Presenting Alpha and Beta. Alpha is always hissing at us, even when we are just touching the other kitten. We left the kitty kennel in their room and they are using it. It will make taking them to the Vet much easier.
Tada! Presenting Alpha and Beta.
They are sooo adorable. I can’t quite tell which is which here. It will take time to gain their trust.
These next ones were taken after rescuing the kitties from the ceiling over the garage after their grand escape. Though the term rescue was open to debate by the subjects of the rescue.
I noticed that my deck height did not exactly match my plans…? That is a bummer since the second platform does match my plans and the main deck is 8 inches higher, that equals two steps so my stairs come two more feet into the platform, hitting close to the middle of the platform.?? So today I went to get more posts since it is not easy to cut them longer.
Then we, my buddy G-Man and I had a couple of beers and took some pictures of his Dad’s, lets call him Sven, homebuilt crane.? Here you go:
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The top of the pivot inside and below the boom.
Now in position to do some serious lifting.
Here are the cable reels. I think the one on the left is the boom lift and the one on the right is for lifting the load. The controls are on the left by the electrical outlet.
The green ?B? knob is for the brake. And the other controls.
Closeup of one of the reels and the substantial cable.
The other reel and the other substantial cable. Everything here is engineered to the max.
The gearbox for one of the reels. The brake is the shiny piece near the top of the two pulleys with the belts going around them.
The other gearbox with the motor and reel.
From the cable opening into the innards.
Close-up of the brake. Sometimes simple is best, in the old days all brakes were this simple.
The other brake detail. There is a brake for lowering the boom and lowering the load.
The boom pivot. There is likely some more techincal term for this point.
Looking up at the boom and stuff. The boom is made of wood.
A shot at the top and the pulleys.
The track that it rotates on is a gear.
This is a home brewed crane, pretty awesome sight.
The lighting was pretty bad, so not much in the way of detail here. See the cables above and the boom.
The diagonal coming off the top goes to a substantial footing, this puppy is going nowhere. Quite a few pulleys and extemely heavy duty cables.
The engineer and builder of the crane.
Rotating is a manual operation. A motor for turning is a future project.
Now if we only had something to pickup.
From here you see both of the stabilizers.
Here is the whole thing from the water side.
Close-up of the wheel and track. See the center of the pivot, the power cord is wrapped around the pivot. You don’t want to keep spinning it around too much.
Looking inside yet again.
Here is G-Man and his Dad DJ. DJ Built and Engineered the crane.
There is DJ out from hiding. What a marvelous thing this crane is.
Here is a close-up of the lid hanger.
Here is one in use, holding open the doors for the cables and boom.
Lowering the boom again.
Another shot of the stabilizers.
And we have seen this before.
The other side of a reel.
Look at that it looks like a face, with whiskers.
Here we say goodbye for the day.
Posted inUncategorized|Comments Off on More deck woes…
Some of you know I am continuing to work on building a new deck.? This is a VERY long term project dating back around 7ish years ago.? Around that time we a friend and me, took a day and crowbars, hammers, and soon other implements of destruction.
The crowbars and hammers came in…? Absolutely useless!? The old deck had some rot, where it was connected to the ground and some of the boards were a bit soft. ? We found that the plethora of nails used to connect these boards together, made disassembling said boards almost impossible.? This puppy was built to last, it would likely have torn away from the house, it was not as well connected at the house, and fallen in one big impossible to disassemble piece.
So my friend and I decided to take a circular saw and cut up the deck into more manageable pieces.? Roughly 1 foot by 18 inches each.? A whole lot of pieces.? Much fun ensued, followed by much rejoicing.
Here are some albums of the more recent progress:
The decking for the 6 x 6 platform has been cut. We are ready to start… Fastening… Now we are cooking…
After we get another angle on the platform.
From ground level too.
The other side too. Excitement just abounds.
And with flash fill-in. Yea, this is getting silly.
Oh, worked really well on this side away from the light.
The big deck from down under.
What we will see coming out from the house. Needs some hanging baskets don’t it.
The cutoff corner from the bottom.
Man this puppy is HUGE!
Posted inUncategorized|Comments Off on Yea, I know this isn’t about biking, but it is about lif…
Well this is a day for the record books. First time I did not finish under my own power this ride. I used a sag wagon for the first time on this ride, a personal failure. Turns out it was not an official sag wagon, this gentleman Bob (I think) and his kids were following his (Bob’s) wife on the ride. They alternate years riding and driving the kids, this was her year riding. I guess any number of things could have contributed. I had a cold for over week that just cleared the start of the week leading up to the ride. I had two nights of less then 4 hours of sleep in a row, the first due to a blasting tv in the next room all night. I don’t know why I could not get to sleep the last night of the ride, I tried but just could not. Then I awoke at 4am for no reason. Strange. Stomach didn’t feel right that morning could be anything. And finally my calf muscles were tight, really tight. I had to lower my seat a bit just to turn the pedals.
