The Right Tool for the Job

Last night I adjusted the valves on my motorcycle. That requires taking the valve covers off. (The valve cover is the squarish thing right in the middle of the picture with the silver horizontal lines running through it.)

It's not a difficult procedure, at least on paper, but 33-year-old motorcycle factors can crop up at any time, especially the first time I do something on the bike.

Take this nut, for instance. It's just a nut. 13mm, as it turns out. It's recessed in the valve cover pretty deeply and there's not a lot of space around it. I managed to get a 1/2" socket around it on the left side cover, but it wouldn't work on the right side.

I was rapidly approaching that frustrating mechanical position known as "Stuck." (It has other, more colorful names as well, but this is a family blog for the most part and we'll stick with Stuck.) The fact that I ended up at Stuck some hours later and into this morning when a 33-year-old stud stripped (so much for this being a family blog) is beside the point, because I've now fixed that too. But back to the nut - if I can't get a socket around it I can't finish the procedure.

Then I remembered that earlier this week when I visited Retired Mama and her Financial Adviser (a good band name, by the way...) she gave me a gift: This quarter-inch-drive socket set. (Mr. Fix It and Edward David are getting them too - if it was supposed to be a surprise, oops.) The largest socket in the set - 13mm. It fit into the tight space perfectly and the nut spun right off.

Nothing beats having the right tool for the job. Thank you Retired Mama!

Spanky's the Leader

When we walk in the forest, Spanky, our joyful black lab, always takes the lead. He doesn't get far ahead, and he always waits and keeps an eye out for us.

Back in February, after they found cancer in his nose, I asked everyone to think good thoughts for our boy. Thank you for those good thoughts. They brought us six months of joy and love with Spanks. He got to see (and eat!) lots of snow; he got to swim in several lakes, creeks and ponds; and last Thursday, when Diane got home after a three-day business trip, he greeted her with such unbridled joy and love I just had to laugh.

The cancer's progressed, though, and on Thursday we're taking him to the vet one last time. There has been a lot of tears (and there's more coming) but as I write this I can't be sad. It's his time and I'm so grateful for the months we've had

Spanky's going to go on ahead, like he does. I know he'll be keeping an eye out for us, waiting to show us the trail when we finally catch up.

A Spoiler-Free Harry Review

I bought my copy of the last Harry Potter book on Saturday (and not at midnight, thank you very much...) and finished it last night.

I won't talk about the plot at all. I haven't liked all the books in the series (the fifth one in particular) but this one was excellent, a fitting and fine ending to a long saga.

Nobody'll Notice But Me...

I promised (warned?) there would be new motorcycle pictures soon.

This was what it looked like when I got it. Notice the frame, especially at both ends of the diagonal stiffening bar. Had some pretty significant chipping and paint erosion, I'm sure from spending the last 33 years in the Bay Area.

This is what it looks like now. I blasted and repainted both stiffening bars, and cleaned and touch-up painted the frame. I'm sure no one will ever notice, but I will...

I still need to find a speedometer or gauge cluster, and ignition switch and original key - the key is broken off inside this switch and anything will turn it - and need to replace the off-brand tires with better-handling Metzlers.

Yeah, and there's front fork reflectors I still need to replace (they're missing) and any number of little bits and pieces along the way that will need replacing or repairing as the years go on.

But - take a look again - at least this machine is worth it!

Playing with Tape - and Being Seen!

Today, before nap time, I played with tape.

Kindergarten never really leaves you.

Actually, I took reflective tape and cut it to match some of the design lines on my motorcycle helmet so that people will see me and not run me over.

I'll let you know how it works!

Here's what it looks like not in total darkness. You can still see one black stripe by the cheek that hadn't been covered yet when I took this photo.

My jacket also had some reflective stuff built in, (which you can see in the photo below) so really nobody has an excuse for running me over at night!

Rejoice in the Roundel!

It's cool owning a classic BMW. (Expect to see some new pictures soon.) I was in Modesto today for a meeting and stopped in the BMW dealership and the counter guy knew me by name. (And no, I haven't bought that many parts yet!)

The logo is cool. I sewed this patch on my jacket today, and the other day I replaced old faded reflectorized decals on my saddlebags with these: handcut from reflectorized tape.


I know, I'm a geek.

Idgie Likes the Stink

There have been previous posts about how Spanky likes snow, or swimming, but very few posts about what Idgie likes. It's not because we like Spanky better.

