Moronacity

I noticed that my dog wasn’t walking well with her hind legs, Saturday night, when I got home from the race. She was walking around and straining to do the number two. I figured she was constipated and let it ride for the night. Sunday, I headed to Copper Harbor and came home to a dog that was dragging her hind legs. I really didn’t think constipation was causing that, but I decided to give it a little more time. I gave her two doses of mineral oil and olive oil to encourage stool movement. It never happened.

Monday, I woke up for work, and started worrying about my dog quite a bit. She looked incredibly intense, strained, wasn’t moving her hind legs, and was simply helpless. I called my boss and he cleared my morning so I could take her to the vet. The diagnosis was a back injury.

Marji is currently on Prednisone, a steroid used to treat inflammation, and Tramadol which, according to Wikipedia, is an atypical opioid which is a centrally acting analgesic, used for treating moderate to severe pain. She had her first dose last night, and her second this morning.

My assignment, other than being a nurse to my little creature, is to do a daily assessment. I have to pinch each of the outer toes on both hind feet to get a reaction. Yesterday, she had no reaction to the vet, until he pinched her tail. She didn’t like that much. Today, each time I pinched a toe, she turned her head like she was being bitten by a fly. Improvement, and the vet was very happy to hear this.

Working full time this week and next makes for an interesting situation. Ultrasonographer by day, canine nurse by night. I feel like a nurse. I have to set Marji on the grass when I take her outside, and clean her little bottom of doggie doo. That’s just the nursey thing to do. There’s a reason why I’m not a nurse. Also, I have no free time if I want a full night of sleep, which is completely the case after this last weekend (two hours of sleep Friday night, six Saturday, two Sunday). The unfortunate part of this whole situation, other than Marji’s back problem, is the lack of attention my other dog, Cori (Marjoram and Coriander - spice girls), is getting. Cori is so energenetic and really wants to cuddle with her human. Thursday, we’re all going to shower and cuddle on the couch for a movie night. Marje will have to have her separate place, though.

Murphy’s Law is also taking effect. The weather is absolutely gorgeous for each of my 12-hour shifts. Go figure. I’d like to ride.

BTW - now you know why I’ve been too busy to post to my blog, so I hope you enjoy this mass update.

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It seems like the new blog format is working quite well. It is functional. However, there is a common error with Wordpress and Internet Explorer - the sidebar gets booted down to the bottom of the page if pictures are posted and they’re larger than what the code allows for. I’m still trying to figure out how to fix this problem, and I don’t really have much time for it, yet. For the time being, use Firefox. Heck, you should be using that anyway. If you use IE and you want to navigate through my blog, scroll to the bottom of the page. Hopefully, this will get fixed this week.

None of the Thimbleberries are out, yet, but that didn’t stop Copper Harbor from throwing their annual Thimbleberry Jam Festival. The turnout was small, mostly due to the cool, wet weather.

I was very happy to hear that one of my CH friends, Rachel, had paid off her new Marin mountain bike and was leading rides around the Mountain Lodge Trails. I have to say, her bike is pretty sweet. I’m thinking I want one, but that would involve giving up one of my other bikes. I think I’ll just fix up my old bike.

The night was long and full of fun. We headed to the Mariner for live music and plenty of beer. We socialized, danced, and – get this – moshed. Ha! We should get t-shirts that say, “I moshed at the Mariner.” It’s just so stupid and unbelievable. I love Ziks, but it was nice hanging out somewhere else, and it wasn’t smoky.

I overheard someone asking why it is called the 12 Hours of Potluck. Yes, it used to be a potluck. It no longer is a race-wide potluck, but that doesn’t stop groups of friends from sharing their food and beer.

The race is held down by Lake Superior at Harlow Lake. The course was actually quite fun, but there was a tremendous pain element involved. It started out fairly level and fast. Eventually the uphill – the long, long, uphill – wound through the woods and almost to the very top, known as “The Top of the World.” We raced down Jedi – a super long downhill reward for completing the super long uphill punishment. Jedi was the part I really loved. It wasn’t until I reached the technical section at the end of the course that I found myself smiling. The 5.85 miles of course offered a lot of variety, challenge, and plenty of opportunities for speed.

I worked with a four-person co-ed team. We each did five grueling laps. My total time riding was three hours and the mileage was 29.25. Pretty respectable.

I was fortunate enough to borrow a long sleeve jersey from a lady I know from cyclocross, last fall, and who was a part of my peleton for the Superior Bike Fest. She also made sure there was a cold Labatts Blue waiting for me after my last lap. My team mate, Chris, also gave me a KBC Brown. It was a nice end to a long, hard, cold day in Marquette.

These last two days have been . . . consumed. I worked a twelve-hour shift, yesterday, so that was pretty much wasted time in relation to my personal agenda. I worked eight hours, today, and rushed to the bike shop for a quick repair of my rear shock on my Trek Fuel EX8 - WSD.

Last time I was in Copper Harbor - I think it was two weeks ago - my rear shock got a little soft. I pumped more air into it and all the air leaked out when I took the pump off. Chris, at Keweenaw Adventure Company, managed to get it in working order for me to enjoy some serious riding this week.

