Posts Tagged ‘friends’
Feeling Thankful
I’m particularly thankful on this final day of the US Thanksgiving holiday weekend. The good fortunes bestowed upon us by the universe, chance, choices, and a smattering of genuine efforts are beyond measure. As such, engaging in the exercise of naming a few that come to mind provides valuable perspective for a immeasurable phenomenon.
When I realized the automatic waterer for the horses in the paddocks was getting warmer than a hot tub, I looked up the temp control details online. Upon opening the access panel of the waterer, I found there was no thermocouple to adjust. After I got over the shock and traced wires several times, suddenly my fingers landed on the leads to the unit that was just dangling in air. I don’t know what caused it to slide out but I’m extremely thankful the fix was so easy and the water is now a reasonable temperature that won’t sting the horses’ lips.
- The surgical incisions on Cyndie’s ankle have a ways to go before the skin has healed fully. Still, already she is experiencing joyful relief over the absence of the screws and plates that once held the shattered bones together. They eventually became a problem of their own. I’m really thankful for the good work of the surgeon and staff of the hospital and Tria Orthopedic for their excellent treatment of Cyndie’s injury.
- This is an ongoing appreciation but lately, I’m feeling particularly aware of the mental benefits of successfully treating the depression that dominated much of my life from childhood through roughly mid-life. I am so very thankful for the doctors and therapists who guided and educated me, some of whom I can’t even recall names or faces. I guess I wasn’t focused on the guides but on the destination.
- Lastly, for this exercise, I want to tell you how thankful I am that you are reading the odd chronicles I decide to post here every day on Relative Something. To the worldwide audience of WordPress bloggers who happen upon random posts and end up returning for more and the friends and family who understand I don’t use other social media and keep in touch by reading me here. Even if I don’t know you are following along, if you are reading these words right now it means something to me and I am thankful internet stranger(s).
Maybe by exercising my thankfulness muscles in this way, I will continue to gain prowess in my journey toward optimum health. Mental “planks” as compared to the back-saving core exercise I continue to employ. Thankfully, those seem to be helping me to avoid prolonged repeated episodes of debilitating pain.
Happy last day of this (U.S.) holiday weekend!
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Weather Luck
My assessment at the end of our bike ride on the hills around Wintervale is displayed visibly in this image captured by Beth Bertelson:
It rained much of Friday night but we woke up to a pause in the precipitation and the ground was only a little damp outside. However, radar evidence indicated another batch of potentially heavier rain moving in our direction at a rate that would put it over us right when we wanted to head out.
Undaunted, the group of my friends who ventured the roughly hour-long drive to our place were going through the preparations to ride without hesitation.
As the minutes closed, I sensed the trend of movement on that next mass of wet weather was going to slide just south of our location. Instead, we ended up getting a dose of ground fog that faded the beauty of the fall colors and obscured the distance view of the horizon at the high spot that usually offers the best vista.
Soon after descending the invigorating glide down from that potential view, the fog dissipated and the dryer air hinted we were going to be granted perfect conditions for our time on the road.
One highlight of having my cycling friends join me on these roads was the combination of ride buddies from two different worlds. There were people I met on the annual June rides now known as the Tour of Minnesota and two riders I grew up knowing in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.
Paul and I have known each other since grade school and shared a number of epic biking adventures over the years. That shot is taken at Vino in the Valley restaurant near the Rush River. You can see in the background we were blessed with periods of blue sky at the midpoint of our route.
After a pause on a bridge by a limestone cliff, we started the long, slow climb up the steep hill that marks the transition between the two worlds of lush valley and wide open farm fields.
We made it back to Wintervale in perfect time and celebrated our accomplishment with a delicious lunch feast. The laughter and riding afterglow was precisely what I was longing for and very reminiscent of the week-long Tour of Minnesota we have every June.
Cyndie and I added a few tours of our forest, the labyrinth, visits to the horses and interactions with Asher to top off a perfect adventure that fit surprisingly well between bouts of inclement weather.
We needed the rain and I really wanted to ride with friends. I am very lucky that I was able to have both. Overnight last night we received 1.25 inches of rain. Ahhh. Perfect timing.
