Biking/Spinning, Biking/Spinning

7 am

                And so it continues. I rode 37 miles yesterday, up to the Sunderland bridge and back. It was a miserable slog to tell the truth. I think that may have been because I was wearing the stretchy bike shorts that K bought, which are thus men’s, and were not at all the thing. They were really uncomfortable. I may have to buy another pair of good ones so that I am not stuck with just one for the whole week. Still don’t know if there is any kind of laundry available, or any way to dry things if it does rain on us. I just looked on the facebook page and got myself even more overwhelmed bc there were all kinds of questions that I had never even thought about. Well, it is just going to be what it is going to be.

                I think I will try to get in a ride this am before it rains, which is forecasted for afternoon. Before that I need to feed buns, eat something, really that is all I must do. All the other stuff could wait until after, though the trouble is that when I get home I am usually so frigging exhausted that I can’t do much of anything. I ought to take something out of the freezer for supper. We went to see Superman last night and had Arizona Pizza before. It was really dumb. Or anyway way longer than it needed to be. Could have done with about 1/10 of the fighting. But I guess all that was not in there for the likes of me. I nearly walked out about ¾ of the way through, and to be honest I wish I had. I could have sat quietly in the lobby until the others came out. Oh well.

                Started in on splitting credit card bills so that is good, I will do the rest today while the rain falls. And I finished spinning the orange angora! So now I can start in on the purple lichen-dyed. I might decide to ply it with some purplish silk; I’ll play with different options.

                Better eat bfast now so it can digest before I leave. I picked strawberries on the way home from yesterday’s ride and froze most. Not sure if there will still be any next week. And oh brother, the blueberries… K bought more netting, but we have not yet gotten it out and combined it with the stuff that is already up. What is there does not fully cover them, and I have not looked in a while to see if there are any berries or how they are doing. And one more thing, Mom called while we were at the movie, asked me to call her back, but it was late by then. I guess I’ll call this am but I don’t want it to be too early.

                Ok I guess I’d better feed those buns and get a move on.

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MORE biking, bunnies, etc

6 am

                Well, seems ever so early, but then I went to bed at 9, so not so much. I wish I could just keep sleeping, as I am not feeling very inspired about the day. Not at all. The ToDo list is getting longer and longer instead of shorter. What I really need to do is some serious bunny work. Summer arrived with a blast and it is HOT so I must pluck some buns that need it badly, and I really should clip all the babes as their coats are just tangled and messy anyway, and it would make it far cooler and better for them. And I MUST start in on finances stuff, it keeps getting put off (of course). And of course I get so anxious thinking about it.

                This biking is about killing me. We rode 48 miles yesterday, and it took pretty much the entire day. K rode to the Belchertown end of the bike trail and back (9 miles) really early while it was cool, then he had a client 10-11. I fed bus, etc, did that ride around 8-9, then I don’t even know what I did. I managed to get in a bit of spinning, I had a bagel and read some of the Dickens book, I don’t know. I guess this is a big part of the problem, I waste my time….. but then I was tired from the bike ride. I also took a shower. Anyway, we then left around 11:45 and went to Southampton, back to Northampton, over to Leeds and home, except I took a detour at that point and went to the farm to pick up my share. It was nearly 4 and I was all worried that I would be too late. You’d think after all these years that I would remember that it is 2-7 Mon/Wed, 12-4 on Fri. So obviously I was fine. I hung out there a little bit, picked some peas, ate my second bean burrito that I got in NoHo, texted G who was not there, and finally did the final slog home. Then K had another client and I got a big salad together for supper. And called my friend to let her know that I would pick her up when she gets home from her summer trip. And there were other phone calls, to G, and feeding buns and all that kind of stuff. What I really wanted to do was to lie in the hammock and not move for hours, but it was threatening thunderstorms (which did come) so I had to give that up and do all the other stuff.

 I managed to do a bit more spinning after supper so I have finished the dark orange of this final batch – it is only 1 ounce instead of 1 ½ so the light orange will go quickly and then I will be done and can start in on the purple lichen stuff. No major biking today – I need to bike down to my friend’s to get her car that we will use while they are away, and it would be good if I could get that in time to then drive it to the rental house to meet the window guy (again) at 9. Then I would like to drive around to find some boxes so I can finally get started on the garage in earnest. All our camping stuff from the weekend is on the couch because there is really no place that makes sense for it in the garage.

