Peace and Resolve

Nothing much to report. I checked my fall quarter grades online: I got a 4.0 in French 201. I don't think I deserved it, and I know I need some review and drill to be ready for next quarter, but I've been very lazy so far over winter break.

In fact, most of the time I was working at the coffee shop I was on closing shift and didn't have to be at work until mid-day, so it's been more than three years since I've had to wake to an alarm clock, or be out of bed before 9am regularly. I told myself this is one of the rare, few benefits of restaurant/retail work, and I had a right to enjoy it.

But now I have no excuse. I haven't been setting my alarm, but I am training myself to get out of bed as soon as I wake up if it's after 6am, instead of lazing, dozing and falling back to sleep until eight or nine. Next step is to practice a few simple yoga moves while my coffee is brewing.

Snow Day

About midnight last night it started to snow. I stayed up late writing last-minute holiday cards, but I resolved to get out early to play in the snow a little, as the forecast is for rain on Saturday.
In the morning there was about four inches on the ground, and more falling steadily. "Early" turned out to be around 11am. I bundled up and took Rosebud, my old K2 hybrid, out for a little ride around town. I wasn't the first bike-rider out, and there were lots of dog-walkers about, too.

A Bend in the River

These aren't black & white photos, it was just a grey-scale kind of day.

I rode about five miles along the river, on the paths in VanderYacht Park, then stopped for coffee and pastry at the Haggen food court. Since I'm not a drinker, the food court, Woods Coffee, the library and the yoga studio are the centers of my social life here in Ferndale.

Looks like someone almost went in to the river during the morning commute. The car didn't seem to be skidding out of control, maybe the roadway hadn't been cleared yet and the driver couldn't find the lane. Or maybe some moron just wanted a closer view of the river. This is why I get very nervous riding around cars in snowy weather.

My leg and back muscles were straining to get through deeper snow on soft ground, but it was my hands and wrists that got really tired and sore.

My Little Town

There was a lot of car traffic for mid-day, and the main streets were already sloppy and dirty. By tomorrow it will be raining, the snow will be mostly gone, and the streets will be slushy and nasty.

But it's pretty and fun for one day.

Home again

Winter Break

Friday the 13th I took my final exam for autumn quarter. Now I have three and a half weeks off before winter quarter, 2014. For winter and spring, my class is scheduled at mid-day four days a week, so I can ride the bus both ways and won't have to use my bike to get home, but I do want to ride semi-regularly for exercise and recreation.

I'll have to harden up again. As a commuter it was routine for me to get out on the road in the dark every morning and ride through heat or cold, wind, rain, sleet, hail, snow, etc. then ride home again in the dark after work, adding or removing layers of clothing as necessary. Now I have to talk myself in to getting my bike out for a recreational ride, and I'm getting whiny and wimpy.

Instead I've been fattening up. A little bit, not that much. I did make one interesting dietary discovery in my yoga class, though. When training for long bike rides I've often been told "eat before you're hungry, drink before you're thirsty". Poor nutrition and hydration affects physical performance and attitude, and can cause adults to become as whiny, quarrelsome or tearful as any tired, hungry, thirsty six year old.

Yoga class really proved the value of a good diet, or rather the consequence of a bad one. A couple of times this winter, I've had buttered toast and coffee for breakfast, then spent the day running errands and doing chores, grabbing a donut and coffee along with my groceries, lunching on a bagel and cream cheese and coffee while running the laundry, returning home with less than an hour to change clothes before leaving for the yoga studio. Realizing I was hungry and should probably eat something healthy before class, I finished off a carton of yogurt and rushed out the door. In class I found my legs shaking with effort while holding lunges or warrior poses. I've had plenty of bike rides when I felt inexplicably sluggish and discouraged, but never "bonked" totally, but it was during those few moments of sustained effort in yoga that I could really feel that my muscles weren't getting enough fuel to support my weight.

