Bud Baker

The magic 5 years! Congrats, Mike!

Good morning, everyone! I'm being reminded that the wind around here can be brutal this time of year. I rode home against a 30 mph south wind yesterday afternoon and rode to work against a 25 mph north wind this morning. My legs are starting to feel suspiciously like mush. It was 80 degrees when I rode home yesterday. At 1:00 am this morning, it was still 63 degrees, but the front blew in and by 2:00 am it had fallen to 48 degrees, 15 degrees in an hour. It was 41 degrees when I rode to work, and 39 degrees now. They're forecasting a high of 57, but I'm thinking it better get started warming up soon if it's going to reach that. Sorry you're feeling poorly, KW Judy. It sounds like that antibiotic is having the same effect on you that it did Rose. Bundle up and stay warm, Annette! I hope they let you off early. Have a great day, all! Yesterday, All my troubles seemed so far away, Now it looks as though they're here to stay, Oh, I believe in yesterday.

Good morning, everyone! It was 53 degrees as I rode to work this morning. Forecast high is 78. But our balmy weather won't last long. A front that is coming in early tomorrow will cool it off to the point that Friday afternoon's high temperature is forecast to be 45 degrees. It sounds like everyone back east is still in the refrigerator. I hope you don't get too much of the white stuff, Annette. Sorry you're not feeling well, KW Judy. Rose's stomach antibiotic wasn't any fun for her, either. Those seem to be a very different antibiotic. They even told Rose that what she was taking wouldn't help with the flu or anything else, only the stomach. Ann, I hope you're staying warm and keeping busy and that today passes gently for you. It's hump day, so we're half way through the work week. Eric, I look forward to seeing your video. I'm betting that you did a great job in it. MI Judy, it sounds like you need to ease up for a while. Not easy to do right before Christmas, I bet, but still needed. Ginny, doctors can certainly be maddening sometimes. Libby, stay warm, I know it's chilly where you are......LOL. Have a great day, all!

Good morning, everyone! It was 37 degrees as I rode to work this morning. Our south wind came back and started warming things up sooner than they predicted. Forecast high is now 68 for this afternoon and 78 for tomorrow afternoon. Annette, I usually check in at this same time, 9:00 am Central Time. That's my morning work break time. Rose had to do antibiotics for a stomach infection just last month. It wasn't much fun, but we tend to view anything that's not cancer as good news......LOL. Funny how it changes our perspectives. Not much going on around here, just another day slaving at work, and looking forward to a 25 mph wind to ride against this afternoon. Have a great day, all!

Good morning, everyone! It was 22 degrees as I rode to work this morning. That's getting pretty close to the limit of how cold it can get and me still ride the 12 miles to work. Forecast high is 56. At least the ground is still dry here, and they're calling for a slow warmup. That sounds like some kind of serious storm you had, Donna. I hope MI Judy gets home ok today. It sounds like lots of Michigan airports are still closed. Yes, Bruce, it's the same style cast net that I use. I have also seen guys hold one edge of the net in their teeth as they throw it. I don't think I'll be trying that technique any time soon. It's really fun, using a cast net to catch bait fish, though, and becomes another enjoyable part of a fishing trip. Shad are the main bait fish here, and most of the year, you can find them pretty shallow. But, like most other fish, they head toward the deeper water in the winter. KW Judy, good luck on your scans this afternoon! Have a great day, all!

So sorry to read this. Condolences to her family and friends.

Good morning, everyone! It's 33 degrees here with a howling north wind this morning. Forecast high is 51. At least there's no snow. I brought home some nice crappie yesterday. I had a tough time catching bait fish with the cast net, though. It's my first year using one, and I'm finding that it's pretty easy when the bait fish are shallow. But they're getting deeper now, and it's taking a lot of throws for me to come up with anything. And with that many casts, I end up wetter than I'd like. I'm thinking that while it's cold, I'm going to get lazy and go back to buying minnows......LOL. Not much happening here today. I'm headed to wally world for some early shopping, then just going to tackle a few things around the house, and zombie out in front of the TV. Have a great day, all!

Good morning, everyone! TGIF! It was 42 degrees as I rode to work this morning. Forecast high is 64. I rode to work all five days again this week. The weekend forecast sounds exactly like last weekend, mild on Saturday morning, but a front blasting in to turn it chilly by Sunday. I'm thinking I'll do the same thing I did last weekend, go fishing on Saturday, then just stay home and annoy Rose on Sunday. It's 6 1/2 hours until my weekend begins. Have a great day, all!

What a pair of cuties!

That's great news! Congrats!

