Inside The Perimeter

After last year’s epic sixty mile ride in Asheville, I know you are all waiting with bated breath to find out what I will be doing for birthday #61 in a few weeks. Initially I thought I might go to Montgomery for a Biscuits game. However, a funny thing happened while planning my birthday activities… I completely changed them and will be spending most of the day indoors, in Clemson South Carolina. Because the deadline for registration for the two-day Organic Certification Essentials (are you seeing a theme emerging?) was yesterday I had to shit or get off the pot; I secured a free ticket in the final hour they were offered. The workshop ends at 3:45pm on my birthday, so I will have plenty of time to drink beer somewhere. 😀

Wordle: six, my starter was BOUND

Hope you all had an awesome Fourth of July.

It was good to go out for my inaugural ride on “Candy”, my candy apple red colored bike (or as ITP-Reader Steve said my “Crimson Tide red colored bike”). I realize that there are a lot of things on this bike about which I have no prior experience like disc brakes and through-axle skewers. I should probably learn how to debug and maintain these before I go out for a long solo ride.

I knew there was a chance of ripping the rubber AirPods earpieces by trying to remove them for cleaning, unfortunately I was correct. I successfully got the first one off, but ripped the second one. Fortunately, they are not that expensive to replace when buying third party versions at least, so I’ve ordered some from Amazon.

The heat finally defeated my basement. Bermed on two sides, the ITP Estate’s basement naturally remains at least five degrees cooler than the main floor, unless there is no break in the heat; then, it’s only about two-to-three degrees cooler. You wouldn’t think a couple of degrees would make much of a difference, but it does.

Wee Little Farm received a proper rain on Saturday afternoon and I couldn’t have been happier. The farm definitely needed the water and everything around East Atlanta got soaked, reducing the possibility of fire caused by fireworks. Had I imagined that WLF would get 2″ of rain I’d have put out my water catchment buckets.

Wordle: four, my starter was CURVE

Happy Fourth of July (observed)!

Wow did I knock myself out yesterday. While proud of my efforts, perhaps doing a double shift of manual labor in this heat wasn’t the best idea. I think I even developed heat rash in both armpits.
That being said it was fun to finally ride the Beltline to Trees Atlanta, and I did some good work at both locations. I expected that we’d be harvesting more at Concrete Jungle’s farm, but like everywhere else the heat and lack of rain is taking its toll.

Today I will be returning Steve’s bike frame, and finally taking my new ride out on the roads. I almost can’t believe that I’ve yet to ride it, but life and weather kept getting in the way.

I’ve no plans for the weekend other than stay indoors when not working in Wee Little Farm, and hoping that no idiot neighbor hits my roof with fireworks or bullets. To think, back in the day I’d wake early to run the Peachtree on the fourth. Oh well, my running days ended years ago…

Wordle: two, my starter was CABIN

Hmm, I tasted the refrigerator-bound batch of relish yesterday and I’m not convinced the recipe I followed is that great. I will give it time to see how it ages…

Ever since getting a new iPad last year I have been baffled why I’ve had trouble typing on it. That was until yesterday when I picked up my older iPad and realized that a lot of keys on the virtual keyboard have moved and changed sizes. Years of muscle memory has been challenged by the newer configuration.

Oh boy, T-Mobile is the latest of my subscription plans to be getting a price increase, this one is $6/month because my plan is being “retired”.

I’m doing double volunteering today — Trees Atlanta from 08:00-11:00, Concrete Jungle from 18:00-20:00. Since the two locations are close together I almost wish the Concrete Jungle shift were earlier, but since it’s not, I’ll return home for a shower and nap between shifts.

Wordle: four, my starter was TRIBE

Hello, July.

A six month assessment of my 2026:
If I’m being honest, I need to give 2026 a mid-semester grade of D. Why? It’s not been a great year for me, and I am not happy. I hope those change soon.

I (perhaps) stupidly transplanted some bean plants yesterday morning. The soil in their pots was soaking wet, so I gave them just a little more water after transplanting. When I checked them at 4:30pm they looked all but dead. I gave them more water then, but am not sure they will make it. Lesson learned: when transplanting during oppressive heat, do so late in the afternoon to give the plants a chance to survive.

After finding the only sizable tomatoes in WLF with chunks removed, I’ve decided one of two things will happen for WLF in 2027:
– I will grow tomatoes in a fortified cage
– I will not grow tomatoes in WLF because all I’m doing is feeding critters

I’m going to need new underwear soon. I mean that alone knocks a letter grade off the year… 😀 Like everything else in this world, my favorite underwear is no longer made, so I have to find a suitable substitute. I am a boxer briefs man, who also likes fast drying fabrics since I am also a sweaty man. Wish me luck.

