A morning smile....

Flashback to my childhood....
When I was a kid my my family moved away from my grandparents, so the bulk of our vacations meant traveling by car from the midwest back to Long Island, or after Grandma moved, down to Florida. Anyone else have those sort of vacations? Four kids piled in the back of a great big station wagon, often with the seats folded down so we could play board games... seat belts?, what seat belts?...our parents trying to keep us amused so we kids don't kill each other or cause our parents to go homicidal? We played a lot of those "what can you see out the car window" games, like the alphabet game and the license plate game. Remember how hard it was to find a "J" or a a "Z", or license plates from far off states? I still kind of like playing those games, and of course I played them with my kids, although I have to say they are not nearly as exciting while travelling through rural Utah; sometimes it's a long way between signs and license plates!

This morning while I was driving into work I followed a car with a a license plate I didn't recognize. As I approached a stop light where I could get a better a look I saw that the plate was decorated with a nice big rainbow... it was the license plate of Hawaii, the Aloha state. What a find!!! Too bad I didn't have my license plate list in hand... as a kid that would have been such a most excellent siting, a real game winner. It really gave me a morning smile!

The smells of spring...

Last night I was really tired so after dinner I veged out in front of the TV. Eventually I fell asleep on the couch. About 1 AM I woke up; I'm not sure if the smell woke me, or if I just happened to wake up, but the house reeked of Eu d' skunk. In my grogginess I saw that Oreo, my cat, was with me on the couch, but Daisy, who is most always sleeping on the floor next to the couch, was no where to be found. I panicked. Did I leave her outside in the back yard and fall asleep? I checked the front yard and the backyard- no Daisy. "Crap" I thought... she's off playing with the skunk... one of my worst fears is that the dog will get skunked when I let her out at night. It's happened before, and believe me, I never want it to happen again! I was now finally awake and I checked the house one more time, and this time I found Daisy, upstairs, laying next to Sarah's bed. I must have missed her amongst the all the crap on Sarah's floor the first time I looked. Thank Goodness!!!! She was not the one out playing with skunks!

I was pretty amazed at how much skunk smell permeated my home through all the closed windows. There was still skunk smell lingering in the air out on the street after work today. The neighbors dog didn't get sprayed either, so I'm confused why the smell was so strong. All I know is I'm so thankful that I didn't need to be outside at 1 AM with the hose and baking soda and peroxide.... this time.

A Perfect Weekend..

There is not much better that a perfect spring weekend here in Utah. It was fairly chilly all week, with rain and snow here in the valley, and something like 35 inches of new snow in the mountains. Then *poof* along came the weekend, sunny with temperature in the 60's and 70's.
It was so nice on Saturday my girlfriend and I took our road bikes out for the first ride of the season. Our typical loop is about a 12 mile ride heading down through Holladay to the mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon, then up along Wasatch Boulevard back to out neighborhood. It's a nice ride, especially through the scenic part of Holladay, and the ride along Wasatch, the high, road along the mountain side that has a wonderful view or the mountains. I fared pretty well for my first ride; I managed to pedal all the way up the one "big" hill, although I sure needed to stop and catch my breath at the top. I can see some training is in order! I was afraid I was going to be sore on Sunday, but as it turned out the only sore spot was my rear end. I definitely had a good case of bikers butt. Even with my padded bike shorts and plenty of "natural" padding, my butt bones were sore from sitting on that road bike seat. It sure felt great to get out for a ride.

And if a stellar bike day wasn't good enough, on Sunday we headed up to Brighton for an afternoon of skiing. Spring skiing! Warm weather, sunshine and crazy spring snow. Spring snow can be a little weird; soft and silky on the hills, icy in the shade, thick and slow in in the flat spots. Definitely an exercise in staying loose and constantly readjusting ones balance.

Now I have a great case of happy legs, a sore butt, and a wee bit of sunburn on my nose. What a marvelous way to spend a weekend.

Internet advertising...

I recently opened up a google email account (gmail) so I could have a less cluttered place to chat with some friends. To the right of the mail message there is aways a list of sponsored website links. (The hazard of free email accounts!) It didn't take me to long to realize that the weird thing about gmail is that it appears to "read" your mail, then target advertises those web sites to you based on key words it finds in your text. The other day I was conversing about my daughter and her need to get her drivers license... then I noticed one of the "sponsored links" was to a site called AreYouaSlackerMom.com! How in the world did they know??? My daughter thought I was slacker for not taking her on enough driving practice. Of course I had to click the link to "Are You a Slacker Mom?", where I found an online quiz. After taking the quick quiz then clicking past a barrage of potential advertisers wanting to give me their info, I found the answer... I'm NOT a slacker mom... it turns out I'm a Smarty Pants Mom!!! I wonder if my kids would agree?