A great 37 miles?

Dearest Blog Reader:

I hope that this blog finds you doing well. I am fine. I am a bit better than fine actually. Bev and I took the advice of my last blog. We took a minute and took a breath. We have gravitated back to Beverly Shores and Lake Indiana, which is one of my favorite places to get away from most of it all. We have visited often enough that we are starting to get more and more adventurous. Yesterday, Bev and I went on a biking trek. The goal was 50 miles to Warren Woods which is a climax beech and maple forest in southern Michigan. It is truely a beautiful, majestic place; straight and true timbers reaching 100 feet into the air. It is a sight to behold; especially for a lumber jack that is in the middle of cutting six cord of wood for winter heat. Next time bring the chainsaw????

I mentioned that our goal was 50 miles. In a shout out to Doyle, Bev's dad, our eyes were bigger than out tummies. We bit off more than we could chew. The wrong socks were selected for the breathable shoes that were brought to the North country. Note to self; breathable equals colder that heck on a bike in 40 degree weather with a 18 mph head wind. Thankfully, we made it as far as Redamack's legendary burger shop before turning back. Free restaurant review alert. Redamack's has good burgers. However, "legendary" is a bit overrated. It is not legendary; unless you heard a legend that Redamack's doesn't serve coffee and you have to purchase your fries separately from your burger; then it is legendary. Haven't Michigander's heard of warm liquids or the meal deal concept?

This moment, to take a breath, to relax, to eschew our usual weekend activities, coincides with my one-hundredth blog post. That's right you can brag to your friends that you have read approximately 14,000 words of legendary prose. Go ahead take a moment to savor that accomplishment. There you go. Has the dizziness and light headed feeling passed?  Good, you'll be okay.

I want to thank you my loyal readers for your commitment to these endeavors. I can't tell you how many times each week the words "dear blog reader, I hope this finds you doing well causes me to smile as I contemplate the next installment.

Personal notes about 100 blog posts;
Most read; Beware. Really? I know. It is just a rant about how the powers that be try to keep us scared and cowering in the corner. It's success can be attributed to the fact that I used a google image of a beware sign. When people google beware that image shows on the results page, a few extra random people click on the blog and have a read.

Favorite; Girls Gone Wild.  It is my favorite because it was the first one and its  about one of my children taking a risk and jumping out of a perfectly good airplane.

Best; Turkey in the Straw. It is a blog about butchering turkeys; which for me was one of the most spiritual acts of my life. I know it sounds weird, but for me, it was true.

Most recognized recurring character; Assassin Deer. Which generated best comment on Facebook. "That was weird."

Most impact; Based on reader comments, May I Have This Dance? It was a blog that surprised me. A brief witness to two cyclists riding by our peony patch in May. She called out to him, "Do you see those flowers?" That encounter led to one of the easiest blogs that I have written.

Most impact; Based on world climatology; Man Made Climatology. This blog also took the most planning and preparation; planning that took 9 months, two continents, and three co-conspiritors to implement. The result was Issac, a category 3 hurricane that went a long way to breaking the drought. The downside is that we now have copycat hurricane seeders in the Carribean. Good luck New York as Sandy makes her way through town.

The rest are there to read and enjoy. The blogs are getting easier to write. There was a while when I would open the word processor with no idea of what to write. I would arrive with just the discipline of weekly words. Those were the hardest to write. Starting with typing random thoughts, an idea would start to emerge. Typing a few more lines, a theme, that could be forged into 1400 words, would take form. Today, the ideas brew throughout the week. They steep in the tea of my weekly life and are ready to go by the time I sit here with you.

Coming at writing with the necessary discipline to forge ideas into a theme is an important first step to be a good writer. One-hundred blogs have given me a brief glimpse of that. The second step is motivational. What is my motivation for writing this blog? I write this blog for the attention. I am like a dog who lives to have his belly rubbed. I am not a guard dog. I do not fetch or plat frisbee. I do no heard sheep. I live to have my belly rubbed. I watch the stats closely after each posting. I long for likes on Facebook. I celebrate every reposting; knowing that it will drive the stats. I pray for a viral post. Thankfully, the fever isn't as high as it was when I first started writing. I am getting closer to writing and letting it go. It will mean that I have gotten to a point where I have written what best reflects what I see. I think that then these blogs will be good for me.

It is good that I am a better bike rider than writer. The goal was 50 miles. Our best was 37. It was a beautiful 37 and not a missed 13.

Take care.

Roger