It's here! My new-to-me recumbent exercise bike:

I have christened it Roheryn (disregarding the fact that it's black and probably should be named something Nazgul-ish, but that would hardly be incentive to love riding it).

It was a lovely trip, marred only by a heavy storm on the way home. We had Roheryn covered with two tarps, though, so the electronics stayed dry even if it did get splashed a bit around the bottom where the tarp didn't quite cover. I've ridden it for about ten minutes, as hubby was setting up the Roku on the television, and it rides like a dream. I'm very happy with it and looking forward to using it regularly.

The people we bought it from were lovely, about the same age as hubby and me. He explained how the bike had helped him recover after double hip replacements and consequently given him the cycling bug--he now has four other bicycles, including a recumbent, and had, in fact, finished a 36-mile race that morning. She showed me her charming little garden and sweet old dog while she talked about splitting time between their little Illinois house and a house they own in Mexico. He also showed us his classic Corvette. (To say they were in quite a different income bracket that we are is an understatement! XD But they weren't braggy about it.) They were leaving for France Sunday to watch the mountain stages and then the Paris finale of the Tour. She said she'll be wearing the dotted King of the Mountain jersey while he'll be in a lion costume, so I suppose I'll be scouring the sidelines hoping to spot them! LOL They were the kind of folks you could talk with all day, but we had a long trip back and he was tired from his race, so we loaded up Roheryn and headed home. 

My visit with my sister was fun--she met us at a White Castle that was on our way there. She'll be coming down at the end of the month to see the Fantastic Four movie with us, so lots of visiting time with her this month.

Some pics along the road:

Illinois is very flat and very filled with corn fields:


Once you're out of the St. Louis area, it transitions very quickly to rural farms. There's really not much in the way of suburbs on the east side, probably because East St. Louis is a dying city known mostly for it's decay and high crime. A shame, really, because as you drive past on the Interstate, you can see how glorious the city once was, so much lovely architecture. But most of the buildings are abandoned now, or most of the ones you see from the highway. It always makes me very sad to drive through there.

Dotting all the farm fields are small towns, all with similar main streets:


As a kid, I'd stay with my grandma in southern Illinois, about a hundred miles south of where we were heading that day, but the town she lived near--and where my dad grew up--looked almost identical. I remember walking along and shopping for a new dress every summer at the local dress shop, and then we'd stop at the IGA for groceries and a new comic book. :) This trip for the bike stirred up a lot of good memories! I really like Illinois and its whole vibe. 

Between the corn fields and the small towns are stretches of woods:

I don't know about this stretch, but there was a similar stretch on the way to Grandma's that went through a creek bottom area, and of course it was haunted. *g* A headless horseman, if I recall correctly. We drove through that stretch--called Bogey Creek, between Coulterville and Swanwick--soooo many times, often at night, but I never saw a ghost, headless, horsed, or otherwise.

This week will be much quieter than last week and weekend. Boomer goes to the groomer on Wednesday, and I have an appointment for a breast ultrasound on Thursday, and that's all that's on the calendar. My kind of week!

Happy Monday, all.

It seems very quiet in my corner of DW land, which fits how quiet life is around here this weekend. Yesterday we took the cardboard and paper recyclables to the center, picked up lunch to take home, and spent the rest of the day parked in front of the TV, because it was still rather raw and cold outside, which made it feel chilly around the edges inside. We're definitely following Boom's example of aggressive laziness this weekend.

"As well you should, Mommy."


Today is grocery shopping, then more TV watching, and, perhaps if it gets as warm as the forecast promises, some wandering around in the yard to see if there's any signs of spring other than daffodil leaves, which always start poking up in January (and sometimes December). When I stepped outside with Boom this morning, there was a distinct scent of skunk wafting through the air. That's a harbinger of spring that no one really celebrates. :P

My face is looking and, more importantly, feeling a bit more normal now. The infection seems to have cleared, but it's still a little itchy and red in places. I plan to use the steroid cream for a couple more days, then wean off of it and see what happens. I'll get the single stitch removed on Wednesday, which will be nice. It's been adding a bit to the itching. Thankfully no sign of infection there, either.

