Date Night

Our Friday night date included riding our bikes over to the shooting range followed by delicious ribeye steak dinners at Julius' RibCage. (Once again, date night took us to the south side of town and I joked we are like birds migrating to our homeland). Every so often we stop in to check our shooting skills. This was my target just over 5 yards away. I don't have a tight pattern but you can see I'm still a pretty good shot and am completely comfortable with my smaller .22 caliber handgun.

New Boots - Icon Bombshell

Since my new bike has floorboards instead of pegs, I've been thinking about getting some fancy new riding boots but it's only been a thought I've said to myself. So, I went into Mid-America Powersports for the purpose of getting a new helmet and I literally stumbled over the only boot box in the place which happened to be a women's size 8 -- just my size. I snatched these babies up and took them to the counter and asked the price. The guy told me and I said "Damn!". At that he knocked $30 bucks off and I walked out with a kick-ass ('scuse the language but there's no other word for them!) pair of boots and a new flat black helmet. Karma works in mysterious ways...

Farm Work

We get the tractor out a couple times a year to mow the acreage where my father-in-law keeps our horse, Duke. It's been such a wet year and the place was a wreck. I enjoy putting on a pair of work gloves and boots and getting after a sweaty day of hard labor trimming trees and riding the tractor. Plus, tractors are cool with all the attachments that mow, plow and scoop.

Drive-In

This is going to give me away as growing up on the South side but here goes. I love going to the drive-in - always have - always will. Best thing to do is load up in the back of a pick-up with lounge chairs, blankets, pillows, snacks and a cooler on a cool summer evening to stay up into the wee early morning watching 2-3 movies. Without sounding too redneck - bing bag chairs work good, too! We've tried the air mattress in the back but that's too comfortable and you end up just sleeping through 2-3 movies so the secret is to stay somewhat upright.

I Met Maggie Sefton

A long black limo brought Maggie Sefton to town today and sat outside Watermark Books while she spoke about her journey into writing, entering the rabbit hole of knitting, and signed copies of her latest knitting murder mystery, Dyer Consequences. Her other knitting mysteries in my collection includes, A Deadly Yarn, A Killer Stitch and Needled to Death. Connie (pictured with the limo) and I enjoyed a bowl of soup and then listened intently while knitting on our sock projects. The time passed by too quickly and Maggie was whisked off to Tulsa for her next gig.

New Publications

This morning I stopped into Barnes & Noble for a book or magazine fix and found a new knitting mag from Europe called Verena. It's about time we get a little more variety! This premier issue is packed with sophisticated styles in the yarns we love so check it out. Then I got to the counter and right in front of me was "How to Knit a Wild Bikini." It's sure to be a good summer romance read.

Fruit Loop Socks

Finished the other Fruit Loop sock for the one I made on my trip. Jackie was right - this cable-like ribbing is form fitting and feels great. In fact, I could probably say this rates high on my most favorite sock patterns. Not too fussy with an easy to remember four row repeat. Ironically, I had a skein of Opal in my stash with every color in the cereal box!

Riding Destination: The Grand Canyon

We made it back from our 11-day southwest vacation. We spent four of those days with 10 of our friends on the road as we made our way to the Grand Canyon.

Our first 598 mile day ended as we treacherously traveled over a blizzardy mountain pass into Chama, NM. A second day of snow and ice was much more than I cared to tolerate so I volunteered to load my bike and drove the warm chase truck for the day. We passed through Farmington, NM (soon to be Angelique's new home) where you can see Shiprock Peak in the skyline.

On our third day the weather finally warmed up somewhat in the 50's as we took in the rock views of the 17-mile drive through Monument Valley at the Arizona-Utah border.

Then we made our way to the south rim of the Grand Canyon where we were greeted by a light sleet. Pictures cannot capture how big and breath-taking the canyon really is.

Since I don't sleep much, I was able to spend time waiting for the guys to get around in the morning knitting a pair of socks. See, I'm just a girl who rides and knits!

Finished up our trip with the group riding through the Petrified Forest and multi-colored hued badlands of the Painted Desert. At this point, we said our goodbyes and husband and I headed for Sedona, AZ to spend the week sightseeing in the Red Rock Country.

Riding Destination: Sedona, AZ

We passed by the snow covered mountains of Flagstaff and a chilly ride through hair pin curves of Coconino National Forest to our lodge in Oak Creek Canyon just outside of Sedona, AZ. Sedona was filled with great tourist shops and I even found a knit shop where I purchased a hank of locally dyed alpaca.











