But, excuses aside, March was a tough month. March is usually the month when the weather warms up and I want to spend as much time as possible outside. The weather has been pretty nice all month, so that can't be my excuse. I did come down with a sickness at the end of February and it lasted until mid-March, well, the residual effects did (a hacking, dry cough), and that certainly makes wanting to ride my bike fly out the window. For the bulk of that sickness, I was laid out on the couch all day while Eliza's toys lay spread out all over the living room floor. I watched Hulu Plus and Eliza played with her toys, while I somehow mustered up the strength to get up a few times a day to change her diaper, feed her and put her down for naps. I even had to miss coaching at my first Masters meet in 4 years because of this sickness.
Once my health returned, it was time to prepare the house and Eliza for her 1st birthday party. We were so jazzed about Eliza turning 1 on March 16. We were planning an at-home-in-the-backyard party for her with a handful of friends and kids in attendance. But then we cancelled the party the day before because Eliza was diagnosed with a double ear infection and she just wasn't feeling well. And although I don't know much about throwing parties for kids, I figured that having a sick kid as the star of the party would not be fun. So we rescheduled her party for the following Friday afternoon, March 23. So I was "too busy" to go for a bike ride that week, or at least that's the lie I told myself so that I wouldn't go for a bike ride. Eliza's birthday party turned out awesome. In fact, it was so awesome that Rob and I were so exhausted after it that we did absolutely nothing the whole weekend after that. And that "I'm too tired from such a busy month" excuse continued on into the following week, and lo and behold, I made it to Saturday, March 31 and I finally wasn't exhausted anymore!
So we went for a bike ride!
I waited until Eliza was finished with dinner to start the ride. Kind of late to start at 6:30pm, but I figured, hey, a short bike ride is better than no bike ride at all, right?
Eliza seemed pretty excited to be back in her bike trailer going for a bike ride for the first time in more than a month!
She even brought along a toy that she got for her birthday from our friends Latisha and Braylin. Who knew that princesses liked bike riding? I sure didn't!
Since I didn't have much time to ride before dark and before Eliza got sleepy for bedtime, I knew I should stick close to home. So I pedaled out to the Habitat For Humanity neighborhood near our house. Here's a google map of the location. Dodson Street and the parallel street (Mansfield) is home to a mix of homes that were built in the 50's and 60's, some well kept, some not so much. And there's a few houses that are totally new construction, but they're the cheapy, quickly built ones that I like to refer to as "Vinyl Sided Crap Shacks". I know, I know, I shouldn't be so harsh. Someone lives in those houses, and vinyl siding isn't bad...I guess I should just say that it would take a lot of change in me for me to live happily and contentedly in a Vinyl Sided Crap Shack.
I had to stop and take a few pictures on Mansfield Street before I got to the Habitat part of the neighborhood. This is a picture of a REAL crap shack, and next to it, a Vinyl Sided Crap Shack.
Here's an up close picture of the real shack. Yes, you are seeing that correctly - this house has no backside. I do not know how long this house has been like this. But if I had to guess...? 3 years? Ehh, on the Google map street view, it shows this house as structurally sound and with a backside. But it still doesn't look pretty. Anyway, why did I stop and take pictures of these houses? Because I like to prove how strange parts of East Durham are, I guess.
Directly across the street from this real shack and the vinyl sided crap shack are 2 beautifully maintained houses with the greenest grass I've seen since driving through Hope Valley the other day. You can tell the owners of these houses takes much pride in the appearance of their house!
A quick search on the internet pulls up the tax bill for this real shack of a house on Mansfield St. The tax bills have been paid and the account is current. The house by itself (without the land value added in) is assessed at a smidge under $19,000. Wow. Just wow. It does show the address where the tax bill is sent to and it's in Nashville, TN. I wonder if the owner knows that the back half of her house is missing? :)
Enough about houses, I'm supposed to be writing about bike riding with Eliza!
We just meandered about slowly, enjoying the nice weather and saying hello to the few people sitting out on their front porches watching their kids play basketball in the street. At the very end of this neighborhood, once you've gone through the newer Habitat for Humanity neighborhood, is a big, awesome playground.
I'd love to take Eliza to play here someday, but there's a big sign at the front that says it's for Habitat residents only. Oh well. Maybe we'll make friends with someone who lives there and we can be their guest and play there someday!
So our bike ride was short, slow and scenic. Still fun, though. We came home, and just as I was putting away the bike and the trailer in the garage, I was greeted by a very friendly doggie named Charlie. Or, "Roof Dog", as some kids at Eliza's birthday party started calling him when they saw him hanging out on his lounge pad (the roof of the garage).
So if you ever wondered what a bloodhound looked like up on a roof, looking down at you as though you had a T-bone steak on your head, this is it! I got Eliza to look up there with me (I kept pointing up and saying, "look Eliza", and finally, after a couple minutes of that, she looked up!) and you should've heard her! She says "Dog", but it doesn't sound like "dog" of course because she's only 12 months old. Sounds a little more like "Duh" than "Dog", but I know what she's trying to say!
Well that's all for the month of March. Let's hope that April brings more hikes and more bike rides than this month did.
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