SpokEasy

Author name: CAL

Chalk and Cheese

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Comparing an exercise bike to a real bicycle is like comparing chalk and cheese. An exercise bike lets me get my legs moving, but that is very different from being on a bicycle that really moves; and that lets me get outdoors. An exercise bike also does nothing to develop handling skills; and the one I\’ve been using the past week doesn\’t have a bottle cage, which drives me crazy. Yes, I\’m thankful to have access to the exercise bike. It\’s helping to keep my leg muscles from becoming totally atrophied; and I know I\’ll be glad of that when I\’m back home and on a real bicycle. On the other hand, I am now suspicious about the accuracy of the exercise bike\’s mileage meter. Before this morning I didn\’t think about it; but today I noticed that the miles seemed to be racking up far too quickly. I have a hunch that the \”ten\” miles I pedaled are really only four or five miles. The climate difference between Spokane and New Orleans is also chalk and cheese. Mornings are cool, and even chilly; whereas New Orleans still has overnight lows in the mid-70s. But the biggest difference is the humidity level. Spokane is far less humid than N.O.; and consequently more comfortable in either heat or cold. In fact, Spokane in the teens doesn\’t feel as cold as N.O. does at 40 degrees! I just checked the forecast for the coming week back home; and it\’s full of rain and T-storms. I must say, it\’s rather depressing to think of going home to that. But once home, I can go for a REAL ride!

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Cleanup Wednesday

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Gosh, post-hurricane cleanup Wednesday. Will this never end? Another day of picking up branches, and feeding the fire; and another day with a triple-digit heat index. It was another day of the generator running out of gas too soon. Of course it was yet another day of no cycling. My leg muscles were getting soft, and I missed the activity. Yes, cleaning up that property was hard work, and you\’d think it counted as exercise; but constantly stooping and standing back up tires me more than miles of riding. Besides, my orthostatic hypotension doesn\’t take kindly to it. I already forgot a lot about exactly what happened which day; but I think this was the day when some neighbors, N and G, invited B and me to their house for a shower and grilled sausages. They had a big generator; and their house had lights, and an enormous television. They also had running water. I didn\’t give a hoot about the TV; but a shower is different. What a relief a shower was! I take showers for granted; but don\’t know it until I can\’t have one for two or three hot, sweaty days in a row. After B and I had our showers, G grilled some wonderful sausages. I sure met some great people post-Ida! It was also today that my brother was able to find a Thursday flight for me; one that was cancelled before the day was out because MSY had shut down. The airport had gotten power restored; but then the water went out. The next flight I could get wasn\’t until Saturday. After cleanup Wednesday we slowed down our efforts. The weather was simply too hot; and it was really hard on my friend. We began to shift our efforts to indoor projects. Wrapping up the Week I don\’t remember what we did Thursday and Friday, except that we went to a Dollar General store Friday morning. I found a package of socks; and some small-sized FitCrunch bars. Perhaps it was Friday that a friend went to Wal-Mart, and asked what she could get for us. She looked for a pair of shorts for me. This was taking a chance; but the shorts that she bought fit great! She also offered to do our laundry for us, as she had power and running water. That was wonderful; and then I could get ready for the trip to Spokane.

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Audubon Bird Call

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This nifty gadget is great for birdwatchers everywhere. I remember my father had one like this, many years ago; and it was fun to play with it. Twisting it produces sounds similar to bird calls. This device is small enough to fit easily into a pocket. Carry it on birding trips; or on an off-road bicycle trip. A great companion to Reading Nature\’s Signs. Made of birchwood and metal. Needs an occasional dusting with rosin.

