Skate or Die

Today was a historic day for the Clark boys. Sambo has been begging to try out a local skate park and with cooler temps arriving this next week, we figured this might be one of our last chances to shred with the locals. It was an absolute blast. Sambo loved riding the walls and Wilbur loved drinking his blue gatorade. he also told me he wanted to be a Rockstar so he could "drive a big van and wear a metal shirt", but that is a story for another day! Any way here they are in action. I hope the weather holds so we can have a few more days with the local skaters.

Night Prowler

In addition to the six Clarks we also have an African Bullfrog named Shortleg and a Yellow Lab named Daisy. This story is about Daisy. You see everything she does is intended to please her family. What we didn't find out until this morning is that Daisy lives 2 seperate lives.

Ever since we moved into our house 2 years ago Daisy has had a wireless shock collar that defined her boundary. Don't worry PETA, for the last year the battery was dead and it didn't work. We didn't tell her this and she thought that as long as her collar was on she better not try to bolt. A couple weeks ago I took her collar off and was throwing the ball to her for a little exercise. This is a daily routine and she loves it. Anyway I placed the collar on the bumper of our Suburban and forgot about it. The next morning we tore the house apart looking for the collar. Those things ain't cheap. On my way to work I noticed a pink strip on the highway near our house. After further review, it was the collar/shock box, completely destroyed and broken in a hundred pieces. We were faced with a decision, pay $150 for a new collar that we really didn't need, or try a regular collar that was $10. I went with the $10 collar and it worked like a charm; at least that is what I thought.

Here is how I found our beloved Daisy this morning.


She had snuck off and raided someone's dog food storage container and literally got caught. If you are missing a lid like this please let me know and I will replace it. I wonder how long these night food raids have been going on. It looks like someone is going to have to cough up the money and get a working collar.

For the love of............Wilbur!

We have a built-in comedian living in our home. His name is Will (he calls himself Wilbur T. Thomas Clark - but you have to say it in a monotone voice, like Squidword on Spongebob). I don't even know how to explain how funny he is. He's also the weird kid. He's very expressive with his eyes and lips. I regret that we have forgotten SO MANY hilarious things he has said/done. Not any more thanks to this blog thing. Here's the latest:

When school starts each year Sam and I sit down with the kids, give them a talk, and Sam gives them a blessing. The annual talk is about rules, bedtimes, schedules, safety, etc. This included the "good touch, bad touch" lecture (thanks to Holly being paranoid by her job). We were bringing up examples of "good touch" like hugs, giving bones, high-fives, etc. Then we talked about "bad touch" like hitting, touching someone's privates, someone else touching their privates, etc. Then Holly started quizzing them about what we had just talked about. Soon Millie asked, "what if you touch your own privates?" and WITHOUT HESITATION Will answered, "Good touch!"

Will, you are a "great man." We love you.

Dang cute kids

Just some recent pictures of the kids. Our neighbor, Lacey, is starting a photography business and asked if she could borrow them for a photo shoot. She did a great job. She was awesome at capturing their personalities...

Millie - always posing and loving her picture taken

Sam - Cooperative and sweet, in fact talking without breaking his smile

Will - Goofball, laughing and doing weird things with his eyes and face

Quincy - Sassy pants who always had to be holding a prop (flower, cupcake, etc) She spinned around in her poofy skirt; she would cover her face with it then lower it and say "peek boo" in the cute way that she does. My fav. is the one where she's looking for her belly button. We asked her where it was and this is what she did.

We were happy to have a CD full of darling photos of the kids...quick, easy, and cheap. I put them together and designed collages to replace the ones that are now almost 3 years old. It was super hard to pick just 3!

Anyway, after days like today, it's a good thing they are so cute. It helps buffer my temper when they are being knuckleheads!

Quincy Tshirt

This picture is one of my favorites!

