Water, Water Everywhere

In the morning they did warn me

it would be a day of rain.

But how could I've predicted

such tumult on its way!

Stroke after stroke I pedaled

with a swift and forceful motion,

but water fell upon me

as if amidst a stormy ocean.

Water, water everywhereand not a drop to drink!Water, water everywhere,my bike did nearly sink!

And so November is upon us, and with it the November Rain. Funny, because I don't remember it being quite this bad last year, but I've probably just blocked it out. Today it rained so hard, that the water not only covered my face, but went inside my nose and mouth. Feeling as if I might drown while cycling was a curious sensation. I could hardly see anything in front of me, but thankfully drivers seemed to all be showing remarkable courtesy. Maybe they just couldn't believe that a cyclist was on the road in such a downpour and felt sorry for me.

When it is raining this hard, I prefer to be on a heavy, upright, and exceptionally stable bike.When I owned my Pashley, I often talked of how good it was for cycling in the rain. To my relief, the vintageGazelle is the same, if not better. The handling makes this bike unfellable. The enormous wheels and wide tires part lake-sized puddles, grip slippery surfaces, and float over potholes. The fenders release a mighty spray and keep my beige raincoat beige. Defiant in the downpour, I cycled with dignity even as water streamed down my face. And I arrived at my destinations only slightly worse for wear.

The other two things I like to have when cycling in the rain are good lights and a saddle cover. I was not sure how well the bottle dynamo would function when wet, but it was absolutely fine (I am beginning to develop a fondness for the bottle) - and my LED-modified headlight made me highly visible. As for the saddle cover, despite having accumulated many Brooks covers at this point, my preferred method is to use a ratty plastic grocery bag. The plastic bag performs two functions: it is more waterproof (gasp!) than a Brooks saddle cover, and it makes the bicycle look considerably less appealing to thieves. Not that many thieves would be tempted to drag away a 50lb clunker with a locked rear wheel in a downpour...

And speaking of dragging: I must say that carrying a wet, slippery 50lb bicycle up the stairs is even more delightful than doing so with a dry one. I have noticed that when it comes to lifting a heavy step-through, it is important to find a comfortable spot to grip - one that is well balanced and will prevent the bicycle from twisting or buckling in my arms as I attempt to maneuver it. Despite being heavier than my previously-owned Pashley, the Gazelle has a better "sweet spot" in this regard, and so I find it easier to carry... just not when the frame is slick from the rain. Still, I managed to wrestle the enormous Dutch creature up the stairs and through the door without either of us taking a spill, after which we had a cup of tea and recited poetry together. It is essential to have a bicycle that is more than a fair weather friend.

There Were Flowers Along the Way

This post showed some of the beautiful Central Coast along California Highway One. What was missing were photos of the flowers seen along the roadside... all taken on May 1st.






Wildflowers with a bee, just doing what a bee does.




This hillside, covered with creeping phlox and and California Poppy (the state flower of California) was beside a long drive up to someone's home - a home unseen from the road.










The sun was so bright, and the phlox was so bright, it seemed to be glowing.




On the other side of the highway were patches of more California Poppies. I don't think I had ever seen red ones before.






They were so fine and delicate looking.




I don't know what the pale purple flowers are that were growing on the fence row but they went for quite a long ways.

Sunrise at Schwabacher's Landing

After spending a full day, sunrise to sunset, in Yellowstone yesterday, we drove to Teton Village just outside of Jackson, Wyoming where we would be spending the next couple of nights. We got in pretty late, but that didn't stop us from getting up early and heading out to shoot the sunrise. Today's plan was to shoot sunrise at Schwabacher's Landing, one of the iconic photo locations in Grand Teton National Park. Schwabacher's Landing overlooks the Teton Range, with a very photogenic beaver pond in the foreground.



Upon our arrival at Schwabacher's Landing, we saw right away that we certainly weren't going to have the place to ourselves (if that's even possible!). The parking area was already full of vehicles, and we saw what looked to be about 30 photographers already set up along the first couple of bends in the trail. We squeezed our way in between the other photographers and waited for the sun to hit the peaks. After only a few more minutes the tops of the peaks started to glow as the sunlight washed down them from top to bottom. All of a sudden the silence was broken by the sound of dozens of camera shutters clicking one after the other.



