Detroit Lake 2009, Barftastic!

In what I hope to be a regular annual event, we returned to Detroit Lake for a big group camping trip.  Up to a dozen families come and have a relaxing time.  It's a lot of fun.

We also did this last year, and it was great.  The kids played, caught bugs, rode inner-tubes towed by ski boats.  The adults got their share of fun, too.

This year was a little different.  We arrived to cloudy skies and set up camp.  We awoke to raindrops hitting the tent.  Rain is okay, but there was more.

Sickness.  There seemed to be a 24 hour flu going around.  Some people were deathly ill just before vacation, while others contracted the bug on the trip.  I believe I was the first lucky soul to violently toss cookies over night.  After a full day out of commission, I was back to normal.  Donna and friend Julie also were hit with it.  And for those who didn't…I bet they're throwing up right now ;)

I had hoped to ride my bike every day I was there.  But the sickness, rain and cold weather threw me for a loop.  I did get one ride in on Saturday in the forest roads around the lake.  I was hoping to find the correct route I was looking for last year, but ended up missing the same turn.  It was a lovely ride, however.

The sun came out for our last two days, and we enjoyed ourselves.  The damp weather kind of slowed the adults down, but we still had fun.  The kids didn't even notice the rain, and played as hard as they always do.

Looking forward to returning in 2010.  Hopefully a more sunny, less barftastic time.

Happy Fathers Day

Happy Fathers Day to all the dads out there.

Mine was great.  Got lots of love in the morning and headed out for a bike ride at about 9:30.  I was home in well under three hours, so there was plenty of day left.  My parents and sisters (two out of three) came over in the evening for dinner. 

Here's the route I took.  It's a beautiful ride, especially with all the rain we've had lately:

 

 

Grilled Pizza

grillPizza I have not made pizza in a long time, and I was kind of craving it tonight.  So I whipped up some dough and made a couple for dinner.

I didn't have any dough ready, and I certainly didn't have 8+ hours to let it rise.  I found a great recipe for grilled pizza dough in a book my sister gave me for my birthday.  It's fast, quick to rise, and works perfectly.  I used pizza screens, and cooked them on the upper shelf of the grill. You could probably also cook it on one side, with the burners on the other side (For indirect heat).

Cooking the pizza on the grill is a big win, because cranking up the oven to 450+ does not help keep the house cool in the summer.

Home

I seriously worry about the future of our home for my kids. I think it will last long enough for my lifetime, but theirs? I hope so. I hope things can change.

Swine Flu Tip #2

Here's another Swine Flu prevention tip:

Do NOT do this:

 

lickApig 

Compliments of my lovely wife.

Birthday

Yup, today is my birthday. Thanks for all the emails, facebooks, phone calls, text messages, and high fives I have received!

Swine Flu

There is a lot of hype about swine flu, isn't there?  I'm not a doctor, but here is some info:

  • Swine flu is a rapidly mutating virus, which makes it very hard for humans to cope with it. 
  • This is new stuff, inoculations are not available
  • The best defense is to have your immune system in tip-top shape.  Well rested, wash your hands, diet, etc.
  • There are no known cases in Oregon (yet)
  • Probably goes without saying you might want to avoid travel to areas that do have known cases
  • You can't get it from eating pork
  • You don't have it. 

The CDC has more info here:

http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/swineflu_you.htm.

Happy Earth Day

Happy Earth Day everyone.  Do something good for her soon.

earth

Bohemian Rhapsody On Old Computer Hardware

It takes a special type of nerd to appreciate this, and I guess I am one of them:

Monday Quickie

Sun!  Warm!  WOW!

I got outside for a ride, went and joined up with the lawyers at Fairmount Loop.  What a glorious day for riding your bike!

I used my road bike today.  Everything works perfectly, and it was a blast to ride.  It's quite a fun change from the old Redline 'cross bike with 8spd 105.  I also tried out 177.5mm cranks today, replacing a pair of 180mm.  I'm hooked.  177.5 for road from now on.

And as if today wasn't awesome enough, did you know it was Knight Rider day in Vegas?  Yeah, true

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