Well, here we go again, I get to once again pay for the fact that other people refuse to grow up and only spend what they earn. Is anyone else out there angry that we are going to have to bear the burden for the "bailout". I've spent my life doing without, going nowhere, meeting my budget, paying all my bills on time and putting away money for my retirement. You can bet I'll be paying the debt for those that had a wonderful few years living on the fat of the times and ignoring their debt. AIG employees I hope you enjoyed your half million dollar retreat. I've never even been in a spa, but then I never had the federal government bail me out with money either.
And oh yes it makes me angry. The black humor at work has gotten really bad, with the devaluation of our 401k balances most of us are looking at retirement as a joke. Or something we 'may' be able to do around the age of 90. Maybe we wouldn't be so worried if we 25 or 30 but several of the people I work with were hoping to retire within the next year or two. Sorry folks.
So your goal is to only spend what you earn. It sounds so simple. People need to see that magic plastic card as an actual bill. Save those receipts each day and total them up. Better yet switch to debit, when the money is gone you can't spend any more. I was treating myself to a coffee at a coffee shop while I was on vacation; a rare splurge, and the young man in front of me ordered his 'usual' and then had to go through three plastic cards before he found one that wasn't denied. Why on earth are you charging coffee at this point, go home, brew a pot and carry it. In fact, do the same for lunch. You'll eat healthier and save a bunch of money.
If you made that list the other day, it tells you your bills. Now for a month you need to be brutally honest with yourself about where your money goes. If you are charging more than those minimum payments you're making then you are in negative cash flow and it is going to bite you hard in a few months.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Get Real!
A very dear friend of mine confided that she never balances her checkbook. She has overdraft protection and when things get too far out of hand she stops using her checking account, waits awhile and starts with what the bank says is her balance. All I could say was omigod.
She is a widow, and of course someone else used to handle the finances. She has very little idea what is owed to whom when and gets surprise bills all the time. This is not a time for us to be blindly spending our income.
So what to do? Pick a quiet evening, turn off the TV, the radio, the iPod, pour a glass of wine or beer if you need it and figure out where you stand. Unless you have a commission job you shouldn't have too much trouble figuring out your income. The problem is the outcome :) or the outgo to be more accurate. We're not going to be doing a financial statement here -- more like a cash flow statement.
So one column gets the monthly take home income(not gross paycheck- this is after all those monstrous deductions), the other gets your bills. List your mortgage/rent payment, condo fees, monthly grocery bills, and utility bills (gas, electric, water & telephone -- do not include cell phone or Internet). These are your necessities -- we can argue telephone later. Subtotal these, and subtract from your income. If at this point you don't have as much income as outgo you need to seek help immediately. You are in over your head and there's nothing I can say to help you.
If you still have money left- you now list your car loan if you have one, and all your credit cards- start with minimum amount due on these, and other bills you owe. Subtract from your income, how are you doing? Still money left? So far so good. Except if you are only able to make minimum payments on credit cards you are doing a juggling act. It will only take one small emergency and over you'll go.
How much do you owe those credit card companies? At what rates? With or without a government bailout credit will be tightening up soon and you will find yourself with a lowered credit card limit and higher interest rates. Give up those luxuries now ( and I do consider a latte at Starbucks a luxury) and get those cards paid off.
I saw Suzie Orzman on TV the other day and she was telling about a trip to the grocery store. In front of her was a woman with a basket full of halloween goodies. Suzie looked at the basket, looked at the woman and said -- Are all your credit cards paid in full? If not, put every bit of that back-- they are luxuries.
Start now to separate the necessities from the luxuries and take care of your personal business.
She is a widow, and of course someone else used to handle the finances. She has very little idea what is owed to whom when and gets surprise bills all the time. This is not a time for us to be blindly spending our income.
So what to do? Pick a quiet evening, turn off the TV, the radio, the iPod, pour a glass of wine or beer if you need it and figure out where you stand. Unless you have a commission job you shouldn't have too much trouble figuring out your income. The problem is the outcome :) or the outgo to be more accurate. We're not going to be doing a financial statement here -- more like a cash flow statement.
So one column gets the monthly take home income(not gross paycheck- this is after all those monstrous deductions), the other gets your bills. List your mortgage/rent payment, condo fees, monthly grocery bills, and utility bills (gas, electric, water & telephone -- do not include cell phone or Internet). These are your necessities -- we can argue telephone later. Subtotal these, and subtract from your income. If at this point you don't have as much income as outgo you need to seek help immediately. You are in over your head and there's nothing I can say to help you.
If you still have money left- you now list your car loan if you have one, and all your credit cards- start with minimum amount due on these, and other bills you owe. Subtract from your income, how are you doing? Still money left? So far so good. Except if you are only able to make minimum payments on credit cards you are doing a juggling act. It will only take one small emergency and over you'll go.
How much do you owe those credit card companies? At what rates? With or without a government bailout credit will be tightening up soon and you will find yourself with a lowered credit card limit and higher interest rates. Give up those luxuries now ( and I do consider a latte at Starbucks a luxury) and get those cards paid off.
I saw Suzie Orzman on TV the other day and she was telling about a trip to the grocery store. In front of her was a woman with a basket full of halloween goodies. Suzie looked at the basket, looked at the woman and said -- Are all your credit cards paid in full? If not, put every bit of that back-- they are luxuries.
Start now to separate the necessities from the luxuries and take care of your personal business.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Greed causes Economic Collapse
The last few days have been troubling to say the least. Like everyone else I've watched my "retirement" accounts dwindle and costs for necessities like food and gasoline skyrocket. By making no changes in my life I've watched my lifestyle drop a few notches each month.
So what happened? How can oil companies post such huge gains and gasoline prices climb so high? How can so many people be facing bankruptcy on their mortgages? How can so many big banks and investment companies be crashing around us? There is a one word answer -- GREED.
The companies are greedy and we, as individuals, have become greedy. Where is the sensible limit on profit, how much is too much? Why does a person making $50,000 a year have to live in a McMansion at $300,000? And why was a company standing ready to loan them the money when there is no way they can honestly afford this home?
When I was first married, way back in the early 1970's, credit was difficult to get. We had only a car loan and decided we wanted a department store credit card for emergencies. We were turned down because of several factors and told to wait until he had been on his job over two years. To qualify for our first mortgage we were allowed to only count one salary, had to have 20 % down, and the balance had to equal not more than twice that annual salary. There were no ARMs, no 100% plus loans, credit was not freely given it was earned.
So what happened over the last 30 years? Where did we develop this sense of entitlement to 'things' we couldn't afford? I used to love to watch the home remodeling networks until I realized I was 'needing' things I didn't need. My favorite example is the backyard remodeling project I was watching one day. The total cost of the remodeling was estimated at around $200,000! Incredible. The host of the show turned to the landscape architect and asked, "Why do you think there is this interest in such large remodeling projects?" I know he wasn't expecting the answer he got. The architect looked at him and said, "Shows like this." That greed is the answer to so many of our problems.
There is a tough road ahead for many of us, and it starts with biting that bullet we weren't able to dodge. What can we do, as individuals? Read my next post for some common sense suggestions.
So what happened? How can oil companies post such huge gains and gasoline prices climb so high? How can so many people be facing bankruptcy on their mortgages? How can so many big banks and investment companies be crashing around us? There is a one word answer -- GREED.
The companies are greedy and we, as individuals, have become greedy. Where is the sensible limit on profit, how much is too much? Why does a person making $50,000 a year have to live in a McMansion at $300,000? And why was a company standing ready to loan them the money when there is no way they can honestly afford this home?
When I was first married, way back in the early 1970's, credit was difficult to get. We had only a car loan and decided we wanted a department store credit card for emergencies. We were turned down because of several factors and told to wait until he had been on his job over two years. To qualify for our first mortgage we were allowed to only count one salary, had to have 20 % down, and the balance had to equal not more than twice that annual salary. There were no ARMs, no 100% plus loans, credit was not freely given it was earned.
So what happened over the last 30 years? Where did we develop this sense of entitlement to 'things' we couldn't afford? I used to love to watch the home remodeling networks until I realized I was 'needing' things I didn't need. My favorite example is the backyard remodeling project I was watching one day. The total cost of the remodeling was estimated at around $200,000! Incredible. The host of the show turned to the landscape architect and asked, "Why do you think there is this interest in such large remodeling projects?" I know he wasn't expecting the answer he got. The architect looked at him and said, "Shows like this." That greed is the answer to so many of our problems.
There is a tough road ahead for many of us, and it starts with biting that bullet we weren't able to dodge. What can we do, as individuals? Read my next post for some common sense suggestions.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Huguenots in America
Tracing My Roots.
All my adult life I've known that a large percentage of my Grandma Anderson's family was Huguenot, one half traveling from France to Holland in the late 1500's and into New Amsterdam in the early 1600s, the Denyes family history says around 1610, and the other side, the Billets, coming to Canada via Cornwall England.
What I didn't understand was the suffering these original Hugenot's endured. Though persecuted and massacred in France they were also forbidden to leave the country. Sounds like damned if you do and damned if you don't to me. Over a few decades about half a million Protestants escaped from France and went to England, Holland, Belgium, Switzerland, Ireland, even Sweden. In comparison, the only larger mass migration was the Irish emigration after the Potato Famine. An interesting reference to why Cardinal Richelieu didn't want these Protestants to leave was the skills in weaving, lace and other crafts that went with them.
The Denyes side of the family escaped to Holland and if family history is correct must have almost immediately emigrated to the New World. I kept finding bits of information about Dutch settlements this early but nothing concrete yet. The Internet is not the best or safest source of historical information.
The Billet family spent a longer time in England before emigration to Canada, and whether or not there is any relationship I did find a mention on the 'Protestants in France' site of a Billet family in the Loire valley area near Sanserre. His occupation was listed as bottier which if my very hazy French still works means he was a shoemaker or bootmaker.
Since the only family genealogies were done by Canadians relatives, and mostly it seems, in relationship to the United Empire Loyalists group, they start with the first ancestor in the Americas. Like the DAR I understand you cannot be a member of the UEL unless you have a relative who was a British citizen in the American colonies and he served in a British unit of some kind in the American Revolution. That's a horrid definition I'm sure but there is a published book called "Scarcely a Ripple" that is a study of the Anglo migration to Canada and back again that mentions the Denyes family. In fact in the migration study Martin Denyes is described as a Dutch immigrant. From what I read tonight this appears to be very common as the Huguenots made up only about 10% or so of the original Dutch West Indies settlers.
