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#951
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AG: Spring is here
On Sat, 06 Apr 2019 20:37:30 -0400, Joy Beeson
wrote: If we ever have another dry Friday. Friday was wet again, so I went on Saturday -- and not until I tried to open the door did I remember that Duck, Down, and Above isn't open on weekends. Ah well, it was a glorious day for a ride, and I learned that when I come back with two panniers of frozen stuff, I want to go up on the west side of the lake and come back on the east. The eastern route is much shorter, and the hill on 200 W is easier northbound. I looked at it southbound, chickened out, and took 400 N to 300 W. More total climbing, but not all in one piece. By coming back on the west side, I arrived at home with piled-up panniers anyway. I bought Open Air Nursery and Greenhouses out of annual rye grass seed -- three pounds -- got peanuts in the shell at Carniceria San Jose', went to Zales -- they were out of AREDS2, but I found a back-up for my Levothyroxin pill planner. The old one is still in perfect condition, but this is the first one I've seen in at least five years, so I thought it wise to buy it and stash it away. Besides, you can't tell that plastic is wearing out until it breaks. The final fill was at Owen's, where I re-arranged my panniers to make space for cream and cheese, then went back in and bought a gallon of milk. Stacy's Sports Bar won't be open until next week, if then, but I had a nice ham-in-cheese sauce "pizza pod" or "pizza pop" at the Marathon station. The wrapping wasn't pizza dough, and I'm pretty sure it wasn't even yeast bread. More like croissant than like biscuit, not at all like pie crust. -- joy beeson at comcast dot net http://wlweather.net/PAGESEW/ The above message is a Usenet post. I don't recall having given anyone permission to use it on a Web site. |
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#952
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AG: Spring is here
On Mon, 15 Apr 2019 21:35:35 -0400, Joy Beeson
wrote: Stacy's Sports Bar won't be open until next week, if then, but I had a nice ham-in-cheese sauce "pizza pod" or "pizza pop" at the Marathon station. On Tuesday, I went again and bought 7.5 pounds of apple & brie stuffed chicken breasts. (5 oz. times twenty-four.) Baked two for supper, which was a bit late because I didn't get home until 16:41 and baking chicken takes an hour. Luckily, Spouse was having a snack when I got home, and didn't mind eating a few minutes later than usual. Stacy's was open, but I didn't feel like socializing, and I didn't want to put a warm half-a-sandwich in with my frozen food, so I went to Marathon again. A "pizza puff" is exactly enough food, I get it instantly, and I can sit on a stool overlooking my bike and eat it with my homebrew tea. (slow-simmered green gunpowder tea with a squeeze of honey and a rounded quarter teaspoon of ascorbic acid) I was kinder tempted by the potato wedges. Reminds me of the time I pointed at what I thought were potato wedges in a Marathon station, and got french-fried mini tacos. Then when I was leaving Marathon, I noticed "we're open again!" signs all over "Little New York Family Restaurant", which has been closed for so long that I didn't know it existed. So I've gone from having no place to eat in Leesburg to having five. But Hop Lore is never open before noon, and is open before 16:00 only three days a week. I came back by Old Fifteen, which requires me to use SR 15 from Clearwater Drive to Sheldon Drive; not *too* bad if you feel like sprinting, but I was sorry, for the last few yards, that there was no place to walk. I went into Walmart to refill my bottle and looked for a dandelion digger, only to find that they have been improved beyond use. A weeding knife is supposed to be a rod with a handle, flattening out to a blade about an inch wide (a quarter of a decimeter), with the end cut into a wide, flat V shape. At first glance I thought "Oh, *this* one won't bend!" but closer inspection showed that the rod zig-zagged all over the place, and instead of a blade, the rod ended in a deer-hoof sort of slit. Judging by the prices of trowels etc., it also cost twice as much as a real dandelion digger would have. The green onions are ready -- what am I going to dig them with? Ordinarily, I cross SR 15 from Jalynn onto 250 N, and cross US 30 on Anchorage, but when I came up by that route on Saturday, nine hundred feet of Bell Drive were torn up, and I had to walk way out in the field to get around the construction, which had littered up wide swaths on both sides of the road with machines and supplies. I could see cars in a parking lot at the corner, and persisted, thinking "If they can get in, I can get out", but when I got to the lot I saw that they had gotten in over freshly-poured, well fluffed gravel, and I had to walk most of Rainbow Drive too. Okay, I can ride on SR 15 to the other end of Anchorage, just bear in mind that the first stoplight is a snare and a delusion. I got past the first stoplight, deftly avoiding cars that wanted to use the on ramp, passed under Thirty, there's the second light and what's this? Zero traffic as far as the eye can see! What a good time to get into the left-turn lane -- and get trapped on the median of a road that doesn't have a median. It's the first light *after the bridge* that is a snare and a delusion. And all the missing traffic is back; nothing for it but to dismount and wait for a chance to sprint to the left-hand ditch. Google Maps says I walked 931.2 feet, but it felt a lot farther than that, what with being right on the very steep verge of a very deep ditch, on rough and uncertain ground, through ankle-high weeds. But the rest of the trip was uneventful. Which is just as well; I started feeling a bit tired before I got home. -- joy beeson at comcast dot net http://wlweather.net/PAGESEW/ The above message is a Usenet post. I don't recall having given anyone permission to use it on a Web site. |
#953
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English Usage: was: AG: Spring is here
On Mon, 15 Apr 2019 21:35:35 -0400, Joy Beeson
wrote: I looked at it southbound, chickened out, and took 400 N to 300 W. It's a very firm idiom, in English, to say "take" instead of "use" when we are talking about roads. It would be odd to say "I used 400 N to get to 300 W.", and downright ungrammatical to say "I used 400 N to 300 W." So it's natural to say "take the lane" when we mean "use the whole lane" -- but it's equally natural for people to hear the *other* meaning of "take", and some folks say "sieze" when they are quoting us. The signs on McKinley get it right when they say "Bicycles may use entire lane." Note that the word is "may", not "must". -- Joy Beeson joy beeson at comcast dot net http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/ |
#954
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AG: Mother, dear mother, pray make my bed soon
What a difference was yesterday's ride! There aren't a lot of hills on the route, but the wind was so ferocious that I had to walk a few gentle grades between Oswego and Leesburg. One rest stop in Oswego, where I changed to walking shoes, (wise, because the route from Oswego to Leesburg was entirely upwind, and no tree or buildings), I stopped just long enough to buy frozen duck in Leesburg, walked around in Walmart, discovered that their only bench was occupied, found a courtesy wheelchair at the other entrance and perched in it just long enough to eat two of the four "pinwheels" I'd bought. (Good old American food: "Italian style" sandwich filling wrapped in flour tortillas.) Then nonstop home, where I arrived bright and cheerful. I haven't measured it yet, but it's at *least* a quarter century. And we aren't quite out of April. I'll be going to Spring Creek by the end of May! I might even go to Mentone. It's like being sixty again. -- Joy Beeson joy beeson at comcast dot net http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/ |
#955
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AG: Mother, dear mother, pray make my bed soon
On Sat, 27 Apr 2019 22:27:38 -0400, Joy Beeson
wrote: I haven't measured it yet, but it's at *least* a quarter century. 27.1 miles, give or take. There's a lot of places where the route Google measured wasn't exactly the route I took -- I left off the lap around the parking lot behind a grammer school after I mistook a driveway for 300 N, for example. At the time I muttered that I should have brewed stronger tea, but it *was* the first time I've gone south on 150 W. And everybody *else* was turning. Google couldn't plot the section that ended with me following a pickup through a card-operated gate. The gate behind DePuy used to be one-way: you could leave, but you needed an employee card to get in. The gates were primarily symbolic, like the gates at a railroad crossing except that they swung horizontally instead of vertically. But since my last visit, they have put in serious gates, they've stopped leaving them open with only a sign asking people to check in, and they've added a chain-link fence. (The campus is entirely open to everybody on the other side.) So from now on, I'll have to go to 250 E and come back again. And the extra miles are on US 30 on one side and Old 30 on the other. On a more-cheerful note, the busnesses in Sprawl Three got together and paid to have the bomb craters on Commerce Drive replaced with smooth new pavement. *And* the City of Warsaw has promised to keep it that way. The jog and split just before the Marathon station will no longer require me to turn right and left at the same time. After measuring my distance, I fiddled with the settings and changed the units. 43.6 kilometers is a *much* more impressive ride! I've jumped from a tad more than a quarter century to almost half a metric century! Pity Google Maps doesn't have the option of using furlongs, rods, or smoots. Just looked up "smoots" to make sure I was spelling it right, and Wikipedia says Google *does* offer smoots. But it's not on the menu. I'd ruther have fathoms. -- joy beeson at comcast dot net http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/ The above message is a Usenet post. I don't recall having given anyone permission to use it on a Web site. |
#956
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AG: Bikes are not special
When the first roundabout in town was built, there was much fuss and feathers over how confusing it would be until people learned the arcane new rules. But roundabouts function by exactly the same rule as everywhere else: if there is no "yield" sign, the vehicle in the road and moving has right-of-way over the vehicle that wants to enter. I will confess that the first time I encountered the roundabout, I pulled into a parking lot and studied it for a while before I re-entered the roadway and went through. And a couple of years later, I felt rather queer again the first time I went through it in a car. And now, every time I stop at the light at the intersection of Park, Winona, Argonne, and King's Highway, I shout "Come on, Roundabout!" It's on the town's to-do list, but it's going to take a while to raise the money. Whenever people get confused over the rules of the road for bicycles, it's because they are trying to make it too complicated. A bike is a vehicle, and it follows vehicle rules: slower traffic keep right, turn left from the left-turn lane, be alert at intersections and don't enter when it isn't your turn, get out of the way of emergency vehicles, don't zig-zag, don't ride into the side of a moving train. We really, really need signs up saying that there is a fine for crashing into the side of a train. The last time this happened, the newspaper actually referred to the miscreant as "the victim" of the "accident"! And, as far as the Time-Union knows, all he's going to be charged with is public intoxication. -- joy beeson at comcast dot net http://wlweather.net/PAGESEW/ The above message is a Usenet post. I don't recall having given anyone permission to use it on a Web site. |
#957
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AG: Bikes are not special
On 04/05/2019 11:52 p.m., Joy Beeson wrote:
When the first roundabout in town was built, there was much fuss and feathers over how confusing it would be until people learned the arcane new rules. But roundabouts function by exactly the same rule as everywhere else: if there is no "yield" sign, the vehicle in the road and moving has right-of-way over the vehicle that wants to enter. The issue comes when there is no opening to get into the roundabout. when I first moved to Boston, I remember a comedian Lenny Clarke doing a routine about his battlecar galactica. He was talking about the Route 1 rotary (roundabout in Boston speak) and he advised to wait until you have a car coming that's way more expensive than yours and then pull out. Seemed to work for me. Though I would not ride my bike through that rotary at rush hour. I will confess that the first time I encountered the roundabout, I pulled into a parking lot and studied it for a while before I re-entered the roadway and went through. And a couple of years later, I felt rather queer again the first time I went through it in a car. And now, every time I stop at the light at the intersection of Park, Winona, Argonne, and King's Highway, I shout "Come on, Roundabout!" It's on the town's to-do list, but it's going to take a while to raise the money. They converted a 4-way stop on my commute to a roundabout. When driving I prefer that but on a bike, the 4-way stop was a lot simpler. They have a tendency to "beautify" them here with trees and things in the center so you can't see across. Driving at a normal speed the line of sight is enough. On a bike, not so much. Whenever people get confused over the rules of the road for bicycles, it's because they are trying to make it too complicated. A bike is a vehicle, and it follows vehicle rules: slower traffic keep right, turn left from the left-turn lane, be alert at intersections and don't enter when it isn't your turn, get out of the way of emergency vehicles, don't zig-zag, don't ride into the side of a moving train. We really, really need signs up saying that there is a fine for crashing into the side of a train. The last time this happened, the newspaper actually referred to the miscreant as "the victim" of the "accident"! And, as far as the Time-Union knows, all he's going to be charged with is public intoxication. |
#958
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AG: Bike Lanes
If the car in the lane to your left is uncomfortably close, or if it appears to be slowing down -- hit the brakes, hard. The driver is planning to turn right, and he is not planning to wait until you get out of his way. -- Joy Beeson joy beeson at comcast dot net http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/ |
#959
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AG: Fat and Skinny Tires
Today was the middle day of the Fat and Skinny Fest, parts if which are somewhat similar to what September Century Weekend was before the power-hungry decided that it was attracting the wrong kind of new members to the League Against Bicycling. I think that this is the fourteenth or fifteenth Fat and Skinny, and the organizers have their act together. Unlike most of the festivals in this tourist town, they did *NOT* block Park Avenue, and though I veered off onto the Heritage Trail, there wasn't any obstruction on that either, until I got to Canal Street -- and I'd have needed to get off and walk anyway, because Canal Street is one way the other way. And I wanted to see what was going on at the festival. I think I would have gone on the historical tour if I had been able to find out when it started in time to schedule my nap to not co-incide. I found out by reading a poster on the registration tent on my way to the farmers' markets. For supper, we shared an excellent tenderloin that I bought at one of the food booths. We got my Trek Pure ("pedal-powered wheelchair") down so that I'd have a basket to carry the food in, and so that I could get back before it got cold. This was a last-minute impulse, after I'd put on walking pants incompatible with the Fugi. Now I need to find a place to put the stuff that accumulated in the detachable basket over the winter. I found a pencil sharpener that I replaced months ago. Perhaps I'll put it back into the basket, along with the dressing comb. (Knock wood: the shots that kept me off the Pure all winter are still holding, and it's been safe to take more shots ever since January.) While I was preparing for my nap, I heard, on the sewing-room scanner, an officer being dispatched to investigate a complaint of bicycles being too far out into the roadway. The dispatcher quoted the complaining party as saying "I could have killed one if I'd wanted to." This isn't our most-professional dispatcher. There was a distinct, if subtle, "oh, what a maroon" in her tone of voice. -- Joy Beeson joy beeson at comcast dot net http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/ |
#960
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AG: Ride Report: Farmers' Markets
No time to write, I wanna ride! Not that I've been riding much. It's been raining every day, and it's been a *cold* rain. Since I have no wool clothing, I dare not get wet on a cold day. But today was glorious. It was actually hot, and I put the shirt and tights I was wearing into the washer to rinse out the sweat. And while I was hanging them up to dry (and discovering that these tights have a pocket and I'd left a handkerchief in the pocket), I was informed that thunderstorms are due in twenty minutes. So I'm glad I left my bottle of tea at home and came back in time for lunch (scrambled-egg patty with a tablespoon of potato flakes, sausage, onion leaves, celery leaves, a snip of minced jalapen~o, frozen corn, and lots of butter). I've been out in a thunderstorm, and I'm really interested in NOT making this report THAT interesting. As it was, while I was preparing to leave the courthouse market, the signs blocking off Center street walked out into the middle of Buffalo. A couple of people dragged them back and removed the sail-like banner between them. But the wind was going the same way I was and I didn't notice it again. When I was walking along the sidewalk toward Hickory Street (a two-way street which connects to a street that connects to Fort Wayne, which is one way my way), I was overtaken by a party on bikes riding the wrong way on Main Street. They crossed Hickory without any sign that they were aware that they were crossing two travel lanes and a railroad track, and continued the wrong way on Main, skimming as close to parked cars as they could. Surprisingly, I recall only two bike fatalities since we moved here in 2001. Soon after our arrival, someone was killed where a concealed bike path crossed a major road, and just recently a man rode a bicycle into the car behind the third engine of a train, and a few days later died in one of the hospitals in Fort Wayne. But wrong-way riders are rare enough to be worth mentioning. Hmm . . . it's seventeen minutes later, and I had to turn a light on to read my notes. Weather prediction is *really* good these days! It's getting to be a habit: I was distracted by the "bike lane" on Fort Wayne street and missed my turn again. I cut across on an alley and zig-zagged back to Poppy Street, which I believe is the last street that connects to Arthur. Somewhere between the fairgrounds market and the courthouse market I got an idea for a column. On some forum or the other, some fellow just couldn't wrap his mind around the concept of four-way stops. No matter how we explained it, he said "But nobody can ever pass through the intersection! Everybody has to wait until everybody else has gone!" Stop signs don't say "Stop and wait until nobody is around.". They say "Stop, and wait until IT'S YOUR TURN.". I hope that little slip of paper doesn't get lost among the other untranscribed notes before I've written the post. -- Joy Beeson joy beeson at comcast dot net http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/ |
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