It's because Idgie like stink.

If it stinks, Idgie rolls in it. The more it stinks, the happier she is. And it's not like she's some big huntress, either, out stalking birds or squirrels all the time. (Never, in fact...) Maybe she doesn't hunt because she doesn't feel she's sufficiently stinky to sneak up on stuff, but I doubt it.

The other day we went down to Murphys and took the dogs and took them to the creek that run through town. Spanky swam around and discovered currents (and had quite a look of surprise when he turned back upstream and wasn't getting anywhere!) and Idgie, apparently, found a pile of rotting fish guts and rolled in them. We didn't notice until we got back to the car, and Diane had her head hanging out the window most of the way home. It reeked!

Idgie got scrubbed and tubbed and sprayed with Fabreeze, and I have to go get her a new collar today because I can't get the fish-stank out of her old one.

Anonymous Diane has a Green Thumb

It's not all motorcycle madness in This Land.

Diane has been tending to her garden, and despite the heat, we are awash in green and growing things.

This is the creek bed to the left of our house. The ferns volunteer every year, but this year she's been watering them to keep them around a little longer. There are a couple of groupings of pots which give it some pop, and they and the lantern help lead your eye up the creek bed. (The gate goesn' hurt either.)

Here's another pretty picture, which Diane tells me is a hibiscus. Apparently, they're not supposed to grow 'round here. Guess no one told this one!

In motorcycle news, I rode over to Sonora today for the first time, about 45-50 minutes each way, and the bike did fine with the miles and 99-degree heat.

Good Advice, but Kinda Scary

Came across this poster today on the ebay. And while I like its directness and simple message, it is more than a little threatening.

I guess the tagline "Visit the Zoo or a Giant Purple Elephent Will Stomp You into Jelly!" wouldn't fit...

An Update on the Ebay

Here's an update on the ebay. I mentioned in my previous blog I was going to put my old bike trainer up. So I wiped the dust away last night and took pictures and boxed it up. This morning I took it to the post office and had it weighed, then listed it today with a buy-it-now price of $55. At auction they sell for around $70 or $75 from what I could tell, and some don't sell at all. (Which is the bad thing about the ebay - if your item doesn't sell, you still have to pay the listing fees.)

Anyway, it's gone. Guy in Virginia did a buy-it-now and paid through paypal, and I've already had the money transferred to my savings account (it takes a few days to show) and he paid calculated shipping so it's not out of my pocket and I'm $55 richer and have one less thing gathering dust in storage.

Gotta Love the Ebay...

Really, you do.

First of all, where else are you going to find posters like this?
This is winging its way to me as we speak from somewhere in Wisconsin. I'm out $11, and you can't tell me that's not a bargain. (It's a nice summer evening and I've had one screwdriver already and I'm probably not done and you pretty much you can't tell me anything, but still...)

Here's a better example. These are mountain bike pedals I bought for Diane some five years ago. She didn't like them and I tossed them in a tool box and they've sat there for five years. Without the Ebay (I'm using the article in a Southern California fashion) these get tossed in the trash or sold at a garage sale for 50 cents.

Instead, I listed them on the Ebay tonight with a buy-it-now price of $15 (plus $5.50 shipping) and I sold them in about 10 minutes. (I'm not even exaggerating. They went that fast.)

The Ebay took 65 cents and Paypal took 89 cents and the rest is in my Paypal account right now, awaiting transfer to my real bank account, (or further cool BMW posters on the Ebay.) (And yes, I will always call it the Ebay from now on.) Actual shipping will cost me $4.85.

In the last month or so, I've netted well over $1,000 from old motorcycle parts, my road bike or other stuff I really didn't need. (Yes, I sold my road bike. It's too damn steep up here to ride it, and I damn near killed myself learning that a week or two ago.) I'll list my magnetic ride-your-bike-in-your-house trainer tomorrow once I get it weighed.

So, here's what I've learned about the Ebay:

• Take good pictures and write a good, honest description and people will buy what you have.
• Weigh your stuff before you list it. It sucks to ship something for more than someone paid for shipping.
• Buy-it-nows work. Look at the stuff that's about to sell, price your item at a reasonable discount from that and do a buy-it-now price. People will pay a fair price for stuff they want. (On the other hand, if you want to try to get maximum value, let the auction run for the full seven days and hope people bid it beyond what you would have asked.)
• Buy stuff before you sell and build up 10 positive feedbacks. I'm not sure that matters, but it seems to help.

