N112211

Where have I been? What's going on? Nowhere. Not Much. But a lot.

Finished up XC season. Fox got his record best time at Regionals, Godells State Park. I just happened to get up to the finish in the first group and got close enough to catch a picture of him coming through the finish! Sweet. 19:55 is a great time but when we went to the Fall Sports Banquet and got his stats the official time came in at 19:49, even better! He also received the "Rookie of the Year" Award for his consistent improvement and dedication.

We actually got a couple windows changed out before the snow flies. This should help our heating bills tremendously as they were hideously old windows that didn't even stay closed properly. Very glad to have that off the to-do list, now I'm looking forward to a full-gut reno on Fox's bedroom, probably won't happen til summer though. For the time being I just got the wall patched up around the new window. I'll also be working on some projects in the kitchen over the winter break, drywalling and retiling the counter tops using some salvage tile I got from my dad.

Does this look gorgeous and delicious!? Been trying to eat heathier. My new rage lately is Watercress. Read an article about adding more vitamins and nutrients to your diet with greens. Watercress I like because it doesn't change the flavor much, you can throw in with anything (as I did on my nachos above), and it has a ton of nutritional value. Looking forward to trying Krispy Kale.

We're at a lull in our activities at the moment. Ethan is doing 5th/6th Grade Basketball. Fox is laying low. Ben is waiting for Archery Club to start up after the first of the year. My school choirs are off to a good start with about 40 kids at the lower elementary and 12 at the upper. Next weekend is the Lapeer County Concert Choir performance which I am looking forward to and then a short break before we begin rehearsals for the Spring concert. We've also been invited to sing at the Festival of Choirs in March and at a Ladies Luncheon for a church in Caro. My online class is done, I learned a ton, now I need to try and put it into action and look for some grants. Going to hold off on taking another class for a bit.

Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!

O1011011

Usually when I take the boys to soccer I bring either the dog or my bike. Last week, I don't know what came over me, I brought both. The bike trail is not paved for very long before it turns into a wooded one-track trail. I kept the dog on the leash on the black top because typically I pass very few people during that time. However on the wooded trail I've never encountered anyone so I took off the leash so Jake could run along beside me, freely. I took it down to second gear, still got a great workout, and gave Jake a fantastic workout as he kept a good 6-8 mile an hour cantor for nearly 4 miles total trip.

We've had some great warm fall days lately but they are getting colder, fast. Starting to make my last rounds around the property with the mower. At the moment it's rainning so that will have to be put on hold until things dry out again. Rob (and helpers) got a huge garage project finished, straightened it and repaired the roof. Still hoping to get a couple windows changed out before the snow falls. A deer jumped out and hit Rob's car last week, that was pretty exciting. He calls me semi-panicked, more concerned about me bringing the van and some tarps down to get the deer than the condition of his car! Unbelievable. It wasn't dead and was still moving around so he didn't mess with it. Thankfully. The car is drivable but the passenger window is toast and covered with plastic for the meanwhile.

The boys' soccer game for Saturday got rescheduled to Friday night so they were able to do another elementary open race in Reese. Usually this meet has a gorgeous sunny day for it but not so this year...it was chilly and super windy. The Dream Team ran like (with and against) the wind for another 2-mile course and everyone placed in the top 20, Dylan was 10th, Ben 12th and Ethan 13th all with times in the 16 minute range.

Permission slips are approved and copied, ready to be distributed next week. Music is ordered. Hoping for a great turnout during after school choir. I'm thinking of asking members of the community choir to help us out on a couple songs......

O101011

The last few weeks have been consumed by cross-country practices and meets as I unofficially became the "coach" of the elementary XC team. Coach's son had run some open races the first year Fox was in cross country so the next year I volunteered the younger boys to run as well. This year they invited a friend, then another younger sibling saw them running and wanted to give it a try, she invited a couple friends, and one of the friends had two younger siblings, plus coach's other son started running as well. I began meeting with the kids after school a few times to walk, stretch, run some distance and time some sprints. The boys who had been practicing all along have been performing really well. The girls however have a ways to go but at least they are willing to show up and try, still working toward 'running' the entire course without any walking. Everyone has been very supportive and encouraging especially parents who have older kids in the sport. Next year we may even take it to the next level and make it an official sport for the school which would be great to have a 'feeder program' to draw students into running before they get to middle school. Love this year's motto.

