August 13, 2025

The farmers got a good downpour last night and I got overcast skies and 10k winds this morning which is pretty nice. Speaking of farmers (again), taking the back roads always provides great landscape views of farm land and huge bails of hay.

I had to post a google map instead of my Map My Ride App because after I took this magnificent shot :) I forgot to turn the app on again. I have to do it at least once a year.

August 12, 2025

Since I had appointments all morning, the ride didn't happen until afternoon. The first ride ended at 5k because of thunder and a thunderstorm warning. Apparently London and Toronto got downpours, but we got nothing. Afterwards I ventured out for a second ride.

PHOTOS: In just a day and half, the sunflower in the backyard has started to open up.

August 11, 2025

Detours, Construction and Closures, oh my.

I try and ride on as many lesser travelled roads to avoid possible death by Impatient Driver who doesn't give a mitre clearance beyond their mirror, passing at break neck (or break me) speed. Anyways, strangely, this summer seems to be the year of construction on the lesser travelled roads.

I've accomplished 50% of the 500k goal as of today. Completely unexpected. When figuring out how to accomplish the km goal in 31 days, I figure what distance I need to cover daily in about 25 days, since there are going to be days that I can't ride because of weather, health, or break downs (the bike, not me). Strangely enough, there has been no rain in the first 11 days of August. Good for riding. Not so good for farming. Fortunately, the only thing I'm farming are a few vegetables in a planter box, so artificial rain through a garden hose is the solution to that dilemma.

August 10, 2025

I broke this ride into two rides of 15 & 5 km with a half hour break in between.

28 C and 20k winds makes for a sweaty ride.

A year ago, we spent two weeks in Newfoundland. We had been to every province except NFLD (no territories as yet). It was always on our radar to visit, but we felt we needed enough time to make it happen. We did a lot of miles and experienced many things. One surprise was making an unplanned visit to Gander Airport. It's more than just an airport inside. I recommend it to anyone visiting NFLD. Seeing the musical, Come From Away, was never on our list of shows to see, but since it was playing in Gander where it all happened, we bought tickets. It was far better than I had expected. My personal favorite part of NFLD was Fogo Island. The island was saved by the brilliant and generous Zita Cobb. One of her projects was a luxury and very unusual Inn. We actually got to tour the inside because we could never afford the minimum cost of 2k/night with a minimum stay of two nights (3 in the Summer). The story of Zita Cobb is fascinating.

PHOTO: Bonavista, NFLD

August 9, 2025

I had a call from the Infectious Disease doctor yesterday. I have a follow up appointment in two weeks. The results of the MRI haven't been reviewed yet. And, she put me back on anti-biotics for another 2 weeks in the meantime. I'm sure every unhealthy thing in my body has been torched. Bugs won't even land on me anymore.

Early one morning a couple of days before being discharged from the hospital, I was sound asleep when the light flicked on and I opened my eyes to see a doctor standing over me saying she was going to put a PICC line in and I needed to sign the sheet she had in her hand. Once again, I had no idea what was happening -- I mean, I was sound asleep seconds ago. I asked, "when is this going to happen?" "Now," she says. Oh. Kay. I sign it. She starts closing off the room to make it sanitary and no one is to enter. It was turned into a portable operating room. And off she went inserting a tiny line into a main artery in my arm that went up around my shoulder and down to the heart. She had it done in about two minutes (or less). The lady was a pro at this.

While annoying to have it in my arm for the past month and a half, it has come in really handy. Of course the anti-biotics are administered via the PICC port, but anytime I've gone for a blood test or injection, no needles. All done through the PICC. Even the contrast that was added during my MRI was through the PICC. No poking or poor attempts to find a vein. (Prior to this, in the hospital, I had bruises all over my arms from the more than 30 "pokes")

The photo (not intended to gross anyone out) is the line going into my arm with the anti-biotics hooked up. The "bulb" is under pressure so that no matter what position it is in, the liquid is forced to go up the line into my arm. It's pretty cool. Takes about 30 minutes to empty and is done once per day.

August 8, 2025 (2)

A quick ride to the pharmacy and post office.

