Sheila is the result of generations of breeding to chase squirrel-sized furry things, so you KNOW she has it in for them. Sometimes when I let her out in the back, the squirrels all run for the fence, then run away along the top, and she chases them all the way to the back fence. In fact I thought she was going to run into it the other day but she put on the brakes at the last moment.

Other times, the squirrels don't react because she's far enough away, and then she stalks them....

I had one of those embarrassing moments today. You know, the kind where you fail to unclip and fall over, tree-like? Luckily, nobody saw me. Skinned my knee, which periodically stings like a MF.

If a cyclist falls in the parking lot but nobody saw him, is he still an idiot?

The rest of the ride was a lot more fun. I was cogitatin' on riding OLH, but the weekend traffic on the descent afterwards can be daunting. So instead I went up a shorter, lower climb, and then did THAT descent where I passed ONE (1) oncoming car, and a handful of cyclists. I was stuck behind a slower descender (Imagine that! Slower than me!) for a while - narrow and twisty road - and had to keep braking and dropping back so as not to crowd her.

The wind today is... weird, Half the time it seemed to be out of the North, When I stopped in Palo Alto for my usual nibble, I even used the compass function on my iPhone to be sure, and it was absolutely coming from due North. When I got back to San Mateo, heading South toward home, somehow the wind was blowing out of the South. Apart from that, a good time was had by all! In this case, "all" is just me, so I guess a good time was had by me.

Oh, and No Egrets!

Ultra hot water. As you get to where you can stand it, crank it up a bit more. A ten minute treatment can last four hours.

I thought you might be bound for the East Coast. Weirdly the "practically free" gasoline still adds more to my credit card balance.

I rode by there twice yesterday. Should I have included it as a squirrel sighting in my tally?

Turns out I was right about the wind. From 10:30 AM till 2:00 PM, the wind was from the NNW. After 2, it swung rapidly 120 degrees to the SSW, and this happened between the time I was heading NNW on Canada and when I turned South onto Alameda. Almost as if it knew where I was......

Newb.

No donuts for me this weekend.

Is that all you have to report?

I solved my Keos squeaking by buying Shimano. My Deltas never squeaked. Still have a couple of pair collecting dust.

On the Saturday group ride, a loose labradoodle decided to join the group. I saw if run from a front porch as his owner screamed at him to COME!!! He ignored him and was having too much fun chasing the bikes. Remembering the axiom where you don’t want to be the slowest and get caught, I put on the afterburners and passed about 5 guys and the dog decided that the others were either too slow or not worth bothering with and chased me. The dog was in the middle of the lane with cars coming from both directions with the owner running and yelling. Having had a doodle, most are very friendly so I decided to put an end to the chase and just stop. The dog overshot me and then came back but would not get close. Cars in both lanes had stopped as well as my homies. The owner still on a dead run appeared and grabbed the dog by the scuff, since it didn’t have a collar, and dragged him home. Chase and fun was over.

One trick pony

Opera yesterday.

How about a time period tweet from your college years?

One of the "Soprano dies of Consumption" operas, in Verdi flavor.

Gas is $3.49 at the Conoco in Gallup. The Indian restaurant is still open at 10:27 MDT. I was kinda tempted to hit that and get a motel room but I filled up the tank, got a couple jars of SBUX frapps, a bag of off-brand Takis, and strawberry wafer cookies, which I think will get me home, back to the MST area. If not I can crash in Holbrook or Winslow in a pinch. Hmmm, wonder if there's a motel in Joe City...

Central Illinois "Deliverance" vibes.


Photographer unknown

That’s AZ time. They don’t recognize daylight savings.

I don't recognize their non-recognition.

They don't recognize your non-recognition of their non-recognition. Or anyone else's for that matter. I cross into Az via the I8 Yuma 2-3 times per year and I'm always confused abt what time it's gonna be. But I don't think they care.

Daylight saving time deniers should be shunned.

I like the "variety" that DST offers. Nice to mix it up, Spring fwd is a bit of a rude awakening at first (pun intended) but overall its good I think.

How was the performance?

Hadn't started school in 1967.

Fun Fact: Dick Clark graduated from Syracuse University.
Dick Clark's Legacy With His Orange Family Shines Bright in Hollywood - Syracuse University