Add enjoyment by subtracting GPS, Buried beneath gaming and eating

Saturday morning started like most of my Saturday mornings do with weeding the yard.  However the next activity was not usually a weeding follow up, a DD bike ride.   I have not done any outdoor endurance work in over a month, probably close to a month and a half due to my right knee being in a a pretty steady state of soreness.    I had a novel idea to leave my GPS at home, something that I never do.  With a GPS in front of me it is like the proverbial carrot, always driving me to pedal harder to keep that magical MPH number in a range that I deem worthy.  A side effect of this is sucking almost every ounce of enjoyment out of a ride as it becomes little more than a sweaty, unenjoyable, grindfest with your head low to reduce wind drag and a view of nothing but the next 25 feet of asphalt in front of you.

I thought back to my youth and how I rode my bike without any technology on board, just pedaling from point A to point B and taking in whatever I might encounter along the way.  When I told Cindy I wanted to do the ride without the GPS she welcomed the idea so that made it official.  I lead the way the entire way to DD.  I pedaled at a steady pace but nothing that would prevent me from carrying on a conversation, not that I enjoy talking while riding.  I was pretty much off my aero bars the entire way, riding in mostly an upright position that allowed me to see the world around me.  I took notice of things that I never noticed before from my dozens of  hunched over rides before.  Not having to answer to the GPS taskmaster was such a pleasant change.

After a long coffee break at DD we headed eastward with Cindy in the lead this time.  Although I had no GPS Cindy has her permanently mounted bike computer.  She was using it to try to keep a steady, high cadence.  I was in high riding position the entire way back, the only problem I had was with my hands going numb after awhile.  I did a lot of shifting around with them to try to find the right combination of support and comfort.  When we pulled back into the driveway I felt like it was the most enjoyable ride I had in years, despite it being more or less a 10 mile straight line both ways.  I definitely will be going GPS free more often in the future.  Despite the lack of one, Cindy’s bike computer said we averaged 16 mph which isn’t bad.  Sacrificing 2-3 mph in order to gain so much more appreciation for your surroundings in a no brainer trade off in my opinion.

During the afternoon we took the older chicks outside to let them play in the chicken tractor run.  When we first let them loose they were jumping, flapping, and running around, seemingly delirious with having a much larger patch of real estate to play in.  They were a bit unsure of how grass worked but before long they were scratching and picking at it like pros.

It didn’t take long for them to wear themselves out.  When I checked back later they were all huddled together napping in the wash basket we brought them out in.  Cindy is going to be trying to get them outside for a period of time daily.  Hopefully by next weekend we can start doing the same with the other chicks that are a week younger.

Cindy also played chicken nurse during the day for Lola who has been acting a little off.  Cindy checked her crop and found that it felt hard which is not a good thing.  The crop is a pouch where chickens hold food before it gets ingested.  Cindy held Lola and massaged the crop to loosen up whatever was packed in there as they advised online.  When she was done it felt much less impacted and Lola has been acting better ever since. We headed out to Home Depot to get a few things mid afternoon and then I worked up until dinner time spreading mulch, laying a couple pavers, and doing a few more little things.

Saturday night we stayed in and enjoyed a home cooked meal while watching A Walk Among the Tombstones, with Liam Neeson.  I have come to like most movies Liam does.  Somehow in his later years he has become quite the capable action drama star despite not having bulging biceps or a protein shake heavy diet.  This particular film was good as well although it had a very dark and disturbing element to it as it depicted the workings of a truly sick criminal mind.  It was a very solid B+ rental.

Sunday was Mother’s Day, a day that I was not particularly looking forward to for obvious reasons.  I did my very best to be distracted pretty much the entire day.  Of course I wanted Cindy to know how much I appreciate the mothering role she takes on for all the animals in our house, including Nicki and Sadie when they are there.  I also appreciate the sincere and deep compassion she feels for me regarding the loss of my mom.  One of her projects on Friday was starting a memorial bench for my mom that was unexpected, creative, and sweet.

Cindy’s family was coming over early in the afternoon.  I had very little on my to do list thanks to Saturday’s efforts combined with all the stuff Cindy now gets accomplished during the week.  I spent a good portion of my morning lost in a prolonged WoW session which is one of the ways I can keep my mind busy and not focused on my first Mother’s Day since mom passed away.  Cindy encouraged me to just chill and play as she got stuff together for her family’s arrival.

When her family started showing up I started popping a few beers, something that doesn’t happen much at that time of day.  Well as is often the case when alcohol is combined with food laid out buffet style, I made a pig of myself.  I was picking at food at a pretty steady pace for 2-3 hours.  Cindy’s daughter made a cute hand painted pot for her mom.  I was surprised when she walked in later with another pot with Kathy on it for me.  I thought it was very sweet of her to do.

Cindy and I played outside a lot with her little nephew Owen.  He is normally quite shy but has been slowly warming up to me.  He had a blast running around the yard, hanging on my bar park and pushing the big tires around.

Once everyone headed out I helped Cindy clean up, she had already worked way too hard with it being  Mother’s Day.  I told her she should just chill out the rest of the night and relax, something that is hard for her to do.  She agreed to watch a movie while I resumed my virtual conquests in WoW for a couple more hours.  It certainly felt like a different sort of Mother’s Day but despite the lack of my mom being there there was lots of smiles, fun and love in the house to help fill that void.