Hot sauce recommendation!!

I don't know how it tastes, I just like the name!  (Shawn and I saw this at Pearls in Elk Rapids - good place!)

I'm a spinning instructor!!

So's I've been complaining about a certain substitute Spinning  instructor at our health club, I just didn't like the way he taught the class.  But who am I to judge??  I've taken a lot of classes, but does that make me an expert??  I thought the best thing for me to do was take the training course to be a spinning instructor.   Last Saturday I spent the day in Kalamazoo taking the spinning instructors class.

It was a really good class, I'm really glad I took it.  And now, I'm a certified spinning instructor.  The next step is to find a class to teach!  I'm good pals with one of the spin instructors and she was excited I took the class, I think the next time she needs a sub she will call me.

So maybe a career change for me, but highly unlikely!  I would love to have a once a week class to teach (and get free health club membership!).

(If you don't know Spinning, it's indoor cycling that is supposed to simulate road biking.  The bikes have a big fly wheel, that simulates the movement of a bike wheel on the road.  The crank is fixed to the fly wheel, so there is no coasting... just pedal hard for 45 minutes. ) 

It's a heck of a work-out cats!

   

Mountain biking

OK - This isn't me, but this is a picture of a "feature" on the trail I ride on.  It took me a time or two to get the nerve to go over this, but now it's no biggie.  It may be hard to see, but this is a pyramid of logs - probably 4 feet high...I don't go very fast, but I get over.  Some of the other challenging features are the "off-camber curves" (curves that are banked the opposite way you want to lean on your bike),   loose sand and oh yeah, the trees.  

Two times ago I hooked my handle bar as I was going around a tree - not so good, but I survived.  I rarely go an afternoon with out taking at least little tumble, but it's all soft ground and I always wear my helmet.  

But with that said...the MOST challenging part of mountain biking for me is the aerobic aspect.  I'm huffing and puffing the entire time, and really sucking air on the up-hills.  Why is that so dang much fun???

I'm heading out tomorrow night for ride!  Stay vertical cats!

Hedge Apples

Anybody ever see one of these bad boys?? We were at Jim's Foodmart in Houghton (the world's first carpeted grocery store) when we spotted these in a bin near produce.

Of course, we always like to experience a new exotic fruit, but the sign told us differently - "Keeps spiders away". Besides having the worlds first carpeted grocery store, Houghton is also well known for it's man size spiders. Our house in Houghton is no exception. Desperate to try any spider proofing method, we bought 4 of these in the middle of August. We were in the house this weekend. I was doing work in the basement and don't cha know, I did not see any spiders. I think the dang things worked! We mentioned it at the local hardware store (not carpeted) and the cashier told us with great certainty that they work - she puts them in her basement every year!

So if you know of any Osage Orange trees, please let me know where they are!!

AND - Happy thanksgiving you Canadian Cats!

(I don't know why this post wants to be a "Link" but it does not link to anything)

WARNING - Geeky Civil Engineering Post

After seeing the Hoover Dam this weekend, I thought I'd show off the leaching basin we installed here at Amway. We have a corner of a parking lot that does not have a drain - years ago when the lot was installed, someone that used to work here (that would be me) solved the problem with a dry creek bed lined with huge stones (I was out of money on the project!!). While it functioned quite well it was U-G-L-Y! So when I had a chance to add a few dollars to a landscape project to fix the eye-sore I did it! Because there is no place for the water to go here (with out totally redoing the storm drains). I put in this basin that will catch 99% of all rainfall. If it ever over fills (could happen) I have a drain that runs to another drive way to catch the overflow.

As you can see, I don't get to do much hard core "Civil work" so when I do I have to show it off!

Keep out of the puddles cats!

Riding with Gustav

We got some remnants of Gustav this morning. It's just a gentle rain up here. It was a fun commute!

Shawn had to go to a meeting downtown today, so I was on my own getting to work. I was hoping to ride "Speed Race" my go-fast bike, but without fenders or a rack it would have made for a messy commute. I need more time on Speed Racer, I'm going to do the Reed's Lake Triathlon on Saturday and have had limited time on my race stead.

My biggest worry will be my knees at mile 4 and 5. I better start pre-medicating with the Advil right now!

