Senior target shooting, ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’, sea kayak trip-prep, ‘The Secret Life of Words’
(posted from home)
(This post covers 18-24 June 2007)

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Sunday, 24 June -

This morning I started working on my blog update but then broke off for a trip to town with Labashi. I’ve been trying to come up with a good solution for the registration stickers for the kayaks. The stickers don’t stick well to the slippery polyethylene and Royalex surfaces and in fact, one of mine blew off last year, just from the wind rush of being carried atop the van. I think I’ve come up with an attachment solution but need a good material. So Labashi and I went to Home Depot and Lowe’s looking for the ‘right’ base material—one which doesn’t corrode, is impervious to water, doesn’t deteriorate under intense UV radiation and takes a sticker well. We also spent much of our time looking for the ‘right’ solution for a recessed light above the lower foyer.
That evening we watched ‘The Secret Life of Words’. Sarah Polley and Tim Robbins are terrific in the roles of two people suffering from tragic events in their past. We loved the acting and the use of an off-shore oil rig as main location. The film takes a hit for some plot contrivances but is well worthwhile. RottenTomatoes scores it a 71 and that seems about right to us. Here’s a good link to insightful production notes on the film: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/secret_life_of_words/about.php


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Saturday, 23 June -

This morning I rode the Concours up to Blue Mountain Outfitters for some deck line and 303 Protectant. On the way home I stopped in at Koup’s motorcycle shop and there sat one of the new KLR’s. I have to agree Kawasaki did a good job on the update (the bike had been the same except for paint colors for twenty years!) and you’ve got to respect a motorcycle company willing to sell an updated quality adventure bike for under $5500 in 2007- but it just doesn’t make sense to spend money for what is very close to the bike I already have. I’ve not been riding the KLR much lately and an upgrade wouldn’t change that. Here’s some info on the new KLR: http://www.kawasaki.com/Products/Detail.aspx?id=221. But I think I’d be more inclined toward THIS: http://www.kawasaki.com/Products/Detail.aspx?id=246.
Later in the day I took down the kayaks (from the van) and did some more prep work for the trip. I took off the hatches and thoroughly cleaned out, sanitized, and dried out the storage hatches and cockpit. The kayaks weathered the long winter layover very well—no growth, no bugs, no corrosion, minimal moisture in the hatches. I had stored the PFDs, spray skirts, registration documentation, and paddling accessories (like sunscreen, gloves, booties, etc) in dry-bags and sealed them in the cockpit (using rainproof cockpit covers) along with the paddles for the winter. I was afraid I might not have dried everything out well enough and would see growth inside the bags but everything was just the way I stored it. I also added a more secure means of locking my kayak to the van’s bumper (Labashi’s already has a solution for this). I added a stainless-steel eye-loop to use with my locking cable.

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Friday, 22 June –

This morning I took a beautiful motorcycle ride down along the Susquehanna to Shank’s Mare kayak shop at Long Level. I picked up another set of Landshark saddles to complete the upgrade from foam blocks. On the way home I stopped by the Kawasaki shop in Hallam, hoping to see the new KLR-650 I’ve been reading about in Rider Magazine and Motorcycle Consumer News. A new KLR just came in this morning but it’s still in its shipping crate. Bob invited me back next week to ride it and give him some feedback on how it compares to my ‘old-style’ 2004 KLR. Sly dog!
I spent the afternoon finishing up the kayak loading with the new Landsharks. I also had a mental breakthrough on the strap-down process. I had abandoned use of the awkward-to-use Thule tiedown straps and had used ratchet-straps and hooks for the last several years. But the ratcheting straps can be tricky. They jam and can stain and dent the kayaks if you aren’t extra careful. And the ratchet mechanisms rust. I’d prefer to use the ultra-simplistic Thule straps but until today it was an awkward proposition to get the buckle back up over the kayak from the other side once you throw it over and loop it under the carrier bar. I’ve tried throwing the buckle over, then the loose end over but the loose end won’t go if there’s any wind at all. But today it struck me… If I put the tail end of the strap into the buckle BEFORE throwing it over the kayak, both ends go over easily and I can simply reach under and undo, pass the two ends past the bar and put them back together. Then I can haul on either of the two pieces of strap on my side until the buckle is in the right place and voila!, all the work on the far side is done and I’m ready to secure on my side. No more ratchet-straps!
Later in the day I took the strapped-down and locked-down kayaks on a little ride. Today is a windy day so it’s a good one for a test. I shot down I-83 South at 70-plus miles per hour (running with the wind) then turned around at the exit and drove into the wind at the same speed, listening for a whistle, whine or flap from the kayaks, saddles, straps, or rack. All was quiet. Back home I applied a coat of marine wax to the top.
That evening we watched the extras on the ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ DVD.