The original Fort Orange was listed as being something like 58 feet on each side and it was the only settlement around, about 150 people. I can't even imagine being in an area that sparsely populated and I live in a "city" of less than 5000.
All my adult life I've known that a large percentage of my Grandma Anderson's family was Huguenot, one half traveling from France to Holland in the late 1500's and into New Amsterdam in the early 1600s, the Denyes family history says around 1610, and the other side, the Billets, coming to Canada via Cornwall England.
What I didn't understand was the suffering these original Hugenot's endured. Though persecuted and massacred in France they were also forbidden to leave the country. Sounds like damned if you do and damned if you don't to me. Over a few decades about half a million Protestants escaped from France and went to England, Holland, Belgium, Switzerland, Ireland, even Sweden. In comparison, the only larger mass migration was the Irish emigration after the Potato Famine. An interesting reference to why Cardinal Richelieu didn't want these Protestants to leave was the skills in weaving, lace and other crafts that went with them.
The Denyes side of the family escaped to Holland and if family history is correct must have almost immediately emigrated to the New World. I kept finding bits of information about Dutch settlements this early but nothing concrete yet. The Internet is not the best or safest source of historical information.
The Billet family spent a longer time in England before emigration to Canada, and whether or not there is any relationship I did find a mention on the 'Protestants in France' site of a Billet family in the Loire valley area near Sanserre. His occupation was listed as bottier which if my very hazy French still works means he was a shoemaker or bootmaker.
Since the only family genealogies were done by Canadians relatives, and mostly it seems, in relationship to the United Empire Loyalists group, they start with the first ancestor in the Americas. Like the DAR I understand you cannot be a member of the UEL unless you have a relative who was a British citizen in the American colonies and he served in a British unit of some kind in the American Revolution. That's a horrid definition I'm sure but there is a published book called "Scarcely a Ripple" that is a study of the Anglo migration to Canada and back again that mentions the Denyes family. In fact in the migration study Martin Denyes is described as a Dutch immigrant. From what I read tonight this appears to be very common as the Huguenots made up only about 10% or so of the original Dutch West Indies settlers.
The original Fort Orange was listed as being something like 58 feet on each side and it was the only settlement around, about 150 people. I can't even imagine being in an area that sparsely populated and I live in a "city" of less than 5000.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
What's In a Name?
A couple weeks ago I attended the Celtic Festival at JCC in Jamestown and all the different Scottish clans had tables displaying flags and tartans and even t-shirts. The Clan Cameron includes the Taylors so the woman said my family could wear any of the Cameron tartans except the chiefs. Hmmm, and I don't even know if there is any Scottish blood in my family. She said there is even a lowland clan of Andersons. It got me to thinking about names, and I spent a rainy afternoon exploring the meaning of some of the family names on the Internet.
Taylor is easy, it is tailor or tailleur or 'cutter, a person who makes clothing. Anderson is son of Andrew or Andre or Anders. I imagine the Fishers choosing that last name when they had to pick one because they were fisherman, and the Squires maybe because they wanted to shout their status???
Where I really starting having fun was when I started looking up the meaning of our first names.
Mom and Dad as Marjorie and Bruce are 'Child of Light' and 'Of the Woods', respectfully. That sounded so nice I continued on and did us kids.
My name means alien or outsider, or barbarian. Gee thanks Mom and Dad. Cathy means pure, Mary Beth is bitter sea, Marsha means warlike and Marlys means bitter. Other than Cathy and Bruce we're a gruesome, or at least miserable, bunch.
I was unhappy with the depressing meanings of our names so I went on to my kids: Angela of course is 'Heavenly Messenger' or 'of the Angels', Michelle is Hebrew for 'Who is like God'. I didn't know that. Interesting my choice of kids names, huh?
Since I was on such a happy role I decided to finish up with my grandkids. Zoey is Greek for 'Life' and Eddie's name means 'rich or happy guardian'.
Makes me wonder why the names that were so popular when I was a kid are so unhappy.
Taylor is easy, it is tailor or tailleur or 'cutter, a person who makes clothing. Anderson is son of Andrew or Andre or Anders. I imagine the Fishers choosing that last name when they had to pick one because they were fisherman, and the Squires maybe because they wanted to shout their status???
Where I really starting having fun was when I started looking up the meaning of our first names.
Mom and Dad as Marjorie and Bruce are 'Child of Light' and 'Of the Woods', respectfully. That sounded so nice I continued on and did us kids.
My name means alien or outsider, or barbarian. Gee thanks Mom and Dad. Cathy means pure, Mary Beth is bitter sea, Marsha means warlike and Marlys means bitter. Other than Cathy and Bruce we're a gruesome, or at least miserable, bunch.
I was unhappy with the depressing meanings of our names so I went on to my kids: Angela of course is 'Heavenly Messenger' or 'of the Angels', Michelle is Hebrew for 'Who is like God'. I didn't know that. Interesting my choice of kids names, huh?
Since I was on such a happy role I decided to finish up with my grandkids. Zoey is Greek for 'Life' and Eddie's name means 'rich or happy guardian'.
Makes me wonder why the names that were so popular when I was a kid are so unhappy.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Gathering of the Clans
On Saturday (August 23rd) I attended the Gathering of the Clans in Jamestown with Angie and the Grand Twins. It was a gorgeous day, we had actually gone 3 or 4 days without rain.
The 96th highlanders of Jamestown and even here in Warren, were fantastic. There is a picture floating somewhere of one of the pipers putting her bonnet on Zoey. Of course I was without a camera. How can you forget your camera on a great day like this. And I have one manual SLR, one auto SLR and one digital. No excuse for no pictures.
I did find a video on myspace talking about it, and with last year's photos. Could have had some great photos. Angie and I were sad about that.
Still, I love bagpipe music and Irish step dancing so I was curious to see what the twins would enjoy about the festival. It's so much fun seeing Zoey's reaction to new things especially. If it's music she's there. She danced a bit to the pipers, charmed a few, and was even given a dress bonnet (I think that's what they're called) to wear. She has crooned to music since she could barely hold her head up, but I've noticed lately she's started working some words into her songs. I told Angie that at 21 months she may be the youngest song writer we'll ever meet. One of her songs had "momma, nana, and bye bye" in it and her singing is pretty to listen to too. Who knows, something to keep in mind as she grows up.
Until today her dancing was all arms and body movements; like rock music dancers but today she saw toe dancing and clogging. She did some of the toe steps but she loved that clogging. Stomp, stomp, step, step, stomp. She was the half time entertainment in that arena. One woman told me to make sure she finds enough creative outlets.. That she could dance, sing or even act. Well who knows.
Eddie thought the pipers were cool. He loved the drummers and watching the marching. He even danced, a wee bit. He got bored with all of it after a while. But what he really liked were the highland games. During a break in all the sweaty, grunting, kilt-clad machismo (hmm, I did see one woman try the caber toss) Eddie ran out onto the field and tried to pick up the weight throw. This looks like a shot put with a chain attached. Of course I think it weighed close to his weight but it did give the game participants a bit of a laugh.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Walmart Competition Brings Friendlier Stores?
I've commented several times on the fact that I now live in rural northwestern PA and love the small town life, but like everyone else we get caught up in the 'get 'er done' attitude. Then, all of the sudden we have a Wal-Mart and a Lowe's.
When these stores first came on the scene their business plans did not include cities the size of ours. However, it looks like they have each created a floor plan that accommodates selling in small towns. I personally don't like the grocery section, mostly prepared foods and frozen prepared foods at Wal-Mart, and for some weird reason even Lowe's doesn't stock the things I seem to need, or the selection is too small, so I still tend to shop my local hometown stores.
This is where I've started to notice a huge change. I call it the Wal-Mart greeter syndrome.
I've shopped the local drug store, grocery, and hardware stores since I relocated here but now I am barely in the door and I'm greeted and offered assistance. Since these stores are small by comparison it was never a problem getting assistance but it seems now they are aware, and appreciate, the loyalty of shoppers. I'm sure they can't compete price-wise with these chains so they need that loyalty. Since I seem to be a member of the self serve generation I'm surprised sometimes by these offers of help and friendliness. {Especially after my six or seven years living in Philadelphia :)}.
One of our three grocery stores closed the week Wal-Mart opened its doors and I heard many of the small store owners voice concern about being able to compete. In fact one small fabric and quilting business shut down when the announcement was made that this store was coming to town and sadly, the Wal-Mart floor plan here does not include fabric, and has very few notions for sale.
I still go to these stores for items that I know they carry at a substantial savings, after all I'm tightening my budget due to the rising gas prices too, but for the majority of my needs I'll still shop local and I may even get used to the "Thanks for coming in" that I hear as I enter and leave these stores.
When these stores first came on the scene their business plans did not include cities the size of ours. However, it looks like they have each created a floor plan that accommodates selling in small towns. I personally don't like the grocery section, mostly prepared foods and frozen prepared foods at Wal-Mart, and for some weird reason even Lowe's doesn't stock the things I seem to need, or the selection is too small, so I still tend to shop my local hometown stores.
This is where I've started to notice a huge change. I call it the Wal-Mart greeter syndrome.
I've shopped the local drug store, grocery, and hardware stores since I relocated here but now I am barely in the door and I'm greeted and offered assistance. Since these stores are small by comparison it was never a problem getting assistance but it seems now they are aware, and appreciate, the loyalty of shoppers. I'm sure they can't compete price-wise with these chains so they need that loyalty. Since I seem to be a member of the self serve generation I'm surprised sometimes by these offers of help and friendliness. {Especially after my six or seven years living in Philadelphia :)}.
One of our three grocery stores closed the week Wal-Mart opened its doors and I heard many of the small store owners voice concern about being able to compete. In fact one small fabric and quilting business shut down when the announcement was made that this store was coming to town and sadly, the Wal-Mart floor plan here does not include fabric, and has very few notions for sale.
