Lions, Tigers and Bears

Or maybe it is more panthers, otters and bears. I love that the Wildlife Refuge is right across the street. Even though it is quite small, it is great that I can scoot over there and visit for an hour or so and spend time watching animals. They are all so beautiful in their own way.

There were two bears, but only one would come out to let me take his picture.

I told Nathan that I was going to see if I could get the cats to talk to me here too, after my experience in Hershey's Zoo. Sure enough, the cat did the same thing here. I talked and it would talk back. I thought maybe there was something to me being a cat whisperer but then another lady walked up and the cat did the same thing to her. Guess that is not my superpower after all. I still enjoyed chatting with the cat, even if it was not exclusive.

What? You have problems with your male leaving his dirty socks on the floor too?

The otters were surprisingly lazy today.

I'm not a fan of the above animal, but they are everywhere so I have to include some shots of them. I am hoping to get over to visit this place more often this year, and hope to revisit the Lipizzaner horses too. We missed both of them last year since we weren't here.



Living the life in Florida!

New Years Nordic ..

About six years ago, Jennifer and I had the perfect New Year's Day snowshoeing in Quebec. A wonderful cold sunny day in knee deep powder. This was the first time we had paid to go snowshoeing as we were at a resort and may have been on some Nordic trails leaving the lodge area. It marked the first time that we decided we wanted to learn to Nordic ski, as it appeared enjoyable. For the past three years January First has been reserved for the Polar Bear Plunge. So this year the second was when we went Nordic skiing.

The original hope for the weekend was a getaway trip to a lodge or hut of some sort. But with higher temps and rain in the forecast, it just didn't seem worth it. And since we didn't really have our trip planned out well in advance, we were scrambling to make something happen. It wasn't worth it and we decided to stay in town and do day trips. Unfortunately, as of this writing that only amounted to one day trip, but that is how it goes.

There was supposed to be snow in the forecast for the passes until around Noon. So we planned our outing to coincide with the stoppage of precip. Unfortunately, the forecast was not perfect and it was raining for forty miles or so before the pass. There was a touch of wintry mix at the pass and the precip turned once again to rain shortly on the other side. Since this was bringing us down we drove past our intended target of Cabin Creek and headed to Lake Easton hoping it would not be raining there. Unfortunately it was raining there too, although perhaps a touch lighter. We decided to head back to Cabin Creek with the idea that if the rain was making things unenjoyable we'd shorten the trip and go home.

We arrived at the parking lot to see Ken's car there. The lot was slush soup and we geared up quickly under a light rain. Once on the trails and moving, the rain was more of an afterthought, and it varied between mist and rain and everything in between most of our lap. We had a good time, although there were lots of families to pass and not ideal passing opportunities on the trails. Near the end of our lap, I heard, then saw Ken and called out to him. He stated he was finishing up teaching a lesson and would meet us at the end of the trail. We agreed to do a lap with he and Liz.

First lap family dodging

As things go, waiting a bit at the trail head made the rain more noticeable and made us a bit cold. We were having second thoughts. But as Ken arrived we decided to go for it and had a nice second lap where blue skies were seen for the first time in a week. The second lap was nicer as we were more accustomed to the loop and neither of us fell the second lap out. While the tracks were not recently groomed the snow conditions were pretty good and we had a good time. After the second lap we parted ways.

Rare January blue sky

I'm a little fed up with the price of a Sno Park Pass ($80) and the lack of grooming going on. Many areas have yet to see their first groom, and this is not always due to snow accumulation. Ken and I discussed sending some nastygrams to the state.

Wispy Sunset over Iceberg Bay

Last night's sunset may not have had a large color palette, but the streaks of clouds and the floating icebergs sure were nice! Yesterday morning at this location there was a brisk wind and a nice swell rolling in off the lake, and there were a lot of ice plates floating around. Last night the swells were still coming in off the lake but the wind was gone and so were the plates of ice. The ice was actually still there, but it was all ground up into small chunks that were floating everywhere in between the larger "icebergs" that you see here. Without the wind the "tinkling" sound of the ice rolling around in the waves was quite loud and fascinating. This calm preceded a winter storm that we are getting today. There still isn't any wind, but snow has been falling steadily since about 9:00 this morning. We have had a few inches already and they say we may end up with 7 inches by the time it's done. One thing's for sure... it sure is a beautiful winter wonderland of white out there today!

