Dont Wait Till You're a Geezer

If you happen to be a person on the younger end of the spectrum, I have some advice for you: Don’t wait for a better time to go to college. Go now.

Like many others I started college right out of high school, but then dropped out after a few months. The main reason was money. There were probably many opportunities for scholarships, loans and grants, but I wasn’t aware of them at the time. I thought I was trying to “work my way thru” but in actuality I was working nights and sleeping in class. It’s really hard to keep up in math when you’re sleeping thru class!

During two hitches in the Air Force I took some classes at a community college. Afterwards I tried the full-time work / full-time school thing again, but by now I had a wife and two small children and there were simply not enough hours in the day to do all I needed to do. I cut school back to part-time, and eventually put it back on hold again.

During the next 25 years or so I took a few classes here and there. There was a year-long stint in a degree completion program at a major university. I took a few classes online. It seemed that every few years I’d talk myself into starting again, only to find too many other things in my life competing for my time and money. There are courses on my transcript from at least ten different schools.

And now, I’m back at it again, working and going to school full-time. I love learning, and I don’t mind working, but let me be brutally honest - trying to do justice to both at the the same time sucks.

Yes, it is possible that you may be one of those people who will succeed without college. There are folks who manage to live happy lives without a college education, but I’ll wager you’re not one of them.

So, take my advice: don’t wait.

Get a grant, get a loan, apply for a scholarship, join the ROTC, whatever, but do it now.

How To Grow Grass

Plant vegetables.




.

Round is a shape

It’s time for me to get back into cycling shape. I know, round is a shape, but that that’s not the shape I want.

My cross-the-state ride, Oklahoma Freewheel, is only three months away, so it’s high time I started riding more. The weather seems to be more cooperative this year (so far). Here it is February, and it was 74 degrees yesterday afternoon!

I went for a little ride after work yesterday. It was just a short ten mile run up the highway and back, but I did have the bike loaded as for a tour. Going into the north wind was tough and I managed only about 7 miles an hour on the way out. I also had a chance to get acquainted with a couple of young pit bulls running loose near a small house by the side of the road. They barged out to meet me with their war faces on, but when I stopped the bike and spoke to them they just looked confused, and stood around waiting to see what I would do next. Each time I started away they would begin barking and running after me, so I just decided to walk the bike until they got bored. Within 50 yards they gave up and went back to the shack.
The ride back was quick. With the wind to my back I was easily able to do twenty mph even fully loaded. Overall, it was a nice little ride.

Speaking of fully loaded, I weighed my bike when I got home. With all the panniers and accessories straped, bolted, and velcroed to the bike it weighed in at a hefty 72 pounds. That’s about 40 pounds of gear. Hopefully I can whittle that down a little before I begin the longer rides.

Texas to Kansas Again!

It’s time to start thinking about this year’s Oklahoma Freewheel Cross State Bicycle Tour. The host cities for the route have been announced, the web site is being updated regularly with good information, and the forum is buzzing already.

When I rode the Freewheel in 2006, the route was in the eastern part of the state, which has lots of hills (we call them mountains) and beautiful trees. In 2007 our route cut through the center of the state for about half the distance, then tapered off to the northeast. This year’s route will begin in southcentral Oklahoma, and then angle sharply to the west, and them back north. The topography of the western half of the state varies greatly, from hills and trees and rocky mountains, to flat plains, buttes and arroyos. One almost constant feature is the wind, usually from the southwest. We who live here learn to think of the wind as a “training aide”.

My friend Glenn and I plan to do this year’s Freewheel self-contained, that is with panniers fully loaded with all we need for the complete ride. I’ve been out for a couple quick rides this year with full panniers, and I’ve quickly learned that it requires a different riding style and a less competetive mindset. When riding fully loaded, also known as “touring”, the goal shifts from the destination to the ride itself. I’m looking forward to increasingly long training rides this spring.

In past years we drove to the start location. This year we’ll be riding from our own doorsteps to the start point, riding the week-long tour with about 800 other folks, and then riding our bikes back home. All in all, about an 11-day trip.

