Winter.....

It's been a month since I've done my random ramblings on here, so I figured that it was time to give the people what they want.......reading material to sleep to.

As always, there's been a lot going on. 2009 didn't' start out as a great year honestly. Getting hit with a ton of bricks on the first day of 2009 is not how I had hoped that the year would start. Thankfully, we've all slogged on through and things are starting to get easier. The girls (cats) have honestly been a huge help to Allyson and I on this. Although......Nellie doesn't make it any easier to read the newspaper.

Although we aren't setting the world on fire, work has been going fairly well. The orders have still been coming in which is a good sign. I do have to say that I have seen a shift in consumer thinking. I have to say that I'm rather impressed that the owners had the foresight to make sure that we were in a position to take advantage of this shift.

Last weekend, we went to Lunch with the Boggs' and the Raub's. Holy Toledo do the kids grow fast. Seems like just a few weeks ago when Jack (Raub Jr.) could fit almost in the palm of your hand. Now the little guy puts down bottles of formula like a gas guzzling SUV hell bent on draining the planet of dinosaur juice. Lucky for Jaclyn and Corey, he's starting to develop those soccer player legs... Ben Boggs is running around like a madman now also. He's even starting to be able to throw. (I'm sure that Josh hasn't pushed this issue at all.....) Looking at how fast this has all happened...suddenly, I feel old. I must head to the basement and play with my toy tractors as a remedy......

Speaking of tractors, I've been busy with mine. With all of this snow, the Gravely's have been getting a workout. Enough of a workout in fact that I've got to replace one of the drive clutches in the 1966. We're supposed to get a boatload of snow tonight, and I'm hoping that I can push it all tomorrow, but the clutch is starting to slip even in the lowest ranges, so it's time for a replacement. On top of that, the Cub ended up getting a serious vibration at the end of the season last year. The drive flange on the back of the engine busted. Unfortunately, it took the rubber coupler and the driveshaft with it. Ouch to the tune of $100. Oh well.....at least I can work on it "as I please" now instead of trying to get it done before the lawn turns into a jungle. It's a good time for some maintenance on it anyways...right?

Finally, a biking update. With that solitary nice day that we had right around Christmas, Tim and I hit the roads to get some actual miles in. It went well. I felt good on the bike. The road (although pothole ridden) felt good underneath me. There was a hellacious wind that day, but it was just nice to be out on the road. This year, not only did the team get a completely new kit design.....but I bought some "bling" for myself.

Yes folks......Carbon, titanium, and chrome. Lowry asked me "you gonna have the guns this year to back up that type of bling?" My response pointed to "there's not a snowballs chance in July"

Perspective

ok....this'll never win the award for "best written blog". But there's some stuff in here that I need to blurt out in my usual brutally honest, open, and wordy way.

My perspective on a lot of things changed this past Sunday. How? Through two friends and the effect that they had on an entire neighborhood. In a sense, I feel a touch guilty. I took so much away from the experience and all I did was fix a couple of flat tires and grab a few bicycles off of the back of a truck. Ok....I know. I'm putting the cart before the horse.... Or is it the trailer in front of the bicycle?

Over the weekend, I was priveledged to be a part of Elves 'n More.

Here's some background:

Two guys that I happen to ride with started a charity called Elves 'n More. To make it long story short, they pick a neighborhood that is having a tough time and with the help of some volunteers, they take bicycles by the hundreds (close to or at 1,000) and pass them out to the kids in the neighborhood. It was really just astonishing as to how it all comes together. The organization and caring that these two guys have is beyond anything that I have ever seen.

For some more background on the charity itself and how the day went overall, check out the following link. (make sure to check out the video)

http://www.wkyc.com/news/local/news_article.aspx?storyid=103560&catid=45

For me, the whole afternoon was a bit of a rush as far as the emotions are concerned. I really can't even begin to describe most of them as I haven't ever experienced anything like it. Right towards the end of the day, it was all explained to me when I overheard one little boy...

A lot of the bikes were already gone. In fact, what you see in the picture was all that was left. As one of the volunteers was walking this boy out to the parking lot she stated, "I know that this may be a dissappointment, but all that we have left are pink, girls bikes". Without even the slightest hesitation, the young man responded with, "I don't care what color it is. I've just always wanted a bike."

It was a cold day as far as the temperature was concerned. I'm pretty sure that it was well below 0 with the wind chill figured in. As cold as it was, I don't think that anyone felt it.