Soil gas sampling

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

Pumpkin land

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

StoryLand

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

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

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.

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.

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

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!

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

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

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

Portland, me.

April Snow Day -ok

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.