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Can’t Control
If I could, I surely would have the rain refrain from raining on us during the hours when my friends and I want to go for a bike ride today. It is taking a lot of effort to hold my attitude in a healthy place against the unfavorable weather forecast that has been threatening for days to rain out this event we have been preparing to host.
While we were on a walk with Mike and Barb yesterday, Cyndie found a bright red heart-shaped leaf.
A gift from the universe to help us maintain a focus on love despite whatever rain clouds might come our way.
Last night our world was brightened mightily upon the arrival of my biking buddies Bob and Julie in advance of today’s planned ride. Healthy energy combined and magnified as we introduced Asher to them and then took a walk down to see the horses.
The soil is so desperately dry here and the growing plants and trees are so visibly parched that rain showers are needed more than my friends and I need to bike. I can’t control the amount or timing of precipitation falling today but I can control my reaction to it.
If it isn’t raining for the few hours we’d like to ride, that would be just grand.
It seems weird to say it, but if it rains a lot all day, that would be even better.
The “September fall colors ride with John” can be easily morphed into an “eat a lot of great food together, converse, and play games by the fireplace” with John and Cyndie event.
I definitely can’t always get what I want. I really, really wanted to ride with my friends and enjoy the beautiful scenery on the roads nearby.
I want the type of weather we had here during the four days prior. However, the opportunity to have a great time with good people provides priceless value regardless of the arrival of ride-busting precipitation.
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Overnight Guests
A lot has happened around here overnight lately. Construction (spider webs), Excavation (ground bee nest dug up), and now Guests! Barb and Mike Wilkus came to meet Asher for the first time yesterday and slept over so we could go out to dinner and then have some hang time together afterward.
Mike got a chance to tool around on my Greeworks riding lawn mower.
We visited Tattersall Distillery in River Falls for the first time for dinner and met a really great server whose accent hinted he might be fluent in the Spanish language. He told Mike and me that he is half-Bolivian. We told him to surprise Cyndie when she returned to the table by speaking to her in Spanish as if he already knew she would understand him.
It worked pretty well and triggered additional stories and visits with him throughout the meal, which boosted a really nice dining experience well beyond just the good food and impressive space they have created at the location that was a huge Shopco building when we first moved here.
The fall colors are turning finally and one day can bring a big change to individual trees that is startling to witness. If it were possible to stare long enough, you could watch it as it happens.
Tonight we are expecting more overnight guests to arrive in preparation for a group bike ride Saturday morning. I picked this day back in the beginning of August and have seen day after day of perfect cycling weather pass. Now a threat of rain is arriving, which we desperately need, but that’s one thing that really puts a damper (pun intended) on group riding.
Maybe that’s one way to break a drought. I’ll just plan way ahead for people to come to Wintervale for a bike ride and the odds of getting rain that day will go way up.
We’ll take whatever we get. No matter the weather, it’s always more fun around here when company comes to visit.
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Anniversary Heart
We received an invitation to a 25th wedding anniversary party for our friends, Joyce & Doobie Kurus, which inspired me to start a new heart sculpture before I finished the one already in progress. A little interlude for a change of pace.
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I chose a piece of American Hornbeam that I have been looking forward to working with for a long time. When we cut up this downed tree I saved much of it in the barn and shop for future use because the shape and grain were so enticing.
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Like so many times before, I was drawn to retain some of the raw bark to provide contrast to the other highly finished surface area.
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The wood was great to work with and has me very excited for the next opportunity when I will be able to sculpt another piece of the American Hornbeam I have stashed away.
I appreciated having Joyce and Doobie’s special occasion to think about while I worked on this heart. Somehow, I let myself start on another inspiration before getting back to my melting heart out of a piece of maple, so I currently have two in process at the same time, neither of them out of American Hornbeam. I’m experimenting with creating a shape that reflects a twisted heart.
If I like what comes of this first attempt, I hope to try a larger version from Hornbeam. All while simultaneously seeking to make progress on the tricky part of my melting heart.
Making all these hearts has got to be adding to the love that exists in the world. I don’t really need any more inspiration than that.
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Next Game
Occupying time while waiting a turn on the pickleball court, I took pictures.
