New E-Bike

 I ordered an electric bike a while ago via Indegogo. It arrived on Friday. Mark was kind enough to make sure he was at the house when the FedEx arrived, and he also took care of the minimal amount of assembly that was needed to get the bike ready to go.

I took it for a spin today. I spent about an hour and a half riding all over the neighborhood, since there is very little traffic in most of the streets here. We have a few state highways on the perimeter of the neighborhood, but for the most part, the residential streets are quiet. I even went past the house where our late, much-missed friend Joan used to live. I saluted the house as I went past. I still think about how glad I am that she met Mark before she passed. 

I'm considering surprising my mom with a visit one of these days, provided I can get back on the road for home before the sun starts going down. My night vision is improved, now that I know about the dry eye syndrome and use eyedrops daily, but the cataracts are still there so I'm still not too sure about driving any sort of vehicle after dark.

Freakin' nutria!

 An online friend of mine is awaiting humane traps because there is a sizeable rodent in their house. Her story reminded me of something that happened to me years ago, during my commute home from work. I promptly recounted my story:

 

I  am reasonably sure I saw a nutria years ago, on a subway-surface trolley platform. (SEPTA has some trolley lines that run underground for part of their route, and on the street for the rest.) I didn't know nutrias existed at that time, but what I did know was I was looking at a cat-sized rodent. I thought it was a rat, and was momentarily astonished that "rat the size of a cat" was not an exaggeration.

 

Being the skilled decibel-generator that I am, I proceeded to exclaim "HOLY SH*T" loudly enough to drown out a jet engine.

 

EVERYONE remaining on the platform turned to stare. None of them had seen the rodent, which had promptly made itself scarce when the Very Loud Human became very loud.

 

I asked the staring people, "Did you SEE that rat? It was so big, it should have paid a fare!" And whoever remained on the platform either decided to either Walk Quickly Away Like Nothing Happened, or stare at me with pity because as everyone could plainly see, there was no rat on the platform.

 

Freakin' nutria! Making me look even more nuts than I already am! 😂😂