Around the house this hot morning...

I meant to post this several days ago, but had it as a draft and just couldn't get time to post it.





If you look really hard you can see Smap's solar panels in the top middle of the roof in the shot below. I think I have mentioned before that Smap has our kitchen TV hooked up to it. One of these days hopefully we'll build an earthship somewhere (not in our present neighborhood)! One of our far out future goals...

Lucky for me, I work when I want to work this summer. I am trying to keep my work schedule to a minumum (15-20 hours) this summer because last summer the only thing I remember doing with all my time was working at the bike shop. Not going to happen this summer!

Smap is able to ride his bike to work now, which is great! He is going to try to ride one way a day saving him about 15 miles on his tank a day. He rode home yesterday and back to work again this morning. I am glad for him because he has been wanting to commute for so long. I wish I had a photo of him this morning leaving on his commuter....next time.

Ippon and I got in a walk at 7 this morning after Smap left. It was already getting super hot. It is funny how in the winter all I can think about is it being summer. When summer gets here, I am cussing the heat and humidity. I can't ride like I want to because I can't breath...blasted asthma! Ippon is in the house as I take some shots. He just got through walking and decided it was too hot already at 8 am to come back outside. He is just a little bit spoiled. I told him we would go to grandma's (my mom's house) to swim a little later today. He is excited about that.

Here is the really cool cactus that Skinny D gave us! He and Tim brought it over the other night. The thing is a monster! I need to think of a cool name to give him. We placed him on our front stoop for the ample amount of sunshine we get on this south facing side of our house. He'll be a lot of fun to watch as he continues to grow up and out!

Fun with colors... Smap and I have a colorful house....purple dining room, red pool room, yellow den and hallway (I'm going to carry the yellow into the kitchen when we get around to it). Here is one of our guest bedrooms...lime green and brown! LOVE IT... When I am not teaching, working at CBC, riding, reading, or whatever, I love doing my little interior design thing. After my junior year in college, I lived with my sister pretty much until I got married. My sister has always been in charge of decor and furniture/home accesory arrangement...she is really good at it, so I never minded letting her be creative. Well, now that I have my own home (with Smap of course), I finally get to dabble in interior design. Below and above is the most recent room Smap has painted. We're still waiting on our blinds, but otherwise it is a pretty cozy room. I like mixing antiques with contemporary items (shown above). And of course, I LOVE art. The picture below is fuzzy, but is a shot of Smap sitting in a classroom at Farragut High (he was in summer school one summer) with Ronald Reagan. Reagan was in town and had heard about some kids giving up their summer to get their last year of English out of the way. Yeah right. Smap and his friends were in there because they were grounded and the only way they could get out of the house during the summer was to attend summer school. Pretty funny that he got to sit next to ole' Reagan himself. I like the story that goes along with his photo.

This shot above is Smap's water catchment thingy majiggy... He has like 10 of these water barrels he got for a song, so he is going to start collecting lots-o-water...just another thing he is doing to make us more green.

Some more shots...

This is the kind of a Monday I don't mind having. I get up with my husband, eat oatmeal and drink coffee, hang out until Smap leaves, then start my day off doing what ever the hell I want to do! Smap did give me a big chore to do today though....spray off our screened-in porch. It is pretty nasty with all the pollen and such. Fine by me though. It is better than being at school! Plus, I get to see my beautiful dog all day long!

I am going through some more photos here...I found a good file I will save for next month, but here are some more from the last month or so...

Here I am on my birthday I think....documenting my aging process. Below is a shot from my birthday dinner at my Dad's farm....pictured is Rudy (one of the llamas), Dad (in the T hat), Chuck, Joyce, and Peggy. Chuck and Peggy are two of our best friends. We always find different things to celebrate with them. We had a good time that night.

Well, that is all I have for today. Blogger is experiencing some technical difficulties and I don't have the patience to wait. I have some chores and riding to do.

Until next time, peace out.

Another post for the day...

During my and Jen's 12+ hour day of fun yesterday, I totally forgot we took this shot together.  Jen lives in two towns....Knoxville and Nashville.  A normal week for Jen is getting up at @ 4:00 am to leave for Nashville where she works Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from like 6-6.   Sometimes she leaves a little early on Thursdays to drive back to K-town.  So, she misses out on a lot.  She got to come home on Wednesday this week so she got to hang out with me all day Thursday.  We never plan days like this, but when they happen, we have so much fun.  

Jen came over at 7:30 in the morning for our 8:00 golf time with Kimberly.  We played 9 holes at the Concord golf course for $6.00 apiece.  Jen played some as a kid, and I have played a total of maybe 3 times prior to yesterday.  So much fun.   Jen actually got a birdie.  I had a couple of good shots, but never anything consistent.  Like I said previously, we have agreed to start working on our golf.  Totally random for us, but absolutely fun.

