Mooned

September 24, 2018September 25, 2018 ~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 11 Comments

That’s not it up there. That’s a view of the north end of Duke City from just below the Tramway. And it looks much better in that photo than 11 p.m. does on the Timex, especially if you went to sleep, or thought you did, at 10.

I blame the moon. But what actually woke me last night after an hour of sleep was probably Spike the Terrorist Deer noshing on our pear tree, or Field Marshal Turkish von Turkenstein (commander, 1st Feline Home Defense Regiment), trash-talking at him.

“Yaaaaaaaah! Gedoudaheeeeeah! ’Member what happened to your momma, Bambi?”

Naturally, I hollered for my momma, but she’s been dead almost as long as Bambi’s, and having seen way too many horror movies I really didn’t want her coming back on my account. She might have her own agenda.

So as a sort of substitute and/or magic potion I’m making her famous chili from a stained, tattered recipe card the old gal typed up herself. It was one of the rare occasions when I asked her for something other than money to buy drugs.

And if that’s not weird enough for you, how ’bout this?

When I woke up at 11, I felt rested.

But I went back to sleep anyway.

One step beyond

November 12, 2017 ~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 11 Comments

The Marin Nicasio is part of the company’s “Beyond Road” line, so naturally I took it beyond roads. I’m funny that way. Maybe not.

Weekend? Holiday? Your words are strange, friend. We have no such things here on Freelancia. What a paradise your world must be. Tell me more.

OK, awright, yeah, so as work goes, riding the old bikey bike hardly qualifies. And glad I was to be doing it, too, after a couple weeks of a dodgy back. But still.

The pic is a screen grab from a bit of video I shot Friday for Adventure Cyclist to accompany my review of the Marin Nicasio. Yesterday I was rolling around and about on a Fuji Touring Disc, which is next in the pipeline.

Fuji has been doing touring bikes for the better part of quite some time (anybody remember the Fuji America from the fabulous Seventies?). The Touring model has been in the line since the Nineties, and for 2018 — like pretty much everything else — it is available with disc brakes.

This one I won’t drag out onto the singletrack. That wouldn’t just be be one step beyond — that would be Madness.

Just us

August 21, 2017August 21, 2017 ~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 21 Comments

Lady Justice told us we were free to go.

While all y’all were hunting old welder’s masks, ski goggles and colanders with which to view the eclipse, I was sitting in room 127 at the Bernalillo County Courthouse, waiting to see if my wisdom would be required on a jury.

There was a sizable crowd of us, and three trials, the Duke City being something of a Russian novel, crime-and-punishment-wise. The first call missed me, as did the second, but the third hit the bullseye, and off I went with the rest of the remainders to the courtroom of the Honorable Beatrice J. Brickhouse.

We got the “All rise” and a cheery greeting from Her Honor … and that was pretty much it. The parties had agreed to settle mere moments earlier, and thus 12 angry persons would not be helping resolve their disagreement, whatever that might have been. Maybe it was about who got custody of the eclipse sunglasses.

It would be easy to get pissed over a morning down the judicial rathole, but everybody was just so darn nice I thought I had been magically transported back to Canada.

Plus I got paid $7.50 an hour for working on a Bicycle Retailer column and texting various cronies. Beauty, eh? Take off, you hosers. Go watch an eclipse or something.

Chile today

January 1, 2016 ~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 2 Comments

2016 has begun as 2015 ended, with a bit of fresh snow on the deck and temps in the mid-20s. And they call this a “new year.” Harumph, etc., et al., and so on and so forth.

Last year was the wettest in a decade for Albuquerque and New Mexico, according to the Albuquerque Journal. A quarter of the state remains abnormally dry, but the National Weather Service says there is no drought for the first time in five years.

As to 2016, quien sabe?

“It’s hard to say what short-term drought will be like next summer,” says Chuck Jones, a meteorologist with the Albuquerque office of the NWS. “But we are getting off to a good start for 2016.”

Of course, opinions vary wildly as regards what constitutes “a good start for 2016.” All the four-legged O’Gradys are curled up in their various beds trying to stay warm, while the two-legged types are pouring cups of hot tea over last night’s tinga poblana, which proved a stunning success. If you’re feeling the January chill, I urge you to make it at once, if not sooner.

Can’t make it all alone

December 24, 2015December 24, 2015 ~ Patrick O'Grady ~ 14 Comments

A joyous Christmas Eve to all of yis who keep the joint jumpin’ year in and year out. Here’s hoping Sanity Clause brings us all what we want instead of what we deserve.

* I know, I know, I can’t fool you, there ain’t no Sanity Clause.

Other holiday classics:

• “Father Christmas,” The Kinks.

• “Christmas In Washington,” Steve Earle.

• “Christmas Card From a Hooker In Minneapolis,” Tom Waits.