just can't get enough

i'm not sure if it's the fresh scent of clean laundry or just a keen curiosity towards baskets, but if i leave a full basket of laundry anywhere around eli, he jumps in. here, his feet are off the ground as he balances on his chubby little belly while pulling at the clean clothes. his cars are in there somewhere, too. the older kids call him 'eli the destroyer'. it's true. he can wreck a room faster than two adults can clean it up. that's why we don't have company.....

forest park and stuff

we took the whole fam damily to the fo po crit on sunday to watch peanut tear it up with the cat 4's. it was a glorious day, and it was a great excuse to get away from the house and get crabby eli into a better mood. he slept all the way to the crit, which was a good start.

peanut wasn't in good spirits when we arrived. the beautiful mrs k and i tried our best to cheer him up, but he just didn't seem too excited about the crit. he's been complaining about some muscle soreness, and he hasn't taken my streching advice. i take that back, he's streched once. once.

we saw tons of people that we knew, just like the day before at carondolet. we stopped and talked to mike w for a while, who was pretty pleased with how the races had been going. robert edwards, a triathlete i've known for many years, was also there cheering on his 16 year old son in the juniors...funny, i remember when he was born! the whole shark crew was there, including ben, kenny g, kevin eubanks, farrrrrelllll browneeee, you name it.

we sat down with mrs peanut and her mom and dad. her dad had a cowbell and would ring it with authority whenever the field sped by. the kids turned their energy that they usually reserve for good ol' dad toward peanut. he even came by 100 meters ahead of the field one lap, just to prove he heard the cowbell (and the kids). after a couple of hotdogs and sodas from les hanks' bistro, we were ready for the final lap. peanut wasn't in the sprint, but he did a lot better than he thought. he said we helped him along with our cheering. i told him that having a cheering section is the secret to a successful racing career, and he and mrs peanut should begin having kids as soon as possible. lots of them.

what? it's true. really. i'm not kidding.

family bike rides and yard sales

myself, deanna, hanna, tyson, and elijah in tow went for a bike ride. we wanted to go catch my buddy schvonzie tear up the 1/2 race at carondolet. it was a fabulous day for a ride, although a bit windy. the kids are good bike riders, and there is bike path all the way from our house to the park. eli was much happier than he has been in the trailer, with no real complaining going on.

we were greeted by tons of friends at the race. not just friends of mine, but people who welcome our little family and consider us friends. it's so nice, and i appreciate everyone who takes a moment to ask how we are, how the kids are doing, and generally care about us.

we watched the 1/2 race and cheered on the guys. there were some promising breaks, some good chases, and an exciting finish by a young guy that my friend dan is coaching.

we headed home and as usual tyson and hanna got into some impromtu races. they get going pretty fast. the last race, pretty close to home, ended badly. hanna did a yard sale on the concrete path and got a fair amount of road rash. it was the worst crash i have seen any of the kids have, and tyson has had some bad ones. she brushed it off really well, and we continued home. after a little soaking in the tub, a little neosporin, a few band aids, and some lovin', she was in ship shape.

she is one tough girl. i would still be crying. i guess all she has from me is my good looks.....

that's my boy

we took the kids to a park in kirkwood and while playing on the junglegym, eli met a little friend. the little girl was a couple months older and quite a bit more agile on her feet. she was also really cute. eli finally caught up to her and gave her a big hug. they both giggled, so he gave her another. they giggled again, and then the little brute sort of pushed her over. she cried a little, so he gave her a last hug and they parted ways.

it was so cute i couldn't believe my eyes. but i caught it on the camera.

applebee's

when asked where he wanted to go for his birthday dinner, tyson said applebee's. not my favorite place, but they do have some good stuff there. he likes the mac and cheese, and he got to watch the baseball game on tv, too.

i didn't complain about the mozzarella cheese sticks that had a rubber-like substance inside. or the pasta that tasted more like lipton instant pasta meals. it was his birthday, after all, so my complaints would've just been rude. and deanna seemed to like her steak pretty well. and hey, they came over to sing happy birthday to tyson, and gave him ice cream! even applebee's ain't so bad with ice cream.

