Bottom of the 8th, bases loaded and....

It's a hit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
9 to 2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That's what I call a lead! Just called my Uncle. Even though it's almost 1 AM. I know he'll be up. He lives in Connecticut, loves the Red Sox, and of course, he's watching. Although he wouldn't talk on the phone, because well, this is baseball. This is the deciding game. This is the Red Sox. This is darn good baseball!
Holly molly! It's a home run! 11-2! What a game to make your stomach hurt. Could it be? Maybe? Rockies vs Red Sox?
Ok, commercial break. My Aunt calls back. Says sorry they couldn't talk. Of course they couldn't.
Commercial over, games back on. I'm on the edge of my seat, even if I think I know what's going to happen. But in my family, we're superstitious. So, I can't even think it. Can't say it. Think what I know will happen.
Ok. Top of the 9th. One hit, 1 out...........man on first.............hit.....right center, 2 outs............
right center again.............and into right center again.......Coco there....he catches it.
RED SOX WIN!.................
Yesseeerrrriiiieeee!!!!!!!!!Red Sox vs Rockies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Warm weather riding turns to snow in Colorado high country

Warm, mostly sunny, very windy. Snow developing by late Saturday night. 40 degree temperature difference expected by Sunday.

On Saturday, rode with J Friend, knowing the snow was coming on Sunday. Awesome day to ride. Weather was warm , sun was out, and even though there was a wicked west wind, we never got cold.

Starting the ride we headed straight into the wind and I thought that maybe we should cut the ride time down. I had to work in the gym later in the day and I was wondering how much more wind was on it's way. That's fall riding.















The higher and higher we rode, the sky got a little darker, and the temperature a little colder. Still, the wind persisted but the temperatures only dropped a little. Just enough to put on long gloves and a rain jacket.

Because time was tight, we decided to stay on the Peak to Peak, instead of staying in the woods. I really wanted to have the extra time to show J Friend the Aspen Trail.The magical trail were I crashed last week. Wanted to see what caused the crash, which tree and which rock.


































Once back in to the woods and onto the Aspen Trail, we ran into Shadow Man. It's very likely Shadow Man was responsible for my little mishap on the trail, as I couldn't find the tree that clipped my bars and caused the nice black and blue knee and sore shoulder.

Still, the Aspens are so magical here, and this little forest is so alive.
Most likely I'll have limited time to hike or ride this great little trail. Snow is coming and I prefer not to ride here if it's muddy. It's pristine single track and there's no point to ruin it for the future.

















So, until the next warm and sunny day, I say good bye to the Aspen trees and hello to the boots, coats, and winter gear of winter.

Great Boulder Mountainbike Alliance party

Wednesday night was the BMA board member voting and hob knob with soon to be elected officials to the Boulder City Council. And well, just an all around fun time. Many people there with the same goal. Get more trails and bike friendly riding areas in Boulder.

No photos. Was too busy eating the great BBQ food from Paul Roberts, drinking great beer from Oskar Blues, and having a good time. Good time to meet new folks with like interests.

I really feel BMA, IMBA, the City and County officials, Mountain Parks and Open Space, are interested more than ever to get things done.

If you can't be a member, than donate some money. If you can't donate money, donate your time. If you can't do any of it, spread a good word. Just do something to keep these efforts alive.

Another Silly Hat Trick

The hike today was incredible! it was mostly a leash day because of the lion sighting yesterday. Too, the Girls were on heightened alert which could mean the big kitty may have been in the area.

When they smell something that's different in the area, a smell they are not used to, they do this funny air blowing threw their mouth. It make s sound like a horse blowing air. Really funny to watch and hear. Their mouths puff out and with each breath.


After letting them play around at the start of the hike without their leashes on, they began to take a lot of interest in something down wind and down the slope. So.... on leash it was.

When we reached the Magic Quartz Rock, they were really interested in something down the hill and it was quite difficult to get their attention for the "hat photo".

All the same, the hour hike was perfect. The sun was out and the sky was completely clear, that perfect deep blue fall color. It was a bit windy and that made the air pretty crisp.

No riding today, too windy by late afternoon and quite cold. Tomorrow, maybe.