(try to) Keep dry Cats!

Marais turns 13 this week!

Unfortunatly, this may be what she gets for a present :-( . She is losing her hearing, poor thing. It has happened very quickly. She goes to the vet/kennel tomorrow, so we'll see if they can clean her out. There does not seem to be any infection.

Used to be when she was loose and would hear my whistle, she would turn on a dime and come to me. Now, not so much :-/ . It makes for scary travels when she is near a road and not able to hear.

Today I put food in the bowl and clanged the spoon against her bowl...just a few weeks ago she would have been on full speed getting to the kitchen to check it out, but today, she just layed in the living room, oblivious to the sound of food. I think the worst part is when I walk next to her when she is laying down, she is so easily startled! I feel so bad for frightening her!

It's sad to see her get old, but she is remains a wonderful, and very well loved companion!

(She is also well photographed - I'm hoping my family can add a few of their favorite Doggy Dog pictures on their blog!)

Happy Birthday Doggy Dog!

Here's my beautiful wife on the start of our 28th year!  (yup, we're old!).  She hates Crooked pictures and hates pictures taken from below, but I think when you combine the two, you really have something!  Plus, she has the Conan O'brian hair style down pat!

We've been enjoying the olympics - it seems to be the thing to do this summer.

Not much else is new - Tomorrow night we'll be packing for a quick trip to houghton and a long bike ride to the UP!

Keep smilin' cats!

The "E" in service

Well we bought the Element for hauling Mango Tango - here she is , all loaded up, along with Matt's bike and a seat down for Matt.    It all fits inside!

It hauls it all cats!

Home Again!

Wow - am I sa-lee-pee! I must still be on Alaska time cause I just can't seem to fall asleep at the normal time. And what is the deal with darkness? Just when I get used to sleeping in the daytime, I have to sleep when it's dark! I hope I catch up one of these days...

ANA-way, one last photo from Alaska. I don't know if this got posted before, but it's worth a re-run.

As shawn posted in the photo comments:  At the Eilson Visitor Center, Denali was no longer in view.  But they had it painted on the window.  You stood on the floor at a particular spot according to your height, then you could shoot a picture.  Pretty cool way of showing the size of "the high one" to the many visitors who don't get a view of it.  Lots of cool exhibits at this visitors center, which was just opened.  You could read about many of the exhibitions that attempted or made it to the summit

 Mt. McKinley (the cool cats call it Denali) is absolutely huge! You think the mountains in the foreground are big enough, but Denali towers above them. It's a very impressive site!

Top o' the world to ya Cats!

I'm Brian!!

Beaver Chew!

My kids and my wife know how much I love finding beaver chew. Well, appearently I am not the only one - in fact, someone in Alaska loves it so much, they put it in The Museum of the North - here in Fairbanks.

Keep chewin' cats! (Or your teeth will get too long!)

(Alaska's great by the way! I'd put Fairbanks in my top ten cities list - it might even make the top 5).

Lazy man's blog

Shawn loaded lots of Alaska pics on Picasa - check them out here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/jrathbun/AlaskaDays12

take 'er easy Cats!

North to Alaska!

We made it to Anchorage! The first 2 hours have been fantastic! Poor Matt
is at home with no kitchen sink! The drain line broke (rusted thru) 4
hours before we left home! Looks like Matt gets to eat out all week!

Enjoy the whale blubber cats!

(this was sent from a handheld device)

Big Happenin's !

No fires on Maplewood - just one hot rockin' block party!! It was our neighbors, Garth and Karen's annual Solstice Party. My friend Mark is the drummer in a blues band - "The Upstage Crew" they came to play and they were great! They have a harmonica player that'll knock your socks off! (that's why we wore sandals). We had pork, totems, ice cream, lawn art, kids, fire trucks, bikes, cop cars and Shawn's fire baton (a little known talent) - if we had any more stuff it would have been overwhelming! Click on "My Pics" on the right to see more photos...

keep it in the 'hood Cats!

Tooting my horn (again!)

I think this may some of the prettiest weeks for our back yard garden. I don't know what the white flower bush is, but it sure is pretty. It took a few years before it really started blooming a lot...

