Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Bugs In My Gear!

For the last 3 weeks, we have been working away in our "garden" and trying to make it an oasis for our time away from Canada.  All is done with the exception of the big gaping brown patch that used to house a brick oven type thingee for several years.  We (actually he) raked the soil and added 14 bags of topsoil and some cow manure to help amend the soil and added some Bermuda grass seed.  We have our fingers crossed that "something" will actually grow there...


 Now, it was time to relax a bit and think of the next adventure.The temperature has been in the 90's and sometimes over 100 degrees.  Since the back of my property faces the West, it is difficult to enjoy the backyard unless we use the blue chair sitting area or the chaise lounges that we recently purchased.  Even then it is best to go early in  the morning or when the sun is going down in the late afternoon.  We do both.



Somebody is having a really good time chillin out here....ha


I guess the good thing is that Scootard built this "thing" in the corner and we have Honeysuckle growing up onto it.  He used the sticks that we salvaged from the cuttings off of our Crepe Myrtle trees last year when we trimmed it. We call it "the grand construction".


We waited for a spectacular sunset, but it never really happened....:-(.


After our "rest and recovery" from all of the hard work, it was time to get "Maj" and "Ms Vickey" ready for the road.....:-)


Scootard was getting things ready while I wrestled with my gear in the house.  Ms Vickey acted like she didn't know me and didn't want to start when I sat on her.  Also, my seat had gone back to it's original condition which made the airhawk that I had purchased last year impossible to use.  It had me too high off the ground even after letting most of the air out.  "Monkey Butt" here I come!


We hit the road and headed out of town toward a little town called Carnegie.  The road was flat and uneventful as always in these parts.  But I like that....:-).  I don't like blind hills, pin hair curves and nasty surprises!  I like to actually see where I'm going....haha.


We stopped at a little cafe called Ann's Kitchen where we have stopped a few times before in our travels.  I was in need of coffee and some breakfast....


I chose a table by the door and window so that I could keep an eye on the bikes.  The  tables are covered in business cards and little brochures with laminate on top to protect them.  Cool.....:-)


 The waitress was very friendly and of course the first thing I ordered was some coffee and breakfast.


 Scootard looked as if he was about to fall asleep while reading through it....haha
It had been so long since I rode that I was a bit tired too and we had only gone 25 miles or so from the house.  I think it was the heat though too.


We drink our coffee from a French Press, so it is difficult to please us with restuarant coffee anymore.  It usually taste too weak.  This was one of those time.....:-(.


After breakfast, we hit the road and headed toward our destination again. We passed through Windmill country for a few minutes....


 And after another 20 something miles we made it to our destination.  I had been here before several years ago (almost 15 now), but Scootard had never been here and was anxious to see it.


What I like about a lot of these small towns is that they always seem to put some part of their history in a mural.


This is a shot of the main street.....


It took a grand total of 7 minutes to "see" the town center before we were on the road again headed back toward home.


We passed an old homestead on the way there that Scootard wanted to get pictures of.



I was amazed at this flower that was growing straight up out of the asphalt in 90 degree heat.  I don't know what kind of flower it was, but after giving it a few tugs, it was evident that it was thoroughly rooted into the ground and was not going to budge.  Pitty....:-(.  I knew just where I would have put it since one side of my yard gets sun all day.


The first place we ventured into was the garage.  Wow....it's amazing what animals can do once people vacate a place.  It's equally amazing what humans can do once a place is vacated.....


This was taken in one of the rooms that I think was a bedroom of some sort.  There was stuff everywhere in this place as if whoever used to live here just up and left without taking anything with them.


This was taken in the living room area.  I kept thinking the whole while that we were there; "there might be snakes in her under all of this stuff trying to get away  from the heat".......


This is another shot from the living room door.  There were a lot of children's clothes and toys laying around. I wondered what there story was.  Why would a person just leave everything behind like this?  Were they on the run from someone? Did they die in an accident and didn't have any heirs?  Did they simply give up on life and walk away from everything?


