Lunch Hour at the PSPS

September and bicycle rides -- the landscape is changing, and now and then something unusual shows up along the way.  This thing has been sitting at the corner of Riley and 168th for several days now, so I thought it was worth a blog mention.  I have no idea why it's there.

I got to the PSPS earlier than normal today, and found out that they do a pretty big lunch business.  I don't believe I've ever seen this many cars there before.  The scene inside was interesting -- the customers were all male, and apparently hungry.  The lunch special was 3 bean chili, but hamburgers and pizza were also available.

It's still shirt sleeve weather here, but a north wind will bring in some cooler air soon.  I'll be out of town for a week in October, so I'm not sure how much more I'll ride this year.  But today's ride put my 2015 total biking miles at a +4 miles over total 2014 miles.    So I'm good.

Photos from Grand Rapids and Port Sheldon

It's not been raining here.  Yesterday I kept a promise to an old friend and went into Grand Rapids for the day.  We spent some time at Meijer Gardens where a new Japanese Garden section opened a month or so ago.  It was a nice distraction.  The other retired professor joined us.

Today I rode my bike north along the usual routes.  It took me a little while to dredge up the name of these red bushes -- no phone calls were necessary, though.  Sumac.

I rode past the PSPS to the street that runs along Pigeon Lake as it flows into the big lake.  With all the talk about bicycle odometer readings on the inter-webs, I thought I'd join in the discussion.

This number is quite misleading, though.  I replaced the battery on this at about 12,500 miles, and had Bike Laura input 15,500 miles at that time.  Those extra 3,000 miles meant I never had to look at the numbers between 12,999 and 14,000.  I have been meaning to take those miles off the odometer.  And no, that isn't the bike with the most miles on it.  That's the Ruby.

September is winding down.

September 21st used to be the first day of fall.

Apparently Fall won't arrive for another couple of days this year.  They keep changing the rules. With temperatures right around 70 and a light SE breeze, it was a nearly perfect day for a ride.  Here along the lake September is warmer than May, I've been told. Though I remember some very cold Septembers.

New pavement is always nice.  There's a new stretch of paved shoulder along Lakeshore north of here.  It's about a 4 mile stretch, if you believe the signs, covering most of the rolling, curvy part of Lakeshore from about New Holland Street to Butternut.  This photo was taken about a half mile from the cut off that goes to the PSPS.

These benches are attached to a table.  In celebration of the autumnal equinox I had a piece of cake.  The clerk called it a muffin, but I've had a lot of cake in my life, and was not fooled.  It was a nice ride.

Seasons Change

It's been a while since I posted anything here, so here goes.  One of my favorite photos from the week is this butterfly, one of many monarchs flitting around my flower garden this week.  Butterflies are hard to photograph, I think.

There were a few bike rides -- one to Quincy Park, pictured below.

Another bike ride took me along the Black Lake Walk, where there are plenty of empty benches this time of year.

Yesterday morning I walked out to the deck to check out the waves.  Gale warnings were in effect, and it seemed like a good call to me.

By evening the winds had died down, and the granddaughter and I took a walk, through the neighborhood, then down the association stairs closest to Tunnel Park.  The grandson was spending the weekend with his Uncle Jeff, so we were on our own for the evening.

With the sun setting about 7:50, we had time to walk to Tunnel Park, watch the sunset, and still be ready at 8:00 for the season premier of Dr. Who on BBC.

We had fun watching the show -- though it was the first half of a two parter, something we both dislike.  We'll have to wait a week to find out if Missy and Clara were both vaporized or not.  Totally Jammin' and OSLO arrived this afternoon to spend a few hours hanging out before supper, and OSLO took a walk to the State Park along the beach. It was a nice day.  I have a great little family.

Stories

Photographs to tell a story or two. This first one is about a bike ride on a windy day, the store that replaced the bagel shop that burned down on River and Lakewood, and a cookie so bad I threw it away.  I predict that this place won't be there long.

A different day -- today LH and I took a mid afternoon bike ride to the State Park.  It was windy, but a nice fall day, and I'm glad we went.

My morning walking group has regrouped, at least for a while.  For a change of pace we walked this evening, down towards Tunnel Park.  The eroding dune reveals some odd things long buried in the sand.

We got a chance to check out the progress on the reconstruction of the Tunnel Park stairs from a different perspective than my last post.  It's beginning to look very familiar.  I think I was wrong about a change in its shape.  That's a good thing -- I don't really like change all that much.

And so endeth the stories for today.

Tunnel Park, in transition

Climbing the stairs from the beach to the top of the bluff at Tunnel park has been a part of summer traditions here for a very long time.  The fourth of July weekend fire that destroyed those stairs changed that, though there are still at least two other ways to get to the observation deck from the park -- but none from the beach.  I made the trek up the stairs through the woods today, and can report that work has begun on the stair repair.

This bench is fairly new, and apparently will remain.  It is the site where TT stood and admired NCW's green crocs last year.  (I am grateful for all the photos of past visits and visitors.)

The stairs are going to be in a slightly different configuration than before, but I'm cautiously optimistic that they will be acceptable.  Pretty much all that is required is that they go from the beach to the top of the bluff, and that's likely the plan.

The Centers of the Universe are here to keep us company today, with stories of their first days and weeks of school.  I always feel better when they're here.

New computer -- trouble blogging

I will try with Chrome instead of Edge.  Here's an old photo.  Cute group.

OK, then.  I took a couple of walks and a bike ride today.  The clouds didn't clear until later in the day, so I wasn't motivated to take any photos on walk one or the ride.  This evening's walk started in the neighborhood and ended up along the beach, and I took a few photos along the way.

Learning to navigate a new computer and a new operating system at the same time may prove to be too much for me.

Some stuff I've been doing.

Here's a question.  Who's going to do that "You lie, August.  Split timber all over, no wonder distemper" routine?  A small thing.

Primary colors at the state park.

Sunsets have been murky this week.

I'm considering taking this bike to Florida this year.  It used to be called my winter bike, and it was bought with those attributes in mind.  I took off the fenders before I rode it today.  It's massively heavy, with 38's for tires, and 70 psi the maximum tire pressure.  If the SRAM shifters are to be believed, it has an 8 speed triple drive train.  Linear pull brakes.  A low bottom bracket for stability.  It's a hard tail with a squishy front frok.  Very unlike any other bike I own.  I rode it up to the PSPS today.  I rode north on Lakeshore, to get a bicyclist's view of the new pavement from Van Buren to Butternut.  Bicycle advocates raised some extra money and the county added paved shoulders as bike lanes, widening the road quite a bit.  The gearing on this bike is really low, making it pretty easy to ride that route.  Even on the Idlewood hill I didn't use all of my gears.  The biggest down side, besides the weight, is the steering -- though I'm going to remove that front bag, which might have been the problem.  Or else it has a really long turning radius.  It seems like a good choice for Florida, where I routinely ride through grass and gravel.