Since I haven't gotten clearance from our newcomers I'm holding off on posting pictures of the kids I've just started working with but at the Brown City 1.5-mile race we had 5 boys and 5 girls in the K-6 group. Below is coach Castle cheering the guys up the killer hill that hits just before the last half mile. Ben is to the far left in blue.

Cass City was last weekend, we lost some of the girls but one 6th grader (and little sis of a regular team member) hung in there and did awesome running with the middle school girls. High school ran first, girls then boys as always. Fox had a seasonal best for his time with a 20:01 but it was far from enough to medal in this competition. Still, for it being his first year he's doing extremely well. Look at him fly in full speed at the finish!

Ben and Ethan have an ongoing smack down as to who's going to come into the shoot first. Ben took Marlette, passing Ethan in the final seconds. Ethan had Brown City hands down. At Cass City they stuck together for the majority of the course but Ethan ultimately came through the shoot ahead.

This was the story of the day, our youngest North Branch runner (coach's son) finished his first 2-mile race in 22:37, nice job! He was starting to fade in the last mile of the course so dad jogged alongside him to keep him going then in the final stretch all the elementary boys ran at his side right up to the finish line. Technically you are not supposed to 'pace' the runners but the official allowed it but told the bigger boys not to re-cross the finish line. It was very sweet to see them want their buddy to do well and finish. That to me is really what it's all about, not who wins, not the time you get, but encouraging each other to push beyond what you think you're capable of and finish what you came to do. I always tell the kids everyone is a winner just for showing up and giving it a go.

I received my room assignment papers back from the elementary school and have been searching for music to work on with the After School Choir, still waiting to get things confirmed for the upper school but many kids have caught me in the halls or outside school to ask when choir is going to start again. I've got some fun pieces selected from different time periods and genres that I hope the kids will really groove on. Hoping to coordinate with the guitar teacher to have he and some students accompany a few songs, like "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing" and "The 59th Street Bridge (Feelin' Groovy)".

Was in subbing for a couple crazy days in 1st Grade. I don't know about anyone else but this whole language, sound out your words stuff is crap, it doesn't help them learn how to spell at all. What is wrong with giving young kids prompts to help them formulate their sentences. Some of them are so bad at sounding out and guessing which letters to use they can't even read what they tried to write when they go back to it later. Whenever I'm in a class and they have journal time or even a science or social studies assignment where they have to write sentences I always tell them "I'll help you spell any words you'd like to use, just ask me." Any word that is requested I write on the board so it is available for other students to use as well. It opens up a whole new world in their compositions. I also put sentences starters on the board and they fill in the data they need to complete the assignment. For example, for the science lesson they had to cut out pictures of six rocks, 'sort' them and paste them on the sheet, then write a sentences about their choice. So I wrote on the board "I sorted my rocks by ______." Then wrote the words that were their options, asking them for the possibilities first.....color, size, shape.

I had a conversation with a young lady who is in an education program at UofM Ann Arbor she was pretty surprised and dismayed by this technique as well. One day she was working with an ESL student (English as a Second Language) and was not permitted to tell the girl how to spell the English words, she had to make her sound them out so it took forever as the kid guessed and she had to keep saying "no, that's not it" instead of just telling her how to spell it and giving her some clues to help her remember the spelling. So dumb. No wonder half of our community can't spell worth a @#%*! Better go back and proofread now.........

Take 5

Ever since I can remember the fall has been a time of great stress, perhaps because my parents were both teachers it was always tense when the school year got back underway and inadvertently, even when homeschooling there would be an odd emotional upheaval as autumn got underway. This year my stress has been more internal in the form of anxiety and I'm not really sure way. I was doing well until this week when I took a bit of an emotional downturn with a wave a depression rearing its ugly head. I slept, let myself cry, leaned on my husband for support, then did my best to keep busy and count my blessings. Nothing is ever going to be perfect, right? I started my grantwriting class and have found it to be extremely informative and inspiring, after the first 'introduce yourself' assignment the instructor responded with a fantastic email containing a ton of resources pertinent to the areas I would like to seek grants for. Awsome. I've also been doing more cardio and weight workouts using my Karen Voight DVDs as opposed the Namaste Yoga program I usually do and actually found the scales to show me 6 pounds lighter because of it. Groovy.The other day as I was getting ready to go pick up the boys after school I looked out the back doorwall and noticed about 25 turkeys on the lawn. I know they're around but I've never seen them so close up to the house, grabbed my camera, quietly snuck out and got a couple snaps.

