Crashing, Partying, Riding and Eating

While many of you were flocking to the movie theaters for drama, excitement and entertainment, we had to look no farther than our own world.  Friday night, the beautiful Mrs K and I took our road bikes and did a fast ride down to Jefferson Barracks and back.  Feeling the groove, she kept pushing me to go faster.  I don't have to be asked too many times to go faster, so we were flying, literally 25mph through some corners.  She drifted wide on a 90 degree turn and sweet gum balls did their thing.  Surprisingly unhurt but not surprisingly pissed off, we got back on and rode the rest of the way home.  RIP to the ten year old craft base layer and a bit of skin on the elbow.

Saturday had no crashes but it did have a ton more chores plus a Prom.  Our senior and his sweetheart had a little photo session at the Lemp Mansion.  Such a cool setting!

They're really cute together.  However, not only was it their Prom, but it was Tyson's birthday.  The big 18.  (His selective service mail arrived in the box already, too!)

This photo is just priceless.  Tyson is really not big on photos and such, so as he was pondering his surprise cookie cake, Deanna and the newly-arrived Hanna were cracking up in the background.  Not even sure what they were laughing about, but I told them to act like fools in the background and they obliged.

Prom pictures over, it was time to show off ourselves.  Man, we can clean up nicely!  Well, she cleans up nicely.

I took this hottie out to our favorite dive bar, the 09.  We're not drunks, honest.  We are too busy to be drunks.

After a rough, rough Sunday of painting, yard work and general household chores, we took 90 minutes to ride Creve Coeur.  The dirt was hero, the lap times were good...just what we needed after the weekend we'd had.

To put a cap on it, we went out for burgers.  This is me, proving that I can take a selfie.  That's not really true, because Hanna had to show me how to do it without cutting someone out of the photo. (I had flecks of white paint in my hair) The day was not over, though.  I had to put the final touches on the OTHER outside spigot before taking a shower and getting in bed.  Truly, we need to stop having so much fun and just go to the damn movies like everyone else.

Your methods are unorthodox but very effective

During our big Back Yard Clean Up 2019 campaign last weekend, the beautiful Mrs K and I had a ton of work to do.  We were already tired from a full day of chores elsewhere, but this stuff doesn't clean itself up so it was up to us to finish the job near dark. I was on my last yard waste bag of sticks when I turned to see what looked like a hoola-hooping Deanna laughing so hard she could barely stand.  "What are you doing?" I asked. "We have some serious work to do and you're over there playing with the water hose!" I said.

It turns out she was trying to reel up a very stiff 100ft water hose and it was too hard for her to hold.  So, being the ever-resourceful woman that she is, she began coiling it up around her waist, twirling along in the yard like some kind of garden fairy.  Of all the things I've seen, I've never seen something so ridiculously funny and effective at the same time.  Rex was still quite sceptical.

Don't Sweat Sweating the Pipes

I don't know why I'm always so nervous when it comes to soldering water pipes.  It really is pretty easy.  Maybe I'm just so unhappy that they call it 'sweating' instead of soldering.  There really is no sweating involved.  It's pretty quick and painless.  Somehow, I still get nervous about it.  Both of my outdoor water spigots have been out of order since the fall.  Junky freeze-free things that were soldered in pretty poorly to begin with.  I've been waiting for good weather to replace them.  I figured I'd do them one at a time, so last night was number one.  I had to cut the old water line that led to the faulty spigot...it wouldn't budge. I did the first joint, which was an extension piece from the end of the spigot.  A little too much heat, judging from the discoloration but it turned out solid as a rock.

The next part was a bit tricky.  I had to use a sleeve to connect my new extension to the existing water line.  Again, it's quick and painless except holding a torch over my head, trying not to burn anything.  This joint was awesome and super fast.  The burn marks you see are from the builders who did a pretty slip-shod job when they built the house in 2005.

I was very proud of the end result.  A nice, new freeze-free spigot where the water lines were actually soldered in straight and not crooked.  Believe it or not, I'm replacing the other spigot on the north side of the house next because the crooked joint created by the builders is leaking.  No sweat, right?

Saturday Bike Ride to Good News

The beautiful Mrs K and I usually find a good, hard ride on Saturdays.  That was the original intent this past weekend, but as the day grew older and we grew more tired from work, we decided riding to get lunch and a beer sounded way more fun.  The idea formed around riding out the Katy Trail from Research Park to the biker bars in Defiance. 

Just before reaching Defiance, we passed this place.  It was hopping.  We did pedal on down about 300 yards to the biker bars and found...bikers.  Hmmm.  We spun around and headed back to Good News Brewery.

It was a super inviting place, with people young and old, and it had a kick ass balcony.  We even saw people we knew there.  It was a great choice.  We ordered beer found a nice spot to sit.

It was a bit chilly when we started out from Research Park, but sitting in the sun on the balcony was just what the doctor ordered.  We talked about just sitting right there for the rest of the afternoon.

 There is something about relaxing in the sun that makes the world's problems go away.

And WOW, our pizza came and the last problem, hunger, went away too.  It was awesome.  We weren't able to sit and soak up the sun too much longer, but the decision to enjoy the day rather than hammer out a tough ride was a good one.

Hannibal Gravel Ride

 First things first:  what the hell is wrong with my hair??

The Beautiful Mrs K and I woke up early this morning so we could make the trip north to Hannibal Missouri.  We saw that they were having a gravel ride there.  We went back and forth about the weather and finally decided to damn the torpedoes and just give it a go.  Again, hair??

It's not a long drive and the sunny skies were quite encouraging.  By the time we arrived at Cool Byke in quaint downtown Hannibal, it was a wonderful morning.  Hair never improved.

