help me....

the new combo

I need help with the new color combo...does any one hate it? does any one like it? any suggestions?

this is just about as exciting as AMERICAN IDOL I know...please lete us know what you think...the painter will be done in 2 days! so if we are going to change anything i will have to move fast!

completed!

THE DITCH!

This sucker ended up being 204' long. and it was a pain in the butt to dig. Some spots where easy and others I was breaking rock...like I was in Prison! UDO just sat down there and watched.

THE CULPRIT

The new water softener and nuetralizer are the 3 tanks to the (our) right of the big blue tank.
This process is taking my hard, iron / acid laden water and turning it soft and safe. It also feels like I have soap all over me!

The JD...
too bad i dont have a ditch witch for this sucker

hard right for power

I figureed while I was at it, I would bury some power down by the gate for a light, an outlet and maybe a gate opener...when I am old and lazy!

Fill 'er up!

Its done. all that is left to do is to get my auger out of the ground and place the light post in the ground and wire the light and the switches and we will have it.

Just to make things excited...it rained hard mid day saturday through sunday. I also failed to get my prep work on the gutters done for the guy who is painting our house this week. I hope he is not too pissed!

QUESTION: What are you doing to be a little more GREEN. Our planet is in danger and it is the little things that you and I can do that will help get things going for our planet. Do you want to wait around for our Government or BIG BUSINESS to do the right thing? yeah right!~ The funny thing is, the capitalist is missing the opportunity turning our world green. There is SOOOOOOO much money to be made. WAKE UP!!!!!!!
The first thing Hollie and I are doing is replacing our light bulbs with the compact little jobbers... this is supposed to be way more efficient...sorry GE. We already support local farmers and eat pretty organic. Supporting local farmers reduces fuel waste of transport and storage of foods, plus its fresher. Eating organic eliminates all the harmful chemicals that are destroying our environment, these petro based products also stop the renewable resource cycle. we bike commute to work trying to offset driving and carbon exchange.
what are you doing?

ditchin'

THE DITCH

well, this is what I have been up to lately...digging a ditch! This has to run down past the gate and about 2 feet around the corner into my drainage and back towards the house to the exit bib on the water system. We had to buy a softener a salt tank and a neutralizer system for our well. it was $2600 installed...only so far I have doen al the labor except for putting the tanks in. I had to dig out this rediculous hole under the house for the system to platform on and now this. The guy never told me about this. The 2 new tanks have to back wash 60 gallons each every 3 days...well, those gollons of water are so high in salt that the discharge will kill trees! plus, its washing all my gravel away. so, i dig the ditch. its below the frost line so it wont freeze..while I am at it I am going to drop in electrical for a light on the gate that i can turn on and off from the house. it has been a pain in my butt. Hopefully its worth it!

the next step

THE MOBILE OF MY DREAMS

I think I am in love. this bad mobile turned up while i was searching for flatbed truck camper modifications...this is one bad motor home if you will.............................................anyone want to give me a blank check?
www.ruf-inc.com check 'em out!

Tough Chick

DRYING OUT!

Hollie is a tough chick. This morning she rode her cross bike to work as she always does and after 2 minutes of her leaving the house the skys opened up and strated dumping rain. I was driving in, so I grabbed a rain jacket and headed out to meet her before she hit the trails. I caught up to her, rolled down the window and handed out a rain jacket...just like a crusty old euro director of some cycling team. No compassion, just a jacket. As I drove off I thought to myself, what a jerk. you just left your wife out in the rain and drove off! And then I thought, how cool is that, Hollie just grabbed that jacket like an old pro and got back to riding. She did not ask to get in and I doubt she even thought about it! mucho respect to her this morning, because it was cold out, and nothing sucks more than being cold and wet!

the weekend is over...

HOWDY!

The Weekend was pretty good for us. We went skiing at Royal Gorge on saturday where the snow is dissapearing quickly. I had to do and end of the season "on snow" performance test, to see where i was at. That went okay, but it took me awhile to find a 6 minute hill that was skiable. I got it done though!.. Hollie enjoyed her last day of skiing on the skinny skis. Its hard not to, it is so beautiful up there, I think everyone should go at least once just to see the views! Its a little early to be putting the skis away, but the storage wax is on all the skis and we switched over to the bikes on sunday.