I still go to these stores for items that I know they carry at a substantial savings, after all I'm tightening my budget due to the rising gas prices too, but for the majority of my needs I'll still shop local and I may even get used to the "Thanks for coming in" that I hear as I enter and leave these stores.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Summer Vacation II
I just received this ride report from my brother and was fascinated with his perceptions of the Mid-Atlantic region. After being a displaced Southern Californian for over twenty years now, I take this area totally for granted. Fascinating reading, Sonny. I wish I was better at journalling, it gives us a different perspective of events. By the way, we Easterners always say, "It's not the heat, it's the humidity" and now you know what we mean.
The Shenandoah 1200km
The Shenandoah 1200km was held on June 5th-8th, and the Southern California Randonneuring community was well represented on the Shenandoah 1200km by Tim Sullivan, David Nakai and I, Bruce Taylor, all finished this ride, which has been reported the most difficult of all 1200km, Grand Randonnee. A 1200km Grand Randonnee is a 745 mile route which must be completed in 90 hours. On the Shenandoah we climbed a total of around 50,000 feet, to make things even more challenging; the Mid-Atlantic States were having a heat wave during this time. On my gauge, the temps peaked at 108 degrees; add to that high humidity with no wind, and it was a real cooker. I will never complain again about heat in Southern Calif., where we generally always have a cooling breeze and the humidity is always low. The heat and difficulty of the ride caused a large number of riders to DNF. We had 61 registered riders with 57 starters and 30 finishers; if you include the DNS with DNF together, then the DNF rate is over 50%.
In spite of all of this, the terrain that we covered was some of the prettiest country I have ever seen. I would venture to say that the beauty of the course, coupled with the historic sights, made this one of the most awesome ride I have ever done. The ride was also extremely well staffed. At the controls you had volunteers literally falling over each other to ensure that you got everything you needed. The route was well planned, with the majority of the climbing, also the most difficult, being on Day 1 and 2, which took you on scenic byways over the Catoctin Mts. and the foothills of the Allegany Mts. and finally taking you to the Blue Ridge parkway. Days 3 and 4 of the ride were mellower, traveling down the Shenandoah Valley and giving you time to recover from the hard climbs of the first two days. I finished the ride feeling great about the whole experience.
This was the inaugural event of the Shenandoah 1200km which, unless you were familiar with the area, meant that you were blindly going into the event, truly not knowing what to expect. I went into the event confident in my climbing ability and wondered, “How hard could it be to ride some roller up a valley?” This led me to make a big mistake in gear selection. Since the bike I was going to ride had a triple, I didn’t bother changing the cassette which had a 23 as it biggest gear. I would have loved having at least a 27. I knew I was in for a difficult ride when David showed up at the start with an extremely light bike with a very small seat bag. David generally does these events in a full touring bike with 4 panniers filled with everything imaginable. When I found that I could lift his bike with two fingers I knew I that I had greatly underestimated the terrain over which we would be riding.
Prologue:
3 weeks prior to the ride, I was involved in an accident with a truck which struck me in the back with his mirror. The impact was hard enough to break off the mirror and sent me flying into the side of the road. So I spent the 3 weeks prior to
the event trying to keep my fitness up and recover from the accident which left me with severe endurance issues, since my body was trying to repair itself. By the time of the event the pain was almost completely gone, but I was not confident that my endurance would hold up. These facts made me enter the event with a very conservative approach, especially since I was entering the event with a slightly heavy bike which was under-geared for the upcoming hills. I knew that David, who has finished 6 1200km events and Tim, who has finished 10 1200km events, were doing the ride, and if I needed advice I could count on these fine Randonneurs to help me get through it.
Day 1
Leesburg to Gettysburg
We started the ride at 4:00AM. The day before, Leesburg had experienced a thunderstorm which had left a lot of debris and downed utility lines on the road. I rode with the leading pack of around 20 riders which rode at a fast but not hard pace, and we made good progress through Northern Virginia. Soon we were crossing the Potomac River and were in Maryland. Once we hit the Catoctin Mts., I dropped back from the group and maintained a steady climb up Spruce Run. Once over the Catoctin Mts., I joined up with two other riders and made good time to the Gettysburg control. Most of the lead group was here. I was glad to see that Tim was still here which gave me sense of security.
Gettysburg to Sharpsburg
I immediately started out and rode through the Gettysburg Park. I have never seen so many monuments. They were quite impressive; if I had not been doing an event I would have spent the entire day studying the battlefield itself. I was soon riding onto Antietam, which took us over many rollers, some of which were very steep but none of them very long. It was during this stretch that a small group caught me which included Tim. I stayed with this group for the remainder of the day. We passed several road crews who were cleaning up the debris from the previous storm. The wind must have been very severe through here, since large limbs and entire trees had blown over. At one point I saw an oak tree which had been blown over onto a farm house. Just before the next control we rode through the Antietam National Battlefield. It again was very moving and had many large monuments to the bloodiest one day of the civil war. Just as I was leaving this control David rode up. He told me about one rider who had broken a spoke at mile 20 and DNF the ride. David also, told me that he felt worn out by all the hills we have been going over. Just confirming to me that he was concerned about this ride and I needed to continue to be conservative and conserve my leg strength for the upcoming hills on the second day.
Sharpsburg to Winchester
Once back over the Potomac River and in Virginia Tim, Steve Atkins and I made good time to Winchester. Enroute we caught back up to Jim Koening, who stayed with us until Harrisonburg. Soon we caught another group of riders and our group was around 6 riders. During this afternoon the heat came on and you could feel your entire body covered with layers of sweat. The group split as Tim, Jim and I
made one extra stop to cool down and buy sunscreen which I had in my drop bags but had none with me. We saw several riders at the Winchester control and everyone was buying cool drinks and ice trying to recover from the heat.
Winchester to Harrisonburg
This leg of the journey took us up on a ridge along Back Rd., which had numerous rollers some of which were steep but short. We had an excellent view of the Shenandoah Valley from up on this ridge most of the afternoon. After we crossed Union Bridge we came to a small hamlet where we stopped for refreshments. Soon we were riding down the ridge into the valley where we got our first glimpse, as we rode across it, of the Shenandoah River. We made excellent time as Tim and I raced to Harrisonburg. At Harrisonburg I remarked to Tim how difficult this first Day had been. It reminded me a lot of the Bass Lake double that we do back in California, being very scenic but hilly. Tim made the most prophetic statements of the ride when he said that this was just a teaser for tomorrow. Tim’s drop bag was at Deerfield, so he pushed on. My bag was here at Harrisonburg, so I spent a few hours off the bike taking a shower and having a fine dinner. The organizers had rented dorm room at the Mennonite University which made the experience quite nice. We had two riders to a room with full bathrooms with showers across the hall. I couldn’t fall asleep so at 11:00am after a few hours off the bike, I was back on my bike riding onto Deerfield.
Harrisonburg to Deerfield
I really enjoyed this evening ride. It was cool and I felt great after my shower, dinner and rest. I had no leg soreness from all the days climbing, probably because I never attacked any climbs; I took them all easy. Soon I found myself in Deerfield. The control was at a volunteer fire station. Tim was still there and was not scheduled to be waking up for another hour. So I lay down again and attempted to get some sleep. Once again, I couldn’t. As soon as Tim was up, we had a great breakfast. Again the volunteers out did them selves. The cook was willing to cook up anything you wanted. So after a hearty breakfast around 5:00AM, Tim and I were on the road.
Day 2
Deerfield to Clifton Forge
As we left Clifton Forge we caught up to Judith Longley and Martin Laudie. We would stay with these riders all the way to Hillsville. We had a great ride down to Clinton Forge which was through the beautifully forested Doughat State Park. This was one of the most spectacular sections of the ride. It was mostly downhill and most of the time you were under the forest canopy. There were some serious climbs ahead of us, so at Clifton Forge we stopped to have another breakfast. We were riding in the front group, being around 5th on the road.
Clifton Forge to Christiansburg
After we left Clinton Forge, we found ourselves on some serious climbs. This was going to be the toughest leg with over 7500 feet of climbing in 79 miles. Rich
Patch, Upper Rich Patch, and Jameson Mountain Road were extreme trials relieved only by overhead shade. On Jameson Mountain Rd, I had to stand and transverse back and forth up this long steep climb. It was as steep as anything you would find on the Terrible Two. I thought that if I was ever to have a heart attack on a ride, now would be the time. Finally I made it to the top where I found Tim and Martin waiting for me. After a little rest, we were flying down the mountain and into a valley on the way to Christiansburg. The heat was now unbearably hot. We stopped at a store for some refreshments and I found myself walking around the store in a daze trying to find water. We had to consume our snacks out doors in the heat. This was the worse that I felt during the entire ride. I mentioned to Tim how I felt and asked him what I should do and his reply was to ride and he was absolutely right. Once I drank several quarts of water, I felt much better being back on the bike riding. I rode into Christiansburg a cooked and tired rider. I was surprised that no one had passed us during the afternoon since we were riding slowly in the heat of the day, but I guess everyone was having difficulty on this leg of the ride. After a short rest Tim, Judith and Martin took off to do the next hard leg of the ride up to Hillsville and Fancy Gap on the Blue Ridge. I elected to stay longer to help recover from the day’s ordeal. Tim didn’t say anything but he looked disappointed as he took off. I think he was thinking that I might DNF. This surely would be the place to DNF, and later several riders did that and this place became the Village of the Damned, as one rider would call it. After resting for 30 min. in the well air conditioned room, I got up, ate dinner, and was soon joined by riders coming in. They were all positive and eager to push on. Matt assured us that although there was a lot of climbing up to Hillsville, none of it was difficult. With body cooled down, refreshed, and with a renewed positive motivation, I was back on my bike riding up to Hillsville, which was extremely scenic and, as Matt had promised, not difficult. The climbing was, however, endless, and I kept telling myself that I just needed to keep going and not stop and I would make it. I finally made it to Hillsville where Tim, Judith and Martin were just leaving to go to Fancy Gap 13 miles up on the Blue Ridge. I arrived only 30 minutes later than they had, and they were genuinely happy to see me. I think that they were relieved that I hadn’t quit. It was around midnight that I took off to climb up to the Blue Ridge. I had rested for one hour and then took all the weight off my bike caring only one water bottle I felt great as I flew up the climb with almost no weight on my bike. The views from the Blue Ridge were breathtaking. You could see the lights of North Carolina on one side and the hamlets of the Shenandoah on the other. The stop over at Fancy Gap was neat. Fancy Gap is a camping area on the Blue Ridge. A lot of riders were staying here in cabins. Again I found myself alone with the Volunteers who could not do enough for me. I had a great, made-to-order Hamburger with all the fixings and baked beans. I was having the time of my life eating and chatting with the Volunteers. Soon I was going down the Hill back to Hillsville, and I passed several riders going up to Fancy gap on the way. One of
them must have been David but I did not recognize him. I got back to Hillsville around 2:30AM. I asked to be waked up with Tim at 4:00AM and tried to get some sleep. Again, I was unable to fall asleep with the riders coming and going, but I did have a nice shower.
