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Bunny for Obama

Posted on Oct 3rd, 2008 by onyourleft : Gaia Child onyourleft
I went to Berkeley to meet up with L afore mentioned of the remodel. We planned a day of volunteering at Obama Headquarters.

Headquarters was packed with folks still arriving they may have over booked. While we waited to see if they could find us a spot and phones someone  said "hey! There's a bunny here!"

Berkeley has circular landscaped areas in some sidewalks, think traffic round but in the sidewalk.

Outside headquarters was one landscaped with native plants. The small fawn brown and grey bunny huddled under the rosemary bush that made a living tent for him.

What should we do? asked one volunteer
Maybe he's lost? another said
Don't touch him, he'll bite! another cautioned.

L said We can't leave him out here!
Where would we take it? I can't take him home, Mae could mistake him for a squeaky toy.

To the ASPCA she said. They'd contact the house rabbit society

We'd need something to carry him in. I watched the wabbit while she went back into Obama headquarters to ask if they have a box. No they don't. 

We crossed the street and bought lettuce to entice him out and got a box. The bored cashier said to bring the rabbit there, they make good eating.

No way, sed L. 

Back across the street, I reached under the rosemary bush and found the bunny was happy to be petted! He sat still as I patted him, seemed to enjoy it.  But I could not slip a hand underneath or find a way to take him out. This bunny does not bite, he's a sweet pet house rabbit. 

Then I heard L say "is this your rabbit?"

A young boy arrived, looked about 11 and very relieved to have found his pet. But as he tried to get the bunny it took flight as rabbits do. We were concerned lest it get hit, this is Shattuck Ave, the major street in Berkeley.

L & I coordinated ourselves so as he tried to catch the bunny we positioned so it would not get in the street. A couple times it fled under parked cars, then hopped back up n the roundabout. Finally the boy caught him.

You could see his tears of relief. Now how to hold onto the struggling pet and get it back home. We volunteered the box. 

I was happy that what once was intended to take the bunny away albeit someplace safe was now taking him HOME. 

With the rabbit inside I struggled to keep the lid down because the bunny kept trying to escape or just see where we were going. We followed the boy. The boy explained that his Mom works nearby in a laundramat. He'd been there as she worked and the rabbit escaped. We walked them back and now boy and bunny are safe back with his Mom.
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Building is like cooking

Posted on Oct 6th, 2008 by onyourleft : Gaia Child onyourleft
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Barton, a chef I once worked with said "good food is wasteful". 

The Caesar salad that uses only the hearts of the lettuce, you peal the apples for the sauce, the first pancake is imperfect. 

What do you do with the leftover food? 

Compost, donate to 2nd Harvest just as all the eateries I cooked in did. 

But what do you do with the leftover building materials? 

Pictured here, K, my fiancee sits in our patio framed by not one but two sliding glass doors. In the one fiasco of my remodel I did not notice on the specs of the door "as seen from inside". 

So the slider I bought opened from the right side on the inside. 

With my kitchen and patio layout that's just not "user friendly". So I bit the bullet and bought another door. 

My preference would be to donate it to Habitat for Humanity but in the current economy (don't forget to vote) even established non profits are having to scale things back like pick ups. I found a buyer on Craigs. This couple seems to share my strategy of saving cost and saving the enviornment by using spare, left over materials when they can on their remodel. 

I directed them to the Habitat for Humanity reStore for other remodel needs. 

www.habitatstoreonline.com
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I got a reply! I got a reply!!

Posted on Oct 8th, 2008 by onyourleft : Gaia Explorer onyourleft
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It was in my Spam mailbox so I did not see it for a bit. I got a response to my letter:

"Dear Ms. On Your Left,

Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I have asked my staff to handle your request and we will get a sign installed as expeditiously as possible.

Roxy, 
Transportation Manager
The City On Your Left Lives in"

Soon more riders and pedestrians may enjoy this quiet street that passes parks then goes up over the freeway for an easy safe bike ride to/from my house to BART, Amtrac, shopping, errands instead of taking the busy dangerous overpass.

