Trek Across Maine 2009

Yesterday I registered for the 2009 Trek Across Maine. It is a 3 day 180 mile bike ride from Bethel to Belfast, Maine to raise money for the American Lung Association. A couple of years ago I rode the MS150 (1,2) and had a great time, so this year when Wife suggested I do 'the trek' I was all over it. Plus I could use the training leading up to the ride.

The fundraiser minimum is $500 and I would really like the help of my fellow bloggers in reaching this goal. To each blogger that donates I will do a post about you. What else could I offer? really.

I have set up a fund raising page through ALA for tax deductible donations. I should also mention that I am riding on the PercyCycles Team. It is a small team based out of the small shop that I do my bike repair and wheel building through. I can't wait for June.

2 10's

I feel like I need a t-shirt made: I survived Christmas 2008.

I was'nt that bad, really. Wifes parents came up for the usual Christmas eve dinner and drinking. That went well, although I learned, brown rice is a little tricky to cook. But "The chicken was good." *eyerolling* ugh!. Ok.
Thursday, my brother (Doc256) and his woman came up. After they arrived we decided that Ma and Steve should be over here too. So I call up Ma. "Ma. Come over. We're havin' a pahty. You don't even have to put your pants on." " I don't?!" she says. I guess the last part was the real kicker, they came over. We had a party. She actually decided to put pants on..."In case we broke down."
Saturday, Dad and B came up from Mass. and stayed the night. LilGuns received his first money envelope from his GreatGrammy. Two 10's!

Thanks boy, Ill need that for some beer. Now don't tell anyone.

Testing

This morning a got an idea. I wonder, since I spend about 2 hours on the road every day, lets try a little self promotion.

Who knows? it's just an experiment

I'm guessing that Ill get one hit at best and once the next storm rolls in, my window add will be erased.

So, did it work? Leave a comment if you saw me driving to or from Portland today. Or leave a comment with your thoughts.

MooseHead

Took this pic 2day @ a taxidermist in Grenville. Pretty cool.

*Now that im home and not texting in a blog post I can add that this guy was really good. Bears, fish, fox, rabbits. Bears biting fish. everything. So since we were there and knew one of the other guys at the shop that day we got a brief tour. My boss was picking up a rainbow trout that he got this past summer. The fish are basically skinned and the skin is applied over a foam body. The head is moulded and cast into plastic as it would fall apart. It is all painted, shellacked and mounted. There is a salt table to dry out the hides. and plenty of bond-o, and epoxies are used. Its quite and artistic endeavour and the difference between a good taxidermist and a shitty one can be enormous.

First Concert

What was your first concert?

In 1986 for my 13th birthday my mom got me the greatest present ever. To this day best ever. Tickets to see AC/DC on the Who Made Who Tour and the Who Made Who LP. I still have the t-shirt. It is so thread bare that it is as see through as nylons. I will NEVER get rid of it. I have even thought of framing it. I have probably worn it 2,000 times. Here it is:

I have seen AC/DC four times since then and is still my favorite band. In addition, i have seen Bon Jovi, ZZ Top (4 times), Fishbone, SRV, and so many others I cant even remember them all. I even have the hearing loss to prove it.
So, what was your first?

Parent-Parental Dilemas

I have made a difficult decision as a parent today and it actually doesn't have much to do with raising my son but making a better decision for both him and us.

How to tell GrandPa that comming to his house for Christmas is just a little unrealistic?

I have thought about this since Thanksgiving, when they were at our house. In years past (B.B. before baby) me, Wife and my brother would travel down for the day. Leave in the early morning, leave well after dark. Once comming back in such a snow storm that we were waylaid at the in-laws overnight.

This year after thinking through the logistics our normally 3 hour drive, we would be at least 5 hours traveling by car. Only to subject LilGuns to grandpa, grandma, auntie, uncle, greatgram, friends, family and on and on and on. And who knows what else. Then to drive home the following day. Ugh! no. no. no. Maybe if we were staying a week, it could work. But what normal person has that much vacation time? When do I get to make the decision to stay or go. THIS YEAR, thats when.

So I broke the news tonight and while Im sure it depressed him some, he took it well. I explained the whole thought process, thou im sure he didn't actually HEAR most of it. I'm sure his mind went right into 'the're not comming mode. poor me.' or somthing like that. Ah well, it's done. My stress over the whole thing is fading and hopefully next year Ill feel better about draggin' the boy into the City of Sin.

Blogging is good therapy sometimes. even if the whole world can read it...forever. Sorry for such a lame blog post but this is family crap and I feel that others experience similar issues and its good to share the pain.

In Town

Walking about Portland over the past few days I have come across a couple of photo worthy images.

The first here is a really cool child playhouse that is being given away or something there was some little plaque on it, but i didn't really care what it said. I just wanted the photo.

Then on last Friday driving out of town at 4:30 pm or so the 'Time and Temp' building as it is know around here [ if you call 207 775-4321 you will get the correct time and temperature also it has a HUGE ass clock and temp on the roof visible from most of the city], had the whole building front lit up for the Make-a-wish foundation. It looked really cool. For the photo geeks i used my trusty samsung s860 digital camera with with an F-stop 2.8 and 1.5 second exposure held firm by my steering wheel.
Other than that, its really cold today. Booger freezing cold. Like -18 centigrade. Play nice and stay warm.

Free Dirt

Maybe is a man thing. Maybe a geologist thing. Maybe a home owner thing.

Yesterday on her way out to walk the dogs and LilGuns she saw that the town guys were cleaning out the road side ditches. So she stopped and said "Hey if you guys need a place to put that, Ill take it. I live down there."
She got back home a while later and shortly thereafter the town truck pulls in the the driveway. "Where do you want it?"
So there it is. Two loads of about 8 yards each of mostly sand and gravel. I'm sure there are some rocks, leaves, sticks, and maybe even poison ivy roots just waiting for me to get into. This is probably the 3rd time we've got them to dump in our yard...and at about 125$ per 17 yards, it is well worth it to ask. and its GREAT material.
WTF do I do with it? is a good question.
Well, I use it, with a shovel and wheel barrel it gets distributed to all corners of the yard, filling in here and there, to make nice grassy level areas out of formerly un-useable, mosquito infested breeding grounds, etc.etc. Landscaping if you will. Plus, it is a nice little workout. Ill move a little before it freezes for the winter to make room for snow banks, but once spring comes Ill have it all move in a couple of weeks.
But getting is was all Wife. Im so proud.

Baby, Turkey

A quick image of LilGun's laying next to our cooked Thanksgiving turkey. I wanted to get a before picture of the uncooked bird next to a naked baby but it didn't work out. So I just ended up with the after pic.