The week’s itinerary:

Thursday, June 4, Altus to across the Red River & back
Friday, June 5, Altus to Wichita Mt Wildlife Refuge
Saturday, June 6, Wichita Mt Wildlife Refuge to Duncan
Sunday, June 7, Duncan to Anadarko
Monday, June 8, Anadarko to Cordell
Tuesday, June 9, Cordell to Cheyenne
Wednesday, June 10, Cheyenne to Thomas
Thursday, June 11, Thomas to Fairview
Friday, June 12, Fairview to Alva
Saturday, June 13, Alva to Kiowa, KS (bus back to Duncan)
Sunday, June 14, Duncan to Wichita Mt Wildlife Refuge
Monday, June 15, Wichita Mt Wildlife Refuge to Altus

When I Retire

I've still got nearly a decade before planned retirement, but I'm getting ready now. Just to make sure I won't be getting bored (or underfoot around the house) here's a start on my list of things to do:

- Attain and maintain my ideal body weight (170 lbs?)
- Learn ballroom dancing and dance often with my wife
- Earn my Extra Class Amateur Radio ticket
- Sail the US coasts
- Practice intensive urban gardening
- Learn to swim well
- Learn to play guitar, banjo, keyboard, mandolin, tin whistle, harmonica, and other instruments
- Learn Morse code
- Learn Spanish, Irish , Comanche, and other languages
- Visit every state in the USA
- Visit every country in the world
- Learn enough about astronomy to actually find and recognize celestial bodies through a telescope
- Build a battery powered/solar charged lawn mower
- Climb a mountain
- Sailboard
- Buy a 66 mustang for my wife
- Own a motorcycle (again) for a while
- Snorkel
- Paraglide / parasail / skydive
- Learn a martial art
- Photograph a cougar in the wild
- Hike all the trails at Quartz Mountain State park
- Learn to build a bicycle wheel
- Learn mathematics through Calculus
- Kayak the North Fork of the Red River
- Ride a mule to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
- Bicycle across Oklahoma (again)
- Bicycle a stature century
- Ride a motorcycle to Alaska
- Do a kayak roll
- Snow ski
- Set up and use an 18th century woodworking shop
- Read a self-selected list of the great books
- Live to be 100 years old

Fall back

I love the weather here this time of year. It's hard to believe that I'm still harvesting tomatoes, peppers and strawberries in November! The weather is cool in the mornings, but warms up to shirt-sleeve temps in the afternoon. I like the look of the leaves on the lawn, but I guess I'll have to mow one more time this year, so the leaves will have to go.

I've been giving our dogs (and myself) more exercise lately. For the past few weeks I've been walking them almost daily. The walking pace is perfect for the chihuahua, but our high-energy schnauzer was frustrated with the slow pace. I solved that to her satisfaction by walking (running/trotting) her alongside my bicycle. I like the way people do a double-take when they see us together, me on the bike and her running beside me.

One Difference Between A Motorcycle And A Bicycle

Today I rode to work through a residential area which has a 15 MPH speed limit. The motorists were obeying the speed limit, so I was travelling at about the same speed as the motor vehicle traffic. Ahead of me was a motorcycle and behind me was an automobile. As we approached a woman walking her dog on the sidewalk along the street, I watched her reaction to the traffic. It appeared that she didn’t even notice the motorcycle rider ahead of me, but when I came alongside she smiled and said “good morning”. It occurred to me then that pedestrians probably see motorcycles as “traffic”, but they see bicyclists as “people”.

Quite a difference I would say.

Morning Walk with Animals

I’ve been reading Cesar Millan’s book, Cesar’s Way. In the book he talks a lot about how a dog’s formost need is exercise. So, trying to be a responsible pet owner, I’ve begun taking one of our dogs for a daily walk. It turns out that walking a dog correctly requires much more effort and attention from me than I had anticipated, so I’m starting with one dog. Hopefully I can begin to take the other dog on combined or separate walks soon.

Today we were out for a little over an hour. We made our way through the neighborhood, across Main Street, and made a one-mile loop around the city reservoir. We met some interesting animals on the way:

Several humans

Several dogs being walked by the humans (or vice versa)

Some ducks , some geese, and miscellaneous songbirds

A yellow crowned night heron (Nycticorax violaceus)

A giant desert centipede (Scolopendra polymorpha)

Something for my grandkids to think about

I ran across this quote on the web today. It's attributed to Mr Rodgers.

Grandparents are both our past and our future. In some ways they are what has gone before, and in others they are what we will become.



.

Better Than New

A few months back one of my favorite watches went on the blink. It was a nice Swiss Army cavalry watch that my eldest daughter gave me more than ten years ago. Needless to say, I was disappointed when replacing the battery didn’t help.

After a quick visit to the very helpful Swiss Army (now Victorinox) web site, I sent the watch with a note to their Authorized Service Center.

Yesterday the UPS guy brought my repaired watch to my door. I couldn’t be happier with the results. Except for the new leather band which matches the original perfectly and which I couldn't find anywhere else, the watch looks just like it did when I sent it away. The character marks (scratches) are still there on the bezel and crystal, so it still looks 10+ years old, but runs like new. To me, having my old favorite back is better than buying a new one – especially at one-fifth the price.

It’s also nice to be able to report that customer service is not a thing of the past!

Bikes and Beans

I like biofuels ... my bicycle runs on them.