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Thursday, 21 June -

Today I added a hold-down bracket to the roof-rack track. As I attached the kayak carriers to the track the other day I had noticed the rear of the track lifting a bit off of the fiberglass roof. Though there’s a good course of sealer around it, the lifting of the track isn’t good. If the kayaks get to rocking about because of winds or rough roads, the back of the track could get pulled up, perhaps even leading to a roof leak. During installation years ago I had a problem with the anchor fastener in this area and apparently it has pulled out a bit. I can push it back down but that isn’t permanent. I therefore made up a small metal bracket from steel stock and epoxied it across the end of the track and onto the roof. It’s solid as a rock now.
That evening we watched some ‘Pirate Master’ and went to bed early to read.

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Wednesday, 20 June -

Today I went to the dentist to replace the temporary crown installed last week with the permanent one. The temporary didn’t want to come off even as the dentist jumped up and down on my chest, jerking the vise-grips back and forth (ok, maybe that’s a stretch but that baby was ON there). He ended up using the dentist’s drill to cut through the sides of it to get it to finally release. But after that the placement of the new crown was a cinch.
I took Labashi’s car in for service that afternoon. The CD player now refuses to eject the disk and we sometimes hear a grinding noise in the front brakes, just before the vehicle comes to a complete stop. The brake problem turned out to be a known issue for which there was a service bulletin. New brake pads and truing of the rotors took care of that. The CD problem will require replacement of the audio unit and that has to be ordered so I’ll have to return again next week. Both issues were handled under warranty but I’m starting to wonder about having these so many problems on a 15,000-mile car.
That evening I mowed the ripple. The lawn looks more like mid-August than mid-June.

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Tuesday, 19 June -

I spent most of today working on the sea kayaks to prepare them for our upcoming trip. The kayaks needed a good cleaning and that’s easy enough but the bigger problem was the coating of oxidation on Labashi’s kayak. I had made the mistake of buying a locally-built kayak made of a Royalex knock-off. It has an outer covering of vinyl which looks great when new but rapidly fades with exposure to prolonged sunlight. I had read of this characteristic so I treated the hull with 303 Protectant a couple of times a year. But that didn’t do it. I apparently didn’t treat it often enough and her kayak accumulated an unsightly covering of white oxidation on its yellow hull and deck. Several years ago I had taken the oxidation off my old Grumman aluminum canoe with a Scotchbrite pad so I tried that on the hull and that seemed to work. But I was concerned it was too abrasive so I bought 1500, 600, and 320-grit automotive sandpapers to give them a try. The 1500 and 600 grits took off a little of the oxidation but jammed up, even with a flow of water under them. The 320 did okay but it turned out the Scotchbrite pad worked best—but only if used dry. The oxidation is now off and with a new coating of 303 the kayak looks great--- for now.
That afternoon I installed my Thule racks on Mocha Joe and added a set of Yakima Landsharks (a type of kayak ‘saddle’ or holder) to them. I’ve been using generic kayak foam blocks for the saddles (hoping to avoid the $70-per-kayak cost of the Landsharks) but they’ve become a pain. Because I slide the kayaks into place from the rear of the vehicle, the foam blocks resist the push forward and tend to roll forward. But the bigger problem is they are too flat—they don’t help the straps to keep the kayaks in place in a gusty headwind. I bought one set of Landsharks with the intention of replacing only the front blocks but thought I’d first try a full set on one of the kayaks. Foam blocks gotta go!
That evening I ran the ‘Seraphim Falls’ disk back to the video store and learned why it didn’t work. Apparently the last renter burned a DVD and stole the original disk! The store gave me two free-rental cards so, well, good enough.

