checking out the new rosco mop

hayes prime pro brakeset

another box came today from the Hayes Group. this time, it had these bad boys in it.
the new hayes prime pro brakes. all kinds of titanium tidbits and those cool super-adjustable levers. can't wait to put them on. the new wheels and brakes might have to wait for my new frame, which i hope is coming soon. we'll see if my guy comes through for me.

thanks again, hayes!

thanks, hayes bicycle group

manitou tower pro 29er suspension fork...mmmm, smooth as butta!
bad to the bone ringle black flag 29'er tubeless disc wheelset with stan's bead technology.
answer pro taper carbon flat bar. 124 grams of pure racing bliss.

it pays to know good people. and it pays to be lucky. i'm lucky enough to be the recipient of these fine Hayes Bicycle Group products. i'll be trying them out for the next few months. i can already say that the fork is superb and the bars are awesome. i'll have the wheels mounted next week and i'll be pimpin' those at the trails.

fireworks photos

the beautiful mrs k got some really good shots of the fireworks from the webster 4th of july display. not bad for using my dumpy little camera.

a lego bonanza!

last sunday eli suckered us all into building ships with him. so he spilled all the legos on the table and we went at it. he is VERY good at building star wars type space ships, all with different guns and wings and designs. his are always the best, but i have to give a shout out to deanna's little ship...it was pretty freakin' cool. and after we built them, we flew them around the house and shot missiles at each other. imaginary missiles, of course.

that's my girl

she is so animated. love those eyes!

hanna loves taking photos of rosco

"i'm the king of this couch. if you want to sit here, you have to go through me!"
"ok, now that you're here, can you rub my belly?"

power washing the deck....again

i looked like THIS
today after using THIS.

every year or so i have power washed our wooden deck. i'm tired of it. it's wet. it's nasty. my arms are sore. it's damn heavy to transport in the car. i hate having to pay to rent one. can you tell i really don't like to power wash the deck?

after a couple of days of drying, i have to stain it. i really hate to stain the deck.

i'm a terrible greek

of course there's lots of terrible news these days about the economic woes of greece. it makes me a little sad that the land of my grandfather is in such dire straights.

but, why would i be sad? i'm a terrible greek. i don't even know the alphabet, much less the language. i'm fond of telling people that i'm greek in name only. that's the truth.

my father uttered only a precious few greek words in my presence. to be honest, i don't know if he knew much more than a couple of words. it seems that his father was in a big hurry to learn english and fit in here in america. in his haste to do so, he didn't pass on any greek heritage to my dad. at least that's my story. maybe my dad was the real culprit and was just too lazy to pass it on to us recalcitrant kids.

i keep saying that one day i will learn the greek alphabet. i keep saying that one day i will visit greece.

maybe i will.

eli's t-ball photos

what a handsome little devil. thank you to flannery allison for the wonderful photos.

build a bear for dogs??

poor rosco. every time hanna comes to town, she puts the little guy through all kinds of humiliating situations. at least he looks humiliated. maybe he doesn't care. here, he has on a build-a-bear outfit.
watch it rosco. you may end up showing a plumbers butt if you're not careful.

rosco doesn't like baths

the beautiful mrs k gave rosco a bath tonight. he just gets so cranky after that. after running around like a mad dog, he settled down between the end table and the couch. it's a tight fit, but he's a little dog.
i came around the front to capture this shot. he didn't even move, despite the flash of the camera. i didn't know it was possible to get that worked up over a bath.

memorial day weekend at aunt jane's lakehouse

although it was a scorcher, the water was c-c-c-cold!!! the kids ventured into the water just a bit on the first day. the docks were a great place to goof off for a while.
i have no idea what is going on here......
always ready to do something fun, the kids anxiously await the next adventure.
the beautiful mrs k, in the kitchen at the lakehouse.
getting ready for a ride on the formula boat, eli finds time to practice his facial ticks.
under way and in the sun.
our wake was pretty big. we were going fast as the lake was pretty empty on monday.
hanna and tyson were enjoying the view from the helm.
tyson convinced hanna to get into the freezing water. it didn't last long.
then tyson convinced deanna to get into the freezing water. that didn't last long, either!

love that black off the front kit!

thanks to the photographers at indian camp creek for the photo. i really like the black off the front kit. it has a slimming effect! i do fear that on the hottest days it will add to the misery, though. actually, i shouldn't worry about it...it's ruben's kit anyway! thanks ruben!

friday we had eli's preschool graduation picnic. big sister hanna was in attendance for this momentous occasion.
"no dude, i'm telling you, contador does NOT have the giro sewn up yet. anything can happen in the last time trial!"
"these things are totally delicious. tell me they don't have any high fructose corn syrup!"
eli and his crew owned the playground.
posing with big sister and big brother. he's all grown up now.
"son, it's time we had a little talk. there comes a time when a man........"