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Craig showed up this week to start painting. Jen wants almost the entire house in Accessible Beige for a more appealing listing look. So far over half the upstairs and most of the downstairs is that.
Flooring starts today. Bathroom to be completed on Saturday.
We’re getting close.
– b
We got our permit and inspection, so you’d think everything was well on it’s way?
Not really.
This week they did a lot of drywall patching and sanding, and rightly so because our stuff was a mess.
They also got all the drywall up for the third bathroom, and tiled it.
Should be seeing some fixtures and lights in there next week.
The tile for the stove went down too.
Not sure how/when that will all go back together, but it’s still progress.
– b
Craig and I got out for a ride last weekend as well. We chose to head up to Jim Thorpe. What we didn’t expect was to see as much snow as we did after going through the Lehigh tunnel. The mountains were simply covered. Oh well. We’ll take it easy and try to have a nice time our first time out of the season.
We were taking it easy cruising around some dirt roads and playing around on some mild double track, then after a break decided to get trickier.
That’s when the snow got deeper, wetter, and slipperier, which in itself is fine. The problem is the trail also got narrower and rockier. Combine all that together and it was really tricky trying to keep the bike going in a straight line. To manage I did what I always did – slip the hell out of the clutch. I guess I did this for a ways trying to maintain forward momentum and no dabbing as I went slripping through the snow, when finally something happened. My bike started to smoke and smell a lot, so I shut it down. It didn’t take long to realize what had happened, then remember something Zach the mechanic told me last fall. The gear oil cap on my gear box (clutch & transmission) was gone as well as all my gear oil.
Ride over.
That’s when I remembered what Zach had showed me last fall. The gear oil cap is plastic and mine had been melted. He said I was running the transmission too hot with all my clutch slipping and it was melting the cap threads. I must have gone too far and melted the cap right off. While pacing around trying to figure out what to do, we found the cap.
With a half melted cap and no gear oil, I still wasn’t riding out of there. Even when I got out, there was no proper gear oil to be found to hike back in with and try to ride out.
The bike was staying.
Luckily it wasn’t a popular trail. Though there were some tracks, it still wasn’t likely anyone would come along soon and find it.
That’s fine. Drive home the hour and a half, get some oil and maybe a cap and come back tomorrow.
But that was the problem. I was scheduled to fly to Minneapolis the next day and stay for the week.
Hmmmm.
Text Zach and offer cash money for his recovery services. He accepts, but he needs my truck too. Deal.
As I was flying off into the west (likely over Zach’s head), he was headed into the woods to find my bike.
Three hours later I land and he confirms all is safe and sound.
Yay!
I still don’t have it or my truck back, but all’s good. Can’t wait to ride again. Next time I’m taking a bag of caps with me and likely some oil too, because I doubt I’m going to start slipping the clutch less anytime soon.
– b
Took the girls riding for the first time last weekend. They had a choice of some trails in the woods or a local track. They chose the track.
They did pretty well considering it was their first time out for the season and their first time at this track, and it wasn’t an easy track. It wasn’t necessarily as big as tracks they’ve done before, but it was built on a hillside and therefor had lots of elevation change. They managed anyway.
Lauren was happy to get a compliment on her bike minutes within arrival. Though looking sharp, her bike was severely underpowered to make the big climb at the end of the course. She could do it, but she was crawling by the time she got to the top. A quick fix to her throttle stop and allowing her more throttle would have fixed it, but the car and tools were too far away. Now we know for next time.
Abigail rode very conservatively on her new hot rod, and rightly so. She only got a few rides on it last season after we bought it and before it got too cold. As the sessions went on she did get a little more confident. Near the end she was out of her mind ecstatic to finally be getting a little air on the whoop-de-doos at the bottom of the track.
Unfortunately the weather hasn’t really cooperated for us this weekend. Hopefully we’ll have a chance to get out over spring break.
– b
We know she had it. Not sure about the rest of us.
She’s on antibiotics now. Should be better soon.
– b
Finally got around to re-assembling Lauren’s bike with the pink skull and butterfly graphics we got her for Christmas.
The graphics install was what you’d expect for a vinyl water application process on curved Chinese cut plastic. There are some bubbles and creases, but what’s important is Lauren loves it.
All that’s left is to finish the spoke covers and ride it. Hopefully the weather is getting more cooperative.
– b
The township approved our permit.
Next up is an inspection, and work will resume.
– b
Not that it’s relevant to anyone or even myself considering we’re moving, but with all the open space in our downstairs due to the construction it’s a lot harder for the pellet stove to heat our house.
Typically with the weather like it is, I could easily get nearly 2 days on a bag of pellets. Only when it was really cold would it take 1 bag (or 2 in extreme cases) a day. I managed this by basically closing all the doors downstairs and forcing the hot air upstairs. It also helped to use the furnace fan to suck the hot air in and distribute upstairs.
With all the construction, the doors don’t close and the furnace no longer has an intake for the pellet stove air. The downstairs is essentially an open space, thus doubling our space. That’s too much for the stove, or more accurately more space than we previously heated on average.
– b
We headed to the ADK this past weekend for what is now our annual winter trip. Going into it, the weather wasn’t looking too favorable with previous weeks of warm weather and no snow, but we got lucky with about 5″ of fresh snow the day after we arrived.
Due to tricky travel conditions and just the need to sit home an relax, we did just that and spent most of the first day handing out in the condo.
The second day was our big day with an attempt to hike to Avalanche Pass. It’s an 11 mile round trip hike with moderate elevation gain. We figured we’d give it our best and see how far we got.
The trip to Marcy Dam was pretty uneventful. We stopped for lunch for ourselves and the chickadees.
With full bellies, we continued into the interior of the high peaks region. It’s a steady ascent most of the way, and doesn’t feel too steep except for one area near the end. At this point Lauren decided that she’d about had enough. Lucky for her, Mom wasn’t far from the same conclusion and they decided to slow down and take their time before deciding to go all the way or turn back. Abigail and I forged ahead.
Fortunately that last tough climb is very close to the end and we all made it to the frozen lake.
For me it is one of the more beautiful things to see in the ADK in winter. I was super excited to have everyone there to experience it together. Abigail and I even ventured out onto the lake to see the Trap Dike. Unfortunately it was too cloudy to see much beyond the first pitch.
Though not a summit of any kind, we did get to see some rime ice on a grove of saplings. Typically on a summit where there’s more clouds and wind, you’ll find rime ice on the rocks and anything else sticking up off the ground. Because the saplings were all exposed at the base of a slide and therefore getting more wind, I think the rime ice was able to form at a lower than usual elevation.
On the trip back the girls rode sleds most of the way.
We had gotten some easily packable sleds that are basically cafeteria trays with handles to steer. The girls loved it.
– b