I normally have one month in the summer where my riding takes a back seat to other doings. This year was August’s turn.

Summer’s Almost Gone: For the last several days the weather hereabouts has been sublime. 80s F. Low humidity. Gentle breezes. Every year I become so used to stifling heat and humidity that I forget when the weather starts to break. The skies do give us a gentle reminder; sunrise and sunset are starting to converge incrementally. I’ll miss my 15 hours of daylight. Soon I’ll need a vest and lights to ride to Friday Coffee Club. Sad face.

Mother Nature’s Fireworks: We’ve had several very entertaining thunderstorms this month. I didn’t see much in the way of storm damage except for one tree that fell across a road in Fort Hunt Park.

Down for the Count: Despite the splendid weather I took today off from riding. A zero day in Appalachian Trail lingo. My wife has been sick for about a week with a nasty cough and general fatigue, your basic summer cold. I came down with it a couple of days ago but soldiered on, riding and going to the gym and doing yard work. Nyquil seems to work well but the day after I take it I have brain fog. So last night I went without. Despite being exhausted at 11 pm, I could not fall asleep. (I also was treated to muscle cramps in my calves. We’re having fun now!)

I noticed two rather disturbing symptoms as I tossed and turned. The vision from my left eye – the one I had a retinal detachment in years ago – was cloudy. Worse, I could not inhale. Dang. I figured the left eye thing was probably related to my clogged sinuses. The breath problem had do do with drainage into my lungs. I forced myself to cough and my airways became unplugged. I took one Nyquil and within a half hour my vision returned to normal. I crashed hard on the couch. I woke up and decided that The Mule will just have to gather dust for a day.

A Devine Task: Over the last three days I have been clearing vines and other obnoxious vegetation encroaching on the perimeter garden in my backyard. I managed to fill the equivalent of five 30-gallon barrels of debris. Aside from the fact that my lower legs were covered in small black insects (mosquitos, not ticks) it was a rather satisfying endeavor. I have another round of clearing but it will wait until next week.

It’s Been Good Knowing You, Doc: I went to my urologist last week to discuss my remarkable PSA test results. He agreed that I don’t need to come back. I’ll have another test when I have a physical in November. I’ll prep for that by switching my rides to Big Nellie, my recumbent bike. I mentioned my recumbent cure to an male acquaintance. He told me that some time ago he and his wife were having trouble conceiving. He was riding a Peloton bike several times a week. His fertility doctor told him to stop riding to see if that would make a difference. Sure enough, they conceived shortly after he stopped riding.

Baseball Fashion: My son and his girlfriend came to visit from Thailand where they are both school teachers. While they were here, we went to a Nationals game on a typically hazy, hot, and humid day. We all wore brand new red Nationals shirts. I baked in the heat while the two of them went scouting for vittles and grog. At the end of the game I stood up to discover that the red dye in my new shirt had bled all over my shorts. Fortunately, fans were given aloha shirts and shorts upon entering the park. They aren’t really something I’d want to wear in public but they make for absolutely awesome pajamas.

Country Roads, Take Me Home: On another zero day, my wife and I took my son and his girlfriend out yonder to check out the Virginia countryside. We stopped at The Apple House in Linden, Virginia on the approach to the Blue Ridge. They has amazing apple cider donuts and the food topped any diner food I’ve ever had. We next proceeded to Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park. I don’t think I’ve even been on it despite having lived here for over 40 years. The weather cooperated and we had a great time checking out the views of the Piedmont and the Shenandoah Valley. My son’s girlfriend had wanted to see a white tail deer and, sure enough, one came along the road while we were stopped at a pullout. The deer even walked right past her along the road before scurrying into the woods. After Skyline Drive we drove to Luray to check out the caverns there. They were cool, in every sense of the word. Our final stop was a family restaurant in the Shenandoah Valley town of New Market. We could sense the “they’re-not-from-around-here” sideways glances as we took our seats. We finished our excursion by taking country roads back to the exurbs of DC.