One banana, two banana,
Three banana, four,
Four bananas make a bunch
And so do many more!
-- "The Banana Splits Theme"

Just a quick fly-by to say yes I'm still alive...

Last post was before July; since then was Independence Day (engagement party for my brother, at my parents in NJ), then a weekend visiting Dona & Shawn in MD (road ride Sat, MTB at Michaux on Sunday) and back in time for Easton's Heritage Day fireworks., and last weekend a trip to French Creek, a Lehigh Wheelmen ride sponsored by Joe & Cindy -- it was pretty much a Chain Gang ride though, based on who showed up...

In between all that was work, and lots of riding, and the realization that I could stand to lose quite a few pounds, so now I'm buckling down, bought good healthy food to eat at home (I eat out too often: expensive, hi-calorie meals, plus a beer or two to wash it down, that adds up quickly even with the bike burning it off.) So, my goal is to lose 10 pounds by Allamuchy, which is a month away. I should be able to get close, the 500-mile PPRAC "cancer ride" is about a week away...

Speaking of Allamuchy: this year I'm not doing it solo, that's right I will be on a team. The Chain Gang theme this year is "Saturday Morning Cartoons," so our team is The Banana Splits -- I get to be Bingo! I'm on a four-man team with Doug, Brian and Eric.

Speaking of Eric: I was over Doug's yesterday (stopped by after a trip to UPS), and Lori said I'd just missed Doug because he just ran up to UPS -- like ships passing in the night -- but could I stick around? He had a mission of mercy to go on, and could use some help.
Seems Kris & Eric's new house has some serious water problems, which really only manifested themselves after that heavy rain. Eric was stuck at work, but Doug had some sandbags he was going to bring over to try and reroute the water flow. Naturally I went with him, and we had a most exciting adventure driving through flooded, hilly Bethlehem areas (uh, why do they call it "Fountain Hill?"), streets knee-deep or more with water raging like mountain streams, cars stalled everywhere with wet wires etc, and Doug blasting through with his 4WD pickup, like the Dukes of Hazzard or something... Kris was home, had a real "refugee" look to her eyes, told us of a pretty rough night digging ditches in the lawn in the pouring rain, pumping water out of the basement etc. We set up the sandbags, and though we would have liked to do more there really wasn't much else to do (& her dad was there, to "hold my hand while my house washes away," as Kris put it), so we took off. Pretty serious rain last few days, thunderstorms like the end of the world.

That's it for now. Tra la la, la-la la la...