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Monday, 18 June –

I spent the morning updating my blog and patrolling my favorite news sites on the web. In the afternoon I rode the motorcycle down to Freedom Armory for a target shooting session in their fancy indoor pistol range. For the summer the range has a ‘Monday two-fer’, meaning you pay for ½ hour ($11) but get an hour of range time (now that’s more like it!). I’m doing okay keeping everything in the inner scoring area on a silhouette target so long as I take the time to aim well but accuracy deteriorates more than I’d like as I speed up the firing rate. More practice needed! I had two failures-to-eject (‘FTEs’, also known as “stovepipes”) and a failure-to-feed (FTF) with the .380. Until yesterday I had had no feed or ejection failures whatsoever so I now have a problem to solve. We had the first-ever stovepipe with it yesterday but I thought that was due to ‘limp-wristing’ but now I’m not so sure. More practice needed!
The other pistol, a .22 target model, has a history of FTEs, particularly with some brands of ammo. But it did well, suffering only one FTE today.
After my session I was approached at the range check in/out desk by two friendly older gentlemen. They started asking questions about the targets I was using and then said they were here for the shooting competition. They apparently thought I worked there but once we cleared that up they went on to tell me the competition is sponsored by the York County Agency on Aging. One of the gents said he had just ‘graduated’ to the 85-and-older shooting group and the other said he was only 83 so he was in another group. They said the groupings went as low as age 55 and suggested I consider it. Back home I got on the web and learned that this was part of York County government’s Senior Games. Very cool!
That evening we attempted to watch ‘Seraphim Falls’ but the DVD wouldn’t read. Fortunately we had another so switched to ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’. LOVED it!

Office cleanup, ‘Catch and Release’, Gold Café, ‘The Closer’, ‘Shooter’s Delight’
(posted from home)

(This post covers 11-17 June)

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Sunday, 17 June –

Today I drove Mocha Joe to my little brother’s house, both to put a few break-in miles on for the transmission checkup next week and also to possibly pick up the fishing boat. We decided to go see Mom at the assisted-living facility but on the way we’d stop at an indoor shooting range nearby to check it out. I had seen some good comments about the range on a shooting web site but didn’t know how current they are. My brother had heard it had closed so it was possibly a fool’s errand to ride out there—but we had nothing better to do anyway. As it turned out, though, the shop had changed hands and re-opened quite a while ago. We chatted with the counter-guy, Glen (or Glenn, I’m not sure). He’s a former Borough police officer, knows his stuff, and is a friendly, straightforward guy. After chatting for a half-hour or so we asked to see the range and then decided we’d go ahead and shoot for a half-hour. This place is perfect— good prices, friendly and attentive staff guy, lots of open lanes, plus excellent attention to safety and health concerns. These folks could give lessons to my fancy local range, particularly in the friendly-service arena.
After a nice visit with Mom we returned to an excellent Father’s Day cookout for my brother and my about-to-be-a-Dad nephew. Back home Labashi thought the name of the shooting range – ‘Shooter’s Delight’ -- quite hilarious.
That evening we watched two episodes of ‘The Closer’.

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Saturday, 16 June –

Today I treated the van top. The fiberglass polish does indeed take off oxidation as it’s supposed to. It’s not just a wipe-on, wipe-off process though and takes considerable effort. This will take at least two applications, though. The underlying fiberglass is definitely shinier but it doesn’t look waxed. I’ll have to read up on compatibility with waxes but overall I’m happy with the results and it should cut way down on the oxidation being carried down over the windows and paint.
That evening we watched three more episodes of ‘The Closer’. On the one hand it’s getting a bit repetitive but the writers have introduced some longer-term storylines that lend some twists and turns.

