During the deer chase last month in Idaho it went from fall to winter over night.  These two pictures are only a couple of miles apart and the fall scene is actually higher up in the mountains than the winter scene which is down at camp.

OK, so I haven't been playing with the camera lately.

There's a lot going on around here.  Most recently, GrandmaM drug me kicking and screaming to the ear nose and throat doctor.  Seems GrandmaM can't sleep at night lately and she's blaming GrandpaM for her insomnia!  INSANITY!  

The doctor listens patiently to GrandmaM, examines GrandpaM and now wants to do surgery on GRANDPAM!  This in spite of the fact that when he asked GrandpaM what he problem was GrandpaM explained to him "I DON"T HAVE ANY PROBLEMS."  The doctor was unmoved! Problem with surgeons is that they get paid to cut so they're always looking to cut SOMEBODY!

After 50 plus years of successfully packing his tonsils around, Sawbones wants to remove them along with GrandpaM's adenoids, trim down the flap in the back/roof of his mouth, and bore out the turbinates in his nose!  Doc says to expect 10 days or two weeks of bed rest and discomfort!

Like GrandpaM get any choice in this one!  Screwed if do and cut off if you don't!  Surgery is on 12/5.

(Actually, GrandpaM knows he needs this but he be damned if he's going to admit it to GrandmaM!!!!!)

Trick or treat smell my feet give me something good to eat!

So, this is why being grandparents is soo very fun!!!!!

Well, it' s been a while since I added anything here.   

But, since I got a new camera, and we've had some time to play with it, here's some new stuff for your enjoyment, I hope!

A bumpy day of flying in the mountains, just a couple thousand feet below the clouds.  I know it looks in the camera like they are closer than that but they aren't.  After bouncing around for a couple of hours coming home from Lake Powell the  end of every good flight should look like this!  (Nick took these photos while I kept the tires in the air until the runway was under them)

One other nice development of late.... someone, or some cat, knocked by Nikon D70, with flash attached, off my desk onto the floor breaking my camera.

So, I went camera shopping.  Ouch!  The new toy is on the tall side of $1,000.  Gonna have to wait for Christmas on that one.  So, well see if we can't find a way to get something going in the mean time to be of interest!

If you've been watching and waiting....SORRY!  

I thought we could save a buck and uncharacteristically decided to give it a try.  BAD MOVE! We thought we'd try out a web based phone system for $25 a month hey, it beats $55 a month to Qwest or so I thought!!!!  Don't do your own thinking here Grandpa!  So we ordered the new phone system.  I didn't realize when they called Qwest they wouldn't keep our DSL line for us. So we got the new phone system and the internet quit working.  That meant the phone quit working too.  We figured out what went wrong and scheduled an appointment for Qwest to hook us back up.  They didn't show up.  A call to them revealed they had screwed up our day. We rescheduled for several days later.  They came out and then we learned that our modem was cooked.  Bought a new modem and just got that working.  Oh, by the way did I mention that the DSL line without a dial tone is as much as the whole phone service?  My bad, should have brought that up too.  

So, in the end, this whole deal cost us more money and headache than it will ever be worth!  

Thank you Qwest, I love you no less than always.  As reported, your customer service is..... 

We're home from a few days at Lake Powell.  Thought some photos might be in order!

Some really cute granddaughter ready to help Grandma with the yard work!!!

Well, yesterday was the day, and what a day it was!

The MS150 was this weekend and Saturday was to be the first century ride for Stef and Jamie.  They made it but not without an event.  Stef was trying to cross railroad tracks and she crashed.  Someone had gone down in front of her and she was trying to miss him. She did manage to miss him but still joined him on the ground.  But being the determined gal she is she got up and finished the ride with a couple of miles to go.

Later, in the ER she found out her elbow is broken. Not badly, but it hurts like crazy anyway.  The ER doc said no impact sports for at least a couple of weeks so Stef says she'll be on the stationary trainer so as not to lose the progress she's made so far.

My ride was less eventful.  98 miles in 4:46.  No crashes.  Clock time was 5:12 so rest stops were very limited.  Grab water, energy drink and off again.  I did stop long enough to talk to one of Stef's cousins but other than that, ride, ride, ride.  

My goal was sub 5 so I was quite please with the outcome.  Except of course for Stef's crash.  It is huge that Stef and Jamie finished their first century.  Most cyclists will never ride 100 miles in one day but they have!  This ride of course is more about health than time.  There were over 3000 riders raising money for the health of many people we'll never know.  I'm grateful that our family has the health to help those less fortunate than we.  

Jamie called to correct an error in my earlier blog.  She clarifies that she only pushed the bike once and that was up a significant up hill (I've climbed that hill and it's a tough one!).  The other time she stopped and got off the bike without pushing it.   Jamie's all upset because what she doesn't realize is that when you simply can't go any further it means you've worked really hard and have done all you can do and simply must rest.  It's not a bad thing to blow up on the bike, rather, it means you've given it all you've got and that's a good thing!

But, while we compliment your effort, it's fun to pick on you about you limits (everyone has them they are just different for each of us!).  Smile, you were one up already on embarrassing bike stuff already!

