Sunny Day Ride

Lovely sunny day today, I took Buellie out and started the bike up, checked the tires, and geared up. I took the old Conway highway North, and stopped in Mayflower at the onramp to the highway and gassed the bike up with premium (Buell says to use regular, but I have found in the last two years that it runs much smoother with premium and I actually get higher gas mileage from it). I put a half gallon in, the tank was pretty close to full when I left the house. I headed east over the overpass and rode past Lake Conway. The lake is UP, the rains from last week have really raised the water level of the lake. Some docks were almost submerged. I rode on for a while, then took a right onto 107 and then when I hit the next intersection I headed right to Vilonia and stopped in and visited my friend Fred. I thought about going on to El Paso and seeing if the bikers event up that way was at M&M Stop and Shop but I decided to head home, so I drove back to Conway. On the way I was passing a slow car (sitting in the left lane) and encountered an aluminum can in the road. No issue, I missed it. Then I took the highway from Conway home and on the way I had a road gator show up out from under a U-Haul. Dodged that. I stopped at the gas station and filled the tank up. A little over a gallon is what it took. When I got home I used some Honda Spray Cleaner and Polish and a microfiber cloth to clean the bike.

Frustration

I NEVER blog about work, it's against my personal views on work and home life being separate... but this is a generic post, nothing bad.

I forgot my ID badge for work, it's one of the things which used to frustrate me like crazy when I was married. I'd always be misplacing my ID badge, and having to deal with it. It lets you in doors, gets you out at the end of the day, etc... Going to the bathroom without having an ID is a pain, etc... Essentially chains you to your desk for the day, keeps you from venturing out. Well, today was the FIRST time since the divorce I forgot my ID. Since I take one primary vehicle to work daily, I typically just store it there so I never forget it. Last night though in my rush to get home and load up the kayak, get the backrest for it, etc... basically get to the lake and do some paddling and catch the sunset from on the water (that was really nifty) I put it in the house. So I forgot it this morning.

I spent most of the day working at a fevered pace to wrap up some projects, get a lot of work done, and that's how most days are. I eat lunch at my desk 3 out of 5 days, and today I did that but the time rolled around to 3:00 and I desperately wanted a break. So I figured I'd go for a walk, get a little exercise and some fresh air. Well, I had a temporary ID and it wouldn't let me out the stairwell doors, it wouldn't let me in doors, etc... A few calls to security fixed it, but I was tired, had been staring at my monitor too long, and was a bit stressed out so it amped things up a bit.

Despite that I went for a nice 30 minute walk, my legs were burning good when I made it back.

On the way home the bridge traffic was SLOW. Earlier in the day an accident had occurred on the Northbound side of the bridge. 4 highway workers had their scaffolding collapse and fall off the bridge with them and several thousand pounds of equipment. The river is moving VERY fast, and three of the guys were anchored to the scaffolding and they got dragged to the bottom of the river. They closed the bridge at six so they could get a crane in and pull up the equipment and the men. Very sad.

The traffic in town was slow too, major accident on the Boulevard. So I stopped at Subway and took advantage of their $5.00 foot long deals. Since their prices went up, I quit eating there because a foot long sandwich had climbed to almost $8.00 and while it's good it's not Quiznos good. I sat there for about an hour, then went and gassed the truck up and ran through an automatic carwash. The traffic cleared up by then and I went home. I got my bike out, and did a 15 minute ride. Felt good, I rode fast to get in some extra exercise.

I'm gonna try and take a walking break at work once a day if I can while the weather isn't oppressively hot, maybe not 30 minutes, but I guess I could if I can. I'm also gonna try and get the bicycle or kayak out and do a couple hours of bicycling or kayaking a week. I lost 65 pounds last year, and gained some of it back during the holidays... but I never did any muscle building. I never really have desired to be bulked up, but I'd like to be lean and toned. Consistent walking, riding the bike, and paddling should help with that and it's all good cardio. Plus, I can do it at my own pace.

Kayaking for Exercise

 I did 2 hours on Lake Willastein today. I came home and picked up the Kayak and rushed to the lake. I put in a couple hours before sunset. I took my camera and some ziplock bags. I put my camera in the bag and took some photos, man I look bad in all the photos! :-) I guess it's just the way you look when you take a photo from a Kayak. It doesn't have the ambience of lighting style of the bathroom at home where most people take their photos! :-)

Anyway, took some photos of my feet here! :-) There was a boat on the lake doing some fishing. I saw a beaver, some geese, a bunch of ducks, and some turtles. I brought home a child's plastic golf ball I found in the lake for the dogs to play with. I wore some waterproof rain suit pants, and my aqua tennis shoes. So my legs didn't get wet but my feet did! :-)

Spring?

My plants seem to be doing okay.

My privet hedges are all green and growing already. About half my hostas have emerged from the mulch. One of my fruit trees has leaves on it already. The Rose of Sharon hedges are all getting leaves, and the Weeping Willows which I am growing as a container plant have greened out and are growing new branches. The two Royal Empress trees have yet to show signs of life though. Still waiting to see how they emerge/grow.

I put down two bags of weed and feed in the last couple of weeks (one on Friday before the rain), scalped the front yard and bagged the thatch and then used a rake to take up the dead grass clippings which had accumulated from last year. My yard is starting to green up slowly. We'll see how it does this year.

A friend of mine bought me some chicks and hens and I am watering those, and trying to figure out where to plant them. They're really cool and my grandma used to love those.

Weekend

The weekend was OK. I spent part of it with my dad, he bought a flatbed trailer that is 5' x 14' and sold his 1972 Chevy Pickup.

I need to take a shower, I smell like funk from dirty clothes because the washer drain hose wore through (it was rubbing inside the machine) and it leaked. I spent $23.00 on a hose, fittings, and clamps at Home Depot and spent an hour working on it and cleaning the laundry room and using my shop vac to suck up the water. I've gotta watch it to make sure it's good the next few loads but it seemed to be okay.