THE GARDEN PROJECT

I wouldn’t or don’t exactly consider myself a green-thumb, but I do like playing in the dirt and watching plants grow. I have a plan in mind that involves a much more elaborate organic garden, in the mountains, but that’s a story for another time. But, like any dedicated OCD, I have to dabble before I jump.

Two Wednesdays ago, Cadence and I planted some peppers, tomatoes, and herbs. We didn’t have the time or the budget to do exactly what I had planned, but it’s a good starting point that can easily be improved upon. And, not bad for three hours one afternoon . . . if I do say so myself.

A strand of chicken wire and rebar rods is acting as our make-shift fence at this point. It seems to be doing the job. Ladybug has slipped under it a couple of times, but she hasn’t investigated the plants yet. I think she’s just trying to show me that she can go where ever she wants.


The veggies are progressing nicely. I’m a little concerned about the peppermint and rosemary. There is a slight slope at that end and the first time I watered it funneled straight down towards the tomato plants. I’m expecting the herbs to pop up randomly if they pop up at all.

To be continued . . . .

Worth the Read

Even though I've become increasingly disenchanted with most of the cycling tabloids, out of pure curiosity I still subscribe and read. Well, in most cases I thumb through and pick and choose what to read and thanks to Woolard, I don't actually have to subscribe. I just read his hand-me-downs. Woolard has a magazine problem, which works out well for me.

There is a column and article in this month's Bicycling that is well worth the read. The column is entitled Ride, Don't Train. It's written by The Bike Snob himself. If you're a cyclist and haven't stumbled accross http://www.bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/ yet, you need to. The article is an excellent wording of how I feel about cycling. Screw coaches and power meters. I'm not getting paid to do this shit. It's supposed to be fun. Just Ride!!! (pg 25)

The article is entitled The Anti-Shop. It's about a bicycle coop in Oklahoma that allows people to salvage and build bicycles for free. The tools are there, the stands are there, and used parts and frames are made available through donations and discards. There's something cool about a place where a college student tunes up a $2k bike next to a homeless person building a commuter that may eventually take them to work. (pg 32)

MOTHER'S DAY

For all you that want to take a non-traditional approach to mother’s day this year, here are my top 5 songs to serenade your mom or wife with.

#5 Holy Mother – Eric Clapton

#4 Moma I’m Coming Home – Ozzy

#3 Moma Said – Metallica

#2 Mother – Danzig

#1 Moma Said Knock you Out – LL Cool J

Stick that one in your play list.
Happy Mother's Day to all you MOTHERS out there.

My WTF Moment of the Week!!!

Here’s the situation. Students at my school have been given a chance to attend “Boot Camp” for five Saturdays in order to recover credit for missed days. The students attend from eight o’clock to twelve o’clock. Five days of four hours equals twenty total hours. The problem is that some of these students have missed more than twenty days in more than one class. So, a student that misses twenty days in three classes has missed a total of sixty hours. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that the math doesn’t add up. Not to mention that part of the educational process is to teach responsibility and accountability. How well will these students perform in the real world if we teach them that “make-up” opportunities will always be available? Let me apologize now to all the business owners who will be tormented by the poor employees and shop lifters we are producing in order to account for FTE and make AYP. WTF!!!!!!!

My Name is MUD!!!

The second race of the Dirty Spokes 2009 Endurance series was held in Winder, GA at Fort Yargo State Park. The usual suspects assembled for the weekend. This year has been a little slower than last year “race-wise”. A combination of weather, timing, and the economy has kept several of us at bay. This would be my first race of the season, and with half the normal miles and no races to date, I was preparing for boot camp. 

We may not be the most organized or glamorous team in Georgia, but we have, without a doubt, the best chef. Clark worked his magic Friday night and we were treated to ribs the size of Chihuahuas. Steve and Josh turned in early. Merritt, Clark, Zaxby, and I stayed up and watched the end of Rocky IV . . . the best Rocky. 

The trail was bone dry on Friday, but it RAINED ALL NIGHT LONG. I woke up at 3 a.m. thinking, “If it’s like this at nine o’clock, I’m not even starting”. See, I have this policy. I don’t mind riding or racing in the rain. I actually enjoy it sometime. But I don’t start in the rain.

Good or bad, it wasn’t raining when we woke up. We all did our own race day preparations and headed to the start area. 

It was a huge field this year. I think the announcer said 400+ entrants. By the looks of it, I’d say that was about right. We had a primo pit area, right on the corner after the timing area. After setting up and kitting up, we headed to the line for the racers meeting and the start. 

I won’t go into all the details of the race, but I will mention this. On lap three, something happened. I think the appropriate term is “deluge”. Full-fledged down pour! If you were going uphill, you were riding against a stream. If you were going downhill, you were riding with a stream. If you were in a flat section, which there weren’t many of, you were riding IN A STREAM. The entire course was water. Let me take that back. The entire course wasn’t water. Some of it was “peanut butter”, as Clark would affectionately call it. It made the next hour of racing very interesting.

The sun eventually popped back out long enough to bake the mud on. Then . . . another down pour; then sun. By the time I finished, I couldn’t read the label on my bike and I had literally three layers of mud; crust, semi-crust, and wet, caked on. I did the only thing you can do it circumstances like those. I jumped in the lake head first, shoes and all. I was seriously considering getting a bar of soap, stripping completely down, and taking a full on bath. The presence of the park rangers persuaded me not to. 

Josh won . . . of course. Steve did awesome in his first single-speed endeavor. He finished 7^th or 8^th, I can’t remember. This was the first fat tire race of the year he hasn’t experienced a flat time. Clark and I got 37 miles and 4+ hours of training in. All in all, a pretty good day for the team. 

We returned to the cabin for another amazing meal; steak, potatoes, beans, and guacamole dip, not to mention the insane amount of beer we consumed. Suzy, Tiff, and C-Bug came over and had dinner with us. After they left, we hung out with some guys from Tampa, one of which happened to have graduated from Georgia Southern and played volleyball. Small world. We finished the night off around a camp fire. Clark enjoyed it so much, he spent the better part of the night outside. Apparently, it got a little nippy going through the Rockies. 

We now get to completely tear apart our bikes, clean, replace, and rebuild. The spoils or racing. 

As a side note, my kit, which was completely brown at the finish of the race, looks almost brand new. Special thanks to Hincapie for the awesome new kits... I hope the other guys were as lucky.

Pour Some Sugar on ME!

A new edition to the Drive Home Sing Along is available for your listening pleasure.


I recieved a message from my buddy Merritt that Mr. Buice has put his foot back on the gas and come back with something hot. It's been a while since he laid down his last track. Will it measure up? Has he fallen off? Has he lost touch with what today's audience wants to hear? Check it out and decide for yourself.

http://www.youtube.com/ Drive Home Sing Along #28

(Also, I am perfectly fine with Cletus continuing to multi-task while driving. see previous post.)

You don't MULTI-TASK while you DRIVE!!!!

I need to take a few minutes to rant. I returned home today from a weekend with the boys in Winder GA. We were at Fort Yargo for a 6hr MTB race, but I'll give more on that later.

On the way home I started keeping track of how many people were doing something other than paying attention to their driving. Here's my tally:

Reading - 3
Smoking - 12 (lower than would have guessed)
Doing nails - 1
Dancing and Singing - 2
Texting - 4
Talking on the phone - Too many to fu@!&NG count!