Friday, May 29, 2015

May 28 - glorious buggy days

Why oh why ?  I guess that's the price that we pay for the explosion of life that is the North and living on the water.  I've got a line of blackfly bites along my waistband on my back, the result of blackflies getting in while I was working on the dock.  I didn't have the bug jacket pulled down far enough.  I've also got a bunch of bites on my arms as those critters and mosquitoes got around the loose cuffs on the bug jacket.  Luckily I itch in so many places so there's no point in scratching.

I finished up the dock yesterday, tying it tightly; temporarily repaired the screen on one side of the gazebo, did some bicycle maintenance -- going to try out the Velo Orange front bag ... maybe.  I also tied up all, I think, loose financial ends on the Sunshine ride.  The biggest positive budget variance was on food; didn't spend nearly as much on food as I'd thought.  The biggest negative budget variance was on tracking, as I hadn't budgeted anything for tracking.  I'm in the black, which is good, not as much in the black if you consider all my expenses, eg. trip to Key West in the Fall etc., but still good.

Zoe now has a swing; Sandy had picked that up at Canadian Tire.  I also got the boat in the water and she had a quick ride.  The first time that she went on the swing and then I took her off, there was quite a melt-down.  She doesn't understand time limits.  The second time it was brief, just testing me, I think.  She doesn't react the same way to the end of the boat ride, however short, as getting back to the dock puts a period to the end of that sentence, metaphorically speaking.

She gets better each day, getting used to our version of no=no -- house rules.  She would love to play with the "pad" all day long, I think, so that becomes a bone of contention, but this morning when she got up and wanted the pad, Sandy got out Playdoh and the smiles broke out.     The old pad now has a one-inch section on a corner that's shattered, from dropping on the tiles.  She's used to carpet. 

I made some of my nine-bean soup, which I've started consuming this a.m.  No bread these days, body seems to have adjusted to the low carb diet.  I don't know if I'm eating enough fat, probably eating too much protein.  I do have the occasional handful of almonds, hunk of cheese etc.  Otherwise it's not much different.  Sandy does one potato now; there's lots of leftover rice; I didn't eat the stuffing in the stuffed rainbow trout ... you get the idea.

Today I head to Barrie via highway 11 and the gravel section that we'll be riding.  I need to do that in daylight.  Tomorrow's weather looks grim; I might very well bail.  I've already got 3x400k's to my name this year.  It's my least favorite distance and riding in the cold and wet isn't exactly something to which I'm looking forward.  We'll see.

Onward !



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