His Burden is Light

Come unto me, all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 

Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 

A Season of Fun on the Bike

This year's biking season got an early start, in early February, to be exact.  

There was still plenty of snow on the ground but the paved trails and roads were open enough to get out.  I ran into ice on occassion but on a recumbent it's not the problem it can be on an upright.

Of course, it was still getting dark pretty early so I had to make sure my lights were in good working order.  And it was a little cool.  But all in all, it was a good start. I got out a couple of times. Then it snowed some more and I had to wait to be able to get out again.  I had to wait a whole month to get out again.

But I had gotten me a nice, bright colored jacket so I could get out when it was a little cooler.

So I did, even though there was more snow now than when I had taken my first couple of rides a month before. The roads and paved trails were open again so I got out again.

Brombeere even came out with me a couple of times, that was very nice.

She braved the cold and snow and we had a couple of very nice rides.

The time passed and I got out as I could, gradually the snow melted away.  Because of the snow I had to limited myself to the paved trails and roads, the snow kept the other trails impassable for me, I don't have a fat tire bike.  Nor would I really want one.  

But I still managed to make the important stops without the unpaved trails. It is, after all, never too cold for ice cream. The season was off to a great start.

By early April all the trails were clear and dry, even though there was still a little snow around.  But that's good enough, the season was now in full swing! In mid-April we got a light snow again but it melted off right away and wasn't a problem at all.  Alas, in early May we took off on vacation and the bike rides had to wait again, until we got back.

We were gone over two weeks but it didn't take long once we got back to be out on the bikes again.  I'd drag Brombeere along as often as I could.  It was good times!

Riding all over town ...

Seeing the occasional wildlife ...

Takin' in the beauty of the area.  Summer was on in full bloom.

We try to take one or two excursions each year, where we take our bikes and go some place away for a fun ride.  This year we took a trip to Mackinac Island, a trip we had actually been planning for a while.

The trip also included a run up to Canada, just to be able to say we'd been there.  So we found a place in Sault Saint Marie to go for a ride as well.  It was a fun trip.

A short time later we had a family reunion and some of the families brought their bikes.  That was fun.

We got in two rides during the reunion, one just around the neighborhood and the other to a local park for an afternoon of play.  

I even let one of the grandkids try my bike out but he decided it was a little beyond him.  Maybe he just needs to grow a little more.

The reunion was only a few days but some of the kids made a full vacation of it, some coming in early and some staying afterwards.  It was a couple of weeks before all the company cleared out and it was just the two of us again - the reunion was a nice thing.  But when it was quiet again, I was out on the bike again.

Bike riding is a sport they sometimes call a "quiet sport", that's one of the things I like about it.  The quiet.

My favorite places to ride are out on the trails, away from everybody and everything.  Out by the river, out in the woods.

Just me and the occasional wildlife.

We made it out to one other excursion ride this season, as well.  I have long wanted to ride the Bearskin Trail.  Partly because it has a unique name but also because it has lots of bridges on it.  So this year we made the trek and rode part of the trail.  

This was a fun ride.  I'm glad we finally made it.

This photo was taken near the end of the ride.  It is a familiar sight to me because, even though I often encourage Brombeere lead, she prefers to have me in front.  Some crazy notion abut me knowing where we're going.

Back home, summer continued to wear on, we both got out when we could.

Or I'd get out when Brombeere couldn't go with.

The geese began gathering, getting ready to migrate.

Color began creeping into the leaves.  Fall was coming.  Then we left on another vacation.  Once again, bike riding had to wait.  That was okay, though.  Vacations to visit family are good. I had thought that the end of the season would pretty much be here once we got back from vacation but the weather cooperated and I was able to get out some more.

But it was definitely winding down.  We had missed most of the fall colors while we were gone but it was still nice to be out.

On those good riding days that were left, I began to do some exploring, getting to places I hadn't been before.

I had been looking on the map and found a new little park so, of course, I had to check it out.

I also began checking out some of the back roads, out of town a little farther than I normally had gone before.  