Mountain lion sighting in Boulder County

No photo. Too busy throwing rocks at a very close mountain lion.

Just saw my 10th lion sighting in 16 years. All of mine have been between the 2 mile marker and the 9 mile marker of Four Mile Canyon. 4 sightings have been on gold Run road. 5 were in the same year (2001) and 3 during the huge five foot snow storm a few years back. For Steve, this makes it 14, he once saw a mother mountain lion with three cubs. They stopped his car near our house. He also had one jump in front of him of the Boulder Creek Path at the mouth of Canyon.

Around 12:30 today we were headed out to do the Business Loop. We were talking rather loudly and laughing about something Steve had said. Well, if anyone knows me, I am rather loud sometimes. Around the 7 mile marker of Four Mile, I saw a large dog walking on the edge of the road and thought it was odd; no human with it. It's then, when I saw the huge tail, that I yelled "mountain lion!". We were about 25 feet from it and it only went another 20-25 feet farther away into the wooded area, and crouched down. Perhaps to hide from us? It was a very dark mt. lion. All of the others I've seen were very light in color.

We jumped off of the bikes, stunned, and walked to the far side of the road. Since we wanted to continue to ride, we felt maybe it would be best to throw some rocks in it's direction. We threw about 7 rocks and the last rock landed next to it. Only then did it jump up and move farther away. We couldn't tell where it was at this point so we threw a few more rocks into the woods, to give it a scare. And yes, we did yell out to try to scare it from humans.

We decided to ride for only a few more minutes because we wanted to get home and make sure our dogs were secure in their kennel run ( and our house).

Nice for an exciting ride and another sighting.

Double Training Day

After the last few days of riding in very cold temperatures, it was nice to have a great double training day. Actually a triple if you count resistance training, too.

The best thing about Tuesdays is that Steve and I don't work until 2PM. That means plenty of training time and dog time before work.

So out the door mid morning with the Girls and onto the Red Shack Trail, over to the Church Trail, down the Antler Trail, back to the Red Shack and home free onto the barn trail.
Great hike. A little over an hour of trail time and the temp warmed up to about 50 degrees.

We got home just in time to sneak in the Business Loop. It was a treat to be able to wear short sleeves and only knee warmers. Of course, with shorts.

The pace was pretty quick to the start of the double track. Got there in about 34 minutes. Not bad since my quads were tired from lifting last night. It wasn't until about the half way mark that I started to ride really slow. My legs just didn't want to go any fasted on the climb than about 9.5 mph. Usually do it in 10.5-11.

Still the views were awesome. It snowed quite a bit up in the mountains and the mountains looked awesome.

When we got to Gold Hill, there was quite a bit of snow still on the ground. We only got a dusting at our house so it was fun to ride in some snow.

Made it home just in time for both of us to get to work on time.

Good Job Rockies!

They did it! Good for them, good for Denver, good for Baseball!

Since the strike, I haven't watched much Baseball, except for a Boston Red Sox game, here and there. Now I'm a fan once a gain. I know that's not a good thing, not fair. You know, only watch when things are going good. That's not really the case. For a long time I didn't feel like it was fun to watch. Then when the strike happened I felt that they were getting too greedy. Well, now they're playing really good solid baseball.

Clint Hurdle could not have said it better. "This is a special moment in the career of every man involved in this. This may never happen again. You look at your history books, how many times has it happened so far? This is one of those things where you get everybody back 10, 20 years down the road and you have a reunion gig, I would think. ( quoted in the Camera, October, 16, 2007)

You could not have said it better. I'm back!

what the ground, a rock, and my knee have in common

Contact, of course.

Some may say I'm too old for this. Others may envy my life. I do.
Was riding at the end of this week. Hit the Aspen Trail at a speed that was a speed I hadn't done in a while. Was just thinking of how cool it was to have the skill it takes to ride in tight single track and hit it fast. All of a sudden I had to decide to go around a rock and navigate the trail, taking a quick turn to the right. Started to jump the rock, took the particular turn a little faster than usual, clipped my bar on the edge of a tree and that was all she wrote.
The front wheel turn completely sideways and I hit the ground with a thud, slid about 6 feet and stopped just before my face was to hit a rock.

