Another of those Winter in Spring days

I'm beginning to wonder when Spring will actually arrive.  The last of couple of days have been wonderfully bright and clear.  Unfortunately, the temperatures have been in the low to mid 30s during the warmest part of the day.  Hardly like spring.

BB and I went by the library to pick up books but unfortunately it was closed.  They've reduced their hours in an effort to save money.  Between that and the fact that for whatever reason we were out earlier than we have recently been on Sunday we'll have to pick up books tomorrow.

BB had dropped off some shoes at the cobbler in Marlborough last week.  I'll need to pick them up tomorrow as well.  It's interesting that cobblers are a vanishing trade since shoes are increasingly seen as simply cheap expendable things.  I find that curious as I've several pairs of well made shoes that are 40 years old and still going strong.  I suspect that shoes aren't made as well as they once were, but even so it is curious.  About the only shoes I replace on a regular basis are tennis shoes.  Not so much because I wear them out as I generally don't, but because they get so dirty that they can't be worn outside the yard.  I've tried washing a couple of pairs but they haven't taken well to water.  Perhaps the thing to do is to get shoes designed to be wet and wash them.

Will Spring ever come?

Bright and sunny today.  It's an illusion though as the temperature is well below freezing.  I'm beginning to wonder if Spring will ever really arrive?

The planters that I store under the second floor overhang next to the house have begun to sprout.  Hopefully, the plants will be OK with the freezing overnight.

This should be as quiet Saturday as BB is off with her office friends having a girls day in Hingham.  I'm not really sure what's in Hingham but I suspect it's about shopping.  For my part I'll spend the day reading and tending to a few inside chores around the house.

Just an average Thursday

Keeping a daily blog is rather more difficult than one would expect.  What does one write about when life is, well, just life as it is much more often than not.  Today is one such day.

As usual, BB is off so we spent the day together.  This mourning we ran errands as usual.  There wasn't all that much to do but do it we did.

I had three books at the library to pick up.  I'm somewhat surprised about how reserving books at our local library works.  It's a very good library and part of the Minuteman system of Massachusetts libraries.  One nice thing about the Minuteman system is that between the member libraries almost any book one would want.  The entire catalog is available online and one can order books from any of the libraries delivered to your local library.  That's really convenient.  I've taken to having three books in hand and ordering another as I finish reading each one.  On the whole that's worked well.  But, every once in a while I don't have a book to read then all the books I've ordered show up at once.  That's just happened.  I am finishing reading The Sea Hunters II and had no other unread books.  Then yesterday three books I had ordered came in and today another three.  From none to six in two days.  One wonders how the system works.

Speaking of The Sea Hunters II it's an interesting read based on the stories of ship sinkings that the author, Clive Cussler, has looked for.  Cussler has organized the book around a pair of chapters about each sinking.  The first is a fictionalized semi-historical account of the event and the second a description of his effort to find the ship.  There is a fair bit of nautical history about each sinking and I've found it really rather interesting.

We stopped by the coffee shop.  I've been talking to Dave about the possibility of going to work for him and learning more about coffee including possibly roasting.  He's talking about possibly something this summer.

We also stopped by the grocer to pick up a few things.  Eighty dollars later we had six small plastic bags of food!  Gives one pause about regularly eating!

This afternoon BB was off to the doctor.  Just routine but it gave me a chance to do an chore or two around the house.  I've gotten rather behind and need to focus rather more to catch up.

Marinated steak tips for dinner.  We'll have left overs so there'll be good lunches or another dinner.

Spring 2011: don't you just love it?

So the 20th was the first day of spring 2011.  Good news.  Right?  So here's what the yard looked like.

Fairly encouraging with the snow mostly gone.  Near the house and driveway where it's a bit warmer there is actually some green showing.

Good news?  Well, it's New England.  Here's whats happening today:

That's right, it's snowing relatively heavily!  It's fairly warm so it shouldn't be overly long before it melts, but goodness I'm just a bit past wanting more snow this year.

So what to do?  To heck with the snow, I'm going to smoke some salmon since it's really spring.

I'd planned to put out the deck furniture today.  Guess I'll wait a bit.

Bike project 1: Still more gears

A bit of investigation showed that I can fairly easily replace the existing 6 gear cluster on the 20" wheel with a 7 gear cluster.  If I use a 7 cluster mid gear here's what I get:

This looks like a fairly good arrangement with perhaps a somewhat smaller mid drive gear, say a 26 or 28.

