1410 OakWooD

The Passing of an Outlaw

2012-01-29T09:16:00.000-08:00

Keith finally died. Normally one would not speak ill of the dead, but this one is too good, this was Keith. One of his shirttail relatives has a dossier on Keith which she has been saving for this day to write a book. The title of the book is to be 'It Takes a Community To Raise a Thief'. One could quibble with the title, but everyone knew how he lived. He didn't even fake a real job, everyone, particularly law enforcement, knew that he was a thief by trade, a real professional. He must have been good at it, because he was seldom jailed for any length of time, except for one time when he inadvertently committed a crime that turned out to be a federal offense and he did some prison time. He left behind a bunch of children with assorted women and a number of small buildings scattered around the county were he kept his "stuff". Yeah, he will be missed.

Memorial services for Keith Leslie Register, of Albert Lea, will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday at Bonnerup Funeral Service, Albert Lea. Friends may visit with family one hour before services at the funeral home. Interment will be in Alden Cemetery at a later date. Keith was born on July 10, 1929. He passed away peacefully at Parkview Care Center in Wells on Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012. He was 82 years old.Register
Keith enjoyed auctions, spending time with and receiving recent photos of his grandchildren, and he lived life to its fullest.
He is survived by his children: Dottie (Steve) Honsey, Kenn (Lori) Register, Gene (Jamie) Register, David (Kathy) Register, Gary Register and special friend, Carmen, Joni Cline, Gail (Daniel) Thorpe, Brian (Amy) Nielsen, Bruce (Jennie) Nielsen and Alan Nielsen and his special friend Tetyana; brothers: Alan (Louise) Peterson and Ross (Fran) Peterson; aunt, Mary Jean Pagenkopf; 23 grandchildren; 16 great-grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews.
He is preceded in death by his mother, Vivian Cadwell; brother, Richard Peterson; and sister-in-law, Denise.
He will be sadly missed by many friends.

The Hogkill Blues

2012-01-13T19:06:00.000-08:00

Charlie Paar's from Austin, Minnesota, 20 miles up the road from Albert Lea. Both towns were historically meatpacking towns. Albert Lea's Wilson Packing is long gone, Austin still has Hormel. Both plants had bad strikes, and both towns had the National Guard. This is for Cheri Register and all the others who's fathers worked the kill.

Charlie Paar: One man, one Guitar, one foot in the grave. If you are around any of these places check him out.

The Book Exchange and Joe

2012-01-09T14:08:00.000-08:00

When Lorna's relatives stop over, besides coffee, cookies and family gossip, there is often a book exchange. The photo above is the results. Because I don't generally read novels, I don't participate. Nevertheless, I really enjoy being part of a family of avid readers. So yesterday while the women exchanged books, Fritz and I adjourned to the Growlery, to talk smart and drink toasts to the late Joe Koevnig, a man that neither of us ever met. Fritz and I both only knew Joe through his widow, Maude, who lived next door until her passing. By reputation among the old Oakwooders who knew him, Joe was a little rough, but a likable and gregarious man who smoked and drank too much, and was most famous for his extremely foul language. He was also the owner of a couple of my fly rods, my willow creel and that fine hat that hangs on the peg in the Growlery corner. Everything I've ever heard about Joe has been good. So ... "Here's to Joe".

Miscellaneous For Sat 1/7/12

2012-01-07T15:49:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I mentioned that on my little bicycle jaunt around town I stopped at the local hardware store (casual bicycling in January in Minnesota!). I was there to pick up a handful of 5/16-18 x 3/4" carriage bolts. These are the size that fit the threaded plastic knobs I purchased from Amazon. They make a nice chain retainer for a frame without the wheelset. I throw in a big washer on the inside, not that it's necessary, but I think it looks better.

I've been looking for curtains the screen the view from the prying eyes of bicycle thieves. Nothing seemed right, or it cost money. Chuck Schmidt had a half price Christmas special on T-shirts, so I bought one with the Galmozzi logo. The backside has "Galmossi" in large letters across the shoulders. Very cool. Looking for a place to hang it, I draped it over the window. I think I have found my curtains.

Another Adam Turman picture to go with the one that I received for Christmas.

Another Day Shot

2012-01-06T07:29:00.000-08:00

The jet-stream is all screwed up. It was warm yesterday, pushing 50F. It's a strange year, minimal snow and high temperatures. I haven't even taken the Coldnago out, though last week I got her road worthy just in case.

I was online with a group of bicyclists and told them it was too nice and I was logging off to ride my bike. One of them requested pictures of the high points of my ride. Sorry, nothing strange or exotic. I was certainly tempted to take out the Galmozzi for a maiden voyage, but it was wet enough on the street that fenders were nice. I just looped around the lake and stopped at the hardware store for some carriage bolts, then continued on to Nancy's Cafe for a noon breakfast.

As I was eating, someone came in and I looked up from my newspaper. It was an Oakwooder who was thrown in jail for theft. Apparently he is on a work release program. He stole money from his own family and a friend. A lot of money. The little weasel had a position staked out at the end of the counter so I had to walk by him to get out. I weighed my options as I read the Variety section and I came to the conclusion that I never wanted to to talk to him again. Actually, I didn't like talking to him before the shit hit the fan. He greeted me like he was a lonely man abandoned by everyone that knew him. I joined that group.

Back on the bike I headed for home, but I was hailed by an old friend. We sat in his living room overlooking the lake shootin' the shit for a couple of hours 'til Lorna called looking for me and I had to ride on home. Another day shot. In the long run this retirement thing is really working out.

A comment on my reflection in the window of Nancy's Cafe:

"Trivers recalls walking down a city street with an attractive young woman, “trying to amuse her,” when he spots “an old man on the other side of her, white hair, ugly, face falling apart, walking poorly, indeed shambling.” Trivers abruptly realizes he is seeing his reflection in a store window: “Real me is seen as ugly me by self-deceived me.” - Robert Trivers

A Follow Up to Chris Rasmussen

2012-01-04T19:04:00.000-08:00

From Everett Jensen, the owner of the gas station. I remember a dog. Must have been another station. Anyway, we are seeking truth here, not facts. ;-) :

"Fritz sent me the link to your blog and the story about Chris. I tried to answer via the blog and couldn't make it work so I will e-mail.
I really enjoyed it and it sure brought back memories. Chris was a real Dane and had come here when he was about 18. He worked on farms and tried it for himself, but he was one who needed to work for someone else. He was as reliable as the come and honest. He never had much. In fact it was in his late years that he finally got running water into the house. I gave him a new water heater at that time. I was out on a farm service call the morning he died. I came back into town as Jesse Jackson was loading him into his old ambulance.I think it was about 1967. The story was well written, there was no dog. The spelling was Rassmussen. His wife was a sister to James J. Jensen out by the north church.
The old chair in the office had been donated by the Creamery by Lyle Anderson. Chris spent some time in it as well as most of us. I gave the chair to Jack and as far as I know he still has it. Jack worked for me at the same time as Chris and I know he has some fond memories of him too.
The station was a hangout for a lot of young guys in the 60's and 70's. What a good bunch. I don't think there was a bad apple in the bunch and they all turned out good.
Another story that came to mind was the day that Chris told me his brother ( he hadn't seen him in years) was in the hospital in the cities and very ill. I said let me take you up there. He said no he didn't need to go as his brother was a alcoholic and lived as a bum on the street in Mpls. J insisted and he said he would take the bus. Next day when he came to work he said that he had got to the hospital just as they rolled the body out of the room. I said funeral and he said he didn't care to go. Just let them bury him."

Chris Rasmusson

2012-01-03T20:57:00.000-08:00

An off-blog exchange on lighting made me think of Chris.

In The Grove, the little town where I grew up, we had one gas station which was a general hangout - guys sitting on broken stools and stacked oil cases smoking Chesterfields, drinking Coca-Cola from 6 ounce bottles, swearing and spitting, telling lies about their lives and lovers. Chris was an employee. A really old employee. He did not own the gas station, he came with the business when Ev bought it, along with the old brown dog that laid by the door in the sunshine.

