Rainy Riding

 Short Wet GPS Tracking

We still do not have a usable fuel powered vehicle to get around in.  Our Ford Exploder's transmission died several days ago and we were stranded along the roadway; called Little Billy's Towing for rescue, and dropped the undriveable buggy off at Childers Auto Repair .    
Unfortunately for us, though Childers is our preferred shop, they were extremely backed up with repair work resulting from the recent "Polar Vortex" AND the inability to get much work done on existing repair jobs DUE to the horrible weather.  Thus we were informed they could not possibly even start on replacing the transmission until the 16th of this month (March).  Well that's up in a couple days and hopefully they will soon get our ride running again.
Meanwhile, we were blessed with a loaner car from dear Church friends for a few days.  Then they had family visitors arriving and needed that car back, so we have been riding trikes and walking and staying mostly home.
Of course we had warmer but wetter weather to deal with, so not much could be accomplished by "getting out" anyway.
Jacque's new sewing room addition suddenly began, with foundation digging work going full steam...
Until the weather got wet again and washed our workmen away, figuratively of course.
I had committed to installing new plumbing to move the washer and dryer into the new room when it gets to the point of being relatively out of the weather, and I managed to get a lot of the galvanized pipe installed in the basement, with stubs poking out in the wall that will be an inside wall of the sewing room.  I struggled to cut and thread the necessary galvanized pipe for the hot and cold water lines, and finally got them where I wanted them.   Trying to figure out how to run the washing machine drain, I realized I had some 1 1/4" PVC pipe in the back yard that should work.  It wasn't quite long enough, so I decided to drag out the Catrike and B.O.B. trailer and see if I could successfully drag or haul the 10 foot length of pipe home from the CHC Home Center several blocks away.  I actually made two such trips to CHC for galvanized pipe  fittings and then the PVC haul.

My PVC Pipe stuck way out from the back of the trailer but somehow didn't touch the pavement.

It was a bit damp and drizzly during these "trips" but I was able to get some more work done !

Ride Started: 12:01 PM           Ride Ended: 4:55 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage: 13.0   Ending Battery Voltage:  12.9
Lowest Temp: 50 F Highest Temp: 59 F
Beginning Blood Glucose:  158   Ending BG: 127 
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 2.8
Overall Average Speed      Moving Avg       Max Speed
 2.2 MPH                              4.8 MPH            13.2 MPH
Total Trip(s) Time                Moving Time      Stopped Time
  42  minutes                        30 minutes          Hours and Hours

Sudden Springtime ?!?

 Short Tracking for Thursday

Worldwide Weather.  Something to confuse us, bless us, even sometimes destroy us.  "Polar Vortex".
Can we say that phrase slowly without grimacing?  Not me.

We've endured at least a couple weeks (it seems, anyway) of freezing and below ZERO temperatures, ice, fog, freezing rain, and of course, ice.  
NOT great weather for pedaling around town, regardless of how many layers applied to the body.  
Snowbanks on each side of the streets, plowed or otherwise, leave no room for pedaling safely on the shoulder.  So we mostly stayed home and tried to keep warm.
Unlike Texas and Oklahoma and a few other areas, including nearby Springfield, we NEVER lost electricity, natural gas, or water.  Not much water, anyway.  The small copper tubing feeding the refrigerator ice maker froze up for a couple days, so I thawed it out with low voltage high current electricity connected to each end.  No leaks and the ice cleared in about a minute or two.
The outside "frost free" faucet was another story.  Been here almost 3 years and never worried about exterior faucets or the normal need for disconnecting attached hoses etc. during winter months.  Ours turned out to have REALLY busted from freezing.   Thankfully it only leaked when turned on, since the freeze - break was outside the actual valve seat.  That involved a couple trips to the hardware store and some unwelcome trips crawling under the house.  All fixed OK, just in time for....
SUDDEN warm weather!!  What a shock.  SEVENTY degrees and sunshine the next day after a below - zero night.
So, of course, I finally was able to drag out the pedal-trike and go for a ride. 
Of course our driveway was a messy mush due to the many freeze / thaw cycles it's been through with freezing rain and melting snow.  So I had to drag the trike backwards through the slush to get to the street where the mostly clear pavement provided traction.  (Of course I DID try pedaling the trike through the snow;  no apparent traction).  Rode the trike clear across town for some glorious exercise, WITHOUT a coat.  I confess I was wearing a brand new flannel shirt Jacque just made for me, and it actually got a bit cool during the ride, especially when the wind was in my face,  but still.  After all the miserable subzero weather that seemed like it was going to never end.  A couple of warmer nights followed, but still cool.   Wednesday and today, Thursday, I also used the trike for a couple short trips.
But we're all familiar with Weather.  No telling for sure WHAT it's going to do from hour to hour.

February Sunshine ?

FRUSTRATION.

