Saturday, June 23, 2007
Chicken wine is so dark, it's like Lucard tulips. It turns my tongue black.
Posted at 3:11:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
I can't believe it--I finished Dean's bike bag. (As opposed to his bagsket. The bag lives in the basket; the bagsket is a basket.) It only took me two days, and I designed the whole thing myself. It was partially planned (the pattern of the part that fits in the basket) and partially made-up-as-I-went-along (my usual technique). It turned out a lot better than I would have expected. No major Suders or anything. I'm not really looking forward to making mine, though. That Best Fabric Ever that I'm going to use for mine is great, but it was really nice following the lines on Dean's as a cheat. If I tried to follow anything on mine I'd end up with an anti-linear disaster. I'll take a picture tomorrow (we're planning to go to Cape Cod) so I can post it.
Posted at 2:27:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
Friday, June 22, 2007
Jan is so wise. She thinks maybe the Land of Lincoln left my wallet on purpose because it wanted to see the world. "Maybe that's what coins dream of... being exchanged many times by many hands before retiring to someone's coin collection. You loved LOL so maybe he'll be back after he 'finds himself.'" I thought I'd failed the LoL, but, if she's right, I feel a lot better about it. (Still sad, though.) No salt on the Land of Lincoln's tail. Of course, I knew it was a risk all along, but it was a risk I had to take, because I couldn't confine LoL to my coin collection. It needed to be in my wallet to be my companion.
Posted at 4:46:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
"WHERE IS ORAC??" Heeheehee. I like "Headhunter." And it even includes some zapping! Plus, Vila hiding in the closet was great.
Posted at 1:00:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
Dean fixed the Curly Top™! (It broke less than 24 hours after I declared that it rules.) It's fun using my ironing iron (to iron the seams of the bag I'm making to line Dean's bike basket) while Dean uses his soldering iron at the same time, on the floor of my super-bright room. I made an actual pattern again (fav pattern making material = posterboard) and it worked! The bag fits perfectly. I am astonished. Even the corners are pointy this time. It's not done yet, though. I still have to make the foldy-top, which will keep it from slipping down. (I even used math to do the pattern, except I wrote down that one of the sides was 7 2/8", then cracked up when I realised how stupid that was.)
Dean and I keep calling each other "Muller."
I am still in grieving for the Land of Lincoln, but I feel a lot better. My brain was mush until early evening.
I went to Rocky today (pretty much solely to read the Advocate), and it was an abomination. I ordered my usual "tall dry cappuccino, for here," and the barista (never saw him before) gave me a cup with two inches of empty space on top. I brought it back up to the counter and asked, "Can I have a little foam, please?" But it wasn't a blow because I wasn't the least bit surprised.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Oh, no. Somehow, I accidentally spent the Land of Lincoln. It's gone. I am so sad!! (I'm not kidding.) And I don't care if it's silly. I don't know how this happened. I always check. :-( :-( :-(
Posted at 2:08:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Posted at 9:53:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
I'm terrible at tailgating! It's completely against my driving nature. Dean says I wasn't even tailgaiting, either--I was just following him at a "reasonable" distance so we wouldn't get separated. No way! I was fighting the entire time to stay even that close. Being too near another car makes me really uncomfortable. (I also hate it when other cars drive close to me.)
I'm on a huge orange binge. Orange the color, I mean. Today I got these water shoes (they were even on sale, although I didn't know it!). They're perfect for Hawaii! 1) Lots of toe protection for walking on `a`a, and B) I'll blend in with the flowing lava. :-) And yesterday I got an ORANGE bike jacket. The sleeves zip off and it turns into a vest, if it's not too cold but your chest is getting all frozen from zoooming. (Projection against my non-pal, the wind.) It fits really well, but, best of all, it's orange. I also got this anti-linear fabric today. (!!!)
I like the Fish!
Posted at 1:01:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
Monday, June 18, 2007
Posted at 9:54:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Farmington Canal Heritage Trail in Cheshire and part of Hamden:
I thought it was going to be too hot, so we waited to go a bit later so it would cool down some. It was almost 90° today and I had a bad brain-boil headache. But the trail is shady and cool! My headache vanished.
Nice and flat!!! Surrounded by trees! Skinny peaceful canal. I love this trail!
Trip distance = 9.57 miles
Average speed = 9.7 mph (I'm surprised it's not higher, because I was travelling much faster than that most of the time... but I guess it makes sense, because there were a bunch of stop signs, where the trail crossed over roads)
Max speed = 21.4 mph (this was pedaling really fast in a fun sprint, NOT downhill!)
Trip time = 59'10
Partway through, we stopped for a picnic (FSPs), using my new ALB-looking soft cooler for the first time (it's perfect). Dean led me on this little detour off the main path, and it went to an animal farm with a picnic table under a tree! No one else was there, and it was wonderful. After we ate, I talked to the birds (one peacock, two peahens, and three different cool chickens). I saved the non-birds for a future visit. My blue sweater = peacock blue.
