The City, almost.

The bank thermometer on Ottawa Beach Road and 152nd said 69 degrees when I rode past it. Warm enough for me to wear bike shorts, though I opted for a long sleeve shirt and a sleeveless vest. A brisk south wind made me cautious -- have I mentioned that I'd rather be too warm than get chilled? My target was the city, though that seemed a little ambitious for my current level of fitness. I may or may not have stopped at DeBoer's Bakkerij for an apricot bear claw along the way. I dawdled a bit here and there -- it was my first ride that direction this year, so I explored the paths through Dunton Park.

I think that this pier is new since the last time I was there.  The walking path that leads to it and its blue benches requires navigating some stairs, and while I am not opposed to the occasional hike-a-bike, I wasn't motivated to do that today.  Still, blue benches.  Nice touch.

I eventually found myself at the edge of the city, but the original motivation (finding some tulips) got lost in the wind, and I turned around at the miniature/fake windmill near the bridge.

None of the planters there had flowers of any sort blooming in them, as yet.  We're about 3 days into spring, so perhaps I expected too much.   It was 72 by the time I returned home.  A plenty nice enough ride.

And the skies were not sunny all day.

Today's exercise plan was a walk on the beach with the local chapter of my family. We were inspecting the debris that has washed up along the shoreline since last week's storms, apparently from at least Muskegon to the north to at least South Haven to the south.  It was warmer inland -- mid 60's, but barely 50 at the water's edge.

Lake Michigan's water level has risen 9 inches in the last week, according to our local expert on the subject.  Recent record low levels apparently left plenty of exposed sand to be blown up against the stairs to the tunnel over the course of the winter.  In fact, there are no stairs to the tunnel at this point, and the walk up to the entrance is a bit strenuous.

These three are always happy to pose to prove an artistic point -- they're exhausted from the steep climb up to the mouth of the tunnel.  Or so they would have you believe.

I've used the "light at the end of the tunnel" theme before, but I really like this one.  Most of you have never seen the tunnel in this kind of shape, you can see the sand hill at the east end of the tunnel as well as the sand inside the tunnel, and the whole effect is a little bit spooky.

The Grands saw  the photo and remarked that it would make a good poster for a warning about an upcoming Zombie Apocalypse. (It was the first I'd heard of it, but apparently it is common knowledge in some circles.) They also thought it looked like OSLO had become a zombie, and she was about to tackle the still human COTU.  We returned home via the (slightly warmer) inland route.  A good time was had by all.

Red Letter Day

It was stated elsewhere on the Internet that riding north, with a light south wind, was an acceptable strategy -- as long as the wind was truly light, and you were riding slowly.  Today the wind was light from the southwest and I've got a good handle on slow, so I rode north.

The first ride to the Port Sheldon Party Store (PSPS) is always a personal milestone in my biking season.  This year, with less than 200 miles on my legs over the last 4 months, it felt somewhat braver than I typically am.  The ride up there went well -- tailwind, after all -- and I went inside for some carbonated caffeine (Diet Coke).  That familiar feeling of having ridden too far didn't hit until the return trip, when I was within walking distance of home.  Wheels and gears are always easier than walking, however, so no hike-a-bike was necessary.  The dance up the Idlewood hill was done to a very, very slow beat, however.  All of which says something about residual fitness, or maybe muscle memory, or perhaps cross-training or maybe even stubbornness.

Stu Visser Park

Today's ride was about a quarter of a mile longer than Monday's ride. Way to ramp up the mileage. There still isn't much green in the landscape, but hints of it are showing up here and there.  This photo was taken at Stu Visser Park, which extends along Pine Creek between Lakewood and Ottawa Beach Road.  It's a "No Bikes" zone, and with our recent rains, the gravel paths would probably have been messy, so I turned around  and retraced my steps from here.

I have fewer miles under my belt for this time of year than I've had in years. (Since 2004 to be precise.)  I haven't even considered a target number for miles this year, preferring to let the miles determine themselves for a while.  Today I was happy to just get on my bike and ride.

Today's photo

Sometimes I have no story to tell, just a photo to share.

Progress on the deck report.

The required two days without rain needed between power washing and staining the deck took place over the weekend. Right on schedule, the deck people arrived today and finished the deck project. We're happy with how it turned out.

That corner looks a little empty, but it will take at least a few days for it to cure enough for anyone to use it for reading, for example.

The pavers that make up the walkway between the house and the garage deck have become uneven over the years, creating a tripping hazard.  We're working on a plan to get that fixed.  If warm weather ever arrives, we'll be ready to take advantage of it.

