Neither rain nor snow nor heat nor gloom of night….

The ancient motto of the pony express is not exactly our motto—the rain and snow actually would stop us on our Leisure World 50K Ultramarathon (cycling) Record.  

But it appears to be Candice’s motto.  Neither rain nor snow nor gloom of night (or freezing cold) has stopped Candice.  This week she broke all the Ultramarathon World Records when she completed 23 consecutive days of running 50Ks.  She will now be in the Guinness Book of World Records.

And yesterday she was still running….Day 25 in the snow!

 

To support Candice's efforts we are cycling 50K per day.  But, as we are going to tell her, all she has to carry for her 50Ks is a water bottle....while we each have to haul along 90 pound bicycles! 

 

Although we aren’t cycling in the snow, most mornings it has been awfully cold—the outside temperature is the lower one in the photo below!

Look what we get to see on our very cold and very early morning rides……a pack of 5 coyotes out hunting (hopefully not for us).

Today we finished Day 21…. and we’re awfully proud!

p.s. We have no idea what the Leisure World 50K cycling record is....because, of course, there is no such thing. We may have set the record when we completed Day 1. 

Dancing on Thanksgiving......to the hymn "Will There Be Any Stars In My Crown?"

Written by Eliza Edmunds Hewitt in the late 1800s.  It is the featured song in a really sweet 1950s western titled Stars in My Crown, with the great Joel McRae.  

So, who else do you know who does the Nightclub Two-Step to a hymn written in the 1800s?
 

 

 

 

Then, we had Thanksgiving Dinner!!! Wowser.

We give thanks….

 For our loving family,

For our loving family,
for good health and food on all our tables,
for days spent together 
laughing, talking, playing.
watching our grandchildren grow, 
learn, and experience this amazing world.

We give thanks….
that we found each other, 
and found love
in this vast land 
filled with millions of people.

We give thanks….
for life and each precious day that we live.
for the beauty that surrounds us,
as we feel and experience life.

We give thanks….
for all the blessings bestowed 
upon us and our dear family,
that there is goodness and sweetness 
between each of us….and love.

We give thanks….
and love and treasure each of you
with all our hearts.

We give thanks….
for all these things
and so much more today, 

on Thanksgiving,
and every day.fo

My Danny’s FOREVER project…..

 ……lighting up our bikes, attaching new lights, and recharging over eight lights and our eBike batteries every single day!  

Dan put super effective lights on our helmets….and he’s buying more, so we’ll have two bright lights on top of our head.

We head out at 4:15 am with no moon, in the pitch black, all lit up like a Christmas tree.

Every night we are joined by the coyotes who are out hunting, sometimes as many as six in a pack!

After riding about 25 miles, at around 6 am, we get to see the most unbelievable sunrises….

At dawn all our lights are still visible for hundreds of feet.  And just as important, the road and paths in front of us and to the sides are totally lit up.

We are safe when we are out riding our bikes at night, because of Dan’s FOREVER project. Everyone can see us from several blocks away, and we can clearly see the roads and paths, any obstacles and animals or other people who are also out enjoying the beauty at night.

Thank you, my Danny.  We are much safer because of you.  You always take such good care of me. 

Today as we zoomed around the paths in our retirement community, a lady laughed and said, “I think that you two have more fun than anyone else in Leisure World.” 

We think she is right!

Gone with the wind......or with life

Kathy just sent word that the last service at our church in Fort Collins was held last Sunday.

The church, which still looks fine, has to be torn down.  There are structural problems that cannot be fixed.

I'm very sad about this.  I attended this church during my teen years, while I lived in Fort Collins.  Our father was pastor for several years and spearheaded creating the additions which made it a vibrant place.  And was it ever vibrant.

Our father understood that a church was not just a place to worship, but was also a place for a community.  So in addition to Sunday morning Sunday School and Services, we also had Sunday night sings, and man could this congregation belt out that old time religion.  Once a month we had potluck family nights.  They were fun.  These, and more, were ways that people not only worshiped, but learned to care about each other in deeply meaningful ways. 

Our mother was in charge of music, and so music was part of our services and celebrations.  We had choirs (including a youth choir), and music at every service.  

Sadly, also, the central church itself is no longer vibrant.  Just as Graceland College, where I went, is no longer a real church college.  Religion is not as important to people these days, especially to younger people.

But it was an important part of my childhood.   

