I'm Back!

After a not so brief period of time away from my computer, I have now returned. Moving gets a lot harder the older you get. I guess adjustment in general becomes more difficult as we get older. You'd think it might get easier, as we try more new things, have more experiences upon which to draw but that doesn't seem to be the case.
Seventy five days! That's how our summer has been. That is, we have had 75 days this summer where the mercury hit 90 degrees or better. It's been one of the hottest summers Raleigh has seen. The previous record for 90 degrees plus days was 73, set back in 1953. August was collectively the hottest month ever recorded in Raleigh. The high 2 days ago was 101: another record heat day. We have had many heat records broken. The high today was ONLY 86. No more 90 days forecast for the immediate future.
We still need about 20" of rain to make up for our rain deficit. We are only supposed to water our grass on Wednesdays now (5AM-10AM). Don't tell anyone but I have a whole bunch of law-breaking, habitual grass waterers in my neighborhood.
The hot weather has put a slowdown on bike riding too, and that's a real shame. I have spent the last month however, riding the streets around Holly Springs, getting to know the local roads. I have a number of potential routes plotted now to take visitors on. We do have some hills here: in fact, you can't get ouit to the west side of town, for good in-the -country riding unless you chug up a few hills first. Never fear though: we will set a nice easy tempo through these areas. That's it for today!