SEPTEMBER 2018
Sunday 2018.9.30
Cycling Adventures for Seniors
I have been trying to decide what to do with my Cycling Adventures for Seniors YouTube channel. The number of views has been declining.
The peak was my ride through the campus of the University of California Santa Barbara. As I ran out of popular destinations and rode less interesting locations the number of views dropped off. The last two got fewer than 50 views.
I suspected this might happen. There are only so many places in Santa Barbara that might be worth showing in a cycling video. I am not a traveler. For a successful channel I should be flying to exotic places like the Grand Canyon, the islands of the Mediterranean, or to the beautiful castles of Europe. As beautiful as this area is, it cannot compete with world-famous tourist destinations on other continents.
So, what to do? I believe it was worth an effort. I am still convinced there might be a way to encourage older people like myself to get on a bike and go for a ride. Maybe my idea was not the right one. Maybe I should have gone on rides with bikini clad college students. Now there's an idea…
And here is something amusing: I walked out my front door yesterday morning and met a neighbor. He stopped to say he saw some of my cycling videos and became an "immediate subscriber." He loves them. So maybe there is reason to allow more time. Maybe it's just the season. Summer is ending in many parts of the USA. Maybe people are more interested in indoor pursuits now. How about videos about indoor camping? Set up a tent in my living room — no, that's a dumb idea.
My Kitchen Vlog
My Kitchen Vlog continues to slowly build followers. I have two videos planned soon. I'm waiting for the parts to arrive.
I ordered a new light bulb for my microwave oven and installation will require some disassembly of the oven. That might be interesting. The bulb has been shipped and should be here in the next few days.
I also ordered some new pneumatic rear hatch supports for the rear door of my Nissan Pathfinder. If you're not familiar with the problem, after a while they lose their inner pressure and can no longer hold the door up. I've been keeping a stick in there. Installation of those might be a little tricky; so that might make a good video.
Mobile Home Gourmet
My Mobile Home Gourmet channel on YouTube is doing very well. The popularity continues to improve. I never run out of ideas, although I do occasionally (more often than I wish) run low on energy and enthusiasm.
On the negative side, almost daily I need to ban someone from my channel because of offensive insensitive remarks. I blame Donald Trump. He has emboldened some people to voice their suppressed hatred for Jews, African Americans, Muslims, or accomplished cooks with a successful YouYtube channel. Okay, maybe that last one isn't exactaly accurate.
And Speaking of Cooking
I am going to expand my Mobile Home Gourmet channel into backyard grilling. Yesterday I bought a 22-inch Weber Master-Touch grill. I left the box, unopened, in the back of my SUV because I plan to do the unboxing and assembly in a video.
I watched several assembly videos, but they weren't comprehensive. Many of the steps were done at fast-forward speed, obscuring the details. One was a detailed assembly of the grill. I want to do a similar video, even if it makes the video a little too long, because there are a few potential problem areas others have discovered. I'll probably shoot the video today, weather permitting.
And Speaking of Weather
If the weather forecasts are correct, a 60% probability of rain, heavy at times, is projected for Tuesday and Wednesday. I've been though this anticipation before. The first predictions of rain each season usually fail to materialize. However, I'm hopeful. I haven't watered my Dymondia in a while. And it would keep my neighbor's barking dark inside for a day or two.
Wednesday 2018.9.26
Phew!
Some things are not as easy as they might seem.
YouTube tagged three of my older videos as "not suitable for most advertisers." I don't know for sure the reason why. They're cooking videos. However, I remember reading somewhere that Google doesn't like foreign language words (not English, in my case) in video titles and/or descriptions. The three were Calzones, Tiramisu, and Croissants. However, I'm not confident about that claim because my Calzoni (like doughnuts) is not tagged.
I requested a review. Nothing happened. Content creators can qualify for a review if the channel has at least 10,000 subscribers. I have nearly twice that number. A review is only granted for a published video if it is viewed at least 1,000 times in the previous seven days. The Croissants video was viewed 15,095 in the past six years. My videos don't go viral.
There are videos that explain how to fix the "not suitable" problem without even requesting a review. So far, the suggestions haven't worked — mostly (see below). The easiest fix seemed to be editing the video again and doing a new upload with a different title.
Croissants was supposed to be the easy one and it was definitely the most important one. The holiday season will be here soon and people will search for recipes. Dinner rolls are popular. So, Croissants is too foreign? How about Crescent Rolls?
