One thing led to another

Early this morning, before breakfast, I decided to water the plants in the back yard. It was exceedingly hot yesterday and as it was up to 71 degrees at 8:00 AM when I got back inside, shows signs of being just as hot today. (But I already knew it was warm from the sweat I raised do the "other.")

While I was out there diligently watering, I noticed some obnoxious weeds growing over plants that were intentionally being grown. I plucked more than pulled but spent about an hour filling my green bin. While it looks better to me without those weeds, I fear it may have been too late for some of the plants they overtook. Unfortunately, the watering leading to weeding did not include my getting my gardening gloves. Some of those weeds had spines.

Part of my watering includes filling the bird bath. It doesn't appear to be used as much as it was before cats, BC. I did see a small bird using it the other day, more from the splashing of water than actually seeing a bird, which was my primary clue that the bird was small. I don't mind priming a hunting ground for the cats as I suspect the birds are faster. At least all that they've brought in so far have been snakes.

The above then led to my sitting down to write this, which further delayed breakfast, shower, ..., and the ton of other stuff I made a mental note of before I got up this morning. In fact, thinking about all those things was the primary reason I got up as additional sleep was out of the question.

Yesterday was a very good day. It was great to wake up in a campground again even though it was the first time I had done so alone. I now have a much longer list of the things that I need to make sure I take on future motorcycle camping trips and a much shorter list of things I won't be carrying the next time. I also was shown the light, repeatedly, on why it is not a good idea to camp near the bathrooms. Even though I didn't have a flashlight or lantern, there were frequent visitors to the bathrooms who were willing to share theirs for a moment or two, long enough to halt my progress into sleep. Of course, the progress was probably more affected by the latte I had had in Cambria with dinner. It was there I learned about Plasket Creek in the first place.

I've already written about the fellow motorcyclist I met but he ended up saving me $17. He had not read the camping instructions correctly and paid only $5 for his spot instead of the $22 he was supposed to pay, which I had. (The $5 fee was for a common area for hikers and bikers, pedal pushers not motorcyclists, although she would have allowed it.) Since the ranger didn't want to take the time to wake him up and collect the rest of the fee, she was heading into town for her day off, she refunded $17 to me since I was right there.

I intended to stop in at the Big Sur Lodge for breakfast but as I passed, the road looked very much under construction and the lodge looked very closed. I even toured Carmel but a breakfast place never jumped out at me. I was still looking for one when I decided to get gas in Watsonville. Again, I didn't see any. I also didn't see a way back onto Highway 1 at my debarking point. After five miles, I was back to my exit on Highway 1, which this time I wisely didn't take. (I never did get breakfast but had a good lunch at Chez Shea in Half Moon Bay.)

Then I was home. It was so hot, the cats thought they were back in Davis. As soon as I opened the cat door, they both scampered outside and mostly stayed there. From the odor emanating from their litter box, I don't blame them for not wanting to walk by it too frequently. Cleaning the litter box is one chore that doesn't lead to any other. All I want to do afterwards is take a shower. Hey, that sounds like a plan.

Motorcycle Camping

I was glad I had my cell phone with me and was dressed for walking when I just happened to let the door close on me when I went out to turn my motorcycle this morning. It locked. Neither my daughter nor son-in-law was up yet so I went for a walk. While walking, I was able to talk with my parents, youngest sister, and her husband. I closed the conversation when I got back to their house. Since they still weren’t up, I went back out for another round. This time I tried to call one of my sisters-in-law without success. So I “tweeted” my predicament, which also posted to Facebook. One of my “friends” quickly commented: “hahahahahaha.” I have such sympathetic friends.

At my two of my gas stops I “tweeted.” At my son-in-law’s urging, I am now calling my Twitter poetry twoetry and the individual tweet poems twoems. He particularly likes the connection / connotation to it sounding like Elmer Fudd. I created a number of twoems today, some of which I actually tweeted.

In my heated
Gloves not needed,
The air is quite warm enough.

The cool sea breeze
Still didn’t please.
Its strength was its weakness.

I couldn’t see why they just slowed.
Here I am stopped on the road.
Great mileage, if I were moving.

