End of the Summer Mountain Biking Fun (RE-POST from 9/6/14)

 Four years later and Dan and I are still mountain biking! Not bad for 42-year-old acrophobe. Enjoy this re-post from 2014.

My husband, Dan, and I spent the last two weekends on our mountain bikes, saying our official goodbye to summer.

Two weekends ago, we biked in Sun Valley.

When we returned from our ride, a trio of frat-boy-types called to me from the hotel balcony, "We have bean dip and beer if you want a post-ride snack!"

"We just ate granola bars," I yelled back, pleased that they saw me as a real mountain biker.

"That sounds boring!"

Then Dan got out of the car, and the guys hurried inside.

"They were flirting with you," Dan said.

"No, boys don't flirt with me. I'm too awkward and sweaty."

"I just think it's funny that they ran off as soon as they saw me."

Last weekend, we biked in McCall.

At one point, Dan and I passed a woman with two young girls parked on the side of one of the trails. We were headed downhill, and we slowed down out of courtesy to the young bikers (who looked less enthused about going up the hill than their adult companion).

"Oh, come on! Go faster!" the woman said. "We want to see some skiddy-skids."

"No thanks," I said, not sure what "skiddy-skids" were in the first place. Then I added, "Weirdo," once I was out of earshot.

A split-second later, I was glad I was out of earshot because that was mean. She was probably just trying to entertain the exhausted girls who didn't look like they cared one way or the other if Dan and I "skiddy-skidded."

On another trail, I zipped past two walkers who warned me about a big rock ahead of me, and I was like, "I got this." I was really enjoying this people-think-I'm-a-real-mountain-biker status.

By the end of my ride, I was so sweaty from wearing my rain jacket, I looked like I had been in a wet t-shirt contest. I changed into a clean sweatshirt, only to then look like I was lactating from my sports bra.

"It's like Pat's garbage bag in Silver Linings Playbook," Dan said. "You just sweated off a thousand calories."

By the end of our trip, I was on endorphin overload. Two lattes, a couple of puffs of albuterol, and seventeen miles of mountain biking will do that to you.

More mountain biking fun:
The Mountain Biking (Almost) Disaster
Adventures in Mountain Biking

For the latest blog updates, visit and "like" Rebecca Turner-Duggan.

For the latest blog updates, visit and "like" Rebecca Turner-Duggan.

Becky's Top Ten Summer Memes 2019

One more chance to relive summer vacation! I give you the most popular memes from my author page this summer. Enjoy!

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Summer Stories 2019

I'm headed back to school tomorrow! As I say goodbye to summer vacation, here are my most popular stories compiled from the microblogs on my author page.

1. I got carded buying wine at the grocery store, which is awesome but weird after just returning from Europe where the drinking age is like 12 (only a slight exaggeration).

2. The first thing my husband, Dan, said when we turned on the television after our European vacation was, "Where are all of the French stations?"

#DanTheParisian

3. The other night, Dan and I were watching America Ninja Warrior and eating dinner. (I know. That's a little pathetic.) One of the contestants was talking about doing something called AcroYoga, and they cut to a shot of a girl standing on a boy's hands.

Dan: "Acroyoga! We should do that!"
Me: "I don't want to."
Dan (standing): "Yeah, come on. Let's try it now!"
Me: "No way! Anyway, I have a knife in my hand."

4. How Dan and I decide whether to watch Arrested Development or Westworld:

Me: I’m more in the mood for absurdist comedy.
Dan: You mean, you don’t want to watch killer robots having existential conversations about the state of humanity?

Me (sigh): Not tonight.

5. When I go trail running in the summer, I like to play a game called, "Is it a stick or a snake?"

(Fun fact: I saw two snakes this weekend.)

6. Last week, my husband, Dan, was at a rock concert. He texted me that someone offered him a hit off a joint.

"I just shook my head no," he said.
"Good, because that can spread germs," I texted back. "Or it could be laced with crack."

#priorities #adulting #overforty

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Just a Crazy Cat Story (RE-POST from 9/8/18)

I was involved in a recent production of Cats. In light of that and the upcoming creepy movie version, I thought I would rerun this post from last year. Enjoy!
 
