Annoyingly, I also noticed a spoke came out of place on my wheel... First time it's happened. Something didn't feel right on the back, and I actually stopped to pump up my tires when I saw it.

So big bike is out of commission for a bit. Which means no bike camping until it's fixed.

This summer is turning out to be a bit of a pain in the ass, if I'm being honest.

Went strawberry picking today at a pick your own place.
We went by bike, which may have been a mistake, as on the way home it threw rain down and the rain mixed with the vibration of the bike, turned the already not great strawberries into mush.

Anyway, they didn't go to waste - I sorted them out when we got home, got a small bowl of them for tiny person, the rest are now macerating in sugar for jam, and the tops are in fermenting jars with sugar, and will be used to make a strawberry beer or cider.

So yeah. The one thing bikes are probably not the best vehicle to use, is transporting strawberries 17km on bumpy country roads in a storm.

There's a family of red cardinals in the garden, a mum, dad, and couple of what must be the babies.
The babies are nearly fully fledged adults, and it's clear the parents are showing them what's food and what isn't.
Most of the babies have it figured out and are attempting to eat the sunflower seeds I leave out.

One, absolutely does *not* get it, and is stood there doing the baby bird FEED ME chirrups with their mouth wide open, hopping around the dad bird, and you can see this dad bird just looking at his kid thinking 'Give me STRENGTH. For the last time, Gerald, you are OLD ENOUGH TO PICK UP THE SEEDS YOURSELF'.

@PatrickoftheG I had been wondering the same thing, to be honest. The last couple of months it's all gone out of the window, and I'm now wondering if that's the knock on effect from whatever is happening in the US right now with all the department closures.

This might be a bit of a stretch, but; have any of you found a reliable weather prediction service lately? I've got 3 on my phone, and not one of them can predict the weather for the next 3 hours, let alone the next 3 days.

Have I been feeding chuffing Godzilla or something!?

Had to take this one to the vet today, because he's developed a distended belly over the last couple of weeks. Seemed fine in himself, but wanted to be sure.

After an ultrasound, it just turned out that he's fat, old, sedentary, and has a bit of a fat liver - but ultimately has a couple more years in him yet. Still, there could be a chance that he's in the early stages of something with his liver, so we have to keep an eye on him.

When we got home, he immediately climbed into the paddling pool...

"They're taking our jobs"
No they're not. And you know they're not. Know how I know you know that? Because you send ICE to pick them up in the Home Depot parking lot, not at an employment agency. You send ICE to the places where immigrants are specifically looking for jobs that no one else will do, to kidnap them.

"They don't pay taxes"
Yes they do. And you know that they do. Know how I know you know that? Because ICE uses data from the IRS to locate immigrants to go kidnap them.

"They're criminals"
No they're not. And you know they're not. Know how I know that you know that? Because ICE stands outside courtrooms, where they are legally obligated to go to secure their legal status, then kidnaps them as they exit the courtroom.

"They're stealing our benefits"
No they're not. And you know that they're not. Know how I know that you know that? Because ICE is not targeting Medicare or Medicaid offices as locations where they can kidnap people.

"They're here illegally."
No they're not. And you know they're not. Know how I know you know that? Because you're paying a foreign government to hold kidnapped people hostage so that they don't get due process, which would prove they're not.

At this rate, my head is a better predictor of thunderstorms than the actual weather predictions.

Hot on the heels of Cycling Guide 2.1, version 2.1.1 is now available in Google Play for Android and the App Store for iPhone. This latest release includes new rides to explore Ottawa and Halifax!

Happy Cycling! 😀🚴🏼‍♀️

#HalifaxNS #OttBike #Cycling #BikeTooter

https://cyclingguide.org/download-the-cycling-guide-mobile-app/

The new fridge and freezers arrived today. Great because the old one is deaddeaddead and it's hot out. Bad, because I wasn't prepared for it, and so the freezer is in the back garden because the door it needs to go through is locked and we cannot find the key...

En 2014, Evelyne Dhéliat présentait un faux bulletin météo, celui de 2050.
En 2025, 25 ans avant, ce bulletin devient réel.

I bought some sleeve knee supports which arrived today. First time I bought plain sleeve ones, in the past I've had to buy ones with straps on and knee cap supports because the physio told me, and to be honest I felt like they were making things worse because my knees are wonky.

Anyway. I was between sizes, and the shop advised to size up and not down, so I did...

They fit fine on my thighs and calves... And I feel no compression on my knees. Feels like I'm wearing leggings. Do I just have unusually narrow knees or something?

I'll try them out on the bike tomorrow, as that's what I got them for (why I didn't want my usual kind). Maybe I can try darting them with the sewing machine to take the knees in a bit.

I do think Tiny Person does understand some French, because when the girls speak French, she does what they say, but we haven't got the speaking part down.

I shouldn't laugh, but it's quite funny in a 'oh tiny person, you funny pickle' sort of way, when I see tiny person playing with the girls next door.
The other kids are native French speakers, who like to practice their English with TP. TP is a word fountain but the words don't always come out in the right order and sometimes requires a lot of detective work to get the words in the right order.

So Tiny Person will confidently reel off a bunch of English words in a higgledy piggledy sentence and the other girls just accept it, because they are not fluent, and they all just play really nicely together with this Mish Mash of English and French, and it's quite lovely to watch.

The kids literally wake up in a morning, stick their heads out the door to see if the other is awake and rush to get dressed and play before breakfast. The only rule is 'come back when you are hungry'.

This year I learnt that you can plant pea plants in an offset grid with the plants about 1.5 inches away from each other, about 5 plants deep, and they will grow really well. Better than I've grown them when I space them apart. They seem to really enjoy being absolutely crammed together.

I think next year I'm going to double the amount I grow, they have been an absolutely fantastic late spring crop to grow in limited space.

Huh. Today I learnt that British Marrowfat peas, which are the kind of peas you use to make mushy peas, are exported to Japan for making wasabi peas.

Which makes sense. Marrowfat peas are deliberated left in the fields to dry out naturally, which makes them appropriately starchy to be used as Wasabi peas.

I am letting the remainder of my peas fatten up and dry on the vine so I can make mushy peas, but I think I might also have a look at how I can make homemade wasabi peas too. Just to see if I can.

Last week's heatwave made my pea plants stop making flowers, and we're due another heatwave today, so mangetout season is over for me. Pretty much lived on them for 2 weeks though.

@dacmot the problem with some of the English sections here, is that they don't often have the encyclopedic kind of books my daughter loves. She really likes the Dorling-Kindersley books, but the only place we can find them here is on Amazon.

She does have an Indigo gift card though, so we are going to use that when we find a place :)