Irony

Well, I am going to make the subject of this blog a little different for awhile. We've been going car light for quite some time and have really enjoyed that. Recently we bought a really big van and travel trailer for it to pull. SO I've gone from riding my bike everywhere to embarking on a journey across the country in a vehicle that gets gas mileage that I can count on my hands. I'm just hoping that it will take both hands to count it.

A little over a month ago, it became abundantly clear that we needed to be closer to family. Family is on the other side of the country and that is where we need to be. Timing is always hard, so we decided that we needed to do it soon. We bought the travel trailer in an effort to down-size.

It was an interesting experience. I am always tempted to use words like rewarding, interesting, or fun to describe it, but that neglects to mention that it was difficult. We sold or gave away everything that wouldn't fit into the travel trailer (and it is packed pretty much to live in, not to haul stuff). It was an eye opening experience. We've always tried to live simply. We've walked through the house numerous times looking to get rid of stuff that we didn't need. In the end we were always able to justify a bunch of stuff and we keep getting more. To make it fit into a 30 foot travel trailer meant really prioritizing and finding what is important in life.

We found that creative toys for the kids, games to play as a family and active recreational activities were our priorities. Everything that we kept revolved around those three things. Oh, and we kept kitchen stuff and clothes just because.

I think it is interesting. When I tell people what we're doing, I get a variety of responses. Some people are excited and express that they always wished they had the guts to do what we're doing. I like those people, they make me feel good. Some people think we're nuts and try to convince me to think the same thing. Sometimes I do think that it wasn't the most logical choice, but I personally don't believe that life is about making the choices that lead you safely to death. Life is about making choices that challenge you and allow opportunities to grow and learn about yourself and your fellowman.

I've also noticed that a lot of people think that we're poor. With the current economic conditions and all, they think that we've run out of money so as a last resort, we are selling the house and going to live with family. Yes, we're selling the house and going to live near family, but it's not because we're poor. It's because we want to add richness to our lives. We want to be closer as a nuclear family and we want to be closer to our extended family. I feel that we are in really good shape financially. Currently our only outstanding debt is the mortgage on our house so when the house sells we will be debt free. We also have the savings to pay our mortgage for a year or more while we wait for our house to sell (although we really don't want to use our savings for that purpose). We aren't making this move because we're poor, we're making this move to become rich.

I hope to blog regularly on the trip and I've also thought of writing a book about the experience, but I don't know that I want to put that much work into something I don't think anyone would want to buy.

So today we leave. I'm leaving a place where I've been able to commute almost everywhere by bike and I'm moving into a van pulling a camper. And here I am continuing to blog on 'sansauto' when currently my life is revolving around the auto. In the long run I really hope my car disappears all together.

Moby and Midget Moby

So, we sold our van and got a bigger van. It's all part of the environmentalist in me. It may seem backwards (and maybe it is), but the bigger van is going to be the solution to a lot of things for us.

First lets talk about the old van. The old van was a mini-van that got OK gas mileage. We got a great deal on it and it was a great car for us. But when we wanted to go camping or take a hypothetical friend for a ride, we didn't have room. What it really boiled down to was that the mini-van did everything we needed to around town (where we really wanted to be riding a bike), but it wasn't big enough to do the stuff that we really wanted to use a car for, like go on weekend vacations.

So we bought a new van. It's big. We've decided to call it Moby... you know, like the big white whale. It's a 15 passenger (except it's missing a back seat, so it only holds 11) with a V10 that gets terrible gas mileage. We took it camping the first weekend that we had it and it was great. When we got to the camp site, I asked my wife why we hadn't been camping for so long and she said, "because we wouldn't fit in the car". Problem solved.

The new van is fantastic for longer trips, but around town the gas mileage gets even worse. This provides a great disincentive for driving around town. It's just that with four kids, it is hard to find a safe alternative.

Then we found a bike for sale that will safely haul our 4 kids. We bought one. We call it Midget Moby (or Midge for short). She rides like a dream... except when the kids get coordinated and lean violently from side to side; that makes it hard to steer straight. Except the boys say that Midge needs a bigger engine so it will go faster. We're still working on that. Here's a look at our new bike

Now I just need to find a plaid hat.

