Recumbent Snow Geese?

Sorry for the hiatus. I've been busy, and feeling a bit under the weather. The sinus infection seems to be getting the best of me and I haven't been blogging as I should. I'm taking an antibiotic, which I would have thought would have kicked the bugs in the head and have me back to normal in no time, but it is taking much longer. Damn.

This weekend was an interesting one. On Saturday we took a road trip to LaConnor, a small fishing village on the Skagit River that has remade itself into a vacation spot and fancy boutique shop area. We saw literally hundreds of snow geese sitting in an open field, and 6 bald eagles also on the ground. There were high winds at the time but no rain, and the birds were magnificent. They were a bit far away to take good pictures. Judy tried to take a picture of some geese that were flying overhead against a strong wind, and they were almost stationary in the air above us. Very cool.

We had lunch in a small restaurant on the water, and there were water birds to watch, and boats going by. We wandered after the meal and found a wood item store filled with tons of wonderful wooden items. We looked at the furniture things, but they were ridiculously expensive. The shelf nick-nacks were nice. We settled on a puzzle in the shape of a grizzly bear. It comes apart in about 10 pieces, but inside the main piece there is a secret compartment where a small salmon hides, supposedly inside the bear's tummy. We have it sitting on the mantle, and it looks great.

Sunday was the Seattle Bike Swap, and I wandered around loking for inspiration. I found a Rans Recumbent bike I liked. I is a long wheel base design, in perfect condition, and was offered at a reasonable price. It is sitting in my garage now. I did the Centennial from Snohomish to Lake Cassidy, a round trip of about 22 miles, and it was a good ride. I certainly got sweaty (probably why I am sick today). The muscles needed to ride a recumbent are different than an upright bike, and they are in surprising places. My left butt cheek was sore, which was odd. I averaged about 15 MPH, which I considered to be OK, but I was definitely slower in the last half of the ride. Can I blame my weakened condition on the sense of strenuous activity? Maybe. Maybe I'm just an old wuss, and I need to get used to it! I'm hoping that Judy will like it, and use it to ride with me on the trail.

This week has been hectic so far. Work is busy, and there are lots of things coming up that I need to keep track of. I got a call today about a project in Sacramento that I had honestly forgotten about. It is definitely tangential to what I normally do, so I forgive myself for forgetting, but that doesn't mean that I can blow it off. I need to make trip down there in the next week or so. But next week I'll be in Atlanta again. Damn linear time!

Tomorrow I am in Vancouver BC visiting clients. It is just a day trip, however. I should be home for dinner. Thursday and Friday are predicted to contain snow at our elevation, so travel might need to be local only. I need to go to Portland, so we will see.....