SpokEasy

SpokEasy

Author name: CAL

Testing!

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Testing! One-two-three, testing! It isn\’t only for microphones. It\’s what I caught myself thinking this morning. I had just undergone my first COVID-19 test, in anticipation of returning to on-site work. On-site work won\’t be full time; four hours a day, three days a week. The rest of the time I\’ll still be working remotely. That suits me. I\’d really prefer to continue work-from-home full time. I like working from home because I can run back and forth between laptop and stove while I fix lunch. If I get a snack attack, being at home makes it much easier for me to grab a healthful snack. As soon as I shut down my work laptop, I can jump into preparing supper. Or, as I did today, I can go to work on my web site! I just now learned how to put wider borders around the pics in the pages; for example, Starting Up. I thought the pics looked rather lost, and I wanted to liven them up. Returning to on-site work will be another One-two-three-testing! I work on a university campus; and with the students returning, I won\’t be surprised if things soon have to shut down again. We\’ll see how it goes. I\’ve seen news reports of large student parties on other campuses, which makes me somewhat pessimistic. At least I don\’t have to stand in front of a classroom and teach! THAT would have me really worried!

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Sluggish Day

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Sluggish Day Today so far has been a sluggish day. Since last Sunday’s long ride, my legs have felt achy and tired. Even today, after a whole week, they still aren’t fully recovered. What’s going on with them? I hope it’s not a symptom of COVID-19! I decided it would be better to skip the long ride this week. Instead, I chowed down half a protein bar, and went out for a short ride; under 15 miles. Even that seemed pretty hard. I didn’t even go as far out as I had planned. For one thing, I had only two bottles of water with me; and I didn’t want to run out. But maybe what I really need is a few days’ break from riding. At least the sun was still low enough in the sky that there were some shady patches. The wind wasn’t bad; and it didn’t rain. Incidentally, the tropics are rather quiet at the moment. That’s good news! The not-so-good news: we’re still at the peak of hurricane season. August and September are typically the most active months. I’m still restraining myself from cooking more stuff to freeze; but before long I can get back to it. During vacation would have been the ideal time, but I had too much stuff already in the freezer; and I had to eat it up to make room before I cooked more. So there it is. A short ride, and no cooking. It’s a really sluggish day.      

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NIMBY

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The expression NIMBY has been around for quite a while. Not In My Back Yard! I seem to remember that it came into vogue as the environmental movement was getting underway. NIMBY frequently refers to a so-called necessary evil that people don\’t want to have close to their homes: landfills, chemical plants, and so on. This time of year I think of it in reference to hurricanes. About ten days ago Tropical Storm Isaias was barging towards the coast of the Carolinas, and expected to attain hurricane strength by landfall. NIMBY is these cases always leaves me with a tinge of guilt. I can\’t help being relieved that the storm isn\’t heading my way; but if it doesn\’t come here, it has to go elsewhere. SOMEone will take the brunt of it; as if COVID-19 weren\’t enough. Enough of NIMBY. How about some things that we want in our backyards? If I had my own home with a yard, what would I put in that yard? Perhaps a sort of gazebo, where I could keep a trainer permanently set up? Maybe I\’d stay halfway dry during \”rides\” on rainy days without the aggravation of a flapping poncho; that would depend on the wind. But I think that a lightning rod on top of my gazebo might be a wise precaution. OK, what else would I put in my yard? I think I might like to have a vegetable garden; and, I hope, eventually raise enough produce to try a little home canning. A few flowers, maybe; but if I\’m going to put in the work on a garden, I\’d rather grow something to eat! Just don\’t let that garden get so big that I don\’t have time left to ride!  

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Vacation Journal Day 5

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Vacation journal day 5, already! Time flies when you\’re having fun, right? I decided to skip the road bike (yes, again!) and head to Whole Foods. I wanted to get more sunblock well before I used up my current supply. To my delight, it was on sale! While I was at Whole Foods anyway, I got some more whey protein powder. At the checkout, I did what we\’re always being admonished against: I made an impulse purchase. I spied AlterEco 70% cacao chocolate bars, and I got one in Burnt Caramel. It\’s scrumptious! I must try some of the other flavors, too. I bet the Brown Butter flavor is good. Just don\’t let me get confused and try to eat my Chamois Butt\’r! After I took my mini-load home from Whole Foods, I gathered the glass jars I saved since the COVID-19 shut-down began. Then I rode to a glass drop-off, only to find out that the only day the place is staffed is on Wednesday! I ended up putting all those jars in the trash. Sad, but next week I\’ll be back at work. I thought I might take a spin on the road bike in the early evening. Instead, I got absorbed in some heavy editing of my web site\’s pages! Gee, time flies when you\’re having fun. So there it it, Vacation Journal Day 5. The problem with taking a week off is this: one week seems much too short; but two weeks seems too long!

