Spring has Sprung

I seem to have so many things to get done this spring…so many that some days I’m not sure where to begin. I’ve got some projects in the yard which have me a bit preoccupied. One of those projects I was able to get done this past weekend when I found someone to come and grind our stumps out which were left behind after we cut down our Aus trees last winter. I would’ve thought it would be easier to find somebody to do the job than it was. I found a guy in the Yellow pages less than a mile from home. He came out last weekend while I wasn’t home to size up the job and he was to give me a call back with a bid. He never called back. Tammy saw him out back looking at the stumps so I’m (sorry) stumped as to why he never called to at least give us an estimate. I called another guy on Wednesday and he said he’d be by the next day around mid morning to quote us a price. When he hadn’t shown up by late afternoon I called his number and he said he was planning on coming out on Monday instead…hmmm…it would be nice to know that so I didn’t have to wait around all day for him. I told him not to bother as I had somebody else who would do it sooner than that. The other person I had in mind was a guy who had phoned me the previous day but I had told him I’d already found someone. He came out the next day and did the job for me for a very reasonable price of $100 for 3 stumps. The other guys had truck mounted units which no doubt would’ve torn up the lawn but this guy had the really cool self propelled unit which looked like something out of a sci-fi movie. I was happy with the job he did for us.

You wouldn't believe the hardiness of the Aus trees. Here's a photo I took of what remains of some of the logs I kept...they're alive and growing!

We’re still working on the 3rd of 3 windows above our kitchenette in the basement. We’ve probably got another 30-40 hours of work to do before it’s done…maybe less. I have a very hard time getting myself to do stained glass once the grass turns green but this year I’ll have to keep at it until this job is done.

We had some sick pups this past weekend. Toby picked up some flu bug and passed it along to Allie. The poor guys had it bad. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Toby pass up a meal until the other day. They’re doing much better now.

Rachel and Katrina are nuts. Give them a video camera and they can entertain themselves for hours. Here's their latest effort.

I've reached the age where stretching before a workout is no longer optional. I keep having thoughts of me taking 20 minutes each day to work on stretching but so far that’s all they are…thoughts. I actually stretched for 2 minutes before today’s ride. Yesterday’s ride sort of reminded me of the rides I would do when I was in the Navy. I had no plan where I was going and just made it up as I went along. Those rides are usually the most fun. I’m enjoying playing around with my GPS unit while I’m out there and going back over the route during my cool-down phase when I get home. Here’s yesterday’s route as seen from a few thousand feet up traveling along at 330 mph. Press play once it loads. Your computer isn't going whacky when it begins to play...I had to double back home and put on a warmer base layer under my jersey top. Click here to download Google Earth if you don’t already have it. Anyway, that's about it from this end.