Puter Issues

The power went out last night for a few hours and yesterday, even before that, 'puter was so slow that I couldn't even get into Sam's blog. Since there are apparently no server or internet issues around here, I'm taking this bozo piece of %#(*%@ electronics into the 'puter doc (where they will tell me I have too many photos stored in Picasa no doubt!!!) Let's see if I can publish this. Sorries for missing you for now and for those who commented yesterday, I actually argued in favor of Sammie being a part of the CERT, so agree with y'all!Hugs xoxox

Capital City Challenge

Saturday was race day at Branched Oak SRA. It was a cool, sunny morning (in the 50s when I arrived). Word was that the trail condition was prime.
My photos have been posted and available for order at http://win-photo.photoreflect.com

Different Audubon Sightings Today

My plan for this morning was to take my car in to a Ford dealership for an oil change and state inspection so we can get our car registration changed to Texas. Yesterday, I was told by the Ford service department if I came in at 8:00 when they open, I would be first in line. Got there at 8:00 a.m., was told I was 5th in line and it would be at least three hours before they would get to me. No worries, mate. I told him I was off to do a six-mile hike and I'd be back at 11:30 a.m. Nope that wouldn't work, I was informed. Their techs go to lunch from noon to 1:00 p.m., so I should come back at 1:00. Okey dokey.

Mitchell Lake Audubon Wetlands walk was close by, so I headed there. As usually my walk there took longer than usual due to looking for birds and taking photos. Word from the Visitor Center was that roseate spoonbills are around. I've never seen one, so I was on the lookout.

After the Audubon walk, I had lunch at home, then headed over to Grande Ford. They did an oil change and the safety inspection. Found out my battery could die any day and I need two new tires. The battery is going back to Costco as we bought it late in and it's a 100-month battery.

I did see some great birds today, but no roseate spoonbills. Click on the photos below to enlarge them. I checked the identity of the birds with the staff in the Visitor Center.

First part of the walk with morning dew.

Juvenile red-tailed hawk

House finches

Orb weaver spider

Another view of the orb weaver.

Dragonfly.

Blue-winged teal.

American avocets

Killdeer

The mysterious pod plant - staff had no idea what this is.

Blue-winged teal.

Green-winged teal and lesser yellowlegs.

Feather with dew along the top edge.

Great egrets roosting.

Pretty butterfly.

The butterflies were nuts for this plant!

Vermilion flycatcher - center (click to enlarge)

American pelicans.

Interesting markings.

This cow was adorable.

Tropical or Couch's kingbird.

Juvenile red-tailed hawk - look at that wingspan! The end.

The race to get kids interested

First steps in climbing and a new life, Craigmore 1993. Note improvised self belay top rope technique. Photo by my mum (who drove me there - in one sense!)



Was just building the fire this morning and listening to Kelly Holmes (olympic gold winning runner) promoting a new system of encouraging competition through sport among kids at school. Seems quite a polarising issue, some feeling that competition is good for kids confidence and motivation, others feeling it was destructive to these aspects.



The defense of the latter view was that competition can be good for kids but it’s very dependent on how it’s presented. I agree with this, and I think they should be making this message the centre of their promotion rather than the simpler message that competition is good per se. When this idea reaches through schools, it’s delivery won’t always be optimal, so the messages that will make it work need to be super clear. And applied badly, I could see it seriously backfiring.



The atmosphere of competition at my school, especially in sport, left me demotivated, unhappy and ready to drop out of the system at 16. Discovering climbing transformed this for me over the course of a couple of years - the sport teaching me how to enjoy competition, how to handle failure and learning, and eventually becoming able to apply this in other fields.



The key to why climbing succeeded was that the nature of climbing mountains and rocks dictates a focus on personal improvement and effort rather than some public measure. The mountain doesn’t care whether you get to it’s top or not, so failure is not embarrassing and bragging to the mountain is kind of pointless. Also, it’s in the character of the places climbing takes you to (impressive landscapes I mean) to encourage humility even during the fiercest competition and effort.



The above transformation is clearly exactly what Kelly’s new ‘schools olympics’ promotion is aiming at. My contribution of ideas would be:



1. Take kids climbing. It would be a shame to stick to the bona-fide mainstream sports - it’s a fickle business trying to find that spark of a sport you connect with. The wider the net of sports tried, the more kids will find the one for them. Also, the fact that it’s a little outside the mainstream is a great leveller - everyone will be starting from square one. It’s a great motivator to see the kid that was always best at football, fighting and bullying can’t get off the ground on the climb you just flashed. Being light, skinny and thoughtful rather than big, brash and overconfident tends to do well in climbing.



2. Educate parents as much as kids - that making reward and praise linked too closely to public success is dangerous ground. Valuing effort, preparation, patience and critical thinking and leading by example rather than actively pushing will always work far better in the longer term.



3. Train teachers and politicians to better understand and pass on the true value and meaning of competition in sport. In many cases they are too focused on cold hard results, with the important bit - the learning and human performance - relegated to an afterthought.

Redemption

I have decided that there haven't been enough ride pictures on my recent entries to this blog. Consequently, here are some I prepared in New Zealand...






Hopefully I'll get the tour journal completed this weekend, if time constraints allow.

I Have Nothing to Say

Yesterday on my lunch ride, I was daydreaming along Pinehurst when one of those large black Cadillac escalawhatevers came around the bend towards me in my lane and honked and honked and honked.
And scared the bejesus out of me. Thankfully I was riding way towards the right side of my lane.
And I kept pedaling along scared out of my wits, mumbling out of the side of my mouth and finally I was able to yell out (way after they'd gone by) ffffART HEADS!!
Kiki is our neighbor's cat. She sleeps in our back yard. She likes to lay next to the water fall and watch the birds fly around.

This is a picture of my sister and my step sisters and me (not necessarily in that order). Guess which one my sister is. (Seesh, I have a teeny head. Look at that! And I also just noticed that they're all holding beers and I'm holding some sort of paddle.)

Last night I dreamt I was a bus driver. The clown bike (3 seater) arrived last week.
I just ate a cheese steak sandwich for lunch. I'm waiting for it to digest so I can go ride. I feel like I'm going to barf.
I don't feel like working today. It's windy out.

Great Book Title!

Will Jesus Buy Me a Doublewide? ‘Cause I need More Room for My Plasma TV- Karen Spears Zacharias
I was reading Billy Coffey's blog and saw that he's coming out with a new book. You know on the back of the book where different people make recommendations? Well, this woman, Karen Spears Zacharias, wrote one. And you know how it always tells something about the reviewer, as in what she's written, if she's a speaker, if she's a doctor, etc.?
Well, Ms. Zacharias wrote the above book. What a hoot! I LOVE that title. Anyone read it? I may have to read it just because the title is so great!

of This and That

We raced some mountain bikes a little bit this past weekend.
We saw some of this and did some of that...

and they did a lot of this and a lot of that ...

and with some pimp daddy and muscle showing single-speeding ...


and of course when you have a 10 year old boy, you gotta see some of this ...


and then there was a little of this and that ...

and more this and that ...

and some yipping and yapping with more mountain bike racers and pudding eating and cross eyed lemonade slurping ...

and on the way home, some of this ...

and after we got home, there was a little bit of birthday celebrations and Paris-Roubaix watching with some blogging friends.

And now I'm going to go file an extension for our taxes.