Just Ducky

The weather has been frightful for some but plain ducky for others, namely the ducks. Working my route in sometimes driving rain, or what my wife and I would call a carwash, I observed quite a bit of the seasonal flooding familiar to this region. The ducks were everywhere. I nearly hit a pair with my car. As I drifted away from a male mallard I soon realized I had just set course for the female. Her camouflage having hidden her from immediate view I had to brake. They both flew up and out of the way just in time. Some ducks are not so lucky. I found this dog treat while I was waiting for our car to be repaired.

Yes, more selfless promotion of the labors and dreams of others, providing some more free advertising. The store seems very knowledgeable on all things healthy for one’s pet. Some more WORS (Wisconsin Off-road Racing Series; we’re talking mountain bike if this is your first time to my blog) sponsors include that stalwart Trek, as well as BelGioioso (that’s cheese) and Element Mobile.

The WORS opening event has been postponed due to weather. They still have snow at Iola. The race has been moved to the 19th of May.

My profitless promotion of the work of others has come to the point where I am receiving e-mails out of the blue from events across the state. Or perhaps some group has shared their e-mail list with center venues. I have been lacking in that some events have passed without my mention. The La Crosse Ominium is the weekend of May 3-5, which would have been the Opening event date for WORS if they had not rescheduled. The Ominium will have a special introduction to women’s racing.

The chocolate bunny’s peeps came to her rescue as the Leprechauns had cleaned out the bunnies bowl. But what I found later is just wrong. I guess the bunny thought the Leprechauns had left and she was safe. It will be the bunny’s downfall. I can still hear the Leprechauns in the walls. …or maybe that’s the raccoons.

A good blog needs pictures.

$4 Question:

Yes, no one answered the $2 question of previous post so I have a new question. I guess everyone is waiting for the jackpot to grow. I will answer all questions in the comment sections  of the related post. My family members may or may not qualify for the jackpot depending on the question. In other words, whatever I decide. Here’s the question:

Dominated by indoor activities over the Winter months one such activity has created the urge in me to become very thin, buy a cowboy hat (I am always looking for a good poker hat) and purchase a sidearm. Why?

I hear the University Wisconsin system has a hidden billion dollar surplus. Why didn’t I sue them? (not the $4 question.)

The Trainer

We have become a crass and uncouth society with few scruples. Just about anything passes for humor these days. But one thing that is not funny is saying you’re going to buy yourself a trainer and then not doing it. After a while it makes one feel less of a man, or even worse like a politician. So I went out and bought me a trainer. Not a person, as my wife thought I had been writing about all these past months (I guess she never clicks on the links) but what is in the picture here.

Take note that this is not a safe place for a trainer. Cyclops recommends one use a fan when using their trainers indoors and this is a small tight corner. But the weather is still cool and I am just getting back into serious training with some light workouts. One does not want to overheat and die. What I accomplish this year will determine my racing future. If I cannot get my weight down I may only make a few choice races/events every year. I may even have to drop down to citizen class in WORS if that is allowed. But I will get in great shape even if I still weigh 280lbs.
Kinetic seems to be growing in popularity as a trainer. They had several out on display at Emery’s. I bought my Cyclops used at Emery’s for a good price. It was a demo. I hope it lasts. It doesn’t look the best and when you have a demo out it is not just performance but appearance people are judging. So it was time for this demo model to move on.
My exercise log is filling up at last this April. Getting in some good walks with the dog and now I have been doing some stationary riding with my road bike. I don’t get out much with my road bike. I have trouble getting a proper adjustment on these old brakes. They drag against the wheel. Even when I think I have it fixed it happens again. Rain is keeping me off the roads as well as some good old hard work. Last week I had five days of gainful work. Good physical work, unlike my driving job. It gets the old bowels moving. I had myself one of those sit downs where you think, I should have weighed myself beforehand. I cannot think of a job worse for my health than driving all day. That is why I put in nearly six months notice some time back that I will be quitting that job.
To promote my blog (and my other writings) I am starting a promotion. I will ask a question each week starting at $2 for the winner. The prize will go up $2 every post ($1 a post over $40) every time the question is not answered before the next post. I am looking to be posting more than once a week now that the season is upon us. The topic will be of course myself and always educational. You can claim the money for a charity or or non-profit such as a bicycle club. (revised 5/24/13; can only be claimed for a charity)
The $2 question:
When I was a baker way back when I broke the record for most donuts dropped on one screen. A batter bowl with a plunger drops the donuts into the oil, they sink to the bottom before rising. They are turned once. When the donuts drop they sometimes touch when they momentarily rest on the bottom, it’s called a marriage, and they become slightly deformed. I don’t recall what my record was (I think it was 64, it was a long time ago) but I remember how many marriages I had. How many marriages did I have? One guess per ID.

Happy Easter

The problem with Easters in March is menacing Leprechauns. Needless to say there was little left of the bunny’s eggs and droppings by the time Easter morning arrived. If only he had left some of his gold in exchange. The display idea Misao got from Martha Stewart though she didn’t refer to the jelly beans as droppings.

Easter gets ‘Happy’ while Christmas gets ‘Merry’. I thought my wife and I had a gay marriage but everyone says that is not what it means. Or maybe it is just a really big April’s Fool joke. I hope so. Spring has truly given us the April’s Fool as after a tempting weekend the cold has returned.

But there is no fooling about The Bike Expo this coming weekend. Not to be outdone by Wheel and Sprocket, Emery’s is having a 50th Anniversary Twelve-day Sale starting at the same time as the Bike Expo, …but lasting much longer.

The Brewers won their opening day game today. A good start to the New Year. My New Year resolutions are to write fiction professionally (which means to write 30,000+ words a month) and complete a work on planning as a possible basis for a potential Master thesis. Always looking to inform my readers there are some good production techniques to master one’s time when working from home, linked to in one of my other blogs.