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Friday, 15 June –

This morning I carefully washed Mocha Joe (several times) in preparation for treating the fiberglass top. I bought some Starbrite Marine Fiberglass Polish which supposedly removes the chalking (oxidation) from boats. I don’t mind the flat-white look of the white roof but rain carries the white oxidation powder down over the mocha-colored paint and the blackened windows. That evening I took the van for a drive to put a few miles on the new transmission to be sure it’s working correctly. I drove through Columbia and Mountville via SR462 and in circling back to US30 via Centerville Road I came upon the Gold Café, a coffee shop (just down the street from ‘That Fish Place’ for those of you familiar with this area). There I ran into a first. The Gold Café is a combination coffee shop and (of all things) a bank. I thought it was just a coffee shop in an upscale building (it looked something like a Panera Bread Company building) and walked through the doors expecting to see the normal coffee counter and seating. I did indeed see the familiar coffee counter with espresso maker, Torani bottles, etc. But to the left I could see not one but two ATM machines at the back wall. And there were no tables, though I did see comfortable-looking couches and easy-chairs. Several young, well-dressed people were cluttered together to my left and as I entered they looked up expectantly and asked if they could help. I thought it odd to have what looked like a maitre’d station in a coffee shop and said I just wanted a coffee to go. One said she’d be happy to help and guided me toward the coffee counter as she went around behind it. As I ordered their version of a frappuccino, she asked if I realized this was a bank. I thought she meant this was a coffee shop in what had once been a bank but she said, no, it’s currently a bank! Now the layout made sense. I asked her what her job title is and jokingly asked if the word ‘barista’ is in it. She floored me when she said her job title is ‘financial barista’. For some reason she didn’t take me seriously when I said “In that case, I’d like a $100,000 loan to go with my frappuccino”. As I walked out with my coffee, I saw a young well-dressed couple waiting nervously, apparently about to meet about a loan application. Or maybe they were just anxious about whether their coffee would be right! Here’s a link to what I’m talking about: http://www.goldcafes.com/about.html. I LOVE this kind of stuff! How does it get any better than ‘financial barista’?

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Thursday, 14 June –

This morning we picked up Mocha Joe with his new $1800 transmission rebuild. That was about the cost of Cherry Larry’s rebuild almost ten years ago and that cost didn’t include the extra cost of 20 quarts of $8.50-a-quart synthetic ATF this one has. Also, this rebuild has a two-year warranty where the other was a one-year.
That afternoon I also changed Mocha Joe’s engine oil to give him a fresh sump of Mobil 1 extra-mileage synthetic and I did a general inspection of the tires, suspension, and engine components in preparation for our next trip. That evening we watched an episode of ‘The Closer’, then ‘Pirate Master’. The latter is pretty silly but we’re hoping Mark Burnett will give us some interesting surprises. But so far— so-so.

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Wednesday, 13 June -

The drudgery of office cleanup continues today. I bought ten more storage boxes. This will at least allow those who clean out the house after we’re gone to throw things away 60-quarts at a time and in an organized manner!
We watched three episodes of The Closer. Not bad. I like Kyra’s character and most of what the writers are doing with it. The effects for body damage look a little too unrealistic but at least they don’t dwell on them overly long.

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Tuesday, 12 June -

This morning I made a run into town for storage containers for my office clean-out project. I was surprised to see how expensive the plastic wing-boxes have gotten (over $10 each!) but then found some very nice 60-quart lidded boxes on sale at Wal-Mart for $6. Back home I cleared out all the family history items from the office and now have them stored together, semi-organized and out of the way in our basement storage area. I also stowed all the camping gear and motorcycle gear and supplies and can see the floor! That evening we watched ‘Catch and Release’ with Jennifer Garner. I had passed this one by several times but then saw the two-thumbs-up recommendation and thought we’d give it a try. Good movie! I see today that RottenTomatoes pans it with ratings in the twenties and that surprises me—it’s surely worthy of a 60+ rating. It has some rough edges but is not nearly so predictable as one would expect from the storyline.

