here, have something to do

Here, Amnesty International wants you writing the Iranian government in protest of that government's illegal arrest of Dr. Haleh Esfandiari. They're now charging her with all sorts of bogus crimes, as authoritarian regimes tend to do. While you're at it, you might drop them a separate note about their religious police beating women for "immodest" dress.

this and that

Today was nice because it involved some biking and a lot of gardening. I've been neglecting the south garden and need to stop that; a lot of horsetail sprouts reached at least photosynthetic maturity, and that's now how to win. At all.

The lettuces seem to be taking off, finally; most of the sprouts have real leaves now, and hopefully they'll pick up the pace a bit. The strawberries are doing pretty well, and the carrots have sprouted several places - but the broccoli has mostly been a no-show, so I sewed more seeds, trying to catch up.

But one of the other things I did included a nice bike trip to McLendon's in Woodinville, where I picked up new stainless-steel hooks and garden wire for the Strange Apple and Strange Pear trees - the ones splayed against the rear retaining wall - then came home and wired up some of the branches. I'm going to have to shorten the apple tree this winter, I think. I also don't think that's particularly a bad thing, but it's certainly weird.

And this year again looks like a good apple crop and poor pear crop. Maybe we need a second pear tree nearby.


Many Tiny Bells
Friday's biking featured a new way home from Shoreline! It was shorter but not better. However, the New Bike Route Checklist:

Passed a house we looked at? CHECK
Bonus points for trying to buy it? CHECK

Hopping christ on a pogo stick we looked at a lot of houses.

Sunday's miles: 2.9
Wednesday's miles: 2.2
Thursday's token: 0.1 miles
Friday's miles: 8.0
Saturday's miles: 14.0
Miles out of Hobbiton: 1736.5
Miles out of Rivendell: 1279.5
Miles out of Lothlórien: 824.5
Miles past Rauros Falls: 407.6
Miles to Isengard: 60.1

I think that leaves out some walking and/or biking, but, well, meh. I'm getting better at hills again, but I need to adjust my shifters. But I'm back to the point where the only people passing me are the people wearing lycra bikewear. I'm passing everyone else now. I'm even making it round that weird hairpin curve up from Burke-Gilman to Bothell Way at 61st, something I wasn't even doing last summer.

( Q&A meme, quizzie )