Bike project 1: More gears

Spent some time sorting through gear issues.  The wheel diameter issues can be dealt with by a 1.3 gear that makes the 20" wheel equivalent to a 26" wheel.  The issue then becomes the gear range.  Here are some of the spreadsheet results.  The key seems to be the mid and rear gear ranges and the drive gear on the mid.

Switching to 9 speed cassets gives these results:

The key here is the 11 tooth which gives good high speed and the 34 tooth that gives good low speed.  The mid gears also provide a very low low and very high high gear.  As a practical matter reducing the mid drive gear to a 22 or 24 gives better range with a low speed below 2mph and a more reasonable high of around 30mph.

Bike project 1: Got a line on Baltic birch plywood

I got a line on Baltic birch plywood thanks to a friend of HB's.  Here's the contact info.  It looks like they can provide 5 ply 1/4" at a fairly reasonable price.

The two suppliers in the Boston area that everyone uses are Boulter Plywood in Somerville, Toll Free (888) 9 LUMBER (888) 958 - 6237, www.boulterplywood.com and Downes and Reader in Stoughton, www.downesandreader.com. 

I think I'll give the Somerville bunch a call and drive down.

Meanwhile, I revisiting the issue of wheels.  I've got a set of 20" wheels.  The rear has a 6 speed hub. I'd planned to use a 3 speed crank.  Using the sprockets from the bike here's what I have for available speeds:

The good news is that there are some nice low speed gears.  The bad news is that there are no high speed gears.  I could use a larger crank gear or use an intermediate gear.  A bit of playing with the front gear suggests that an intermediate gear is a better solution.  I'd like the low speed to be somewhere around 2.5mph for hill climbing so I'll need a step down gear of about 1.6 to 1 or so.  I'd like the top speed to be around 25 mph so I'll need a step up gear of around 1 to 2.

Dinner and auction with HB, Max, and Allan

BB and I drove out to Leeds to visit with HB, Max, and Allan.  It's a bit of a haul, about 2hrs drive in the rain, but it was nice to see them.  We had a nice visit and I had a chance to play with Max.  We spent some time learning to juggle and then worked on slight of hand.  The last was really quite fun as Max at age 6 still believes in magical thinking.  I took a coin and made it disappear then pulled it from his ear or dropped it in his pocket. It was really priceless.  Allan made a very good Minestrone soup for dinner then we went to an auction sponsored by Max's Montessori school.  All in all a nice visit.

Spring snow

This winter has been very snowy.  Now don't get me wrong, I like snow.  It's clean, white, and really lovely in the yard.

It's relatively warm today so the snow is really lovely in the trees.  With only 3" it was easy enough to clean the deck and the plow guy will take care of the driveway.  All in all a nice Sunday treat.  It should be mostly melted by Monday so this snow should be no trouble at all.

HB, Allen, and Max here for a visit

HB, Allen, and Max came by for a visit and to have the last bit of Christmas today.  We had a good time.  As usual Max was full of himself playing a pool came he made up called Calvin Ball.  I got out the old slot car set that had been HB's and we all had a good time with it.  I'd given Max a marble race which was a fair hit as well. HB and I had a good chance to talk.  All in all a good day.  Here's a picture of Max and the marble game.

Sign of spring - orchid bloomed

A couple of years ago we bought five orchid plants.  Surprisingly three have survived.  More surprisingly still and a sure sign that spring must be coming one has two blooms!

Surely winter will soon be over.

Quiet Sunday

BB off on a girl's weekend.  It's a good day to deal with some indoor house chores.

I've got some issues with snow/ice on the roof

After 5 days of warm weather, melting, and raking here's what the roof looks like.

Not the roof but a 6'+ pile of snow!	Still over 18" of snow after 5 days of melting and shoveling
More snow and ice	I've got some serious ice dam issues.

Looks like heat tape is on the agenda for this spring when I can get back on the roof.

Several days of warm weather

We've had several days of warm weather.  It's done much to help with the snow on the roof.  I'd gotten somewhat concerned about it as there are some plaster cracks and minor racking of the house post and beam frame.  I spoke with Dom V. about it.  He suggested I get someone to shovel the roof.  I was able to find one roofing company but they wanted $4800 for the job and couldn't get to it until after the warmer weather when it would be far less needed.  So I've spent the last several days clearing the back of the house and things seem to be better.

It does look like I'll need to put up heat tape though as this kind of buildup is definitely not good.  That's a project for next summer.

Tuesday Snow, Wednesday Snow, Thursday dig out!