Day 3
Hillsville to Christiansburg
We had a great ride down to Christiansburg. There was some climbing but most of it was downhill and the scenery was as spectacular as ever. I enjoyed looking at the hillside farms, and the views of the Shenandoah were great. The ride now along Indian Valley Rd. was at times fast and furious as you raced downhill along a rushing river. Soon we were back in Christiansburg. Tim had breakfast as I again, lay down, and tried to fall asleep. After a short rest of less than an hour, we were back on our bikes riding onto Buchanan.
Christiansburg to Buchanan
Again we found ourselves in the country riding over rolling hills, but today none of them were very long or steep. We stopped at a local store which had indoor seating at the halfway point to Buchanan. We had a refreshing lunch and met up with a local riding club. I really admire these local riders who ride these hills daily. Tim told them about our event and they were equally amazed at our endeavor. We finally got out of the hills at a small town called Fincastle which had a 20% grade into town. I miss-shifted and walked up this little hill as Tim muscled his bike over it. Fincastle was a fine example of a small Southern town with a large monument to the confederate army in the center of it. We arrived in Buchanan around 2:00PM, stopped at the control for lunch.
Buchanan to Harrisonburg
When we started riding at 3:00PM, we still had several miles of rollers on the Business Route 11. The temperature was over 100 degrees on the road. This road reminded me of Damnation alley on Breathless Agony. I was really feeling sluggish climbing at 5.5 mph on these rollers. If I wasn't having a meltdown I could have easily done these at 12 mph. Tim suggested that we get a Motel room for a few hours and start again at 6:30PM. For the first time since the ride started I fell asleep and sleep solid for 2 hours. Those two hours in air conditioning made all the difference in the world. I was now able to climb at a respectable rate and the temperature had dropped to the mid 80’s. Harrisonburg control was 90 miles from Buchannan, so we planned to stop for food at 30 miles and 60 miles. Shortly after leaving the Motel, we were out of the Rollers. The road now became practically flat and we made excellent time. Since it was now night time and there was not much to look at, and since Tim rides a very consistent speed day and night, I passed the time by falling back behind Tim and then picking up my pace to catch him. We stopped at Arby’s in Stanton which was only 30 miles from Harrisonburg and had a great French dip sandwich and ice cream soda. This last stretch of road was uneventful except for several miles were we saw a very fascinating display of
fireflies dancing over the ponds and streams which we passed by. Also in the distance, you could see a lightning display over the Leesburg area, but we were too far away to hear the thunder. As we approached Harrisonburg I could see Tim ahead of me going over a particularly long roller, but I no longer had the energy to chase him down. At the Harrisonburg control I had a great dinner and a nice shower, and at 2:30AM I went to bed for another great sleep till 4:00AM.
Day 4
Harrisonburg to Middletown
At 5:00AM, Tim and AI took off for the last 110 miles. I felt great after a relatively easy day yesterday and a great 1 1/2 hours of sleep, and was truly enjoying the sights. It was 60 miles to Middletown, which was at the end of a gentle climb along a ridge which again had spectacular views of the countryside. I saw several flights of geese fly by as well as a balloonist flying above tree top just north of us. During this section I had a flat which only took a few minutes to fix. As we took off I found that my rear wheel would not turn at all. Tim was out of earshot, so I couldn’t inform him of my difficulties. A couple of Randonneurs came up the road and assisted me in adjusting the wheel, and after another 15 minutes I was on the road again. Tim had ridden back to see what the problem was; a gesture I didn’t expect, but appreciated. Later, I found out that my rear wheel had a crack across the entire rim. I was lucky to have finished the ride on this wheel. Soon after this, we were joined on the ride by Tim Carroll, who rode the rest of ride with us. At Middletown we stopped and had an early lunch and a great conversation about past Randonneuring events before we continued on our last 50-mile leg.
Middletown to Leesville
As we started our last leg I told both Tims that if I dropped off to not worry about me since I was going to take my time on the last leg, and would be making several stops to enjoy the scenery. So I rode the last 50 miles alone just taking in all the sights and sounds of this great countryside. I wanted to savor every moment and not occupy myself with trying to match the pace of other riders. There were also two more climbs to get over before we were on the downhill run into Leesburg. The next 30 miles to Snickersville Gap was awesome. The day was warming up, but I was in the shade of the forest canopy for most of it. I stopped when I reached a low-water, one-lane concrete bridge. The sight was remarkable. You ride across the Shenandoah just above water line for a great view of this mighty enchanting river. There were several locals swimming in the river and I wanted so much to jump in and join them. After this I rode alongside the river for several miles in shaded forest. At one point I came upon this turtle trying to cross the road. I stopped and picked him up and place him back on the grass by the side of the road. I didn’t want him to become road kill. I guess I should have walked him across the road because later David told me he came across the same turtle determined as ever to get across the road. I was almost out of the pass when I was thinking that these last two climbs were highly overrated in difficulty. In fact, so
far these last climbs had been some of the most enjoyable cycling I have ever done. That was until the route turned onto Route 7: a 3-mile climb up to Snickersville Gap (Manassas Gap) in full sun. This was at the extreme heat of day and I was slowly being roasted as I climbed up this road. After 2 miles I found some shade with a slight breeze which I found to be refreshing. I found that after I resumed my riding the top was only ½ mile more. Soon I was flying down the last major Hill of the ride and turned onto Snickersville Gap Rd. and into the town of Snickersville where I stopped for some water and an ice cream float. I was enjoying this refreshment when a volunteer drove up and offered me more food and an ice sock. I put on the ice sock and found that the perceived temperature dropped by 10 degrees. I wish I would have remembered this technique on the first day. The rest of the afternoon was uneventful as I rode back to Leesburg to increasing traffic and noise but the scenery was still better than anything I would find in Southern California.
I finished the ride 83 hours after I started. I finished feeling great, and enjoyed the whole experience immensely. I felt better and more rested than I did after PBP. I attribute this to how well the route was planned, with the last two days being so much mellower than the first two days, and to the excellent pace that Tim set: a steady, moderate speed, with well planned rest stops. Even though I didn’t get a lot of sleep, the periodic planned stops made up for it and added to the whole experience. I felt fortunate to have been able to ride with such an experienced Randonneur as Tim. Truly a master of this art.
Closing thoughts
The Shenandoah is truly a remarkable event. The roads except for the wind debris were all excellent. The scenery was scenic and at times breathtaking. The support was fantastic. There were at times large distances between controls, but there were well spaced services to meet our needs. I would recommend this ride to anyone who is conditioned for it: just remember to bring your climbing gears, and, if needed, your ice socks. And don’t forget your camera, for you will be riding in paradise. John Denver, in one of his songs, calls the Blue Ridge and Shenandoah Valley a touch of Heaven. I must say that I was surely touched by the beauty and enchantment of this area. I just never thought Heaven would be so hot.
The Shenandoah 1200km
The Shenandoah 1200km was held on June 5th-8th, and the Southern California Randonneuring community was well represented on the Shenandoah 1200km by Tim Sullivan, David Nakai and I, Bruce Taylor, all finished this ride, which has been reported the most difficult of all 1200km, Grand Randonnee. A 1200km Grand Randonnee is a 745 mile route which must be completed in 90 hours. On the Shenandoah we climbed a total of around 50,000 feet, to make things even more challenging; the Mid-Atlantic States were having a heat wave during this time. On my gauge, the temps peaked at 108 degrees; add to that high humidity with no wind, and it was a real cooker. I will never complain again about heat in Southern Calif., where we generally always have a cooling breeze and the humidity is always low. The heat and difficulty of the ride caused a large number of riders to DNF. We had 61 registered riders with 57 starters and 30 finishers; if you include the DNS with DNF together, then the DNF rate is over 50%.
In spite of all of this, the terrain that we covered was some of the prettiest country I have ever seen. I would venture to say that the beauty of the course, coupled with the historic sights, made this one of the most awesome ride I have ever done. The ride was also extremely well staffed. At the controls you had volunteers literally falling over each other to ensure that you got everything you needed. The route was well planned, with the majority of the climbing, also the most difficult, being on Day 1 and 2, which took you on scenic byways over the Catoctin Mts. and the foothills of the Allegany Mts. and finally taking you to the Blue Ridge parkway. Days 3 and 4 of the ride were mellower, traveling down the Shenandoah Valley and giving you time to recover from the hard climbs of the first two days. I finished the ride feeling great about the whole experience.
This was the inaugural event of the Shenandoah 1200km which, unless you were familiar with the area, meant that you were blindly going into the event, truly not knowing what to expect. I went into the event confident in my climbing ability and wondered, “How hard could it be to ride some roller up a valley?” This led me to make a big mistake in gear selection. Since the bike I was going to ride had a triple, I didn’t bother changing the cassette which had a 23 as it biggest gear. I would have loved having at least a 27. I knew I was in for a difficult ride when David showed up at the start with an extremely light bike with a very small seat bag. David generally does these events in a full touring bike with 4 panniers filled with everything imaginable. When I found that I could lift his bike with two fingers I knew I that I had greatly underestimated the terrain over which we would be riding.
