Friday

Not sure if this Home Page pic is a keeper or not.  Mt. Etna in Sicily.  A sign of the times?

Just a few lines this afternoon before heading out for the evening.  I'd say "heading out for the weekend", but that ain't gonna happen.  Still a few returns to dress up before the Monday due date.

Just to clarify the lay-of-the-NASCAR-land in Chicago this weekend, they DID make a late change to The Chase line-up, adding the 24 as a 13th eligible car.  I think Patrick was right that this wasn't going to happen as an additional result from the Bowyer kerfuffle as outlined in my post and his comment.  But then the NASCAR snoops uncovered some questionable chatter between a couple of Ford teams that seemed to suggest that a position was given up to help out Logano secure that 10th spot.

All said, I'd say this gave just about all of the parties their rightful place.  Gordon will have to win some races to make a true run at the crown since he really was the 13th best car most of the year.  Kyle Busch, 5-Time and Kenseth should be considered the favorites until someone else proves otherwise.

And Chris Horner has continued to amaze over in Spain.  He now has a 3-second lead going into tomorrow's final mountain-top stage.  And he's done it by chipping-away at the previous leader (and heavy pre-race favorite) in the last kilometer or two at each of the summit-finishes this week.  If he is successful tomorrow, it will be a huge victory for American cycling.  Good for him!

@srh4 is heading to Harvest Path for the weekend to help out with 1.01 and 1.02 while Mom and Dad participate in a training run tomorrow.  Hard to believe that the Twin Cities Marathon is less than a month away!  And that in two weeks, 2 and I will be BACK from Italia.  And then I have TT training to do.  (The good news?  Only one in-the-dark bike ride to do this year. Monday AM.)

2 and I are getting togetherr tonight to do some Italy planning.  With a little wine-training as part of the process.

Hope everyone has a good weekend.  Thanks for reading.

BCOT