Controlled Burn Seen from "A" Mountain

One of the reasons I wanted to buy a camera was to capture many of the things I see during my bike trips. From the top of the mountain, a lot of the city is visible, including any fires. I have often seen a few house or building fires, but have never had my camera to capture them.

I got lucky on Wednesday morning and was able to snap my first visible fire from the mountain. Fortunately, I later learned that this was a controlled burn near the Santa Cruz.

New Bathroom Mirrors

Three years after the start of the construction of my house, I finally bought mirrors for my master bathroom. I think they are absolutely stunning. So, in order to take and post a picture, I had to clean the bathroom. Hope you like

Random Thoughts

This picture was taken from "A" mountain and shows the church I used to attend. However, I stopped attending after 9-11. Which is ironic, because a lot of people flocked to their local churches after this event.

The events of 9-11 were a turning point for me regarding my views of the church I attended. I knew the pastor and congregation would see this horrible event as a prophetic sign that the end was near. I, on the other hand, saw it as a horrible terrorist attack which had no link to the second coming of Christ. Furthermore, I could no longer hold a blind eye to the primitive fundamentalist views of the church organization that I grew up in. It is as if they had a stone age explanation to the world around them. Plus, I had to realized that I could never change them, just by explaining to them a different way to view the scriptures. So, I never returned.

Back in the Saddle

Two days after suffering my first injury, I woke up this morning determine to reconquer the mountain. How could I not? We actually got rain last night which meant the air would be clean and views of and from the mountain would be fantastic. Plus, it was still raining when I woke up.

As I started out on my trip, I actually felt cold from the rain and had second thoughts about making it to the top. Then I realized how silly it was for me to be complaining about being a little cold after one of the hottest summers I've experienced. So, I pressed on.

There was an unusual amount of foot and bicycle traffic on the mountain this morning. It is amazing that rain and cooler weather actually brings people out in Tucson. I was glad to be out and didn't experience any hip pain as I biked.

I caught this picture on my half-way point. The view of the desert with the dark sky as a backdrop was spectacular and made me feel good about being in Tucson.



When I got to the gazebo, I saw a roadrunner along the path. I always see roadrunners up here. I actually was able to get a picture of it before it ran off, however.



And, then caught this image of the city before making my way down. I'm glad I live in Tucson.

First Bicycle Injury

Yesterday, I had a typical, but wonderful trip up A-mountain. As I was coming down the mountain, I noticed two bicycle cops biking up the mountain. Although I think it is is a waste of tax dollars for them the patrol the mountain for speeding bicyclist, I think it is a good way for them to get some exercise.

Like always, I stop at the gazebo before coming down. While there I noticed a roadrunner and a hawk in some bushes. I'm not sure what they were up to, but the hawk flew away and the roadrunner ran away before I could get a picture of them.

If you click on this picture, you can see the Star Pass Resort in the background.



After I got home from my trip, I cooked breakfast, showered and went to work. However, when I got up to go to lunch, I would barely walk due to pain in my right hip. However, I did manage to managed to walk to my car and go home for lunch. Throughout the rest of the day, the pain came and went. Today, Tuesday, I decided to stay home from work and rest. Unfortunately, the sauna at the YMCA was out of commission.

Evidently, knee and hip injuries are very common for bicyclist. One of the causes for such injuries can be linked to incorrect heights for the saddle. So, when I'm better, I will have to check to make sure my seat is adjusted to the correct position.

Friday, after I biked the mountain, I rode around the courtyard in front of my house and caught this picture of Inertia.

A-mountain (Sentinel Peak) Bike Trips -- Catch up

I've been biking A-mountain every other morning (Monday - Friday) for the last four weeks. Ever since I had my first morning bike ride, I have wanted to capture my thoughts and pictures of my morning trips. So, I have finally gotten around to writing about my adventures and have even bought a camera so that I can capture what I see.

As I start out on my bike trips, I will stop and look at the mountain and think how daunting of a task it will be to get to the top. I guess if I were to focus on the top, I wouldn't make it.

When I first started to bike A-mountain, I would have several places where I would stop and rest. I consider the place in this picture the half-way point.

After resting at the half-way point, I would turn to, again, look at A-mountain. Now, the top seems within reach.  The gazebo is in view, now. The peak of A-mountain is on the left and the gazebo is on the right.

Retirement Party and Death of Michael Jackson

The death of Michael Jackson and a retirement party I attended yesterday have caused me to rethink my priorities. Yesterday at the retirement party, we all told Suzzie, the person who was retiring, that we wouldn't forget her and told her to visit the office often. The truth is, she will be forgotten, or, at least, not thought about very often. After attending countless retirement parties over the years, I have come to realize that everyone is expendable and are pretty much forgotten. So, I have to wonder if going to work at a place I no longer enjoy is really worth the time.

I came across buggygram's blog today. In his blog, he wrote about moving to the Castro in San Francisco. Everyone who knows me know I have always wanted to move to that wonderful city. As a matter of fact, when I moved to Tucson, it was only suppose to be for two years with the intent of eventually moving to San Fran. that was 15 years ago. However, the news of Michael Jackson's death has caused me to rethink my decision of staying in Tucson. I thought I had come to terms with staying her, but apparently not. So, I guess a trip to The City should be in the works.
http://buddygram.blogspot.com/

On the Road Again

I had, yet, another dream about living in a strange city and living in a house that I didn’t recognize. In this dream I found myself traveling to a new city and staying for length of time. I’m not sure if I had moved from my current location, or if this was a continuation of another similar type of dream. A few nights before I had this dream, I dreamt I was traveling in my Volkswagen somewhere in Virginia. I’ve forgotten some of the details, but wherever I was staying made it easy for my parents to visit me.

I find it difficult to understand the meaning of this particular type of dream. This dream was no different. In this dream, a person named, Bryon, came to stay with me in the house or apartment that I had rented or bought. What makes this strange is that he is someone who I had interviewed as a potential roommate. However, I didn’t rent out my spare room to him because he seemed unstable as well as a habitual liar. I had no idea as to why he appeared in this dream.

So, I am trying to determine what has caused this resurgence of this type of dream. The only things that have changed in my life that may be causing them are: I got a new roommate; I’m experiencing some problems on my job; I was able to modify my mortgage loan.