Next Stop, Bismarck!

Our hummingbird feeders are awaiting the return of our tiny friends from their vacation homes well to the south. It's going to be a couple weeks before I can replace the sugary mix they contain because we're leaving town in the morning to visit family and friends in the Pacific Northwest. My brother Bryan and his family left Minnesota nearly 25 years ago and I have yet to make a trip out west to visit them. He's been back here several times as has his wife Sue. We're overdue. Toby and Charlie will be with us so Tammy has reserved rooms at Airbnb's along the way as they seem to be more accommodating for those traveling with pets. We found a cute Airbnb in Sherwood, Oregon to rent where Bryan and Sue live. It turns out that Bryan did the photography for the woman who owns it. How cool! It's been 4 years since our last vacation so we're excited to be hitting the road again. Tammy's Subaru Crosstrek is packed and fueled and waiting. We'll have SiriusXM to keep us company in addition to Pandora.

I put my Etsy shop in vacation mode. It's a nice feature to let people know I'll be away and unable to fill any orders. My only concern is how suspending my site's activity will affect its search rankings. I suppose this is one way to find out.

Up until this last weekend, I've been putting in lots of hours down in my basement studio working on another larger piece. I designed it during our spring blizzard a couple weeks ago. If we couldn't have spring outside I decided I'd create my own indoor spring. Here's a link to some photos on my Instagram site. I'm getting better at estimating how long a piece is going to take me to fabricate. I was telling my brother Keith that I figured the project was going to take me 45 hours. It took 48. I'm pleased with how it turned out. The real test for me is when we get back from vacation and whether or not I'll be able to continue to produce more art during the summer months. I'd bet against me at this point but we'll see. The golf courses are all open now and my bikes are chomping-at-the-bit to be ridden. Oh, and a ton of yard work awaits me when we return.

And speaking of bikes—I think I may be developing a new love: a love for a gravel bike. Gravel bikes are different than road bikes in that they're designed to take you off the smooth surface of pavement and onto gravel roads where skinnier tires struggle to stay upright, much less hold their line. Their geometry is also different from a road bike in that their wheelbase is typically longer, creating a more stable and comfortable ride. This desire/love for a gravel bike caught hold of me yesterday when I rode the Miesville FiftySix ride with hundreds of others, mostly on their gravel bikes. I was on my fattie and struggling to keep up with those around me even though I was working considerably harder and likely putting out more watts than they were. A nice leisurely ride is nice but I crave speed, especially in the environment I found myself yesterday. It's a big investment for me but knowing how much use and fun I'll get out of it overshadows my concern for cost, as it always does when it comes to bikes.

That's all for now.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

David Crowder Concert, NWA188 and Photo Review

Riding, Retirement and a Home Revisited

A Tragic Loss