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Lake life can be like this. I was told Cyndie had signed me up for a pickleball tournament the Wildwood gang announced. Someone said 4 o’clock. Steve and I made our way next door where various Whitlocks were congregating on the deck. As the appointed hour came and went, Steve and I decided to head down to the court. One of the Whitlocks went in for a nap, none of the others followed us.
One game was in progress when we arrived. They wondered aloud where everyone else was. Two of the current players had a dinner reservation at 5 o’clock, so they were done after the game in progress. The couple without dinner reservations stayed around to give us a game.
Steve and I won, 11-1. We immediately declared ourselves winners of the tournament.
Rumor has it a series of games are planned for sometime today. We will declare it a different tournament if that is the case.
Earlier in the day while I was floating on my back in the lake, an eagle showed up overhead. It circled over me at a surprisingly low height. It came around again and was so directly above me I pleaded for no poop. I kept my eyes on it as the circle descended into an attempt to grab a fish a short distance away.
No luck on that attempt. Rising from the water, empty-clawed, the eagle came around to perch on a branch in the large pine tree in front of our place. I wondered if there was an (admittedly anthropomorphic) element of embarrassment for not getting the catch but the whole spectacle was wonderfully majestic to see from such close proximity.
The eagle will no-doubt find success in its next game.
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Sculpture Garden
How many of you know where we went yesterday from seeing this picture?
I’ve written about Big Stone Sculpture Garden twice before because my bicycling friends and I have stopped there when riding the Dakota Rail Regional Trail in the last two years.
This time, Mike, Barb, Cyndie, and I played the 14-hole mini-golf course.
There were a LOT of people playing and we did as much waiting as putting but there are endless artistic endeavors to see and explore to occupy the time.
When the golfing was done, we walked the grounds and I traveled farther and saw more fascinating creations than on any of my previous visits. I’ll share a very select few…
Apparently, pigs can ___…
There were many horse sculptures but the mechanical parts of this one make it unique.
“I am a lone rhinoceros, there ain’t one hell of a lots of us, left in this world…” Adrian Belew (1982). I had to ask Cyndie what they were looking at. She said the artist’s name was back there.
Taking advantage of an opportunity to get off their feet for a moment.
A two-headed beast! Beasts? It’s always hard to pass up a selfie in a distorting reflective surface.
Back at Barb and Mike’s, we enjoyed lunch on the deck before Cyndie and I needed to get home to take care of feeding dog and horses. I did end up driving and stayed awake almost the whole way.
We had a first-rate stay-cation overnight with our friends. Our happiness meter is measuring right near its peak.
Now it’s back to manure management and this afternoon, a visit from the farrier is scheduled. I sure hope there will be a breeze to cool things a little and, more importantly, keep the number of flies harassing the horses to a minimum. They don’t tend to stand patiently when flies are bothering them.
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Congratulations Earned
I doff my hat to two football teams that have accomplished tournament wins in the last 24 hours. Congratulations to Inter Miami for their Leagues Cup championship and to Spain for the Women’s World Cup victory.
I was able to view both games even though we are on a stay-cation with our friends, the Wilkuses in Mound, MN, and the entertainment value was top-notch –both the football and hanging out with friends on Lake Minnetonka.
The high heat and lake atmosphere combined with the fabulous lunch offerings made for a quintessential picnic meal yesterday.
I’m a little sleep deprived this morning due to the late finish of the Leagues Cup match that went to penalties and went through all eleven players of each team and then the early start of the England v. Spain World Cup match.
It will be hard to top the excitement of the games and yesterday’s feasting and swimming but we’ll give it a decent effort today before returning to Wintervale tonight. I may try to talk Cyndie into driving so I can take a little snooze to the hum of tires speeding along the pavement.
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Double Adventures
There was no great plan for my day when I woke up yesterday but I was pondering the possibility of a bike ride on the roads around our lake place. On a whim, I checked the “Ride with GPS” app on my phone and noticed it showed options for paved routes and one caught my interest for being a nice change of pace from my regular riding routine.
I headed north toward Seeley and was rewarded with a fabulous adventure of a ride.
