Because the weather was so lovely today, my husband and I decided to go to “Pothole Park” and do some hiking and climbing. The park is really called Interstate State Park, but we call it Pothole Park because the park has potholes! It’s much easier to recall a park by its identifying features. Half way there, I realized I had forgotten my camera! My sweet husband offered to turn around and get it, but I thought that would’ve been rather silly. I just took some crummy photos with my cell phone.

One thing I love about the park is that the ground there is nearly completely stone with some deposits of silt/dirt here and there, and so the park is full of amazing trees growing up from the rock. I love how the roots are visible, twisting and vining every which way, supporting the trunk and gathering nutrients.

Here’s a pothole! I’d say this one is a mid-size pothole. There are many small ones, as big across as your foot. There are some that are much larger. The “Bottomless Pit” is 10 feet wide and 60 feet deep!

We saw a stickbug! I had never seen one in the wild before. Probably due to the amazing camouflage! We caught this one crawling up the side of a rock wall we were climbing. It followed us to the top and crawled up Ash’s leg, where I attempted to take a photo. Dumb phone cam. It’s blurry, but you can see it…

So we climbed around on the rocks until we were dripping in sweat, and then we walked into town and had a nice lunch at Schoony’s Malt Shop & Pizzeria. They have good pizza and delicious ice cream! Then we headed home.

So, back to Computrainer! Here’s my setup! I have the software on my hubby’s computer in the basement, and the computer is hooked up to a projector so I can ride courses on the big screen! I love it. I bought one Real Course video when I bought the trainer, it’s the Ironman Coeur d’Alene. I chose it for the scenery (I don’t think I’ll be doing an Ironman anytime soon!). I haven’t ridden the whole course yet, but it has been fun so far. The video speeds up or slows down according to your speed, and the resistance changes according to the terrain on the course. I seem to sweat more on the Computrainer than I do on the road. It must have a little more resistance than riding outdoors. That’s fine by me. Hopefully, I’ll have lots of time to ride inside over the winter, and I’ll be in great shape by spring.

Here’s a screencap of what I’m looking at. You can see a sample video of the course on this page.

Today, of course, is International Talk Like A Pirate Day. To help celebrate this exciting day, I made these chocolate *ship* muffins for my mateys at work. Originally, I had intended to draw skull and crossbones on each muffin with white icing, but that was a big fail. So instead, I made up these little jolly rogers (pirate flags!) to go on each muffin.

I found the design for the flag on Wikipedia in a vector SVG file. Working in Adobe Illustrator, I resized it down to an inch wide, and copied it so there were two set directly next to each other. Then, I just copied and pasted that design so I had enough for each muffin. After printing, I cut out the flag sets, put Tombo Mono Adhesive on the back, and folded them in half over a toothpick. mmm piratey

In more exciting news, my Computrainer arrived today!! It’s a totally nerdy indoor bike trainer. I was a little disgruntled that the box was simply left on my doorstep by UPS, no signature required. I’m thankful that we live in a nice, quiet neighborhood. I would hate for someone to make off with that expensive box. O_O yikes. So I got the thing assembled, and I’ve done a little test riding. It seems that the heart rate monitor is a little finicky, so I’ll fiddle with that tomorrow. I need to read the manuals, so I’m 100% familiar with the system’s capabilities. I’ll report in tomorrow night with more details!

So some of my (few) loyal readers have wondered what the hell happened to my blog, and why I’ve neglected it over the past few months.

Well, I’ll tell ya what the hell happened… THIS!

After completing the MS150, I was hooked, and dove head-first without looking into the wonderful world of road cycling. My parents were at the finish line of the MS150 to cheer me on, and were very enthusiastic about my accomplishment. My dad is certainly a fan of anything with wheels that can race, and offered up that he should buy me a proper road bike. We didn’t go out and buy it that day, but I did hold him to his word a little later on in the summer. So my new baby is this lovely 2008 Giant TCR C1.

I did a few other organized cycling tours in the area, the Tour De Tonka - 67mi and the Rum River Bicycle Classic - 63mi, and I’ve been riding as much and as often as I can on my own. I want to use what little outdoor training time is left this year (cold winter approaching!) to work on general skills, endurance and speed. When spring hits, I want to learn racing skillz and maybe find a team I can ride with. Minnesota is a great place for cycling. There’s tons of places to ride, lots of great teams and events.

So, being obsessed with cycling, dancing with a Japanese dance group, and spending long days at work… my summer was pretty well packed! I didn’t have time for crafting, and thus, haven’t posted. I have enough crafty ideas floating around in my head, that I could darn near write a book! When I have time, I’ll make some stuff and post it! But, when I’m not feelin’ crafty, I think I’ll write about some of the other things going on in my life too. (You might hear a lot about biking next summer! haha)

Not to bore you completely, here are some thrifty things I got at the last 50% off sale day!

Some linen-y fabrics and a crazy retro print on stretch knit. Couple bucks per chunk.

A copy of McCalls Needlework & Crafts - 30 cents, Folk Tales of China cute 1st. ed. book - 50 cents, a knit mice kit - $1.50. (I think I’ll stuff ‘em with catnip for the kitties!)

This cute little Ukranian apron and potholders set was 85 cents.

Cute retro cross-stitch kit for $1, and The Wilton Way to Decorate for Christmas - 30 cents! This book drew me in with it’s musty, sitting-in-a-box-in-the-basement-for-years smell and it’s retro holiday goodness inside.

This page was dog-eared. I wonder if someone made a few of these cakes with plastic doll heads on ‘em!

One of my favorites are the “Gay Holiday Wreaths”. Despite them being coated in acrylic spray and assembled with airplane glue and wire, I think these mint sugar wreaths would be a sure-ticket for holiday pest problems! ha

This was my cheapest find, but one of my favorites. This darling little television has a lenticular image of hula dancers on the screen, they dance when you tilt it back and forth. Then, look through the little hole on the back and it’s like a mini View-Master. There are 8 uber-vintage looking photos inside that change when you press down on the little white lever. (Images are titled: Kamehameha Statue, Aloha Tower, Pagentry of Old Hawaii, Nuuanu Pali, Graceful Hula Maidens, Kilauea Volcano Eruption, Waikiki Beach, Surfing & Canoeing At Waikiki) I’d guess this as being from the 60’s or 70’s?? I can just picture it in one of those shops filled with crummy souvenirs. The original tag says it’s from a shop called Nagasako, and it cost $1.25. I paid a mere 15 cents for this little made-in-Hong-Kong plastic treasure! A steal at twice the price!