Damn that Jody Voight....EDIT

His response:

I'll try not to over use him but he was pretty valuable to me yesterday.

Thanks
Jody

Yeah, right. I never have trusted the word "try" especially from Jody. Baaaaaaaaaaaaa waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa boooooooooooooooooooo hissssssssssssssssssssss

Damn that Jody Voigt!

The email I sent to Jody this morn. should explain:

Jody:
I am teaching summer school 'ya know. Because Dan is helping you today, the following very, very dire consequences have happened this am :

1) The toilet nearly overflowed.
2) I had no milk for my cereal.
Dan would have noticed both of the above situations yesterday & remedied them had he not been thinking about.................. ahem "WORKING".

3) Dan makes my lunch... every day. Today's lunch was CRAP.What... FROZEN strawberries with no cottage cheese OR yogurt? What is up with THAT?
4) No supper will be made when I get home. Dan said "Well there's leftover venison" YEAH!!! From TWO DAYS AGO!! I'll be stopping at Subway.

So just an FYI. Don't get any funny ideas. I've gotten used to my "man" being HOME!!!!!!

Your friend :)

Mary

Why is this one such a big DEAL to me?!

I guess it doesn't matter but it is a big deal :)

I'd rather eat buttered noodles

than go to the annual , nearly 100 year old "Beumer" picnic .... where the people are friendly, the food is spectacular & the conversation is as dull as sand. Is that bad?

Oh. It is within FEET of the Meyer School house, owned by District 742. I just noticed that it is on the district's web site. Huh. Go HERE.

I'm such a fuddy duddy.

They are EVERYWHERE!!!

I was just thinking ( yes. I do that sometimes). There are school children everywhere I go. And I don't "go" often. Case in point: On the light rail back from the Twin's game last week Dan & I sat across from a Mom & her son. I intentionally sat there because I expected I could relate to and intermittently interact easily with a Mom and a middle school- aged son. I assumed that they would mostly be preoccupied with each other and that Dan & I could hold our own conversation. WRONG! The kid was a little smart alec & I'd bet his name was Hunter or Trey or Devil.

Anyway, I immediately knew that this was a gross error in judgment on my part, got the impression that this was a single Mom & this was her only child. I would NOT be able to sit across from this for TEN minutes much less 45. I also knew that I was going to have to make a move soon... because the game was over, more people were coming & it wouldn't be long & two adjoining seats would be all taken.

I tried, people, I really TRIED to think of a graceful way to exit, but I just couldn't think of a way to excuse us without being obvious. So I just went for it. I looked at the lady in the eye as I literally pushed Dan out of his seat ( he had no idea what was happening!) and said ,"Maam, I teach Junior High School and I just can't TAKE this!!! ". She was super surprised and with a forlorn look on her face ( or was that hatred?) she said "oh! Really?". I thought to myself, yeah, REALLY!!!!

The look on Dan's face was easy for me to interpret. He was amused, not in any way surprised & was very helpful in finding two adjoining seats facing away from those two so I wouldn't have to make eye contact with them. What a nice guy :)

Flash!

I have a LOT to learn

about adequately documenting a motorcycle "trip chronicle". On the motorcycle forum I frequent, they have it down pat. How do they point & shoot while RIDING? I wanted to give a birds\'s eye view of what it looks like to be riding in formation ( in a group ride, there is protocol... very serious stuff) but really have no idea how to accomplish this (yet).

So here I give you my lame attempt... the background... I left at 9:00 to meet up with fellow riders at the Honda House. Only 3 show up: Mona... the leader. She mapped out the route & took the front. I was behind her & Diane & her passenger, Angie, a high functioning downs syndrome young woman behind me. The leader rides the left half of the lane, the following rider is staggered... back about 4 car lengths & uses the right part of the lane ( I was 2nd... newer riders are toward the front) , the next rider, staggered , 4 car lengths back & in the left part of the lne.

That way, everyone can see everyone in their rear view mirrors & so hand signals can be passed back. They are universal.

When you come to a stop sign, you pull up & stop next to each other in pairs: rider 1 & 2, rider 3 & 4 next. Then, when the coast is clear, rider one takes off first, rider two not far behind, then rider 3 & 4 & so on.

More than you care about I'm sure. Today was the longest ride I went on. It was 258 miles. I got home at 7 pm. We ate lunch in Brainerd, drove to Aitkin, stopped at DQ, gasses up a few times... the longest I rode with out getting off to stretch was around 100 miles. That was long enough. Staying hydrated is important, taking your gear off & getting into a cool place is important. Aleve is important. Laughing, admiring each other;'s bikes is important, the stories behind them are important, giving each other a hard time is important & more than anything, keeping an eye on each other & safety is first.

Enough...some picts Mona is in the yellow jacket. Diane & Angie ( downs) are obvious(ly NOT ATGATT or all the gear all the time) & Deb , met us in Brainerd. She is a new rider as well.:

She improved her scores!!!!

Both quantitative & verbal. The writing score still needs to be processed. Now....will they be good enough????

Thanks for any prayers by-the-way :) Wow. What a relief!

Flash!