Picture day for the Clarks

Are there any words in the English language that bring more stress to parents than "Family Pictures"? Well yesterday we had our pictures done, and the verdict is still out on how they will turn out. I don't know what was more frustrating; Quincy wanting to sit alone(all by herself with no one around), or Will giving thumbs up in the only pictures where Quincy was actually smiling. I have a feeling Holly and her Photoshop skills will be seriously tested!

Ninjas and Transformers

Big day for Sam and Will. The Transformers(Will) and the Black Ninjas(Sam) began their 2008 Fall season. Last year was not so stellar for Will as he spent the majority of his playing time tracking down and talking to the player on the other team with the #2 on their jersey. (He was #2). The highlight of his season last year was when he dropped a deuce (pooped) at mid field during practice. This year though we are actually seeing him run after the ball. In fact it appeared that he even tried to kick the ball a time or two.

Sambo and the ninjas made the jump to the big league. They even have goalies this year!!! After watching their opponent do organized stretching and passing drill, we knew we would be in trouble. The coach even carried a white board and wore a matching baby blue coaching suit. Sambo volunteered to be the goalie and within 2 minutes was on the ground and bleeding from both nostrils(he took a ball right to the noggin). It took a quarter to stop the bleeding, but he got back in the action. He really is a tough kid!

Skool is cool

Summer is over and school is now in session. Millie, (3rd grade)that lucky little thing, got her first choice of teacher Mrs. Russell. Sambo (1st grade) got Mrs. Lefler. Both of them are so excited to be back in class. Millie is most excited about learning cursive and the "hot guys". Sambo is pumped up about his desk, and SCHOOL LUNCH. He can't wait for a double helping of salisbury steak!

Poor Sambo

Millie and Sam started school on Monday the 18th of August. As mentioned in a previous post we were in Island Park at Shad's lake house until the night of the 17th. Sambo needed a touch up on his head lettuce before the big day. Holly with barber-like skill molded and shaped his hair to perfection. It really looked nice.

Now the downfall:

The scruffy hair on the back of the neck is referred to as "the rat" in our family. Sambo's rat still needed a little attention. So Holly got the trimmers and with surgeon-like skill shaved the rat into a good looking, clean line. On the final swipe the attachment fell off the trimmer without Holly's knowledge and the once expertly done doo turned into a reverse Mr. T mohawk. Needless to say from Sam's face he wasn't to happy. Everything eventually settled down until the next morning. As he was getting ready for his first day of school Will walked up to him and said "Hey Sam, What in the heck happened to your head"! Tears flowed. Holly did a respectable job cleaning up the rest of the cut, but chances are Sam will be heading to Supercuts for his future touch-ups.

Fun times at the Lake House

Every summer it seems like we are running around, traveling here, and visiting there. This year certainly was no exception. With school right around the corner, we had one last chance to spend some down time at our favorite vacation spot. You see uncle Shad has this amazing house on Island Park Reservoir and it is the perfect place for a family to unwind.

We left home at 12pm on Wednesday and headed up to Mtn. Green to pick up the ski boat. We took the truck so Daisy could come with us, thus packing us in there tight. We took all of our gear, bikes, bags, coolers, etc... We seriously looked liked the griswolds meets Beverly Hillbillies. After picking up the boat we made our way north. An hour and a half later I looked in the rear view mirror and saw that the boat tire was completely flat. On the side of the highway I looked in the truck for a crank and jack but remembered the truck did not come with the right tool to make the jack rise. Luckily in one of the gear bags was packed an air compressor. Over the next 3 miles we would stop and put a little air in the tire so we could make the next exit. Mission 1:Tire fix-complete. We made it to Pocatello for dinner and had to get a new tire for the spare. The sidewall was completely shot. Now we are back on the road when 15 minutes later we hear an explosion. The tire the we had just replaced completely blew apart. Luckily we were right near an exit with a truck stop so we limped in and had a nice guy with air tools replace the tire in NASCAR time. Mission #2-Tire-complete Back on the road again. Outside of Ashton, Idaho only 45 min from Island park we see flashing red and blue lights behind us. Apparently when the tire blew it ripped all of the wiring apart for the trailer lights. The cop pulled us over for not having trailer lights. To remedy this problem we had to duct tape reflectors to the back of the boat. 11 hours later we got to Shad's. Mission #3-Trailer Lights-Complete
As mentioned earlier this place is amazing! For the next 4 days we spent boating, sea-dooing, biking, visiting the grizzly/wolf center, ate great food, watched the olympics, caught frogs, snakes, threw sticks in the lake for the dogs, ate more good food, sat in the hot tub, read books, had a bonfire, and ate even more good food.
What a PERFECT way to cap off an incredible summer! Shad thank you so much for your generosity. We can't wait to go back.

