KUPER (AND BURL)

Burl Ives must have loved dogs.  His long forgotten "I found my best friend at the dog pound" had a nice sentiment.  One that Mom, Leigh and I shared on a recent and very sad weekend. 

Dad was 78 when he and mom got a Havanese Puppy.  Getting a puppy at age 78 defines optimism.   I think I did an eye roll and I certainly thought it wasn't their best move.  I was flat wrong.

Kuper and my folks were inseparable.  On the boat, road trips in the Tahoe, but mostly on the island.  Kuper was named after 'Kuper' Island.  An island that has since been renamed by the Canadian government, but I don't want to get too far off track. 

When Dad passed, Kuper really earned his stripes.  He was mom's constant companion.  Over the years the routine set in and Kuper's sense of time was impeccable.  Precisely at 11am he'd start making sounds requesting (perhaps demanding) a treat.  11am.  Not 10:45 ie 11:15, but unerringly and eerily as close to 11am as possible for a living being who never owned a watch. 

A little over a year ago he started an odd coughing and had a couple of scary episodes.  Congestive heart failure.  Meds could extend his life by several months and he outlived his initial prognosis. 

So the writing has been on the wall for some time, but even with his slow decline he held up his part of the bargain.  He was largely pretty happy and stuck to his routine, but in recent weeks it's been tougher.  And on Saturday, things seemed pretty grim until Mrs Laurnen came to visit and he perked up.  But it was only temporary.

Mom had called early on Saturday and Leigh and I made plans to head to the island.  I texted Devin to call off the plans for that evening.  Leigh, Beth, Devin and I had planned a 'Ballard Night' which are a lot of fun. 

Later in the morning, after Mrs Laurnen's visit, mom called again.  Kuper was better.  So I again texted Devin and let him know that 'Ballard Night' was still a 'go'. 

Then mom called again, right around 2pm.  Kuper had taken a turn for the worse.  She was going to call the vet and make the appointment for tomorrow. 

After texting Devin a third time, we put the bikes on the back of Leigh's car and  set off for Anacortes.  There was an atypical small traffic jam just prior to the ferry landing where one of the more famous Anacortes residents used to live, but we made it just in time to ride the bikes directly on the ferry,

Earlier in the day, Leigh had gone for a 70 minute run.  Now she was facing a 10 mile bike ride.  Her legs were pretty much toast as we biked out to the house.  Then it started to rain.  Though tired, she was smiling and muscled through it.

We got to the house about 7 and Leigh immediately set to making a very nice dinner.  She's amazing that way.

All the planning over the last several weeks came together.  I had built a box a few months ago and carved Kuper's name in it.  Mom had Louis dig a hole a few weeks ago in preparation for the inevitable. 

The vet arrived and with great compassion Kuper passed peacefully.  He was no longer in pain struggling for breath.  He relaxed.

We buried him in a nice spot with a nice view.

In short order we were back on the ferry headed towards Anacortes.  As we drove away from the ferry landing, we again encountered the small atypical traffic jam.  Sometimes you recognize an event that simply happens once and you need to decide if you want to go or not.  Leigh said let's go.

So we parked and  walked in to the 'Burl Ives' estate sale.

In 1989 Burl Ives was 80 when he left California and moved to Anacortes.  At the time he said the climate was too dry in California and he could get more for his money in Washington state.  He passed in '95, but his wife Dorothy lived until last year.  They lived in a 7 bedroom house perched above Guemes Channel.

Walking into the house was a little creepy.  You could tour the whole house - master bed room and bathrooms and all.  Make up and other toiletries were still there.  Creepy.  Mr. Ives died in that house.  Creepy.

Even the art.

You decide. 

The garden was nice.  Mr Ives had mobility problems.  Meaning without his scooter, he wasn't very mobile.  So the garden had nice pathways so he could get around.

Even his clothes, all custom, were on sale.

We ended up buying a silver serving piece, a first edition book, and a champagne glass etched with a stylized 'B'.   When you go to one of the Hollywood type sales, you need to be prepared to pay top dollar for these prized possessions.  Just last night I threw a dinner party and filled the silver piece with peanuts.  I was casually able to name drop and inform my guests that Burl Ives once used this very same serving dish.  My guests were very impressed.  One looked at it with reverence and said "Burl Ives' had his nuts in there too?".

In any case, I thought the princely sum of $5.00 was worth it.  That was the total for all that we bought.   It was half off day.  And If you're under 35, you haven't a clue who Burl Ives was. 

On the other hand, Kuper was well remembered in the cards to my mom.