Another time consuming thing is that I am trying hard to put the litter of white babies out on “pasture” every day. So far they seem to be doing very well with it. I have also been giving them the cut alfalfa whenever I can instead of pellets. For the week that we are gone, I assume our renter will just do the pellets, but for now I am trying this out. There is no way I could do this with more than one maybe 2 litters, it is a lot more work. But one litter a year might work out. I also need to separate the large darker litter. At this point they are in 2 cages and the Mom has been moved out to her own, but one of the cages is a normal size with 5 of them and that is too crowded now. I’ve been thinking of listing the rabbits on Craigslist, but that requires photos, so I guess that needs to go on the ToDo.

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The Usual plus Biking

7::30 am

                Well after 2 days NEARLY all the things on the ToDo list got done. And there were things added as I went along. Now I have a new list, nearly as long, that has to happen today. The biggest things are to pack for our trip tonight to Bethel Woods (Joan Baez), and to write up an agenda for the meeting Sunday and get ready for that as I will have no time Sunday. We will be screeching in from NY just about in time for the meeting, so if possible I should write up an agenda and get it to someone to print out.

                I am sad that I have had no time to spin the past several days. I did manage to get over to the farm and pick strawberries, which I froze, AND, since I had to wait at the rental house for the window guy who never showed up (an hour!) I also picked cherries which still need to be frozen. Except they also need to be pitted which is a pain. And I did wind off the previously spun skeins, so it is ready to go for the final three of the orange stuff. I got out the lichen dyed stuff that I carded last year, so I will start on that next.

                What else? When I finish writing I will get the white litter of bunnies out to their “pasture” again. I have been pretty good about putting them out as much as possible, or giving them the alfalfa I am growing and minimal amounts of pellets. They seem to be doing fine so far. I ought to add to the ToDo today to mow the section of lawn that has not yet been mowed, since they really do not actually eat it down completely but eat in patches so it is pretty ragged, and the part that was mowed is probably more lush and productive. It would be nice if it were easier to move the pen around, but I have a 4x8 sheet of ¼ “ plywood on top of it, which makes it a pain. Someday if I ever have time for such projects I will try to come up with something better. I still have several cages that need a lot of work/repair, so that comes first.

                I’ve been doing very well with the biking. Actually biked 35 miles Wednesday, between the ride I did myself to Easthampton and back, then K and I rode to the bridge and back once he got home (ended up being contiguous as I got a later start than expected). Yesterday I just rode from the rental house to the farm, and drove the car home which G had borrowed bc of a flat tire on her bike. I think today I will go to Belchertown border, back up, then to the bridge and back. Not sure if I’ll mix it up a bit by going down Hulst to Southeast St and back up, or if I’ll just stay on the bike trail which would be flatter… but FIRST I have to pack and come up with an agenda. And put the bunnies out, and feed them, and hang out the laundry, and make a fruit salad for breakfast since we have so much fruit………

                It is very lovely out here on the deck. Someday it sure would be nice to have an actual porch out here so one could sit even if it were raining. The traffic is quite noisy, but I solve that by actually having earplugs in! I had them in to meditate (something I have been remiss about doing) and left them to write. Traffic will slow soon.

                Two more weeks until this big  bike trip, and then the summer is like half over, especially what with the classes I have scheduled to teach. I need to get back to LSSE to say that I can be there part of the 4^th to demo as advertising. And I need to start putting posters/fliers around.

                Ok time to get breakfast and then get going.

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Mega ToDo

7 am

                OMG the list is long today:

Send roving to D

Send angora to H

Call E re photos

Get check and bill to A

Feed buns

Put some out to eat

Freeze rabbit

Cook rabbit – stew

Make bread

Contact fair chairs

Make granola (though probably not today)

Empty dw

Fill dw

Start laundry

Hang out laundry

Wind yarn off wheel

Spin light orange bobbin

Spin dark orange bobbin

Ply

Get out lichen dyed batts

Finish cleaning out sunroom (fold and put away boxes)

Go for a bike ride – a long one?

Get spare bike inner tubes, a pump, patch kit, water holder

Put mirror on bike

Put water holder on bike

START doing credit card bill splits

Try opening mp3 to see if I can figure out how to get it to play better

Write up job description for fair chair

Advertise rabbits for sale

Take photos of rabbits

                Well that is a hell of a lot. I think I need to reorganize it and print it out for myself. As in prioritize…. Meanwhile, last night was the neighborhood party and it was really nice this year. I made a point of talking to people I don’t know very well, instead of just the people I do know which I have done in the past and kind of defeats the purpose. Our housemate came and met several people who would like babysitting help, and our neighbor would like general help, so those are all good. And I brought rabbit meat! I took some large boned pieces, wrapped them in bacon, seared them on the grill, then turned one half off, and let them slow roast for about an hour. It was really tender and delicious. And very well received.

