Last day of kids for 10+ weeks!

I'm soooooooo glad today is my final day with this group of kids! They just get ridiculously annoying after TCAPs in April. Today, they are SUPER annoying. Only a few more hours and they will be gone!

Last night we rode at Haw Ridge. I rode w/my good friends Jimi and Kimberly starting out and then the newly married couple (Karen and Jeff) joined up with us for a little while. I am starting to get the hang on my new single speed. I LOVE it even more than my old one! It is so much more responsive than the old Genisis geometry. It is lighter and the new FOX shock is totally AWESOME!!!! I just can't wait to ride this bike ALL freaking weekend long! And all next week, the week after that, and the week after that.... I have 10 weeks off to ride! Well, I do have to work at the bike shop, but it is a fun job (most of the time when SD isn't there).

Too bad I don't have any good shots to post for today. 2.5 more hours......

Smap's big llama day

My dad and stepmom have a thing for taking in animals. They have always had a good amount of dogs (5 as of the other day), a few cats, horses (?-the amount varies...usually 4-5), and some sort of cattle (off and on). Over the last 10 years they have branched out to taking on the pot-bellied pigs (9 at the moment), which come from the pig refuge in Crossville (or Cookeville...I get the two places confused). Since last February, they have started adding to their "zoo" and have the 11 llamas now. These are also overflow from a local llama refuge I believe. Dad and Joyce love them and so do Smap and I.

Yesterday was llama shearing day at Laughalot Farm. Smap took off work early with Ippon in tow to help Dad, Joyce, and the llama refuge people shear the llamas. Dad said the llama people were amazed by Smap's natural abilities with the animals.

Smap's job was to blow out the llama's fur and then try to brush them. They were keeping the fur for weaving I think. All the llamas have names by the way. I believe the one just above is Corky. Every animal on the farm has a name except for the cattle (they are usually my uncle's). Dad and Joyce even have most of the Koi in their upper pond named. I have blogged previously about the Koi, Ippon's favorite attraction on the farm.

We don't let the dogs get around the llamas because they throw a mean kick. Sometimes I get scared around them because I have heard from my dad who has learned first hand that you don't want to get spit on by a llama. Especially if it is the worst of their THREE types of spit. I think Dad said there are several degrees of spit, and one of them is considered absolutely horrible. Luckily Smap did not get spit on yesterday, but he did say a few of them looked like they were getting ready to. He also said some of the llamas really liked getting sprayed off, brushed and sheared, but some hated it. Kind of like washing dogs I guess. Ippon is one of those dogs who will just put up with bathing. He puts up with getting washed just so he can have the towel rubbing at the end.

Smap also took several great shots of the llamas yesterday, which I will post from home at some point. My dad is always really good at emailing me shots the day after he takes them, so I can put them up as I get them. Also, my computer here at school is FAST. I will be without it for ten weeks....oh well. Guess this will be my last blog from this machine till August!

Cheers!

Pollen! ... is my problem!

I realized yesterday while riding that the pollen is making me sick. I hate it. It is in my eyes, my nose, and my throat. I will be SO glad when it is gone. I got in a little over 30 miles yesterday. I didn't get my heart-rate up one time because I probably would have fallen over and died if I had. The pollen just feels like it is shutting my body down at times. It was nice getting out and riding because lately all I have been doing is swimming. In just a few days I will be done with school and able to ride EVERY day and swim EVERY day. I am looking so forward to having 10 weeks off from kids. I will still be working at the bike shop and maybe for Smap at the label company, but it will be nice not having to discipline and scold every day for a while.

I still have a lot of photos to post from recent past events. I will have plenty of time to do that as well.

Smap and I checked out the new Nama last night (where the old Cha Cha was in Homberg). It was really good, but unfortunately they don't have beer on draft. This really bothered Smap as he is a draft beer drinker. We have plenty of local breweries in town for which the restaurant could have been supplied to. Good draft beer is the way to go. Having kegs prevents less waste, and by going with local breweries, they are supporting local companies (we have a kegerator at home with Knoxville's own Woodruff's beer- 2 flavors). Hard to believe the owner didn't put in draft lines in his new bar! The gal working in the bar last night said, "there is no room for kegs here". My goodness, the Nama bar downtown is TINY and they have like 6 different flavors to choose from on draft. Doesn't make sense. Oh well, perhaps the owner will change his mind down the road.

Cheers to less than 2 more days of school!

Sunday and sick :(

It doesn't happen very often, but today unfortunately it has....I don't feel good.  I just got off the phone with Kate (my sister-in-law who just moved here from San Fran..)  and she said the same.  She felt like crap this morning.  She seems to think we both feel this like crap due to our other sister-in-law's baby shower we both attended Friday afternoon.  The gal who hosted the shindig's house was COLD.  Smap's poor 100 pound mom was with us and she was absolutely frozen by the end of the 2nd hour.  We sprinted to the car when it was over to get the heat on.  I went home Friday night and got into bed fully clothed under an extra blanket.  I guess I just haven't gotten that cold out of me and it caught up to me today.  I worked at the bike shop most of the day yesterday after getting a good swim in prior.  I'm sure that swim didn't help much either because I swam outside in the COLD water with the wind blowing pretty hard.  