Dirt rash on the top side of the left arm, rash on the top side of the right arm and well, the left knee took the worst of it.

Oh well, that's riding. Ride and learn.

In search of a new trail before the snow hits the ground

I knew it was going to rain and snow today, so I wanted to get the Girls out before the weather set in. Also had good friend, Joanne, along for the exploration of a new trail.

So, we climbed and climbed to the top of this hill. Doesn't take too long to get o the top and when you get to the top, the view is worth a million bucks.

I've gone by this hill a hundred or more times. Always on my bike. Always wanted to know, that what I was convinced, would be a long forgotten, miners hide-a-way. It's near the RR bed of long ago. In fact, in the opposite direction of this hill, deep in the ravine below, are old cabins. So, it only made sense that above there would be similar 100 year old dwellings, too.

At some point the dogs took off in different directions. Lucie, as usual, stayed close. Kayla, decided to explore on her own. At times, driving me to a worried state of "where's Kayla?".
After calls and great whistles from Joanne, once again, the "booger head" would appear. Only to disappear over the next set of hills and reappear shortly after.
Hill after hill, we explored. Hill after hill, we only found woods, trees, views, and an occasional tree stump. But no trails. Only the foot path of a deer or elk. I was sure that a miner, a homesteader, or someone would have found this place perfect for a home. But nothing.
It was a good day exploring. Now I know. What I think would have made a great home site, others did not. But it's still a great place to wonder around without a single person ever knowing you'd been there.

Wild Turkey Trail in Boulder, trail opening

Woke up today with the realization that I had not brought my hanging baskets in from the freeze last night. Needless to say, I threw the covers back over my head and decided that the day wasn't starting out very good. But the day did get better and it was warmer and sunny when I started work in the morning. Always a good thing. And the plants made it alive and tonight they are already into the house. Better start to tomorrow, already.

Left work for a couple of hours today to go to the ribbon ceremony and ride event for the New Wild Turkey Trail at Heil Ranch, Boulder County Open Space. Even got to ride in shorts and short sleeve jersey.

It's easy to live up in the mountains and ride private trails, secret trails, and just plain not-for-everybody- trails. But hey, Boulder now has over 100 miles of trails for mountain bikes to ride on and if you don't help build them, elect officials that open them, and do events like today's ribbon cutting, then you don't have a right to bitch and moan about them. Everyone should do their part to help forge the path to shared trails. That means, politics occasionally. Not everyone can live in the mountains. Not everyone gets to ride single track where others are not allowed. When we first came to Boulder there were very few trails anywhere to ride on. There were very few mountain bikers, also. Just like having babies, just like owning your own single family house with land or a yard, and just like having the fitness and time to ride your bike, is really a luxury. Growth is growth. You just can't live without it. For centuries everyone has felt the encroachment. Just ask the Indians, the settlers, the buffalo, the wolves, the mountain lions, the ranchers, the hunters, the developers, the mountain folk and the list goes on and on. I wanted to live here. I'm happy to be here. My house is over 130 years old. Used to be 2,000 people living in my community. That's growth. Now there's about 50. I love living and riding here. But I also like riding in Boulder. So I figure, the more officials that understand the passion to ride and be in the woods, the more trails that will eventually be open. Even if it takes more years than I have left.

Thank you to all that came today and helped make one more trail opening a reality. Not a trail closure.

So.....today we rode up on the Wapiti trail to the beginning of the Turkey Trail's start. There were several agencies there. County Commissioners, Open Space, IMBA, BMA, Boulder County Horsemen/ Equestrians, and more then I can remember. Even the turkeys showed up.

Once at the new trail head, the official people made their speeches and everyone gave thanks (not for the bountiful turkeys on site-not Thanksgiving ,yet) for the work that had been done for the new trail. Then it was time for all of the photo ops.

Photo line ups, horse included.
After all of the photos, it was time to head out on the new trail. Everyone appeared to have a great time and the talk of more trails. Especially the connector trail to Lyons was settled into our brains. That will be an awesome event. Just think, we'll have a way to ride almost entirely on dirt from Boulder to Lyons and then onto the Hall trail network.