Prologue:
3 weeks prior to the ride, I was involved in an accident with a truck which struck me in the back with his mirror. The impact was hard enough to break off the mirror and sent me flying into the side of the road. So I spent the 3 weeks prior to
the event trying to keep my fitness up and recover from the accident which left me with severe endurance issues, since my body was trying to repair itself. By the time of the event the pain was almost completely gone, but I was not confident that my endurance would hold up. These facts made me enter the event with a very conservative approach, especially since I was entering the event with a slightly heavy bike which was under-geared for the upcoming hills. I knew that David, who has finished 6 1200km events and Tim, who has finished 10 1200km events, were doing the ride, and if I needed advice I could count on these fine Randonneurs to help me get through it.
Day 1
Leesburg to Gettysburg
We started the ride at 4:00AM. The day before, Leesburg had experienced a thunderstorm which had left a lot of debris and downed utility lines on the road. I rode with the leading pack of around 20 riders which rode at a fast but not hard pace, and we made good progress through Northern Virginia. Soon we were crossing the Potomac River and were in Maryland. Once we hit the Catoctin Mts., I dropped back from the group and maintained a steady climb up Spruce Run. Once over the Catoctin Mts., I joined up with two other riders and made good time to the Gettysburg control. Most of the lead group was here. I was glad to see that Tim was still here which gave me sense of security.
Gettysburg to Sharpsburg
I immediately started out and rode through the Gettysburg Park. I have never seen so many monuments. They were quite impressive; if I had not been doing an event I would have spent the entire day studying the battlefield itself. I was soon riding onto Antietam, which took us over many rollers, some of which were very steep but none of them very long. It was during this stretch that a small group caught me which included Tim. I stayed with this group for the remainder of the day. We passed several road crews who were cleaning up the debris from the previous storm. The wind must have been very severe through here, since large limbs and entire trees had blown over. At one point I saw an oak tree which had been blown over onto a farm house. Just before the next control we rode through the Antietam National Battlefield. It again was very moving and had many large monuments to the bloodiest one day of the civil war. Just as I was leaving this control David rode up. He told me about one rider who had broken a spoke at mile 20 and DNF the ride. David also, told me that he felt worn out by all the hills we have been going over. Just confirming to me that he was concerned about this ride and I needed to continue to be conservative and conserve my leg strength for the upcoming hills on the second day.
Sharpsburg to Winchester
Once back over the Potomac River and in Virginia Tim, Steve Atkins and I made good time to Winchester. Enroute we caught back up to Jim Koening, who stayed with us until Harrisonburg. Soon we caught another group of riders and our group was around 6 riders. During this afternoon the heat came on and you could feel your entire body covered with layers of sweat. The group split as Tim, Jim and I
made one extra stop to cool down and buy sunscreen which I had in my drop bags but had none with me. We saw several riders at the Winchester control and everyone was buying cool drinks and ice trying to recover from the heat.
Winchester to Harrisonburg
This leg of the journey took us up on a ridge along Back Rd., which had numerous rollers some of which were steep but short. We had an excellent view of the Shenandoah Valley from up on this ridge most of the afternoon. After we crossed Union Bridge we came to a small hamlet where we stopped for refreshments. Soon we were riding down the ridge into the valley where we got our first glimpse, as we rode across it, of the Shenandoah River. We made excellent time as Tim and I raced to Harrisonburg. At Harrisonburg I remarked to Tim how difficult this first Day had been. It reminded me a lot of the Bass Lake double that we do back in California, being very scenic but hilly. Tim made the most prophetic statements of the ride when he said that this was just a teaser for tomorrow. Tim’s drop bag was at Deerfield, so he pushed on. My bag was here at Harrisonburg, so I spent a few hours off the bike taking a shower and having a fine dinner. The organizers had rented dorm room at the Mennonite University which made the experience quite nice. We had two riders to a room with full bathrooms with showers across the hall. I couldn’t fall asleep so at 11:00am after a few hours off the bike, I was back on my bike riding onto Deerfield.
Harrisonburg to Deerfield
I really enjoyed this evening ride. It was cool and I felt great after my shower, dinner and rest. I had no leg soreness from all the days climbing, probably because I never attacked any climbs; I took them all easy. Soon I found myself in Deerfield. The control was at a volunteer fire station. Tim was still there and was not scheduled to be waking up for another hour. So I lay down again and attempted to get some sleep. Once again, I couldn’t. As soon as Tim was up, we had a great breakfast. Again the volunteers out did them selves. The cook was willing to cook up anything you wanted. So after a hearty breakfast around 5:00AM, Tim and I were on the road.
Day 2
Deerfield to Clifton Forge
As we left Clifton Forge we caught up to Judith Longley and Martin Laudie. We would stay with these riders all the way to Hillsville. We had a great ride down to Clinton Forge which was through the beautifully forested Doughat State Park. This was one of the most spectacular sections of the ride. It was mostly downhill and most of the time you were under the forest canopy. There were some serious climbs ahead of us, so at Clifton Forge we stopped to have another breakfast. We were riding in the front group, being around 5th on the road.
Clifton Forge to Christiansburg
After we left Clinton Forge, we found ourselves on some serious climbs. This was going to be the toughest leg with over 7500 feet of climbing in 79 miles. Rich
Patch, Upper Rich Patch, and Jameson Mountain Road were extreme trials relieved only by overhead shade. On Jameson Mountain Rd, I had to stand and transverse back and forth up this long steep climb. It was as steep as anything you would find on the Terrible Two. I thought that if I was ever to have a heart attack on a ride, now would be the time. Finally I made it to the top where I found Tim and Martin waiting for me. After a little rest, we were flying down the mountain and into a valley on the way to Christiansburg. The heat was now unbearably hot. We stopped at a store for some refreshments and I found myself walking around the store in a daze trying to find water. We had to consume our snacks out doors in the heat. This was the worse that I felt during the entire ride. I mentioned to Tim how I felt and asked him what I should do and his reply was to ride and he was absolutely right. Once I drank several quarts of water, I felt much better being back on the bike riding. I rode into Christiansburg a cooked and tired rider. I was surprised that no one had passed us during the afternoon since we were riding slowly in the heat of the day, but I guess everyone was having difficulty on this leg of the ride. After a short rest Tim, Judith and Martin took off to do the next hard leg of the ride up to Hillsville and Fancy Gap on the Blue Ridge. I elected to stay longer to help recover from the day’s ordeal. Tim didn’t say anything but he looked disappointed as he took off. I think he was thinking that I might DNF. This surely would be the place to DNF, and later several riders did that and this place became the Village of the Damned, as one rider would call it. After resting for 30 min. in the well air conditioned room, I got up, ate dinner, and was soon joined by riders coming in. They were all positive and eager to push on. Matt assured us that although there was a lot of climbing up to Hillsville, none of it was difficult. With body cooled down, refreshed, and with a renewed positive motivation, I was back on my bike riding up to Hillsville, which was extremely scenic and, as Matt had promised, not difficult. The climbing was, however, endless, and I kept telling myself that I just needed to keep going and not stop and I would make it. I finally made it to Hillsville where Tim, Judith and Martin were just leaving to go to Fancy Gap 13 miles up on the Blue Ridge. I arrived only 30 minutes later than they had, and they were genuinely happy to see me. I think that they were relieved that I hadn’t quit. It was around midnight that I took off to climb up to the Blue Ridge. I had rested for one hour and then took all the weight off my bike caring only one water bottle I felt great as I flew up the climb with almost no weight on my bike. The views from the Blue Ridge were breathtaking. You could see the lights of North Carolina on one side and the hamlets of the Shenandoah on the other. The stop over at Fancy Gap was neat. Fancy Gap is a camping area on the Blue Ridge. A lot of riders were staying here in cabins. Again I found myself alone with the Volunteers who could not do enough for me. I had a great, made-to-order Hamburger with all the fixings and baked beans. I was having the time of my life eating and chatting with the Volunteers. Soon I was going down the Hill back to Hillsville, and I passed several riders going up to Fancy gap on the way. One of
them must have been David but I did not recognize him. I got back to Hillsville around 2:30AM. I asked to be waked up with Tim at 4:00AM and tried to get some sleep. Again, I was unable to fall asleep with the riders coming and going, but I did have a nice shower.
Day 3
Hillsville to Christiansburg
We had a great ride down to Christiansburg. There was some climbing but most of it was downhill and the scenery was as spectacular as ever. I enjoyed looking at the hillside farms, and the views of the Shenandoah were great. The ride now along Indian Valley Rd. was at times fast and furious as you raced downhill along a rushing river. Soon we were back in Christiansburg. Tim had breakfast as I again, lay down, and tried to fall asleep. After a short rest of less than an hour, we were back on our bikes riding onto Buchanan.
Christiansburg to Buchanan
Again we found ourselves in the country riding over rolling hills, but today none of them were very long or steep. We stopped at a local store which had indoor seating at the halfway point to Buchanan. We had a refreshing lunch and met up with a local riding club. I really admire these local riders who ride these hills daily. Tim told them about our event and they were equally amazed at our endeavor. We finally got out of the hills at a small town called Fincastle which had a 20% grade into town. I miss-shifted and walked up this little hill as Tim muscled his bike over it. Fincastle was a fine example of a small Southern town with a large monument to the confederate army in the center of it. We arrived in Buchanan around 2:00PM, stopped at the control for lunch.
Buchanan to Harrisonburg
When we started riding at 3:00PM, we still had several miles of rollers on the Business Route 11. The temperature was over 100 degrees on the road. This road reminded me of Damnation alley on Breathless Agony. I was really feeling sluggish climbing at 5.5 mph on these rollers. If I wasn't having a meltdown I could have easily done these at 12 mph. Tim suggested that we get a Motel room for a few hours and start again at 6:30PM. For the first time since the ride started I fell asleep and sleep solid for 2 hours. Those two hours in air conditioning made all the difference in the world. I was now able to climb at a respectable rate and the temperature had dropped to the mid 80’s. Harrisonburg control was 90 miles from Buchannan, so we planned to stop for food at 30 miles and 60 miles. Shortly after leaving the Motel, we were out of the Rollers. The road now became practically flat and we made excellent time. Since it was now night time and there was not much to look at, and since Tim rides a very consistent speed day and night, I passed the time by falling back behind Tim and then picking up my pace to catch him. We stopped at Arby’s in Stanton which was only 30 miles from Harrisonburg and had a great French dip sandwich and ice cream soda. This last stretch of road was uneventful except for several miles were we saw a very fascinating display of
fireflies dancing over the ponds and streams which we passed by. Also in the distance, you could see a lightning display over the Leesburg area, but we were too far away to hear the thunder. As we approached Harrisonburg I could see Tim ahead of me going over a particularly long roller, but I no longer had the energy to chase him down. At the Harrisonburg control I had a great dinner and a nice shower, and at 2:30AM I went to bed for another great sleep till 4:00AM.
