Dozo the bowling pin

Hee hee.

Why my floor is always a mess

Mia eating from H M R on Vimeo.

"Hee hee" and "awwww"

Bumper sticker (CYA is California-speak for juvie hall):

Curled-up Dozo on my bed (let's hear it for sleeping in):

So handy

Remember in Brokeback Mountain, when Jack Twist said, "This is a g-damn b*%$h of an unsatisfactory situation"? (I forgot there was so much cursing in that line). I've been feeling that off and on lately. Sunday morning, I woke up to this view out my window:


Some riders decided to go on the ride anyway. I did not. I have boundaries over which I durst not cross.

I decided to use the rainy time to fix a few things around the house. Actually fixing/attempting to fix is quite different from deciding that I will fix them. Deciding that I will fix them is equivalent to either putting them on a list or thinking that I should put them on a list. But Sunday I tackled the cat tree project. Items needed: sisal rope (did you know that there are different kinds of rope? Also, sisal will not hold body weight, so sayeth the packaging, so no trying to hang your neighbor with it), staple gun (which I have!), replacement staples (also have). Seems easy right?
So I went about taking all the old rope off that the cats had torn to shreds, and getting ready to wind the new rope on, fastening it with the staples. Pow pow pow! First, I recommend wearing gloves when dealing with scratchy thorny rope and a gun with kick back. Second, why does all the rope in the spool fall apart so easily? Winding 30 feet of rope around a 2x4 (or what I assume is a 2x4 -- isn't that just what they call wood?) when the rest of the rope just wants to lay there and get twisted up is not fun.Then the staple gun ran out of staples. Not to worry! I have replacements. Push this here, pull that there, open this, and put in the staples. Voila! I'm so handy. No, no. Not really -- the staples went in and just sat there. No matter how many times I pulled the pow pow handle, the staples were not to be delivered to the shooting part. Try again. Reload, close, shoot.
Three phone calls, one consultation with a friend (who couldn't get it either by the way), and one trip to the hardware store later, and as I hand the gun to the guy at the hardware store who must be used to this from me by now, it dawns on me that I'm loading the dang thing backwards. Back home, more pow pow pow. More getting tangled up in sisal and cursing at the cats.
And look at this: a completed project!
Then I went and made myself some celebratory veggies and eggs. Doesn't that look good?
Maybe this next weekend I'll take on the weather stripping. The hardware store guy said there might be trimming of the replacement strip involved. Right.

Let's hear it for the Courts

Emily went to D.C. for a conference and sent a few photos.
This from the famous Marbury v. Madison decision of 1803.

And here's my cat's namesake (Justice Benjamin Cardozo):

And here's (Car)dozo (I'm sure you see the resemblance):

Down by the River

Saturday's NCAC ride was as gorgeous as last month, with a smaller group, and a different direction down the river (different river, actually). What a gorgeous day. It was the kind of ride that reminds me why I get on my bike over and over. Especially because it was flat -- I'd rather ride on flatland. I was talking up the '09 ride with Erin (below) and Ron (left) and telling them all the fun details (no, you don't have to carry your own bags, yes, you have to sleep on the ground, yes, there is lots and lots of food, no, you don't have to cook it). It reminded me that I should start fund-raising. Hadn't I started by this time last year? I can't remember.

How 'bout that helmet-cam up there? I didn't get many photos on Saturday because I was busy going fast and talking (but not usually at the same time). I'm thinking of getting a trainer so that I can keep riding this winter (just not outside) and work on speed. I think I probably have a little longer outside, considering it's Oct 26, and today's high was 85 degrees, but if it ever does get cold, I'd like to keep cycling.

I tried to get some photos of the gigantic homes that line the river (some of them on stilts, but it's a flood plain, afterall), but they were hard to capture. This is one of them that seemed to be part of a giant compound of giant homes.

I rode back on my own and tried to convince myself that if I rode really really fast, I could catch someone who turned around early. It worked up until the last 2 miles or so -- I maintained an 18-22mph pace for most of the distance.



If Mia hadn't have gone to the vet today in a semi-rush, maybe I could just buy myself a trainer. Instead, I got to find out about gross (and expensive) cat disorders (that are thankfully fixable in a couple of visits). Poor Mia.

The Cutest Kitty

How the heck do you play this?

I sort of see why people who hold babies want babies

Although, when she came in and pooped on my rug, I remembered why, when I hold babies, I really only want to hold them and snorgle their little faces, not actually have them.

Speaking of babies -- I got a photo of my nephew the other day. It's probably rated PG-13 (for nudity), though, so make sure your little ones are out of the room.















Maybe one day he'll grow some eyebrows.

The cats were not impressed with the pup, but Melis did not come by with her big dog, so they had that much less adjusting to do. Poor things.

