Posts Tagged ‘friends’
Daylong Rain
A short time after the Katy Trail bike trip four friends and I did in Missouri in September got cut short by flooding rain, I suggested an alternative ending. Since we weren’t able to finish the last 50 miles of the railroad grade trail, I invited them to come try riding roughly 35 miles of the hills around Wintervale to end our 2026 season of group bicycle rides.
So, it was weeks ago that we whittled down the possible days that all five of us would be available and settled on October 15th. Yesterday. While I waited through day after day of ridiculously hot weather for the countdown to reach 10 days away in order to see the long-range forecast, there was nothing but sunshine.
Finally, by October 5th, I saw that Thursday the 15th was the first day with a chance of rain. To the credit of the weather services, throughout the 9 days I watched that extended forecast dial in, the chance of rain stayed locked on the 15th. While counting the days, I saw the gorgeous fall colors waning as the loss of leaves accelerated.
When it reached two days before the planned ride, the guys and I reached a unanimous decision to cancel and reschedule the ride to next year.
Yesterday, it rained ALL day. It was cold and thoroughly wet. It was just the kind of weather I absolutely do NOT want to pedal a bike in.
At least I got to see that our new rain gauge works really well.
While the horses ate their feed in the minutes before the rain started, Cyndie convinced Mia to accept a rain sheet. Mia was reluctant at first, and her hesitancy triggered Light to stop eating and walk around to check on what was going on. By the time Light arrived, Cyndie had already won Mia’s approval and the covering was on, but we were excited to see Light showing concern for another herd member, especially Mia.
When we went down to feed the horses their afternoon serving, I noticed Paddock Lake was filled to the brim. Now I know that it only takes an inch of rain to fill up that catch basin.
Just for the record, after a lingering chance of rain today, my extended forecast shows no rain for the next 8 days. Maybe I should market my services to farmers during extended droughts. I can schedule an outdoor event at Wintervale, and rain will surely appear.
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Bales Delivery
We were told to expect delivery of a load of hay bales by 7:30 a.m. That meant getting ourselves going a little earlier than usual. Asher didn’t mind one bit and happily darted into the semi-dark woods to see if any straggling raccoons hadn’t made it back to their daytime hiding spots up in our trees.
Wisps of fog rolled around the lowest points of the terrain, giving the predawn atmosphere a mystical feel. We had enlisted the help of my sister’s grandson, Drew (making him my grand-nephew, but that doesn’t roll off the tongue), a student at nearby UWRF, to help toss bales. He had to drive through patches of that same fog to get here, with the added challenge of the sun showing up right at eye level.
The next to arrive was Tom, one of the founders of This Old Horse, followed soon after by Paul, the farmer bringing hay all the way from up north near Hayward.
Many hands made for light work, and in no time we had a little over 150 bales stacked on pallets in the hay shed.
When the work was done, Light came over to thank Tom for making sure the horses always have all their needs taken care of. We now feel the satisfaction of knowing there is a good reserve of hay in the shed for whatever the coming months throw our way in terms of weather.
I don’t recall if I’ve written about it yet, but it sounds like everything is proceeding on schedule with a plan for our friend and nearby resident, Michelle, to adopt Mia before the end of this month. Tom talked with Cyndie about the possibility of bringing another horse to replace Mia and keep our herd number at four. It doesn’t sound like he had a specific horse in mind yet, but they are giving it thought.
We are thrilled for both Mia and Michelle. They developed an instant bond on the first day they encountered each other here. We anticipate some initial objections from the horses upon her removal. Horses can be uncomfortable with the change of having their herd separated. We’ll strive to assure them there is no need to be concerned.
With the job of stacking hay behind us, Cyndie and I took a relaxing walk with Asher through the woods and then came back to the horses to hang out. I brought a book and sat outside the fence while Cyndie enjoyed an extended interaction with Mia.
We scored another glorious fall day with temperatures in the 70s (F). I’m not complaining, but I can’t help shaking a feeling that this nice weather is a symptom of the much bigger problem caused by short-sighted human behaviors. I sense that climate scientists know this feeling well.
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Weather Dependent
Since the bike ride four friends and I did in Missouri in early September was rained out on the last day, I invited the guys to make up for it by coming to Pierce County to ride the rolling hills around our many river valleys. It’s a far cry from the basically flat, gravel, railroad-grade Katy Trail we were on during the triple-digit heat wave across Missouri, but I’ve picked a couple of routes that are only 35 miles long to compensate.
