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Rudolph of Tholozan

Rudy died today. He was born October 13, 1998. He was a pure bred Yorkshire Terrier. He was Rosco's older brother. I brought him home to my house on Tholozan and he instantly became my best friend. A few months later, I got his younger brother to keep him company. We moved to St. Charles, where they had a huge back yard to play in. After that, we moved to Glendale and again they had quite a yard to play in and a nice house to live in. Rudy loved going for walks more than anything because he loved to mark every tree, bush, pile of grass, or just a random rock. When my mom passed, we moved into her house and they didn't have a big yard. Deanna and I and the kids would walk them as often as we could, because Rudy would become very depressed if he didn't get out. When we moved to our present home, we also had Rocky. Rosco and Rocky were so active and loud that poor sweet Rudy sort of got lost. He just slept and hid behind the couch. After a while, Hanna and her mom asked if they could take Rudy and we reluctantly gave him up. We just wanted him to be happy and get more attention. He loved it at Hanna's house. He was the only dog there and got all the attention. Rudy never met a person he didn't like. He never met another dog he didn't like, although he did get pissy with Rosco now and then. He loved to eat, but he didn't care much for the normal stuff that dogs like to do. He didn't play fetch, he never chewed on balls. He did, however, love to chew on shoes and other valuable things. He had very expensive taste.

He was the first animal I ever loved. We will all miss him so much.

Free to a good home!

marble coffee table. 3.5' x 3.5'. iron base. very, very heavy. (ask danny b!) nice, but i've had it 10 years and it doesn't go with the decor.

the catch...you lift it into your vehicle. seriously.

buy my stuff!

i've got a bushell of stuff for sale on ebay. you can check it out


HERE

Top 10 Recalls of 2007 Automobiles

1. VW New Beetle - 1,002,000
2. Toyota Sequoia - 533,124
3. Jeep Liberty - 149,605
4. Nissan Altima - 140,582
5. Hyundai Tuscon - 128,300
6. Dodge Nitro, Jeep Wrangler - 80,894
7. Suzuki Forenza, Reno - 75,697
8. VW Passat, Passat Wagon - 58,800
9. Chrysler Sebring, 300, Dodge Caliber, Magnum, Charger, Nitro, Jeep Compass, Liberty, Commander, Grand Cherokee, Wrangler - 50,665
10. Infiniti G35 Coupe - 23,934

wow.

ti bolt kits

i was talking to dan yesterday about his impending shoulder surgery. he was a bit excited about getting his ti bolt and plate kit for his collar bone. we swapped war stories about injuries, and the things you have to go through before making it back to perfect health. i think it's safe to say i'd do things differently if i had another catastrophic injury. a little less conservative in some ways, a little more careful in other ways.

give 'em what they ask for

he's got a lot more rhythm than his dear old dad...

here i am!

eli has gotten into the habit of hiding behind the clothes in the closet. it's a pretty big walk-in closet, so he crawls around back there and pops out like a jack in the box. here, he has mom's tooth brush and his tooth paste along for the ride.

tour of missouri madness

i'm more worn out from a weekend off of work than i am from a week of work.

deanna and i started the weekend off by dragging the kids to the local parade saturday morning. i'm not one for crowds, but we found a nice parking spot next to the road and tailgated from the freestyle. hanna and tyson had a blast, while mrs k and i fought to keep eli engaged in something other than running out into the street. i walked the older kids over to the bakery next door and got some yummy stuff to tide us over until the parade was over.

after that, we parted ways. i went to do some off-roading, and the girls and eli headed west for the finish line at st. charles. i rode for a couple of hours on the top fuel, then added a couple of 15 minute threshold intervals for good measure. of course, that meant i'd be getting to st. charles for the finish of saturday's TOM stage just in time for the finish. actually, i missed it. i had to park so far away, i listened to the announcer say that danny pate won. woe is me. i met the family at the awards presentation anyway, said hi to a lot of people i knew, then high tailed it to some hot wings place for dinner. hanna and her friend paige helped me chase eli around the parking lot while mrs k waited for the check. he yard saled a few times on the pavement and just kept going.

