First Fall

In the previous post, I reported that when the nurse comes this Thursday to change the dressing on my PICC line, I will have to announce that I've fallen twice this past week.

The previous post described my second fall. I am here now to report on my first fall.

It was last Thursday, July 2nd, and I was out in the yard working around Shawn and Alex, who were working on our new deck.

Right now, it's just a frame. They are doing the final prep work before laying the decking.

I was working across the frame towards the Carriage House door when I lost a step. There was nothing there for me catch myself, so I fell. Shawn rushed over to me and helped up. Before I could really get my balance, I fell again, this time, really tangling myself in the framework.

No damage to me other than my pride.

Bum Knee

I have just returned from an evening bike ride that didn't go well.

After dinner, I decided to go out on a little ride since I had not yet been out on the bike today. I traveled up the Post Street hill, diverting off to the side road and across the top of the bluff over to Division. 

When I'm on the bike, I sometimes like to slalom. That is to say, I will pick opposing spots on the street to turn toward, thereby weaving back and forth across the street. The spot can be anything. A dot of oil, a leaf, a manhole cover. 

One of my favorite things to do is the go through a wide-open parking lot and do a really tight 360-degree turn. I like the feeling of tilting way over and holding a turn.

At the top of the Division Street hill, there is a little mini mall with a coin shop and a decorative clock on top of the building. I traversed through their parking lot. At that point, I decided to do a tight turn. I tilted way over and the turn did not hold. 

The asphalt in the parking lot was really quite slippery. My front wheel went out from under me and I went down.

My damaged pride is matched by my road rash. The main issue is my left knee. I have a good scrape, and it has swollen impressively.

Here's a photo of my right knee for comparison.

So, as I said, my pride is sullied and I'm off the bike for a few days, which is the most distressing aspect of this whole fiasco. That, and I have to report a fall to my infusion nurse this week. Two falls actually, but that's another story.

Hoopfest Weekend

I am spending my Saturday afternoon at VduV Winery. John asked me to work the winery today so he could go to the lake, I presume.

I rode my bike here and rode through Riverfront Park to get here, as I usually do. The park is crowded with thousands of people. It’s Hoopfest weekend and it is really nuts down there. I was going to wander around a bit but it is so thick with people down there that I couldn’t walk through the crowd pushing my bike. That would have been a pain in the ass for everyone.

I suppose I could have parked and locked it and walked through the throngs but I brought this iPad along and I didn’t want to leave it in the saddle bag. Also, I wasn’t too thrilled about carrying it with me.

So, I opted to take the long way around the park and just get to the winery early. I only need to be here from 1 to 5. It’s 12:22 right now.

I’m hoping it will be a low key day here like it usually is.

Susan and I are going to Indians Stadium tonight for baseball against the Tri-City Dust Dudes. It’s Fairy-tail Princess night AND Fireworks night.

Later: It’s just after one now and I’m officially on the clock.

Here is what it looks like when I’m on the clock.

Even Later: It’s almost 5 so it's time to get packed up. I had one couple come in. She, Nancy, is the current Artist in Residence, displaying her paintings. They come in every time I’m working, hoping to talk to Kirk or John. Of course, they’re not there. That’s why I’m working.

Anyway, my time is done here. Batter up!

Even More Laterer: We are home from baseball and I'm happy to report the Indians won in the tenth inning. It really turned into an exciting game.

Above is a shot from our seats and yes, that is a nearly full moon in the sky.

After the game, there were fireworks.

Fun was had by all.

Se7en Mile Bike Ride

After todays' bike ride, I am 21 and a half miles closer to my 1,000-mile goal.

I rode the bike out to Seven Mile and back. It was a great ride along the river on a really nice day. The temperature was in the 80's.

I really need to remember to bring my camera when I go on these long rides. I took what I thought were going to be a couple of great pictures with my phone camera when I was waaaaay up on a cliff looking over Riverside State Park. Here are the pictures.

Nice, huh?

That's the bridge at the Bowl and Pitcher on top and then looking at the river downstream, both with my big, fat finger in the image.

This ride gave me a little better feel for the range of this bike. When set at assist level three and with the headlight on, I think I'm good for about 25 miles. I could improve that by keeping the headlight off, but I like the visibility it gives me. I could also reduce the assist level to two unless I really need the bump.

It's not what I would consider great range but so far, it's never been a problem for my needs.

204.6

The big bowl of ice cream I enjoyed last night was totally worth it. Especially since I discovered upon my morning weigh in that I lost close to half a pound since yesterday. That was not expected.

Today, the guys who are removing our old boiler are here to finish the job. Yesterday, they removed the blanket of asbestos it was encased in. Today, they will start cutting it up into small, removable pieces.

I asked Rick to save me this gauge.

I'm looking forward to seeing the space with the boiler removed. We are going to have a whole new giant space to fill with more crap.

ICE CREAM

 I went to bed last night weighing 209.4 pounds. Fortunately for the sake of my weight, it was an active night, Diarrheally speaking. I was up three times, ruined two sets of adult diapers and just had a wonderful experience altogether. 

When I weighed myself this morning, I was 205 even.

That means I get to ruin all this weight loss with some rewarding ice cream. I considered it for breakfast, but I think I'll hold out for later.

Bike Ride

I haven't been out on a bike ride in a couple of days, so it was nice it happened today. I took a long ride on what I call the George Wright Big Loop. I turned out logging 14.2 miles. The last mile and half don't really count because I was under power. It's kind of fun to end a long ride with a free ride.

It was a gorgeous day, getting to the point where it's getting hot.

We spent most of the day cleaning up after the big yard sale yesterday. I had no luck selling my whitewater canoe so I'm going to list it on Facebook Marketplace. I want $500.00 which is on the high end of its value but it's in good shape so it should be worth it.