I edited the original video, made back in 2012, taking out several minutes of superfluous footage. It might have been one of those that I created for a local TV station. They wanted 28 to 30 minutes in each show. (Both Calzones and Tiramisu were TV shows for sure.) After a lot of editing, I ended up with a tight video of about 12 minutes. That was the easy part.
Editing the web site files was a different challenge because of links. Changing the name from Croissants to Crescent Rolls disturbs several links. There are the buttons in the recipe, pointing to the print-friendly version, the PDF, and the YouTube video. There are the links in the Recipe Archive. It took most of an evening, but I finally got them all fixed. Thankfully, Dreamweaver has a function for checking links. None are broken, now.
As for the Crescent Rolls video, so far YouTube's evil bot hasn't flagged it as too subversive, disturbing, or offensive.
Now here's the good bit: I edited the tags, eliminating some that seemed repetitive. After about half an hour I refreshed the page and Croissants was approved for advertisers. Go figure. I haven't yet seen any change on the other two, despite several edits, which is okay because those need to be shortened anyway.
Nonetheless, Crescent Rolls is a better name anyway. I expect it will do well between now and January. The new video will be published on YouTube in coming weeks.
Likewise, the new edit of the Calzones video is also on YouTube, currently "unlisted."
This second one is a bit risky because I don't know of any English words for calzones. Folded pizza? Meat and cheese pastries? Hopefully, it won't be tagged.
As for Tiramisu, that's on my "to do" list for this week.
Sunday 2018.9.23
First Day of Autumn
I've been noticing the cooling. There were several weeks in which the nighttime temperature never dipped below 60°F/16C. Now the weather forecast often predicts temperatures in the 50s at night. It isn't soup weather yet. Last year in October we had one day when the temperature peaked at 101°F.
I can't complain. I heard from one fan who said snow was forecast for the weekend.
Slash
In previous blogs I mentioned that my neighbor across the street is an arborist, probably better known as a tree trimmer. It was from him that I bought my small supply of split red oak firewood for cooking. I asked him about softer woods that might make good kindling to get a fire started. He said I needed to stock up on some slash.
I looked up slash in the dictionary and did not find the definition I wanted. He described slash as the splinters and chips that break off logs when they split them. They're discarded, tossed aside. "Go up to the yard," he told me, "and get as much as you want. No charge."
I did, brining back a five-gallon bucket of small pieces. They're not as easy to find as he might have thought. Mostly there were split logs and small chips — very little in between. However, I brought home enough.
Combined with my paraffin fire starters, the kindling worked to start a fire on which I could cook. And I did a video, grilling chicken on my little camp stove.
Bad People
YouTube has become a little less friendly lately. The summer doldrums have ended and activity has picked up. My views are increasing, and will continue to do so through Decembers as people look for recipes, especially for the holidays.
With the increased activity comes an increase in offensive comments. I don't know why they bother. It is easy to ban them from my channel, never to hear from them again. And no one else will see their comments either. Only the authors can see the comments they've written.
I'd like to believe these are people who are bitter because they voted for Donald Trump and still support him (although there is mounting evidence he is a criminal) and they are venting their bitterness by harassing YouTube content creators. I'm sure the suspicion is unfounded. It's fun to speculate though.
Kind of Creepy
I had dinner in Isla Vista yesterday evening. A friend wanted some oak and one of my paraffin fire starters. He and his friends grilled some steaks. I'm not much of a beef eater, but I enjoyed a small portion of the meat.
There is "rare" and there is "raw." Most web sites I checked say steaks are cooked rare when the internal temperature is in the range of 120 to 125°F (49 - 51°C). Some say a little higher. He pulled his steaks from the grill at about 115°F. It was good enough. I enjoyed my plate of food.
So what was creepy? He is nearly 40 years old, but he surrounds himself with college students in their late teens and early 20s. And he acts just like them, drinking and joking. This was the first time I attended one of his college town dinners. It will be the last. I need to remind him I'll be 70 years old in a few years and I'm a lot more comfortable with people close to my age — and with people who act their age.
The evening ended on a high note. It was the first time I rode my Pedego e-bike at night. It is equipped with lights front and back, standard equipment. They work well. Although I didn't ride through areas of total darkness, the forward light lit the road in front of me well and I felt safe riding home.
Wednesday 2018.9.19
Fire Starters
I don't mean arsonists, I mean things that help get a fire started, such as a camp fire or cooking fire. I bought some split red oak from my neighbor, an arborist, but getting the wood burning was a challenge for me. As I said in a recent video, starting a cooking fire is not in my skill set.