Spent one whole day leisurely knitting on the rocks by Oak Creek and finished one Fruit Loop sock.

Took a bumpy 4x4 sunset guided tour in a Hummer up into the Red Rocks where the views were incredible.










Rode to the mile-high old mining town of Jerome where I found another awesome yarn and bead shop. I came away very inspired by the talent of this shop owner @ knittinggeek.com.

Rididng Destination: Santa Fe, NM

Although I was sad to leave Sedona we were off to one of my favorite destinations where the weather finally warmed into the 80's for the last leg of our trip to Santa Fe. I love the southwest lifestyle, cuisine and jewelry shopping on the Plaza. This time I purchased a multi-stone heart belt buckle and got to meet the international designer herself, Rocki Gorman.

I couldn't help but make one more yarn shop stop for some hand dyed New Mexico alpaca. The Santa Fe colors in this yarn will make a beautiful lace shawl and a perfect souvenir of my trip.

Flea Market Finds

There were fewer vendors at the Colliseum flea market this month but I still fared pretty well in finding some treasures. The metal can is made for ashes but it will work well for securely storing bird seed and squirrel corn on my patio. The real excitement came when I found a woman was willing to part with her yarn swift at an unbelievable price and I can never have too many Longaberger baskets.

Girls Just Wanna Ride

Took the day off from work and called up the girls to go riding with. We got up early to hit the road meeting up with Karen at her gorgeous home in the country. Dawn finally got her bike started and came riding in (pictured). Then we were on our way taking the back roads to Aggieville in Manhattan for lunch. We made the mandatory road stop for mexican food, chips and beer. It was a great day of riding and I'm now up to 900 miles. Thanks Melanie for the great meal and letting me crash at your place.

Baby Cardinals

Last Spring we had a finch and robin nest off our front porch. This year it's a nest of three baby cardinals. The parents have been busy caring for them and it's a good thing I'm keeping an eye on them because one of the babies fell out of the nest today. It was so vulnerable just laying there and I grabbed my garden gloves (less scent) and placed the tiny guy back in it's nest.

March Sock of the Month

Obviously, my knitting has taken a back seat lately to my golfing. I'm way behind and just finished one sock for the March Sock of the Month Club. Yeah, I know -- it's now May! The Mt. Hood pattern is written for unisex which means (note to self) "slouchy" as a woman's sock. Now the challenge begins in trying to match the striping for my second sock. (It would be so much easier if only I was free willed enough not to care about the stripes matching up perfectly). I picked this pattern because of my fond memories of going to Mt. Hood with my Grandma Penny and Aunt Rita.

New Motor Miles

Our goal this weekend was to put 500 miles on my new Crossbones motorcycle so we made a trip on Saturday to one of my favorite riding destinations: Bad Brad's BBQ in Pawhuska, Oklahoma. (Most people give me a funny look when I tell them I'm going to Oklahoma for lunch). The food was great as always, but the ride back home was tiring with gusty winds and then rain in Ark City. On Sunday, I took a bonding solo rode out east on Highway 400 to finish racking up a total of 503 miles. Harley requires this break-in mileage on the new motor and now I can take her back into the dealership for a steering head adjustment and change of fluids. After this we'll be good for 5,000 miles.

Homecoming

I've had six years of good memories and 40,000 miles of travel on my custom HD Softail. While I'm excited about getting a new 2008 HD Crossbones, it made me sad to turn the old one over for trade. Today we made the deal, wrote the check and husband rode it home for me in the rain. Breaking in a new motor will give us a convenient excuse to hit the road this weekend. She's a beauty.

A New Bike

A couple months ago we went to the Harley dealership to buy my husband a new seat and ended up ordering me a new motorcycle. It finally arrived today and I got to go see it being assembled. It has many retro, old school features starting with the Springer front end and way cool fat tires. I almost can't stand the excitement to bring her home tomorrow.

Strike a Pose

We call our dog, Sexy Sassie. She's the only pet I've ever known who will pose for glamour shots. She'll just lounge around and look at me like, "Don't hate me because I'm beautiful!"

A Whole Lotta Golf

I'm hooked - bad. I used to make fun of people who wanted to chase a little ball around and now I'm one of 'em. I'm not even retired and have played three times this week. Would've played four had the winds not exceeded 40mph on Friday. I love this game and the time I get to spend with friends on the course -- three of them knit, too! Laurie and I joined a women's league so we would be committed to play every week and we're already seeing improvements and making new friendships along the way.

Black Minisweater

The minisweater strikes again.