Bloggable Events

I watched the evening news at 10:00 pm last night, and all the bad weather was north of us. About 2:30 this morning, that turned out not to be true any more, and we lost our electricity. (70 mph winds were reported locally.) Fortunately we had a generator installed here when we did the remodel last year. Out in the sticks where we live, electricity is not just lights -- it is also water. We all have wells, powered by electric pumps. No electricity, no running water, no flushing toilets. Very inconvenient.

I had originally planned a bike ride today, end of the month and all, but gave up after only a few miles. Too much debris, and the possibility of downed wires had me a little apprehensive.

We're a small community up here, and our neighbors are our friends. So we had some of this going on.

And some of this. 

Who knew that water could flow out of our house and into our neighbors?  Not me. 

I do get the electricity bit, though.  We were happy to lend our next door neighbors enough electricity to power their refrigerator.  We spent about 12 hours all told without electricity.  The sudden quiet was deafening as all of the generators turned themselves off and we returned to the grid.  Lynne and I took a walk this morning and counted 9 generators up here.  9 out of about 100 houses.  (Including the people in the yellow house, who had one put in while they were gone those 11 months.)  It will be interesting to see our natural gas bill at the end of the month.  JB says that we pay less for electricity from the generator, fueled with natural gas, than we do for the stuff we get from the power company.  A little excitement, but no real danger.  All is well.

Seen while riding....

I was going to do something productive while I wait for my minions to come mow my lawn, but I decided to blog instead. PW mentioned that she liked my earlier photo of a Rose of Sharon, so here's another one. It was taken next to the blueberry fields on 160th and New Holland.

There was one nice, longish ride this week, on Tuesday. I hadn't been to Kirk Park for a while, at least in part because it's tough to get there on a bicycle right now.

The bike path has been destroyed along here -- just south of the park -- and the orange barrels are in the middle of the paved shoulder, leaving nowhere to ride safely.  Grrrr.

This is just the shot that proves that I did indeed make it to Kirk Park.  My bike riding this month has been a lot like my blog posting --  few and far between.  I think this one makes 7 posts this month -- a nice number.

Rain threatened during my "early" morning ride today.  (Is 9:00 am early?  I didn't think so.)  It didn't deter the pickers in the fields, however.  When they're ripe, they're ripe.  Taken along Quincy, across from the U-Pick place.  My blueberry consumption is down from some prior years, but I've eaten enough so that I didn't even consider snitching a handful of these.

Late edit:  This was the view from my window about 2:30 this afternoon.  Waterspouts.  My photos didn't come out anywhere near this -- this one was sent to us by our realtor, Brian Veneklasen.

A Few Days of Photos

I've taken a few walks around the neighborhood this week.  It was too hot for me to ride the first half of the week, but I got in some nice walks and even a couple of swims with friends.

Around here this bush is called a Rose of Sharon.  It is a form of hibiscus, according to Google.

The picture above was taken at Hemlock Crossing Park earlier this week.  The bike paths are so full of fallen leaves it sounds like October under my wheels.  We got a little rain on Wednesday and Thursday, but a lot of the drought damage has already been done.

Cousin Reggie is visiting from Indy, and tonight was her first visit to Captain Sundae.

Tonight was also her first walk down to the state park and out to the end of the pier. The three kids are currently on the beach watching the last remnants of a nice sunset.

Big Blue Crop

We have had no rain here for three weeks -- worrisome because this is the heart of blueberry season. I bought a pint of the early variety a week or so ago, and they were okay. Blue, sweet, you know. Blues. Friday I stopped at Bowerman's, and the sign said "Blue Crop." Serious berries. So I bought a few.

5 pounds is a lot of berries for two people to eat, but they're versatile. Good in yogurt, cottage cheese, salads and cake, for example. Some might put them on ice cream, were it available.  Others might just eat them out of their hand, freshly washed and sitting on the counter in a glass bowl.  They have lived up to expectations, yet again.