I thought about pausing at the Sawmill Saloon in Seeley for lunch but since I had forgotten my wallet, I decided to ride on toward the Double-Oh (OO) trailhead where the American Birkebeiner ski race trail crosses over the road where I could eat the mixed nuts and homemade gingersnap cookies snack I brought with me.
Little did I know that I would show up at a time on a day when I would get to meet the president of the Birchleggings Club, Paul Thompson, preparing for a presentation of a new electric snowmobile donation to the American Birkebeiner Ski Foundation. The Birchleggings Club is a non-profit organization and close partner of ABSF, whose members have skied 20 or more American Birkebeiners.
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Paul has skied 42 Birkies! I have skied zero but shared several of my crazy adventure stories as a spectator, including the time my friend Paul Keiski got me a press pass granting us special access for taking pictures. That year we sat in front of one of the finishing booths where we witnessed a wild sprint between two world-class racers from Scandinavia.
Even though I could have lingered to enjoy the Birkie people and activities for the rest of the day, I had a bike ride to finish. The roads I picked were smooth pavement through some fabulous forest that offered a very rewarding finish to the 32-mile loop ending right back at our driveway.
After I hopped off my bike, I wanted to stretch my legs a bit which brought me to the Whitlock’s place next door where I knew a project was underway. Before I had even changed out of my biking shoes, I suddenly found myself engaged in the second adventure of my day.
The Whitlocks are installing a replacement hot tub this weekend. Another set of hands was a welcome sight at a time when boards kept shifting as new ones were tapped into place.
After the first “fit” was accomplished, it all needed to come apart and three beads of caulk were applied to each board for the final assembly. Getting the last two boards to ‘pop’ into place in order to get the metal straps attached was something of an art that required a number of trial-and-error go-rounds.
The straps were secured just in time for a dinner break, leaving plenty of finishing work to be accomplished yet today. I remain on call for assistance as needed.
Yesterday was one of those when I had no idea how much adventure awaited me when I decided to head out alone on a little bike ride. It ended up being more than doubly rewarding!
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New Visitors
This morning we found evidence of new life arriving overnight down under the overhang.
At least two recently opened eggshells were on the ground beneath the horses. I won’t be the least bit surprised if the many barn pigeons have expanded their numbers. They will share a close birthday with the new robin hatchlings nesting in the branches of the spruce tree just outside our sunroom windows.
Yesterday we spotted the momma bird hopping up branches of the tree with a worm in her mouth and the little heads soon appeared with mouths opened wide.
We also enjoyed a visit from a new connection made at the Tour of Minnesota bike week. After several years of seeing each other on the tour, Scott Skaja overheard me mention having horses and quickly showed interest in bringing his family to see the place one day.
Yesterday was our opportunity before his oldest leaves for college in Florida and we were graced with a beautiful day to roam the property and mingle with the horses while also giving Asher plenty of attention.
The Skaja family was able to witness our experiment with refamiliarizing the horses with the inside of the barn. A vet appointment on the calendar in early August will require the horses to be in the stalls, so we will be offering them multiple opportunities to grow comfortable doing so.
We tried this last year but when Cyndie shattered her ankle in November it interrupted the process and the horses ended up making it through the winter without ever needing to be brought in.
Moving them one at a time when they aren’t sure about coming inside was a challenge I did not want to deal with all alone.
Scott and his wife and daughters stood outside the half-doors to observe how the four horses made their way inside and sniffed around every nook and cranny before eventually finding pans of feed to snack on inside each stall. Cyndie and I felt as though the horses showed evidence of remembering the visits last year and seemed pleasingly comfortable being inside.
It was a great chance to let the Skajas watch the horses explore new things and behave like the big, beautiful creatures they are, including pooping in the barn. Daughter, Bella graciously volunteered to do the scooping up afterward. I took advantage of that momentum to show off my manure composting process.
Not very impressive compared to Cyndie serving up freshly baked scones, a variety of incredibly delicious cold salads for lunch, topped off with a peach pie she baked earlier.
Obviously, Cyndie and I have different areas of expertise.
It will be tough to beat the fun we had yesterday, once again confirming our impressions that hosting visitors is truly what brings our paradise to its fullest splendor.
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Relative Something 