A photo of the church in 1964, when I was 16 years old and was part of the church community:

And a few photos we took last summer when we visited:

As an old man, now, reflecting back on my life, I realize that so many of those places that are important to me are now gone. 

In my childhood hometown, Stillwater, Oklahoma, almost nothing that was important to me remains.  My childhood home has been torn down to build student apartments, both of my schools have been torn down, and where we went to church has been torn down.  The park where we probably had hundreds of picnics and church meetings is now an overgrown disaster area.  The fields where I played are now covered with homes.

In Fort Collins, Steele's Market where I learned how to hold down a job and earned money so I could restore my Model A Ford has been torn down.  My High School is no longer a school.  And the church that was so important to my family, and that our parents put so much into to make it a special place for our family and community, is to be torn down. 

I found out about the last service today...ironically, just after both Vicky and I returned from having cardiology appointments.  Shortly after we returned home, she had a back appointment to get set for ablation surgery to cure the intense pain she is in at nights.  

Our bodies are like these buildings.  Because, like these buildings, they contain memories that are so very sweet.  Yet, eventually, everything, including our bodies, gets torn down in its own way.

These places will always live in my mind and memories, despite the fact that they no longer physically exist.  I am so grateful. 

Pumpkin Pie.....all the way from Moab

 About 6 weeks ago we helped out at Candice's ultra-ran, the MOAB 240.  We sold merchandise.  

One day, one of the volunteers went to a store and bought a bunch of pumpkins.  He gave us a couple.  

See the one nearest the camera?  The one that looks grotesquely malformed?

Well, we carted it to Bears Ears for several days, then to the cabin, and then to Nuestra Casa.  

.....for one purpose:  So Vicky could make pumpkin pies out of it!

 Isn't this the grossest looking thing?  (The pumpkin, not Vicky.)

Cut it in two (that's the part I did, just so we can say it was a "joint effort"), and cook all of it, including the seeds:

After that, scoop it out.

 

Make the crusts:

Then Vicky mixed up the pumpkin, spices, evaporated milk, brown sugar, cinnamon, and other yummy spices, and poured it into her pie crusts.

The smell was intoxicating, as the pies baked.

I just had to make sure that the pies were good before Thanksgiving. 

So I had a piece.

 Vicky!!  I think I need a second opinion.  Can I have another piece?

My wife.....the Renaissance woman

We have completed our tenth day in a row cycling 50K (i.e., 32 miles) in Leisure World in the very cold dark.  We ride on streets and on trails on the two golf courses.  The trails, especially, require a lot of skill to maneuver--sharp turns, curbs in places, lots of bumps, water hazards (!), etc.

Then, we get home, and instead of crashing, my wife makes two pecan pies----from scratch, taking about three hours to complete.

 

 

 

Now, if you are looking closely, you might notice that she is loading the pie plates with what look to be pinto beans. You are not crazy.--those really are pinto beans.  She does that to hold the pie crust in shape while it's in the oven.  I mean, everybody knows that, right?

 

 

 

Now she is making the pecan mixture.  

And pouring the pecans (about 50% more than the recipe calls for) into the mixture:

Ready to bake!

Done!  Don't they look good?  I have to wait until Thanksgiving to have one.....piece I mean (actually I could eat one pie!).

Still need evidence she's my Renaissance woman?  Besides being an awesome cook, who makes everything from scratch, she can knit and sew with the best of them, she has done 62 sky dives (not while married to me---I would have thrown myself into the propeller to stop her), she was on ski patrol and worked as a lifeguard, she is an excellent dressage horsewoman, she was Seattle's first female cop, she worked in Corrections, she started a Marshal's service, she worked for years with abused women helping them through the legal system and protecting them (and for years afterwards would have women come up to her to thank her), and she worked for years counseling adolescents to keep them out of the corrections system.

She can cycle like a 40-year-old, hikes regularly, plays a mean game of ping pong,

and is an awesome ballroom dancer.

Through all of this, the priority for her, the most important thing in her, is that she is a fantastic mother, she is a wonderful grandmother to 13 grandchildren, 

and

she's my wife.  

And I don't have to share her with anybody.   Don't ask! 

Probably there's more to her, but my fingers are getting tired of typing all of the variety of things she has accomplished in her life and can do well.

I need to sit down and rest and have a piece of, well let me see, maybe pecan pie?  Honey??