When I was a lot younger, the way to get a charcoal grill burning was to squirt the charcoal briquettes with a lot of lighter fluid and then toss in a lit match. Whoosh! These days, what with global warming and environmentalism, a column of dark smoke rising from a barbecue is likely to ruin your reputation in the neighborhood.
I watched several YouTube videos in which others made their own fire starters. They mostly used sawdust and paraffin wax. It worked. However, I don't have easy access to sawdust, unless I ask my neighbor across the street if I can tag along to one of their job sites to gather up some sawdust when they cut down a tree. Never mind. It would be wet sawdust and I don't look good in a hardhat helmet anyway.
Earlier, I saw how people made papier-mâché briquettes from newspaper for fuel. I made some of my own and they work, if you don't mind the lengthy drying time — weeks. I did a video about those briquettes and I did a second video in which I used some in a little camp stove to fry some fish in a skillet. Even then, I needed a propane torch to fire up the briquettes. There must be an easier way.
I didn't have much use for the briquettes I made; so they sat around the house for a while. And then I put 2 and 2 together. Why not use paraffin with the briquettes to make my own fire starters?
I bought some paraffin at a local market and a cheap little skillet. Even though the skillet has a nonstick coating, try to get hardened was out of it. I expected that; thus the purchase. That skillet will be my permanent paraffin skillet. Melt the wax in the skillet and drop in a briquette. Watch as the briquette absorbs the paraffin. It takes a while, but it soaks in all the way to the center. Then transfer the saturated briquette to a piece of parchment paper to cool.
It lit quickly. Using a stopwatch, I timed a complete burn at 19 minutes, maybe a little longer. That should be more than enough time to set some pieces of oak on fire, especially if I start them in a charcoal starter chimney.
Feeling confident, I transferred some chicken drumsticks from the freezer to the refrigerator to thaw. I'll do a video in which I make one of my barbecue sauces and then grill the chicken. Maybe I'll brine the chicken before cooking.
Manhattan-Style Clam Chowder
I don't know why I thought of it. I like New England Clam Chowder. I have a recipe that was featured in an episode of the BBC series Two Fat Ladies. Clarissa Dickson Wright made a clam chowder that I often crave in winter. It is made with milk. The soup isn't thick. And she added prosciutto.
I looked up recipes for Manhattan-Style Clam Chowder and found one I liked from The New York Times. I have The New York Times Cook Book by the late Craig Claiborne and if I were allowed to keep only one cookbook, it would probably be that one. However, the recipe I found was a little different from the one in Claiborne's book.
If you're not familiar with Manhattan-Style clam chowder, it's made with a tomato base rather than with milk and/or cream. I did a variation, using prosciutto like Dickson Wright did.
Sunday 2018.9.16
A Day in the Park
Thursday a friend and I went to a local park to cook. I rode my Pedego e-bike to video the ride for my Cycling Adventures for Seniors channel on YouTube. He drove, which helped a lot because we needed more oak firewood than might be typical.
The need for the wood was because of the cooking time. We slow-braised goat shanks for about 2½ hours. Yes, goat shanks.
In Wednesday's blog I mentioned the frozen meats he received from his uncle. Among them was a package of goat shanks. We agreed a Persian spice blend would work well, then slow-braising in chicken stock with some citrus zest added. Toward the end of the cooking time we added small whole potatoes and some cut up carrots.
After nearly two hours I wasn't excited about the flavor of the broth. It needed something more than just a little salt. We added some chicken bouillon and some honey. That finished it perfectly.
Everything was delicious. The goat was not gamey, nor was it tough. The slow-braising cooked it well enough to fall off the bone. It was tender and mild with a flavor all its own. It didn't taste like any other meat I know. Other side dishes included a tabouli salad and some flat bread, which was perfect for dipping in the sauce.
And I should probably mention that the whole point of the escapade was to do something totally atypical of usual barbecue fare. In fact, some people in the park saw our production (we had a lot of stuff for just two people) and stopped by to ask what we were cooking. They were surprised to hear "goat."
And that is how this week's feature recipe, Slow-Braised Goat Shanks, was created. The bike ride video is still being edited. I hope to have it ready by Saturday.
Cycling Video
I finished editing the video of Santa Barbara's Courthouse and Alice Keck Park. It's a small ride in the city, just showing off two destinations. The Courthouse is popular with tourists. I climbed the stairs up into the clock tower to video views of the city.
Another group ride is planned for this Saturday. I'll video that one as well.