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Monday, 11 June –

Today I started on a long-dreaded job—cleaning out my ‘office’. This space has always been cluttered to some degree but took on a new, ultimate level of clutter when I brought home boxes and boxes of ‘important’ junk I had accumulated over the years of my working life. I also have boxes and bags of family photos and mementos (including my grandfather’s beaver top-hat and my great-grandparents’ kerosene dining-room lamp) which I inherited after my father’s death in 2003.
That afternoon I rode the Concours down to Rocky Ridge for a jog and on the way home I picked up a new tv series on DVD for us: The Closer, Season Two with Kyra Sedgwick. We’ve not seen Season One of this series but what the heck, we’ll catch up. I had seen this one on the shelves and had passed it by but last week I saw Kyra on ‘Inside the Actor’s Studio’ and was intrigued about the discussion about her role in the series.

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Randy Wayne White books, Mocha Joe trans woes, Rochester-area bike trip, ‘History Lessons’

(posted from home)
(This post covers 3-10 June)

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Sunday, 10 June-

Today I blogged the morning away while Labashi continued with her painting in the foyer. After lunch we drove to Millersburg University to see a play. This one was a staged reading of ‘History Lessons’ by Eton Churchill and we enjoyed it very much. Afterwards we drove into Lancaster to ‘Gibraltar’, an upscale restaurant. Prices were very high and we weren’t all that hungry so we had appetizers (Labashi had foie-gras and I had the lobster ceviche) and then shared a glass of tawny port for dessert. We watched a little television that evening and I finished up my blog entry for the week.

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Saturday, 9 June –

This morning Orat and I drove over to the local airport where he’s building an airplane. He built one years ago but this one is a high-performance all-metal craft with a 180-horse Lycoming engine and a constant-speed prop. Incredible.
At the hanger we met Orat’s flying buddy who was working on a RANS-12 ultralight belonging to a friend. I loved seeing all the planes these guys have… an old Tri-pacer converted to a tail-dragger, a motorglider, an all-metal little homebuilt powered by half of a Volkswagen engine, and two Airbikes.
Afterwards we had lunch at a burger joint before I jumped on the bike for my ride home. This one turned out to be one of my best rides ever. For some reason the roads were nearly empty, the weather was perfect, and the mountains were clothed in new foliage. I’ll remember that one for a long time.

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Friday, 8 June -

Today was a very hot one in the Rochester area. My brother and I chatted for awhile and then drove over to the local library to check out an art-photography exhibit which had some photos submitted by his flying buddy. Afterwards we lunched at a gourmet pizza and sandwiches shop before he had to go off to work and I read and watched an hour of TV. That evening I went off to dinner at a very nice Italian restaurant with my sister in law, niece, the two kids and a family friend. Afterwards we returned to my niece’s apartment. The kids and I played in the Little Tykes kitchen cooking up a nice pot of water soup and frying a heapin’ helpin’ of water in the fry-pan. Both were delicious… at least in our highly-active imaginations. That night was also a good sleeper.

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Thursday, 7 June -

Today I decided to take a motorcycle ride up to my other-brother’s home in the Rochester suburbs. I called my brother (Orat) to invite myself up to visit and headed out by mid-morning. I took a break at the new Williamsport Starbucks and then headed for Hammondsport, NY and the Glenn Curtiss Museum. I greatly enjoyed my tour of the Curtiss museum’s motorcycles, classic boats, flying boats, and airplanes. But my favorite item was the Aerocar. Curtiss built one of the first RVs, an aerodynamic camping trailer. It’s a fifth-wheel-style trailer with all the amenities and looks like a train car. It has the high-mounted drop-down bunks of a train sleeper car. Here’s a good link: http://www.rvhotlinecanada.com/history/hindleys.htm.
I left the museum about 17:00 and rode up the east side of Keuka Lake and on to Seneca Lake and Geneva before turning west. I don’t normally come this way and it was a wonderful detour. The roads were almost empty and with the evening light and long lake views the ride was spectacular. I then headed west to Canandaigua and stopped for supper at the best pizza shop in the region (which my brother happens to own) for pizza and wings with the family. We then moved on to my brother’s house for an evening of kid-fun. I soon found myself tricked into an extended game of ‘let’s feed the (rocking) horsie’ by my three-year grand-niece. That went on for-EVER (but was a lot of fun). We then set up the Little Tykes indoor train for the kids to ride around and around and around, then fight a little, then ride around and around and around again. Those little guys wore me out and I slept very well that night.

