Hello Sunshine...

A week ago Monday was the first day of Summer and it greeted us with a nice warm, sunny welcome after an unseasonably cool, wet Spring. It has been beautiful and dry since, as if Ma Nature just set down the watering can. The past two weeks have been quite summer like, but we're Oregonians and we're still a little "sun shy". We just aren't quite sure if summer is really here or not so when the sun appears we question just how long it will stay out this time and expect every cloud that crests Mary's Peak to the West to ruin our picnic.

The blog has suffered lately along with yard maintenance, bike cleaning and physical fitness and now it's a race to catch up on everything in the yard that was too wet and muddy to do in the spring. We've been busy pulling weeds, planting plants we bought earlier in the year on one of the rare, dry Spring days we had. I've been transplanting other plants that have grown out of control with all the rain and no longer fit the location where I originally planted them. The first five cubic yards of bark mulch has been spread. The lawn continually needs to be mowed and plants watered, it is hard to believe that just 9 short days ago we thought the rain would never end. Now we're standing at the end of a hose every evening hoping all our hard work doesn't dry up and go to waste. I'm not complaining, I am loving this weather, but this time next year when I look back at this post I can be grateful Spring 2011 is much warmer and drier than 2010.

So that takes care of the yard maintenance, check, which in turn covers physical activity, check. Two birds, one stone. But, now the bike hasn't been washed since it stopped raining. Maybe I could park the bike in the shrub bed and wash it at the same time I am watering the plants.

I have to wash the bike soon, with Juneuary nearly over the next event on the calender is Independence Days Ride In. A friend set up this event last year with great success, enough to make it an annual event. We all park our bikes down by the river at the park and check out all the bikes, recruit new forum members, meet new people and make even more friends. Everyone had a great time last year and I am looking forward to it this year.

We have gotten some riding in and Trobairitz has been making great strides in her riding ability. We rode up to Alsea Falls and back one day, a single lane twisty road she thought she'd never ride on her own. Another day we rode down to Eugene to the Triumph shop and then through town for lunch. She was a little nervous but she handled it very well, the ride back is the video in my last post. She also stepped up to the plate and rode to work on Ride To Work Day. She'll ride her own bike to the bike show Saturday, it won't be too much longer before we have both bikes packed up to ride across the county.



I've been watching the grass grow along my route to and from work, it is getting tall and all the allergy sufferers are suffering. One field in particular caught my attention:



This is pollen, this is not caused by a tractor in the field, nor a truck driving down a dusty gravel lane. This is pollen.

Click for Video

Linn County is the Grass Seed Capital of the World, which puts food on my table and fuel in my tank, but if you suffer from allergies you might not want to visit this time of year. The farmers are waiting for the fields to dry out so they can get their equipment out there without getting stuck. Relief is on the way folks, they should be cutting and harvesting the Annual Rye and Tall Fescue this weekend, the Perennial will be late this year. Keep your allergy medicine close by, it's not over yet.

Enjoy the Holiday weekend, play safe.


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