Every time Chris turned on the lights at dusk, every damned time, he said, "Let der be light, *click*, and der wuss." I think he'd been doing it for so long, for him it was part of turning on a lightswitch. One morning when the first customer, Wyman Hanson pulled up, Chris didn't come out to pump the gas, check the oil and wash the windshield. Now Chris was old and not one to hurry, but eventually Wyman became impatient and went in the see what the hell the hold up was. Chris was sitting there alone, sleeping, slumped in his chair behind the counter. Looking closer, Wyman noticed the cigarette had burned all the way down between his fingers. Old Chris, deader than a Danish mackerel.

If I happen to have a guest that knew Chris, I still tend to quote Genesis when I flick the light switch. "And der wuss."

(Jeez, it's been so long, now I'm not certain it was "Rasmusson".)

The Growlery: Adding "Stuff"

2012-01-03T17:11:00.000-08:00

The 1972 Galmozzi. Angelo Galmozzi didn't date or number his frames. I accepted the fact that this was a '72 because the seller thought it was. It. Ain't. It is possibly up to ten years older. The pictures of another 1972 and late 1960s Galmozzis have the bottom cable guides brazed on, no head badge and other subtle differences. So the carefully selected components are quite likely the wrong date. One way of looking at this is that that probably saved me a little money.

Really discerning eyes will note that I did find World Championship bar tape, and I rerouted the brake cables to the traditional Italian right-hand front brake setup.

The fishing books and equipment are a bit of a red herring; that is, I don't actually fish much, but I enjoy reading about it, particularly the fly fishing books.

Bags and baskets. A folding table for company, which is as close to a workbench as I have out there right now.

The print I received from my daughter. And some old inherited rods and reels - the oldest pushing the century mark.

A magazine rack the Old Man made when he ran away from Ma and was living at the cabin by Geneva Lake. It is a very inefficient use of space, but the size is about right ... and I had it. Which is sometimes the driver.

Resolutions

2012-01-01T17:19:00.000-08:00

It's New Years Day, a day to make resolutions for the upcoming year, to change our lives for the better, and to reaffirm our bad habits. I try to keep my resolutions within the scope of reality, not to over reach. For instance, two years ago I resolved to eat more mustard. I took a pretty good run at that one early, but eventually lapsed back into my old butter and mayonnaise habits. Last year I resolved to drink more Stouts and Porters. I'm proud to say that I've done pretty well at that one, though I did backslide a little into the Ale world, particularly the IPAs, after my sidekick, The Judge went south for the winter season. Then the local liquor store started carrying MooJoos Oatmeal Milk Stout and I was back on the road to redemption again. I plan on attacking the Stouts with renewed vigor this year, but I don't have any other new resolutions. Any suggestions are welcome. And keep that self-improvement stuff to yourself. That usually only involves things that make it better for the people around you. I'm only interested in things that will make my life better. ;-)

Thanks to Gabriel for Woody Gutherie's New Year's resolutions.
# 20. DREAM GOOD. # 26. DANCE BETTER. Yep.

Res. no.1: Use more bar graphs and pie charts on the blog.

A Perfect Present

2011-12-24T17:50:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve:

Addy gave me a signed and numbered Adam Turmam 18 x 24" screen print of this. It's hard to see on this photo, but right under "Ride Gravel" in small letters it says "Southern Minnesota". I should have been suspicious when she said The Growlery needed some pictures. She was right. Now, all I need is a picture frame.

Thanks Addy, I love you.

Adding Growlery Capacity?

2011-12-24T09:01:00.000-08:00

I have a weakness for fendered bicycles. It has become painfully obvious that they take up twice as much storage space. To deal that that I took a baby step; I removed the fenders from the white "Ghost of Elvis" Kvale. At some point a person doesn't need two fendered Chris Kvale bicycles. Another thing has also become apparent. I have no provision for miscellaneous storage. The smaller parts can be dealt with boxes in and beneath the bench. Where the hell do I put fenders, wheelsets, etc? I'm thinking maybe an overhead compartment over the door. An attic.

Merry Christmas Guys

2011-12-23T16:19:00.000-08:00

(Thanks to Jonny Hamachi.)

Oakwood Carolers

2011-12-22T17:43:00.000-08:00

It's been many years since we've had a brown Christmas. We may not have any snow for Christmas this year in Oakwood, but we do have the neighborhood kids out caroling and plenty of cookies on hand to reward them. A Partridge In a Pear Tree beats Trick 'R Treat any day. (My daughter is 26 and says this is the first non-white Christmas in her memory. It just ain't right.)

I can't do first names with all these kids, but last names from the left: Utz, Heinz, Heinz, Cookle, Heinz, Utz. I think.

Not only were we treated to the Christmas spirit in song, they gave us a loaf of Hawaiian fruit bread from Tobi Utze as they left. Still hoping for a little snow.

The 1410 Growlery: 12/21/2011

2011-12-21T17:19:00.000-08:00

The view as I enter. The walls are Benjamin Moore GN-77, an obsolete code paint that was in a rusty can that has been in our basement since we moved in 25 years ago. As one might expect, the paint has a lot of clumps and bumps. It gives the walls "character". Also, a good leather chair for company. Between the wood chair, the leather folder and the ottoman I can seat three. One for solitude, two for company, and three for society. Should be enough.

The Peter Mooney is in the future location of the work bench. To the right, Lorna's little mixte.

The Ghost of Elvis. I'm seriously considering removing the fenders. How many fendered Chris Kvale bicycles does a man truly need? The bike hangers are just plumbing - floor flanges, 12" pipe, end caps, covered with foam isolation jackets.

Galmozzi and McLean. Tomorrow, Odean, God of War is coming over to patch my ill measured holes behind the McLean. He will work for really good beer. In true light the "orange" walls are actually burnt sienna - a brick red brown. The plywood will be covered by my old board fence, which is 3/4" x 7" redwood boards which will be planed down to 1/2" and stained to match the door.

The day before yesterday I visited Dave Forland and bought another of his old $25 chairs. Lorna claimed the other one I had for her sewing room. The ottoman will be eventually be covered with brown leather. And I think I need more shallow bookshelves on the wall behind the chair - just in case I need to read. We have a killer wi-fi router which will blast a signal down to The Growlery, but I think I'm going to resist that temptation for now.

As you can see, I'm slowly getting things fixed up. Next, baseboard and ceiling, then lay down the vinyl flooring. Then next summer, refurbish and trim the windows and door.

Growlery is a State of Mind

2011-12-20T07:38:00.000-08:00

A photo from Silky Jack - his Growlery, a nook where he can curl up to read, play his banjo and monitor the computer. It has been my observation that banjos are often banned to faraway corners. Also cigars.

Another Growlery?

2011-12-19T15:29:00.000-08:00

By definition a Growlery was a place to get away from the women, particularly when the occupier was in a cranky mood. So the question is, can a single woman have a Growlery? Apparently so, Judijudijudi sent me this picture today. Maybe she needs a place to get away from her cats.

A Warm Snap ...

2011-12-18T13:31:00.000-08:00

It's pushing 50 degrees right now. Nice weather for ice fishing? There is a skim of water over the ice that set up last week. It is people like these gentlemen that are decimating our fishing gene pool.

Phone photo by Lorna B. ...................... from shore.

A new attitude about biking in Minneapolis?

2011-12-17T18:35:00.000-08:00

A close member of my family lives in Minneapolis and works in one of the western suburbs. Last weekend she finally gave in and for the first time in years she temporarily parked her bicycle and bought an automobile. Even in Minneapolis the combination of distance and weather made bicycle commuting too difficult. The following is from yesterday's Minneapolis Tribune. I assume the photo was taken earlier in the year.

"The number of bicyclists in and around Minneapolis has soared in the past year, signaling that a decade-long cultural shift in transportation and urban design is gaining ground.

The number of people burning calories instead of fuel to turn their wheels increased by 22 percent in the past year and by 52 percent since 2007, according to data to be released on Friday by Bike Walk Twin Cities, an advocacy group.

The numbers are still low compared to car usage. But, experts say, they are big enough now to make an impact on health, air pollution and traffic congestion.

"It's become a cultural phenomenon, and part of the identity of many people who reside [in the Twin Cities]," said John Pucher, a professor of urban transportation at Rutgers University in New Jersey. "Minneapolis is one of the most successful [biking] cities in the United States, which is incredible given your weather."

The trend is also producing new attitudes toward commuting and -- in case you hadn't noticed -- a need to share the roads no matter what the weather.