Oh my aching body!!!!  Rode 54 miles on the bicycle this morning.  Over the top of South Mountain just over 3,300 vertical feet of climbing for this ride.  Took about 3:22 to complete the ride!  So, I'm toast.  

Jamie who rode just under 30 miles had to resort to pushing her bike twice on the climb from the valley floor back to our house.  Way to go Grandma M who rode her butt into the ground!  Jamie came home and took a nap.  I came home took a bath, ate lunch, and had to work on our broken automatic sprinkler system so the yard can get watered.

No rest for the wicked and the righteous don't need any!  Boy am I exhausted!!!!!

Grandpa M

Tomorrow for her crimes against dad, Jamie is getting her butt kicked on the bicycle.  

Today, for pay backs, we'll just point out her bad form at blogging.  When adding a video, especially one your dad won't approve of, be sure the video fits into the space you've allotted and isn't too wide to fit!  (still love you, still love teasing you, still don't know which one we love more!)

Great day here today.  Summer is knocking on the door.  Tomorrow is suppose to get close to 90 degrees!   Planning a nice training ride with our MS group.  Should be long and enjoyable!

Dean's debut

If you will please feast your eyes to the right of the page you will see an amazing video clip from Dean's big news debut.

Sorry Dad

Those of you that know Dean, know that he is pretty much the king of Cycling... In other words... He is basically a Cycle Nazi.

Well... He happened to land himself on the news yesterday, on a bicycle with a basket.
It is fantastic to watch... And even more fantastic to make fun of him for it.

I suppose you could call one portion of it false advertising... Due to the fact that he DID NOT lose the 20 pounds he mentions, on this type of bike

OH WELL

Please enjoy!

And sorry for the advertisement at the beginning... I couldn't take it off!

Love you Dad! Sorry for hacking into your profile to make fun of you... But come on... IT HAS A BASKET!

Dean's big debut

Dad I am sorry but I had no choice....

Here is his big news debut on cycling...

Funny thing is that they put him on a bike with a basket... Those who know him, know that he is basically the kind of cycling, but not like this!

So here he is ladies and gentleman! Enjoy!

So, Ryan wants a post about my "other bike"  Well, I got my new wheels last night and took them for a ride.  Then this morning, I went to get on my bike with the new wheels to ride to work.  But, my new rear wheel with  a new tire had a freaking flat!!  So I rode my other bicycle to work.

But I suppose Ryan really wants to know if I've ridden one of the Harleys lately.  And the answer is sort of.  I rode the Harley to work one day earlier in the week.  It was rather uneventful but always nice to have a little wind in the hair time.  It's funny, the summer I first got a Harley, my bicycle was lonely after I got the Harley.  Now, I ride the bike more than the Harleys.  I enjoy both equally, but the bicycle gives me physical conditioning and the Hog - just pleasure.  

We've got the MS150 (a hundred miles bicycle ride on Saturday) coming up the end of this month so bike time is a must or the ride will be even more of a suffer fest.  Stef and Jamie are out on their bikes still (7:00 p.m.) as I write this.  They rode to work today as well.  But they have further to go than I did.   It's crunch time and there's a race to get ready for the ride now!

The Harleys are nice these days too.  With gas at crazy high prices both kinds of bikes are nice. Not that we can't afford the gas but rather who wants to?  I don't!  I think we need to drill more of America's own oil sources, build more refineries, build some more non-oil based power generation modes i.e. wind, hydroelectric, and even nuclear and gas prices will come down.  Of course we should continue to develop alternative fuels but those may be and seem to be years away from reaching their potential.  In the mean time, these steps can increase supply and reduce demand pressures and price too until we can replace the need for oil.  So we're trying to do what we can with bikes and Harleys.  

We aren't particularly "green" but we try to do what makes sense.  Not because we believe in man caused global warming but to be good users of available resources.  Including good users of our bodies as we age - by being in  the best shape we can.  

OK, so I've been catching a bit of indirect grief from Jamie for not making a post on my new computer - yet.  I've only had it just over 24 hours.  But some of us are very impatient.  You think she might be a bit edgy after her husband's recent mouth over haul?

Life at our house has been normal.  But this week should be unusually quite.  Nick leaves for NY in the morning leaving his mother and I to fend for ourselves this week.  If we can stand that much of each other, we hope to have some fun.  We may need to steal Maddy just to maintain our sanity!

Besides a MacBook Pro, Stef and the family came through with a nice set of bicycle race wheels. Shortly, I'll accept delivery of  a pair of Zipp 404s.  What a great Farther's Day.  Thanks guys!

All's well and quiet here.  Hope to maintain the status quo. 

Sorry for the lack of pictures. These are from a family trip about a year ago. I saw the one of Ava and Carrie and since it hasn't been used yet, and I like it, well, here it is! The lake looks a lot the same, except that it's coming up, fast. About a foot a day the past few days!

The flight to Lake Powell last Friday was a bit of duck and dodge. There were some low clouds in our way which we had to go around. But, we only had to change course twice so it wasn't too bad and we arrived there safe and no less sound than when we left home!