I didn’t find any all night places to get breakfast. So I had to wait for the Rotary breakfast, which started a little early, but was an hour late by what I needed for the ride ahead.
Here are the pictures, this posting is live a little late since I was pretty Knackered last night.
Breakfast in Leavenworth not quite ready, it’s going to be a hot day an early start would have been nice. Bummer.
Nice river.
Friends
And we go our separate ways. The end.
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Nice scenery on US-2.
People are passing me like crazy this morning, man I wish I could get it together.
I am stopping quite a bit today, I am way too unsteady to snap pics while riding.
Here we go…
Tumwater campground… In the Wenatchee National Forest.
More riders zipping past me.
I am having a bad morning but I am still going to get pictures. I should have left an hour or two earlier then it would be less of an issue that I don’t feel so hot.
Nice river.
Pushing on…
Rider service stop at Nason Creek by the Lakewood Rotary and South Tacoma Rotary,
Still lots of people here. Most of them passed me earlier.
Still not feeling good, my calves have been tight all morning, hopefully this will help.
Ready to load up on water.
The ever appreciated bike mechanics.
OMG I could use a massage. They are from a place on Steilacoom Blvd I need to dig their card out and add the business name here later.
Having someone talk to you while getting a massage is not very relaxing. But she was pretty zoned out so…
The woman on the left I worked for at one time. The one on the left is a friend that I met her and her husband in spin classes many years ago.
The Hula Hoop competition.
We have a winner.
I have seen quite a few people having to stretch more than I remember.
Back on the road.
Still going, but not strong.
Still getting passed.
Still going up. Not the final climb at all got miles before that. This is not looking good for me.
I’ll let them pass before heading out since the shoulder is so narrow.
Might as well stop here and let them go first so they don’t have to pass me.
Here comes the top. Whoo hoo. Though this does not bode well for the big climb.
That is where I have been…
This is what I saw on my descent. That lever should have been in the middle like…
This. There we go…
Whoops. This is not good. What you are seeing is my bike in Granny gear all the time. It is really easy to pedal but you go really slow and not very far. Basically after going downhill I will lose all of my momentum before I can pedal again, mega bummer.
Going back upwards again.
Someone taking it easy…
These guys are just hanging out, I guess they will just have to pass me.
Onward…
Still going slowly.
This is the climb before the next rest stop.
Pretty.
I like the sound of a river. I could stay here all day but…
Oops, I forgot to take pictures at the last rest stop by the Sumner Rotary. I heard there were about three riders behind me still.
Still nice scenery.
Man it is so freaking hot here… It was shorly after this that I finally had to abandon. First time ever I did that on this ride. Later I wil find that my saddle soreness was pretty bad, and with my calf muscles locking up, the final climb won’t work. Even the descent will be a problem. My legs won’t last if I stand on the descent and I can’t just sit on my saddle right now going down either.
I sagged past the top to the finish, with a guy Bob and his two kids. They were out looking for thier Wife and Mother who was apparently an animal on descending and likely here already anyway. Thanks Bob and co.
Shower truck, I am so there.
First I will need someting to change into. There are out bags laid out nicely on the grass. When I got up there it was REALLY easy to find mine. It was the flower pattern suitcase… The only flower patterned suitcase. It pays to be different.
After finishing with my shower and finding out I was holding up my bus, trying to get my suitcase which has wheels and mike bike over to the bus and truck for the bikes. A tandem rider that I talked with about Rivendell bikes, he and his wife each have one, helped me with my bike until I got my bags stowed.
A could of friends getting their stuff from the bus. I am glad I had a chance to shower.
The mad dash. I was lucky I got mine first.
And we go our separate ways. The end.
Breakfast in Leavenworth not quite ready, it’s going to be a hot day an early start would have been nice. Bummer.
I am outa here. After scarfing breakfast.
The new route out of town is pretty but I really liked the old stop in Plain. It was a nice little stop with Llamas and Donkeys that would lick and chew on unsuspecting riders bike when they were parked too close to their pens. Maybe someday…
Pushing onward. I can’t seem to get any speed and breakfast does not seem to be doing it’s job.
Posted inCycling|Comments Off on Day three of the Courage Classic 2006
A good day. Didn’t get a really early start but I was well into the climb before it started getting really toasty. Had a bunch of people interested in information on my bike and equipment I am using. I think there will be some shopping after the ride.