Posted in the fishing forum: Her Diary and His Diary HER DIARY: Dear Diary: Tonight, I thought my husband was acting weird. We had made plans to meet at a bar to have a drink. I was shopping with my friends all day long, so I thought he was upset at the fact that I was a bit late, but he made no comment on it. Conversation wasn't flowing, so I suggested that we go somewhere quiet so we could talk. He agreed, but he didn't say much. I asked him what was wrong. He said, 'Nothing.' I asked him if it was my fault that he was upset. He said he wasn't upset, that it had nothing to do with me, and not to worry about it. On the way home, I told him that I loved him. He smiled slightly, and kept driving. I can't explain his behavior. I don't know why he didn't say, 'I love you, too.' When we got home, I felt as if I had lost him completely, as if he wanted nothing to do with me anymore. He just sat there quietly, and watched TV. He continued to seem distant and absent. Finally, with silence all around us, I decided to go to bed. About 15 minutes later, he came to bed. To my surprise, he responded to my caress, and we made love. But I still felt that he was distracted, and his thoughts were somewhere else. He fell asleep - I cried. I don't know what to do. I'm almost sure that his thoughts are with someone else. My life is a disaster... HIS DIARY: My boat wouldn't start today,----- but at least I got laid.

Good morning, everyone! It was 37 degrees as I rode to work this morning. Forecast high is 67, and it will be a tough south wind that I pedal home against this afternoon. Bruce, that gravel sounds like what Texas is paving so many roads with these days. For years, they've used gravel combined with some kind of sealer to pave many roads. We've always called it chipseal. But, the last few years, the gravel has really gotten big. We call it boulderseal now, and tires are so much louder rolling on it that everyone complains about it. Bicycles really ride rough on it, so I try to avoid it when riding. Speaking of spellings and pronunciations here and there, Eric, do you use the British pronunciation of schedule (shed-youl). That always sounded strange to me. Have a great day, all!

Good morning, everyone! It was 35 degrees as I rode to work this morning. Forecast high is 57. Wow, that's some seriously cold weather, Libby. Between you and Eric and Bruce, you're making me cold. Even Florida is getting some chilly weather. This is starting to get the look of a cold winter. The long term forecast is predicting a chance of snow on the ground for over half the USA on Christmas Day. Judy, you do a great job of keeping up and responding to everyone. I usually do my posts on a short morning break at work, so I don't always manage to respond to everyone. No offense is intended, when I do that. Have a great day, all!

Judy, Rose has had her XStream for a while. It was a prototype before the bike went into production, and was test ridden for an extended time by a couple of friends of mine (four of us made a trip to the RANS factory in Hays, Kansas, to pick it up). When it came time for it to be sold, I got a good deal on it, and it was perfect for Rose's first fast bike. She loves it. Her bike is 3 1/2 inches shorter than the production bikes ended up being, and wasn't quite long enough for someone with long legs like me to get the optimum recline while riding, or else I may have been tempted to buy it for myself. My bike was one of four bikes used by the RANS 4 man race team at RAAM in 2009. A friend bought it shortly after the race, and he just sold it to me.

Yes, mirrors are even more important on a recumbent bike, since you can't easily turn around to see behind you. I have a mirror on my helmet. The bike is a RANS XStream, and Rose rides one just like it. A friend said that we're now the Dos XStreamos............LOL.

Good morning, everyone! It was 26 degrees as I rode to work this morning. Forecast high is 59. KW Judy, those songs bring back memories. MI Judy, at least the spasms weren't as bad as before. Maybe you'll get these milder ones as a warning first from now on. Annette, Sleep Aide? Is that a pill? Someone over at the 50+ cycling forum I frequent suggested that everyone over 50 has trouble sleeping. I can testify that it isn't so. Even before I started riding, I was consistently asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow, and regular exercise will make you sleep even better. If I didn't set an alarm to get up, I'd oversleep by hours most days. Wow, Eric, you are really getting hammered this winter. Hopefully, your winter will get better soon. Mornings here have been cooler than normal for early December, but at least the ground has been dry. Have a great day, all!

Can I keep it?

Good morning, everyone! It was 29 degrees as I rode to work this morning, a tad nipply for us Texas folk. Forecast high is 52. KW Judy, I've done a merge before, but it always seems to take me several tries to figure out how to do it, then by the time I need to do another, I've completely forgotten how. Have a great day, all!

Good morning, everyone! It was 35 degrees when I got up this morning. Forecast high is 53. The north wind from the front that blew in right after I started fishing yesterday is still blowing. I'm going to do a little shopping, then take it easy around the house the rest of the day. I tested out my live well more than I expected yesterday, bringing home 12 large crappie. It seems they can be caught in my winter spot now, if you stay with the best spot long enough. Have a great day, all!