Our near - nationwide Polar Vortex has caused deep snow, ice, and lack of sunshine for 10 days or so in a row this last couple weeks.  As noted earlier, my diabetic blood glucose has suffered from the lack of enthusiastic exercise.  Yesterday I  decided to shovel snow to clear pathways for our dogs to go potty outside, us to get to the car more easily, and of course to make it easier for our faithful mailman to cross the yard and get to the house.

Surprisingly. the SUN came out the last 2 days and the snow is slow to recede since the outside temperature didn't get above 28 or so yesterday and it was well into the afternoon for it to crack 40 degrees today.

I decided to remodel our basement light situation and as I was gathering tools and stuff I realized I needed a couple of outlet boxes.  I thought I might actually pedal the trike the short distance to the nearest local lumber / hardware store, since the streets were mostly clear.  

I walked through the crusty snow out to the street and thought Why Not.

It was so relatively warm I didn't have to bundle up much, but as I tried to pedal my way across the hardened snow to the paved street, I lost traction almost immediately.  I almost gave up the project but kept rocking the trike back and forth until I was finally able to get out in the street pavement and take off.
It was a short trip and didn't take a lot of time, especially since the store evidently had recently re-stocked and had a nice, visible. easily found selection of what I needed.

On the way back home I shot a short GoPro video of the streets.

As shown, there's still substantial snow all around, and the pavement shoulders are not too available, but this was a less than a mile ride anyway.  Home safe and sound.

Great exercise in spite of the short ride.  Must have been due to the fighting in the snow.

Blood glucose dropped to 47 when I arrived so I "had" to take a snack break.

Ride Started: 2:25 PM           Ride Ended: 2:46 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage: 13.5   Ending Battery Voltage:  13.5
Lowest Temp: 32 F Highest Temp: 37 F
Beginning Blood Glucose:  108   Ending BG: 47 (Whew)
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: .82
Overall Average Speed      Moving Avg       Max Speed
 2.2 MPH                              4.8 MPH            15.2 MPH
Total Trip Time                    Moving Time      Stopped Time
  22  minutes                        10 minutes          12 minutes

Side Note:  A Sure Sign your RV has been parked too long:

                                          Icicles are proof we should have gone to Yuma for the winter

Mercy, It's Cold Outside

 Today's Frigid GPS Tracking 

Today was another damp cold day - I doubt it got above freezing all day.
The weather forecast called for the SUN to burn through the cold around noonish.
Of course noon came and went with no sign of sunlight.  Another check of the so-called forecast claimed the sunshine had been postponed until 2;30 to 3:00 PM.  
Well, THAT milestone came and went and still no sun.  I looked outside again and no precip was evident, in spite of the soggy fog, so I decided to saddle up, bundle up, and ride somewhere anyway.
Jacque had a text message that she had a prescription waiting for her, so that was a wonderful "reason" for a trike trip.
I should have bundled up a bit more.  I didn't freeze, but I was a bit too cold for comfort in spite of the heat normally generated by pedaling furiously.  It was COLD. 
But, I had an errand to run, so I kept a-going.
I was going to the Big Box Store to pick up Jacque's prescription, and I had a small item I was looking for as well.
I approached the pharmacist and after an unusually short wait, spelled out the name and birthdate and all that..... To NO avail.  Pharmacist lady says "We don't show anything for her."  After making sure she had the last name spelled correctly, I called Jacque - who verified the text she'd received was a couple days old AND did not specify a medication.
So I thanked the nice lady and wandered around the Big Box looking for my desired two-bit item.
After maybe 20 minutes of looking, I gave up and left.
On the way home I got several waves and several looks from folks who seemed to think I was crazy.
Frankly, I think they were right.  It was great to get out, stretch the old legs, and get some exercise.
I had a last thought about making use of the trip:  I rode past my favorite barber (Murphy's) to see if he might accidentally be open on a Monday. 
No such luck, of course.
The good news:  Made it home safe and sound, with fingers and toes still intact.

Ride Started: 3:02 PM           Ride Ended: 4:06 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage: 13.5   Ending Battery Voltage:  12.8
Lowest Temp: 32 F Highest Temp: 35 F
Beginning Blood Glucose: 182    Ending BG: 112
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 5.36
Overall Average Speed      Moving Avg       Max Speed
 4.9 MPH                              8.0 MPH            23.0 MPH
Total Trip Time                    Moving Time      Stopped Time
 1 hour 4  minutes                41 minutes          24 minutes

