Busy Week

This week I am visiting Kenosha. While there, I was able to visit with a high school friend that I had not seen in many, many years. Was good to reconnect.
Have been visiting my mom. Yesterday I was out on the bike for a ride. Rode from her apartment North into Racine. When I got done, just over 15 mile ride. Took a few photos that my show up on a future calendar.
Later this morning, I am planning to ride the Kenosha lake shore.
Have not blogging much, because there is no internet in the apartment. First thing in the morning I drive to Panera Bread to check my e-mail, facebook, etc. Suffering a bit from withdrawal.

Maple Canopy

Taken along Rengo Road on the Grand Portage Reservation in Northeast Minnesota. The Maples were already past their peak but the trees along the road were still plenty beautiful. One nice thing about when the leaves begin to fall is that they usually fall from the tops of the trees first. This reveals glimpses of the blue sky above while the lower halves of the trees still have plenty of color. While most people are concerned only about when the peak will occur each year, I find every stage of autumn to be equally enjoyable.

About Ozzie...

We are sorry we haven't commented lately on your posts. We will be visiting shortly...
Last Friday morning after her breakfast, Ozzie didn't show up for play later in the morning, nor did she show up for her dinner. Though she is beloved in our household by all, we are the penultimate doggeh blog hogs and don't easily give our space over to the ONE we actually fawn over. Mom and Dad were sick with worry and posted "lost" signs all over the neighborhood and filed a report at our Humane Society. Lucky we did. Two (that's TWO) days later, the Humane Society got a call from what the nice lady there (who eventually phoned Mom and Dad), said was " a pretty nutty sounding woman." The Humane Society immediately went to pick up this cat who supposedly was not well. The "woman" who called in apparently had put this feline into her garage for two days.
Mom and Dad were furry happy to learn that it was probably Ozzie, but horrified to hear that she had a broken femur. They immediately went to pick her up and took her to the Pet Emergency Clinic. Our doggeh Nanny came to take care of us. By the time Mommy and Daddy came home, they looked furry tired.
Note from Mom: the fact that Ozzie was found was a miracle and we are beside ourselves. We were afraid we might have to do a different post. By Sunday afternoon, we had almost given up - however, knowing this cat, we held out a wee bit of hope as she is incredibly resilient and tough for such a little one. We transferred Ozzie to our vet this morning, where she'll have surgery ($$$ ouchie ouchie) on Thursday afternoon, by the same awesome guy who operated on Sammie for the "GLOVE." She should be home and recuperating by Friday afternoon or Saturday. We will update you when we know more. We still haven't a clue as to what happened to her, or who took her into the garage, but we do know that she didn't get run over. She is resting comfortably, albeit full of drugs - poor kitty. We've been reassured that cats recover amazingly well after orthopedic operations.

Gnome bug zapper

Why do so many people have garden gnomes? Because they allegedly help in the garden at night.
I was a skeptic, until one of ours started attracting and killing the faux lady bugs, a.k.a. Asian lady beetles (Harmonia axyridis).
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Visit the Friday Ark.
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Updated: See the comments, where the shallow depth of my bug knowledge is tragically revealed.

THE SCALES WERE TIPPED BY THE RATS

I took an awful lot of persuading, but in the end it was the sight of rats romping round the garden which tipped the scales in favour of adoption.





I made the telephone call, filled in the forms and underwent a home inspection. We passed! We were free to adopt a cat from the Cats Protection League.





I was quite adamant that I didn't want a house cat. We agreed that a feral cat would be ideal. CPL agreed that this was perfectly possible. Indeed they had a couple of semi-feral cats which would seem to be ideal for our purpose of living outdoors (with shelter and food provided) to hunt down and kill mice and rats.





We arranged to go and meet the cats (female, I had wanted males) and found that one was reasonably friendly but the other was a hissing, spitting, scratching bundle of fury. One out of two ain't bad, we thought.





We were told that they had to be kept contained for three weeks, so we had to hastily construct a house for them, build a run and make sure that it was cat proof. We finished hammering in the last nail just as the cats were delivered. With a hiss and a spit (the cats, not us) they were 'helped' out of their travel baskets and left to rest and settle.





For three long weeks they were kept prisoners and during that time we tried to think of alternative names to the ones they came with - Bennie and Sparky - but we found that those names really do fit them. All Pip could think about was cat food and how could she break in to get some.





Bennie is laid back, relaxed, patient, quietly affectionate. She is my girl. Sparky (the hissing, spitting bundle of fury) became a very loving, loudly purring bundle. She is still more nervous than placid girl Bennie, fine with us but she really dislikes children. Deeply affectionate, she performs the most amazing feats of acrobatics to have her tummy tickled in just the right place. Sparky is much more George's girl. They are both lovely cats.





