Friday, March 25, 2011

Trail Work Hoe

Me and my Trail Work Hoe, oh the places we will go.



Hoeing with this hoe may not be the best, ya know.


(its a two-way go)

but she's my hoe, and that's fo sho.



We bring da funk, we bring da flow.





Now that there's no snow, it is the best time to hoe.





..but really, is there a bad time to hoe? Yeah, I didn't think so.

Follow the stones, over a part thats low.



Thinking of trail names, my hoe and me, we're thinking maybe OCD.

Monday, March 21, 2011

Taming Banner: When Plants Attack

The untamed brush of Banner does not care that we want to ride our bikes there.

Those alien crazy looking thorny vines do not give a rip about us wanting to rip a banking turn down that mound.

Collectively those brushes and such have thrown down the gauntlet, they say wanna build a trail through here buddy? Its gonna cost ya.

I've been scratched, poked and whipped by just about every manner of flora immaginable. Yesterday a branch whipped around a snapped me right under the eye.

That was my favorite.

Two days ago I took a rake and tried to clear some leaves from under some of those bright red thorny monster vines...yeah, I raked one-na-those-bastards right into my face. It almost gave me a third nostril...

...maybe that was my favorite. Its so hard to choose.

Anyway, I hope most of the brutality is over since we had an awesome work day when 21people came out and kicked but for 4 hours.



Volunteers with chainsaws, loppers and such took a nice chunk out of the nasty over growth. A couple more events just like it and we will be riding some fun new trail.



Bridges were bridged



(photos by Nick and Jordan)

Poison Ivy? She's still sleeping, but when she wakes up and sees what we done, she's gonna be pissed.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Performance Evaluations By Kitty

I have this cat, I call her Kitty.

That's not her name, but that is what I call her.

We have a love-hate relationship. I evicted her once, it lasted maybe 3 weeks. Sending her to the Sister-in-Law's wasn't far enough away, I know that now.

She got reinstated under questionable circumstances. It seems there was a loophole in the eviction proceedings…

It’s a long story.

These days her and I are finding ways to co-exist. They mostly involve me tolerating her.

My daughters split the chore of cleaning out the litter box. Collectively, their job performance needs improvement.

When the box isn't up to code Kitty gives them feedback in the form of peeing in highly directed and strategic locations - in their room, right outside their door, in their bed…one morning she even left a little nugget on their bathroom floor.

You see, when Kitty’s initial feedback isn’t received she literally gave them a “hey, check this sh#t out” statement.

This has happened before, Kitty doesn't deviate from her M.O.

If job performance doesn’t improve to her standards, or according to her schedule, Kitty ups the ante and gets Mom and Dad involved. She knows she will see some action then. I think of it as her saying to the kids “I need to speak to your supervisor”.

Sometimes she will pee in our bed, and it is just as charming as it sounds. Yesterday she peed on Mom's sweatshirt, while it was on the bathroom floor.

This morning, when ironing my work pants, I noticed a strange smell emanating from them. Apparently, Kitty went straight to the top and messaged Dad. At first I thought she peed directly on my pants, along with a lot of other clean clothes in the laundry basket.

No.

She peed on the ironing board itself.

Yep.

Its like she said, “what will mess with them the most?....”

Deliberate.

Strategic.

Evil.

Genius.



Kitty.