Yes, I was there. And I had a decoder ring.
Author Archives: Steve Mays
Wood chipper on the move
If the trails project is going to proceed, I’ll have to move the wood chipper down the hill. It has wheels so downhill is no problem…but getting it back up the hill would be a problem. It’s a heavy mother. Hopefully I’ve solved the problem with a battery-powered winch.
Jitterbug
I found this in the back of a kitchen drawer. I don’t recall owning this so it must have been Barb’s. “The Jitterbug Flip2 is designed to be easy to use, with big buttons and a large screen. It’s the only flip phone with Amazon Alexa, so you can make calls and send texts using just your voice. And for help in emergencies, the Urgent Response button is right on the keypad.” I especially like the YES and NO buttons. Early version of the “thumbs up” and “thumbs down” icons.
The phone was (and still is?) aimed at the older market, but who doesn’t need an Urgent Response button from time to time? The red button on the new version of the phone?
Some might recall that I dabbled with the idea of a simpler phone a few years ago.
“Let’s make him look like Drexl Spivey”
You’ve heard to saying, “There’s no small parts, only small actors?” Certainly true of Gary Oldman’s portrayal of Drexl Spivey, the drug dealer in True Romance (1993).
The following year Oldman played a corrupt narcotics officer in The Professional. Another superb performance. In one of the opening scenes Oldman lead a team of narcs into an apartment searching for some missing heroin. Photo below is one of the half dozen cops on the raid.
Don’t know who the actor is but that’s not important. The similarity to Drexl Spivey seems too strong to be coincidental. Was this an inside joke on Oldman?
How trail designers build good hikes
This 5 minute video looks at how trail designers (it never occurred to me there was such a thing) and engineers do what they do.
Hiking trail progress
I’ve fallen into something of a routine. One day of cutting and dragging trees/brush; one day of chipping; and one day of lining the path-to-be with rocks and spreading cedar chips.
The rock work would be quite the chore but for the fact I’m never more than an arm’s reach from a rock. Lots of rocks. Tomorrow is chipping day.
Hiking trail project revived
I started playing with the idea of cutting some walking path through our woods back in May of this year. The project stalled out when I realized how much brush and how many cedar trees would have to be hauled off, one pickup load at a time. The alternative was a whole bunch of brush piles somewhere on our property. Either option was proving exhausting.
The recent addition of a wood chipper has breathed new life into the project. I quickly had enough chips to cover the first path and today I started a second leg, mainly to have some place to put the chips. Now I can cut and chip with abandon.
UPDATE: The photo below was taken a day later, from the other end of the path-in-progress. Difficult to see here but making progress. It’s not unrealistic that I might be able to create a mile of paths, given enough time.
Perfect October Day
Surounded by trees, we don’t get spectacular sunrises and sunsets. We just don’t get much of a horizon. But we do have a tiny vista, looking down our road to the hills just on the other side of the Missouri River. It’s so quiet we can hear approaching vehicles — few and far between if you don’t count neighbors — from far down the hill.
When the sun does shine through the trees in the late afternoon, we get some flattering light. My friend John says this was taken using the Old Man filter. I am much happier than I look. Ditto for Riley.
Rover hardtop back on for winter
Helpful Neighbor and World’s Smartest Guy helped me get the hardtop back on the Rover this morning. Took about two hours with the new storage rack. (Image above animated GIF)