Thanks everyone for all of your hard work. Long live lots of new trails and to the continuous sharing of already built trails.

Canine Good Citizen Award

Today was the day. No snow, no wind, and no freezing cold temps. Here's how the day unfolded.OK. I've been calling it the Canine Good Samaritan test. It's Good Citizen. Oh well. Whatever.

Up at 6 Am. Actually was warmer at 6 AM than it was at 7 AM. Let the Girls out to pee, and back into bed because it's fun for the whole family to fit on the bed and hang out. Back up at 6:20.

Then, eat, pack and load everyone into the car. Pick up Joanne, our wonderful friend, who gets a "Good Citizen" award herself. She took photos all day, held the dogs and seemed to have a great time, herself. She put up with all of us, all day long.

we got to the place near Colorado Springs at 9:30 and met some other dogs. I was the ring master, Steve was the side kick, and Joanne the photographer, and Girl's sitter when were busy.
Then you wait. And wait. And wait. Lots of waiting. Like a bike race. But it's not so bad. Getting your dog to learn to "wait" isn't a bad thing. Patience is a virtue. You know, like when you go to the coffee shop, run into a friend, and make your dog sit there like he/she is interested in what you're talking about. And sit there and sit there and .....

Then it was time to watch people start confirmation. That's where dogs of a certain class (female, or male, 6 months or adult) go into the ring. In the ring, they are expected to trot around, stack (certain kind of stand), allow the judge to touch them, look at teeth and watch them, and then, do an out an back trot for movement.

Lucie used to be a show gal, but didn't really like it. That was fine for us. We told her that being our lovable, smart, funny, obedient, hiking pal, was just fine with us. Today, she did her first "stack" in a year, and I think she looked awesome. Unfortuneately, it doesn't matter to the judges what I think. But then again, I'm just a person, and wife, a bike racer, and a mom to my girls, and well, I'd love them for whatever they decide to do with their lives.

So Lucie placed third out of three. I'll take it. Like I tell my bike racing clients, "It's not that only so many women showed up to race, it's that YOU showed up to race"

Next it was Kayla's turn. She's never been in a show ring. It showed. Oh well. Goofy Kayla. Tired her best. That's all I wanted. She finally had to be coaxed to trot around the ring with Lucie running around the outside of the ring with her. What a great big sister. Way to go Lucie.
That's what big sisters are for, right? Kayla second out of two.

Kayla's stack was, well, OK. At least she tried. She even let the judge look at her teeth.

Onto the "Best Female Head". I actually entered them into the "Movement" category. Since it didn't go so well in Confirmation, I asked to switch to the "Female Best Head" judging. How can you go wrong with your head? We didn't win the best head award, but the judges told me that both my Girls were second. Yeah!

Next, we were on to the Good Citizen test. The dogs go into the ring with 3 other dogs and three strangers/judges. The test includes several tests. All tests are to test the dog's ability to be with a stranger and be calm and inviting.

The tests are:
Walk around the judges and remain calm.
Walk past another dog calmly while the owners shake hands.
Walk around the ring while a lot of noise is being made. Our noise was made with cookie sheets banged together.
Allow the judges to brush the dogs, touch/pat the dogs, and look at their teeth.
Have the dogs hold a sit, down and a stay. The stay is held while we walked 25 feet away.
Have the dog stay with the judge, while we leave the area-unseen, for 3 minutes.
No problem holding a sit from 25 feet away. Bring on the hard stuff, mom.

Lucie and Kayla did wonderful. They did as they were instructed and were very obedient. I thought the hardest part would be my leaving them for 3 minutes. Nope, they were champs!
Probably harder for me leaving.

After the Good Citizen testing I decided to try them out with the Lure Coursing. Neither dog had done this before, but both come from champion coursing backgrounds, so what the heck. Always worth a try.

Lure Coursing is accomplished by the dogs chasing a plastic bag around a course. Today's course was only about 150 yards. Regular course are 600-700 yards. Seems easy, right? I mean dogs love chasing moving objects. And I'm always telling them not to chase the cats, or the bunnies in the driveway, or the ground squirrels.
The "bunny".

