11-4-07

End of summer

I have been working on the doghouse rather steady for the last few weeks. In this picture I have two coats of the mastic/under coat applied to the foam blocks. The sun was not good for those foam blocks and I had to use a very coarse sand block to scratch a good surface on them before applying the mastic. Doing this I used some mussels I haven’t used for years. Ibuprofen is wonderful stuff. A friend turned me on to the method of taking it ‘before’ you start doing something that is going to hurt you and that way it seems to prevent it. It works that way amazingly well. I had always used it ‘after’ I was hurt. Old dogs are able to learn ‘simple’ new tricks now and then.

I had my friend Mark Weeding come over with his Bob Cat and do a little land scraping. I had him dig out a yard in front of the cabin on the south side. It makes all the difference in the world in how it feels and looks.

Russ, the guy that applied the foam insulation to the roof, gave me five or six buckets of a textured paint that he had gotten years ago at some sort of auction. I’m not sure what they cost in real life but I couldn’t pass up the ‘free’ offer. I had to go down to the hardware store and buy individual packets of colorant for the buckets and mix them up myself. Russ loaned me a really good mixer that I used with my heavy duty ‘Hole Hog’ ½” drill. It took a lot of power to mix those buckets and I was sure happy to have that tool to make it possible. Russ saw me at the hardware store getting the colorant and he said that I would be that color later that day and he sure was right. Russ gave me several good tips for applying the paint and they helped but I didn’t do a very good job, which might be a good thing, as no one will want me to do it for them. This stuff is not like paint but more like stucco. I used a hawk and a cement trowel to smear it on, work it in, and smooth it off. The paint has fine sand and some larger pieces of so it gives a rough surface texture. 

Here is the dog house as it looks now. It is pretty much weather tight now and I think I can leave it for the winter.

I bought blue pine 1x6 tongue and grove wood for the walls and ceiling which I have sealed using a clear stain. I hope that this will keep the wood light color. The blue pine is something that we always burned or left in place, when I worked in the woods when I was young. They now drag it in and cut it up for a cheaper grade of lumber. It should be just fine for this little cabin. It sure does add an interesting pattern to the wall when it is all put up. I was able to pick up a batch of oak flooring at the lumberyard too. It was just a small batch but enough to do this job. I have all the pine stacked tight, banded and with stickers every other row so the wood should be nice and dry and ready to install when I get back.

This summer when Sheila was visiting I gave her a ride in the sidecar. She didn’t like it AT ALL……. She said that she didn’t want to ride in it again……. Well, I found another lady that likes to ride in my sidecar. Brad brought me this picture of Gusty and I just heading out for a little cruse around town. I’m sorry about the quality of the photo as it is a picture of a photo but I think you might be able to see the smile on her face. We both had a good time and I think we will be good sidecar buddies again when she comes back to town for a visit. 

Since I have the doghouse weathered in and the weather is getting cooler all the time, I have been working a little on the Bloodhound getting it ready for a winter down south again. I had gotten a R100GS seat and rack from Bob last year and finally modified them to fit on this old R80GS bike. I have this same saddle on the yellow dog and lived in it for six months, so I know I ‘fit’ this seat. I like having the rack on back too for my top bag with tent, sleeping mat and bag. I will use these soft bags as they are light and easy to remove if needed. I will use a bigger tank bag as well as tank panniers when I need more stuff.

I finally got around to getting hearing aids and after using one pair for a month+ I talked the audiologist into getting me another type of hearing aid that I can click to have two different levels of amplification as well as to be able to turn them off. I really needed the option of turning them off especially when I ride a motorcycle. I need to go in and see him next Thursday for a check up. After that appointment I think I will be heading south. The tentative plan is to drive my train of truck, pod, and motorcycle trailer down to AZ. If the weather looks OK I will just jump on the bike and head across Texas and dive into the Deep South. Anna is coming back from Indonesia and will be visiting Tova in Florida. I plan to ride over there on the back roads and see for myself what the Deep South is really like. Lets see, southern cooking……..Ribs? Catfish?

I’ll take my own granola cereal with me, as I sure don’t want to have to look at, or eat, any of those damn disgusting grits.

After I get back to AZ for the winter I will probably do some silver work and possibly head on down into Mexico for a ride. My friend Mark  (and any one else??) might come down again this winter and if he does I will try to get him on down into Mexico. I wouldn’t mind going all the ways back down to Nicaragua again but I don’t have enough pages left in my passport to get there and back. I should have paid more attention and sent it in and had more pages added

I’m really getting excited to be back in the saddle again. This summer building the doghouse had really cut into my riding time.