Once the sunlight had worked its way to the base of the mountains I started working my way upstream, finding myself stopping again after only traveling a few steps, having seen another composition catch my eye. The going was slow in this special place, as each bend in the trail presented a whole new batch of photo opportunities.



Part-way up the trail I actually ran into someone I know from back home... Don, who owns the camera store in Duluth. He and his wife were there with some friends. I snuck up alongside Don and exhaled rather heavily, then said "Well.... its not Lake Superior, but I guess it'll do!" Don started to mutter a reply, then turned and saw that it was me. "Hey! How are you?" It was a priceless moment :-)

Wordless Wednesday :: Spiraling Downward

Madison, Indiana ~ September 1994Copyright © 1994/.. by Rebeckah R. Wiseman

Poor Van Dora ...

Wednesday, March 7th - - My decision to leave Salt Lake City yesterday morning was made the previous week. I was ready to go after five weeks researching in Genea-Mecca but in hindsight perhaps I should have waited a few more days... I was headed to California but high winds with strong gusts were forecast for all of Nevada (and much of the west) for the next two days. I could take the northern route and get into the snow storm that was predicted and coming towards Salt Lake City. Or I could take the southern route through Las Vegas then west. After checking the weather reports before leaving yesterday morning I decided the safest route would be to go south.



I haven't checked to see what the weather was like along I-80 so I don't know if my chosen route (I-15 south) was the best or safest! But I do know it sure wasn't an easy day of driving! It wasn't too bad until I got about half way to St. George, which is about 300 miles south of Salt Lake City, when the winds really picked up. By the time I got to St. George, it was definitely two-handed white-knuckle driving! Then when I got into Nevada, there were times when visibility was extremely limited due to the blowing sand. There was an amazing amount of tumbleweeds blowing down the highway too, as well as plastic bags and bottles and various other debris.



My “plan” had been to stop at Valley of Fire State Park for the night, which is about 40 miles north of Las Vegas. But there was so much sand and dirt and gravel being blown about that I decided to continue on south. I stopped just north of Las Vegas for gas and had a really rough time trying to stand in one spot to pump the gas.



I made it through Las Vegas before the rush hour and drove the 50 miles or so west to Pahrump where I wimped out and spent the night at a motel. At around five o'clock or so we had a little rain added to the wind and I was glad that I was inside, safe and dry. I learned later on the news that the wind had been steady at about 30 mph most of the day with gusts up to 75 mph – no wonder my right arm and shoulder was sore!





Poor Van Dora. She needs a bath! This is what happens when you drive in blowing sand then a little rain comes along... I didn't really think the van was all that dirty when I got out at the motel. After the rain, all of the other cars in the parking lot were in this same condition, which means that as the rain fell it must have picked up some of the sand and dust in the air. I think it was basically raining mud, at least for a short time.





Van Dora looks worse now than she did traveling on the dirt roads in Alaska!

Geckers

Geckie loves her (very fancy) humid-hide. It's filled with moist sphagnum moss and helps her shed her skin.











Plus I think she just likes the getaway. She's still not eating much though.

Click the pictures for larger leopard gecko-ness.

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Did you see the Friday Ark?

Redbud at Night

I took the dogs out about 2 am the other night and noticed that the light that had been moved recently was shining on the blossoms of the redbud. I got the camera and tried a couple of shots. Had to work with it a bit to get the right setting but thought that the effect on all 3 photos was at least different.

Critters

No Ride Too Short?

You know how these things go. You get ready for a ride. You get dressed, fill the water bottles, top up the air in your tires,stuff your phone, money and snacks into your pockets,drag your bike outside.




You're excited, because maybe it's been a while. Like maybe you've had the flu and moved house all in the same week. Like maybe life has been nothing but chaos, and your lungs have been filled with fluid, and you've been lying on the couch in a bleak coastal village in Northern Ireland with the wind howling outside, wondering what will become of you now and weeping into your mug of Ovaltine whilst watching that trippy advert of hedgehogs enjoying a pizzaon Sky TV(they took medication to manage their lactose intolerance, and now they are so happy, so happy). And you've been missing your bike with a feverish madness, running your fingers along its sleek top tube with longing on your way from sofa to bathroom and back.




But those dark times are in the past now. Because you're finally feeling good and you've managed to get it together to make time for this ride, and you're ready to go. You've maneuvered your bike through the maze of tiny rooms and awkward doorways and narrow hallways in your new dwelling (which is the antithesis of open-concept in design - a fact you normally love, except when it comes to getting the bike out of the house). And now finally, finally you get out the door and set off.




