This is a private note that has been shared.
March, 31st 2026
I’m trying this out to see how it feels. A little catch-up so you all can see what’s going on. I promise not to bore you with more than one of these a month. I like the idea of keeping all of you caught up periodically. We’ll see if the plan sticks.
The month got off to an exciting start. i decided I would make a third go at crossing the country by bicycle. The Northern Tier would complete the trifecta. I spent a lot of time planning (still am) and released all that detail to my blog. I’m excited. The bike went in for a complete tune up right down to the handlebar wrap. I’m waiting for a new dynamo hub from Germany. That will go on in a couple of weeks. The new dynamo will put out enough watts to light a front light and keep my cell phone charged. This time around I’m navigating digitally so power is a must. I bought a COROS watch (designed in China) It might be too techie even for me. One of the features is that it will send you a text every morning when I start riding and notify you in the case of an emergency. completely optional on your part. Of course Polly is onboard with that. Let me know if you want to be included. I’m planning this trip right down to my Logo, I’m having a great time piecing this all together.
As mentioned already, we are planning a send-off in Anacortes on May 31st. Our friends Jody and Dennis from Lopez Island will be meeting us for dinner on the 31st. We’ll have coffee and donuts Monday morning before I pedal out of town. (Solid cycling food.) We will be hosting anyone that wants to join us, however, let me just say 1) it’s a long way to go for dinner, and 2) flying now is a ridiculous endeavor, so I don’t expect any of you to take that one on. Polly is going to sag me across Washington. The route traverses four mountain ranges, Cascades, Rockies, Appalachians, and White Mountains. The Cascade Range has the most elevation to conquer, believe it or not, so I’m happy to have support out of the gate.
It’s been a bit of a sticky month. My Asthma has been kicking me and that has made riding the bike and playing pickleball problematic. I think I’m getting a handle on it now and i should be back on the bike this week. I had the toenail on my right big toe removed two weeks ago and that has been healing slowly. It’s not a fun procedure but i wanted to get that done well in advance of my summer plans. My seizure in Andorra was a bit more dramatic than the one I had at Kelsey and Scott’s house two years ago. I followed up with a good Neurologist here in Oregon and bottom line, he’s not too concerned. he put me back on Keppra but as he described it as a “children’s dose.” He said I’ll probably be on it for 15 years as long as I’m seizure free during that period of time. That sorta sounds like a lifetime. I had a colonoscopy a couple weeks ago and all is well, the doctor said he doesn’t do that procedure after age 75, so he doesn’t want to see me again. I laughed and said “I don’t want to see you either!”
Skiing (sadly) has been a bust. as all of you know, we chose Redmond so we could ski Bachelor but it has been a horrible snow year. We got up twice last week for some good spring runs and they were fun. We are going up this Thursday and Friday and likely the weekend too. Fresh snow is on the way in. I’m as surprised as you are.
I’ve decided to get IPTPA certified at Pickleball. I’m going for level 3.5. So is Polly. That’s a respectable level for old folks. Really good play starts at level 4.0. I have no doubt that both of us will get to that level in the not too distant future.
I downloaded Claude yesterday and played with him a bit. He’s very polite and interesting. I like him, He’ll be a handy friend to have. I’ll use him on occasion to provide me with background information useful in my writing, Rest assured I will not be cutting and pasting from his brain to my blog and so we are perfectly clear, I did not use him in any way to produce this letter…
I read quite a few books this month, five to be exact. I was surprised which one turned out to be my favorite. At the beginning of the month I told the neighborhood book club I would participate in April and May. All they read is fiction and that is not my preference. I decided to expand my horizons a bit and it turns out I was pleasantly surprised by the April selection. Maybe the best fiction I’ve ever read. I was moved. I’ll continue with the club in the fall. I should stay on board before they kick me off the ship!
This is a sensitive subject, but I’ll touch on it to ease your minds. I complained (confessed) to my Neurologist that I have trouble with my memory. I find words, tie my shoes, and fry an egg simple matters, so we are not talking serious diagnosis. I met with a psychologist yesterday and he said it does not sound like demential or Alzheimer’s. (Take a breath.) I will be subjecting myself to some in-depth neuro testing next month to determine if there is a cause that can be treated and to establish a baseline going forward. I’m not particularly concerned. There are plenty of people in my life to remind me of all my mistakes and foibles… That said, as an example of the sorts of things I struggle with, Polly reminded me yesterday of the day we lost Tux. I didn’t recall any of it. We left the boy in Emma’s care a few years ago and he somehow got out. (No fault of Emma’s.) We looked for him around her place (she was living on campus at S.U.) but he was nowhere to be found. Polly and I went home deeply saddened. After dinner Polly said “let’s go back and have one more look.” We did, and after poking around for a while I found him huddled under a holly bush. I get emotional thinking about it now, but when Polly and I were talking about it yesterday I had no memory of any of it. This sort of thing happens from time-to-time. (Not loosing the cat, forgetting things.) Anyway, my self-diagnosis is that this sort of thing happens to me because I am such a deep person and I don’t give a shit about anyone else. (Except a very small number of people, yourselves included, and Polly. Not bad, a compliment and a criticism, all in the same sentence.)
Polly is well. She is the best. She is always looking out for me and I try my best to do the same for her.
In closing, this is a “private” post. you are the only ones with this URL. Probably want to keep it that way since people that don’t know me from Adam would probably find this exceedingly boring. I decided to use this format because the writing app that I use (Ulysses) supports this sort of sharing very nicely (and it has a great spell checker). That brings us to the final topic, how to close this missive. Although I could sign-off as “Dad,” that is probably a bit presumptuous since I’m not truly a father to all of you, in the strict sense of the word. My dad called me “B.” I always liked that and that is very special to me, so I’m going to leave that for him. I could go with “B-Rad.” it’s juvenile and I like it, and it really confuses people at the pickleball club (a bunch of unimaginative people don’t you think?) I’ve been teased enough about that, so that leaves “Brad.” I’m leaning in that direction. It’s simple, and after all, that is my name. With that…
Love, Brad
P.S. Happy International TDOV day!