"I'm going to ride in the tire track, right where the cars are," said Jill Hamilton, 48, as she described how she handles her bike commute to downtown Minneapolis on snowy days. "My mindset is: I'm sharing the road, too."

The fact that Hamilton is riding -- Minneapolis has more female riders than the national average -- and doing it in the winter is evidence that millions of dollars invested in biking lanes and trails are resulting in a transformation of the city, Pucher said." continued

More of the Boyd Lee Dunlop Caper

2011-12-16T07:01:00.000-08:00

The web is remarkable. A week ago I posted a piece about Boyd Lee Dunlop. The next day I received an email from Brendan Bannon who initiated Boyd's recording session. He had found 1410 on a Google search. We exchanged a series of emails about Boyd, but mostly about Brendan's photographs (more on that later) and Somali children. Brendan offered to send me a CD, but I had already downloaded the album from Amazon. He said they had made a small number of CDs, but the demand far exceeded his expectations. This CD is remarkable music, really Grammy-worthy stuff. I have a feeling there will be more demand; Boyd Lee Dunlop has hit the New York Times:

For years, the donated piano sat upright and unused in a corner of the nursing home’s cafeteria. Now and then someone would wheel or wobble over to pound out broken notes on the broken keys, but those out-of-tune interludes were rare. Day after surrendering day, the flawed piano remained mercifully silent. Then came a new resident, a musician in his 80s with a touch of forgetfulness named Boyd Lee Dunlop, and he could play a little. Actually, he could play a lot, his bony fingers dancing the mad dance of improvised jazz in a way that evoked a long life’s all.

Thinking About Bob Tonight

2011-12-15T16:04:00.000-08:00

Maturity

You spend your life

Trying to get mature

And when you reach eighty

You realize that you're

Only halfway there

And running out of time

You're not going to make it

You're already past you prime

I'm as good as I can get

And really no great prize

And I ain't going to to make it

Before my demise!

-Bob Muschler

The Galmozzi In the Growlery

2011-12-10T18:46:00.000-08:00

We finished hanging the sheetrock a couple of days ago and this afternoon I got one coat of primer on most of it before I ran out of paint. We're taking suggestions on eventual color. Disregard the window, I will be completely refurbishing and trimming them out when it warms up again next Spring. Check out the wall mount speakers. I'm pretty happy with them. They sound pretty darn good considering the diminutive dimensions of the space. The Galmozzi is sitting about where the workbench will eventually go next Spring after I get the flooring down. Slowly progressing.

1972 Galmozzi

I think it looks pretty good. It has that bolt together busy look of the old Campagnolo equipped bikes, kind of a nice change of pace from the lean, spare look of the '82 McLean. Most of the components are Patent '68 to '72, the year of the frame. There are two or three things that are not "pure" but they were all conscious decisions - for instance, the brake pads.

The vintage I.S.C.A. wraps had very nice finishing tape with World Championship stripes. Unfortunately they were brittle and the 40 year old glue was just gum. I finally gave up and just wrapped a couple of turns of white tape around and wrapped another turn of narrower blue tape over it. Looks just like I intended it to be that way. The corks are NOT from Italian wine. This just in! I'm getting replacement W.C. striped tape from Greg Softley. :-)

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Universal Super 68s. I ended buying two rough sets and combining them to get one fairly clean set. The hoods were purchased separately. Because of their age, most old blocks are as hard as stones so I cut down modern Kool Stops which were sized for vintage Campagnolo holders. They obvious aren't going to fool anyone, but at least they are close to the original color and more importantly, they will work. Brakes just don't strike me as a place to be period correct.

The stem is a first generation 3ttt Mod.1 Record Strada. The decals were flaking so I bought a replacement set from Greg Softley. Originally I thought I would be using fabric wraps, but then I scored these vintage I.S.C.A. vinyl wraps. These tie in nicely with the I.S.C.A. saddle. And what can I say? they're blue. The bars are 3ttt Competizione with the optional Gimondi bend which have a nice old school feel to them. It probably doesn't show up in the photos, but wine corks have been installed in the bar ends.

I.S.C.A. (Iscaselle) saddle. Every bit as nice as a Cinelli - so similar I suspect they came out o the same factory. The Selle San Marco G.S. post may not be quite period correct, probably mid to late 1970s, but it's so damned rare NOBODY seems to be certain. I already owned it, it fit the seat tube, and I'm using it. ;-)

Campagnolo Nuovo Record pedals and blue Binda straps. I used Balilla toe clips, only because I wanted to keep it as Italian as possible and I may be wrong, but I don't believe Campagnolo was making toeclips at this time. (Any other info welcome.)

Campagnolo cable clips and vintage Campagnolo cable housing.

Patent '72 Campagnolo Nuovo Record derailleurs. The front is so close to NOS it must have be on a demo or show bike. Used very gently. The rear is still good, but the top pivot is dinged a little and there some wear on the plates - all replaceable and available. Maybe someday.

Campagnolo NR shifters and bottom cable guides.

REG bottle cage. What can I say about a bottle cage? Except it's Italian and I have a white Campagnolo labeled REG bottle to stuff in it.

Campagnolo Nuovo Record Strada crankset. A technicality: this is not a '72. It is 1979. There was a slight change in 1978, slightly more clearance to clear the lip type derailleur front plate, but I doubt anyone could tell without looking at the number stamps on the back of the crank arms or measuring it with a dial caliper. I got tired of combing over the For Sales hoping to catch a clean '72 that was in my $$$ range. I gave up, this will have to do.

An old Regina Oro 5-speed freewheel I already had hanging on a peg. It's been used some. An Everest Special Oro chain from Scott Davis. The hubs are actually not going on this bike. Dan Lestrud will be using these to build a new wheelset for the McLean and the set on the McLean will go to the Galmozzi with the addition of pre '78 quick-lease skewers.

The above referenced pre '78 skewers.

The desk corner - eventually I'll cover the plywood with vertical bead board. Odean Nelson (Odean, God of War) is pretty good at hanging drywall, but it still needed a quick once over sanding, so everything is covered with fine white powder. Also a special thanks to buddy, John Rust, a professional contractor who worked for the free beer. Both good men to have on your side. Next, as soon as I can come up with the money to buy the lumber and more beer, we're doing the ceiling,

Boyd's Blues

2011-12-10T07:05:00.000-08:00

I have sworn off posting music. Forever. But I make the rules. I can break them. Boyd Lee Dunlop was recently "discovered" playing a broken down piano with missing keys in a retirement home dayroom. He just made his first recording at the age of 85 primarily of his own compositions . This is great stuff. Rehearsing.

I'm old and set in my ways. Every time a new music format comes out I am dragged kicking and screaming into the present day again, although I never really warmed up to tape. I'm pretty much a vinyl and CD man. Except for a number of bootleg recordings I have never downloaded MP3s. Boyd's Blues forced me to change because it isn't available as a CD. But you know damned well I'll be burning one.

Peace

2011-12-07T22:00:00.000-08:00

It's nearly midnight - almost a full moon tonight. We got our first real snow, 4 or 5 inches, a couple of days ago. It's not much by Minnesota standards, but it was enough to cover the ground and make the whole world seem clean and pure. For those who don't know, beneath a full moon away from the nervous light of humanity new snow reflects the light and takes on a moonglow of its own. The whole world becomes moonlight.

When I let the pug out for his last piss and sniff I heard a Barred Owl hooting, so I lingered a while on the steps listening to his declaration of ownership. An owl calling in the moonlight. This is one of those reality checks - a moment just to let us know that life is truly wonderful.

Goodnight to you all, I hope your life is as sweet as mine.

Roll, Coffee, and a Newspaper

2011-12-01T10:49:00.000-08:00

This morning. Coffee and butter not shown. This is for Old Fool, who hates pastry as much as I do. And for Margadant who has been known to share rolls with me when he's in town. Life is hard.

English Sheds

2011-11-30T19:10:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I wasted a chunk of time just sitting and smoking cigars in the Growlery with Christy from next door. We do this fairly often, yet when he leaves invariably he says, "We should do this more often". I guess we haven't hit the threshold of too much yet.

Thanks to George A. for the link to these pictures. Also, thanks to The Telegraph where I ~~stole~~ borrowed these images. And the Brits in general, who are wonderful in their quirky "shed in the backyard" sort of way.