Lucie wouldn't start the chase and instead kept looking at me as if I was going to tell her to stop. Then she began to run and finished the course. Not stellar but she did it. Kayla ran tentatively around the course and came back to us.

The second go round was pretty funny. Lucie ran the course 1/3 of the way, cut across the middle, and right back to the machine that operates the "bunny". Kayla, ran 5 feet and headed straight back to me and sat between my legs. Game over, time to go home. Had enough. Done.

It's fun to take a whole day and do something you would never normally do. That's life and it's how we learn. Socialization is a good thing for human and canine. Now, lets go hiking back in the woods.





Kayla finishing the day by finishing the run, early.

Mountaineering in Colorado

Another hike. Another photo opportunity with the "Sherpa Hat"

Called up my friend Shireen to see if she could go hike Audubon Mt. with me and the Girls. She really only had a couple of hours but decided work could wait and off she came to play with us for the day.
It was a better day than we could have hoped for. It was supposed to be raining by noon. We started late. No worries, not a cloud in the sky. The sky was void of any clouds and there was no wind. temp was in the mid 50s. Perfect. Just in case of rain, I brought the Girls rain coats and three jackets and gloves for me. Just in case.

To start the hike, we met some very funny Englishmen. Very funny. One had raced in the Iceman Cometh in Michigan. He said I should do it. No thank you. Too many years out of racing and it's cold!
The views seemed better than ever this time up. Maybe it was the partial snow, maybe, that soon it won't look like this and there will be snow everywhere. I don't back country ski much any more, so once the snow hits. I won't be back here until summer.
We didn't have enough time to go to the very top but we stopped at about 13,000 feet. I love it up there. I love the mountains more than any other place. I love being able to get to the top of mountains. I love being able to see for miles and miles. I love having friends and dogs that can do this. This is why I live in Colorado.

Once at the (almost) top, I had to get some photos of the amazing mountains to the north. And, of course, the "Sherpa Hat" photo. It took us about 1:45 to get to this awesome alpine tundra area. Just below the last pitch to the top. We ate energy bars and fed the Girls some dog food and headed down. At about this point the clouds were blowing in from the south and it was getting cold. At this point, we noticed the Englishmen were making their way to the summit. The round trip hike took just under 4 hours. Not sure of the time for actual hiking. Forgot my awesome Forerunner 305. I also blew the 2 hour hike time Shireen had, but she was much more happy hiking than working.

The "Sherpa Hat" photos are beginning to become a game. It's fun, it gets up and out into the wilderness, and well, it looks really funny. I actually think Kayla likes it.

Tonight, the Girls had their nails clipped and a bath. they don't ever smell. Ridgebacks never do. But it makes their coat shine and they smell all sweet and clean.

We practiced healing, sitting, downs, and touching feet and faces. I think they're ready for tomorrow.

Wish us luck.

Mountainbike ride on Sourdough Trail

Steve wanted to ride Sourdough today. I had to work. So he waited for me and in the late afternoon off we went for a great ride.

Sourdough is not for the beginner rider because it is somewhat technical with a lot of rocks and roots. Well, mostly rocks.

There is only one spot that I can't get through and I think I've only made it thought that particular section once with only one dab. Today I walked it. It's a descent into an area turn with huge rocks and I just wasn't into trying it today. Better safe then sorry on a day when my concentration wasn't the best.

I really like this trail because it challenges me to pay attention on every part of it. The up hill is only about 6 miles and it still takes me just under an hour every time. That's with breaks and riding. I used to trail on this trail at least once a week when I was training for my Italy races. The European 25 hour racers were more technical than over here and it helped get me really ready for any kind of race course. Sometimes I would do a 5 hour ride and then hit the Sourdough Trail before heading home. I'd end up with a very hard 7 hour ride. Good training for long ultra races. This photo is probably one of the easier sections.
We rode until about 5:45 and then headed down into Boulder to meet up with Catherine. She wanted to tell us about her PBP (Paris Brest Paris) ride. She informed us that she was the second US women to finish and 13th over all. way to go Catherine!

