Every Day in May - Day 3

OK - I hope to turn this thing around. Today I was insanely busy again so I only got in a short ride, but hey, at least I did it. Maya and I went around the block again. Here are the stats:

Bike: M
T: 9:43
O: 13.6
M: 16.4
A: 8.8
D: 1.42
Tongue (Maya's, not mine): Out 3"

Every Day in May - Sunday May 2

Today I set out for a slightly more ambitious ride. After another busy day that included performing in the spring concert for the Chester County Concert Band, it got late again. I left home about 7 pm hoping to do this 10.5 mile ride before it got dark:


I made it the first 2.5 miles when I suddenly noticed that climbing the first hill was really tough - with a flatted rear tire. I knew that by the time I could get it fixed it would be dark, so I called Pat for a rescue. She showed up quickly and now here I am at home posting this...

Inauspicious stats for today:

• Bike = R (where R = road bike; M = mountain bike)
• T=13:44 min = pedaling time, total
• O=26.2 miles = odometer, zeroed January 1. Not much so far this year!
• M=34.4 mph = maximum speed
• A=12.1 mph = average speed (includes some walking my bike with flat)
• D=2.77 miles = distance traveled this trip, zeroed at beginning of each trip

Every Day in May - Saturday May 1

So here's my project idea: I want to complete a bicycle ride every day in May 2010. This seems doable enough; I love to ride and the weather this time of year is great. By setting this goal I'll actually integrate PLANNING to ride into my day, too. Not every ride has to be long or hard; just getting on the bike will count. I know I can build up to longer, faster rides, and this may be just the ticket to do so.

After sailing all morning and working around the yard all afternoon, there wasn't time for a long ride so I set off around the neighborhood loop with Maya. OK - I don't have a picture of Maya and I riding bike together, but here she is. She loves to run and we often watch a brown blur go across our view of the yard as we sit in the living room or kitchen.

To ride together I take Maya's retractable leash and hold it loosely in my left hand while on the bike. She knows what to do - and off we go, usually at about 10-12 mph, at least until we see another dog...or a cat...or a deer...

It was an easy start - our loop took us about 1.5 miles at an average speed of 10 mph. We both enjoyed it!

Final Touches

We continue to move into the new spaces in our house.  Our old spice rack really didn't hold enough spices and looked pretty scruffy so I've been looking for a replacement for months.  I found this 48 container spice rack and just love it.  It's hard wood, with a really nice smooth spinning action and fits perfectly on the counter under the large corner cabinet.  Our kitchen is coming together.

House in Snow

So here's the new house in snow...this is the second 15" snowfall in one week...

We're worried about ice dams backing up the meltwater leading to leaks inside, so Chuck build a snow rake out of an old sailboard mast and cleared the bottom couple of feet of snow off the roof.

Front Walkway

We got a warm day in December so it was on to patching up the mud hole in the front. As it turns out, there was a good bit of sidewalk that led up the old side door that went away...so now here it is moved to the front. It goes over top the trench for the geothermal - hope it doesn't settle too much (I compacted it as much as I could). Looks pretty good, I think.

Geothermal

So...after we finished the renovations we decided to bite another bullet and install the geothermal heating and cooling. We drilled two new wells and trenched a line into the house. This of course tore up what was left of our sidewalk, so that will be next.





Here's the unit in the basement. Looks space age...we're waiting to see how well it works. And we're waiting for the big tax refund for installing this energy efficient option!