What are your jeans doing today?

[Thanks_M8]

At my parents' place for a family birthday.

Planted a persimon tree [1] as a birthday gift.

Got the new dick carroll comics [2]

Tried air layering on my parents yuzu [3]. Let's hope it works out.

Fig tree we planted last fall at my grandparents' place is coming along pretty good [4], let's hope for good fruits.

Stork's nest right around my parents' place [5]. They used to come back every year, nowadays they don't even leave anymore, since the winters are so mild

Edited April 6, 2024 by Thanks_M8

[rbeck]

Went to a vintage fest and antique store with my girlfriend today. Got his n hers garfield keychains, a cool puffer vest, a flick tricks for my friend who grew up on a bmx bike, and also found my favorite hot wheel from my childhood still boxed up with the hauler I never knew it came with. Also saw a few cool ratty lookin vans. Good day. 

[yung_flynn]

Made a new friend

[beautiful_FrEaK]

Vacation in the Bavarian Forest

[yung_flynn]

I've been spending a lot of time gardening and doing yard work in my pair of Warehouse this spring. Azaleas (pink flowers) and Siberian irises (purple flowers) are currently in bloom. Hopefully, Big Leaf Golden-Ray is next and later Russian Sage and Black-Eyed Susans.

[smoothsailor]

Made a cargobike for a friend. Quit a lot of work. It rides pretty smooth

 

[rbeck]

Wow that's so sick! How'd you get into frame building? 

[smoothsailor]

@rbeck, thanks.

I’ve been cycling pretty much all my life and for a long time taught about that would be cool to make one. But it was never on my radar where and how it was done.

until I bought a frame from a builder who builds in his shed. 
when I saw that , I realized it was something you can do. You don’t need a factory.

so I dove into it, and found the bicycle academy, did a two week course there.during those two weeks I build my first frame under their guidance.

when I came home I found a workshop place(moved twice, by now) and hoarded a lot of tools. It’s been 5 yrs now

 

[rbeck]

@smoothsailor Looks like you brazed it--from what I understand that's at least the most straightforward since you don't need any welding setup, is that accurate or does brazing have its own complications? It's always been something in the back of my head too. Anything I'm passionate about I start to wonder if I could make my own, but the margin for error on a mountain bike frame could be a lot more catastrophic. 

Edited May 31, 2024 by rbeck

[smoothsailor]

Your to far away to come around and give it a go.

there,s plenty of brazed mtb,s 

you need a thicker tubes.

the welds are similar strong, tig or brazed.

my welding knowledge is slim,  but you need to get a feel for brazing, if it’s not hot enough it doesn’t work and when it’s to hot you burn the lot

[rbeck]

Who knows maybe one day when I'm jonesing for a new project I'll take the plunge

[CSL]

Pardon the quality of the photos. They are screenshots from video.

So yesterday around noon my dogs started freaking out. I thought a coyote perhaps, but when I looked out the window here's what I saw...

 

After a moment of disbelief, thinking where did they come from & how did they get here, I went outside to take a look. Apparently I seemed untrustworthy & they wandered off to the far end of our property. Luckily our fences are decent, but they really didn't seem like they wanted to get out.

 

So after making some calls 911, & getting a referral to Animal Control, someone came around & checked the ear tags. Not long after the owner showed up.

 

 

He asked if I would mind driving his truck & trailer while he went in on horseback to bring them out. Would I mind?? I've been waiting all my life for an adventure like this!!

 

 

Here's the rancher guiding the cows out to the road.

Initially I had thought the plan would be to load them in the trailer right there but apparently cow behaviour requires a more complicated procedure. This consisted of getting the cows onto a neighboring property where there is a corral. 

The white car contained Mrs CSL, coming home from work btw.

On first attempt rather than going to the right, the cows veered off to the left into the wrong gateway which luckily was closed.

 

After this I was instructed to bring the truck ahead of the desired entryway & park in a position that would guide the cows in.

 

 

The second attempt was successful the three cows were herded a ways back on to that property to a corral. 

 

The next operation was to get the cows into a smaller corral & back the trailer up to that gate, accurately so they animals couldn't get tangled in any gaps around the trailer.

Once this was done, the rancher shoo'd the cows into the trailer, and then loaded his horse.

Then back to Chez CSL to drop me off & we were done.

 

Kinda blew my day but it was a fun adventure & I learned a few things about cows....

And I came home to find my Fullcount 30th anniversary jacket had arrived, so a good day all around.
(Rinsed today)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

IMG_1483 2.HEIC

Edited June 6, 2024 by CSL
Corrections

[Maynard Friedman]

Great adventure @CSL, it was like an episode of Yellowstone! Now if you could only tell us which shirt and jeans the rancher was wearing…?