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Ethan and Ben's soccer team played the Lime & Black team twice last week and it was a fantastic match both games. The disparage in sizes at this level (all are 10 or 11) never ceases to amaze me, some boys are taller than the coaches while other look like they're barely out of 2nd grade! That doesn't hold them back though, they all played great even not having any time on the side since we only have 9 players on our team.

This was an exciting occurance, having a referee, and not only one but two "in-training" as well. They had there work cut out for them too, because both games were pretty fast-paced with great goalies, excellent defense, and forwards out to score!

Orange & Royal won the first game on Thursday, getting the first few goals so when we were matched up again on Saturday I was expecting they'd be poised for payback. Lime & Black got things started off with a goal within minutes but Orange/Royal held on and finished the game with a tie even without one of our strongest players who went and got himself sick. Benjamin was bringing it and had a couple goal kicks but they didn't get by the goalie.

Last Friday was homecoming for North Branch, the rain stopped for a few hours, just long enough for the parade to commence and then picked back up again as the kids were loading up on the busses. Fox rode with the Cross Country team.
The theme this year was A Royal Affair.

Yesterday was the Marlette Cross Country Meet and it was exciting to have another friend run bringing us up to four elementary representatives. They all ran great even though we only got together to "practice" a couple times. Out of about 100 runners everyone on the Ruth Fox Dream Team finished in the top 30%, Bruno being the leader, through the shoot at #14 in his first race! Afterward as we were heading to the car one of our mom's tracked me down and said her daughter would like to race too. She then recruited a friend who has two younger siblings that would like to race as well. So at next week's run in Brown City we'll have 8 students going for it. How cool is that!

In addition to becoming the 'unofficial' coach of the elementary CC team I've been getting things in place to begin after school choirs in the lower and upper elementary schools from November to March. Figured I'd sandwich it in between fall and spring sports, this time only working toward one program. Thankfully I do have things to look forward to so I'm never down for long.

4ward Motion

It's been a fun and exciting start to the new school year. The boys are enjoying their new classes and making friends. We've had our first couple rehearsals for the Lapeer County Concert Choir and I am taking on more duties as VP, creating a new website and FB group, plus easing into helping with the sponsorships. We have some challenging and fun musical selections for our December concert titled "Cathedral to Village: A Hope for Peace."

Last Tuesday I helped at the North Branch hosted TVC jam and worked in the shoot for the first time. Basically as the runners came into the finish I had to number them for places and try not to get puked on. It was quite an invigorating experience and I must say I was a success in both tasks. Fox didn't get as good a time as previous meets due to a sore ankle, but he still ran a legit race. Several parents have told me stories about Fox being an encouragement to their kids, one girl that was on the middle school team with him last year took his advice and got out and ran all summer long, now her times are really showing it. Another boy joined the team for the first time this year because he was impressed by Fox during gym class when they had to run the 1-mile. He's also coming into a new level of social outreach....when I picked him up last week he made me stop the van, so he could jump out and go say hello and give hugs and knuckles to a group of kids that he knew. Shocker!...but very cool.

Saturday I watched my first U12 soccer game with the brothers Parton on the field. Not sure exactly what the finally score was but basically we creamed 'em again. Ethan did great getting in there and being more aggressive, and Ben continues to be a strong player. Both teams played a good, clean, game on a beautiful fall morning.

Ethan doing his stuff, even out manuvering his big bro!

After the game, we came back to the house, grabbed some lunch then headed "around the corner" to Reynolds Berry Farm to pick more raspberries. Seriously if you live in the area, go and pick some, there are tons, I hate to see them all go to waste. Only $2.50 a quart if you pick them yourself, we got 6 quarts in just a short time. They are on Ceder Creek road off of Burnside, just East of Lake Pleasant.