My training goals are also getting a late start. I may still get a basic trainer to push myself this month so as not to be put off by the weather. Yes, the WORS Racing Handbook has been out for awhile and there is only a little more than a month before the first race. If I focus I may be ready for the forth race. Kinetic is still a sponsor. Some other sponsors include Honey Stinger, Kali,  mt.Borah, ProGold (lubricants for bikes and guns), Kuhl, Native eyewear and many more. I’ll have to mention them all at least once over the season.

Started the month with some focus despite being alone with Ike. I told Misao that we had two dogs that took care of us, now we have this dog. I took him for a long walk today, long enough to qualify being added to my exercise log.

The Rock

It is the Holy season but The Rock I am referring to is not related to the season or the new Pope but a sporting complex. Formerly the Crystal Ridge Ski Hill, The Rock will be a four season baseball centric sporting complex. Of course it includes skiing, tubing and the such of Winter. A Winter that just doesn’t want to go away. I don’t mind Winter. I like Winter, but the other day I thought to myself; I wish I was warm.

Metro Mountain Bikers had their last meeting at The Rock. They awarded t-shirts to all the fifteen hour investors in the local trails. They decided to call them “investors” rather than volunteers. I would have chosen something more appropriate such as Patriot Path Builders, Forest Hackers or simply Trail Gods. Unfortunately no one sought my advice.

They also had the secret plans of Gravity Logic, the firm that will be transforming the ski hill into a downhill mountain biking adventure. Some squiggly lines on a map lacking any topographical detail. Downhill MTB, BMX and some pump tracks for those willing to pay. The cross country county park trails for the rest of us.

I picked up a jersey this Winter. The price was right and the fit sublime. They may have a few XL left. Rush Limbaugh's “Two if by Tea” fits nicely into the pocket. They are heavy duty bottles that facilitate reuse. The La Grange General Store, the advertiser for the pocket in question, sits just south of the John Muir Trails. A cross road community where you can rent a bike if need be. …Do I hear banjos?

The tax man stole my dreams of buying a trainer this Winter. I thought I was close thinking the trainer and VR update were about a 50/50 split but it is more like 70/35 split to buy them piecemeal. Then we had our taxes prepared and poof she was gone. I cleaned up the basement and pulled out the bikes to be tuned up for the spring season, whenever that decides to arrive. I did get a major task out of the way before riding weather. I installed a microwave hood above the stove. A three day job that went from this,

to this.

Four or five trips to Menard’s (when my wife would let me have the car), a major power outage that no one seemed interested in reporting on and mild exclamations of dissatisfaction along the way and the wife was made happy.

And for the faithful reading to the end, The Rock is having a job fair Thursday evening. Information is on their site.

It’s Like Winter Just Began

In two days March begins but with the first truly Winter like snows falling just this past few weeks, a pile coming down upon us today, it is hard to comprehend that Spring is just around the corner. But it is, and just as I have saved enough money for a trainer. Could there be some good deals out there right now? I’ll look, but maybe I will have to wait until next year. Meanwhile the white water, a Wisconsin tea keeps falling. Some plows broke down under the weight of this slush fall.

Here is another trainer manufacturer. Kinetic is working hard to capture the market also. They are supporting mountain biking as a High School sport, something WORS has committed to.

I have this pile of bikes to get in shape too. The weather has been so abnormal I don’t know if the roads will be safe to ride sooner or later. Looking at my exercise log I find that I have not done any serious training of any kind since September. And keeping a blog relevant requires that I actually do something continually that one can write about and provide pictures of. I’ll have to keep closer track of Metro Mountain Bikers activities, visiting the site more often. I have to become more active and involved, something that will be much easier when we can afford a second car.

Thanks to Alois for his contribution. Misao keeps posting about the dog while my friend from Korea suggests that he would make a tasty meal. I’m sure he was kidding.  Guess what I am thinking in this regard as you gaze upon Ike’s, our dog’s latest feat.

Not included in the photo are the books he actually removed from the shelf.

I’ll just let him enjoy the snow, …for now.

Ike loves the snow. It’s like he’s marinating in it.

Amerikanische Pfannkuchen

Ich habe dieses Rezept in einem Kalender gefunden:

Zutaten (für 2 Personen):

3 Eier
150 ml Milch
150 g Natur-Joghurt
150 g Mehl
2 Esslöffel Vanillezucker
1 Teelöffel Backpulver
eine Prise Salz
Öl für die Pfanne
Ahornsirup zum Anrichten

Zubereitung:

Schlagen Sie die Eier schaumig, rühren Sie die Milch und den Joghurt unter. Sieben Sie das Mehl, den Vanillezucker, das Backpulver und das Salz hinein. Die Pfanne mit etwas Öl erhitzen. Gießen Sie genug Teig für einen untertassengroßen Pfannenkuchen ein. Langsam auf beiden Seiten goldbraun anbraten. Mit Ahornsirup servieren.

American Pancakes

Ingredients (for 2 people)
3 eggs
150 ml milk
150 g natural yoghurt
150 g flour
2 dessert spoons vanilla sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
a pinch of salt
oil for frying
maple syrup to serve

Preparation

Beat the eggs till fluffy, mix in the milk and yoghurt. Sift in the flour, vanilla sugar, baking powder and salt. Heat a pan with little oil. Pour in enough batter to make a saucer-sized pancake. Fry slowly till golden brown on each side. Serve with maple syrup.

BIRTHDAY WISH

 

 

I just want wish Happy Birthday to my other Mom.

 

 

 

 

Are you ready for party?

Can I have a piece of cake?