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Vacation Days 3-4

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Vacation Days 3-4! Yesterday morning I was very tired, and decided not to go out on the road bike. Instead, I had breakfast; and about 6:30 I pedaled the hybrid to the supermarket. I wanted to go early for several reasons: to beat the heat; to beat the crowds; to beat the heaviest traffic. Besides that, I wanted to go to the Salvation Army thrift store. It\’s possible to find nice clothing there; and I needed a new pair of  (non-cycling) shorts. I found some, too, and they cost under three dollars! This morning I was a real sluggard. I didn\’t even get up until 8:20! After I had something to eat, I went out on the road bike; and I felt sluggish on the bike, too. It was 9:00 by the time I began my ride, and already hot. Perhaps because I hadn\’t yet had any caffeine, I began to feel headachy after only three miles or so. I had to stop and eat a \”goo\”. It also felt like I had a headwind, both outbound and coming back home. I was glad to get back home and cool off. I\’m also glad I was home before the T-storm started to fire up. Vacation days 3-4 are already over, but I can be glad that I still have one day of vacation left! 

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Vacation Journal Day 2

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Vacation Journal Day 2! This morning I went out on the road bike. It wasn\’t a recovery ride, but all the same I kept my pace pretty casual. My legs still feel sort of tired. After I got home and ate breakfast, I got ready to ride the hybrid over to the weekly farmers\’ market. It\’s less than a mile away, but I rarely get to go there. They open at 9 am, by which time I am usually at work. Another reason I seldom shop there is that it\’s expensive. Today a single creole tomato cost three dollars! It\’s a big one, though; I\’d guess about four inches in diameter. And good, too. I also got a loaf of sourdough bread. It\’s round; rather small; and cost six bucks. When I got  home from the market, I cut  off a small slice as a sample. Wow! It\’s much better than the sourdough bread from the supermarket. It\’s got real texture; something I can get my teeth into. It\’s more flavorful, too. I sliced up the entire loaf and put it in the freezer. Otherwise, I was afraid the bread would go moldy before I could eat it all. After lunch, I did some more editing on my site\’s pages. I added a new product to my shop, and watched a YouTube or two. It looks like rain chances for tomorrow are greater than today\’s were. I hope it holds off until afternoon. I\’ve got more errands to run! And that rounds off Vacation Journal Day 2.

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Vacation Journal Day 1

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Vacation Journal Day 1! Today I\’m mostly staying home. Not that my abode looks anything like the pic at left; I\’m nowhere near that tidy. My place isn\’t nearly that fancy, either. It was a great luxury to not get up until 7:30 am. I needed the extra hours of sleep. Then I put a pot of brown rice on the stove, and washed yesterday\’s cycling clothes while the rice was cooking. After that, breakfast; then a walk to the nearby Walgreen\’s. Remember how people were buying toilet paper like crazy when the COVID-19 shut-down began? I was not immune to that craze, and took to buying the stuff whenever I could. Today I got more. There was plenty \”TP\” in the store, so I guess the panic has subsided. A small restaurant near Walgreen\’s had been listed as a drop-off place for glass jars for recycling. Before going to the store, I went to look for the drop-off bin. It was nowhere in sight. I asked at the restaurant, and was told that they aren\’t participating any more. Speaking of glass jars — some years ago I bought an 80 oz jar of whole dill pickles. I wanted to use the jar to store rolled oats. I put the pickles in smaller jars so I could have the big jar for my oats right away. I\’m glad I did that before plastic containers became so common. Plastic absorbs and holds odors. Other things stored in such a container also absorb the odors. Pickle-tainted oatmeal doesn\’t sound very agreeable to me! After lunch, I began editing work on some of my site\’s pages. One of them is driving me crazy. I\’m having terrible time getting a Good readability score! So that\’s Vacation Journal Day 1.

