Happy New Year's Eve from vacation

Hello, Mrs 40 and I are down in florida for vacation this week. This morning I took a frightening bike ride over the causeway to the beach. no wonder why no one rides bikes around here.. it's pretty f'ing scary w/ no bike lane. No surf today so we went out in the boat.

The in-laws live in a condo complex on the Intracoastal waterway which has a ton of these 'spoil islands' along it. These were made when they dredged the channel. Some are conservation land, others are open to the public for camping etc. Mrs 40s parents/aunts/uncles etc have their favorites to go out to and party. One is even named after her uncle because he goes out there and camps for weeks at a time. This one had a few campsites on it. Even had 'facilities'... crude but functional:
I can imagine why they want to camp out here for weeks... nothing but dolphins, birds, manatees, and mullet for company.Well, have a Happy New Year! -40

EVIL-XMAS

The party started innocently enough... then somebody started dressing up their dog. Ingrid was in the holiday spirit with her big red bow.

Snoop-A-Loop got a brand new green hat from BBW for Xmas. It rocks. Snoopy wouldn't sit still long enough for a picture tho.

After all the holiday food was devoured, beverages consumed, and EVIL-XMAS exchange done (Swamp Yankee Swap), we all headed outside to go night sledding. BBW and I had a couple runs prepared. However, we were complete amateurs compared to CTLPs snow sculpting abilities.

Here he's putting the finishing touches on the banking and jump.

The view from the bottom looking up at the mountain and the lights:

After a few runs, Sleepy had a few more beverages then needed a nap next to his iBucket.

It was a great time. The next morning Sleepy made his patented omelets... with Bacon. I love bacon.

Thats it. Hopefully you all have a Merry Xmas! -40

Merry Christmas

The snow is out there... first real snow we have since we moved to the new place. The plowtruck worked awesome, but its going to have a bit of a learning curve to find all the rocks in the yard not to hit.

The other night I found a couple of sleds... plastic things what will probably last a few runs then shatter. Well, I tried one out this morning after walking Snoop-A-Loop...(who loves snow... go figure) on the frozen snow.... and ended up deep in the woods. Sweeeeet.

-40

Sledding

The 'early' snow this season got me thinking about sledding. Simple, fun, easy, anyone can do it. Honestly, I can't remember the last time I went sledding. Usually, snow sports now involve a 4+ hour drive to Vermont, $50+ lift ticket, and all that. Mrs 40 and I don't even own a sled. Well, now that we have snow on the ground and a wood pile pretty freaking far from the stove, i'm thinking it would be good to at least have a firewood sled to drag it down the hill in the snow rather than by wheelbarrow, and it would be cool to have a sled for bombing down hills.

These guys seem to have their sh*t together on both fronts. Drag your winter camping gear out to the yurt in a sled, then use the sled to for some fun... check out the videos. They are so serious about a good sledding run they berm the run with brush piles in the fall! I'm thinking this would be do-able on the FlatTires loop.

I'm thinking we should all find some sleds, find a big hill, bust out the ibucket, and go sledding!

Snoop-A-Loop! Bring Your Green Hat!

Ugg. It's coming early this year. I can't remember the last time we had snow before Christmas. This year it looks like we will. Lately I've been frustrated I didn't get more stuff done over the summer, and now I'm behind on house/yard projects. Not a good feeling. I've just about finished the last of the biggies. Tonight I stayed outside wiring, testing, etc, the plow rig on the old blazer we got from KungFooFish. I think i've learned my lessons tho.. on equipment that you rely on, its worth getting something that is not a project. This plow for example... Without it.. we would be S.O.L in a storm. However, It didn't work when i got it to bolt to the truck, and easily spent the amt of time getting it working that would have justified spending 2x as much. Or just getting a truck with a working plow. Owell...

The plow is done for now, as of 11:30pm tonight. The storm coming tomorrow shouldn't put a major stop to the rest of the jobs for the winter: I need to stack up some firewood, finish some inside projects, and get started splitting next years firewood. It's already cut up on top of the hill. I'm kicking aorund the idea of building a small solar powered firewood kiln for a 1/2 -1 cord at a time. Any moisture you can drive out of the wood using summer sun is the eq of free heat for the winter. Yup. I may build a 1/2 cord (a 48"cube) prototype this winter to try out the theory. I'm thinking a mini greenhouse... the specs would be similar to a passive solar house, suck in all the warm air from the sun as you can and circulate it around firewood. I've seen some articles about them.. even Vajanyatek (that's virginia tech) built one and published the plans on the web.

Other than that.. it's time to think about other indoor/garage friendly projects with the short days/sh*tty weather time of year. I'm dying to turn the bfb stuff into a recumbent. Or at least try it. If i can build a 8 ft long bike that can turn around on a dirt road and go 25mph.. i'll be thrilled.

