10 miles to Orchard Drive in the Pocono mountains

Took the Shortline bus up to the Poconos to visit the folks. Got a bit carsick - buses are not my thing. Helped them prepare for a get together, then escaped for a hilly ride: uphill, downhill, lots of hills, surrounded by trees. The hills are great and they build leg muscles fast. Greeted a family of deer that wandered by.

I rode my father's hybrid because Shortline wouldn't let me bring my bicycle unless I took it apart or boxed it. Bad Shortline. Actually had had fantasies about riding up to the Poconos, but didn't have time for a 120 mile trip. Time, time, time. I need Adam Sandler's remote from Click.

Came back from the ride and ran some errands in my folks' car. Headed down one road and a squirrel ran in front of the car. Swerved to try to avoid it but I couldn't tell if did. Turned around and slowly headed back, looking for a crushed squirrel in the middle of the road. Thankfully there was none - I'm pretty sure s/he escaped!

I hate reading about all the sad news from the Middle East. But somehow I can't break my addiction to the NY Times. Their website is checked throughout the day. Some time back, after 9/11, I wrote a little Web software program for myself called "Good News", that filtered out all the depressing articles! It was keyword-based, so every so often an article would slip through and I'd have to adjust the filters.