SlingShot Thought

Soil gas sampling

2011-12-03T19:10:00.001-05:00

This is me, in early november collecting a soli gas sample from a site in Brewer, Me.

Pumpkin land

2011-12-02T09:40:00.001-05:00

Yep we went to pumpkin land. It was pretty fun. My favorite part was the piglet races.

StoryLand

2011-09-04T08:51:00.000-04:00

So yes, on September 3, 2011 we had the StoryLand experience. Below is some vid I shot on my droid.

I barely remember going here when I was about 6, and on this day it was time to bring my boy. It was a good time. We cant wait until next year. Note to self: bring hand sanitizer.

Bike Hack

2011-08-25T11:29:00.000-04:00

It was a Saturday afternoon and I had taken my bike and trailer down into town to the grocery store to pick up some foodstuff and log a few miles. I live in central Maine so this actually becomes a fairly good ride.
On my way out I noticed a couple of very average mountain bikes in the rack next to me. My guess is that the owners were inside picking up some butts and Allen's coffee brandy.
But anyway, as I was loading the trailer I looked back and the bikes and noticed that the seat clamp on one was replaced with a pair of full sized, made in the USA, vise-grips. I'd call it Yankee ingenuity, but this is just too much of a hack solution to garner that prestigious label.

Happy 4th

2011-07-04T20:01:00.001-04:00

Today is the 4th of July, 2011. It is the 9th anniversary of marriage to my wife. Melinda. Happy anniversary Woman.

Today she gave me a gift. A gift of alone time. I worked on a patio I am building for her today. Today was the 4th session of excavation. During the 1st session I removed the existing gravel and flat stone. I used that material and made this:

Then there were two more session of additional soil removal. Today was the fourth and final. I have move a total of approximately 17 yards of gravel, rocks, and till and now have a perfect hole to backfill with stone, sand and and the concrete patio blocks. The following pic is the end of the 4th excavation session/. 7 hours today. 22 hours total. 10 tractor hours.

This hole is level to 24 inches depth (+_3inches) from the pavement on the left, all the way to the right. The bottom is hand tamped (compacted). It is about 200 sqft. 2 feet deep. There was a lot of hand shovel digging. Hard, but I got my man hands back.
This fucking shit will not frost heave when I am done. Effort in equals favorable results out.

Excuse my derivation from good formatting, I am too damn tired to care. It is beer O'clock

Oh yeah right. i haven't posted in a while...I got a tractor. Its frigging aWEsoMMMMe.

Damn. That was steep.

2011-06-04T16:47:00.001-04:00

I got my self out for a bike ride today. It was so beautiful out, my F. Moser (Falcor) was asking me for a good challenge. So, I decided that the crux of todays ride would be the climb out of Hallowell. As I approached the area I decided that a smaller side road would be interesting and different. I was right.

I took a left on to Central Street and immediately started up the first lift at 8,9,10% grade for a few hundred feet of road. It flattened out to 7-8% for the next few hundred road feet. The second lift 10-11...skip over 12 to 13%, again for a few hundred more feet. Another flat section (7%) then an increase to 9% with a final kick that was fucking crazy. it looked like a wall. 16-18, 20% percent grade for about 300 feet. The total climb length is about 1 mile.

I pedaled slow and hard. I've never grunted during a climb before, but I did today. Pushing down hard with every stroke while pulling on the handlebars with my arms. I REFUSED TO WALK.

The following 20 miles was comparatively easy. I am looking forward to bringing some unwitting soul up this hill someday soon.

*note* i wrote this back in June 2010 and forgot about it. So im posting what i had written at that time.

@ the pond.

2011-05-29T14:57:00.001-04:00

seems like the best way to post is to do it via mobile, too get the basic post up. Then come back and edit, format and add info. So, here we are today walking the dog at our usual place.

Tree Drop 301

2011-05-04T12:37:00.002-04:00

This past Sunday we went over to the in-laws house. They needed me to take a down a dead pine tree in their front yard. So while my brother handles the camera and provides a blow by blow narration of the event, I get to work. When the tree does go down, the sound of it was really cool.

Papa Got a New Pair of Shoes!