I'm very excited. After a lot of lobbying, I tried my local bike advocacy group, local policing group ... I found the right person in the city to write to. My neighborhood is getting some signs to the safe route to transit and shopping. 

If your community is not walkable bikeable, just do it yourself. 
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We can fly home over the freeway

Posted on Oct 11th, 2008 by onyourleft : Gaia Child onyourleft
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"Dear Roxy, 

Thank the city workers for cleaning of the bike overpass. It's lovely. Also the lights are a nice idea. I'm sure it will make the area safer. 

But what would really increase safety is to get some riders and pedestrians on it. In Four years of bike commuting I've seen a grand total of 3 other riders on the bike/ped overpass.

First an introduction. I've lived here for 15 years. Four years ago I moved to South Hayward. 

As a bike commuter I looked for a safe way to ride to work. It took me almost a year to find the bike/pedestrian freeway overpass. After many experiments and rides, trying different routes I finally spied it .... while driving. Yep, I have a car too. 

Imagine my surprise when looking up there it was, like a beautiful mirage, an oaisis. We have a bike overpass, one of only two in the Bay area. 

We should be proud of this and sign it. 

Instead when one rides up West Tennyson at the intersection of W. Tennyson and Colarago there is a tiny sign that says "bike route ends". Same thing on Tennyson heading home at Tampa "bike route ends" which could simply be replaced by "bike/pedestrian overpass to the left" and right at the other end. 

The average urban cyclist, riders we affectionately call "invisible cyclists", are not riders who do club rides, charity rides, ride for fun and fitness. These men and women ride more miles than I do are just trying to get to work or shopping on the affordable transportation they have, their bike. 

Since they are not in a cycling community they might not know that the first tip of safe urban riding is "don't ride the same route you would drive. Think sides streets, off roads, parallel roads ... go where the cars AREN'T. And then obey the traffic laws there". 

They know to get from point A to B you take Tennyson and up Tennyson they go. There these riders face 4 (four) freeway on and off ramps on each direction. 

Also frankly they are tired, hard working folks. This is not a sport to them. For me it was fun exploring the neighborhood encountering dead ends to the bike route but finding "I can get to the Bay Trail from my home, and the Eon Cafe and ...." These riders are not going to make a weekend of finding a safer route. 

We need a sign. A $10.00 sign, instead of "bike route ends" we need "this way to the bike/pedestrian overpass". The funny thing is on both ends if one just turns and rides or walks ..... there it is but not on the main traveled route.

A $10.00 sign on both ends to save lives. 

I see women with kids and strollers on that overpass, elderly people on their bikes. Yes, it's legal, yes they can walk on the sidewalk there. Should they? I don't. I've ridden from SF to LA 5 times and I don't. 

Let's show them the safe route before we loose a life. 

Thanks for your prompt attention"

So there it was and now I just made my own transit village. My home is on the way to having it's own signed, safe, lit route to BART and public transit. 

So if their isn't a bike route near you find your own and make one! 
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Next

Posted on Oct 12th, 2008 by onyourleft : Gaia Child onyourleft
http://www.savesfbay.org/site/pp.asp?c=dgKLLSOwEnH&b=2017087
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06/26 2005 Ride report AIDS Lifecycle 4 - Day 8

Posted on Oct 14th, 2008 by onyourleft : Gaia Explorer onyourleft
Ditandolly
I decided to ride to BART for the Pride parade today.

I'd read that Lance and the team including gorgoeous George do at least 3x the miles of the tour de France in training. So one of my goals for training this year for the Lifecycle was to put in 3x the training miles of the 585 mile AIDS Lifecycle ride.

As I clicked in and rode away from home my odometer on the bike went to 000.01, that's 2,000 miles. Probably had something to do with why I
did better this year. Ya think? 

I got off at Embarcadero station and there were lots of Lifecycle riders there, which was a good thing.

