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Finished, Done, Caput… Finally!

Hubby and I have been “almost finished” construction of the WV Place for over a year now. There was one big thing that still needed to be done and that was covering the fascia board with aluminum. There’s probably a term for that, but I don’t know what it is.

Fascia is the trim around the edges of the house, right under the roof line. Your rain gutters usually hang in front of it. If you have rain gutters, that is. We don’t.

Anyway…

Neither of us really felt like doing the work. It involved either using very tall ladders, scaffolding or a mechanical man-lift thing, which we would have had to rent. After all the years of doing 99% of the work ourselves, we just plain could not bring ourselves to do it.

Hubby has been doing little things here and there all year. I have done squat. We’ve really been enjoying the relaxation. And the recent bike trips have been great.

Finally, instead of risking total deterioration of the wood, we said “screw it” and hired a professional. He managed to do in one day what would’ve taken us at least a weekend, I think, since we were so totally unmotivated.

That was the last big thing. One little thing we’d been wanting to do, too, was paint the door. Finally, Hubby told me to pick a durn paint color already. And he painted it.

Now, we pronounce the place FINISHED.

You can check out the complete 2009 update if you like. That’s another thing I finally got around to doing. Yesterday was a good day for it. I planned on sitting around all day anyway, to recuperate from the anniversary party madness. Not that it was drunken mayhem or anything, it was just a very busy week leading up to the party, which by the way was probably a huge contributor to my lack of sleep.

I at least have to share an image of our awesome red door here…

Doesn’t it just make you want to come visit? I sure hope so. We’ve been trying to get folks to come and enjoy the place with us, but everyone is busy, busy, busy! If you’re interested in a visit, just let us know. We’re going to stop asking people soon. We’re starting to feel like nags…

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go run 3 miles. Wish me luck!

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Other People’s Cows & Stuff

This is the first Blog post from the WV place. There’s not a lot of excitement here this weekend. But then, there usually isn’t, which is just the way we like it.

Quiet. Restful. Relaxing.

I did do something interesting yesterday. I went to Wal-Mart.

Any biker will tell you… it’s not the destination, it’s the journey. That means I won’t bore you with mundane tidbits about my Wal-Mart shopping experience. But I will show you what a trip to Wal-Mart in West Virginia looks like.

I chose the Wal-Mart in Moorefield as my destination. (We’re 45-minutes to an hour from four different Wal-Marts.) I didn’t need anything urgently, I was just bored. Hubby was working to get the security camera installed and functioning. And it was too darn hot to run around with the dogs.

From Route 50 in Romney, I headed south on Grassy Lick Road (CR-10) then hung a right on North River Road (CR- 1), which goes through the “town” of Bean Settlement.

The image immediately above is overlooking a pasture on CR-1 southwest of Bean Settlement.

I just HAD to stop and take pictures of these cows. They’re not just any cows, they’re Oreo cows. The formal name is Belted Galloway cows. They’re also known as “belties.” You don’t see many of them around here.

The little brown one, not sure if he was an Oreo, was quite intrigued by me.

Here’s a picture of my bike alongside CR-1. There are lots and lots of roads like this all over the place here in WV. Quiet, scenic, rarely any traffic. They wind over mountains, through farmland and forests, along quiet streams. Idyllic is probably the best word to describe them.

When’s the last time you enjoyed scenery like this on your way to Wal-Mart? Even running errands is fun here.

No matter how small or how remote the road seems, there’s always, always a little country church. Often more than one. This is the Bean Settlement Church of the Brethren.

And this is the view from the little parking lot across the road from the church.

A little barn, decorated in the true country style, along Grassy Lick Road (CR-10).

This is my favorite shot of the day as far as scenery goes. We really are not out in the middle of nowhere. We have pretty much all the modern conveniences we need. It’s just rural. And quite picturesque, wouldn’t you agree?

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Developments

A couple of notable events happened today.

I ran my first 20-minute session! I was excited. Well, if I’m being honest, “excited” is probably not the best descriptor.

I was tired and quite sweaty afterward, but also happy to have done 20 minutes. Despite the fact that the dreaded humidity has returned to Central Maryland. After a string of three consecutive days with morning temperatures in the upper 50s/low 60s, that was pretty hard to take. We experienced those temps at the WV place, where the AC didn’t run much at all from Thursday through Monday afternoon, which is when Hubby left to come home.