Angry Catfish, Beer, and Pastry

2011-11-27T17:14:00.000-08:00

This link is for the young bearded dude at the Angry Catfish Bicycle and Coffee who sold me the tail light this afternoon. The Catfish is one of three sweet stores in a row on 28th in South Minneapolis - a triple destination. The others being Buster's On 28th next door ("What a neighborhood pub should be.") where I had a Butternut Squash Rissoto and a tap Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout, one of a couple of dozen beers on tap. Then we moved one door down to A Baker's Wife where we loaded up on enough almond Danish pastry to fuel the remainder of life's continuing journey.

Smalltown Pleasures

2011-11-25T20:13:00.000-08:00

On the spur of the moment the ladies and I decided to make a run down to Worth Brewing this evening. Before Lorna and I left to pick up Add at a friend's house, I called Soups Pizza in Northwood to place an order for a Hot and Spicy Peno pizza, thin crust, easy on the Jalapenos. The woman took my order and asked if we wanted it delivered to the pub? And how many plates did we need? She did not ask for my name nor a phone number nor credit card number. Now I understand caller I.D. and all, but it struck me as being a very casual transaction. When we got out of the Honda in front of Worth Brewing, I asked Lorna and Add to stake out a table while I checked on the pizza. As I walked in the door of Soup's, she looked up and said, "Hot and Spicey Peno, right?" Right. The pizza was just ready and waiting for delivery. "How would you have known who to deliver it to?" "Oh, I recognized your voice." My voice? I also should have ordered some of the buffalo wings, which Add, world traveler, has declared as to be the best ever. Maybe next time.

(If ya ain't got nothin" to write about, write about nothing.)

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-24T20:57:00.000-08:00

This was a variation on a theme played out all over America today - a little beer, a little football, a little wine, a lot of food, a lot of family love. There were 16 family members plus a couple of old friends. And three big ol' dogs who ate most of the leftovers set outside to cool. We were all a little pissed, but the dogs seemed rather pleased with themselves and even thankful.

The next generation: Foster, Signe, and Ruby.

Beaver Gnaw

2011-11-23T12:43:00.000-08:00

Another picture from Lorna's daily walk, a gnawed tree in Edgewater Park. As this is just a short distance from 1410, maybe I can hire him to take out a handful of Ash trees that are growing on my shoreline.

Fountain Lake Miracles

2011-11-22T20:00:00.000-08:00

The early season forming ice reflections give us an inverted woods, clouds in the stream, and ducks walking on water. And they say there are no longer miracles.

Growlery, 11/22/11

2011-11-22T13:26:00.000-08:00

Nothing very visible has happened in the Growlery during the past week, just slowly tightening windows and getting it more homey. Today I added another chair so Christy from next door will have something better than an old pail to rest his poor old broken-down ass on. As you may recall, Christy is for all practical purposes a one-armed man. As a lad he blew most of his right hand off screwing around with a revolver, then three years ago he had an accident while climbing a tree to a deer stand. "Hell, I only do it once every 60 years." A one-armed old man climbing up a tree while carrying a loaded .50 caliber muzzleloader - what could possibly go wrong? When the butt hit the ground the gun discharged, the ball struck him in the right armpit, destroying his shoulder. After numerous failed surgeries at the Mayo Clinic, the arm just hangs there limp with a non-functioning hand attached. He does not have it removed because, as he puts it, "I've become attached to it over the years". I only digress to share this little nugget of misery and woe because he is presently in South Dakota on a pheasant hunting trip ... with a shotgun ... a regular unmodified shotgun ... a one-armed hunter armed with a shotgun and a history of gun related mishaps. And still he is invited on numerous hunting and fishing trips. "They only tolerate me because I cook." For the sake of his companions, let us hope he doesn't receive the honorary Richard B. Cheney Award for Marksmanship. Again.

Back to my world, I've added an additional lower shelf to the desk to hold my amp/CD player and I put a little knob on my cigar humidor, thereby turning it into a lidded drawer. The waste basket is the first prototype of the Hershberger baskets that Velo Orange used sell, from back when I was in the Amish basket business. ;-)

My old man made the ottoman. I have plans to eventually cover it with button-tucked cognac cowhide. He tended to cobble together junk furniture, but this one caught him in a brief moment of sobriety and it's quite sturdy and is just the right dimensions.

Oh, and the bookcase is a peach crate from my late father-in-law's general store. For years, along with cardboard boxes, it was part of my very sophisticated wine cellar. It ain't much, but I will die with it. All the miscellaneous on the desk top have personal back links too of course, or they wouldn't be up there. There are a lot more and if I ever get this thing done, I'll post a history of them all.

You can double-click this photo if you want to read the writing on the wall or check the titles of my reading material.

McLean bike for sale link

2011-11-20T10:11:00.000-08:00

http://1410bicycle.blogspot.com/2011/11/mclean-for-sale.html

Growlery, Phase II Completion

2011-11-14T13:20:00.000-08:00

A couple of people have inquired about the progress of the Growlery. It's slowly coming along.

My workbench will be centered on this, the west wall. The boxes in the corners are actually temporary stereo speakers. I have a flush, wall-mount set that I will install when I put up the sheetrock.

Same wall. The windows slide up in the wall, so I have to insulate above the window with 3/4" foam panels. I think the ceiling will probably be tongue-in-groove pine, painted off-white.

The light fixture with the cover removed. My vision is not good and will continue deteriorating, so I installed as robust a fixture as was feasible. It's pretty intense, so I wired it with two switches, so I can turn on either three tubes or six. I also bought a dark woodgrain linoleum remnant for the floor to make nuts, bolts and widgets as visible as possible. There is another single light and a cigar exhaust fan above the desk on the other end of the room.

The desk corner. Eventually there will be wainscoting and bookshelves in this corner. The wall-heater under the window throws off pretty good heat, but just in case I wired another circuit under the north window for a future auxiliary heater if I need it.

Photo...

2011-11-11T18:44:00.000-08:00

... at Edgewater Park, from Lorna's cell this evening on her daily walk.

Hell in a Handbasket

2011-11-11T17:24:00.000-08:00

The world is going to hell in a hand basket. The world economy is collapsing, Penn State is a den of perverts ... and then ... the Elbow Room. When we arrived for our regular Friday night hamburger,Vic was waiting for us with the saved Minneapolis Tribune newspaper for our reading pleasure. Rachel, the waitress, knows what we want, only stops by our booth to confirm it. All is normal and right with the world, right? Wrong. After my cheeseburger with fried onions and a side of deep-fried onion rings - done crispy, I surprised even myself by ordering a desert - the local delicacy, strawberry rhubarb pie. Obviously it is seasonal, so I expected it to be frozen. But it was even worse. Mary used to bake the pies at home and bring them in to the cafe in the morning. The looong arm of health regulation finally has reached out and saved us from ourselves. Mary can't do that anymore. Her kitchen has been deemed unsafe, unclean, and unhealthy - it just ain't safe. Instead of a flaky, lard based crust rolled by hand, encasing fresh rhubarb and strawberries, the pie came from Sysco, Inc. The crust was a cardboard based product and the filling was pink goo with a slight hint of artificial strawberry/rhubarb flavoring. But it was safe. :-(

When I got home, I had a waiting email from L.P. confirming a breakfast date for tomorrow morning at Trumble's, where they have a full time baker who prepares all variety of things that will probably kill me in the long run. At least it'll be real food that takes me out.

Illegal R Us

2011-11-07T12:07:00.000-08:00

Ducks At Dusk

2011-11-03T21:10:00.000-07:00

Oakwood Sunset

2011-11-03T17:34:00.000-07:00

Day of the Dead

2011-11-01T08:20:00.000-07:00

Name That Stick Contest

2011-10-08T19:14:00.000-07:00

We have a winner! Hell, the name of my stick has been hanging in the air just waiting to be spoken. For at least ten years of my life, trudging across snow covered fields with our guns at the ready, getting lost on narrow gravel backroads or bad neighborhoods on our first forays into the Urban Jungle, Margadant in his best Chingachgook impression, urged me forward into poor decisions with, "Um, come Pathfinder ... etc." I suspect, although James has always been a literary man and a woodsman of sorts, it probably came from a Jonathan Winters record rather than James Fenimore Cooper. Nevertheless, Pathfinder has a nice, vaguely sarcastic ring to it.