It is that time of the year...

It is indeed that time of the year. I was hoping for some rebate luck but looks like this year will be a dry one with no change, but maybe I am wrong with my math. We will see. My suspicions are there's more blue envelopes coming down to visit my mailbox.

This year the Belastingdienst (Dutch Tax Department) is penalizing tax payers who do not file their taxes on time. I am cramming!

We pay incredible high taxes in this country, with 4 tariff brackets depending on income: 33.45% (only if you are earning below 18K euros a year), then the normal brackets starting at 41.95%, and then 42%, and finally, the highest income tax bracket, 52%. Yep, we pay 52% tax.

Plus more taxes if you decide to spend less and save more. With the new tax return the government wants the account number/s of your bank/s and the corresponding moolah in it, beginning of year and end of year. Tsk, tsk, tsk...

I just hope my tax would be put to good use by the government. Or maybe that is a joke.

Into the Swing of Things

Over the course of last year I made considerable progress on the bike as far as endurance and handling skills. But what I found most rewarding was having gotten to the point where long and strenuous rides over challenging terrain began to feel normal, with the physical aspects of the riding itself fading into the background and the adventures the riding was enabling taking over. Having gotten a taste of this made it clear how much I valued and wanted it.



This made the start of this season all the more frustrating. Not riding takes its toll, we all know that. And the only fix is to start riding again - it will come back quicker than the previous year. We all know that too. But even experienced cyclists can feel deflated when, having emerged out of hibernation, they find themselves exhausted and with a sore butt after a ridiculously short ride. In response toa post earlier this week, I've heard from several local riders telling me just that. Strong, experienced guys who dohilly Centuries on gravel for fun, frustrated that they've lost their cycling mojo after a bad winter.



So here is something to cheer you up: A true story. I got my groove back after just 3 - count them, 3 - rides, and you can too!



The Damage...

Okay, I will try to be honest here. Between the snow and the weeks of being sick and the snow again, I had not been on a roadbike for close to 2 months, not counting a handful of sporadic short rides. I had also gained about 15lb in "winter weight." So that was my starting point.









The First Ride...

I rode a cyclocross bike with mixed terrain tires. I rode solo, for just 25 miles with a 15 minute break in the middle. It was an extremely cold and windy day, making me feel even more sluggish than I already did. By the end of the ride I was tired, and the next morning I felt shockingly bad. The muscles in my legs hurt, my arms hurt, my abdominal muscles hurt, my butt was sore, the works. Hard to believe that this was the same body that did all that cool stuff last year. Discouraged and in a bad mood afterward, I knitted furiously to dull the pain.







The Second Ride...

The very next day, I aimed to repeat the 25 mile route and again went solo. I had a hard time on this ride, because my butt was still sore from the day before. Again, it was cold and windy. After the ride I felt tired and achy again. In the evening, I tried not to dwell on how out of shape I was, knitting instead.



The Rest Day...

The following day I rode my city bike around town as usual, but not my roadbike. I was still a little tired from the previous two rides, but my butt was finally recovering.





The Third Ride...

This time I had plans to ride with Emily "Fixed Gear Randonneuse" O'Brien. I warned Emily about my sorry state, but she was undeterred, and so we set off. For the first few miles I was out of breath, struggling to hold a conversation while riding at a reasonable pace, so much so that I questioned the wisdom of continuing. Then we headed uphill, and I braced myself for the painful struggle. Oddly it never came. I wasn't fast, but I had low gears and the hill was okay. Then came the downhill, and some more riding, and some miles later - boom! I remember when it happened: We were passing the Air Base, and just like that, I could tell: I got my groove back. The sluggishness, the cobwebs, gone. The achinessgone. Between riding with Emily and on my own, it was a 40 mile day. Today I rode again, and the groove is indeed back: I feel like my old self again.And, as a bonus, I have a new skirt for Spring.



