A Week of Reflections: Travel Tales, Sporting Highlights, and More

This week will be one of those rambling posts about nothing... or a lot, depending on how you look at it.

To start, we have a few camping trips booked for the year. I'm excited to get out and camp again and hoping to do more than we did last year. If my memory is right, we only camped twice last year. It was one of our lowest times camping since we started in 2021. We have a new spot booked for our first trip this year. More on where we are headed after we go camping. For the first trip, we are not planning to take Oliver as it could still be chilly in the evenings, but for the second trip, we plan to take him with us.

After traveling consecutively for four months, I'm not planning to fly anywhere anytime soon. I will be traveling to Pittsburg, KS in mid-May, but no flights anywhere. I traveled twice for two different conferences (Chicago and Orlando) for work and then twice with Carrie (Austin and Miami) for fun. I must admit that I enjoy flying. I look forward to the whole process, from getting up early to connecting flights. I have some flight watches going to track flights to different places in case a good deal pops up for Carrie and me to make a quick trip to another city.

Changing over to sports, my Royals started off doing well and then stumbled for a few weeks, going on a losing streak. We are back in Kansas City and playing well against the Astros. We are back to .500 at 14-14, which is good. It did not look good a few weeks ago when we could not get a run to save our lives. Hoping this trend continues and having fun doing so against the Astros.

Two weeks ago was, of course, the Masters. Wow! What a fun final day that was, and I'm happy for Rory McIlroy to finally win this one after coming so close for so many years. Yes, I enjoy watching golf, although I no longer play. I like to tune in to watch, and this was a Masters final day not to miss. Back and forth the whole day. It was a lot of fun!

Looking at my reading for the year, I am six books in so far for the reading challenge. I set 20 books as my target to complete for the year, so I am 6 out of 20. Doing pretty good so far, and it helped to finally finish two books while I was traveling for vacations and conferences. I do need to pick up the pace a bit on my current book as I am back to only reading a few pages, sometimes a few sentences, before I go to sleep. I need to bring my book down to the family room and read again while watching shows or sports. I am feeling good about my progress so far and hoping to hit the twenty-book target by the end of the year.

Our little Oliver will turn 14 this summer. He is still getting around great and often running around in our family room or backyard. We have noticed in the past two months that his hearing is going. He can still hear, but selective hearing seems to be happening. We also know that his hearing is leaving as he usually does not hear us come home and we have to touch him to awaken him from his slumber. He can still hear high-pitched noises like pots banging but is struggling with hearing our voices. He went to the vet last week for a spa day along with shots, a checkup, etc., and I shared with them that his hearing was degrading. Of course, the vet was not concerned as he is going to be 14 this summer, and it is common for dogs to lose their hearing. Still, it is sad to see Oliver losing his hearing just like it was when he had most of his teeth removed years ago.

That is all for this rambling post on a Sunday morning. Have a great rest of your Sunday and a wonderful week. I will talk to you again next week.

Looking Forward, Looking Back: A Year in Review

 

Happy New Year! As we bid farewell to 2024 and welcome 2025, I extend my warmest wishes for a year filled with adventure, good health, and peace.

Looking back on 2024, I'd like to highlight some of the year's memorable events. Our camping trip to Texas in February was truly unforgettable. I hope we have the opportunity to return there someday (see post). 

In April, we took Oliver to his first Royals game, and we all had a blast. I think Oliver enjoyed himself immensely, especially with all the other dogs around. (see post). 

We set a goal of attending many concerts this year, and I believe we achieved it. We saw The Mavericks (see post) in May, Chris Stapleton in June (see post), Air Supply in July (see post), and Alan Jackson in October (see post). We also enjoyed several other concerts, including a fantastic performance by Dar Williams in November. I'm looking forward to attending more concerts in 2025.

