59°F and partly cloudy this morning, going up to 84° today.
Drove the truck to Wood River IL Saturday morning to pick up a Buddha statue we ordered when we were there a few weeks ago. While I was up that way, The Wife had me stop by a home in Alton IL to pick up a desk she'd bought off Facebook Marketplace. I went there first. Nice home, with a safari/traveler/explorer theme for decorations. The desk turned out to be a much nicer piece of furniture than the price indicated; solid wood construction with a leather top. They brought out the chair that went with it and offered it as well for an additional $20. One look sold that, too. Loaded them, then headed to the statuary place. They brought out the little fat guy on a pallet (not in a field) with a fork truck, and when the older lady drove it up to the truck, one of the younger employees helped me move it into the truck bed. I had a heck of a time getting him spun around so I could strap him down backed against the tailgate. Got everything home and unloaded the desk first. Wifey was equally surprised after seeing it in person. Moved out the old desk and got the new one set up. It fits in better with the gentleman's chests than the old light colored wood desk did. Fat boy didn't get removed from the truck until later in the day, and it was all I could do to not drop him just going from the tailgate to the ground. Solid concrete, must be at least 200 lbs. Wheeled him into the garage on a hand truck for now.
While I was gone, Wifey took one of the cats to the vet for his annual checkup. After they got back home, he was running around the sunroom, shaking his paws, and seemed really agitated. The vet's office was already closed, so she called an animal hospital in Collinsville, and they agreed he was having an allergic reaction, probably to something in one of his booster shots. A couple hours later, he was back home again, and after a shot to calm him and another to counter the reaction, he was much better. He went downstairs and avoided us for the rest of the day. By Sunday morning, he was back to his old a-hole self, bugging the crud out of us and the other cat.
Sunday morning, after breakfast and chicken chores, we loaded the bikes in the truck and headed for some trail riding on the Madison County Trails. We decided to start easy with the smallest loop, which is right at 10 miles. It was a beautiful, partly cloudy day with a nice breeze, and the temps never got past 80°. Great day for a ride. We parked at a park in Glen Carbon IL where two of the three trails on this loop meet, and headed towards Edwardsville. When we got on the second of the three legs, we went too far, ending up in Troy IL. I thought something looked wrong when we passed under I-70. We stopped and checked the map, and sure enough we'd somehow passed our turn about a mile back. As it happens, there was another older couple trying to find the same trail back to Glen Carbon. The Wife gave them her map, and we all consulted and found where we'd gone astray. It's been seven years since we've ridden out there, and we'd completely forgotten that there is no direct intersection with that trail; you have to take a cutoff down to the lower trail, then it passes under the second trail. We eventually got back to the starting point, and our 10 mile trek turned into almost 13 miles. No problems, though, as we were just out for a nice easy ride, and that's exactly what we had. We stopped for a late lunch at a place just around the corner on Main Street called The Wooden Nickel, where is seems nearly everyone I know has been except us. Now, we can say we've been there, albeit outside under a tent over their side parking lot. The food was very good. We'll probably go back.
Not much else got done the rest of the day, with the sole exception of taking a short nap. I did run back into town later to get gas for the mowers. I'll probably be mowing a few nights after work this week to make up for not mowing at all over the weekend.
Big day for Drew today.
Condolences to Ellen and her family, Randy.
Kyle, we have three shagbark hickory trees along our driveway. A few years ago, we got 10 nuts from them. Ten. It's the only time we've ever gotten anything from those trees. Apparently, the tree rats know those are delicious nuts, too, and always get to them before we can get any.
We're in need of a new grill this year, too, Ted. Ours is rusting out at the bottom, and the mounts for the grease catching tray have completely fallen off.
