Inside The Perimeter

Not much to report today. I spent nearly the entire day at home. Most of my day was spent puttering around WLF. I baked a breakfast casserole for breakfast, and roasted a squash to eat with dinner; both efforts provided some warmth to an unusually chilly ITP Estate.

While popping around YouTube yesterday I saw a video from the Atlanta band Manchester Orchestra. The video was filmed on March 30, 2023 at their concert at The EARL. How did I manage to not heat about that show until a year after it occurred?

In order to earn my virtual Earth Day badge on my Apple Watch I also took about three mile walk in the latte afternoon.

Today: laundry, Lowe’s, Target, Kroger, and most likely bike riding tonight.

Wordle: five, my starter was WEIRD
Connections: perfect, Purple > Yellow > Green > Blue

Only rain and hip pain could have shortened my BRAG Spring Tune Up weekend, and it was the former that did so. Friday’s 69 mile ride was brutal, in part due to two nonexistent rest stops, and I because suffered some saddle sores and foot pain; I believe the saddle sores arose from the wetness in which we rode which lessened the effectiveness of the chamois cream I used. Saturday’s 48 miles were tough, but a beer and wings stop forty miles in provided some recuperation. I saw Sunday’s weather forecast and decided to pack up everything Saturday night and sleep in the M6 so I could be there for Bob’s Breakfast Sandwiches yesterday morning. That plan ended at about 1:30am when I woke up as it started raining and watched two cars leave. At that time I knew my sleep would be horrible, and the roads would most likely be open, so I drove home.

Overall the trip was a hoot. There was much beer consumption and laughter. Let the mental and physical preparation for Big BRAG begin!

The combination of arriving home around 2:30am and a cold, dank, wet day meant that I did very little yesterday except for emptying the car and putting away camping gear.

Hooray, this morning I finally was able to set up my bank accounts so I can electronically transfer money between them. Whew, this needed to happen soon. Now I need to figure out how I can replace the $20/month earnings I lost last week when Crowdtap unceremoniously cancelled my account.

I am using this cool morning to bake a breakfast casserole.

Wordle: two, my starter was SHARE
Connections: perfect, Purple > Yellow > Green > Blue

Spring Tune Up, and raining? WTF

Wordle: three, my starter was CUMIN
Connections: fail, Blue > Yellow > X > X

While WLF is far from a real F, there are times when Farmer Paulie has to deal with a reality of being a farmer — animal death. Once again a squirrel has misjudged its ability to get out of a rain barrel (trash can) and drowned. I have even put a rack over the barrel to discourage them from trying to drink from it, to no avail. Furthermore, the water in which it drowned was now tainted (in my opinion), so I had to dump it into a non-growing part of the yard. When I return from Spring Tune Up I will look for some screening that will make it nearly impossible for critters to get into the rain barrel.

WTF was up with that unpredicted rain last night? Unfortunately this probably means the ground will be wet in Rutledge, not that you camper folks give a rat’s ass. I hope that this is all the rain that falls in Rutledge until after we depart on Sunday.

The City of Atlanta is stop sign crazy again. Yet another intersection in my neighborhood is becoming an “All Way” Stop. Soon in order to drive anywhere we will be forced to stop at every goddamn intersection! For fuck’s sake, stop with the stop signs already!

Wordle: three, my starter was DAILY
Connections: perfect, Yellow > Blue > Green > Purple

I had a busy day yesterday doing many chores, and will have another one today as I prepare to get ready for Spring Tune Up.

Last night I tested out my hip and bicycle by riding the Meltons ride. During the ride my hip felt fine, though the same cannot be said this morning. I will attempt to ride on Friday, and make adjustments for the rest of the weekend based on my level of pain.

It sounds as if one of my favorite podcasts is going away again. I have listened to “On Taking Pictures” since near its inception, and was bummed when one of the people walked away from it in 2018. When I discovered that it had been rebooted in 2022 I was elated and listened to all of the episodes I had missed. This week the guy who quit the podcast in 2018 has intimated that once again he has lost the passion for it, and that the podcast has once again come to a conclusion. Bummer.

Wordle: three, my starter was REACH
Connections: perfect, Yellow > Green > Blue > Purple

Other than a decent trip to the dentist followed by a Chinese buffet engorging, I have little to report today. As a penance I went for a 3.75 mile walk yesterday afternoon.

My hip hurts a lot today, riding will be “interesting”.

I have already started crossing off items on my long ToDo list for today.

Wordle: three, my starter was ACORN
Connections: two mistakes, X > X > Blue > Green > Purple > Yellow

It was a difficult soccer weekend for me. None of the four teams for which I root won, the Atlanta United coming the closest by drawing after squandering a 2-0 lead.

It was a better weekend for WLF, as I puttered each day. With the early onset of days over 80°F I have continued to harvest romaine lettuce before it goes to seed. I have four more heads in WLF.

On Saturday I went to a lopsided 19-0 baseball game at Georgia Tech, who beat Virginia Tech. I took MARTA to the game, walking from Five Points to midtown since the weather was nice. This was a great decision as I saw the massive amount of traffic which plagued the city that afternoon. MARTA was a lot less convenient getting back to my car, single tracking on the North/South rail line and then taking at least thirty minutes to get me from Five Points to Edgewood/Candler Park; annoyingly the green line which normally terminates at Edgewood/Candle Park, terminates at MLK on Saturday night, so I had to wait a long time for an Indian Springs bound train.

It’s BRAG Spring Tune Up week and I am bummed that I am still hobbling around in hip pain. I continue to stretch, but no matter what I do the pain returns eventually. The weather looks decent as well, so at least it will be fun to hang out with friends.

Wordle: three, my starter was CUMIN
Connections: perfect, Yellow > Blue > Purple > Green

What a weird day of weather yesterday, it seemed as if the rain could never be convinced to leave.

After puttering in WLF, then eating lunch, I drove up to the Perimeter Mall area and met my buddies for a few beverages. I stopped into the Goodwill up there and finally found a clean copy of “The Usual Suspects” on DVD. I suppose that one night this weekend I will fire up the DVD player and give it a watch.

I’ll be headed back up north again today to have dinner with ITP Readers Barb and Sal, and watch some Survivor.

Tomorrow I’ll be attending my annual Georgia Tech baseball game. Thankfully it looks like the weather will be nice for that. On Sunday I may try to take my bike out for a little ride to test my hip, and ensure that it’s in proper working order for Spring Tune Up.

Wordle: four, my starter was CHAIR
Connections: perfect, Blue > Purple > Green > Yellow

Mostly boring day yesterday consisting of running many errands, and going for a 3.5 mile walk.

Wordle: three, my starter was TRADE
Connections: perfect, Purple > Green > Blue > Yellow

I have a conspiracy theory. No, it’s not about Area 51, nor the government controlling us via contrails. Instead, it’s about personal income taxes. For the second consecutive year the amount I am getting returned in the form of a refund from the Federal Government is nearly identical to what I owe the State Government. C’mon, how is this possible if not for the two entities conspiring?

The most important thing I learned from Monday’s eclipse is that there are still a few Rax Roast Beef restaurants in existence. I may have to travel to the Midwest to see if the “Horsey Sauce” tastes the same as it did forty years ago.

I can’t even blame the poor weather for my lack of exercise yesterday, I just wasn’t feeling inspired nor energetic.

Yesterday I finished reading the book “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow”, and in returning my virtual copy to the library discovered that I had already read a novel by the author Gabrielle Zevin called “The Storied Life of A.J. Firky”, though I have no recollection about this novel’s plot.

Wordle: three, my starter was TRADE
Connections: perfect, Yellow > Purple > Blue > Green