It should be back to normal now. The blog got hacked, and in the process of fixing it I messed it up a bit in a totally harmless way. If you had an account at mostly plants and can’t log in anymore, I probably deleted it in the process of getting un-hacked. Unless you are a certain college roommate who can still log in, you’ll need to re-make your account. Sorry about that.

A lot of time to think, because I just kept getting honked at.

I’m an experienced road cyclist. I ride on the right, as close to the fog line as safe and reasonable; I signal my turns and stops, and generally crank a straight line. I do not ride with an iPod or anything else in my ears. So I don’t think the honk is meant as scolding, unless it’s scolding for daring to be a cyclist. In which case, the sound of your horn, while unpleasant, will not cause me to stop cycling, or stop cycling on the road.

Usually the honker is somebody who is passing me, so perhaps the honk is meant as a courtesy to say “hey, I’m passing you!” You know, in case I didn’t notice the deafening clatter and roar of your big machine coming up behind my relatively silent bicycle. I don’t think it’s that either, because the honk nearly always happens at the end of the massing manoeuvre, when the motorist is already in my field of view. Here, there is no further information that the honk can add.

I should add, in fairness to these motorists: they all passed me properly, by going at least partially into the left lane to leave lots of space between my elbows and their wing mirrors. This is unfortunately uncommon enough to be remarkable. There are some of motorists in the wold who think that as long as a stationary car and bicycle could fit side to side in a travel lane, they can pass at 40 mph without moving to the side at all. Here, it is a good thing that Mass drivers think lane lines are only suggestions.

Sundy: Found signs of rabbit digging in disturbed soil where I had planted two of the rhizomes.  It had dug straight down to one of the rhizomes, but not actually bothered it.  Perhaps it was going for the bits of clover and dandelion that I dug up?  Re-buried the rhizome.

The bar exam is eating my life.

I will be back in August.

Meanwhile, I have moved to North Chelmsford, MA. It is pretty here. I’m very close to New Hampshire, where I can shop tax-free.