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