Sam's Leadville adventure

The following is an email Sam sent out describing his Leadville 100 experience:

Alright so here is the update:
Holly and I went out to Leadville, Co on Thursday evening with Doug and Kim Anderson. What was supposed to be a 6:30 hour drive turned into a 9:30 hour marathon due to the road in Spanish Fork being washed out by a flash flood. We get to Leadville and check into this freaky looking hotel. I have attached a pic of the hallway. Anyway this hotel was right across the street from the start/finish line and was very convenient. If you have never been to Leadville it is a small mining town and sits at 10,200 feet in elevation. It almost feels like time forgot Leadville, it is very twilight zone. Due to this high elevation the temps never got above the mid 60's and the lows were supposed to be in the high 30's/low 40's. There were 1000 other cyclists registered for this event (including Lance Armstrong) and it is funny because at the check-in on Friday morning everyone was looking at each other's legs to size up the competition (just a stupid thing all cyclists do).
So the sign-in and pre-race meeting was held on Friday. During the pre-race meeting Lance walks in and gets the mic shoved in his face. He was a class act as no one expected to see him at the pre-race meeting. He basically told everyone that he was in good shape and that he would give it his all. It was very obvious though that everyone in town wanted to see him get beat by the local hero and 5 time defending champ Dave Weins.
Friday afternoon was so great. Holly, my buddies, and their wives went for a leisurely mtn bike ride around a lake outside of town. It was nice to get out and stretch the legs a little. It was also good to test the lungs at this crazy altitude. You could definitely feel the elevation as I was out of breath everytime I climbed the hotel stairs and we were on the third floor, and there was no elevator. After the ride though I knew that the altitude wouldn't be much of a problem. Following the ride the entire group went to dinner. Leadville does have good food. The 2 places that we ate at were excellent. I have been trying to prepare myself for this race for the past 6 months, and I am sure my two buddies Rick and Doug got sick of me asking questions. Doug has ridden this race 5 times and Rick did it last year. A couple of my other friends have been doing it for up to 12 years in a row. It was a huge advantage to pick their brains on everything from the course, preparation, gear, etc... Following dinner they took me for a drive to kind of show me where the race would go and where Holly would be at the aid stations. My questions continued for the next 2 hours!
The race was to begin at 6:30am, however if you wanted to be up closer to the starting line you needed to drop your bike off at the starting line at 5:00am. The top 100 returning finishers from the previous year are given a special area at the front of the race and I was jealous that Kenny, Brad and Elden (all 3 were returning top 100 the previous year) got to sleep in an extra hour because they wouldn't be fighting for a place to put their bikes. As mentioned before I had so many questions about the race that I had no idea what to expect.
If you are familiar with this event you know what a big deal breaking the 9 hour mark is. In fact if you finish the race at all it is a HUGE accomplishment. If you finish in less than 12 hours you get a silver belt buckle. If you finish in less than 9 hours you get a big belt buckle made out of silver and gold. A bunch of the guys that I have been riding with have told me that I could break this magical barrier, but that it was such a hard race that a first timer couldn't really do it. I knew Rick was close last year 9:30 and that he was in great shape this year. My plan was to stay on his wheel and use his experience to somehow finish sub 9. I also took a look at the finishers from last year and wrote on my thigh with a sharpie my desired split times that would put me at the finishing line before 9 hours. The race begins and the start was crazy. It is supposed to be a neutral start with no passing; however you have that one guy who thinks he is a hero and tries to gun it from the start. Elden was run over in the first 10 yards and lost both his bottles, and I saw at least 10 other cyclist hit the pavement. After this "neutral" start comes the first climb. These knuckleheads who were passing on the start soon met the St. Kevins climb. It was almost comical watching these guys fall off their bikes due to the steep grade of this climb. By the time the climb was over everything had pretty much settled down. The backside of St. Kevins was a paved decent and felt quite nice to be on a smooth surface. This only lasts a few miles as the powerline climb quickly approached. This climb was pretty rocky and steep but it was nice to have Rick there showing me the line. The decent down the backside of powerline was super steep and if you lost focus for a second you would end up in the back of the ambulance. The next 20 miles was a rolling flat section that was harder than I expected. I ended up hooking on to a train of top 100 riders from the previous year and helped work the paceline with them. By the