First Outdoor Ride of 2022 and Etc.

Finally!  It's the first day of June, the sun was warm and so was the air.  The night time lows are higher than they have been, so the day warms up; it was a perfect 80F day.  We took the mountain bikes out to the Centennial Trail and rode up to Long Lake.  It's a nice ride.  There were more people on the trail than last fall, but it was not crowded at all.  We were on the no cars allowed stretch.  The river had some visible current.

They're impossible to see, but this is a field of the yellow flowers that look like tiny sunflowers and what appears to be lupine.

The trail ends at Long Lake.  Notice the adorable RV park.  They are full hook ups, they are on the lake and there is much soft grass.  What more could people and dog ask for? 

There is a boat ramp off to the right, watching people getting the boats back on the trailer is endlessly entertaining.

This is a maple tree, which is covered in maple seeds.  They are everywhere.

It was a good ride.  There's climbing.  I think there was a little cross over between riding a very heavy mountain bike with a lot of rolling resistance and the spin bike.  My cardio was better than it has been on first rides.  It was kind of weird being on a bike that moved, after the months in the basement doing spin Youtubes.  Outside really is more fun.

Also this past week, we got the art in the room we don't use up on the wall.  We have a laser level now which really aids in getting the art at the same height.  So, we can measure and level, we are fully functional in the laser department.

We are pleased at how they turned out.  They're framed canvas, and since there is no glass, they do not weigh very much.

As I previously mentioned, we painted the garage, which was very tedious due to the ceiling height.  That's all done now, and we'd like to not be marking up the walls with the mountain bike handles.  They leave black marks.  We got these.  They're infant mittens.

They fit the handle bars very well, and keep the walls from being marked.  Pretty cool, eh?

We also received a new cast iron skillet from Amazon.  The one we bought in 2019 developed two cracks.  One is in the helper handle off to the right.  The other is off to the left in the side of the skillet, they both go all the way through.  I think we are responsible for those.  We were putting the cold skillet in a 450F degree grill to heat up the pan.  After reading up on the subject, we learned that this causes thermal shock and should be avoided.  So now we will put the cold pan in the cold grill and let them come up to hot together.

Here is an interesting chart on shootings.  Recall that the ban on assault rifles expired in 2004.  The results of that decision are pretty clear.

As of this writing there are shootings unfolding simultaneously right now in America: At a hospital in Tulsa, Oklahoma; a Walmart in Pittson, Pennsylvania; and a high school in Los Angeles, California.  What's it going to take America?