In October, I attended the King Biscuit Blues Festival and had a wonderful time (see post). We onlywent camping three times this year, which is fewer than in previous years. However, the Texas trip was so enjoyable that we did manage to venture out to western Kansas (see post) and Missouri (see post) for some additional camping adventures. I'm hoping to do more camping in 2025 and explore some locations outside of the state.

We also made a second trip to Des Moines, Iowa in November for a weekend getaway (see post). Sadly, just this week, we remembered the tenth anniversary of my father's passing, which occurred on December 30, 2024 (see post). 

Finally, the elections took place in November, and the incoming administration is poised to serve a second term. There are undoubtedly many questions and uncertainties surrounding this period, and while I hope for the best for our country, a sense of apprehension is undeniable (see post). 

This is just a brief overview of some of the highlights from my blog this year. I truly enjoy writing these weekly posts and appreciate the readers who take the time to visit my site. I plan to continue writing at least once a week and hope to incorporate more technology and political commentary into my posts in 2025.

Happy New Year! Stay safe and have a fantastic year ahead.

Lanebreak from Peloton Announced on February 17 and My Experience with Lanebreak

Earlier this week, Peloton announced Lanebreak which is a new game mode that Peloton has offered to create a game mode for when doing bike ride. I tried the new Lanebreak on Thursday evening for my ride. It was a fun ride using the resistance knob to change lanes, it is a fairly easy process and allows for gathering points by changing the resistance knob to hit certain markers in the game. Turning to the left (less resistance) takes you to the left and turning the resistance knob to the right takes you to the right. Easy enough to follow and do the game. 

I started off on the easy mode to see how it would work. The first thing I noticed and later read on a 9to5Mac article was that Apple Watch could not be used for Lanebreak. The 9to5Mac article went on to say how silently Apple Watch had been removed from many of the workouts on Peloton except for those that are bike riding. As I mentioned, I went on a span of a few months where I was not using Peloton at all and then the past few months I have only done bike riding. Thus, I had not noticed that the Apple Watch had disappeared from weight lifting, meditation, jogging, etc. It seems like an odd thing to do especially when Peloton is struggling and there are discussions of being bought out by another company (i.e. Apple, Amazon, Nike, etc.). Especially for Peloton to remove the option quietly without any notice of the feature disappearing. 

Back to my experience on the Lanebreak feature. I did enjoy my ride and I had a good workout. It was fun because using the resistance knob to change lanes on the track, it took away that I was increasing or decreasing resistance. I was riding and realized I was going 115 with resistance at 45 or 50 and because I was playing a game, I did not realize I had it set so high or going so fast. There is a heads up display as shown on the Lanebreak blog site showing your resistance, speed, etc., but when playing the game the focus is not on those items and instead focusing on get points. Obviously, that is the point of the game.

I do enjoy using the bike with my Apple Watch, so I know that Lanebreak is in test mode as it said on the screen there might be bugs that I had to agree to before using Lanebreak. I am hopeful that at some point Apple Watch will be included in this new feature. For now, Lanebreak will likely be something I try once or twice a month, but for my regular workouts, I will continue to do “normal” bike rides on my Peloton.

Thinking of Warmer Weather and Camping… Lots and Lots of Camping

Is it bad that I am already thinking of camping. I cannot wait to go camping. Thinking about where we are going to camp, what we will do while we are there, or what trails we will walk. We are still a few months out from camping weather here in Kansas. It is hard to believe that just a year ago Carrie and I started camping. We set up our tent for the first time back in April (see Tent Set up with Happy Dog and Happy Tent Owners) and then we did our first camping trip on May 16 (see Camping at Eisenhower State Park) where we actually went twice last season to the same exact spot both times. We loved the camp site and the area.

When we had nice weather not too many days ago, I would go outside with Oliver and talk about how we could go camping. Well, until evening came and the temp dropped and there was not way we could be camping. Last year, Carrie and I went to three different camp sites last year. We are hoping to expand on the new sites this year. Another couple of months and we will begin plotting out our stops. We do plan on taking one trip to a camp site outside of Kansas although that is up in the air currently on whether that one will happen.