600th post, more bike riding

now that i've been at this blog thing for 15 months or so, i haven't really been counting posts. but, i just happened to notice before this one that i had reached 599 posts. wow. to think that i have that much drivel to spread! so, this is my 600th. hooray for us.

the beautiful mrs k drove us to work on friday. i dragged along my bike and gear so i could at least make a ride out of it for the way home. again, i had a tailwind, and i wasn't feeling bad. i picked it up at opportune moments and felt like a man. there are few moments in life like feeling good, pedaling hard, with a tailwind.

aaaaarrrrrrr

this is my "pirate taking a bath impression". is it scary??

riding with my sweetie

thursday morning the beautiful mrs k and i, after shuttling the kids off to grandma's and to school, took off on our bikes together. she took off, i followed. i was pretty much toast from riding with peanut the night before. if deanna hadn't wanted to ride, i would've just done housework.

i'm glad we got out. we rode to carondolet park, around the race course a couple of times, and came back. she seemed to move along quite well, i guess her working out and running is paying off. i followed her a lot, because i just couldn't muster the strength to pedal hard. sometimes i just let her go and she would look back in surprise. i kept muttering to myself that i was 40 and she was 30 so there's no reason to be surprised that sometimes i'm slow and cranky and she is pedaling furiously and she's in a good mood and she keeps talking while all i want to to is lay down by the side of the road and let the sun warm my face and forget all this exercise crap and get fat and lazy but then she speeds up again and i can't believe that i don't want to chase her down it must be my age again or maybe it's the ding dongs and i swore i would never drive a station wagon....

but i was glad we went.

It's my Birthday Today!!!

Tyson turns 6 today! it seems like just yesterday he was just turning 3. these kids, i tell ya. they get old before you know it. soon he'll be asking for the car keys and going out with girls and working on cars and racing bikes and shaving and paying bills.....ok, one thing at a time.

happy birthday!!!!!

a nice warm spot

i guess i'd be going to sleep if i were laying there, too. hey, once he goes to sleep, can i give it a try??

wicked wednesdays

the beautiful mrs k and i drove to work together on wednesday. the plan was: i would ride after work, she would run, all good, drive home together. it was nice to plan the day together like that.

after a busy day, peanut and i got ready to rumble. i didn't feel so hot. elijah had kept me and the mrs up a lot, and my bad mood was yet to subside. deanna forgot her running shoes, too. ah, what the heck? her shoes were old anyway, so if she bought some shoes down the street at fleet feet, and then ran 2-3 miles, she would still get done before peanut and i got done riding. problem solved, everyone happy.

the new zipp 303 tubulars that peanut rushed to glue up before the ride weren't helping him much. he was having a bad start, and despite my sluggish day, i was coming around very well. as a matter of fact, i was feeling a little like the old tim. i coaxed him along, and even though he kept saying he was dying, and that his new carbon wheels must be flat, we ended up going very well indeed. we did our bassette loop backward, pounding the hills. peanut even attacked me up melrose at the intersection with ossenfort. not bad for feeling bad, i say. we even had enough juice to do his required intervals for the day, 5x1 minute on-off, 2 sets. wow! we were flying.

if they turned out like this more often, i wouldn't mind having bad days.

chubbin'

i took the unusually nice weather on tuesday morning to drive the family truckster and the mountain bike out to chubb. ahh, the fresh air!

as i was unloading the bike, who did i spy but big neal wallace from the shark. he was taking along some fresh new meat...a buddy of his on his first mountain bike ride. we talked a bit and i scurried up the tyson side of the trail.

