What are you doing today?

[anewbie]

I guess I'll just stick to teaching music.

I've taught a couple of courses and decided i was a lousy teacher. I used to give these technical presentation and think they stink but get decent reviews on those but when it came to teaching i could never find a good middle ground between the top and bottom of the class and just sort of gave up. I mean i could make 10x the money twiddling my thumbs for a corporation. Then after a while i decided that most ceo are at the bottom of heap of low life and decided i'd never work for another company again. Oh well.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

You have a better chance of that than I do of becoming the King of my own castle. Instead I'm subservient to the cat.

Back on topic, I'm doing something I've never done before. I'm going to make walls and a raised platform to terrace a tank that needs redoing, with something called Sculpey.
Having never worked with clay before and not being particularly 'artsy' I expect it to go badly.

I would recommend checking if Sculpey is aquarium safe. We use it to make christmas ornaments, and it's pretty oily.

 

[anewbie]

When I lived in central Montreal, I had no need of a car.

I spent more than 2 decades in Boston and never drove after a few trips the first year. The negative is having to walk 6 miles a day the postiive was having to walk 6 miles a day - those were the trade offs. I don't live in the city any longer but miss the life style just not the bad points.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

I bought a bicycle . I want to see how little I can possibly use the car . It should be easy . I have only myself to buy groceries for and I eat the same thing almost all the time so trips to the grocery store should be easy . Winter will be hit or miss . I will have to use the infernal combustion machine occasionally but the goal is to see how much dust it can gather .

Get a fat bike and ride all winter!

 

[jaylach]

Get a fat bike and ride all winter!

Or a trike with 20X4 inch tires.

 

[gimme30]

I would recommend checking if Sculpey is aquarium safe. We use it to make christmas ornaments, and it's pretty oily.

Apparently original Sculpey is, after baking. However, after the way it went yesterday, I am seriously considering a 3d printer. Took forever to knead it into something workable, then it wouldn't stand up on its own so I had to build a support frame, and then the tops turned a crispy golden brown in the oven. I made better ashtrays in 3rd grade!

 

[WhistlingBadger]

Sculpy is difficult to bake hard. It takes much longer than the package says it will, and unless your piece is quite thin, it will probably still be "raw" in the middle.

The Badgerling and I have talked about getting her to make some aquarium decor out of regular potter's clay, then ask the local high school pottery teacher to fire it for us.

 

[Back in the fold]

Get a fat bike and ride all winter!

There’s nothing to winter riding . Ice presents its own challenges but snow is easy . They even make studded tires , which I’ve used in the past , and chains , which I have not but look useless to me . My new bike is a three speed with an internally geared hub and I expect it to freeze up in super cold weather the same as a cassette freehub does so I won’t ride on below zero days but on normal cold days I ride like the wind . There’s a great network of paved trails here on the banks of The Yellowstone and the city parks department plows them in winter . No cars on them and hence no packed ice .

 

[anewbie]

There’s nothing to winter riding . Ice presents its own challenges but snow is easy . They even make studded tires , which I’ve used in the past , and chains , which I have not but look useless to me . My new bike is a three speed with an internally geared hub and I expect it to freeze up in super cold weather the same as a cassette freehub does so I won’t ride on below zero days but on normal cold days I ride like the wind . There’s a great network of paved trails here on the banks of The Yellowstone and the city parks department plows them in winter . No cars on them and hence no packed ice .

When i lived in colorado i experimented with riding on ice. It worked out just fine if you don't mind a few scrapes and a bruise ego.

 

[Back in the fold]

When i lived in colorado i experimented with riding on ice. It worked out just fine if you don't mind a few scrapes and a bruise ego.

I’ve done it in the past . The best ice is when it’s in really big sheets over the whole road because then you slide sideways and don’t get hurt . Really cold weather helps too because that little bit of melt on the surface during warmer days is slipperier .

 

[WhistlingBadger]

I can't ride once we get snow and ice. For one thing our town doesn't plow the roads (they get around to it eventually but it might be weeks after a snowstorm) so the roads get 6" (15 cm for @GaryE) deep ruts of packed snow and ice. Sometimes closer to a foot. Difficult enough in a car, but impossible on a bike. Even a fat bike.

 

[Back in the fold]

I have to ask . Is there anything finer for a man to do than ride a bicycle ? I love bikes . I sat down and recalled my past two wheeled steeds and this one makes the 14th in my lifetime .

 

[GaryE]

There are many finer things, but cycling is good. Around here, it's less common than in the city, and therefore more dangerous. Drivers will run you off the road without even considering that's what they're doing.
Into my thirties, I used to ride my bike to ball games, and brought my bat sticking out of a backpack or across the handlebars. Those were such easy rides. I don't know why, but drivers always gave me room.

The fishclub this evening is on. We had to have a debate about the weather, but it all looks good. Just rain, no freezing, and no snow til overnight long after we're all at home or in jail. I'll put some killies, some livebearers and a few bags of plants into the auction. It'll be good to see the people there.
I've volunteered to watch the babies for the first half of the meeting, til I have to go be the auctioneer. The babies never buy anything and don't contribute to the discussion anyway, so it's better to let their Moms enjoy the meeting. I read the babies my TFF posts, and they fall asleep.

 

[anewbie]

I have to ask . Is there anything finer for a man to do than ride a bicycle ? I love bikes . I sat down and recalled my past two wheeled steeds and this one makes the 14th in my lifetime .

If you want to know the truth i actually prefer a 10 mile walk to a 10 mile ride. Having said that maybe this means I'm still a child.

 

[Back in the fold]

If you want to know the truth i actually prefer a 10 mile walk to a 10 mile ride.

Walking , running , riding - as long as it’s not traveling by car it’s much nicer . You breathe the air and see the sights that go past in a blur when in a car . Years ago when I was in high school I still didn’t have my drivers license in my senior year and my Dad asked when I was going to get it . I told him I was going to always ride my bike everywhere , which didn’t happen , I betrayed myself on that one , and he called me goofy . Well , maybe the day has come when I can do that at long last . The Man is going to jerk my license anyway at some point soon due to my geriatric status and I’m tired of buying gas and paying for insurance too .