Wednesday 2018.9.12
Hurricane Concerns
I don't live on the East Coast of the USA, but some fans of my web site and YouTube videos do. I've heard from some of them. One doesn't live close to the coast, but she and her husband do live in the rainfall area. They are near a lake, which will hopefully absorb a lot of the water, although there might be flooding along the shore. Another fan reported long lines at gas stations. I assume he was filling his car to evacuate to a safer area. I hope they get through the storm safely.
Changes
Change is inevitable. I'm not one of those people who dislikes change, although sometimes it can be unpleasant. I mentioned in my last blog I would probably be changing my cooking and eating habits. Someone named Roberta suggested I shift from gourmet meals to healthy ones. She even gave me a slogan I might use: Motivation, not temptation.
I have several Mediterranean diet cookbooks. Thankfully I like fish and olive oil. I'll look closely at some of these recipes to see how they might be adapted to use my Instant Pot. The Instant Pot isn't necessary. Many of the foods can be cooked in a standard saucepan and/or skillet and some can use a standard pressure cooker. I prefer the Instant Pot for convenience, and when I use a liner it becomes even easier because there is little or no cleanup.
MEAT!
A friend received a bountiful gift of frozen meats from his uncle — lamb, goat, deer, etc. There are ribs, roasts, shanks, steaks, and other cuts. He doesn't have enough storage space; so I offered one shelf of my freezer — not without a little trepidation. That meat could be in there for many months. He is leaving for Africa in six weeks and plans to be there through the end of the year, maybe a little longer.
My plan is to start organizing recipes and barbecues. If I tell him I'm preparing a bundle of goat shanks to be braised in a Dutch oven over an oak fire at a local park as part of my Cycling Adventures for Seniors video series, he will show up. If I leave everything to him, nothing will happen. I'm not complaining; I just know the kind of person he is.
If possible, I'd like to get two videos from each adventure — one for my cycling channel and the other for my Mobile Home Gourmet channel. Although they won't fit into my plans for healthier meals, they might be good cooking videos for my YouTube channel. I'll make and eat plenty of salad.
And Speaking of Meat…
I tried eating a steak on Sunday. Boy was I sick the following day! There were no other symptoms besides pain in my gut all day and an overall feeling of illness. I didn't eat anything until evening. I know the meat hadn't turned bad. It was bought fresh and frozen immediately. It was thawed quickly in the microwave oven, about 3 minutes. So there was no time for bacteria to take over. I simply don't do well with steak.
I've said many times in my blogs that I prefer lamb when I want red meat. I've had an aversion to steak since my teenage years and evidently I haven't grown out of it yet. Hamburgers are fine. Hotdogs are even better. But steak? Not me.
As for Videos…
I uploaded two videos this week, besides the feature video of spareribs. I put Saturday's Pedego group ride on my Cycling Adventures for Seniors channel.
The group ride was fun because several people showed up. There were about ten of us on Pedego e-bikes cruising around the east side of Santa Barbara and Montecito. The ride was nearly two hours, including stops, but I only put a few highlights in the video.
The second upload was an unboxing video of my new FoodSaver vacuum sealer. The old one no longer worked properly. It was time to replace it.
I wouldn't list it among my best videos, but product videos like this one tend to do well on YouTube because people search for information before buying something. I do that too. Most of my vlog videos are seen fewer than 100 times. My Haier portable washing machine video currently has more than 8,000 views.
Sunday 2018.9.9
Change in Plans?
There might be a change in my plans soon. If you've seen my videos during the past year or two, it is no secret that I gained the weight I lost several years ago. If I remember correctly, I lost about 65 pounds. I looked and felt good. But the good times didn't last.
I was enrolled in an online weight loss program. The cost was paid by my health insurance. There was some accountability. We weighed ourselves on a scale they sent us. It had a function to "call home" and report our weight each day. Some people didn't like a scale reporting their weight. I approved. For me, there needs to be some level accountability. I need to feel I am answerable to someone.
However, as on online course, I was a name on a page. There was no face-to-face interaction. The group was scattered across the country and most participants were known only by their first name. As such, it was easy to cheat, although I didn't. Of the 30 in each group, only four or five completed the program.
I tried and I successfully lost the weight. At the end of the year we were let loose to continue our success on our own. We could keep the scale. I disabled my scale's reporting function by disconnecting the internal antenna.