After taking our time and looking around a bit more, it was time to hit the road again.


When you are on the road whether in a car with all of the windows down or on two wheels, there is always that moment when "something" flies into your eyes, hits you in the face or just takes your by surprise.  I had one of those moments when something that appeared to be a bug the size of a small bird flew UP MY SLEEVE!!!  I spent the next several minutes shaking my arm and shaking my hand and having a few interesting vocal challenges in my helmet!  I shook and shook my arm until I thought i was going to lose my balance.  The power of the wind was not helping either!


After returning back home and stripping off my gear, we found this thing which had a wing span of about 4 inches. It had come apart in "transport" inside my gear......

 

I, on the other hand came apart when I saw it!  hahaha......I promptly headed for the shower and washed off the grossness of the whole incident, settled into a chair with the Gatorade and thanked God that the thing did not bite or sting me!

Here's to keeping the shiny side up!

12 comments:

Pastor Chris said...

Thanks for going the distance with me Baby! Bug n all. I'm thinkin dragonfly although the way you were shaking your arm it probably felt like one of those poisonous toothed sparrows!!!

I am glad you got any bug residue rinsed off. What a day!

Tripping Sister! said...

Thanks for peeling that "Bat" off of me! ha. Good heavens, I can do without that kind of excitement!

Dar said...

I looks dragonflyish to me. ICK! I hate it when big things splat into me. I am not so sure I would be as brave as you guys walking around in a vacant house, you never know what you are going to walk on, into or over. Its sad that people just walk away.

Your yard looks like it is coming along nicely.

Trobairitz said...

Nice job keeping your cool with critters flying up your sleeve. I haven't had that yet, fingers crossed I won't. If it does happen I can guarantee my helmet will emit a high pitched squeal and emergency braking will occur.

The little town looks quaint. I like the mural with the old cars.

Unknown said...

Pat:

You were both so brave to go into that house. I would be worried that the previous owner would catch you there. You just never know who may show up, even if they were away in jail and just got released that day.

bob
Riding the Wet Coast

Tripping Sister! said...

Dar,
yeah, someone else told me that they thought it was a dragonfly as well. I think the "fly" part got left somewhere and the dragon part found me! Soooo gross....I'm glad I made it through that!

Tripping Sister! said...

Trobairitz,

Not sure how cool I was when it happened. haha. I was freaking out on the inside for sure! I had my sleeves loosely closed because of the heat. I guess the gap was just big enough for him to fly right in....

Tripping Sister! said...

Bob,
Let me assure you that it was NOT my idea. I was telling him when he was venturing in that it was dangerous to do so. But somebody had to go with him to make sure he didn't hurt himself or fall through a floor or something. I told him that I was concerned about snakes as we have a lot of rattle snakes around in the Great Plains and they often go under things to stay cool.

I was the voice in the background saying "ok, we need to go now"..."we need to get out of here"..."can we go now"? haha. Then I said, "well, I know my way home, I'm leaving!"...haha. Then he heard me! ha

Unknown said...

Pat:

It's called selective hearing. Only Guys get this affliction, just ask Chris

Of course, being from up here, we wouldn't know about snakes trying to keep cool. I thought they liked to sit in the sun ?

bob
Riding the Wet Coast

Tripping Sister! said...

bob,
yeah that seems to be a serious affliction you guys have going...ha. The snakes are cold blooded and hide out during hot days to stay cool, but come out to hunt prey. That's why it's not good to stick your hand down in holes or crevices to see what is in it.

John Evans said...

Looks like a place that the world has forgotten . . . small towns without much traffic . . . an abandoned home . . . I'd certainly feel safer there than in Salinas, bugs or no bugs.

Tripping Sister! said...

Hey John,

I think I living in places a bit larger than that, but I could definitely do without the bugs in my clothes!