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Doctor\’s Orders?

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Doctor\’s orders? That\’s what the RXBar sounds like! Today I tried several flavors, including Chocolate Sea Salt. It was pretty good, but I liked Blueberry better. I hope I get to try Chocolate Raspberry soon! Today\’s ride didn\’t go so well. I started out feeling rather tired, and probably should not have pushed for 42 miles. Maybe I ought to have sought out doctor\’s orders not to ride so far! Not only did my legs seem tired; I kept feeling like my heart was working too hard. I can\’t be certain, because I wasn\’t wearing my HR monitor; the new strap came, but I haven\’t gotten it properly sized yet. Lucky for me, there wasn\’t much wind today. As I rode, I watched more and more clouds appear in the sky. Now and then they briefly covered the sun, which gave me some respite from the heat. I seem to have gotten a mite sunburned, even though I wore sunblock. The directions say to reapply it every 80 minutes. When it\’s as hot as today, though, that doesn\’t seem to be often enough. When I glanced down at my legs, I could see that the sunblock was runny; and it\’s supposed to resist water! Today I stayed on the small ring most of the time. I tried to moderate my cadence, but that seems to go against my nature. My legs will move fast! I\’d better skip riding tomorrow. I almost hope it\’s pouring, lest I be overly tempted. The break will probably do me good. And now for the highlight of today\’s ride: I saw a roseate spoonbill in flight! It\’s odd that I never saw any around here before.  

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Using It Up

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Yep, I\’m using it up; the stuff I\’ve had in the freezer, that is. It was taking up space, so I had to do something with it. I made a trip to the salvage store first thing today, as I often do on Saturdays. Sometimes I ask myself why I keep going to that store, when I\’ve already got so much stuff from there. Why don\’t I use it up before buying more? Back home from the store, I had to unload and make a run to the bike shop. I had ordered a new chest strap for my Garmin, and it was ready for me to pick up. When I completed that errand, it was time for lunch; and also to calculate how much this morning\’s excursion to the salvage store saved me over regular supermarket prices. Finally, I could start the soup. I was able to get five containers of odds and ends out of the freezer: cooking liquid from black beans, for one. I put in lentils, and carrot and potato. It tastes pretty good, if I may say so. Around noon I thought I heard some faint grumbles of thunder. I was soon too busy cooking to pay attention to the weather. I finally did hear thunder for sure. The sky had become gray; welcome relief from the sun. A town not far from here had a Special Weather Statement about a severe T-storm. Far better to get something like that over with now, I say. Tomorrow is long-ride day, and I don\’t need lightning cracking overhead then. A long ride means getting an electrolyte drink ready; I did that while I was busy in the kitchen anyway. I need to make a recovery drink, too; I\’ve got that whey protein powder, and I must be using it up.    

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What Shall I Do?

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What shall I do next week, while I\’m on vacation? One of the first things I thought of was Central Grocery, and a half-muffuletta (say, \”muffa-lotta\”). It seems that they\’re operating, but on reduced hours. I suspect that the lunch counter is off-limits. It would be rather a nuisance to buy my sandwich, and have to get it home before I could enjoy eating it. Seven days is hardly enough time for an epic-style bicycle ride. Sure, I want to get in a few extra miles, but if I were to do a cycling tour, I\’d want it to be at a slow enough pace that I could enjoy the scenery! I intend to do my Sunday long ride as usual, but maybe a long, leisurely ride during the week would be fun. It might be fun to take a ride of 10-15 miles and have lunch at a new restaurant! COVID-19 unfortunately makes such a venture seem improbable for the foreseeable future. More cooking is on the agenda. I\’ve been working the last two weeks to eat up what was already in the freezer, before cooking more stuff. First on the list is a \”garbage soup\”, to use up such items as juice from canned tomatoes. I\’m thinking of making another Hoppin\’ John variation; this time using mayocoba beans. Of course I must visit the salvage store tomorrow. Maybe I\’ll even go a second time during the week, just for a change of pace. Sometimes, however, I find myself thinking, what shall I do with all the stuff I get from there? I could probably live for a month or more on what I\’ve already got! I can get a little extra sleep; listen to music; enjoy reading my favorite books. Then, before I know it, it will be back to the salt mines!

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