The new campfire thread...ooooh purrrrty!!!!!!

[Fenlason]

yesterday Morning I got a bit done inside the porch.. then Laurie and I went out to the woods for some trail work, deciding we would work on the house today. Well we got up and it was cold and grey. [down in the 20's] I have been needing to go see my boss.. so we headed out this morning.. doing some local errands and then headed down to the other store.

We had planned to work on the house when we got home. Driving home Laurie asks.. how far do you think we from the trail end? Not that far. We both had been contemplating "finishing" the trail this afternoon, and working on the house in the morning. We do have a group ride in the afternoon.

So that is what we did.. we got another 4+ hours of trail work in this afternoon. We have this new trail quite rideable.

[Alan Wood]

It's been a slow day here. Not that ihve room for a mountain bike trail.

[Alan Wood]

Another slow day here. Odd that Fenalson hasn't popped up today

[Fenlason]

Another slow day here. Odd that Fenalson hasn't popped up today

Sorry… I don't appear to be getting notified when someone posts.. I will have to look at that.

Yesterday we had a bike event here. We puttered around the house a little bit first.. then got ready for the event… we then had to leave right after the event to a friends for dinner and birthday party.

We have a gorgeous day here.. I guess it was foggy and cloudy earlier.. but it has cleared nicely. I was working through a used lumber pile this morning.. and am now working on the porch.

I do have a bunch [3 pair] of bike tires to mount.. but I hate to waste the good weather. Tomorrow is supposed to be better than today.. but Wednesday might be wet.

[caseydog]

Not everything "stays" in Vegas. I brought back a nasty little virus.

It hit me Friday evening. Feeling better, today.

CD

[Alan Wood]

Sounds like an interesting day there Fenalson. Switching to winter tires or???

[Alan Wood]

Not everything "stays" in Vegas. I brought back a nasty little virus.

It hit me Friday evening. Feeling better, today.

CD

So other than that how was SEMA?

[Fenlason]

Sounds like an interesting day there Fenalson. Switching to winter tires or???

No not yet. Our 2 new bikes could use a more aggressive tread, especially now that it is getting slipperier out there. I also got a slightly smaller knobby tire for my Ice Cream Truck. It oddly is a little less aggressive than what it came with. It came stock with the very big and aggressive Bud and Lou tires. They grip great but are of course slower because of it, but the bigger issue right now is they won't fit the suspension fork I am trying on it. I currently have 29+ sized wheels and tires on it, and I want to go back to the Fat. I have not ridden it yet with the fat tires and suspension fork.

[Fenlason]

I have been up since 3:00 Which means today might be a rough day. I don't have anything that needs to be specifically done today. I will first go vote.. to get that over with. Then work here. Laurie is supposed to come home at lunch time. In my groggy state.. I don't want to be cutting metal for the porch. I do have a few things yet to pick up here. [My used lumber pile and firewood] Hmm I guess we could start on our next gabion… except.. the making / tying of it.. I do alone there is no real way for Laurie to help with that. So we might go do some trail work.


We have nice sun this morning.. and our temps started down in the 20's.. but it is supposed to warm nicely today.

[Alan Wood]

Up at three ouch. Interesting on trying new stuff on the bike.

[Fenlason]

I slept in this morning.. getting up at 3:30.. I did fall asleep pretty early last night.