sunady, we all got up, however slowly, and went to church. eli has been working on staying awake 24 hours a day, and has nearly succeeded, only sleeping a few minutes here and there to recharge his considerable batteries. we parted ways again in the afternoon, as mrs k and hanna took off for katie's wedding shower. i took tyson down to forest park to check out the TOM. we parked on lindell and rode our bikes over to the hot corner at deboliver.

i hope this works. i've never uploaded video before. this is from the median on forest park parkway. i'm laying down on the pavement so i can get a view of the riders as they go by. i think i utter an explative, so use your volume at your own risk. they were CLOSE!

we watched several laps go by, then we called it a day. well, not really. the beautiful mrs k was still at the shower. i picked hanna up and drove her home, then came back to the house for more chores. the freestyle was at the 5000 mile limit for the oil, so after letting it cool, i changed it, then took out the trash. add in a little laundry, some dishes, and chasing eli around, i was ready to drop.

i look forward to work!

greensfelder!

i got on the top fuel today on the always-brutal greensfelder trails. since i didn't do the race last weekend, i felt obligated to get out there. and, i was curious about the trail conditions.

i jumped onto the dogwood first, down the greenrock, and crossed allenton road to do the old declue race course. it was dry as a bone, and lots of loose gravel greeted me everywhere. as usual, the trails served up more than a little white-knuckle action. the kaiser and i have a saying about greensfelder. any ride at greensfelder without incident is a great ride, because sooner or later it's going to bite you on the ass. you may get 2, 3, 4 trips out there and not have a scratch on you. but greensfelder always wins.

i avoided the inevitable today. no falls. but i did bang pedals a few times. i'm super psyched about the top fuel's climbing prowess. it flat out hauls uphill! great grip, fantastic out-of-the-saddle pedaling, and pretty comfy. great choice as a race bike. i lament the loss of the bmc because it was so comfy and confident. it never was a xc race bike, but it could go fast and do it with more poise than any other bike i've ever had. but i figured if i was going to be racing, i need a racebike, not a fast trail bike. the top fuel does fufill that role in spades.

riding from work

but not me. monday, i was in no mood to ride. sleepless night, a hard couple of days...i left the riding up to the beautiful mrs k. she rode home from work while i entertained the guys from qbp for a while. i always worry about her when she rides without me. she probably rides more sanely without me, though. i drove home, picked up the boys, and just got home when she pulled up. 25 miles from chesterfield? no problem, says the girl.

oh yeah...i ride, too

lately it seems like there is so much more interesting stuff to post about than my own riding. i like reading other people's stories about their riding and training, but i hate to bore people with my own tales. so, i usually save it for a good story. i sometimes wish i had a disclaimer attached that said i wouldn't be offended if you skimmed over it and onto the next blog. that said...

since i wimped out on saturday's mountain bike race at greensfelder, i knew i had to do something worthwhile. still raining, i had no choice (no choice in my mind!) but to ride-----the trainer! i sort of looked forward to it, since i have a power tap. it's like i have a way to quantify the effort, which makes the effort more worhtwhile....i guess. so i did intervals, which were quite satisfying, not quite exhausting, and sweaty. i was quite pleased that my 5 minute power was in the 330's, and repeatable. maybe that's not good, but it's good for me.

sunday was another chance to ride. the weather was dodgey in the morning, so we went to church and came out to glorious sunshine and humidity. eli was rolling on very little sleep and lots of piss and vinegar, so when he fell asleep in the car, we went with it. we drove around a bit before meeting my brothers and my sister for lunch at bandanna's. it is very rare that we get together, so it was a welcome gathering. after ingesting enough barbeque'd turkey to choke a horse, we all headed out. i wasn't riding for a while, i tell you that much.

finally, around 4pm, i saddled up and determined i would do the sunset south loop. pardee, eddy and park, old watson, robyn, rott road, weber hill road, kennerly, tesson ferry, down wells past suson park, meramec bottom road, heintz, baumgartner, telegraph, fine, becker, christopher, telegraph and back on the grant's trail. about 45 miles and 8 good power climbs.