i cleaned every inch of the tyson side up to the picnic table. twice. i know, i know, it sounds crazy. especially from a guy who only does that one out of every 5 or 6 tries. my guess is that the trail was just superbe.

besides conquering the usual trail, i took the short new connector trail just built there, from the bottom of flint quarry up to the chubb trailhead. up and down. twice. it's fun! i love the shelf rock.

what a great place that is to ride!

sweet riding weather

i've been trying to use monday's as ride to work days. this morning at 7:30am, my outside temp gauge read 68 degrees. if that's not ride-to-work weather, i don't know what is.

i didn't feel particularly well today. i didn't sleep well, and i was just in a fowl mood. that's a shame, because in spite of a strong head wind it was still a nice ride. i got called an a-hole by some guy. good for him. he was getting his anger out. good for him, too, that he didn't act on it, because today seemed like a good day for ME to get MY anger out. maybe on him.

my foul mood continued at work. nothing wrong, just foul. at the very least, my beautiful wife cheered me up just by being there. she has done a phenominal job of arranging boxes of cool new spring clothes. what was once a disaster area of tops and shorts and t-shirts and hats is now a very nice display.

my ride home was much better. no angry motorists. a heavenly tail wind. great weather. if i had felt any better, i may have ridden until dark.

this ride's for elijah

we were both sort of beat sunday morning, so getting out for a hammer fest on bikes wasn't in the cards. little eli needed to get out of the house, too. so we jammed him into the trailer and headed out. we rolled down the river des peres trail, and over into st.louis hills and into willmore park.

once there, elijah proved that no digital camera can catch how much fun he was having. the photos just never caught him laughing, and he was doing a lot of that. didn't i tell you this circus was full of bad photography?

and as much fun as he was having going down the slides, he still looks like he was unhappy. not true. the beautiful mrs k and i were cracking up at his little laugh. he loves the slide!

.

deanna got out on her bike for a while after we got home and ate lunch. she has been on quite a roll with working out. it has been a frustrating year for her athletically, too. life has just gotten in the way. i kind of tricked her into doing the mtn bike biathlon at lost valley with me as a team in may. i'm going to have to rush her into doing a 10k off-road run for the event, but it's not serious because we aren't in it to win. i thought it would be a great thing for us to do together.

trivia, anyone?

saturday night was the annual trivia night at our church. mrs k literally dragged me to the first one a couple of years ago, and i've been hooked ever since.

this time, we dragged peanut and his wife lacie along with us. he was skeptical, of course. he was worried that the church might cave in on him, but i told him that since they were with us, they might be spared. grandpa and uncle keith were our cohorts, too, as well as another couple who's names escape me.

we started off pretty much in dead last. never fear. we had 9 more rounds to go, and we had plenty of cookies, crackers, chips, salsa, humus, and peanut m&m's from grandma z to help us through.

as expected, peanut and his bride had a good time. it's hard not to have fun. plus, the people at church are so nice that even coming in 8th place (out of 18?) was great. as a bonus, the trivia questions usually bring out knowledge that, however useless, you didn't even know you possessed!

saturday morning ride was huge!!!

the weather was superbe for a saturday morning ghisallo ride. i hate riding early, but if that's when the ride is, that's when you have to ride. i'd estimate that 70 people showed. it was a surreal view from the front of the field, looking back along old olive road, seeing that long line of riders. it was like some pro peleton or something!

after much pain and suffering, there were 12 or 13 guys left at the end, fighting it out. it's weird to say that, but that's the way these things end. i was happy to be one of them, since they are bike racers and i am not...at this time.

recruitment

i finally got peanut to go mountain biking with me friday night. he even bought shoes to go with me, but that really isn't saying much. his other nickname is gold card, after all.

i took him to the 'wood because i figured it has just about everything, even easy trails. he took right to it. he kept giving me the old story about being scared, blah blah. he was hopping logs along with the best of them.

we saw a lot of familiar faces out there. castlewood is the universal mountain bike playground, or umbp. up the love, "hey there!" down the roller coaster, "long time no see!" peanut thought i was some kind of celebrity. i guess if you hang around castlewood long enough, you'll make a name for yourself.

i'm very glad to say i've recruited another road rider for off-roading.

zzzz zzzzz zzzzz

everyone seems to be able to sleep except me. look at poops belly in this photo. warm jammies, full tummy, and asleep on dad...mmmmm.