time I got to the Twin Lakes aid station at mile 40 Rick was no longer with me. Holly was at the aid station and did a GREAT job supporting me. I can only imagine her stress level as I come flying in, yelling instructions, and asking for specific food, drink, etc... and to have them put in a specific pocket in my jersey. She truly is a Saint!!! At this point it was 2:45, exactly where I had hoped my split would be. The next climb is a beast. It is 10 miles long and climbs 3600 feet to top out at over 12,600 or 12,800 feet. I was climbing alone for the first half until I caught the famous coach of Lance Armstrong, Chris Carmichael. It was cool to ride with him as we exchange small talk and continued our way to the summit. As we climbed above the tree-line I heard the leaders flying down the mountain towards me. I can't explain in words how cool it was to see Lance Armstrong and Dave Weins in action. It was freaky how easily they descended a super rocky, nasty trail down from the Columbine mine. At the point they passed I was less than a mile from the summit, which seemed like an eternity. That climb is demoralizing! Finally I hit the aid station at 4:26 which was 4 minutes faster than my pace split, and had the volunteers fill my bottles for the decent back down the mountain. I was flying downhill, so glad that I had trained on some technical rocky trails back home. I ended up leaving Carmichael in the dust. I passed Brad, Rick, Doug and the others and they were yelling words of encouragement. I was feeling great about 5 miles from the aid station and felt a ping in my left hamstring. I went into panic mode as my hammy was starting to cramp. Luckily I had just filled my bottles at the top and in the next 5 miles ended up drinking both bottles hoping to rehydrate. I pulled into the aid station and was frantically looking for my gear bag, which Holly had ready, and pulled out electrolyte pills and sportlegs, which help with lactic acid buildup. I have been drinking a sports drink called CarboRocket that my friend Brad actually invented. It is a complete lifesaver. After taking the electrolytes and drinking a bottle of CarboRocket I felt fine (no more cramping). The 20 miles of flats on the return was not kind. Being alone and having a nasty headwind in your face will beat you down. I limped into the final aid station feeling my shot at a sub 9 hour time was no longer a possibility. I checked my leg and I was hoping to be at this checkpoint at 6:05. I was currently at 6:04! I still had a chance. The infamous Powerline climb was the next obstacle. I cannot in words describe the next hour. Powerline is so steep and so long that it is hard to even push your bike up it. In addition to the nastiness of the climb, it has a number of false summits that beat you down mentally. I was about 3/4 of the way up this climb (walking my bike) and tears were rolling down my face. It really was a sad sight. I was a man beaten down badly. I was grateful that I was by myself during this low time. Come to find out later that this happens to most everyone, even the experienced veterans of this event. Good news is at the top of the climb I had 20 miles to go and 2 hours to finish for a sub 9. I only had 1 climb left. On the decent it started raining and got downright cold. I had forgotten from earlier in the morning but the last climb is mostly on asphalt. It is wicked steep but smooth. I climbed with a steady tempo and eventually reached the summit. I knew at this point that if I just stayed on my bike and did not wreck that I would be a sub 9 hour finisher. I don't know why but on the final decent I was actually enjoying the downhill. I think it was because I knew that in less than 30 minutes it would all be over. I was watching my gps as the final miles ticked away. At mile 100 I was still about 4 miles outside of town. Why didn't someone tell me the race wasn't really 100 miles? The last 4 miles were pure misery. There was a 3 mile dirt road that slightly was uphill into a headwind, followed by 1 mile on pavement that rolled. You could see the finish line from about a mile away. Knowing the end was near, and that I would be under 9 hours I coasted into the finish. Holly was there and as always, when I see her I lose it. I was bawling like a baby. She wasn't expecting to see me so soon and my arrival surprised her. In fact no one was ready with the camera to take my picture as I crossed the line. I stopped my clock, turned around and saw that I finished in 8:47:30. I couldn't believe I did it. The next 13 minutes seemed to drag out forever. I knew Rick was going to be cutting it close to his goal of 9 hours, so I hung around the finish area with my fingers crossed. 9 hours came and went and no sign of him anywhere. It turns out on the last climb he broke his chain and with that lost any chance of finishing in less than 9 hours. He eventually finished in 9:20 with Brad, and the first thing he asked his wife was "Did Sam do it?" I consider Rick a true friend and this proves what a good guy he is! So now we were waiting for the others. Doug and Elden were on single speeds and both wanted to finish in under 11 hours. They both did it finishing in 10:06 and 10:53. I can't imagine how hard that would be with only one gear.