Moving On

Last night I went to a retirement open house for the soon-to-be-retired professor.  I was invited to sit at her family's table, which I thought was nice. Her brother drove down from The Sault (Sault Ste. Marie), as it's called.  Good brothers are a blessing.  (I should know.)  (Late edit to correct the spelling of Soo)

Quite a few current retirees were there to wish her well and welcome her into our ranks.  She's having a little trouble letting go, I think.  Not uncommon.

In an update to my latest post, the big lake has a big swath of muddy looking water hugging the shoreline and extending quite a ways out.  As is true almost everywhere, all of the storm water run off ends up in the streams, rivers and (quickly) the big lake.

Accumulating precipitation

No snow here yet from this storm, which I guess is a good thing.  We've had several inches of rain that would have translated into feet of snow.  Roads are closed, basements are flooded and rivers are rising out of their banks.  It's being called "historic flooding" by the weather monkeys on TV.  It's only the 18th and it is already the wettest April in recorded history.  Holland has had 18 inches of rain so far this yeat.

This pool of water next door has been pumped out three times in the last 24 hours, by men in pumper trucks.  It's a good business to be in today. Lynne and Joe have their own pump and hose, and have emptied this pond once today --

With the ground fully saturated, tomorrow's forecast strong winds are worrisome.  What hasn't floated away needs to be tied down.  We may get some snow, but nothing like what's been dumped on Minnesota this go-round.

Maintenance

I wrote this post earlier, before I heard about Boston.  I'm going to go ahead with it in its original form.  --
 April 15th is the 16th birthday of our ownership of the beach house.  Usually we spend the day doing what needs to be done on April 15th -- paying our taxes.  Also known as rendering unto Caesar what is Caesar's.  This year we did all that stuff last week, as we had house maintenance projects scheduled for today.

OSLO and the COTU had done the heavy lifting on Saturday to get the two bedrooms on the main floor cleared of all but the heaviest furniture.  The bedroom used more or less annually by GZ and BDE had suffered some damage when we had an electrical problem fixed a few weeks ago -- paneling was removed from the wall to get at the wiring problem, and only a paint job was going to get the room looking normal again.  The bedroom next to it -- where TT and NCW slept when they were here -- was also done, as long as we were using up paint.  Priming, scraping and replastering went on in the old bathroom, which was in desperate need of help.

It will be painted tomorrow, along with the main room/great room/ whatever it's called/dining room/ kitchen.   The painter had just gotten started when the crew arrived to power wash the deck.  It's been in really sad shape since the big hail storm three years ago.  (We don't rush into things, apparently.)

The result looks pretty good to me.  It will need a couple of days without rain before it is dry enough to stain, which at this point looks like next Monday at the earliest.

Power washing was finished up before noon, and I headed outside for a bit of exercise during the painter's lunch hour.  It was the first dry day we've had in a while, and the temperature felt almost balmy.  If the weather channel is to be believed, it hit 60 while I was out.  This is the second latest date that our temperature has hit 60 since they've been keeping records.  The forecast has no further numbers that high, and indeed snow may arrive again on Friday.

I doubt that the cardinals will be happy about that.  But at least they're here.

It's time for tulips, and the crocus' are just beginning bloom.  I think that they are hardy enough for snow.
That's about it for now -- hold your family close.

April Showers

April -- so far it has been a wet and dark month here. I checked on Tunnel Park yesterday, and the tunnel was still filled with sand.  It was an all day drizzle.

Today's rain has fallen in periodic downpours.  I left for a walk during a break in the action, and cut through the woods across from Tunnel Park.  I had it mostly to myself, except for a flock of turkeys and a few squirrels.  The radar indicated that  the next wave of rain had quite a bit of lightning with it, so it was a short loop.  Still, fresh air and a little exercise is rarely a bad idea.

Tomorrow's forecast is for more of the same.   Could be worse, could be snow.

Birthday Month, continued.

I usually avoid using the blog for birthday messages, because inevitably someone will be left out.  After TT's blog yesterday, though, it seemed appropriate to send a birthday wish my faithful commenter, BDE.  After much fussing around and lots of user error on the part of the photographer, we managed to get this message "filmed."

The first try was done at the beach, but like I mentioned, user error. *Sigh*  This was the only useable piece I got out of the trip down there.  At least they're waving, so that's appropriate.

 
We had fun sending the message, even the cold trip to the beach.

Some Singing

A Youtube link to a birthday video.

Or you can watch it here.  The set up for the video is that OSLO burned herself lighting the number 1 candle (after two or three tries), and the video begins with her running cold water on her burned finger.  Before the singing begins, the birthday girl manages to exhale in the direction of that same candle, and thus we have a young adult blowing out a number 8 candle on her 18th birthday.  She and her Mom found that quite amusing.



Her response to the question "how does it feel to be 18?" was "no different than 17." It seems to me that that is how it works every year, yet somehow 17 and 67 feel very very different. I think that this is in violation of some law of mathematics -- transitivity, maybe?