The shock went soft during Wednesday night’s ride. I put more air into it only to have the air leak out, again. I was mildly upset. I couldn’t take it in until Friday, so I threw the bike in my truck and took it to The Bike Shop after work, today. Don’t worry, I warned Steve with an email the other day. I rushed elsewhere to pick up a check and cash it. Then, it was off to Dairy Queen (thanks, Marty! ). I called the guys at the bike shop and took orders for an ice cream delivery courtesy of me. They were happy.

While I was doing all of that, Steve repaired my shock. It was a simple fix (valve issues). I was fully prepared to swap parts between my new and old bikes and ride my Trek Fuel EX7 in the race, but Steve was pretty adamant about getting my EX8 race ready for tomorrow. We all ate ice cream. Then, Steve decided to give my bike the works. He adjusted my front brake rotor - it was previously rubbing and squealing and Glen adjusted it enough to be bearable until I could get it to Steve (thanks, Glen!). He checked over everything and made sure everything was tight, adjusted, and shifting well. The cost? DQ Blizzards.

For the most part, Steve and Caleb are the only guys I’ve done bike business with. From my first days as a newbie biker afraid of the unknown bike shop guys, they’ve offered me excellent service. When it comes down to it, they’re two happy bikers who want to keep everyone else riding, and they go above and beyond for their clientele (you should’ve heard the requests they were trying to fulfill for out-of-towners before the Keweenaw Chain Drive).

It’s no wonder my bike guys get homemade chocolate chip cookies and DQ Blizzards.

I came home with a bike, quite happy, and made Steak au Poivre with mixed veggies. I followed that with raspberry rhubarb crisp topped with French vanilla ice cream (thanks, Dad) and some KBC Ambers. I know this isn’t the best way to fuel for a race, but I’m happy, fed, and ready to go for tomorrow.

I’ve spent the last two days converting my blog to my web server (Moronacity has been hosted by Futurequest for several years). The biggest reason for this change is that I was tired of getting blank pages every time I logged into Blogger, tried to read comments on friends’ blogs, or tried to read the comments for my own blog and reply to them. That’s just not good blogging business. Now that my blog is completely on the Futurequest server, under the Moronacity domain name, the Blogger issues, and the issues associated with any free host, are now a thing of the past.

It was a bit difficult making this change. You see, I decided to go with WordPress, which is much more complicated in that it is necessary to have a basic understanding of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) if you want to have a personalized template. These last two days were spent trying to manipulate templates, and failing miserably. Fortunately, WordPress gives access to simple templates that are wonderful for customization. I must admit, I’m selfish and I don’t want to have the same template as other people. Yes, I know this template is quite similar to my Blogger account, but I did personalize that with color changes, and this is a little different in format. Face it, there is only so much you can do with a blog, and I didn’t want to change the color scheme because I think the blue does a lot for the pictures I post.

The best feature of the WordPress software is the smiley capability. Everyone knows I like to use smilies.

Bear with me. I needed to go live so I could check links and formatting on the different blog pages, so you may find errors over the next couple days.

Enough about blogging! It’s time to ride!

One would think that any given day in mid-July would be spectacular for mountain biking in the Keweenaw. One would think.

Today held firmly at 58 degrees F and the air was quite lively with a strong wind that was heard rushing through the leaves. The trees swayed with more animation than I was able to muster today. It is summer. It is summer. Yes, it is summer. I keep telling myself that, but it just doesn’t feel like it. It feels like spring.

I had to deliver the registration papers for the horse I sold a couple of months ago. I met the new owner at a horse show that was going on at the Houghton County Fairgrounds. I kept watching his daughter ride my horse and thinking to myself, “I really want to ride.” They offered several times, and I finally hopped on when she was done showing. I gave the daughter a few tips and made plans to show up to the stable Tuesday morning with baby pictures and a desire to ride. I’ll have to pack my half chaps and get my riding boots out.

It certainly is not mountain biking, but over a decade of horseback riding prepared me quite well for my new sport. Balance, strength, relaxed muscles, it is all key to both sports.

It took some convincing, but I managed to get myself out on the trail for a great ride. I did almost all of the Churning Rapids trails (practically all) and rode home in less than two and a half hours.

I felt strong. Even though I am sore from yesterday’s weight training, I pushed through my climbs and felt good. Some of the climbs even felt easier. As I was climbing High Point, I thought to myself, “This isn’t nearly as bad as it was a few weeks ago!”

I was going to set out for a long ride, but thunderstorms were forecasted. Instead, I weight trained for 75 minutes - it’s been a while - and I pulled up some grass where my garden was going to reside, now resides . . . yes, I know it’s late. The gardening caused me to sweat bullets, even though I didn’t feel hot, or even warm. Interesting.

I showered and moved on to a partial movie. I proceeded to, yes, you guessed it, KBC (Keweenaw Brewing Company for you rookies) for good times with good friends. Oh, and I knew I could pay my teammates, Chris and Tammi, for my entry to the 12 Hours of Potluck in Marquette. Yeah, you saw right through me. That was just an excuse to go drink beer.

It is the Strawberry Festival in Chassell, this weekend. If I can get the money that is owed me for the sale of my horse, I will ride out there to get it, then head on to Chassell for the festival. I will then finish the ride, shower, and proceed to KBC for good times with good friends.