I Heart Tractor Tires

What a great way to spend a Sunday morning and afternoon.



















Monday: warm up with Core work
10 min limit- do 50 tire flips- GO!  Did it.
Overhead tire presses- 4 people pressing. Supposed to do 50, I'm not sure if we did. I think I blacked out.
50 tire flip and jump  (flip, jump in, jump out)

Tuesday: warm up with bench press...5x65lb, 5x75lb
 Bench press 2x3x95lb, 2x2x105lb, 1x1x105lb
50 chair pushups, 15,10,10,10,5
superset: incline DB press 3x10x20lb, 1x10x25lb AND Ab Ball Flys 4 x 15 x 15lb
50 pushups wearing 25lb weight vest 15,15,13,8

Wednesday: warm up with Core 
30 minutes to do as many rounds as possible: did 7 Rounds in just over 30min of:
20 mt climbers each leg
20 sec sprint 20% incline 6.6mph
10 single leg plyo jumps 90lb
200m run
Wednesday night was just nuts and I didn't feel like cooking so instead- we had this lovely plate of cheese, fruit and smoked salmon rolled with cream cheese and grilled squash. 

Thursday: warm up with Coreand bench press 1x5x85, 2x2x100, 2x3x95
20 min limit to do as many rounds as possible:did 4
400m run
21 kettlebell swings x 20lb
12 pullups (used a band for assist)

Friday: NADA, did nothing. Felt guilty. Dunno why.

Saturday: Heavy Yard Work. Still hoping I saw the Poison Ivy before it saw me. So far so good.

Sunday-GOT MY MOUNTAIN BIKE ON!

This morning we set out at Murray Park, close to the Big Dam Bridge and headed over the bridge into NLR. At the Soccer fields we cut over to the trails at Burns Park to ride in the woods for a while. We rode for several miles and there is a sweet  but much too short ridge ride that we love. There's J on the ridge, and here's me coming down the end. J says I always look stressed in every picture so he said SMILE! Now he says I have a cheesy fake grin- Bud, you can't haven't both ways.

We rode out of the park and down the river trail to the Emerald Park turn to head up the switchbacks to Ft. Roots. We rode the rough and tumble rocky trail down to pick up the river trail once again and into downtown Little Rock. We stopped at Rumba Mexi-Cuban Kitchen for a bite to eat. Turns out they do a brunch on Sundays with a make your own Bloody Mary bar. hmmm. Didn't try the Bloody Mary bar since we were still riding. I had grilled fish tacos and J had the chorizo with cheese grits. If we hadn't eaten 2 count them 2 baskets of chips, it would have been better. : ) Those last 6 miles or so to finish the river trail were a bit  tougher than they had to be.

I'm late, I'm late...

We've been busy. Really busy. Last weekend J, the small one and I saw Eric Clapton Live and Elvis's grave at Graceland.She spent most of the concert with her mouth hanging open. It's great to watch her appreciate talented musicians. Not only were Mr. Clapton and Roger Daltrey (who opened) just phenomenal, but  their bands were equally impressive. There was some fantastic musicianship all across that stage.
Just a quick shout out to Memphis Tourism. You guys have it down. We've made several trips to Memphis lately. Every one of them a success. From the time we arrived to the time we left people were helpful and nice and get this...they were POLITE! I felt like I was actually being served instead of my patronage being an inconvenience. I hate when in a restaurant, hotel or entertainment venue I am treated as though they are doing me a favor to take my money.  So thanks Memphis. It didn't even ruffle my feathers that the nice lady at the concession stand at the Fed Ex Forum called me honey, baby and sugar all in one conversation while she apologized that I had to "gasp" wait in line to buy a soda.

The small one had asked to go to Graceland before but honestly we thought she wouldn't enjoy it. Imagine my surprise when she looked at me after we spent several hours there amidst a large group of young girl scouts (and a few screaming siblings) and said "thank you." Wow. Was it the gold records or the sequined jumpsuits? Perhaps the fancy cars and motorcycles? Maybe it was the fur covered furniture in the jungle room? I think she was amazed to find out that what would be an average sized home for some of her more affluent school companions, Graceland really was once considered a mansion.
We were going to eat at the famous Marlowe's BBQ after Graceland, alas it didn't open until 4 p.m. and we had to be back on the road to LR before then. So we searched 'area restaurants' in our TomTom and an address for Sam's Down South BBQ and Hot Wings came up. As we drove down the street the small one expressed some concern about the condition of the neighborhood. Upon arrival we discovered a smoker on the cracked front sidewalk of a strip mall. With window bars. And peeling paint on old concrete walls. But it smelled so good. So we entered. And were immediately greeted with "you folks aren't from around here are you?"  I am not kidding. That's a quote. What? They don't see "our kind" there? How sad. The cook watched us warily for several minutes, commented how nice it was to have a loving family in his place and asked us all kinds of questions to make sure he fixed our meats just the way we wanted. Nice. After he finally figured out that we just like to eat, he sat down with us-there were no tables, just a couple of beat up old vinyl chairs-and we had a nice conversation while balancing styrofoam boxes full of MEAT. He even brought out some of the meats we didn't buy for us to try.  We had ribs, wings and a pulled pork sammie between us but we tried the brisket which was heavenly, pork shoulder mmmm and rib tips. Sam thinks his rib tips are the bomb and he might be correct. Sam, those were some of the hottest, meatiest, messiest wings we've had in a long time. And yes you were right, the ribs are better dry.

