After a Storm

There are always good things about a rainstorm: clean streets, happy plants, water table rising, etc.

Here is one of those clean streets. All the dirt washed away, but now you can see the scars left behind by the sewer replacement project. Since they rarely leave those metal plates for long, we are hopeful that the street will soon be repaved.

Along with the general washing-down, there are some drawbacks. Like 5-months-worth of pollen and dirt from our trees ending up on the hood of my car, which was clean yesterday.

I headed down to the docks this morning to talk with a friend. The road shoulders and bike lane were already pretty dry.

And it was absolutely calm and beautiful on the water.

Nice, eh?

I would have taken more pictures but my phone locked up just after snapping this shot of a BOAT ON THE STREET (right in front is a No Parking sign). Judging from the debris under the tires, it's been there more than one day.

I Certainly Didn't Plan This

Today I used my bike out of necessity. I hate that. I prefer to ride with no purpose at all (click to read about the use of a bike as a beast of burden).

It started like this - I was cleaning out my office. I took a bunch of huge, heavy, virtually-unloved and unwanted shop manuals to the Goodwill. I've been saving them for 30 years. Why? Because I wrote some of these books. But they are now worth less than nothing - and they take up space. So I loaded up 500 lbs worth of stuff to give away.

But then the car wouldn't start. And the battery is under all the stuff, in the back. So I charged the car for a while, started it up, and dropped all the books at the charity shop.

Then I drove by the store, returned some bottles, bought some dinner and went out to the car, which wouldn't start. Oh baloney! It was 1:16 pm. I started walking, and was home in half an hour.

It's supposed to start raining. That's nothing in most parts of the world, but here we haven't had measurable rain since May. No rain on my walk home, thankfully.

I got in my other car, with an ice chest in hand, and drove down and rescued my frozen food and milk. Food safely taken care of, whew!

I headed for the local Costco to buy a new battery. This was the second "failure to stay charged" and I'd already confirmed the alternator was working. So an hour later I was back at the grocery store parking lot, putting in the battery.

Here's the old one. Dead. But it still looks nice, as it's spent its whole life in a nice clean trunk.

I drove my good car home, put it away, put the food away, and so on. But my second car was back at the mall. Did I want to walk? Chance the rain? No. 

I hopped on my bike for a purposeful ride back to get my car. Actually it was a nice little ride, as I got to do a section on nice smooth asphalt.

I carefully squeezed my bike into the back of my little truck, and headed for home. Mission accomplished. It was 3:16 pm. Elapsed time? Two hours. Expense to take those books to the Goodwill? $144.71 plus 20 miles worth of fuel. Convenience of having a bicycle? Priceless.

It's now 4:16 pm and it's pouring rain... and I'm enjoying a bit of Glenfiddich.

On the Road to the Water

I've done my bike ride early this morning, so I can go out on the ocean. Here, before 9 am I am completing the blog. And  the results?

I briefly contemplated heading out on one of the dirt routes, but the overgrowth deterred me. And because I have just cleaned my bike's chain and lubricated it, I am loathe to get it all dirty again riding in the dust, gravel and weeds.

Speaking of overgrown, I spotted this trumpet vine (or it is purple morning glory?) that has totally consumed this hillside. Pretty! Unless you are the plants under it, straining for your share of sunshine and water. It's gone up the telephone pole, over the fence -- and is taking on the roof of the house behind it.

Meanwhile, around the corner, with a regal glare these two lions stand watching the rising sun ...

Of course, no ride is just beautiful foliage and sculpture. We always have the possibility of seeing less bucolic, but still-appealing elements of urban life. Such as this boat and Mustang Convertible. Another two-in-one shot!

I rode on for awhile then pulled out my camera again. 

This large boat is parked only an inch from what looks like its owner's towing vehicle. But that truck doesn't have a trailer ball in place, so this boat is clearly qualifying for my ON THE STREET designation. I think this is a common ruse - the owner keeps his tow vehicle tightly (but not actually) connected to the trailer to give the appearance to traffic wardens that he's ready to pull it away at any time. The neighbors think differently.