The Saturday night forcast is for snow down to 6,000 feet. That means snow at my house. I really hope it's not a lot as I'd like to ride more up at the higher elevations. Fall is when we do a lot of exploration rides, rides we haven't done all year, and rides with friends. Not to worry, we never ride with more than a couple of people.

Oh yeah, Sunday is the Good Samaritan testing for the Girls. Keep your fingers crossed.

Wow! Gold to orange and a mix of white

This is where I live and play.

It all began as a last minute hike up towards Brainard Lake area. Joanne, the Girls and your's truly.

So many of the hikes in the past few weeks have been between 7 and 9,000 feet. Hikes to look for the best of the fall colors. So, a hike up to the Continental Divide seemed a great way to say good bye to summer and hello to fall. It was more like good bye fall and hello early winter.

It was amazingly beautiful.

As soon as we got out of the car, there was snow on the ground. I don't mean a little snow or a dusting. Several inches of snow. It was so peaceful and so quiet. So few people.

The weather was perfect. About 45-50 degrees and sunny. The sun was warm and there was no wind at the start of the trail head. Warm enough to take tons of photos. even goofy photos.

The Girls loved the hike. And the sun helped to keep them warm. I forgot their coats. Usually I pack their coats in case of bad weather. Rhodesians don't have a layer of oil or fat in their coats to protect them from rain or cold wind. I figured I could always wrap them in one of my coats. I always bring extras.

The river was full of Rainbow Trout and it was fun to watch them swimming up stream. Even Kayla took notice.
One of the goals was to reach the lake and take a photo with Kayla in the "Sherpa" hat. All hikes with the Girls, at high elevations, have "the" hat photo.

Goal accomplished. We reached the lake and continued upward. We hiked through several areas of drifts, where the snow was up close to my knees. The Girls didn't like that so much. Joanne had running/hiking shoes on and I, as usual, had on mountaineering boots and gaiters. I hate having my feet cold. It also provides more support for my ankles.

Finally we stopped at a point where it looked like the drifts would become too deep and the wind too strong. back down to the lake we went for the photo shoot.

Can life get any better?

One of the best things about my job is that I can go into work later in the day. I have many of my mornings off and I don't mind working later into the evenings. More time to hike,, and ride with Steve. And the Girls.

The colors are great right now. We like to ride on an extensions of the Switzerland trail where there are loads of Aspen trees.

Yesterday we took the Girls up to this area and climbed high up to the top of a ridge. There we had a 360 degree view of the mountains and the valley below. Just wonderful.

The ride to this area is on an old RR bed and not a hard ride. Unfortunately it is also where several jeep trail ride books tell jeep-ters to go see the colors. Oh well, sharing isn't always easy. That's why I like to ride in places that cars cannot go or take the Girls hiking.


We had a great hike and the Girls had fun running around off leash. I love living so close to Forest Service land. Their recall is really good. Kayla has really grown up a lot in the last few months. I hope Sunday's Good Samaritan testing goes well for them.

In Search of Color

First there was one in search of color.

And then there were others in search of color.



They found what they were looking for.


And that, was all that was needed for the perfect ride today. Mission accomplished.

Hiking, Vegas, more colors, and riding

If you squint your eyes you can almost pretend you see the great colors on the Aspen trees back home. Sure ya can.

I left the Girls behind and Steve was already there. Vegas. The end of summer ritual for a lot of cyclists industry folks. Interbike. I was only there for 3 days. Went to help Accelerade and see friends.

It's really weird. Someone asked me what the weather was like and I actually couldn't tell them. I spent so much time inside.


Best meal: Inside the secret Italy booth down the hall from the Accelerade booth. And everyone thought "secret" only was applied to trails. The chefs were flown in from Italy and it was an awesome spread. Baguette, salad, prosciutto, olives, risotto, and pasta. Yummy! Thank you Italy.


Best events: Seeing lost friends (thanks for lunch E.T. See you soon in Fruita) and old friends and the crit. Too many crashes at the crit, though.

Best other thing: Coming home. Seeing our Girls when we got home. So much tail wagging. Thanks Katherine.

Today; got up, had coffee and oatmeal, played with the Girls and then, Steve and I went for a short pre work ride. The colors are really good right now. I have seen a little better, on drier summers, but they look better then I thought. I thought I may have missed the peak going to Vegas.

