Inside The Perimeter

Last night’s ride was hard and fast, well, at least for me. For the first time since I started riding the Meltons ride a few years ago my average speed eclipsed 16.0mph thanks to favorable green lights allowing us to continue pedaling; and thankfully, no flat to report!

Now that it’s only a week away (eek!) I have started looking at weather forecasts for the European cities in which I will be traveling. It’s really hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that everything appears as if it will be fifteen or so degrees cooler than what I have been experiencing for the past three months. What to pack, what to pack?

Wordle: four, my starter was LOTUS
Connections: perfect, Yellow > Purple > Green > Blue

I had a long day of driving, mostly by choice since I opted to make two beer stops, one of which also included lunch. My frustration levels were only tested when I made it into Gwinnett county. Traffic on 85 south was predictably heavy so I used the VIP/HOV lane for a while, choosing to the pay The Man for the privilege of not sitting in traffic. With no such option on 285 I navigated heavy traffic around the cars which were driven by drivers who seemed to be unable to use depth perception, and/or find the accelerator when things opened up.

Even with a morning of watering, the past few days of heat and lack of rain killed most of the plants in WLF; the worst hit were plants in grow bags, which can’t retain water the same way the ground can. It was a complete disappointment that all six of the green peppers growing on plants were shriveled, something for me to keep in mind next year. Also, at least half of the transplants that I put into the ground last week have been decimated by caterpillars, even though I covered them in netting (which just means that the larvae were in the ground already). Today, I will pull the plug on the farm with the exception of a couple of pepper and okra plants. With a nearly three week trip starting next week it’s not worth the effort to try to keep everything going. Better luck next year…

Wordle: four, my starter was FLORA
Connections: perfect, Yellow > Green > Blue > Purple (I had to look up the definition of SOBRIQUET)

I had a fun long weekend in Raleigh, but it’s time for me to head back ITP.

Time to start getting head down for my flight to Europe next week.

Wordle: six, my starter was LATER
Connections: perfect, Green > Blue > Yellow > Purple

’twas a long day of driving yesterday, but I think that I made the right decision to backtrack toward Florence, SC. Once I was through a small band of rain it was fairly smooth sailing as I drove northward with the eye of the storm, only encountering some more small bands of rain along the way.

*Somebody* forgot to wish his great friend Lisa a happy birthday on July 28th, using the lame excuse that he was dead to the world after being in a school bus for something like twenty hours, so a stop at Total Wine was made and an bottle of wine acquired as compensation. Oh, and that somebody also stopped at a small brewery called Sneaky Penguin Brewing Company because, it is called Sneaky Penguin! The west coast IPA was very good, but I, I mean, somebody needed a nap therefore one beer was the limit.

We spent the night eating a lovely dinner at the house, watching the Olympics.

Today? Choring Raleigh Royalty style!

Wordle: six, my starter was ALTER
Connections: perfect, Yellow > Green > Blue > Purple

Apparently I had FOMO for Hurricane Debby because I am driving into its remnants today, and will be living among it for a few more days. I’m heading up to visit the Raleigh Royalty, bidding adieu to my fake nephew Cooper as he prepares to embark on college life. One aspect of old age is seeing people who you’ve known since birth become true adults. Were it not such a time dependent occasion I may have canceled my plans, as that area is predicted to get about 5″ of rain over the next few days. I’ve packed a raincoat, umbrella, and multiple pairs of sneakers. Needless to say, but I didn’t pack my bicycle…

This is why I had to transplant my kale plants and mow my front lawn yesterday.

Huh, I just realized that today is the twenty year anniversary of my carjacking.

Wordle: three, my starter was ALERT
Connections: perfect, Yellow > Blue > Green > Purple

Rode a hard (for me) ride last night, my cardio didn’t want to play. This morning I’m a bit hobbled by an aching knee.

Other than that, I’ve nothing to report.

