Another Hot One...

All in all, our summer hasn't been bad. The temperatures have been warm, but usually not to the point of being excessive (unlike some summers that seems like the 100+ degree days will never end). We've had a couple of those days, and today promises to hit 100 degrees, but then we head into a week with weather in the 70's and 80's. I like it!

The Western Idaho Fair has been running for the past week; today is the final day. I entered one sweater in the fair this year, but haven't bothered to go there to see how it's displayed or whether it did well in the competition. Exhibits can be picked up tomorrow, so after work I'll run down there and pick it up... and find out then how it did. Curiosity has almost gotten the better of me, but there's just nothing down there other than other knit items that justifies paying the admission price. Maybe I'll change my mind, but then again there's those 100+ degrees on the thermometer today to dissuade me!

And the Results are In!

Ah yes, today was my very first colonoscopy (how I wish it would be the last). The stuff they have you drink the evening before so you can be "cleaned out" to make their sightseeing trip up your butt easier isn't the most pleasant of things to get down. I was fine until my third glass of the stuff, when I suddenly found out that I actually had a drinking limit and barfed a fair quantity of said third glass right back up. I was so pleased to be standing by the kitchen sink when this occured!

From that point on my drinking of the magic tonic slowed severely, but I finally managed to get the entire quantity down without any further gastric rejection. (But there were a couple of swallows that almost did me in...)

Anyway, most everyone knows what happens after you ingest this magical "go-juice", and I did exactly what I was supposed to do... many, many times. If only there was a pill instead of the gag-reflex inspiring liquid that could do the same thing. Or a capsule that, when chased by a LOT of water would have the same result. Someone out there could make a LOT of money by making this whole process a little easier to perform.

Anyway, the results are in and there was one lonely polyp found, and it wasn't anything to worry about. They said that, because there was a polyp present, I'd have to come back in five years for a check up. So, all you future pharmaceutical revolutionaries... you've got five years to formulate and market a product that I can actually stomach the next time. Get busy!

Another Sunday Lost...

I see that I totally blew through last Sunday without a post, or even the acknowledgement that I had even missed a post. Life must be getting dull, or I must have been sleepy... there's got to be an excuse if I only dig deep enough to find it.

The sad truth is that, while I didn't post anything last week, I have no amazing tales to make up for it with this week. But things will start to liven up in a couple of days.

I get to go in for my first colonoscopy on Wednesday! I've heard rumors that this is almost as much fin as a trip to Disneyland... so the real fun starts on Tuesday when we start "cleaning out" for the trip on Wednesday. I'm hoping that they don't find anything and that this procedure (like most) turns out to be an incredible waste of precautionary money.

So until sometime after this little sightseeing trip, I'll bid you farewell!

And Camping It Was...

Sunday morning came and went... shortly after noon we set off for our overnight camping experience. We arrived at the campsite sometime after 3:00 PM. Then the fun began...

We purchased the tent pictured here LAST summer, thinking we were going out the same week we picked it up. Hah! Not only did we NOT go camping that same week, the tent was still sealed in the box a year later... until yesterday afternoon (sometime after 3:00 PM).

The instruction book was somewhat helpful, but having not put this particular monstrosity up before I was soon at wits end, and the forest creatures were hearing new, frightening phrases being uttered by this [now over the boiling point] camper. We finally got the tent most of the way up, and then went into town for a few items... one of which was better tent stakes than the ones that came with the tent.

With the tent problems finally behind us, we took off for a bike ride along the Harriman Trail. We didn't have time to ride the whole trail, but got in about five and a half miles of it, and then returned back to the campground on Idaho 75 (both paved and downhill). It was a couple of ticks short of 10 miles, but was a very pleasant ride nevertheless.

The evening sky was dark thanks to the absence of the moon, and the display was breathtaking. Even though we see a lot of stars from our own home, the darkness from our campsite provided us with an even more brilliant celestial panorama than we normally see.

Morning came, I made the run into Ketchum for Valerie's morning coffee and then we set about the task of waking up fully and slowly getting ready to return home. I made a quick breakfast of pancakes (store bought mix, just add water) and then got busy in earnest for breaking camp.

Breaking down the tent was much less frustrating than putting it up, but next time we'll have a better understanding of what-goes-where when putting the tent together!

Where's the Post?

This week's entry is merely to say "hello" and ask for volunteers to hit the "comments" link at the bottom of this message and leave a brief message. A friend recently e-mailed us saying that she tried to leave a post, but the system wouldn't accpet it.

Type something in the message area, scroll down to "Choose an Identity" and select either "Name/URL" or "Anonymous". With the "Name" selection you'll have to type in just that... your name. It's tough, I know! And with "Anonymous" you don't have to do anything except hit "Publish Your Comment". That should do it.

If the system rejects you for some reason, and you know our e-mail address, send us an e-mail letting us know what happened!

We're hoping to head up toward Sun Valley this afternoon, set up a tent and camp out over night. We'll be taking the mountain tandem with us so hopefully we'll get a ride in before we have to return home tomorrow. The campground we're going to is nestled right along the Big Wood River, and is only about a five mile drive north of the town of Ketchum (which tourist such as ourselves refer to as "Sun Valley", even though it's not quite correct). The nice part about this camping out experience??? Starbucks is only five miles south of us!!! How's that for "roughing it"?

This post is dedicated to Jamie, who lost her mind when trying to post a "comment" a couple of weeks ago.

Maruishi Mountace MT18

I recently started searching the web for information on Maruishi Bicycles. While I found mention of their touring or commuting bikes (and their website which is in Japanese), I didn't find any mention of mountain bikes. I bought one around 1985 (can't quite remember the exact year), the "Mountace MT18". It featured a lugged frame and a lugged fork (the next year's models switched to a unicrown fork) -- notice the amount of fork rake in the photo.