Day 4
Harrisonburg to Middletown
At 5:00AM, Tim and AI took off for the last 110 miles. I felt great after a relatively easy day yesterday and a great 1 1/2 hours of sleep, and was truly enjoying the sights. It was 60 miles to Middletown, which was at the end of a gentle climb along a ridge which again had spectacular views of the countryside. I saw several flights of geese fly by as well as a balloonist flying above tree top just north of us. During this section I had a flat which only took a few minutes to fix. As we took off I found that my rear wheel would not turn at all. Tim was out of earshot, so I couldn’t inform him of my difficulties. A couple of Randonneurs came up the road and assisted me in adjusting the wheel, and after another 15 minutes I was on the road again. Tim had ridden back to see what the problem was; a gesture I didn’t expect, but appreciated. Later, I found out that my rear wheel had a crack across the entire rim. I was lucky to have finished the ride on this wheel. Soon after this, we were joined on the ride by Tim Carroll, who rode the rest of ride with us. At Middletown we stopped and had an early lunch and a great conversation about past Randonneuring events before we continued on our last 50-mile leg.
Middletown to Leesville
As we started our last leg I told both Tims that if I dropped off to not worry about me since I was going to take my time on the last leg, and would be making several stops to enjoy the scenery. So I rode the last 50 miles alone just taking in all the sights and sounds of this great countryside. I wanted to savor every moment and not occupy myself with trying to match the pace of other riders. There were also two more climbs to get over before we were on the downhill run into Leesburg. The next 30 miles to Snickersville Gap was awesome. The day was warming up, but I was in the shade of the forest canopy for most of it. I stopped when I reached a low-water, one-lane concrete bridge. The sight was remarkable. You ride across the Shenandoah just above water line for a great view of this mighty enchanting river. There were several locals swimming in the river and I wanted so much to jump in and join them. After this I rode alongside the river for several miles in shaded forest. At one point I came upon this turtle trying to cross the road. I stopped and picked him up and place him back on the grass by the side of the road. I didn’t want him to become road kill. I guess I should have walked him across the road because later David told me he came across the same turtle determined as ever to get across the road. I was almost out of the pass when I was thinking that these last two climbs were highly overrated in difficulty. In fact, so
far these last climbs had been some of the most enjoyable cycling I have ever done. That was until the route turned onto Route 7: a 3-mile climb up to Snickersville Gap (Manassas Gap) in full sun. This was at the extreme heat of day and I was slowly being roasted as I climbed up this road. After 2 miles I found some shade with a slight breeze which I found to be refreshing. I found that after I resumed my riding the top was only ½ mile more. Soon I was flying down the last major Hill of the ride and turned onto Snickersville Gap Rd. and into the town of Snickersville where I stopped for some water and an ice cream float. I was enjoying this refreshment when a volunteer drove up and offered me more food and an ice sock. I put on the ice sock and found that the perceived temperature dropped by 10 degrees. I wish I would have remembered this technique on the first day. The rest of the afternoon was uneventful as I rode back to Leesburg to increasing traffic and noise but the scenery was still better than anything I would find in Southern California.
I finished the ride 83 hours after I started. I finished feeling great, and enjoyed the whole experience immensely. I felt better and more rested than I did after PBP. I attribute this to how well the route was planned, with the last two days being so much mellower than the first two days, and to the excellent pace that Tim set: a steady, moderate speed, with well planned rest stops. Even though I didn’t get a lot of sleep, the periodic planned stops made up for it and added to the whole experience. I felt fortunate to have been able to ride with such an experienced Randonneur as Tim. Truly a master of this art.
Closing thoughts
The Shenandoah is truly a remarkable event. The roads except for the wind debris were all excellent. The scenery was scenic and at times breathtaking. The support was fantastic. There were at times large distances between controls, but there were well spaced services to meet our needs. I would recommend this ride to anyone who is conditioned for it: just remember to bring your climbing gears, and, if needed, your ice socks. And don’t forget your camera, for you will be riding in paradise. John Denver, in one of his songs, calls the Blue Ridge and Shenandoah Valley a touch of Heaven. I must say that I was surely touched by the beauty and enchantment of this area. I just never thought Heaven would be so hot.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Summer Vacation
Long time since I posted. Summer always seems to get away with me. There's the call of the road, the call of the weeds, the call of the house rehabbing, and of course, vacation!!
I had a special treat this year for my vacation. My brother, whom I still call Sonny, poor guy, and his wife, Jeanne, flew to Leesburg, VA for a RUSA event. I met them there to spend a bit of time with my brother before the ride and to visit with Jeanne during.
RUSA is Randonneuring USA, which is, according to their website, long distance, unsupported, endurance cycling, and basically non-competitive. My brother loves the long distance challenge and has participated in randonneuring events in Paris and here in the US. This year's event, the Shenandoah 1200 (http://www.geocities.com/shenandoah1200/) started in Leesburg, went north to Gettysburg, south to Richmond (Harrisonburg), up to the Blue Ridge and back to Leesburg. Wow, 1200 kilometers of bicycling!! The young man who finished first did the entire distance in just under 24 hours, incredible. It was a civil war history buff's dream ride if you weren't too tired to sightsee. In spite of record breaking heat and humidity for this time of year Sonny finished the race, and the heat forced a lot of people to quit. Way to go, bro. At 58 he is in fantastic shape.
Since I prefer my two wheeled vehicles with an engine I didn't join him in the ride but we share a love of historical places and we did a good bit of visiting before he started on his ride. Oatland plantation, as usual, was a beautiful place to visit. I also have to compliment the tour guide at the Sully plantation. Her knowledge of the history of the area, as well as the Sully plantation was deep and fascinating.
We visited the new Aerospace museum at Dulles. I hope I spell it right: the Udvar Hazy Air and Space Museum. I enjoyed the time we spent there because as the heat and humidity climbed we slowed our travels considerably.
I also finally got to Baltimore Harbor for the aquarium. I haven't been there since I chaperoned a bunch of 8th graders on a visit. That one is still very hazy. We went out to Fort McHenry (where Francis Scott Key saw the flag still flying and wrote about it in the Star Spangled banner) and rode the water taxis. At the aquarium we went to a 4D Imax movie. What is 4D? Well, I shouldn't spoil the fun too much but we were definitely a part of the movie. What a hoot. Though I think there was more 3D effects at the Natural History Museum's Imax theater.
One of the most fun things we did were the remember thises. You know, that's where I say do you remember this and he says no, and he says remember this and I say no. I finally decided we had totally different childhoods. I even called mom and asked if she was sure we were related. I'm only kidding about that, I have lots of memories of Sonny from my childhood to know we are family. It just amazes me that what I remember so clearly from back then he doesn't, and vice versa. That's why historical events can be re-written I bet. History is different from each person's perspective.
I had a special treat this year for my vacation. My brother, whom I still call Sonny, poor guy, and his wife, Jeanne, flew to Leesburg, VA for a RUSA event. I met them there to spend a bit of time with my brother before the ride and to visit with Jeanne during.
RUSA is Randonneuring USA, which is, according to their website, long distance, unsupported, endurance cycling, and basically non-competitive. My brother loves the long distance challenge and has participated in randonneuring events in Paris and here in the US. This year's event, the Shenandoah 1200 (http://www.geocities.com/shenandoah1200/) started in Leesburg, went north to Gettysburg, south to Richmond (Harrisonburg), up to the Blue Ridge and back to Leesburg. Wow, 1200 kilometers of bicycling!! The young man who finished first did the entire distance in just under 24 hours, incredible. It was a civil war history buff's dream ride if you weren't too tired to sightsee. In spite of record breaking heat and humidity for this time of year Sonny finished the race, and the heat forced a lot of people to quit. Way to go, bro. At 58 he is in fantastic shape.
Since I prefer my two wheeled vehicles with an engine I didn't join him in the ride but we share a love of historical places and we did a good bit of visiting before he started on his ride. Oatland plantation, as usual, was a beautiful place to visit. I also have to compliment the tour guide at the Sully plantation. Her knowledge of the history of the area, as well as the Sully plantation was deep and fascinating.
We visited the new Aerospace museum at Dulles. I hope I spell it right: the Udvar Hazy Air and Space Museum. I enjoyed the time we spent there because as the heat and humidity climbed we slowed our travels considerably.
I also finally got to Baltimore Harbor for the aquarium. I haven't been there since I chaperoned a bunch of 8th graders on a visit. That one is still very hazy. We went out to Fort McHenry (where Francis Scott Key saw the flag still flying and wrote about it in the Star Spangled banner) and rode the water taxis. At the aquarium we went to a 4D Imax movie. What is 4D? Well, I shouldn't spoil the fun too much but we were definitely a part of the movie. What a hoot. Though I think there was more 3D effects at the Natural History Museum's Imax theater.
One of the most fun things we did were the remember thises. You know, that's where I say do you remember this and he says no, and he says remember this and I say no. I finally decided we had totally different childhoods. I even called mom and asked if she was sure we were related. I'm only kidding about that, I have lots of memories of Sonny from my childhood to know we are family. It just amazes me that what I remember so clearly from back then he doesn't, and vice versa. That's why historical events can be re-written I bet. History is different from each person's perspective.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
As Beautiful Now as Then
Dear Mom,Here it is another Mother's Day and we still have you to call, to talk to, and to thank for being our mother. How lucky we all are. Do you think this beautiful 18 year old girl would have been surprised to know where life would lead her? That it would take her from the potato fields of North Dakota to the sunny beaches of San Diego, with stops in Long Beach and San Francisco along the way. I wonder if you would have chosen this path knowing the hardships you would face. We are all grateful you did. I sincerely hope the rewards of your life have been stronger than any regrets.