Sunday's ride to Winters was fun and fast and a bit shorter than I'd thought. But it was a lovely day, and Jana kicked it up a notch for a couple miles before the causeway (because she can). We had a good ride and got home before the wind really got going.



























Today starts Jill B Nimble training with an orientation meeting so we can all get acquainted. I'm looking forward to it. Encouraging people to ride, and making sure they have safe rides is right up my alley.

Clear Skies!

I got back into town on Sunday to find a valley that was not choked with smoke and smog. It's not like the air is ever good here, but it was so nice to be able to see more than a mile ahead of me and to be able to breathe without pain. I guess it took a few weeks of horrid smoke for us to appreciate our air quality, such as it is.

So Sunday -- back to it. An NCAC/spinning/Jill B Nimble friend and I are going to ride from West Sac to Winters, up to the Monticello Dam and back. You've seen photos of all this before because it's my basic route to do when I want to ride a lot of miles, but I don't want to drive anywhere to do it. Should be around 70-80 miles depending on how we're feeling. And how much the dreaded causeway is looming over our heads, making us feel like we have an interminable ride home.

The map is posted just after this post, and I'll try to remember my camera on Sunday.

Tomorrow, though, is a day for the dogs. Emily is coming with her new puppy. Melis is coming with her not-so-new big dog, Murphy. There will be outdoor grilling, weeding, house projects, and some cleaning, and who knows what else. It's going to be a big day.

Here's the pup:
And here's the big dog:






Wish us all luck -- especially my poor kitties.

Disappointing news and the cutest kitty

I've been using the same lipstick for about 6 years. Or so. And stupid ol' Neutrogena discontinued it at the end of '07. It's just one in a long series of things I've gotten connected to that have been discontinued. My mom went out and bought up the last three tubes she could find in Colorado Springs and gave them to me for Christmas (actually, I think she acted on Santa's behalf). I'm about to finish the last tube. Wish means I'm tasked with finding a type and color that will (god-willing) last me another 6 years (or longer!). So I had to do some testing. You can't just walk through the cosmetics aisle and test all the lipsticks - not only is it kind of gross, but once you put one color on, your lips are tainted (tinted, actually) and unless you're looking for the perfect color combination and have time for 30-minute lips, you've got to use something else.
So -- I tested:
















Lots.
I found one contender and I decided to give it a chance. I'll report back. Or, if you see me wearing it, feel free to weigh in.
[I remember once when I was quite young asking my mom why her hands were so wrinkly and mine were so smooth. She said: "Life." I guess I've had some livin'.]

I thought about trying to connect this post with cycling, rather than superficiality for its own sake, but all that I could come up with is that I DO wear lipstick when I cycle. One has to maintain one's standards.


And another unrelated note. Dozo played himself to sleep with this little catnip-filled mouse and just laid there with it for a while.

You're only as old as you look, and other thoughts on genetics

I'm fuzzy on the details, but my parents had some friends who made them some t-shirts when I was very little. They were actually kind of an ugly shade of neon-ish green with red, fuzzy lettering on them. I think the way it goes is that after my brother was born at home, my dad got a shirt that said, "I did it all myself," and my mom had one that said, "I helped." And then there was another one that said on the front, "Insanity is hereditary," and the back said, "You get it from your kids."

Genetics know no bounds. I always thought that Mia took after me. She tends to want attention and love, but if you offer it to her, she'll flop down just out of reach. And when you try to get close, she runs away. Clearly there's some relation.
See? Rather aloof.

But it seems Dozo takes after me in some way or another as well. I have a kind of half-smile sort of thing that makes one of my eyes squintier than the other. Seems to only happen in pictures. You can see it here, a bit:
There seems to be a relationship between the amount I have to drink, and the amount that left (your right) eye squints up. In this photo, I had not been drinking.
Dozo wasn't drinking either in this photo, but the family resemblance is striking.

Additionally, the thing about cutting all my hair off is that stuff stands out more when there's less other stuff to hide it. So I was brushing my teeth the other night and I saw this sparkle in the mirror, like a boat trying to send signals to shore. A few years ago it was just a hair there, or a hair here. But now I keep thinking about that line from When Harry Met Sally where Sally cries, "I'm gonna be 40!" especially when the ratio of salt to pepper increases.


Those are not blonde highlights, my friends.

Notes on the home front

A few comments about life in GHH (my house). It's spring around these parts -- I can tell because I'm sneezing all the time, and taking more drugs than I'd like. Also -- the lotus flowers are blooming in the pond.

And the sweetest kitty found his little place in the sun












while I was cooking up some veggies in curry










It's a good time of year (except for the sneezing).

I have the sweetest kitty

Perhaps a little off topic -- Dozo has taken to cuddling up on my pillow in the mornings and curling up against my head. I don't know if you can tell, but he's pressing his little head against mine. I grabbed my cell phone to try to capture how this must look.