March 1, 2023
Oregon City
New month! Departure month!! We leave in less than two weeks!!! Just the thought of it sets Rachael’s heart a flutter.
Between uncooperative weather and uncertain health there haven’t been many opportunities to get on the bikes let alone go out for a ride together, but things come together today and we take our shot on the one decent day we’re likely to see this week. The ankle’s fine, the pumper is still behaving nicely, it’s not raining or snowing, and if it’s not exactly warm it’s at least bearable at just above 40. We wait until nearing one before starting out on only our second joint bike outing since returning to Portland.
We get off to a slow start though, as we stand around for several minutes while Rachael fiddles with her new amazin’ Amazon AMAZFIT band. It’s her first time out with this new device she got for only $35 just this week. We’ll take a closer look at this amazing bit of wearable tech art later, but for now we’ll note that Rocky is very excited by its features and wearability (It’s so light!) and anxious to try it out. And that I hope we get this routine down quickly, so I’m not standing around in the cold for several minutes every morning while she’s fiddling with the settings.
Eventually we start biking down Harrison toward the waterfront. I see that Rachael is eyeing her new band, and order her to stop. The last thing we need is a concussion-inducing distracted biker accident. Eyes on the road! This concerns me, really. She promises she’ll never look unless she’s stopped, but she’s prone to grabbed-attention syndrome. Whenever we’re walking together I’ll find her with her eyes locked on her phone following its navigation instructions until I collect it from her with the promise that we won’t get lost.
It doesn’t take long before our outing falls into its familiar rhythm. I see a reason to stop, and Rachael continues on. It’s just as well - for me, today’s ride is experimental. I don’t really want to push things too much until meeting with my cardiologist tomorrow morning. I’m feeling fine though, and don’t fall far behind by the time we meet up in Oregon City.
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We start biking home together, and continue so for about half-way when we come to Milwaukee and I see the cormorants out on the raft again and stop for a second look. It’s a surprise this time though, as one of these is not like the other. So here’s where the gulls hide out in the winter, maskerading as cormorants!
Rachael’s gone again of course, so we’ll just meet up at the apartment. Since there’s no rush I decide to stop off at the Oak Bottom refuge to see who’s hanging out at the feeder today. There’s not much happening at first, just a pair of fox squirrels rummaging on the ground. Then a few birds start dropping by, so I stand by and watch the show. I watch for too long really, maybe twenty minutes - too long to just stand still in this cold - and I’m pretty chilled when I finally make it home.
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I think I spotted something on those tail feathers...
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Downy_Woodpecker/species-compare/#:~:text=Hairy%20Woodpeckers%20are%20larger%20than,are%20spotted%20on%20Downy%20Woodpeckers.
1 year ago
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1 year ago
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For dinner we treat ourselves and drive down to Phylloxenia, one of our favorites in town. It’s sinking in that we don’t have many nights left and we’d better start packing in some meals. It’s not easy to find a parking spot, but once I do it pleases me immensely to ace my test and park perfectly the first time, in traffic. And dinner is great, worthy of food photos if I’d thought about it. Rachael had pasta with shrimp, spinach, zucchini and goat cheese; and I had an excellent filo shell stuffed with veggies and free-range bunny.
Today's ride: 33 miles (53 km)
Total: 1,645 miles (2,647 km)
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