Now is the winter of our discontent, made glorious summer by this son of York...(RIII sc.1 v.1-2)
Unexpected signs of life.
Amidst the dead leaves of winter...
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Saturday, January 31, 2015
Wednesday, January 21, 2015
Diamonds?
Whoever said diamond are a girl's best friend? They were SO wrong!
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| Photo courtesy of my guest photographer, DH! |
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
Monday, January 19, 2015
Saturday, January 17, 2015
Bacon explosion!
Imagine, if you will, a woven placemat of bacon. Now, season that with your favorite BBQ rub. Take two pounds of ground pork sausage and flatten out to fit on to of the bacon mat.
Take a package of bacon, cooked however you like it, chop it up, and put that on to of the sausage. Drizzle your favorite BBQ sauce on the bacon. Add some more BBQ rub on top of that.
Now roll the sausage away from you, tightly, leaving the bacon mat alone. Seal the seams and ends on the sausage roll. Now roll it up in the bacon mat. Sprinkle some more rub on it.
Place it on the smoker, with a thermometer, and cook until the internal temperature reaches 165°F. Once cooked, slice the roll, and serve. It works well on a burger bun. I can recommend a nice sauce too. Take a cup of mayo, add the juice from half a lime, and 2T of Sriracha sauce. Mix well and serve.
Friday, January 16, 2015
Happy birthday Shiner!
Spotted this at the local Kroger grocery and I guess it just jumped in my cart when I wasn't looking!
It hasn't chilled quite enough, but I couldn't resist trying something called Chocolate Stout.
It's very definitely a Stout, and the chocolate flavor is quite pronounced. I like it. Too bad it is a limited run for just this brewery birthday.
Thursday, January 15, 2015
Monday, January 12, 2015
Right now I am so far behind...
You've all seen that Calvin & Hobbes cartoon I'm sure, where Calvin says, "God put me on this Earth to accomplish a certain number of things. Right now I am so far behind, I will never die!" Well that's how I feel, regarding my cycling goal...
Yep. the weather has not been cooperating (nor has my dishwasher, but that's another story) for riding. My goal was for 84mi/week. By now, I should be at or close to 168mi for the year just to stay on track for my total mileage goal. I have 40. Period. Yeah, I'm not happy.
It's been cold, and wet, intermittently icy, and dreary cloudy, and occasionally windier than I consider safe (30+mph). Makes for lousy and somewhat unsafe cycling, especially the wet in the cold. I do NOT want to crash! Do you know how slick those road paint stripes and crosswalks get, when they're just a little bit wet, and coated with a faint film of motor oil? Slicker 'n snot on a hot day!
If the sun would just break through the clouds, it would really help. I know, I know, if wishes were horses, then beggars would ride. I should just suit up and go anyway, once the roads dry off. Maybe I will. Or maybe I'll just stay home, lift weights, and wait for the call to come that the new dishwasher is ready to pick up.
It could be worse I guess. The worst thing so far to happen this year, is my less-than-2 year-old dishwasher died. ( It may be the impeller pump, or more likely the logic board--I checked and disassembled everything else in it yesterday, trust me!) We avoided ice storms, and dentists, unlike a good friend in blogosphere. DH's Borg Implant is working well, and giving us a world of new data to play with. It's really interesting, actually. It has already caused DH to change what he puts in his morning cup of coffee. Heck, I even got to the pool last Thursday for a swim!
So, y'all stay safe, and warm, ok? And be sure to check out DH's Borg Implant, it really is cool.
Yep. the weather has not been cooperating (nor has my dishwasher, but that's another story) for riding. My goal was for 84mi/week. By now, I should be at or close to 168mi for the year just to stay on track for my total mileage goal. I have 40. Period. Yeah, I'm not happy.
It's been cold, and wet, intermittently icy, and dreary cloudy, and occasionally windier than I consider safe (30+mph). Makes for lousy and somewhat unsafe cycling, especially the wet in the cold. I do NOT want to crash! Do you know how slick those road paint stripes and crosswalks get, when they're just a little bit wet, and coated with a faint film of motor oil? Slicker 'n snot on a hot day!
If the sun would just break through the clouds, it would really help. I know, I know, if wishes were horses, then beggars would ride. I should just suit up and go anyway, once the roads dry off. Maybe I will. Or maybe I'll just stay home, lift weights, and wait for the call to come that the new dishwasher is ready to pick up.
It could be worse I guess. The worst thing so far to happen this year, is my less-than-2 year-old dishwasher died. ( It may be the impeller pump, or more likely the logic board--I checked and disassembled everything else in it yesterday, trust me!) We avoided ice storms, and dentists, unlike a good friend in blogosphere. DH's Borg Implant is working well, and giving us a world of new data to play with. It's really interesting, actually. It has already caused DH to change what he puts in his morning cup of coffee. Heck, I even got to the pool last Thursday for a swim!
