The new campfire thread...ooooh purrrrty!!!!!!

[Fenlason]

I was just looking on line at inversion tables.. and so far it seems as if everything.. at least everything I saw.. had built in holders. At least it looks like seperate boots are still available. Some people use them without a table.. using something like a chin up bar.

[lrrowe]

I was just looking on line at inversion tables.. and so far it seems as if everything.. at least everything I saw.. had built in holders. At least it looks like seperate boots are still available. Some people use them without a table.. using something like a chin up bar.

Mine has built in ankle/foot holders. I have to wear some sort of ankle high sneaker or boot to make it comfortable enough. I need more experimenting in this area.

[Fenlason]

We had good sun.. with temps up to the low 50's We did more closet cleaning.. throwing more stuff out.

I had a dowel on hand.. so decided to work on the SnowDog. I cut down a donated handlebar.. for 2 good ends.. and whittled down a dowel to slip inside the new to join the new extensions to the stock bar. I moved the grips and levers outward.. and used gorilla tape to hold the bar pieces together. [It was all a temporary set up anyways] Well with the new location AND the wider bar.. it worked amazing. I did not have to fight the machine at all. I even went over some of the rough stuff that I created from my last trip out. Places where the machine had tipped over.. leaving a surface that should have tipped the machine again. Part way through one of the dowels snapped. It wasn't all that big.. and was perhaps only birch. The set up I made was perhaps a little too wide. I am not sure exactly what I want for a width.. but it is nice knowing I will have a set up that will work.



It was a nice day.. so we should have ridden outside.. but it was late.. cooling down and windy.. so we opted for some more BKool..

[Fenlason]

It froze up over night. I didn't check the temps.. but I don't think it got real cold. We have nice sun.. and 40's to 50 again today. We are supposed to be snowy/ rainy.. most of the rest of the week.

A poor nights sleep.. and now a migraine.. are slowing things down.. but I am getting some stuff done. I went to Agway [hardware] and FW Webb.. picking up stuff for my Snowdog project. I took apart the new temporary stuff I put on. I made up the cross "brace".. that the re-located handlebar assembly will need.

I have also been thinking about the Handlebar itself. I was going to add onto the ends.. per Jon's suggestion. I am back to thinking about mounting a mountain bike fork steer tube. That way I can easily try differing handlebar widths and shapes… and since the steer tube also will take a mtn bike stem.. I will have a variety of adjustment options there. I will also be able to easily pivot the bars to an up and down orientation.. with just a 5mm allen wrench. In case I get into an area that is too tight for the bars. I will talk to Steve about it, but I think it will be an easier build also.

I have also been out in the barn.. looking at equipment. I kind of neglected some stuff this winter… mostly the batteries. I have started and run Laurie's tractor.. and the RTV.. my tractor has been run all along anyways.. I am not sure if the motorcycles battery is any good…

Oh! and I found my gravity guiding boots.

I have brought the table and boots.. down to our gym.. and I am heading down to clean them up now.

[Fenlason]

Monday.. more good sun.. another horrid night of sleep. I did more work on the Snowdog.. getting it ready for the machine shop. I brought it up there yesterday.

We woke to more snow this morning.. maybe an inch here. They are saying it will warm and melt. Most of this week sounds cold and wet.

We are heading to down to Litchfield today.. it's my Sister in laws birthday.. we will get together with her.. our niece and baby.


I have been looking at idea's for my groomer.. and staging for the barn. It's still too cold to be working on it… but it will take some time to build what I need for staging.. and I can start working on that.

[toypusher]

We had a beautiful day yesterday - lots of sun and low 70s. Took out a tree that my wife did not like, also dug out and pulled out with my 4-wheeler winch two horseshoe stakes. they are about 5 feet long and 4 feet was in the ground! Ran a bunch of errands yesterday also.

Today is cool and rainy. Thunder woke us about 5 this morning. Also, the rain woke me a couple times overnight. Looks like we will have a break for a couple hours and then some more heavy rain.

