How do I hate my mountain bike?

Let me count the ways. 1. Mountain bike handlebars don't offer a comfortable place to put my hands. I don't have enough padding on my gloves  to absorb the shock  transmitted by those handlebars . 2. It's treacherous going over gravel and rocks and going past blackberry bushes armed with thorns. 3. The squishy gel saddle that I have on the bike doesn't breathe. It gets hot, almost like it's on fire. It's so squishy I don't know where I'm really sitting. 4. Weyerhaeuser has closed its logging roads-- there's no place to go anymore.

Smart ass 2

Vern & Jan sent me a link.  It's the hammock made by sea to summit.  Claimed as the world's lightest at 4.9 ounces.

Here's another link to a video where a rat from the company talks about the new hammock https://www.facebook.com/canoeroots/videos/10154465170244850/ 

Me:  Wow! I think she said, "a 4.9 oz ... ultralight, compact, gerbil (durable?) hammock"!  

Me:  I'd pick one up to try out if REI gets them (REI doesn't display hammocks, compelling us to buy to try).
  

Asks Jan when I sent her more information (from http://www.thegearcaster.com/2016/08/sea-to-summit-ultralight-hammock.html):   Are these two hammocks the same product?  

 Me:  Yes, the same product.  They have strung out the hammock too tightly in the canoeroots web page--Most likely done that way so that they could slingshot Barbie dolls across the showroom floor

I think you also put in one Ken doll. 

More Smart-assed by half

Smart assed comment:  OMG! Powdered sugar outlines of dead cutlery?



Next smart ass comment:  How do they get the animal to put it right on the middle of the plate? Intelligent design or evolution?

Calories vs activity and time vs. distance

I've started a spreadsheet where I input activity, mileage, minutes of activity, calories burned per the S Health app on my phone.

So far, the range of calories burned per mile travelled for

• Cycling  41-43
• Hiking 94-95.4
• Walking 79-100

Calories per minute:

• Cycling  9-10.5
• Hiking 4.7-5.1
• Walking 4.1-5.0

Upholstery after the cats

The cats have been out of the house for years.  The damage they have done to the furniture has not undone itself. Threads and stuffing hung off the corners of chairs and sofas. I cut most of the threads but more stuffing begin to work its way out.

I could have just cut off a piece of fabric from the cushion and use that the patch the damage, but I got some fabric that looks like it would match and cut off pieces to cover the damage.

 I stapled one patch on and then tacked on the free Edge

On the other side the framework underneath would not accept either staples or tacks. I ended up using hot glue for that.

A long day in Olympia

I don't hate to drive.  It's just boring and puts me to sleep.  Listening to the radio is interesting but it doesn't really keep me awake.

Yesterday I went to Olympia.  Halfway there I had to stop and take a nap.  I Shopped at Costco and then I felt tired.  Luckily I had a hammock in the trunk and I took a nap next to the parking lot at Costco.  I slept for about 30 minutes.  I can't seem to remember anything else that I did in Olympia.

Oh boy.  I am looking at my list for yesterday.  After my nap, I also went to the bike shop, trader joe's, Lowe's home improvement, target, Home Depot, Rei, Jo Ann fabrics and the indoor garden shop.   I also walked about 3 miles around the capitol mall.

I bought a hammock at Rei, a Hennessey ultralite Asym backpacker model.  Thinking I would try to figure out what Asym in its title meant.  It's really a pretty crummy product--It's too small, No whoopie slings, no buckles, they don't give you enough webbing for a real tree, and setting it up is really fussy.  The company is based in British Columbia and outsources their production overseas.

I've already installed the lamp that I bought at Lowe's home improvement center.

Joanne had fabric to repair the cat damage To the Mr. Chair.  I think I will do that tomorrow morning.

The motion control lights and the hammock

Hah. I figured out how to hang my hammock and sleep indoors under the motion controlled lights in my living room.

In 2006, I had the roof replaced. The roofers shorted out the low voltage switch system.  I had 110V AC to each ceiling box, but no way to turn them on/off, until Frank Gordon, (Gordon Electric) suggested motion control.  I installed motion control almost everywhere that the short affected.  In two bedrooms I installed wireless switches and receivers.

Two years ago I began to learn about using hammocks for camping.  In 2015 I walked 2000 miles camping along the Pacific crest trail.  I slept mostly in my hammock.  When I finally stopped hiking and got home I began to sleep in a hammock in the house.  I mostly slept in the living room where the motion detector turns on the light when it detects thermal changes.

The device was so sensitive that it could detect me even under a tarp that I set up over me, hoping against just that.  I didn't have to move.  When it detected enough of a change in the air temperature anywhere close, "click" went the lights. Sometimes I'd retreat to my bed where I had hung a small plank to block motion detection over the area of the bed.

After a few months, I thought about adding a layer of reflectix or insulation over me.  Finally, I had a "light bulb" moment in my head--I could either unscrew the light bulbs or flip the circuit breaker to the room.  Elated, I took down the turtledog stand and I now hang from hooks in the walls.