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The very scary weather for us on the west coast is “wildfire season”. It comes in late summer when everything is tinder dry and the wind kicks up. We had a very close fire two seasons ago. The fight is on and in good hands when you see or hear the small CalFire spotter plane up high directing...

Good gravel bike ride today. 18 miles and 2,000 ft of elevation. Tested and adjusted new hydration pack on todays training ride. Longer ride tomorrow then taper for next weekends 100 mile race.

Wow that’s a pretty VW. I’ve got a dusty oval window ‘55 sitting in my shop. It has a nearly new 2150 cc engine with dual carbs. Haven’t driven it in a while. Thinking I should charge the battery and take her out for a spin.

Took it easy today … 14 mile gravel road bike ride and a little work out in the orchard. Have a new friend in the orchard. A big doe has taken up residence out there. Orchard has a year round creek, lots of grass, small fruit starting to develop on the trees, and grape vines and leaves on...

Last year at age 59 I raced in the 45-60 age group and got my butt kicked. I finished in pain a full hour after the leader. This year I’m in the 60+ masters.

Fun bike race this week. Had a sprint finish … which I lost … finished 4th. Have a couple week break and then a gravel road race of 94 miles with 8,600 ft of hills to climb! It’s in Sisters, Oregon near Bend. The master class field for this one has some very fit and fast old guys. Have...

Propane suppliers in our area have experience with severe winter weather events and pro-active power grid shutdown in the summer during hot high winds. If the power grid is down a couple days and a tanker truck can get to us … here he comes down the street. I don’t have to call. The real issue...

For the question … “How many days could that power your house before needing a refill?” ——— My standby whole house generator consumes about 2 gal propane per hour to power the house. And furnace & water heater consume a little propane too. If we get hit with massive heavy snow again...

Thank goodness for the stand by whole house generator. Have it hooked up to 500 gal propane tank and we are good to go for extended outages. We lose power frequently due to winter storms, wildfires, or sadly an unfortunate vehicle collision that takes out a power pole. There are few...

Met up with the kids and significant others in Santa Cruz this weekend for a family camp out. Awesome time. Got home and squeezed in a 40-mile gravel road bike workout.

Just starting the process of finding a 2 bdrm townhouse to buy with my youngest daughter … my hardworking cardiac ICU nurse. Right now she is renting @ $2,750 per month. The gameplan is we go in as equal partners, me with cash for my half and she would take out a loan for her half. My goal is...

Mountain bike race earlier in the week. Allergies got to me. Placed 5th. First gravel races of the season coming up quick. Last week I put my big boy (cycling) shorts on and ramped up the training mileage. Got to show that old guys can still bring it!!!!

it’s been an emotional week. Mom (84) … she has Alzheimer’s … can no longer live independently so we moved her into assisted living. Doing our best to make it a smooth transition and support her and be with her all along this journey. But my eyes got a little watery when as I was leaving...

Just saw this post. Adding my 2 cents. Be aware that the pacific coast highway south of Monterey is frequently damaged by winter storms and can take months to re-open. (Made my living designing and repairing winter storm damage … and business repairing highway 1 damage continues to be good!)...

Got out on my gravel bike for a 45-miler with 4k ft of climbing. Ramping up weekly mileage and hill climbing as start of gravel race season is coming up quick.

Mountain bike race yesterday. Since my bike is in the shop, I borrowed and raced a factory demo. Super nice ride (with a price tag north of $10k) but racing something you’re not so familiar with its handling, gearing and shifting isn’t such a good idea. Finished a sad 5th. With fingers...

Got out on my gravel bike for a 44 miler today with 4K feet of climbing. Training up for gravel race season which starts in June. In other news I’ve been signed up for a golf tourney …. and I don’t golf much anymore. Gotta hit the driving range so I don’t look like a fool at the first tee!

Love reading about all the activities everyone is involved in. The key is to find something you enjoy and just keep moving.

Wife and I (married 37 yrs) act like newlyweds! Does this count as Romantic Relationship Post Fire? (Sometimes she says I act like a 7th grader but that’s probably a different subject). We’ve been keeping it fresh with weekly date nites and quarterly honeymoon trips since 1987. Love you...

Gravel road bicycle race today. Although distance wasn’t all that much, a little over 40 miles, the race course had over 5k feet of elevation gain. Finished mid-pack. Not bad for a 60 y.o. hack. This was the inaugural shakedown race of my new BTD gravel race bike for the season. Sweet ride...

SWEET! I have an oval window 1955 VW Beetle. Converted it to 12 volt and has a 1835cc powerplant with dual carbs. Don’t take it out much though.

Worked my part-time retiree job yesterday at the construction materials lab. The young guy who goes out to job sites to grab construction material samples (the “sample runner”) for testing quit, so I drew the short straw and filled in. And right as I was wrapping up for the day one of my other...

Flying across country to the East Coast (Charlotte) soon to escort Mom to sister’s house for a couple week stay. Would love to hang out in the Caribbean during Moms time with sister and grab Mom on the way back. This avoids having to fly back and forth across the U.S. four times. Wife and I...

No way would I go back as an employee, under any scenario. I’m much happier … and better paid … as a consultant. As a consultant I get to decide what work I take on and how it gets done. And I’m OK if my client (AKA former employer) wants to go elsewhere to get their work done.

Headed over to the vacant rental home with Sawz-All in hand! Previous owner of the home bought and installed a very large decorative water wheel in the backyard. It was driven by an electric motor and had flowers in all the buckets. It’s now rotten, a hazard and has to go. If house gets...