The Plentiful Vintage

Boshe moi, the pollen vortex is frackin' killing me.

March finally showed up on April 1st, and for the past few days April has been trying to shove it out of the way with a vengeance. On one hand, I was finally able to ride my bike two days in a row. On the other hand, I am wheezing like a patient in a TB ward. I hate to think what it would be like without the zyrtek, because even with it, boosted by some diphenhydramine, my mucus membranes are still running overtime on histamine production.

I had the windows open for the first time yesterday. Did I mention I had all the windows except the ones in the front replaced? Back in January, when it was 7 °F outside. Cold as it was, at least I could breathe.

I never did see any crocuses this year, although the daffodils and tulips have sprouted. I'm worried about the two krabapple trees in the front yard. Neither has shown any signs of life yet. They're both a few years old, so it's not like this was their first winter. The branches still seem fairly flexible, so at least there's some moisture in there.

So, long time, no write...

( The mid-year state of me... )

So, mom is out of the hospital and in a rehab facility to regain some strength. Things seem to be going well. I admit that Neil Armstrong (a man of approximately the same age as my mother, and someone whose medical history had been meticulously tracked for fifty some odd years) dying from complications of similar surgery put me on edge about this, but mom seems to have come through it like a trouper.

---
It has been chilly and mostly rainy for the last couple of weeks. I turned on the furnace last night, in anticipation of a cold night, and, sure enough, it got down below freezing. It's been such an odd year temperature-wise. Temperatures were very moderate through the third week in June, then Mother Nature turned on the steamer. Even when then temperatures were reasonable, it was ridiculously humid. Then come September, the dial got switched back lovely. Now we seem to be getting a normal October, albeit a tad wetter than usual. Climate change is very strange.

---
The weather has made my riding schedule sporadic. Yesterday was nice in the morning, so I mowed the lawn. We got a brief shower around noon, but then the sun came back out, so I was able to get in a ride before too early sunset. The ride was a slow one. I felt pretty good, but I think the lawn workout, coupled with volleyball Thursday night, left my legs a little slower than usual. It was also pretty windy. I seem to be getting used to pounding the muscles take in volleyball. I had an uncomfortable night of sleep as they stiffened up, but once morning rolled around I was fine.

---
Speaking of volleyball, there is this whole time machine effect going on. My friends who play that I have seen over the years all look normal to me. But among the other people playing who were playing eight years ago, people who I don't hang out with and haven't seen or even thought about in all that time, it amazing how much most of them appear to have aged. Very weird, especially some of the guys who are much younger than I am who are now sporting very silver hair.

Yesterday I went ahead and did the ride I'd been attempting when last week's ridus interruptus occurred. My house to Pt. Judith and Galilee via Kingston Station and Narragansett Pier, 47 miles round trip, the longest ride I've ever done. In doing so I also broke my record for mileage in a year. Last year I rode 1767 miles. Today I stand at 1791, with 3+ months to go. Go me!

( Insane bike riding... )

Feeling at bit better today. I took a long nap yesterday which helped. My side is still very sore, though. Walking isn't a problem, despite the massive bruise on my hip. Bending and stretching and reaching with my right arm are. I've been able to lift things without escalating anything, so there is nothing structurally wrong, but the obliques and upper chest muscles complain mightily.

I still need to get ready to go camping, so I did a little more of my equipment inventory. Thank goodness that I checked out the tent and air mattress situation last week instead of waiting. Most of what's left is much easier to handle.

That said, why do I have five, count 'em five, camp lanterns? One is fueled by propane gas and will provide exterior light for the campsite. That's fine. Then there's the brand new LED lantern that I picked up the other day because LEDs are the coming thing. They don't run through batteries the way fluorescent tubes do. The thing is that when I bought that one, I thought I had at most two other battery-powered lanterns, the larger of which was in pieces on my workbench because I'd left the batteries inside it for too long and they'd corroded. Turns out I had three, all using fluorescent tubes, one small four-battery lamp, and two large eight-battery lamps. I don't remember the second large lantern at all. It's a larger version of the small fluorescent, so maybe I elided the two, but for the life of me I can't see why I ever thought I needed it. It's not like I need more than two lanterns in the tent (one to hang up, and one down next to the mattress).

Anyway, I finished cleaning the corrosion out of the other large lantern, and then I tested all of them. They all work, but I don't have enough batteries on hand to run all of them, so one of the big ones will stay home, I think.

Still trying to decide what sporting gear to bring. I doubt I'll be ready to swing a golf club a hundred times or more by Saturday, so I'll probably leave the clubs home. I doubt I'll be ready to play tennis, either, but a tennis racquet is neither heavy nor bulky, so that'll probably come. I'll still bring a bike, because that doesn't require the extreme upper body motion that the other items do. I need to swap out the road tires for hybrids, because the nearby bike trail is unpaved. I had thought about bringing the old Univega since it not only has hybrid tires, but I also have a set of wider tires for it. So I swapped in the wide tires about a week ago and took it for a spin. Boy, did it ever ride like a pig. It's a heavy bike to begin with, and the wide tires make it worse. Plus the rear derailleur needs adjusting badly. It kept changing gears on me without me touching the shifter. So I hung it back up on its storage hooks for another time.