[Fenlason]

30's -40's here today.. it is a light drizzle now.. but we have some pretty heavy rain coming. I got a call yesterday afternoon. that my Snowdog was ready.. but I didn't get the message until just after they were closed. It wan't a problem of course.. I was just excited to try it out. I went out early this morning. Steve had originally said.. that he couldn't charge me.. but the message said $200.00 and something. Well they charged me about 1/2 of what the job should have been. I don't like not paying.. but being charged that when I was told nothing is weird also. The $400 something might have freaked me out. It is his business.. he has employees to pay.. and they are busy enough they have a hard time keeping up. I don't go to him.. for the deal.. I go to him because they do good work.. and I trust them.. such.. So I am not really upset about anything.

Anyways. I put the machine back together. The first bar I put on.. was 26.5".. and it could be wider… I have a 30" and that is maybe still a little too wide. Of course the first bar is the old 25.4 clamp diameter.. and the wider is the newer 31.8. So I had to switch stems out. I did have both here. The bigger clamp stem is a little shorter in length also. The first felt a little better maybe. I will have to go through my stash of parts to see what else I have handlebar and stem wise.

It did work quite well. I did go off "course" a couple of times… and it did tip some.. but I was in pretty nasty stuff. We have really soft corn snow now. [It was above freezing all night] I went over some steep mounds.. and sharp turns with a wicked side slope.. steep hills.. puddles.. and some pretty tight trails.

I will probably take a look at a couple of road bikes.. our spring bikes. We have a group ride coming up Saturday.. so I want to check them out.

[toypusher]

Beautiful day here. Sunny and should be near 70 I think. Doing some laundry and have a birthday party to attend this evening. Not sure what else the day holds.

[Fenlason]

30's and low 40's today…. cloudy.. and a bit of wind.

We did a nice group bike ride this morning.

I am not sure what else we might do? Maybe a gym work out?

I think tomorrow we are supposed to get some warmth.. and some sun.

[Fenlason]

We were frozen up again this morning.. but it is nice and sunny, and we are supposed to get to the 50 range today. There is a group ride.. not far from here. It's going to be a casual ride.. maybe even more casual than yesterdays. It will be mostly on dirt roads. It should be fun.. social.. and scenic.

We did do a weight workout later yesterday. We hope to do something for work around here later. hmm I have some plastering I can do soon.. and I need to take a bunch of gutter down off the barn. We might work on that.

[Fenlason]

We had a great ride this morning… I think 8 of us. We are sort of out there in the woods.. and places I have never been. There was some fantastic old farms out there.

After lunch we did some work outside. We hit low the low 50's… T shirt weather. Actually seriously.. I was working in a T shirt… and later I went up on the barn roof for some work… I took the shirt off.

I got the old gutter of one side of the barn… and I noticed some screws in an older roof that were loose. We swept and tightened screws.. but some in that were missing. [places where none had been put in to start with] I also checked on of my new roofs.. and found a few that had not been driven in all the way.

[toypusher]

Morning! Gonna be a beautiful day here - sunny and 78 this afternoon. But, I have a dentist appointment at 10 and then have to go back to work.

Going to be an interesting week for work. I have a new co-worker and will have to go over every lawn with him before we can cut it. We sort of worked together before at the golf course, but that was a lot different.

Oh yeah, have to go to the store before my appointment to.

[Fenlason]

We are sunny.. and is supposed to warm. I had a horrid night of sleep last night.

I have done some housework.. waiting for it to warm. I am thinking I am going to plaster that porch support behind the fireplace.. or at least start on it.

It is getting nice enough there is some work I can start on. I can start building the staging for this side of the barn.. I can start prepping the upper wall on the other side. I can put the lath up on the back side of the parapet wall.

I want to build the attached shed for the Snowdog. I have to move my race trailer.. but the biggie I need to did 3 holes.. and I can't get to my post hole digger.. and there is still frost in the ground… so.. I have to wait on that.

[Fenlason]

We had bright sun.. but now it is getting hazy.. it looks like our temps got up to the mid 60's. I have hmm I think 3 batches [or is it 4?] done so far. I am taking a little break.. to give the arms and shoulders a rest… then I guess I will do a little more.

[toypusher]

Going to be another beautiful day here. Mid 40s now but they say it will top 80 today.

Have not been sleeping well lately and pretty tired. Yesterday was a fairly hard day for the first day back. Equipment problems and some very high grass made it a real pain. Today should be better, but just have to wait and see about that.