Anyhow.. hope to see you guys soon. -40.

Wii videos on YouTube

Today I was reminded how much video games have changed. It used to be you sit around not doing a whole lot. Now, you need to move to play games. Gets lots of people who wouldn't normally play want to try it.

Head over to YouTube and check it out. Warning.. All are definitely and completely NSFW.



First, the classic original Wii vs PS3 commercial promised this would be a totally different console.


Then came the homemade spoofs. Why girlfriends think the Wii is cool



I was emailed a link to this one today, completely couldn't believe it. If you are offended by topless models, baby oil, video games, or British Accents, do NOT click this link. You have been warned.

In other news... I've been running around like an idiot lately finishing projects before the holidays. Trying to fix the plow truck, filling in craters we made while digging out boulders from the front yard, splitting/stacking firewood, etc. This weekend will be yet another another busy one.

The holidays are coming. With them, come commerical insanity, massive overspending, and *ugg* malls. It's my goal to not set foot into a mall until after the holidays. Wish me luck.

BUT! The holidays mean PARTIES! Head on down to the southernmost tip of the BeerMuda triangle on Dec 22nd for the festivities. Bring your kid(s), dog(s), glow in the dark frisbees, headlamps, Disc Golf baskets, and drinking shoes as applicable. We have plently of spare beds, couches, comfy recliners, floors, and whatnot for anyone to stay over if you want/need to.

That's it! Cya, -40

Treadmill Bike

Ok, I thought this was a joke, but it's not. It a Treadmill Bike. You have to watch the videos and make sure you watch the video of the "sweet jumps". I just don't get it. Why? What's the point? And it only costs $2500 canadian (although now that's probably cheaper than US), I can't believe they are able to keep these in stock. The best are the spinner wheels.
Anyways, check it out, besides "It's the future of urban transportation in this country".

Cold weather, and the holiday's, are coming...

Today was a holiday for some. I had the day off, and needed it big time. I tried to get as much done as possible on the 3day w/e.

On Saturday FlatTires came over, picked me and my garbage up, and we went to the transfer station. Met CTLP there after he had his coffee at Blueberry Hill. We all dumped in peace, Left all recycling in the bins they belong in (i'm told taking books out of the paper shed is against the rules).

Then, CTLP and FlatTires helped cut up all the wood piled up on the hill. Buck-it-up, if you will.

Sweet. Funny what dueling chainsaws can do with a go-fer shuffling around stacking wood. The current BeerMuda record stands at 2 log-length-cords(LLC) in about an hour with 2 saws. Yeehaw. Of course... Those are 2 sharp Huskies. Don't try to keep up w/ a homelite. I smoked my clutch(sparks flying) due to dull as sh*t chain. BTW, Split-a-dab might be in the works for a crispy cold winter weekeend activity, if we save the -adab till we're done. Renting a splitter for 2 days or a few even is well worth it.

Sunday was spent raking, dragging, and dumping ton after ton of leaves. Not surprised I feel asleep at 9. Ugg.. Getting old. Today I finished lots of little, must-do, jobs that have been driving me nuts. Gutters full of leaves, ripping up that ugly ass bamboo sh*t living under the porch(transplanted to the frontyard...), trying to replace the light out front with one that works, stuff like that. Then, Snoopy and I went for a quick mtbike loop around Big River, he was so pooped when we got home that he jumped up on the couch and has been sleeping since 5:30. Sheesh.

BBW and I are considering an overnight next weekend. Work on a project until it gets close to dark (~3pm these days), and bail for the bikes or kayaks for an overnight someplace local for watching some caveman TV(campfire) and B**r. Of course, that is if winter doesn't start too early(ie, looking for 40s days, 30 nights) doable with lightweight camping gear.

This week is the official kickoff to the holidays. The Italian Social Club dinner is thursday, then the holidays fly by in rapid succession after that. Txgiving, Xmas, New Year. LIke nothing. We need to check calendars for the early Pandapas Holiday gathering. Right now it might be either the w/e of Dec 22nd, or thereabouts. Stay Tuned.

Anyhow.. have a good week. Hopefully see you next weekend or... around. :) -40

Recycling

Here's an article that I found about how to recycle some odd things. I just thought I would share it.
That's it. Have a wonderful weekend.

Getting Chilly.

It's finally starting to feel like fall. Nights have gotten down into the 30s. If you're like me, heat with oil, and have been watching the news...

you would have seen that a barrel of crude has reached the psychologically important $100/barrel. The most visible sign of energy prices come when people see gasoline go up 20 cents in a week. It's a dollar more a gallon than last year. The rest of the world would tell the US, "tough sh*t, welcome to the party d*uchebags." Its hilarious to hear the people at work complain about it when our friends in the EU have been paying $5-6 a *liter* for years.
I bet it gets to the high 3s this year. Still unbelieveably cheap for what it is.