Anyway, if you've got stuff you're not using, there's a whole world out there that might want to buy it. You gotta love the Ebay!

Is It Too Early to Care Unless You're in Des Moines?

Is it too early to start thinking about Presidential politics? It could be, I know, but I'm starting to lean.

I think Bill Richardson's my guy.

On experience, no one else is close. Congress, ambassador, energy secretary and governor. And as governor of New Mexico, he's gotten stuff done. (And got 40% of the Republican vote in the last election. When asked by the Des Moines Register editorial board about it, he said, "I don't know what they were smoking, but I did get that.")

So he's got a sense of humor, too.

I know it may be Barak's year, and I don't think Hillary will go down without a fight (and a scorched-Earth fight at that...) but I think both will fade.

Bill's the guy.

Have I Mentioned That I Love My Motorcycle?

No pictures of motorcycle parts today, I'm afraid (although it is still early and many things can happen...)

No, just words today; happy words of Bavarian joy.

I love my motorcycle. As I told Diane the other day, it's the coolest vehicle I have ever owned, without a doubt.

Been riding some (been busy, too, so not a lot) but the first couple of days hesitentancy and reacclimating is done. I still have to relearn and polish my technical skills, but that comes with hours and time.

Went to the BMW dealership in Modesto when I was in the Valley last week and bought all the fluids and filters to do a full servicing, which I'll get started on this weekend. Gave the bike a nice scrub yesterday and waxed the fenders and tank (shiny!) and last night (after beers with the people who raise goats) I was out here emery-clothing spokes and watching a rerun of Serenity on HBO. (I've never actually seen emery-clothing used as a verb before, but there's always a first.)

Anyway, life is good.

If There Was a Pool, June 16th Wins!

So it turns out I wasn't without a project for long...

This one, however, runs!

It's a 1974 R75/6, and I brought it home today from San Francisco. Isn't it pretty?

So here's how it happened. Since disposing of my disassembled Honda, I'd been reading Craigslist, looking for a bike like this in the Bay Area, Sacramento, Reno/Tahoe, Stockton or Modesto. On Tuesday this bike hit the Bay Area list and I had a feeling. The guy wrote a very complete description, both the good and the bad, and obviously knew his machine. I set up a tentative time to see it Wednesday evening, after working in Stockton. I liked this bike from the start - the right things are right, and the problem areas are things I can deal with over time.

But sometime in the late morning, in Stockton, I checked Craigslist again and saw a 1976 BMW R90S listed for $1,700. These bikes sell for $6 to $7K these days - they've gotten collectible as hell. So I left Stockton at noon and hauled ass to Palo Alto to see it before anybody else did and if I had been in the market for another complete restoration project, I'd have been in luck. The bike was there and the engine and frame numbers matched, but the engine was on its last legs. The guy selling it didn't really know the bike and it was obvious he wasn't comfortable with it and I walked, called the guy in SF selling this one, and went into the city.

(Just a side note, and I think it's his good karma and not mine, but I had to park my truck on city streets three times at various points in this process, and all three times a space opened up right where I needed to be. (Twice right in front of the building, once one door away. That never happens.)

Anyway, I saw this one, loved it and told the guy I'd buy it. $1,400, which I think is an incredible price. He didn't have the title Wednesday so I went back today and he gave me a bunch of spare bits, tools, manuals, the original seat, the touring bags (I took off for the photo), etc. We walked it through the DMV and it's legally mine.

I didn't post anything about it because I didn't want to jinx it. Anyway, I have opened the BMW-buying gate. Purchase away!

The Power of Three

(Yes, it's a "Charmed" reference, for those of you who don't appreciate the televised supernatural anywhere but Sunnydale...)

Actually, it's an idea; one we've had before but whose time had yet not come. What does everyone think about it now - combining forces once a year for some major home renovation or improvement project and rotating house to house?

We, for instance, want to expand our rear deck, connecting the side deck on the right side of the picture with the hot-tub deck at the left. It's a 325-square-foot expansion, and we could tie into existing deck structure (possibly reinforced) for a decent portion of it. There are specific things about it I don't know, but I know that with Dave, Scott, Sonnjea, Sara, Diane and me working on it, there is no part of this we couldn't do. And probably in three days.

