Out in the garden on the earlier side and found a bit of a heap of summer squash were ready. That's what happens when I leave them alone for a day... I swear you turn around and they have grown noticeably.

The cucumbers are finally starting to hit their stride and production has increased as the plants size has grown.

We all managed to get ready and out the door before 9:30 for our bike ride. We headed south down the valley and crossed the tracks where the hill really began.

All 4 of us continued up the hill until after a particularly steep hill that R and Hive account@stryeyz had to push their bikes up which R had to take a break. They both ended up deciding to ride back home and J and I continued on. It was a solid climb up to the high point on Perry Rd where is was a nice long downhill section before mostly flats after.

We rode roads that I have run over the years so I remember them well. I opted for the gravel roads since the paved one would have been a bit more dangerous with the narrow sections on the hill. This was far more mellow.

As we rode along the west side of Bear Lake the sky was looking pretty cool.

Then I saw, well first heard then saw the Osprey nest on the pole. They were screeching at us as we rode buy and the adults took off and flew around the fields.

We kept heading north and finally got to the high school where we rode along the running trails then across the school and across the highway to the RAM for a food break. We split a double cheeseburger and a small huckleberry shake. Hive account@stryeyz was watching my live tracking so she and R came up to meet us as we were finishing our food. It was a great interlude to the ride.

In the interest of not being out ALL day J and I headed out for home while they finished eating. The clouds again were looking killer and it just made me want to be flying.

We were perfect on timing as a huge group walked in which would have made it take forever if we were behind them.

It was rather nice riding home since it is mostly downhill. We rode back through the school trails, then crossed the highway and rode the back road home.

Pretty solid numbers, 20 miles distance, 2828 feet climbing, top speed of 37 mph, and 2.5 hrs of riding time.

The goal in all of this is for J and I to do a big triangle ride that will be about 100 miles from the farm to Newport, up the mountain to 49N ski area to camp, then the next day will ride down to Chewelah and then home. This 20 mile ride was a good test and next will likely be a 30 or 40 mile ride before we go for the whole thing.

20 mile ride.JPG

It's always amazing to me the shit I find. I grew up with my eyes down on the ground everywhere I went and I found oodles of money, tools, and parts. As we rode along I had my eyes constantly darting along the sides of the roads. The first thing I found was the hose spray end. Then the plastic clip was the only one of a pile that survived the road side and next to it was the net. We rode south farther and had just gotten to the gas station which has a small storage setup fenced in and the bolt cutters were on the ground just outside the back corner. Someone was looking to do some breaking and entering... I needed a bigger set of bolt cutters!

Popped on the finals of the PDC and watched Littler damn near get his second 9 darter. Width of the wire away.

In the end he won and now has the triple crown of darts.

SO. MANY. WEEDS!!!

As I was pulling weeds I saw a plane flying over and tried out the zoom on my phone.

Not too bad! WAY better than my old phone!

The path to the studio and garden shed HAD to be cut so I spent a good 20 minutes working through it all. Also cut along the end of the greenhouse.

The controller arrived for the scooter and I got it installed quickly. Rather happy to have the 3 speed now but I need to go see how it will do on the hills.

A short soak again.

Today begins the hot week. I have harvests first thing, should was my clothes so they can dry on the line, I hope to get my Mesh node up outside with the solar panel once the antenna arrives, then I will be back to working on my truck.