Big light in sky slated to appear in East

October 12, 2009 ~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 4 Comments

The Big Yellow Ball is back, and just in time, too — I nearly hit the deck thrice on ice in the past couple of days, and I was only walking, not cycling or running.

My closest call came this morning as I was stumbling out to chisel two days’ worth of ice from Herself’s Subaru so she could motor off to work in Denver and make me some whisky money. A bit of black ice on the backyard sidewalk sent me into windmilling-spastic mode, and the only thing that kept me up was the deck railing, which was there to catch my right shoulder as I was going down. Good times.

The cats are equally amused. Turkish insists on going out the back door only to come right back in the front, and on one of his go-rounds Miss Mia Sopaipilla escaped into the frosty grass, where she slammed to a halt with a “WTF?” expression on her furry little face. She’s used to a soft, warm lawn, and it probably didn’t help that a startled Turk’ gave her a swat as she rocketed past and into the yard for an icy bit of satori.

Happily, with the sun out the frost is in full retreat and the trees are dribbling a combination of leaves and water. The weatherman is calling for a high near 50. Fat city.

Oh, the weather outside is frightful

October 10, 2009 ~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 5 Comments

Any doubts as to what month it is got put on ice this morning. We awakened to light fog, freezing mist, black ice on the roads and sidewalks, temps in the 20s and a 30-car pileup that briefly closed Interstate 25, which is how Bibleburg officially welcomes the onset of winter.

Even Turkish, who considers being confined indoors the equivalent to a dip in the Lake of Fire, declined to take his morning constitutional. After the usual post-breakfast yowling for freedom he splayed briefly on the glazed sidewalk like Spider-Man on a wall, then rushed straight back indoors to sleep off the horror … the horror. …

Me, I’m trying to figure out where I can set up the Cateye trainer in this midget dwelling so I can take a little healthy exercise without risking frostbite. Herself has annexed the basement in the name of Lebensraum and every other square inch is packed tighter than four fatties in a Smart car. There’s the garage, but that sucker is a giant Igloo cooler — I swear it’s colder in there than it is outdoors. Plus it’s full of bikes, parts and lawn-care implements.

Don’t tell me I’m gonna have to suck it up and go outdoors. I saw how much the Turk’ liked it, and he’s wearing a fine fur coat.

Air today, gone tomorrow

October 6, 2009November 16, 2010 ~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 9 Comments

This is where the rubber meets the road (or, more precisely, the goatheads).

It’s autumn, all right. Blustery outside and beggary inside, with the local NPR affiliate entering the seventh day of its fall pledge drive with about fifty large yet to raise.

KRCC-FM used to be able wrap up these biannual annoyances in a day and a half, but no longer — money is as tight here as it is everywhere else, despite our vigorous embrace of ham-and-egger tourism, the military-industrial complex and corporate Christianity. Just ask anyone living in a cardboard condo alongside Fountain Creek.

My last few bike rides have required knee and arm warmers, and once an actual long-sleeved jersey, which was something of a shock to the system. They have also featured one flat each, as the goatheads are out and about. And big mothers they are, too. Once you hear that tick-tick-ticking and spot the thorn affixed to the tire, you’re just a few seconds from becoming a pedestrian.

On Sunday I hear the ticking, spot the thorn and start looking for a comfy place to sit while replacing the tube. But the first tube I pull out of the saddlebag won’t hold air, and neither will the second. Ay, Chihuahua, I think. Brain damage. You’ve been stuffing the flats back in the bag instead of a jersey pocket, you idiot.

Happily, the third tube was the charm — I pumped it up and headed for home, because I could feel the rear softening up, too. I foresee a morning rich in adhesives and patches if I wish to ride that bike again. Happily, it has many cousins in the garage. Never do today what you can put off ’til tomorrow.

October surprises

October 2, 2009November 16, 2010 ~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 3 Comments

It got good and chilly here last night — when I arose, it was exactly freezing outside. Now it’s 50-something, like me, and like me it took a long time to get there.

Last night I made another Martha Rose Shulman recipe, pasta with walnut sauce and broccoli raab, except I used broccoli florets. I had planned to do her stir-fried pork and greens, but Herself intervened on behalf of broccoli, and while I was surprised at her choice we were both pleased with the results. Plus there were enough leftovers for today’s lunch.

Tonight it’s back to caveman chow — a grilled flatiron steak from Ranch Foods Direct, some spuds and a vegetable to be determined by Herself, who is on a rare grocery-shopping excursion as part of a series of errands. I generally fetch the grub, since I do all the cooking around the DogHaus, but lacking any sort of work ethic I’m easily persuaded to sit on my ass and let someone else do the heavy lifting.

Outside the kitchen, meanwhile, Repuglican asshats and their enablers in the MSM are spastically jacking off over Barack Adolf Hitler Saddam Hussein Pol Pot “Uncle Joe” Stalin Mao Zedong Obama’s failure to bring the 2016 Olympics to Chicago and Steve Benen at Political Animal is predictably snarky.

I don’t know what all the fuss is about, frankly — Colorado voters told the International Olympic Committee to go fuck itself back in 1972, when a Denver group wanted to bring the Winter Olympics here, and we’re still on the map, albeit for all of the wrong reasons (Focus on the Family, Doug Bruce, Doug Lamborn — the list goes on and on). But at least we didn’t piss away 13 times the original estimate to host that frozen clusterfuck, the way California did in 1960.

Why, the Winter Games don’t even include cyclo-cross. That right there’s a deal-breaker as far as I’m concerned.

Equinoxious

September 22, 2009November 16, 2010 ~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 10 Comments

That first glimpse of snow on Pikes Peak is always something of a surprise. — The first sight of snow on Pikes Peak is always a surprise.

I just popped out for a quick shot of Pikes Peak as seen from the DogHaus (well, as seen from the rear bumper of the ’83 Toyota 4WD truck parked in front of the DogHaus, anyway). Looks cold up there. Glad we’re down here.

Turkish has been harshly critical of my weather-management skills the past couple of days. He stalks from door to door, pitching a bitch about how much it sucks being penned up with the lesser beings, until one of us finally throws his ass outside into the crisp fall air.

Then he perches atop a deck railing, as white and puffy as a Repuglican senator, blinking his big blue eyes in astonishment and wondering where all the nifty sunshine and warmth went.

Right down Adolf Barack Hitler Saddam Hussein “Uncle Joe” Stalin Obama’s commie rathole, is where, Turk’ me boyo. No more sunshine for us red-state weirdos unless the feddle gummint issues it to us. If he weren’t so damn’ busy socializing our health care, killing the seniors and trading white Christian babies to the A-rabs for oil, we could mine more Murkin coal and heat the outdoors, too.

Turkish finds my meteorological management not to his liking.

Could be worse, though. My man Hal at Hardscrabble Times reports snow at his Crusty County ranchette, both yesterday and today, the autumnal equinox. We both agreed that a couple hundred thou’ apiece would go a long way toward dissipating winter’s chill if spent on a pair of cozy bolt holes in New Mexico or Arizona, but couldn’t think of any mostly legal ways of laying our hands on same.

And anyway, that wouldn’t solve Turkish’s problem. He hates auto trips more than he hates being cooped up indoors on a cold, blustery morning — or any other kind or morning, come to think of it.