Sep 13 - back on the saddle

Why is the expression usually "back in the saddle" -- I know of no saddle that you would be inside.

That said, yesterday I was back on the saddle of my bicycle. As usual, I re-learned that while overall fitness doesn't decline much in 2.5 weeks, the legs complain mightily. In fact, they continued their complaining until about 5 miles from the end of my ride, either because they'd given up, were tired of complaining, or had finally, finally loosened up. I think that it was more the latter.

The a.m. was spent doing laundry (my bike clothes), fixing the computer, assembling and cleaning my bike; the afternoon was spent on the bike; the evening was short. We had stir-fried pork loin with veggies, always good.

Today I moved onto my next project -- the retaining wall out the back. First part of that job is more excavation. I wish that I could use something mechanized ! The ground is rock hard, packed clay and almost-rock as you get closer to the bedrock. I have to chip away at some of it with a pointed 4 foot iron bar in order to loosen it. Once loose, I can shovel into the wheelbarrow and then run across the deck and unload down by the boathouse. It's all downhill ... yes ... but that doesn't make the wheeling easy.

I ran into another complication, namely a large rock. I dug it out and it rolled down onto the ground and there it sits. I might be able to get my arms around it, giving you an idea of its size, but I can't move it. I can wiggle it a little with the iron bar but cannot roll it with same. I'll need help with this one. Unfortunately the ground below isn't deep enough for me to dig a hole and bury it either -- bedrock isn't very far down.

Sandy got herself organized to leave for Sudbury and we discovered that her car battery was dead, or at least dead enough that it wouldn't even open the car doors ... which is pretty dead. With jumping the car started; the battery is now on the charger but it's surely lost a lot of its life. It was only two years old ... rats. The computers in these cars take up juice even when they are off, plus she had the NAV plugged in, which might have contributed to the drain -- it's been a month after all. I'd thought about putting it on the battery minder but then didn't. Double rats. Sandy took the X5.

It started raining a while ago so I took a break from digging and had my lunch. The sun is now back out so I'll go back outside, ya dig ? (bad !).

Onward !