I guess today is Groundhog Day. Such a weird and silly custom, honestly, but I suppose we're all so sick of winter by this point that we're desperate for any sign of spring, enough to yank a poor hibernating groundhog from its den to make it see if it's sunny or cloudy. Humanity is a puzzle sometimes. Most times.

Happy Sunday, all.

Doctor's appointment yesterday went well, no huge issues that I could see on the bloodwork report, other than the usual uptick in markers caused by the bit of weight gain over the last year. I think losing the weight again will help all that, so I'm not expecting any sort of urgent call to come back to the office for further review. He's ordered the "mail-in-your-poop" test for me, as it's been a few years since I last did that. Oh yay.

Onto more interesting things.

Poor Boom was licking his paws and scratching a lot yesterday. He's on an anti-flea/tick topical regimen, but I suspected he stepped in a nest of baby ticks. I put him atop the dryer and gave him a good going over and brushed out hundreds of the things, all dead, thankfully. Even though they died quickly, they still had to bite him to be killed, and that leaves little itchy welts. I was thinking I needed to run to the store for some Benedryl, but the brushing seemed to have helped enough that he stopped all the licking. He's much better today, thank goodness. I'm also thankful it was the tiniest of ticks, as small as a period on your screen. Boom was likely their first meal, so chances are good they weren't carrying any disease. Small favors. I would not be heartbroken if ticks became extinct.

Far better than ticks are great spangled fritillaries. I caught one (with the camera, not with a net!) on the butterfly weed (which is blooming late because deer nipped it twice just before it bloomed; it's only just now getting decent blooms on):


They're also striking with wings closed:


I caught a bumblebee sleeping on a zinnia blossom the other morning:

(You have to look a bit close.)

Dink and I had a discussion about whether insects dream. We came to no conclusions other than we hoped so. (This on the tail of me telling her I dreamt an ocelet and her kittens sneaked in through the cat door to make a nest in my bedroom!)

I still haven't seen any Monarch caterpillars save the one a few months ago. The zinnias still look nice, but the garden overall is in one of the shabby periods that native gardens (and fields in the wild) get before the wave of fall blossoms. In a week or two, I'll have goldenrod, boneset, and asters blooming, to add to the zinnias, lobelia, and blue sage.

It's also time to think about what additional plants to order for the fall native plant sale. I think I'll just get a few more coneflowers and maybe a spicebush. I'd love to find some Joe Pye weed, which I've read is another excellent native pollinator plant that blooms in late summer/fall. My preferred nursery is out of stock, though, but there's usually a few other nurseries at the plant sale that may have some. *fingers crossed*

Latest on the goings-on across the road: they installed some sort of heavy duty post, probably for a gate, using some sort of automated pile driver thing that I think shook the entire hillside. >.< Fortunately it was only for a few minutes, but it was an exceedingly loud few minutes.

Happy Wednesday, all.

Swiped from claudia603 

Ask meme for people in their 30s... or as I would say, people who are 30 and up, because there's really not a lot of change in life w/r/t this particular set of questions.

( Read more... )

Advent Lego dump:


Wouldn't you know it, I'm catching a cold. *scowls* I'm not really surprised. We were with so many people in such tight quarters, and then getting exhausted and vulnerable to catching something. As annoying as it will be trying to get presents wrapped and the house clean and laundry done with a dripping nose, I'm glad I should be over it by Christmas itself. *fingers crossed no one else gets sick*

Happy Wednesday, all.

May your day be beautiful, just_ann_now!

Have a glorious day, claudia603 !

imbecamiel , have a lovely, lovely day!

Have a marvelous day, dear layne67 !

Not sure you ever hop on DW, but happy birthday, nefhiriel ! I hope it's wonderful!