Is 39 too cold for a bike ride??

     I know "old man winter" is knocking at my door, but I'm not letting him in until I get a few more bike rides in... or am I??

     The other day a few of us planned to do a morning bike ride, in spite of the bone chilling weather forecast.  A little cold weather wasn't going to stop me. Remember, I'm a Scorpio; we don't quit!  And sun rises are just as beautiful in cold weather...

     We had planned on checking out the new park in the middle of Downtown Toledo.  It was called Middlegrounds Park.  What a clever name! They must have brain stormed forever on that one...

     As you can see; I had every inch of skin covered, except my face, and there was no way I was gonna freeze.  With an under armour turtleneck, a fleece vest, knee sox, winter bike gloves and a winter bike jacket, I was set for a blizzard.

     As the first of my riding buddies, Gary, was getting out of his car I noticed a police car pulling up to me.  He rolled down his window, and I began to wonder what crime I had committed already, at only 8 o'clock in the morning.

     The first thing the police officer said as I approached his car was "I just wanted warn you about where you are".  Being a little perplexed I said "excuse me...?"  He replied "you're under the high level bridge, and you just need to be conscious of the possible shady characters roaming around."  I told him now he was scaring me... Maybe There were trolls under the bridge; I'm sure that's real...

     As Gary walked up, the officer mentioned we probably didn't have to worry because  the trouble makers were probably still sleeping.  Gary smiled and thanked the officer.  There may have been an eye roll involved...

     I asked Gary if we should rethink this ride.  He reassured me by telling me that this was a railroad police officer; they go out of their way to be the informants on possible riff-raff.  I was a little more at ease, I think...

     It wasn't long before the others arrived, and we knew we needed to get on those bikes if we ever wanted to get this ride over with.

     I will say, this was a nice little park, even if it was freezing, and filled with potential hoodlums:)

     A couple of the pics were a little blurry, but I was lucky to take my gloves off to take them at all.  My fingers felt like they would break off if you were to Karate chop them.

     Just imagine how beautiful the picture of these flowers would have looked if I wasn't in such a hurry to get my gloves back on... 

                                          

       Walking, maybe, but this wasn't my idea of a bike trail... 

                                

          It was more like ice skating with rollerblades...

                             

     But if you were careful to see it through, the view of the river was well worth the aggravation.

     I guess they never claimed this was a bike trail; it was a park, after all, so I couldn't hardly complain about the riding conditions; besides, no one would listen...

     One more look at the sunrise, and it was time to find that "real" bike trail; The green belt parkway.

     But we made it as far as International Park before we decided to call it a day.  Sure, it was only seven miles, but a bike ride is a bike ride.  And I'm still not a quitter:)

Have a great day!!

Christine:)

When choosing a pumpkin, bigger isn't always better.

     If you've never been to Gust Brother's Pumpkin farms, it's one of my favorites, and the day my Daughter, Emily, and I took my little grand babies we couldn't have asked for a more perfect day.

     as soon as his feet hit the ground, William headed straight for the wagons, because he was on a mission and he knew he had every shape and size pumpkin to choose from.  If he had a wagon then he could shop like there's no tomorrow.

     Of course William was loured in to the miniature pumpkins right off the bat, and I'm guessing he planned to work his way up from there.

    But his eyes got as big as saucers when he spotted these ginormous pumpkins.  I would have loved to see him attempt to put these in his wagon; they were ten times his size.  

     You can see he was thinking about it for a minute...

     But these pie pumpkins seemed like a lot less work.  After all, he was in charge of the wagon, so what ever he decided to choose would be up to him to cart around the farm.

     William and his little brother, Conner, were anxious to check out all of the farm animals, but William had no intention of losing control of the wagon.   He hauled it from building to building like a man on a mission.

     As excited as Conner was to check out the animals, in the back of his mind he was trying to figure out how he could get his hands on his brother's wagon.

     I myself, was perfectly content to stare at all of these beautiful flowers, and there were a million pink ones everywhere.

     Conner is a very smart little guy; he found his opening and the wagon was soon his.

     Of course, chickens were a lot more interesting than carting around a wagon filled with pumpkins, so Conner made a B line to the coup.