COMIN' IN HOT!

So Sunday we got out on the dirt and did some riding! We got out on the new section of Miners trail off the bottom of the lower section of the Pioneer trail. My hat is off to the folks who did the re route of tha trail. It is wonderful. Challenging and a real refreshing stretch of trail. We loved it! Thanks!

PRETTY

Saturday we also took the dogs on 2 hour hike. our plans were to go all the way down to the jones bar section of the south fork of the yuba river, but we got stopped about 300 feet short of the river by a big ol rattle snake. that sucker was 5' long and it scared the crap out of me! Hollie did not even see it and she was on track to step on it! I always have my snake eyes on down there and i screamed, "SNAKE!" Damn snakes! I hate them! So we turned around and headed back up. I had my snake radar on for sure after that. Thanks goodness Hollie was paying attention and snapped the pick of the spring flowers...

ANNIE OAKLEY

I thought I would put this one in the post. Hollie practicing her positioning for shooting. She is aiming at a tac on the wall. has she lost her mind?
its only Monday and I cant wait for the weekend. I hope we do something fun!
I am up for some adventure.
I have been going to the gym 3 days a week and I am not allowed to do too much extra activities per my coach, I am getting bummed a bit. the gym sucks.

Kula Girl

Hollies KULA SUPREME

Who loves the pink cable housing? I think it looks really good with the toothpaste green! What A sweet bike. Its built up with Shimano XTR components and FSA carbon cranks...the fork is a Rock Shox SID world cup, the one with the carbon steer tube and crown...nice. This sweet little number was put together masterfully by the best mechanico in the world...the loon dawg. You should go see rich over at TR2 bike shop in grass valley...he will get you going!

AHH how cute!

I hope the matching bikes dont make you want to get sick...because if they dont,when we wear matching kits that will! (should we get monogramed towels too!?)
These bikes rule. Everyone should go and test ride a Kona. These bikes are full of Soul and performance, the best of both worlds. We like 'em

ROAD TRIP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FOXY GETTING CUMF'

The whole family hit the road this weekend. We headed off to Mammoth Lakes, California for the final nordic ski race of the year. I did the 42km skate race and Hollie did the 21km skate race.

I was excited to hit the road!

Tamarack Lodge parking lot was our home for the trip. We "boondocked" right on the frozen shores of Mary Lake. The dogs love the snow...even when it is filthy!

Udo is the chief navigator. He makes sure no one up front is slacking off when driving.

The trooper poopers hanging out in the camper willing us to let them do their own thing!

Breakfest is served! Pre race meal, cereal and eggs...

The Line up of the 42km field...thats me on the far edge...is that a gun show pose or am I stretching it out?

AHHHH, a granite fin poking out of the shadows just after sunrise.

The race went really well. The conditions were pretty good until the last lap but all in all a good day out. I dont know what got in to me, but I had an itch to attack early on in this long race and I did. I think we got things going a little early in the race but it shook things up to make it very interesting. My hat goes off to my mate, Rick for using good tactics to help me get the initial gap and a big tip of the cap goes out the Jacub Benes and August B. August followed my attack and solidified the damage. Unfortuantley for August, i think his effort got the best of him as he fell off the pace. Jacub and I duked it out for the rest of the race. Jacub out skied me in the end. His skis were better in the softening snow, but his efficient technique and strength got Jacub the win. I came in second after getting popped in the last 10 kilometers. I was fighting my skis and wasting energy...it got me in the long run. We still went fast coming in under 2 hours...I should not blame the skis. They rocked the first 2/3's of the race, and it has most to do with the fact that I did not put a "rill" in the bases' to help evacuate the moister form the contact of ski to snow. MY BAD. Hollie had a great time too. She was the 8th female finisher and the first in her age group. Plus, she shaved 18 minutes off her time from last year. NICE WORK!
Anyway, ski racing is over for the year and it is time to move on. I am working hard to put together our route for our big camper trip and trying to coordinate some cool mountain bike races / riding with our trip...so if anyone has any "MUST DO" races in the the inter mountian west in the next 6-8 weeks let me know!