Together we are Lifescaping

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Monday, July 21, 2008

Grandma's kitchen returns from the shop

The tambor door still needs to be done and the hutch could be refinished like the bottom. Still, the clamps are off!

Friday, July 18, 2008

I rode my bike to work yesterday. It's the first time I've ever commuted the whole way from home to work by bicycle. A couple of years ago I was doing a semi-commute where I drove part way and rode the rest of the way. I did that because I considered the distance to be a bit much, particularly as the daylight hours receed, and because I didn't like the only viable route. Some new roads opened up giving me better options and I should have sufficient daylight for the next several weeks to get in the mileage that I want to be doing to be ready for my upcoming trip. The distance was 21.69 miles each way. There is about 500 feet of gradual net elevation loss on the way to work. My time for the ride in was 1:11 (18.1 mph moving speed). The ride home was more challenging because of the gradual but almost constant uphill AND it was about 106*F. The return time was 1:24.

This morning as I was recording an album, I could hear the burner from a hot air ballon and went out to the backyard and took this picture.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Grandma's Kitchen

This will be tricky.

To Arms! Two Arms!!

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Carol's chair has turned the corner

Up to this point, it was all about disassembly. Steps are now being taken that ultimately are part of the re-assembly process. After a few test applications of stain, we've settled on a cherry stain. The headrest and attached spindles got a first coat of stain and although there is still a fair bit of sanding left, there are some other pieces that could get stained or reassembled very soon.

Just to get a feel for how the new arms fit, I did a very quick trial assembly and took the pictures above. The whole thing could fall apart if you breathe on it funny but there it is.

I think Carol is about done with stripper. The scratches (from animal claws) on the chair seat are fairly pronounced and I spent some time with the sander trying to minimize or eliminate their appearance. She'll still have some work on the seat left and plenty of other sanding to do, so I didn't hog all the fun.

Cheryl's chair

Cheryl did some stripping last week and I did some sanding in the meantime. I worked on one arm, one rocker and one side of the headrest. Cheryl will still have one of each and plenty of spindles and stretchers to mess with. Since all the parts are there and the glue joints are pretty solid, I don't think any disassembly is needed (unlike Carol's chair).

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Park n' Bark

Friday, June 20, 2008

Best Father's Day Ever!

It really started on Sunday with a Father's Day phone call from my daughters who were in Delaware. Then on Tuesday the girls came over for dinner with Leda and Elijah. They delivered some items from my Dad and presented me with a very nice framed photo collage of some portraits photographs they had very recently had taken. It almost brought a tear to my eye. After dinner, I got Cheryl and then Carol on the back of the tandem for a spin around the block. Both said that it was fun and that they'd do it again. Next time we have to make sure to keep the pants from getting greasy from the chain.

In spite of everything they've been through, my daughters have grown into amazing adults and I'm very proud of both of them and absolutely ecstatic to have a chance to be a part of their lives.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Little Wing rises like a Phoenix?

I actually worked on my PC800 this morning. It's been years since ridden it but I want to get back in the saddle. I parked it because it needed some work and I didn't want to ride it until I did the needed maintenance. The idea was that if I couldn't ride it, that would motivate me to do the work. That plan kind of backfired but I've started the ball rolling again.

I drained the oil and tried to crank it over. I had the battery on the charger overnight (about 8 hours at 1 amp) and it wouldn't turn over. Stay tuned.

There was a time that I knew this bike inside out. Simple stuff like a tire change or routine maintenance seemed like no big deal. I had all the tools, parts, supplies etc., everything had a place and I knew just what to do. Today was the first time I messed with the bike in ages and everything seemed just vaguely familiar.... like something I used to know.

Monday, June 16, 2008

Riding with the Coyotes

Kristi vowed that she would not miss the Sunday ride with the Coyotes. We had agreed weeks ago to lead. We'd vowed to produce a classy route sheet for the riders and plotted a route on AllSportGPS. Our route sheet had turn-by-turn directions with all the mileages and the map had the coffee shop marked on the route and there was even an elevation profile. Kristi's plan had us going to precisely the same turn around spot as Saturday's ride with the ABC Desert Foothills group, but via a slightly different route. That means that for the 6 tandem teams that arrived at the starting point at 6:30 AM, it was 15 miles of climbing, gaining about 1000 feet of elevation. It wasn't very steep, but it was unrelenting. It's the kind of constant uphill slog that works more on the brain then on the legs. At the corner of Stage Coach Pass and Boulder View, several of the bikes patiently waited as we pulled up the rear. That provided Charlie with the opportunity to memorialize the ride saying, somewhat tongue-in-cheek, "What imbicile picked this route?" Fortunately we were almost to the turn-around point. From there, we gave back the 1000 feet of elevation in a fraction of the time it took to earn it. The 8 miles of nearly pedal-less descent seemed to ease any ill will generated during the long climb and a leisurely recovery stop at the Cave Creek Coffee Company sealed the deal. The last few miles back to our ride start were similarly mostly downhill and even the uphill portions seemed to be a bit of an optical illusion, looking worse then they really were. A group coyote howl in the parking lot at ride's end finished off the morning.

I updated the route on AllSportGPS with several of the pictures taken on this ride.

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Crystal blue sky getting warm fast. Riding the Rodbike solo

This was sort of a dry run for the coyotes ride tomorrow. I updated the route on AllSportGPS with some pictures from today's ride. Here's the link http://www.allsportgps.com/Data/ActivityDisplay.aspx?tripId=158701
There are more pictures there.