We would obviously put you up, feed you, buy all the beer and have all the materials and supplies ready. And, we'd make the same commitment of time and travel to do projects at your places.

What do people think? Every three years we get a crew and an opportunity to tackle something major on our houses. The other two years we get the opportunity to visit and help our siblings/in-laws. I know we're not the family-reunionist of families, but this could give us a reason to. Scheduling is also an issue, but I think we could deal with it. What do you fine folks think?

Like Nature, This Land Abhors a Vacuum

Here's the problem I've discovered with clearing away the old motorcycle bits and officially declaring that project dead: Now I have no project.

I spent a whole day last weekend cleaning and organizing my garage and imposing some logic on even my catch-all tool drawers and the tote where I dump leftover screws and nuts. And now I've got this great land with good tools and essentially two days off with no work due and NO PROJECT!

For those keeping score at home, my grand total on eBay was a profit of $264 after shipping costs and selling fees, which was more than I paid for the original motorcycle, so that's something...

I could design and build a headboard, which I may get started on next week. Today I'm going to go clean the house and walk the dogs and enjoy the very nice weather.

In my serial obsessive nature (which is better than cereal obsessive, I suppose...) my latest craving looks a lot like this:
This is a 1977 BMW R100 at a dealer in Orange. Not a big fan of the big fairing in front, but those are removable (and replaceable with cool S-style fairings....)

This obviously isn't in the debt-reduction plan this year, and it's obviously just a big old toy. (But such a pretty toy!) So mostly I check craigslist and classified ads and occasionally drool when I see something like this.
Rest assured that if such a motorcycle did appear in This Land, pictures would appear on the blog.

Summer Movie Fun

Because it's so hard to find movie reviews on the Internet, I thought I'd give my own thoughts on two flicks I've seen recently.

Pirates is great fun. (Forgive me for not typing the whole damn title, but I still want to be young when I finish this post.) Some critics have criticized it for not making much sense. Huh? It has pirates and curses and octopus-faced bad guys and the main character died at the end of the last Pirates movie and they want a sensible narrative?

What it does have is some of the coolest naval battle sequences ever, and enough good-humored fun to make it worth the price of a ticket.

Mr. Brooks. Mr. Brooks has an interesting challenge - how do you make a sociopathic serial killer likeable? And it's a different challenge than Silence of the Lambs. In that, Lecter is interesting and perhaps even fascinating, but not likeable. And he's not the movie's protagonest. Mr. Brooks is. If we don't like this guy, we don't watch. And this guy kills people for fun.

I thought they pulled it off pretty well. The actors are good, especially Costner and William Hurt. (Hurt is dead-bang great.) The story requires a healthy dose of leaving reality at the door, which is what we should go to movies for. Folks not into twisting-plot and psych thrillers can safely pass, and it'll be just as good on DVD and cable.

Goodbye, CB750, Goodbye

The CB750 is no more.

Having decided that spending more money on this bike wasn't what I wanted to do (thanks one and all for your advice), I moved it on this morning.

I've got about a half-dozen high-value parts (or hopefully high value parts) that I'll try to sell on ebay or craigslist, but the rest went to the transfer station this morning.

No regrets. It was a very fun project two winters ago when I started it, and if buying a house and moving and money hadn't gotten in the way, I do think I would have finished. I learned a lot, both about the mechanical and monitary sides of motorcycle restoration, and I still know what I want next time.

If nothing else, my land looks a lot bigger and cleaner!

An Electric (and ebay) Update

I know my electric usage is of import to really no one but me, but I did get the first fully post-CFL conversion bill today, and daily consumption dropped another 8.6%, to 26.5 Kwh per day. I know that's still not great, but we recently learned that the heater in our hot tub is going out and drawing 33 amps when it kicks in. It's still under warranty and on order, so we may see even more of a drop (hopefully) when it's replaced.

To compare to last year, before CFLs and before I insulated the spa: 37.9 Kwh/day to 26.5, and $240 to $140. I like this year's better.

As for the ebay update, I decided to sell off the Honda as parts and save up for a late-70s, early-80s BMW R-series. First piece got listed yesterday and sold today - my first ebay sale.

Spanky likes melted snow, too!

As you know, Spanky likes the snow.

He also likes to swim. We took the dogs up to this little lake outside Arnold the other day, just to let him paddle around. (Idgie, of course, treats the lake much the way she treats the snow.)

Anyway, it was fun.