Anyhow.. this time of year makes me want to squeeze in the last of the summer activities, biking, boating, f'ing around. This weekend is a 3 day weekend for some. I'm hoping to get the yard cleaned, collect some firewood, and start digging the garden beds for next year. Other than that..... No plans. Next weekend BBW and I have been discussing a local bike/boat/beer overnight. Someplace easy to get to, where we can tote some beverages and watch fire. That's is. Maybe even the FlatTires Plateau if he lets us or we get wicked lazy. Everyone is welcom to join..you know where it is.... Under the birch/beach(not sure which it is) tree with the treestand in it. May even head down the river, by kayak or bike, and check out some new campsites. Should be fun no matter what. Only 2 rules... your stuff needs to get to the site by human power and byob.

-40.

Rivers are filling... somewhat

Maybe time for a fall -adab? Like an *easy* ride with camping and ADAB in the middle? There's only like 10 places to camp w/in 5 Miles of the BeerMuda triangle? Easy w/ minimal hp expended.

Minimal hp is good, energy prices are on my mind lately. Notice... Oil has shot up so much, it's scary. 'Like, is this it?' kindof scary?

Anyhow. Read about other fun ADABs out west in what seems like the BeerMuda's big sister city, Minneapolis. Last weekend was the 10th annual Homie Fall Fest.

Not that the Pandapas folk condone that sort of activity... you know... chaotic fun games fueled by bikes and alkyhol. Nahhh.

It's no Big Kahuna, but.. well, its doable.
-40

Kahuna kicked my @ss and the BeerMuda Work Exchange Program

I'm going to just stop beginning every post with "Gee I'm sorry I haven't been posting much.. Been really busy these days.." Well, I'm sure its getting old. Lately it seems its just one thing after another from sun up (Snoopy gets up before dawn *everyday* and wants to play) to sundown (just can't seem to get ahead on yard/house projects outside when it gets dark at 6pm.... and we get home from work at 5:30-5:45). I'll just sum up the last week.

Flat Tires and I went up north last w/e for the Annual "Big Kahuna" ride.
20-30 miles of very technical singletrack. I heard its way harder than RAMHADAB, but needed to check it out for myself. The freakishly warm October weather (80+ degrees and humid) didn't help me. I was hurting w/in the first 2 hours, and then we ran out of water for the next... hrmmm 6 hours? Ugg. No water at the rest stops, getting lost along the way, and no water in my camebak makes Forty something something. I tried to abort the ride once, but they reeled me back in. Anyhow. I'd try the ride again on a full suspension rig(trails not rigid 29er compatible) and assume we'll be self-supported. No trusting the water stops to actually, ahem, have water. THe next day I changed my bike back to singlespeed.

The forties, the ctlps, and my sister's family(and the CTLP's family) all went to the winery for their annual harvest festival.
Anyhow.. as things get more hectic around here there has been an interesting development on the home-project front.

The saying goes that "Many hands make light work"... Some local families have combined forces to rock house projects. Over here we placed the Green Machine in its resting place for the winter, at the FlatTires we fixed a backhoe, violently replanted a few giant shrubs with said backhoe, moved what felt like a ton or two of crushed stone, levelling the future Taj Mahal of all mantowns. At the CTLPS we stacked a couple cords of next years firewood in a little over an hour.

(btw...for some reason.. the blog isn't letting me post pictures. I may need to check if we're over our limit on Megs.)

Hopefully we can keep the program up for the next few weeks and get stuff ready for winter. Yeah...

In other news: It's getting pretty rare, but every once in a while at work I get to do something *really* cool. Last year I checked out some pretty amazing Power Gen technologies, I even got to spend a day with the godfather of geekery and mezmerizingly weird and cool inventions, Dean Kamen, and today I met a founder of a solar company that will very shortly become very, very important. and with oil at a record price of 88 bucks a barrel, the atmosphere in the room filled with Renewable Geeks was just about giddy. Myself included.

Stay tuned for project updates.... Time for dinner! -40

Busy...

Been busy these days. Sheesh.. I even saw Elvis last weekend. Heeheheh

Spotted him at the Pat's game.
More proof of global warming.. It was 80F... in New England... on the last weekend in September. You've got to be kidding me.

Here's an early sighting of the green machine. One Meeeeeeellon Btus fit in here.