Cobra time!

that's me in the passenger seat of John's cobra replica. John has to be one of the most pleasant guys I know. over the winter, he mentioned to me that he knew i was a car guy, and that he'd like to take me for a ride in his cobra.

well, today that came true. out of the blue, he came by and told me to get in. he also told me to watch my leg because a guy could get a good burn from those nasty sidepipes.

this thing loped like a true race car...maybe even a true drag car. glug-glug-glug, only rapid fire, not lazy. there is a stretched 351 cleveland under the hood, and true to cleveland lore, it flounders a little off idle and comes alive mid-rpm and becomes a raging monster at the top end. holy fords, batman. i wish we had more open road to let down it's hair. the thing tracked like a racecar, too.

everyone should take a ride in one someday. it's worth it just for the soundtrack. thanks john!

where in the world?

my friend dan b used to have a nice little blog called bike drool. it was really cool. he always had cool photos and stories and he traveled a bit and shared it all with us, his fearless readers. as a matter of fact, his blog is why i started this little diary of mine.

over time, he posted less and less. then, he changed his blog name to resident alien, and pretty much quit updating it. i miss it. it was a nice place to go each day.

is that what happens to most blogs? people initially have enthusiasm, then lose interest? maybe they run out of ideas. maybe they don't have the time anymore. (i know this has slowed my posting quite a bit) maybe they just don't feel like telling other people what they do and think anymore.

i used to visit schvonzie's blog, dan b's blog, and luke's blog pretty much every morning while i ate breakfast and woke up. i wonder what they're all up to now?

riding, man, riding

i did ride to work on monday, and i was hurtin'. i have no idea why. it was just hard. not fun. and it wasn't any fun riding home, either. but i got my 50 miles in, right?

so tuesday morn, i grabbed the homegrown and met deanna out on the road. she was out the door early and she had to get to work before me. i met her out on the grant's trail and rode home with her. i was still hurtin'. feelin' no good. i was thinking i would spin out my legs and exorcise the slowness in them, but nope.

wednesday i dragged the road bike to work in the back of the cobalt so i could ride with peanut after work. it was a fine day to ride, even if the wind was a bit strong. we wanted to try the bassett loop on for size, this time with a lot more anger. straight away, we were flyin'. i was climbing pretty well and feeling very little pain. peanut kept coming back for more, and that just made me go harder. i don't remember a recent ride where i had this much fun. we were hittin' it all the way to the end, and spun out an extra 15 minutes just because. nothing more fun than a hard ride with a friend.

friday, i hope to do a little off-roadin' at the wood.

this is the car...

this is the car that i was given as a rental while the family truckster is in the shop to have the bumper replaced. a 2007 chevy cobalt 4 door.

oh, it's a nice enough car. it gets out of it's own way, for sure. as a matter of fact, one could say (couldn't one?) that the cobalt can roast it's front tires when one stabs the throttle at a stop light...but i wouldn't know much about that. nothing at all. nope.

i get the truckster back tomorrow. as much fun as it has been to drive a shoe with wheels, i think i'll stick with the truckster for now.

postion #540

the things on this overstuffed leather chair:

1. mrs k's coat.
2. elijah's diaper bag
3. tyson's library books
4. clothes hamper lid
5. some kind of squeeky toy
6. rosco

a busy weekend and a messy living room...heaven for an industrious yorkie.