Time Trials

I'm just going to get right to the point. I don't like time trials. I have never liked time trials. The irony is that I often dream of time trials and live my life like a time trials.

Time trials are bike races where you don't get to work with anyone. They send cyclists out one at a time so they can't draft or otherwise see how the others are doing. The only thing that matters in a time trial is the clock and each rider is racing against it.

I have done many time trials in my time as a cyclist. I'm not good at them. I always start with a goal and I generally have a goal that is realistic for me... or so I think. I leave the start line at a pace that will get me to my goal. I feel good about it and I push hard. About the time I am out of view of the start line I start feeling like I'm pushing hard into the wind and my legs start getting heavy. For some reason I think that I'm the only one that feels this way so instead of pushing through it, I slow down. I also tend to think that since I'm away from the start line and the spectators nobody will notice that I've slowed a little.

Pretty soon I convince myself that the headwind is really strong so I slow down a little more figuring that I'll make the time up when the course changes direction and I'll have a massive tailwind. The next thing I know, I'm riding along at a leisurely pace and I realize that I'm not breathing hard. As a physiology major, I know that breathing is how the body gets rid of the acidity of lactic acid. It doesn't take me long to realize that I've slowed down to a pace just slightly slower than a lollygag. At which point I speed up, but I never find a good pace that I can maintain.

My time trials generally tend to turn into interval workouts where the high intensity efforts are reserved (because I think I've found a pace I can sustain) and really slow rest periods (because I've convinced myself of a headwind or hill or being sick or something). I do tend to finish my time trials with gusto. I generally have a pretty good sprint at the end because I haven't expended that much energy on the race. Inevitably, my times are terrible.

I remember the one and only one time trial where I did well. It was 1.5 miles long (I never lost sight of either the start or finish line) and it was uphill (I'm good at hills). Out of the several hundred people that did the race that day, I was in the top 20. This was my kind of race, I hardly consider myself a short distance person, but it was short enough for me to maintain focus and my climbing skills helped a little.

Yesterday when I was out for a ride, I was thinking of racing again (I'm only 2 years away from racing with the masters). As I'm thinking, of course I dream of the glory of winning a bike race. In my thoughts I think of riding away from a group and riding on my own for an extended period of time to victory. What makes me think that I could maintain a strenuous effort when I've never been able to before? What makes me think that I could maintain the training schedule that I've never before been able to maintain?

Sometimes I use the same tactics in life as I do in cycling. I set myself up with a work schedule that I think will get me ahead, but then start seeing that it's not as sustainable as I first thought it was. Then I start making up excuses on why I slowed down as I consider an unknown future where everything will be easier. Sometimes I feel like I'm at a good pace, but most of the time I either feel like I'm at the redline or like I'm lollygagging from project to project. Overall, I don't feel like I'm finishing the race at the pace I am capable of going. I seem to never be satisfied with my performance.

The Story of Della

We lost most of our chickens to raccoons several weeks ago. I fortified the coop and the hen house. I am fairly confident now that the raccoons can't get them. So we went and bought some more chickens.

We found this guy on Craig's-list that was selling hens. We set an appointment and drove up to his house one morning. I asked all the right questions. I established that I wanted the chickens, but I didn't want the turkeys. I was assured that I was getting all hens so that I would have more eggs and no crowing. I got a variety of chickens and then the guy offered to show us around his place. He had a variety of chickens. And then he showed us the ducks. My boys were excited about the ducks and I was too. I didn't want to jump into anything so I asked what ducks eat. He said they eat chicken food and don't have any special needs except for more water. He didn't even have a pond for his duck.

So I bought the duck. And my boys named the duck Della. The duck was bigger than the chicks that I bought, so I put it outside with the older chickens.