Sweet.
Another busy weekend in store... Flat Tires and I are heading North for the 9th annual Big Kahuna ride. I hear it is tougher than our local RAMHADAB... I dunno. Our ride usually kicks my @sss so... Kinda worried about being able to make it. Hope so. I put some new tires on the Karate Monkey, 2.35x 29. It's like taking a tractor for a ride in the woods... You just roll over.. well, everything. Tonight I snuck out of work 1/2 hr early to squeeze in a 1hr ride with the pup Snoopy before dark. We barely made it by dark.

I was thinking how I can't wait to get back to singlespeed... All these gears are making me lazy.

Anyhow.. Have a good weekend, Hope you get Monday off too. I'll be fixing the yard.. even more. Yep. Starting to clear boulders from the front for raised beds. Might need to take down a couple of the trees. Might feel bad for a little while, but not so much when I realize one tree would be our heat next winter. They have tons o' btus hidden in there. Yup. You just need to squeeze every possible one out of there. -40.

The other green monster

Sorry I haven't been posting much lately. I've been scrambling on (yet another) long overdue house project. There's not much to say, except a big THANK YOU to CTLP and FLAT TIRES for coming over this weekend and jumpstarting it. The key component showed up at 5:45am today, and it's gigantic, wicked heavy, and gorgeous. We stashed it safely in the back corner of Flattire's garage until things are ready on my end. Stay tuned for updates...

Red Bull Soapbox Race - Providence

So, other than the fact that Greased Up Deaf Son is due on October 13, 2007, the second most anticipated event in my relative universe is the upcoming Red Bull Soapbox Race. This unique event competes with whiz-bang soapbox-style go-karts down the always gnarly Waterman Street of famed College Hill in Providence. I'm assuming that I'm out for said event, however, I thought I'd spread the word to mark your calendars as I'm certain this will be an unbelievable event to watch. Check out the website and be sure to play the game while you're there.


http://www.redbullsoapboxusa.com/Providence-2007/event-day.aspx

Food for thought

GardenGirl's post and CTLPs record length comment reminded me I've been wanting to post this for a couple days:

Farming in Brooklyn

Until you've tried to grow your own food, it seems easy. Dig up dirt, stick some plants in the ground, and water. Well, at our old house I had experimented quite a bit with organic gardening in raised beds. The organic part is easy: Compost everything. Raised beds are a no brainer for increasing yields. But...even so its very tough to grow food. It's a skill that only recently was lost. My grandmother told me stories about raising chickens, rabbits, etc on their farm (early 1900s) so it's only been during the suburban explosion post WWII that these skills were lost.

Theres quite a bit going on these days with the local food movement. You've probably heard of the 100-mile diet, 30-mile diet, 'localvore'... etc. If not, Google. Supposedly the book "The Omnivore's Dilemna" lays this all out well, but I don't have a free minute to get to the library to check it out.

With the coming end of the oil age, food that travels 2000 miles in the back of a refrigerated semi grown using water from an ancient aquifer using industrial farming practices will no longer be an option. Then, driving 10 miles to the grocery store isn't going to happen either.

Summer's Bountiful Harvest

Ok, so this is my first post on the blog, which I've been meaning to do all summer...so don't feel bad about the procrastination tactics, Mr. 40. Anyhow, I hope it's alright...BBW told me I was allowed, even though I'm a chick and all. I hope it's not too boring for you!

I guess the threat of frost last night and the evening's very cool temps. has got me thinking of cooler times to come...FINALLY. Along with those cooler days and nights though, means less fresh veggies from all of the wonderful local farms here in the Farmington Valley. Since I love to eat and I love veggies, I frequent them quite often.

There is one in particular which I visit weekly. It is an organic CSA (community supported agriculture) farm which has been in operation for many years. I paid a fixed amount at the start of the harvest season in June and a friend of mine and I split the weekly harvests. It is so much better than going to a grocery store and since I don't have time to have a garden of my own anymore...it rocks!!

Yeah, there may be some extra holes in some leaves here or there, but I would prefer that to chemically treated stuff any day. I have gotten way more than my money's worth and also pick up fresh daily eggs when I'm there, for dirt cheap. Each week, we are allowed to cut fresh flowers from the field and make our own bouquets...lots of cool sunflowers and stuff. I love supporting local growers, the food is super fresh and it suits my dietary needs. Good eats...I highly recommend it. It also encourages trying new recipes or just making it up as you go and trying new foods, which can be fun.

There are always many interesting animals running around and the folks at the farm are some of the most good-natured down to earth people ever...with a few weirdos mixed in for good measure. All in all a good experience, if you don't have a garden of your own.

Procrastination and Cottrell, my Belle

I'm a pretty notorious procrastinator. Yardwork, house projects, building ibuckets for friends (BBW and CTLP: I suck.. I know), posting on the blog (Thanks for writing up RAMHADAB, BBW!)

But over the summer I'm pretty focused on mtbiking, kayaking, and messing around at the lake as much as possible. Its this time of year, when things slow down and the weather gets a little cooler that I finally start to catch up on things. For example, Patching Bike Tubes.

