Happy Hour Queen Returns to Clermont

We've had quite a few happy hours here lately, but we had to have one more because Diane who is "the Happy Hour Queen is back. I forgot my camera so you'll have to go to Donna's blog to see the pictures.



Nathan and I are practicing for a pickleball tournament and I've noticed something. When we play against the guys, they play much harder against me this year than they did last year. I got hit twice today, and both times I was so glad because it reminds me to get my paddle up and that they aren't going easy on me so I need to stay focused and in the game.



Beyond that, we haven't been up to much because it's COLD again so I'm staying inside and doing some baking. I tried two different cookie recipes today, to see which one we like best. I asked Nathan if the first batch was better than my regular cookie recipe and he wisely answered, "It's hard to compare awesome to awesome." I'll try to remember to report the results from the other two guys who will be more honest with me.



In the meantime, here are the NY Chocolate Chip Cookies:

Strange weather, again

When I stepped outside Tuesday morning, it smelled as if a fire were burning nearby. I worried that the fire in the next county had spread. But that fire was 30 miles away, last I heard. Surely it wasn't that.

No, it wasn't... it was smoke from the south Georgia/north Florida fires... over 300 miles away!

Every air pollution monitor in two counties was in the danger zone. Unreal.

Wednesday a cold front came through and put an end to all that nonsense. We got a whole 1/8 inch of rain. Which was welcome, but... is that all we get? How are my eight types of squash going to thrive on that?

We did finally get most of the garden planted over the weekend. With every seed, I kept thinking, "I'll bet KFarmer has laid her garden by already. I'll bet KFarmer is eating ripe tomatoes by now!" (She's really not, but still I've placated myself by imagining that she is so far south in Georgia that she might as well be in Florida.)

But if I'd been on my toes and planted as early as KFarmer, it would all have frozen at Easter anyway. The county agent says we had the worst late freeze since 1955. Excepting strawberries, there are NO commercial fruits left in Blount county. All were destroyed.

And the people who tried to protect their strawberries by putting water on them lost everything too. Only the people who used row covers saved them.

Anyway. So we're really late getting the garden planted this year. Our healthiest looking plant is actually something that's coming up in the compost pile. I think it's a zuchhini.



Because of course I really needed nine types of squash!



It's a squash experimentation year, and natural forces are playing along.

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County agent also says that a lot of the damage done to larger plants and trees won't show up until later in the summer, when everything starts getting stressed by the heat.

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The nicest recent strange weather event though, the one that made me really smile? It was the rainbow in my sink just after the recent rain. Yep, in my sink!

Bicycles in Product Branding

Having dabbled in marketing in the past with an emphasis on branding, I am always interested in the associations manufacturers use to add appeal to their products. And of course when bicycles are involved I take notice. Looking at how bikes are presented in product branding, there are multiple themes. For instance here is a cycling cow selling ice cream. It's a cute image but why that specific cute image? Well, let's see... The cow is riding a vintage delivery trike loaded with steel dairy containers. So the idea here is to associate the brand with old fashioned methods of production and distribution. This is echoed by the word "creamery" in the name.





And here the idea of cycling is subtly used to associate the "zero calorie" lemonade with weight loss, while the penny farthing imagery goes nicely with lemonade's old fashioned appeal. There's the "honest" thing as well, which I've noticed in other foods that picture bicycles on the label. Do we associate bicycles with honesty?





Wholesomeness maybe, or nature - suggesting that the food is organic and "honestly" obtained regardless of whether that is so? Could be.





Penny farthings are used as symbols of old timey-ness across product categories. This perfume manufacturer uses it to suggest vintage elegance, congruently with the antique look of the bottle and the distressed label. Curious, I smelled the perfume. Sort of floral and dusty, but not too heavy. I suppose it goes with the vintagey presentation, though personally I associate cycling with fresh air and not perfume.






At the same time, bicycles can just as well be used as symbols of contemporary culture.





I see more and more clothing and accessories where bicycle references serve as shorthand for a "hipster" identity. "This garment is for the cool urbanite who rides bikes, or wishes they did."





The bicycle can also suggest fun, whimsy, levity. Drinking from these cups promises to be fun because of that bicycle imagery. To some extent this might also be behind the increasing popularity of bicycles on alcoholic beverage labels.






