New Year's Eve Dinner

Have a safe and fun night everyone. As for me, I will be digesting this.

Pictures courtesy of the Boy over at Guns & Coffee.

Bike Rack

As mentioned before, I made a bike rack for the porch today. I was looking for a cheap-o way to tidy up the porch. All the similar floor racks at the home improvement and big box stores were at least $50. I whipped up this for around $20, a little elbow grease, and under two hours worth of time. One could easily complete it in under an hour if power tools were involved.

The rack could easily be transferred from porch, to bed of a pickup truck, to campsite, etc. It's made from PVC pipe and pipe fittings.

A person could add sand or similar to the pipes after construction to make a little more sturdy. You can adjust the spacing pieces as needed to accommodate different tire widths. Bikes can go in front wheel or back wheel first. I find the drop bar bikes fit better when being backed in.

Works great so far (kitten tested, mother approved). Still debating if it needs a coat or two of green paint because green is a good color.

4 little bikes, all in a row.

Here's your parts list:

          30 feet 3/4" PVC pipe
          26 T-connectors
          6   90-degree elbows
          PVC cement (optional)

The cut pieces will be:
          8 - 18.5 inch
          18 – 9.5inch
          8 - 8.5 inch
          12 - 2 inch

Assemble the frame as pictured below. This was adapted from Utah Mountain Biking's plan, found here. They suggest using bungees to secure bikes if transporting in a truck. This plan also includes instructions on a 3 slot rack and how the 5 slot rack can be used to transport 5 bikes in a pickup bed. 

Unloaded and ready for action. 

Mountain bike with 2" tires and Park bike with 2.5" tires. 

The drop bar handles fit best when backed in. 

Weekend Projects

The Task:  Do the weekend projects I've been meaning to.
The Timeline:  Everything needs to be done by 3pm on Sunday.
The List:
- Bake cranberry orange muffins *check* (10am on Saturday)
- Make a four bike rack out of PVC *check* (3pm on Saturday)
- Clean up the porch *check* (3:30pm on Saturday)
- Organize the storage room. (I plead the 5th)

If no one hears from me by 3pm on Sunday send the search party!

November 1st, 2011

Newsflash to businesses. Not allowing concealed carry in your store will only make it easier for bad guys to be bad guys. They will see the little sign that says "No Firearms" and know they can get away with trying to or successfully robbing your business without the worry that a good samaritan will do something about it. Sure, you can call the cops, but what happens when they are in transit?

Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit

That's all.

Please and Thank You -- Where did it go?

Today is Trick-Or-Treat day in my town. Halloween was always a favorite holiday growing up. Getting dressed up, going around the neighborhood and taking stock of the loot.

It doesn't seem like Halloween hold the same for the kiddos that stopped by my door. Just now I had some kids stop by.  I have a deck with a doorbell that leads to enclosed porch. I was standing in the kitchen and could hear the kids on the deck. It sounded like they knocked but I wasn't sure. They got mad and were about to leave when they saw the door bell. *Ding Dong*

I grabbed the candy and went to the door. I opened the door and the girls just stood there. No trick or treat, no hello. The three girls just stood there.  I asked them what do you say and they just stood there. One finally said trick or treat. One of the other's asked how many pieces she could have (???). As they left (no thank yous) I said You're welcome!  The girls just took a hand full of wet leaves the threw them at the house....

On a plus side, as I was writing this a Cat Fairy stopped by my house. Was super excited for Halloween and very appreciative. She was so cute, she got two pieces of candy!  I guess the Halloween spirit does still exist.

You can learn new tricks when sick.

Like VapoRub makes a great overnight pedi. Slather on feet, put on fuzzy socks and sleep. In the morning super soft footsies await!