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Mandy’s 14th Birthday

Mandy’s fourteenth birthday’s come and gone.  For breakfast, she got homemade waffles with strawberry syrup and whipped cream.  Her presents were practical this year – some clothes and shoes and a new bag for school.

Fourteen years into this, I have to say she’s a good kid for the most part – a little disorganized, a little lazy, a little thoughtless.  But when we think about the other teenagers I see, with their skin-tight shirts and their sneery attitudes and their noses in their text-phones, we’re glad we have her. She’s smart and funny and wise and cheerful.

Happy birthday, Mandy.  Let’s make this next year a good one, too.

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Jingle Bell Jubilee Parade

Our Unicycle Support Group decided to ride in the Little Rock Christmas Parade this year.  Since we hadn’t thought to register separately, we just rode with the cyclists from BACA.  But we all wore green shirts and we made a sign.  (We forced the non-unicyling member of the Vire family to carry the sign, and he handled the task with aplomb and grace once we removed most of the tinsel.)

The parade was fun.  I rode a bike with panniers to hold the green and red beads (leftover from Mardi Gras 2010) we passed out to the people we rode past.  Mitch and his kids and Mandy and Luke did stars and hopped around and played tag and were just generally goofy.  Since we were between a float sponsored by a windshield company (complete with a grumpy-looking old lady in a plywood sleigh) and a handful of Quakers with “Peace on Earth” signs, people enjoyed having something funny to watch.  The parade was a success and we’ll do even better next year (when I can ride, too!)

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NOLA Pukefest

We always look forward to our visit with New Orleans family at Thanksgiving time, and we always enjoy our time there.  Almost always.  Maybe not so much this time.  But we’ll get to that.

We arrived in Metairie at our usual 2am on Thanksgiving morning, after the long after-work drive from central Arkansas.  Hayduke and I got up early on Thursday for beignets and a trip to the dog park while Bryan and Mandy slept in, and then Hayduke went down the street to stay at Kevin’s house while the family enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner.  It’s such a treat to spend the day with family. Continue reading “NOLA Pukefest”

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Ouachita Trail, Section 6

Ivy the Poodle has never gone backpacking, so we thought we should fix that problem.  Our unicycling friend Alyssa decided to make it her first backpacking trip as well.  We chose section six of the Ouachita Trail because it’s an easy hike with accessible water.  And on beginner trips, it’s nice to use a trail shelter and leave the tents at home.
What a pretty, pretty weekend!  It was warm and pleasant hiking; in fact, we had to stop along the way so that Jarion could adjust Kathy’s pants by cutting out the too-warm linings. Continue reading “Ouachita Trail, Section 6”

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Caddo Valley Rail Line

We’re a member of the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy and Bryan is one of their email lists that notifies interested people when a rail company files abandonment paperwork for a section of rail line.  Thousands of miles of rail have been abandoned in the last few decades, and most have seen their rails and crossties sold for scrap and their corridors sold piecemeal to adjacent landowners.  It’s handy for farmers and businessmen to have a little extra chunk of land, I suppose, but it means that the rail line can never be used again for anything of economic benefit to the whole community.

Rails to Trails aims to prevent this from happening.  They send out a notice, along with information on how to file paperwork to preserve the rail corridor for use as a trail.  It’s called “railbanking” and it’s a low-cost way for communities or organizations to preserve the corridor for a few months, so that they can make plans to use the space for a multi-use trail of some sort.  They can use the space for a trail, with the understanding that if it’s ever needed again for rail transport, it can be easily converted back to that use. Continue reading “Caddo Valley Rail Line”

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ASMSA Open House

by Guest Blogger Mandy

Most people, by the eighth grade, have thought of the daunting prospect of what to do with their edjumacation, and, hello, I’m there. And as higher academics goes, while kids often day dream about college, I’ve been thinking about high school and I have discovered something, too. Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences, and the Arts (ASMSA), to me, seems a little shinier than Benton High School. Continue reading “ASMSA Open House”

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Ozark Highlands Trail, Section 2

Last weekend we hiked the second section of the Ozark Highlands Trail, from White Rock Mountain to Cherry Bend, with our good friends Britt and Debbie.

The timing was perfect to celebrate Britt’s retirement.   After a long career caring for elephants in several states, and one last sad and frustrating year at the Little Rock zoo, he said good-bye to the animals on Thursday.  We hiked a few miles together on Friday, and then set up camp near a pretty stream. We made cherry cheesecakes and hung a makeshift “Happy Retirement” banner near the campfire and drank wine together in the dark.

Congratulations, friend.  You chose a career in something you loved, something that allowed you to work hard and keep learning.   You chose family over money and you chose moving forward over standing still.  You made animals’ lives better and you made people smile.  We’re looking forward to your next adventures, and we hope you’ll share some of them with us.

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Bike Fair 2011

So somehow, somebody got the Mayor of Little Rock to agree to leave his car at home for a week and get around by bus and bike.  He said he’d do some media stuff and really encourage people to join him in a car-free week.  Great, said the Bike Friendly Community Committee.

Somehow, somebody (I really don’t think it was me) suggested that we hold a kind of educational event to teach practical skills so that people would feel more comfortable using their bikes for transportation.  Somehow, I made suggestions about this event.  And somehow I got put in charge of it.  A Car-Free Learning Day.  A Bike Fair.  With three weeks to plan.

I made a list of twelve problems people might have when planning to ride a bike to work.  I listed things like “Won’t People Think I’m Wierd?” and  “How do I carry my stuff?” and “How do I Plan a Safe Route?” Continue reading “Bike Fair 2011”

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Bikes Vs. Zombies!

Bike culture in central Arkansas isn’t all that interesting, so when something out of the box comes along, we try to help out.  Our friend Vinny (that’s him above, in the terrible suit and the zombie makeup) put on his second alleycat race tonight, and we volunteered to help organize the event.

An alleycat race is a little like a very fast scavenger hunt on bicycles.  Participants get a list of addresses and brief instructions just before the race.  They have to plan how to reach each destination, and at each place there’s something they have to do.  This race included picking up packages, making crayon rubbings at a cemetery, and chasing zombies on rollerskates.  The first person to do all the things on the list and get to Vino’s would win. Continue reading “Bikes Vs. Zombies!”

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USGS + MUC

Four riders from the Memphis Unicycle Club joined us for a playdate in Little Rock.  We rode the Clinton Park bridge and played near the Clinton Library before heading to the Rivermarket for lunch.  From there we went to the Junction Bridge and the Peabody Park for a little trials riding.  The good riders had fun jumping on rocks (and over Mandy) and the bad-rider group had fun watching.

We made a trip to the North Little Rock skateboard park, then ate supper at Vino’s before heading west again to ride across the Big Dam Bridge and the Two Rivers Bridge.  Woodrow and Pete didn’t head back to Memphis until after ten.  Thanks for coming to play, guys!  We had tons of fun, and we hope you’ll come back soon.