fitzgerald got an eye patch

well this was an eventful weekend.
it was my husbands birthday on thursday so i took a spur of the moment trip to san angelo to be with him. he has been on the 4 am to 7 pm schedule for this job (switching back to the 4 pm to 7 am next week.... agh.) after he left at 4, i got up around 6 and was listening to the wild thunderstorm. i went to open the front door to look outside and POW! lightening hit the tree in the front yard. it threw branches and bark up against the house and into the neighbors' yard two houses down. it was a doozy!

 a small branch was transformed into a projectile that went threw the small rear side window of my car. fortunately fj cruisers are basically water proof and are excellently designed to be cleaned out easily. there was glass EVERYWHERE inside. all the way up into the corner of the dash board on the driver's side. glass in powder form is still sharp and painful. fyi.

i got all the glass vacuumed out and patched up the hole for now.

the next day i got to join the san angelo bicycling association on their tour de burma ride. i went with a family friend who is an avid veteran cyclist. that man rolls a recumbent now and it is pretty rad.the position of that ride puts all the power in the legs. there's not much engagement of core and arms etc like there is on regular road bikes. we rode 40 miles and the mid section of that ride was killer. hills. oh the hills.
i did great going, and then got to the turn-around point and re-did the same hills. only going back the gradients and intervals were a little different. and on legs that are starting to get a little tired.... very challenging. holy crap-oly. i've ridden the canyons outside of lubbock and am not too terribly intimidated by hills, but this was my first real exposure to some hills combined with distance.
it is officially the longest ride i've ever been on, and thanks to the sweet gift of padded britches from my husband for my birthday, i finished in comfort. even though i was far from finishing first i was super proud to have finished at all.
since moving to midland i have ridden maybe three times. two of which were in san angelo. and of those the max distance i got was 20 miles (due to the lack of padded shorts....)
the gravel and thorn covered shoulders, high winds and lots of semi truck traffic in our hood has made it less enjoyable to ride. and i have been in the boat of - if it's not fun, i don't want to do it (plus the danger element is a little off-putting).
all that to say i was surprised that i finished and excited and re-enthused to ride more.

now i am back in the Permian basin. the dogs broke into the garden while we were gone, but didn't do as much damage as i KNOW they are capable of. a bean plant and two, maybe three pepper plants are down. but we do have squash and tomatoes ripening!! hooray. it's really happening!

pretty soon we will be sitting out on our porch in the awesome chairs i got husband for his bday, looking out over a fruitful garden and watching amazing sunsets....