After we finished playing golf we went to deliver some furniture for Jen's job.  I helped by staying out of the way basically.  Well, I moved her bike out of the back of the Sprinter to help.  Next, we decided to ride the greenway from Jen's house to downtown to check out some furniture stores and to pay Jen's KUB bill.  I had found some chairs at TJMAXX that I decided I had to have, but were sold when I went back to get them, so now we are searching all the stores in K-town for something similar.  Yeah, I don't usually buy furniture, but I enjoy finding good buys every once in a while.  I did score another table from my dad.  I love going through his barns on his property and spotted an antique dining table gathering lots of dust.  Lucky for me, my dad LOVES me and Smap, so we got a new dining room table.  It needs work, but should be ready for duty soon.  THANKS DAD...WE LOVE YOU!

Jen and I got back to her house around 4:30 from riding greenways etc, and we had to meet our husbands to ride together at 6ish for Sundown.  We left that at like 10ish and rode back to our cars, so she and I were actually together for a good 12+ hours.  Fun times.  Never a dull moment with the two of us.  We can always find something interesting to do whether it is riding, painting walls, shopping, walking, or whatever.  

Cheers!

Summer blogger slacker!

I am not a complete slacker this summer, just a blogger slacker. I have been having so much fun though! Since school has been out, I have been to two Sundown in the City's down on Market Square mall. Last night Smap and I rode down with Jen and Jay Smelser. We lucked out and had one friend (our friend Suzi, who owns World Grotto) invited us down to the VIP lounge at the World Grotto (free food and nice bathrooms), and then we noticed our friend Jay Nevans had his door open up at his office very close to the stage on Market Square. We got to listen to Robert Earl Keen (I think I spelled it correctly) from very close up. It was a fun show. I even went down to dance some with Jen. She and I somehow ended up in the younger age side (the kids were in their high teens to low twenties). It was amazing to see how old we really were just by standing in that section. We felt out of place so quickly moved.

Jen and I played golf yesterday with our friend Kimberly Pemberton. It was a BLAST. Jen and I agreed to start playing more. We need a lot of work, but it is fun to do something SO different than riding a bike. Jen and I also did a big greenway ride from her house yesterday. We successfully spent over 12 hours together yesterday. It was a good time.

I am on the computer in the "cold" room. The room is no longer cold because we still have yet to turn our AC on. Our electricity bill for last month was something like $80. We were pretty proud of that. Smap downloaded a bunch of photos from my camera, so I think today I will finally get around to putting some up.

Enjoy:

Recognize anyone familiar in the above shot???

Above are shots from my Cohutta 100 race. Smap was able to get a shot of Mr.Landis at the start line. He did a 8:27 I think. I think I may be in the shot below somewhere???

Here is my first shot ever of my other BIL (brother-n-law) and his new wife Leslie. They were married in December and have a little one on the way! I am very excited to be an aunt for the first time! Leslie also has a 10 year old from a previous marriage who is equally as good looking as she is. Jay is the middle brother of the Apking boys. I married the oldest of the three.

Below is Alex and Kate. By the way, all these shots of Smap's brothers and such were taken in Cinci, OH several weeks ago for a big family dinner honoring Jay and Leslie's marriage back in December. It was a fun night with yummy good and good company.

Here is a shot of Jay and Barbara (the lady who produced all three of these fine gentlemen!). She is very tiny and VERY pretty. Sweet too. I lucked out in the in-law department!

Below is Kate and Leslie, followed by an after dinner shot of the two of us having a little bit too much fun (everything was funny on the way home that night). Also, a couple shots of our dogs on the way up to Cinci that day (Kate loved how Ippon insisted on sticking his nose up through the head rests so he could see what was going on).

I found a shot of "The King"....above is Steve Apking himself (yellow sweater). Smap, Jay and Alex's dad. He is called "The King" because of his ability to play golf. His pals at his golf club have dubbed him this name. Kate, Leslie and I were looking at some old Apking family albums the other day and found that Big Steve looked so much like Smap in his younger years. Smap also looks like his mom if you ask me.

Below: Dagger 20th Reunion shots. I didn't take many because I was too busy talking. Steve Scarbrough (one of the original 4 owners) promises a CD of shots coming soon. Here is a shot of the yummy cake Teri and Tony's sister made for the occasion. My boss (also very good friend)Teri is below in the pink. Bucky is standing behind her. The shot below her is of DR (David Rose) and his beautiful daughter and Mark Brown. The final shot is of Mark and Tom Windham. Tom and I use to commute from Knoxville to Harriman together. He lives in Kentucky now so I haven't seen him since I was on top of Brass Town Bald in 05' waiting on the Tour de Georgia to race to the finish.

Okay, that is enough fun for the day. I shall post more shots soon. I have a lot of back-logged shots to post. I just don't have the time now! Gotta go work at the bike shop. Keep those boys straight!

Peace

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!