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SpokEasy

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Acidophilus

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Acidophilus is much on my mind just now. When I visited urgent care this past Monday, the doctor put me on a five-day course of antibiotics. We know that taking antibiotics can upset gut bacteria; and often the advice is to eat acidophilus-containing yogurt. Fortunately that\’s no great problem for me. I\’ve been eating a lot of plain yogurt for the last fourteen months; and in fact, I have it nearly every day. I should be getting enough of those live cultures! I buy yogurt in quart tubs that have fitted plastic lids, so that I can re-use them. They\’re great for freezing all the stuff that I cook! Sometimes I wish I had space to store a blender. I could use yogurt instead of milk to whip up a post-long ride smoothie! I know, I know — that isn\’t vegan, like the recipes in this book; but I could have blueberries in it; and I can substitute almond milk for the yogurt if I want to go vegan. A blender, I\’m sure, also mixes protein powder more thoroughly. Shaking up powder and milk in a jar results in lumps of protein powder in my drink — even after I let it sit in the fridge all night so that the powder can dissolve! But I didn\’t need any recovery drink this morning, and in fact I didn\’t ride. The weather looked too iffy. The forecast for tomorrow is still 50% chance of T-storms; but as long as it isn\’t actually storming, I think I\’ll ride. And then head for the supermarket. I feel restless now, thanks to today\’s lack of activity. Half an hour in the trainer at lunch break just doesn\’t do it for me!

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Decisions

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Decisions; always decisions! Shall I try to ride, then go to the grocery store before I clock in for work tomorrow morning? According to the forecast, rain is likely; and I\’ve got those stitches to keep dry. Or so I tell myself. I have to change the bandage every night anyway when dishwashing and showering get it soaked; and why is getting caught in the rain any different? If it\’s going to rain, I hope it does so overnight. At the moment it\’s mostly cloudy; but it\’s not raining yet. It\’s windy, though; 18 mph, with gusts up to 29 mph. If there\’s a wind like that tomorrow morning on top of rain, maybe I\’ll skip the grocery run, and ride in the trainer later in the day. But don\’t borrow trouble, they say. As a matter of fact, the forecast shows a big drop in the wind by morning. As so often happens, all I can do is wait and see how things are tomorrow; and then make my decisions. If I feel that I\’ve just got to go to the store anyhow, there\’s always the poncho; and I have some rubber gloves. Or maybe I\’ll get lucky, and it won\’t be raining at all! It won\’t be cold, although it will be cool enough for those leg warmers. If it is raining in the morning, and I ride anyhow, I\’ll ride the hybrid; whether I go to the store or not. I just lubed the road bike\’s chain, and I don\’t want it to get wet. Today my legs felt heavy and tired; and I figured they needed a break. So I pedaled in an easy gear, and enjoyed hearing the birds tuning up for the day.

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Found a Peanut

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\”Found a Peanut\” was a popular kids’ song when I was growing up, although these aren\’t the exact words that I remember. How are “goobers” for fueling a bicycle ride? Not too bad, I would guess. A two-tablespoon serving of peanut butter has 8-9 grams of protein; and about 7 grams of carbs. My weekday pre-ride snack typically includes some fruit (often a banana; sometimes grapes or a small apple) and some peanut butter. Today I did some unclimbing; and lately I enjoy the fact that this on-bike exercise makes my abs feel flatter and tauter than they did a few months ago. Even though I’m not faster overall, I often feel like I’m pedaling more strongly. Maybe peanut butter is good fuel. In fact, I went overboard with the goobers today. In addition to my pre-ride PB, during my morning break at work I ate some goobers. I brought along a Caramel-Peanut Detour bar for snacking; and at lunchtime, I ate a peanut butter sandwich! I hope I didn’t chance to get too close to some poor person who has a severe allergy to those legumes; I found a peanut big-time today! When on the bike, however, I avoid nuts. They tend to stick in my throat; and that doesn’t feel comfortable. I need too much fluid to wash them down; and during long rides that, of course, increases the likelihood that I’ll need to make a pit stop. I ride through long stretches where there are no obvious pit-stop places, unless I ride a mile or more out of my way. I’m too lazy for that! Part of the reason for today\’s nut binge was that I was figuring out some Internet problems last night; and I was trying to keep my stitched-up thumb dry. But tonight I\’ll fix a real lunch!

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Shortcut?

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Don\’t look for a shortcut. How often do we hear, \”There are no shortcuts\”? Last night I tried taking a shortcut when I decided to chop some cabbage for this evening\’s supper. It\’s a nuisance to have to cut vegetables when I\’ve just gotten home from work; and I wanted to have that cabbage chopped and ready for sautéing. And what happened? I managed to give myself a nasty cut in the thumb! I had to suspend operations while I went and put double bandaids over the laceration; and then I had to get the blood spots out of my blouse. It was one of my newer ones; and wouldn\’t you know, it\’s white. Then it was back to kitchen work; and I think we all know how awkward it is to do anything with one thumb bandaged up! On top of that, the bandaids quickly became soaked through; and that meant changing them. Bandaid adhesive nowadays is pretty strong; and getting the bandaids off meant pulling the cut open again! Before I got in the shower last night, I went after another kind of shortcut: I gave my hair a short cut. Whenever I start playing barber, I wish I had a three-way mirror. I can\’t see what I\’m doing in the back; and often my back hair on one side comes out shorter than on the other side. This morning, that cut still bled when I took the bandaids off. I decided I\’d better head for an urgent care clinic; it looked like I needed skin glue at least; or maybe even stitches. And stitches it was! It won\’t be easy keeping that area clean and dry; and I hadn\’t realized how much stress that little spot on my thumb gets. The shortcut isn\’t always so short!