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Tuesday Cleanup

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The post-storm Tuesday cleanup was, I believe, the day we started a burn pile. Others in the neighborhood were burning storm rubble, too. We had some helpers for that. Several neighbors were there; and even some people who had come down from Indiana to help with the disaster recovery. We got the fire going; and moved branches and logs to it. It was hard work because of the heat and humidity; and enough to raise anyone\’s blood pressure. The heat was hard on B\’s dog, too. P isn\’t a purebred, we don\’t think; but she does look a lot like a Maltese. Poor P kept panting like crazy; and B thought that P was getting too hot. That evening, B decided to try to clip P\’s hair. We still had no power, except what we could get from a generator; and besides, B didn\’t want to get all that hair all over everything. So we went outdoors for the barbering job. A baby squirrel showed up; and B got busy rescuing it. It didn\’t seem to be at all afraid of us; and that made me uneasy. It isn\’t normal for a wild animal to behave like that. Or was the baby squirrel too young to be afraid of humans? B got the squirrel into a cat carrier; and the next day took it to some neighbors. Their daughters once had a pet squirrel, so they knew about caring for one. They were discussing taking the squirrel to a veterinarian who does wild animal rehabilitation. So Tuesday cleanup got pretty interesting. I hope that squirrel can be released back into the wild. We still had plenty of work to do; and when you\’re overwhelmed by something like hurricane wreckage, it\’s natural to want to get it all done ASAP. But take it in stages!

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Backtrack

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To backtrack a bit: The place where B and I spent the night of August 29 was a small Christian church. It was such a hectic time that I didn\’t quite figure out whether R and W are the two who live there and run the place; or whether it\’s S and D. But that hardly matters. I think it was around 10:30 pm when we all decided it was time to go to bed; not that any of us expected to get much sleep. I decided not to try to sleep in the same room with the cats. I love cats; but I figured I wouldn\’t get any sleep at all with cats walking all over me. There was a sort of commons room; and it had a recliner in one corner. I decided to try to sleep there; and as it turned out, it was a good thing I did! Next to the commons room was the sanctuary; and the latter room had two large, square skylights. As I was trying to grab some shut-eye, I heard things blowing around outdoors; and soon I heard what sounded like repeated thumps against the wall outside. I got up to try to find out what was causing that noise. I wandered into the sanctuary; and discovered that one of the skylight covers was missing! The skylights had shades over them; and the shade over the opened skylight was snapping and tugging in the wind; and of course rain was coming in. I sounded the alarm; and we were all running around like chickens with our heads off for an hour or so. Maybe it was good, though; if I hadn\’t heard that shade flapping, we can\’t backtrack to before the storm to prevent it! Stormy Weather There was a piano near the skylight that needed to be covered to protect it from the rain; and S brought as many plastic tablecloths as she could find, so we could try to protect the carpet. We were digging out plastic trash cans; and large pots; and anything else possible to catch the rain. Meanwhile, one end of the skylight shade came loose. Finally one of the men got up on a tall stepladder; and he used the dangling shade and another waterproof tarp to create a sort of funnel. The idea was to channel the rain into a large plastic garbage can. It seemed to help, because the next morning S, D, and R were saying that there seemed to be less damage than expected. I was declared a hero! As my blogs go on, I may backtrack some more. As I said, so much happened in a few days!

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Not Yet

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No; not yet. Now is not yet the time to try to return to New Orleans. Yesterday afternoon I reached my next-door neighbor by cell phone; and asked her whether she knew if our neighborhood had its power back. She says yes, it does; but the infrastructure still isn\’t good. There are still trees down everywhere, and people who are in the city are asked to conserve water; for example, do not do laundry. The sewage system isn\’t working well, either. Her house is all right, I\’m happy to learn; but I don\’t know about my place yet. I finally reached the management office, but had to leave a voice message. My neighbor says somebody is checking on her home; and she\’ll ask them to check out mine and let her know. Then she\’ll let me know. But her advice is to stay away as long as possible. She herself is still away from home. I check my employer\’s web site daily; and they also say not to return to New Orleans yet if we don\’t have to. At present, only the most essential employees are allowed in. So it\’s Spokane for me for the time being. In order to get some exercise, I ride my sister\’s exercise bike. Even on that bike, I need real cycling shorts. Yesterday I was able to get to an REI store, and I bought a pair. I didn\’t use them yesterday, because I like to wash new cycling shorts before I wear them for a ride. I think I can get along with just the one pair, because the climate in Spokane is dry; and things dry out quickly. Another purchase I made yesterday was a pair of leggings. It was about 53 degrees at 6:00 am; and that\’s too cold for shorts!