I tend to let the leaky tubes pile up on a hook in the garage and patch them all in one night. Here's the '29er' tubes I flatted since spring.

In other news, CTLP was concerned we wouldn't finish the keg of Cottrell from RAMHADAB in time for him to restock with Stone Brewery next weekend. So FlatTires, GUDG, and I went over to CTLPs last night for some driveway drinking and cheeseburgers. CTLPs neighbor came over with his tractor from 1949. This thing just purred like it was brand new. We stood around with our beverages and admired this beautiful machine til Mrs CTLP got mad and called us in for dinner.

This weekend I hope to get started on all the projects I put off since FARTAB(official start of summer ya know).

Anyhow. Time to ride in to work. Cya.

RAMHADAB Volume 4

So, it was another successful RAMHADAB. We had a record number of riders at 14. It was beautiful weather, but a bit warm (actually it was HOT). Most of us drank about six liters of water on the six hour ride. Besides a couple flats and a broken spoke, there were no mechanical issues.

The lake at the end was enjoyed by many. I don't remember that many people going swimming or spending so much time in the water. We don't know if was the heat or the lack of a long weekend, but I'm sorry to say, we were unable to kick the keg. Although delicious, the Cottrell was tough in the heat and humidity. I tried my best by starting at 9:30 Sunday morning while helping Sleepy Gonzalez cook breakfast, which came out wonderfully.

After the ride, we went swimming, then went back to home base. Once there, we cooked, made a fire and watched some UFC. We kept the fireworks in the closet because of the lack of rain for the past month.

Some disc golf and croquet was played on Sunday. We also tried our best to cool off in the stream.

Make sure to join us for Volume 5 next year. It'll be a big year for the core riders due to it being 1/2 a decade of rides. Hope to see everyone return to join us next year.

Leaving for RAMHADAB Vol 4: The Double Deuce

I'm packed, and am going to leave in about ten/twenty minutes when Mrs 40 gets home from work.

I'm going to attempt the great Cross-Beermuda-Triangle bike ride tonight to get to CTLPs house. Wish me luck.


Yes, Those are hose clamps.

I can wait. Really.

Just like a true friend, I will wait for everyone to arrive before pulling drinks.

Honest....

I swear!

GAH! Hoisted by my own petard!

Tapped it to make sure that we are settled and pouring smoothly. Normally I follow my brother's advice and dump the first bit that comes out, but I just could not help it after spending a couple of hours at the brewery this morning with nary a sip...

Speaking of- in two weeks I am heading down to bottle 'Gloria' with the Newport Storm guys- a Pumpkin Spice variety. Normally pumpkin beer is not on my list of favorites, but something tells me that this one will be pretty good. Mrs. CTLP will be psyched!

The beer has landed.

And is currently chilling, untapped in the silver chamber of keg hugginess.

We need to finish this keg this weekend (or 40 is going to have a lot of work in front of him in the coming week). I know it was not an issue last year, but I have a feeling that Chas does a better job of filling his kegs than the light pouring pansies at Flying Dog...

I am not overlooking the golden deliciousness that is this years beverage, but while at the local beer vending store (fantastic people, great selection of rare hoptastic brews) I found out that they are getting Stone Brewery in next week. I already ordered a barrel of Arrogant Bastard (the first to be delivered to RI), and don't have to travel to Mass to get it.

SWEEEEEEEET!

Game on. Don't forget your imbibing shoes.

ORAs and other MLAs: RAMHADAB VOL 4 is in T-Minus...

So this weekend while wandering around the woods with the little pup Snoopy (on Federal land, dogs allowed) we ran into a couple of folks that I am declaring O.R.As (My new MLA...Multi Letter Acronym).

Old
Rich
Assholes.

I swear something happened in the last, say, ten to fifteen years around Charlestown. It's as if all the old mellow local hippies that built and lived in their tiny woodland shacks either sold out (unlikely) or died (more likely). And were replaced with some Old Rich Assholes from Connect-icut, Massa-chew-setts, New York, and *GULP* New Jersey. Now, if you like the atmosphere of the area, will fit in, and won't tear down the house you're buying, Sure.. head on down. Crack open a beer, light a campfire, and relax. BUT.

If you are moving or (even worse) buying your Second or even Third vacation 'property', which you intend to tear down, replace with some f'ing plastic and particle board, gold plated, piece of shit, that you light up every freakin night like its the Taj Mahal then go to Cape Cod.

If you don't like people mountain biking on the trails that they have been riding on for the last 20+ years, don't go pseudo running on them in your $300 "trail running" shoes. Stay in Joisy.

