Biking and Gardening

This morning I thought I'd explore the Silver Comet Trail to the east, but it was a short-lived effort!  The trail map I have states clearly that this direction is hilly, but I wasn't sure just how quickly I'd find hills or how steep they'd be.  The answer to those questions is:  soon, and steep.

This is as far as I got -- about 2 miles from the depot.  I didn't even bother to continue to the top of this hill -- wanted a photo of the sign and saw no point in struggling up a few feet more.

This is from the same spot, headed back to town.  Now, this hill wouldn't have bothered me at all in past years, when I was more in condition for hills, but it was a struggle today.  It also wasn't the first hill I'd encountered, just the steepest.  I also wasn't interested in coasting down the other side because -- yep, I'd just have to come back up.  Not today, thanks.  I'm thinking I may confine my cycling to the westerly section of the trail.

After I got back into town and up another hill, I was struggling again and downshifted -- only to have my bike pull its famous trick of losing the chain when I try to make that particular shift when there's pressure on it.  Hasn't happened for awhile, so I'd forgotten about that habit.  I barely saved myself from a fall onto the concrete, since both feet were in the toe clips and all forward motion stopped.  Having fallen more than once because of toe clips (when I first started using them I'd forget about them, and try to put my foot down to catch the bike when I'd stop) my body has developed rather a reflex action that remembers before my brain thinks about it.

So, it was a short-lived ride of about 40 minutes, but that was enough for today.  It's been a tough week and my energy is still low -- I just needed to get out on the bike because not much else cheers me up quite so well.  We have rain coming in soon anyway, so I hadn't planned a lengthy ride.

Early this morning I went outside and moved the herb garden.  I've been thinking about it for a couple of days, did a little research, and realized that it was just too close to the nearest blueberry bush.  It needs to be about four feet away, and it was barely more than two.  That would be fine for right now, but in a year or two when the rosemary and blueberries get bigger, it just wouldn't work.  I put the glass dish out a couple of days ago but haven't seen a bird in it yet!

Previously, this little grouping occupied the upper right corner of this plot.  I'm not in love with the new location, but hey, they're perennials and can be moved again at a later date if I find something I like better.  I sowed chamomile seeds in all the bare spots here, while I was at it.  May be a tad too early, but I'll take my chances.  It's only seed, after all.

After I finished the move, of course, I thought that the previously dug circle in the upper left corner above would be the perfect place -- just the right size and shape plus the birds would probably be happier further from the house.  But then, I'd have to rethink the entire herb garden and I don't want to do that right now.  It needs to be close to the back door, anyway, so I can go out and snip what I want easily.  There will be lots more here, eventually.

As an afterthought, something really interesting is going on in that I'm getting visitors from all over the world to this page of this blog.  They are mostly coming from Google Photos, but I don't know which of the three photos is catching their attention.  I get two or three per day looking at this page.  Tis a curiosity!

So for the rest of the day?  No plans -- I expect some reading is in order.