A decal on the frame proudly proclaims "Original Sports Frame Cr. Mo. Double Butted Tubes", and the bike came equipped with Shimano Deore components, friction shifting for a six speed cluster and Shimano Biopace chainrings.

This bike took me on a fully loaded tour from San Francisco to San Diego in 1988, a couple of fund raising rides for the American Lung Association and has served me well for local rides over the years. I started looking into getting a new mountain bike a few days ago, wound up with sticker shock and realized that because my wife and I primarily ride a tandem I'd never really get my money's worth from a new bike. So it was off to E-Bay to score a good set of Biopace chainrings to replace the worn ones on the bike, and I'll be refurbishing my rolling relic within the next month or two.

Every time I look at the bike I'm reminded of my California tour; the images are fresh and I'm suddenly 20 years younger reveling in the joys of pedaling along the coastline or breathing in the fragrance of the eucalyptus trees in the cool of the morning. This old bike of mine does everything I ask of it, and I can't really justify tossing my old friend into the heap for the sake of something shiny and new. The memories are strong, and there's still the promise of more adventures to come. All I have to do is ask, and this bike will be ready to respond with a good solid ride.

Another Road Trip

Friday, July 25th, 2008. We decided late in the morning to take a drive to Sun Valley, and took the new car for another miles per gallon trial. We must have been very gentle this time around, because we managed to squeak out a little over 41 mpg! (This was all highway mileage.)

Other than that, the day was pretty laid back in that we did nothing outrageous, didn't buy anything that we didn't need (Valerie did pick up a pair of bicycling shorts that had a cut along the front that looked like it would provide better comfort -- we'll find out shortly) and because we didn't drag a bicycle along with us we didn't get any biking in either!

She drove to Sun Valley while I knit; I drove home while she napped. We stopped at a small store and restaurant at a place called Smiley Creek; this store was a popular stopping off place for bicyclists during the American Lung Association's "Sawtooth Pride Ride". They feature tasty burgers, hand scooped milkshakes and if you like onion rings... they have some good ones!

Today I took our road tandem in for some much needed maintenance; our mountain tandem is still in good running order. I'm hoping that we can get out on it this weekend for a little while, once the temperatures back down from the high 90's!

Oops...

I totally let this Sunday slip by without even thinking about a blog update. The big picture says "it's warm in Idaho, and I'm lazy as a result." I'll be back when time allows, but today has been a blur.

What's Blooming?

Something's in the air... and has been for quite some time now. It starts in the lower elevations and through the course of the spring and summer works its way upward. I dread going to work in Boise in the springtime, because when I get there my eyes start itching and soon I'm gouging them with willing fingers, trying to get a little relief from the irritation. I find that I hate going to Boise during this time of year.

Now I'm in the mood to go to Boise, as whatever it is that I'm allergic to is growing nicely up where we live. I've noticed that as we drive toward Boise I start scratching at my eyes, but when we've arrived I feel pretty good (other than the skin around my eyes being sore from the constant scratching). Sometimes I think that winter is the greatest season of all... because NOTHING is blooming!

The car pictured above (horrible photo, I know) is doing its job very nicely. I checked the mileage the last time we bought gas, and we averaged 37.5 miles per gallon. We had mixed driving, so these results were pretty good. On a test run between our house and McCall, Idaho (150 mile round trip, mostly highway driving) we were able to average 41 mpg. All things considered, this particular investment was a good one. If we lived in the Boise area, I'd be bicycling to work and home again. Unfortunately, living where we do (and as far out as we do) has a price, and that price keeps going up at the pump.

I'm a little over half-way done with this "blog" now, as I committed to trying to write a weekly installment for one year. It hasn't been overly difficult, but one often has to wonder if anyone is actually reading this or whether this is just an exercise in actually doing something as promised over a period of time!

In and Out...

I was looking for a topic to write about this morning, and nothing came to mind. It's July 6th... and I wonder what happened on this date... was there anyone of interest born, or did anyone of interest die? (Define "interest" -- as in what does it mean to each person? Obviously it's going to be very different from person to person.)

I did a search to find a website that would list births for each day, and found this particular one. It's wasn't fancy, but it got the job done. I went down the list and decided to find one name in each column that I found the most interesting, or that meant the most to me. For the births it was Nancy Davis (Reagan) in 1923, and for the deaths it was Louis Armstrong in 1971.

It occurred to me that a great game could be made of this by picking a date and having everyone in your mailing list go through the births and deaths column and pick ONE from each that means the most to them. Maybe even off a brief explanation if they feel compelled to do so. It might be an interesting way to see what your friends or family members value.

Also on the website linked above was the video put out by a guy under the name of "Joe American". I've heard about the video, but hadn't seen it before. There's a lot of things he says in his presentation that make perfect sense to the average person in this country, which is probably why it won't make a bit of difference in Washington, DC. If you haven't watched the video, go to the "date in history" page and then click on the play button. (If you only have a dial-up internet connection, you probably won't want to spend all day waiting for the video to load!)

The website for Joe American is a little sparse, and looks like someone got it started and then forgot to finish it, or keep it up. Still, you can visit it if you wish at http://www.joeamerican.us/.

The photo at the top of the page was taken outside of Stanley, Idaho on the fourth of July. The wild flowers are in bloom in the higher elevations, and some of the meadows look more like a sea of violet than of green grass. This is the perfect time to take in the scenery, before the summer heat dries out the lush grass and turns the green of spring to the gold of autumn.