Scattered Thoughts . . .

I 've always enjoyed bicycles since I was a young child on Long Island.  By the time I was in high school and college, I was riding my bicycle all over the island and Long Island is no small island.  It is about 20 miles wide and 120 miles long.  I was hit by a few cars and had one bicycle stolen but I've always enjoyed biking. When I first relocated to Vermont (my last Air Force/DOD assignment), I purchased a cheap bicycle and did quite a bit of riding while exploring.  Between kayaking (I lived on a major river), flying, biking and driving, I got to see most of Vermont in a short time.   That cheap bicycle bit the dust about 15 years ago so I haven't done any riding since then.  Every summer I do some searching for a new bicycle but nothing in the lower price range ever catches my eye.  This summer, after having COVID again for the past couple of months and losing quite a bit of weight, I finally found a decent bicycle at a very good price....

O n our way to Ohio on the train with Lukey and Kenzie back in June, we took a route that passed through Manhattan, then down to Washington and then down into Virginia before heading westward and passing through West Virginia, into Kentucky, and then up into Ohio.  Lukey and Kenzie have already been with us in Manhattan quite a few times but this would be the first time we continued on to Washington with Kenzie and Lukey, our Amtrak fanatic grandchild who was looking forward to finally pulling into this station while in an Amtrak sleeper car. We had about a forty-five minute layover at the station in Washington which I knew was just enough time to head up into beautiful Union Station and then wander out to the street so Lukey and Kenzie could actually see a bit of Washington.  We'd have to keep our pace up but I knew we could fit in this short excursion through the station.  I've been here many times but this would be a first for all my travel companions on this trip so I...

I 've been sick with COVID since mid-July and I'm still struggling with this virus.  I felt better than I have in a couple of months yesterday morning so I finally stepped outside to do some landscaping.  I haven't done this at all in the past month so this was a good sign that maybe this virus is behind me.  Actually, I haven't done anything outside at all in the past month so the yard was definitely in need of some attention. My plan was to start with the edge trimming with the weed-whacker and then see how I feel.  I got side-tracked and did some pruning and trimming of some plants but I finished all the edge trimming in less than an hour.  I was still feeling well so I decided to pull out the lawnmower.  My original plan was to do the edge trimming on one day and then do the mowing on another to better manage my energy and avoid overdoing it but I was still feeling well after doing the edge trimming so I decided to mow the lawn too.   I got th...

D uring our trip out to Ohio with Lukey and Kenzie back in June, we suffered a few relatively small photography equipment failures.  This is not surprising in the least when traveling with enough equipment for three people and, in the big scheme of things, the failures were quite small.   I'd say that the worst failure was finding that a 21 minute video of fireworks was out of focus throughout the entire video.  I can blame this on small LCD screens when paired with old eyes!  So that was my fault.  We lost one or two little things too.  The only thing that actually broke was my Peak Design Capture Clip which is a $60 item (well...  that is what I paid...  to replace it with the newer version would cost $80). I use this Capture Clip to hold my camera on my shoulder strap.  The Capture Clip allows me to quickly remove the camera from the shoulder strap whenever necessary.  This clip also allows me to securely (supposedly) clip my cam...