Spring Proclaimed

The beard came off on Saturday morning. I modeled the Amish look for April while I was shaving it off. Opted to take it all the way though since I don't have a suitable straw hat to complement the look. While I had the clippers out I shaved my head and went for the legs, too. It's spring, dammit. Can't you tell by the stupid grin?

Later we took a walk to CRC in the wind and wet snow. No hair, no problem. It's spring, 'cause I said so! Did I mention that already?

Other projects for the weekend included installing suspension on my 1X1 in preparation for a trip to CO in a week and a half for the Fruita MTB Festival. It's a work trip and there's going to be plenty of hard work going on in between epic rides and the nightly scheduled parties. Yep, lots of arduous, grueling and monotonous work. I really wish I could get out of it, but duty calls.

Today April and I dropped Sylvia with her adopted grandmother and went to 6 open houses. We're kicking off our home search. It seems like we have a long road ahead of us. We toured a couple houses we really liked but they felt just a bit too small. Others had tiny basements with low ceilings (the basement is a prime consideration for bike storage and shop space). Still others were charming enough but had either no garage or might as well not have had a garage since the shack out back was sagging, leaning to the side or practically already falling down. What's the deal with Mpls garages? Did all our homegrown bands of yore rock them off their foundations?

Willa does a lot of this still. She's three weeks old today. We almost got her out for her first bike ride, but most activities are planned these days on "Sylvia time." Our soon-to-be-three-year-old has been less than accommodating, to put it diplomatically. This week is forecast to be warm and mostly dry, so I'm looking forward to getting out with Sylvia for some outdoor fun. Hopefully she can rechannel some of that toddler angst.

A bit of sad news: The Bryant Ave Pedestrian Bridge over Minnehaha Creek and the greenway is closed indefinitely. I rode by it yesterday and noticed officials have boarded up both ends to dissuade anyone from walking out onto it. Gone is a famed site for post-work Bridge Club gatherings. A major interstate bridge collapses in Mpls and all of a sudden every bridge is suspect.

In other news: You did know it's spring, didn't you? Okay, just checking.