Saturday evening I attended a gathering of the Rollicking Readers book club for the first time. A friend of mine from our former homeschool co-op and fellow soccer mom had invited me several times but it never worked out for me to go. I went even though I hadn't read the book (Three Musketeers) and had a fantastic time with the ladies, many of whom I already knew and some I met for the first time. Now that I am the only woman in the house since Alexandra moved out I am making more of an effort to get together with lady friends, and not just that but get together in a social setting without "being in charge" of anything. We also watched "Something Borrowed" and "Hanna" after our pot-luck meal and book discussion, the giggles abound leaving me looking forward to hanging out with them again next month.

Rob's job has been going well, at his one month review they expressed how impressed they were by his abilities and knowlege (never had they sent a tech out on a job by himself so quickly). The owner of the company even hinted that there is a new position they are going to be creating and he would be a perfect candidate for it, adding "it's more responsibility, but with more responsibility comes more money!" Time will tell.

I'm off to my first sub job of the school year, back by popular demand, in afternoon special ed. begindergarten (sp?), then to watch the cross-country county meet hosted by North Branch. Go Broncos!

3 Boys Run & Play

The first week of school went amazingly well although I'm still waiting to receive my postcard with the bus information. Way to be on top of things transportation department. We checked the website but went down at the time we did last year, since it was about ten minutes off. Fox has already had homework in AP History, and Intro Physics plus lots of introductory forms that needed to be signed. Ben and Ethan both had one assignment each, pretty simple, already have their first spelling list. Yeeha!

Saturday was the soccer duos first game together. We had to divide and conquer so Rob took that run which was closer to home so he could sneak in a scrap metal run with the boys....everybody made a few hundred bucks on the endeavor. Woot. I got a quick snap of them when I returned from Fox's meet. The Orange & Blue creamed 'em 13-1 ... Ben got two goals and was Mr. Super Pass while Ethan held his own in defense and had an uneventful quarter in goal. I'm looking forward to catching the action first hand next weekend.

Fox had a meet in Bad Axe this weekend. I remember two years ago, this was his first meet ever in 7th grade, his goal was just to finish the 1.8 miles and not walk at all. He came through the shoot third from last. Well times have changed and training has made all the difference. Running the 3-mile high school course this year, he finished 23rd (medals to the top 25) with a time of 20:28, shooting for 19-minutes now.

What's that! ... a little crack of a smile on the boy?

Sunday we checked out a new church, they were having their Worship by the Pond, church picnic kick-off for the new season. A couple of my friends told me about it and had visited plus I recognized some kids from school. I liked the pastor, and the whole experience had a good vibe to it, very down to earth, easy-going people. We definately enjoyed ourselves and will check out some more regular services. Plus it's ten minutes from the house....love that!

2 Good 2 Be

To everything (turn, turn, turn)
There is a season (turn, turn, turn)
And a time to every purpose, under heaven.

For some reason the Pete Seeger song keeps running through my head this morning. Great tune.

So the boys all went on the bus at 6:57am, Rob left shortly before we headed down to the bus stop, and now I am enjoying the silence of the first day back to school. Aaaahhhh.

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Below is a picture of Ben and Ethan that I took at the Open House, how can you not have a great year when a sign like that greets you everyday. Both of them have lots of kids in their class from previous years and they are excited to get into the routine. Ben however, is hounding me to quit band but I'm standing firm and making him stick with it. Hopefully things will pick up and he'll have a change of heart about it this year.
Last week I was fortunate to be invited to a luncheon at a friend's house from the Lapeer County Concert Choir. It was quite fun, everyone brought a salad to share and after we ate some of us went raspberry picking up the road from her house. Many of the ladies were retired teachers and one I knew from North Branch, she works as a parapro in the elementary. Good times.

Fox has been doing well with cross-country. I got to attend the Brown City Meet. They had enough boys for a team finally although the girls were the ones that received a team medal. Two of our boys medaled and two girls. Fox medaled and had a time of 20:54....met his goal of bringing it under 21 minutes! Hope all goes well his first day at high school.

Signed up for my grantwriting class at Mott but my first class isn't until the 21st. Things are in place to substitute teach again but there usually aren't any jobs the first couple weeks of school. So for now I'm just writing TVonDVD entries, putzing around the house and yard, and hoping we get a few more house projects done before the snow flys.

Enjoy the day!