Lawyers, Guns and Money

2011-10-07T15:25:00.000-07:00

Gentleman (and Ladies),

We have situation where one of our frequent commenters is about to be thrown out of a third rate banana republic. A couple of us have been exchanging news, bad advice and copies of letters to embassies, etc for a couple of months now and it has finally come to a head. At the end of this month he has to be out. Period. The issue is that he has a family there. His young son has dual citizenship, but his wife does not. (I have just been advised that his son also needs a Banana Republic passport to leave.) If I were a religious man I would be praying for him. I am not, so Warren Zevon is all I have to offer.

Albert Lea Audubon Park

2011-10-06T16:47:00.000-07:00

For local hikers, go to the south end of Madison, turn left on Oregon for one block to the dead end ... and find the hidden park. :-) And be alone for awhile.

Sign with MY STICK, a reclaimed shovel handle which spent 30 years as a curtain rod in our basement before being reborn a third time. It just feels right in my hand. It was just waiting for all those years.

No bikes!

Lorna with HER store-bought sticks.

Accidental art.

Stump.

Very dry. Normally this is a marsh.

Wild asparagus.

Walnuts. You could fill a large pickup box with black
walnuts this year.

Markers. Somebody's pets? Or unfortunate pioneers?

Teak (!) chair at the rest stop.

Yard art. Bird feeders, chairs and benches - places to sit and think and rest your feet.

Oakwood Picnic (Review)

2011-09-25T17:50:00.000-07:00

The Oakwood picnic went off pretty well again this year. We shared a table with Lorna's sister, Linda and Larry, Sally and The Judge, and Jane Saunders. Jane is the senior resident of Oakwood. She lived here for decades with her late husband George. Recently she broke her knee and is using a walker. She is having an apartment redecorated in a senior facility, so will be leaving Oakwood next month. It going to be a loss for our community. I've going to miss her intelligence and snappy wit. I assume we'll see her back next year for the 63rd annual picnic.

The Judge has lived in Oakwood since 1949, where he grew up in what later became our house. When he and Sal got married he brought her back to Oakwood and bought a house where they lived for a few years before moving to their present home. More continuity. The demographics are changing. When Addy was growing up there were only a handful of kids so they became very close. Today there were about 20 children attending, most in early grade school. It's wonderful to hear the sounds of laughing children again.

George A. asked what the most memorable food I ate was. That's a really tough call because it tends to be everybody's best shot. In the desert category, Mindy Nelson bought an ice cream and chocolate layered cake desert that I really liked - about half a dozen layers, all neatly packed in ice to prevent melting. I noticed The Judge went back for a whole plate of just assorted deserts. He's a small, very thin man. Life just ain't fair. We were in the group assigned "Hot Dish", which I suspect may be a Midwest thing. Hot Dish. I ain't no fool, I'm pushing my wife's dish. The following is what Lorna whipped up for the occasion. Everybody likes a good recipe:

Lorna's Hot Dish

1 pound ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 (4 ounce) can mushroom stems and pieces, drained
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 (10 ounce) packages frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of celery soup, undiluted
1 cup sour cream
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
1 can wild rice

In a large skillet, cook beef, wild rice, onion and garlic over medium heat until the meat is no longer pink; drain. Stir in the mushrooms, salt, oregano and pepper. Add the spinach, soup and sour cream. Stir in half of the mozzarella cheese.
Transfer to a greased 2-qt. baking dish. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees F for 15 minutes. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese; bake 5 minutes longer or until cheese is melted.

We cheated just a little and used fresh spinach. Obviously this would be better with fresh mushrooms, spinach and wild rice, but that might move it out of the "hot dish" category.

62nd Annual Oakwood Picnic

2011-09-19T17:31:00.000-07:00

Every autumn for 62 years the residents of Oakwood have assembled in the park for the afternoon - to eat, drink and enjoy good neighbors. This is not a typical modern community. We all know each other, we know all the children and the name of their dogs. It is our home.

Lore has it that before it was annexed into the city, Oakwood had it's own small water tower in the park and once a year the residents would gather to decide how much to tax themselves for maintenance of the streets and water system. After the annexation a few years passed and the Oakwooders realized they missed the sense of community and so initiated the annual picnic. I'm looking forward to it again.

Above All, a Good Roof (and Good Beer)

2011-09-16T09:40:00.000-07:00

There has been a roofing crew here for the past week. The house is not that large but it's a roofers nightmare of angles, peaks and valleys with a couple sections of flat roof just to keep them from getting complacent. Yesterday after they knocked off for the day, the uber-roofer (and general contractor) John Rust knocked on my door for a promised round of hoppy beer to celebrate the completion. It was actually a day premature but it was still a good excuse to sit around, drink beer and talk. Rumors of good beer brought The Judge over, so I filled the table with half dozen bottles (and one can) of different beers and a bunch of glasses for comparison tasting. The winner, Surly Furious, getting a slight nod over the very similar IPA Sierra Torpedo - very similar! I also liked the Sam Adams Imperial Stout, but the other two heathens have destroyed their taste buds so they need enough hops to blow the top of their heads off or they are not satisfied.

A couple of lads finishing off The Growlery roof.

Bicycle Rebus

2011-09-12T06:35:00.000-07:00

I've noticed that I'm still getting a lot of hits on this blog. For any of that have come looking for bicycle content and are disappointed, here's one for you:
http://1410bicycle.blogspot.com/2011/09/73-ciclo-galmozzi-or-riding-rebus.html

Stream of Life

2011-09-06T20:47:00.000-07:00

I am getting older and I tend to tear up at the turn of a well written page or the drop of a sad song. Lorna was reading or watching a baseball game when I was watching this and when she came in at the end of it she asked what it was and I couldn't talk because I knew I would break up. When I did gather myself and told her that it was about old Finnish men in the sauna it probably didn't carry the weight as it did for me. Now I don't expect it to affect others that way, but if you are old, stoic and of northern stock, take fair warning.

Watch the full episode. See more POV.

Oravan Laulu (The Squirrel) by Aleksis Kivi

Sweetly sleeps the squirrel baby
Sleeps on her mossy bed
Never reached by hounds
Nor snared by hunters
Safe in her nest
From her cocoon high up
She looks upon the world
After seeing so many fights
The peace flag of her home tree
Is flying over her head
Oh, to live so happily
In the swinging cradle up so high
Squirrel nesting forever
In the gentle arms of the tree
Hear the song of the woods
That’s where the furry cutie
Is sleeping on her window
Birds in the skies
Are singing lullabies
Taking her to the sweet land of dreams

The Velo-Growlery

2011-09-06T20:33:00.000-07:00

The new edition of the Oxford Concise Dictionary is dropping the word "growlery", meaning "the private den of a man". Whoa! Let's think this over over before taking such rash action. I mean, would you rather retire to your growlery with a cigar and cognac, or go the your man cave and drink a couple cans of Bud Lite? While I have a nice wood paneled den, I'm in the process of refurbishing an out building into a personal bike shop and studio. This is required for both bicycle storage and wrenching, and cigar smoking, as my mate has drawn a pretty firm line in the sand on smoking in the house. Boy, I'd sure rather call it a "growlery" than a "shed", but I suppose I can't do it now that growlery isn't a word anymore.

Labor Day Weekend

2011-09-05T13:55:00.000-07:00

It's been pretty good weekend so far. Saturday I spent mostly playing carpenter in the shed. Usually when I start hammering things my neighbor Christy comes over to see what the hell I'm up to this time, and work rapidly winds down to talking smart or sometimes smoking cigars and maybe drinking a beer and talking smart. Actually he's a Tea Party guy, so part of it can be pretty dumb. As we cancel each other out politically, I've suggested that we could both save a lot of time on election day if we would just both stay home. He ain't going for it. Nevertheless, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank him for the lumber yard run on Thursday to pick up more large boards for me to bang about. Good man.