I put my blood sweat and tears into training that duck. After 3 days it was able to climb the ramp into the hen house all by itself. Also by that time the duck began to think that the chickens were its parents. It followed the chickens everywhere and the chickens pretended to ignore the duck. It was actually quite comical to watch the duck follow the chickens around thinking that it was a chicken.

Then someone asked me why I bought the duck. 'Does it lay eggs?' he asked. I thought for a moment. I didn't know if the duck was a girl. I asked all the right questions about the chickens, but I didn't know about the duck. That's OK though, because ducks don't crow.

I built the duck a very small pond (that it could get in to, but not out of) and it seemed to like it (probably because it couldn't get out). Unfortunately the pond I built did not quench the ducks desire for water. Every night the duck would take the water in the hen house and mix it around with the straw and make one awful mess. When the duck was smaller, it didn't get enough water to really matter, but as the duck got bigger, so did the mess.

Eventually it got to the point where I had to replace the bedding in the hen house every day. Every morning there was a small puddle of mud and chicken poop that I had to clean up. It didn't take long for me to get sick of cleaning the chicken coop. Once every week or two with a bunch of chickens. Daily with a single duck.

I decided I needed to get rid of Della. Although she was a meat duck, I couldn't do that. I thought of taking her back, but the guy we bought the duck from really didn't take great care of his animals and I didn't feel that was right either. Finally I decided to take her to the park. I put Della in a box and me and the boys released Della at the park to play with her duck friends for the rest of her life.

Unfortunately, Dell is a duck that will never fly. She weighs too much and has really small wings. So her only defense from predators is missing. I find it odd that I realize the reality of what I did, but I can find some comfort in riding my bike by the park and seeing white ducks. I will never know what happened to Della, but she will live out her days (or years?) at the park. And I will be able to ride by that park and see white ducks forever. So I guess Della will always be alive.

How do we ruin our children?

A few minutes ago I was sitting on the bed, making sure my 6-month-old didn't crawl off. OK, maybe crawl is the wrong word. He wiggles and squirms and otherwise moves and sort of makes progress in a direction either toward what interests him, or in the exact opposite direction. It's always unfortunate when your gyrations don't lead you toward your goal. Today was a good day, he was progressing toward his goal.

It amazed me how he would wiggle and squirm with all his might until he got closer to his goal. Children have an unrelenting persistence. So, the kid would move closer to the edge of the bed (that was his goal as far as I could tell), and I would pull him back to the middle. Then he would wiggle his way to the edge again. Over and over again, that kid would put his all into moving to the edge of the bed. Over and over again, I would pull him back to the center. Really, it was in his best interest. It's amazing to think of the perseverance that it takes to learn to walk, talk, socialize and otherwise grow up. Think of the set-backs that this kid will experience. Imagine how many times he will fall, fail to communicate, socialize or otherwise live a 'perfect' life.

Yesterday my wife was helping the 4-year-old ride his bike for the first time without training wheels. He crashed. He crashed numerous times. He crashed in the grass. He crashed on concrete. He even crashed into the van once. Each time he shed a few tears and jumped up with a huge grin to do it again. Some day he will ride a bike without training wheels and will go off jumps, dodge obstacles and do other stunts that his father thinks are a bad idea.

Give them 20 years and they will be typical adults. (At least we're hoping for typical in some ways... in other ways we're praying that they will be anything but typical). If they are anything like me they will grow up to have fears and anxiety. Fears of failure and fears of success. Fears to try things because of what others might think. Fears that prevent them from being genuine. I find it interesting that many of my greatest fears are the things that make children progress so quickly. The things that I fear most are the things that I feel that I need to protect my children from.

Maybe instead of protecting, I should follow their lead? ... I'm too afraid to try.

Watermelon

Generally my blog posts come from a fleeting thought. I get a little idea, I sit down and write about it and I hit the post button and hope for the best. Today is a topic more near and dear to my heart. This is a thought I have pondered for years and never had the courage to express. I believe that others may have other views and I quite frankly think they are wrong.

I am going to address the preparation, presentation and consumption of watermelon. First off, I think that this issue is drastically under-discussed. Watermelon is, without exception, the greatest food available to man. When prepared, presented and eaten properly, watermelon is the most divine of foods. If the preparations are undertaken with haste or without thought, watermelon becomes an OK food that is backwards and awkward.

