The Big Sky, In Black And White

The photo behind the title will not be up for long.  I just put it up because I really like it.  I'll be back in Montana in two weeks.  As much as I hate to leave north Florida, I'm looking forward to a visit to the Bitterroot Valley.  I miss the Big Sky.

Looking Out The Sliding Glass Door

It's another cold Easter-egg-blue-sky morning here on Hall Lake.  I'm sitting here looking out the door, watching Patty and the best dog in the world walking down by the lake.  Red maples have begun to flower.  I can see swaths of crimson growing across the lake.  The black cherry trees at the end of the yard have flowers and leaf buds too.  Spring in north Florida is not far away.  My mind has begun thinking about the trip back to Utah.  It puts a queasy feeling in my gut.  Humans hardly ever want to leave their homes.  Even Haitians offered a new tent and food in camps away from their destroyed homes opt for a dirty sheet in a Port-au-Prince park.  It's home.  I know how they feel.


There's frost on the ground
Sandhill cranes in a blue sky
Leaving will be hard

There's sand in my shoes
Tannin stained water's my blood
Heart twined by grape vine

Cypress in a flood
Live oak roots deep in the sand
Wrens in a strong wind

Rare Sights

I've seen some rare things as of late.  Today I saw a Sherman's Fox Squirrel.  It was the third one I've seen in the past three weeks.  Strange.  I had gone 10 years without seeing one.  The photo above is by Fiona Sunquist, a neighbor of ours.

Yesterday, Lupine and I scared an American Bittern at the edge of our lake.  I've never seen one here.  They are not rare, but seeing one is.  I'm sure they've been here every winter.  I'll be more observant.  The photo above is by William L. Newton.  Nice.

 

Today, I went on a ride with Chad Parker in Etoniah State Forest.  We looked at Conradina etonia, a rare plant indeed.  It only grows in Putnam county.  I helped do survey work over 10 years ago to help find hundreds of these plants.  The picture above is also copyrighted, but I can't read the name very well.  Shirley Dorton?

Yesterday's Adventure

View Untitled in a larger map

Last Night...

...I went for a TT ride with the old and young in Hogtown. It is always good, even when it's bad.

Moon, waxing cresent
We followed it to the west
Along Hogtown creek

I must get new lights
Batteries won't hold a charge
After fifteen years

Before 20th
Riding blind right on Chip's wheel
I kicked a big stump

Took road, Split-Rock--Pat's
One pedal and nine toenails
No mood for pizza

Silver River

We went for a paddle on the Silver River today.  We did not take a camera so look at some pictures here.  We saw just about all there was to see:  limpkin, gbh, tv, little blue, white ibis, anhinga, cormorant, kingfisher, red-shouldered hawk, blue gray gnatcatcher, alligator, pied billed greeb, warblers, common yellow throat, phoebee, other fly catchers, snowey and great egret, turtle, and monkey.  Yes, I said monkey.  It's a whole other story.

A Florida Picture

I'm in no hurry to go back to bad air Loaganistan.  Tonight is warm, near 70, and the spring peepers are singing loudly out in the lake.  Above is a picture of Sheelar Lake in Goldhead Branch State Park.  Patty and I ride over there on most of our rides.  It's an oligotrophic lake, meaning that it has low nutrients, very little algae, and deep crystal clear water.  Long before I owned a bike shop, I was a limnologist.  This was one of my study sites.

Here's Two More

I Like This Song

I've clicked on several songs this morning at NPR Music. I like this.

Row For Water

I've always been a want-to-be endurance athlete.  I'm not really, but I've always wanted to be.  Oh, I've done the Cascade Cream Puff, the White Rim In A Day, Highway 50 across Nevada (The Loneliest Road In America), a couple of 12 hour races, a failed attempt to ride the Florida Trail from here to Stuart, other bikepacking jaunts here in Florida, and many years ago, a circuitous Chattanooga to Jacksonville ride.  I've made a few squeaks about doing the Tour Divide, but that is still pie in the sky.

