Bike Ride – Part II

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Bike – Acquired and road ready

Ass pain – Received and conquered (booyah)

Stamina to take on a long distance bike ride – Questionable

 

Two out of three ain’t bad.* So I took off into the distance, with no specific plan or destination.  Just gonna go until I get tired.  I have noticed a bike path by my house before and decide to investigate where it leads.  I’m about 5 miles down the path when my back tire locks in place.  It’s come slightly off-kilter and is rubbing against the brake pads.  After serious inspection, as if I know what I’m looking at, I decide to unhook the back tire thingy, tighten up the other thingys, and see if that works.  All my troubleshooting techniques come from Nintendo.  If blowing on it doesn’t work, turn it off and back on.  Well, my extensive knowledge of clicky, turny, wheely things paid off and I got it to work enough to ride again.  But I didn’t feel like pushing my luck, so I turned around and went home.

Here is the text message exchange to my personal bike mechanic:

Me: My bike did that back tire thing again 😦  …4 miles from home …And I kinda fixed it enough to get home!  Go me!
PBM: Nice wrench work!  Describe said problem to me again using your most adept mechanical and technical parlance…
Me: The circular gizmo connected to the latter half of my go-machine slightly slipped in the metal cage and slid against the stop-button, making it impossible for the go-machine to continue going.  I unscrewed the obvious mechanism, realigned the parts, and tightened up the screws.  Asked a law enforcement agent to finish the tightening, but alas, even he did not have the strength necessary to satiate the machine.
PBM: Touche, Collier.  By my tally, it’s 3 points for that move.  1 for the sarcastic backslapping, 1 for making it actually quite understandable, and 1 for playing damsel in distress card.

 

*Ain’t is a terrible word to say, and even worse to actually spell out.  Apologies.

Bike Ride – Part I

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After I got my bike fixed by my hunky bike mechanic friend, we took it out for a jaunt around the neighborhood.  Not a very long ride, but enough to wake up the next day with the sorest butt cheeks I’ve ever had.  It was a sort of pain that made me wince a little every time I took a seat, which must be explained to coworkers in fear of their vivid imaginations taking uncontrollable leaps to the ridiculous and/or raunchy.

It was a soreness that lasted well through the following day when my squatter housemate and I went for another ride.  A pain that slightly subsided after a few happy hour drinks.  And then subsided some more the day after that when I went on an even longer bike ride!  Who’s laughing now, ass pain?

Get a sweet bike

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Good thing I made a friend who’s been in the bike business for his entire life.  Good thing he’s generously offered to assist in goal numero uno – get a sweet bike.

He found a mixtie on Craigslist that he loved.  I don’t know jack about bikes so I took his word for it.  This bike was pretty sweet looking, though.  An old Frenchie from the 70s.  Meet Rue.

Rue

Too bad the first time I took ‘er out around my neighborhood the back wheel went wonky and I had to carry her home.  Did I mention I have a bike mechanic friend?

August – Bike Month

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So, I’ve had a bike in the past but never really lived in an area that has a lot of places you can bike to and never had a car that could fit a bike.  Well, hot dog!  Now I do.  I just need a new sweet bike and all the gear to make Bike Month a success.

Goals this month:
Buy a new road bike
Get all the accoutrements (lock, helmet, lights)
Go on a long ride at least once a week
Go riding at least 3 times per week

Patio Day Bed

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Okay, this one took me a few days off to complete.  I have a large covered patio that I wanted to fill with something large.  I wanted something to lay on and read a book, curl up with a blanket and glass of wine and listen to the rain, or take a long afternoon nap.  Boom.  Patio day bed.

plain patio

I sketched up an idea and showed it to a friend.  I knew I could figure it out, but it went way easier with a buddy.  Here’s my sketch.

day bed sketch

So you can see it’s a pretty basic design.  I wanted mine 4’x6’x18″ to fill the space but I would recommend buying foam pieces first and then building to suit the foam.  Time to get sawing!

miter saw

 

We used the miter saw from the tool library and 3″ outdoor nails and screws.  Once we figured out the measurements, it was a piece of cake.

day bed starts

day bed bones

day bed side

 