     This cow was more than anxious to pose for the camera.

     It wasn't long before the boys forgot all about the pumpkins and were obsessed with the farm animals.

     What ever happened to that wagon William was guarding with his life??

     He eventually went back to stake his claim...

        Of course we couldn't leave with out getting doughnuts and cider, but we also knew the reason we were there was to bring back a wagon full of pumpkins.

     With a farm filled with millions of pumpkins you would think we would need a trailer to get them home.

     But William was perfectly happy to walk out with the pumpkins he chose, because he knew he picked them out himself; proving the theory, in the end of the day, size really doesn't matter!

Have  great day!!

Christine:)

I'm not just talking turky

         We all know that one of the highlights of my many bike rides is seeing all of the wild animals roaming in the parks;  squirrels, chipmunks, bunnies, raccoons, and even deer.  And I thought I had seen every bird under the sun.  But this particular day I wasn't on my bike, though I saw something I never in a million years would have expected to see.  

     It was a typical day at work, (note: I don't work on a farm) and I'm almost certain it wasn't a full moon, when I turned around and on the other side of the glass double doors, at my suburban place of employment, was a huge gaggle of turkeys just hanging out, chill'n.

     Has no one told them that Thanksgiving is coming up next month???  It was as if they were just waiting to be scooped up to be someone's centerpiece on turkey day.  Of course I thought for sure they would get one look at me gawking at them and head for the hills...

     But it was as if they had multiplied right before my eyes.  In fact, it was like the movie "the birds"  only with turkeys.

     I think this little feller was as fascinated by me as I was with him (or her, I forget if that dangley  thing means boy or girl...) I'm talking under it's chin...

     These two were waiting right outside the door for me to reach down and scoop them up.

     Or so I thought... as soon as I opened the door to greet them they took off like bats out of hell.

                                             

     But the joke's on them.  By the time I would have caught up to them Thanksgiving would be over!  Here I had thirteen turkeys (yes I counted them...) prime for the picking, and as it turns out it looks like my centerpiece now may just be Tofurkey.  A soy bean... now there's something I could actually catch!!

Have a great day!!

Christine:)

A bike ride at Secor Park?? This should be a walk, or should I say ride... in the park:)

     You must know by now that I'm not a huge fan of sharing the streets with semi-trucks and heavy automobile traffic; so when my riding buddy, Robert suggested we all meet at Secor Park for a ride, I was gearing up for a walk (or ride) in the park...

   But the thing is, Secor Park isn't very big at all and there was no way I would be able to get a decent work out in on this day.  But maybe if I did a few laps around the parking lot I could actually break a sweat if nothing else.

        My rides are lumped into several categories based on what I'm trying to achieve that day; from the endurance of a long ride, or a shorter ride with many hills and obstacles, or my favorite, the sight seeing ride.  Short, with no obstacles, but the chance for a lot of really cool pictures.  Today I had my camera ready!

                                            

As we headed into the park I found many ascetically pleasing views... 
                                           

I had my camera waiting, and I knew at any minute "Bambi" would be poking his head out to greet me...

       All I needed was a fishing pole and I could have sat here and stared at this little creek all day... of course I would also need someone to put the worm on my hook... Yuck!!

     But I then realized that this picnic in the park would soon be short lived, as we headed out to ride with the big boys...

   What the heck!! this isn't Secor Park!! Nobody told me I had to share the roads with these eighteen wheelers!

     I mean, If we were in Germany I would swear we were on the autobahn... well that may be a tad bit of an exaggeration... But before I had time to express my dislike of race track riding we were back on my "Mary Poppins" country roads.

                                             
  At this point I had no idea what we would pass on this bike ride...

But I wasn't expecting horses...

                                     
     And I knew it was only a matter of time before we would be back in the park.  I mean, after all, our cars were parked there, so we had to get back eventually.

     And you can't go to a park without checking out the nature preserve:)

                                                    

     So when all was said and done, I got my workout in after all.  And I'm thinking, being that this ride involved skill, endurance and the scenic route, lumped in one, I might just have to tell myself I took three rides! 

 And those tiny little voices in my head will say "dream on crazy girl!" :)

Have a great day!!

Christine:)