Then J and I went off to Eureka Springs for 3 days while he attended a work conference. We were just in that gorgeous little town right after Christmas for some R&R. I knew I couldn't shop-or rather I shouldn't. Instead I  ran the winding and hilly historic loop (from our hotel it was about 2.7 mi) where all the quaint little shops and restaurants are located, did hill repeats in our hotel driveway and then walked the loop again to get lunch. The following day I was completely lazy and read books, mostly cookbooks that I had "won" at the silent auction the night before. I watched more TV that day than I had in the last month I think. I became addicted to some show about people who "do" hair. How did I live not knowing about Shear Genius? Yeah. Whatev. I haven't watched it since that day and I can't say I've missed it. But THAT day, that day it was essential to my mental well being.


In December, I insisted that no exercise would be part of the trip. It was relaxing remember? But this time we took our mountain bikes and finally got to try out some of the trails at Lake Leatherwood. Here we are on Miner's Rock Trail. The sweeping downhill was so worth the climb up! Sweet Ride. That's a really nice little city park. Well done Eureka Springs.

Too Happy?

Stress is not healthy, but stress usually encourages me to work out more. And I tend to make an effort to stay away from certain things that spell doom for me when I'm stressed out. Mainly dessert and alcohol. Lately life  has been too good. Is there such a thing? Despite a few hiccups and a big worry over the realization that we're about to dump a ton of money into renovating our kitchen- life is good. I hate to say it's noticeable, but the last few years have been extremely stressful both at work and at home. Have we found our groove? Am I cursing the happiness by actually saying it out loud? Last night the question was posed to me - "Skinnier but unhappy or Fatter and happier, which do you prefer?"   uh, I would prefer to be able to eat steak, baked potatoes, pasta, cobbler and banana pudding without ever gaining a pound. But since that won't happen...crap, it's back to writing down everything that goes in the mouth. I hate that more than exercise.

Saturday 16th:  Got up and cleaned the garage. Then once I loaded my car with good but no longer needed items, I sent the boys to Goodwill and immediately went upstairs to commandeer the one working TV in the house to do a Wii workout for 40 minutes. Realized that the weather had actually improved after several days of sub 30 Degree days and I should have been outside running hills.

Sunday: should have been a bike ride but the whole house was sick with some sinus crud. Except me. So instead of working out, I took the small one, who was recovering nicely, out to buy a dress for Homecoming Court. That was a workout for my patience. 5 stores. And we still have to get shoes.

Monday: Finally got that bike ride in. Short but Sweet. About an hour worth of mountain biking out at the CARP trails on Camp Robinson. J was still feeling pretty sick so I was afraid the ride would be short. I decided to single speed it. yucca, portapotty, freeway, 2 (10) bridges.
Added 25 minutes of upper body work with a resistance band at home in the p.m.

Fatter but Happier it is then. I'm okay with that. I think.

Pie, Strudel and Earthquake Cake. Oh and Bikes.

Wednesday morning with gatorade, a cold pasta and foccacia lunch packed, coffee and breakfast cookies in hand, J, my sweet Sarah Smiles and I headed out toward Mt. View, Arkansas for some trail ridin' fun. I've never ridden on the Syllamo trails so this was going to be a new adventure.

The trails still have some issues from mother nature's wrath during the winter and spring. I caught a bad spot and somehow managed a bad fall early in the day, turning my pinky finger into a Z. Some tape and 4 ibuprofen fixed it enough to Man Up and Ride On.

There were definitely parts of the trails we rode that I really liked. There was some hikeabike. I don't know anyone who will say they like hikeabike. The trail Gods provided us some nice views and some moderately difficult technique building areas that gave us a good workout. There were some nice rocky areas that were challenging but fun to play on, some sweet downhills sweeps and some sand. I do not heart sand but it does test your mettle. I had a good time despite the injury and came away thinking I've managed to improve my skills this last year even though it's been tough to find enough time to ride hard trails.

But the day seemed to be more about the food. With us, it's ALWAYS about the food. We had this really cool dude along for the ride, a travel writer. Who happened to also be working on a story about Pie. Pie. I love pie. Sarah loves pie. Our new writer friend, loves pie. We talked about pie and streudal for hours. Okay, Sarah talked about strudl for hours. Apparently if you haven't been to The Pantry in Little Rock for strudel, you are missing out on the sweet mystery of life. We rode, we talked, we even sang a little. Sarah and I found a soul-mate in our new friend who happily sang along to our bad TV theme song rendiditons. After 20 miles, a few hours, a couple of injuries and countless horsefly bites, we got off those blasted bikes and went to find pie. Sweet Glorious Pie. We went to Cody's in Fifty-Six and had pie. It was okay. Then we needed to drop our writer friend off at the Ozark Folk Center State Park. We can't stop there and not eat at The Skillet. They have green beans that are like crack. I don't know what they put in them but I could eat them all day long. That and the tomato/onion relish. Oh my heavens. Between the 4 of us we had grilled trout, chicken fried steak, catfish, baked potatoes, fries, mashed taters, green beans, carrots, homemade hush puppies, biscuits and cornbread and then....TADA Earthquake Cake. Now I've heard tell of Kaye's cooking afore. I hear she is one mighty fine country cook. I want to adopt her. Even though it would seem silly to adopt a grown woman, I'd do it anyway. Just for the recipe for the banana earthquake cake. See, she won't give out the recipe but I figure if I'm her momma, she'd have to give it up, right? Right.

 Excuse me, I have to find a dessert. Fast.