What A Tough Ride This Morning.
I did my usual bike ride this morning. It was windy, really windy, in fact I’d describe it as a gale. And it rained, though not much luckily.
It was a really tough ride. When it blows like that you really need to be able to tuck in behind the rider in front of you, if you can then it’s about 50% easier than if you’re out in the wind.
I’m one of the weaker riders. Some of the others are really good riders, one is training for the Hawiai iron man. They outclass me so I’m just happy to be there at the end of the ride. Often I’m not.
I wasn’t this morning. When you’re able to tuck in behind it’s way easier to stay on the back, but you only need to drop back a few feet and suddenly you’re riding right in the wind. And a few feet back riding in the wind, when it’s a head wind, is really tough.
That’s what happened to me. I just couldn’t keep up on some of the hills and I dropped back, and I was gone.
But fortunately I wasn’t the only one. 2 others dropped off as well just after I did and so they were just ahead of me and so I was able to catch up and join them. So at least I had 3 of us in a group. It even makes a big difference having 3 instead of one.
So I ended up getting in behind the main group. But it was a good ride, I got some great exercise and so it was all worth it.
Hopefully I’m getting fitter. I should be, I’m doing 4 rides a week, so it should be showing soon.
Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
Got A Boat? If Not You Need One.
I just love having a boat. As it says on a sticker on my boat, life is better with a boat. It’s only small, maybe 11 feet, I can’t afford a big one, but a small boat is better than no boat. And it’s got it’s advantages, it’s easy to tow.
It was raining a blowing hard when we went away last week. The kids had school holidays so they said they didn’t want to spend the whole time at home, so we went away. And though it was raining hard at first it soon stopped and got sunny so it was really nice.
It was a nice place to go to. There was so many things for the kids to do it wasn’t funny. Kids need so much to do. So if you’ve got bored kids there’s problems, if you’ve got bored kids then they hassle you constantly for something to do.
Nothing is worse than bored kids. They get in your face about it and so you’re grumpy and they’re bored. I like to read a book while I’m away so having bored kids interferes with the reading.
But the kids were happy over the weekend, thankfully. There were so many things that they could do, including jumping up and down on this huge plastic blow up thing, and they just loved that. That alone kept them happy.
And there was a games room and they played in there for hours. There was this huge tv and every night there was a kids movie for them to watch.
And of course the swimming pool. I can’t believe something as simple as a swimming pool keeps kids entertained for so long.
But back to the boat. I took it for a couple of reasons. Firstly because I wanted the boat along with us, but also because I wanted to take the kids bikes with us too, and I cant get 2 bikes into the car. But there’s no problems getting 2 kids bikes into the boat. There’s stacks of room.
So it was really worth taking the boat. We spent some time on the local river puttering up and down looking at the scenery and having a good time. We stopped and spent an hour or so having lunch while the kids ate and had a swim. And we got to sit and read a book in the sun.
And the local lake was great too. Last summer I bought an inner tube and rope and towed the kids around with it so I brought it along this time too and they loved it just as much. In fact it was difficult to get them off it. They just wanted to spend the day there.
So a boat is a huge bonus. Use it to take the bikes and have the kids entertained along the way. I’m really glad I took the boat.
Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
What A Sensational Weekend We Had.
It’s all done, the weekend I mean. And was it a great weekend or what? I loved it, though getting up quite so early was a little taxing. Way too early for me.
I got up at around 5 am, really really early for me. It was way dark and it felt like the middle of the night. Wow was it hard to get myself out of bed, but I got out because I knew that I had a good weekend to look forward to.
I had to get going on time to meet the other people, so I picked up my friend. But it took quite a while to get all his stuff packed into the car, we were stuffing things into every space we could find.
It was raining by the time we got there. That was a shame as it has been such good weather lately, the one weekend I want good weather its raining. But thats weather, you cant do anything about it can you?
We were camping (not great in the rain) and so we had to get there and put up the tent and so on. We were lucky that by the time we got there most of the rain had stopped. There was still a little but nothing like the rain we had on the way. It’s not nice putting up a tent in the rain is it? And it was a long drive there.
And most annoyingly when we were driving there seemed to be all sorts of new speed limits to annoy me.
But even despite all this it was a good weekend. I did some fishing and caught a fish and we had it for dinner which was nice. Fresh fish tastes great.
Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
I Like Cows, But I Like Birds Too.
The country is the best place to live and I’m happy to say it even if you live in the city. If you’ve read this before you’ll see I’ve already said that.
But one of the good things about the country is the birds. (I just love birds).
You just won’t believe how many birds there are out here in the country, millions. I get them sitting in the trees around my place. They have strong beaks and claws and they sit in the trees and pick off the seed pods with their claws and hold them with their claws and then break them open with their beaks to eat.
Although I do like birds they do make a mess of my trees. When they break off a small branch to eat the pods they drop it on the ground and it looks like a battlefield under my trees, bits of branch everywhere. Just everywhere.
They’re parrots, and parrots have strong beaks so they can do all this. But on the positive side they have great colors and they look great. I get them sitting around the veranda that goes around my house, they sit on the railings and look at me inside. And I love to see them there so I sit really still and watch them. If I sit still they don’t go away.
There’s damage to the trees like I said but it’s still great having them around and I love it. I could shoo them away when they start damaging the trees and then I wouldn’t have the damage but I’d rather let them come and sit on my veranda. If I shoo them away they might leave for good.
Its got to be so much better out here. Ill bet there’s no birds like that in the city. Too many people to scare them off and no trees for them to wreck/eat from.
And it’s not just birds, there’s so many animals, and as I love animals I’m happy. I’m surrounded by animals and birds too.
I think it’s good for you having animals and birds around. It’s nature and nature is important. It’s like life for everything else around us. So give me the birds and animals around me and I love being around nature. Ha. I’ve just had one of those parrots perch on the veranda right in front of me right now.
Ahh, give me the country life, you won’t get me going back to live in the city.
Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
Could You Hate A Cow? I Couldn’t.
I like cows. They’re so big yet they’re so gentle. In all the time Ive had cows Ive never had a bad moment with them. They aren’t aggressive at all and they are even tame enough so that my kids can pat them a little, though they dont like being patted too much, they tend to pull back when you pat them. Just pull back a little that’s all.
The best time to pat them is when you feed them hay. They just love hay, and when the grass growth is getting slow because winter is coming you need to supplement their feed with hay or something else. I have hay.
Now if you’re feeding your hay to your cows then that’s the time to pat them, but it’s also a bit of a drain. You have to feed them every day, without fail. Even if it’s raining you have to feed the cows their hay. If you don’t they starve for the day.
I deal with that myself. I like my holidays so Ive got to have a way of going away without leaving the cows to starve. So this is what I do.
I have various paddocks each fenced off. 4 in total. So when I have plenty of grass in the paddocks I lock one up and leave it with the long grass in it. Then when I go away I open the gate to that one and the cows discover that the gate is open and head in there.
And the cows aren’t silly, they know that there’s grass in there somewhere when they look through the gate so once I open the gate they’re right in there as fast as they can.
And then I come back from the holiday and my cows are happy. And I take them out of the grass paddock and put them back in the main paddock.
I feed them immediately after breakfast. They know exactly when I feed them and when I come out to feed they’re sitting right in front of the shed with the hay in it waiting for their breakfast. I usually give them 1 1/2 bales of hay. Sometimes when I feel generous I give them 2 bales.
They got 2 bales this morning. But finally the weather is warming up and the grass is beginning to grow again. Good, because I don’t have much hay left. But now it doesn’t matter because they’ve got grass to eat.
And my cows are always happy when the grass is getting longer. And the grass is getting longer now, so my cows are happy.
Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
I’ve Got A Real Treat Coming. Holidays.
Here’s a treat coming up, I get to go away this weekend. What a great treat, it will be really nice to get away.
I get to go with a friend because my family all have some concert to go to and they can’t come so I get to go with a friend. Last time I took my family, not this time.
It’s forecast to rain this weekend unfortunately so I’m planning to take the big canvas tent. It’s big and bulky and heavy and I have a much lighter smaller tent, but if it’s going to rain I’m taking the big heavy tent.
We leave Friday morning at about 6 am. We’re meeting some other people at 9 and it will take about 3 hours to get to where we’re meeting. I don’t really like getting up early, good thing I don’t have to too often.
As much as I hate to get up early if you’re looking forward to something you just get up and go anyway, so it’s not so much of a problem.
I hope the car does ok, its not really old but its not new either and Id hate to think the car let me down and didnt make it.