I am looking forward to relaxing by our camp site, reading or playing games, and enjoying the scenery of the lake we are near. Looking forward to spending time with Carrie and Oliver while we relax and not worry about what is happening elsewhere. We might even find a spot where cell service does not work and we are suddenly disconnected from the world. It is fun to look back at all of our adventures from last year (see Camping) to see our adventures. Carrie cooked some amazing meals while we were camping and we had great times with great memories while we were camping. I cannot wait to get out and start new memories this year.

What are your favorite camp sites? Where is a spot you have visited more than once? Do you have any recommendations for places to visit either in or out of Kansas?

Cleaning House and Thinking About Future Kansas Camping Locations

A quiet weekend for Carrie and I cleaning to spend Saturday. More cleaning planned for Sunday. Camping the past few weekends have left us to the point where we need to spend time getting the house back in order. Following our camping trips and knowing that we would be camping again soon, we would leave camping supplies by the kitchen door. 

We spent the day Saturday getting things organized and put away. Not very exciting, but we did spend a little while looking at a Kansas Wildlife and Parks that researched Kansas State Parks. We signed up for the Kansas magazine to get future information about Kansas Wildlife and Parks. I believe Carries’ Mom found the magazine and gave it to us. Carrie and I read through the entire magazine looking at the various State Parks and reviewing those we have already visited (my blog posts Lake Melvern, Lake Crawford, and most recently Milford Lake) and thinking about those we have yet to visit. 

As we reviewed the Kansas Wildlife and Parks, we thought that we had been to some of the largest camp sites in Kansas, but realized we have not even scratched the surface. The largest camp site in Kansas is El Dorado State Park. Totally makes sense as I have always been in amazement when driving to Wichita and going over the El Dorado Lake that I-35 goes over partially. I look forward to our visiting El Dorado State Park at some point in our future camping visits. Plus, we picked out many other sites to visit in our future camping.

For now, our camping adventures are on hold. We were lucky with our last camping adventure (Camping in Hot Temperatures) and hot temperatures, but feel it is best to hold camping until temperatures drop in the fall. That does not mean we are not looking at locations and planning for future camping adventures.

Where is your favorite location to camp in Kansas? Please comment to share your recommendation for where to camp in Kansas. 

For now, stay cool through the summer months and until next week, have fun!

Repairs Needed on Our Home for Concrete Sidewalk and Rotting Window Repair... Always Something Fun with Homer Ownership. Looking for Recommendations...

As I sat down to try and think of something to write about this week, I drew a blank. As I try to make Sunday’s my day to write for my blog on any topic, I found that it took me most of the day to sit down and start writing. Finding this post on Pexels.com of construction, I decided I would post about upcoming repairs we have for our home.

If you have recommendations for contractors that you have used that do concrete work or window repair in Topeka, please comment to provide your recommendation so I can follow up.

We moved into our home in 2006 and really have not had to do major repairs since we moved in, but it is slowly becoming obvious that repairs are needed. Our sidewalk in the front of our house leading up to the front door has deteriorated to the point where it does not exist. Our kitchen window facing the back yard is rotten and needs to be replaced. A few other repairs come to mind, but those are the main items I will be focusing over the next few days as I find contractors that can offer quotes to repair our front walk and fix our kitchen window.

I have started the process of getting recommendations for contractors to do the work from family and friends. This week, I will begin the process of calling to schedule contracts to offer quotes on doing the work. I would guess that with both projects, they would not be able to be completed until the weather changes to a warmer average on a daily basis, but at least I can get the process started and get them replaced.

If you have recommendations for contractors that you have used that do concrete work or window repair in Topeka, please comment to provide your recommendation so I can follow up. I plan to post again once we have contractors selected along with before and after pictures of both projects. Hoping to have them both done before summer arrives, but again, I believe it will depend on weather and of course contractor availability to do the work.