Joy of joys, they are brilliant with the dogs. The dogs are used to cats - we have always had at least one, up until five years ago. The cats are not shy with the dogs but they do have a healthy respect for their heavy feet and clumsiness. It is a delight to see Toby romp around the wood, with the cats racing around chasing up and down the trees, cats pretending to be dogs, one dog wishing he were a cat..





(I won't bore you with yet more photos of the dogs and cats - see yesterday's post for a couple.)





What they are not, is feral. Nor are they semi-feral. They made that quite clear the first day they were given their freedom. They wanted to be inside with us, eat inside, sleep inside, play inside... so of course they have found their way into our hearts and our family. They have only been with us three or four months and yet they are completely at ease, relaxed, happy, cats, who earn their keep.





They are brilliant hunters and we haven't seen any sign of a rat since we let them loose. We have seen lots of smaller furry bodies, most days they line a few up for inspection. Those two little cats have brought so much fun back to the dogs lives - and a lot of love into ours. I guess I have to say thank you to the rats.

Shortened Ride

Yesterday was another beautiful day for riding. Went back to bed after morning chat. So was well rested and anxious to ride. Since I left a message for a possible riding friend, I could not change my plans.
Getting at the bike shop, killed some time, and finally time to ride. Heading towards Lake Manawa, but my heart monitor was not working right. Back to the bike shop. Just not getting good reading. Blaine grabbed one off the shelf to check. That worked great, so took it.
Construction along the Lake Manawa Trail - at Mosquito Creek. Pouring concrete over the area that was dug up for installing the culverts. Gonna be much nicer when that's done.
When I got on Indian Creek, I was just too tired and sore (legs from riding, back on treatments) to make a full loop, which was my intention. Shortened my ride by riding up to S. 16th, over to Harry Langdon, through the Mall, and back to the bike shop.
Today is a day off the bike.

The Goat Track

I spent last weekend in Brisbane and didn't manage to get as much time to ride as I'd planned. I did manage a quick climb out of Samford over Mt Nebo the "back" way. It's actually an extremely pleasant climb for anyone who can handle a reasonable quality dirt road. In this litigation-crazy society, it wasn't at all surprising to see a heap of warning signs at the bottom of the climb, but they can be quite diligently ignored.

The climb itself has a comfortable gradient, and offers great views over a gorge below, finishing in rainforest at the top. The summit of Mt Nebo is, in fact, a few kilometres closer to the city. The Goat Track actually rejoins Mt Glorious road in a saddle between Mt Nebo and Mt Glorious. This actually provides the option of picking your pass so to speak. As it was, I was short of time on Saturday, and I'd wasted enough of that battling a westerly wind to get here, so I opted for Mt Nebo only. Nonetheless, it made for a pleasant detour on a weekend that was really way too busy.

A northern ride

This might amuse those of you who are sick of reading about rides in the Tweed Valley or Byron Hinterland. The northern end of the Gold Coast isn't exactly a hot-bed of spectacular riding. It's flat, with relatively few trees and the rapidly expanding scourge of suburbia. About the only thing it's famous for is a piece of roadwork on Hope Island that has now been going continually since 2004. It might surprise some of you then, that I set off with my regular ride partner Martin, and we actually found something.

The ride using the service roads west of the M1 to Oxenford was more pleasant than I had expected, if not particularly interesting, but it was after turning off and over the climb of Bailey's Mountain road (at 100 metres in height, it hardly qualifies as a mountain, but I digress). The view from the summit was largely obscured, but the descent found a lush green valley stretching as far as the eye could see. As we continued north, there were even patches of rainforest to keep us amused. The only downside was the road through that area ending after just a few kilometres and forcing us back to the V1 to the north.

Looks like some kids had some fun without having any idea what they were doing. Oh, to be that young again. As it happened, Martin and I decided to detour to Upper Ormeau road (something I've written about in the past, look it up), before returning home. On the way back (in blistering heat), we bumped into an old friend who was hosting a German cycle tourist. This lady had cycled across Europe and Asia, and around most of Australia solo. Now there's someone I truly admire! I'd love the time to do a trip like that, maybe one day....

The Early Morning

I agree with Thomas Merton about early morning time. He says, "It is necessary for me to see the first point of light that begins to be dawn. It is necessary to be present alone at the resurrection of the Day in solemn silence at which the sun appears, for at this moment all the affairs of cities, of governments, of war departments, are seen to be the bickering of mice. I receive from the Eastern woods, the tall oaks, the one word DAY. It is never the same. It is always in a totally new language."
Can you tell I'm a morning person? I try to get up somewhere between 5:15 and 5:45. It's a lot easier now that we're back on EST. I heard Darcie's light click on this morning about 6:15; forty-five delicious minutes of lying in bed to read before she has to get up at 7:00. I guess she's a morning person too.