First i went to Deer Valley Utah then i went to my house. Then i went to Sonoma CA then Pismo then my house.

DV: Did a little bike race here. This was fun and family man freeman carted us all around in a suburban and we all stayed in style and comfort and raced so nice little trails. Didnt place so good, but thats ok. I had things to work on like dont freak out and ideas like think about racing, not dozer or snacks I also really worked on my descending and rode all the nasty little tricky spots.

SONOMA: I went solo on this one in the fantastic non-AC jeep (they told me $800 to fix it, so i drove the back way) the jeep also decided to over heat numerous times and leave gallons of coolant all over I5. Interesting things: Saw a truck tire BLOW off on I5. Saw a semi use the "runaway truck ramp" on the 101. Decided i would never ever live off the 5 bewteen here and pretty much mt shasta. awful places for sure. If you ever have to move to Shafter or Coalinga, i am sorry. I also saw Onions, tomatoes, hay, alfalfa and garlic ALL OVER the road and when i drove behind those wonderful trucks, all above mentioned treats ended up in the car due to all the windows being open.

I got to the venue at 4:54pm. Registration closed at 5pm, forever, i was stressed, only a little though. haha. After being told by Trek Josh that i was too amped up to preride with him (shocking after 10 hours alone and 4 dr. peppers) i checked out the course and realized that all my contacts for a place to stay had never called me back and i had never thought about it. oops. so at 8:20pm i am cruising Napa trying to remember where my non-Aunt lives. It all worked out, but i kinda added some stress.

XC: This was fun and quite interesting, but ended up being very disturbing. I felt really good the whole. Actually strong and condifent. I came in last in my category. SO it that a bad thing???? I still beat the usuals in other cats like the 19-24s etc, but none of the ones i was actually racing. STXC was a bit of a redemption in that i was 22/35 or something. i was called up 2nd to last in the largest ever open women field so i just had to start picking them off. I rode this one really smart i think and picked really good lines and used my gears well, whatever makes you feel good about coming in 22nd i guess. But i actually laughed OUT LOUD because there was a HUGE pile up where the pavement went to dirt and it funnelled us in there onto the mountain cross bumps. i had bet myself (due to being alone ALL WEEKEND) that people would eat it here, so when they did i just got off, pointed and laughed and ran by.

Oh yes, i did all this with a new carbo hard tail.

ROUNDS: I was able to make quite the social rounds while up there. I grew up in the Napa Valley and spent college and post college there, so i had a lot of catching up to do. I saw theBlunts who have Dozers brother - pictures to come of course!! Then i hung out with Haidi - one of my basketball teammates who was celebrating her 27th bday! Here i ran into tons of riff-raff, you know the type you had intro to physics with and maybe borrowed their calculator once, but now we are supposed to reflect on some fantastic history together, and then actual old bball teammates and pals. Sunday i drove to Stanford to see the Clark family for delicious food! Jesse is the old bball coach, wife Kelly is the strength coach at Stanford and little Jake well he just plays with stuff. Then i headed to Pismo where Grandma D is in a rehab place for a broken femur! Yikes!!! She and grandpa just moved from Yosemite to San Luis Obispo so he and i had breakfast monday. he made pancakes, 1/3 a canteloup (EACH) a nectarine, oj, and banana bread. It was really funny and good! I also stayed with the Hamricks In Shell Beach. It was like the family tour. I just wished my bikes could have been people so a) i could talk to them and b) i could use the carpool lane!!

MUSIC: i realized that i mostly listened to musica en espanol or r&b while i drove. I never could really tell what was on the station since i was giong at least 78 mph and all the windows were open. I would be singing along, just a bit then slow down and realize i couldnt understand a word they were saying.

NEW PLACE TO RIDE: I did a little Poop out and Jenks lake last week, fantastic!!

PLUMES OF SMOKE: I am not really afraid, yet, i think. But then when i come down the mountain and pass 4 complete CDF strike teams, you get a bit nervous. LAst week it looked like an A bomb had gone off at the end of the Canyon and the sun sets a dirty red color, other than that, no ash and no trees for tinder, yet...

SQUARE NO MORE: i really did live in a square. About 20x20. If you dont believe, well you should. But over the Deer Valley weekend and even through today, i upgraded. Quality of life has increased exponentially except for the refridgerator that is sitting on the patio until i take the kitchen door off to get it in. I will have to a thank you blog in the near future for all those who made this move a possibility and who have helped furnish it!!!! My home phone number is still the same, so you cant use that for an excuse of not calling me.