As you can see, this little shop is in an old auto repair shop.  It's really cool.  They carry Giant, Cannondale, and Specialized bikes.  And a big crowd showed up to do this charity ride.  I actually saw several people that I knew, too. We met couple of our friends from St. Louis as well.

The route was top notch gravel riding.  Hills, flats, ups, downs, great views, friendly dogs, totally friendly people, and believe it or not, the drivers were friendly too.  Most of the riders met up at the Mark Twain Brewery afterward for some damn fine food.  Stuffed, we swore that we were going to run the incredible set of stairs that rose up from Main Street.  We did, and were humbled.  This first photo is looking down from the top set of stairs.

This next photo is looking down from the next set.  That's Main Street down there, and that's John Twist standing at the bottom, opting out of the stair run.  Smart man.

A view from the bottom.  There are actually 40 more steps that are out of site from the very top of what you see here.  Wow.  I have seen Stair Club, NEXT LEVEL!

The Beautiful Mrs K and I had to get one more photo.  We took a little time to set the phone on top of the car to get this one.  We became such tourists!  We really, really liked Hannibal and we joked with the promoters that they should do another gravel ride in the fall.  They sounded interested and we promised to bring more friends.

Plumbing is more than Water and Plumber's Smiles

The next time you make fun of the guy bending over to reach under your sink, remember that his crack might be showing because his hands are too dirty to reach down and pull his pants up.  Even under good circumstances, it's pretty ugly when pulling the traps to keep the water flowing.  Last night, I got into the nastiest set of pipes I had ever seen.  Solid material...nothing was flowing past the blockages in these babies.

This pipe led to the garbage disposal.  Maybe 18 inches long.  Solid.  It's hard to wrap my mind around how water flowed long enough to nearly solidify 18 inches of pipe.  I don't suppose we need to discuss the smell, do we?

Giving Up Was Never an Option

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is serious and devastating to one's life and family.  It's not simply about lacking the energy to conquer mountains, it's about lacking the energy to get out of bed.  It's made worse when there are no clear answers on how to get well again.

It has been a long road for the two of us. But Deanna had the real courage, the real grit, the real strength to keep trying and not let the years of setbacks stop her from getting back to the person she knew she could be.  I've been spreading our fun and adventures over these pages, on Instagram, on Facebook, etc. because it has been such a fantastic time for us.  It looks like everything is awesome and amazing and I'm presenting a perfect, adventurous life.  It's not perfect.  But to us, it's all the amazing we could ask for.

 

Workin' workin' workin' Day and Night

If you hang around me and the Beautiful Mrs K, you'd better be prepared to work.  There is no lolly gagging going on here.  My busted ass is replacing busted copper pipe here, and that is some knuckle busting, got-something-in-my-eye, now-my-back-hurts kind of stuff.

What did I find when I went inside?  Mrs K doing some knuckle busting of her own, elbows-deep in a toilet tank.  Atta girl!  Where we come from, there is always a toilet needin' fixin'.  After I took this photo we started laughing so hard about something and I just can't remember what it was.

After our plumbing adventures, incomplete because our pants don't sag, we were off to do some truly taxing yard work.  Old tree stumps decay and leave big holes in yards.  We rented a tiller and went to work like we owned the place.  A bit of smoothing, a lot of grass seed, and some roll-out hay and there will be some Better Homes and Gardens going on here.

Cannot work all day.  Most of the day, yes.  All day?  No.  I went for a road bike ride down yonder and this little gem showed up while I was gone.  Mrs K tricked her into going on a ride with her and she actually enjoyed it.

 Oh, the beautiful women in my life.  We went to eat Mexican food later and Hanna had to watch Mrs K and I enjoy margaritas.  And we enjoyed them a LOT.

I did a very cool route in God's Country (aka Jeffco).  40 miles of hills and hillbillies.  It was a great ride aboard the newly painted 18-old Schwinn Fastback Limited.  This year, it's rocking Periwinkle Blue.  It wasn't supposed to be Periwinkle.

After another morning of plumbing, cleaning some truly gross stuff, and epic egg/cheese/roast beef sandwiches, we had a birthday party to attend.  Deanna's sister Denise turned 50 today.  There was a cake to remind her how old she is, just in case her mind is getting weak.

 She also had a crown, and that said 50 on it, too.

Playtime again, and we bolted.  We knew Creve Coeur would be dry so that's where we ended up.  Fantastic 80 degree weather, fast trails, and good times greeted us.  Deanna had her best ride yet.  I'm very proud of her progress!

I thought I would end this weekend recap with a regal photo of me, gazing into the warm, sunny sky.

Midweek Mountain Bike Ride

The beautiful Mrs K and I have been getting out on the mountain bikes as often as we could this winter.  That has been challenging because the weather has been atrocious.  We've paid for it a couple times, too.  We've had to abandon some rides because of mud or ice.  We rode Creve Coeur last week and this past weekend and were greeted with a great trail each time.  Last night's visit to Bluffview and Rockhollow was a mixed bag, though.

We had originally thought about doing it in the dark, since Wednesday night seems to be the time people choose to ride at night out there.  We thought better of it, since we didn't have our lights set up and she needs to get more comfortable on the rocky stuff.  Good thing we didn't go in the dark.  75% of the trail was great, 25% was sloppy.  We walked the nasty stuff, which was almost entirely on the north end of the west side.

We survived and didn't ruin the trail.  And Mrs K got some skills training on some pretty tough stuff.  And as I look outside now, it's raining.  Might be a few days before we can experience dry, fast trails.