Ronstar
Moderator Emeritus
Weather finally got warm enough for grilling outside. What a relief! My BGE and I missed each other terribly.
Yes what a relief! I grilled out tonight for the first time in more than 4 months
Weather finally got warm enough for grilling outside. What a relief! My BGE and I missed each other terribly.
You are making it difficult to hold off on a motorcycle until I get my house built.Open 'er up!
Went for a two-hour motorcycle ride in the first decent weather we've had for quite a while. I meandered around on some state roads and then decided to head home for lunch back on I-81 from the Hagerstown, MD area. I saw that southbound traffic was coming to a standstill just before the WV line and took the next exit onto a southbound parallel state road from which I could sometimes see the interstate and noticed that both north and southbound sides were at a stop.
So I bypassed the event, which I later learned was a tragic double fatality, got back on southbound I-81, and found that I had three lanes of freshly-paved interstate practically to myself. Ignorant at the time of the reason for this I figured the police would be completely tied up with whatever the reason for the backups was, and was unable to overcome the urge to open the throttle and cruise on down the highway at 90-95 mph for abut five miles until traffic began to get back up to levels which made that unwise. But for a while it seemed a little "Twilight Zoneish" to have the whole interstate to myself.
Sure cleaned out the cobwebs on the bike though.
Yesterday I took DD and the two GKs to the airport for their return home after a 5 week long visit. We were happy to see them arrive, and just as happy to see them go.
...While I'm up there, the ladder blows over and I'm stuck on the roof in the 25 degree weather...
That's a lot of miles on one of those little scooters.Friend's Honda 80 motor scooter stopped dead in its tracks on a local road today. He pushed it home. He called me and I stopped over with some tools and pulled the cover off the clutch/drive pulley and found this:
Not much drive belt left at 17,150 miles (on a Honda 80 scooter). Apparently, periodic maintenance is not in his vocabulary.
That's a lot of miles on one of those little scooters.
Is it one of the bikes that use a belt in a continuously variable transmission? I have read about them, but have not had the chance to open one up to see.
While I'm up there, the ladder blows over and I'm stuck on the roof in the 25 degree weather.
I spent the earlier part of this evening doing battle with a squirrel.
It all started last week, when I came in the house and found a squirrel sitting on top of the valance over one of the windows. I opened the door and chased him around with a broom until he ran back outside. Then I performed a thorough inspection to see how he got in. Couldn't find any holes big enough for a squirrel. Did he maybe sneak in when I left the door open to bring in groceries? It was quite a mystery, but he was outside now, so I forgot about it.
So today I come home from w*rk and go down in the cellar, where I discover . . . a squirrel. I get a broom and chase him around. Lo and behold, he jumps in the air mixing flapper for the furnace and runs up the chimney!
I recollect that there is no screen or anything on the top of the chimney pipe, so I get some hardware cloth and the tin snips to make a screen. I get out the 20 foot extension ladder and go up on the roof, where I create and install a very nice squirrel screen. While I'm up there, the ladder blows over and I'm stuck on the roof in the 25 degree weather. I stand up there for 15 minutes while it gets dark, and the wife finally comes out looking for me. After another 10 minutes or so of her wrestling with the ladder (she has never used one), she gets it back in place and I finally come back down.
That's got to be a bad feeling. I'll make a note to myself to always have the cell phone with me when I go on the roof.
When I owned a house, I used to love sitting on the roof and looking at the view. For me, it wasn't about feeling dominant, or anything like that, but it was part of my curiosity to know more about my house - and part of that was seeing it from all angles - the basement, the roof, any nook and cranny I could find. It was all part of "getting to know my house". Also, as I mentioned, the view from the roof was a unique view that I couldn't get from any other vantage point. When on the roof, I saw my neighborhood in a unique and (to me) interesting way.I don't know what it is about men over a certain age - - so many seem absolutely determined to spend a lot of time up on the roof. Maybe they feel closer to their supreme being up there.
While I'm up there, the ladder blows over and I'm stuck on the roof in the 25 degree weather.