I went for an early Sunday morning ride. The air was cool and the wind was nearly calm. Not too much traffic, but I did pass a couple of bicycles. It's good to see that other folks are beginning to ride more. My neighbor, who's in his seventies, came over to borrow my tire pump the other day. He said he plans to begin riding for errands. That's how it starts ... people just need a good reason to begin riding, and before long they find that they kinda like it. The important thing is to remember that the bicycle is not in charge of when and how much you ride. Ride when you want to or need to. It's just another form of transportation. Saving money and achieving physical fitness are bonuses.

Our little vegetable garden experiment continues to surprise me. This morning I picked a mess of green beans (our third, I think) and the plants are still blooming. I'd have thought that the heat would have killed them by now. The peppers are doing well, especially the ones that are partially shaded by the enormous cauliflower and brussels sprouts plants. The tomato plants are much larger than I expected they would be, so they're crowding each other. This week I spotted our first little green tomato. I'll bet that before long we'll be giving tomatoes away.

It's The Stupid Economy

I’m sure you remember that catch phrase used during the election campaign of one of our illustrious former presidents: “It’s the economy, stupid!”

Well, whenever I think about our attempt to live in a perpetual state of financial growth, I wonder if the phrase shouldn’t be changed to: “It’s the stupid economy!”.

One example that chaps my hide (or my hands, as the case may be) is the simple paper towel.

Now, paper towels are a really convenient and sanitary way to dry one’s hands. However, where I work, the people who replace the towels in those metal dispensers have recently changed to a super thin paper towel. The only reason I can imagine is that the new towel is either cheaper to make, thereby obstensibly increasing profits for the manufacturer, or decreasing cost for the janitorial service. In practice, however, we who must use the new towels are continually frustrated with their lack of quality in both strength and absorption. The predictable result is that many more paper towels are used (or wasted) than before. Where formerly one or two towels sufficed, I now regularly observe folks using a handful of towels to perform the same task. Moreover, the towels rip so easily that the floor around the dispensers is constantly littered with bits of paper.

I wonder what the world would be like if our basis for decision-making was “What is the right thing to do?”, rather than “How can we make the most money?”

Like I Need Another Hobby ...

Last week I sat for the Technician and General Amateur Radio License exams after several weeks of study and review. I managed to pass both exams (the testers wouldn’t tell any of us how many questions we missed).

Today I learned that my license has been granted and that my call sign is KE5UWE.

So, now the question is … what will I do with my new General ticket? Is there such a thing as a low-budget ham shack these days? If I know me, I’ll spend weeks or months planning, researching, comparing and evaluating all the options before I even begin to think about actually obtaining any radio equipment. I also may want to continue studying for my Extra Class ticket and learning code.

Maybe I’ll just spend the summer gardening, kayaking, cycling and doing other outdoor stuff and save the woodwork, music and radio stuff for the shut-in months. You never know.

Another Bicycle Finds a Happy Home

I sold one of my bicycles the other day, but I'm not sad to see it go. It wasn't being ridden; it was just sitting in the garage waiting to be used as a "spare" or "loaner". I had entertained thoughts that one of my grandsons might want to ride it with me, but I guess that would have only happened if I had actually done some dirt riding and had actually invited them to join me. But then, I haven't done any serious dirt riding for probably three years now.

So, How's That Blogging Thing Working Out?

Sounds easy enough. Just spend a few minutes a day jotting down the latest personal happenings for all the interested readers. ( After all, inquiring minds want to know what I’m doing. ) In practice it’s much more difficult to keep a decent blog going.

I find that my interest grows and wanes with the season. I’m thinking that maybe blogging is a good winter activity, but not so much for the summer. When the weather’s nasty it’s easy to sit around and write about what I’d like to be doing, but when spring springs I want to be outside doing things, not writing about them. When I have a life I don’t want to spend the time blogging.
Still there are good reasons to write a little. Some old dead dude (Sir Francis Bacon?) is said to have said “… writing makes an exact man.” Not only that, but when I’m long gone and famous, my inane drivel will be valuable reading material.

Our garden is going gangbusters. We have pea pods already, and will probably be able to pick a mess of green beans to cook Saturday. The radishes are nearly all gone and we still have more spinach and lettuce than we can use. The peppers are peppering (small, so far) and the tomatoes are blooming. The cucumber and pumpkin plants are up and looking good. The brussels sprouts are just beginning to sprout, but I’m not too sure about the cauliflower. This is my first attempt with cauliflower, and the plants are big and beautiful, but I don’t know anything about when or how the heads will form.

Last but not least … I’m really impressed with my compost pile. It’s cooking really well and making rich dark humus which will soon go into the garden. It just amazes me that the stuff we usually package in plastic and haul off to the landfill, if only left alone to decompose will turn into the most valuable commodity there is – earth itself!