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Easter Already!

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It\’s Easter already! How time flies. This morning I went for a long ride. My average speed was the same as last Sunday\’s; but I rode much farther — 31.3 miles instead of a mere 13.5 miles. The weather is nice today; and I wish it would stay that way. Unfortunately, April showers are likely to set in by mid-week. I was delighted to see some bluebirds in flight. I never saw any around here before last April. Maybe I was just never in the right place at the right time. I hear that bluebirds are rather shy; and maybe they stay away from the bike path. Today I tried some new on-bike foods: a Met-Rx bar; and a Quest White Chocolate Raspberry bar. I found them in the grab-bag bins at the salvage store yesterday; and they seem to work quite well. Back home, I had my usual recovery drink; then indulged in a Diet Coke and a piece of my chocolate un-rabbit. \”Chocolate un-rabbit\” requires a bit of explanation. It goes back to when I was fifteen. We kids, of course, were long past the Easter Bunny stage; but we still put out our Easter baskets. That year, our mother included large chocolate bars in our baskets. Since those bars weren\’t shaped like bunnies, she said they were chocolate un-rabbits! This year I\’m skipping jelly beans; and in fact most Easter candy. I must always be mindful of that A1c level! If it weren\’t for A1c concerns, I\’d be eating candy like crazy today! I probably wouldn\’t be saying, Easter already. I\’d be saying, Easter at last! Speaking of all that candy, here\’s another one from my mother. She used to say that, when she was a girl, Easter Monday was called \”castor oil Monday\”!

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Pre Easter

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Today is pre Easter! As usual for a Saturday, I headed for the salvage store. I decided to shop there rather than at Whole Foods so I could get in some mileage for the current Love to Ride challenge; and if I wanted Easter goodies, I hit the jackpot! I went straight to the grab-bag bins, and made up a large bag. This \”Easter basket\” ended up holding six Met-Rx bars; seven Quest bars; a bar called Detour; and more! This big take is a good reason for me to hit that store early, before those grab-bag bins get too picked over! Today, to my surprise, I found natural peanut butter. It\’s crunchy style, and I really prefer the smooth kind; but that\’s because it\’s hard to spread crunchy-style peanut butter as thinly as I like. But lately I usually eat \”PB\” with a banana or some other fruit before a morning ride; and spreading it isn\’t an issue. I\’ve been going through peanut butter rather quickly, so I decided it was worth buying two jars of it. They still had chocolate-hazelnut spread @ 99¢ per 13 oz jar. I got two jars to put away; I\’m sure the stuff will keep. I found tuna and brown rice… Sorry; I guess I get wearisome with my long-winded enumerations of what I find at the salvage store, be it pre Easter or another day. But I was glad I took the trailer along, because I had a big load! On the way home, I had to resort to my granny gear here and there. The wind really wasn\’t bad, but I was hauling a lot behind me. Back Home Once back home, I taste-tested one of the Met-Rx bars; then got busy cooking. Today I made another variation on Hoppin\’ John (appropriate for Easter weekend, isn\’t it?), this time using anasazi beans. It looks like the weather will be good for a long ride tomorrow; and part of my ride food will be the rest of that Met-Rx bar. Meanwhile, I have to pack away that \”Amblin\’ Anasazi\” in the freezer; wash dishes; go get a few things from the drug store; and get the laundry done. Pre Easter is turning out to be a busy day!

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Shady Dealings?

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Shady Dealings? ?️ Shady dealings are something most people want to avoid. On a bright, sunny day, however, shady dealings are just what we need to protect our eyes. These Photochromatic Sunglasses change tint automatically, depending on the intensity of the sunlight. That’s great on those days when light conditions are constantly changing! No need to drag along several different sets of lenses; so you can save space. These glasses also protect your eyes from wind; dust; insects; and so on. My own sunglasses have prescription lenses. I noticed that, when I turned my head from side to side to check for traffic, my eyes seemed to have trouble adjusting their focus; and I thought that I needed “script” sunglasses. Thus I don’t think I’ll be trying these soon. But if you don’t need prescription lenses, Photochromatic Sunglasses sound like a good choice. Don’t forget that your skin needs protection as well as your eyes. Take along some lip balm and sunblock, too!

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Dishes!