August 8, 2025

Normally, on the May long weekend, I go and buy a handful of vegetable plants for the raised garden box I made. This year, during the winter, I planted seeds inside. I had great success, but some plants didn't survive inside and some struggled with the transition to outside. Of course, after I planted and propped up the tomato plants, I ended up in the hospital. Rebecca kept them watered and many of them actually grew significantly over the next two weeks.

One thing I tried growing was Sunflowers from the seeds from a previously grown sunflower. I tried starting them inside, but by the time I got them outside, the rabbits were chewing up the stem. I tried planting them in the ground but the squirrels (I believe) dug up every seed to eat. I think I tried at least 100 different seeds with no success.

Except for one. I started a plant inside and replanted in the raised planter box. It survived because it couldn't be reached by rabbits. After it grew to about a foot tall, we replanted it in the garden next to the house, with a small fence around it, where it has thrived and is now 6' tall with the flower about to open. It's been interesting to see that the head has followed the sun each day. Did you know that there's a name for that behaviour? Heliotropism.

My hope is to get some seeds from this flower and repeat the process of the surviving sunflower plant next year.

One Day These Will Be Worth Millions

August 7, 2025

I get these jerseys sent to me each year from the GCCC, and I rarely wear them. A couple of them are still in the package. They are actually lightweight and generally comfortable, but my problem is (among many other things) that when I decide to go riding, I just want to go. I already need to wear a helmet, get my headphones, connect to my phone for music and open the riding app, so I usually just ride with what I have on ... a pair of jeans and whatever shirt.

I will say, that other serious riders that are going the other way won't acknowledge me, especially if they are sporting a biking jersey. But today, things were so different. I was a somebody. The jersey sold it! Yippee.

August 6, 2025 (part 2)

Did an extra ride, taking a long route to go to the post office.

August 6, 2025

The Show Must and Did Go On

5 days before the June 4-8 production of, "Blue Side Up," I woke up with a sore back. The following morning it was in constant spasms. From there it just continued to escalate until I could barely walk. I was able to make it to the first load-in for rehearsal in Shedden and help with direction (but no lifting). I also made it to the third performance in Shedden which was fantastic.

Normally, I'm involved in the heavy lifting of the portable stage, sets, props, lighting and sound equipment. This time, it was Rebecca and Brad (tech) and cast and volunteers that made it happen without me. After the Shedden performances, they had to strike the stage, set and lighting, load it into the trailer and set up again in Strathroy. After the three shows in Strathroy, they would load up again and bring it all back. I never witnessed any of it, but they are true heroes for making it happen. It was a huge undertaking but it was with the theatre mindset, the show must go on. And because of them, it did.

Expecting community members to pay money to see a play that was written by someone they don't even know is risky enough, never mind hoping that everything goes as planned, and no one gets sick or there's a conflict with weather, venue or whatever. In producing, my goal is to minimize the risks in advance as much as possible, which is why I try to use proven and trustworthy actors and crew where possible.

I've never had to cancel a show, but had lots of the show-must-go-on encounters along the way. During one production, a youth actor was sick, would go off stage in between scenes to throw up. I was doing the tech and had no idea this was happening. A true show-must-go-on actor! In the middle of another show, the power went out. I assumed it was an issue inside the building. I was in the audience, got up and paused the performance until the tech could reset. Power came back on and we continued on. I discovered later that the whole city had briefly lost power.

The fulfilling experience of bringing a theatre production to life must equally match the adrenaline of taking the risks, or I wouldn't still be doing this.

PHOTO: Rebecca, Brad and the cast at The Wright Place, Strathroy, in between shows.

August 5, 2025

The physiotherapist stretched me out this morning, so wasn't sure how many km's I'd get today, so I stayed within a distance to provide an easy ride home.

As I went in for my MRI last night, they said it would be 40 minutes. It turned out to be about 70 minutes. Very thorough.

Speaking of thorough, I saw a list of the imaging that was done during my hospital stay:

X-ray Chest

MRI Spine

CT Scan Head

Ultrasound of abdomen

X-ray Chest again

CT Scan Lungs

X-ray chest again

Ultrasound Chest

MRI spine last night

That's the story I'm sticking with.

