Category: bliefs

While I was busy having fun and doing THIS (it may not look like fun but it was)…

…others have been laboring against, and living with, cancer.

Just like last year I committed to raising money by riding my bike in the Seattle Livestrong challenge.

Just one problem…

I have been focussing a lot of time on ^THAT^ and pretty much no time on THIS.

It’s getting close now so…if you are interested in supporting my ride, and donating to LiveSTRONG please do so here:

http://seattle2010.livestrong.org/liefzimmerman

The saying “better late than never” applies to both my own procrastination and to the fight against cancer.

Alert! I’m gonna get a little bit philosophical here.

Honestly, I don’t think that anyone with cancer would begrudge me having fun and riding my bike – they probably would do it too, when they can, and I hope they can. So I’m not punishing myself for not having lived up to my part of the bargain yet because A) living and doing is what life is all about, that’s what LiveSTRONG is about and that’s why they are survivors. B) there’s still time (procrastination) and C) I can get crazy determined at times like this and be pretty dogged about doing what I said I would – just like I plan on being during the ride, dogged.

And deadly serious here.

But in truth even at my most dogged and determined I can probably only be half as determined as anyone living with cancer has to be;  all the time; crazy determination.
I salute that in you.

Here’s to the survivors in my life living with cancer – on June 20th 2010 I will ride in your honor. LiveSTRONG!

• Charlotte Buss
• Ruth Brandal
• Jim Campbell
• Jake Jacobson
• Mike Jacobson
• Steve Jacobson
• Lani MacAniff
• Gaylen Mulloy
• Robert Noble
• Mabel Smith
• Ward Zimmerman

Why buy expensive bike gloves or even uber-expensive bike blinkers (http://www.global-merchants.com/home/bike.htm) when you can hit Home Depot and for $13 you can have these.

While prepping my Silvio for racing this weekend I prepared to install my new lightweight tires.
Below is my “old” rear wheel that won’t be going back on after the race. [sigh]

This picture doesn’t show the detail of the bulging tube but you can just make out the blue, flat-guard, lining that underlays the tread portion of the tire.

This one’s not fit for riding on anymore.
If it wasn’t a Schwalbe I am convinced I would have been walking home from wherever that occurred.

Oh yeah, and the front one? Also not going back on the bike after tonight…but for a different reason. [double sigh]

Guess that’s what happens when you ride little road bike tires a lot.

I’m up early this morning. After 30 minutes of trench digging I look up to see that a mermaid has planted a rock garden on my sidewalk for me.

It looks to me, they are relaxing
Stretching,
Indifferently observing my toil,
In the early morning light.

I don’t particularly like yardwork.
I do, however, particularly like taking things apart (like drywall with a very large crowbar…uh oh, I’m already digressing…must…keep…focus) and I think that extends to shredding grass.

Over the past two or three weekends I have done more yardwork than in the previous 100 weekends, but, it will pay off in the next 100 weekends I hope. It will pay off in the form of a LOT less mowing.
Oh and it will be prettier too.

So, what pray-tell is in order at good ol’ Talbot?
Well since you asked I’ll tell you.

The west side of the front yard…

…and the east side of the front yard…

…are gonna get a makeover.

First we take away the grass.

Then we add in a few “ornamentals”

[tangent]
In case it isn’t OBVIOUS, those quotes around “ornamentals” are really sarcastic quotes because, yeah, what you see here is the result of, in ascending order of heaviness:

• One flowering Mt Fuji cherry tree
• Four big ol stones in the middle of the yard. 5,000 lbs. Yeah, they look impressive and all but a) I didn’t have to truly lift them and b) net weight moved by blief – still not the heaviest.
• 32 bags of concrete and 15 bags of river rocks, moved an average of 3.5 times each, for a net weight movement by blief of – let’s just call it 10,000 lbs shall we?
  Hey, it’s my blog.
• 12 yards of topsoil, with an average weight of about 1 ton per cubic yard, subtract out the fact that a neighbor or two dipped their shovel in the pile, and we get ohhhhh, 22,000 lbs.

Holy crap! No wonder my body felt like one mussed up hombre on Sunday night.

Yee Haw!!

[end tangent]

Oh, and let’s not forget the backyard.
Back in June of 2008 we put in a nice little sand-lot for LaGrande to play in.

And now, with bark nuggets on their way, we had to make it so LaGrande and TheWeeOne could dig in the sand and NOT get splinters in their feet/knees/hips/eyes.

And, for the gardner(s) in our midst;
We put these garden boxes in late last summer…

There isn’t any plants in there yet but the dirt is laying in wait, ready to spring itself on a tomato or two.

And last, for next time, you add the bark!

This was originally going to be a post about how much cool stuff we have done in the last couple days to our yard.
Followed by some description of the agony in my hamstrings (saved my back by bending my legs) caused by the net movement of about 6,480 lbs of concrete (move twenty seven 60# bags four times each and you’ll see what I mean).

But…

Like all good things around here that story was overridden once I dove into the copious amounts of pictures I took of The Mermaids during this same weekend.

With competition like that, why bother with more complaining.
Although it was something like THIS!!

Oooh, me hammy!

But I digress.

It started with the biggest mountain of dirt TheWeeOne had ever seen.
She scaled it. Why?
Because it was there.

I filled up one of our raised garden boxes that night while it rained and TheWeeOne conquered mountains.

The next day, LaGrande wasn’t to be denied. Despite dance pictures later in the day, she bravely donned gloves to keep her fingernails clean.
She came, she saw, …

… she repeatedly rolled down.

Much bending later and tens of rolled strips of sod, several more trips to the dirt pile, and 10 bags of concrete later, we had another day. This time the sun was out and the parents were a bit more prepared for copious amounts of dirt. We even had a babysitter…sleeping in. Here we have a good likeness of said babysitter.

The Meerkats couldn’t stand it any longer, they had to get down and dirty.

And what a difference a day (or two) makes. Whereas TheWeeOne couldn’t do anything, up or down, without a helping hand on Friday night here we see her inciting her older mermaid to take the NesDirt plunge.

Maybe someday I will have the time to show before and after shots of the actual yard-work. Until that time we will keep playing in the dirt.

I know this is a family blog but I just had to get a shot of one of the other pair of “shoes”.

They’re called “toe undies” and I think even the casual user can agree that is a good name.

And this is only 2/3rds of one little mermaids dance repetoire.

The last pair might only be stowaways but even so – sheesh that’s a lot of shoes.