I’m Officially A Drone Pilot
A beautiful day for flying
Back in February (which now seems like forever ago), when I was still house-sitting out in the beautiful Okanagan Valley (and before the world as we know it was turned upside down) I decided to sign up for a training course in preparation for obtaining my drone Pilot Certificate – Advanced Operations. Up until that point, I was limited to my “Basic Operations” certification.
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And The Sixth Decade Begins
As self-isolating birthdays go, yesterday’s was a pretty good one. I mean, I was pretty much on my computer for much of the day but that somewhat suits me – you know, in lieu of doing something outside, of course. Speaking of which, I’m happy to report there were no ill effects experienced after Sunday’s longish ride – other than my needlessly sunburned hands and maybe being a bit (or more-than-a-bit) pooped afterwards.
As seen in my previous post, in addition to more-than-a-little computer time, yesterday also saw me take a few moments to make another (silly) video – this time featuring my latest batch of banana bread. Considering the talent and subject matter, it turned out reasonably well. Well-enough anyway.
Oh, and I forgot to mention in my previous post that after my ride on Sunday I got together (no closer than two metres, of course) with a few friends for what has become the now frequently seen driveway/front yard “party”. It was a fun visit and I ended up leaving with a container of birthday baking they made for me – hard to wrong with brownies and cookies. And there was Guinness too. Add that to my third loaf of homemade banana bread and I’m living the dream.
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A Long Time Coming
On August 31, 2019 I pedalled from Murray, UT to Nephi, UT. A distance of 133.13 km. It was a mixed bag of a ride. Some good. Some bad. Some, well … down right awful. And, if you’re one of my few loyal readers, you may remember that said ride in no way ended well. It’s hard to believe that more than 240 days have passed since that ride. 247, to be specific. And there hadn’t been a 100+ km cycling day for 246 of those. But on the 246th day of that streak, I decided to change that.
Yesterday, I woke to a beautifully sunny day. And a not-so-beautiful howling wind. Literally, howling. Despite that, I decided I needed to spend some time outside. And not just briefly. I needed to go for a long ride. Wind or not (just to be clear, the “or not” was merely wishful thinking).
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The Value of Experience
Rusty. But 7/8 functional.
Reports of my summer bike being ready to roll may have been a bit premature. In my defence, when I made that statement I truly believed it and it was based on a test ride. However, the test ride in question was clearly not as rigorous as it should’ve been. A subsequent test with significantly more torque being applied revealed some of the gears were less than functional. Actually, there was really just one problematic cog – 7/8 of them were fine. On the downside, the one that wasn’t fine was the highest gear (i.e., the one I use the most). Naturally, it would be expected that the gear I use most would be the one most likely to be worn. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a spare cassette lying around and, with bike shops closed, I was a bit stuck. However, a lot can be gained from experience – particularly from less than ideal situations.
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Raisins: Mystery Solved
After my recent foray into baking – including my obvious substitution of chocolate chips for chopped walnuts – I was led to ponder raisins. After all, in my experience a LOT of baked goods feature raisins and I really don’t know why. Correction, I never used to know why. I believe I have figured it out.
For the record and full disclosure, I don’t like raisins. That said, I don’t dislike them as much as I used to. I remember a time where my dislike for raisins used to be so strong that I would even struggle to watch OTHER people eat them. Seriously. And I also remember the moment I got over my dislike of raisins … or at least my COMPLETE dislike for them.
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