A Field Of Wild Flowers

Well now that Summer has finally found its way to the Pacific Northwest, I thought I'd give everyone a little glimpse of the gorgeous wild flowers that I ride past on my commute to and from work. The yellow lupine smells like pure sugar in the air and the wild Nootka Roses have the most amazing sharp rose scent........... When the air is still, it's like riding through a sea of scents :) These are just the "big ones", if you get down close to the ground, there are dozens more varieties!

Lupine, vetch and yarrow....

These flowers line the trail all the way from work until I hit the tree line and head up through the woods. Simply amazing!

Salmon Berry

California Poppies

And my absolute favorite, the wonderful Nootka Rose!

Bike Snob

Here are the first "DIY" stencils for my new t-shirt / punk patch designs..........
Keep your eyes peeled, these babies won't last long when they start "rolling off the press"!


Just in case you're wondering, the "C" is the Cinelli logo and the "flying wheel" is the Campagnolo logo.

An Ocean Of Dirt & Bricks

For the last couple of weeks, Sweet Pea's been excavating for a new patio addition. Today the diggings done and she has started on the brick laying...........It's looking great and it even has a fire pit! I've been standing in as support on the brick portion, hauling dirt and bricks over, but the entire excavation, design and brick laying have all been Sweet Pea's :)

In the course of the excavation, she uncovered two little boats! One is a little U.S. Coast Guard patrol boat and the other is a "Rum Runner"..............


Boats, boats, boats............even when it's bricks, bricks, bricks.

Big Bike Weekend

This last weekend we were over in Fremont-Seattle for the Solstice Festival. Sweet Pea was selling her jewelery at the street fair and and I was "support" for the weekend :)


N8 had given me his Cinelli, LOOK Team Issue road bike and I picked it up while we were over there. All I can say is WOW! After one ride on this magnificent machine, I am now officially a "Bike Snob"! Cinelli frame, Campagnolo dropouts, chromed fork and rear stays, Campagnolo drive train, Fulcrum race wheels, Nitto drop bars............... Way smooth and WAY FAST!!!



On Sunday at the fair, I needed to find a T-shirt........ I took a little trek out into the fray and found an alley around the corner next to a vintage clothing shop. They were having a bulk clothing garage sale. The alley was lined with piles of clothes with a sign that said everything was under five dollars. I found a brand new Canondale bike jersey and a LeMond bike T-shirt, both for $1.00 each. I also picked up a vintage Filson jacket from the pre-WWII era for $4.00 !!!!!!! Not bad for six bucks :)



Great weekend, great time, and to top it all off, the sun is out and shining! The weather service is calling for hot summer weather all through the week and next weekend! Wahoo!

Wild Wild West.........

Yesterday we braved the weather and loaded up the bikes on the back of the Jeep and headed out to Sequim for a mountain bike ride. N8 was out for a short visit from school so we decided to show him the Sequim to Port Angeles stretch of the Olympic Discovery Trail.



We rode 14 1/2 miles to Port Angeles, had dinner at the Asian Bistro, then rode 14 1/2 miles back to the car....... not a bad way to spend an afternoon. The National Weather Service called for cloudy and dry and we ended up with drizzle on the final stretch into Port Angeles, and a bit of drizzle on the start of the ride back. Just enough to give us muddy a trail! When it rains out here, you really get the feel of riding in the rain forest, for real :)


You know you're really "Out West" when you see signs along the trail like these!



Here's a link to the Olympic Discovery Trail website. http://www.peninsulatrailcoalition.com/

We started this ride at the Robin Hill Farm Park. If you click on the Port Angeles map section on the website link above, you can view the section of the trail we rode.

Great rail-trail with smooth paved, packed dirt and a few rocky stretches........ with only a few climbs, but those are short.




You could almost do this on a road bike, but the few short stretches of rough trail would be hell on the tires and rims, so we opt for our mountain bikes.

Now that's the smile of a very happy biker!
Sweet Pea in front of a field of wild daisies.

Weather!!!!!

Yesterday I had a date with the boat........regardless of weather. Good idea? Who knows, anyway, it all worked out and I got a bit of work done inside. When I got to the dock, the wind had increased to about 20+ knots and was still building. It was quickly apparent that rowing out in the dingy was out of the question. Getting out to the boat would be one thing, getting back if the wind kept building would be another! I was offered a ride out by the skipper of an old 1916 era fishing boat that anchors a bit further out, but I'd still be stuck when I had to row in.......... I remembered that Aug's Boston Whaler was at the dock with a 6hp outboard ready to go. I loaded up and out I went. The wind was out of the South, and in Mystery Bay, that means that there's not much fetch, so we only had small chop and whitecaps compared to the wind strength, but even with that, it was a fun ride out. I primed the overhead in the pilot house and salon and framed in the workbench up forward. Did a little puttering and cleaning and when the wind started to drop off, I headed for the dock.


Back at the dock, the State Park Dock Host told me that I had left my Jeep headlights on and that he had watched them slowly go dim and then out. Great. But, then he offered to give me a jump.... Now that was great! As we jump started the car, the wind went calm and then swung around and started blowing out of the North, bringing BLACK clouds with it. As I pulled out of the parking lot, the rain hit. Hail, torrential downpours, lightning.......... I think I'm ready for summer.......... Or as they say, "Just another day on the bay!"