Here is where I saw a problem. Left to my own devices, I know what I'm going to do. I'm going to eat. I need accountability. I wish there were a lifelong program, like A.A., where I could continue to attend, be weighed, and fellowship with other dieters. I tried Overeaters Anonymous, but it didn't work for me. Similar to A.A. each person gets a minute or two to talk about themselves. "Hi. My name is John and I am a food addict.…" There was no weigh-in, no weight-loss goal, and no interaction. The self-reporting was evidently a reward in itself.
Now there is a new program. Last week I received a letter from my health insurance company saying I might qualify for a local program. I did some research. There are online programs for those too distant to attend a meeting, but I am not far from the meeting place. Although it isn't a short trek, I could ride my Pedego e-bike, as long as the program is during the day and ends before dark. And even if it is an evening program, I have a car.
The letter says there will 16 weekly in-person sessions with a health coach and small group, followed by monthly maintenance sessions. The weigh-ins are done in private. It doesn't say how long the maintenance sessions will continue, but I'm hoping they last indefinitely. I'd pay for that.
What is the Change in Plans?
Here is what I am anticipating: Working with a coach, I will probably discuss my web site and my YouTube channel as a source of temptation. What if the coach says those could be an impediment to my losing weight? I'll need to make a decision. I think my health will need to come first.
But it's too early to know. As I said, I haven't even begun the program yet. However, even if I should discontinue the cooking videos, I still plan to write my blogs.
Group Ride
I went on another Pedego group ride yesterday. I has been a while since a group ride was organized. This time the ride was scheduled for 10:00 rather than an hour earlier. Maybe as a result, several people showed up, some with their bikes, some taking advantage of the free rental from the Pedego dealership. Pat, the owner, arranges these rides to promote his store, and he sells bikes as a result. It's good for business.
I brought my GoPro camera and recorded the ride. We biked into the area of Montecito where there was the tragic mud slide/debris flow last winter that took several lives. I hadn't seen the area up close. Even though plenty of time has passed, cleanup continues to progress. In some areas houses are completely gone. In others the depth of the mud is visible by looking at the buildings that remain. The mud was almost halfway up the sides of the external walls.
Santa Barbara Courthouse
I decided go do a second ride (after going home and exchanging camera and gimbal batteries — I need to remember to pack them) and video the Courthouse. I got some good footage of the outside, the mural room, and the view from the tower. But first, the tower:
Even though I ride my bike often, my legs don't have the stamina they once had. It's my age. I couldn't climb the stairs to the top all in one go. Besides, it was hot and humid. Thankfully, there is a ledge part of the way up. I sat for several minutes, recovered my breath, and then finished the climb. The view from the top was worth the effort.
Then, because the ride wasn't a long one, I continue up Santa Barbara Street to Alice Keck park where the turtles are. A sign at the turtle pond said the turtles would be back after the water stabilizes. Stabilizes? Temperature? PH? There were turtles, although not in the same abundance I've seen them before. However, I got some good footage (I hope).
I am still editing the two videos I shot yesterday. They will be on my YouTube channel Cycling Adventures for Seniors as soon as they are ready.
Link
I finished the day at the Pedego store again where Pat, the owner, asked if he could link my Cycling Adventures for Seniors YouTube channel on his web site. Yes! Links increase my subscriptions and views, and improve my ranking on Google/YouTube.
Wednesday 2018.9.5
Air Frying
On Monday I shot another cooking video, this time using my air fryer to cook marinated pork spareribs. As I mentioned in Sunday's blog, the air fryer seems adept at cooking meats in such a way that they look grilled. Consider it a convenient and versatile counter top convection oven. It works the same, but it's smaller.
Again I purchased a two-pack of full-size spareribs, which I cut into portions of four ribs per section. And, as planned, I used my new vacuum sealer to wrap the ribs for freezing. I used some of the marinade I prepared for the video by pouring a little of it into each bag before vacuuming and sealing the ribs inside.
I also air fried more potato wedges because I really like them and because I thought they might go well with the ribs.
And Then I Changed My Mind
Actually, it was during the night. I woke up thinking I needed to remove a clip from the video. I tried using my GoPro camera for overhead shots, but the color was awful. It took a long time to adjust the colors to match those from my Sony camera. And the one shot I did use really didn't show anything more than the Sony captured. It was superfluous.
So, this morning when I got out of bed and armed myself with a cup of coffee, I edited the video again, deleted the original YouTube video (no one had viewed it yet), and uploaded the replacement video. It isn't a vast improvement, but I don't want to incorporate overhead shots unless they are going to useful or necessary.