Also saved most of Hamden for a future visit, because it was starting to get chilly (!), so I said we'd bike 'til the Cat said 5 miles, then turn around. We roundturned at Brooksvale Ave.
I liked everything about it, except all the bugs splatting into my face on the way back! Dusk, almost 9:00.
I want to go on the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail and have a picnic once a week! Nice nice nice path.
Posted at 1:05:00 PM by Laura W. Petix.
Nantucket Part Three! (On Sunday.) Biked to 'Sconset (Milestone Rd. path), explored around 'Sconset (did not go on the beach, since it looked zzzzz), and then took the Polpis path (I like this photo!) back, biked to town, and had an excellent dinner at the Even Keel (then, biked back to the airport). Polpis = more hilly than either 'Sconset or Madaket. Madaket's the nicest.
Wonderful smells. Honeysuckle and beach rose brambles. 'Sconset had two colors of beach rose (rose hips & hibiscus) hedges--pink and almost purple. And a very cool sundial clock on the side of a building.
Even Keel's Four Cheese Fritter blew my mind.
I love my hound's squeaking breaks. Dean says it's just 'cause they're new, but I wish they'd stay squeaky permanently! (His don't squeak.) My Cat Eye is fantastic! I love knowing the Cat info. I want a wind-proof core vest. Maybe I could make one. The texture of the back-of-hand part of my bike glove feels like a snake's skin. (A really smooth-skinned kind of snake, like a ringneck.)
Cat Report:
Trip distance = 26.82 miles (!!!)
Average speed = 9.0 mph (it was 10+ on the way to 'Sconset, but dropped on the Polpis path because of the hills)
Max speed = 21.0 mph (zooming down a fun long hill on the way to 'Sconset, not pedaling) (the 'Sconset path's hills were longer and gradual, but the Polpis ones were steeper and obvious, without long flying payoffs) (on the way to 'Sconset, I kept asking Dean, "Is this a hill?" because I couldn't tell. I used the same gear the whole time.)
Trip time = 2:58'06 (!!!)
Flying home, we kept seeing white flashes in the dark clouds in front of us. It turned out it was a thunderstorm over Madison (nowhere near close enough to effect us) and the lightning was reflecting off the clouds (non-storm clouds) near us, so they lit up. It was very cool looking, but weird.
Did I mention that the Nose Guy is now working as an ATIS announcer?
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Posted at 12:00:00 AM by Laura W. Petix.
We were going to try out the Farmington Canal trail in Cheshire, but it rained too much. Still, we did lots of good Various and Sundry things anyway. I got a Cat Eye (you have to emphasize the "cat" part when you say it) for my hound at Pedal Power, and I really really like it. Dean installed it and I read all the instructions and set it up. (I also researched it online ahead of time, and picked it out!) Dean got a rear-view mirror (must be pronounced "meer," like how Bob says it) for his hound. Seems kind of backward that I wanted a computer and he wanted a mirror, but it's true. It's probably safer that way though, because he'd be distracted fooling with a computer too much while riding, and I'd be distracted trying to look at myself in the mirror. :-) We're big fans of Pedal Power (it's near the Middletown library). We're always buying stuff there, even though Berlin Bicycle is two inches from our house. The Berlin place is a good bike shop, but it isn't as friendly.
We checked out the Cheshire trail, even though it was raining (it's not too far from the airport, and we were there installing Tango's new Fine Leather Yoke Covers), and it looks nice! It goes all the way to (and through/beyond) Hamden (aka "Susie-ville"). We want to go there as an after-work ride, maybe on Monday.
By the way, for the record, (I meant to say this before, but I didn't have a chance to write a proper entry at the time), even though it's true that we "thought about getting folding bikes for a while" like I wrote on June 2nd, I have to admit that it was more like Dean kept cutting out ads for folding bikes and I kept saying the whole idea was crazy and not taking it seriously. But that's because I like using a "have no expectations so you won't be disappointed" modus operandi. It serves me well. I thought it was impractical and that we wouldn't really use or like them. (Too hot, too tiring to actually get anywhere, too difficult to transport, etc.). It was renting those bikes on Block Island and then running into a couple of fellow pilots who had Dahons at Bweel's, and seeing their bikes in person, that convinced me otherwise. That afternoon, we were looking up Dahons online on Dean's Palma while sitting on the beach at Pots & Kettles. That was Wednesday. Saturday, we rented bikes on Nantucket, and I loved it even more. Sunday we drove to New York to get the Ciao hounds. I'd picked out the Ciao model Saturday night online. And it is perfect. I'm still not sure how practical bikes would be for getting around Block Island (our favorite beaches are in kind of remote and hilly locations...), but what I didn't think of before is that they are fun as an end unto themselves. There: that's my (completely voluntary) Admit All.