I really like that I have constant reminders of family members when I look at the garden...Mom's variegated hosta, Nancy's evening primrose, I don't remember if the cone flowers came from Sue, but I know she loves them, and Sally got me started on the pond idea.

Bloom where you're planted Cats!

In the olden days...The kids and I used to watch a very quirky TV show called Pete & Pete. It was a Sunday morning thing to do in our house. While we didn't get much churchin' in we did learn a lot about life...

Matt and I watched my favorite episode this weekend. It was called "King of the Road" (or some might remember it as King O Frod). It was about the Wrigley Family's annual trip to Hoover Dam. Our family will be heading to Hoover dam this year, but not in the family station wagon. Now I can just dream of being like Pete and Pete's dad, Don Wrigley, immortalized by older Pete in this quote from the show:

He was the king-- the King of the Road. He had earned his crown over the years by being the best on the road in the three major dad-driving categories: 1) Never asking for directions-- no matter what. 2) Roof stack packing, and three, the true measure of dad greatness: Making "good time" on the road.

Happy travels cats!

More Houghton pics

Shawn posted some other shots of the house, there is summer scene of the house too...Let us know if any one want to take a UP tour this summer! It could use some visitors!!!

See-sters!

Aenr't they ccute together?? THis is Shawn and Shiela on the way back from Chicago after seeign The Jersey Boys at the old Shubert theater in Chicago. They had a great time. Jersey Boys is the story of Frankie Valie and The Four Seasons - I'm sure my sisters would be singing all the old songs afterward too!

Sister Sally asked about the side door to our Houghton house.  I told her it was a gnome size door.  It's plenty big to fit a gnome, even when he is riding on his trusty frog steed.   We got this guy on sale at sears last fall and it looked like the perfect lawn ornament for the Houghton house. 

THe college kids don't think it's too cool - BUT WE SURE DO!!!

The boys and I went to see Ironman tonight.  It passed the "no-sleep"test  (and I was really tired!)  It was pretty good - I told the boys I'd give it a solid 6.5 out of 10.  (Spoiler alert - This WAS NOT a true story!)

I Had 3 tasks to accomplish today.   1) Relax; 2) take a bike ride; 3) do a quick mow on the lawn.  Done, Done and Done cats!

Remembering my Mom

We had a beautiful Memorial service for Mom today.   Sally,  Gabe, Lori, Nancy, Joe, Sue, Ron, Shawn, Walt, Matt, Aunt Beverly, Jerry, Joyce, Marsha, Harry,  Patty, Gary Haller and me!   It was a very nice service, Gary read scripture, We sang "Old Rugged Cross" and "In the Garden", Sally read a great tribute to Mom, Sue and Nancy added some great words.  

Sue presented Aunt Beverly with a nice present - a large charcoal drawing of my Dad.  A perfect way for her to remember her brother.  Sue also brought photo albums for all the families.  They were assembled from pictures that my mom had collected and filed by family.  There was a few misplaced baby pictures - but it made it all fun!

Afterward, Sally broke out a bit of a surprise.  She had the posting we put in a "time capsule" that was created when we were together for Christmas in 1999.  It was fun to see the prediction we made.  I don't remember filling them out, but it sure was fun.  In my post, I asked if Walt was eating pizza 7 days a week!  Ha!

I am blessed to be part of such wonderful cats!!

  

Riverbank Run - The rest of the story...

My poor knees!!! I tried to run today - 5 days after the long run on Saturday. After about 1/4 mile my knees asked politely if we could do this later. I agreed - the old boys are getting old. :-( In an ironical (I like that word) twist, my bad knee is good and my good knee is bad. All this is just observation by the way - I am not complaining! Guess I need to switch to biking or swimming for a while.

Walt and Matt got back from Alaska yesterday. They had a fun trip - so much to see there. It sounds like they saw enough moose that it became no big deal. That's a pretty cool thing. Thanks Aimee and Brian for being great hosts! Now I'm all geeked up to try Mooses Tooth pizza...

Fetch me the Ben Gay cats!