Wordle: five, my starter was ALERT
Connections: perfect, Green > Blue > Purple > Yellow

I spent most of my day puttering, before going out for a short trash pickup walk in the afternoon. It being garbage day for most of the streets in my neighborhood meant that the trash collection wouldn’t be 100%, so I knew that my efforts would not be in vein. Oh, and don’t forget that some of the trash is also generated by the shitheads who throw it out from their cars.

Thanks to ITP-Reader Sal the other day I reconnected with a high school friend. On my birthday (remember that awesome day of July 22?) Sal read my Facebook wall to me, including a post from my old friend who was trying to get in touch with me. Since I can’t log into FB, I reached out to someone with the same name on LinkedIn, and it was him! As an added bonus, he lived in Amsterdam for a short while, so I am parsing the information he sent to me.

More WLF choring this morning. I am in the process of starting to reconfigure parts of the farm by cleaning out old plants and moving grow bags. I also intend to transplant some Chinese Cabbage plants since I saw a squirrel eying them in the small pots that I have on the deck and want to give them the opportunity to grow to full-sized plants so that I can eat them.

Cycling tonight? Hopefully. It will be the first time I’ve mounted the saddle since RAGBRAI.

Wordle: four, my starter was GRAIN
Connections: perfect, Purple > Yellow > Blue > Green

Nothing earthshaking happened in my world this weekend. I chose cleaning up WLF over getting on my bike. WLF isn’t producing much, but it needed (and still needs) cleanup work to get rid of plants which have grown too old or big, and to start preparing for a Fall crop.

Last night I did some hotel booking for Europe (and still need to do more). I have decided to return to Düsseldorf for a few days prior to meeting up with the gang in Brussels before starting the ride in Bruges. (As an aside, ITP-Reader Barb I booked into the same hotel in Brussels that you have. So, if you don’t want to be in the same hotel, rebook since my reservation is non-refundable. Hahaha) I will have a few days alone after the week of riding, and might stay in the Netherlands, or I make a day-trip to a German town to experience one night of Oktoberfest. It’s been so long since I’ve travelled abroad that I forgot the names of the hotels, and the methods I used to book them.

I am also trying to decide whether I want to do a camping trip in September. I’ve been looking at a few different parks, most of which I have visited in the past. I have all the camping gear, and a free night of camping in Georgia, so it seems as if I should be using these.

More choring today…

Wordle: five, my starter was ACORN
Connections: perfect, Blue > Green > Yellow > Purple

It’s not often that I wish to be older. However, had I just turned sixty instead of fifty-nine I’d be eligible for the senior rate on the European rail system.

I met ITP-Reader Barb for lunch yesterday and we discussed the days prior to the actual BRAG multi-day ride. Since I arrive a few days prior to the rest of the crew I will try to spend three days in Germany and meet them in Brussels on the day after they arrive.

Last night I decided to stay out of the heat by not riding. Instead, I stayed at home and planned for my upcoming trip, and researched changing cellphone carriers.

This morning I am going to get out into the front yard and push my hipster mower around. I still need to adjust it to get a better mow, but it will be good enough for me.

Wordle: four, my starter was STORM (it was a shitty starter the past two days, so it has to be a great starter today, right?)
Connections: two mistakes, X > Purple > X > Yellow > Green > Blue

Happy August!

While I was in Iowa the City of Atlanta (or the Georgia DOT) installed one of those new, annoyingly bright street lamps a few houses down from mine. Fortunately there are some trees which manage to obscure the blast of white light from my house. I feel sorry for those who receive the direct hit. I also wonder what our obsession with eliminating darkness will do to animals and plants as time marches on. (I know there must be research which says this is a terrible thing for us to do, but that hasn’t stopped the Human Race from imposing its will on the environment, no matter how detrimental to our own existence.)

Wordle: three, my starter was STORM (it was such a bad starter yesterday, it must be better today)
Connections: perfect, Blue > Purple > Green > Yellow