Saturday Farm stop-in

Dad's Farm:

I finally hooked up my new camera to the computer to download some new shots. I am doing this as I clean house (sweep, change the bed, do laundry, etc..). I hate cleaning. I would much rather be outside doing domething else. I had a friend over the other day who is also outdoorsy, and she said her house was in the same shape...so, I don't feel so bad knowing that other couples have the same type of house cleaning issues. It is enough for me to get all the laundry done all week long. It would be okay if I just had my own laundry to do because I don't mind wearing something until it looks dirty or I can smell myself, but my husband likes to put something on for 10 seconds and it is then classified dirty to him...

Anyway, that is probably too much information on laundry in my house.

Here are some recent shots from my new camera (Thanks again Dad!)

One of my BFF's, Jen, and I do a lot together on the weekends. Her husband works at the Bike Zoo (Cedar Bluff Cycles' biggest competitor for expensive bikes. She and I have a lot in common, therefor you will usually find us together on Saturdays. Jen is just getting use to the whole road biking thing, but she can kick some major butt mountain biking. She just recently decided to ride a 29'er with only one speed just like me....now, I have someone else with me (besides the guys) to experience the same kind of pain and fun on a mountain bike that I experience often.

Here are the two of us goofing off on my dad's farm. I ride over there frequently to hang out w/my dad and my stepmom Joyce. It is a blast over there. They have an incredible "water feature" which I will probably have lots of photos of on here sooner or later (spring time is best), and they have 9 pot-bellied pigs, 11 llamas, lots of horses, 5 dogs, cats, and a lot of KOI, which my dog Ippon LOVES to watch. He is enamored by them.

Here is a shot of Jen and some Koi....the Koi are like dogs and cats....they always want treats. We can't feed them in the winter time, so they are coming up to taste our fingers. In the summer time, we have a lot of fun with them. You can put your toes in the water and they will suck on them....I know that sounds perverted, but oh well. We have a good time with them...Ippon will stick his nose in there and they will even suck on his nose. We also paid a visit to the llamas. My dad and some others were vaccinating them and clipping their toe nails. These animals are so peculiar to me. They hard huge and strong. They have these feet like dog feet, but the feet are at the end of what looks like horse legs....then, they have these really soft mouths (like a dog's mouth), but their teeth look like horse teeth. I had one (Garinger) eating out of my hand a few weeks ago. They look at you and due to lack of being around them, you feel very awkward, like why is that llama looking at me like that. They seem to be thinking really hard about what

are these humans looking at me for? Anyway, here is Jen checking out the llamas. You can see them in the background if you look pretty hard. I had on my cycling shoes, so I didn't want to get out in the mud. Okay, so here is one more shot of Jen with the pigs in the background. These were my dad's first "different" type of farm animal. He has always had horses and cattle, but no pigs or llamas until just over the last several years. It all started with one pig named Oz. Ozzie isn't with us any longer, but he was the first. My dad and Joyce are very involved in taking in unwanted animals...or helping out by letting folks keep their horses on the farm for free (they pay for the feed and my dad takes care of them). So, Oz was an unwanted Pot-Bellied pig someone did not want. One way or anther, Dad and Joyce got connected with some pig refuge in Cookeville I think. The lady there started giving Dad and Joyce overflow pigs. My dad loves them...he is now at nine and holding. Just a year ago, Dad's horse vet came to him needing someone to take on some "overflow" llamas from a llama refuge. Of course my dad accepted. He started out with three, and now has 11. Dad says his nex animal to take on is a Donkey. He had one for a little while (again, someone needed Dad to "house" the Donkey for a short period), so now he wants his own. It is never boring over at LAUGHALOT....the name of Dad's farm. We do laugh quite a bit here. This is also where Smap and I got married. Perfect place for a big party (which is what our wedding was...300+).

So, this was my Saturday fun. Jen and I got in 40 miles, and I planned on doing some more at Cherokee Blvd, but Ippon came first. Actually, one of our friends had a shoe blowout playing frisbee golf down at Morningside Park. Smap and some others had ridden their urban Assault bikes downtown to play. I had to run down some duct tape so the guys could tape Larry's sole back onto his shoe. Then, I took Ippon down to the park where we met up with Lindsay Rogers and her three dogs. It got really windy and I lost interest in getting on my bike again...that is the way it goes for me. Gung ho one moment and uninterested as soon as the weather changes.

I'm not sure what we are going to do today. It is colder...I think the high will be 45 or so. I am thinking a good Norris ride perhaps...I can hurt myself on the single speed up there pretty good with all the climbing. That is all for now. I have a lot more photos to show from previous weeks!

Chiao!