at last

after not being able to ride since tuesday, i was very excited to get out tonight for a little while. i rode out eddie and park to west watson, down rott, up weber hill, down gravois, back up west watson, through tapawingo, back up rott, and home via eddie and park. it was only a an hour and a half, but it was worth it.

it appears as though winter will be loosening it's grasp this week. i intend to ride to work tomorrow, ride home, and let the week develope from there.

what do i look like?

every living thing in this house ends up sleeping on me sooner or later. these are my two biggest rip-van-winkles. poops and rosco sleep on me every day at least one time. i would've called this photo another one of rosco's positions, but then i'd miss the opportunity to laugh at poops as well.

a trip to the arch

we took the kids to the arch saturday. it was a lot of fun. it was a bit challenging to get to the arch, though. after leaving the marathon expo at the Adam's Mark, we braved gale force winds and rain to cross the Jefferson Memorial to get to the arch entrance. then we were subjected to an airport-like search. jeez, war on terror in our everyday lives, for sure.

next, we watched the movie about the building of the arch. poops really enjoyed the movie, and let the audience know it. if you were one of the patrons in the theater who missed a little of the audio, sorry. i loved it. come to find out, papa Z was on that project nearly every day. it seems he and grandma had a lot of their early dates down at the worksite.

the little elevator ride was cool. i've always thought the tram cars were like little eggs. i did have to stop my mind from straying from things like being stuck on that thing. i think i'd lose my mind.

soccer game

tyson again played goalie for just a bit. he was bored, not much action. tyson's goalie number was "0", the same as the other teams scoring. our team scored 9 goals!

i'm going crazy!!

i haven't ridden since tuesday morning. i can't really call that riding, though. i rode the homegrown down grant's trail and back. an hour. an hour of shivering and, yes, cussing. i was talking to the wind as if it were a person i had a big problem with. i accused it of turning my way when it was obviously supposed to be blowing the other way. (it was, you know...)

maybe tomorrow?

i am soooooooo lucky that i off-roaded on monday. i didn't know it at the time, but the kaiser was also there. he must've been doing loops way ahead of me, and i didn't catch him. (because you know if i saw him, i'd chase him down like a greyhound chases the rabbit, right?)

my new coworker

the beautiful mrs k started work with me today at ghisallo.

yeah, pretty neat, huh?

she has tons of retail and management experience. she was a star at best buy, managed health clubs, taught aerobics classes, was a substitute teacher at new city school, taught new brokers how to be new brokers, managed million dollar portfolios, and currently manages poops and tyson and all of us at home. she has threatened to label everything in the house with a label maker, but i have so far repelled the idea. it's nice to be married to someone who can really talk about business and the market and consumer behavior, and who can also get excited about health and fitness and sports.

but, sometimes you just have to take stock in what it is you do for a living and decide if it's worth it.

a job is something that you do at least 40 hours a week.

how many hours a week do you :
-see your kids?
-get exercise?
-walk the dogs?
-relax?

sometimes you just have to take stock in what it is you do for a living and decide if it's worth it.

now it is.

the 'wood again

monday night i took the oiz to the 'wood for a good ol' fashion mountain bike ride. it was chilly, but the ground was dry and the trail was perfect.

i did the '06 state championship loop, adding the new roller coaster trail in going up grotpeter and going around the creek to go up lone wolf backward. it took about 40 minutes per loop, and that was enough. my legs were still sore from the yardwork saturday. sissy.

i did have quite a good time. the new trails at castlewood have made doing loops out there more interesting. you can really connect them in such strange ways as to make the place seem all new. ok, not all new, but at least interesting.

with the rain, it may be another week before i can get out again, so i'm glad i did it.

balaban's again

it seems like whenever the missus and i go out to eat, it's balaban's. not really, but we do like it and our good friend shawn the host has been gracious to us.

saturday, we met our longtime friends heather and ethan. they both have kids too, and like us, need some good ol' adult interaction. it was a great time. we stayed later than we thought, which means we didn't watch the clock, which means we enjoyed ourselves.