In actual fact, I did get great mileage, 144 miles on the tank without going to my reserve tank.


I’m now camped for the very first time from my motorcycle. (See pictures.) There are a couple things besides toothpaste, floss, and sunscreen I’ve forgotten, a flashlight for one. At least I made it to the campsite before dark and there was a space. I was planning on getting into my tent before dark because there is at least one mosquito in it. Instead, I talked with a fellow motorcyclist who is riding from Arizona to his home in Canada. I picked up some great tips for long distance riding. Anyway, we talked until too dark to find a mosquito. I am using the Macbook screen as my light. At least my last two nights in my daughter’s guest bed has prepared me for my 1.75-inch Thermorest. The Thermorest may even be softer.

The Plasket Creek campground is particularly nice with nice tent areas and paved parking. I also don’t have a metal plate to put under my kickstand for soft dirt/turf parking.

There is no cell phone signal so I shut it off in order to have some juice when I finally get back to irradiation. This means that I couldn’t tweet my last two twoems. Since the moment has passed, they will probably never be “tweeted.” Here they are for your groans:

Two dogs doing it by the side of the road.
Two people watching them as they unload.
Not a pooper scooper in sight.

Who would have thought it?
Going north on 1
Is into the sun.

Keeping the shiny side up.

All atwitter

I really wasn't all atwitter on my ride down to Pasadena but I did text three messages to Twitter and via Twitter's application on to my Facebook status.  Once again I had more thoughts to tweet but didn't even have a cell phone signal at one gas stop.  (Motorcycle riding is probably as great a thinking activity as walking, at least there is plenty of time for it.  It is also a good platform to meditate on, pun intended.)

A good many of my thoughts were on Twitter, such as:  I am really impressed by the possibility of information density in a "tweet," a form of poetry, a "twery(?)."  While many people obviously don't use Twitter for anything more than, and often substantially worse than, mundane activities of their day, it could be a tool for concise, honed, well constructed observations.  While many of these constructions will be blank verse and not all that well honed as there really isn't a draft and edit process, some could be very good.  For the rhyming ones, the limited number of characters suggest an equally short rhyming scheme:  ABB or AAB.  For the latter I have two examples from my ride down:

Lack of water,

Getting hotter,

Brown is the new green.

Tumbleweeds along the fence...

Did they blow there?

Did they grow there?

I also thought that it would be cool to establish rules for a group game of chess, where a cluster of mutual followers play as a group against one person.  The one person would initiate the game with an opening move and the followers would "tweet" each of their personal moves.  Then the one person would "tweet" the majority response and his own next move.  There would have to be time limits involved to establish when the move majority can be determined.  (Unlike the Minnesota Senate race.)

Some of my other observations from the ride:  I passed a group of sheep that while all were rather close, there were distinct subgroupings of various sizes.  I couldn't help but think that it was a "clustered clusters" of sheep.  I also saw a single gas efficient car being carried by a large car hauling semi.  No wonder fuel efficient cars aren't profitable.  After the Grapevine, I was passed by a California Highway Patrol car on the right.  I knew that the posted speed limit was 65 and only looked down at my speedometer as he went by.  I was going 80.  This made me rethink what I always assumed was poor grammar in the "Speed Enforced by Aircraft."  While it obviously means speed detected by aircraft, it may be grammatically correct.  I certainly would speed up if I saw a plane coming up behind me, on the road.

My goal was to get to my daughter's and son-in-law's during daylight, which my late start, 11:30 AM, didn't help.  Once out of the Bay Area, my speed brought it back into a definite possibility, until the traffic stopped on I-210.  I was able to lane split until I finally made it to the front to find that all lanes were stopped.  
As I sat there with my motorcycle turned off, I texted my daughter to tell her I was stopped and took a couple pictures.  I had already put away my camera but would have probably missed the shot anyway when a semi rear ended a pickup truck on the opposite side.  I heard another crunch, didn't see the action, but later saw a similarly damaged black car parked to the side diagonally opposite me with another semi parked behind it.  Finally a police car with the special pushing bumper shoved a sandwiched police car to the side.  The stretcher I saw earlier may have been the cop driver.  I did not see any other damaged vehicles but I didn't do any "lookie loo" with the rather forceful reminder of what that could lead to on the other side of the expressway.

