Friday was a long day. I was picked up at 8am for the drive up to Mount Yonah where four of us — Fuckeye, Davey, Dribbles, myself — did the 4.5 mile hike. It is a very long drive to Mount Yonah from Atlanta, about ninety minutes when traffic is good. Unfortunately we completed our hike before Tantrum Brewing opened for the day, so instead we headed to NoFo Brew Co. At NoFo we had a few beers, shared a pizza, and even ran into Bwana out of the blue. By the time I was dropped off at home, around 4pm, I was exhausted. I ate dinner, watched tv, and turned in to bed early.
On Saturday I waited out the rain by making a Kroger run. Once the rain stopped Betsy, Bella, and I did an abbreviated walk.
I was home and puttering around the house in the afternoon and tried to decide how to occupy myself for the evening. One option was to go to Lee+White to join up with the hashers who rode the Beltgrind. Instead, I chose to return to Midway Pub to watch the Atlanta United game. I had long envisioned the return to soccer watching at a bar, but suffice to say that the evening was not as I hoped. I sat at the bar and watched the 0-0 draw which also saw the United lose its starting goalkeeper with an apparent Achilles injury. Guzan’s injury was ironic since prior to the match’s start I saw him interviewed wearing a suit and wondered if he had gotten injured and I had not heard the news. Another option I had Saturday night was to sit in my backyard burning some wood in the firepit, but everything was wet from the morning rain and I was afraid of sitting alone at the fire.
Saturday also saw my first sighting of a rabbit in WLF. Dangen! The last thing WLF needs is another freeloading critter. Looks as if I am going to have to put netting over anything that won’t require pollination to produce vegetables.
Yesterday was Easter Sunday of course. Even though the rain wasn’t to arrive until late in the afternoon (and didn’t until evening!) the bike riding portion of the day was a washout. Instead, as most of you know, we convened on the Deck Mahal for lunch. Thanks to Bonnie’s reminder of what I brought last year, vegetarian sausage balls, I brought the same this year. I should have made life easier on myself and brought some cream cheese with red pepper jelly, I think I brought that to at least one Easter ride. However, I think my sausage/cheese balls were really good.
Prior to driving up to Marietta I put my road bike back onto the trainer and rode for an hour while watching Paris Roubaix on the big screen.
Of course on a day I don’t blog I guessed yesterday’s Wordle in two, which is why I am bragging about that now. 🙂
Since the road bike is on the trainer I might get on it again this morning. More exercise won’t hurt, especially after stuffing my face yesterday. I want to get in a little more saddle time before STU this weekend. I will have mixed emotions at STU, with the passing of Benny and all, but am looking forward to spending many hours pedaling.
Tonight I am laying the Moonlight trail. It appears that I will escape getting washed out, thankfully the rain is predicted to stop this morning so hopefully things will dry out enough for me to use chalk for trail. Though I have not prepared nearly enough, I will attempt to lay a 4-mile trail, with a 2-mile Short option for the walkers. This way everyone can be back at the bar to order before the 9pm closure of the kitchen. Fingers crossed. I also have to be done eating/drinking early for reasons that will be a part of tomorrow’s blog post.
I hope that you had an enjoyable Easter weekend.
I solved today’s Wordle in four attempts; my starter today was RANTS. Some might say that I am an expert at those…
Wordle in 4. Had I used my usual starting word of AISLE, I might have done better, but I used SAINT, which was almost as good.
Saturday evening was the Hunt Ball. Held at the “barn” at Chatt Hills, it has never and likely will never see a horse inside. Very well attended, maybe 150 folks, all dressed up in their best Yellowstone meets Downton Abbey finery (don’t ask). Highland formal with cowboy boots for me. The band which we have used to great success in the past was too damn loud and finally drove us out. I will never understand…
Sunday was EasterMas (Easter + Christmas) for Debbie’s family. We had been postponing and postponing, but finally it all aligned. Traditional EasterMas taco’s for lunch, followed by an egg hunt and then the present exchange.
The weather forecast for the coming weekend looks good, so hopefully we will have dry racing in Hapeville and Lagrange.
-FP
I arrived at Piedmont at 5:30 AM as instructed but didn’t get taken back until after 1:00 PM because an emergency appendectomy jumped the line on me. At the height of my frustration with 7.5 hours in the waiting room I kept reminding myself that I was’t the person having unplanned surgery that day. Everything worked out in the end, double hernia repair, so hopefully I’m good to go for the long run now. My six weeks of not being able to lift anything heavier than 15 pounds is underway.
I started PT for my arm last week and I’m feeling optimistic. My range of motion is coming back faster than I would have thought. I still have a long way ahead of me, but my arm is responding. Basically I had to sacrifice not using my shoulder for a few weeks in order to protect my broken arm. Now that the arm is far enough along in its healing, I can start reclaiming my shoulder again.
I thought the sky was falling earlier this year to have two surgeries back to back, but in the end I’m getting a two for one on the recovery. I’ll take it. I don’t know how realistic it will be to get back on a bike in June, but I can at least return to yoga class, so that will be a step toward normalcy. I am doing some private yoga sessions between now and then that work within the various constraints that I currently have.
Wordle in 5, which is pretty typical for me, although I did get it in 3 over the weekend. 1:08 on the NYT Mini. I’m still doing Heardle sometimes…when the music is from my era I can get it in 1 second. If it’s modern music, I’m a total fail.
Heardle?! I may have to give that a whirl. Glad things are slowly but surely on the upswing.