2011-04-19T11:50:00.000-04:00

I had been looking for a pair of new cycling shoes for the past several months. Last year I had just finished building up my sweet F. Moser Leader Ax and wanted something special.

One main decision makers in the process was that I do not like the look of the modern shoe with the straps and clips. I began to wonder if there were a nice leather cycle shoe out there. After all my best hiking boots are leather (in good shape and more that 20 years old), my nicest and most comfortable dress shoe is leather (italian i might add) and my old rock climbing shoes have a leather upper. Why not my bike shoe too?

Like any modern aged asshole with an internet connection, I googled, 'leather cycling shoe'. It didn't take too long before I found that Dromarti is making and selling just what I wanted. Then this spring, Bicycling magazine features the shoe in a 'gear' issue. Time to pull the trigger.

After figuring out that my size 10 American foot needed a size 43 European shoe I ordered the 'Sportivo' in black. Martin Scofield soon got back to me that the order would be delayed a month due to a back order issue and that payment would held until the shoes shipped. I was not in a big hurry so I was not at all worried about this.

My shoes were shipped and arrived about 4 weeks later. Much to my initial disappointment I received the shoe in brown, not the black I had ordered or was indicated on the enclosed order forms. Although after looking at them for a while, I realized that it was a 'good' mistake. I contacted Martin, told him of the error and my decision. He promptly refunded me the cost difference.

Brown does have more of a 'classic' look and ultimately that was I was going for. The leather is soft right out of the box and has that sweet, sweet ' im gonna get high sniffing the leather' odor. The contrasting light brown interior is beautiful.

I have only had a chance to use them for one ride so far. It has been cold and these are not for cold weather. The fit is tight laterally across my foot so extra socks are not an option. I squoze my foot in there with the laces fully loose, adjusted the tongue and tightened them while weighting my foot. If there is one thing I have learned about leather, and shoes in particular, is to set them up perfectly the first time, because you will never undo a bad crease or slanted tounge.

I set out on the initial ride. The fit reminds me of my rock climbing shoes or ice skates, tight enough to make your foot muscles tired but all in the name of performance. Regardless of the tight fit I found them very comfortable and had no issues with hots spots. The heel cup, a common problem area, was unnoticeable. Im sure it wont take long for the leather to form to my foot,stretch a bit, and be super comfortable. Especially if they get wet and I ride until they dry. After all I had the same experience with my hiking boots.

Be warned, by purchasing these shoes you are importing them into the US and will be subject to duty import fees. Mine were an extra 56$ that I was not planning on; fuck you very much. Even still, the total cost is about the same as a similar high quality 'modern' sytle shoes like Sidi.

Here are some links to other reviews. BIKE RUMOR,

URBAN VELO, PROLLY IS NOT PROBABLY.

RIDE ON.

Sunday funday

2011-04-17T17:37:00.001-04:00

I woke @ 7am to whipping wind and pumeling rain. I take a look down the drive way and see the culvert is backed full of water and sheeting across the driveway. Knowing it was probably only a couple of sticks, I went down with the steel rake and cleared it out.
After a breakfast o eggs, pancakes, toast, juice and coffee Wife took the boy to Augusta for shopping. This gave me time to go fill tthe truck with gas (81$ for 21gals) and start some yard work.
I sharpened the chain saw and set to work. Cutting up everything that needed cutting. For over and hour I cut. Now that its all smaller the pile build can begin.
Lunch came @ 3pm. Some thia leftovers.
At 4 the boy was napping so it wass the perfect time to head to the grocery store for some food. The picture here is after the return, while I sit and type this post on my cellphone.
Good night.

Guitarin' with Mr. Atkins

2011-04-13T20:42:00.001-04:00

A couple of weeks ago the boy saw a CD in the player.

"'dis, dis, wana play 'dis" he says.

"Ok, you want to listen to Chet Atkins and Tommy Emmanuel -The Day the Finger Pickers Took Over the World.?" I say.

"Yeah."

The second it started playing he wanted to play along with his guitar. That at this point he has no concept of how to really use it. But it was after the first super-cute music session that I made up a strap out an old belt of Wifes and recorded the video below. It can't hurt to start early.

Now every time we listen to the CD, we get this show:

Plus I figure that Chet Atkins and Tommy Emmanuel are a pretty damn good guitar role models.