That many miles, plus the climbing, will feel more like the 50 per day we were doing on the trail. At the same time, not needing to cope with the extreme heat will make it much more tolerable.
The one intangible we are faced with is the potential for October precipitation.
Currently, the 10-day forecast looks pretty dry and surprisingly warm. We are planning to ride 4 days beyond that, so I’m anxiously waiting to see what predictions will look like next week.
It’s also hard to guess whether the trees will still have colorful leaves in two weeks, but that doesn’t make riding any more difficult. The light of October sunsets can suffice if the leaves are past peak.
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Scenic View
Taking wise advice from a couple of other Wildwood members up here this week, yesterday we hopped in the car and drove through the multi-colored forest up to Cable, WI, to hike around Mt. Telemark Village. At the high spot where chair lifts and downhill ski runs used to be, they have transformed the top portion of the old lift into a lookout tower.
We haven’t reached peak colors up here yet, but the change is near.
Only one colorful leaf out of ten at this point, but we won’t be around for the best of the show in the days ahead. We are heading home today to resume horse care later this afternoon. Mowing grass on the first dry day will be high on the agenda.
Back to our regularly scheduled programming, so to speak, where our scenic views come at a little shorter distance than what we were able to enjoy today.
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Distinct Difference
What a difference a few hours and a little over a hundred miles made in our day yesterday. Asher and I started our day yesterday under a dramatic blanket of fog.
We could barely see Mia out in the field all by herself. When we came around the bend in the back pasture fence line, it looked like the other three horses were expecting us.
They quickly repositioned themselves as if to appear more nonchalant than they actually were. Having their sightlines reduced so significantly makes the horses a little more apprehensive about their situation. Showing up at the usual time to serve them nourishment went a long way toward easing their tension.
With the horses tended to, the only other assignment for the day was to drive up to the lake. Asher was all in for a long car ride. We were rewarded handsomely with lots of blue sky providing an ideal backdrop for the colorful trees glowing in the bright sunlight.
We arrived just a few minutes before John and Pam. Cyndie had prepared a lunch for us to enjoy before taking a walk to show them all of the Wildwood properties.
Asher seems pretty pleased to have all four of his favorite caretakers available for attention at the same time. That’s a big difference from the routine he is used to, where he only gets Pam and John when we have gone off and left him behind.
If today and tomorrow turn out gray and wet like the weather service has forecast, we will be even more grateful to have been blessed with the gorgeous day we were able to enjoy yesterday.
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Lake Bound
After a weekend of sports spectating, Asher and I are packing it in, and I’m driving us north this morning to join Cyndie at the lake. Our friends, Pam and John, will join us– a twist from the usual, since they are normally our animal sitters when we spend weekends at the lake. We wanted to share the lake experience with them for once and enjoy each other’s company over a leisurely few days.
Another friend, Michelle, will tend to the horses while we are away.
It was a heavy gray sky for much of the day yesterday. When the clouds broke open for a short time, the sunshine changed the energy dramatically. As much as I wanted to get out to enjoy it, I was in the middle of folding laundry while watching the end of the Vikings game. By the time the game ended, the cloud cover had thickened back up again.
It was just damp enough that I didn’t try to mow, but I wish I had anyway. The grass is still growing enough that it’s going to be longer than I like by the time we return home.
I’ll be mowing in October again. That shouldn’t be a surprise anymore, with the planet warming continuing unabated, but a lifetime of experience still lingers in my head. Our weather didn’t used to be like this.
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Birthniversary Day!
Happy Birthday to Julian!
Happy 45th Anniversary to John and Cyndie!
A special amount of love cascades every year on this date, September 19. We are greatly blessed. Thank you to all our family and friends who have supported us over the years. We wouldn’t be where we are today without you!
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No Sooner
No sooner had I returned to my precious home and I’m spending a night in Victoria, MN, at Cyndie’s brother’s house. It made the most logistical sense. After getting the majority of the mowing done on my first day home, I spent yesterday morning trying to clean my bike and camping gear before it was time to dash to the Cities for a grand birthday event planned by Cyndie and her siblings for their mom.
They rarely do anything small, so the guest list was no less than 100 for an afternoon soirée that included a live band and enough appetizers to feed more than twice the revelers in attendance. This morning, a family brunch is occurring in Victoria, so I left my car in Bloomington, MN, to travel with Cyndie (and all the foodstuffs she prepared in advance) to sleep at her brother’s house.