If you don't like cute-as-hell puppies lopiing up to you to say hi on trails that are completely open to Dogs (he was on a leash!), drive your gawd-dam $100k mercedes over to some other park to walk your fat rich @ss at instead of this one.

But, I guess now that just about every local has died and their greedy prick kids sold their shack to some other ORAs, you think its cool to be a d*ck and buy one yourself.

It's never cool to be a d*ck, I don't care how rich you are. Please just pack up, get your pasty @ss back to florida at the first sign of frost. Then we can get our state back.

In other non-related MLAs, RAMHADAB (Ride around CTLP's house and Drink Allota B**rs) is THIS WEEKEND. Just three more work days, then it's on.

Oh Yes. We'll be riding more or less down the North South trail down to the previously mentioned mecca of ORAs, for some swimming and then back up to CTLPs for drinking, burning, go-carting, disc-golfing and camping. Check in the archives for previous year's adventures. Search the dates around the first/second week of September. Yeaaaaaah..

See you in a few days! -40.

Bikes in Copenhagen

If you've even been to Denmark you know there are three things that are very common there, and almost non-existent in the US. 1) Healthy Blonde Young Women 2) Utility Bikes and 3) Giant Windmills. All three can be seen in any village, town or city. They are everywhere. At some point everyone needs to spend at least a day in Copenhagen wandering around to know that a place like that exists. Hint: Go in the summer.

Until then, here's a blog that chronicles two of the three: Healthy Danish Ladies... Riding Bikes!
(Really.)

Back Yard Update-

The new fire pit is almost complete.

Went out and started digging after work today- this one is going to look good (thanks to a donation from 40 and transportation/carrying/nudging from Flat Tires and BBW). Seeing the old 1/2 55 gallon drum next to this one is night and day...

BRING ON THE PALLETS!

Better late than never...

We it appears that we finally have video capability. So I figured why not christen it with the much hyped (big overture, little show!) FARTAB video:






Hope you enjoyed. Been thinking of redoing the cuts so it flows a bit better, but I am far too lazy to revisit just yet...

Countdown...

The.


beer.


has.


been.


ordered.


Not for nothin', but bringing your own unique stein for imbibing is indeed encouraged. Saves on solo cups, less waste and easy to tell your beverage container from others (yeah- sharpies for ID purposes do work well). Besides, it helps get the creative juices flowing. I have successfully used modified empty 40's, vases, mega mugs, etc. for this purpose. Sleepy even once used an empty oil quart container to complete his Halloween costume when he went as the Dark Overlord. So- think about it...

End of Summer?

Whew... Just when I was thinking we were getting close to the end of the summer, the weekend weather kicked me in the ass. It was 90F saturday, and 90 percent humidity. Ick. So i stacked firewood and worked outside until 3 oclock when i was so soaked in sweat i had to collapse inside with the AC cranking.

Anyhow... Sorry there haven't been many posts lately. I've been trying to catch up on stuff around the house since vacation, and have been doing horrible at it. owell... it will all wait.

We're two weeks away from the biggest -ADAB of the year... RAMHADAB! So, get your bike ready to go (put some air in the tires), yourself in shape (skip a beer tonight, or.. drink an extra?) and head out to the CTLPs in two weeks. We're riding down to the beach, playing some disc golf, racing the go-cart, and burning stuff in the GIANT firepit. I can't wait!

Check out the CTLPs stomping some grapes! ... Mrs 40 found this pict at the Jonathan Edwards
website.

Cya!

The 40's Summer Vacation, more pix

The rest of the week went on like that. Get up wicked early, take Snoop-A-Loop for a walk, or go mtbiking, or kayaking, or fishing, then quahoggin'/fishing in the afternoon, or beer/fancy wine drinking at night or... well, you get the picture. Thats what makes summer vacation sweeeet.
There's something about getting up before, well, everyone, and seeing stuff no one else gets to see. Here is school house pond one Misty Morning, with no one else around but the mosquitos and other natives. I was digging the early morning riding so much that this past sunday I got up, filled up the camelbak, loaded up on rice crispy treats (Courtesy of Mrs. Flat Tires... They ROCKED!), and headed south from the homestead on the singlespeed vaguely towards the blue trail. I picked it up just south of arcadia, where we head in on Ramhadab on the power lines.
I checked out the campsite in Carolina to see how low the water was. Still WAY tooo low to try a river trip.

Coming out in the back of the corn/turf farms is one of my favorite parts of the ride. Here is the old barn.