Preparation: To start, watermelon has to be cold. Store the melon in the refrigerator for at least several hours before consuming. Next, the watermelon has to be sliced. There is no alternative. The slices should be anywhere from 1-5 inches thick, depending on how hungry you are. The ends of the watermelon should be discarded, only slices of watermelon with pink on the top and bottom and green all the way around the edges should ever be served. To further cut a watermelon into wedges is the destruction of a perfectly good food. It is the wedge shape that absolutely destroys a watermelon and the delectable goodness that it stands for.

Presentation: The watermelon should be served with the wider side up on a plate that is slightly larger in circumference than the melon slice. Watermelon should always be served with a spoon. A silver spoon is most appropriate, but any metal spoon will produce satisfactory results. A napkin is not required when serving watermelon. If you are really going to enjoy the watermelon, you have to be willing to put up with some spoon spray and mouth drippage.

Consumption: To eat a watermelon you press the spoon into the flesh, turn the spoon 360 degrees and form a perfect watermelonspoon shape. Watermelonspoon is the official name of the shape that is extracted from a slice of watermelon by inserting a spoon and turning it 360 degrees. It is not quite a sphere, but really there is no other name for the shape, therefore I named it myself. Watermelonspoon shapes of watermelon should be taken from the outer pink edges of the watermelon first. You should take the melon from as close to the rind as you can, so as not to waste any of the sweet goodness, but this is the least sweet part of the melon so consume it first before you move onto the center portions. The key to eating watermelon is to eat a ring of watermelon that is just inside the rind, leaving the center (the heart) for the last. If your outer ring is not wide enough, there will be some pink flesh left that either contains seeds, or contains the little pock marks where seeds should be. The seed area is the next area that needs to be eaten.

At this point your plate should be a ring of rind to be discarded and the very center, brightest pink area of the heart left. This is the best part of the watermelon. If you massacre a watermelon and serve it in wedges, the heart -- the very best part of the watermelon-- is the first bite and it just gets worse from there. If you eat a watermelon correctly, you save the heart for the last and you have the opportunity to enjoy the pinnacle of nature's sweetness and savor it in your mouth for the rest of the evening.

While it doesn't really matter how long you take to eat the outer portions of your watermelon, the heart is to be savored. Every bite should be extremely small and consumed slowly in order to maximize the enjoyment of the fruit. When you take that final bite, you are done and should discard the rind. You should NOT, however wipe your face. You should let the ultimate sweetness that dribbled down your chin remain on your face as a reminder of your recent consumption of perfection.

If you have any questions on how to eat a watermelon, please let me know. I am always at your service and would love to demonstrate the proper techniques.

Another garden parable

Unlike my tomatoes, my strawberries had the right goal all along. They were thriving, pushing their greenness toward the sun and sending little balls of sweet red goodness off in every direction.

My strawberries had found their purpose in life. They were living large and accomplishing their dreams.

One morning I came out to find that much of my strawberry patch had been torn up and the strawberry plants were thrown all around and otherwise trampled. Before I blamed the kids, I observed for awhile and found that it wasn't the kids who had done this, it was the chickens.

Most of the dirt in my yard is covered in something that is growing or mulch. The strawberry patch is an exception. The birds found that the strawberry patch was the perfect place for a dirt bath, except the strawberries were in the way. The chickens didn't have anything against the strawberries, but they needed that dirt to bathe. The strawberries depended on the dirt to reach their goals, it was the foundation of everything strawberries were able to become.

The chicken went after the strawberries, not to destroy the strawberries, but to be able to use the dirt for a bath. The strawberries were scratched, pecked and otherwise trampled and pushed out of the way so that the chickens could use the dirt for another purpose.

My thoughts are done. I like the tomato story better. I need to find a conclusion to this one. The lesson could be that some will trample your goals and dreams just to get at something they want, but I don't like that. Surely there is a better lesson here.