Sunday, January 6, 2013

A Gray Day, Still...

Saturday was a gray day, still we managed to make our way to Laumeier Sculpture Park.

It was colder than we thought and Heather's hands turned red, white, and blue. Still, we managed to spend an hour exploring.


I needed to preach this morning. This was an unplanned trip to the pulpit. The priest I work with has a son who was both unlucky and very lucky on New Years Eve. He was rear ended by a drunk driver and spun into a light pole. That's the unlucky part. He is very lucky to have survived and the prognosis is excellent for a full recovery. Needless to say Doris, my colleague, has had a very stressful few days. She wanted to preside at the liturgy, but asked if I'd preach. Of course, I was willing.

This left me the afternoon to stretch Isabelle's legs. I try to ride her at least once on the weekend and was last out on New Years afternoon. I was surprised and not pleased to find she didn't have enough juice to turnover. This definitely was not part of the plan. Once we got the relay thing sorted out, other than the incident with the "kill switch", she has started up on the first. Since I've had reason to question if my battery tender was working and she had started up so strongly I haven't  been using it on the Kymco. I'd already had plans to get the charger checked out this upcoming week, but with this development I figured I might as well hook the tender up to Isabelle and see what happened.

Since I was geared up I couldn't make any sense out of going back upstairs to wait and see what would happen. Instead I pushed Billie, my Symba, out of the garage, turned the key, hit the starter and, of course, away we went.


Most of the snow has melted, but there is still some thin ice covering the lake at Carondolet Park.

There were some folks out on the dock fishing. They'd broken the surface ice in order to get their lines in. I guess this is what passes as ice fishing in Missouri.

The geese are on the move and they are everywhere.









On the way back home I pulled over and took a photo of a small wall mural.

I can't figure out if it is a floating mushroom or an umbrella.
I was out and about for around an hour and a half. On my return, I tried to start the Kymco. She started right up. Since she was running I figured I should return to plan A. After an hour plus ride I put Isabelle back to bed. This time, I plugged in the battery tender. If it worked enough to get her started I guess it is working good enough for now. That said, I still plan to get it checked out.

14 comments:

  1. Interesting sculpture in the second photo. What is it supposed to be?

    And a nice shot of the geese.

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    1. Richard,
      It is called Sugabus and here's a link to the description:
      http://www.laumeiersculpturepark.org/robert-chambers-sugabus
      But I must say I just like the sense of movement and power.

      I have never seen so many geese here at one time.
      ~k

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  2. That sculpture is EXACTLY like the stuff in the movie The Incredibles!!!!!!!!

    Lovely to use that photo as your header. It's a keeper for sure.

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    1. Still haven't seen that movie or any other in years.

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    2. Oh, Richard. That is such a charming and clever and funny movie. It's astonishing how nuanced and wonderful the animation is! Rent it and you will love it.

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    3. Martha,
      It sort of made me think of the comic book version of the Thing in the Fantastic Four. I read it was to be a balloon poodle, but not from the angle I saw it. It looked very powerful and fluid.
      ~k

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  3. The snow and scenery looks very similar to our neck of the woods. Well, except for the unusual artwork. We have our own type of bizarre public artwork around here.
    Nice pictures!

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    1. It looks even less snowy now. Big warm up on the way. It could be Spring...if it wasn't January.
      ~k

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  4. Lovely day. Though my blood seems to have thinned right now and everthing feels cold. Couldn't get Oilburner out on the bikes in 40F temps. I commend you for getting out. And i'm glad that Isabelle rose to the occasion.

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    1. Heather is a real trooper but she has Raynaud's disease. The cold is a real problem for her.

      And, the tender I've got hooked to Isabelle is now reading a nice bright green. I think her owner was a little bit of a twit not to have figured out the reason the charger kept reading orange was the battery needed charging. Oh well.
      ~k

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  5. I take it the sermon was on the lines of St Luke's four woes, including the lesser known verse, woe unto the foolhardy for they shall freeze their buns off.

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    1. No woes nor weals. Just a little diddy about the contradictions between the two stories in Matthew and Luke, but since I'm retired I've learned to be like my parishioners and have pretty much forgotten the rest.

      It was one of those days when the thermometer was not trustworthy. Definitely a buns of ice day.
      ~k

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  6. I feel Heather's pain. I have Reynauds in my hands and feet and that is one of the reasons I put the stick on heated insoles on my socks when riding in chilly weather (and dip my feet in the bathtub when we get back) . My hands are the worst though, white then red then the bluish purple. The tingly pain is no picnic either.

    I am glad you two were able to get out and enjoy the day though. It looks like you saw some sunshine and blue sky by the end of it and you managed two rides.

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    1. I can gear up and stay toasty, but Heather's body has a mind of its own. I suspect you know what I mean. And, little things like where the seam is in gloves can make for an unset when one isn't suspected.

      Saturday didn't give us much sun, but Sunday was bright. It was a great day to ride and I between the two rides I was out over three hours.
      ~k

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