[Dr_Heech]

@CSL Nice to see someone else has to deal with cattle sometimes, so not just me 😅

 

[shredwin_206]

Been swapping out used toilets all week at work. So tossed the OOE in a wash to get the nasty shit off  literally.   
This person was blind and living in filth. That’s blood and shit in the toilet. Quite depressing and eye opening. 

[julian-wolf]

When I was a kid, we spent around a week each year at a family friend's cabin up in the mid-Sierra, off of the 108. It's on a (dammed) lake, so plenty of swimming, fishing, exploring, etc. Over the span of the 2010s, the lake got more and more crowded, and I focused my spare time less and less on frontcountry. Around 10 years went by without me visiting. Anyway, this summer we got an invitation to go back. I'm taking a few months off from work, so time isn't as much of a commodity for me; and, anyway, there's something going on with the connective tissue in one of my knees, so backcountry hiking is off the table for the time being. Cabin trip seemed perfect. Spent last week laying low, playing board games, sitting + swimming + fishing by the water, working on fixing up an old pair of Cane's…lots of fun through and through.

[Graytrain]

On 6/5/2024 at 4:52 PM, CSL said:

So yesterday around noon my dogs started freaking out. I thought a coyote perhaps, but when I looked out the window here's what I saw...

This is awesome. What a day. 

Funnily enough, this happened to me as well. Started with my eldest child coming into our bedroom at 6AM on a Saturday asking why cows where in our yard. You can assume my response...

 

not nearly as great of an adventure as yours. No denim involved. 

[CSL]

Actually, Graytrain, the whole thing went down while I was in sweat pants & slippers. I'll know what to expect next time & dress appropriately.

[Graytrain]

If there's a next time, I expect to see a CSL ridealong:

 

[oomslokop]

not so lil one anymore graduated from year 9 (smp – junior high) and off to senior high (sma).

the fc 1108 is only 2 years younger than the kiddo. 

my trippen shoes are older than both. 

missus' carmina brogues around 10 yrs old. 

[MJF9]

^ congratulations to your not so lil one, you and Mrs Ooms!!

[buler]

Some of mine are sunbathing today.  Atticus says Hi.

[Maynard Friedman]

On 6/11/2024 at 6:45 AM, CSL said:

Actually, Graytrain, the whole thing went down while I was in sweat pants & slippers. I'll know what to expect next time & dress appropriately.

As long as those slippers had spurs attached, you can count yourself ready for action

[CSL]

On 6/20/2024 at 2:15 PM, Maynard Friedman said:

As long as those slippers had spurs attached, you can count yourself ready for action

Reminds me of that comedy song 'The Rochdale Cowboy'. "All the people laugh as I ride past on our Alsatian dog".

[CSL]

So this happened last week...

Went outside with the dogs & saw this on the neighboring property. No one lives there but the people had come to mow the perimeter (required by law). Likely their mower blade hit a rock & sparked (apparently they had some remote controlled device). Could also have been an electrical spark. 
Luckily the wind was blowing away from us although we had all the pets in our vehicles ready to go. 

Fire crews arrived promptly, all by road rather than air although a plane did fly over to observe at one point.

There is a house on the property which was spared. They lost two junk trailers which the fire crews kept a close eye on.

The wind took the fire across to another property where no structures were damaged but much of the land was blackened.

Once the trailers had burned down the crews made sure all hot spots were extinguished

This was a second spot where I could see flames. I went & called them over but I expect they were aware.

Later that night we walked around to inspect the overall damage & scope of the burn.

And the day after.

One of the things I found interesting was that the undergrowth had burned while the taller weeds were still present. I guess the straw/hay type dead growth burns so fast that the fire wave quickly passes by anything green.

Needless to say we were relieved & thankful that our place didn't sustain any damage. Hard to say what would have happened had the wind been blowing in our direction. I had mowed a pretty wide firebreak which should have been adequate to stop the spread. This was the closest fire we had ever experienced.

 

 

Edited June 22, 2024 by CSL

[Dr_Heech]

Looks like a close shave @CSL glad you and yours were all out of danger.

[CSL]

14 minutes ago, Dr_Heech said:

Looks like a close shave @CSL glad you and yours were all out of danger.

Thanks, Dr_Heech.

[rodeo bill]

On 6/10/2024 at 9:05 PM, julian-wolf said:

sounds lovely. Is this is photogram bandana? what's the dye and how did it come out?!

hope you enjoy the time off work

[julian-wolf]

@rodeo bill Thanks! Yeah, that was an attempted cyanotype exposure—Prussian blue, in Tender Co. language??—on a very old cotton handkerchief. We were working with a pretty limited setup at the cabin and the batch pictured there didn’t actually turn out…oh well

Here are some long-time wall hangings made with the same recipe, though: jasmine + household trinkets on old selvedged cotton muslin

 

 

 

[buler]

This weekend my Studio D'artisan SD-101s had to get on the John Deere and clean up after high winds (tornadoes in the area). Luckily, all humans and animals are fine and the house received no damage.