Wordle: four, my starter was FLORA

As we hurtle toward the best month in which to be born, I am trying to figure out how to celebrate my Roger Maris (61) birthday, which inconveniently falls on a Wednesday this year. Last year I celebrated by riding sixty miles around Asheville, and I may do something similar again. Or, I may wait until I know the weather forecast and finally attend a Montgomery Biscuits game, since they play a home game on my birthday this year. The world is my oyster, even though I refuse to eat them.

What a fun day yesterday driving out to Oxford for a farm tour of Emory Organic Farm at Oxford. I also learned a lot about the organic certification process, not that I’d ever considered applying for one; hell, I don’t even sell vegetables!

A funny thing happened on Germany’s march to a World Cup title, they got knocked out by Paraguay yesterday. Dangen! I wish Japan had done the same to Brazil, but that didn’t happen.

Wordle: five, my starter was GRIST

On Friday I ate dinner and had beers with an old coworker who is in town from Miami for a few days. We ate at Fox Bros, one of my favorites and somewhere I’ve not eaten at in some time. While the food was still excellent, I am not sure the value for money is there. I ate combo meal of four chicken wings (two drumettes, two flats), one decent slice of brisket, fries, and Brunswick stew, for $26. The meal was filling but it will be some time before I again pony up that sort of money for a meal like that.

On my walk back from UFO Saturday morning I stopped at a garage sale and met someone whose taste in movies and books is very similar to mine. At the sale I scored “High Fidelity” on Blu-Ray, and one of my white whales — “Stop Making Sense” — on DVD. It was $5 well spent. I told the guy that I would have purchased a lot more from him, had I not already owned them.

This weekend I made my first attempt at saving lettuce seeds. I previously learned that one has to wait for the plant to go past the flower state to a puffball state, because the seeds are attached to the puffs. It’s more labor intensive than other seeds I’ve harvested, and I will be interested to see what my seeds produce later this year. I also had to contend with tiny spiders (spider mites?) who were living within the plants, something no one mentioned. I’m sure there’s a way to automate this process, but I now have more respect for lettuce seed farmers.

Wordle: four, my starter was REPLY

After my Trees Atlanta shift I came home, ate lunch, and shut down for the rest of the day.

At some point during the Germany v Ecuador game I realized that I could be doing other things, so I started my summer of reading. Yesterday I started that well known page turner “Mini-Forest Revolution: Using the Miyazaki Method to Rapidly Rewild the World” by Hanna Lewis.

For dinner I made a huge batch of spaghetti, but instead of boiling the pasta in a large pot of water, I used the “cook in sauce” method as described here. I added meatballs, chopped salami, an onion, garlic, and a yellow bell pepper to the dish, which turned out well. I ate like a king.

Wordle: four, my starter was STEAL

My productive morning yesterday was satisfying. My knee hurting again yesterday afternoon was disheartening.

Last night I baked another zucchini bread, this one being a savory zucchini bread. Yes, it still has some sugar, but unlike the one I baked last week, this one has many more eggs and far less sugar.

I’m not sure who at Amazon thinks it is a good idea, but all of the items I ordered a few days ago were delivered last night, a day ahead of the delivery date I chose. Were it a normal Wednesday evening I would have been at Betsy’s for dinner when it was delivered to my house. That being said, the spare tubes are in, the new seat bag is in, the water bottle cages are in, and all are installed. Now, I just need my body to return to a condition that will allow me to ride without pain. Also in my Amazon delivery was a remote control for my secondhand Blu-Ray player, thankfully it seems to work.

I was going to ride the newly-opened Beltline to Trees Atlanta this morning, but of course I can’t. I will drive there and hope that my knee doesn’t hurt while volunteering.

Wordle: three, my starter was DAIRY

My buddy Hank has flown home, which is good for my productivity and my desire to lose weight. On Monday I tweaked my left knee (again) which is terrible for my productivity and my desire to lose weight. The pain, as well as the fact that it still exists two days later, is frighteningly reminiscent of when I tore a meniscus and required surgery in 2020. Not only do I not want to repeat that my health insurance is far worse when that occurred…

I’m in possession of my new old bicycle, heretofore named “Retrostein”, thanks to Allan. I was able to get the pedals off my original Trek 2300 (the “Red Rocket”) even after fourteen years of sitting in my basement. I will put the pedals on today, and once my knee(s) stop hurting will take Retrostein out for a ride.

Betsy is indisposed tonight, so I have a rare Wednesday free. What to do? Oh that’s right, nothing, since I am injured.

I’ve checked Amazon to see if any of my “must haves” are on sale today, they are not. This is good for my wallet.

Wordle: five, my starter was SCAPE. Four consecutive days of fives. Ugh