Playing Catch-Up

Sorry I haven’t posted in a while, but I guess that means I have a life of sorts. Springtime always puts me behind on all the stuff I planned throughout the winter.

Here’s a quick list of activities around here in the past 6 weeks:
- changed the oil in the mower, installed a new air filter, sharpened the blade, and adjusted the drive belt
- replaced sprinkler heads, filled holes in yard, mowed, moved rose bushes, and fixed holes in fence
- planted a garden in stages, started a compost pile, fenced garden and built a gate for it
- performed bicycle maintenance
- bought a total of 8 new and used books
- cleaned the garage and moved the kayaks to storage building
- cleaned, made small repairs on, paid for large repairs on, and eventually sold our son’s old car
- sold an unused wireless pet fence
- bought a pair of pants (getting me to buy clothes is like pulling teeth)
- bought a set of grocery-bag sized basket panniers for my town bike (perfect for running errands)
- bought a Grundig Mini 300 portable AM/FM/SW radio to use while camping, etc.
- Defraged and scanned our daughter’s computer, and cleaned a virus from mine
- caulked leak around the furnace flue just before a rain
- grilled burgers, steaks several times
- did other stuff

What Goes In a Pumpkin Pie?

My life partner made two beautiful, aromatic pumpkin pies last night.

What goes into a pumpkin pie?

Time that was given to someone else,
Priorities that were put on the back burner,
Sleep that was given up for a different reason each night,
Worry over family and finances,
Planning for contingencies both small and large,
Work spent on thousands of mundane, repetitive and seemingly thankless household tasks,
Tears over hopes and dreams that are not yet fulfilled,
Brainpower used to think of everything, remember everything, and coordinate everything for everyone in the family,
Effort spent staying slim, trim, sexy and beautiful when it would be so much easier to just be fat and out of shape like he is,

But mostly … Love.

That's what goes into a pumpkin pie.

On The Road Again

I didn’t spend $4.10 on gasoline today … I rode my bicycle.

I planted the first items in our garden yesterday afternoon. The last time I planted a garden was probably 30 years ago. Back then I bought a roto-tiller, broke up half the back yard, and planted long rows of vegetables. This time I’m trying square-foot gardening, and simply turning over the soil (several times) with a spade, and then planting a small number of plants in that limited space. Yesterday I set out a few onions, and planted some of the early seed vegetables like cauliflower and Brussels sprouts. It’s probably a little early, so I’m staggering the planting schedule by a quarter of the space per week. Next week it’ll be more of the early vegetables, then the week after it’ll be the first of the late vegetables.

Had tons of fun playing with Rose, our youngest granddaughter, last night. I get such a kick out of watching her explore, learn, and grow. She’s just learning to scoot across the floor, and it’s fun watching how excited she gets when she realizes she can actually motivate. This summer should be fun in the back yard.

What time is it?

Last week the watch that I usually wear to work stopped. It's a Swiss Army watch with a leather band, and it has that cool retro look about it. It was given to me by my oldest daughter, probably 10 or twelve years ago. I had the battery replaced Monday, but now it’s running slow. Guess I’ll have to take it back to the jeweler and ask for his opinion. Maybe he sabotaged it so I’d buy a new one from him?

This morning, when I picked another watch to wear, I found that it had also stopped. What’s up with that? So today I’m wearing my dress watch that my sweetheart gave to me for my birthday a couple of years ago. It’s a classy solar-powered Citizen Eco-Drive.

I have a thing for watches; it’s part of being a gadget freak, I guess. I like all the ones I have, especially since they all were gifts from my daughters and my wife.

Thinking About Vacation

With the advent of spring just around the corner, I find myself thinking about vacation. It’s a pleasant diversion to think about ways my lovely wife and I may be able to disappear for some R & R.

First, I want to ensure that my wife gets at least one vacation trip this year doing something that she wants to do, not just compromising for the sake of family convenience or going along with something I want. With raising kids (nearly finished), running a household, managing finances, and putting up with me, her vacation-low-level light is on bright.

If I had to guess, I’d say that her idea of a good vacation probably leans toward things like cruises, beaches, massages, nice hotels, good food and entertainment. She loves taking pictures, and she likes to do new and interesting things, as long as she doesn’t have to get too dirty or sweaty. I remember how she enjoyed the guided kayak river trip in Belize, and ocean jet skiing in Haiti.

Trouble is, since she’s so selfless, she’s reluctant to take any time for herself or spend any money on herself.

I’ll probably do the OK Freewheel (bike tour) again this year. But there’s so much to do here in Oklahoma, we have no excuse for staying home and doing nothing. I need to go through our stack of OK Travel brochures and start circling things. Time’s a-wastin’.