Seeing as blogger's not going to let me add yet another picture, i'll end this post here. I just realized that this will be a record third post of the day.
Sleepy... OMG, I'm sorry to hear about the ibucket (pre-production serial number -0001) losing a nut... I had the same thing happen on the last prototype.. I've got a fix for it(loctite) and will be sure to hook you up over RAMHADAB weekend. Speaking of which, those of you who have been patiently waiting on the "I'll build ya one I swear" list for an ibucket will also be happy at RAMHADAB. I'm hoping to clear out all works-in-progress systems in the next three weeks. You can see I get real distracted by nice weather. As it gets cooler around here during the last days of summer conditions for project and/or garage building sessions will improve.

-40.

iBucket down! I repeat, iBucket down!

So I was enjoying a lovely day of disc golf at Bellamy Park in Dover, NH, which by most accounts is quite a ways to drive for disc. Everything was going swimmingly except for the occasional wind-up-with-clenched-teeth-and-white-knuckles-and-hurl-it-at-a-tree-10-yards-away shot. When my slightly accident-prone cousin gave my iBucket which he had been carrying for the last half a hole back to me, I realized the bottom screw of one of the speaker brackets had come out, causing one of the speakers to swing back and forth and thus cause the speaker wire to rip right out. After I looked left, right, and then left again for a disc golf course iBucket pit crew to provide me with a musical absolution and came up empty, I realized that the next few holes would suck just a little. So I'm going to do my best to alleviate my own situation, but barring success in that, I might be forced to call upon my friend 40 oz. to come to the rescue. Can anyone say RAMHADAB?!

The 40's Summer Vacation aka messin' around in the beermuda triangle and parts south.

Mrs 40 and I took a rare we-both-get-to-take-the-same-week-off vacation last week... the weather was still good enough to enjoy the last of the summer. Snoopy came with us down to Charlestown.
Snoopy's getting pretty good running around in the woods.

The first weekend I was at the salt pond my sister and her husband Kaptin Krunch were there. Here she is with her dog Zack on the back of my mom's new hobie outback utility kayak. This picture was hard to take with Snoopy perched on the front of my wooden kayak.
Mornings on the saltpond are incredible. Here is the back channel just as the sun is about to come up. The next day Mrs 40 and I went out in the kayaks. Here we are taking a beer and littlenecks on the half break on a sandbar. BTW... clamming down there these days is tough... half the pond is polluted, green hill pond is completely polluted. (see post on the other blog titled... "Where Clean Water Used to Be")
Mrs 40 taking a corona break.

More pix to come.. stay tuned.

This just in, 40oz spotted on BFB

Today I spotted 40oz westbound on 102 with the BFB, presumably returning from stop & shop with a full load of groceries. Evidently the rugged electric motor finally met it's match after 40 modified the rig with massive outriggers.

Cottrell: Beer of the Month part deux

I love Cottrell beer. It's so freaking perfect for just about everything. Unfortunately for me, it's an occasional treat as most package stores don't carry it. You have to be within, what seems, biking distance to the brewery . You can sometimes get it down at Rippy's, and always at the Charlestown package store. I hear you may be able to get it way down in Hope Valley too.

CTLP is pretty lucky, he's been admitted to their lair of malty hoppy goodness to help bottle it. He's dedicated long hours to the worship of the beverage. Kaptain Krunch and I have too, just more while out fishing and whatnot.

Cottrell is an ale, somewhere between Bass and Long Trail, but better cause it's soo fresh, so local that if you stood on the roof you could probably see the hazy happiness curling up from the brewery smoke stack down in Westerly/Pawcatuck. Try with with meat, potatoes, camping, hydration packs, and mtbiking.

I feel sorry for those of you who live way up in Mass and CT... They don't sell around there but call the distributors to find out for sure.

The End. -40

PBR -or- The First in an Impromtu yet Random Series of Beer Reviews

On a lighter note after that last post......

I was at the bar about a week ago for dinner with GardenGirl, her brother and his girlfriend. We were sitting outside and it wasn't cool out. I was awfully thirsty and instead of my usual Bass or microbrew, I decided to go for the Pabst Blue Ribbon (like I had to spell out what PBR stands for to yall). It was on tap and after some mixed reviews by myself, I wanted to try it draft. I got some odd looks from the other people at the table. But in the end, it tasted really good, went down easily and was an overall success.


Cheers
BBW.




------------------------------------------------------------------------
editor's note:


After being really happy someone posted about beer, I cracked open a Cottrell and thought... 'Damn, we could use more posts about beer!'. So, here it is, Bald Boy Wonder, you unknowingly kicked off a series of beer reviews. Ta Da!!!