Saturday will be a day of doing nothing. It’s planned that way so that’s how it is. I want to go fishing, I really like fishing. So I’m intending to take the gear along, though it is forecast to rain. In fact I bought a new fishing rod today, because I broke my old one a while ago.
I made a fishing rod many years ago. I bought a fiberglass blank and all the other gear and made it totally myself and I was pretty pleased with that. That was the rod I broke the other day and I was really disappointed.
It was a sad day the day I broke it, I’ve used that fishing rod a lot. And the silly thing is I still don’t know how I broke it, I was just walking through a patch of trees and I looked down at my rod and saw the tip hanging off. I have no idea how it happened but I was really annoyed.
It wasn’t as if it was worth a lot of money. It was just the sentimental value to me because I made it myself and I’d broken it. So today I went to a fishing gear shop and bought a new one.
And I couldn’t believe. 25 bucks for a new fishing rod. They certainly aren’t expensive now to buy. But the new one isn’t the one I made. I’d rather my old one than a new one.
I suppose theyre all made in China now, thats why theyre so cheap. Hope it lasts. So thats my weekend coming up. I hope I get a few fish and it doesnt rain too much. Ill write about it soon.
Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
To Keep Fit I Cycle And I Love It.
Everyone loves something, for me it’s cycling.
I came to cycling quite a while ago. Well no not that long ago actually, considering that Im not young. I knew I had to do something to keep fit.
I tried swimming but it just never worked, I never took to it. I just found it really boring and it was a real effort to get up in the morning and go swimming. You just go up and down and down and up and up and down and a minute feels like an hour.
There’s a black line and you just spend your time watching that black line, because of course there’s nothing else to watch other than that black line. Now that’s what I call boring.
So after trying swimming I knew that wouldnt work. I knew I couldnt spend 4 or 5 days a week putting some swimming into my day. Because if youre going to keep fit youve got to do it about 4 or 5 days a week or youre really just wasting your time.
And that’s doing at least a half hour. You need to swim for at least a half hour to get enough exercise and it just feels like such a waste of time.
So I was in a bind. I used to jog and found that as boring as swimming and so I was a little stuck. But then I started to think about cycling.
But I had a problem. No bike. Well I did have a bike but it was outside the shed in the junk pile and all rusted. Way too old. So somehow I had to get a bike and it isn’t cheap to buy a good bike.
But I found out that there was a cycling club near me and they were starting up a new cycling recreation group. The ideal time to buy a bike and take up cycling.
I found the pace of riding wasn’t right for me, but enjoyed the rides. They did longer and shorter rides and I enjoyed it.
Now Im not young, 52 actually, but even so I wanted to go a little faster. The ride was more social than a workout and I wanted a workout as well. Eventually I dropped out to ride on my own because I needed to ride a little harder to get a real workout.
So after a while riding on my own I found that it was nice to ride hard but a little lonely. I was getting a workout but on my own. So I made some enquiries and found out that there was a riding group that rode out of town a few days a week that used road bikes and rode hard. It went sundays and I decided to go along.
But the bike I had bought was a hybrid, half mountain bike and half road bike and they all rode a road bike so I would have no chance of keeping up riding my hybrid. So again I was stuck without a bike. But I knew I liked riding now so I bought a road bike and joined the. They’re good riders and sometimes I can’t keep up but mostly I can.
But of course its a hard workout, exactly what I need.
Unlike the swimming I enjoy it and I’m getting fitter.
Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
Now Where Else Would I Live Than The Country?
I’m lucky enough to live in the country and I just love living here. I’ve lived out here for a few years now, more than I care to remember actually. And I grew up in the city but I wouldn’t really want to go back there any more.
And there’s so much out here in the country that you’ll never see living in the city. Here’s an example of my own. Cycling. I love to cycle and it keeps me fit which is so important. But it’s great for so many other reasons. It gets me outdoors to places that are so great to be in.
I ride past so many wonderful things. I love to see cows in the fields and I see sheep and other animals as well. I even have my own cows and they give me calves which is great too.
It’s just one of the best things of living here, I get to keep cows and calves. I love that and all of the nature around me.
It’s really hot today and I don’t like heat, but it’s summer and there’s nothing I can do about it is there? If it’s hot it’s hot. But it’s still better here than in the city, if I lived in the city it would still be hot. Out here I see nature and the seasons and I see them come and go. I get to see the grass start to grow after winter and I see the leaves change color and fall and regrow.