So . . . here is a crazy cat story for you. I have plenty of crazy goose stories, but it has been a while since I have written about crazy cats.

I am fully aware that cats can be crazy. My brother has a cat that may or may not be possessed by demons.

When my nephew was two or so, he figured out it was fun to tease the cats with an abandon that ignored things like . . . say . . . demon possession.

"Let's chase Junior!" he would say, an attempt to enlist me in this dangerous game.

I will do about anything for that kid, but I will NOT chase Junior.

Junior is the type of cat that nestles up against you and makes you believe he wants to be petted. He even lets you pet him for a few minutes before turning all Spawn-of-Satan, hissing and baring his fangs at you.

All of this to say, I wasn't surprised when I came upon my own crazy cat experience.

I was walking home from the neighborhood park after my morning run when I noticed a cat stalking something in the yard across from him. He made his way across the road and crouched behind a car. I figured there was a bird or squirrel in the tree in front of me.

Then I saw the cross-eyed cat from the house next door tucked into the corner of the yard, beside the fence. A gray cat rested in the grass under the tree.

The stalker cat made his move and darted out from behind the car at the two unsuspecting cats. The cross-eyed cat dashed under the fence, but the gray cat blocked the attack, and the two cats ended frozen in a stalemate, staring each other down.

I stopped walking, enthralled by the whole encounter and by how still both cats remained.

All of a sudden, the cats, bodies frozen, deliberately turned their heads to glare at me. Neither one moved but stayed united in staring me down.

They sat there in their ready-to-pounce position, first looking at me, then turning back to look at each other, then turning back to look at me, and on and on.

They glared back and forth at me several times before I got the hint and gave up. I wasn't going to witness a fun cat fight. I might even end up a victim of a double cat attack if I waited much longer.

I finished my walk home, only to find our neighbor's cat hanging out in our yard. This cat had become my weed-pulling buddy during the summer months.

"Hey," I said to the cat. "You're not crazy like your friends around the corner, are you?"

I was met again with a blank stare, this time from my weed-pulling buddy cat. After a few seconds of that, the cat crept over to the sprinkler valve to lap up the dripping water.

And that was the end of that.

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What I Didn't Do This Summer (RE-POST from 8/19/18)

I didn't accomplish much again this summer in the way of #lifegoals. In fact, this blog post could have been written about this summer as well. I did sing in Europe though, so I guess that's something. Enjoy this reread from 2018 while I'm busy not thinking about school . . . at least until Tuesday. 

Every year, I make a summer to-do list with several self-improvement goals. At the end of every summer, I realize I didn't achieve most of my #lifegoals, and I laugh and say, "Ha ha! There is always next summer." Then the cycle begins again.

This year—spoiler alert—the story was much the same. Here are my top five Summer Non-Accomplishments.

1. I did not spend hours improving my guitar and/or piano skills. I didn’t join a band either. Guess I will just continue playing my six guitar chords (plus capo) with my students. They think I am a rock star anyway.

That time I was Lisa Loeb . . .

2. I did not reorganize my home office, filing cabinet, or kitchen pantry. This item has been on my list for two summers now. Hilarious!

3. I did not write a best-selling humor memoir. I haven't even submitted articles for publication in three or four years now. But to my faithful readers—Lucky you! I still update my blog every week!

4. I did not become fluent in French. I thought it might help me if I got beyond my one-semester-in-college-knowledge when I travel to Belgium and France next year. I occasionally play with the Babbel app on my phone, but I'm hopeless.

5. I did not lose ten or even five pounds. This wasn't a goal of mine anyway. I like wine and candy WAY too much for this to be a thing. But I did get into kick-ass shape while dancing every night in the production of Chicago.

Photo credit: Glynis Calhoun

Photo credit: Glynis Calhoun

So . . . those were the lofty goals I did not achieve this summer. I am totally fine with it. I will try again next year. (No, really, I will.)

Ready or not, five hundred little faces will be coming through my music room door on Monday, and I will once again be Mrs. Duggan, Superhero Music Teacher! That changes one's sense of accomplishment, doesn't it?

For the latest blog updates, visit and "like" Rebecca Turner-Duggan.