Wednesday, September 7, 2016

This and That

Well, since I don't seem to have it in me to craft a coherent post these days, I figured I'd just stop in to say hello and tell you about the randomness that is my life lately.

First of all, we've finally hit the sweet spot weather-wise and are enjoying perfectly gorgeous days in the mid-80s - that's around 29C for those of you who don't speak Fahrenheit. This, of course, has meant lots and lots of time on the bike, which has also been wonderful. Today's ride was full of sunflowers - they grow wild along the bike path and it's just amazingly beautiful right now.



A week or 2 ago we got word that a much anticipated thing had occurred. Our favorite bike path runs along the South Platte river, and up north of the city the trail used to simply end in the middle of a big field. But a quick look at Google Earth showed that there was only a small hunk of a few miles missing before the trail took up again. So they finally finished that section, and the day after they announced the opening, CatMan and I eagerly rode up to check it out!

Of course, we had to ride 22 miles (about 35 kilometers) before we even got the the new section - but the whole way up there we were riding over 20mph (32kph) and I was hardly feeling it at all! I must admit, I was starting to feel pretty darned cocky, thinking what incredible shape I must be in.


Anyhow, we got to the new section of trail and sailed along it, but it was getting late, so we decided to turn around once we got to the connection rather than going further.

Alas, as soon as we turned around, I suddenly had the sobering realization that the seemingly effortless 20mph pace we'd been riding was not actually due to some newfound cycling prowess on my part, but rather an immense tail wind that had been pushing us along! Of course, once we turned around the massive tail wind became a massive head wind. OY! Let's just say it was a loooong, slow ride home, but still worth every drop of sweat.


Speaking of cycling... a few weeks ago I noticed a strange bulge on my right thigh. I moped around in a bit of a funk/panic for a few days, convinced that I had thigh cancer and my days would be numbered.



Finally, after planning my funeral in my head and all, I asked CatMan (who is much better versed in medical things than I am) to look at it for me. He immediately burst out laughing. "Sweetie," he said, "That is what's known as a muscle."

"What? But it can't be..." I protested, "Because if it was a muscle I'd have an identical bulge on my left thigh, and I don't."

At that point he pointed out that everyone naturally favors one leg over the other, and that indeed I did have the same bulge on the other leg, just smaller.

Apparently, all that cycling has some physical impact other than just the bliss of doing it. Who knew? Well, medical emergency averted.


And, of course, the other big thing going on right now is....

FOOTBALL!!!!!!


I realize that most of you could care less, but I'm very excited that my beloved Denver Broncos will be kicking off the regular season in less than 48 short (or excruciatingly long, depending on how you look at it) hours!!!

And here's the really exciting part... Way back a little over a year ago, during the pre-season games before last year's season, I had a premonition. Now, for those of you who don't know, the pre-season games don't count, and they're pretty much considered "advanced practice" - mostly an opportunity for the coaches to evaluate new players.

So, last pre-season at the quarterback position we got to see a tiny bit of Peyton Manning (the legend), a bit of Brock Osweiler (the heir apparent) and a good deal of Trevor Siemian (some rookie that nobody ever heard of who we took in the last round - ie: the dregs - of the draft.)


The thing is, I honestly thought that Siemian outplayed the other two. Of course, that was the last we saw of him - I think he got to take a grand total of one snap (for a kneel down) all last season.

Still... I couldn't get the kid out of my mind, and something just told me that he was better than people were giving him credit for.

Well... apparently both fate and Gary Kubiak (our head coach) agreed, because through a bizarre sequence of events, he got the opportunity to compete, and actually won the starting position!


Did I tell ya, or did I tell ya?

He's young and inexperienced, so I'm sure he'll make some bone headed mistakes before the season is over, but I'm super excited to get to see the kid play.

Sooo... other than having my head buried in a bunch of web programming geekliness, that's pretty much what I've been up to the past few weeks.

How are things in your neck of the woods?



12 comments :

  1. Those sunflowers are beautiful! Glad you've hit the sweet spot in your weather. We had a good few days that were followed by 90's. However, it is September, so that kind of weather has to end soon.

