Spring!

Over the weekend, the rain finally dried up, and it was actually sunny out! Hooray! Besides finishing Joe's Beer Socks, I did some work in the yard and dusted off my bike to begin training for my MS Ride. Considering I haven't ridden my bike more than a handful of times in the past few years, I thought 6 miles was a good start (with hills, no less!). Man, did my butt hurt. But I got on the treadmill the next day and worked some kinks out, and tonight I hit the road for another little 4 mile ride. For the first few weeks I've just got to get used to the darn thing again, and we'll be hitting the rail trails on the weekends for longer, flatter rides. Wahoo!

In the meantime, the first to bloom in the yard...our beloved magnolia.

Not sure what kind it is, but it smells heavenly. It's a tall yet scraggly tree that's seen better days. The lady who owned our home before it was "flipped" had legendary, beautiful gardens. Then Mr. Bonehead came through and just did what he needed to do, covering lots of the gardens with fill, compacting the soil, etc. So our first few years involved all kinds of "Wow - a tulip just popped up in the middle of the front yard" - "Oooh, look - peonies!" So no doubt this magnolia has had a rough life, but hopefully with some TLC it'll hang on.

The only trouble is that we're notorious for getting some pretty hefty spring storms, so usually the magnolia blooms last for about a day or two. Then they blow throughout the yard, causing Joe much aggravation.

But at least for today, they're pretty and smell nice. Unlike myself after a bike ride.