Convolvulus tricolor

Convolvulus tricolor in my garden.

Great Grandma and the Twins

My mama came down for a few days to see her new great granddaughters. I wish we lived closer so we could visit more often. We're five and a half hours apart. I am thankful that it's drivable in half a day, but one hour would be so much better; so would ten minutes! That's how close I live to Laurel, the twins' mother and my oldest daughter.
I think Laurel and her whole family will be going to the mountains sometime this fall for a vacation. They'll be going by my parents' house so Daddy can see them, too. He would have come down with Mama this time, but his shoulders hurt too much if he sits for that long.
I hope to get away for a few days myself this fall and have my annual get-away. I love my family but need time alone to plan, regroup, give myself some pep talks, read Scripture, and pray. It does a body good!

Have You Ever Seen the Rain?

I saw it this morning! But luckily, only after I pulled the key out of my bike lock and entered the building. Lucky me.
It felt like rain, and there was distant lightning all around, so I pedaled my happy little feet the entire way and just barely beat the deluge that was to come.
In a way, this saddens me. I've been bike commuting since July 16, and got fenders a week or so after. I've not yet had the opportunity to try out the fenders in the rain. I'm sure riding in the rain once will be good enough. :)
Am I ready for a rainy ride home? I don't know. Certainly I don't mind getting wet. However, I don't know for sure that my pannier is waterproof. I've got some plastic bags to wrap things up in, but I'd rather the inside of the pannier stay dry.
Please comment with your own rainy ride experiences.

Lots of Ground Water

The Missouri River is SLOWLY receding. But, with all of the rain we received the last couple weeks, the rain has no place to go. Pumps have been running around the clock to transfer ground water into the river.

Lake Manawa is over its banks. This photo was taken on Aug 25th. The lake level was even higher Sunday (Aug 28th).

Lake Manawa Bike Trail is flooded in places. This photo was taken just East from the Nature Trail parking lot. There is another flooded section between the Nature Trail and the road to river boat landing.

Veterans Memorial Trail is flooded in the low spot East of S. 24th St.
Water has been partially crossing Western Historic Trail near the Trails Center. With so many trails STILL closed from the flooding, there are a lot of bicycles out on the roads and streets. Please watch you for us cyclists.

The Many Sides of Love

"...no two children, even within the same family, have identically the same parents.
That is because the personality and gender of each child
brings out different things in the same parents." ~ recently quoted by Shari Howerton, author of Breaking the ChainsI was so glad to find the above statement, because it states a truth I've been trying to convey to some of my children. We don't treat our children exactly alike. If someone does, then I want to meet that perfect person!
Just as we respond differently to other people outside the family, so we do within the family also. I act differently around different friends, because they each bring out a different aspect of my personality.
Within the last month of so, two of my children have called me out about favoring my oldest son. After giving it a lot of thought and talking extensively about it with them, I have to admit that they're right. At least I can see why they think that. Of course I don't love him more, but I do treat him differently. He just makes me happy, because he's crazy and funny. He knows no boundaries (which sometimes gets him in trouble). He's a big nut. He also drains me of energy. I can only take him in small doses. But I love him for his craziness and how he makes me feel.
I love the uniqueness of all our children. I love Laurel for so many things I can't even begin to list them. She's my best friend. I just said why I love Garrett. I love Tyler for his sincerity and gentleness. I love Dylan's thoughtfulness and courtly manners. I love Darcie because she's my baby and always will be. And I'm not forgetting my two children-in-law, Matt and Leigh Anne. Our family has been greatly enriched by having added them. I love Leigh Anne's forthrightness, truthfulness, and willingness to work to put Dylan through school and Matt's willingness to talk about anything and everything at any time. Also, he's the best salesman on the planet.
I'll admit that I need to be more sensitive to my children's feelings and watch that I don't act like I love one more than another. I'm very thankful for children who love ME enough to exhort me; painful though it may be.

Work has been done

Work has been done. Everything looks better, apart from my work gloves.
About 4 years ago I had a similar break in blogging for two or three months. The common reason was primarily moving house. I am moving house shortly, and with it comes the need to do shed loads of work. After work, climbing and family time, there is little time left over. However, the physical work tasks that need done are only half the story.
Usually, it coincides with a larger transition in life, moving on to a new chapter. So in all aspects of life, there are old things and ideas to let go of and new things to grapple with. Such has been the last three months for me.
I’ve done this a few times now. So although it’s a scary process, I tend to grab it with both hands since it’s important. Since completing a lot of huge climbing goals over the past few years, I enjoyed a good bit of just going with the flow, choosing what to climb based purely on what the weather is doing or what friends suggest.
I visited some new climbing areas. After spending last spring in Switzerland I chose to stay at home this year which was a good choice since it didn’t rain for two months! I put good few days into preparing for a cool climbing enchainment idea I’ve had. I was in good shape for it and really psyched, but sadly the weather just didn’t play the game. Either the winter routes were white but the rock routes wet or vice versa. Such is the gamble. It was worthwhile to do the prep since I now know that I can do it. I might try another enchainment with only rock routes which will be a bit less weather dependent in the short term.
I went to some new boulders, climbed new problems and went on some sick hard projects I knew about. 2 of them I have sacked off because they are nasty with horrible moves on sharp holds. One of them is getting me more psyched. It’s a bit weird as it’s a horizontal roof which is low to the ground. But it’s really hard and all the moves go. I’ll keep trying that until the midge arrives. There’s another few really good boulder projects I know about but have yet to visit. It's been a lot of pure climbing, just going out on my own, in nice places
I tried to go trad climbing, but it was freezing. Every time I take a rope to go climbing lately it seems to start snowing. Winter is taking a long time to give in in Scotland. Yesterday (May 2^nd) it was still snowing on Rannoch Moor and I see yet more fresh snow on the hills this morning.The other day I sat for the whole evening making a new list of mountain crag projects to try when the May sunshine finally arrives. I can’t wait until I get the chance to start afresh on some mountains and islands I’ve never been to. But for now, the trad season is still a list on my notepad.

Sport climbing has also commenced, with a lot of hanging on the rope warming numb hands. I went back to Malc's 9a at the Anvil and seem to have finally figured out some beta that works for me after Malc turned the crux hold I used to dust, breaking it off when we were trying it 6 years ago now.
I also did some running. Not a lot really, but some. And I was enjoying it a lot. My troublesome ankle hurt, as expected. So I might have to take a break from that again. This made me somewhat depressed for a while. Speaking of injuries, A little setback came when I was doing a deep drop knee on my board at home. I’d just had a brilliant session and felt strong for the first time in months and ‘crack’ went my MCL and hamstrings tendon in my knee. Partial tears. It could have been a lot worse. For ten minutes I thought I was in ACL and meniscus hell. 10 days off running and 14 off climbing were all that was necessary, although I still can’t quite burl down on a heelhook just yet. The lesson? Dropknees are still my favourite move, but they are dangerous. Be careful.
I spent the time off building steps, walls, paths, sheds, floors etc at my house to get it ready to sell. Mixing cement gives you big shoulders and helps you sleep at night. Well, unless you are still mixing another mix at 3am.
During all these adventures, I went through a bit of a low. I realised that some things in my routine have to change. It’s not to say that what I was doing was bad - I’ve just completed that stage. I badly need some new badass projects to work on. My friend Nick Dixon used to say he needed a big project every 5 years. I don’t last so long! I have some good trips planned for later this year, but I’m rubbish at training for distant trips. So now that I have sorted out some goal routes, I can prepare for them much better.

Sunrise