Live Free or Die

Troy NY. Digital Photograph. Copyright 2006 Shawn Kielty. All rights reserved.

Wow. Today is one of the days that we go after. The kind of day I live for. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It started rather non-descriptly with me wandering around Troy, waiting for my daughter and her boyfriend to be ready to travel. I wandered into the soft white underbelly of Troy, photographing scenes of old brick and worn out city

I pick the young ones up and off we go to Epsom, NH. After a great breakfast at the the Top Notch Cafe or Diner in Bennington, VT. I drop them off, and go out to play in New Hampshire.

I lived in New Hampshire a few years ago, one summer. I like it. I lived along the Mad River. That's a good name for a river.



The Mad River, Campton, NH. Digital Photograph. Copyright 2006 Shawn Kielty. All rights reserved.

Swim at the Best Western Rensselaer

I know it's not much. I was really calling this the ugly hotel until Danielle pointed out it's really the stinky hotel. It's nice really -- not extravagant. but interesting and friendly. it's working fine. The elevator has an interesting smell, however. In case your wondering the pool was good.

Louis Rubin Memorial Approach in Troy, NY

The Approach to Rensselaer. Digital Photographs. © 2006 Shawn Kielty. All rights reserved.

Commonly called just "the Approach," famous for being a bitch -- 152 steps to the quad from my ugly hotel, according to the hotel counter person. I asked her how she knew -- people tell her -- she says. My daughter said that she thought I might think it pretty cool.

So I ran it four times this morning. I figure it at two miles total. I'll calculate it later on a map. I skipped the temptation to run a mile around the gamefield, since that would be a bit jock-like.

Midway Airport

There's a reasonable post coming -- about the immediacy the web brings to things like a trip to midway in Chicago. I think travel produces some strange effects like the vignetting of this image due to being jostled during the travel. Had everything gone well I would have been able to post these immediately from the terminal while I was waiting in line for my plane.

Crossroads

You know -- I saw Eric Clapton 4 times in my life. For me, getting on a plane is never as much fun as Eric Clapton. Tonight I sat around with the pilot Al from Peru, and he talked repeatedly about the damage and scariness of the idea of landing during a monsoon storm. There are thunderstorms and such (rain) at the other end, wild dust storms and thunder here (without rain).

I was thinking about Ruby today and his recent post about black men who don't ride bikes. In the story Dopamine, Johnson, played by Rueben Grundy, a black man, rides a bike beside Rand, played by John Livingston. And here is the conversation (a marathon what -- anyone might ask?):

Johnson: [both ride bikes with a marathon] Hey, Sarah was looking for you last night.
Rand: She was?
Johnson: What's up with you two?
Rand: I'm not sure. It doesn't make any sense.
Johnson: What do you mean? Why do we have to make sense of everything?
Johnson: Yeah it's nice to know when some low pressure system pushes moisture laden air over a heated land mass and that we need a ... umbrella to get to work.
Johnson: Hey man, rain used to be with the gods of thunder cried.

Rain used to be when the gods of thunder cried. Again. Rain used to be when the gods of thunder cried.

What scares me is not the flying it's the landing. I don't get nervous in the plane -- I get nervous when the plane gets near the ground. This is all very logical. I help build aircraft, for God's our sake. And it scares me to fly land.

Why. Because rain is the gods of thunder crying. and there's no accounting for that. "Why, that was an act of God" the gods ... and so on.

So tomorrow I go down the road on a journey:

"I went down to the crossroads
Fell down on my knees
Down to the crossroads
Fell down on my knees
Asked the Lord above for mercy
Take me if you please"

Al bought his fellow pilot a beer and reached out to shake my hand. "Goodnight my Friend."
And the new Jane said, "I don't know what I am going to do with you being gone for a week."

All of this promises to be fun.

Cameras 2, Bikes 0. Or, Find the Coyote.

Days 10, upstate NY and the coast of Maine, Sandwich Notch NH, coastal NH. The house sitter has arrived, the house is locked and everything is loaded ... It's trip day. This is a film free trip -- I think it might be my first in a while. Has anyone seen the bug repellant?

I'll see you on the other side.

Wildbirdonthefly.

