I had no big hairy plans today, honestly. Maybe go for a bike ride and take some pictures, weather permitting, probably sit around in front of the fireplace reading and occasionally shoving a cat’s butt off my book. I didn’t expect to actually get anything accomplished.
It all started out with me waking up early. Who the hell wakes up at 6:00 a.m. on a Saturday anyhow? Apparently me (today at least). It had snowed during the night and all the normal neighborhood sounds (except for the McDonalds drive-thru over on the Ave.) were muffled. I could still hear people ordering their McBarffins to go. I went outside to get a feel for what the weather was going to be like, and it was brrfuckCOLD, so I went back in and made a big ol’ pot of coffee and some oatmeal. After food, caffeination, and the donning of multiple layers of wool, I decided what the hell, and went for a bike ride.
It turns out that it was too stupid cold to do a photo-ride today. Just a regular ride, without much stopping would have been okay, but stopping, plunging my boots into the snow, and taking my gloves off to operate the camera were a bunch of really bad ideas, and inside of 45 minutes, my fingers and toes were aching with the cold and my butt and thighs were getting rather numb as well. I did get a couple of pictures of this cool old church I’ve been meaning to photograph, so all was not for naught, but I’m definitely waiting for a warmer day before the next time I set off with taking pictures in mind.
So I got home from that little jaunt, uploaded some pictures, and decided to thaw myself in front of the fireplace with a Captain Underpants book and a cup of hot tea. The cats wholeheartedly endorsed this plan, and so we all lounged for a while.
Then I got this hot idea to do some organizing in my workroom and realized that Smallcat has been sleeping on some denim that I have been meaning to make into a couple of pair of jeans, so I had to wash and dry that fabric. THEN, I got this crazy idea that I might as well take apart the old pants I wanted to use for a pattern. By the time the old pants were disassembled, the denim in the dryer was dry, so I figured what the hell, I might as well cut out the new jeans so the cat wouldn’t just go and sleep on the fabric and coat it in white hair all over again. So, when all that was said and done, I’d cut out two new pair of jeans.
By which time it was coming close to time to leave for the ACME ride, and snow was thick in the air and coming down with a good will and I was still feeling chilled from my morning excursion. I called Christi to let her know that I was wimping out. We ended up shooting the bull on the phone for a good half hour, and she suggested that I should get myself a good pair of insulated boots so that my feet wouldn’t get so frozen so quickly. I thought, “yeah, what a good idea.”
Shortly after that, Joel called me. He was done with his duties at the Cyclocross Nationals, and asked me if I had anything in particular I wanted to do this afternoon. I siad, “yes, I’d like to buy some insulated boots.” So, we went to the Western Army Store in Independence MO, the place where I bought my normal workboots, and made the purchase of a pair of insulated workboots, fairly similar to these. That should make hanging around outside all day tomorrow MUCH more pleasant. While we were in Independence, we stopped off at Kohls, where Joel was able to find some new Vans, since his old sneakers and general-purpose casual shoes were pretty much shot. So, we’re both pretty well set in the footwear department.
Then for no particular reason, we went out to eat at the Taj Palace Indian restaurant down on 39th St., which is always a delicious dinner. It’s been a heck of a sweet day, especially considering as how I’d had nothing in particular planned to do today.
1. Bike ride (albeit short and freezing)
2. Frivolous reading and fireplace-centered indolence
3. Two new pair of pants prepped (and some tidying accomplished)
4. Winter Boots!
5. Great dinner.
Yaaay!