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Cleanup Monday

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Cleanup Monday Here are the Cleanup Monday notes; or at least, I think all this was Monday, the day after the storm. I didn’t have a notebook (I mean a real paper notebook) with me; or I could have taken notes for my blogs! The morning after Ida had passed, “B” and I headed back for her house, even though we weren’t quite sure that we could get there. Of course there were trees down, possibly blocking the roads; and the (battery-powered) radio mentioned that, at some points, police were turning motorists back. But we decided to try anyhow; and had no problems getting there. When we got to B’s place, it was a different matter. A pine tree had fallen, and was blocking her driveway. Already some neighbors were there, using a chain saw to cut up that tree. Another falling tree brought down all the power lines to B’s house. There were twigs and branches all over the ground; and B said it will take a year to clean it all up. We went to work picking up the litter on the ground; and that was some hard work! It was already hot early in the day; and by afternoon the heat index was in the triple digits. We needed some personal cooling devices!   Cleanup Monday saw both B and me very hot; and tired; and sweaty. B has some trouble with nerve pain one arm; and this work wasn’t very good for her. Post-Ida Woes To make it harder, B has a well; and without electricity to run the pump, there was no running water. We had to go to bed that night all hot and sweaty. I didn’t bring many clothes with me when I evacuated; and had to keep wearing the same grungy blouse and socks over and over. I’m glad I brought my battered old sneakers, because the ground was wet and muddy; and those shoes got so filthy that I threw them away before I came out to my sister’s place. With no electricity, we couldn’t cook. We tried to use up the stuff in the fridge and freezer first; and we had canned and packaged food (e.g. crackers). But we couldn’t dirty up many dishes, because we couldn’t wash them! B had paper plates; and we had to be careful not to use them up too quickly. B had boarded up as many windows as she could; and that made the house dark. Even after she and I got at least some of those boards down, it was too dim in there for me. Dim lighting is oppressive; and it makes me feel tired and off balance. There wasn’t enough light to read; and of course we had no access to either Internet or WiFi. B does have a gasoline-powered generator; and she used it to run the fridge. Unfortunately it ran out of fuel faster than we liked. And that was just Monday; cleanup Monday or not. We had a long week ahead!  

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Double Flat

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Double flat is a musical term; but it\’s what I expect I\’ll find when I get back home: two flat tires on each of my bicycles! I\’m not sure how good it will be to simply pump the tires back to their usual psi. That might result in pinch flats. I plan to call the bike shop before I try to pump the tires, and see what they say. After all, Ida has disrupted things enough; and I don\’t want to add the cost of four tubes to it. Meanwhile, there\’s nothing I can do. I\’m half a continent away; and worrying won\’t help. Today my sister and I visited Manito Park. It\’s a huge place; and we couldn\’t see nearly all of it. We checked out the pond; and wandered through the rose garden. One part of Manito Park features local wild plants. It got quite warm; but Spokane doesn\’t have the suffocating humidity that I know at home. This morning I put in 10 miles on the exercise bike; and it\’s obvious that I really need a pair of padded cycling shorts if I\’m going to use that bike much. Lightweight gym shorts simply aren\’t suitable. Unfortunately not much is open today, as this is Labor Day. I almost forgot about it! Weird things happen when I\’m not at work. Incidentally, I don\’t know when I might be back at work. As of this morning, the place is closed until further notice. I still haven\’t been able to find out what condition my apartment is in; and until I know, I may as well stay away. Double flat bicycle tires are one thing; double flat as in fallen ceilings is what I hope didn\’t happen! I don\’t want to return home to crushed bicycles.

