The garden is growing well...multiple squash plants from my old seeds. The soil has been plowed, rototilled and chemically farmed for years and it feels dead to me...the texture is just powdery and lifeless. I've been trying to amend it with manure, straw, etc...am now going to add coffee grounds. I have seen one, yes just one, earthworm the entire time I've been working there.

Had the insane idea of biking up Gold Hill a few days ago. I've seen other people do it, including some guys who looked like they were in their sixties, so how hard could it be? I'm here to tell you, it's crazy difficult. I have no idea how anyone rides either up or down that trail and now have the deepest respect for anyone who can manage either feat. I fell twice (trying this with toe clips was an even worse idea!) and quickly concluded that the trail's a lot more fun on foot. Maybe with a little BMX...but no, I have seen other mountain bikers going up and down that trail, in groups, which seems potentially disastrous ....dunno. I'm either incredibly out of shape or unpracticed or something....that was fucking brutal and I didn't ride more than a fourth of it. Very, very embarrassing. Still all scraped up, and oops, gotta run for art modeling, scrapes and all!