I learned the hard way that many of the roads out of town a ways are not paved.  Dirt roads are not fun, I have had a number of misadventures on dirt roads so I generally try to avoid them.  Paved and crushed granite trails are okay; dirt, bark, and grass trails not so much. And, yes, this trip down a dirt road ended up being a misadventure but I was committed before I realized what was happening.  That's a story for another time.

So on into November and even into December I continued to ride, getting out whenever our schedule and the weather permitted, wondering how late into the year I was going to be able to keep going.  Because of our two vacations I had kind of figured I was not going to match the number of miles I had made last season.  But, gradually, as the weather held and I kept getting out, I began to creep closer and closer to the number of miles I had ridden last year.

However, it was snowing more often and the time between warm days was getting longer and longer.

I did make it to more miles this year than last year, by only 19 miles.  And I got to within 24 miles of reaching 600 miles for the season.  Who knows, the long range forecast currently says there's some potential biking days coming next week, maybe I'll get out a couple more times.  But even if I don't it's still been a good season.  Lots of good, fun time on the bike.  

A Fun Announcement

The other day Himbeere and his "Significant Other" were visiting.  It was actually Thanksgiving Day, but while they were here they made an announcement that was actually pretty fun.  

They had let us know a while before that they were expecting their first child.  That was a fun thing.  But they had been keeping the gender of this child a secret.  Actually, when they first made that announcement they didn't know whether they getting a boy or a girl.  They both had preferences, everybody was hoping for one or the other, but until just before Thanksgiving, they hadn't known what they were getting.  There had been a couple of ultrasounds but until the last one, it was too early to tell.

But then things were far enough along that they could tell.  They wanted to make a show of it, which is fun.  So they got some powder.  The plan was to put this bag of powder they'd gotten under the rear tire of Himbeere's truck and then do a "burn-out" on top of it.  The hope was the bag would explode open and powder would come out, the color would tell what they were getting.  This seemed harmless enough.  After all, they did not want to end up in the news like some gender reveals occasionally do.

So, everybody gathered 'round and Himbeere hopped in his truck, a little uncertain that this was going to work like he hoped.  But it did..

It worked very well and everybody was excited!

In an instant there was pink powder all over the place and everyone knew there was a little girl on the way.

And we all had a good laugh when we saw that someone we all know and loved was standing in the wrong place and got splashed with powder.  Yeah, that happened.  So all in all, it was a very fun announcement.

Another Annual Chore

Every fall, as sure as the seasons change, the trees drop their leaves. And every year we need to rake them up.  But it can be fun, with the right help. We were afraid we might miss the pick-up this year because we had been out of town.  And then, just before we got back, it rained.  Hard to rake wet leaves.  But it's also hard to pick up wet leaves so the city took a break mid-way through the pick-up.  That gave us enough time to get out there and get ready.

And this year we had some good helpers, willing helpers.

Especially when we let them use some of the "toys" we were using.

Then again, others were just having a good time playing in the leaves.

We had to get a new leaf blower this year because the old one, which was pretty old, refused to do anything when we got it all plugged in and turned it on.  So we quick ran to the store and got another one.  And the kids where more than happy to help test it.  You know, just to make sure it was working. Yeah.

With the lawn sweeper, the leaf blower, and some rakes, we had it well under control.

One of the things we grabbed while at the store was a pint sized rake.  That one was a hit.

Lots to check out while cleaning up the leaves.  We have an oak tree just to the side of where these boys were standing.  They were checking out acorns, the fun little nuts with the cute little caps.

Pretty soon we had all the leaves in front moved out to the street.

With all the help it didn't take very long to have all the leaves neatly raked into a nice, tidy row along the street.  All ready for the city to come scoop them up.

And none too soon.  The day after we got them all raked out to the street, the city came by and picked them all up.  It's a pretty cool operation they use, a truck with a big vacuum. They don't even have to get out of the truck to do it.  Pretty slick.  And, with that, the annual chore was once again done.