Nice photo of the birdchick here.

Home: Coyote

Home: Coyote. Mixed Media, 84" x 30" X 30." Detail. Shawn Kielty, © 1995.

Date: 17 June 2006
Miles Riding: 17.94
Weather: 109 °F. Monsoon, dust, leaves, and tree trunks, rain.
Ipod: Fleetwood Mac, Dust.
Bike: Commuter.
June Bike Mileage: 159.97

Whoooa.

This picture doesn't show that this bug is about as big as my thumb.

I won on Annie's blog -- Annie has one only cavity! Lucky for her.

Bird Brain Productions

Bird Brain Productions has a few good shots of the Brins fire currently burning in the Red Rock Secret Mountain Wilderness in the Coconino National Forest near Sedona, AZ, and near his (my friend Ed's) house. These following three images are copyrighted 2006 Bird Brain Productions, All rights reserved. If you want to hear what he says about the images be sure to check out his site.







What's at risk? Oak Creek and The West Fork of Oak Creek, both spectacular in the fall.

Desert Rat Award

The Ever Happy Hiking Buddy at the cave at the top of the saddle -- 500 ft above the deck. There were bees up there so we didn't stick around. ... despite the 105 + temps -- I think I remember him saying, "It's not that hot today." Desert Rat Award.

On the Ipod today: Fleetwood Mac, Hypnotized.

"They say there's a place down in Mexico
where a man can fly over mountains and hills.
And he don't need an airplane
or some kind of engine and he never will.
Now you know it's a meaningless question to ask,
if those stories are right.
Cause what matters most is the feeling you get
when you're hypnotized."

Esperanza

Esperanza -- Waiting and Hoping. I am waiting and hoping. Here at the three palms oasis. My daughter wants me to meet her boyfriend. I met a father. I dreamed of being in a phone booth in Marseilles. Telling where the keys to the house were. What a strange dream. The heat has won. A glass broke while I was talking. There are no cats left to feed. I am waiting ... The air conditioner has stopped. I hired an au pair for myself (just kidding); A housekeeper.

Today's hike was good -- 4 miles or so from the end of Meridian up to the notch and back in the Tonto National Forest. It was cooler than it has been -- probably around 105.

Undesertly

San Francisco Bay. Digital Photograph. © 2006 Shawn Kielty. All rights reserved.

I thoroughly enjoyed the Old Bag's post about the the OBJoes. So I am going to start calling women on my blog Janes.

This past week is interesting. I went to San Francisco -- saw old friends. When I was young the bay was never healthy like this. It was sick and dirty. I went for this hike with my friend John ... Later I turned down a fair offer to stay there. Why? You might ask. Several key personal issues, among them, the new Jane, who is becoming a friend (for those of you that remember the old Jane ... the new Jane is not the old Jane, she's the new Jane). In all fairness, the truth is that I don't feel prepared to leave Arizona -- I am just not done here -- and I felt incredibly rushed and annoyed by the implications of urgency and ... other things ... to be found in that offer. I dread the bad commutes and expensive houses. And the long hours. And frankly there's the new Jane.

I am now earnestly trying to teach the hoppy bird to say "Hi Jane" for the second time. Just in case the new Jane wants to come over. The Hoppy bird asked me today if I had changed his name to a girls name without asking him, because I keep calling him Jane. "Hi Jane."

He wants to know what happened to the cat. He says "Hi girls" (in the old Jane's voice -- I might add), but there are no girls left. Pearl the Cat ran off into the desert during last week's monsoon with a crazy look in her eye, the same way her nutty sister did, and hasn't been heard from since. I think it must be a spell cast by a coyote. So now I am catless. The rodent population is on the rise, as are the rabbits, quail, doves and rattle bull snakes, not to mention scorpions. Maybe I should start encouraging the bobcat to hang around and play. Since there are no cats left to harass the birds -- I have started filling the feeders again (this should perk the birdchick's interest -- maybe I should get a bird cam). I had to stop feeding the birds previously because Pearl the Cat turned it somewhat abstractly into a cat feeding. Now -- it's becoming an oasis here -- especially with the irrigation for the three palms going. "Here at Three Palms Oasis, East of Pheonix ..."

