takin' it slower

I managed to have an uneventful trip to work today. No wrecks. No speeding tickets. No drama at all. I guess that's a step in the right direction. I am more mindful of my speed and now play "guess the make and model" as colorful blurs pass me like I'm standing still, but such is the life of one who used to be one of those blurs in the wrong place and time.

I also took it a bit slower on Saturday. I wanted to get the yard work done Friday evening, but the rain soaked grass wasn't getting cut...and it very much needed to be. I got the edging done, but that was about it. Our routine now is that I do all the edging around the sidewalk and house, and start cutting the grass. I cut everything close to the house and basically get it to where there are huge rectangular shapes left. The youngster takes it from there, while I use the leaf blower to clean off the road and sidewalk. I'm into my second Powerade by the time he finishes. Back to the point though, the yard didn't get done Friday night so I had to do it Saturday. The forecast was calling for rain by noon, and I didn't want to completely exhaust myself, so I did 43 miles on the bike, first thing in the morning, instead of trying for 60 (my original intent) and then we tackled the yard. We were done before 11:00. 60 miles will wait...at least another week. Of course, since I planned on it and got everything done before the rain was supposed to show up...it didn't.

Then the youngster and I went grocery shopping. Someone is opening a new bike shop next to the grocery store, and they were in, setting the place up. We looked in the window and they beckoned us in, so we went in and talked a bit. They run a group ride from a neighborhood close to us at 6:30 Saturday mornings (and I thought I was early, leaving at 7:00). They have a group that does 44 miles and another that does 66. The speed varies from 17 to about 22 miles an hour...so it's in my range, pretty much. The guy said the speed depends a lot on who shows up. One morning Tony Boselli (ex-Jaguar) showed up and the pace was pretty fast that day. I don't know. It's a bit intimidating, but I'm thinking about it.

Saturday night we went to a military retirement ceremony for a good friend. He, like everyone else we know in the military, has his Iraq stories, and has shaped many of my views on that place. Everyone wants to write them off as a lost cause, but I think they will pull themselves up out of the mess they're in, with our help. The cost is painfully high, but I fear the cost of failure would make it look like a pittance. This guy was a 50-something year old hospital administrator when he volunteered to go there. He spent 6 months of his last year in the military, when most people are just trying to slide on out through retirement, to go over there and try to make a difference, and he's convinced me that he did...and we can.