E BIKE FUN

After a long period of deliberation, I bought an E Bike.  An electric bike.  With a removable lithium battery driving a 750 watt electric engine.  It goes 0 to 60 in, well, it doesn’t go 60.  It doesn’t go 40.  With pedaling, I can maintain nearly 20 mph, which is ok for a guy my age.  The average tour de France speed is around 26 mph over the 3 week period so I figure being able to maintain 17 – 20 is OK for me.

It's a RadCity from Rad Power bikes.

For exercise, the electric bike isn’t as good as a real bike.  But it’s a heck of a lot better than driving a car.  And it’s way more fun.  The bike has 5 power assist levels to kick in when you pedal.  It also has 7 gears for pedaling, along the lines of a conventional bike.  The learning curve is pretty short on how to manage the two, but I expect it will take a long time to really optimize the combination beween pedal and power.  

There’s also a button.  When depressed, the throttle is activated and you can use the engine without pedaling.

This is not a rocket ship by any stretch of the imagination.  Primarily it’s an ‘assist’ when you pedal.  The throttle does come in handy when a more spirited start in traffic is desired.   Or starting uphill.  The downside is the power drain.

The essential tradeoff is between the pedaling and engine power.  Battery life is finite.  The less you use it, the longer it lasts. 

As I write, I’ve put 150 miles on the bike.  From relatively short 7 mile bursts on the Burke Gilman to longer Bellevue to Ballard rides across I-90 and one 26 mile ride from Ballard to the hill above Renton.  I’m getting to know the strategies involved with each type of trip.  For the 7 mile commute, it’s all about speed.  No worries about battery life, use the assist with relative abandon and go for it.  The only limitation is safety and certainly on the Burke, you can go too fast.  With this bike I am trying to find a Burke / surface street combination that works.  Faster on the streets (albeit slower than cars) and prudently slower on the Burke.  I don’t want to be ‘that guy’ giving E Bikes a lousy reputation. 

When I do the 7 mile burst, I can use power assist levels 3,4, and 5 and really scoot.  The exercise value is less as I use the battery more.   

For the longer trips, I use power assist level 1 and 2.  Yes, it’s slower – but on the 26 mile ride to Renton, I had about 20% of the battery remaining.  Had I used the higher assist levels, the battery would have died somewhere shy of my destination.

Earlier this week I biked 11 miles from Bellevue to Renton.  There’s a great combination of bike trails and quiet streets that connect the two towns and I was able to ride the 11 miles in about 40 or 45 minutes and while I did get exercise and huffed and puffed a bit, I kept it just below breaking out in a sweat.  We went out to dinner that night and I biked in street clothes and arrived feeling pretty fresh and ready for dinner. 

The 18 mile rides back home are fun and interesting.  Following 108^th in Bellevue to the I90 Eastgate bridge, you cross Mercer Island and get out onto the MI floating bridge.  The new one.  The old one sank.  Here’s where the power assist comes in handy.   Climbing up over the I90 lid on Mercer Island and climbing up the western slope of the bridge take some pumping on a conventional bike.  I’ve done that.  With the power assist, it’s relatively easy and much, much faster.   Especially right at the end of the bridge with the sharp hill that goes to the pedestrian / bike tunnel above the car tunnel.  Easy.

The only sketchy part of the trip is after dropping down on Dearborn there’s a short 2 block section requiring either a stint on the sidewalk or getting full on into traffic, migrating from the far right hand bike lane to cross 2 lanes of traffic to set up for a left hand turn on to Jackson.  Here, the power really comes in handy as I can match the speed of the cars. 

There’s another, less intuitive way for bikes which avoids this problem and I’ll try that next time.

After dropping down to the Seattle waterfront, it gets interesting with all the construction, but they’ve done a fair job keeping the bike path separate.  After clearing Pier 70, it’s a breeze.  The Sculpture park morphs into Centennial park and for over a mile there are no cars and the bike path is separate from the pedestrian path.  All this right on the waterfront with glorious views. 

The path takes a 90 degree right hand turn at Smith Cove then meanders through the BN train yard at interbay.  Completely caged in, the trail goes right along then over the train tracks and exits near Magnolia.  From here you drop down onto Commodore way,  paralleling the southern side of the ship canal.  At the locks you need to dismount the bike and walk it across the locks and just like that you are in Ballard.  Fun commute.

So far the E bike has been great.  It’s Thursday and I haven’t touched the car since Sunday night.  I signed up to use a bike facility at work.  $25 a month and I get to use an enclosed ‘cage’ with a bike rack.  There are showers and towel service as well.  Perfect.