Do bank notes qualify as a product? I guess they do. Someone designs them after all, with both function and aesthetics in mind. While in Antrim, I was intrigued to discover there is an antique path racer on the Northern Ireland 10 pound note. I looked it up, and learned it is in honour of John Dunlop, who invented the pneumatic tyre whilst living in Belfast. So here the bicycle is part of a narrative about heritage - with additional implications of self-sufficiency and freedom of travel. More than anything, I find it delightful to know that about a million people in Northern Ireland are walking around with pictures of vintage bicycles in their pockets.






There is always talk among bicycle activists about how to create positive associations with cycling in the public's eye. Meanwhile, other industries harness the already existing positive associations to enhance the appeal of non-bicycle-related products. Interesting how these things connect, overlap and feed off of each other.






I wonder to what extent it is cyclists who find bicycle-branded products appealing because they identify with the bicycle, as opposed to non-cyclists whose imagination is engaged by the mere idea of the bicycle. I suppose it is probably both.

Colchuck Peak

Colchuck Peak, in the Stuart Range, was to be our first real climb of 2007. We camped near the trailhead the night before and then got a 4:00am start on the climb. The road to the trailhead was closed due to a mudslide that needed to be cleaned up. We pushed and rode bikes for 4 miles up the dry gravel road.




Mark crossing the bridge over Mountaineer Creek.



Doug, Mike and Dave enjoying the view.


Dragontail Peak is on the left, Colchuck Peak is on the right and the Colchuck Glacier is in-between. Our route would start directly below the summit as seen from this angle. Colchuck Lake was still frozen. We were able to save a lot of time by going straight across the lake.



Our route was the North Buttress Couloir (NBC). It is the snowy strip going up the left side of this photo. This is the NE side of the peak.





Heading up the lower part of the NBC. The snow was in great shape on this side of the peak. We could easily kick in steps and they were solid.





Dave, the moraine and the end of the lake.






We made it up to the notch and crossed over to the NW side of Colchuck. The snow on this side was loose dry powder.







Mark with Colchuck Lake in background.








Mark, Doug and Dave on top of Colchuck Peak with Mt. Stuart and Sherpa Peak behind us.









The Colchuck Glacier consisted of hard icy snow. We were numb by the time we finished glissading down to the lake!








Dave takes a lot of flower pictures. Here is just one. We hopped back on the bikes, made good time coasting down to the pickup, ate some real food and headed for home.

Ice Storm

A few days ago we got a bunch of rain, which basically turned into an ice storm once the temperature dropped below freezing. I really wasn't able to get out and take any pictures immediately after the storm, but I did get out yesterday back in the woods and was surprised to see a lot of ice still remaining from the storm. Yesterday was the best day for photographing the ice anyway, since it was the first day in a week that we had clear blue skies. The blue sky made for a tremendous backdrop for the ice-covered trees.

Got Skills? Riding a Bicycle without Knowing How

I tend to think of myself as having begun cycling when I got into it as an adult. But technically, that is not so. I learned to ride a bike when I was a child, and rode one all through junior high and most of high school. There was a nice post today on ecovelo, where Alan mentioned having "lived on his bike" as a kid, and in a sense it was similar for me. My friends and I did not race each other through wheatfields or pop wheelies, but we did use our bikes to get around our small town. Even once old enough to drive, most of us somehow still stuck with bicycles: It just seemed easier and even kept us off our parents' radar (for example, they could not look at the odometer to determine whether we had gone out when we were told not to).



But during all those years of riding bikes as a child and teenager, I knew absolutely nothing about "technique." At some point I was given a 2-wheel bike, and I used it as a push-bike for a few laps around the park until suddenly I was able to pedal without the bike falling over. To me, that meant that I was pretty much done learning "technique." In the years that followed, I rode with the saddle low, never learned how to start and stop "properly" or to pedal while standing, and was not aware that turning involved leaning and balancing, rather than using the handlebars. Heck, I never even learned how to shift gears, because the shifters on my low-end bike were jammed!



When I think about how it feels to cycle today - and particularly, how it felt when I first started doing it as an adult - I am confused and frustrated by all those younger years spent riding a bike without knowing how to do it properly. It's odd that I did not naturally pick up any skills what so ever during that time. (How can that be? Surely no one is that unathletic?) Moreover, my friends must have been just as clueless, because no one ever made fun of me or told me I was "doing it wrong." And it's frustrating that those skills were so much easier to learn as a child than as an adult - so by not having learned them early, I am at a disadvantage that may take me some effort to overcome.



