Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes. Off we go for another hot lap around Old Sol.
For a present the Universe gave me a rotten night’s pre-birthday sleep, then followed up with gale-force winds, airborne allergens, dust, and other particulates, and a head full of boogers, so there was no 72-mile bike ride. Not even a 72-minute ride. In point of fact, there was no ride at all.
Except the one in Herself’s Honda to El Patio on Rio Grande for a largish platter of sinus-flushing green chile chicken enchiladas with papas, beans, and sopaipilla, which as always was excellent. We had to eat indoors, though. It’s a rare day indeed when we shun El Patio’s patio.
Today dawned coolish and should remain so for our No Kings rally down at Montgomery Park. I’d like to shoehorn a ride into the day’s activities at some point, but smashing the State takes priority.
If the State tries to deploy chemical weapons, well, I’ll be armed with a little gas of my own. Turnabout is fair play.
Mad Blog Media 
Yesterday was a doozy up here, too. I was taking an old TV/AV cabinet down to The Restore and the wind was strong enough that I could feel the truck being shoved sideways. Sky was visibly dusty, too. So bikes stayed in the garage except for a brief skirmish with the wind dashing over to the ATM in the mall.
That El Patio on Rio Grande is pretty good. We were disappointed with the one on Harvard last couple times we ate there (usually before or after a Sunport run), so drove over to the Rio Grande place and were impressed. Other than the fact that it was the middle of summer and we were in some corner of the restaurant that was, shall we say, not air conditioned. But the food was great.
Glad it was a nice B-day, even if Ma Nature didn’t cooperate.
I keep thinking, Hillary wasn’t my first choice, but we could have had her, plus a taco truck on every corner.
Instead, we’ve probably seen our last election. At least until the next revolution.
I held my nose and voted for Hillary in the general. Voted for Bernie in the Primary. Held my nose and voted for Kamala and Gramps in ’24; they were not my first choice, either. I would have loved a Whitmer/Shapiro ticket, in any order. Anyone but Trump, though; I would have voted for the night shift janitor before voting for Trump. I share your concerns about ’28.
All good on the taco trucks on every corner, too. I thought that was funny back in the day, but I guess some folks took it seriously.
OBTW, made that Gong Bao Chicken With Peanuts you linked to. Rare day when both kiddos clean their plates, so now the trick is, how long before it returns to the rotation? (Too soon and we have to listen to “again? you ALWAYS make that!!”)
https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1015131-gong-bao-chicken-with-peanuts
That sounds good. Might make it with fake chicken, e.g., Beyond Chicken, Gardein, or one of the other ones.
No Kings! Be there or be square.
Beans, beans, the musical fruit. Make sure you aim those toxic, curl your eyebrows, run off the dog, toots directly at any trump supporters who haven’t changed their minds.