A day at my mom's pool...

For some reason unknown to me, I always forget my mom has a super fabulous pool in her back yard with free admission anytime I want to come and play with my friends.  Last weekend I decided to invite both of Smap's brothers (Jay and Alex) and their wives (Leslie and Kate), and Jay and Leslie's little one (Anna) over for a day in the pool.  Luckily my mom had a camera and captured a few cute shots of my favorite beautiful niece.  

We played in the pool ALL day long.  Lucky for us, Jay loves to invent stupid pool games, so all of us including my mom and Sam (my stepdad) laughed the day away while trying to jump through a hole in the middle of a float while trying to catch a ball.  I wish we had some shots from that because it was pretty funny.

Anyway, while we played all day in my mom's pool, Smap worked all day at Haw Ridge to get the race course ready for the Haw Ridge XC race the following day on Sunday.  Unfortunately he got bit by something and it really made him sick.  He started getting feverish Saturday night and on Sunday (race day) he was pretty much delirious.  I took over his race responsibilities with the help of Alex and Kate, and he went home and suffered the worse case of a dirty bug bite I have ever seen.  Stupid us didn't take his temperature until Monday morning (good thing I didn't go into the medical profession), and Smap's temp was 103.4.  We got him into see our doctor and the doc was mystified by his symptoms.  My dad being a retired ER doc pretty much summed it up to be the dirty bug bite since he does have a suspicious red bite on his shin...and the very swollen lymph node on his leg pretty much spelled it out.  Thank goodness for modern medicine (although I am sure Smap would have much rather taken something homeopathic because that is how he is).  The antibiotic has cleared him up and he is feeling much better...finally after several days of pretty much the worst he has ever felt in his whole life (he actually said this).

So, I have one more week of freedom before I go back to school!  It is about time!  I am ready for school to get back so I can get another summer off!  Ha!

Peace

Happy Birthday (a few days late) to Smap...

Smap riding around on his unicycle at the Big South Fork mountain bike race. (all my photos are Randy Conner's by the way...thanks Randy!)

The start of our Sport race...technically we all got first in our age groups...I was the only one on a single speed and got spanked by Abby...Good race Abby!!!!!!

Me coming in at the end of my second lap...glad to be done with that dang gravel road!

Abby is warming up for our race.

Abby and me at the end of our race at Big South Fork...it was a pretty flat course. My first time riding there. Loved the course, but I hated the gear I had on my single speed....spinny spinny spinny!

Well, my summer is quickly fading away fast. It has been terrific though. I have been working at the label company some every week and at the bike shop (Cedar Bluff Cycles). This past weekend was Smap's 43rd birthday. We spent the weekend volunteering and racing (me). This past Saturday was the YMCA sprint tri...pretty ridiculous to have a relay team, but we did. I teamed up with a few of our kids from the bike shop (Omar and Weber). Our relay team had the fastest time of the entire race by 12 seconds. My swim was slow compared to their run and bike times...I am just not a sprinter. Give me a mile or longer and I am happier.

On Sunday (Smap's birthday), we got up extremely early and drove down to the Big South Fork National Park where our friend Randy Conner set up a great TBRA mountain bike race. Smap volunteered to help Randy and Jay Nevans, so I hung and raced. There were all of 3 racers in the women's sport category. I finished in the middle behind my good good friend Abby Chandler. She killed me on the flats due to my lack of gears (I only ride a single speed). Anyway, it was a blast.

Over the Fourth of July, we went to Hilton Head, SC with some friends. We always have so much fun with Chuck and Peggy. I hope the house is still there for us next year...fingers crossed it doesn't get sold. :)

So, July seems to be flying by while June went pretty slow. Sucks that I will be back in school in less than a month. I really can't complain though. I have had it extremely good all summer!

Happy Father's Day!

Yep, I have slacked again on the whole blog thing.  I have a TON of photos to download, but still have yet to do it.  I just want to give a Father's Day shout out to my favorite Dad today! Happy Father Day Dad!  And, I also need to say Happy Father's Day to my favorite step-dad Sam, my favorite Father-in-law Steve, and of course my husband Smap!

Summer has been going great. I have been working here and there at the label company, the bike shop, and around the house.  I still have not been riding as much as year's past (I don't know if it is because I have been on a bike for the last 12 years and just need a break, or what?).  Anyway, when the trails dry up, we hope to get a lot more single speed time in.  I have been getting a ton of swim miles in though, and Smap has been getting a LOT of time in on his new unicycle.  

