Samue night fever

October 5, 2010November 16, 2010 ~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 17 Comments

Finally it feels like fall. We had a smidgen of rain late yesterday afternoon, and then the wind sprang up and the leaves began falling. This morning, the furnace clicked on.

I surrendered to the inevitable and skipped the shorts in favor of some cotton samue drawers. My sleeveless summertime wife-beater T bit the dust a couple days ago, but I’m not quite ready to go to the full-on sweatpants-and-socks combo. Not yet.

Steel-cut Irish oatmeal fortified with cinnamon, honey, nuts and fruit is back on the breakfast menu, as are eggs, especially when scrambled with green chile or hardboiled, sliced and served alongside a potato hash involving chopped chile and scallions, diced red bell pepper, minced garlic, Mexican oregano and some leftover protein from the previous night’s dinner (chicken, beef or pork).

Did I mention chile? I made a green chile stew using chicken thighs instead of pork last week and it was killer. Tonight I may whip up some buffalo enchiladas in a red sauce that has its red-hot roots in Chimayo, New Mexico. You can’t stop me.

Also back on the menu is running. I haven’t been doing much of that this summer, but since it’s no longer summer it’s time to suck it up and get back to the ground-pounding. It’s not as nifty as cycling, but it’s easier to do in the snow.

Snow? Did I say that or just think it? Where’d I leave those wool socks?

Cool today, chile tomorrow

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

Summer is hitting the door running with its bike slung over one shoulder. The leaves are turning, we’re back to breakfasts like steel-cut Irish oatmeal with black tea, and dinners involving copious quantities of freshly roasted green chile and free-range pork are in our very near future.

I haven’t made the ultimate concession to cooler weather — pulling on the ratty old gray sweatpants — because I’m still a tad scabby and stiff from stacking it on the trail last week. But I may have to start adding socks to my usual T-shirt-and-shorts ensemble, if only in the early mornings.

Political signs have replaced roses in the yard — Hickenlooper, Bennet, Merrifield and Mowle — and a few more opposing three insane tax-slashing initiatives will be joining them soon. I don’t see that overfed, under-taught windbag Doug Bruce volunteering to underwrite a few streetlights, patch a couple potholes or water a park, and frankly some things are worth paying for.

Between you and me, I’ll be glad when the midterms are behind us if only so we won’t have to listen to the ceaseless drumbeat of an ass-whuppin’ a-comin’ from the mainstream media. I’d rather take three beatings than endlessly anticipate one.

Meanwhile, cyclo-cross season starts this weekend. Already? I can still walk, but I haven’t tried running lately, and I haven’t been on a bike since a week ago Monday. So don’t look for me at the Pikes Peak Velo Supercross on the 18th. On a bike, wearing a number, anyway.

Hot pussy

October 22, 2009November 16, 2010 ~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 6 Comments

Winter laid a bit of the nasty on us yesterday, but it lasted about as long as a horny Republican with a boy toy in a cheap motel. Today the temps hit the 50s and I got out for a quick ’cross spin through Palmer Park, trying very hard not to kill myself on the deteriorating single-track.

I’ve had a number of “Wild Kingdom” moments on rides lately. On Sunday, I interrupted a long-tailed weasel’s pursuit of a rabbit just north of Criterium Bike Shop; today, I saw a couple smallish mule deer tiptoeing through the trees east of the Goose Gossage ballparks.

And when I got home there was a white tiger lounging in the backyard. Turkish was in a particularly sour mood yesterday, as his notion of a good time does not involve being outdoors in subfreezing temps and stiff winds. But today he was a new cat, taking full advantage of the late-October sunshine.

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.