Sunday was frittered away with Lorna's sisters and their husbands. We talk politics too, but it wears a little thin as we're all to the left and we've heard all we have to say 10 or 20 times. The other two talk sports a lot. I try, but honestly my heart isn't in it. I just don't care about the young men's games anymore, or the prospects of the Minnesota Gophers. Things picked mid-afternoon when neighbors, Sally and The Judge showed up. As I was running short of good hoppy beer, John and I made a quick hike down to his house to pick up a little Surly Furious from his beer frig. It was smooth sailing from then on - copious amounts of picnic food and drink. Furious:

A tempest on the tongue, or a moment of pure hop bliss? Brewed with a dazzling blend of American hops and Scottish malt, this crimson-hued ale delivers waves of citrus, pine and caramel-toffee. For those who favor flavor, Furious has the hop-fire your taste buds have been screeching for.

STYLE: American India Pale Ale
MALT: Pale Ale, Golden Promise, Aromatic, Medium Crystal, Roasted Barley
HOPS: Warrior, Ahtanum, Simcoe, Amarillo
YEAST: English Ale

OG: 15º Plato
ABV: 6.5% v/v
COLOR: 27 ºSRM
IBU: 99

I've pissed away today patching bicycle inner tubes and watching a BBC Top Gear marathon. Every time I watch Top Gear, I think, "Christ, Margadant should see this". I'll try to send him a link, but he had a knee replaced three weeks ago. Apparently the procedure affected his wi-fi too, as I haven't been able to reach him for a couple of weeks. He lives out on the high plains of Dakota and is serviced by a limited cable system. Here's a typical link for him:

Ruth Ann: September 4th, 1988

2011-09-03T18:11:00.000-07:00

Independent School District 131 - a two room school, three grades to a classroom. Nine of us started out together in 1951. By the time we left the little school in '57 we were down to seven.

Ruth Ann DeRaad, Desk 1, Row 2 was with us through graduation and beyond. She was a sweet kid who seemed driven to live her life at a hellish pace. Eventually it killed her. She was 43 years old when she died in a car accident that took four lives - speeding over gravel roads through the black night with no headlights. Blind thrill running one last time.

I'm going start ...

2011-08-22T08:20:00.000-07:00

... slowly winding this blog down. Not killing it completely, but no more music, no more cut and past links to what I'm reading - not sure about the garden pictures. I may split it into three blogs with random, sporadic postings. If I start writing again during the Winter maybe I'll post that.

Sister Rosetta Tharpe (Repost)

2011-08-18T09:48:00.000-07:00

This is a repost of an earlier posting for Tommy G. (who just made me gasp in disbelief!)

Sam Phillips's tribute song, Sister Rosetta Goes Before Us.

The original 1944 recording. The first Rock n Roll recording?

Sister Rosetta Tharpe

2011-08-17T08:18:00.000-07:00

Evening Prayer

2011-08-15T22:26:00.000-07:00

Cheri says that she loves Summertime (the song). Me too. My favorite is one by the late Vassar Clements, who is known mostly as a Bluegrass fiddler. This version now only seems to exist in my memory. Sometimes Vassar drifted off into other musical worlds. In this one he intersected with Dave Holland, a jazz bassist who has played with Miles Davis, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, pretty much anyone he chose to. This time he chose Vassar and the late John Hartford. Musically I think Hartford was a little outgunned, but he held up his end pretty well. This is from an album entilted "Vassar Clements, John Hartford, Dave Holland", one of at least two albums of improvised pieces that Vassar and Holland made. Pretty sweet stuff.

Dave Alvin

2011-08-15T16:43:00.000-07:00

Found this guy on the Justified series on FX.

Brooks

2011-08-14T20:34:00.001-07:00

Another Delahaye 135

2011-08-14T10:18:00.000-07:00

George A said he thought the Delahaye 135 Shooting Brake would handle like a his 1950 Buick. I think not. This is more or less what they started with.

One Last Shot for the Italians

2011-08-13T15:08:00.000-07:00

Ferrai 365 GTB 4

French Shooting Brake

2011-08-13T14:57:00.000-07:00

1946 Delahaye 135 Break de Chasse Guillore

Summertime

2011-08-13T08:51:00.000-07:00

This is from the Mickey Newbury Triad Studio recordings, a collection of unreleased demo tapes, just Mickey, his guitar and Dale Bradley on cello. They are all his own material except this last one. Unedited tape filler. This is a pure, killer recording, one of those that would never get released because it's too raw and too long.

Halsey Hall, "Holy Cow!"

2011-08-13T08:27:00.000-07:00

Halsey Hall was the first play-by-play announcer for the Minnesota Twins. He was famous for eating green onions, smoking bad cigars and frankly, his folksy ineptitude. This is a link that captures him in all his glory.

http://www.pavekmuseum.org/halsey_hall.mp3

LISTEN TO THE LINK!

Kvale Today

2011-08-12T07:40:00.000-07:00

I am still waiting for the stem - a long story, it had to be remade. The handlebar bumper will have an oxblood leather cover and bars wrapped after the new stem. This winter, new racks. Riding this makes me giggle.

Another Shooting Brake

2011-08-11T09:36:00.000-07:00

At first blush I thought this was a Jaguar, but I don't think so. I do know no one is going to strap surf boards on it - maybe a set of matched Purdey side-by-sides and a wicker of lunch sandwiches and small pastries.

I Say Old Boy, the Surf Is Up

2011-08-10T15:51:00.000-07:00

1949 Bentley Shooting Brake

Surf's Up

2011-08-09T13:49:00.000-07:00

For Tony, who thought the Packard needed a couple of surf boards on top. Chrysler used a lot of wood and this looks like a '47 to '50 Chrysler Town and Country, although I've never seen one with wire wheels before. Wow.

1939 Packard Six

2011-08-09T09:28:00.001-07:00

A Shameless Plug

2011-08-08T17:45:00.000-07:00

Chris Kvale only makes about six frames a year. At this point in his life he doesn't like to be hurried and enjoys spending a little time visiting with friends who drop by. In between frames he also does a number of resprays and restorations of vintage frames. When I picked up #1103, I noticed there was a boxed up frame with an address in England. I suspect this kind of work is what actually keeps the doors open and supports his frame building habit.

What does this have to do with the Lake Breeze Inn? The inn goes back in the Raley family to 1859 and Chris's wife Marcia inherited it. So for two months in the summer, when you want Chris to be cutting, grinding and filing your frame, he's riding his bike and living the good life on the Keweenaw Peninsula. You want to spend some time up in the U.P. and take a ride with Chris? Call 612-721-5891 or 906-289-4514 for reservations.

Photos used with permission.

Blog

2011-08-07T07:35:00.000-07:00

People at the family gathering asked what's with the blog, why haven't I been writing more.

I just haven't got anything to say.

Moody’s Downgrades US Credit Rating

2011-08-05T10:22:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report) – The US economy suffered another setback today as Moody’s downgraded the US’s credit rating to “It’s Complicated.”

At the Treasury Department, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner acknowledged that an “It’s Complicated” rating was not ideal but added that he was hopeful it would not affect the Chinese government’s level of interest in Treasury bonds.

“We have sent a friend request to China this morning,” Sec. Geithner told reporters. “We are still waiting for them to friend us back.”

But in an extraordinary step, the Chinese government announced today that it was “blocking” the United States, suggesting that its relationship with US Treasuries was at an end.

Perhaps attempting to soften the blow, the Chinese government later issued this official statement: “It’s not you, it’s us.”

In other economic news, the US added jobs in the auto sector, which for many Americans is now the same thing as the housing sector.

The Believing Brain

2011-08-05T08:41:00.000-07:00

"As a back-of-the-envelope calculation within an order-of-magnitude accuracy, we can safely say that over the past ten thousand years of history humans have created about ten thousand different religions and about one thousand gods," Mr. Shermer writes. He lists more than a dozen gods, from Amon Ra to Zeus, and wonders how one of them can be true and the rest false. "As skeptics like to say, everyone is an atheist about these gods; some of us just go one god further." A Trick of the Mind

Orbison - Crying

2011-08-02T19:18:00.000-07:00

One of my mother's favorites. Roy Orbison wasn't performing full time by 1988, but for this one they pulled together a pretty high profile back-up group: Bruce Springsteen, Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, Jackson Browne, etc. and a female chorus of k.d. lang, Jennifer Warnes, and Bonnie Raitt. His voice was getting a little thin in the high range by then, but only by Orbison standards.