we would not have been able to go had uncle keith not come to the rescue. it seems our babysitter didn't show. or maybe she just forgot. maybe she had a better offer. anyway, a quick call and keith watched poops for us. good thing, too, because he wasn't in the greatest of moods.

someday, we'll repay keith by babysitting for his future kids.......someday.

easter benefits

while the little kids get excited about eggs (because they're, um, well, colored eggs, i guess), the bigger kids get excited about them for different reasons. grandma and granpa filled the pastel colored plastic eggs with money. five dollar bills, one dollar bills....yeah, easter is cool.

what a party!!!

we threw a big party for the little guy for his birtday on sunday. he was still a little crabby from being sick, but he got a good laugh out of our hats.

and we gave him his own plate of cake to see where he could go with it. this is almost at the height of the mess, except there is less cake on his sippy cup here. he sat intensely ramming cake into his mouth, nose, and even on the side of his head for 20 minutes or so. since poops was enjoying his cake so much, he insisted that i try some. he also insisted that i have it smeared on my face, too, and who was i to argue with the birthday boy?

don't bother me

i'm sleeping.......
position #696

Yaaaaay!

i'm ONE YEAR OLD today! and it's a darn good thing that i'm taking a nap before the birthday/easter festivities, too, because i am going to be a holy terror today!

even though i've been quite sick lately, i've taken my first few steps. i've not allowed it to be caught on camera yet, though. i'm too quick for mom or dad to whip out the new olympus and snap a few shots, like they usually do when i'm doing something funny.

i'm going to talk soon, too. i already say mama and dada, so more complicated things are on the way. but, hey, i type well, huh?

brrrrrrrrr

i've always grown up with the adage that easter is sometimes the coldest day of the year. my mom used to say that. it's not really the coldest, but it is frequently quite cold and, having had a taste of the spring, it always feels bitter.

yesterday, i was going to go mountain biking, but lost my motivation because of the cold. instead, i worked in the back yard for 3 hours clearing the branches, limbs, and sticks that fell over the winter. i had to break out the electric chainsaw. the emotional highs and lows while clearing tree-fallen debris are bipolar. there is the high of grabing a handfull of sticks and doing my best superman imiation and snapping them in my bare hands. grrrr! then there is the low of having a stray branch whack my cold, dry cheek and screaming like a girl. today, i am sore, like i've been lifting weights. 13 bags of yard waste will do that to you.

my next wagon

the ford flex is the next attempt by the automaker to shake off the failures of it's minivans and get to the heart of what americans want...stylish, fuel-friendly people movers. i own the previous attempt, the freestyle. i have to say, the freestyle is everything we need as a family, but i am smitten by the styling of the flex. maybe when the payments are up on the family truckster, we can check one of these things out. it's going to have the now-ubiquitous corporate 265 hp 3.5 v6, which is reported to get the same milage as my car. more power, better mileage, cooler looking, what's not to like?

to be fair, i kind of like the looks of my wagon. reminds me of an explorer without the pretence of off-roading. and i keep getting better gas milage. the last tank was 22.5mpg, and that was with the full weekend of schlepping the kids around. i feel a bit goofy, but i really like it a lot, even though it isn't the least bit sporty. i guess when something fits, it fits.

well, it WAS 85 degrees

monday was perhaps the best weather day of 2007 thus far. not too windy, 85 degrees, low humidity. so peanut and i hit the road after work on monday. but, peanut had been riding a while when i got off.

for some reason, he had ridden a good 3 hours before he met me. i guess it's all that bike racer training stuff, right? so, he begged mercy, but we had already talked about a new loop, and there wasn't any hiding on it. we ended up out at t and bassette. i won't go into the loop, because it's now our top secret training loop for peanut's assault on the state road race. it's that killer, i tell you.

when we finished, he had 5 hours, i had 2. luckily, lacie was kind enough to pick up the poor guy, and get smoothies for us to boot.