We had a gorgeous day yesterday.. nice sun and temps well up into the 50s. Laurie was home by 10:30 or so. We had an early lunch.. and then headed for the woods. We had a variety of projects to choose from. We opted to look at putting in a new trail, up on the ridge east of Alice. It is one of the best times of the year to start new trails, for one can see further in the woods. Although in some places it can be tough because there are soooo many leaves on the ground it's hard to know what a trail surface will be like. This area had a lot of leaves. We walked around a bit exploring what we had to work with. Sometimes it takes a lot of work to choose a line.. sometimes it's fairly easy. This one went fairly easy. We were after an easier to ride trail, for this one, and the area didn't seem to have much to worry about. We had one potentially wet area to avoid, but otherwise it wasn't bad. After walking it over.. we started flagging it. In this process laurie and I each wear bright colors. [in hunting season we do opt for hunter orange]. With the bright colors we can see each other. When laying out a trail.. I can have her walking on another nearby trail.. so I can better tell where we are.. and to not run into that trail. I can also place her near where I want the trail to intersect another trail. After flagging I go in with loppers pruning back branches.. while Laurie follows behind picking them, up. I think there was only one place where I altered the line from the first chosen one. In some cases the flagging is a just a rough idea.. and I will pick the exact line as I prune. Other times I will flag a more exacting line. This one was flagged pretty to pretty much what I wanted. At the far end I missed some flags, getting focused on the ending intersection. Part way through I realized my mistake, but preferred the new line over the first chosen one.

After pruning and branch pick up.. I go in with a BIG leaf blower, while Laurie picks up more branches. [A lot of previously fallen branches can be hidden / buried in all the leaves.] At this stage.. building a new trail the leaf blowing is a slow process. There are new leaves and years worth of old ones mixed with branches. I do an out and back with the blower. We then make a pass with the loppers again, and with my sawzall, taking out all the little stumps from any saplings I had cut, in roughing out the trail. The trail surface on this trail was really pretty good. We will do some earth work to smooth some places.. but it is very rideable right now.

[Fenlason]

The area we were working doesn't really have much for hunters.. we are lucky with that. Of course we can hear shots of hunters further away. We did at one point Hear three loud shots. The first one semi startled me.. It was LOUD.. but it did seem to be further away. We were near a pond… and the sound travels pretty well. Anyways.. we kept working… and being focused on our work.. I could not tell you how much time passed.. but we then heard another 3 shots. I had also noticed a plane hanging out in the area. After finishing our trail work for the day, walking out to our utility vehicle.. it hit me. Duh! 3 shots.. is a distress signal. Is someone in trouble. Sunset was fast approaching.. what do we do. Laurie didn't have her cell phone on her, so we drive back to the house. She calls the local police, and they said they had no reports of anything.. and otherwise didn't seem interested.

I didn't feel right to let it go.. I told Laurie to call a friend that is a retired State Police.. and hunter. He said that duck hunters will often take 3 shots shooting at ducks. The shots didn't sound like a small gauge shotgun to me.. it sounded like a fairly large caliber rifle. He did suggest calling the state police dispatch.. for they also dispatch our game wardens.

They also had no reports… but also new unless the hunter himself had a cell phone.. it would be too early for someone to report "him" missing. With it possibly being nothing… they really couldn't do anything but wait. We never heard anything else.. so hopefully it was just a hunter who is a bad shot.

[toypusher]

Good Morning!

Raining here and 52 degrees. Won't be mowing any lawns today unless it is very late afternoon. Been trying to sell some stuff on Craigslist this last week and nobody seems interested.

Not much else going on around here. We have been getting frost a few mornings and it is a bit more seasonable for temps too. So, I should be completely done for the year sometime in the next couple weeks.

Just don't know what I will watch on TV now that it is over for another 4 years!

[Fenlason]

The getting up real early two days in a row is getting to me.. I am starting to get pretty groggy.

I did work on some bikes today. I got new tires mounted on each of our newer Fuzes… a little more aggressive tires.

I then switch out the wheels on the Ice Cream Truck. I put the original 5 wheels back on. I put on the different tires.. and set the wheels up tubeless. I did let some more air out of the fork to soften it up a bit. This should be a fun set up. The tires should be a bit faster than the originals. They are still pretty knobby.. but the originals were Setting them up tubeless should help also. Less weight.. and less rolling resistance… and this will be the first time with a suspension fork on a fat bike. I think that is the one I will use for tonights ride.

[Alan Wood]

Hey I was beginning to wonder what happened to Kerry.