Anyway that is my tale. I finished in 85th place and guaranteed a spot in the special top 100 area for next year's race. Before checking out of the hotel we all reserved rooms for next year so we could all do it again. I have never hurt more in my life. On the flipside I have never felt a greater sense of accomplishment. I owe Holly, Doug and Rick so much for helping me accomplish this near impossible feat. It has only been one day, but I am already looking forward to next year.
If you want to read the stories of the other people please check out their blogs at: http://www.ride29er.blogspot.com/ http://suncrestdug.wordpress.com/

http://www.fatcyclist.com/

Hard times for the houseboat

The following is an email detailing the burning of the "Ghettoway". "I am sorry I couldn't build you a better ship Rose".


Brief Information:
Fire started at about 4:00 a.m. on Sunday morning.
Everyone was on top of the boat.
Tried to fight it and it was too far gone.
Everyone got off the boat.
Minor injuries (stickers, broken toe)
Everyone is fine.
It happened so fast, the Peglau's lost everything they had on the houseboat. They were able to push off on the ski boat just in time to save that and get away.

Fire marshall was investigating but no clear reason for the fire yet. Seemed to be from the kitchen area though. Fridge?

The Beginning

Why would someone invest time and effort in publishing feelings, emotions, and random thoughts to the masses in cyberspace? Well for us, it came down to this:

1. We want our kids to have something to remember other than scrapbooked memories
   
2. Mom and Dad were once really cool


3. Crazy things happen all the time and for no reason


4. An update for family and friends to where we have been and why we haven't returned their phone calls.
   

Here is just a sampler of what has transpired over the past 2 weeks:

• Houseboat caught on fire and burned to the pontoons





• Sam did the Leadville 100 Mtn. Bike race





• Went to Shad's lake house in Yellowstone





• On our way to Yellowstone the boat trailer got 2 blowouts and Sam was pulled over for not having trailer lights





• Holly gave Sambo a sweet going back to school haircut

You will read about each of these events in detail, but hopefully this explains why this blog was conceived.