I first discovered the concept of leaning on turns by reading about it, and after that it took months before Iphysicallybecame aware of it enough to gain some control over the process. Of course when I did, I was ecstatic - to the amazement of the Co-Habitant who had not realised the extent to which I never learned these things.



As for saddle height, it is an ongoing fiasco: It took over a year of gradually raising it until I was able to have it at more or less the height where it needs to be for good leg extension... But I still cannot mount a bicycle properly and have to do a graceless little lean-and-hoist maneuver to get myself onto that raised saddle. Terrified of falling, I am highly resistant to being taught, and watching videos of others doing it over and over has not helped. At least I am now finally able to pedal while standing: After months of riding fixed gear, I finally got it (at first I could do it only on the fixed gear, then the skill gradually transferred onto freewheel bikes). I have to say, that was not easy for me to "get". In my head I understood what to do, but my body refused to balance.



It seems absurd to me that I can ride a roadbike at 25 mph, handle long climbs and hilly descents, ride a fixed gear racing bike "for fun" - yet still lack some of the most rudimentary cycling skills after almost two years of trying to master them.Will I ever be able to handle a bike like a "real" cyclist?Who knows - maybe I can still learn. Or maybe I should just accept that my early years of "doing it wrong" ruined me for life.Is the way you cycle now different from how you did it as a child? And if you are a parent, at what age did you teach your children to ride a bike and how did they take to it?I wonder how many others there are who feel this way - as if they are riding a bike without knowing how.

Easter Day follies

We walked about four miles after rolling our eggs and eating our picnic in the lee of the car doors.

We didn't go any further in the car

Eggs on snow

Goadby

The road to the top

withered spring?

St John the Baptist, Goadby

cyclamen and snow

Back on the snowy heights, we are not alone.

We recall a previous walk -




and put it on the "to walk again" list.

The First Record of Michael Fisher

The first record I have of Michael Fisher comes from Carroll County, Ohio Deed Book 6 page 475 and is dated December 21, 1840. Michael was apparently a resident of Stark County, Ohio when he purchased 62 acres of land in the Southwest Quarter of Section Six in Township Sixteen in Range Six (SW ¼ S6 T16 R4) in Carroll County. John Phend owned 80 acres in the NE ¼ of that same section. Michael's daughter Louisa would marry Jacob Phend, son of John, in August 1847.

Talk about legal speak:
John Shover to Michel Fisher. To all to whom these presents shall come greeting. Know ye that I John Shover of Stark County Ohio, for the consideration of Eight hundred and fifty dollars Received to my full Satisfaction of Michel Fisher of the County and State aforesaid do give grant bargain Sell and confirm unto him the said Michel Fisher the following described tract or lot of land Situate in the County of Carroll and State of Ohio and being south west quarter of section number six in Township Sixteen in range number six and is bounded As follows by the lines of Said quarter containing Sixty two acres more or less. To have and to hold the above bargained and granted premises with the appurtenances thereof unto him the Said Michel Fisher his heirs and assigns forever to his and their own proper use and behoof and Also I the said John Shover do for my Self my heirs Executors and administrators covenant with the Said Michel Fisher his heirs and assigns that at and until the issuing of these presents I was well Seized of the premises as a good indifinable Estate in fee simple and have good right to bargain and sell the same in manner and form as is above written and that the same is free of all Encumbrances what soever and further I the Said Joseph Shover do by these presents bind myself and my heirs forever to warrant and defend the above bargained and granted premises to him the said Michel Fisher his heirs and assigns against all claims and demands whatsoever. And I Anna wife of the Said John Shover do hereby in consideration of the money as the aforesaid paid to my said husband release and forever quit claim unto the said Michel Fisher his heirs and assigns all my right of dower in and to the above described premises. In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands and seals this twenty first day of December Anno Domini one thousand Eight hundred and forty.
Signed Sealed and delivered presence of David Huston

Exploring by Sea

We all went on the boat today. I think it's the first that we've all been out there at the same time. Lauren's friend, Sarah, joined us too. I saw some new areas which made it really interesting. This is what we saw while driving around on the water:

The swing bridge at Gwynn's Island. I've read that there are not many of these bridges left in the US. We just so happened to come across it as it was moving. What a neat thing to see the entire middle section rotate so boats can pass by.

We had so much fun soaking up the local sights and nature this way!