Well, we've got snow.  Lots and lots and lots of snow.  Tuesday brought about 8" then another 6" or 8" of snow/sleet/freezing rain Wednesday!  Chris, our current plow guy, didn't get by until after BB got home so I had to do the driveway using friend Toro (my snow blower) to clear it and get her up the hill.  I'm a bit unclear on the concept of paying someone to plow and then having to use my snow blower so just now Chris is flirting with a bigger snow blower as an alternative.

Thursday was dig out day.  I cleared about 5' of snow away from the mailbox so we'll still get deliveries.  I tried to bring the snow blower up the the second floor via the front decks but that was a no go because the front walk is under about 4' of snow.  I ended up bringing it in through the garage then BB and I carried it up the inside stairs.  It took about 45 minutes to do the driveway deck since the snow needs to go over the ends now and not into the driveway.  I've not bothered with the front door decks or the east deck.

I'm a bit concerned about the snow on the roof.  There have been a fair number of commercial flat roof collapses and we've now bot about 3' of snow on our roof.  I've also got some serious ice dams but so far no leaks.  I'd really like 3 or 4 days of warm to get some of the roof load gone.  I was able to break off most of the icicles but they are just forming rather quickly so that is now an every other day job.   If we get one more big storm I'm going to have to do something though I've no real enthusiasm for going up on the roof.

BB and I got out to the library and ran errands today.  The secondary roads are not good with most down to 1.5 lanes and covered in 4" to 6" of snow.

Midst all this there is another storm coming Saturday.  Thankfully it's predicted to be a fairly small storm.  Lets hope.

Plan for the day

Need to run a few quick errands and get ready for the next two days storms.  Have to admit I'm not looking forward to another foot or two of snow.  This is the wettest winter in the last 15 years or so.

xxx

Dinner with John and Marie

John and Marie were over for dinner last night.  I made scallops marinated in honey and lime, sweet potato rounds in maple syrup and orange zest, and asparagus with white sauce.  With some homemade sweet rolls all very nice with a semi sweet Rhine wine.  Desert was vanilla ice cream with sauted apples in a sauce of maple syrup, brown sugar, and chopped pecans.  I think everyone overate a bit but we did enjoy the evening.

Symphony Pro Musica

BB and I went out last night to Symphony Pro Musica.  Alan Schneider, HB's husband, was performing and since the performance was in Hudson, the next town over, it was easy to get to.  The first half of the performance was Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde ("The Song of the Earth") with Alan and Gale Fuller performing.  Mahler isn't my composer nor is German opera but the performance was good and the orchestra outstanding.  The second half was Beethoven's Piano Concerto #4 in G Major, Op. 58 played by George Li.  You'll want to remember that name as this 15 year old prodigy is remarkable.  I'm not sure when I've enjoyed a piano piece so much.

On cold

Cold and people's reaction to it are interesting.  I've lived in upstate NY where there are occasional cold days and lots of snow and in Minnesota where there are four to six weeks of serious cold but not much snow.  For the most part neither cold or snow bothers me over much.  That said, this mourning it was around 10 below in Sudbury.  That's starting to be cold.

As a general rule, me feeling is that at 10 degrees above it's really not all that cold.  A reasonable coat, gloves, and hat makes it comfortable to be outside for extended time as long as you are moving a bit as in skiing or hiking.  From 10 below to 10 above it's time to get better dressed with thermal under cloths, better gloves with liners, and a face shield of some sort.  It's still possible to be out and active but you need to be dressed for it.  Now when it gets colder than 10 below it's time to get serious about clothing and really decide if you need, as opposed to want, to be outside.  A serious winter coat that covers the hips and upper legs and has a proper hood, and good over pants are essential to remain safe.  At around 30 below and colder, I've seen 45 below, it's really cold and while it is possible to dress for it it's time for serious arctic wear and a through reassessment of why you need to be outside.

I mention all this as I've noticed that New Englanders, at least those in Eastern Massachusetts are really weather wimps.  Today's cold seems to have most people in something of a state about being outside or driving.  I suppose that most people get like that when they experience the extremes of what they've seen previously.  Perhaps it's a survival mechanism, nature's way of telling us that we really need to watch out since we've not been here before.

All that said, I think I'll go skiing today.

Another 8" of snow

Well, it's getting to be a bit much with the snow.  Last night and this mourning we got another 8" of snow.  Nice dry fluffy snow that's left a lovely winter landscape.  That said we've now had something on the order of 5' or 6' in the last month and there is now no place to put it conveniently.

Heard from HB last night.  Her grandfather Niel has been hospitalized and she's concerned that he's dieing.  They are close and she's struggling with his possible death.  We spoke for some time and hopefully I helped.