Creek

So this is a picture of probably the ugliest part of Whatcom Creek, two blocks from my house close to downtown. Today, the bike path bridge over the creek it was icy, but fortunately I was forewarned by someone walking the other way. This stream is beautiful to walk along, and salmon run up it. In October, you can see people are fishing at its mouth. Unfortunately, the native salmon population is in steady decline on pretty much all of Washington's creeks and rivers due to sedimentation and pollution from development and irresponsible logging. But empty-nesters need their five thousand square-foot trophy homes with views, so something's gotta give. So sad.

But in spite of my min-rant above, it was a good day. Leaving town this weekend for a conference. Vague details will probably follow. Meetings and a day of good things happening. And going out tonight for a bit and then running into friends that I thought might be at poetry night at a coffee shop (and were), then briefly over to Boundary Bay.

I needed too to move the Community Car from the street cleaning zone and then move it again tomorrow morning at 8:30am. Driving feels sort of odd and I do not miss it. But on a similar note, I do miss the BMW R60/6. In a few months I can go for a weekend ride. But it does not appear too difficult to change the gear oil (in three places, mind you - the gear box, main shaft, and rear something) and I will do that the next nice day I have to take it out to warm the oil up.

Blue

This is certainly not Bellingham, but Heavenly Ski Resort in Lake Tahoe, a few minutes from where we used to live off Kingsbury Grade. I friend that I skied and mountain biked with sent this to me. Tahoe got a five foot dump over the past few days. And this is what is referred to as a 'bluebird' day - where the weather system blows through and the next day is blue and sunny. I've never seen such deep blues as the water, sky, and even snow of Lake Tahoe. Unfortunately, being a resort destination in the Sierras, it was usually overrun by tourists, and the older I get, the more I seek solitude. For this reason I hope to pursue camping this summer.

To the right is a more realistic view of the weather in The City of Subdued Excitement taken today looking towards town. It is from the York neighborhood, adjoining Sunnyland, a bit to the south and a bit more hilly. The sun was out for about ninety seconds around noon, then drizzle and clouds. Went to a friend's to visit, to the coffee shop to work, and then watched a movie on the (only) channel: The Verdict.

Wow, lots of links tonight. Sherman the house mouse is still about, but we seem to have different schedules and don't cross each others' paths too much. A good day for a Sunday and looking forward to a week of ever-increasing daylight.

Tool

Today I putzed around the house. The wind blew over the fence in the back yard, and needs a new post poured. But I actually like the more openness in the back yard after I removed two sections for a future warmer weather project.

Then tinkering around with the cruiser. The bike takes a beating as I ride it every day. Total was a day of taking apart and cleaning the bottom bracket. (In case you're wondering what the bottom bracket is, see the picture below.) So over to the bike store (five blocks away) for a tool, then to the motorcycle shop (six blocks away) for some tire irons and grease. Taking apart this bottom bracket is is the second bike project that I've completed where there are no leftover parts. That could be a good trend. And I thoroughly cleaned months of accumulated bike path muck from it - it was really filthy. And trued the wheel and changed a tube (and inserted a Mr. Tuffy tire guard).

Then the reward of the day's effort was to go for a ride. Fortunately the rain and wind stopped, and it was a chilly, but beautiful night to ride through Bellingham. And it's reassuring to know your bike is operating in tip top shape. Yep, it is getting scratched and banged up, but still in solid mechanical shape after using it almost every day for the past sixteen months or so.

I am glad that I can bike as much as I do.

Wind Redux

A friend who's a photographer took this cool picture. (Click the link and you can see where I stole it from.)

It is late and I've been going all day and I am dreadfully tired.

And it is windy as shit right now. 52kph from the SSE. I am going to go bury my head under the blankets.

Compost

My compost pile if faring better in the past weeks. When it is healthy, it has a nice earthy smell to it and worms are happy to to make it their home. It needs to be kept wet, but not too wet. This will turn into some fabulous black soil for the garden next spring.

And that was the problem before I covered it - it was all slimy and smelled like rotting garbage. You see, the mixture needs to be turned every few days, which I've since been doing. And I need to add more leaves to the mixture. Anywhere else, my neighbors would consider me quite strange seeing me crouched over with a handful of this dirt smelling it and picking it apart to see how the soil is evolving. But in Bellingham, pretty much anything goes in the older neighborhoods. And that is good.

Today a day where I came up to breathe for a bit with regard to work. Good things are happening. And I closed out my books for the year. Wow, I might actually have a free weekend. Life is pretty cool.

DB Cooper

So almost forty years ago DB Cooper skyjacks a plane out of PDX and forces it to land at Sea-Tac, lets some passengers go, takes on two hundred grand ransom and a parachute, and jumps off the plane somewhere over the Cascades near the Columbia River.

He is a local hero (sort of) up here in the PacNW, as neither his body was ever found, nor was the money. (Although a kid did find around six grand of the recorded serial numbered bills buried in the sand while playing on the beach on the Columbia River.) So what is the big deal with this? I dunno, but I heard last night on Coast to Coast AM that the FBI recently reopened the case. Why? It is a bit of local folklore and interesting that no remnants of this person, parachute, etc., were ever found. In the land of Bigfoot, he too has become myth.

Today started off crummy but got much better. And I was given an orchid tonight, so that ended the day on a nice note (although it seemed like a Monday). I have had many plants in my life, but never an orchid. I hope it isn't too cold for it in the day time, as the suggested minimum temperature is seventy degrees. Time will tell.

2008

I need to take some new pictures. This was a brief shot taken yesterday looking towards town out my front window. It was sunny all day yesterday, which was quite nice. I do not think that will necessarily be the case for the foreseeable future though. Drizzle will return.

The most exciting thing I did today was walk out to the garage to tinker on the BMW R60/6. I need to learn to do things like replacing inner tubes and sundry other repairs if I expect to take the motorbike any distance from home. It is quite simple to work on this bike, so learning its components and temperaments should be fun. The 600+ page manual is a bit intimidating though. The airheads of this era are known for their simplicity and reliability.

I am looking forward to a less tumultuous 2008. Although I was told by a friend that does numerology that the many seeds I've sown in 2007 will evolve this year. We'll see.