Too much time on facebook

 Tortoise!

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Jojo Macatiag Goldilocks! How are things? Are you still in Seattle area?

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Jeffrey Wong Still under my roof near the Washington coast, which takes the million inches of rainfall predicted with aplomb. I'm hosting wet and not-so-wet cyclists riding down to the sun--am I a road angel? Some cycling some walking, some swimming (hoping to be the oldest guy in the county swimming butterfly). Great to see you and your people smiling. Don't stop.

Another exchange:

Mark Hodgkins added 2 new photos.

Yesterday at 9:29am · 

Went to a reading by Davis Sadaris last night. This was our fifth time seeing him and finally got a chance to get a book signed and chat him up a little. We discussed his recent root canal (3 days ago), OxyContin, Advil, and his kidney stones. He also spoke about being called a racist by an Asian woman because he told her he thought he recognized her from someplace. Lastly, he couldn't explain why he drew a hangman's noose in our book-he said he was curious what it would look like. Hopefully we weren't the ones pushing him over the edge.

   

Diane Hodgkins Because he was dyin' over there, listening to you?

Mark Hodgkins I so hope not b

Hildreth Cooper He was in Durango two nights ago, but it was sold out for months. Maybe he just assumed you were into lynching?

Jeffrey Wong S l o w . D.OW.N. w.h.e.n y.o.u. post. Check the spelling of the author's name against what's printed on the book cover--most likely the publisher got it. . . right.

Jeffrey Wong And yes, we do all look alike to you white folks. :+)

Jeffrey Wong Oh, and I'm still waiting for the post of the group selfie with your tongue in his ear! Lol

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Diane Hodgkins Spell checking a FB post? Highly unusual....

Jeffrey Wong Mindfulness may be unusual. Nothing is worth doing if it's not worth doing well.

Jeffrey Wong Never mind spell checking FB posts. If you can't spell the name of an author that you've targeted for an autograph FIVE times, what does that say about you? LOL! I can see from the image with the original post that the correct spelling is NOT Davis Sadaris, Of course, I can't rule out my having missed a deliberate misspelling of the name, as revenge for his having drawn a noose, of which I'd say you may have just gotten something quite rare.....

Jeffrey Wong ...which means that you should definitely continue the practice of whatever it takes to get an unusual response such as David's. I applaud you for not just sneaking your book up to the author, uttering a meek "thanks, I have all your books" and running away dumb, numb and happy. Still LOL.

Oops, I hope I didn't offend anyone. I probably did.  Oh, well.  All in a day's writing. But where is my own material? I hiked 2000 miles and I have naught to say?

More time on that Brooks leather bicycle saddle. More time in the swimming pool.  

Breaking in the Brooks. Furnace parts

The Ray Way quilt was way too warm last p.m.

The Brooks saddle seemed a bit more accommodating today.  I've pedaled 30 minutes daily for the last three mornings and even thumped it a few times with my fish whacker.  It'll happen.

The swimming pool.  Butterfly drills mostly with some back stroke and breast stroke and a tiny bit of freestyle.  Dunno what my fly looked like, but the motion felt good for a few strokes.  I know I have to work on the kick to make .
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A box of parts for my heating system arrived, days after Dan of Sunset Air quoted me $800 to replace a pump. Despite the clarity of the invoice from my recent service that indicated which part needed replacement, (the seal bearing assembly), he got it completely wrong and didn't call back when he said he would. To think "loser"would fix nothing.  I have no idea why Dan didn't call back. Wait, someone called earlier today from a Washington area code.

I'll just fix it myself.  Hm. Read instructions that came with parts.  Turn off power to the pumps, turn off power to the boiler. Turn off water to the system and drain the water from the system. remove motor, remove coupler, remove seal bearing assembly,  Install new seal bearing assembly, with gasket, install new coupler, replace motor. lubricate seal bearing assembly.  I might save $200. Or I might end up with a really expensive repair if I screw up.
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Yoga.  Again, wearing the jammer swim suit and the bike tights, because I'm not going to buy $70 yoga pants and look like a poseur. Marc and Suzanne Tomlinson appeared.

Speaking of people from the past, Kathy Jamsgard hailed me while I was shopping cheeses in Top Foods. Not much change. Too many cats, still riding a motorcycle and squinting a lot.

And 6 weeks ago before I walked the Oregon PCT, I saw Bill and Pam Hofmann at the UPX store, sending gifts to a nephew.  Not much going on.  Nothing to talk about, I guess.  Well, I did say I was sending food to myself for the Oregon PCT--oh, I didn't mean to rub salt in the wound of her leg amputation event (old news now).  They told me what they were sending and I told them what I was sending, that's all.  Anybody who wants to read more into it than that can walk into the ocean.
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And the no knead bread was so damned good, I checked my weight and I'm back up to 156-7 lb.

Top Foods is closing and having a "sale" on everything, but the prices on some items (water chestnuts) weren't that good to begin with.

Red Cross Blood Drive, Ann Brown, Oldest butterfly swimmer in the county?

Cycling:  I applied the dimple makers in my shorts (the butt bones) to my Brooks leather seat for 30 minutes today riding the rollers while baking bread for John Forrester. I detected faint impressions in the saddle. 

I showered and drove down to the Red Cross Blood Drive at the Elks Club in South Aberdeen. They billed the drive as the Westport blood drive. Hm. Well, Jan Heikkila won't donate until they bring the bloodmobile back to Westport. At the drive, Deanna (name?) a sub-ginormous woman, reeking of tobacco and breath mint did the donor interview with me. I remembered that she didn't excel with the needle on a prior effort. I said, "I don't mean to offend you, but I'd like to have Mariko do my venipuncture." I got my wish and had a smooth donation.

On to Westport Winery where Jeff and Julie Coburn hosted the send-off of his mom, Ann Brown, who'd passed away from cancer two weeks ago.  Once in the door, three science fair boards with photos of Ann showed where she'd been in her life.  That included professional modeling with a stint advertising Boeing 707's in 1970 at the age of 40. A wonderful spread of oysters, stuffed shrimp, marinated mushrooms, cookies, cake beckoned--I took my plate of goodies to a place next to Vern and Jan, who introduced me to more neighbors, Rick and April.  A slide presentation followed. Ann was a live wire!  Fishing, scuba diving, ukulele playing, a post diagnosis trip to Italy and Paris, volunteering at the Union Gospel Mission and the winery. And stories told of language fit for a sailor's bar. The ukulele group played "Freight train" and "You are my Sunshine" Jeff (Coburn) thanked me for coming.  Feeling good, I drove away from the winery, a brilliant rainbow making a full half circle from North to South.  I knew I couldn't enjoy the 'bow while trying to take a picture of it, so I just drove until I had passed through the narrow band of rain that produced it. I felt almost elated.

I brought the bread to John, who opined that the organic food/anti-GMO movements were like religion with outrageous profits for the large corporations.  Sounded about right.  Maybe the better taste of organic foods is a placebo effect.

To the YMCA, where I'd planned to swim a few laps of butterfly drills.  Keith Lyle said he was adding more butterfly drills to his swims. I said I thought he'd be the oldest butterfly swimmer in the county. He didn't say anything about his shoulder holding him back as in past butterfly discussions.  I privately determined that I'd work a bit more on technique, to push him a bit more.
Jamie came to the pool. I watched her swim a few yards of one arm freestyle--I couldn't clam up and made a remark about how she bobbed up to take a breath.  This impulse control issue is outrageous. I hope she wasn't offended.

For the morning, make a flight reservation to Vegas!