Working away

Things are going slowly on the application front. I did a batch of applications for about 80 people last weekend. I sent out confirmations for those on Wednesday. Everyone should have gotten them by now. I checked with Vickie today and she sent me some more that I should be getting tomorrow. With all this, I'm only up to rider 371. I'm not even half done yet. Ellie has created a list of everyone who is on the ride and when we received their application. I checked it and I haven't started on the people whose applications reached us on Jan 19, the Tuesday after the MLK holiday. That means if you didn't fill out and mail your application the day you received it, there is no way I've processed your application. We've mailed back the checks of everyone who didn't get on the ride 10 days ago so everybody who is not on the ride knows it. If you haven't heard from us, that's a good thing.

While you are waiting for your confirmations, now would be a good time to get your bike in shape. I got a note from my bike shop. He's pretty idle and it's not like you're going to miss any good biking weather this week. You'll get your bike back quickly and you'll be ready for those odd little quirks in Michigan's weather. (Last year it got up to the 50's in February and I was able to ride to Belle Isle and around it from work. Go figure.) For me, I broke a tent pole on last year's PALM. The bike shops helped me jury rig a fix for the tour, but I've got to get it fixed or replaced. Now is the time for me to do it, not May when Sierra Designs will be too busy to care about me.

Amazingly, the gardening stuff has really picked up. Last week I began a 9 week course (Urban Roots) on community gardening. We had the first meeting of the Grandmont Community garden on the Tuesday of the big snow. And we have the potluck next Tuesday that kicks off the Garden Resource Program, a good way to spend Mardi Gras. All this and we can't see the ground for the snow. We must be optimistic in Michigan. I found out that my dog really likes playing in deep snow, so it does have its uses.