This week I plan on getting back into my solid riding routine.  I have three and a half more days of school and I am done until August.  This school year really flew by quickly.  One more year and I will be tenured!  Seems like ages ago I went back to school to get my teaching certification.  Crazy how time flies.  

I'm looking forward to mountain biking, swimming, and just relaxing for the next 10 weeks!

YEE HAW!

Bike to work/school day! 2008

Today is bike to work day. I did something differently today. I rode my single speed mountain bike instead of my road bike or geared mtn.bike. My geared m.bike is still recovering from the Cohutta. Smap found that I had severly damaged a tire, so it has yet to be fixed. I didn't want to ride my road bike this morning due to the fact that the ground was very wet still when I left for school, and I HATE to ride wet roads now on a road bike (I went down last April during the 3-state 3-mtn challenge on a wet turn and am still recovering).

So, the single speed is great for commuting except for the 32x22 gear I have on it. I probably looked like a dork spinning my ass off on the flat section to school. Oh well....it was fun anyways.

While on the way, I thought about the four geared mtn.bikes (2 of which are commuters) that Smap owns that I could have used today instead...oh well. The Rig was an experience. It also made me realize that my next bike needs to be a fixed gear commuter. I think I will save up this summer to get one...it will be perfect for school commuting and to the pool this summer!

I had four girls "bike to school" today! I was so proud of them and they were SO proud of themselves. I can only hope they will ride again in the future, and others will follow their example! I offerred a CBC water bottle to anyone who commuted to school today. I honestly didn't think anyone would ride to school. It was so cool to walk into my classroom to see four other bikes besides mine! The girls didn't have locks so I just had them decorate my room today with their bikes. I needed to bring a bike pump and tool to fix their bikes for their commute home, but oh well. A few of their bikes have hardly any air. I'll see what I can do.

Anyway, it has been a LONG week with the house and the kids going crazy due to school almost being out! Smap and I are REALLY looking forward to the weekend.

Rach

The TREE again....

Here is what Smap had to say in an email he just sent me....

Dirk came by to loan me his bee keeper jacket. I had pretty much had it sealed by the time he got there. The tree service showed up and I went up in their bucket truck with Dirks jacket and made sure it was completely sealed. I stayed until they got the tree down and the bee keeper showed up. He should have it hauled off by now and the tree should be clear. I called KUB and told them it was good to run power so hopefully they will get to it today. I also called the Comcast and hopefully they will have the cable hooked back up by tomorrow.

So, all is good. I just hope the bees survived the ordeal!

Later!

Still no power...maybe tonight?

Well, the tree guys came yesterday to take out the trees. They got most of the big limbs cut away, when they found a honey bee nest. I did not realize this until yesterday, but the honey bees are on the endangered species list. It is a federal law to try to kill them. WE DON'T WANT TO KILL THEM! If the bee population goes, then human's existence goes along with it! Bees are vital in pollenating our plants. We have to have plants for oxygen....

Anyway, Smap was getting together with Dirk Pullman (a very talented cyclist living in K-town, who is also educated in this bee field I guess) this morning to hopefully save our bee nest. I'm not sure where they will take it or how they will accomplish such a feat, but I wish them well. I left this morning as Smap was setting up the tallest ladder we have up against the tree leaning over our driveway. I guess he has some indian in him because the guy has no fear of heights what-so-ever. I can get up maybe three steps and I am done. I didn't wait around to watch them due to having early bus duty this morning, but I will update as I am updated. I hope they can save the bees.

So we were again without power last night, which I didn't miss except for once again (warm shower, dishwasher, and laundry). My house is becoming cluttered which is starting to annoy me (I can be OCD about such things). Our kitchen, which is not very big at all, now has three batteries to collect the power generated from our three solar panels on our roof, and an inverter as well. There are wires everywhere and a new light which Smap has hooked up to his solar works. One of these days our hot water heater will be hooked up to an inverter and solar as well....HOPEFULLY!!! I can actually do with out the dishwasher also...I don't mind handwashing my dishes... It is nice to not have to rely on others for power. Hopefully soon, we won't have to rely on water either (water catchments).

Maybe we'll get electricity tonight? We'll see. If they get the tree out and KUB comes back, then yes. Also, in the midst of the trees going down, they heavily damaged our retaining wall for our driveway....so, our driveway will not have to be cut open so they can repair the retaining wall and such.

I still love trees even though all this is happening. It is a learning experience. I always have to turn a negative into a positive....as my dad would always tell me to do.

CHEERS