August 4, 2025

My ride went a bit longer than expected. On my way home along Century Drive, I came to an intersection at Sutherland Road that said the bridge on Century was out, "Road Closed." Well, Sutherland was gravel, so I was taking the chance on being able to get through the "Bridge that was Out" on a bike. 99% of the time a bridge has some kind of access for a bike. Today, was the other 1% of the time. Just over 2 km down the road, it wasn't a bridge, it was a culvert that had been removed for the river underneath the road. The trench edge went straight down about 15'. 20 years ago I might have attempted the climb down, attempt to jump the river and climb back up the other side, bike in hand, but not a chance today or any day in the future. So, I made the 2+ km trip back to ride the gravel road. I discovered later that I was only 300 m from the next paved intersection if I could have made it through. So, I gained another 4.5 km for blindly taking a risk.

MRI tonight at 9:30pm at Victoria hospital :)

August 3, 2025

This ride was exhausting and the back is paying for it. But it's still mentally therapeutic. So it's a bit of a trade off I suppose.

I've always been one to get away with minimal sleep ... although it eventually catches up with me. I discovered the true meaning and danger of Sleep Deprivation during this recent health experience. For the 9 days prior to being admitted, I was barely getting an hour sleep (or less) daily. By the time I was actually admitted to hospital, as Rebecca witnessed, I was "completely out it". She said there were times I couldn't even spit out more than two or three words that were mumbles. During my stay, I had some interesting hallucinations instigated by events that I watched unfold, but my brain was creating a completely different story for each. After coming home, I assumed it was the drugs I had been given. But Rebecca, in all her wisdom, said it was likely the lack of sleep, along with the drugs. When I was discharged and came home, that was the first time I discovered what I had seen or said during my stay was not accurate. Up until then I was convinced what I had seen was for real. (Rebecca had just nodded and supported me during the weird encounters). Anyways, I recently researched sleep deprivation and discovered all of the side affects, which included hallucinations. Apparently, it's dangerous to go past 72 hours without sleep, and here I had exceeded 200 hours with barely any sleep. Oh the things you discover.

PHOTO: Rebecca took this while I was "out of it." I had finally gotten a room after waiting 42 hours in an Emergency bed. I was moved to two more locations after this.

August 2, 2025

Today was a very casual ride with Rebecca, who rarely bike rides (she's a morning walker -- which I rarely do). But today, we biked locally.

We love doing things together, even the tough things, like where she spent much of her time travelling to and from Victoria Hospital to keep up to speed with the doctors during my stay in June. If she hadn't been there, I wouldn't have had a clue of what was going on. The doctors would explain something to us, I'd understand it at the time, but then it was gone. She's been my rock and strength through this whole ordeal. She's even had the duty of administering my antibiotics at home, once a day since the end of June. 2 shots of saline solution through the PICC. Hook up the antibiotics that run for 30 minutes. Then a third shot of saline.

One of our favorite recent vacation trips was a week in March in Curacao. We had a house isolated from the main city, overlooking the water and had a cooling pool. We even went snorkeling at a couple of the many local beaches.

August 1, 2025

And so it begins. Two months ago I assumed this riding thing wasn't going to happen. And I still don't expect me to hit the target, but I'll tack on some km's where possible.

Long story short, after being sent home from 3 trips to the emergency at the local hospital in early June, I went to a different hospital and was admitted for 12 days with Streptococcus Anginosus. (Fancy or what). An abscess on my spine where the bacteria travelled all the way up to my neck. No one has any idea how I contracted it. After the hospital visit, I went home with a PICC line where I have continued to pump antibiotics in daily which will conclude August 5. August 4 I have a follow up MRI to see the results. I still have pain in the right lower back where it started, but my understanding is that the abscess damaged the tissue and it will take time to heal again.

The ride today was a blind attempt at what I can do (not much different from most things). Fortunately, sitting is not painful (walking still is), so using just my legs to power the bike was good. After two months of sitting on my butt, the leg workout was probably good (I'll know later today).

One of the awesome sites along this route is the annual blooming of Sunflowers at a local farmhouse. They've just started blooming.