Comfortable

This is what I woke up to this morning. How can she make the back of that chair look soooooo comfortable? I took a couple of photos, gulped some Diet Coke...and came back upstairs to do this post....and she's STILL crashed out on the chair!!! What a life, huh?
P.S. I got in 30.1 miles on the bicycle yesterday. Another great ride!

Springtime in Kansas

It's Spring in Kansas....and I'm lovin' it! You'll notice it's still the same old mulch...soon...very soon I'll put the new stuff down. And all those little green noses sticking up..those are hostas. This flower bed is way too full and in far too much sunlight...I didn't plant it, it came with the house...and I'm probably not going to change it. I like it just the way it is..simple for me. Or is that simple like me....hmmmmm.

Life in the Real World

Last Tuesday I went to Joplin again to spend a few days with my sister after her second chemo treatment on Monday. I was there until Friday. (Ok...just typed a bunch and then deleted it. The world doesn't need to know all that!) Bottom line: If I ever need to be jailed or wind up going to hell, just put me in Missouri! 'Nuff said?

It rained from about 30 miles from home until I returned home on Friday and got just south of El Dorado, Ks. (About an hour and fifteen minutes out.) (And that may well have been the BEST of it!)

Since then it's been gorgeous here!!! Yesterday Mary, Carol and I rode 28.28 miles and I thoroughly enjoyed every second of it. I needed both the physical exercise and the emotional/mental release. Good GOOD friends...they're wonderful!

This a.m. Carol and I rode to Nickerson to meet her husband who came over on a motorcycle for breakfast. It made us coming back into the wind (usually one rides INTO the wind and then gets a "free ride" home), but the wind is pretty mild today and we had a great ride. Another 27.49 miles for me!

Everything is blooming and spring is so beautiful and colorful!! Red bud trees, Bradford pear trees, crabapple trees, jonquils, daffodils, tulips...even peoples' clothing is more colorful. I love Spring!!!

With that....count your blessings. They're plentiful when you just get to thinking about it!!! :) Count down: Only four more weeks til a wonderful event!!!! :) :) :) :) :) ;)

New Area of Bike Path

Yesterday and today were both absolutely incredibly beautiful days...perhaps a little windy in the view of a bicyclist...but truly wonderful. Yesterday was 82 degrees, and Mary and I rode 20 miles. Carol's fighting a sore throat/cold so she has taken a few days off.

Today Mary had other plans...and it was just too nice to stay home. It was 80+ degrees with winds out of the south at 16, gusting to 26. Oh well...still nice!

Hutchinson has two bike paths. One runs from about 22nd and Hendricks south down through Carey Park at the south end of Main Street. It's about a 12 miles loop and a nice path that gets a lot of use.

A couple of year ago a new path was started at about 38th and Plum, going east and south to Lorraine; crossing Lorraine and heading south to 30th. I've ridden it many, many times. Recently they added more to that path. It now continues on south of 30th down past 23rd, then east out to Halstead Street. The newest part is very "big city park-like." It twists and turns and is incredibly smooth and wide. Lots of prairie dogs along the edges and down in the drainage ditch. They really barked and chattered when I rode through that area. So long as they don't start chasing bicycles I'm good with them. Cute little critters....until they invade MY yard...then they'll become "RODENTS," and I'll want them gone!

With a fairly strong south wind riding the bike path is probably better than riding the roads. On the path I'd go east for a while, then south into the wind, then back east again. And coming back was just pretty great...tailwind! I only got in a little over 12 miles...I could have done more but just needed a little outing and 12 miles was fine. Maybe again tomorrow??? We'll see.

Count your blessings...and be sure to get outside and enjoy some of this wonderful weather we're having. I heard it was 80 degrees in Chicago today...first time in 22 years that it's gotten into the 80's in March. Hello, Chicago!! :) (Some of you understand that!)

Great Rides

Wow!!! We have been having some gorgeous weather here. Last Friday Carol, Mary, and I rode and got in 30.5 miles. For March, that's pretty incredible in Kansas. Usually we have WIND!!! in March. Not so...well, at least not so bad.

It's about 6 pm Monday and the temperature is still 80 degrees!!!! And the wind is probably less that 15..maybe even less than 10 mph. AWESOME!!!! Carol, Mary, and I rode again this afternoon and it was absolutely perfect. Didn't even have to wear leggings! 27 miles!

After I got home I oiled my chain and pedals (and shoes)...then decided it was just to nice to quit with the outdoors stuff. So I cleaned the patio off....that hasn't been done all winter and it was pretty messy. I trimmed two clumps of zebra grass (like pampas but the stripes go horizontal instead of vertical) and emptyed a large pot of black fountain grass from last year. Thought maybe I'd be able to reuse some of the Miracle Grow soil but when I tipped it over into the polycart, it was a solid mass of roots. Well....that's interesting...because I had another one just like it...only it was planted in

a clay pot with fatter sides. So, knowing it was full of roots (and wouldn't begin to just be "dumped out"), I first cut the top completely off, then started with a butcher knife, sawing and digging and sawing some more. Finally I got most of the plant and main roots out of the pot. Haven't decided what I'll put in there this year. The fountain grass did very well there last year, but if I go back that way I'm going to have to dig the rest of this dirt out. Maybe something simple with shallow roots that would function even if the dirt does have leftover roots??? We'll see.

We have another ride scheduled for tomorrow and I'm totally looking forward to it. However, the weather guesser did say more wind tomorrow. Again...we'll see.

One of my new favorite expressions: The good thing about the future, it comes just one day at a time!

One more thing....speaking of the future...less than 6 weeks before my son and his sweetie get married. :) :) :) I'm really looking forward to that!

Count your blessings...they're numerous!

Jonquils & Hyacinths

I took a couple of friends to Wichita this morning to catch a flight to Washington state and thought I'd drop by Menard's and pick up some mulch. It snowed/rained/sleeted/iced in Wichita last night (Hutchinson [about 50 miles northeast of Wichita] had a LITTLE sleet...no rain, no real moisture, OF COURSE)...and while everything was already clean and clear and melted dry by the time we got over there, I chose not to buy mulch today. Wet, icy bags....nah...not today. So the mulch still looks horrid...but I do have a few flowers...and signs of lots more in the coming days/weeks.

Sure looking forward to Spring....but curious/worried about Summer. We had virtually no winter. The other day I heard one weatherman say, "Puxatawny Phil said six more weeks of winter..." and the other reporter said, "We haven't had six weeks YET!" However, I do remember a few posts back that we had a HUGE snowstorm - 18" of snow - on March 29, 2009. It can happen!!!

Barring that, I'll keep hoping for a summer that's as mild as what our winter has been. Last summer was HOT!!!!

Count your blessings....say your prayers...and plant spring lovelies!