A fat lip

Well, the new faucet and disposal are in and the disposal doesn't leak like the last one.  However, I do have a slight leak in the drain piping but that is easily fixable when I want to do it, i.e., find my plumbers putty.

I was glad to have two extra hands at times with one just as I almost put the disposal on.  Thank goodness my attempt to do it myself only had the disposal land on its side on my face, my lip to be exact, which was far better than having it land on its edge anywhere on my face.  (Nose or worse teeth come to mind.)  Now I can run the dishwasher.  The best thing about the disposal is its five-year in place warrantee.

I still have a couple more things to do:  vacuum out under the sink and put a plug in the now extra hole.  (The latter I still have to buy.)  I'm not looking forward working under the sink with all those hoses and pipes but this is what I get for not having everything and doing it the best order.  At least I did the faucet before I installed the new disposal and reinstalled the drains.

Today will be R&R compared to yesterday.  We do plan on a short hike at some point but walking is fun.  Some of the consequences may not be, poison oak, but that doesn't diminish the hiking.  I think a lot of it is just being outdoors.  Except for the hiking, I spend way too much time indoors, even without working.  Once I start that again...

What am I training for?

Now that my youngest daughter and her husband are back from their Eastern trip, the time grows short before they are on their 2,600+ mile hike from the Mexican border to just across the Canadian border. Before that hike's onset, they need to complete their replenishment packages.

And either get, or stay, in shape. To this end we hiked up to the top and back down Montara Mountain from Grey Whale Cove, about ten miles, yesterday. Today we hiked along the San Andreas lakes on the San Andreas Lake Trail and the Sawyer Camp Trail. While today's hike was a little longer in mileage, it was much flatter and thus less strenuous. Its only drawback was the wind, which was quite strong. We turned around just a mile further than one of my earlier hikes on the same trails. I was glad we did. My legs were quite rubbery by the time we got back to the car.




I followed them a good bit of the way. I walked beside them some but half the paved path was just a little too narrow to do that, especially with all the traffic. I finally raced in front of them and made them stop for a picture.

I don't know whether it was normal or not but there were a lot of police and ranger traffic. One ranger stopped us and made a point of telling us that there was no camping. They said that they were just training. Today they hiked with less weight than they carried yesterday. Yesterday they plopped a couple of gallons of bottled water in each of their packs to get it up to what they anticipate will be their PCT pack weight, around 27 pounds. Today they hiked with just a shade less, around 18 pounds. At one time we were going to hike the full 16 miles round trip but with the wind and the late start, we only did 11.

If we hike at all tomorrow, it will be a shorter hike. Maybe I'll take them up to Sweeney Ridge from the Orchid Nursery parking lot. I haven't hiked from there yet myself.  I need to get more mundane things done.  While it is really stretching it to say that this entry is about anything significant, I'm sure there won't be one tomorrow.

Tweets I would have made...

Unlike my ride down where I texted a tweet at every little gas stop, I only did one this time. It seemed that whenever I had something to "tweet," my hands were busy and whenever I stopped I wanted to get back on the road. So, I'm home now and have decided to try and recapture those "tweets" I would have made had I been able to and present them here.

"T-shirt, sweatshirt, thin jacket, motorcycle jacket, heated gloves, jeans, chaps, and truly thankful for every layer."

"It's easier going 80+ with the wind than into the wind."

"Wind, rain, gusts, and bugs. The bugs make me particularly thankful for my full face helmut."

"I used my glove's squeegee on my visor with limited success. It didn't touch the water on the inside."

"The chaps protected my legs from the water. The jacket protected my torso and arms. The helmut protected my head. The gloves protected my hands. About the only thing that got wet was my crotch."

"Concentrating animals in feed lots and feeding them also concentrates the scent of their having been fed."

"This was the first trip where the Grapevine hills were some other color than gold. They were actually green."

