the Winter that Won't End This can't be made for an adult Well, I have to admit, as much as I have wanted to make blog posts, I really haven’t had much to talk about lately. I’m sure those that know me would say that having nothing to talk about has rarely kept me quiet in the past, but I don’t think people want to read a blog about nothing. That’s what 90’s sit-coms are for. Anyhow, I have gotten some exciting, and unexpected, news this week and I think it is going to help me raise some more money for Make-A-Wish Michigan as I prepare for the Wish-A-Mile Ride in July. While I am super excited, I think I might need some ideas from you to help me make this work. Things have been progressing slowly as I prepare for this summer’s 300-mile ride. I’ve been trying to get in the habit of riding the bike so that I can build some sort of callus that might make me immune to saddle sore. So far, I have had no such luck. While riding a stationary bike beside The Wife – as she runs on her treadmill - is a nice way to kill an hour or so, it isn’t exactly inspiring. The treadmill is noisy to the point that we can’t watch TV. Correction: we can watch TV, we just can’t hear it. So that leaves us stuck with conversation. Basically, it turns into about 48 minutes of us huffing and puffing beside each other in silence while I contemplate my life choices. I thought for sure that the weather would have turned more spring-like by now. Wrong. We've had like one warm day. I spent it trying to find out where the 90 MPH winds had blown my mailbox to. It is supposed to be in the 60’s in a couple of days, which means at least we won’t freeze if the predicted thunderstorms knock out our power. Otherwise, we have been blessed with more cold weather (interrupted briefly by more freezing rain) since my last blog post. Suffice it to say that, except for my initial test ride, I have yet to ride my bike outside. A Voice From The Abyss My new look for the winter I was just beginning to think that my training might soon lose steam. I felt like my blog updates on here had definitely lost steam. Then I got an email from Tim. While I am not 100% certain, I imagine that Tim found out about me and my quest to raise money for Make-A-Wish through the local Facebook community page for the wonderful area I live in. This may come as a shock to some, but I’ve been known to spend ample amounts of time on Facebook posting and responding to posts on a popular group page for my town. More than a few times, I have allowed my sarcastic charm to get me in trouble. I may or may not have been briefly banned for continuing the myth that a large Swedish retailer was buying property in town and would be opening their newest furniture megastore right in our own lucky little burg. The joy of the internet. We have the whole world suddenly at our fingertips. And yet I choose to troll my own neighbors. Basically, I realized that The Wife no longer found humor in my “humor” and the kids don’t appreciate dad jokes. So I had to resort to going online to try out my material. I thought it was all pretty harmless until The Wife got sick of people recognizing her last name and asking if she was married to “that Patrick guy”. She tried to make it clear that I should stop posting. But I’m a slow learner. Regardless, I believe that is where Tim comes in. Tim is the Market Manager for the South Lyon Famers & Artisans Market. He reached out to me and let me know that he is hoping to arrange different non-profit groups to have a booth at each of the market days this season. He invited me and the rest of the Downhill Riders to the market this summer to share information about Make-A-Wish and to (hopefully) raise some additional donations on June 8th. How cool is that? Growing up, my hometown had a pretty big Farmer’s Market. Going on Saturday was fun because, unlike a grocery store, you got to feel as though you were connecting with the people who worked to make the items possible. When I found out about the South Lyon Farmers and Artisans Market I was excited to go and check it out. In a small town, the farmers market seems even more personal. Help Wanted While I enjoyed going to the farmers market, I never dreamed I would be participating in one. I couldn’t farm sand in the dessert. The only livestock I’ve raised are now in first and fourth grade. I’m told I can’t sell them. And even if I could, I’m certainly not raising any more. Even the fact that it is also an artisans market does not open up any opportunities for me. I’m about as artistic as the person who designs airport bathrooms. I like things sterile, organized, and with random strangers speaking foreign languages thrown in. Yet here I am. With the opportunity to hold down a booth at the market for a whole day this summer. And this is where I need your help. While my main goal will be to share information about Make-A-Wish, I would also like to continue to solicit donations for them. However, I am thinking that I should be a little more creative than just throwing a jar out there and hoping people dump their loose change in. So I am looking for ideas on things I might sell. My idea, at this point, is that I am going to sell bad advice. I know that a lot of people go to the market to get outside and maybe clear their mind. But what if they could also ask me for advice on a pressing issue in their life? I think I’m certainly qualified as an expert when it comes to making poor decisions. So why shouldn’t I share this knowledge with others? Also, we plan to have kids of some of the Downhill Riders there as well. A bunch of them are participating in the WAM Jr. This is an event on the last day of the WAM where they get to ride on a looped track as many times as they can. They are also seeking pledges to raise money for Make-A-Wish. So, if you have any genius ideas for simple crafts or things the kids could make/sell easily, that would be awesome. I would go online and look myself, but every time I try to go to Etsy or Pinterest, I somehow end up on Amazon and about $100 worth of packages show up on my door two days later. It’s crazy. In the meantime, I plan to keep on riding. You need to Pencil June 8th in on your calendar to come see us at the market (Tim is hoping to theme the day as Bike to the Market Day). I will be sure to let you all know if I solve the saddle sore mystery. Hopefully, I will be able to get outside in the next couple of weeks and let you all know how I do on this new bike ‘in the real world’. Please check back in. And feel free to click on the big red button below! 
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