The Week In Review.

Our Humble Tomato garden

So much has happened this week, and I have only now begun to blog about it.   Actually,   Our week has been rather boring, bu I will try to be entertaining.    Here is what I have so far....

Our Tiny Tomatoes.

Cheryl in the rain. 

Garden planting!   It is done!   And now we rely on Mother nature to be "nice" and not kill our plants.   Our tomato plants never really get very large in our small, sunlight-reprived apartment.   So,  We are forced to make an extreme decision to get them out into nature as soon as possible.   And because of this,   we are more like a Salmon...  Laying millions of eggs in the hopes one or more of them survive to become adults.   I'm not sure exactly how many plants Cheryl started, but I do know there were two full trays!  (48x2 small starter pots.) Of those,  we only have about a dozen that actually had plants grow large enough.   The weather has helped somewhat in that there is no frost and it has been raining for the last several days.   A nice rain, too!   Not a downpour like so many Iowa Spring rains.

Cold and wet.

Pretty!  At least we are alone. 

Speaking of rain,  there is nothing quite as fun as running in the rain.   Just ask Cheryl!   She seems to really enjoy the cold, clammy feeling.  As mentioned before,   it has rained on and off but we always seem to find the perfect time to run in it.  But...if it doesn't rain.....

Windy and Cold...At least we are alone.

Cheryl in the wind.

Then it blows!    Wind!  That is....   Thursday it was very windy and running and biking against it was ...so much fun.    You can see the wind blow Cheryl's braids sideways.    One of the perks with running and biking on miserable days is that you usually have the entire trail to yourself.   Usually...  There always seems to be another nut-case out there with us. 

Cheryl on a Bike!

And then there was yesterday.   Cheryl wanted to take a break from running and we decided to ride our bikes.   Everything was going good until....  My bike sent me a message.

My brother Riding a Horse.... 

Allow me to go off on a tangent here for a moment.   Once upon a time,  Me, my brother, and the two Noormans who lived next door,  All went to the flying Horseshoe ranch to go Horseback riding.   My brother was the ... Largest of us 4... so they went and found him the biggest, strongest, horse they had on the ranch.   Eric said when he climbed on the horse,  the horse gave out a gasp!  And then looked at him with grimacing disdain.   Once on the trail,  Eric's horse took off and we did not see him until the very end.   His horse ran the entire way and looked like he has just hauled a huge load of logs down from the mountains of Colorado!   Eric,  Surviving the life threatening ordeal,   was carrying a blanket around his middle...because with all that galloping,  he has tore his pants into several tattered pieces...

What the Heck is this!   Is that Normal?

Is my tire Supposed to look
like this?  

I tell this story... not because this happened to me... but because I love giving my brother a hard time.   However,  My time appears to be coming.   Yesterday,   My bike's tire blew out of the sidewall.    I could blame it on the cheap tire...  Or the fact we were climbing a hill at the time.    But it probably is because I'm a chubby and I push the PSI limits on the bike tire specs.

Good news:  Golf ball buldge is gone.
Bad news:   My tire is now flat! 

Unfortunately,  I was ALL ALONE! 

Well,  with the Subie being 2 miles away,  I babied the golf ball sized bulge until almost one mile before the inner tube also popped!   ( Pretty startling actually.)  Forcing me to walk the remaining mile back.   So much for a pleasant 15 mile ride.    "Lucky" for us... World of Bikes was just around the corner!

World of Bikes to the Rescue?

Tires are on SALE?  

Cheryl does not like World of Bikes.   And I'm not the fondest of them either.   Oh, Sure!  They are knowledgeable. They are great if you drop your bike off and tell them to fix it.  ( and expensive!)  But if you want to fix it yourself...   Good Luck!   They will usually point you in the right direction and then sell you the wrong stuff ( at least 50%of the time).   And you will be forced to either bring it back and admit you couldn't fix it yourself,  Or   you go to Scheels and buy the right stuff and fix it with your dignity still intact.   Well,  Scheels was on the other side of town and World of Bikes was right here...  I thought I would roll the dice.

I'll Buy TWO!  Just to be safe. 

Maybe scrub up the Bike a little 

They hooked me up with a new outer-wall that was on sale!    I was so thrilled that I purchased two of them because the front tire was the one remaining tire that came with the bike. ( and was probably bound to go any time soon)  With the sale Price,  they were cheaper than the usual ones I buy at Sheels. ( the "cheaper" versions...)  And one last thing... I need one new inner tube for the back tire.   And Home we go!   I can't wait to get my bike back on track.

Clean those hard to reach places.

I even decide today would be a good day to give it a thorough cleaning.   I scrub up the brakes and bike frame in those "hard to reach places."    And then....

Wrong Inner Tube?  You Got To be
KIDDING ME?

They gave me the wrong bike tube for my tire.   Oh,  the diameter checked out.  But the Valve Stem was the wrong size.   Here we are 25 miles from town and I can't put my tire on because I have no way to fill up the inner tube.   I was rather ....disappointed.

So today,  I stopped into Scheels again... and bought the RIGHT part... again.    And fixed my bike by myself.... again.   Why do I bother to go to a place like World of Bikes?   The abuse?   The humiliation?   ( Humiliation required an audience...  hence why I never go back to tell them their devious plan worked!)  I'm not a huge fan of Scheels either.   They all have their issues.   But at least I have been able to come away from Scheels with a sense of accomplishment after it is all said and done.

Cheryl getting Creative. 

Mushroom Chocolate? 

And lastly:   Cheryl experimental baking/candy making.    For some unknown reason,  Cheryl bakes stuff and then pushes it on me.   Is she trying to keep my bike tires flat?  Sometimes,  I refuse... Other times, my curiosity gets the better of me.   For example:  She put some Mushrooms in Chocolate.   Strange?   Yes!   But aren't you a little curious how they might taste?   So was I.

Are they safe to eat?  

Once you get past the flavor...
they are not that bad. 

Surprisingly,  not that bad.   The mushroom gives it an odd earthy flavor.   Which, I must admit, is an acquired taste.   After the first one,  that initial "Earth Shock"  goes away and you can eat the rest of the chocolates normally.  Today, she is making Raspberry Cheesecake Brownies with Chocolate Chips.   If that does not sound like diabetic insta death,  then nothing else will!   They are so rich, I could only eat a couple before getting sick  of them.  I may have to leave the rest for her to eat... (Which she won't!   She with either push them onto me or throw them out, sighting that they are too dangerous for her to eat.)

Enjoy the pleasant Spring Weather. 

So,  that is all.   Exciting!  Right?   I skipped all the origami stuff, because...  there is no need to overload a single blog post.  Hopefully, something fun and exciting will happen tomorrow so I will not have to save up over several days.   We shall see.

Thanks for stopping in!  And hopefully the weather and Spring sunshine will brighten up your area.   See  ya soon.