Ut oh

Today is such a beautiful day that Tim and I decided to exercise outside instead of at the gym.  Tim ran for a solid 2 miles, and I ran about 1.75 miles – not bad at all for our first outdoor run of the Spring!  Admittedly, my first run of the season is always good.  I think it takes my body by surprise, and ignorance is bliss.  After the first run, my body remembers how bad I feel the day AFTER that first run, and it doesn’t treat me as well during my successive attempts.

Once we got home, I really wanted to take full advantage of the good weather, plus I was already in my workout gear, so I pulled my awesome new bike up from the basement and set to filling up the tires.  I have Presta valves on my tires, and our standard pump didn’t work on them, so last year we got a mini pump.  I think the mini pump is intended just for emergency fillings, however.  Pumping a completely flat tire with a tiny pump is exhausting (especially after a 2 mile run), and it’s hard to work the angles.  I was pumping at an angle (man, that doesn’t sound good), and when I pulled the pump off the valve, the tip of the valve was bent.  Tim tried to straighten it out, and in the process the tip of the valve broke clean off.

Needless to say, I was devastated, “Oh no!!!!”  I literally felt like crying.  Instead I threw up my hands, shook my head, lamented how the world hates me and went and raked 1/2 of the front yard.  I realize my reaction was not in keeping with the inconsequentiality of the situation, but that was how I felt.  While I was busy taking my anger and frustration out on the front lawn, Tim calmly pulled the tire off the bike, pulled the tube out of the tire, bought a new tube, installed it, and presented me with a completely fixed bike about 40 minutes later.  He is generally pretty patient with my outsized reactions to annoying situations.

I tried to work myself out of my inexplicable bad mood as I cycled around the bike path.  I did a pretty good job until I encountered those stupid people who have no bike-path etiquette – the cyclists who INSIST on riding side-by-side on a 6 ft wide path, the parent walking down the exact middle of the path with their stroller, the oblivious wanderers, etc.  Overall, though, the ride did help me get into a better mood.  The sky is blue, the grass is green, everything is budding and beautiful, I don’t live in Juarez, life is good.

It’s only 2:30 PM, so we have a good portion of the day left.   Might do a little shopping (I really want (don’t NEED) a new Hobo wallet), maybe get a drink at the Great River beer garden, maybe start a new painting.  I’m getting 8 of Benny’s excellent landscape photographs printed out, so I’ll have plenty of templates.  Maybe I’ll start on this guy:

I need to do another house painting before I forget Tom’s lessons, but I have to get some good pictures first – ones with good light and shadows.

I’m afraid I’m going to be miserable tomorrow once my overly active today settles into my 33-year-old bones – I’m already nursing blisters and a sunburn from raking.  I best get as much done today as I can.

Hope you have a great weekend!