So we bought some bikes. They are Electra Townies and we love them. Jacki got an orange 7D Original and I got a 21D Original. The numbers in case anyone cares are for the gears. 7D is a 7 speed bike with derailer gears. They also make bikes with internal hub gears so there is a need for a distinction.

We are both trying to get into better shape. Jacki is doing the couch to 5k running program and riding her bike. I’m not that motivated and it kills my knees to run so I’m just doing the bike. We have played some tennis a couple of times in the last week and that really kicks our asses. Fun tho. :)

My bike. The Electra Townie 21D in black.

Notice the kicking dog backpack that got converted into panniers. :) Also the handlebar mount for my Droid phone. That way I can GPS track the rides and play music.

Jacki’s bike. The Electra Townie 7D in orange.

Haven’t gotten any extras for her bike yet. Hopefully we’ll get a basket for the front soon.

Too summarize. Bikes! WOOT!

More of me babbling, pictures and maps after the break….
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MOON that spells kayak! Jacki seems to be having fun as I try to blag blog.

We went on our 4th trip in the kayak today. It’s an Advanced Elements AdvancedFrame Convertible Inflatable Kayak. iz fun

There is us in the kayak. Picture taken by my Dad.

Check under the fold for more kayak stuff….
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Sock-a-holic Katie came down and played Keggle with Jacki and I yesterday. That’s always a lot of fun. We dyed up a ton of yarn and fiber. I spent this morning washing it all out. I wash and Jacki spins and hangs. A system, we has it.

We decided to do a big dinner today. Ok Jacki thought of it, but I agreed it was good idea. So the Irish St. Patty’s day dinner was organized. Beer bread from this recipe is really good. I used Brooklyn Brewery’s Black Chocolate Stout instead of Guinness. Mostly just because that’s what I had. Check it….

The rest of the meal is corned beef, cabbage, and baked potato. Really freaking good meal and really not all that hard to make.

We didn’t really have anything Irish to drink so we went with the New Glarus Wisconsin Belgian Red. It went really well with the meal.

Oh and the dogs had a good time in the yard while Katie was here. They chewed and chewed on their sticks.

Till next time. Hopefully it won’t be months before I’m motivated to post again :)

Toby having a good time killing a stick. Some cuteness for everyone’s holidays.

Some pictures taken either of me wearing my Dr. Horrible goggles that Jacki got me for Christmas or taken with the Nikon through the goggles so that everyone can know what evil sees. :)

More pictures and stuff to come from the holiday family trip.

It’s really cold and crappy today and for the next few days. We are driving to Jacki’s parents tomorrow staying there for a few days then going down to see my mom and Bob. Nothing quite as fun as driving in really cold windy possibly snowy weather. Oh well. Dad this is for you….

Note the wind chill…

Update: Here is what the weather service is saying for or drive tomorrow now….

A chance of snow showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 15. Wind chill values as low as -25. West wind between 11 and 16 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.

Still hanging out at the same campsite. We’ve been going a lot of places and having a lot of fun. Fiber and beer and hiking and swimming the dogs. Good times. I’m going to post a couple pictures and just give a running narrative that way since I’m no where near as verbose as Jacki. Oh and I’ve geotagged almost all my pictures. So if you click on one and go to it’s flickr page then you can click the map button from there and it will put it on a map for you. :) Actually click here for a map with the pictures on it.

This is the cool bunch of signs as you come out of the campground.

This is Parnell Tower. It’s about 60 feet tall and has an amazing view. I took a couple pictures of the Sheboygan Power Plant from up there. It’s 22 miles away and one picture is with the 10x optical zoom and the other is with that and the digital zoom maxed out. Neat that you can see that far.

With 10X…

With 10X plus bunch of digital…

Click here for more tower pictures and a quick video from the top.

More under the fold (Toby swims!)….

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We made it! Camp is set up for the most part. We are at Kettle Moraine State Forest – North Unit. We are thinking about staying here for the whole two weeks. We’ll see how it goes.

Toby and Bela seem to like it ok :)

A big thanks to Carly for taking care of Ellie while we are gone. We love you!

View from the campsite….

More pictures and maybe some video if I can get it uploaded before I run out of interest. All under the fold….
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Jacki has been having some weird urge to go watch dirt track racing. Well we don’t have a dirt track close, but we do have a Drag Strip right outside town. So we went out there last night to check it out. It doesn’t even cost anything to go. Some pictures and a couple videos….

Ok under the fold is a bit of a rant….

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Jacki finally has a shop open again! Her Etsy shop is here. Go take a look. I’ll give you a little preview.

Have some patients and I’m sure she’ll get some more stuff up there. Those roving balls she makes are the nicest things I’ve ever spun. *sigh* There is also going to be a website for Gaslight Dyeworks. It’s not much yet, but I’ll work on it.

Some spinning that I’ve been doing lately. This is the seacell/merino blend that I got from Creatively Dyed Yarn in Wooster. Dianne’s roving is so nice to spin and looks so beautiful when it’s spun.

This one is a triple ply that is two plys of CDY and one ply of alpaca that I dyed. It’s 123 yards long and it weighs 7.25 ounces.

Then I ran out of alpaca. So I plyed the rest of the CDY bobbins into a two ply. It’s 210 yards long and weighs 4 7/8 ounces.