Ouch!

I'll get to the ouch part later, it was just the first thing I thought of.

What's been going on the last couple of weeks? Well, the kids have SOL tests going on, which is a big deal, and Jason is facing some exams. They both have confirmation coming up June 11, and June 16 is the last day of school. Jason received an invitation to attend a ceremony honoring kids in the county for outstanding achievement, his being for being selected for the Virginia Honors Choir, but unfortunately he also has a concert the same evening, which counts for a grade. I'm sure Mrs. Dommer will recognize his hard work during the concert. Sam also has a concert, thankfully on a different night.

Terri is retirement planning, which is full of redundancies. This drives her nuts of course, but these things need to be done. Her grandmother in Florida is having some health issues, and other issues, so we're doing what little we can to help her out. She's actually got a better handle on things than I feared, but I think we're going to get down there for a couple of days in August. We'd like for it to be sooner, but there are just too many things that are scheduled and can't be changed.

We spent the weekend at Mike & Annie's, lots of good eats and good company, and as always I came back weighing more than when I left. I was rather sick the entire weekend, and I'm still fighting it now. Boomer is starting to show his age, and so is Zeus. Two brothers couldn't have more different personalities than those two dogs. It's like a mini-vacation to go up and visit them for a couple of days, and we were over-due for this one.

As most of our friends and family know, we're preparing for the big bike ride this upcoming weekend. We've been riding as much as time allows, even if it's just short rides. Seat time is seat time, and everyone is doing well. Sam has picked up her pace considerably since she's been on a road bike, and her growth since last year probably helps as well.

So here's the ouch part. This evening on our ride, I goobered and crashed. We were approaching a traffic light, which was red, so we were sort of spreading out and slowing hoping to not have to unclip from our pedals. Well, as the light turned green and we started to go, I think I cranked and slightly lifted the front tire, while looking back to see where everyone was. When I made solid contact again, the front tire was turned pretty harshly to the left, so I went over the bars pretty hard. Damage done? Beat my left elbow to hell, with some nice road rash there, on my shoulder, and on my hip. My neck is a little tweaked. My brain bucket took a pretty serious hit and is cracked in at least three places, which means it did it's job. Time for a new one. I am now convinced that anyone that rides without one is a dumbass. I didn't even have a headache, although I'm sure that the rest of me is going to be pretty sore in the morning.

So here I am with a cold that's dropped into my chest (mostly) and the left side of my body fairly thoroughly abused, and I'm supposed to ride 100 miles in 4 days. The soreness I think I can work out, I just hope the cold runs it's course before then.

If I don't post before then, stay tuned for a ride report. We're still a little short on our fund raising, so if anyone reads this and would like to assist...please don't be shy.

To continue...

Today my mom had my niece, who turned 2 years old yesterday. Mysti is quite a character. Terri had bought outfits that went together for her and Sam and Jason, so we put everyone in their new outfits and took them to the park for a little bit of a picnic. I got some great pictures and we had some Scooby snacks, then came back to the house for some nappage. When we all got up we went to Chuck E. Cheese to let the kids play and have some pizza, then back to our house for cake and ice cream.

Sorry for the weird post. Blogger wants to put the pictures all together. Learn something new every day. I'll post more pictures and link them soon!

What a couple of days!

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I had an appointment to take Mr. Ed Coleman to see the WWII Memorial in Washington. Jason decided that he wanted to go along, and we had a great time with Ed. This guy was on Omaha Beach on the second day of the D-day invasion, at a time when he most likely was unable to vote in this country. We got there before dark and I parked fairly close in East Potomac Park. We walked over to the memorial and I took a few pictures so that Ed could share them with his wife. He really seemed to enjoy the trip, which I've been promising him since the fall. On the way home we stopped at a 7-Eleven in Arlington to get Slurpees, which he not only enjoyed but insisted on paying for. Ed just turned 84 last weekend. I hope I'm doing as well when I'm his age.

A burp in the system...

I discovered that I had a problem after my last post; I couldn't get it to publish. I didn't hurry to track it down and get it corrected, but it seems that my web host has restricted access to unknown IP addresses. So I've tracked down the IP of Blogger's publishing servers, and this should be taken care of now.

The kids are winding down to the end of the school year, and I am winding down from my part time job building bicycles. The shop is actually closing, so it's working out well all around. last I counted there were about 55 unbuilt bikes in the shop, and we were planning to ship some of them out in the box. They want the others built up so they can rent a truck and transfer them to another store. I was pretty unhappy to be tasked with building them for other stores, but the manager that transferred in to close the store is seeing that I am appropriately compensated. Anyway, I built8 of the bikes in stock on Thursday, so I should have somewhere in the neighborhood of 47 to build over the next couple of weeks, minus whatever we ship out. I think we might have a couple of special order bikes coming in yet, but other than that I pretty much "have my work cut out for me" for a change.

I have plans for this evening, something I've wanted to do for a while. There's this 84 year old WWII veteran that I bowl with on Tuesday nights, and he has not been to the WWII memorial. I doubt Mr. Coleman would go on his own, but he's an American Legion member and very proud of his service. Incidentally, he is black, and has some interesting stories to tell. Friendliest guy you ever want to meet, and I look forward to taking him to see the memorial. The weather is supposed to be nice, and I'm taking my camera.

May Day - or is it Mayday! ?

Yes, today is May Day. While I tend to keep my political views away from this blog, today I can't help myself. In our national news today, you see almost nothing but news of protests by and supporting illegal immigrants. Here are my abbreviated thoughts.

I have just found myself doing something I don't do often. On C-SPAN there's a show on that looks to have been taped at the National Press Club today. The speakers are all Hispanic citizens of America, and they are all unhappy with the current situation. Some are second generation, some have been naturalized themselves. They range in profession from a retired U.S. Army colonel to real estate agent and lawyer. Some of them speak with heavy Spanish accents, but they are all passionately against the influx of illegal aliens.

I deeply respect people that want to come to America and become citizens. My next door neighbors are from El Salvador, they work hard, and the mother has recently become naturalized. It's not easy, and it's not supposed to be. The people that go through that process want to be Americans, and they work hard to become Americans. Those that sneak across the border at night want the benefits but not the responsibilities of being citizens. I don't care about fair.

We are being invaded.

There. I tried not to say too much.

Beyond that. Terri is out of town this week, so I get to do some work on her car in between work. Not much needed, but I want to put some better quality brake pads and shoes on it and I'm going to get the drums and rotors turned first. May as well do it right. I'll probably do an oil change while I have it on jack stands. Since she was gone for a couple of days last week with Jason, and then we had a busy weekend, I'm starting to miss her!

Jason had All State Honors choir this past weekend, and they sounded awesome! In case you missed the news, Jason was the only singer from his school to make it this year. We're not sure what will happen the next couple of years, it appears that the director's group has decided that freshmen and sophomore boys can't audition due to the voice change issues. We'll see. I ran into Martha Cannon there, who was one of my High School Math teachers. I liked all of my H.S. math teachers except one, and she wasn't the one I didn't like. She was always very supportive of the choral program at Osbourn Park, and is friends with the choral director of Stonewall Jackson High School, where Jason will be next year. Her name is Wanda Boley, and she led one of her choirs to sing at the Vatican last month. Apparently Jason's current director, Mrs. Dommer, has spoken highly of him, so it was a cool to have Jason introduced to Ms. Boley. I look forward to seeing him progress under her direction. He has more natural talent than I ever had.

That's all for now, I figured an update was due. Until next time!