Checking in.

Well, I've been feeding myself with bizarre meals made from staples we have laying around the house. No, not those staples. Potatoes. Beans. Peanut Butter. You know.

Oddly, I'm not really having much of a problem clearing out a lot of the "bland" stuff we have in the cupboards that my wife doesn't seem to really like. I had all the stuff needed to make a great loaf of home-made bread. We have a bread machine, so this pretty much amounts to knowing how to use a measuring cup and how to press "go". It's been a fascinating exercise of frugality this past week.

Yesterday, I rode down to my parents place (about 20 miles away) to help my dad bust out some concrete stairs and part of the sidewalk from the driveway which has been cracking for a while. I had my first experience using a real (albeit relatively puny) jackhammer and then got to move a few thousand pounds of broken concrete rubble in a wheelbarrow. The ride down was pretty fun. I left at about 7:30AM, and on a Saturday most of the arterial roads are still barren. I took 87th street across to Metcalf, and Metcalf straight down into Stilwell. I had a fun time drafting a semi tractor upwards of 40 MPH for a while, then I finally tuckered out. My average speed was about par for commuting. I had two bottles of water, old shoes and a change of clothes with me.

I hurt pretty bad this morning. That wheelbarrow really worked my back over. Not injured, just sore muscles. The jackhammer did a number on my shoulders and upper arms, too. Ow.

After church today, I needed lunch and I really felt like I deserved a treat. Not an indulgence, but a treat. Something not much more than $5. Hey, that's about the price of the lunch specials at the new budget chinese place down the street...

While there, I was checking up on my RSS feeds via my phone, and I stumbled across this post by Warren-T. I HAD to find this "Hoof Park" place. I had a fair idea of where it was. Only 5 miles or so from the place I was eating. Okay, so maybe an indulgance was in order. The bike/bus multi-mode stuff is grating on me. I needed a genuine recreation ride. Yesterday's trip to the parents' place was a longer ride, but it was in the name of saving gasoline.

All I have for photos is my LG Chocolate's built-in camera phone, so bear with me.

The "bathrooms" at Hoof Park. Nice bathrooms for a park, but just a notch up from a Port-A-Potty


A series of cute wooden bridges greet you to the multi-use path.





The dam is off in the distance. It's inaccessible by car. You have to walk or ride there.


This is without a doubt the coolest dam I've ever seen. I think the fountain in the center is actually gravity fed, but it might be pumped. The center of the dam has a lower cut-out profile to handle rain. If the lake still gets too high, the full width of the dam goes into effect. The information sign said that this dam can usher water out at more than 64,000 gallons every second.


The spiralling canal coming off of the fountain goes out to feed the rest of the spillway when things are all nice and calm like they were today.


The fountain drains to this waterfall. The rest of the spillway is no less ornate, as you can see. This is quite the masterpiece, in my opinion. I can't wait to bring the wife out here when she feels up to it.


Fishies! No fishing in this lake for another year or so, though.


This just looks like some kind of sci-fi scene.