I think I may have mentioned before, but I love finding old furniture.  Over the last several years I have been looking for the perfect chairs for my dining room.  I didn't want new ones or anything made in China of course. Finally I was looking through Craig's list the other day and found something that could work.  Below are a few photos I took with my cell.

Here is the before and after....the chair on the right is the new fabric.  I am not sure what the gal was thinking when she picked out the fabric on the left...it looked worse in real life.  I really wasn't sure about the chairs when I went out to Kingston to get them, but then I found the perfect fabric that goes with all the colors in my house.  So, for $140 total (fabric included), I got four new chairs! LOVE IT!

Here is my sis (Larkin), with our good friends' (Danny and Ruthie) baby Olive.  They flew into Nashville and hung with my sis one night, then the next night came to K-town to visit with Smap and me.  We loved meeting cute little Olive!  She is beautiful just like her mom!  I will get some pics of Danny and Ruthie posted sometime soon.Finally, here is a pic I took at the Coldplay show in Nashville.  We honestly don't listen to Coldplay that much, but we wanted to see them.  It is one of those bands like U2, The Police, etc that I just wanted to see because they are so huge.  We really loved the concert although we didn't have the best seats like my sister did (she was on the floor on the 15th row), but we still had a great time.  The photo above is of course from when they performed "Yellow".  When we left the Sommet Center, everyone was given a free CD....great time!

Fisher is 100% better now...he is killing something in the yard everyday now.  This morning he had a bird and yesterday afternoon it was a mole he was tossing around.  We love our little Fish.  Ippon is getting around slowly these days, but he is really enjoying his summer with me spoiling the crap out of him everyday.  He has a great life for a dog!

I am really enjoying my summer off!  I do wish I could ride more.  Hopefully these afternoon showers will come to an end soon.  Until then, I will be sticking to the pool.

That is about it for today.  Again, I hope to post some photos soon!

Peace.

Funny weather and school letting out!

I have been another blog slacker lately. I have been taking photos, but I never download them. I don't like the computer at home that we download on to, so I just never do it. I let Smap do it because he has a lot more patience than I.

Well, over the last month a lot has been going on. Most recently, I was out of school for a whole week due to the SWINE FLU. Yep, I luckily teach at the only school in my school district and East Tennessee for that matter, that got out for a whole week. We just learned last night that we won't have to make up those days at the end of the school year. Which means, my last day of school with kids is this Friday! Yes!

Over Mother's Day, I accompanied my mom and sister down to Panama City Beach, Florida. My sister and I use to do this 1/2 Ironman down there every year together. I quit doing it like 5 years ago because I just can't run anymore. This year was my sister's ninth year in a row to compete. She did well despite the heat placing 8th in her age group and making the podium at the after party.

Fisher is healing fine these days. He is still inside and hating it. He has about two more weeks before he can go back outside and play. He is going nuts inside...he is definitely an outside cat.

Ippon is getting along pretty well at 12 1/2 years old. We think he is entirely jealous of Fisher being inside with him, but he puts up with the crazy cat pretty good despite being an only child for all these years. He still goes to work every day with Smap except when he is on my teaching schedule. Luckily, his summer vacation starts next week too!

Smap and I have been planting a lot of stuff this year. We have a bunch of strawberries coming up, an assortment of peppers, tomatoes, herbs, and leafy greens. Our front yard is going to soon be one big garden when all is said and done.

Riding has not been a huge priority for us this spring. We have turned into "fair weather riders" basically this year....just finding other things around the house or yard to do if the trails are too wet, or if it just isn't warm enough. This has been an extremely wet year so far, so hopefully we will get some more trail time in soon.

Smap and I have been to most of the Sundowns this year....Smap has been to all but one, and I have missed two. Free shows are just too good a deal to pass up when tickets to concerts usually range in the upper $30's or so. Cheap fun is what we enjoy!

Well, this is it for today. I should hopefully start blogging more regularly this summer when I have a little bit more time.

Peace

A great weekend!

Outformation! A guy I have known since Kindergarten (Jeff Lane) plays the bongo in the band Outformation. This band is based in Atlanta, GA, but they travel all over the US. They have opened up for great bands such as Widespread Panic! Saturday night here in good ole' K-town, Outformation played at Barley's downtown. They were AWESOME. I haven't seen Jeff since high school graduation in 93'...I think....way too long to go without seeing old friends. Smap and I hope to paddle and hang out with Jeff some this summer down at the Ocoee. I also hope to get to see Outformation perform again soon. We only stayed for the first set since they started playing at 10:45...a little late for me. I am not one who likes to stay out late, but staying until midnight this weekend was well worth it!