Now, this very long trailer, with axles at the extreme rear, hints to us that its boat is long but light, and all the weight is concentrated on the back. I'd have expected to find this a big-block inboard power train. But if you look closely, you will see that the outboard motor which powers it is missing both its upper end (cylinders) and the lower end (prop). There's only the main lower housing (see motor above) still attached to the hull. Add to that the spiderwebs inside the engine housing, and I definitely think this qualifies as a BOAT that has been ON THE STREET for a long time.

I was enjoying riding on this bright clear morning and only remembered to fire off one shot at the last moment to confirm that I was indeed on my bike. A surreal but faulty focusing effort by the iPhone...

whereas a couple hours later, it seemed to focus just fine on this shot!

Beginnings of The Boat on the Street

I spent some time riding around this morning looking at the boats on the streets nearby, and wondering what sort of rules I need to establish for myself.

What is a BOAT ON THE STREET?

• What isn't? Is there any ambiguity? 
• What is "a boat"? Does a jet ski (personal watercraft) count? How about a Sabot?
• What is "the street"? Driveways aren't streets. Are alleys streets? 
• What does "on" really mean? Being on a trailer which is "on the street" should count
• Does a boat trailer count - if no boat is present?

Classification of observations is a perpetual problem for observers. For example:
Here are boats, but no streets. They don't belong in my research.

While pondering, I happened to also be enjoying some relatively smooth streets.

Case Study One
I decided that this was a boat, but not a "boat on the street" because technically it was still attached to its tow vehicle.

Case Study Two
This truck is not attached to the trailer, and this would qualify as a boat on the street if, and only if, the huge boat was actually there.

Case Study Three

This one qualifies, AND the guy chose an odd parking place, right on a corner. He did put cones at either end of the boat for unwary motorists, thankfully.

Case Study Four
This one had yellow chalk markings on the rear tire and street - indicating to me that a neighborhood storm was brewing ... by law these can't remain in one place longer than 72 hours.

Case Study Five

This is a good-value photo - two for one as far as the "boats on the street" go. I also noticed that this street has had its pipes changed sometime in the recent past.

Speaking of that, suddenly the street around our park is quiet and relatively devoid of vehicles and debris. They are checking the pipes I think, because there is plenty of water around. And the digging proceeds on the new project a few blocks away:

Case Study Six

These two boats are in their owners' front yards. They are clearly visible FROM the street, but not ON the street.

Case Study Seven

I found a few more boats. These are the epitome of Boat On The Street.

Then saw one of my favorite sights, a Mustang Convertible.

So, feeling very satisfied with myself, I rode home.

Battered and Beat; Bearing Boats and Bikes

Our roads are battered and beat. Burdened. Bumpy. 

But there must be an end in sight. Soon. How do I know?  A huge flatbed truck came today and took away the shipping container that the sewer guys have been using as a storage shed. They put it someplace else - meaning the mess is about to show up over there...

And a half-mile away, I saw this: the Eve of Destruction! 

In my college days, that was a famous song, played by Barry McGuire and the New Christy Minstrels. In a fit of overconfidence, one day I called him up and asked if he would play a concert at our Student Union. To my utter amazement, he said yes. I picked him up at the airport, gave him a ride up to the school, and sat backstage watching it happen. Now you can see him doing the same song (about 5 years earlier than my concert).

He's accompanied by one of the most surreal sets ...

Anyway, sorry I got distracted. We were talking about sewers and destruction and torn-up roads.

• Luckily, the new project is not too close to us, and the dust will blow away from us, downwind.
• Unluckily, it's blocking one of our primary in/out routes. 

Sigh. I'm not looking forward to another 9 month obstacle course to further develop my bike riding skills.

As I rode along, I saw a boat sitting at the curb, and decided today was the day I shift from spotting Mustang Convertibles to spotting boats parked on the street. They are everywhere - look in your neighborhood!

This is an inconspicuous boat, neatly parked and nicely wrapped with an Alabama (or was it Arkansas?) license plate. What's that about? It's going to have to move unless the owners want a pipe laid through the middle of it ...

After riding awhile, I sat at this intersection for what seemed like 5 minutes. Huge truck ahead of me, cars from 5 directions at rush hour, groups of students hiking along on their way home from school, etc. Finally we all got across.

I decided to treat myself to a smooth ride and cut across the park on the grass.

Some days I just can't ride

I'm not sure why I don't feel like riding every day. Maybe it's because the weather is bad. Or too nice. Or chores detail me. Or I eat too much at dinner and can't get off the couch... roasted potatoes, red bell peppers, carrots, garlic and a piece of meat. With a splash of Niner Wine. And a salad (not shown).