The heat wave that laid us low last week has backed off a bit -- highs have been around 90 inland, and most days a sea breeze has kept us in the 80's here. It looks like a nasty couple of days coming up -- 96 is the forecast for Monday and Tuesday -- with a break later in the week. Patterns persist. As for biking, after a week with almost no miles (36), I rode a bit more this week. The new bottom bracket on Ruby seems to make a difference, or the rest week did, because my average speed is back to a more normal range. Still slow, but at least in double digits. I rode north of the Pigeon River just once last week, but I think it is my TdF viewing habits that is the cause at this point. By the time the stage is over about 11:30, it's getting too hot for a long ride, so the PSPS is about it. It's no coincidence that my one longish ride this week was on Tuesday -- a rest day for the tour. Because I currently have family in France, I'm spending more time watching the scenery than I am the race, I think. It sure is pretty there.

Name the parts of a bicycle

I walked into the house this afternoon and announced to my husband that I had a brand new bike. He knew better than to take me literally -- clued in by the fact that Ruby had been in the shop since yesterday getting some maintenance work done. Two new tires, a new tube and a new chain. Yes, that means I had a flat tire. Fortunately it was a tube stem leak and it showed up while I was pumping my tires before I left the house.

I was on my way out the door for a ride with the almost Retired Professor at the time, but luckily I have a back up bike (or so). We rode up towards the PSPS, stopping now and then. It was a pretty casual ride.

Since I'm currently taking a break from serious riding, the timing was good. I've been suspicious that something was not quite right with Ruby for a while now, and asked Laura and Brian to check the bottom bracket. There was some wobble in it, so they tried tightening it. When that didn't help they took off the bottom bracket and found the bearings to be in bad shape. I was really quite proud of myself for having diagnosed the problem myself. With just a little less than 15,000 miles on it, it seems reasonable that a few parts would wear out.

And the Heat Goes On

This was what the Idlewood hill looked like this morning. It isn't the full resurfacing with chip and seal -- at least not yet. But it does leave loose gravel patches in dangerous locations, like at the bottom of the hill. The slurry glues the chips to my tires .... well, it just isn't nice.  And I suspect that the full chip and seal treatment will follow shortly -- this is just the patch job that they seem to do first.  This is, as most of you know, the only way in or out of where I live.  Not bikeable.

I find that the accumulated effect of the heat wave is beginning to wear me down.  So I'll be taking a break for a while.  I am lucky in that my life allows me to bike 12 months of the year.  But honestly, that's too much.  Bike Laura recommends that all serious bikers take at least one month a year off the bike.  I think I'll take July this year.  I'll play it by ear.

No British Here

Sometimes you just get lucky. Our local billionaire was planning his fireworks display over the south pier at the state park for Tuesday night. Grand Haven is having theirs tonight, on the fourth. That means that both grandmothers get to spend some of the Independence Day celebrations with the Centers of the Universe.

Sunset is pretty close to 9:30 here at this point, and the neighborhood beaches were beginning to fill up by that time. The three of us headed down the stairs with our chairs and joined the throng. Nearly everyone had company, but Lynne won the prize. She fed 22 people for supper last night and breakfast this morning. Most of them were on the beach with her last night. There was plenty of time to chat while we waited for it to get dark enough for the fireworks to begin.

A full moon rose over the trees while we watched, making the trip back over the fore dune and up the stairs much easier than in some prior years. It was warm and muggy, with plenty of breeze, enough to keep the mosquitoes at bay.

With another hot, hazy and humid day forecast for today, I got out early for a short easy ride to Big ......

So what's the deal with Big Pink?  (Our local newspaper coined the phrase -- it clearly fits.)

The neighborhood parade began this morning promptly at 11:00.  The COTU have made the transition to spectators from participants, and then mostly just to humor me.  I do think that they enjoyed it once we got out there and lined up to watch from the end of our driveway.  The usual parade of Corvettes, golf carts, and lawn equipment, followed by a horde of children on crepe paper decorated bicycles and Big Wheels.  A good time was had by all, and I returned them to their Mother in time for them to continue on with the rest of their holiday plans.

Bambi?

I was .12 miles into my ride when I stopped to take this photo. It was a little after 7:30 this morning.

In spite of the early hour, I pretty quickly decided that it was going to be a shorter than normal ride. According to our home weather station when I got back, the dew point was 78. (Notice the guy in the picture is shirtless, unusual for that time of day.) I don't tolerate heat well, and I had started to feel queasy before I got home, so the shorter ride was a good call. Since I'm currently on track to have a good shot to make my mileage goal for the year, I believe I can afford a light mileage week. My plan is to just take Ruby for a walk now and then, in the relative cool of the morning. JB says the current heat index on our deck is 100. A break in the heat wave might occur on Sunday.