Wanna know why Hubby didn’t come home until today (Monday)? He had to wait for the guy from Frontier Communications (our phone company) to come and install our Internet service. Yep, we have finally entered the digital age. Not because were were going through withdrawal or anything, but because we plan on installing a security camera. The Internet service is necessary to transmit the images to us in Maryland, or wherever in the world we happen to be. Assuming we have access to the Internet from that place, too. So now, if our alarm goes off, as it has in the past (twice for no clear reason), we won’t have to call the Sheriff to go and check things out until we know for sure that there’s a problem.

Finally, I might have the answer to the odd fatigue I’ve been whining about.

Eating before running didn’t help, it just gave me abdominal cramps. Drinking lots of water did help, I felt better after making sure I ingested 64+ ounces the day before. But I still felt a little off.

A couple of months ago, my primary care doctor told me to start taking an iron supplement since I was borderline anemic, which is not uncommon in certain women my age. No big deal right? That’s what I thought.

I went for my yearly endocrinologist visit today. She always asks if my meds are the same. When I mentioned the iron, she was concerned that it might be affecting the absorption of Synthroid since, for months, I have been taking both together every morning. A couple of hours later, she called me with preliminary blood results that, sure enough, indicated I have not been getting enough Synthroid into my system. Iron, like calcium, cannot be taken at the same time or even within hours of Synthroid.

I’ll have to see if that’s it. I sure hope so.October is approaching fast. I know 20 minutes is good, but it’s nowhere near 10 miles…

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Wanna Know Where I’ve Been?

You know, the funny thing about being a blogger with a general interest blog like mine is that I am constantly wracking my brain for stuff to write about. Well, not constantly as in all the time, but a lot. I mean, I have to keep folks entertained, right? So they’ll come back again and again, and log on to the Internet at least 57 times a day just to see if I have said anything new.

That’s what I’ve always thought. But I haven’t posted anything since last Friday. I skipped four whole days. And not one person said, “Hey. Where have you been?”

So I figured I’d just cut to the chase, you know, be up front and honest, and ask if I have been missed.

Well???

Seriously though, it’s just been one of those weeks where not a lot worth writing about has happened. Instead of writing about one big event, I’m going to share some scintillating (or not) tidbits…

Motorcycling in West Virginia

Know why we like motorcycling in West Virginia so much? Cause it’s just a durn purty place. With lots and lots of cool roads like this that meander through the myriad mountains and valleys.

Hubby didn’t feel like riding on Saturday, so I went out exploring on my own. Which is why, even though I finally found a spot to take a picture of me and my bike in front of a field of cows, you don’t see me in the next picture.

Saturday was a very nice day weather-wise. A bit overcast at times, but pleasantly cool. It was so cool, I was wearing a long sleeved shirt and wishing every now and then for a jacket.

Back in 2003 or 2004 when Hubby and I took our first bike trip through WV, the trip that convinced us we should actually buy some land there, we came across this neat little stretch of road. I sort of knew where it was, at least the general area, but we’d never managed to find it. Well, on Saturday, I found it. It’s called Greenland Gap Road. It runs through Greenland Gap. Which happens to be the home of the Greenland Gap Preserve.

In the above photo, you can see the rocky cliffs that rise 800+ feet on the northern side of the gap. There was a cool little waterfall, but nowhere safe for me to stop, which is why there’s a link to someone else’s picture.

It wasn’t the smoothest road, but it was certainly picturesque.

Besides an abundance of scenic beauty, know what else WV has a lot of? Twisties!

This particular twisty, which is actually a series of sweeping curves, is on US Route 50 just east of Mt. Storm. There are quite a few others. But it isn’t always convenient to stop. Even if there is space alongside the road for me to quickly zip in to, the surface is usually dirt or gravel. Motorcycles don’t take well to “zipping in” to dirt or gravel. Especially big, heavy motorcycles.

On Missing Grandma…

Hard as it is for me to believe, it’s been a whole year since my Grandma Saxton passed. I’ve been thinking of her a lot lately. This morning, while enjoying (not!) my 15-minute jog, I passed a crepe myrtle bush in full bloom. It was gorgeous. Maybe tomorrow I’ll go take a picture of it to share with you, since I can’t share it with my Grandma. It would’ve made her smile and say, “Wow, that’s really pretty.” I can still hear her voice.