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Always dishes! I hardly get one pile of them washed, when another pile appears. Sometimes, after a meal, there really aren’t enough dishes to make washing them worthwhile. Then, after the next meal, there are so many that the dish drainer can hardly hold them all! If I didn\’t go for early-morning rides, I could take care of dishwashing right after breakfast. But I\’m not going to give up my exercise for a perfectly clean kitchen! Ergo there isn\’t time to wash dishes before I leave for work; so they have to wait until I’m home in the evening. Most days I carry lunches to work; and that means plastic food boxes and plastic bags (for carrot sticks, apple wedges, etc.) to be washed. Yes, you read that right – I wash and re-use plastic bags. Sometimes I’ll have five or six of them! And then there’s whatever plate or bowl I used for supper; plus, in many cases, a cooking pot. It would be nice, I think, to have a bicycle-powered dish washer. After all, it’s possible to hook up a bicycle to small appliances such as blenders; or even large ones such as washing machines. Wouldn’t it be fun to get in a little extra pedaling and take care of an irksome chore at the same time? I used to have a book that explained how to do such hook-ups; but I finally had to give it away. My kitchen is too cramped for any such set-up. But just think — if you can set up a bicycle-powered blender, you might burn off the calories in your smoothie before you even drink it! Alas, afterwards there\’s still the problem of cleaning the blender. Dishes, as usual.

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No Foolin\’

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No foolin\’ here, even though it\’s April 1. Overnight it got a good bit cooler. At 5 am, it was 58 degrees; and it was barely warmer than that by late morning. The wind was 14 mph when I was getting ready to ride; not as bad as I thought it might be. I had envisioned a terrific struggle against a powerful headwind! I decided to ride in the park, and then head for the supermarket. Unfortunately I got out the door later than I should have. Somehow that\’s only too common when I want to go grocery shopping before clocking in for a day of working from home! There was time for only one lap around the park — not a great start to the April Love to Ride Challenge. Then I headed for the store. The load I brought home turned out to be pretty big, and both my panniers were quite heavy. While I was in the store, the wind got stronger. As I was loading the panniers onto the bicycle, a strong gust almost blew the bike over! Those bags sure can act like sails. After I was back home, I noticed that the wind seemed to be getting stronger; and I was glad I wasn\’t out in it. Late this afternoon we were still seeing gusts as strong as 30 mph. Shall I head over to Whole Foods tomorrow morning for tofu? It will mean a much shorter bicycle ride; but I can\’t count on finding tofu at the salvage store. It would be nice if that store has more of those Lindt 90% cacao chocolate bars. After a year or more of much less sugar than usual, they\’re surprisingly sweet — no foolin\’!

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Sat Fat

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Sat fat?! What won\’t I come up with next? Sat-fat (as I prefer to spell it; but my blog-writing program doesn\’t like hyphenated titles) is my abbreviation for saturated fat; and sat fat, we now know, is a bigger culprit in high cholesterol counts than dietary cholesterol per se. Sat fat comes largely (entirely?) from foods of animal origin; and if you happen to be vegan it should be simple to avoid it. I\’m not vegan myself; and though I\’ve been interested in a meatless diet for decades, it\’s hard to eat a diet based on plants (whole grains, legumes, veggies); get enough calories; and keep from overshooting my carb count. As a result, I now eat more chicken and tuna. The nutritionist says I need to watch saturated fat and trans fat more than cholesterol. The former should make up less than 7% of my daily calorie intake; and trans fats should be avoided as much as possible. So I still have the leeway to enjoy a few ounces of cheese a week; and avoiding processed foods (e.g. snack cakes) ought to make sidestepping trans fat quite easy. But how much fat do I burn off through my cycling? I enjoy browsing through The Feed Zone Cookbook, and I think it would be fun to try more of the recipes. Unfortunately they tend to be high in fat. These dishes are designed with the pro peloton in mind, though; and I guess those folks burn off all that fat during training and racing. As a recreational cyclist, I wouldn\’t. Talking about saturated fat makes me think of videos such as this one. That poor young man has far worse dietary problems than I do. Come to think of it, I don\’t think I\’ve had pizza in at least a year! That Lion As March draws to a close, things look pretty stormy. That lion might be getting ready to pounce. When I went out on the road bike this morning, there were patches of heavy fog. I\’m glad I had planned to ride easy. Poor visibility and hard efforts don\’t mix well. It got warm today; up to 80 degrees. As the day went on, the sky got cloudier and cloudier. The sun dodged in and out; but it was still shining when I left work at 4:30 pm. I decided to give in to my hankering after Chinese food. I\’m calling it Easter dinner! Unfortunately it means a hefty dose of sat fat. You know how it goes when bad weather is about to set in: even though the sun was out, there were ominous-looking clouds in parts of the sky; and then it began to sprinkle. I stopped and pulled on the poncho; then hurried on. As I got closer to the strip mall where the Chinese restaurant is located, the sky in the Northwest looked uglier and uglier. I placed my order at the Chinese restaurant; then went to the drug store (almost next door) for a soda. Then I picked up my dinner, and went home. On the way, some pretty strong wind gusts came up; and I\’m glad they were behind me! And oh, did I get lucky. It didn\’t rain on me. About ten minutes after I got in, I heard a brief drizzle; but I suppose the worst is yet to come. The wind will probably start to kick up any time now. That lion is making itself felt!

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