I used to wonder if you had planned to have such a large family, and so close together. Did you realize we would all be teenagers at the same time? And that time would be the 70's with its radically different ideas of morals and life. I wonder sometimes how you survived us!You also gave us a love of family. My memories of family gatherings are full of laughing until I cried, of enjoying the company of my family, and for this shy kid it was wonderful to have a place I felt I fitted in. There are so many wonderful memories from those magical days for me. We faced the too early loss of Cathy together, and I know how much Ed loved being a part of this family. That family grew with the addition of each husband or wife, and then the joy of grand children. Now you are even being honored with great grandchildren. I would love to list them all but I'm afraid of missing one. Think how many lives you have affected in your 80 plus years on this planet.
You should be proud, though you never finished high school, you instilled such a sense of learning, of self-reliance, of a need to accomplish something in this world in all of us. Three of your children not only finished high school but went on to get college degrees and the other three have had businesses or careers they loved, and we have all tried to lead meaningful lives. I hear your pride when you tell me of my brother or sisters' accomplishments. Thank you.
Right now you struggle with health problems but we consider each day you are here a blessing. Know that I think about you every day and wish I lived close enough to spend more time with you.You are as beautiful now as you were then Mom.
Love, Barb
Thursday, May 1, 2008
May Day
When I was in 4th grade I remember we had a huge May Day celebration. There were three fourth grade classrooms so we must have all combined to
have as many people as I remember. All the girls wore white blouses and full skirts and we made triangular neck scarves to wear. The boys wore slacks and white shirts and also had neck scarves. I remember the folk dancing, the singing, and the dance around the May pole which I thought was so exciting. We had made streamers out of many different colors of crepe paper and I thought the finished May Pole was so beautiful. We had also made little nosegays for our moms which I remember leaving on the doorstep, ringing the doorbell and running away. I also remember picking flowers for neighborhood moms and leaving them on their doorsteps, usually their own flowers.
If we were taught a reason for this celebration other than spring time I certainly don't remember, and growing up in the vast suburbs of San Diego we didn't have any ethnic heritage in common. We weren't celebrating the labor movement nor were we celebrating a pagan holiday. However, I do remember within the next couple years we were told that celebrating May Day was 'inappropriate' and the school would no longer have a party.
My childhood May Day of flowers and rebirth collided with the May Day of the Cold War, of Russian tanks rolling past Russian dictators, and the paranoia of McCarthy, Nixon, and the Red Menace and it died aborning.
have as many people as I remember. All the girls wore white blouses and full skirts and we made triangular neck scarves to wear. The boys wore slacks and white shirts and also had neck scarves. I remember the folk dancing, the singing, and the dance around the May pole which I thought was so exciting. We had made streamers out of many different colors of crepe paper and I thought the finished May Pole was so beautiful. We had also made little nosegays for our moms which I remember leaving on the doorstep, ringing the doorbell and running away. I also remember picking flowers for neighborhood moms and leaving them on their doorsteps, usually their own flowers.If we were taught a reason for this celebration other than spring time I certainly don't remember, and growing up in the vast suburbs of San Diego we didn't have any ethnic heritage in common. We weren't celebrating the labor movement nor were we celebrating a pagan holiday. However, I do remember within the next couple years we were told that celebrating May Day was 'inappropriate' and the school would no longer have a party.
My childhood May Day of flowers and rebirth collided with the May Day of the Cold War, of Russian tanks rolling past Russian dictators, and the paranoia of McCarthy, Nixon, and the Red Menace and it died aborning.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Baby Sign and the Sign of the Times
When Angie was pregnant she told me she had been reading about baby sign language and was going to teach it to her twins. I knew she had taken two years of ASL in college, as one of her languages, but I thought baby sign was a fad and she would never have the time to teach it and take care of two little babies. Well I got to be wrong with this one. What a gift sign language has been, Zoe and Eddie are still just learning to make vocal sounds but have quite a vocabulary of signs. The first picture shows Zoe asking for something to eat, she followed it up with an English word that sounded like pwtpa, which turned out to mean pretzel. 
The second picture is Eddie telling me there is a bird flying by. Though it looks like he is pointing he is actually making the beak sign that means bird. Zoe is "reading" or "hearing" his comment. He is totally fascinated with birds, and even though a man of few words in any language he will always tell you about the birds.
Another sign of the times: Angie and I gave the babies both a trim. Zoe's is almost unnoticeable, we only trimmed her original little topknot but Eddie lost all his baby curls. We did pretty good,here's his after picture.
And the final sign of the times for this blog, here's a picture of stage one of Angie's first (and maybe only) tattoo. In a couple weeks the color will be added.I goofed and called it a griffin but she said it is a chimera, to stand for change.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Decisions and More Decisions
My Decisions?Well, Here's the OMG picture of what the terracotta paint looked like against the old dirty white paint. Of course I started with the closet, and that is an old pink blanket on the floor but I was certainly wondering what it would take to paint the room a different color. It looked horribly dark, and the beautiful woodwork looked like it just vanished against the wall color.
I decided to have faith and keep on painting. After all, what one person paintith another can re-paintith, or something like that. It must be the paint fumes getting to me! So I kept on painting, and found I needed a second gallon of paint to finish the room.
This is an actual wall. The photo you see taped there was my inspiration for the room. My color matches the darker color of the photo, and I had planned to color wash, at least twice, over this base to get something similar to the color in the pic. I have the glaze and the paint but I'm trying to decide whether to leave well enough alone. The finished color is gorgeous, warm, and cozy.I know I have to decide soon, but right now I'm putting up the new ceiling fan so I'm buying myself a couple days.
Not an earth shattering decision, definitely not politics but then this is my ordinary life.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Decisions 2008
Congrats to Hilary Clinton, she carried this state by a 10% margin. I suspect she knew how important the rural vote could be, we certainly saw a lot of the Clinton family; from Hilary to President Clinton to Chelsea. They brought an excitement to our area that hasn't been seen for a long time. Their volunteers called me at least once a day, and definitely twice on election day. The last of those calls at around 6 p.m. to make sure I had gone to the polls.
Voter turn out was over the top, a wonderful thing to see, especially for a primary. She has an uphill battle until the convention and I realize she is in a do or die situation, needing to do well in Indiana and N. Carolina.
I wish them both well. I think an Obama and Clinton ticket, not necessarily in that order, could win.
We shall see.
Voter turn out was over the top, a wonderful thing to see, especially for a primary. She has an uphill battle until the convention and I realize she is in a do or die situation, needing to do well in Indiana and N. Carolina.
I wish them both well. I think an Obama and Clinton ticket, not necessarily in that order, could win.
We shall see.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
And Another One Bites the Dust
There's a new CEO for Blair Corporation as we see another home-grown company figuratively, if not literally bite the dust, Mr. Nandkeolyar comes to Blair as part of the merger/buyout by The Orchard Group. He also cites experience with Martha Steward Living. Interesting. And he comes bearing promises of more jobs (most likely at the distribution center -- manual labor type jobs-- my comment) , possibly a retail store or two to replace the Blair outlet we lost. Hope those bus loads of seniors will like the Norm Thompson collection enough to return to our little city.
In the nine years I've lived and worked in Warren I've watched almost every large business leave town, close, or merge; for a few years there it was very painful. The Forge is now owned by a company in the UK and it 'right-sized', Loranger's is gone, Rexnard moved away. Thank goodness for Northwest Savings, Whirley and the Refinery or we'd have just a few businesses left in town. We have to assume a refinery is doing great with oil prices at unheard of heights.
The new word for permanent layoffs is "right-sizing". It sounds so much better than downsizing doesn't it? However, the end result is the same, lots of people from professional and middle management to upper management got the axe, many of them long time or hometown families. I'm not discussing whether the business had too many chiefs or not, only commenting on the loss of long time Warren residents and supporters of town activities. In addition to the ARM debacle we are seeing lots of homes for sale as people realize there is nothing in their salary range in this small town. Just like we saw with the arrival of Lowe's and WalMart, lots and lots of minimum or slightly better wages and very little for skilled labor or professionals.
When I sit in Rural Development meetings or in advisory meetings I always say we need to find a way to get white collar or professionals into this town. A great idea could be our own community college or university like Lock Haven or Mansfield; a lot of the State Hospital is underutilized and would make a wonderful location for a school. Anyone interested? The infrastructure for high-speed connectivity is in place in town, we have T3 available to us, how about an off-site data storage center for a major East Coast business?
Tourism is valuable to us here in the "PA Wilds". Did I mention I like the new state tourism campaign? Lot's of us, myself included, moved here for the small town living, not being surrounded by crowds and more crowds of people, the availability of great hiking, fishing, biking, ATV trails and hunting but we are seeing more and more professional and skilled labor jobs leaving the region and our young people are having to chose between minimum wage jobs or moving south.
I'm sure this is the curse of many small towns, but some have saved themselves, maybe we can too.
In the nine years I've lived and worked in Warren I've watched almost every large business leave town, close, or merge; for a few years there it was very painful. The Forge is now owned by a company in the UK and it 'right-sized', Loranger's is gone, Rexnard moved away. Thank goodness for Northwest Savings, Whirley and the Refinery or we'd have just a few businesses left in town. We have to assume a refinery is doing great with oil prices at unheard of heights.
The new word for permanent layoffs is "right-sizing". It sounds so much better than downsizing doesn't it? However, the end result is the same, lots of people from professional and middle management to upper management got the axe, many of them long time or hometown families. I'm not discussing whether the business had too many chiefs or not, only commenting on the loss of long time Warren residents and supporters of town activities. In addition to the ARM debacle we are seeing lots of homes for sale as people realize there is nothing in their salary range in this small town. Just like we saw with the arrival of Lowe's and WalMart, lots and lots of minimum or slightly better wages and very little for skilled labor or professionals.
When I sit in Rural Development meetings or in advisory meetings I always say we need to find a way to get white collar or professionals into this town. A great idea could be our own community college or university like Lock Haven or Mansfield; a lot of the State Hospital is underutilized and would make a wonderful location for a school. Anyone interested? The infrastructure for high-speed connectivity is in place in town, we have T3 available to us, how about an off-site data storage center for a major East Coast business?