There’s so many wonderful colors that I get to see in the leaves, then they all fall off and make compost around the base of the tree so that new baby trees can grow from the seeds they grow. I get to see the whole cycle of nature out here.
All of these things cycle, just like I cycle. They go round and round and I really see what the seasons are.
If I lived in the city I mightn’t even have a garden. I mightn’t have a tree at all. I might have a lot of concrete, I might have pavers and a BBQ, but I mightn’t have a tree or a blade of grass.
Apart from the temperature I mightnt even know what season it is.
Personally I think it’s sterile in the city and of course that’s just my view, not everyone thinks that.
Of course my family lives in the city and they love it. My brother is a doctor and he’s single, so he likes the social life of the city. There’s things to do there that hes into, and it suits him. But the city is not for me.
I grew up in the city and spent most of my life there. Then it was fine but it really feels now as if I wasted a lot of time in the city, I wish I’d been born in the country instead. I feel a little like I wasted a lot of my life in the city, that’s sad isn’t it? I didn’t really waste it of course but it feels that way. I should ask my brother if he’d like to live here but I doubt he would. He likes the city.
I’m a country lad now. The country for me any day.
Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
Is It Just The Best Day Outside Or What?
Don’t you love days like today, I do. It’s just as I like it. Warm but not too hot, (I hate heat). And there’s no wind and it’s just ideal. I love it like this. I’ve been out in the car today and I’ve been feeling good. I drive along looking at the views and I love it here where I live. I see cows in the fields and happy people.
But of course I’ve decided that it’s a perfect day but maybe not everyone would agree. Maybe for some people it’s just a terrible day. Really bad. Maybe you’ve had some really bad news or something isn’t working out for you at all or maybe you’re sick.
It’s all subjective isn’t it. To me it’s a great day, I can’t see any reason why it isn’t a great day. But that’s just me isn’t it? For me it’s a great day but for you it may be terrible.
My point is that everything is subjective. What is a great day to me seems obvious. It couldnt be anything but a good day, for me. But thats only me. I love the day but if you dont its a terrible day.
The best day for me is the worst day for you. Where I see good things you might only see bad things.
But you might see the horrors, you might see the all the bad things, you might see the darkness. My great day is your worst.
Even if we have the exact same day you see it differently to me. Lets say we both go for that drive together. We both see the happy people, we both see the sunshine, we both see the cows, but we still have a different experience of the day. Because our minds filter what we see through the experiences of the past. Perhaps you don’t even see the cows and the sunshine
Even if you have the same experience as I do you may well see it totally differently, depending on how its filtered by your mind. You might drive through the same countryside as I do. You might see the sun, the cows, the kids and so on, but your mind may not even register them.
Your mind might just be seeing the downside to everything. And that’s because your mind filters everything according to past experience. What has happened to you in the past is all recorded in your mind and it tempers every future experience. So even though you’re seeing the same sun, cows and kids as I am seeing your past experiences are different from mine and so your mind uses the past to filter what you’re seeing now.
Now is that silly or what?
Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment
I Love Writing So Much. It Hurts.
I just love to write. Since I was young I’ve loved to write and I still do. I remember when I was about 10 or 11 at school I wrote story after story, my teacher was stunned that I could write so much at such an early age.
I went to university when I got older but I made a mistake. I studied what I thought would be good to get a job. But when I should have done was to study what I liked, writing. If I had it all again I’d study writing and see how far I got, though maybe it wouldn’t be too far.
I have no idea if I would ever have become good enough at writing to make a living at it, but I would have liked to have tried. You never know unless you try, and I wish I had tried. I would have given it a really good go, and would have made a difference.
Writing is a skill like any other skill. Of course you need to have a the desire to write, if you don’t then you’re not going to get far because its also work just like anything else, and if you dont enjoy it then you wont get far.
If you really love it then you’ll take the time you need to take to develop it till you’re good at it. It really will take time but I’m sure it can be done. You need to work on it every day but if you love doing it then that’s no problem. Every day is fine.
So this is where I plan to write. It’s my website, probably no one will read it but me, but who cares. I don’t care about that, I’m not writing it because I want someone to read it, I’m writing it because I like writing it. So if you’re reading it then you might be my first reader, after me. Thanks for visiting.
Filed Under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment