Saturday

Sunday, 21 March 2021

Every time I dress for the bike, I think that I'll miss those five
extra pockets when it's warm enough to wear only one jersey.
But what I use the extra pockets for is mostly spare handkerchiefs,
and I won't need so many in warm weather. I vividly remember a spring
when I was coming back from a long ride and was on Wooster Road not
far from the place where it becomes 7th Street. I pulled my
handkerchief out of my pocket, and was startled that it was a brown
napkin: this was the first time that day that I had seen it.

---------------

Saturday was a perfect day for an all-day ride, but Duck, Down, and
Above isn't open on weekends. I could have gone on Friday, but I'd
done my very first drive-to-two-grocery-stores-and-go-right-inside
trip on Thursday, and didn't feel up to getting ready.

But I had two cans of "aspic" cat food that were really carageenan,
and Al had caught on that carageenan isn't food. He has shown that
he'd rather starve to death than eat something that isn't food, he's
older than I am, measured by life expectancy, and I can buy cat food
in more than one store now, so I decided to dump the aspic at the
animal shelter, come back by way of Sprawlmart (after getting two cans
of cat food at Tractor Supply, which is just across US 30 from the
shelter), and continue into Warsaw to buy supper at Bomy Singh's
Authentic Indian Food.

I went by way of Wilcox Road to make the ride longer, and because
traffic on Pierceton Road is at exactly the maximum-annoyance volume:
sparse enough that every overtaking car is an emergency, heavy enough
that the emergencies come one right after another.

Turning back onto Wooster Road from the animal shelter, I cut through
the trailer park to make the route a bit less monontonously familiar.
In doing so, I noticed that my front derailleur was sticking when I
shifted onto the smaller ring, presumably because I hardly ever use
the small ring, so I flipped back and forth between the rings, and it
did loosen up, but after a bit I shifted incautiously and unshipped
the chain.

I hope I have time to forget what I learned next before I need the
information again.

1. If, in attempting to get the chain back on the chainwheel, you
flip the chain off on the other side, stop fiddling with the lever
immediately and get off the bike. Hand cleaner I carry, a crank
puller I don't.

The chain was wedged in pretty good, but by following it around and
trying to get the loose bit on the small chainwheel and fiddling with
the lever, I got it into a state where a mighty heave got it out.

2. Take your gloves off before setting to work. Grease can be gotten
off hands, but not gloves, and if all else fails, greasy hands can be
put inside clean gloves to keep from staining your jersey. I was
obliged to finish the ride without gloves because I was wearing my
best jersey. Luckily, the weather had gotten fairly warm by then, and
I might have taken them off anyway. (I think I got some grease on the
jersey before I wised up, but I was forthoughty enough to edge all the
pocket openings with black linen, so there are no stains.)

3. And the timeless: get your hand cleaner out of your pocket before
getting your hands dirty.

My hand cleaner is a lip-salve box of A&D ointment, which comes in
handy for many other uses.

Pause in narration to put gloves into a bucket and pour the detergent
for an entire load on them. Tomorrow is wash day.


Monday, 22 March, 2021

And I never got back to the computer. This morning I put enough water
in the bucket to float the gloves, and I've been shaking the bucket at
intervals while I sorted and washed the first load, which will
interrupt the narrative any minute now to put in the second load and
hang the first load on the line.

(Yes, I hear it beginning to spin.)

I was planning on a Taco Bell chalupa for lunch, but by the time I got
to Sprawlmart, I was too hungry to wait, so I ordered a small fries at
McDonald's to tide me over while I went through the dollar store and
rode the full length of Sprawlmart.

-----------

The gloves came out surprisingly clean, and I laid them on the pile of
gloves to dry.

Now it's nap time.

-----------

I opened one of the cans of food, and it was composed of sand-hard
grains. Al eats about half of each serving, but I put the other can
on the shelf of things to be gotten rid of.

By the time I got to Taco Bell, I was tired and the place looked
crowded. I reflected that it wouldn't be long before I got home and
didn't stop -- but that made the purchase of supper at Bomy Sing's
rather early. I bought a platter, and paid a dollar extra for a
spill-proof plate. I ate my half as soon as I got home, put the rest
in the fridge, and went to bed. When I woke up, Dave had just
finished his half.

We agree: I am definitely going back. Next time I'll try ordering a
twelve-ounce container and side dishes, and take a half-gallon
semi-disposable food box to put the container in in case it leaks.

There is some sort of seed in the rice. I'll have to look around the
grocery section to see what it is. That is the longest-grain rice I
have ever seen, and thinner than common long-grain rice.



--
Joy Beeson
joy beeson at centurylink dot net
http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/

On 3/22/2021 11:19 PM, Joy Beeson wrote:

Sunday, 21 March 2021

Every time I dress for the bike, I think that I'll miss those five
extra pockets when it's warm enough to wear only one jersey.
But what I use the extra pockets for is mostly spare handkerchiefs,
and I won't need so many in warm weather. I vividly remember a spring
when I was coming back from a long ride and was on Wooster Road not
far from the place where it becomes 7th Street. I pulled my
handkerchief out of my pocket, and was startled that it was a brown
napkin: this was the first time that day that I had seen it.

One of the many indignities of aging seems to be a runny nose while
cycling. At least, it affects my wife and me, and I don't remember the
problem occurring when I was a spry 50-something.

My solution has been to load four or five paper towels into the
handlebar bag before a ride. They serve as hankies and as hand wipes and
forehead wipes and probably more.