Tourism is valuable to us here in the "PA Wilds". Did I mention I like the new state tourism campaign? Lot's of us, myself included, moved here for the small town living, not being surrounded by crowds and more crowds of people, the availability of great hiking, fishing, biking, ATV trails and hunting but we are seeing more and more professional and skilled labor jobs leaving the region and our young people are having to chose between minimum wage jobs or moving south.
I'm sure this is the curse of many small towns, but some have saved themselves, maybe we can too.
Friday, April 18, 2008
Rural Pennsylvania Politics and Driving Rural Roads
Former President Clinton came to visit our town yesterday, we were part of his swing through northwestern PA. He traveled from Erie (Behrend) to here and from here to St. Marys and Brookville and I hear he then spoke at Lock Haven also. I'm totally impressed with that itinerary, I wonder if the person who dreamed it up has ever driven rural roads. Bet Clinton was exhausted.
He opened his remarks, after thanking some people, with a comment of apology for arriving late -- it took him longer than he expected. A comment from the audience was heard, " That's alright, everyone says that." But it is so true. A state employee drove up from Harrisburg to meet with me yesterday and arrived hours after the 10 a.m. he said he'd be here. I've driven to Harrisburg for meetings, I knew he wouldn't make it by then. His comment, "Mapquest said it was only a 3 1/2 hour drive! I'm so sorry it took me longer than I expected." I'll also never forget the businessman who was to meet with us here, and asked for the most direct road from Pittsburgh. After we got done describing the multitude of back roads after he got off 80, he asked, "Don't you have ANY highways?" I told him the story about when I first moved here and heard a road referred to as 'the two lane'. I was totally confused until someone told me it was where Market Street went to two lanes, the equivalent of a highway or freeway around here. That is, if highways can have 15 mph school zones on them. It's not until you get to 17 in NY or 80 in PA that you see anything resembling a high speed freeway. Of course I now curse a rush hour traffic backup of 13 cars. I've long forgotten the gridlocks in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, or the time it took me 2 hours to get from one highway exit to another in San Diego. Everything has its trade off.
So, the Clinton's have been campaigning hard in PA; polls show Hillary has a good chance of winning here, and Barack Obama has largely ignored the under-populated northern half of this state. I understand he will be in Erie next week but tickets are being issued only at Behrend and at his campaign headquarters. I wonder if he's worried about fallout from his 'guns and religion' remark. We can be very sensitive about comments that even seem to portray us as backwoods rednecks. We can joke about being a part of Appalachia (by definition we are) but others can't infer we are somehow less educated or lacking in worldly knowledge. I work with a group of college-educated people, many with master's degrees, and the comments here have been much as I expected. We would all like to see the full conversation or speech and not be swayed by a statement taken out of context. We realize there has been little mudslinging (thank you both) and both candidates seem to have run clean, professional campaigns, except for small remarks on either side. I have learned over the years that when the campaigns get bitter I tune out the message and usually end up not voting for that candidate. To me mudslinging seems too much like desperation.
He opened his remarks, after thanking some people, with a comment of apology for arriving late -- it took him longer than he expected. A comment from the audience was heard, " That's alright, everyone says that." But it is so true. A state employee drove up from Harrisburg to meet with me yesterday and arrived hours after the 10 a.m. he said he'd be here. I've driven to Harrisburg for meetings, I knew he wouldn't make it by then. His comment, "Mapquest said it was only a 3 1/2 hour drive! I'm so sorry it took me longer than I expected." I'll also never forget the businessman who was to meet with us here, and asked for the most direct road from Pittsburgh. After we got done describing the multitude of back roads after he got off 80, he asked, "Don't you have ANY highways?" I told him the story about when I first moved here and heard a road referred to as 'the two lane'. I was totally confused until someone told me it was where Market Street went to two lanes, the equivalent of a highway or freeway around here. That is, if highways can have 15 mph school zones on them. It's not until you get to 17 in NY or 80 in PA that you see anything resembling a high speed freeway. Of course I now curse a rush hour traffic backup of 13 cars. I've long forgotten the gridlocks in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, or the time it took me 2 hours to get from one highway exit to another in San Diego. Everything has its trade off.
So, the Clinton's have been campaigning hard in PA; polls show Hillary has a good chance of winning here, and Barack Obama has largely ignored the under-populated northern half of this state. I understand he will be in Erie next week but tickets are being issued only at Behrend and at his campaign headquarters. I wonder if he's worried about fallout from his 'guns and religion' remark. We can be very sensitive about comments that even seem to portray us as backwoods rednecks. We can joke about being a part of Appalachia (by definition we are) but others can't infer we are somehow less educated or lacking in worldly knowledge. I work with a group of college-educated people, many with master's degrees, and the comments here have been much as I expected. We would all like to see the full conversation or speech and not be swayed by a statement taken out of context. We realize there has been little mudslinging (thank you both) and both candidates seem to have run clean, professional campaigns, except for small remarks on either side. I have learned over the years that when the campaigns get bitter I tune out the message and usually end up not voting for that candidate. To me mudslinging seems too much like desperation.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Cell Phones and Paint Samples
Quiet has fallen like the Times Square Ball at midnight. Grand twins and Mom have returned to Pittsburgh and I'm walking around with something like post-traumatic stress, looking lost and wondering what happened. Life with children under two years old runs at double the rest of the world and when you slip out of warp speed everything seems to have slowed wayyy down, the hours seem stretched out.
And did I mention quiet? More so than I even expected, it seems my cell phone has gone walkabout, and daughter says it didn't follow them home. Of course I tried calling myself, it usually works, but this time it went straight to voice mail. Wonder when the silly thing will turn up? And how strange it feels to be lost without an electronic device. I don't have a written phone book any more, and have used speed dial for so long I don't even know my kids' phone numbers. So, family if I don't call it's because I can't find your phone number. Call me!
I worked today, setting up the lab for my training class tomorrow: Absolute Beginner's Computing, get it? ABC's of Computers-- so cute. Anyhoo, I'm even ready for the woman who didn't know computers had mice, it should be fun. I finished hanging the blinds today and updating laptops, hopefully everything goes well Monday, I have a full house.
After work I treated myself with a trip to my favorite paint store: Cobbs, right here in Warren. I think the poor man cringes when he sees me coming. Last fall I was looking for YELLOW. I wanted to do a Venetian plaster effect in two shades of yellow. He did convince me that a little yellow goes a long way, and I even read later that one should pick a shade of yellow and then step down two to get the value of yellow you really want. He's responsible for how well the loft looks. So today I show up with a picture I printed from the Internet of what I want to do for the computer room/library/study room. It's a color wash of shades of terracotta. Since this room faces north and east I figured a warm color was the best choice. I was picking up cream-sicle orange samples and he was saying, "Too yellow." He was picking out brown samples and I was saying "Too brown." when we tried to match the picture. Finally, searching for a description I said, " I want a color like terracotta, you know, kind of Tuscan warm. And then I spotted the darkest value of the color I wanted. I said, kind of like this one, what color is this? We turned the paint sample over and the color sample was Tuscan Terracotta. Spooky. So of course I had to buy it. I usually prefer to start with the lightest value and color wash darker values so I'm way out of my comfort zone here. The color is rich, and warm and DARK. I'll post a pic when the walls are done.
And did I mention quiet? More so than I even expected, it seems my cell phone has gone walkabout, and daughter says it didn't follow them home. Of course I tried calling myself, it usually works, but this time it went straight to voice mail. Wonder when the silly thing will turn up? And how strange it feels to be lost without an electronic device. I don't have a written phone book any more, and have used speed dial for so long I don't even know my kids' phone numbers. So, family if I don't call it's because I can't find your phone number. Call me!
I worked today, setting up the lab for my training class tomorrow: Absolute Beginner's Computing, get it? ABC's of Computers-- so cute. Anyhoo, I'm even ready for the woman who didn't know computers had mice, it should be fun. I finished hanging the blinds today and updating laptops, hopefully everything goes well Monday, I have a full house.
After work I treated myself with a trip to my favorite paint store: Cobbs, right here in Warren. I think the poor man cringes when he sees me coming. Last fall I was looking for YELLOW. I wanted to do a Venetian plaster effect in two shades of yellow. He did convince me that a little yellow goes a long way, and I even read later that one should pick a shade of yellow and then step down two to get the value of yellow you really want. He's responsible for how well the loft looks. So today I show up with a picture I printed from the Internet of what I want to do for the computer room/library/study room. It's a color wash of shades of terracotta. Since this room faces north and east I figured a warm color was the best choice. I was picking up cream-sicle orange samples and he was saying, "Too yellow." He was picking out brown samples and I was saying "Too brown." when we tried to match the picture. Finally, searching for a description I said, " I want a color like terracotta, you know, kind of Tuscan warm. And then I spotted the darkest value of the color I wanted. I said, kind of like this one, what color is this? We turned the paint sample over and the color sample was Tuscan Terracotta. Spooky. So of course I had to buy it. I usually prefer to start with the lightest value and color wash darker values so I'm way out of my comfort zone here. The color is rich, and warm and DARK. I'll post a pic when the walls are done.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Visiting Grandchildren
Today is day 5 of the visit of the alien creatures known as babies. My beloved grand twins have been here making chaos out of order and noise and joy out of peace and quiet. The lid to my spaghetti pan has several dings from a rousing rendition of Na na na na Na na. I never knew babies knew rock music lyrics!! Maybe I have a budding drummer here.
The weather has finally given us a taste of spring and I took the kids out to help me clean up the backyard for the summer. It's hard to believe two weeks ago I still had snow covering the bird feeders and today it is 72 degrees. Our winter skins started to burn quickly and we didn't get to spend a lot of time outside but I did find out Eddie isn't sure about that green squishy stuff called grass and Zoey loved it. He was entranced by all the different birds visiting the yard and his little head was snapping around like crazy to follow the different sounds and flights. He even ended up falling backward watching a blue jay. He knows baby sign but is a little man of few words however the ASL sign for bird is one he was using a lot today, followed by a word that sounded amazingly like CAW CAW.
There's a bit of a rush to get this part of the yard cleaned up, I ordered five new apple trees and hope to espalier them along the fence. I picked all my favorite apples including sops of wine which I remember from when I was a kid, and Miki and Hank's favorite -- honeycrisp. Of course we will all have to wait three years to even taste one but it is still exciting.
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