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Wednesday, 6 June –

This morning we dropped off Mocha Joe for a transmission oil change before our next trip. Unfortunately, I received a call an hour later to tell me the tech had found a large amount of ‘brass’ in the oil pan and filter, a sure sign of a failing transmission. I suspected the van might have problems an oil-change wouldn’t fix but I thought it worthwhile to do the oil change and see if the shifting-into-gear problems went away. The problem only happens occasionally and only on the first shift-into-gear of the day then. But the intervals between occurrences have been getting shorter and any failure to shift into gear can’t be good. The fix will set us back $1800. I have no real choice but to go through with it. Replacing the van is out of the question (try looking for a high-top window van!) and that will be an extended process when I finally have to do it. It looks like I’ll have to do the same thing the previous owner of Mocha Joe did— have a top custom-installed. I have found a source for the ‘right’ fiberglass top and can get it drop-shipped to the installer—I just don’t have the new van or the installer! In my less-lucid moments I’ve considered trying to install it myself but so far I’ve come to my senses and decided I’d better leave that to the pros.
We received the bad news about the transmission while at the AAA picking up maps and travel books for the next trip. We then drove over to Gung Ho Bikes to test bicycle seats. I finally found a bike shop that will take the time to install whatever seats we want to try and let us ride them around the parking lot and down the street and back. We had one of our little folding bikes along and tried four seats before finding replacement seats we think will work for us. That evening I returned to Gung Ho to pick up my road bike (I had left it for service last week). I bought a new seat for it too since the old gel seat had solidified. Back home I tried out the road bike down on the creek road. Boy, it has been awhile. I’m going to have to work up to this.

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Tuesday, 5 June -

This morning I rode the Concours up to the dentist’s office for the first of two appointments for a new crown to repair a broken tooth. The break had extended below the gum line so I had to have a ‘crown extension’ process done by my periodontist. I’m one of his favorite customers. That afternoon I mowed the lawn in the day’s heat and took a good ole-fashioned sweat-bath.

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Monday, 4 June –

Today Labashi started painting the foyer walls. My part in this little adventure is ladder placement (which is a lot more complicated than it sounds!). Between the challenges and terrors of ladder placement, I finally got around to cleaning out and organizing my bedside shelving and my two-year-old ‘temporary’ storage around my reading chair. Ahh— MUCH better!