Working waterfront

2011-04-07T12:38:00.001-04:00

Portland, me.

April Snow Day -ok

2011-04-01T09:22:00.000-04:00

Today is Friday and we are about to get covered with 12"inches of snow. Im not wicked psyched about it, but it should melt fast, as the temperatures in coming week are supposed to reach the lower 50's. Anyway, last week we went to food shopping at Hannaford. Below is the video I made of our adventure of my son bringing his Melissa and Doug shopping cart to the store. This was all his idea by the way.

There you go.

Band practice

2011-03-11T13:55:00.001-05:00

Went and met a friend of mine durin his band practice and snapped this pic of some wall art. I love sketchy dive band rooms.

Tractors

2011-02-23T09:55:00.001-05:00

LG, out playing this morning. He don't care that its only 15deg. Out, he's got tractors to run. Work won't do it self, dontchaknow?

Winter Wonderland

2011-02-09T15:50:00.001-05:00

Winter has felt very strong this year. Many snow storms, each requiring manual labor with my ol' snowblower. 10-horsepower mind you, not those wimpy 8hp deals. No sir, my machine is a real beast only to be wielded by men and trained oxen. For a while there I was feeling pretty beat down by all the effort and not having any fun with it. At the time I just figured the funk was from either all the snow storms and labor to move it or some other rut, work maybe.

One evening I was in the basement having a party with myself. Wife came down to see what I was up to and we started talking about our loss of Watson. It totally ruined my party. But in hindsight that's when I started feeling better. No shit. Only today did I realize that it was that issue keeping me depressed. Not the damn storms, not work. Nope, just straight up unacknowledged sorrow and mourning.

So now the next storm comes. There I am battling with winter again. This time I actually went out while it was still snowing and blowing, before the plows even. And I'm workin' and 'blowin' and then I shout into the wind whipped snow 'IS THAT ALL YOU GOT?' followed by a menicial laughter.

Then news of another storm approaching. Shit, well now would be a good day to shovel the roof. So I did. 2.5 hours later I finished. Of course I was a nut and did a 1.25 hour snowshoe prior. Which finally gets me to what I wanted to post originally.

Fun pics, and a gratuitous kid photo.

Another week done

2011-01-21T19:13:00.001-05:00

This was a long week. Twice it took me more than an hour to drive home on snow and icy roads. Like lots of other people I'm sure. Tonight I got home to 10inches in the driveway. waiting for me to move.
It took an hour. Like usual. though my back has been very sore for the last couple of days. And that didn't make it any easier.
But its done and look what I founf in the fridge.

Makin' Music

2011-01-17T13:50:00.000-05:00

On Friday morning I disappeared deep into the winter Maine woods. The black cast iron woodstove was cranking out warm dry heat when I arrived at 10. The band members had been there a day earlier, setting up the makeshift studio. A studio we would not leave from for three days.

The computer program and motu were running properly. The song list was laid out, all the practicing, practiced. The goal was simple. Lay down clean tracks for eight songs.

Once I was settled in and gone through an orientation period with the recording program we were ready to go. But first, WHISKEY SHOTS! rock-n-roll, right?

So began my three days in a dark room, listening to music with headphones as sound engineer of North Bridge.

Mt kineo

2011-01-08T15:01:00.002-05:00

I had an oil spill response job to do in rockwood last week. This pic is of m

Mt. Kineo. The frozen lake I am standing on is Moosehead.

The geology of Kineo is pretty interesting. The rocks are officially named the Devonian Tomhegan Formation Kineo Rhyolite member garnet rhyolite.

Native Americans in the area would use these rocks for spear point, cutting tools etc. The Kineo rhyolite, a flint like blue-gray rock with small quartz crystals that could be shaped into spear points, knives, axes, and other tools. Artifacts made of Kineo rhyolite have been founding hundreds of locations in Maine and at sites as far a field as Martha’s Vineyard and Nova Scotia. -referemce: some website

According to the usgs .