I had to stop for a while. Napoleon, the cat, was typing more than I was. It's just as well, my memory was running down.

"I had a latte and now have another activity before which I will never ever again drink anything with caffeine in it."

"One bug managed to avoid being splattered on my helmut by ducking inside it."

"I wonder if anyone's neck has been broken by the wind as the lane to one's side was checked prior to changing lanes. Well, I guess if a neck is broken there wouldn't be any intentional lane change."

Twitter and Facebook

I joined Facebook because one of Marilyn's friends invited me to do so. Indeed, I have reconnected with a number of people from my past as well as a few of my children's friends. I am using it as it was truly intended, social networking, and as a gateway for more. It was through Facebook that I arranged for one of my youngest daughters friends to check in on her cats while I was away visiting my oldest daughter in Pasadena. (Her birthday is tomorrow, although that was not the only reason I came down.)

I signed up for Twitter through Twitter's Facebook application for the express purpose of being able to update both Twitter and Facebook through Twitter with my Spot OK/Location message. In a test at my house and again in Pasadena, the Spot message did not show up on Twitter or Facebook. I get an error when I try to forward the Spot message that shows up on my cell phone and the cell phone message doesn't have the Google Maps url like the email message does.

I have used Twitter for texting messages to both Twitter and via Twitter to Facebook. Somehow it is easier to send a text message to Twitter than it is to Facebook, primarily because I can type 40404 much faster than select the Facebook url from my contact list on my phone. I have sent a "question" to Twitter to see if they do have a way I can send my Spot message to Twitter and have it associated with my ID, @dewline172. (Now you have my username if you want to "follow" me on Twitter.

I'm meeting my daughter for lunch tomorrow so I need to find out how to get to the restaurant she wants to meet at.

Catching up

While I'm waiting for my B-12 sublingual pill to dissolve, I thought I would try and catch up on some things I actually wrote out late Saturday while at The Nose.

It wasn't an interview, although after my education on the better wines, there may be a job, after he gets some licenses. Basically the job is coordinating and conducting tastings for the proprietors at the discerning eating establishments to get them to buy the quality wines that The Nose specializes in. Stefan is a good guy, extremely knowledgeable/passionate about wine, and good friends with my oldest daughter and her husband. (They are also good customers.)



I went to The Nose to meet with Stefan Yim and also to have dinner. Stefan and I talked off and on through the evening but as The Nose became very busy, he was up serving and educating customers quite a bit. My dinner consisted of an asparagus soup, an artichoke/frisee with blood orange salad, and a coconut froth (instead of whipped cream) with berries dessert. There were other non-vegan options, including a spread of specialty cheeses, but all the food, including the vegan varieties, were constructed to complement the wine. Just like the wine, the food emphasized the natural flavors with the dessert not sweetened to perfection.

The flight of three wines that I had, an organic Tajinaste, a biodynamic Corbieres L' Enclos from the Domaine des Deux Anes, and a biodynamic Cahors by Clos Siguier, were fantastic and weren't all that much more expensive than the wines that give a person a hangover. The key to drinking fine wine of any year is to let it breathe sufficiently, which makes for a much more leisurely and thus more enjoyable meal.

I now have a preservative that will allow me to enjoy a good wine without having to finish off the bottle, which I don't do and thus haven't had any wine when by myself. Still, its not nearly as much fun to eat and drink alone. My oldest daughter and son-in-law joined me for a glass of wine nightcap.

I really enjoyed the People watching, something I've rarely spent any time doing since college. There was one couple who came in on the recommendation of The Nose's sign board carrier who actually gave him a tip when he came in to put up his sign. I saw him when I walked to The Nose interacting with a potential customer. He also seemed quite passionate and his recommendation appeared to be well received.

The Nose is closed on Sundays and Mondays, however, the chef, who hopes to have a website up by early May (http://www.collectivecuisine.com), didn't leave until midnight and had to be up at 5:00 AM to prepare for his catering a buffet to food critics. He is also working on a cookbook. His menu at The Nose changes seasonally with the ingredients that are available, mostly organic, in the season. Of course, this is California and a lot of freshly grown foods are available year round.