1 Week til FREEDOM

I have really been relishing these last days of my summer but am looking forward to having the boys occupied by school endeavors once again. If I hear the word 'bored' one more time I don't know exactly what I'll do. You'd think with 11 acres to explore and shelves of toys to build with and games to play they'd never have a dull moment but yet.....

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Sunday Ben and Ethan accompanied me on another bike outing, this time we started in Leonard on the Polly Ann Trail and went all the way to Oxford and back. If we rode some sidewalks or dirt roads a bit south we could hook up with the Paint Creek Trail and then to the Clinton River Trail or Macomb Orchard Trail. Someday we'd like to make an all day adventure of it and ride the whole route, not sure if it will happen this year. The day was clear and comfortable, although I had my camera the batteries had died so I didn't take any pictures which is fine, without it I am able to stay more "in the moment" and just enjoy the experience. The boys always make me laugh and we also get into some philosophical discussions along the way as well. I genuinely enjoy spending time with them and I know that too soon they will be grown and gone so I am savoring every moment.

After haircuts (and color for me) with the "Best Stylist Ever!" we made a spontaneous trip to the Detroit Zoo. My mother kept yearly memberships with three organizations: the Zoo, the Detroit Institute of Arts, and Greenfield Village/Museum, in memory of her birthday coming up I purchased a family membership, as we made our way around happy thoughts of our visits there kept coming to my mind, the stroller days, the train ride enthusiasm, the winter visit for Ben's birthday one year, sneaking and peeking in the back building at the baby giraffe that was still sequestered, and the conversations about various animal husbandry as mother was always a wealth of knowledge and loved to share with the kids and get their thoughts on things. Dinosauria was in its final days so we perused through there as well.

Who's that little prairie dog? Fox found a friend in the butterfly house.

Fox participated in his first high school cross-country meet and did amazingly well making the jump to a 3-mile race. He placed 12th (medals were given to the top 15) and had a finish time of 21:11. The second meet was much bigger with a ton more runners, he said his ankle was bothering him a little he had a decent time but didn't medal. This week they'll run in Brown City and I will attend with camera at the ready! He picked up his Freshman schedule: AP Prep English, AP History, Intro Physics, Intro Chemistry, Health, Phys. Ed., Geometry, Current Events, Woodworking I, Intro Business, and Critical Reading & Writing. This is over three trimesters mind you but looks like a challenging but fun year is ahead for him. He's also interested in joining Model U.N. but has emphatically refused to participate in Forensics again. Ugh. I tried.

My beloved daughter and oldest child has finally flown the coop. She has moved into an apartment with friends halfway between where she works and goes to school, with my blessing. They are not charging her much to share the place, the location is ideal, and she really wanted to branch out on her own but is not into experiencing dormitory life. So be it. Her schedule is complete and financial aid in place so for the fall semester she'll be delving into Intermediate Guitar, retaking Intro Theater (part of the GPA clean-up plan), Music Appreciation, Digital Photography, and Interpersonal Multi-Cultural Communications. Wow, sounds like an enjoyable schedule. As incentive to make school a priority Rob and I proposed that if she got nothing less than a 3.5 we'd forgive her car insurance payments for the winter semester. She was all about that! Now that she's paying more of her own bills she definitely knows a good deal when she hears one. Getting her own cell phone plan was a slap of reality for her when they required a $150 deposit because she has no established credit.....she went with a pay-as-you-go plan.

Robert is on his third week in a new job, closer to home which allows him to return home every night whereas before he stayed in an "apartment" at the shop during the week and was only home on weekends. This new position also has much more opportunity for advancement, profit-sharing, 401K plan, and a medical/dental/vision plan. Hallelujah! Neither Rob or I has had medical insurance for many years so this is a real blessing. I haven't seen a doctor since I walked out of the hospital 10 years ago after delivering Ethan. Thankfully I am a healthy individual and haven't had need for doctors but it's nice to know I'll now be able to have a once-over just to confirm all is well. Rob definitely has some issues that need to be addressed so I'm sure he'll be taking advantage of all the services offered.