-40

The Tour

The title of this post should say it all and bring everyone's feelings out about the Tour de France, which makes this post totally unnecessary, but hey, let me rant. Now, before I continue my little rant here, let me just clarify a few things.
1) I know some people didn't watch it because of the state of the tour in recent years.
2) I just finished watching the tour this past Saturday, a week late, thanks DVR.
3) I did read and hear in the news the daily reports on the doping and allegations and such, and expulsions.
4) I watched the tour keeping all those reports out of my mind and routing for whoever I wanted till the incident happened "in my world" which was when I finally watched it.
So, I liked Rasmussen. I was routing for him, he seemed superhuman, until he was kicked out for lying where he was. I know he lied which is awfully suspicious, but I like to think he's innocent (I feel the same about Landers). It's just my trusting nature that I like to think everyone is good and no one would lie.
Then there's Vinokourov. He also seemed superhuman, crashing like that, then winning the mountain stage and the time trial. Did he really think he was going to test negative? Was it running through his head on the podium that he will be tested and probably will get caught?
The tour made all the cyclists sign a pledge not to take drugs. WOW! They signed a pledge! Bid whoop. What is that really going to do? Like they didn't know the rules before. Like a smoker is going to read the side of a pack of cigarettes and say OMG these cause cancer, I'm going to quit now.
Professionals say that everyone in professional cycling uses drugs or transfusions or whatever. At what point do you give up on them? I like watching them, but I get so disgusted when they cheat. They know the rules, just play inside of them. Don't go out and try and find the new doping technique that they can't test for yet. Just race.
I could go on and on just b*tching, but it will just become repetitive and everyone knows what I mean by this point anyways. So here you go. Post your comments, your rants, your objections to the utopian world that I live in (in my head), if you want.
Anyways, just go out and ride and have a good time.

Great Invention '07

Now...first of all, it's been quite awhile since I've posted something on the blog. However, my recent discovery brought about a great desire to spread the word. Some of you may have heard of these, but for those who haven't - this is the greatest invention in quite some time. The brilliant minds at Reef have produced a sandal called the Mick Fanning. However, these sandals are not like any other sandal. Although they're backed by the reliable Reef name, these sandals are a whole lot more than footwear. These sandals come equipped with a bottle opener on the bottom. I've included a picture for you to see this modern marvel (on the left).

Upon discovery, it was only a matter of time (approximately 10 hours) before I went onto e-bay and found me a pair for a very reasonable price. I now own a pair of these dandies and other than also being able to exploit my alcoholic tendencies, they are also an extremely comfortable pair of sandals. I've shared my recent discovery so that you, too, may experience foot (and beverage) bliss. Finally, there is no harm in having a pair of matching sandals with me because the novelty and conversation piece that it also brings is priceless.

Link: http://www.reef.com/productdetail/guys/footwear/sandals/2415

Greased Up OUT!

Vacation Days/Real Product Reviews Part 1

I took friday off of work at random. Thursday afternoon I decided I was going to... didn't have any plans other than 1) not go to work 2) get out on the water. We're into that part of the summer that I don't like so much... 80+ days at 80-90% humidity. Sticky and nasty. Nothing ever seems to dry out and the air is swampy. Anyhow.. After a couple of wasted hours friday tracking down a errand UPS shipment (don't get me started about that...) I headed down to the lake. I was thinking of going out fishing on the lake. When I got there I decided to go out on the saltpond instead. I went to borrow my mom's 'new' kayak that we all pitched in to get for her for xmas.

It's a Hobie Outback with the Mirage drive... pedal powered. I haven't seen too many people out there with these, but you need to try it. This particular model is setup for fishing, four fishing pole holders, tacklebox storage in front of the seat, large cooler well in back, and two very large bungie tie down areas for random sized stuff. I've had this out on windy/choppy days and it's very stable. The mirage drive has two flippers that stick out below the boat and when you pedal they flap back and forth. Simple. They drive the boat extremely well. At low speed you can easily 'paddle' for hours. Pick up the pace and you can beat anyone in any kayak. This is perfect for fishing cause you don't need to fumble with a paddle while casting etc. When you get into shallow water you push forward on one of the pedals and it tucks the flippers up against the bottomr of the boat. Adds maybe 1-2 inches to the draft.... not ideal for shallow river use, but in the salt pond it kicks ass.

I'm dying to try out the latest version of this boat, the Adventure Island.
A trimaran with the same mirage drive. Its a couple feet longer for more speed. Yeah...

Other stuff. The BFB is gettign closer to dialed-in. I changed the stem for a little more upright postion, and swapped the sh*tty seat for a Brooks B17. Other than that... Its cool. I'm still convinced the xtracycle/stokemonkey combo would be *perfect* on a recumbent. I have *way* too many open projects to finish before I even consider starting another though.

Oh, and the 'redcaps'/wild rasberries/"Japanese Wine Berries"(?) are getting ripe up in Po'Dunk. Go check them out. Mrs FlatTires was up there ysterday and picked about 5 gallons in a couple hours. She gave us some and they are incredible. Would be perfect for making some preserves Mrs 40 says. Check it out:


Have a good week!

-40