Consists of blue-gray, bone-white-weathering, massive, conchoidally fracturing felsite with quartz and feldspar phenocrysts; blue-gray, greenish-white-weathering, irregularly fracturing felsite with garnet and white feldspar phenocrysts; dark-blue-gray, greenish-white to light-gray-weathering tuff; blue-gray, chalky-white-weathering tuff containing felsite and pumice fragments and fine-grained volcanic debris (devitrified shards); rhyolitic felsite pebble conglomerate; and flow breccia resembling the felsite but containing numerous irregular felsite fragments in a matrix of same material. Thickness ranges from 0 to 4,000 ft. Underlies main part of Tomhegan formation; overlies Tarratine formation. Report includes geologic map and correlation chart. (ME003) Revised to include rocks previously mapped as both Heald Mountain Rhyolite and Kineo Volcanic Member of Boucot and Heath (1969). Exposed in Long Pond and Pierce Pond 15-min quads. Consists of weakly metamorphosed rhyolite ash-flow tuff, flows, domes, volcanic breccia, grit, and conglomerate as well as associated hypabyssal, garnet-bearing felsic intrusive rocks. Separately mapped intrusive garnet rhyolite in Tomhegan Formation, previously mapped as both unnamed garnet rhyolite and garnet rhyolite of the Kineo Volcanic Member by Boucot and Heath (1969), is now considered to be equivalent to Kineo.

Maybe next time im up there Ill actually stop to look at the rocks. I totally didnt this time. Oh well, whatever. Next time.

Watson: My Dog

2010-11-16T21:27:00.000-05:00

Mid-week I happened to on my way home from a petroleum cleanup site in Houlton when she called me. Wife found a small private farm advertising the 5 week old Aussie Pups the Uncle Henrys. I was right near by and planned to meet her at the farm. While standing among two litters of baby Aussies one of them walk up behind us, tap me on the foot, and sat down at heel position. As if to say, 'Hey, Pick Me."

After waiting a few weeks for him to grow to 8 weeks by the 10th week we had started a puppy obedience training class. This went very well, thou the memorable moment was when we learned that he could be submissive and peed on the floor from fear of the training woman once. But from that we learned how to use the clicker training technique and his behavioral keys to understand how to maximize his potential.

Shortly afterward Wife took Watson for agility training classes. This mostly served to reinforce voice commands. When he was 3 and 4 years old Wife also found a woman in Stonington who had sheep and did herding instruction. That was expensive but worth it for the few extra voice commands he learned, such as 'out' 'in' and the hand commands to wave him left or right.

An incredibly loving dog Watson would lick the wax out of your ear then move over to your mouth if you'd let him. More than once he basically 'french kissed' me. So gross. Snuggling in bed was an exceptional skill.

Every day, rain or shine, 365 days a year he demanded high energy play. And we gave it to him just about as much as he needed and we could handle. During winter Wife and I would often switch half way through a session so that the other could warm up by the fire inside. Frisbee was his athletically preferred sport, following a close second with chasing an 10" rubber ball (Jolly Ball).

In short he was the best dog ever.

But it only took three weeks. He had developed a cough. We took him to the vet and found that his lympnodes were swollen but it might me a result of kennel cough. He was given some meds, that by Wednesday we knew were not working. Watson stopped eating. And running much. And was now sleeping out side for the whole night, alone.

I went back to the vet with W ('W' pronounced Dubya, short for Watson) and I was told that he had lymphoma. Cancer of the lymph system. This was not good. We got a referral to a vet in Portland and got the next available visit.

Tuesday 9:30. When I got in with the vet tech and started to give her some background on W, I totally started crying. BooHoo-n' even. I knew by now. I had a whole day to google the shit out of the topic. And by this morning his eye had tinted yellow. A sign of jaundice and an indication of cancer migration into his liver. The Portland vet said he was to Stage IV probably even V by this point. That indicated to me how aggressive the disease was. We, of course, talked about the chemo treatments but it just does not make sense to spend that kind of money (5-grand) only to extend our own emotional and physical agony. And he may only live for 6 months. No. That is not good for us or him.

I texted Wife, she was at work:

'Can you come home?'
'Why?'
'To say goodbye'.

I had scheduled for the vet to lay Watson down that afternoon. I had too, it was the only way. We went in at 1:50pm.

Holding Watson as he died, hearing and watching as he exhaled his last two spastic breaths was without a doubt the saddest day of my life and I feel a profound deep sadness for him.