You might notice that I have grown more aware and comfortable here in the Valley of the Sun, in just two years it has grown to feel like home. I have managed to make a few friends here, and like the fact that it's hot enough to fry an egg on the sidwalk every day. I don't know what life would be like without my ever happy hiking buddy to work out with once or more a week. I am glad that our acquaintance grows into a friendship. The friendships have been slow to develop. But there they are. I am growing these roots -- and suddenly I am feeling like I have two homes. I have grown to know the birds, plants and wildlife. I sweat freely and frequently. I know the desert just as well as I know the freeway map of the San Francisco Bay Area.

I rode in to town to spend dinner with the new Jane. My odometer vanished. The best guess is it's like riding to work, so ten each way. Half in daylight, half in the dark. She offered to take me home -- what was I thinking, when I said I need to ride.

Jane? I can hardly wait for you to come over.

Date: 17 June 2006
Miles Riding: 20.00
Weather: 108 °F. SunStars.
Ipod: Fleetwood Mac, The Way that I feel.
Bike: Commuter.
June Bike Mileage: 142.03

Cleanup Day

I am cleaning house today and listening to the Cowboy Junkies.

Sweet Jane
Lou Reed

Anyone who's ever had a heart
Wouldn't turn around and break it
and anyone who's ever played a part
Wouldn't turn around and hate it
Sweet Jane, sweet Jane
Sweet, sweet Jane

You're waiting for Jimmy down in the alley
Waiting there for him to come back home
Waiting down on the corner
and thinking of ways to get back home
Sweet Jane, sweet Jane
Sweet, sweet Jane

Anyone who's ever had a dream
Anyone who's ever played a part
Anyone who's ever been lonely
and anyone who's ever split apart
Sweet Jane, sweet Jane
Sweet, sweet Jane

Heavenly wine and roses
seem to whisper to me when you smile
Heavenly wine and roses
seem to whisper to me when you smile

La la la la, la la la, etc...

Sweet Jane
Sweet, sweet Jane

Ok -- that was fun -- I rode over to the market for lunch.

Date: 17 June 2006
Miles Riding: 4.01
Weather: 108thousandmillion°F. Sun.
Ipod: Fleetwood Mac, Black Magic Woman.
Bike: Commuter.
June Bike Mileage: 122.03

Misguided Angel.

Falcon Field and the Mesa Water Tower. Digital Photograph. Copyright 2006 Shawn Kielty. All rights reserved.

Today was a workout day. I finally broke through the one mile barrier that has been stopping me while running. Kelly the trackstar beer and steak tender suggested covering the display on the treadmill with a towel so I couldn't read it. This helped, and I backed off my mile pace to about 4.7 miles an hour or about a 12:30 mile speed. Somewhere near this is probably my 5k pace.

Date: 17 June 2006
Miles Riding: 22.10
Weather: 102°F. Sun
Ipod: Sheryl Crow, Soak up the Sun.
Bike: Commuter.
Treadmill: 2.65
Weather: 68°F
Ipod: Cowboy Junkies, Misguided Angel.
June Bike Mileage: 118.02

I have a story to tell involving chocolate syrup.

Don't Know What to Say About This.

There have been a lot of casualties this spring. 

Oh La La

The bird chick asks "have you seen the scotch egg, ostrich style?" I had to admit -- I hadn't. I spent a bucket of money loading up my ipod. Including the Rolling Stones. Christine McVie, Nina Simone. The Indigo Girls. Beethoven's Ninth. It's getting interesting.

Today I got some new road tires in the mail. I was quite impressed with the tires on the Roadie. Vittoria something or other; with Kevlar™ flak jacket. So -- I bought some for the commuter. After I put them on I went for a ride. It was a lot faster.

Date: 16 June 2006
Miles: 10.2
Weather: 102°F. Sun.
Bike: Commuter.
Ipod: Nina Simone, Wild as the Wind.
June Mileage: 95.92

Photo Set

© 2005-6 Shawn Kielty. All rights reserved.

Was that a Mile?

Treadmill: 1 mile
Bike fitness device: 5 miles.

Last Week's Haboob

Some pix here.