Occupation of Independence

Lately I have fallen into the habit of watching too many videos. It is good see a variety of world opinions offered on these videos. But sometimes I wonder why the video needs to be a video at all -- there is nothing to look at. It is just a talking head, and it talks with such a thick accent that it is hard work to listen to it. It is getting so that I simply turn off the video after 5 seconds if the accent is too strong. Australian accents barely count as 'English'. They are more than muddled -- they are painful to listen to. Even English accents can get annoying because of their inability to pronounce the letter r. We won't even talk about New Yawk accents. It is funny how some accents seem quaint and fun to listen to. For instance, Irish and Scottish accents work like that. Some southern USA accents are pleasant to listen to. I wonder if many of these terrible speakers can write and read English quite well? If so, then why shouldn't they write blogs instead of maki

As I get ready to leave Patagonia AZ, it is worth talking about the gravel-bicycle craze. This town has become a mecca for gravel bike riding. This is ironic to me because I was bicycling dirt roads in this area 20 years ago -- before it was 'cool'. Are gravel bicycles a passing fad? The case is pretty good that they are. Of course the bicycle industry is always looking for an excuse to trick their customers into buying one more bicycle.  From the looks of gravel cyclists here, they are really "roadies" who are perhaps accepting the grim reality of riding (paved) roads: too many cars, driven by people who are too distracted by electronic gadgets in the cabin of their cars. Drivers think their car is their living room. Do any drivers look out the windshield anymore? Thus they have switched to gravel riding with a bike that is 90% the same as a 'road' bike. But I wonder how many gravel bikers have come from the opposite end of the spectrum, that is, the single-

 first attempt at video

Whenever a blogger talks about the weather, it is natural for a reader to think that the blogger has nothing really to talk about today. So what is my excuse? I walked around yesterday in a state of mild euphoria. It had rained significantly overnight. The ground was slightly muddy. The air started off uncomfortably humid -- in Arizona?! As the day progressed, it cleared up but the air stayed moderately humid. I felt like I was walking through a thin medicinal unguent, rather than air. Imagine Neosporin turned into air. I actually liked seeing the sun! This sort of experience only happens four or five days per year in this part of North America, so nobody can accuse me of excess repetition. Can you imagine a weather-utopia better than getting 0.1" of slow rain overnight, say, once per week? Everything would smell good in the morning, everything would be so fresh and full of life.  

In case you haven't experienced it before: how nice it is to have a clean, lavender-shampooed, brushed, luvvie-duvvie poodle in your bed at night! She would snuggle right up against my face if I let her. Life doesn't get any better than this -- except when we are cycling. ( I do wish the bed was wider!) She is tied to my waist when cycling. It is counter-intuitive but the dog is safer when you shorten the leash so that she keeps the wheel in her peripheral vision. (5 feet is about right.) I have tried a basket that mounts to the handlebar. It is easy and quick to stuff the dog into the basket. But 20 pounds is quite a bit of weight on the handlebar. It feels clumsy, so I might give up on this idea. I am having no luck at getting her to stay in her K9 sport sack. It is hard to catch her on camera when she is happy and prancing. It is great that the dog gets to face forward and stick its forepaws out of the bag, but she is too nervous, so far.