Rant: Bikes on Sidewalks!

Although it never really used to irk me, I'm now finding it an issue. You see, I like loud music. Always have. My first album was Twisted Sister - Stay Hungry when I was 9 years old. What does that have to do with bikes on sidewalks? Glad you asked.

My house is semi-detached, and half the time I've got my little girl with me. These factors prevent me from turning up the stereo as loud as I want. I don't know what all the neighbours can hear, but I'm self-conscious about it anyway. It's part of my nature. I know, you're saying "This still isn't about bikes." I'm getting there.

In any case, since I received the gift of a snazzy MP3 player I've got into the habit of taking walks around my area (it's healthy too, ya know?) where I can turn the volume up to satisfactory levels. It's a nice distraction. I know, bad for my ears, I know. But if the years of rock bands didn't do the damage already....

So, I walk on the sidewalk. Loud music. Can't really hear anything except for the occasional car passing by. That's why I freak out when a bike is all of a sudden 'right there' beside me. I can only imagine they're yelling "Coming on your left!" or "Ding! Ding!" or "I have no respect for the HTA! Out of my way, asshat!" when they're coming up to me. Who knows. But sidewalks are meant for people. Bikes are supposed to be on the road.

Now, I can understand if these are busy roads why they'd stick on the sidewalk, but this is Castlefrank Rd! (for those that don't know Kanata, it's a total residential street. Even on some of the busier roads, Kanata is so bike friendly that there's a 4 foot lane for bikes at the side! C'mon people, use it! Don't you get sick of having to dodge pedestrians all the time? I know I would!

What worries me the most if that I'm a bit of a sidewalk wanderer, I don't stick to a straight line. I have a feeling I'm going to knock someone down eventually. If that happens, I'm going to be really torn between helping them back up and apologizing profusely or just yelling "Who's the asshat now!" which would really confuse them. Unless she's cute, cause then I'd have no choice but to be nice. ;)

Rant over. Thx for listening.

Yardwork = Fun!

A little history. My backyard for years has been off limits to humans. That's where the dogs went. Yes, of course we cleaned up once in a while but overall it has always been a dark, scary, smelly place.

It's basically been left to go wild since the melting of the snow. Seriously, it's been looking like Lorne Greene's New Wilderness out there (there's an 80s reference for you). I expected to see gazelles bounding through the small trees that used to be dandelions. I'm kicking myself for not taking a "before" picture, cause honestly you'd all get a kick out of how bad it got! I don't like grass and plants.

So yesterday I finally had the 1) Motivation, 2) Time, 3) Weather to start tackling things. As simple as running the lawnmower thru everything? No, no.. I knew this was too big of a task for the lawnmower. So I pulled out the weedwhacker from the garage (after being pleasantly surprised that I had a weedwhacker... Jon, I think this might be yours?) and went to town on the 1.5+ foot blades of grass. I'm actually not kidding! Took me a good 45 minutes. Must have been a sight for my neighbours. I also had to avoid some of the dog poop hidden beneath the mini-rainforest. After the chopping, I ran the lawnmower over it all and it still stalled 3 times cause the grass was so thick.

Next step, I gotta bag all that fraking grass! :P

Those in the know, not sure you've been keeping track, but yesterday was my anniversary. All was good, no concerns. A hug and well wishes were even shared with Chuck.

It's May 22nd..

I feel like going for a beer tonite, who's with me?