Mayhem and Mud Slinging

Good day to you all. This morning as I pulled out of the driveway, I think I saw what might have been a little piece of blue sky. That's right, between the thick cloud cover was some blue. As I looked off to the east, that was not the case. The cloud cover that way was ominous. Quick, turn your eyes to the east. Always to the east. Hey, I'll take what I can get.

Yesterday was one of those days where things that shouldn't even go wrong do. I tried my damndest to overcome this problem early, since setting the tone in the morning usually helps with the rest of the day. My efforts were thwarted and time after time I was met with astrological opposition. I pressed on.

At the end of the workday I knew I was going mountainbiking, so there was some light at the end of the tunnel. We were going to have some rain to contend with, but what's mountainbiking without some mud?

Around 4:00 I went home, changed, mixed up some Gatorade, loaded up my bike and bike accessories and headed out. I met up with one of the guys at the entrance to Balance Rock State Park and started to get my gear in order. As I leaned over to lace up my shoes I heard the unmistakable sound of a tire losing air. Tsssssssssssssssssssss. Yes, just what I wanted. We loaded our bikes back up and went to my buddy's house to plug the hole. We couldn't get the nail out with the wheel on the car, so we set to work taking the wheel off; short work for a pneumatic impact wrench.

"Brrraaooww, brraoww, ..., brraaoooww."

"Okay, just pull this wheel off." Eeerrrooongg. The wheel was rusted on at the hub. Some WD-40, a BF hammer, a couple of kicks with the size 11.5's and it wasn't budging. Finally it busted free and we set to work pulling the nail out. It was in there GOOD! Plugging it was tough, but went fairly well and we were back on the road. Except for one thing - the stripped lug nut. Yess! Those fuckers were rusted on there something fierce so stripping one wasn't unexpected but it still sucked. Meh, it can be replaced.

The ride was great! I love me some naturing, and riding a bike across streams, up a mountain, over fallen trees constitutes a healthy does of nature. PlacaTAN, bitches!

Afterwards, I whipped up some egg salad for dinner. Strangely enough, I wasn't that hungry. I finished up my paperwork for my porch permit, wrote a hot blog entry (you may remember it from such entries as last night's entry about the weekend), brushed my toofs and went to bed.

Phew!

This morning I have to leave work around 8:45 to head over to the Municipal Courthouse to meet with the Building Inspector and some judge. We're going to agree on some timeline for getting the porch built, I'm gonna hand over all of my plans and forms and everyone's gonna be happy. Once he finishes with my application, I'll be poorer by $10 and richer by one building permit. Dad, lace up your hammering shoes. We have a porch to build.

Okay, that's it. Hopefully the next time I post I'll have more good news about the permit situation. A picture of said permit would be even nicer, but I don't think I'll be getting it today. I guess it takes them some time to go over my plans/application; upwards of two weeks. They better give me a couple of months to build the porch is all I'm saying.

Over and out,
Old Coot