May 3 - Lazing about

Not exactly, but for some reason I felt tired way beyond what I would normally expect from doing a 200k. Was it the wind ? I've had wind before. Was it the cold ? I've had cold before. Was it the elevation ? 700 feet should not make a difference. Was it the climbing ? 3500 feet is not that much. Put it all together ? Possibly ...

One thing that I forgot to mention in yesterday's blog was the number of riders. I was lucky number 13. There are four clubs that run Brevets in southern Ontario so the riders get spread among the clubs -- Simcoe, out of Alliston south of Barrie; Huron, out of Owen Sound; Toronto, out of various locations from Oshawa to Mississauga; and Ottawa, out of, well, Ottawa.

Anyhow -- I left for Mass at 6:30 or so, heading for Sudbury. As usual on the Sunday-in-Sudbury-for-Mass days, I got to Home Depot just before opening time and waited in my car for them to open the door. I'm never the only one waiting, by the way. In HD I found the plumbing parts for the job at Stef's, the WD40 for cleaning my bike and perused the ceiling tiles that Sandy looked at the other day. Leaving HD a little early to head to Mass it turned out to be a good thing because they were running some 10k or marathon and traffic was held up for gaps in the runners.

Out of Mass at 10am, I headed home. The priest had announced that a letter from the Bishop had directed them to make some accommodations for Swine Flu -- no handshaking, communion only in the hand, hand sanitizer etc. Personally I think that Swine Flu, or H1N1 as they like to call it, has moved into the "we have nothing to fear but fear itself" territory, but who knows. I was reading that in the last flu epidemic -- 1976 -- the U.S. opted to inoculate everyone. Apparently 25 died from inoculation and 1 died from that flu that year. Of course we'll never know how many might have died without inoculation will we, but thousands die from flu every year anyway. When the CCCB (Canadian Council of Catholic Bishops) declare that Mass will only be celebrated on TV then I'll know that we've really crossed a threshold of fear.

I knew that the fireplace woodbox needed filling so I completed that chore. I was intending to put some wood into the woodbox behind the house too but I was finding climbing the stairs a lot of work -- go back to my earlier "feeling tired" statements -- so I simply did some piling/organizing up at the woodshed. Since some space had been freed up with wood use, I moved some of the woodpile that is behind the woodshed (and had partly fallen down, but had been re-piled) into the woodshed. That gets that outside pile down into the four foot high range vs seven feet and gets that wood inside where it will dry some more. Ultimately I need to extend that woodshed back to increase its size but also, at some point, get the generator out of the woodshed so that its use is purely dedicated to the original intent, i.e. a woodpile. I'll have to remember to call Halle Brooks to get in some more wood.

I also cleaned up my bike from the 200k ride. It was a little dirty, but not too bad considering. The WD40 does a great job in cleaning the chain, floating the dirt right out of the plates and rollers.

Sandy had been doing some dusting and now that the woodbox was full, I brought up the shop vac and cleaned the area around the fireplace. The basement needs vacuuming too, but I didn't get to that yesterday. Feeling recharged later in the afternoon I got out the 4-wheeler and its trailer and moved the leaves/pine needles/branches that were piled down by the shore from Sandy's and my cleanup efforts. They're now piled at my burn pile at the back waiting for a dry windless day for burning. I heard Jim Matthews say that burning is supposed to take place after 6pm ... but as I look outside now, a little before dawn with the sky getting lighter, I'm thinking that early morning might be better because there is usually no wind early morning. The lake is a mirror right now, a perfect reflection of the far shore.

We still have bats. Yes, we still have bats, but not in the house. I just saw some flying outside silhouetted against the dim light of the sky. I have not solved that problem yet. I have to design little louvers of some sort to go at the window/siding edges so that bats can come out but not in. Linda Wilder came up with an idea -- lights -- and that could possibly work, but would the bats really stay away from these entry holes if lights were placed along there ? I don't know. It's worth a try I guess. Once they don't come in, which can be determined by putting cotton batten in the holes, then I can seal them. I had originally thought about sealing them after the snow fell, but was getting conflicting information online about whether the bats were still in there hibernating or whether they'd flown off to caves somewhere.

I've updated the blog schedule to include various known or at least planned dates for bike rides and travels. I don't know the kids actual schedules yet, but have included an entry for the period when the entire family will be here. Arlene is expecting to be here for a week in that timeframe; Philip and his girls will probably only be here for the August long weekend. I have also included tentative dates for our trips to Florida through the end of the year -- June, September/October and November/December.

The sky is getting lighter outside. It's cool -- 0C/32F, but supposed to warm up nicely. Abby just barked; I'm sure that she's at the kitchen door wanting to go out and chase after what she imagines to be out there. She's been out once already. Yesterday she was chasing chipmunks all over the property, having a blast. She has a good life ! We all do !

Sandy leaves around 7am this morning -- she picked the time not me -- to make a dentist appointment in Toronto at 11:30 or some such time. After that she heads to Stef's, returning tomorrow with Mya. With Mya here the place will be hopping. We are not going to put up barriers this time ... she listens pretty well now. She doesn't like stairs -- up or down -- so we don't have to worry about that. The only issue might be the den and bedroom on the ground floor, but I'm sure that a couple of "no's" will cure any tendency to follow us there. After she returns home Bev and Bruce will be coming with Paco ... he's not quite as well behaved ... has nose-in-butt syndrome ... so it could be a challenge managing him for the couple of days that they're here. It should be fun though.

That's about it. For today, I'm not sure. I might go out for a bike ride. Then again, I might not.

At this point, however, it's time to feed me and Abby.