To Ride an Iron Horse - Jack of the Green's Blog

[blues2cruise]

It would be awesome to wake up to that view every day.

[Hanson]

Yes, it is much better than my morning view, at least the view out the window.

Safe Travels,
Richard

[JackoftheGreen]

Today was my oldest daughter's 11th birthday! We don't do the "power parent" thing and rent out some place or make other parents pay for their kids to go to some variety entertainment spot, just a party at home with family suffices for us. Today we packed 17 people in our home and the layout really shined. The kitchen, dining room and living room all flow into each other in one big L shaped space, and it makes entertaining a pleasure.

My daughter requested spaghetti for her birthday dinner and we obliged, but a couple of our family members are diabetic and, in deference to them, we also prepared a low-carb eggplant parm that was incredible. It was so good I'm going to revive the 'cookbook' thread and post it there.

On a side note, Friday night I engaged with my father-in-law in a debate about politics. This was much to the displeasure of my mother-in-law and my wife, but my FIL and I have enormous respect for each other and that respect carried into the conversation. I consider it a good experience.

Lastly, Carrie and I are tentatively considering replacing our econobox. We drive a 2000 Plymouth Neon that Carrie bought right out of HS, she's the original owner and it had seven miles on the odo when she took possession. Now, 170,000+. It's a fun little car to bop around in, but our other car is a 4.7L Durango and as such we try to drive the Neon as much as possible. It just doesn't have the reliability we need anymore though, so we're poking around. In our area we can lay hands on any number of 2006 or newer scootabouts with 35+mpg and less than six figures on the clock, all for less than 5K, so it gets more and more appealing every time we revisit the subject. We'll see.

That's all the updates at the moment. Basement finishing posts should start to trickle in within the next few weeks. We did some taping and mudding, nothing major, but big things are right around the corner.

[sv-wolf]

Congratulations, Jack, on resisting the 'power parent' thing. My stepson has found that difficult with his two. It's so part of the culture now that kids feel 'left out' if their parents don't do what other parents do in the competition game.

[JackoftheGreen]

Wolf,

I find it ridiculous the lengths some parents will go to in an effort to present themselves as most dedicated to their kids. Renting out entire venues, inviting 30+ children to a party, $50 cakes and so forth. I don't know of anyone who can recall an individual birthday party before their early teens, and even then, what a waste of resources just so other parents can whisper behind their hands "Does that clown smell like vodka?" Lunacy.

On to new business. Today Carrie and I had the day off because of Veterans Day. We met one of Carrie's former coworkers for lunch, a woman who retired recently due to medical complications, and had a good visit with her. Her son rides, so I'm going to try to get him to check out TMW.

After lunch we picked up some supplies for our birds, and set up two pairs of parakeets in the breeding room. One pair is a proven pair we've clutched before, the other pair is new to the game. When you breed parakeets, you have to have several in the room at once because they sorta, uh, inspire each other. All the chitter and chatter. We have a third pair that's still feeding the babies from their first clutch, and we'll move them into the breeding room with the rest once their babies are all weaned. We've also got a pair of 'tiels in there working on their second clutch -- their first clutch was something of a disaster. There's something of a learning curve in bird parenting. But we're sure their second attempt will work out better.

So there's the update for today. I'm out!

[JackoftheGreen]

9642

So this happened today:

Which means that, save for a quick jaunt to fill the tanks before winter storage commences, the riding season (or at least MY riding season) is officially closed in Utah for 2014. There may perhaps be a dozen days between now and the spring that riding could be comfortable, but only here in the valley and the valley's no fun to ride. All the mountain passes will be far too cold to ride, even on sunny days, and there are shady corners where the ice never quite leaves the road.

So for now, any riding I do will be done vicariously on YouTube, other peoples videos or our own. If you'd like to check out some of the videos Carrie and I have made (especially the CatCrap review for you cold weather riders!) they're here.

That's all I've got for today. Enjoy!

[sv-wolf]

Hi Jack. I watched a couple of your vids. I loved the slow lyrical ride up and down Utah Canyon, but the ride into Zion National Park was just spectacular. Thanks for posting these. I've hijacked one of them for my facebook page to share with biker friends here in the UK.

I haven't seen a pair of motorcycle gauntlets like that for years.

Commiserations about the turn in the weather, though. I'd have serious problems not being able to ride in the winter. We probably won't get snow here for another couple of months - if we get any at all - and if we do, it will likely only last a few weeks. [Edit: Ooops I've just seen the weather forecast. It appears we are in for some -7C snowstorms next week. I should have kept my mouth shut.] The problem here is the temperature (and my skinny-man's lack of natural padding). Hope you will go on posting, though. I enjoy your blogs.

Cheers

[JackoftheGreen]

So in an effort to get some more life out of our less-than-cutting-edge phones, Carrie and I have been dumping our photo collections onto our PCs. I decided to share some of them here.

...I didn't actually quote Ruby here, but I wanted her to get a Notification...

Here's our bikes all lined up at a local Mexican place up the canyon. The two Intruders are Ruby's and her hubbies.

Again, all four of our bikes in this shot too. Except, Ruby and her man ditched the Intruders for a Vic Hammer and a bobbed Vulcan.

Same subject, different angle.

Inspiring the next generation of riders. Or, being an irresponsible parent.

Here's where it all started. This is the KDX250 featured in the very first entry of my blog.

IMG_17961023464607.jpeg (116.21 KiB) Viewed 26799 times

Lastly, I decided to create a new YouTube channel with a more professional air than our previous one. For the first video I put together a tourist-ey compilation of all the footage Carrie and I have generated over the last three summers and threw it up as nicely cut as I know how. Blues, I think you'll appreciate the tune in this one reasonably more than some of my prior videos. (-:

It's HERE.

[JackoftheGreen]

So the Great Basement Remodel of 2014/15 is due to begin any day, and I thought I'd post some BEFORE pics just to keep up on the blog. Here we go...

So this is the main living space in the basement, as seen from the east end of the room. As you can see, there's lots of work to do down here. The entire ceiling needs rocked, along with part of the wall over by the built-in. We're going to be turning this space into a home theatre, big flatscreen and a sectional couch.

This is the same room as above, only facing the other direction. That little alcove where I'm standing is going to become the bar, and the area in front of it is just big enough for an 8' pool table. If anyone has any tips on buying used pool tables and disassembling them for transport, I'm all ears. (-:

This is the north side of the great room. The under-stair alcove will be left unfinished, since that entire space is just for the catbox. Of course we'll install a door to hide it, and some folding doors to hide the furnace and water heater.

And is is the back hallway. There's a bedroom off to the right of this vantage, the door directly at the end of the hallway is the bird breeding room, and then there's a bathroom off to the left and another bedroom to the right. The bathroom is roughed in but that's it, so it'll be walls and floors and fixtures, the whole nine yard. All the plumbing is there though, so that's good. The bedrooms are already finished, but the bird room is not. I'll be starting with the bird room, walls and floors, mainly so I can practice laying tile in a room that doesn't have to be perfect.

So that's that. (-:

[Johnj]

Check Craigslist Free section every day and pretty soon you'll find someone giving a pool table away for free. Or check for pool tables for sale. The legs (or the stand) are bolted to the table, you just have to find them. You and a couple of buddies lay the table on its side, remove the legs, then carry it out.