Another Foggy Ride

 GPS/Ham Radio Tracking

Another trip to the Big Box Store, yada yada.  I stopped along the way to pay the nice lady at Anthony Heating & Air to renew our yearly service contract for our heater and A/C system, which not only gets a lot of workout in this climate but is also dated and worn.... Kinda like Me.
The weather was slightly overcast, after a morning of nice sunshine, and warmer than usual, upper 40's and low 50's.  So I wore only a nylon windbreaker jacket and chose open finger gloves and didn't don the warm skull cap Jacque made me.
Before I got too far the cool breeze was too hard on my pinkies so I stopped and dug out the warm mittens with retractable finger flaps that I normally wear this time of season.  I still wasn't cold elsewhere;  just the fingers.
When I finally got to the Big Store on the north end of town, I was a bit more tired than usual.  As usual I should have checked my Blood Glucose (BG) but as usual, put it off.  I also felt too warm in the jacket but wore it inside while walking around, which I regretted.
As I wandered around the store I was getting a bit more and more fuzzy - brained.  I finally got most of what I was shopping for and got back out to the chained-up trike and fumbled in the pannier to get my blood tester kit out.  BG came in at 61, which isn't that bad for a normal reading, but it's lower than  the recommended 80-120 range my endocrinologist recommends.
I was really feeling punk by now so I dug our my cookie stash and ate a couple.
I still wasn't feeling up to snuff, even after a few minutes resting and digesting, but I didn't want to just remain sitting in front of the store like a homeless dude.  Silly Me.
I took off the jacket since I still felt too warm.
I fished out a glucose tablet from the pannier goodie stock and pedaled out of the parking lot.
Still feeling blah, I pedaled another several hundred yards and, finding a nice abandoned fast food building, pulled into the empty parking lot and took another break.  Still confused and weird, I suspended the insulin pump to stop all delivery.  Now feeling cold, I put the jacket back on.  I finished off the last cookie in the stash and after several more minutes I started to feel human again and rode on toward home.
Of course by the time I got home my BG checked at 61.  By 5 PM it was up to 197.
It's such a common experience to bounce from one end of the scale to the other.  BAH

Ride Started: 1:19 PM           Ride Ended: 2:57 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage: 13.4   Ending Battery Voltage:  12.9
Lowest Temp: 53 F Highest Temp: 57 F
Beginning Blood Glucose: 114    Ending BG: 197
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 5.37
Overall Average Speed      Moving Avg       Max Speed
 3.2 MPH                              6.1 MPH            22.7 MPH
Total Trip Time                    Moving Time      Stopped Time
 1 hour 40  minutes                53 minutes          47 minutes

Sunny but Breezy....

 North to South and Back Again Track

Just another trip to our Big Box Store for some fresh veggies and to our great local Ace Hardware for some wire and clamps for my HF Ham Radio antenna project.  Fun ride, as usual, even if my feet DID start talking to me.

I also experienced another first today:  A "Telephone Doctor Visit".
The VA is having lots of exposure of patients with our current world wide panic-epidemic, or "Pandemic" strain of viral infection called COVID-19.
I had previously been scheduled for an in-person visit to the VA facility in Springfield, but with the current scare the Doc had called and asked if I would be willing to do it remotely via telephone instead of risking coming in for a close-up visit.  I had agreed. 
I was advised to be fasting, for some odd reason.  When the Doc finally called, all he did was ask lots of questions about my aches and pains and pills and whatnot.  He asked if I'd been hospitalized recently for any reason and I chose to tell him the story of my comatose incident of December 9.  He wasn't too surprised at the tale, and basically said he thought I was doing fairly well in spite of everything.
When he learned I was unnecessarily fasting, he said they would set me up for "Labs" in the morning so I wouldn't have to keep starving myself today.  So tomorrow we're doing the Springfield excursion.

Ride Started: 1:28 PM           Ride Ended: 3:23 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage: 13.4   Ending Battery Voltage:  12.9
Lowest Temp: 42 F Highest Temp: 53 F
Beginning Blood Glucose: 366 (!!)    Ending BG: 197
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 6.09
Overall Average Speed      Moving Avg       Max Speed
 4.1 MPH                              6.1 MPH            24.5 MPH
Total Trip Time                    Moving Time      Stopped Time
 1 hour 29  minutes                59 minutes          30 minutes

Unplanned Triking

 SuperShort GPS Tracking

This Monday (yesterday) the weather was cool and cloudy with only a few minutes of sunshine.  I hadn't planned to ride anywhere, but about 4:30 PM or so I found I needed some hardware for my wire ham radio shortwave antenna.  With two lumber and hardware stores a couple or three blocks away, I jumped on the Catrike and took off.
I like these local hardware venues, but often they don't stock what I'm looking for.  Such was the case today.  I spent too much time looking fruitlessly for small cable clamps.  
By the time I left the second store, larger but still lacking my desired stuff, it was almost dark, and I turned on the helmet headlamp in addition to the blinky red tail light on the tail end of the trike.
It was really dark by the time I got home even though it was only a few minutes away.

Ride Started: 4:16 PM           Ride Ended: 5:16 PM
Beginning Battery Voltage: 13.6   Ending Battery Voltage:  12.9
Lowest Temp: 42 F Highest Temp: 50 F
Beginning Blood Glucose: Unk    Ending BG: Unk
Stats from the GPS: Total Miles: 1.45 
Overall Average Speed      Moving Avg       Max Speed
 1.5 MPH                              4.7 MPH            16.2 MPH
Total Trip Time                    Moving Time      Stopped Time
 1 hour                                 18 minutes          42 minutes