Without a doubt, I need more time in the saddle before a 100 mile ride, or even a non-stop 100K. But it's attainable.



Three rides to get into the swing of things after the winter we've had ain't bad at all. Cheer up, New Englanders and let's ride!

Fritz and Misty

Sam Hillborne Ride Report

{edited to add: There is now also a full review of this bicycle, written after 6 months of ownership}



I've now gone on my first proper ride on the Rivendell Sam Hillborne - 25 miles or so. I include some quick pictures of this glorious bicycle, but I am not entirely finished setting it up yet - so I will save the glamour shots and detailed close-ups for when it is complete. For now, here is a first ride report.



The build is fairly classic, with long distance riding in mind. I will go into excruciating detail about all the components in a later post - but if you have a specific question, feel free to ask. Of course I know what some of you are thinking right about now: "Gee, couldn't she get that stem to extend any higher?" So I will explain that the giraffine stem extension is to get me used to the drop bars. Because I have a short torso, I am practically lying down across the top tube in order to keep my hands on the "hoods" of the handlebars unless I have the stem extended this high. I might need to think of a more elegant solution, but not sure what can be done. I do not like the look of the "dirt drop" stem, but perhaps I should rethink that.



This is a pretty accurate picture of the bicycle's proportions, as well as of its size in relation to my body. I am 5'7". The bicycle is a 52cm frame with 650B wheels. Other than the strained handlebar reach, it's a perfect fit.



The biggest challenge I anticipated with this bicycle was riding with drop bars. As I've mentioned before, I was determined to learn to ride with these handlebars "properly". In the picture above I have my hands on the "hoods" of the brake levers, which is a position that allows both a semi-upright posture and braking. The drop bar hand positions are like nothing I had tried before, and the dynamics are very foreign to me. Controlling the bicycle feels so different, that I do not even know how to describe the sensation. It is as if my very concept of "handlebars" had to be discarded. If you've ridden with drop bars all your life, you probably don't understand what the big deal is - but for someone new to it, holding these bars can feel counter-intuitive and scary.



Having said that, I was surprised at how quickly I grew comfortable with the drop bars in the course of the ride. After the first mile, I loosened my death grip on the hoods and began to trust that the brakes would work when pressed from the top. After the second mile, I began to move my hands around a bit by sliding them along the bars - never venturing too far from the brakes. A couple of miles later, I was able to change positions freely and to take my left hand off the bars entirely.



The one thing I still cannot do is shift. The bar end shifters are so far down, that I do not feel confident enough yet to reach there with my right hand while cycling. But next time, learning to shift will be my main task.



Once I grew used to the handlebars and relaxed, I was able to pay attention to the ride quality itself - and it was ...amazing. Where to start? First of, there was a miraculous lack of pressure on any specific part of my body. No feeling of pressure on the hands despite being leaned over, and not much pressure on the butt either. Where does the pressure go?.. Is it all on the feet and I was pedaling extra hard without knowing it? Or is it so well distributed between hands and butt that I feel it on neither? I wish I understood bicycle geometry better.



The other miraculous thing is that I can get full leg extension on this bicycle and still touch the ground with a toe when stopped. I am guessing that a combination of a semi-relaxed seat tube angle and low bottom bracket makes this possible. The geometry is perfect for someone like me, who wants to be able to touch the ground when stopped. Also perfect is the fact that it is impossible for my foot to hit the front wheel when turning on the Hillborne - something that happens on my Motobecane and other roadbikes I have tried.



Finally, the Sam Hillborne is super stable and easy to balance - which I feel is not just due to the fat Grand Bois Hetre tires, but to the frame design itself. Cornering is especially delightful, because the bicycle feels both responsive and stable, a combination I have never experienced together. I imagined that my first ride would be very slow and very careful, just trying to get used to the drop bars and the diamond frame without falling. Instead, I soon began to pass people and to enjoy the turns in the road, feeling safe and perfectly balanced.



