hurronnicane

I saw my first wildflowers of the year today. We are always a few weeks behind Austin. Today was another amazing day of bird migration - three large flocks of Sandhill Cranes flew over while I was riding, necessitating parking the bike and looking for a window through the trees to watch them pass. I would be okay with about six more months of today’s weather!

I rode at Walnut Creek with my adult daughter (25) for the first time in a couple of years today. It was really fun though a little confusing with the construction. But I’ve always ridden there infrequently enough to get lost a time or two on every ride. And only a few days ago I managed to get a ride in with my son (22). It had been a hot second since I had ridden with either one of them so it has been a good week!

It was a really fun ride! My wife has been hesitant to ride the Personal Trail Network lately (too much climbing, too hard, etc.) but today she went with me. I chose the best trails I could for her, she rode well, and I did some extra circuits while she stretched. It was a great temperature and fun to do the ride together!

The perfect beer after an afternoon cutting juniper trees!

We heat our home almost entirely with the wood stove in this picture. It was a huge plus during last year’s Snowpocaalypse/power outage! With ten acres of brush and trouble we always have potential firewood, it is just a matter of cutting it, splitting some of it, storing it, and bringing enough into the barn before prolonged cold and wet spells. We had an epic ice storm the year we moved out here (1997) which prompted me to buy my first chainsaw, a 14 inch Echo. On the same day my dad bought an almost identical Echo which eventually became mine when he passed. Last year after that ice storm my wife bought a Black and Decker cordless chainsaw, and just a few weeks ago I got the Black and Decker pole saw. I was skeptical of the battery powered chainsaw, but have found it really helpful for my private trail network on a neighbor’s property. I lust after a slightly larger and much newer gas chainsaw but haven’t pulled the trigger yet.

The never-ending project of firewood management. My son helped me split some wood a couple of weekends ago, and the ongoing process of cleaning up from last year’s ice storm will keep me in firewood for a few years.

I feel certain I’ve seen this discussed here but couldn’t find the thread. I am just wondering what the Longhorn Dam section of the trail is like these days. I remember it feeling pretty narrow and sketchy in the past.

A great day in the woods.

I cannot find any photos of my first mountain bike, an ‘82 or ‘83 Stumpjumper. But here is my next bike, an Ibis Avion, that I really loved! Somewhere around 1989 or 1990 near Cloudcroft, New Mexico.

Last day of 2021 at Camp Ben.

We did not. Just meat and coleslaw. So good! We kept it warm until the ride was over and had a great picnic!

My wife’s birthday ride at Muleshoe

It healed up nicely. It now only appears that I was the victim of a gnarly dog attack. In its earliest stages it looked like I had stuck my leg into a wolverine den on a dare.

“A man is the sum of his scars.” After my most recent encounter with barbed wire I immediately started down memory lane thinking about all the times I have been bested by the stuff. I started young, falling out of a tree in our yard onto a barbed wire fence. Then while still a kid, I ran full-speed into a barbed wire fence in the dark while visiting friends. That was a particularly tightly stretched fence and I still remember the sound it made as I bounced off of it, wondering what the hell had just happened. Later, as a teenager I was standing on a pile of firewood taking a picture of our backyard with a giant glass of iced tea in the other hand when the pile of wood shifted and I slid off the firewood pile down between the wood and the fence. I didn’t spill my tea but I got a hell of a cut that should have been looked at by a doctor or something but I just hid it from my folks. The next two barbed wire encounters that I can remember were actually mountain bike related. The first happened in the early days of my riding in Wimberley while exploring. I was busting through some brush and the work gloves I was wearing kept me from getting too cut up. Later, on the green belt near the top of Mulch I went to ride through a hole in the fence. I saw the lower strands and cleared them nicely with my front wheel just as my forehead hit the upper strand that I hadn’t seen because of my visor. That one bled a lot! That one too probably should have been sewed up but it wasn’t. So last week when I tumbled backwards over a knee high strand of barbed wire and got impaled by one of the barbs it immediately led me to think of the many times the infernal stuff has cut me up. Don’t fence me in.

I have been prone to back episodes since I was a teenager (which was a LONG time ago). At some point someone realized I had scoliosis. Most of the time the episodes were self-correcting but occasionally I went to a chiropractor, an acupuncturist, a masseuse, or a physical therapist for relief. Since retiring and letting go of the hellish commute I have not been bothered much but recently I had a lower back episode that really laid me low. I ended up seeing a chiropractor, Bradley Sikes, in Wimberley and he really helped me out. And he’s a mountain biker.

I feel a little bit sheepish about this one…

That was a first. I went to squeeze my bottle to bust up the ice cubes and the whole thing shattered. It was early in my ride and the only water I had. I wonder if Trek will handle the warranty on it.

Too much turkey.

Likewise, I am filled with gratitude for my health, my family, and this Hill Country we live in.

l’ve heard that the audio book version is good. If you need a lot of action you may be disappointed, but it is a well told story.

We read A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles while on vacation. I read it again right away which I’ve never done before.