if it wasn't for the women in our lives, what the heck would we do??

comfy on the couch

rocky was so comfy laying on the couch, his muzzle in his paws, that we had to take a picture. of course, he didn't stay that way when we grabbed the camera, but i thought this was a cute picture anyway.

ah, the life

finally, we got a trailer for poops to ride in so he could enjoy the kakouris family training rides like we all do. it took a while to get it all set up, so hanna pushed on the pump and eli laughed when the air came out of the hose. hey, anything to keep him happy, right?

his happiness did not last long, however. he was crabby with a capital C. i led the family off of our street and down to the river desperes trail, poops screaming bloody murder all the way. miraculously, the crying stopped and he was asleep!

i took it easy on the bumps so as not to wake the sleeping monster. we rode down to watson, then back to gravois, up through new st. marcus cemetary, then toward home. it was warm and windy, and the kids seem to enjoy themselves. hanna was a bit lukewarm about the idea, but girls will be girls, i guess. poops awoke and started in again, so we were lucky to be close to home.

maiden voyage, a few problems, but hopefully we will get this down so poops has more fun.

peek a boo

movies and accidents

saturday night, after a full day of festivities, the five of us were anxious to get out of the house. poops was in a bad way, so we figured a movie would either entertain him or put him to sleep.

we were cutting the time a bit close, but it looked like we would make the 6:50 showing of 'meet the robinsons'. at least until we got rear-ended by a piece of poop escort zx2. i was stopped on gravois, waiting for a car to turn, when we heard the screach of tires behind us. it was wet, and zx2 guy slid and hit my bumper, not too hard, but hard enough that we had to pull to the side and check it out. sure enough, it pushed the bumper in a little. i called the cops, and we waited on the shoulder of gravois for a good 30 minutes. we all seemed fine, so hopefully we don't have whiplash later. the cop was nice, we got information exchanged, and went on to the movies anyway.

we picked 'the last mimzy' which seemed sort of hokey but ended up being very cool. the kids loved it, and the beautiful mrs k and i liked it. poops slept the whole movie, and woke up in a fabulous mood!

give and take, yin and yang. no day is without drama, huh?

foooot ball

soccer, football, whatever you want to call it.

tyson had another soccer game on saturday, and we had along his lucky charm, hanna. whenever hanna comes along to watch the games, tyson's team wins. we were not disappointed!

not only were we not disappointed, but we learned that tsyon is a heck of a goalie. the other team had him swamped quite a few times, and he repelled their attempts to score. we were on the edge of our seats!

murphy's law

friday, i rode to work, the third time for the week. i was proud of that. i was also acutely aware that there was a good chance of getting rained on.

i made it to clayton and 270, my half-way point, when there was a crash of thunder. no big deal, 45 minutes to go, i can make it. i got just past baxter, maybe 100 yards past, in the midst of clayton construction, when it began to pour. the rain mixed with the construction mess to make a slurry of mud, concrete, rock, sand, and god-knows-what. i was happy to make it to kehrs mill, until the fast downhill, where the rain turned to hard falling rocks and pelted me relentlessly. ouch. ouch. ouch. then came the angry motorist who didn't think 30+ was fast enough, so took the dangerous way around me, in the downpour, on a blind curve. nice, fat guy in an escalade, real nice.

dried out and happy, i cleaned my bike a bit before heading home. and again, it rained on me just as i turned off kehrs mill onto clayton. almost like a bermuda triangle of construction, rain, and pissed off drivers, it was a harrowing experience...then the rain stopped for the remainder of the ride.

i don't guess i'll take that section of clayton again. i know when i'm licked.

haircuts!

the beautiful mrs k took the boys to get haircuts. this was eli's first, and he acted accordingly. he moved, turned, shook, gasped, grabbed...and his hair is choppy. oh, take nothing away from the stylist. she could only do so much.