My second motherless summer has brought a new sense of peace about being "on my own." Exercise, yoga, meditation, and inspirational readings have been a great help to keeping things in perspective. I am so grateful for my mundane little life, no hurricanes, no earthquakes, no major upheaval. Learning to appreciate each moment as it comes and release expectations has made a big difference, don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't have any goals or aspirations but I'll get there, when I get there and that's just fine. Who knows what tomorrow holds....I'm just living today, today.

X + Y = Zen

We set out on a gorgeous day with perfect, end of the summer Michigan weather, what I technically refer to as not-to-hot-not-to-cold. The sky was clear, there was a slight breeze, the air was full of delicious smells; fresh cut grass, brush burning, wildflowers, grilling. Our goal was to forge the Paint Creek Trail, starting at the Rochester Hills Public Library and heading toward Lake Orion. If we made it all the way it would be 8.9 miles. Ben, Ethan and I were on bikes while Fox took the time to get his daily run in. We all started out together, Fox running along rhythmically, the rest of us cruising by the fields of Joe Pye Weed, Queen Anne's Lace, golden rod, and swamp bamboo (I don't know the real name, that's just what it looks like to me). There weren't many on the trail, we stayed together for a while, I gave Fox a 3-mile heads up (using my handy dandy odometer) and whizzed past him to catch up with the little guys. When biking with kids I try not to set any mile goals, on the Paint Creek you've got cross roads every mile or two so we can decide whether to continue or turn it back around.

First photo stop. Playing around with sun placement.

the teenager was too cool to be snapped today.
you may have noticed in the other photo i had to keep him in dappled shade so as not to be recognizable....







Second photo stop.

Victory is ours....let's go all the way was the concensus at every cross road so we kept the wheels a-rollin' except for to quench yer thirst, or just have a break to act like a big hambone!

We had several deer sightings throughout the ride, staying for a while to admire this one that was just helping itself in someone's backyard garden. A fairly large doe wandered right out onto the path and crossed between us and Fox.

Pulling into the CVS parking lot in Lake Orion the feeling of victory was in the air. The boys ate the rest of their lunch by the bikes while I ran in for some more cold water and an energy bar. Now that I'm in the flow of riding more I'm trying to resist rewarding myself with ice cream, it's really tough on beautiful days like these. But I was a good girl, energy bar only. I'm also limiting my Starbucks Peppermint Mochas: 1 every 3 weeks, instead of 3-4 a week! Yikes.

The boys groaned as we began to set off for the row back "now we have to ride all the way back." (add a little bit of whine when you say it). No worries, I assured them, "it's always faster going back." As we made the return we crossed paths with Fox again who was now just walking. He made it up to Adams Rd. and then had turned around. When we pedaled a while past him Ben realized how close we were to the park and exclaimed "man, it is faster going back!" "Didn't I tell ya!"

Fox was now moving at a far slower pace so we had time to rest those tootsies in a sweet shallow creek. Ethan made no hesitation, pulled his socks and shoes off and waded on in.

Ben, however, was a bit reserved about the whole experience. I knew he was dying to, but this is a kid who will not take his socks and shoes off if anyone is around because people might see his feet! Still haven't got a full explanation from him of why it bothers him so....

However with maturity comes boldness and when I turned around after oogling over some ducks and taking a few snaps, he threw caution to the wind and took the hard way (over the rocks instead of the sandy beach) in. Don't you love the umbrella in the background.

Pokey, McPokester finally meandered his way to the end of the trail and I loaded the bikes on the rack while the boys ran into the library for a pit stop and water refill. We made it. Over 20 miles logged, from trail to tooling around the park. Good times. Very relaxed, not on a schedule. We averaged about 8.2 miles an hour, I kept it on low gears the whole trip. It didn't feel like much of workout but my thigh muscles gave me what for later in the evening! I took an Aleve, put some Tiger Balm on, went to sleep; good as new in the morning. It must not have been too much of a push for the boys either, Fox went out for another walk on the property that evening plus Ben and Ethan had soccer practice and didn't miss a kick. Guess we'll just need to up the anti next time (nudge, nudge). I did get in a good ride around Imlay City while the boys were at practice last night. I only did 8 miles but for the start of the ride I kept it in a high hard gear and then toward the end of the ride I took some long incline stretches and finally had to pop it to lower gears. Felt like a good work out on that run.

Hhmmmm, where else can I venture with my beautiful blue bicycle........???