At the end of my 25 mile ride, I felt that I was just beginning to warm up and was now ready for "the real ride". And that, more anything, sums up what the Sam Hillborne feels like and what it was designed for. Don't be fooled by the good looks: This is an amazingly capable and comfortable bicycle, and I am happy that I have gone from being too scared to touch it (Harris Cyclery can attest to this!) to riding it in the way it was intended to be ridden. I still have a way to go before the drop bars and diamond frame become second nature to me, but I am looking forward to the learning experience.



Oh, and the bicycle's name is Graham. If you can guess why, then you probably already know his last name as well.

Roe-Dee-Oh :: Steer Wrestling

Sunday, August 21st - - Some had better luck than others...

These are The Faces of Genealogy

Henry and Susie Phend with their great grandchildren on the celebration of their 60th wedding anniversary, September 2, 1952. That's me on the left side, sitting on the ground. My brothers, Doug and Jack, are between me and Susie. Doug was 5, I was 4, and Jack was 3 years old. The other kids are first and second cousins. They are just part of the reason I “got into” genealogy.



I'm a little behind in my blog reading... and saw this post late yesterday afternoon, which explains why I'm posting this photograph, which is one of my favorites.



Due to the amazing response of the genealogy-blogging community, the offensive photo was removed from the online article.

Leather Saddles from Cardiff and VO

A few years back, both Velo Orange and the Merry Sales/ Soma/ IRD group began releasing Taiwan-made leather saddles, which have been available as less pricey alternatives to the racing, touring and commuting models from Brooks of England. The saddles from Velo Orange are VO-branded, and the saddles from Merry Sales are sold under the Cardiff brand. Though both companies use the same manufacturer (Gyes) and offer equivalent models, they are not identical; subtle differences in specs are apparent. Still, the overall construction and design are the same. Since many have been wondering about the feel and quality of these saddles, I thought it would be useful to describe my experiences.






My first experience with a VO Saddle was when Velo Orange donated one for the vintage touring bike give-away I was doing last year. The model is what they call the Model 3 Touringandis equivalent to a Brooks B17 in width and general shape. The VO Model 3 features chromed rivets, side lacing, saddlebag loops, and a pebbled surface.






When the saddle arrived and I took it out of the box, I was initially not impressed. I thought the feel of the leather was somewhat "cardboard-like." To the touch it felt both stiffer and more brittle than a Brooks saddle. The underside had a grid-like surface to it, almost as if the material was some sort of compound. I did not have high hopes for what something like this would feel like to ride.






However, my expectations proved wrong once I started test riding the bike on which the saddle was fitted. Saddle preferences are highly personal, so I can only say that I found the VO Model 3 extremely comfortable. It did not need breaking in. In action, it felt neither too stiff nor too soft. The width and shape felt just right for my sitbones on a roadbike set up with the bars level with saddle height. The nose did not dig into any sensitive areas. My first ride on the saddle was 20 miles without padded shorts and it felt great. It felt equally great on subsequent test rides. As this was not my own bike, I was not able to provide feedback as to how the saddle felt on longer rides and how it held up over time, which is why I did not post a review. But based on my limited experience, I was impressed and made a mental note to go for this model next time I needed to buy a touring bike saddle. The VO Model 3 is not as luxurious as a Brooks B17, but to me it felt more comfortable out of the box.






When Soma offered to send me a Smoothie roadbike for review earlier this spring, we discussed specs and I asked them to include a green Cardiff Cornwall saddle. I was curious whether this saddle would be suitable for a more aggressive roadbike set-up, and I also wanted to see how it compared to the VO version I'd tried earlier. Overall, the Cardiff Cornwall looks very similar to the VO Model 3, except for the colour choices. Also, the Cardiff has a smooth surface, whereas VO's is pebbled. There might be other subtle differences in design, but I have not noticed them.