Riding up was pretty good on the uphill side but on the downhill side I forgot to restart my cycle computer and missed about 12 miles of recording, bummer. Then after dinner we had great news New Belgium Ales, a sponsor, is giving riders free beer in the beer garden! Whoo Hoo!!! I AM SO THERE. Then they held a raffle for a cool retro cruiser single speed bike. Here are the pictures of the day.
Here we go. Happiness is Cle Elum in my rear view mirror… Well not really but for today it is.
A little warm up climb.
Another sea of people.
Don eat your heart out buddy. Looking good gals.
This is Chris with the oldest bike on the CC
The river crossing over into Peshastin.
There is Chuck riding his new bike
What a cute puppy. And very excitable too. It also likes to lick.
View the Album below:
Here we go. Happiness is Cle Elum in my rear view mirror… Well not really but for today it is.
Those ant like things are horses. Nice landscape.
Nothing much to see in this direction though.
Another over the shoulder shot. There is my helmet and my shadow.
Shooting into the sun, couldn’t be helped.
That is where we are going, thataway.
Farm implements…
Another bridge crossing.
And this is the bridge and the other side.
And here we go again.
A horse and a mule or a donkey.
The sign says ?BALLARD HILL RD? we must really be lost.
A little warm up climb.
Nice view.
Some riders that will be passing me soon.
More passers by. It is starting to get warm.
The Liberty Cafe. There is also a Liberty Espresso here too. This is the kind of place that served Freedom Fries.
We are having fun now. Still a gradual climb.
Some more people about to pass me.
Still climbing…
We are entering the Wenatchee National Forest whoo hoo!
Liberty Historic Townsite, no campfires??? Don’t they have furnaces?
Still climbing… Gradually…
This looked cooler when I first saw it. Oh well.
Whoo Hoo our first stop of the day. This is the Mineral Springs Resort stop, run by the Tacoma North Rotary.
Another sea of people.
Look at all the bikes…
More bikes and more people.
The food. I am so there.
Another angle on the people and the bikes.
Hey who is the fat guy… Oh thats Biker Mikey himself.
This guy is feeling pretty ambitious wearing the Polka Dot jersey. That is the one the best climber in The Tour de France wears.
Ah refreshments.
Back on the climb.
La de dah. Climbing along.
Yep still at it. We are REALLY having fun now.
We are getting close to lunch, less that 1.5 miles… 1.5 longish miles.
Yep still at it.
Whoo hoo lunch. This is Blewett Pass Summit lunch stop. That is my ride front and off center. This stop is run by the Sumner Rotary. This is also known as the soup and sandwich stop.
Hey I know them.
Don eat your heart out buddy. Looking good gals.
Man those Honey Buckets are looking good. Look at all those people and bikes.
This guy has been doing this ride for quite a while too.
Lunch ahoy. Hey look at the simians…
Patiently waiting for me to get dome monkeying around. Yea I had to say it.
The little dog was too cute.
You go girl!
Man look at that. Was it something I said? Maybe I need a stronger deoderant.
Quite a clearing out.
After the blazing descent. I hit 40 mph on the downhill too bad I forgot to start recording it on my cycle computer.
The oldest bike on the Courage Classic, several years running.
This is the Ingalls Creek stop, aka Snow Cone stop. Run by the Fife/Milton Rotary.
There are the snow cone makings in the distance.
The bicycle service Hummer apparently and the guys from Old Town Cyclery.
There goes Don, I’ve known him for years even before I started riding the CC.
Look the poor bikes are tired. Mine is still fresh and standing with the yellow jacket hangin off the back.
This is Chris with the oldest bike on the CC, I think he has been riding this as long as me. Maybe longer.
Down we go to Leavenworth.
Through some orchards cutting over twords Peshastin.
Winery next right… Maybe not such a good idea today.
The river crossing over into Peshastin.
The other side of the Bridge.
And where I am heading. Gotta go…
The Peshastin church.
Man is it HOT out. Not as bad as most years though.
Cool views.
Some shade. Not much of that in the orchards.
That is kinda cool.
Onward and you know.
Still in the orchards. This is a rough patch since it gets so hot and it is open.
The finish in Leavenworth. Whoo Hoo.
This rider on the left took a side trip through a sprinkler she found. Boy if I didn’t need sunscreen…
Down on the school grounds are the tents for the campers.
DINNER!!! What a crowd.
Man what a long dinner line. This is the longest I have seen and slow too.
What a cute puppy. And very excitable too. It also likes to lick.
Awe movement in the line. Oh my what a wait.
This is the bike they will give away in a raffle. A New Belgium Ales cruiser single speed. REALLY COOL.