Watch the TOM!

huh? what tour? tour of missouri? did i miss it? who's in it? how far do they go? where the heck is missouri?? somebody show me WHERE I CAN FIND OUT SOME INFO!

brrrr

BRRRR!

it's a cold morning! well, not really cold. relatively, i guess. it's not 81 degrees at 8am, it's 61 and that's cold, darnit!

the TOM will be heating the day up, of course. be sure to catch it live any way you can. cyclingnews.com will have live updates if you have no other way to follow it.

look, folks...it's on the news, in the papes, all over the web, and everyone is talking about it. if you can't get excited about cycling now, you may just be dead.

Sept 10

my dad's birthday was monday. he would have been 89. that sounds pretty old now. he hasn't been around since 1991, which is also hard to believe.

my biggest disbelief is that he was gone before my kids were born. i like to imagine what he would think of them. i'm sure they would drive him nuts, but he would be crazy about them anyway.

i didn't want to have kids as late in life as my dad. i was born when he turned 49, and he wasn't exactly pedaling around with me in a trailer. but, make no mistake, he drove me and my brother to just about the ends of the earth so we could do our thing. he made us breakfast before the sun came up. he was our personal alarm clock and pack pony. all without saying more than 10 words a day.

i write this as eli is keeping us up yet another night, as he has nearly every night of his short life. i'm guessing now that i did the same to my dad. kept him up nights. ruined his carpet. broke his expensive knick knacks. spent his coin collection. kept him up worrying where i was. wrecked his car.

i guess that's just what dad's do.

a belated thanks

i read over my postings from the past week, and i realized i hadn't done something.

do you know how hard it is to race a full weekend worth of racing? tough. add in kids racing, trying to keep a household under control, staying on top of one crazy baby, and juggling work...well, deanna and i can't do it alone.

grandma, grandpa, keith, kevin, katie, and a lot of other people really helped us hold it all down so we could participate. not only that, but they were the core of our fan club. i don't know too many people that would shout and hoot and holler EVERY lap for 2 hours, 3 days in a row, no matter how bad i was doing. or how many people would cart kids around in the heat and humidity, complaining and all. they did that and more, and i'm sure some of the strangers standing around watching even got into the act because of their enthusiasm.

thanks. a lot.

name dropping

i usually refrain from name dropping. it doesn't add to a persons worth when they constantly tell you that they know this person or that person. it detracts. but, i really can't hide our family's excitement about dan being in the tour of missouri. it's downright exciting, you know?? all of the family, and even a lot of our friends from church, are so happy the week has come for the race. most of these people were made familiar with dan and miriam over the gateway cup weekend, and now they are rooting for him. and it's not a win/lose thing. it's a tough-enough-to-be-there thing. if he wins something, that's just gravy.

whatever. i'll be a name dropper for a little while.

"oh, that bmc guy? yeah, i know him. that's dan."

i don't have a problem with that.

position #9

deanna alerted me to this little situation last night. i have to give it to the little guy; he really, really knows how to get comfy. this is my beat up gear bag. inside of it is a couple of jerseys, a pair of shorts, some socks, and gloves. a great little nest for a dog with a strong den instinct. if i didn't need to bring my helmet along, rosco would be a great carry-on. alas, my name isn't paris, and rosco is the last thing i'd bring along on a plane ride. scratch that. eli would be the last thing, rosco a close second. talk about an air traffic control incident....

over and out

eventually, no matter how hard he tries to stay awake, even eli has to give in. he snores, too.

uh, need a hair cut here!

which way did they go? which way did they go??

first day of school

with all the goings on recently, i forgot about tyson's first day of 1st grade this year. we all rolled down to the bus stop together, including eli in the trailer. it was a nice way to break the nervousness of the day.

