Weather

[19&41]

The weather has moderated a bit here. The A/C didn't start up 'til 11AM. It wasn't overly oppressive working on the brakes yesterday.

[TC Chris]

We're having a heat wave (finally). Yesterday it was in the upper 80s down in Bay City where I was, and coming home I actually ran the truck's AC for about the 3rd time this year. Today it has reached 90 here at home in my backyard, but it was still bike-able weather for the commute. I will go sailing shortly. It may be a little cooler out there.

I'm a big fan of Martha and the Vandellas:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=VJzI18ZUUnA

But there's also Irving Berlin's heat wave, sung to perfection by Ethel Waters:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTwx0wwO8ro

Chris Campbell

[William]

Thanks, Chris. Your links led me down a rabbit hole starting with this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJ7OLTl-HRE

Bill

[TC Chris]

Well, thank you for your fall! I had never heard of her, and that's (one of) my kind of music.

Aren't we lucky that recording devices have preserved these performances for us? And aren't we lucky that our African-American fellow citizens enriched our national music so powerfully? As I was waking up this a.m. they had a piece on the Motown "girl groups" like the Shirelles and how their first recordings did not include photos. That would have identified them as black and would have kept them off a lot of white pop radio stations. Our music has so many sources. Irving Berlin immigrated from Russia at age 5 and went on to write many of what we regard as quintessentially American music, the standards that new generations of performers turn to when they grow up. He wrote our big holiday songs--"White Christmas," "Easter Parade." Few nations have the mix of backgrounds that ours has, and our music reflects it. And those influences include European classical music, which was a subject of study for American musicians of many ethnicities.

There was a piece on the radio yesterday about the Little Richard documentary that was on TV last night. It quoted John Waters as saying the "Lucille" was the first record he stole as a kid. He noted that the first music you like and your parents hate becomes your music. My parents were wise enough not to express strong opinions about their kids' choices of music. They let us explore. And we kids developed pretty wide tastes in music. Right now the Sibelius 5th Symphony is on the radio. This world would be impoverished without it. Or without Dorothy Donegan, or Cab Calloway, or Irving Berlin, or Martha and the Vandellas, or Hank Williams. Etc. As Duke Ellington noted, if it sounds good, it is good.

Chris Campbell

[TC Chris]

More odd weather.... As an old guy I'm on the list for automated phone warnings of sever weather. Just got a "flash flood" warning. I rolled the dice and rode the bike to work this morning and was hoping the rain would be done before time to ride home. Nope. I'm hearing thunder right now. It rained quite hard a few times and drizzled between So I hitched a ride early from my boss, who lives down the alley from me. No real signs of flooding around the house here so far. Now I'll have to drive the truck back and retrieve the bike

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

Cowboys and "Harley hoggers" put a rain slicker in their saddle bag so if it "came a cropper" they would be prepared.....

[TC Chris]

Cowboys and "Harley hoggers" put a rain slicker in their saddle bag so if it "came a cropper" they would be prepared.....

I carry rain gear in my knapsack, but it was coming down hard. I measured 2" so far today at my rain gauge and that's probably reading low because of proximity to the house. And it's not just the falling rain, it's the splashing-up from puddles. The summer bike has smaller fenders than the winter bike. I won't really melt if I get wet, just a bit snarly, but that brown road mush in the winter calls for serious fender protection.

The bike is back in the garage after a trip to work in the truck. The sun came out for about 40 min. but now it's raining again.

The rain gave me a chance to head out to the shop & make a drilling jig for dowels for a furniture repair. My grandmother had a mahogany (veneer) "sleigh bed" in the guest room. My dad complained that he didn't fit when he visited, so Grandma had one end sawed off. And saved it. And when we sold Grandma's house it got saved again. And then when the basement flooded to about 10", the cut-off end lost the bottom few inches as the plywood and mahogany veneers separated. Last weekend I sawed off the ruined part--way beyond re-gluing, even if I had a vacuum bag--and I will reattach the remainder with glue & dowels.

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

I've never driven a bike in winter road mush. That is a pretty dedicated bike rider, if you ask me. I bought a brand new Western Flyer 24" bicycle when I was about nine years old or so. When I got it home, grandpa noticed it was a girl's bike. Although I got teased about it, it really did work out nicely. You could stand up when you were "pumping" up hills without fear of contacting the cross bar in a very delicate area. It was also lighter and easier to pedal than a boy's bike. I rode that thing until I started driving and some after. I wore out a set of tires in a summer, right down to the cords. I don't remember what Davis DeLuxe bike tires cost, but it was pretty cheap. Less than $5 for a tire and tube.