But this, Row For Water, this is something altogether different.  Katie Spotz will spend the next three months rowing solo across the Atlantic Ocean.  She is already 1/8 the way across.  Yesterday she slept for four hours and rowed for 15 hours straight.  Katie is an endurance athlete.  I'm impressed.  I will continue to follow her progress.  I find it hard to imagine rowing across the Atlantic.  It's not like a long bike ride where you stop and get a good meal and hotel after sleeping on the ground and eating nothing but power bars for a few days.  If she wakes up one morning and does not feel like rowing, she really has no choice.  She has to keep rowing.  Like Shackleton.  And, she's supporting a good cause, Blue Planet Run Foundation, providing drinking water for 20 million people by 2015.

OK.  I'm motivated.  Before I leave, I'm going to do the FT to south Florida.  300 miles of sugar sand in three days.  Compaired to Katie, I'm a wimp.

And Now, The Answer

Make that answers.  I just saw this on http://bikingbrits.blogspot.com.  So I stole it.  Borrowed it. Er, embedded it. This could be Logan, Utah.  Enjoy.

The Real Reason We Are In Florida

Here is the rest of the Air Quality forecast.  Scientist have said that living in Utah's bad air is like smoking a pack a day.

One More Winter Riding Tip

If it's cold out, don't ride.

No TDF For Me

I'm lame.  I never made it to the event yesterday.  Instead, we went and bought a canoe.  We sold our old canoe more than ten years ago when we first headed west to Monatna.  It will be good to get back out on Florida's rivers and give my weak and shriveled bicyclist arms some exercise.  Our first paddle may be here:

Faith

AT&T finally came through.  We ordered internet service on December 22, and now, on Jaunuary 8, we have it.  I'll post more after Patty deletes 800 or more emails.

Tomorrow is the Tour de Felasco.  They all think it's going to be cold.

A Short Post

Still no internet at the house, but I have faith in AT&T.  I'll post when it happens.

A Linked Baiku For Today's Ride

A ride through the past
On the old familiar trails
Under a gray sky

My face still hurting
From wearing a constant smile
Looking at the trees

Florida maples
Ample rain, no killing frost
Aflame with color

At Last, A Bike Ride In Florida

In the morning, I am doing the Sunday!Sunday!Sunday! ride in Gainesville with the TT crew.  It should be fun.  I'll get to see the trails in the daylight and get in my first ride in nearly a month.  Sorry there have been no posts as of late.  After driving across the country to get here, I've spent most of my time in the car.  More soon.  We get internet at the house next week.  I hope.

I'm Going Home

I head out for Florida in the morning, away from the cold and snow.  My stops include Bluff, Tucumcari, Dallas, Louisiana or Mississippi, and the Jacksonville airport to pick up Patty, Lupine, and Lucky.  Yes, the cats are coming to Florida.

Not Bicycle Related

I spent way too many hours listening to the radio yesterday.  I was on U.S. 6 working on our wildlife cameras.  I listened to President Obama's Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech.  I listened to the analysis.  I listened to coverage of the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. I listened to Democracy Now.  After listening to Obama's speech, I was feeling comfortable with the contradiction of winning the Peace Prize and escalating a war at the same time.  Then I had some doubts.  Today, I have more questions than answers.

Are we in Afghanistan to protect our country from terrorist attacks?  If so, is this really cost effective?  We currently spend $3.6 billion per year there, and it will cost another $30 billion per year for the troop increase.  That's an extra million dollars per troop.  How many special operatives/spies/agents could you employ to protect us for a fraction of $30+ billion?

Are the terrorists really in Afghanistan?  Didn't the 911 hijackers live in Saudi Arabia and Germany while planning their attacks?  If you were a terrorist, would you be living in Afghanistan while planning your attacks?  With 30,000 additional troops costing an additional $30 billion headed for Afghanistan, wouldn't you go somewhere else to plan?

Does the President really mean what he said in his acceptance speech, or is he playing to the middle class moderates that got him elected?

Will the United States ever get serious about a meaningful climate change treaty?

Again, I have no answers.  But, it feels good to ask the questions.

Comments are welcome.  Just click the button and type.