Winter Sucks

You know it's a good day to ride when the ice sculpture doesn't melt in the direct sun. My son says its 5 F, but not too terrible with the sun.
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I did a rain ride today and met an eBiking friend for breakfast. I had pork belly. That's the stuff bacon is made from. That is the Sea Scouts' boat with a budding Chinese plant that blooms for Lunar New Year on the bank. That 22 year old book is a SiFi thriller that is very topical. It is about the horrors of AI.

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Supplemental edit: The roast pork was served with a fresh garlic retattoo and polenta. There is a friend who's mom is the French Chef. On Tuesday she and I will go to that field behind the waterfall to pick baby sprout mustard greens and she and her mom will serve it Wednesday with duck. It tastes a bit like arugula or spinach but the stems have some radish on the finish that is bold enough to stand up to free range dark meat duck.
 

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Yeah, studded tires would be a waste 99% of the time in the lowlands in this climate. It's like telling someone in LA that they should walk around with an umbrella all winter.

The daily melting and refreezing is very different than winter conditions back east where I grew up. Also, the township of 2400 people there had more snowplows than the town of 42000 I live in now.
ya this was way out of norm. first frozen ice like snow then rain on that I mean how often do you see rain when it is about 22 degrees? it was crazy. then thaw a bit then more rain and freeze. I don't know how safe I would feel eve with studs since I Never seen such conditions. but this episode ways way out of our normal. it's melting much better today and of course raining. it does not help that seldom is anything plowed. so you have to ride in the street. like here is the min street I dont ride much on it but this is typical plus no one does a anything to most of the sidewalks or the bike paths. but hey your safe in that bike lane 😅 right now.
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well 36 and rain all day yesterday and really raining this morning will take care of the snow pretty fast now that the ground is warmed up.
 
The tides are extra high today and a big one is moving in.
It is so weird to have trees with dead leaves and to have some blossoms at the same time.
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man just grazed this guy tonight hard to see but I am usually on the outer part of the lane. but you cant swerve fast on a tandem. it hit the fender and knocked It out of alignment. I had a hard tome moving it out of the way as the end was stuck in the fence. of course the rain did not help.

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I dare not whisper a word to the Missus who isn’t particularly fond of our winters here and can’t wait to come out of hibernation once the roads are bare.

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Bring her here for a week. San Diego proper certainly has its charms — the bay is spectacular. But the North County coast (Del Mar through Oceanside) would probably more to your liking. I'll show you around.

She'll come home with either renewed stamina for Alberta winters or renewed determination to pry you out of there. Either way, she'll thank you.
 
Bring her here for a week. San Diego proper certainly has its charms — the bay is spectacular. But the North County coast (Del Mar through Oceanside) would probably more to your liking. I'll show you around.

She'll come home with either renewed stamina for Alberta winters or renewed determination to pry you out of there. Either way, she'll thank you.
That’s mighty kind of you despite all of the inclement weather that we’ve sent your way in the past but there’s also a good chance that it would be a solo trip home for me. 😢

Kidding aside, you live in a wonderful place and we've been fortunate enough to be able to visit the area on several occasions. My sister and BIL along with their grand daughter will be down there next month. The wild animal park and zoo will likely be near the top of their to-do list. 👍
 
I am in for seven days of atmospheric rivers. Visibility is down to 1/4 mile and it is pounding. It is dark at 1:30 PM. This sucks!

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Yeah, my access road is a mixture of slippery wet ice and calf-deep mud. And some snowy mud ("snud" or "smuck"). So I'm 99 percent shut in at this point until things are less heinous. Normally for January it will never get above freezing here, and it hasn't been below freezing for almost a week. Craaaazy.
 
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North LA is 'Fuc-ked' There will be massive flooding in Santa Barbra/ Ojai Valley to the Magic Mountain theme park on Hwy. 5. Highways East & West, will be blocked from and to ports. The N. Sierras too. Blocked. The very worst is freeze/frost with muck. In ND we would get a a layer of black dust on the snow. When that turned to muck we all got butt worms! The 'Bionic Woman' was from Ojai just North of LA.She never got the butt worms like the kids stuck in the Northern muck.
 
9 days rain washed the 3" snow & ice off here. Today Jan 31st it did not rain, got up to 44 F. Wind below 25 mph, about 8 actually. A great day to ride to the optometrist and inquire why my vision deteriorated so much this year. Wearing glasses now to watch TV at 42" distance? Hooray, it is not sugar under the retina nor macular degeneration (see about the expensive new pills on tv?) It is a cataract on one eye, the distance one. A simple operation is planned this fall. The near vision eye, that focuses to 12", they can correct to 20/20 for driving a car, which I do about 4 times a year.
 
It is not just the rain, it is the wind. I am getting 50 mph gusts. Inland its 80 mph gusts. So. Cal. will get pounded tomorrow through Wednesday. I tried to look at the CHP road closures map and ended up at the Christian Heritage Party.
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