Racking My Brain

2011-08-01T14:29:00.000-07:00

Here's a couple of things to think about. Any and all thoughts on front racks are needed and welcome.

Do You Need a "Thought for the Day"?

2011-08-01T10:24:00.000-07:00

...here you go:

"If you can think of times in your life that you’ve treated people with extraordinary decency and love, and pure uninterested concern, just because they were valuable as human beings. The ability to do that with ourselves. To treat ourselves the way we would treat a really good, precious friend. Or a tiny child of ours that we absolutely loved more than life itself. And I think it’s probably possible to achieve that. I think part of the job we’re here for is to learn how to do it. I know that sounds a little pious." -- David Foster Wallace

The Dutch Way: Bicycles and Fresh Bread

2011-07-31T08:18:00.000-07:00

link

1959 Albert Lea Wilson Strike

2011-07-29T06:20:00.000-07:00

Klunking

2011-07-28T15:55:00.000-07:00

I don't much care for mountain biking, but I know a whole bunch of you guys live for it. Got this from the Mimbres Man who got it from someone else, who got it from anther guy, who got it from his grandfather.

Chris Kvale Cycles #1103 Specs

2011-07-25T12:34:00.000-07:00

Fork and frame:

Columbus Zona .08/.05/.08 tubeset
Seat tube: 61.5cm cl of BB to top of top tube
Top tube: 57.0cm
Chainstay: 46.0 cm
Head angle: 72 1/2 degrees
Seat angle: 72 1/2 degrees
Frame drop: 8.2 cm
Fork rake: 4.5 cm
Dupont Imron two-part epoxy: 43938 Cream with white pearl clearcoat & 51078 Red panels (no pearl). The clearcoat yellowed the cream color slightly compared to the color sample, which I quite like as it plays well with the yellow graphics and cable housing)

Frame fitments:

Henry James bottom bracket shell
Richard Sachs Rene Singer lugset (seatlug extremely modified)
Kirk Pacenti double-plate crown
Keith Anderson stainless insert dropouts
Chris Kvale cable guides

Components:

Phil Wood titanium bottom bracket
Campagnolo track crankset with Campy chainring guard (both to be stripped and polished)
Campagnolo C-Record rear derailleur (polished)
MKS Sylvan Prime touring pedals with Bruce Gordon ti toe clips
Velo Orange Grand Cru headset
Paul Racer rear brake (polished)
Paul Neo-Retro front brake (polished)
Velo Orange Grand Cru straddle hangers
Dia-Comp front cable stop
Velo Orange Porteur bars (drilled w/internal cable stops added)
Vintage CLB porteur brake levers (filed, sanded, polished)
Nitto Jaguar post (stripped and polished)
Selle San Marco Regal saddle
Phil Wood hubs (1st generation)
Super Champion Model 58 rims
IRD freewheel
Honjo 45mm "Le Paon" fenders
(Nitto Pearl stem, to be replaced with the custom Dominguez stem with side mounted Simplex shifter)
Silca pump with Campagnolo head
Jagwire cables with Sunlite lined housings - a dead match to the graphics
Nitto bottle cages (eventually to hold Hiawatha Cyclery bottles, which are just so cool)
A shitload of Campagnolo hex nuts ;-)

Chris Kvale: Ol' Blood On Ivory

2011-07-23T14:37:00.000-07:00

As she stands right now - I don't have the bars wrapped because I am saving some really nice leather wraps I got from Tom Sanders, and getting good nickle plating on the stem has proven to be a real hassle. It is presently visiting a plater recommended by Joe Bell, who really ought to know. The front rack is pretty heavy handed and also it doesn't sit horizontally because the Paul brake mounting hardware protrudes quite a bit and kicks it up. This winter I'll have a more delicate rack made, probably by Vincent Dominguez - maybe a rear rack too. Other than that it's pretty much wrapped up except for stripping and buffing the crank, polishing the fenders and brake handles and general dinking around with it.

As they are set right now the brake levers will hit the top bar. Has anyone got a source for a 2" or 3" lace-on black leather protector for the tube?

Hardcore IPA

2011-07-22T14:19:00.000-07:00

Hardcore IPA from BrewDog on Vimeo.

(thanks to Jonny Hamachi of CORVUS BREWING)

Let Them Eat Cake

2011-07-21T10:35:00.001-07:00

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report) – A group of GOP congressmen calling themselves The Mob of Nine have added a new wrinkle to the ongoing budget negotiations as they put forth a proposal today that would replace Social Security with letting people eat cake.
Their proposal, contained in a bill called the National Cake-Eating Act of 2011, would substitute seniors’ monthly Social Security check with what they called “an easy-to-follow cake recipe.”
“Right now, it’s hard to find a consensus about how to cut the national debt,” said Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis). “But one thing’s clear: everybody enjoys a good piece of cake.”
But even as the group put forth their proposal, their was dissension among The Mob of Nine about how large the pieces of cake that people were to eat should be, with Rep. Ryan leading the faction who favors a sliver rather than a slice.
“When we say piece of cake, we mean a very, very small piece of cake,” Mr. Ryan said. “We’re not talking about a Newt Gingrich piece of cake.”
Rep. Ryan also warned fellow GOP House members against supporting the so-called Gang of Six bipartisan budget proposal: “If you support that, I must warn you, you are flirting with reasonableness.”
He said that to pass muster with Tea Party members in the House, any budget proposal would have to pass the Tea Party litmus test: “That means it must be 100% free of logic or math.”
In other political news, presidential candidate Michele Bachmann (R-Minn) said her migraine headaches would not hinder her ability to lead: “I can go for months without using my brain.”

2011-07-16T21:13:00.000-07:00

Rev. Dick, esteemed pastor of the Church of the Sweet Ride (Might as well suffer), posted this a couple of weeks ago. I have revisited it a couple of times. It's just too good not to share. I've mixed me a few metaphors in my day too.

It's All Going to Hell!

2011-07-16T19:05:00.000-07:00

Just when I think the world has completely gone to a Justin Bieber/Lady Gaga hell (*harrumph, harrumph*) a young man like Riley Baugus comes walkin' out of the hills and plays us a real song. And all is right with the world once more.

Life Goes On

2011-07-16T18:51:00.000-07:00

Emily and Foster. :-)

Garden: 07-14-11

2011-07-14T16:13:00.000-07:00

With the season moving forward into deep Summer the lilies and daylilies have shown their faces and the color pallet has begun it's shift, with the summer yellows slowly replacing the softer Spring colors. It's lush, although one man's "lush" is another man's "overgrown". I'm beginning to walk a fine line here, living on the edge. Next year I'll have to start transplanting on the lake side of the bamboo lattice.

Collecting ...

2011-07-11T06:48:00.000-07:00

... old bicycles, vintage Campagnolo derailleurs and vinyl records - an explanation:

"What I’ve learned, the hard way, is that the one thing you must never ask a collector is “why?” It’ll get you nowhere. They’ll just stare at you in baffled amazement before returning to contemplation of their most recent acquisition, or dreaming of the next one. These are people who thrive on making classifications, pondering the arrangements of their trophies and annotating them with informative labels. Often their obsession seems to derive from a need to impose order on a chaotic world, from the fear of death and oblivion. The collection will ward off mortality, carrying the illusion of eternity. Collections represent nostalgia for previous worlds, a desire to reclaim the past, to rescue and give meaning to objects otherwise lost in the flux. At the same time, though, collecting also encourages some of our most dangerous and base qualities: possessiveness, acquisitiveness, the lust for power."

Here's the Kvale ...

2011-07-07T16:43:00.000-07:00

...sort of. I was going to hold off on pictures until it was built up, but the delay on the stem is pushing that out a little. Here's a few detail shots of my interpretation of a town bike/light day tourer. There are fenders, rack, etc, but they'll have to wait for a little down time. The red is a little darker than the photograph indicates. The ivory has a pearl clearcoat, the red does not.

(The little scratches around the rack hole are mine, not CKC's.)

Irrational Optimism

2011-07-05T20:47:00.000-07:00

"Professor Elaine Fox, of the University of Essex, said: "People who carried one form of the serotonin transporter gene tended to look on the bright side of life, and selectively avoided negative material." more from The Telegraph.

