Brrrrrrr

Below freezing last night here in PDX. No precipitation though. The ride in to work was chilly but dry. And I even broke a little bit of a sweat even though the mercury floated right around 30 degrees Fahrenheit (yay layers!).

The forecast says freezing rain overnight tonight. I'm hoping either a) enough to shut Portland down for the day (so I don't have to go to work) or b) not very much (so I don't have to ride through slush tomorrow).

Pics from Thanksgiving

Ann and Scott posted pics from our visit on Thanksgiving here. Fun pics for everyone.

And she also posted pictures of real snow at their house. Crazy deep snow. Looks like Dev and I chose the right day to leave for home!

Working off the turkey

And the potatoes. And the sweet potatoes. And the stuffing. And the pie. And the ice cream.

And you get the point.

Dev and Scott and I tripped up to Deception Pass for a little hike this morning.

First we rolled down to Rosario Beach and had a very short hike along the beach bluffs. Classic Pacific Coast beach bluffs. Vertical drop. Jagged rocky face. Kelp swaying in the waves breaking on shore below. Wind whipping you back from the ledge. The same wind that twists the trees brave enough or unlucky enough to grow on top of the cliff. We spent a few minutes staring at the trees in the sun and the wind with the dogs and then tromped back to the car to go to Deception Pass State Park proper.

Once at the park, we unloaded the dogs and proceeded to the bottom of the stairs at the end of the parking lot. These stairs lead to a great view of the underpinnings of the bridge that crosses Deception Pass waterway. We snapped a couple of pics of the green-painted steel trestles. Then we started off down the path through some lush northwest rain forest. After less than half a mile of hiking we topped out on the north east summit of Goose Rock. Enjoyed the view for a few minutes and then skedaddled back to the car for the ride back to Scott and Ann's house.

For more turkey and pie. -grin-

Happy Turkey Day!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you all recover from your food comas soon!

(And, yes, I know this post is one day late. The Turkey won yesterday.)

Short week jubilation

Feeling so much better after my bout with the not-quite-flu. I can breathe again though I am snorting a lot of snot. Sniffling accompanies me everywhere right now.

But I am well enough to ride my bike to work again. And that 45 minutes every morning and another 45 minutes at night provides me so much sanity. I work out my workday crunchiness. I resolve any issues with the repeating revolutions of my feet. I expiate my workaday ennui with my peregrinatory exertions.

In short, (to borrow the motorcycling phrase) I ride to live. (Well, that *and* climbing.)

New Jacket seems to work

So the new Spraymaster jacket I bought from the Patagonia store seems to work pretty well. I rode home in an insanely windy deluge Wednesday night. I scarcely had to pedal because the wind blew from the south end of the river towards north Portland. At one point I realized that I had traveled from one stoplight to the next at the speed of traffic without pedaling a stroke. And the jacket held up pretty well.

I need to futz with adjusting the neck and hood. The only leak I had was rain running down my face and onto my chest. Brrrrr. But I think I have devised a trick or two to prevent a recurrence of that leak.

Reading a lot

Well whatever crud has been creeping around the office finally took me down yesterday and laid me up today. The weather turned nice yesterday too. So I miss the first good weather in two weeks because I don't feel well.

The upside is that I had a chance to finish reading Into Thin Air by Krakauer and Over the Edge by Child. I burned through these two books.

Big Blow

The rain started in earnest Monday night.
Tuesday night had me wishing for pontoons on my bicycle.
Wednesday and Thursday slackened on the rain with sporadic outbursts of liquid gloom.
Friday unleashed new precipitative fury that had me swimming from curb to curb as I crossed the street to get to a movie theater.

Yesterday I purchased a new rain jacket (the Patagonia Spraymaster) as a new refuge from the weather on my commute. The sales associate Tom at Patagonia rides in to the Pearl District from Vancouver every day on his bicycle - more mileage than my daily commute. This shared distance under glowering skies on a daily basis convinced me that he knows what he's talking about. And I like Patagonia and their values. And their line of goods. Just about everything but their price. -sigh-

So I'm hoping to stay dry. This week has a forecast only slightly drier than last week. I hope to post a glowing review of my new equipment soon.

Basking in the glow of victory

Haven't written much this week. Too busy being happy with the Democrat insurgency in Washington. The real work begins in January (even thought the spin started Tuesday night).

So once again:
YAY DEMOCRATS!!!!
YAY DEMOCRACY!!!!

Go Dems!!!!

CNN has called the House of Representatives for the Democrats. Can we get the Senate too? Only a few more hours will tell us for sure!

Final Stretch

Today through Tuesday is the single most important stretch to get voters out. Join me in calling voters through MoveOn.org's Call For Change program. It's fast. It's easy. It's a no brainer if you are angry about the Republican control of our government.