Engrish Lessons

Tacky segue? Grandma wouldn’t think so. She had quite a sense of humor. “Engrish” is simply humorous English mistakes that appear in Japanese advertising and product design. The site’ll really suck you in, so be careful. Here’s one of my favorite Engrish pics. This lovely note is one of their most popular posts.

Newest Blog Addiction

I stumbled across the blog, So About What I Said…, a couple of days ago. It is written by a 27-year-old woman named Melissa who has Freeman-Sheldon Syndrome. It is a rare genetic condition, which causes physical disability. It’s not the syndrome that has me so fascinated, it’s the girl. Wowee, can she write! She writes a lot, too. I keep poking through her archives to read more and learn more about her. Her biggest issue, at least the one that is most frequently discussed, is with dating. It is really quite eye-opening. If you ever, even remotely, wondered what it is like to have a physical disability, you gotta read some of Melissa’s blog.

Army Ten-Miler Training

I’m still at it. I’ve been running 15-minute stints. I am supposed to run 15/walk 5/run 15/walk 5, but I can’t seem to bring myself to do that second 15. It’s mental, I swear. Once I stop jogging and walk after the first 15 minutes, I just can’t bring myself to start jogging again. So I am just going to start adding 5 minutes to my jog times. The next jog is supposed to be 20 minutes. I’ll let you know how I do.

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That’s it for now. I’m looking forward to tomorrow night. I’m having dinner with two friends who are former co-workers of mine. Usually, we do lunch, and it’s always rushed. A relaxing dinner will be a nice change of pace.

Tomorrow night, the girls and I will be driving out to the WV place. Hubby will ride his bike out on Friday afternoon. Here’s hoping for more good riding weather!

You may not hear from me again until Sunday. I hope you’ll be okay without me again for the next few days.

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One Amazing Weekend

Hubby and I had an amazing Fourth of July weekend. It was the kind of weekend that reaffirmed our decision to build the WV place.

He mapped out an amazing Saturday ride for us. We had picture-perfect weather. The first leg took us west from Romney on Route 50 to Grafton, WV. An approximately 90-mile ride with sweeping curves, crazy switchbacks, 3,000+ foot mountains… Get the picture? A perfect motorcycle road.

About 20 miles east of Grafton, we stopped at quirky Cool Springs Park. It’s one of those weird, “only in America” roadside attractions.

Next time, we’ll have to linger a bit. We were both anxious to get back on the road.

When we hit Grafton, we turned south toward Tygart Lake State Park, where we’d planned on stopping to enjoy our picnic lunch.

I never knew there was such a big, beautiful lake in West Virginia. I only wished the dogs were along to go for a swim.

After leaving there, we meandered through the mountainous countryside on some very cool, scenic back roads that were sometimes more farm lane than road. The scenery was gorgeous.

We topped the 227-mile ride day off with a lovely dinner that consisted of crab cakes (thanks, Dad!) and fresh corn on the cob. YUM.

Today, Hubby didn’t want to go for a ride. He knew he’d be riding his bike home to MD and he had some things he wanted to get done, so I went for a brief jaunt without him.

Here’s the sort of lovely country lanes we enjoyed (but didn’t photograph) on Saturday.

We covered many miles of road like this. Today, I decided to stop and take pics of the cows. I wanted to park my bike next to the fence and get a shot with it and the cows. But the cows were a little freaked out by me.

See the strange looks they’re giving me?

While I was off having fun, my wonderfully handy Hubby installed a screened door.

You know what they say… while the wife’s away, the Hubby will be productive. That’s how it seems to work in our world anyway.

See how nice and inviting the front porch looks now? Ready to come for a visit?

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Freak of Nature

We went to the WV place this past weekend. Nothing earth-shattering occurred. I weed-whacked a lot of very tall (hip high) grass and my arms are sore. But now I can take my morning strolls without covering myself in bug repellent first.

Speaking of bugs… we saw this really weird-looking caterpillar on one of our porch columns.

The most exciting event was that we cleaned a bit in preparation for some house guests. The cleaning wasn’t exciting, but knowing we’ll be having house guests sure is!