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    1. I keep thinking that I need to make a special photo shoot trip with my "real" camera and everything down to Chatfield State Park - it's a big open space where they've dammed the South Platte to protect Denver from floods. Anyhow, there are giant meadows just filled with the sunflowers, and when we're on the bike, there just isn't time to stop and photograph them all!

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  2. Hahaha....that planning your funeral thing! My daughter does that all the time! She gets in a real pickle sometimes.

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    1. I fear my funeral has been extensively planned in my head many, many times! Who me? Worry? :-)

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  3. I also laughed at you planning your own funeral. I'm truly happy to hear that you are actually healthy and strong, instead of anticipating an imminent demise. :)

    We are waiting for a few days for the sweet spot, weather-wise, to get here. Hot, muggy, and heavy rains for the next 24 hours. Hoping my basement stays dry ...

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    1. Yikes! I hope your basement stays dry too. Somehow we just missed all that tropical moisture from the Pacific hurricane - although, truth be told, we could really use the moisture.

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  4. I'm glad you don't have thigh cancer, and very amused that you've never grown a muscle bulge before! 😆
    We have had ridiculously hot muggy weather for the time of year- although yesterday was a bit fresher, and tomorrow is supposed to be wet. I'm looking forward to Autumn starting properly so I can wear all of my jumpers!

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    1. I think it will be a while before it's sweater weather here... at least before it's consistent sweater weather - September snow storms aren't uncommon, but the temperatures generally pop back up. The Broncos played today, and a bunch of the newscasters brought out their football sweaters - from the universal whining they did, it was apparently much too hot at the game for that sort of attire!

      Anyhow, here's hoping your weather cools off soon!

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  5. With all your bike riding I can't believe you didn't have that thigh muscle before. Maybe you just didn't notice it? That story reminds me of one I heard about a woman who lost a lot of weight inspired by poor health. One day she's laying in bed and notices a hard thing along her hip and tells her husband that losing weight didn't fix all her health problems because now she has a growth. Turns out it was the hip bone that she never felt before because of the fat previously covering that area.

    I wish we would hit a sweet spot in our weather! I have all the materials to paint my old deck but need three to four days without rain to tackle the job and we haven't had two without rain since the end of July.

    I watched your game last night and have to say I can see why you are excited about Trevor. He looks better on the field than Peyton did last year. That was a close game, I bet you were on the edge of your seat for that ending. :-)

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    1. Ha! I heard a similar story about a woman who had lost a lot of weight. Then one day she was doing a breast exam and found a solid lump - she panicked. Turned out it was a rib! Anyhow, I'm relatively sure the muscle has always been there, it's just bigger and more well defined now.

      Talk about a great first game for Trevor! Obviously he made a few mistakes, but it was so much fun listening to the "before" and "after" comments by Tony Dungy & company. Before the game they're all like "What is Kubiak doing? This kid has never even thrown a pass in an NFL game?!?" And by the end of the game they couldn't stop singing his praises! Hopefully next time it won't take the defense an entire half to wake up and remember who they are, and with any luck we'll clean up those turnover "issues" as the season progresses.

      Here's hoping you get some better weather soon! We could actually really use some of that rain, but it's hard to complain when it's just sooo beautiful outside!

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  6. Wait - somehow I missed this post before! Noooo!

    The sunflowers! Stunning. I keep thinking we should grow some but we haven't for many years.

    I laughed at you finding such an alien muscle! I'm so impressed that you are so fit and healthy just to zoom about on bikes like that. Something I aspire to.

    So good to read a sport post as well! I used to been utterly disinterested in team sports but nowadays I get really engrossed in a good football game (or basketball or any other sport, really.) And it is good to be able to talk to kids at school (boys and girls) about the sports they play. I don't know much about grid-iron though! I will have to ask the kids at school or Mr D :)

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    1. Since I noticed the difference between my right and left legs I've been making a concerted effort to engage my left leg when riding. I doubt it will make much difference in how they look, but I do have to say that climbing hills is much easier when you actually use both legs! :-)

      And I fear my love of team sports is somewhat limited. Baseball, basketball, soccer, lacross, hockey... they all bore me to tears. But football... I can't help myself, I just LOVE it! I think it's because on some level that's not readily apparent to the casual observer, it's a very cerebral sport. Sorta like a living chess game.

      Anyhow, I'm sure you're earning a lot of "cool points" with the kids by being able to chat sports with them!

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