Funny Camera
I mentioned in an earlier blog that my GoPro has voice activation. "GoPro start recording" starts it recording. It gets funny when I'm editing a video and the camera is on my desk. Several times in my video I'll tell the camera to record and the GoPro hears the command from my computer's speakers and starts recording. I have to put the camera in the other room.
Funny Dream
Well, maybe not so funny. I dreamed I was living in a house with other people. We knew there was a fire on the hillside, but no one told us to evacuate. We were watching TV and I got up to go into the kitchen. The back of the house was on fire. I rushed into the other room, told my housemates to go out the front, and we hopped into my SUV and drove away. From a nearby vantage point we, along with others from the area, watched as the whole neighborhood went up in flames.
Dreams can be meaningful. Sometimes they tell us something we might want to know. This seemed like an anxiety dream. I must have been worried about something. Maybe it was that overhead video clip that I didn't need in my ribs video.
Sunday 2018.9.2
Happy Labor Day
Tomorrow is Labor Day here in the USA. It celebrates the workers who made this country a great nation. In many parts of the country the day is also the unofficial end of barbecue season. I'm happy I moved to Southern California.
September Already
Summer is nearly over. Three more weeks. I always enjoy summer. Growing up in New England, summer was my favorite time of year. I didn't like the cold and the snow, except when I was a child. I spent many hours sledding in the snow and skating on local ponds. As I grew older, especially when I started to drive, ice and snow were no longer as much fun anymore.
Although here in California summer never really goes away, at least not very far away, I still enjoy this time of year. However, I now look forward to the cooler months. It's a time for making soups and baking breads. As I mentioned in Wednesday's blog, we still have about six weeks of warm weather before the season really comes to an end.
Gooseneck GoPro Camera Mount
Last month I blogged about my new gooseneck camera mount. I did a demonstration video for My Kitchen Vlog.
That video was kind of a test run, the first time I used the gooseneck mount. Things went well. I planned it correctly, even down to the distance the camera needed to be above my food prep surface. That gives me confidence. Although my Sony camera will still provide the bulk of my video content, the GoPro will provide a different camera angle when I need one. It won't help any of my cooking videos to go viral on YouTube, but I do believe that little extra bit of content will give my videos a more professional appearance.
Ribs
This week the local Smart & Final store has Farmer John Pork Spareribs on sale for $1.69/pound (regular $2.29). I bought a package. They're large, what appears to be the entire side of the pig, and two racks per package. That's a lot, but that's okay. I had a lot of experimenting to do (and my neighbors were grateful).
For this one I marinated the ribs for 30 minutes. Then I cooked them in my air fryer, set to 225°F, for 30 minutes each side, then cooked them an additional hour at 250°F, again turning them over halfway through the hour. The ribs look grilled to me.
The flavor was good and the meat was tender and moist, almost falling off the bone. I'm not done yet. I want a little smoky flavor; so I'm thinking of adding smoked paprika to the next marinade. There is very likely a video in this. The ribs will continue to be on sale through Tuesday; so I will probably purchase another package or two.
The plan is to section each rack into smaller pieces, like you see above, and vacuum seal them in pouches for storage in the freezer. I have plenty of room and this will supply me with ribs for most, if not all, of the winter. I am even thinking of adding marinade to some vacuum bags before freezing the ribs. If you've done this, let me know. I'd like to know how well it works.
Bread
It isn't quite September yet and already there are discussions of winter bread baking. A fan up in Washington has been emailing me about bread books. She has dozens, and a house to store them in. I have plenty too, but mine are in EPUB format, easily stored on a data CD with plenty of room to spare.
Maybe the weather is cooling more rapidly in Washington. We're still warm down here, although the nighttime predictions of temperature are dipping below 60° again. We still have September and October. The next six weeks can sometimes be the hottest time of year. Last year October when I bought my Pedego e-bike it was 103° outside. I can't complain. Daytime temperatures have been relatively mild so far this summer.
Another Cycling Adventure for Seniors
Yesterday I uploaded another Cycling Adventure for Seniors. I loaded my bike onto my SUV and drove up the coast to the Gaviota Beach State Park. There is a road and trail that leads up into the mountains to the Gaviota Wind Caves. It is rated a "moderate" hike, but too long and too steep for me. Despite my sitting down and resting a few times along the trail, I never climbed all the way to the top. That's okay. My YouTube channel is not Hiking Adventures for Seniors.
I did a video of the area using my GoPro on my helmet.
And One Final Note — Ants
They were back in the kitchen again — not as bad as before, but there were plenty of them. I set up my usual bait trap. They found it. They swarmed to it. They're gone now, at least for a while.