Cycling and slate

Halfway through the week!  Our temps have gone back to more seasonal, although even a little cooler than that.  We biked to breakfast today and it was 50 degrees!  Brrrr.

Doing pretty good on my goal of 2000 miles for the season. I am at 430 odd miles so far. Not bad considering the late start to the season.  I ride pretty much every day. Some days 8-10 miles for a lighter day, 15 for a ‘maintenance’ ride and 30+ on the weekends.  It sure feels good to get out on the bike.  Even though it is getting me absolutely zilch as far as weight loss goes. Guess I just ride for this:

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Yes, indeed. On an interesting note – it seems that more and more people are wearing helmets when riding – which makes me happy.  I noticed it especially on Sunday. It seemed just about every biker had a helmet on.

We still keep meeting neighbors.  One of them stopped over and said she noticed how much work we were doing on the outside of the house. They had just ripped up their slate patio and wondered if we wanted the slate.  Heck yeah!  So, we loaded up the Saturn and practically bottomed out coming across the street with it 😀  I knew there was a reason we still kept that car.

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There is more to the right out of the picture, too.  Dang – let me tell you this was heavy work! Loading and unloading. These stones are heavy.  Functional fitness at its best.

This will save us a mint. We had designs to make a walkway around the garden beds in front to go out to the back (through Lily of the Valley town). We were pricing pavers and slate and then the neighbors offered us this. How nice.  Everyone just seems to be really glad that the house is owned and being taken care of.  Of course, it does make us feel like we are being watched a little, though.  Often times when we are out working on the front – walkers will stop and tell us how it is looking great and they love the house.  It does stick out a little because it is an unusual looking house in the neighborhood, but that is one of the reasons we love it.

As far as the old house goes, we might be making progress on closing. Pretty much by this Friday we will know if the deal is done or dead.  Hoping for the former, prepping for the latter.

17 thoughts on “Cycling and slate

  1. Lisa

    Be careful with those slates. I remember when we were installing the slate tile floor in our kitchen I sliced open the palm of my hand and it was so sharp I didn’t even notice until I was bleeding! Yikes!

  2. Kim

    WooHoo, that’s a win/win with the slate getting new life! I look forward to seeing it in place.

    1. Lori Post author

      It is a win-win. We may need more, but this will save us a lot of money. You know I like that 😀

  3. Chris Brown

    I know your neighbors just love having the house lived in and taken care of because we have a house in our neighborhood that had so much potential. When the new people moved in and started fixing it up, it made everything in the neighborhood seem to look better.

    1. Lori Post author

      It definitely helps the neighborhood. This house sat vacant for a year, which is why they are glad someone is in it now.

  4. Shelley B

    I love slate – that’s what our back patio is made of. I think you’ll do a great job making pathways with it…and how nice of your neighbors to give it to you!

    When we first moved in, we felt watched, too. Our neighbors had all been here for about seven years before our house was built…I know they came through it many times as it was being constructed. Kind of a weird feeling, to be sure.

    1. Lori Post author

      I love slate as well. We weren’t sure quite what we were going to do, but this slate certainly gives us a starting point. And no landfill for the slate!

  5. debby

    Woo hoo on the free slate! And yeah,that stuff is heavy! I added it up and I unloaded about 1600 pounds of rock from the back of my car in a week or so. It’s great you got those smaller pieces too–those will come in handy. Can hardly wait to see what you do! LOTV town– 🙂

    1. Lori Post author

      I can’t believe how heavy some of the single pieces are – like I wouldn’t want to carry more than one, and I am strong! Of course, now we have this slate sitting there way before we were ready for it and another project gets put on the list LOL!

  6. Fran

    That’s really nice of your neighbours. Let me tell you girl that if I lived in your street, you would definitely be watched LOL. Dog owners are known for knowing everything that’s going on in the neighbourhood LOL.
    I even got a letter last year from the police that was sent to all dog owners in my town if I wanted to participate in a watch group. They knew dog owners would see it immediately if something was wrong in the neighbourhood. I thanked for it because I had to follow a training for it how to react. If something unusual is going on I will call the emergency number.

    1. Lori Post author

      One nice thing about working from home is that we can be aware of everything in the neighborhood. John actually went out and spoke to someone he saw coming around to the back of a neighbor’s property and taking a bicycle. Turns out it was the owner’s son-in-law, but we didn’t know that 😀

  7. Jeannie/Qlts2Slo

    Whoohoo, slate windfall! What a gift. I look forward to seeing where it goes. Doing my best to send good vibes for the closing.

    1. Lori Post author

      It was nice of them. It saves them dump fees to haul it away and we can use it to make our house look nicer. Always good when things work out that way.

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