Absalon wins world's again!!

wow! this dude is baaaaaaaad!!

no mtb race for me, very bummed

i just can't buy into the whole "gee, it's rained 3 inches in the last two days but the course is GRRRRREAT!!!" it may not be sloppy muddy, but i think i'll pass on slippery, tight singletrack. i'm so bummed. i really wanted to exploit my fitness that i have carried over from the gateway cup torture.

i may try to find some other races this month. it's so hard to fit in already though.

ug. life wins this round.

1966 Ford Galaxie 500

i saw one of these tonight on the highway as i drove home. it had the 390 in it, and some period mag wheels. red with black top. very nice. i would've loved to have seen it with the top down. the guy was cruising pretty slow, so i slowed down to take it in as i passed.

they really don't seem big anymore. in the 80's, as all cars downsized, the cars of the 60's and 70's seemed so big. now that suv's and such are so popular, they appear downright moderate. i know that the freestyle is a bit longer than the galaxie. i bet the freestyle gets better milage, though...

yeeeah!

GIVE ME FIVE, KIDDO'S!!!
(thanks to Sharon Whitehall)

top fuel dragster

actually, it's a trek top fuel 9.9. but the effect is the same. wooosh, it's fast! i can't wait to ride it.

my fan club in full force

it was a real nail biter for eli. max had to hold him back while i was racing.

the whole sidewalk on the topside of the course was full of tk supporters. even tyson's monkey got into the action.

and of course, no fan club would be complete without the signs. hanna made sure i knew that the markers smelled like strawberries.

another view

Happy Anniversary to Us

our 2 year anniversary is today. last night, grandma and grandpa took us all to dinner at pueblo salis for the occasion. that's deanna's margarita. really.

the kids are stylin

max, hanna, gus and tyson all sported the cool ghisallo kids racing jerseys this weekend. they are quite eye-catching. it was very easy to see our kids, too, since the searing ghisallo yellow is pretty much unique. not many other teams use the yellow, and not many other kids have much real cycling stuff. it's nice to see how jazzed the kids get when they can wear some of the same kinds of things that the big kids wear. and old kids.

yes, eli was there, too

now, dad, i distinctly remember you telling me that dura ace was better than ultegra, and i definitely see ultegra right here on the shifter.

hanna was very excited about her medal, and eli was dying to check out the trainer while i was warming up friday night. he didn't seem to mind that i was sweaty, stinky, and crabby.

hanna: dad, i really want to win tonight. i'm nervous

dad: i only care that you try your hardest. if you do that, you have a great chance to win.

hanna: i'm going to pedal past the finish line this time and beat them all.

eli: heeeeeeey! that guy has a spongebob t-shirt on! check it out!

a well deserved snack

all that warming up and whipping up on the competition can make a kid hungry, ya know? it looks like hanna is really ripping into that glad bag. check the medals around their necks...they are so proud, and they are already talking about getting geared bikes like the other kids.

the expecting couple

despite dan taking 1st-1st-2nd so far at the gateway cup, he has more to celebrate. the happy couple is going to have a bouncing baby boy. she doesn't look much like it yet, eh?

random race weekend photos

hanna en route to the finish at washington avenue. the orange flash!

tyson had a battle to the line saturday at washington avenue. it was a photo finish. these kids are more serious than most people can imagine.

tyson pedaling all the way to the line. check out the michael jordon-esque tongue.

the only winning ghisallo riders

the kakouris kids are cleaning up so far in the gateway cup. grandma and grandpa have taken tons of pictures and i'll post some of the action shots later. it must be the new ghisallo kids jerseys that are spurring them on to such heights!