TeeBee's Blog

Addition Update

Drywall work complete and ready for painting. Old kitchen is gone. Old floor torn up. New 6" oak floor is down (unfinished). Stove, fridge are more or less in their final places. Cabinets all brought up from downstairs; installation will start today.

Weekend purchases by Gina:

- dishwasher
- ceiling fan
- sink
- pendant lights (have to be returned as they are on fixed rods; can't be adjusted)
- a few sample tiles (for porch floor).

Weekend activities for me:
- moved 70% of stuff from old shop into new
- painted bathroom ceiling (2 coats; looks good - the guy that re-did the ceilings did a fab-o job!)
- tend to sick boy (Alex has has a fever for a few days; is now transitioning into a cold)
- rode motorcycle around the block a few times on Saturday

Pics here.

teebee

Addition (and weather) Update

Drywall work is nearly complete. They just have to sand it all (ugh), and they'll be done. They brought in the wood for the wood floor a few days ago, so it could get acclimated to indoor temps. They plan on tearing out the old kitchen completely this afternoon, so no more sink or diswasher. They will put the stove and 'fridge somewhere in the house, so we won't be totally living at Wendys and Friendlies for the next 2 weeks.

Oh, and it snowed last night. Only a dusting physically, but psychologically it was a blizzard.

Am trying something new with pictures - Yahoo Photos. Lets you see a preview of the picture before viewing it. Let me know how it works by leaving comments.

Pics here.

teebee

Urban Renewal

Every Halloween the downtown businesses let kids decorate their store windows with Halloween paintings. We've been doing it for 3 or 4 years now. This year we got a prime location - Hastings! A very popular local downtown business, selling newspapers, magazines, cards, Amherst College paraphenalia, penny candy (really!), comic books, etc.

So we all trooped down there on Saturday morning, and met our friends Jen and Sonya and their kids Gia and Caleb. It was foggy and very cold, the kind of cold that really gets into your bones. However, the kids were eager, and we were well-fortified with coffee, so we had at it. Jen and Gina supervised the girls, while Sonya and I guided the boys. I'm pleased to say that we did only about 30-40% of the work (mostly lettering and other fine details). The children were very enthusiatic about the graveyard theme. It turned out very nice, and the local newspaper paparazzi stopped to snap a few shots. I'll let you know if we make the papers.

My pics can be found here.

teebee

Now With Comments!

I'd been meaning to hook up with one of the free Blog comment sites. With a little prodding from my displaced blogger friend Henry, I finally got off my ass and did it. Click on the "Add Your Comments" to (duh) leave comments, courtesy of HaloScan.

teebee

Yankees 6, Red Sox 5

Arrrggggh.

Addition Update

Drywall is all hung. They're taping and sanding and making a helluva mess. Chaos is starting to intrude more and more into the existing house. It'll peak next week when they start on the kitchen.

teebee

Honorary citizen of the Red Sox Nation

I've never been a passionate sports fan, but I've gotten caught up by the Red Sox's march to the World Series. I stayed up for the late games against Oakland. I watched Pedro go curling with Zimmer's head. Yesterday the kids and I watched the last 3 innings when the Sox beat the Yankees to force Game 7, with me explaining what's going on (although I forgot what a ground-rule double was - d'oh!). I still can't name half the players on the team, but I don't sweat it because I'm having fun and that's the whole point of professional sports - entertainment.

Just don't tell that to my friend James, who is a Cubs fan.

teebee

Beaten Up by an Inanimate Object

I'm limping around today, with a pummeled right quadracep and a bruise on the inside of my leg that feels like a small golf ball. All courtesy of a 1972 Triumph Bonneville. And its not what you think.

Let me start by saying I've always been into motorcycles. As kids we all had minibikes. As a teen I bought a Hodaka Road Toad (not a great bike, but a great name) off of a friend, tore it down and rebuilt it. In college I had a 400 single that I road in the rain and cold. Before the kids were born I had an old Suzuki 750 that I could not get running right. After the kids came along I put that whole lifestyle aside.

However, my sister-in-law Lisa rides, has 3 (or maybe 4) bikes, and has always said I could ride any of them anytime. I always declined, thinking that if I got a taste again, I'd want to start riding again. And my S.O. doesn't exactly approve of my riding again, from a keeping-me-alive-and-functioning standpoint.

Then one of the guys at work bought a really flashy Japanese cruiser. And I made the mistake of taking it out. And before I knew it, I was rolling out of one of the airport hangers on one of Lisa's bikes - this one a 1972 Triumph Bonneville. And it was good. Real good. Well, mostly good.

Old Triumphs are a mixed bag. They look good - this one is yellow with white piping. They sound good - not quite the potato-potato-potato idle of a Harley, but a real rumpty-rump, you-can-hear-the-valves-working, loping kind of sound. They're pretty fast and light, and you sit up nicely on them. However, :

- Starting it is akin to starting an old biplane - you have to prime both carbs by hand (the phrase used by Triumph-ites is "tickling the carbs") until gas gets all over your fingers, then stand on the kickstart and jump down until it fires (getting your leg out of the way in case the kickstart lever kicks back - more on that later)
- The shift and rear brake are reversed, so you have to pay attention to what you're doing and not rely on instinct
- You have to shift with authority, or find yourself stuck between gears with an SUV crawling up your butt
- You could rent the thing out on weekends as a paint-shaker - anytime the tach goes over 3k things start buzzing like you put a quarter in a cheap Motel 6 bed

So I ride it home from the airport on Monday, park in in the garage overnight (where it stinks the place up with gas fumes), and plan to ride it to work the next day (supposed to be sunny and 70).