Today's ride seemed to go so slow but the times to certain points were on average. There was a really cool strong wind that blew in our faces, as we made the way to the trails, and then it seemed to turn and come from the opposite way once we a little higher up in to the hills. Thought for sure we'd get rained on, but the clouds never opened up on us. My legs never quite felt very good. Kind of flat. So much standing at the show makes the legs really heavy. Not to mention the plane ride.

We could see some new snow on the mountains and will likely check it out on Sunday's ride or hike. It's be nice to get up high but I have a feeling that's what every other person with eyes and a car will be doing. So maybe we should stay closer to home and check out the good Aspen colors near the house.
The colors of red and orange in the shrubs are the best right now.


Can't wait for the day to begin tomorrow. Hear there's rain and wind possibilities.

Giving in to fall

After the rain Sunday and Monday, and now the cold temps, I have given in to the idea it's fall. I actually really like fall. I like the cool rides, the dark blue skies but I'm just not ready quite yet.

I found out today that the local black bear has two cubs. Means more leash time for the Girls. The good news is that she and the cubs were eating the apples from an apple tree, up the street. And today was trash day. That means people leave their trash out early or even over night. Then, that means the bears come for the trash. But this bear seems to be getting her young to eat the natural food. Good thing all of my plums are picked.

The Girls and I headed up some hiking trails early this morning. Same spots as usual. Only now, usually, means watching the trail become a dirt road. I guess it's for the new home builders to be able to drive to new building sites. Three new building sites and two new owners. Kind of a bummer because I've hiked here for so long that it felt like it would stay woods and trees and hills forever. But I do have my own house. A small piece of the pie. It's not for me to ever say someone else can't have theirs.

On the trails, we found a large fox tail. Just the tail. Big and orangy-tan and bushy. Wonder if the fox made it? I'm not sure it can live without a tail. Not sure there are too many things that can catch a fox. Maybe, more things are back in the neighborhood this week. More than just the bears.

Last of the vacation days

The last day of vacation was great. Not that is was great because it was the last day. But great because the weather was warm and sunny and we did some last minute fishing. Too, the local river swans made their way to the dock to hang for a little bit.

We had seen them mid week down in the marshes when we went kayaking. We were careful not to get too close as there are 4 young ones.

Steve and I have talked about taking our own bikes to the cape next year and ride more. That would mean that there would be less fishing. Hhhhmmmm, less fishing?


Off the dock, before we left, I caught a huge Blue Fish. It was about 24 inches long and Steve thinks it was at least 10 pounds. That's big.

It took several minutes to get it onto the dock. It was such a struggle that I actually had to wrap my leg and arm around the dock pole so that I didn't fall into the water. I almost lost it but Steve got it into a net just before it let go of the hook. I kept water on it until Steve could take a photo and off it went back into the water. Bragging for a long time to come.

Oceans, boats, fish and beer.

Finished the day yesterday in the skiff. Steve caught Dog Fish, Scups, and a Black Sea Bass (I think that's what is was). We were fishing in the boat for over 4 hours. I caught about 12 Scups. All went back in, unharmed.

The weather yesterday was very overcast and very calm. No wind at all. The water seemed very quiet and very few people are left around here. All going back to other lives off the water and getting ready for fall.
All week long we have seen the Blue Fish swimming in the water, We thought they were feeding on the little fish. When we had the skiff out yesterday, we saw the Blue Fish again. This time we went to look. There were thousands of them. Everywhere! They were not eating anything. They weren't chasing anything, either, Just swimming in schools. It was really weird to see so many.
After fishing we ate pizza, drank more beer and watched another Red Sox game. Ouch!

This morning I got up, headed out the door early (vacation early-9:20 Am) and rode the old bike to Bourne's old town center. There's a library there, and thanks to their internet access, I have been able to add in some photos.

I went in the Jonathon Bourne Historical Center. Not open so headed over to the library. Will come back to the museum later.


Heading back out on the water with Steve. perfect day today. Still and sunny and warm.

Not sure what else will be up for the last few days but likely more sightseeing, a trip over to Sandwich, more fishing, more beer, and at least one more bike ride.