Good morning, everyone! TGIF! It was 41 degrees as I rode to work this morning. Forecast high is 74. I rode to work all five days this week. I did a merge since we had two Friday's Airs floating around. It's a little over six hours until my weekend begins. If I ride at all, it will likely just be a short one. I'm going fishing tomorrow, more to check the livewell pump and switch I installed, and work on the trailer while the boat is off it, than to fish. We have a cold front coming in tomorrow, and Sunday is supposed to be pretty chilly. I may just stay close to home. Have a great day, all!

Ann, I don't mind starting my countdown early. It's now just under 20 hours until my weekend starts! Pixie is now almost 10 months old. This will be her first Christmas. She tried on a sweater for the first time yesterday. She's such a live wire that Rose was certain she'd work her way out of it quickly, but she loved it, and wore it all evening.

Good morning, everyone! It was 43 degrees as I rode to work this morning. Forecast high is 69. Ann, good to hear from you. I hope your cold is better today. I had my cold from hell last month, so I'm hoping I'm done with that for the winter. I suspect that drivers here are worse on snow and ice than the rest of you see. We don't get it very often, so hardly anyone can drive on it. We have lots of four wheel drive vehicles here, and their drivers have figured out that they can go better on snow and ice than the rest of us. What they haven't figured out is that they can't stop any better than anyone else, so they run over everything when it snows. I come to work early enough that I have no problem getting to work in it. But, when it happens in the afternoon, I have to share the roads with all the idiots who are sideways, so it becomes a challenge to get home. Have a great day, all!

Good morning, everyone! It was 31 degrees as I rode to work this morning, a bit chilly, but at least yesterday's big winds are gone now. Forecast high is 65. I know what you mean about cancer attitudes at work, Eric. This place where I work had had a long run of bad cancer events. For many years, anyone who left with cancer never returned. So, when I was diagnosed with the most dreaded cancer of all, and took off for lung surgery, you could tell that not many expected me to return. It's a wonder they waited before giving away my office, desk, cart, and everything else I use here. But my boss was a good guy, my best friend here. He changed, about the time I was diagnosed, though. He developed a major "life is too short" attitude, found a better job in the Pacific Northwest, where he'd always wanted to move, and left. I don't know if his change had anything to do with my diagnosis or not. I've been wanting to get out of this place ever since he left, but haven't quite been able to get it done. It's December already! I rode 607 miles in November. That's about what I had planned, and leaves me with 423 miles to ride in December to reach my goal of 7500 miles for the year. As long as the weather doesn't turn too terrible, I should be able to manage that. Have a great day, all!

Good morning, everyone! It was 39 degrees with a 20 mph northwest wind as I rode to work this morning, a bit chilly. It's 35 degrees now, but it's supposed to get up to 52. Sorry to hear you're having such bad weather, Eric. I hope we don't get much of that here this year. When you first mentioned the snow, I thought you were going to tell us about how you walked miles in the snow to work, uphill both ways. That's the way my father did it back in his school days, according to the stories he tells. Bruce, most of the year I mainly use the jigs I make to crappie fish, but in winter, I often buy minnows, or throw a castnet for shad. It's a tougher bite in the winter, and live bait seems to do a lot better on some days. MI Judy, I can't recommend working for pay so much. If I'm going to keep on doing it, I've got to find something easier. Enjoy your down time, KW Judy. You've definitely earned it. Have a great day, all!

Good morning, everyone! It was 63 degrees with rain when I got up this morning. A check of the weather radar showed that the shower would soon be gone, so I went ahead and got ready and rode to work. By the time I left home, the streets were still wet, but the rain had stopped. Forecast high here for today is 71, getting windy this afternoon as a front comes in. Saturday, I made a trip to my winter fishing spot on the Brazos River above Lake Whitney. It's as scenic as ever, but it was a double disappointment. Not only are my crappie not there yet, but looking at the pecan trees, it's plain that they don't have anywhere near as many pecans as last year. I'd heard a couple of people say it wasn't going to be a good pecan year, and looking at those trees seems to bear that out. I only caught a couple of crappie Sunday at Granbury. I'm glad the freezer is well stocked; it looks like I may not be bringing much fish home for a few weeks. Dawn, great to hear from you. How are you doing? I hope they put a copy of your video online, Eric. I'm sure we'd all love to see it. I'm glad you enjoy Christmas shopping, Libby. Do mine for me, please......LOL. Glad you're still spasm free, MI Judy. That sounds pretty life changing. Have a great day, all!