We decided to have him cremated. The place that conducted it did an excellent job, and even included some clipping of his fur and a little certificate with his paw stamp.

I will miss Watson forever.

We got Watson, a Red Merle colored, Australian Shepard, in Old Town, Maine in May 2003.

He died of lymphoma on November 9, 2010.

Crazy, crazy world

2010-09-25T20:10:00.001-04:00

The other night I was 'surfing' the web via Stumble Upon. I came across a screen cap of some girl/womans facebook postings. I read the first section and immediately recognized this as internet gold. So I turned the camera on myself and read aloud, word for word, as best as possible, each and every segment. People of the internet....I bring you, New Englander reading a Eubonic Rant.

Note: lots of foul language.

Paris

2010-09-08T08:50:00.000-04:00

This past summer on our return trip from Hungary we stopped in Paris, France for a couple of nights. In less than 72 hours we visited a good chunk of the major attractions. Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe and the Louvre. LilGuns did really well in that very large city. We managed to keep him under control and occupied even with the high temperatures of 30 Celsius. One night Wife and her mom we out and took some pictures of the tower all light up. It is quite a sight.

That's about all I have time for.

Graffiti: Its Art.

2010-08-24T09:06:00.000-04:00

This morning I walked past the Asylum in Portland and saw that the graffiti art was changed recently on the rear wall. This is a great example of graffiti art. It is uniform in its theme, mood and color. Stephen King should be proud of this one. A nice portriat of him, the clown of It, the cat of Pet Cemetary and a bloody Carrie are all represented. I couldn't get Carrie in the shot, no light.

Have a nice day.

Usless Commuting Statistics and a Friendly Challenge

2010-08-20T08:39:00.000-04:00

Commuted into work by bike today. The typical route from Yarmouth to Portland via Middle Road. The weather was perfect and I felt good.

My statistics in this morning were:

14.14 miles
0:46:12 (hr:min:sec)
18.3 mph average speed.

The whole trip right through the stats are the usual. Today however there was a plot twist during this otherwise normal bike commute.

I was just starting off from a traffic light (yes Ma, I stop at traffic lights) in the last 0.3 mile or so on Preble Street, when a guy on a white single speed in road racing style clothes buzzed past me. I immediately stood, pumped to get up to speed and shouted 'CHALLENGE'. He was staying just ahead of me as we were traveling at 27 mph on flat road. Too high of a speed for me to sprint and overtake him.

Then for the first time I really understood and felt how & why being behind a leader gives you the tactical advantage. I could see he was on a single speed bike. I could see his pedal strokes and that he was working hard to stay ahead. I could see him looking back to check form. I also knew that the road was about to pitch up and he would surely loose some momentum and slow.

He did, and by the time we hit the next traffic light, I had him.

Before the light turned and we went our separate ways I said something like 'Have a nice day or that was fun.' Whatever I said it started off the day with a great little friendly sprint challenge.

Thanks to the dude on the white single speed with the flavor-saver goatee.

F. Moser buildup continued.

2010-08-04T20:03:00.000-04:00

The previous posts to this story are HERE and HERE.
--------------------------------------------------

Today I had my 3oclock appointment at Port City Bikes (FB) with Peter and Percy to start the build up of my Moser Leader AX. I had learned that the frame has taken a special spot on the wall for protection and perhaps admiration. Regardless today it came down and Percy and I added parts while Peter order some additional items for it.

Added today were:

2007 Campagnolo Record bottom bracket.
07' Campy Record crank. 53-39 with 11-23 in the rear.
07' Campy Record rear deraileur
07' Campy Chorus breaks
07' Campy Record hubs were placed into the dropouts. The rims are due to arrive.
10' Ritchey WCS seat post

It was a great experience again building up a bike from the frame. I had done it as a kid to get my 1986 RL Osborn General Pro, which I still have in my shed, 24 year later. I'm thinking the Moser will be around that long too and spending the money to build is will be worth it.

And hanging out in the shop cleaning parts and shootin' the shit about bikes, movies and with customers was pretty relaxing and a great way to skip work for two hours. I am really looking forward now to seeing the remainder of the parts to come in.

**SlingShot Thought**