Like the VO saddle, the Cardiff Cornwall features chromed rivets, side lacing and saddlebag loops. The width and shape of the Cardiff Cornwall saddle feels just as I remember the VO Model 3 - perfect for my sitbones. It needed no breaking in. Nothing hurts, the longest ride so far being 30 miles. The Soma Smoothie is set up more aggressively than the vintage touring bike I'd test ridden with the other saddle, with the handlebars 1" below saddle height. However, the Cardiff Cornwall does not feel too wide for the bike. The saddle feels great to ride on.







As far as the quality, look and feel of the leather, my impressions are the same as with the VO: cardboard-like to the touch, with a general sense that the materials - including the leather, the rivets and the rails - are not as high-end as what Brooks uses. Additionally, the green dye on the Cardiff has begun to rub off after some use. Good thing I wear black cycling shorts.




All things considered, my impression is that yes there is a difference in the quality of materials used in the Velo Orange and Cardiff saddles versus the equivalent Brooks models. However, the real consideration for me is how a saddle feels in action. While I have good luck with Brooks saddles on upright bikes, for some reason I have bad luck with them on roadbikes. On the other hand, the Velo Orange and Cardiff saddles work surprisingly well for me in that context. This, combined with the reasonable pricing, make them attractive alternatives to the other leather saddles out there. If you are having trouble with the fit of other saddles, these are certainly worth experimenting with. It is good to have options at different price points.

The Destroyer

This is a photo that you've seen before, although never composed the way you see here. I've shared two previous versions of this image, both of which were vertical crops. This version shows the original composition, cropped only slightly to get rid of some dead space on both sides of the image. I've always loved this shot because of the power and intensity of the lightning, but I was never completely happy with the vertical crops as they cut off part of the island. I love this one because it shows the whole island as well as more of the water. This is Pete's Island in Grand Portage Bay, and is the view that we see from the beach right in front of our house.

Pecan Trees

Pecans are a major business in the Las Cruces, NM area. At this season they were turning their fall shade of yellow and the leaves were flying off. In one place it was like driving down a road under an archway of pecan tree branches. There were several other cars stopped to take photos. In the 1st photo you can see the irrigation ditch that takes water to the trees in the spring and summer. The pecan nuts had already been harvested. I couldn't find even one nut laying under the trees. The machines that pick the nuts are very efficient. There are lots of shops that sell all kinds of pecan candy, cakes, muffins and other goodies made with the nuts. I have heard that the pollen from the flowers can cause a lot of allergies for some people and that the insecticides used on the trees bother a lot of people.

Winter is Finally Here!

Since about April of last year, Nathan and I have counted down the days together of when "winter" was back again. Not that we cared so much about winter, but we did care about our pickleball friends making their way back to us and not having an empty park.



So when I see the first Happy Hours taking place, I had to high five Nathan that "we did it" meaning we lasted here through the summer until the park was back in full swing again. I did not make it to this Happy Hour, so the pictures are all courtesy of Donna.





I did manage to snap these shots, which shows again how lovely the weather has been here!





Living the life in lovely FL!

Tombstone Tuesday :: Elizabeth Helms Jones

They (whoever "they" are) say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. So, I hope that Amy Crow over at Amy’s Genealogy, etc. Blog is flattered that I am helping myself to her theme of "Tombstone Tuesday" for a series of blog posts. . . Thanks for the inspiration, Amy!

I have a large "collection" of photos of gravestones from various cemeteries that I've visited and plan to eventually post them at Find A Grave. But until that happens, I thought I'd occasionally post some of the family grave photos here at kinexxions.


Masonic Section, Greenhill Cemetery, Columbia City, Indiana

OUR MOTHER / Elizabeth B. Jones / DIED / Nov. 17, 1883. / AGED / 79 Yrs. 7 Mo. 14 Ds.

The text inscribed below her age is not legible.

My post on Grandma Jones, whose maiden name was Helms, was one of the first ancestor biographies that I posted here at kinexxions.