I have Columbines!

I tried and tried all summer to get some Columbine seeds to sprout but nothing ever happened. Two pots of Columbines and one pot of Shasta Daises just sat there looking empty day after day. I figured it might be too hot for anything to sprout, so started a new pot of Columbines inside the house, and they finally came up. Now all I have to do is keep then alive all winter so I can transfer them to a shady spot on the side of the house. My big plan is to create a little piece of the Rocky Mountains on one side of the house. It remains to be seen if I can make it work.

Hummingbirds

I put out both my Hummingbird feeders Sunday and managed to attract quite a few birds by Monday morning. In fact, I had so many birds I went down to Home Depot Monday evening and purchased another feeder just to accommodate the crowd. I'm not 100% sure what species I have buzzing around my feeders, but I think it is either Broad-tailed or Ruby-throated or a mix of both. They rarely stay still long enough for me to get a good look.

I'm sure this is a female.

This is the same female pictured above with what I think is a Ruby-throated male coming in to claim the feeder.

Northern Routes

I took advantage of the great weather today and set out to ride my old northern routes. I used to ride north of town almost exclusively when I lived in the apartment, but haven't managed to go that way since I moved back in December. Now that I've worked out a way to get to these routes from my house, I plan on getting north of town more often in the future.

Just one of the many hay fields north of town.

These silky pockets are caused by web worms. They are quite common this time of year.

I think I saw 4 or 5 cars once I got away from town.

This is a private air strip on Ridge Road.

Harvest time.

I stopped to feed the horsed on Ridge Road.

Kudzu. This stuff grows about 12 feet per year and can completely envelop everything.

Lots of smooth pavement and no cars.

This is why I love Portland, Oregon!

Foam machine cyclocross barriers!

'Cross Crusade Madness!

And people who just love to ride!
I LOVE Portland, Oregon!

A Pain in the Ass.

I went mountain biking Saturday and got stung by either a hornet or yellow jacket. I was a little less than a mile from getting back to the car when I felt a hot nail going into my butt. Yes, I got stung in the ass. Anyway, I unleash a string of obscenities and almost crashed trying to stop. I grabbed the back of my shorts thinking maybe a spider got in there but that didn’t help and the pain got more intense. I’ve been stung by a wasp before and that felt like somebody placing a hot match against my skin. This thing was much worse. It literally felt like a hot nail being jabbed in me.

When I got home, I iced the area down and took some Advil. I now have a red place on my butt about 4 inched around and it’s starting to itch.

2007 Memphis CX Photos Found!

I found some photos online that I thought were lost forever when my computer got hit by a virus several months ago. These are from the 2007 Memphis Cyclocross Championships. I remember this race because it was brutally cold and the wind that day only made things worse. As bad as it was, the Cullman CX race was by far the worst ever because it snowed during the race and the course included a water barrier. Anyway, I'm thrilled to have found these. I only wish I had a record of my race resume'. I lost 11 years worth of race data and could have sworn I had a backup file somewhere.

Here I am at the start line trying to figure out my plan of attack.

Check out that form on the barriers!

I rode this guy's wheel for the last two laps and attacked on the big climb.

Waiting for my moment on the climb.

Attack!

It's Hot Outside.

You know it's hot out when you see a cat resting on a busy sidewalk on the Oxford Square.