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Sunday, 3 June –

This morning I wrote my blog update while Labashi painted the living room and dining room ceilings. We then drove in to the Olive Garden for a mid-afternoon late-lunch/early supper. We like to get a table with the comfortable rolling chairs (rather than a booth) and some wine and then stretch out the meal for most of the afternoon. Today we tried the smoked-cheese fonduta appetizer and loved it. On the way home we stopped at Borders. I picked up three more Randy Wayne White books (‘Sanibel Flats’, ‘Ten Thousand Islands’, and ‘The Man Who Invented Florida’). Since our return from Florida in April I’ve read ‘Everglades’, ‘Dark Light’, ‘Twelve Mile Limit’, ‘Shark River’, and ‘The Mangrove Coast’. I can’t get enough of these books. They remind me a lot of the classic Travis McGee series written by John D. MacDonald and are of the same ‘classy trash’ genre (I prefer to call them ‘guilty pleasures’). See http://home.earthlink.net/~rufener/ for an intro to McGee if you aren’t already a fan).
Randy Wayne White is an interesting guy. I first read his non-fiction work years ago in Outside Magazine and liked his style. Silly me, I didn’t even know he was writing fiction until I came upon ‘Dark Light’ in a grocery store. When I mentioned it to my St. Pete friend, I found he is a big RWW fan. He lent me four books to take along home and I’ve been hooked ever since. Here’s more info: http://rwwhite.com/.
If I were Doc Ford (the protagonist of the series), my logical mind would try to understand why I like these guilty pleasures. A factor that’s way up there for me is the recognition of Florida places and history. Shortly after returning home from a month and a half bumming around the Everglades I read ‘Everglades’ and could vividly see in my mind’s eye every little detail of sight, sound, smell, and feeling of the locale. Secondly, I like the mixing in of the unconventional or unexpected. Doc Ford uses wrestling concepts (not the ‘pro’ fake-wrestling crap, we’re talking here about the real thing) when he inevitably finds himself in an up-close-and-personal confrontation with the bad guys. And he and Meyer, err, I mean Tomlinson are, of all things, amateur baseball players (Tomlinson is the foil to Doc Ford as Meyer was to Travis McGee).
I’m also fascinated by the craft of Mr. White’s work. I like to see the changes in character, the development of ideas. I’m also intrigued by the mistakes in the book. In ‘Ten Thousand Islands’ Doc Ford’s flats-skiff ‘dropped down off plain’ as it approached Ronrico Key. Obviously it dropped down off plane (as in ‘planing’ atop the water). In ‘Sanibel Flats’ one woman is ‘sole-eyed’ which I’m sure is supposed to be ‘sloe-eyed’, a term he uses in (I think) ‘Ten Thousand Islands’ (and ‘sole-eyed’ makes no sense). I didn’t collect examples from the other novels I’ve read but I’ve noticed many more mistakes than I’m used to. What’s happening here? Are the editors at Putnam’s and Penguin Group becoming too dependent on spell-checkers? Mistakes like ‘sole’ versus ‘sloe’ are typos but not ‘plain’ versus ‘plane’. The editor who okayed that shouldn’t be editing books with boating terms in them. But how did that mistake get started?
The more I think about the mistakes, though, the more I like them. They somehow make the books more the labor of one (occasionally-flawed) person than a product of the well-polished machine of a big publishing house.

Old-guy jogging, hallway lighting, ‘Apocalypto’, ’10 Items or Less’, ‘Half-Nelson’

(posted from home)
(this post covers 28 May-2 June)

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Saturday, 2 June –

Today we painted the foyer. This project wasn’t as easy as it should be. The foyer landing is small, oddly shaped, and cluttered by a large stairway. The wall is 15 feet tall in this area and the overhead fan/light is both large and barely reachable from the ladder. The fan has also been wobbling a bit lately so I needed to stabilize the mount. After a half-hour of frustration about being unable to reach and remove the fan/light, we finally found we could put the extension ladder on the lowest step and use a concrete block for one leg. That allowed the ladder to move over enough to make it all easy. I disassembled the lower light, removed the fan blades, and removed the fixture entirely to give me access to the box. Two long screws run up through the bracket into the cross-beam stabilized the mount. After we painted the ceiling in this area I remounted and re-assembled the fan/light and all turned out well.
That evening we watched ‘Half Nelson’ with Ryan Gosling and Shareeka Epps. Gosling is very (and frustratingly) believable as a crack-head teacher and young Miss Epps is a wonderfully-understated 13-year-old. I see this one ranks way up there in the 90’s on RT and I think I know why. It doesn’t make the predictable move. Highly recommended.