We met up with 13 friends and had a great time. Burnt just over $1,100 in gas and covered parts of the lake from Wahweap to Bullfrog Marinas. Spent a couple of nights in Oak Canyon and a night in Reflection. Reflection is nice because it's so secluded and any beach is so small that it's just yours. Oak Canyon was nice too because with four boats, we had a semi-private beach. No one outside our group joined us. The water is still a bit too chilly to really enjoy it but the air felt good since Sunday afternoon. It was chilly on Saturday but we lived.

The flight home today was fun. We had a nice strong tail wind and climbed to 13,500 feet MSL. We hit 192 knots up there thanks to the tail wind. We dropped down to 11,500 MSL for most of the flight and had 172 knots there so we covered the ground quickly. Very little turbulence to mess with us either - just a couple of bumps over the ridges. No air traffic in our way and cleared straight into Salt Lake's airspace without delay.

This afternoon the airspace will close down to GA for a couple of hours so President Bush can visit Utah. Plus, Nick had to be back at school for a class so we came home earlier than expected, under mild protest from the pilot!

Now to catch up on the projects around the house and get in a bicycle ride.....

Maddy

She wanted her picture taken again, after her hair was done! Oh the vanity of youth!!!!!!

Balloons

Yes, Maddy was in on the action as well. She loves the balloons, but accidentally let a few get loose. She is warming back up up to the camera too!

Happy Birthday Nick!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY

BIRTHDAY TO YOU

Today is NJ's sweet 16. Here are a couple of shots to remember the day. He got his first car today, and as you can see.... Really liked it!

OH HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU. Here's remembering Wednesday, May 13, 1992. You weren't quite as tall that day, and now you certainly weigh more! You have more teeth and you talk a lot more. Haven't heard you coo in years and at least for now, you aren't using diapers. You feed yourself now, with food put lovingly on a plate by your mother. But perhaps the biggest change in life comes with your first car. Your ability to come and go and GO and GO and GO!

A really smart man once said "Oh be wise, what can I say more?"

Oh be wise and make good choices Nicholas. As you depart on the venture that goes from Mom and Dad, to you, into adulthood. One day you will be man and wife. Then kids of your own, and then before you know it, you'll have a car for your baby. With fear and anxiety, you'll provide a freedom to be cherished! And send them into the world, as we send you!

We love you Nick!

HAPPY 16th BIRTHDAY!

Don't enjoy this too much!

And good luck in all the great things that are surely in store for you!

Life has been a bit crazy again this week.

Extended family commitments have set the table for a relaxing week next week. We're preparing for a week of fishing that will lead into a surprise family birthday party at the end of the week. It won't matter if we catch fish or not, it's not about the fish. It's about the time with my brother enjoying nature! Life is for living and enjoying and that's the main point of this week.

Surely more to follow!

Enjoy!!!!!!!!

Prom time

On the piano

oh whwt a day Grandpa M needs to go here!

Wow, what a week. Grandpa M is back from Phoenix. Maddy is still at our house, so I get to enjoy her for a short spell before her parents attempt to repo her.

Grandma and I got in a killer bicycle ride this afternoon. Good for the ole cardio system. Bad news is that it only lasts for a a day. But, I take Sundays off so I'm good until Monday evening. My new groupo came in while I was out of town, so the first order of this morning was building the new/used bike I picked up on ebay. Monday it goes in for a tune-up to get everything working right. Tuesday is our bike fit appointment. Hopefully, by Tuesday evening we'll be ready to race it.

Grandma is busy in Nick's closet and the guest room closet. Wednesday they are being up dated with organizers. She's busy trying to get them painted first. She'd have it done but the extensive patch work ahead of the actually painting is slowing her down considerably.

Chio!

We are excited!

Well, it is going to be a very busy week for our family. Jamie and Ben go out of town to California tomorrow after work, leaving Grandma and Grandpa with one of their adorable granddaughters for an ENTIRE week! Needless to say we love to do some spoiling.

In addition, Grandpa will be leaving town on Wednesday... Finally some peace and QUIET for Grandma! ha ha! But he will be back just in time for the weekend to help paint our closets! (some wish that would be true, GPM doesn't paint!!!!!!!!)... Although we all wish we were boating instead of painting!

This whole blog idea is still new for us, so Jamie is pretty much running the show around here (like that's anything new!)! But it is still fun to get to share our days with the family we can't see... (meaning you Ryan, Carrie and Ava) We miss you guys and hope to get to come visit soon!

Anyway, Happy Monday!

- Grandma M

ha ha this is old... But still a classic!

Since someone decided to replace the Harley photo GrandpaM put up with one of their own choosing GPM is forced to put a cleaner copy up.

When we first got the HD, she was bare, first item of business was a swimming suit. We also replaced the covers which were colored because they just didn't quite match. Many other changes have since been made as well.

The Harley

Since someone's daughter chose to take out the nice photo someone put up and replace it with one of bareness....One must re-post one's previous photo!

Celebrating six years ago... Today!

Congratulations you guys!!!

One of my motorcycles

We have arrived!

Well, we figured it was about time to make an appearance on the internet, so we too could keep in touch with family!

So here it is, the official Blog page of Grandma and Grandpa M.

Enjoy!