Multicare scolding some of the bad riders.
Beer garden. Free beer for everyone from New Belgium Brewery. Whoo Hoo!!!
Sitting around talking about bikes. Who would have guessed. The guy with the glasses is Chuck he has the same number of bikes as I do, and his wife is excited about them too WOW. The guy nearest is Chris again.
Over in the distance are some multi thousand dollar Cannondales for test riding. They got a lot of riding too.
The guy on the bike won this New Belgium cruiser bike in a raffle, his name is Chuck too.
There is Chuck riding his new bike and the girl from Multicare documenting everything.
Walking back to the hotel with a free beer in me. I think this was a Realator at one time.
Posted inCycling|Comments Off on Day two of the Courage Classic 2006
This was a good day warm but not too bad. I wore a new shirt today a “Wooley Warm” that I got from Rivendell Bicycle it was suprisingly cool and comfortable.
My fancy cycle computer a Garmin Edge 305 worked well except for a little problem. The battery only lasts about 5 hours and I was on the road for around 5 hours do we see a problem? If there was a way to keep a spare battery and replace it on the road this would be cool… But you can’t. Why in the world would someone make a cycle computer that only lasts 5 hours and not give you a way to change batteries.
My Camera seems to be working good see here:
Too shiny.
The much needed and appreciated Honey Buckets.
They are saying Hi Don!
On the bridge.
Well it’s nighty night time. More tomorrow if I can get onto the internet.
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Whooo. Nice.
Now this is a cool road. Very little traffic, virtually no traffic and lots of woods.
Smile.
A cool bridge.
This is what I am seeing most of my ride. That is a lot of stuff.
On the bridge.
Darn, I was hoping this wold turn out better. Guess I will need to stop next year to get the stream.
Up Up Ad Away!!!
I think these guys shop at despair.com… First example.
Cool road.
Very cool.
I am not running out of breath. Yea they could work there for sure.
?Your B.O. is getting strong.? Nice.
?You want some food.? Duh.
?It won’t be very long? Whoo Hoo!!!
Two miles to the top. Two long and mildly grueling miles.
?I did it for the kids!!? I did it for the hills and the food… I guess for the kids too.
Some loud and somewhat inspirational music. I am starting to see a pattern. That is a thumbs up… It really is.
Onward with that kind of inspirational music blaring.
This is where I have been.
Man I take a lot of pictures.
This was the last of the last climb. Whoo Hoo, I am getting a bit hungry.
Whoo hoo the pass.
We have summited (sp). You know what I mean.
The peanut gallery… Actually just check in. To make sure I didn’t fall off the mountain somewhere.
Hey they are going the wrong way…
A round of applause. Hmmm a line going out. We had to bus down due to construction.
Here is luch… The AWESOME ?Spaghetti Lunch? by the ?Gig Harbor Rotary?.
Man see that line in the background, that is quite a line. And it does not seem to be moving very fast.
The line moved. Yahoo!
It’s growing again.
After a very very long time I am getting to the front. Bike mechanics ahead.
This guy has an old Fuji, the same model as my bike from last year.
This is Jason from ?Old Town Cycle? in Tacoma. A great bicycle mechanic.
We bused down to the Easton stop. This is run by Tacoma Sunrise Rotary. Also know as the Banana Split Stop, but not for me I have not earned it today. And busing down took longer then when we ride down mega bummer.
A bicyle Ranger cool.
Where the splits are.
Another road. After Easton on our way to Cle Elum.
Yikes… Hey there is my camera on my left lens. That is sunscreen in my nose… Really.
Getting back onto I-90.
I flatted here a few years back. It was VERY HOT that day and unpleasent to not be moving.
Whoo hoo. No more I-90 today.
And another hill. This one suprises the newbies.
Lovely downtown Cle Elum.
The Sunset Cafe. They do the meals in Cle Elum for us… What a great bunch.
Mike’s Tavern a great place to have a beer or hard cider and peanuts. The shells are all over the floor.
There is the food line past that truck.
There is the food I can see it.
Oh man I gotta go way back there?
Those are lines of people. Man I am starting to get hungry.
Stitting on the grass and eating. I found some shade.
There is John. I just happened to sit right by his group, he came later.
Posted inCycling|Comments Off on Day one of the Courage Classic 2006
I know this sounds like denial on my part. But lets face it how stupid would Landis have to be to dope and then win a stage so decisively. I found this interesting not an accepted authority on the matter but:
“Mild to moderately intense physical stress, as in casual sports and sexual intercourse, may actually boost testosterone production.”
Just what was Floyd doing that night. 😉
Posted inCycling|Comments Off on Is Floyd Landis just guilty of being an American?