Our little Fisher. Below is a photo I took of him when we were bringing him home from surgery last Thursday. He didn't know what was going on and was a little confused. As you can see, he has a 6 cm stitched up incision where the doc went in and put a small screw. They think he will have a full recovery in about 8 weeks. The poor little guy is going crazy not being able to run around. The photo above is Fisher in his outside cell. We put him outside the last two days with us while we planted some new trees and worked in the yard. He really enjoyed being outside in the fresh air. We look forward to Fish being able to run and play soon!

Other than Fisher and Outformation, we had a great weekend. This past Thursday was the first Sundown in the City. Arrested Development played! I didn't listen to them that much in high school, but I did remember a few songs; "Tennessee" and "Mr.Windall". Sundowns are always a good time for the people watching and the good tunes. We also run into old friends and enjoy riding our bikes down to Market Square.

GOOD TIMES!

Poor little Fisher.

Our baby Fisher was hit by a car in front of our house on Tuesday morning. We have a huge problem with cars driving extremely too fast up and down our street due to our street being a long straight street. Something really has to be done about it!

Fortunately, Fisher is still with us but he did have to have extensive surgery last night on his pelvis area. The doctor put a small screw in him, and said he should be pretty good after 8+ weeks in his crate. Above is a shot of him Tuesday night. He was not happy to be in a cage, and I am sure he will be protesting everyday about it. We can't take any chances though. We love this little guy so much. We did sleep through the last two nights without any bites or scratching to get our attention to go outside...we really don't mind it though and I actually kind of miss it.

Please remember to drive slowly through neighborhoods and housing areas. There are precious animals out there who aren't always paying attention. We still don't know how exactly our little guy got hit. We are still trying to figure it out. We know what the car looks like and we know she lives in our neighborhood. Bad karma on her part for not facing up!

Keep the little guy in your thoughts!

Peace.

Raccoon Mountain...a really great place for single speeders!

This past weekend Smap and I and a few of our friends headed down to Raccoon Mountain which is conveniently located just outside of downtown Chattanooga.  There is a terrific trail system there that grows every year.  The trails are pretty fast with just enough climbing (just enough for a single speeder), lots of rock to navigate over and around, and just a bunch of miles of FUN.  Did I mention the temperature was PERFECT this weekend?  It can get pretty hot and muggy in those woods, but not this past weekend.

Here is Smap over looking East TN's version of the Grand Canyon.  Beautiful.  This lookout is off of the Small Intestine trail.  Probably my favorite trail in the system.  

After the fun, we headed downtown to the city to enjoy some cold frosty beverages and food at the local brewery, Big River Brewery.  Their fish tacos and burgers (as well as the beer) totally hit the spot!  I can't wait to go back down there for the riding and the after riding dining downtown!
Below is a really cool piece of art on the artsy plywood wall on the outskirts of Market Square in downtown Knoxville.  I met the artists as they finished putting up their version of the Velviteen (sp?) Rabbit.  I usually take photos of the different art left by the different artists who enjoy leaving their mark.  I especially love mixed media too.  Pretty cool huh!?!

It is April 6th and it is cold as crap outside!  I actually put my down jacket on to go to the grocery store a few minutes ago.  I am soooo glad it should only be cold for a few days because I just can't stand putting on real shoes and socks after it has been warm for a little while.  I also can't stand putting on long pants....ick! I am so over that cold weather wardrobe.  

Well, this weekend it looking to be warm again.  Friday is a school holiday!!!  GOOD FRIDAY!  I actually don't have to work on my birthday!  We are still up in the air what we are going to do....all I know is that I won't be cleaning house on my day off or on my birthday.  I got that taken care of today.  Maybe there will be some sort of dry trails remotely close by for my riding pleasure?  After riding my new Fisher SS, I really could care less about getting back on my road bike.  I will of course, but I won't be as giddy about it.  

Oh, I have a school count down going right now....I always do for the last grading period.  I am down to 31.5 days of school left this year!  Freaking awesome!  Hard to believe this is my third year of teaching and I got tenure already!  Such a relief especially with the school system cutting jobs! OUCH.  

Well, until later!  Peace.