Fifth Third River Bank Run

On Saturday I ran the Riverbank Run in Grand Rapids. The last time I ran it was in 2003. It felt really good to be able to get through it this year. I ran it in 2 hours 15 minutes. I was happy with that. I had been doing a lot of cross training (more biking and elliptical machine) and that was able to keep me sufficiently trained – with out putting too much stress on my old joints! That worked good - except for my feet! They don’t get much training on the bike and they were barkin’ for the last few miles. A few goals came and went, but over all I felt like I gave my all and I did not have to walk (It’s hard to start running again after you walk a little!).

Shawn was there to cheer me on for my kick to the finish line - it was sure great to see her big smile and give me that last bump to the finish! I was pretty happy to cross that line!

Thanks for the support Cats!

How do you get to....

Radio City Music Hall?? I know, I know - that joke is Carnegie Hall, but in the excitement of our walk in NYC, I had someone take my picture with that line in my head. It was a fun few days in New York. And we even accomplished a few things - which is good when you're working with Marketers!

Practise, Practise, Practise cats!

Live from New York...

I got to spend two days living a "marketers life" in NYC. Our meetings are right near the theater district; we spent the night one block from Time Square; I had lox and bagels for breakfast; we rode the subway; we saw the Museum of Modern Art; we saw a swat team preparing for something(?); I took a run in Central Park...

AND, going against my baseball up bringing (sorry mom and dad!) - we went to a Yankee game. I even pushed the group to go - this is the last season in the Old Yankee Stadium. The game was wonderful - great seats, great night, "great" fans - just how I pictured Yankee fans. The best thing is the Yankees lost!.

I head back tonight...

Fahgetaboudit Cats!!

The importance of eye contact

We have always told the kids that eye contact is very important to conversations.  I think we should have toned down Aimee's lessons. 

It is so great to see our "tids" on Ichat.  I feel like George Jetson when we use it. 

R'ats r'all cats!

# 1245

"It's go time, bring your "A" game!" The 5/3 Riverbank Run is this weekend, I entered to run this year after a 5 year Hiatus. I Just found out my number will be 1245. The riverbank run as a 25K run - 15.5 miles. I was having knee problems in previous years, but this year I have found enough cross training exercises to keep me in shape and keep my knee happy. I have a new attitude about my running, no watch, no times, no worries. I just try to set a pace and stick to it.

In my younger running days, I would have a goal time in mind and go out too fast in the beginning of the race. I'd get tired and slow way down. Then I would get passed by all these old guys and gals who knew their pace and just stuck to it. This year I hope to be one of those old guys. I won't have a best time, but I will be thrilled just to finish - at my pace - whatever that may be.

Keep on chuggin' along Cats! That's what I'll be doing Saturday! (I think I can, I think I can, I think I can...)

Gardening with Bif

Nope - Not a new nick name - when you have a son that's a Geological Engineer, you have to include a little B.I.F. in your landscape.  B.I.F. is Banded Iron Formation.  This is what they mine at Tilden mine where Walt worked last summer.  Walt has provided me with rocks that have quartz pieces and green junk in them (I'm sure there is a better name for those), native float copper and slate.  I made steps out of the slate.  

The Gardens are shapin' up - but I have a way to go!!!

Keep the green side up Cats!

saving the planet one pizza at a time...

Tonight the dinner choice was Big Bob's Pizza.  Thats the local pizza joint - about a mile from our house.

...and just today, we were talking about what our minimum trip would be before we use the car.  I think I am going with 2 miles...  So that meant I had to bike for the pizza tonight.  I'm sure I looked a little funny strapping our pizza on my little China Bike - But it was all good!  The pizza stayed in place the whole way home and it was even hot when I got home. 

Tomorrows assignment is mulch in the Garden - the garden shop is 1.99 miles from our house :>/  I guess I'll make that call in the morning!

Keep green Cats!

Red Horse

My friend Phil Vanderbilt (yes - of the famed Vanderbilt's of Grand Rapids) keeps talking about how much he loves Red Horse Beer when he is in the Philippines. Curiosity has gotten the best of me, so I asked about it at our local beer store. Don, the beer guy says he can get it, so I ordered in a case and told all my work buddies about it... 3 weeks later it is not here yet! My pals are getting a little bit testy about the whole situation.

I learned today it would be shipped in by May 8th - the deal involves a multi tiered trade for Cuban cigars, a boy with a trained monkey, long johns, coconut fibers and a cricket player to be named later. I have the lawn chairs, bats, balls and Frisbees already in my suburban - we'll be ready for a Filipino picnic when it arrives!