And a short while later, you come right back. Because this ride just ain't happening. You deny it at first, even though your bike is getting blown all over the road and you see the local air field has cancelled its flights for the day. You deny it even though the skies - blue and sunny above your house - have turned black as soon as you've crossed the railroad tracks. You deny it even as large chunks of hail start to hit your helmet a minute later. You deny it and push on, determined to ride your bike on this day. Only when the wind grows so strong that you are barely moving forwardand can hardly stay in your lane around the bends of the A2, do you give in all at once and admit it's over.




Rolling up to my front door less than 30 minutes later, I ask myself this question. What constitutes the difference between a non-ride, and a very short ride? In that much-quoted tome Just Ride, Grant Petersen assures us that no ride is too short, and I find the idea inspiring. But what are we talking about here - 10 miles, 5 miles, 1.7 miles? Is it a matter of the difference between what you plan to do and what you actually do? Or is it a preparation time to riding time ratio?




Well, no matter. Because damn it, I am calling this one a ride. It was certainly short, but it had a bit of everything: climbing, descending, epic weather, ruddy cheeks, exhaustion, even a tiny patch of dirt. So why not. I will leave the big miles for next time, but for now I am just glad to be back in the saddle.

Beavers

Got slides you wanta digitize?

If you've been following my blog recently then you are aware that I've been on a digitizing spree. It started in April with scanning a few photos for my mother's 80th birthday and evolved into a project to scan our family's picture albums. That's almost done, just waiting for my niece to get her part of the project completed ;-)

The next phase was started this past week with the purchase of a ScanSnap S300 scanner for digitizing my genealogy documents and correspondence. I really can't say enough about that little scanner. It is amazingly quick with very good quality. I heartily recommend it!

All the while I've been wondering how to digitize my slide collection. I've researched scanning services found online but the cost per slide (anywhere from $.35 to $.65 cents EACH) was prohibitive. Too much money. I tested the slide scanning capability of my flatbed scanner. The results were good but it took several minutes to scan each slide. Too much time. I investigated purchasing a scanner made specifically for digitizing slides. But after reading reviews and blog posts about the process have decided against that method. Too much time and too much money.

The other day a friend and I were discussing our scanning projects. She had purchased a slide scanner but gave up after scanning only a few as it took too much time. Then she mentioned that someone had told her about a place where you could get slides digitized at a very reasonable price. That place? Wal-Mart. Yeah, right. So I stopped by my local Wal-Mart store and found out that they do indeed scan slides to CD. (I don't know if every Wal-Mart has this capability though, you'll have to ask.) Their price? $2.50 for 40 slides. That's only 6.25 CENTS for each slide! To say that I was skeptical would be putting it mildly.

On Thursday, after selecting 80 slides of varying quality and subject matter, I dropped them off for processing. Yesterday I picked up the slides and their accompanying CD. I was pleasantly surprised with the quality. They are NOT high resolution archival images but they will give you a decent 4x6 printed image. And they look good on the computer screen. And, I think for my purposes they will do just fine. Very few of my slides were ever printed. I'm not interested in making large prints or prints of any size for that matter, I just want to be able to view the pictures again and enjoy re-visiting the places I've been.

The old adage "you get what you pay for" definitely applies here. You won't get archival quality images for 6 cents but you will get acceptable images for viewing on-screen. So, as I'm scanning my genealogy documents I'll also be spending some time sorting through my slides selecting those to be digitized. This may not be acceptable to you but I thought I'd present it as an alternative to the higher priced digitizing services. Try it with a selection of 40 slides and see what you think. At worst, you'll only waste $2.50 to find out if it is worthwhile for you.

Yellowstone National Park, July 1979
Copyright © 1979/.. by Rebeckah R. Wiseman

Christmas notes

Mom's tree


Mom made some horsies for the grandkids. One she had a pattern for, but the other she drew out herself, from a picture in Better Homes and Gardens magazine.


Some cute neices and a handsome nephew, from hubby's side of the family. (Technically not from Christmas, but close enough.) This is before his sister's cats started trying to eat the tree, and it had to be put up much higher.

Spring Blooms

Cherry, Apple, and Redbud blossoms before the wind hit them.