I forgot to bring directions to where I was supposed to meet up so i followed them.

I could not resist a ride on Market St and Mission, it's not often the busiest streets in San Francisco are closed to car traffic. It's even LESS often that I get to ride them between what seems like endless blocks of the womens motorcycle contingent. Nice bikes.

I found the other riders and it was a bit like old home week. We all miss the camraderie and kindness on the ride. There was another Mondonico on the ride this year, we would bust into Italian whenever we saw each other on the road. He showed me that cracked the frame in a crash, did the ride anyway because he thought he had to ship it back to Italy fix. That takes months. I expressed concern that the crack would grow more severe and he should take care of it right away. I told him that my mechanic can get it fixed in LA and gave him Chris's number he was veeeeeery happy about that. 

Also got some nice pix of the Dusty's twin on the ride. 

Nearby a bike messenger had a flat and 3 Lifecycle riders just swooped
over and helped him fix it in a couple minutes, instant pit crew.

The messenger asked "you just do this for other riders?"

yep, we do.

Assembling around us were a mottley crew of other groups; gay chearleeders from LA, SF and Edmonton Canada marching together, A Traditional Chinese Lion Dance School, an all male review that's a tribute to Madonna
and...and....I'm not sure what these folks were on rollerskates in costumes I can only describe as looking like huge human chrysanthamums made of balloons but they were real neet.

You can imagine the noise, three cheer leading troups, Chinese cymbals
and drums of the dancers, Madonna in drag cover band on the trailer al being danced to by the balloon things and then the parade begins ..... on time as always, really!

I've been to every SF Pride parade 'cept 2 since about 1975 yet I
still get goosebumps when the womens motorcycle contingent fires up
their engines and roars by.

I wasn't prepared for how emotional riding in the parade was this year probably because I wasn't prepared for how emotional doing the ride
again and completing it would be this year either. 

My ex, Leslie and her partner, well wife really 'cept it was annulled (that's the ex I'm good friends with) spotted me and called out, I rode over to them and they shouted "you're our hero".

Aw shucks folks, I dunno about that ;-) My hero's still the crew. 

Everyone liked my "Impeach Bush" Cycling socks, even while stopped some people in the crowd said they liked 'em, and several women
on BART. Got them years ago, thought I'd be done wearing them by now. Available at fine local bike shops near you. 

After the ride I hung out in the Civic Center for a bit, ran into a few friends from work, had a bite to eat, perused the various booths, Different Spokes bike club tried to recruit me (yes it's true folks, we recruit!!) then headed home.

After the parade the the ride always feels officially "over" to me. Kinda like closure so I headed home to my dog Mae. 
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Green Wedding

Posted on Oct 24th, 2008 by onyourleft : Gaia Child onyourleft
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Last Friday we got our license. Saturday we got married. 

To my family and friends don't worry, the date is still on for May. Prop 8 polls still change daily from win to loose to win ... I feared we'd loose the chance to marry in my own state. 

So I asked K. if she'd marry me now,  she said "YES!"

We rode our bikes to Alameda County Center. I'm an East Bay gal so this was perfect. Everyone there was nice, professional. Security asked us right away if we were getting a license. How could they tell the two nervous gals want to wed? 

As we filled out forms a family waited nearby for one of their sisters to wed her partner. One of the gals asked "Do you want us to take your picture?" 

Soon we were called to the desk to get our license. You get a lot of cool booklets and pamphlets such as info about family planning. 

License securely in my backpack we unlocked our bikes and headed back home. We stopped for Thai food along the way and to swing by my favorite bike shop. 

At the shop we got congratulations and picked out a short sleeve jersey for K. 

Then we headed home. 

Although prop 8 did pass I remain hopeful. Please surf over to www.whitehouse.gov and read the Civil Rights goals and aims of OUR President Obama. He has a goal of protecting our rights. 

I remain hopeful that more couples can have the happiness we feel right now. 

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