Drink responsibly Cats!

Monday Madness - Tacos 69 cents

Conversation driving down 28th Street (the big everything).

Jim - Dang! I wish it was Tuesday we could get tacos for dinner.

Shawn - you mean Monday.

J - no Tuesday - I'm talking about the Taco Bell sign.

S - it said Monday

J - I'm sure it was Tuesday! I'm turning around. (Turns into a drive way to turn around)

S - (kinda quiet)

J - whoever's wrong has to confess on their blog.

S - That's a deal!

J - (looks at sign) guess they couldn't have changed it that quick!

Dang! My eyes told me Tuesday! How do they do that! I'm sure I took the "T" from taco and made it the day of the week. Or doesn't it just make sense that Taco day would be Tuesday? I tell ya!

Also, tonight we were introduced to Al Walker. Actually Al Walker introduced us to Al Walker. Of course many around here know him as "The King". The King cut a new album and, well how you gonna discover talent unless you lay down 10 bucks for a new release?? We're listening to The King right now and the best way to describe his music is kinda mono dimensional. I hope the 10 bucks buys him a good meal. I told Shawn she should have given the money to a homeless shelter...

I can post from my crackberry!

Sweet!

"A good deed never goes unpunished"

When my mom passed away, we were looking at a string of letters that obviously caused a great deal of angst (senior citizen angst) in her life. One was a from a lady that was putting together the news letter and had taken some heat for her new editing style. After a few too many complaints she left the newsletter post saying "No good deed goes unpunished" . We laughed because we thought it was a funny statement - and actually thought the quote was "let no good deed go unnoticed". Then this week I got a note at work that used the same phrase "Let no good deed go unpunished" so I had to Google it....

It turns out "A good deed never goes unpunished" is a quote from Gore Vidal. It's a bit of a cynical look at how sometimes (many times) people have nothing but criticism for an act of kindness. Like if you were to give a homeless person 10 bucks, just to make his day, someone would be likely to say: "you know, you could give that to a shelter and help out a lot more homeless people". So there you go - The quote was right after all!

If you thought this was going to be information about Gore Vidal - it is not. I'm not smart enough to know much about him... I know much more about Al Gore and Vidal Sassoon.

So there you go cats! I still like "A good deed never goes unnoticed"!

ALSO - Today in my locker there are 4 belts! and I am wearing one now! That should get me thru a summer of riding!

for the lack of a belt...

Life is heck as a non-traditional commuter! For the last two days I have biked or run to work AND got a ride home. That means two days of wearing work clothes home - WITH MY BELT!!! I usually have two belts in my locker at work, but today - zero belts. I may go to the company store to see if they have a belt I can wear. Hopefully they'll have one like the one on the left!

In other news...it was really cold on our ride in this AM! We were on single bikes, my single bike was a single speed. My single speed is good for up hills, but slow on the down hills. At the end of the ride I ran out of up hills to catch Shawn, so she beached! (as in "beat"-ched me to work).

Keep your pants on Cats!

Shawn and I spent the weekend on North Carolina's Outer Banks.  The cool people just write OBX.  It's the little spit (actually long spit) of land off the coast of NC.  It's a very nice place!   My favorite part was seeing all the pick-up trucks with fishing pole holders in the front of their trucks (and some behind).   Many drive around with their surf fishing poles sticking straight up in the air.  I think they do go fishing too, but a cooler is never far from the scene.  I really think the fishing is just an excuse to drink beer - and there is nothing wrong with that!

Now class...can you use isthmus in a sentence?? 

I am a bit sore tonight.  I did my long run in preparation for the 5/3 Riverbank run in 12 days.  I did 14.5 miles today - Woo Hoo!  I was happy with my run.  My new training technique is no watch -  no time - no worries and hopefully no injuries!  So far so good.  Actually as I get older, all I want to do is maintain a steady pace.  I think I am doing that so far this year.  That's the nice thing about not timing myself - it FEELS like I am keeping a steady pace and that's good enough for me!

First post on the jimratblog - I hate to leave Yahoo - but it stinks!

Blogger it up cats!