What I will do instead is take the slick, thin road tires off the Fuji and substitute the knobbly hybrids that I took off the Univega. They're only slightly wider than the Fuji's road tires, so they should fit on the narrower rims well enough. We'll see. I'll try that tomorrow when I'm a little more healed.

Rode my bike home from work today, the first time I've ever done that. That wasn't Plan A. I was originally going to drive home, then go to the bike path and ride later. Unfortunately, that got the kibosh applied to it when the truck wouldn't start at lunchtime. AAA came and, after I had the presence of mind to grab the bike from the back of the truck, took the truck off to Tire Pros for some diagnostics. Apart from a longish detour around the crazy traffic by the Home Depot, which included my first real hill climb of the year, it wasn't too bad. Map My Ride tells me the trip was 9.6 miles. It wouldn't be a bad bike-commute, except for the whole smelling like old sweatsocks at work.

The lion-like part March finally got tamed this past Monday, just in time for daylight savings to commence. It's been gorgeous during the days, and even though a chill fog has been rolling in over the path in the evenings, it's been nice to get out after work. Fortunately, I have tomorrow off, so I don't have to worry about getting to work in the morning. The flip side of the time change is that it's really dark when I leave in the am.

Now here's hoping they'll figure out what's the up with the truck in time for me to pick it up sometime tomorrow so I can drive to Connecticut Saturday for basketball, ribs, and hockey.

Got to ride a little bit this weekend for the first time since winter finally showed up. Friday it was raining elephants, but the temperature was close to 60°. Yesterday was cooler, high 40's. I cut yesterday's ride short because my legs were toast after only 10 miles. It had been three weeks. Atrophy is a bitch. Tried again today. It was sunny, but only in the low 40's. I wasn't really enjoying the cold, and the bike was complaining, too, so I called it a day after one lap of the path. Still, it was my best January ever at 76 miles.

---
A couple of the regulars showed up yesterday as I was finishing up, and I socialized a bit. One turns out to be another woodworker, so we compared some notes. Good day.

So, after two weeks of misery, the Worst Cold Ever (™) seems to be abating at last, and I'm feeling mostly human.

---
I rode my bike yesterday. I wasn't sure I was up to it, but it was sunny and 50°, and forecast is for colder temps the rest of the weekend, so I bundled up and went. It was chilly, but I was warm enough, and the wind wasn't nasty for a change. Even better, no lungs were hacked up in the process. It was the first time I felt close to normal in two weeks. It was a short ride, 12 mi., just enough to nudge me over 1750 for the year.

---
Afterwards I took a ride up to the big box stores in Coventry to lay in my truffle making supplies. I took the back roads up to avoid the misery that is the interchange between Rt 4 and I-95. To wit, there is no interchange between 4 N and 95 S. One has to exit 4, negotiate the three traffic lights on Division Road as it passes between a shopping center and a multiplex, and then north on Rt 2 to the 95 S entrance ramp. Another of RI DOT's many hall of fame designs. I try to avoid the area as much as possible, but it was the best way to get to the big box complex off 95 from where I live.

That is, apart from Hopkins Hill Road, which runs straight down through Rhody's backwoods from Coventry to Exeter not far from my house. I often came home that way, because the return through Division Road is even worse. The only problem with the whole scheme was that when Hopkins Hill hit the Exeter town line, it turned into a dirt road.

Now, I like dirt roads. I enjoy the nostalgia of a simpler time. I think they're neat, so I don't mind occasionally driving on them. Hopkins Hill was kept up pretty well by the town, so it was bumpy, but not atrocious. But they're no fun at all in lousy weather, and they take a toll on the shocks. So I didn't use Hopkins Hill all the time.

Then, last September, they paved it. Now it is wonderful, sailing through the woods and past the farms smooth as silk. Of course it is dark as pitch at night, but that's what high beams are for.

I'll miss the dirt road a little. It was the only one I drove on with any regularity. There are a few other still in Exeter, so I can still indulge occasionally. Although there is another one I'd love for them to pave, Ten Rod Road from where it stops being Rt 102 to where it intersects with Rt 3. That would be so useful.

Sure there was snow up Worcester ways a couple of days ago, but really, Mother Nature? REALLY?

I wasn't expecting this at all. They were talking about heavy snow in Massachusetts, but all it was supposed to do down here was rain, which is what it was doing when I went to bed last night. Sigh. It's nice and sunny today, too. I was planning to ride, but I don't have snow tires on my bike, alas.

Pity. I've already had my best October ever, and I could've easily broken 200 miles for the month today (and 1600 for the year).