Love, Loyalty & Friendship

G & I celebrate 12 years of marital bliss together today! We answer each others sentences now, which I think is "OK" I guess, and we can honestly say that this has been the best 12 years of our lives. Sure, we have had some ups & downs thrown in there, but we persevered. I don't believe anything has been thrown at us that we could not handle.

We have both believed that a great marriage takes hard work & always having fun. I advise my soon to be married friends, that the key to a successful marriage is to put just a little more in, than what you take out. Yes, there will be times that you keep taking & taking, but write out an I.O.U and pay it back. Everything will take care of itself from there.

Being the Irishman that I am, I believe that we have stayed in love, strong & dedicated to our marriage by referring to the Claddagh. This will continue to keep us going, forever & a day. Love, Loyalty & Friendship.

SOON!

Have been busy, sorry. Ate too much over thanksgiving, too fat to even put up an update. Will put one up as soon as I slim down a little. As you can see from the picture this am, I have a WAY to go!

Turkey Lurkey!

I was out in the yard Saturday afternoon, "finishing" the leaves (don't even ask, but they're about done).

Low & behold, 5 wild turkeys come strolling up to feed at the bird feeder near the garden. I took some pictures with my camera phone, and here's Terrance the Turkey, resting on our garden fence.

They came back for another meal yesterday as well. I explained to them that Thanksgiving is coming up soon, and due to the recession in place, I may need one of them for our dinner plans. They all jumped at the idea, giving me menu ideas and they're seating arrangement for dinner. I don't think they caught on that they will BE dinner, not OVER for dinner. The saga continues.

Old School Baby!

Pimp my ride. 2001 Redline frame, a classic, CX cross fork, Italia bars from 1984, Cinelli stem from 2000, 9 speed dura-ace from 2000, Mavic Heliums that I bought used from the USPS racing team in 1998, used TUFO's compliments of e-bay for $40/pair, and some crazy used seat!

Why am I telling you this? Have NO clue, but it's pretty cool how you can put a rig together on the sly, pound the crap out of it again & again and have a blast! Oh, the newest parts are the rear derailleur, crashed HARD a couple of weeks ago, broke the hanger, bent the frame, broke the drive train etc. It's OK, the Boys down at Little Ade's Bike shop had me taken care of in no time!

Rubber side down!

Crossin, Leaves & Turtles

I'm back. Been a rough couple of weeks. The weather here in the heartland has been stifling, cold, rain, wind, cold, rain etc. Perfect weather for some cyclo-cross! Have been getting out the best I can lately, but it's also fall, which means that the leaves fall from the trees, and G&I get to pick them up, all 1.7 trillion of them.

Spent the entire last weekend, I kid you not doing leaves in some fashion or another. We hauled them, dumped them, shredded them, burned them, gave them away, sold them, heck we even ate some I believe, just to get rid of all of them! We get to do them again this weekend, as we did about 90%, and have the balance to go, not to mention all of the leaves that blow in our yard, as we live on a bluff, we get all of the winds and the neighbors leaves as well, ugh!

My dear friend & contractor buddy Robert came down a couple of weeks ago, and we did an extreme makeover remodel on G's bathroom. Practically took it down to the studs, and replaced everything w/ exception of the entry door and the window. He went from about 7 am till 9 pm. every day, and got it done. Looks beautiful, and I will put up some pics once the shower door is installed next week I believe.

Got a wild hair up my butt on Tuesday, as I was supposed to be on the bike, indoors, on the compu-trainer for a training session. It's WAY too early in the year for this to happen, but it was 36 degrees and raining outside. The Turtle went for a swim instead. Yes, the first time in a while, like a LONG while. I ended up swimming 1500 meters, or 45 laps of the pool over at Village Courts. I was really tired after that, so I consulted Edgar, president of my fan club. He stated that turtles like water, and do not be afraid. I responded with "what the heck are you talking about"? He then said that it sure beats sitting on your butt doing nothing, and believe it or not, that is what turtles actually do for pleasure. (I think Edgar hit his head or something, as he has been a little "off" lately) but he's right, so OK. I am going crossing this afternoon, then back to work, so have fun!

Here's a good shot of me on lap number 37!