We had visitor the other day

This little guy wandered into our back yard on Saturday.  He was a little goofy - shaking like crazy and not trying to get away from me.  I have heard the Opossums are really not designed to survive michigan winters.  They just find living with us up north is kinda nice cause we got good garbage!  

I let him go -  I'll have to see if he'll survive.  If I see him again, he may get some anti-freeze  frosted cake.  

I learned today that these guys ..er..ah..gals, can have 18 little ones 2 times a year.  One of the reasons they survive is they can be very prolific.  

Stay warm cats!

New Bars!

This is my Single Speed Mountain bike - Black Max.   Shawn got me new handlebars for it for Christmas.   They are raked back, just like an old school bike.   Also, she found these ergonomic grips, that I am really looking forward to - no more numb hands!  

I took Max for a ride around the block today, but then I took Felix for a 16 mile ride.  Felix has studded tires, so it is the ride of choice for winter time.  It's nice day here, overcast, but a few blue spots here and there and very bright.  Slightly above freezing. 

Vote for Jimmy Cats!

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!