Tuesday morning, 6:30 AM - it is 50 degrees and foggy. Do I really want to ride this thing, or should I crawl like a girlie-man to my car and put the heat on? The bike sneers at me - "Whydja take me for if you ain't gonna ride me?!!" Who can argue with logic like that? I zip the liner into my coat, put some earplugs in, and prepare to set out.

20 minutes later, I'm still prepared, only now I'm hot, sweating in my jacket and gloves, and my leg is starting to cramp from kick-starting this thing. It won't start. Every 3rd or 4th kick, I get 2 or 3 seconds of life (puttputtputtputtblargh), but nothing more. One of my attempts had the kickstart level lash back and catch me on the inside of my knee. I'm sure by now I've woken everyone up inside (later confirmed by my wife). Arggggh!

Finally I get it going (secret - you have to really, really prime the carbs), and we're off. Into the fog. With an open-face helmet. Needless to say, it was a cold, damp ride through the cornfields. But I did it. 20 man-points for me.

Lunchtime was much better. Sun was out, temp was 65, bike started on first kick, and I was off. Hmmm - my right leg is pretty stiff, but hey - I'm riding, dammit! Putt around, stall it once at a light, blow a couple of shifts, but still am having fun. 10 more man-points for me.

Man, my right leg is awfully stiff.

I take it home later in the day and exchange it for the car (have to pick up Emma at gymnastics after work). "Mmmmm - cars are comfy", I think to myself as I don't get wind in my face, don't have to shift, and don't worry about leaves in the road on the way back to work.

This morning is cold and rainy, so no bike heroics are required. Man, my leg is stiff. I inspect the welt behind my knee - nothing life-threatening. Into my comfy car, and off to work in a modern-transportation kind of way.

Am I gonna ride again? Oh, I'm sure I will. If I buy a bike of my own, will it be a 1972 Triumph? Um, no thanks - I'll leave that to those that actually keep track of things like man-points, and pick up a nice Japanese cruiser.

teebee

Mid-week vacation day

Gina was out of town yesterday, so I took the day off. I probably could've gotten the kids on the bus, gone in a bit late, then left early to get them off the bus. However, I decided to take the day off and do (mostly) whatever I wanted. Day consisted of:

- get kids up, dressed, fed, and on bus.
- a leisurly breakfast, accompanied by the blaring stereo and shrieking Roto-Zip tools of the drywallers
- a walk in the woods with the dogs. It was very foggy, so the woods had an other-wordly feel. I kept waiting for the Knights of Ni to make an appearance.
- a visit to Amherst Woodworking to see if there were any nice pieces in their "Seconds" area. Struck out - nothing but pine, poplar and plywood
- a stroll down the Norwottuck Rail Trail. I started from the train bridge and went about a mile and a half, then turned around. Saw migrating geese, fields of pumpkins, a whole flock of pigeons roosting overhead on the bridge (and none pooped on me).
- lunch back home, with same accompanying sounds
- 2 hours of picket-fence painting, using oil-based primer. I know, I know - you wish it was you inhaling those fumes and not me.
- get kids off bus
- help Emma corral her new hamster Sally, which got loose in her room
- stroll into field next to our house, where Pioneer Valley Balloons launched a hot-air balloon.
- cook dinner, pack lunches for next day, homework, teeth, bed
- watch the Sox drop game 2.

A full day, no matter how you slice it.

teebee

Addition Update

A few pictures of the upstairs room with insulation, here.

This week - the drywallers cometh. Let's hope their truck doesn't get stuck like the lumber truck did.

teebee

In which I play catch-up...

Been busy - have been neglecting blog. Bad, bad. Quick update:

- House: insulators came on Tuesday; insulated upstairs and downstairs. Everything is pink and fluffy now, and the echos are gone. Drywall next week.

- Life: Alex hurt his neck Monday (in Music class, of all places). Gina was out of town, so I stayed home with him on Tuesday. Doc says "pulled muscles", so we took it easy - lots of Battleship and ginger ale. Went for a walk around the pond, which had flooded in the previous 2 rainstorms. Cleaned out the pond dam's spillway. Found the pond's resident snapping turtle - it had gotten trapped in the spillway by the force of the water, and drowned. A shame - every spring we'd see her head from the swamps across the street, down the field and into the pond. Gina and the kids called her May 'cuz that was when she'd appear.

- Weather: gettin' chilly in the morning. Supposed to be 35 tomorrow, with frost warnings. Leaves are starting to turn.

- Me: went into school today to have lunch with Emma. Sat with her and her friends - nice kids. Stuck around afterwards to say hi to Alex (his lunch is right after Emma's; I dined with him 2 weeks ago). I don't remember much about my 4th grade lunchtimes. Probably hasn't changed all that much - there's only so much you can do with PB+J.

teebee