There is a wonderful daily email I look forward to: AWAD by Anu Garg.
Today’s word is superbious. http://www.wordsmith.org/words/superbious.html
Certainly at least one person comes to my mind as being proud and insolent, But what really stuck with me today, was Anu’s Thought for Today: “I don’t need more time. What I need is a deadline.” Duke Ellington, jazz pianist, composer and conductor (29 April 1899-1974).
How true this rings now days. We’re sheltering in place and might think we have all the time in the world to git-er-dun, but if we really want to get it done, sometimes there is nothing quite like a deadline to bring the project into focus. These endless days of one after the other are all becoming some day. 
I really need to be mindful of not letting too much time melt away in these days of self quarantine. 

Easter Sunday, a very important Sunday.
Then we have Duolingo, I’ve been at it for 500 days in a row, haven’t skipped a single day.
Ta-da 🎉
I’ve always wanted to learn Spanish, now it’s finally happening.
It seems to me that my pronunciation is pretty good (but then, who am I to say). My reading comprehension is coming along. Listening and responding in a conversation? Pitiful.
I’m continuing to learn new words, though.
​I have to continue to remind myself its like water on stone: a little all the time, unceasingly will create a change. Over time there will be an effect. It may be imperceptible, but there will be an effect. That, you can bank on.
My only prob: sometimes I get a trifle impatient and want something before several eons have passed. Maybe that’s just me being childish again.

​

2020-04-03, Friday
Yesterday was productive in spite of the Covid-19 crisis. I finished deconstructing the little 10’x10’ shed behind the garage. 
Work was stopped the day before because of a bat sheltering in the tarpaper on the south side of the structure. It was near the end of the day and I reckoned the little mammal would fly off overnight now that it’s home was being demolished. I put a flap of the torn 90# roofing material over his hiding spot, hoping the critter didn’t freak out before dark. After sunset, but before it was totally dark I went back and took the flap off and hoped the bat would be gone by morning. Sure enough, no trace. 
Perhaps one day, I’ll post the video of this shed’s final days. 
​

​April Fool’s Day (fools, fools’?). 
We are living in the age of CORVID-19 and that is no joke. It’s an unusual time to say the least.
A young man, Avi Schiffmann, 17 year old junior at Mercer Island High School, recently wrote a program that “scrapes the web”. His program gathers Covid-19 statistics from health departments all over the globe. For his tracker view this link: https://ncov2019.live. For a great interview with this mild mannered teen go here: Democracy Now. 

Seattle, when the days are still short and dark and wet.
Last year, with some friends I rode the Alaskan Way Viaduct, the last ride before it comes down. That’s the way I understood it anyway. 
Wait a year, Big Bertha the boring machine is no longer stuck and the brand spanking new tunnel has been completed. Cascade Bicycle Club organized another ride of the viaduct and this time including the replacement tunnel. 
As much as I’ve enjoyed my solo rides, I also get sort of giddy in such a huge group of cyclists. So much infrastructure open JUST for bicyclists. How cool is that. 
Here are a few captures from 2018 and 2019 all rolled into one. 

This Surly Disc Trucker was new in April 2018. Thanks to Skagit Cycle for the groovy bike. 

The middle of May saw this machine headed to Colorado with me on/in the saddle. I was pedaling to my granddaugher’s birthday party. After that it rested while I did some long needed maintenance on my house. Once the weather changed from summer to fall, it came out for another ride. This time down the Pacific Coast of North America. 

During a long ride, I haven’t figured out how to keep my bicycle chain clean. I’ve come to realize, it isn’t meant to be clean, it’s meant to be used. How long it will last is yet to be determined. 

This bike was trouble free for the birthday ride, so I lived by the motto of “if it aint broke don’t fix it”. Yes, I can almost hear the eyebrows go up. “What about servicing a dependable machine to keep it that way?”, you may ask. My only defense is that one of the mechanics at Skagit Cycle said the best lube for that chain is that which came on it from the factory. So, based on that, I left it on the chain as long as possible. There was some rain and snow going to Colorado, but not so much that I was concerned about the factory lube being washed off. 

Now, contrast the 1500 miles east and south to Colorado with the 1900 along the Pacific Ocean and believe me, there was a marked increase of rain. Certainly for the first half of the ride anyway. As a result, I too accepted it was time to clean my chain. 

I was fortunate to be a WarmShowers guest with Ralph Clarkson and his family, in Aberdeen, WA. Ralph has wide work experience. A particularly valuable skill for a touring cyclist that Ralph has, is bike mechanic. Ralph was able to put my shifting problems behind me with a good cleaning and adjusting of my shifters. As a result, I feel the need to get a few more bicycle tools, learn how to use them and then be able to clean this chain and cassette, just as Ralph did. .

​Park Tools YouTube channel, here I come.