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Friday, 1 June –

Today I spent the day running errands. I drove in to York Transmissions to discuss the noise I’m hearing in the Miata and also to make arrangements to service Mocha Joe’s tranny. After a test drive of the Miata the tech told me the noise sounds like gear noise (as opposed to a bearing problem) and it’s not indicative of an imminent failure. Unfortunately a fix would be expensive--- $1000 or more depending on parts availability. So that’s not in the cards this year. Maybe I can find a used one somewhere.
After going over the symptoms of Mocha Joe’s problem with the tech I decided to go ahead with a routine trans service. I also elected to use synthetic oil to (hopefully) extend the oil’s breakdown time and for its low-temp fluidity. I’ve been a fan of Mobil One synthetic engine oil for my cars and motorcycles for years and will try AMSOIL ATF synthetic in the trans.
I then took a tour of the York bike shops looking for a more comfortable seat for the road bike, without much luck.
That evening we watched ’10 Items or Less’, a wonderful little low-budget film with Morgan Freeman and Paz Vega. This film was made in 15 days and the ‘Making Of…’ featurette is the key to understanding what an accomplishment it is. Recommended!

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Thursday, 31 May –

This morning I climbed up into the attic yet again, this time to install the three housings for the new hallway recessed lights. Labashi drilled the ceiling openings from below (after I had checked clearance above) while I wired up the housings. Because our ceiling trusses are 24 inches apart, the housing support bars flex a little too much. This allows the housing to ride up when we install the lights from below. I ran a piece of metal utility strapping over the housings to tie them down more securely to the trusses. After finishing up in the attic, I went down to the basement and wired the supply line into the same junction box I had used for the living/dining room recessed lights.
That afternoon I went jogging again at Rocky Ridge. This time I had my watch along and see I completed the jog in 1:27, a surprisingly good time for a 90-degree day.
That evening we watched the new pirates show on tv and enjoyed seeing the American Chopper guys in Australia. Then we turned on the new hallway lights to check them out. They look great!

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Wednesday, 30 May –

This morning I started on another recessed-lighting project, this one in our hallway. The three new eyeball fixtures will wash light onto artwork and we’ll finally be able to see into our hallway closet. Today I ran the two wiring segments-- one from the basement, one from the attic--- and then cut in and installed a new two-gang box for the dimmer switch and the existing hallway switch. Tomorrow in the I then moved to the dining room and wired in a new three-pendant fixture to the pancake box I installed yesterday. Looks good!
That afternoon I took pulled my mid-90’s road bike out of the barn to look it over and see what it needs to put it back on the road. As the summer heats up and the horseflies start chasing me down the jogging paths I want an alternative for exercise. I loaded the bike into Cherry Larry and took it into Gung Ho Bikes for service. New tires and a basic lube-and-adjust should get it back on the road. I’ll pick it up next week.
That evening we watched ‘Apocalyto’, the Mel Gibson film. We loved it! Mel did a great job of introducing us to a completely different world. The storyline is a bit too predictable and exaggerated but we didn’t mind at all given the fantastic locale, costumes, and characters. Can you imagine what it would have been like to make this film?

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Tuesday, 29 May –

This morning I took down our dining-room chandelier and cut in a new electrical box. Labashi’s rehab plan for the dining room replaces the chandelier with a modern three-light pendant fixture. For that I needed to relocate the electrical box. The new location is right under a ceiling truss so that meant I had to use a ‘pancake box’ which is an electrical box only ¾” deep (the depth of the drywall). I made yet another trip to our claustrophobic little attic to relocate the feed wire but that turned out to be easy. All I had to do was remove a cable-staple and then swing the old wire over to the new location and feed it into the box and then beat a hasty retreat from the rapidly-heating-up attic.
I then finished mowing the lawn for this week before riding into town for a well-deserved Starbucks break. Afterwards I thought I’d try my favorite Rocky Ridge jog in the 90-degree heat. That went okay but toward the end I was quickly overtaken by some young college girl flying along effortlessly. We said hi as she passed. A few minutes later here she came the other direction. As she fluttered by she chirped “Hang in there! You’re almost there!!!” Great. A pretty young chick taking pity on the obviously-suffering old coot (who actually WASN’T near the end—he still had a half-hour of jogging left to do today). So it goes.

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Monday, 28 May –

Today is Memorial Day. The weather’s hot and sticky and I need some recovery time from my hot-weather jog yesterday. I spent the morning blogging and then late in the day I mowed the ‘lower 40’ portion of our lawn.