CHANGE OF TONE: This issue has been at the forefront of my mind for about 4 weeks. I have seen 5 severe and horrific car crashes between the bridge in Forest Falls and the Jerky Hut in the last 4 weeks. From what i know, 4 of those resulted in fatalities, one my have been a double. the most recent was last night, right around dusk, about 2 minutes from my house. One of Jasons dish washers from Forest Home flipped his car and got it stuck between two trees where he passed away. he could not have been more than 17 years old. This marks the anniversary of another dishwasher and his dad who passed away due to an illegal pass on hwy 38. All the others have taken place on the flats. The speed limit is 50 i think but most people drive it 65. People dont realize we hug the line of the wilderness and that creatures come out. They also dont realize that the thin line is also one where people live. The one i saw when driving back from Ontario airport and Deer Valley was a 13 year old and 18 year who were both riding the same bike with no helmets or lights on a shoulder that does not exist at 11pm, where they were hit by a guy who didnt even have a license and who fled the scene. It makes me irate as a cyclists and as a teacher, from both angles. The next day about 300 yards up a volkswagen golf was wrapped around a tree in someones front yard. Seeing all this carnage has made me think twice about car selections, who i get in the car with and where/when i ride my bike. So many people are coming up to the falls or the creek, pounding the brews, then rocketing home. Every week i see a new cross errected on the side of the road with teddy bears and flowers and pictures. it seems that every week they creap closer to home. Pretty much, please be careful. We cant over analyze and freak out and stay in the house, but please, double and triple check your situations and decisions.

Who's Cool Now??

I am!! First of all, i am done with that basketball camp, so i dont really have to go "down the mountain." I had to go teach spin class, very lack-lusterly though. Then come back up and promptly took a nap with Dozer. Gotta love him! I thought he broke my nose though. He sneazed and with all his square headed might, caught me upside the nose. I may have just received a deviated septum, too early to know. Just kidding, but wouldnt that be lame to have a broken nose because your dog sneezed on you? Dumb. I would probably miss the rest of the season! I hear those things really hurt. Any jarring just sends the pain train.

I am pretty sure that i am going to Deer Valley Utah this thursday for a little biking competition. I am planning on not falling as much and i really need to be on my best behavior because we are staying with a gaggle of cyclists that are well, pretty cool i guess. I will limit my vrebage to 8 words per conversation so as not to overwhelm. I will also make sure i speak slowly and at a lower decibal so they can actually understand what i am talking about. Then i will have to monitor my caffeine/sugar intake. Good thing mr. Pleiss is not going, he is a very bad influence! Hopefully Christie can get me my boarding pass ahead of time again, that way all i ahve to do is show up. but maybe i will actually pay attention as to where we park/stay/go so i dont have to spend hours trying to figure out how to get home. Or someone else can just drive. I never thought i could become co-dependant!

I havent really seen anyone in a long time. All my super cool work friends are well, on vacation. My PT/Dental friends are on brake or in clinics. I have been riding a training solo, so i am getting really annoyed with myself and my iPod selections, but i disconnected my account with iTunes which was the only way i would stop down loading 80's songs at $0.99 a pop.

Oh yes, this is why i am cool. Yesterday was the "9th Annual Forest Falls Chili Cook Off." My man Jason had this really great idea of helping out. Then he went to work. So there i sat, at the ARM WRESTELING BOOTH, trying to get people to throw down. First everyone thought they would have to arm wrestle me. Funny how the cycling tan stops right at the top of my bicep which gives the illusion that it is huge (not that it isnt though..). Then i put a sign on the Pets neck and walked around. The brilliant things i heard were "look, its an arm wresteling dog." um, no. So then you have the hard core guys who hit up all the county fairs asking what the weight classes were. I said it was about 80 pounds, so everyone was in. They also said the table just woudlnt do, not strong enough. Where are the elbow pads? What are the rules? Far out man, just give me a ticket!!! So i made the winner a 12 year old kid and walked him over to get his trophy.

This is, however, the coolest day in FF. Maybe next year i will bring some of you flat landers up, but i myself have just worked into being cool here, so i dont want you to hold me back. I was even in the Town Photo, infront of the El Mex store. Im on the right side, white tank if you buy it on eBay. There were chili contests, pie and salsa contests, pet parade and kid show and live music. The fire truck pulled a wagon with hay bales and another one came through and watered everyone down. Not bad for a day in the woods.