Frisco Highline Trail

Well, the bad news is the Golden Eagles did not jump this morning.  It was really windy and they had to cancel the jump.  I was already at the Vet's Home and we were walking up to meet Steve and Elizabeth when they make the decision.  Needless to say, we were disappointed.  I walked Betty back to her room and then went home.  When we got home, Elizabeth took a brief nap before going to the Bull Pen to workout.  Steve mowed the front and back yards.  It sure looks nice.  I love the look and smell of our freshly cut lawn.  Oh, I forgot to tell you yesterday about the maneater snake Steve killed.  It was black snake over 5 feet.  We saw in on our dirt road.  Steve tried to run over it but missed.  He chased it to the ditch.  He tried throwing rocks at it, but he could not hit it accurately and hard enough.  I finally walked up the driveway and got the shovel.  Steve took care of it with the shovel.  I won't go into details for those of you with a weak constitution.  :)  If you were not aware, Steve HATES, and I mean HATES snakes.  That is why we had to destroy this one.  His excuse was he did not want it in the yard and have Aubree come across it.  You see, when she was here last week, she was outside on the back porch stairs and a tiny ring necked snake crawled out of the stairs and over her foot.  She FREAKED.  She is a lot like her Opa.  We went out there and sure enough.  There were two little ring necks (probably 6 or so inches).  I reached down to pick one up, and I thought Aubree and Steve were going to have heart attacks.  I tried to get Aubree to touch it, but she wouldn't.  She kept telling me how bad snakes were.  I took one of the snakes and let it go in the tall grass to the south of the house.  The other snake crawled in the cracks of the stairs and has not been seen since.  If you ever have time, we should sit down and have a drink and I could tell you several stories of Steve and snakes.  Most of them will make you laugh so hard you will pee your pants.

About 12:00 we went bike riding.  Elizabeth, Koleen, and I went to Springfield and rode on the Frisco Highline Trail.  Its trail head is just off the old road to the old airport.  We rode the trail from Springfield to Willard.  It was a 10.5 mile trip (round)  Oh, what fun we had.  The trail is paved 8 miles out of Springfield and then it is crushed chat to Bolivar.  It is a really smooth ride.  The girls and I had a wonderful time.  I have some words of wisdom to pass on to you...if you are ever riding bikes with Elizabeth and Koleen, do not ride next to them.  They are WEAVERS.  Holy cow, they can't ride in a straight line.  Both of them also almost went off the side of the trail twice or more.  I found it was best to ride in the middle of the trail with one in front of me and one behind me.  Now don't think I had it made.  You would not believe how they would still swerve into me.  I am lucky to be alive.  :)  We will go again.  It is such a good place to ride.  We saw several other riders and runners using the trail.  It reminded me of the summer I rode the Katy Trail with Lin.  Talk about good times.  I love trail riding because the highest grade is 7% and most of them are in excellent shape.  I would love to ride past the 8 miles but we are unable to do 16 or more miles.  Maybe by the end of summer  we will be able to do 15-20 miles.  I used to do 20 with no problem, but I was in better shape then.  I can only hope I can regain my muscle tone.

Steve is doing fair today.  The cleaning of the hot tub yesterday and the mowing was probably more sun than he really should have been exposed to at a time.  He slept most of the late afternoon.  In fact, he just woke up at 7:00, came to the front room and sat in the chair, and now has moved back to the bedroom.  His stomach is a little upset.  He had a Sonic #1 burger for lunch, but I don't think that would upset his stomach.  Tonight is a big night for him because Gettysburg is on the History Channel.  He has been waiting weeks for this show.  We have the DVR set to record and we will watch it in real time too.  It is Civil War Week on the History Channel so there are going to be all sorts of Civil War shows on.  WEEEEEEE!  We love the Civil War.

 I sometimes wonder if I would have had the courage to hide run away slaves and be part of the Underground Railroad.    It's easy to say, "Sure, I would have hidden slaves,"  but it is not a matter of life and death to me now.  I also wonder if I would have been brave enough to help the Jews during WWII.  I would like to think that I would have been someone that would stand for justice no matter what the price.  Luckily, I have not been put to the test in my life time.  I sure do admire those brave souls that risked it all to help a few.

I have been sewing.  I have several projects cut out and ready to do an actual sewing marathon.  I am hoping to get these done and get back to Springfield for some more material.  There are a couple of pants I want to make.  I will also need some new shirts for our trip.  I can't go on a ship looking like "white trash" now can I?  Steve says he has all he needs, but we will see.  I think he will need a couple new shirts just so he had them in case.  It is difficult to decide exactly what to pack.  Part of the trip will be warm, and part of the trip will be cool if not cold.  The nice thing is, we don't have to dress for dinner.  They say the Alaskan cruises are more causal than the other trips.  Just what we need.  A good relaxing trip.