There was a momentary panic last night when the cooler with the egg bake and caramel rolls looked like my tent in the flash flood due to melted ice, but it appears the water damage was limited to the packaging and not the food.
The horses are being tended to by one of our trusty hires from the nearby University of Wisconsin, River Falls, for last night’s and this morning’s feedings. Asher has been granted his own retreat at his trainer’s kennel to give Cyndie one less thing to manage around the weekend events.
I’m feeling a little like a soldier trying to return to the world. My mind is still with my four comrades entrenched in the struggles to survive harsh elements in an unfamiliar place. It’s a different frame of reference when you have to pedal your way in extreme heat for extended miles to reach a destination.
Finding myself suddenly in a bustling social situation of ease and luxury feels rather incongruent.
Standing among the horses and rubbing up against them yesterday morning took a lot less effort.
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Flash Flooded
Wednesday, we reached Marthasville, MO, where we had reservations to tent in their ballpark after a 55-mile pedal on our fourth day of extreme heat and humidity. Their tractor for grooming the infield had me missing home a little bit.
Before we retired to our tents for the night, we were aware of an approaching thunderstorm. Having tented through many storms, we weren’t overly concerned. We had been told we could set up our tents anywhere except within the field, so we opted for just outside the fence. I was looking forward to some moisture to settle the dust and maybe calm the triple-digit heat indexes.
Despite my overly full stomach from too much pizza for dinner and the sauna-like conditions keeping me sweating in my tent, I was able to doze into a short slumber before the storm fireworks started. It was a doozy. The frenetic flashes of lightning and heavy booms of thunder were the side dishes to the main course of incredibly heavy rain.
Bob was the first one to bail out of his leaking tent to stand under the solid roof of the pavilion, followed soon after by Rich and Steve as they became aware of the rising floodwaters. I could hear some commotion of their rearranging of picnic tables and noticed their lights occasionally hitting my tent, but I didn’t notice any drips and was dry on my sleeping pad, so I planned to fall back to sleep and ride out the storm.
When I saw my phone light up with a text from Bob asking if I was dry, I reached out to feel the floor before replying. The floor of my tent felt like a waterbed. With barely contained panic, I grabbed my sleeping pad and neck pillow and wrestled my way out of the two zippers of the tent door and the rainfly to join the others under the pavilion roof.
They kindly offered to join me in the few steps to the tent during the downpour to collect the rest of my belongings. Moments later, the experience was repeated for Curt. Our tents were sitting in about 6 inches of water in a new lake that covered much of the outfield.
The rest of the night was spent trying to get a modicum of sleep on top of picnic benches. We were all a good measure short of a proper night’s slumber. Morning allowed us to get a better view of the previous night’s drama. Although the water had receded significantly, the lake on our tent side of the outfield fence hadn’t completely disappeared.
With more heavy rain on the way and the likelihood of the Katy Trail being littered with branches and washouts, we opted to pack up our wet gear and end our trip a day early.
After a long shower last night, I slept in my own bed again and thoroughly enjoyed being cool and dry all night long.
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Tough Days
Since I didn’t need to mow any grass yesterday, I went for a bike ride. It was only a short ride in the late afternoon, but it was my first pedalling in three and a half weeks. I need to do a little more conditioning via hours on the saddle in preparation for a week of riding with 4 of my cycling besties beginning on Labor Day weekend. We will be heading to Missouri to ride the Katy Trail, which crosses the majority of the state from west to east.
It’s practically like riding from Kansas City to St. Louis.
The grass in front of Cyndie’s perennial garden doesn’t really resemble grass anymore.
It looks more like a brown rug.
Over by the barn, there is clear evidence that shade can make a huge difference in protecting grass from the harsh, baking sunshine.
It looks like a shadow of the maple tree canopy over that slope.
Tough days lately. Both Dolly Parton (80) and Tim Curry (80) died; our grass is dying; and Nepal and Tibet have had a massive flash flood that created a wall of water, mud, and debris that slammed into people, buildings, and bridges. The videos are harrowing to watch.
People the world over could use a hug. Let’s cut ourselves a little extra slack for a while as we cope with so much loss all at once. Put some energy into producing healthy doses of love and send them out into the physical and spiritual worlds in waves upon waves. The more we send, the more that will find its way back over us.
A healing balm for others and for ourselves.
Peace to you, dear readers. Namaste.
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