Even in advance of any actual work, I will be creating a group on Facebook for The Nose. It just seems like the right, and fun, thing to do.




Yesterday we went to the Huntington Gardens, well, Estate, although we only toured some of the gardens. On a previous visit here with Marilyn, we all went in the palace of a house and toured the museum and library inside. This time we spent a considerable amount of time touring their arid plants, some of the pictures can be seen in my Facebook album. I also have pictures of some of the other sections we toured, including the new addition of the Chinese Garden where all the rocks are imported from China, but not nearly as many. A lot of the plants were beautiful with blooms and a lot great smells, not that I put my nose into any, particularly in any on the cacti.

Today my son-in-law is off to Seattle and my daughter is at Cal Tech working. She also has her choir practice tonight so I'm on my own for the day, the entire day. I was thinking about going for a ride, but may just take a long walk. If it turns into anything significant, I'll be certain to let you know.

In Pasadena

A short post before I head out to dinner at "The Nose," http://thenoseknowswine.tv , and to talk with the owner Stefan Yim.

The ride down was uneventful but windy. My upper arms are feeling the effect more than my legs. Except for the three stops for gas, it would definitely have been my fastest trip. I could barely keep up with the cars and they were mostly going 80+.

I pressed the Spot "OK" button when I arrived. The Google Map and Satellite Picture is at this URL: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=34.1663,-118.136&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

Enjoy your day! I have!

Plenty of vitamin D

Yesterday afternoon I went out to mow my back yard and decided that I didn't want all those broad leaf weeds, with their seeds, in my compost pile. I then proceeded to get my gardening gloves that Marilyn bought me one of the times we went to Sloat's Nursery, on Sloat Ave. across from the San Francisco Zoo, a weeding tool, and marched over most of my backyard lawn on my knees. After about two and one half hours, my green bin was about 2/3 full of noxious broad leaf weeds. I didn't even dig them all out as I still mowed the lawn, got cleaned up, ate, fed the cats, and still made it to Toastmasters. Ever since I saw the professionals mow the yard, I have been doing what they did, mowing it twice. First I go back and forth one way and then back and forth perpendicular to the previous direction. This mowing also required back and forth over one section diagonally to the previous two directions.

This morning I fertilized the fuchsias, filled the bird bath, put shredded newspaper over the grass clippings in the compost pile, and watered the plants, including the compost pile. As I was doing that, I noticed some more broadleaf weeds that I just had to pull. Again I limited myself to literally one handful as I had a variety of indoor tasks to complete and packing for my motorcycle trip south.

At one time I was going to go along the coast and camp in the Big Sur area but since the timing of my trip requires that I be down there on Tuesday, returning on Wednesday, and I want to get at least one day of visiting in, I'm now just planning on a leisurely one full day trip all the way there tomorrow, Saturday. This will be a closer simulation of my planned cross-country ride in June. It will also tell me whether or not I'm in shape to ride long distances or whether I still need to exercise more.

As I'm planning on exercising more anyway, whether I need to or not is moot. I am up to the third level of the Pushup Pro but am not yet doing the full number, unless I do two sessions. (Most often I only do one.)

Gas prices are shooting up around here again but I'm still going to ride my motorcycle. It gets around 35 miles to the gallon driving California Expressway speeds where the Prius gets around 48. While I don't get to listen to anything, I still have more fun on my motorcycle.

With all of my time outdoors yesterday, I got so much vitamin D that I had to put aloe gel on my face. I'm still taking vitamin D supplements with all my other supplements but probably should look into what getting too much vitamin D might do to me.

Someone sent me instructions for linking Twitter and Facebook as a way to post Spot "OK" location messages into Facebook. There is a technical problem with the Facebook application, which has so far prevented me from completing the steps. Once I can complete it, I intend to use the Spot more on local walks and other motorcycle trips besides the big one this summer.

This is as far as I got on the San Andreas and Crystal Springs trails on April 1st. http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=37.5628,-122.397&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1 I have some pictures posted on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2008035&id=1288023430&l=308b96d1c6.

Well back to the preparing...