Despite all the good excuses for not riding, I did get out on the bike this evening. I felt light-hearted, so I took the light bike. (BTW - the dinner shown above is why I didn't ride last night.)

It wasn't that bright outside, as the marine layer is clamping down on us again. We had nearly a month of excellent sunny weather but now it's ended. Nice clean weather mirror though, thanks to our Windex job on it.

When I was growing up in the eastern end of San Diego back in the mid-Fifties, we got a novel plant at the nursery, called Pampas Grass. The nurseryman warned that it was dangerous and might run rampant all over the neighborhood (a prediction that did not come true in our area although it may have in others). He should have mentioned bamboo - which did take over our neighbor's yard until they bulldozed it up.

You can look here for a list of invasive grasses you shouldn't put in your yard!

Sad to say, since then I have actually liked the look of tall grasses, and I was intrigued by the gleaming of this light through this grass. When I pulled up on my bike for a closer look and photo, I noticed something glaring at me, and it wasn't their dog.

Last time I checked it was OCTOBER ONE, not THIRTY-ONE. Why the giant spider, so soon? There were also spiderwebs hanging down from the clock in the auto parts store today. The O'Reilly Auto Parts store. Sheesh. Don't they have work to do? It's not like car guys give a rip about decor...

Anyway, newly disgruntled, I rode off to have a look across the harbor. And a very nice view it was.

Then I beat it home before the lights went out.

Cycle Blog Ins and Outs

iOS7 has fouled up my blogging life. The former "PhotoStream" functions automatically pulled images from my "Cycling Cazalea iPhone Camera" for instant incorporation in this blog. But it doesn't work as quickly or reliably as before. Now I have a longer process for creating. Sigh.

Sometimes people ask me how this blog is created. Today I will reveal some of its secrets - so let's go:

• I go out to the bike shed and unlock the door(s).
• Look at the bikes.
• Feel the tires.
• Choose one with hard tires - if they are all soft, groan, grab the pump and inflate.
• Carry bike out.
• Lock the door.
• Carry bike up the stairs, then remember my helmet and bright vest and/or shoes.
• Prop up bike, go downstairs, open door, grab missing items, lock door, go back up.

• Hop on bike and ride away.
• Notice mal-adjusted derailleurs or brakes or rattly chain (make mental note to repair/adjust when home; then promptly forget that note)
• Ride up to top of street and decide which way to go (click to see more details about the choices). 

• I ride around a bit, stopping to take pictures of interesting things, such as the world's smallest pavement roller lurking in the shadow of a big backhoe.

(this must be the mate of the tiny backhoe featured in previous blogs; see below)

I noticed a couple taking their two dogs for a morning walk - dad has Mr Pooch on a lease, mom was pushing a wheelchair with Mrs Pooch on the seat, propped up with cushions... is something wrong with our society?!

I was going to take a photo of the weather mirror, but it was so dirty that you couldn't see anything but streaks of dirt and dust. Time for a good rainstorm, I think. Or maybe I need to ride back over with some Windex. In any event, this view gives a clue to where the dirt on the mirror came from.

There's more new concrete in this alley than old - which means there was plenty of cutting and digging and dirt flying. All ending up on the glass. (here's a photo from back in the "clean old days") 

And the mirror today after the Mrs. and I went back to clean it. Notice the great weather!

I poked my head over the fence and looked at a house remodel in progress. Oddly irregular lumber on this wall, wouldn't you say? Could the house have been built from scraps?

• Finally I stop nosing about and got down to riding (some time passes) and eventually I ride home.
• I go to my desktop computer. (I prefer using it for blogging compared to using Blogger's app on my iphone or ipad. The desktop interface allows more customization, links to other sites, editing images with more alacrity, etc.)
• I plug in my phone (or camera) and download images to iPhoto.
• I select and edit a few of the photos, and exporting them from iPhoto, I put them into a folder named for today.

• I log in as the owner of the blog, and go to the editing page. 
• I start writing, I pull in pictures, I add interesting links to other pages or sites.

• Eventually I finish.
• I proof-read my text, check the alignment of my photos, and click Publish.

Then I completely forget the bike and get on with my life until tomorrow.