When you see a chance, take it

So, Mother Nature heard my whines, and gave a us a couple of significant periods of clearness. Saturday morning Tiny Robot, Stef is Super, Lindsey, Angela, and I, all had a very productive yard sale, thanks to help from DM and Mary. Much of our old junk was hauled away by friendly strangers and we made a few bucks in the process.

On Sunday, D and I decided to brave our eight mile bike ride, and somewhat unintentionally I guess we were pretty "hardcore" about it--well, definitely for our usual lazy asses, anyway. We decided that if we didn't push too hard to get anywhere quickly that we could do the round trip, and we did. There was even a 45-minute stint in a canoe at Zilker in between trips to boot. We were probably out there for 4 hours, and I estimate we went anywhere from 16-20 miles on the bike altogether. Some of the spots were quite muddy, and it was still pretty hot, though most of the trip was shady on the trail. A few bugs were eaten, as there were several spots on the trail where the tiny fellers kinda swarming around. I told D it's like we were land-whales, filtering plankton and other micro-fauna. I felt good, but I certainly didn't look too pretty was it was all over.

A shower and a nap later, the day was capped off with a dip in the M's parents' awesome lighted pool that evening along with TR.

I'm pretty darn sore and a bit wobbly today, have a small and somewhat mysterious cut, and a little bit of pinkness in a couple places from the sun, but I do feel a sense of accomplishment. Totally worth doing again.

Rain, Stupid Rain

I honestly don't know how many days of rain we've been having here in Central Texas, but it seems to me that it's been raining for like the last two months--maybe even the last three. Sure, when it started, I, along with everyone else, was relieved that it wasn't blazingly hot like the Texas summers usually are. But now I miss the summer sun like a pouting 4-year-old begging to go to the playground, the pool, or just outside to ride my bike. I feel as though I have some sort of off-season S.A.D. It's like we've had more of an extended Texas spring than any sort of proper summer really. There's been confused snails, crickets, and everybody's favorite, mosquitoes everywhere.

It's also been inconvenient for your favorite baby even-toed ungulate, whose complaints are not that far-off from that bratty 4-year-old. I have decided, along with D (of DM), that one of our goals for the summer would be to ride our bikes from our house to Barton Springs Pool, roughly 8 miles. 8 miles is nothing to the many hard core bikers here in Austin, but since I've never done anything like that before, it's kind of a big deal to me. On one particularly inspired day I think maybe a month ago now, we rode what I estimated to be nearly 6 miles, just goofing off around the neighborhood. It was on that day that D came up with this goal, and I agreed to it. I am eager to, if not complete this goal, then at least to practice getting there gradually. I can't even do that because I don't want to catch pneumonia. I may be a brat, but I'm not an idiot. There have been a few days here and there that have been clear, wonderfully sunny and not too hot, that I've been able get out on the bike. However, lately even if I were to brave going all the way, there won't be much of a reward for me there at the end.

Oh, and just in case I forget to mention roads and flooding everywhere, here it is.

I never thought I would miss the ridiculously hot and humid seemingly endless Southern summers, and I'm not advocating for that exactly, but it would be really nice for those clouds to let up for more than just a brief period now. Mommy Nature, please please please, I just want to go outside and play.