"Remember the good times
They're smaller in number and easier to recall
Don't spend too much time on the bad times
Their staggering number will be heavy as lead on your mind

Don't waste a moment unhappy
Invaluable moments gone with the leakage of time
As we leave on our own separate journeys
Moving west with the sun to a place buried deep within our minds
And remember the good times..."

The above is from an old Willie Nelson song, a song from back when he was a struggling songwriter. Later the world gained the Willie Nelson band, but for the most part we lost the songwriter. He used to put out a couple of albums a year, with all brand new, wonderfully depressing sad songs. Unfortunately country music wasn't quite ready for Willie and a lot of them have vanished over the years, except in the memory of old farts like me. The above is not on YouTube. I have it on vinyl, but am not interested in mastering the hassle of digitizing and uploading, so here is one from about the same era. Willie before beards and braids - before the years beat the hell out of his voice:

Tour Divider Epilogue

2011-07-04T17:52:00.000-07:00

http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/experience-pays-off-for-refsnider-in-tight-tour-divide-race

Woodrup and John Hurt

2011-07-03T16:20:00.000-07:00

Mississippi John Hurt would have been 118 years old today. So what does this have to do with a Woodrup bicycle? Answer, Dave Sears lives in Thame, England. The '81 Woodrup belongs to him and the singer is his son, Wilber. A really nice rendition. Both the song and the bike. Thank you, Wilber and Dave.

Dave says,

"About the Woodrup - it's my latest and I bought the frame in good sound condition from Hilary Stone earlier this year. Hilary is a good source of all things connected with classic bicycles. The frame has excellent chrome, the paint was little chipped- nothing that justified a respray, but that was easily colo(u)r matched and mended. The only real task was cutting back and polishing the very "orange peel" effect on the lacquer coat. All of the parts migrated from other bikes. The frame was built by Kevin Sayles at Woodrup. I believe that quite a few Woodrups by Kevin were exported to the US."

Forwarded Message

2011-07-02T10:50:00.001-07:00

Hi, Gunnar--

Your frame is finished. Tuesday or Wednesday pickup (I'll be here both days)?

Have a good holiday.

CKC

The Reeport

2011-06-30T07:32:00.000-07:00

Saturday in Minneapolis with Taylor and Gunnar without pictures:

We spent a good share of the late morning looking at the bike at Kvale Cycles. CKC wasn't happy with his first painting effort and had stripped it and started over. When we saw it it was primed again and the dark red (shall we call it "pigeon blood"?) had been applied. I looked the frame and fork over close. It is amazing. The pump has been painted the off-white and pearl clear-coated. Actually, seeing the color applied I would describe it as "antique ivory". Taylor and Chris talked a long time. I listened.

Next we went upstairs to talk to Vincent. He was not happy with the original plating job on the stem, so everyone is doing it twice. This time Vincent will be taking more of it in his hands. The plater is going to strip it. Vincent will repair a gouge, redo the fillets so they blend better and polish it to a mirror. It will then be copper plated and he will polish it again and return it for the nickel plating. After all this time, I can wait another week or so.

We were intending to talk to Erik Noren but time slipped away from us and we had another appointment with Mark Stonich. It was very satisfying. Taylor has designed and built a recumbent - Mark a whole bunch of 'em. They went off a 'bent tangent so Jane and I drank fruit juice and talked about cats and bunnies.

After beer and burgers at the Chatterbox, I dropped the Z-Man and his bike off with Amy Marka. As I was leaving I asked him how he was getting home. He said, "My bike, it's only a hundred miles or so."

Wednesday Outing

2011-06-28T20:15:00.000-07:00

Gunnar and Z-Man to visit CKC, Dominguez and the Peacock Groove. Report at eleven. ;o)

Ms Bachmann (R-Minn)

2011-06-28T11:36:00.000-07:00

ARIZONA (The Borowitz Report) – In a fledgling campaign that has already produced more than its share of gaffes, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn) today confused her ass with a hole in the ground during a campaign swing through Arizona.
Speaking to a group of supporters in Phoenix, Rep. Bachmann raised eyebrows when she said, “It’s great to be here in Arizona, the home of my ass.”
After her comment was greeted with confused murmurs from the crowd, Rep. Bachmann quickly added, “Oh wait, did I say my ass? I meant the Grand Canyon.”
Being unable to tell her ass from a hole in the ground, especially a prominent one such as the Grand Canyon, is only one of many challenges facing Rep. Bachmann in her quest for the Presidency, according to political science professor Davis Logsdon of the University of Minnesota.
“Michele Bachmann is a staunch believer in the theory of Intelligent Design,” he said. “However, Intelligent Design cannot explain Michele Bachmann.”
But Dr. Logsdon added that Rep. Bachmann remains an attractive candidate, especially for those Republican voters who find former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin “too cerebral.”
“When Sarah Palin looks at Michele Bachmann, she must feel the way the Jonas Brothers feel about Justin Bieber,” he said.
In other political news, GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich said today that “marriage must be defined as the union between a man, a woman, and the man’s staff member at the time.”

Dominguez Uber Stem Progress

2011-06-27T08:38:00.000-07:00

First of all I want to say what a joy is has been to work with Vincent on this - a great guy, intelligent and a wonderful craftsman. I realize there are a couple of readers who abhor stem-mounted shifters. Fair warning, avert your eyes or suffer.

Coming back from nickel plating this afternoon. More pictures when the bike is being assembled. Eh?

Saturday Morning

2011-06-26T19:17:00.000-07:00

When I arrived mid-morning the classical music was strong in the air and CKC was on his back on a rug doing stretching exercises. I took a few pictures of the progress of the frame as he completed his routine. We made some decisions on braze-on locations, marking the frame and making notations. Discussed paint colors and transfers. First coat of paint scheduled for Monday.

I talked to Vincent Dominguez for half an hour about alternative energy sources and population control, then drove down to Hiawatha Cyclery and bought some stuff before going over to spend the day with John Kes. That's about it.

L and B

2011-06-24T14:43:00.000-07:00

Ain't saying who these guys are, but L is a very, very big man by almost any measure and B is just a little nipper, a little nipper who seems very happy to be walking beside him. Love the picture.

Doctor of Frames

2011-06-24T11:27:00.000-07:00

I just received a telephone call and email from Dr. Kvale. He is concerned that because of the frame geometry, the spear on the crosstube lug protrudes into the tire clearance crimp in the stay. It is structurally sound, it is purely aesthetics. Just for purdy. Look at the photo and think about that. It will be concealed by both tire and fender. I love it.

Wind Surfing

2011-06-24T07:39:00.000-07:00

Here's one of wind surfing on Superior the other day. Randy was originally from town, Lorna's classmate and bro-in-law of our friends, Judge J. and Sally. Can't figure out how to embed. It's worth a peek.

http://www.wdio.com/article/stories/S2168919.shtml?cat=10348

Tour Divide

2011-06-23T17:26:00.000-07:00

I assume a lot of you have been following the 2011 Tour Divide, the 2745 mile solo self supported race from Canada to the Mexico border. Ho-hum. We're getting near the end, entering the Gila desert. For all of you people who think more gears will make you ride faster, the last I looked Jefe Branham is in a virtual tie for the lead with Kurt Refsnider. Jefe is riding a singlespeed bike. Wowzer. Leaderboard

Locally Caught

2011-06-23T09:47:00.000-07:00

And finally, Superior. "From our boat to your table." the sign says. It dominates the weather, the vistas, livelihood, the food. The fish taste of it's coldness. Fresh fish there means they're alive in a bucket by the door. (I love the fact that in spite of manufactured food, in rural places there is still local food and food traditions.) Even when you're inland, you can sense the lake, know which direction it is. A local weather report included water surface temperature - 34.7F. Three notches above freezing! It's big and deep and doesn't ever really warm up. The wind switches direction and the temperature drops 20 degrees in a heartbeat and fog rolls in faster than you can wish for the jacket hanging in the cabin. It looks like the ocean, feels like the ocean, but it doesn't smell like a sea. It smells fresh and cold. Ice water. It can be beautiful and at times terrible. But you can't ignore it. It makes you want to hum a little Gordon Lightfoot.

A calm day. Ominous. Out on the horizon the thin line of a fog bank lurks, waiting to ponce at the turn of a wind on the unsuspecting pilgrim.

And it's photogenic as all hell.