(BTW, nice coinage: "forthoughty" - except I think it needs an "e" as in
"forethoughty.")


--
- Frank Krygowski

On Tue, 23 Mar 2021 13:42:43 -0400, Frank Krygowski
wrote:

(BTW, nice coinage: "forthoughty" - except I think it needs an "e" as in
"forethoughty.")

Missing "e" is a typo.

I'm sure I didn't originate the word, but can't remember where I read
it.

--
Joy Beeson
joy beeson at centurylink dot net
http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/

On Monday, March 22, 2021 at 10:19:14 PM UTC-5, Joy Beeson wrote:
Sunday, 21 March 2021

Every time I dress for the bike, I think that I'll miss those five
extra pockets when it's warm enough to wear only one jersey.
But what I use the extra pockets for is mostly spare handkerchiefs,
and I won't need so many in warm weather. I vividly remember a spring
when I was coming back from a long ride and was on Wooster Road not
far from the place where it becomes 7th Street. I pulled my
handkerchief out of my pocket, and was startled that it was a brown
napkin: this was the first time that day that I had seen it.

---------------

Saturday was a perfect day for an all-day ride, but Duck, Down, and
Above isn't open on weekends. I could have gone on Friday, but I'd
done my very first drive-to-two-grocery-stores-and-go-right-inside
trip on Thursday, and didn't feel up to getting ready. \\

Were these only stores within distance ?
Or did the stores change while you were gone?
what how do you carry the cans or other containers in.

mk5000

We know all the people. We know all the good people. It's a question I asked the doctors before. Some of the people we cut, they haven't been used for many, many years, and if we ever need them, we can get them very quickly. And rather than spending the money — I'm a businessperson, I don't like having thousands of people around when you don't need 'em, when we need 'em, we can get them back very quickly.
Donald Trump, 2020, about his consistent budget cuts, 2020 to the CDC, 2020, the NIH, and the WHO, 2020.
White House press conference, 2020-02-26, quoted in Jonathan Chait (28 February 2020), "As the World Reaches for Face Masks, Trump Buries His Head in the Sand", New York Magazine

On Sat, 1 May 2021 18:33:59 -0700 (PDT), marika
wrote:

Were these only stores within distance ?
Or did the stores change while you were gone?
what how do you carry the cans or other containers in.

There are three grocery stores in town, two of the big-box stores have
full grocery departments, most of the other big boxes and all of the
dollar stores sell some groceries, and there are a few specialist food
stores.

I can't go into big-box stores yet -- well, I did go into Lowe's
yesterday, but a store with aisles meant for fork lifts isn't exactly
"inside". I intended to look around in Menard's too, but there was a
twenty-mile-an-hour wind out of the north, I have just enough
horsepower to average five miles an hour (yesterday was a bike trip),
and the last quarter mile or so before I got to the cluster of stores
on Husky Trail was dead north. So I bought the things that can only
be bought at Aldi and went straight home without going to Martin's
first or Kroger after. Slept like a rock and got up feeling good even
though I had missed my nap yesterday, and had dined on my emergency
bars.

I did go to Kroger today. I had a hot pork dinner in my pannier, so I
just got milk and other urgent things and didn't shop for canned food.
Had only one pannier to put stuff in anyway.

The wind was out of the south today, so I didn't notice it until I
turned toward home. I was tempted to hazard the Heritage Trail to
avoid sprinting on Park Avenue, but after fighting the wind from The
Entrance to the Boathouse, I didn't think I was alert enough to deal
with all the intersections, not to mention that I didn't want to get
that wind square off the lake. Turned out that I was the only one
coming in, so nobody rode my tail while I slowly fought my way through
the narrow space between the parked cars.

Until fairly recently we've been living on curbside orders from
Martin's, which my spouse picked up, and things our niece brought us
from Aldi. She swore that she had to go there anyway to get groceries
for her parents, and it wasn't extra trouble. She also brought me
books from the library.

I'm not sure what you mean by "what how do you carry the cans or other
containers in." On the first "drive to two stores" trip that started
this thread, I put stuff into canvas bags that I carry in the car.
Yesterday, I took the cart to my parking place and packed stuff
directly into my wire panniers, frozen sausage and cold things in the
insulated pannier, canned goods and so forth in the other one, lettuce
and cabbage on top in plastic bags tied firm by running their handles
between wires, and avocados tucked into the plastic bag of plastic
bags that unsulates the top of the insulated pannier.

It's fifteen minutes before bedtime; I hope this post makes sense.

--
Joy Beeson
joy beeson at centurylink dot net
http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/

Oh man, I feel you on missing those extra pockets when the weather gets warm! I'm always like a squirrel tryin' to stash little odds and ends when I'm out on the bike. Those spare hankies are handy for wiping sweat or getting trail grime off my shades. But I gotta admit, pulling out a random brown napkin gave me a good chuckle!

Reminds me of last spring when it was getting toasty and I didn't feel like wearing my heavy winter jacket anymore. Stuffed the pockets with snacks, naturally. A few miles in, I reached back expecting to grab a granola bar...and pulled out a smooshed peanut butter and jelly sandwich that must've been in there for months! Talk about startling.

But hey, warm weather riding is its own reward. We'll just have to get creative finding other places to squirrel away our stuff, even if it means a surprise napkin-hanky once in a while! Maybe time to bust out those dorky handlebar bags. Though I suppose I'll miss finding those long-lost snacks too...

Here's to more spring joyrides ahead! Let those single layers and surprise pocket finds roll in!electric masturbator