Inspiration

Lance and Levi at breakfast this AM, before the TT. Photo courtesy of Lance's twitter:

Shots of Lance

Amazing.
Click on Index, Lance's Comback, she just added the wind tunnel and training camp. Santa Rosa training camp shots are my favorites.

http://www.elizabethkreutz.com/

I zoned in on the back wheel of the rider in front of me. Link by link the chain slinked through the derraileur and onto the cogs. Several Coors cans caught my eye on the side of the road, we are in the middle of freakin nowhere, trust me, these folks out here are not out on a stroll with their beers, they are drinkin and driving. So comforting.

So we did an easy 40 miler from Salem out to Brooks. The deli was gone, out of business, same with the little coffee shop.



A sign of the tough times. You think it's rough in California, Florida, Nevada? You should see the toll on small Oregon towns. The mills on the coast are scaling way back, nobody is remodelling, refinancing, or building -- folks don't need wood. This strikes directly at the heart of Oregon's economy.

Breakfast on Bikes

 

It was chilly this morning, I'm not going to lie to you. My toes were numb by the time I got to the office. But the Breakfast on Bikes at the Capitol building this morning was a lot of fun. Met some really cool commuters.

One shop in the far back was open, I heard the clay wind chimes from far down the alleyway, and the sound called me. I got closer and there were some great terra cotta figurines and tiles. I wanted several! I just took pics, free pics.

Behind me I saw 2 of the waitstaff from the restaurant that was open. I called out to them and they chatted with me. They told me that the saloon and restaurant were open and that I could order a drink and walk around the grounds with it! SWEET. So I went inside and up to the bar, I ordered a margarita on the rocks, $5 bucks. It was SOOO good. The live country band was warming up and I took a seat and relaxed.

A drunk couple joined me outside on the patio, a handsome latino man and an older woman with a smokers voice. She was trying to seduce him and all he wanted was a ciggie! It was so funny.

I went back inside. As the bartender offered me a 3rd margarita, I decided I'd better eat something, so I had a cheese quesadilla with my 3rd margarita. I enjoyed more music and people watching and then I drove back to my campground.

I slept contentedly in my tent, I finally figured out how to use my Thermarest pad correctly! It held enough air to elevate my sleeping bag off the rocky cold desert floor. I fell asleep listening to the desert noises and then to some Kenney Chesney!

Im here

Im here, originally uploaded by winkiedust.

Eleanor

Eleanor, originally uploaded by winkiedust.

My lovely departed grandmother. I miss her a lot.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year, originally uploaded by winkiedust.

2009, bring it on. A new house? a new running goal? more miles on the bike? Closer relationships, learning a new sport? Travel? I hope so. I think this year will bring a big change for us, a new house. We are ready to have a newer home with a big great room, with lots of space to have family over.

Iced In

 

 

 

 

We are iced in. We can't even get our cars door open, so we took off from the house today and walked through Bush Park and over to Best Little Roadhouse for some $4 dollar Bloody Marys. It was good to get out of the house, we've been house bound from this storm for about 3 days now. On our way back, we stopped in the bird seed store and got another squirrel feeder. We found some hungry squirrels in Bush Park. The ice is too thick today for them to break through it to get to the grass and nuts they buried.

At least the power is still on. Go Favre.

Channels

We are buried in snow and ice here; a bit unusual for the Willamette Valley, Oregon. My car has studded tires, so we are using it to drive around now.

Friday night we got our tree, it is small but we love it.



Saturday we drove out to the coast to get away and to check on the beach house before the holidays hit. We won't be out there again for 3 or 4 weeks and I noticed mouse droppings in the garage last time we were out, so I've been a bit worried about that. I tried setting traps and ended up with some bruised fingers. This time Carl put out another mouse death option. I feel so bad, but you can't have vermin fornicating in yer garage.

Then it snowed and we woke up to a blanket of white snow! Very unusual at the coast. Yard siesta man was not disturbed.



Probably with a very false sense of safety, we took off and drove the 101 up through Wheeler and into Nehalem. I found a lovely evergreen door swag at a small flower shop in Nehalem, very happy with my purchase! And what delightful people, old hippies, running that beautiful store.



Main street through Nehalem:



The Oregon Coast, isn't it beautiful?



And this is straight up 2nd Ave, our house is up on the left, I love the dusting of snow on everything.



The flower shop people were appalled that Carl and I were being so laid back about getting on the road home before the freeze set in. Turns out with good reason, the coastal pass, with yahoos driving and no studs or chains, was very exciting. I was nervous the guy behind us would spin out of control and ram the back of our car! So, not only did we have to watch the idiots in front of us spinning out of control, but we had to keep an eye on the car behind too.




There have been some rumors at work of layoffs, but so far, nothing has happened. Obviously if people are not flying their airplanes and buying fuel, we will have less and less cash flow in, and will be forced to trim our operating expenses. Like many Americans, Carl and I have thoughtfully considered all our options should this happen. We are budgeting every dollar and aware that our actions today will have ramifications for the future financially. We remember, with chagrin, our dating days, when it was common for us to eat out, with a bottle of wine, a few times a week! Our lifestyle has changed, for the better, I might add.

This last week Carl and I decided to make a change to our cable TV channel lineup. We were actually going to drop some and thus pick up the NFL hi def channel. Ironically, every time Carl called the cable company, it was this huge cluster. They would drop his call, or promise to be out to the house then no-show. Then the 3rd time, he called and they had NO record that he had called before! LOL... so, you know what? We said to ourselves, let's just cut it off. We are now down to welfare cable, it's about $5 bucks a month for just local stuff, and we save about $80 bucks a month in total. We will read books and talk to each other. :) Free. In July, we will turn it all back on for The Tour, if we are still employed.