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Spokane

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Yesterday I came out to Spokane, Washington, where my sister lives. My brother, who lives in Connecticut, arranged my plane ticket; and also set up transportation to the Baton Rouge airport for me. An old college buddy of his lives not far from where I was staying; and he (I\’ll call him \”M\”) picked me up at 11:00 am. That turned out to be plenty of time. On the way to the airport, M pointed out the place close to where the eye of Ida had passed. He said that Ida acted quite oddly: the storm\’s eye was expanding and contracting. There were many trees down; and damaged buildings. I got to the airport several hours before my flight was due to depart. By then I was hungry; and wondered why. I looked at my watch; and saw that it was noon. No wonder I was hungry! There was a Wow Wingery in the terminal; and I got some chicken, at the usual skyway robbery prices in airports. Then I settled down near my departure gate, where I found some electrical outlets. I plugged in my laptop; got onto the airport WiFi; and actually got an entire blog done! I began another blog; but didn\’t have time to finish it. Then, onto a plane; to Spokane via DFW. En Route The flight from Baton Rouge to DFW was quite short, and the cabin crew didn\’t serve any refreshments. I was glad that I found some small-sized FitCrunch bars in a dollar store the day before! I got very thirsty during the flight. When I went through security at the airport, they wouldn\’t let me take my full bottle of water through; and I had to dash to the nearby restroom to empty it. I wasn\’t about to throw away a seven-buck cycling water bottle! Then I didn\’t find a water fountain; and I wasn\’t in the mood to pay for a bottle of water! My layover at DFW was hardly worthy of the name. I arrived at one terminal; and had to catch some kind of shuttle to get to my departure terminal. When I got to the gate, they were already boarding passengers. That was a bit too close for my liking! On the plane from DFW to Spokane, we were served only something to drink and a small snack. That little cup of water wasn\’t enough to slake my thirst! I hoped to use WiFi on the plane; but the cost stopped me in my tracks. It was almost $15.00 for one hour! The flight got into Spokane a bit ahead of schedule. I was glad to get off the plane and stretch my legs; and also, to get something to drink! Getting off Cheap Before I came to Spokane, I hoped to find bike rentals here. As it turned out, my sister has an exercise bike in her basement! I tried it today. I didn\’t know at first that the straps on the pedals can be adjusted; and there was far more space than my feet needed. It was driving me crazy to try to pedal, because I couldn\’t use my quads. The resistance on this \”bike\” was much too high; and it sure made me miss my bicycles. I tried a second session later in the day, after I adjusted the pedal straps; and this time it went a little better. I\’m a bit out of condition anyhow, after almost no riding for a week. It will be better if I don\’t try to do too much right away. Besides, I want to see a little of Spokane. I won\’t see a thing if I stay in that basement!

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What a Week!

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What a week this has been! Last Saturday I got a ride out of town, because Hurricane Ida was on the way. A friend of mine lives North of the lake; and my brother thought I would be better off there than staying in New Orleans. My friend wasn\’t so sure. She lives on four wooded acres; and was very concerned about falling trees. Anyway, I wound up at her house. Later that day, someone whom she knows contacted her; and suggested that my friend and I come to her place. So my friend and I went there. At least there weren\’t trees crowded thickly about the abode. For privacy\’s sake, I\’ll call my friend \”B\”; the person who invited us over shall be \”S\”; and her husband is \”D\”. B naturally didn\’t want to leave her pets alone; and we brought along her dog and three of her cats. She has four cats; but one of them Simply! Will! Not! get into a carrier. The folks we went to also had a small dog. Luckily there was plenty of space. We were six adults; and two pooches running around. The cats we put into a room with the door closed, because one of B\’s cats bolts for the tall timber whenever he sees an open door; and we couldn\’t risk his getting loose. That afternoon it seemed impossible that a hurricane was on the way. It was the calm before the storm. As the evening came on, the wind began to get stronger; and the clouds began to move in. So did the rain! As it got dark, the lights began to flicker here and there; and at 6:20 pm, they went off completely. A loud POW! told us that a transformer blew nearby. And what a week followed! Storm Coverage After we lost power, we used charged-up lights to see our way. B, S, and I played UNO. I never heard of it before; but it\’s fun, and a way to pass the time when you can\’t see well enough to do much else. After we lost the lights, we heard at least one more transformer blow; and also some loud reports from falling trees hitting roofs (luckily, not our roof!). So what a week it was! There\’s lots more to come; but I think I\’ll leave it for further blogs. If I don\’t, this one will be far too long! I can\’t go home for a while yet; and I\’m writing this in an airport as I wait for my flight to Spokane via Dallas.

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