It’s fun when you know the song. It’ll make you feel old though when you don’t. 😉 And thank you, Bonnie. I am working my way back.
Sorry you had the delay, but glad all worked out and you are on the mend.
I have heard of Heardle, but haven’t attempted it. I’m learning from crosswords what I think I already knew, my knowledge of anything popular since 2010 is very weak.
Thanks, Paulie. I was given the option to reschedule for another day, but I quickly figured out where hernias fell on the food chain, and I decided to wait it out rather than gamble with burning another day. I did get out and walk 3 miles during the wait, so that helped tremendously.
Yes, crosswords will shine a light on how checked out one is from popular culture, that is for sure.
Paulie’s sausage balls were indeed very good. Thanks again to Barb for hosting the crew. All the food was good!
I have a shit ton of chores to do today before the hash.
Other big news is that we are going to France for vacation in less than a month so vacation planning will be ramping up… I haven’t been on a plane since before COVID. Now, I have to break the news to my family and try and explain why we are going to Europe instead of visiting them (who I haven’t seen since before COVID). I need to plan a trip soon after vacation…
You will be in France far too early for the Tour de France, but I understand that there are other things to do there as well.
Wordle in 5, using your word Paulie.
*applause*
Woo Hoo!! Go Bonnie! (and just remember, even the regular French hate Parisians)
Our very limited plan of heading to Scotland in August (hey, you wanna go to Scotland?) might have been dashed on the rocks when I write a VERY LARGE CHECK to Uncle Sam later today. $11k. Ouch.
Ouch! I thought 2.5k hurt!
Jesus Christ, man. At least you’re doing your part to support the war effort in Ukraine? The thing about taxes is you only have to pay them when you make money, but still that’s a nasty amount to have to pay.
Yeah, we got burned by making the 401k withdrawal for the land clearing and fencing. Apparently, while they withheld an amount, it wasn’t enough. And then Debbie wasn’t withholding enough out of her check… it stings a bit.
And I’m glad everything went well with the surgery. A little delay ain’t too bad.
I paid estimated taxes last year, only worked eight months, and was expecting a refund. Imagine my surprise when I was told that I had to shell out an additional $2500! *angry*
Oh, yeah, a 401k withdrawal will get you for sure. That makes sense.
Regarding the surgery delay, yes, I kept reminding myself that if that’s the worst that happens today, I am so golden. I was concerned about the surgeon being tired, because I went from first in line to last in line, but the surgery was mostly carried out by a robot, so I felt OK proceeding. There are 1 million hernia surgeries on average each year in the US.
Ooh-la-lah! 🙂
And speaking of Paris-Roubaix, I found it great that the winner yesterday didn’t make the time cut in October.
Phillipe Gilbert? Or someone else.
Some Ineos rider I’ve never heard of. Dylan van Baarl.
Oh, I missed the “in October” part. Sorry.
Okay time for me to shower off the shame of a weak workout. Hope you are not eating whilst I talk about showering…
Come to think of it, the mention of “Paulie’s sausage balls” above was a wee bit graphic. 😉 😉 😉 😉
Not unintentional? 🙂
You are testing the staying power of your readers, I see. 🙂
If the past two weeks haven’t scared you all away I am safe. Of course, being overconfident gets me into many troubles…
Hoping the threat of rain clears out soon…
Aren’t you all up & chatty this morning.
back to work…….. what fun……..
Wordle in 5 -my brain wasn’t working
Mini in 1:31 – better
Taxes- we got a refund from the Feds – I did pay 2 of the 4 estimated tax payments – so it would have been close without those. but I only worked 4 months.
David- glad to hear the surgery is over. Hoping recovery goes faster than expected.
Thanks, Barb! Kudos on your NYT Mini times! The bright spot for me is it looks like my arm may bounce back faster than expected. There’s no getting around not being able to lift anything heavier than 15 pounds for six weeks. I’m not going to push it, either. I have a friend who had hernia surgery and then had to have a second surgery 8 weeks later because he picked up his teenage daughter. I’ve had enough surgeries lately, thank you very much.
Good luck with your reentry week, those are always dicey.
Just spent 30 minutes in WLF, boy howdy is there humidity in the air still.
Wordle in 4 using Steve’s AISLE starter.
The weekend was MEH for me. Too much going on, work emergency, tax bill from hell. I need a vacation, but now we can’t afford one!
Finally planting the heirloom tomato seedlings I got from a friend this afternoon, she started more than 700 tomato plants so our little local community will be overrun with tomatoes this summer. I could eat fresh tomato sandwiches daily, so lunch and dinner for June and July are covered. 😉
Glad you’re on the way to recovery David. The waiting around all day for surgery stinks, but it’s behind you.
Thank you, Debbie!
And wow, I had to read that twice, 700 tomato plants? Overrun is an understatement. Maybe that’s the approach Paulie needs to take to outdo the critters on WLF? 😉 😉 😉
3pm and I am champing at the bit to get out and lay trail. I may leave soon just to get it done, but then what? The hash doesn’t meet until 7pm…
Must keep mind occupied, but I am no longer interested in reading my book today.
The clouds are messing with my head
Rats! I left my AirPods at home!
Trail is laid. Took me ninety minutes to walk it all. It won’t win any awards, but should be a good outing as long as the skies continue to clear.
Now how to occupy myself for the next hour and forty-five minutes that doesn’t involve eating, drinking, or making myself sad.