Day's Events

Not to deceive you from the title of this blog, I only have two events to share from today, but they have been exciting events.

CATCH ME IF YOU CAN!
Last night after coming home from Institute Jessica came running up the stairs into my bedroom where I was and with excitement and shocking disbelief in her voice she told me the story of how she has had a mouse living in her car since Monday. For the first couple of days she would find items in her car nibbled on or scraps of little (bitten) up pieces of bags. Then when walking out to her car yesterday afternoon and opening up the door her she saw it. The mouse. It scurried off so fast from her sight that she didn't know where it went, but everything all made sense now. She had spotted the culprit of the messy motor mouth that was litering all over her car. She was almost mortified that she has been driving around since Monday with a wild little critter running freely inside her car. The thoughts of all the "What IF..." possibilities made her cringe and give her shivers down her spine.

She purchased and set up four sticky pad mouse traps on the floor of her car behind the drivers seat after getting home from work yesterday evening. After telling me of the ensuing drama of this mouse episode she solicited to me for my service in going out to her car to see if the mouse had been trapped because she was too scared and grossed out to do it herself. Excitement then filled me as thoughts of finding this mouse in one of the traps ran through my head, but was disappointed when the traps produced no mouse. We baited the traps with chunky peanut butter and called our work done for the evening having expectations of finding a stuck, yet a well fed mouse in the morning.

Jessica and I arose from our beds and emerged from our bedrooms at about the same time this morning. Not five minutes had passed before she came into my room again asking for my assistance to check on the traps in her car. It being my pleasure, I slipped on a pair of my chacos, which of course makes the world go 'round and complimented my pajamas, and headed out to the garage. Jessica stood tense and ridig in the garage doorway as I approached the side window of the car. I peered into the car at the traps below to see if my expectations had been fulfilled, my thoughts being, "Who would pass up free peanut butter? I mean, c'mon! You gotta be crazy, esp. if you are a mouse and don't possess the higher level of intelligence that we as humans have."

I think this mouse is gifted. All four traps that were spread across the floor were now all stuck together and some of the peanut butter was gone, but there was no mouse. How did he do that!?! Beats me. Yep, beat me and our attempts to outsmart him. In fact, it was quite the opposite. He outsmarted us. Feeling that he had left the ball in my court, I was then determined to find him. (Yes, that is pride). With a headlamp in hand I began my search for this gifted rodent. Twisting my body into positions I didn't know I could to look in all the crevases and to stick my hand in all the holes I could find there was still no sign of him; there were no traces of him anywhere! I think somebody taught him the principle I learned while ding-dong ditching when I was young, "If you don't move they can't see you." Apparently it works better for mice than humans because I was found, yelled and cursed at. Not so with this mouse. The mouse made no sudden movements; not even a scurry across the floor to another hiding spot and I never spotted him. Not only was this mouse outsmarting us but he was a stealth ninja mouse too. He's good. Real good.

Jessica, asking for my moral support, had me drive her car over to Cal-Rance in order to pick up some more mouse traps. We were determined. We picked up another 4-pack of sticky pads as well as a metal mouse trap box. Jessica again baited the sticky pads with peanut butter and put cheese inside the metal box. She placed these traps, with some additional traps and poison, in the car as before and then left the door open allowing the mouse to leave with no harm done. At this point the mouse had four options and ONLY four options:

1. He could get stuck on the sticky pads
2. He could get trapped in the metal box
3. He could die from eating the poison OR
4. He could hop out of the open car door and scurry away free

Staying in the car without deciding upon any of the above choices was absolutely not an option! We waited in anticipation. And 9 hours later we are still waiting in anticipation........

THE BEAVER D LOOP
After the mouse excitement calmed down a bit I geared up to head out on a bike ride. With the forecast predicting rain, wind, and possible thunderstorms, I had to take advantage of today's mild and beautiful weather! It's rare to have a day in Rexburg (during the fall, winter, and spring seasons) that isn't being ripped apart by the piercing, bitter cold wind. Today was one of those rare occassions. Although there was a bit of wind, it was bearable. The sun was out and small clouds dotted a blue sky. The temperature, 49˚ degrees. All mixed together created an ideal recipe for a nice bike ride. Oh yeah, baby!

Not knowing where this ride would take me, I knew I wanted to head out on Hwy 33 to Beaver Dick Park. The ride to Beaver D didn't seem to take long at all and so I decided to make a pit stop there. I walked, while carrying my bike on my shoulder, to the docks. After resting my bike against the Park sign I made my way down one of the docks and took my seat. While sucking water from my camelback I watched the water gently drift by and reminiced in my mind the many memories I have had there. It was a very pleasant and peaceful time.

Not exactly sure where I wanted to go next - either continue on Hwy 33 and turn towards R Mtn. or to take the northbound road from Beaver D - I quickly did inny-minny-minny-moe between the two options. The R Mtn. option didn't win and so I jumped on my bike and headed north. I had only been down this road once before on a bike ride with Angie, but we had gone about a mile in before turning around in order to make it back into town for her to go to work. So, anything beyond that point was new to me, but I had an idea of where I wanted to end up and figured it wouldn't be too complicated to get there.

I biked for a few miles down this road, taking in the mountains in the far distance off to my left and the farms, run down houses that were far and few in between, and the river and trees that snaked it's way through the land along with the wildlife inhabiting the area. It seemed to go on for a ways, but finally coming upon the first road I took a right onto RD 4000. Now, I was biking east, back towards Rexburg, paralleling Hwy 33. This road wasn't a straight road before my next turn, but swung back and forth a few times adding some variation to my ride. Farms filled the majority of this road and I enjoyed seeing the many horses and cows feeding in the fields. My next turn, a right hand turn, took me onto RD 3575, which also zig-zagged around. This road was a lot more familiar to me as I passed by Warm Slough, Hibbard Elementary School, a church house on the corner, and the turn off towards Rabbitstick Rendezvous. Before getting closer to Rexburg this road was mostly lined with the growth of nature and many more bridges that crossed over the winding river. It became my favorite road on the ride. Just like I had planned, this road spit me out where I wanted - the gas station just off the second Rexburg exit. The rest of the ride home was a quick hop, skip, and a jump away.

I had made a huge loop that calculated out to be 21.2 miles. And as a reference back to this ride I named it the Beaver D Loop. It was quite the ride for only having been on a couple short rides this season so far. My ultimate goal is to ride to Idaho Falls and back before the triathlon in August. Riding 21.2 miles today was a good start - it roughly being 1/3 of the ride to Idaho Falls and back.

I am so grateful for Tom, who first introduced me to mountain biking 3-4 years ago when we participated in a short BYU-Idaho triathlon, for Spring Summit which further increased my love for biking, and for my best friend who then helped turn my love of biking into a passion and who also introduced me to road biking and my girl Jamis. I love the physical aspect of biking, but I love what it does for the soul even more. Biking allows you to get away from the distractions of the world, exspend pent up energy or emotion that's been bottled inside, clear your mind, and enables you to enjoy the beautiful God-given creations around you. Today's ride allowed me to release some depressing emotions that had started to creep up on me this morning, it cleared my mind, challenged me physically, and brought back good ol' memories. I am grateful to all who have helped develop this healthy addiction, love, and passion of mine. Thanks!