I finished the next to last round of orange skeins yesterday (thus the need to wind them off). One more set of three to go then I can move on to something else. I think I will start in on the purple lichen dyed stuff.  Also I took a kind of small ride – just to the Belchertown border and back up to Big Y (to get bacon) then home on the bike trail. It had to be short because the weather was getting very iffy and I really did not want to be caught getting soaked. I started out very slow in the morning and feeling rather crappy, but did feel better as the day went on, so I decided to do the ride. I feel in general better today. It has been a kind of long haul from feeling so absolutely crappy on Friday after the sigmoidoscopy (really “”pouch-oscopy”) on Thursday.

                I’ve been trying really hard to figure out how to get music onto the SONY walkman that the girls got years and years ( wow, probably 2006 – ancient!!) ago. It requires the music to be in a different format than mp3, which means it needs a converting program, but I think I cannot get that for the computer, I think the program is too old. Hmmm, I wonder if I could get it onto the other computer. I’ve been trying to find a freeware program that could work. It’s close to getting to the point of being not worth all the time I am spending (have spent). I may need to get a new player which stinks bc they are not at all cheap. I could look on Craigs list…

Ok, turn on other ‘puter,  print up my list, and get a move on.

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Biking in the Rain

7 am

                And so the summer actually begins. Yesterday K was home all day, but today, and for the rest of the week I will be alone. Well, I lie, as I think that L is coming home Wed for a few days. And Saturday G moves out to Northampton. So it is not as though things will be even and consistent and homogenous from now through August. In fact the summer will be very jumbled. July 6-14 is the bike trip. July 24 – Aug 5 (maybe – but I may be off a week) is the 2 LSSE classes.

                But let us consider that this is the start. Sort of. Unfortunately it is supposed to rain all day, as it did yesterday, so I won’t be able to do anything in terms of cleaning the sun room. That will have to wait until it is sunny so that I can take boxes out and put them on the deck to go through and organize. Same thing for the garage, it is harder if I cannot put anything outside. But I can still start in. I can list things on Freecycle! I was going to say that I could go to the dump, but I told G she could take the car today. So no dump.

                Yesterday was a bit of a wash so to speak. First off, after I did manage to get done the things I mentioned, I was just going to do some actual spinning when a friend called.  I managed to feed the bunnies while we talked, though the headset thing really does not work. It cuts out too much.  It is frustrating and makes the conversation unnerving. As is trying to use my previously lovely mp3. The headset connection is no longer good so one ear then the other then both cut out if I move around, meaning I can’t really listen while I do things like feed buns, do yardwork, etc. and so what is the point? I think there is another mp3 somewhere’s about, though I think it needs a cord to attach to the computer. And I don’t actually know where it is. Then there is K’s ipod which he uses like 2 times a year. Maybe I could borrow that.

                Back to yesterday. After I got off the phone and finished the buns, by then it was 11:30 and had started raining lightly. The plan had been to bike to NoHo, get lunch, bike back in time to stop at the farm to pick up our share. So we bundled for rain and basically did that. The ride was fine. It rained, but was not too cold. I wore K’s blue parka, he wore a regular full raincoat. We went first to the  Northampton bike shop and I was very grateful to the guy because he kept telling us we did not really need things (like springs) that K kept asking about. Anyway, we looked at raingear and gloves (the guy said we didn’t really need them and he never uses them) and bought back racks since the ones we have are ancient and will not fit on our bikes. I’ll need to see if they would fit on any of the bikes and if not, get rid of them. Anyway, I can now put the panniers on my bike. We then went into town and decided to eat at the Pho restaurant. I really wanted to go somewhere I’d never been. I thought it was very tasty, and hot beef noodle soup was just perfect. Except then we left, it was raining harder, and biking on a stomach full of soup was kind of sucky. On the trip, we will have to time things better. When we stop for lunch, we should eat first off, then site-see, or wander, or whatever else we want to do. So the ride home wasn’t so great and I was cold and kind of miserable. At East St I split off and went to the farm. Managed to fit the share into my backpack and biked home via Bay rd which was also pretty miserable in the rain. Got home, got changed, then drove up to get K who had biked on to Laughing Dog to leave his bike for a tune up. Of course I am getting anxious about all the incidental expenses….. anyway, once we got home I was really beat. I did a bit of this and that, don’t even remember (oh, I made cocoa and toast), and K left to meet 2 clients at 5:30. I dragged the wheel in so I could spin, pulled together a salad (made tahini dressing) for supper, but really I was too tired and not hungry, so I just went to bed once K got home around 8:30. And yes, we do need a new mattress because my back is acting up again – those twinges like I was getting before.

                Ok, time to actually get up (I am writing in bed!) and start the summer……

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