So, y'all stay safe, and warm, ok? And be sure to check out DH's Borg Implant, it really is cool.
Thursday, January 8, 2015
Too cold to ride...what to do?
Ok perhaps I am wimping out, but I have no desire to ride today due to the unexpected cold and windy day outside. Yes I have cold weather cycling gear. Yes I know Cheeseheads who ride in significantly negative temperatures (don't ask me how I know what went on at Trek years ago, and probably still goes on today!) But at 34*F with steady 24mph winds, I just don't want to go out in it, no matter if it is a sunny day.
So what to do? I've got some elbow inflammation acting up, so that sort of limits my weight lifting as I don't want to make it a chronic issue. I don't want to ride rollers indoors--I'd likely crash and break something (bike, furniture, bones...). Walk the dogs? Too cold and windy. I don't run unless it's an emergency (see also, Too cold).
Wait a minute...it is Thursday, right? (Yeah I know, I wrote this piece on Wednesday, thinking it was only Tuesday...oops!) But Tuesday and Thursday is free swim time at the local senior center. And I have a senior center membership! A perk(?) of being in my second half century I guess.
So, instead of freezing my fanny off tomorrow in this frigid spell, I intend to bask in the indoor heated warmth of the pool, attempting to remember how to swim laps! I found my suit, and my bug-eyed goggles, so I should be set. I wonder if they'd let me use my snorkel for lap swimming? Hmmm, I will have to ask!
So what to do? I've got some elbow inflammation acting up, so that sort of limits my weight lifting as I don't want to make it a chronic issue. I don't want to ride rollers indoors--I'd likely crash and break something (bike, furniture, bones...). Walk the dogs? Too cold and windy. I don't run unless it's an emergency (see also, Too cold).
Wait a minute...it is Thursday, right? (Yeah I know, I wrote this piece on Wednesday, thinking it was only Tuesday...oops!) But Tuesday and Thursday is free swim time at the local senior center. And I have a senior center membership! A perk(?) of being in my second half century I guess.
So, instead of freezing my fanny off tomorrow in this frigid spell, I intend to bask in the indoor heated warmth of the pool, attempting to remember how to swim laps! I found my suit, and my bug-eyed goggles, so I should be set. I wonder if they'd let me use my snorkel for lap swimming? Hmmm, I will have to ask!
Friday, January 2, 2015
2015 cycling goals
I had planned originally on keeping this private, just in my head, so no one would know but me, if I failed. But that's not really the purpose of a goal, is it? So I have identified a few cycling goals for this new year. For you faster, more accomplished riders, these may seem insignificant as goals, but for me, now in my second half-century on this dirtball, they are significant enough.
1. To double my 2014 total mileage (or more!). This means riding at least 4,365 miles by 23:59hrs, 12/31/15. That's roughly what DH rode this year alone, and he missed 4mo of riding. It works out to 84 miles a week. That's not too hard to manage, provided the weather cooperates. Now that I have a comfortable recumbent, that is also looking like a fast bike even for this old engine, it shouldn't be too horrible a goal.
2. I want to do a sub-7 hour (moving time) imperial century. I may try to do that at Hotter 'N Hell 2015 if I am feeling strong enough, especially considering the potential for high heat and winds out at Wichita Falls. HHH just tends to bring out the best in riders, so maybe I can hit this goal there. My last century was in 2012 at 7:44:32 for about 103mi (forgot to turn gps on at the start but it did capture 100.7mi) and a 13.0 moving avg.
3. To enjoy riding BAK 2015.
4. That all of my family avoids serious illness and injury in 2015.
5. To remember on every ride that DFL>DNF>DNS. (that's from a sig line I saw on BROL)
2015 Cycling goals
1. To double my 2014 total mileage (or more!). This means riding at least 4,365 miles by 23:59hrs, 12/31/15. That's roughly what DH rode this year alone, and he missed 4mo of riding. It works out to 84 miles a week. That's not too hard to manage, provided the weather cooperates. Now that I have a comfortable recumbent, that is also looking like a fast bike even for this old engine, it shouldn't be too horrible a goal.
2. I want to do a sub-7 hour (moving time) imperial century. I may try to do that at Hotter 'N Hell 2015 if I am feeling strong enough, especially considering the potential for high heat and winds out at Wichita Falls. HHH just tends to bring out the best in riders, so maybe I can hit this goal there. My last century was in 2012 at 7:44:32 for about 103mi (forgot to turn gps on at the start but it did capture 100.7mi) and a 13.0 moving avg.
3. To enjoy riding BAK 2015.
4. That all of my family avoids serious illness and injury in 2015.
5. To remember on every ride that DFL>DNF>DNS. (that's from a sig line I saw on BROL)
Thursday, January 1, 2015
The Iceman Cometh
This is what we awoke to, on this first day of 2015.
You can see it is raining hard...we need the rain.
What we don't really need is this...
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