I Aten't Dead

Sorry, I've been lax in posting.  I blame Facebook.

I've been busy living life and taking the time to jot a note to the aether just hasn't been a priority, but I've come to the realization that this is as much a good reminder of my life to me as it is a wall full of scribbles in feces to y'all.

So, in an attempt to spark myself and to see if anyone is still there, I'm starting again.  This will be a quick update of the bike collection and some of the adventures had on said collection.  Pictures and details will come later.

Current stable consists of four bikes of mine, plus some ones I've plans for, and two for Mrs. Yam.  We've both a Long Haul Trucker and a Brompton folding bike; mine, a classic British racing green 6-speed and hers, a very darling hot pink and black 3-speed.  The Brommies were purchased last year on a whim instigated by the Mrs. and a wonderful addition to the collection.  There will be lots more about these wonderful little bikes.

I still have the Pugsley and the Big Dummy.  This winter's riding wasn't really very wintery, but the Pugs did most of the communting duty anyway.  Which wasn't much, sadly.  Mrs got herself a job in downtown Minneapolis and takes the bus every day and I became lazy and started to drive.  Fell into a bad habit, I did.  When I decided to start commuting again on January 2nd, I managed to flip the Pugsley and land completely on my back with the bike landing on top of me.  I ended up wrenching my back quite badly and it was uncomfortable to ride for about three months, so the bad habit continued.

By the time that my back started feeling better, March was upon us, with its ridiculous warmth and utter lack of snow.  We decided to take a chance and start the garden early and my interests went straight into the ground, so to speak.  We're reaping the benefits of this now though, with the ability to walk out and grab a bowlful of salad whenever we wish.  The spinach is already gone, save for the stuff I've let go to seed for August and next year's planting and the tomatoes and peppers have been planted.

A new feature of our garden is a rabbit fence.  I've never needed one before since the dog kept the bunnies at bay. But, our beloved Sheila developed a tumor and we had to make the hard decision of putting her to sleep and the little bastards took no time to show up demolish Mrs's peas.  The fence went up in short order upon discovery of the culprits.  I'm sad we couldn't turn her wrath into an anti-rabbit ray -- there'd be little left of them.

Places have been visited (Duluth, Milwaukee, Des Moines) and biked.  I've taken the Brompton to Tampa for the NCAA Frozen Four and found a soft spot for the city and hard spot for American Airlines (don't ever tell them you have a bike -- it's an extra $125 for "sports equipment").  Mrs has taken hers on the bus to work to ride home in the evening and we've been doing more errands by bike since we needn't worry about our elderly pup any longer.

One other thing, Mrs. signed us up to compete in the U. S. Brompton Championships on Sunday which means I will be competing in my first bicycle race ever.  In a coat and tie, nonetheless.

Should be quite the race...