At least it's a dry cold

When I got home Monday (the night of the WCC signboard below) I discovered the furnace switch was broken, and I had no heat. Luckily, I do have a poufy comforter and sleeping bag so I was able to sleep comfortably with the two. Then the next morning I had to sit around at home waiting for the furnace repairman, who did show up promptly and replace the switch quickly, so I have no complaints.

What the signboard doesn't show is the wind chill factor, which was probably enough to bring temperatures down to zero Farenheit. It's not uncommon to have windstorms with gusts in the 30-50mph range here, but they don't usually last more than one day or night. Last week the wind hardly let up for six days. Saturday morning when I went out for a coffee break the Nooksack River was dotted with patches of ice drifting down stream, and the Christmas tree at Riverside Park, though it seemed to be firmly anchored, was in danger of blowing to pieces before it was even lit up for the first time.

Wednesday I bicycled to school and back, lost another glove someplace, and had to ride home with just a glove liner on my right hand and a wind-shell glove with no liner on the left. Since then I've been holed up at home, studious and warm, with only daily excursions to the coffee shop for exercise and social life.

I've never seen ice on the Nooksack River in the eighteen years I've lived in the county. Today, Sunday, is warmer and calm. Some rain is predicted for later next week, which reminds me that rain and temperatures in the low forties is really not more comfortable than dry, freezing weather. The long-range forecast is for snow over New Year's weekend.

Unrelated Incidents

Monday night on my way home I came upon this unfortunate scene near the Cost Cutter grocery store in Ferndale. The bike wasn't damaged and it didn't look like there had been an accident with a car. Maybe the rider suddenly couldn't stand fighting the strong winds any more and abandoned. Or maybe he was arrested for not having proper lights and reflectors, although I seriously doubt Ferndale police enforce bicycle safety laws so rigorously.

I gathered up the bike and parcels. The food would have frozen overnight, in case the rider wanted to come back in the morning.

These photos are from a scene I happened upon about a month ago, when I went out for coffee on a Sunday morning. This is the intersection of Main Street and Hovander Road, below the railroad overpass. When I'm biking home from Bellingham I frequently come through this intersection, taking the left fork of the Y to make a tricky left turn just past the barriers, to cross the bridge on Main Street.

This must have happened early Saturday morning. It's difficult to tell where the car was coming from, or where the driver intended to go. Possibly he/she came up on the intersection too fast and was confused by all the arrows, walls and barriers. Or maybe he/she tried a free-form U-turn. Some sort of mental impairment seems likely, too.

The lamp post hasn't been replaced yet. It was more decorative than functional, though, so maybe an upgrade is being considered.

No such thing as bad weather . . .

. . . only the wrong clothes.

I'll be getting out my full winter-commuter wardrobe for the ride home from class tonight. After a sunny Thanksgiving day came three days of drenching rain. For today, Monday, they're predicting snow in the evening. Except for a walk to the cafe this morning, I've spent the day studying indoors, but I'll have to venture out just as the afternoon is beginning to turn dusky.

Fall quarter is almost over, though - only this week and next, four more class sessions, then the final exam at the end of next week. It's gone by so fast! My classes seemed to demand more study time outside of class than I remember, but maybe that's just evidence of how unmotivated and irresponsible I was during my first pass through the undergraduate years.

Winter and spring quarters, my class is scheduled for mid-afternoon, so I can ride the bus both ways, and won't have to bicycle home at night. I'll still need to fit in some regular time on the road, but I can choose the weather and ride in the day-time.

Just two minutes ago, the rain started again, with temperatures in the 40's. Time to start steeling myself for another school-day.

Later:

It was snowing a little when I left Ferndale by bus. Three hours later, when I headed home, the skies had cleared and a strong, cold wind was blowing from the north.

It was an invigorating ride home. My fingers and toes ached from the cold at first, but a few minutes of pedaling got my blood moving and my extremities warmed up, except for my nose and cheeks.