An impromptu dance party was held to ensure structural soundness.  Now that the bones are done, it’s time to make it look pretty.  I picked up some salvaged wood from the Rebuilding Center in different shades and thicknesses for the facade and some corrugated fiberglass for the two exposed sides.

day bed stage 2

 

I searched high and low for cheap foam.  Called scrap stores.  Looked online.  Trolled craigslist.  Found two twin memory foam mattresses for $20 each and that was a steal, but not quite enough.  I had to cut them in half and run them through the washing machine because they were covered in dog hair.

twin foam

 

So, I finally broke down and bought 3″ foam padding from Joann Fabric.  I had 2 – 50% off coupons and one layer of 4’x6’x3″ came to be about $80 with the coupons.  I glued all the foam together with the high density on bottom and the memory foam on top.  All together, 5″ of foam and $120.  (This is why I suggest getting foam first and building to suit.)

I made a permanent slip cover to keep it all together out of an old duvet cover I wasn’t using anymore.  Then, I made the visible cover for the foam.  It overlaps on the bottom so there was no need for zipper or clasp.  I taught myself how to sew and have no technical idea what I’m doing most of the time but it usually works out.  I map it out in my head, start cutting fabric, piece it together, rarely use pins, and then plow threw the stitching.  So I can’t really explain what I did here.  Apologies.  Got some pillows from Goodwill that I ran whole through the washing machine and laid out in the sun to dry.  Here’s the finished product.

day bed done 2

day bed done

 

Potted Plants

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Went to the Portland Nursery to get some new plants for a raised bed in the backyard.  If you’re ever interested in getting specific plants for areas of the yard, I would definitely recommend going to an expert.  The people there were super helpful and got me all the gear and knowledge necessary.

I went home with 2 species of Dahlia’s which enjoy a lot of sun and moist soil which is perfect for this particular spot in my backyard.  Also got some rosemary for a separate tin tub and some good soil.

dahlia

Weeds (The uncool kind)

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Weeds be like can’t stop, won’t stop.  It’s annoying.  Those jerky weeds just keep on creeping into my yard even though I verbally abuse them constantly.  It’s time to step the abuse up to a more physical level.

Had to buy some gardening gloves and went to work ripping them out of the side yard, which is also a dog run.

side yard

 

As you can see from the pictures, I have to rig up garden hose in the front yard and connect another hose over the fence to water the back yard because there’s not a spigot back there. It’s kinda lame.

Spool Table

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While looking for outdoor furniture on my favorite website, craigslist, I found a lady who sells huge electrical spools.  Since I had the day off, I decided to drive the 30 minutes to Battle Ground, WA to check it out.  Found one that was the perfect size for an outdoor table to use by my fireplace.  She didn’t think it would fit in my car, but I showed her!

photo (67)

 

Got it home safely, even though my gate was not closed or tied down.  It was totally safe, don’t worry about it.  Bought a grey wood stain for $5 at Home Depot to make it look weathered and seal it.

wood stain

 

Finished product looks really sweet.  I can even pop and umbrella in the center to protect my delicate skin and sensibilities if I so desire.  Total cost $45.

spool project

Tool Library

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Portland is the most amazing place in the world.  Seriously.  Obviously I love the amount of weirdness (like the guy who rides a unicycle and plays bagpipes dressed as Santa and Darth Vader,) the fact that brunch is an art form (bacon Bloody Mary, anyone?) and the constant electricity of people actually *doing* things (after a couple bacon Bloody Mary’s, of course.)  But, the Tool Library is a very special breed of place that can only exist in a town that is dedicated to activism, volunteerism, community, and general cheapskatery.

I need a saw to make my daybed and I don’t want to buy one just to use on the rare occasion that I decide to make something that cannot be cut with sharp scissors.  So, I decide to check it out.

tool library

The Tool Library is a backroom with no windows in the side of a church that also hosts yoga classes and organ lessons in their respective backrooms.  It’s open for two hours on Tuesday nights and Saturday mornings.  You have to provide an ID and mail that proves that you live in the area.  This gives you rights to borrow anything you want for a week.  If you don’t bring it back within that 7 days, you pay a fine of $1-$2 depending on the tool you borrow. Uh, awesome!  They have tools for gardening, automotive, contracting, and general home maintenance.  I choose a miter saw and a long extension cord.