Here, results of the first day of the 2011 Tour De France. Contador did not win the first stage. He's my rider this year, the one I hope for, a real follow-on to Lance and very capable of winning the whole thing. I watched today on France 3 TV, the start and the last 40+ kilometers hoping to see Mr. Contador blow them all way but it was not to be. That is the way of the Tour.
I started to repair the ice damage to my kitchen water supply today. The broken "bit" (a British word for any particular part of anything else) was at the joint coming into the faucet hardware itself. The joint had failed under the icy pressure and that was that. Not a leak...a flood! So be it. So drain down the lines and used a length of foam sponge, very flat, to stick into the various orifices to get the water out so soldering could take place. Nice idea and I actually allowed a whole 24 hours of draining and sponging to do the deed...but my reward was a blow up of the cold water line joint buried behind the tile of the kitchen sink table. Shit! So I had already decide that if this be the case I'd redo the water lines to just behind the sink and thus accessible if they leaked or broke. So I proceeded to redo the COLD water line as there was little point in establishing the hot water one as the damned electrical problem has eliminated that as a possibility in my kitchen, I will have cold water and no hot. So be it. So I did my usual prep work, gathered tools and cut copper pipe and put it all together in hopes of no-leaks and running COLD water by cooking time. After the soldering I turned on the water and shortly thereafter a very fine jet of nearly vaporous water appeared coming out of the joint at the corner of the kitchen sink. Tomorrow I will drain down the lines and reheat and solder the joint hoping that I'm successful this time. What a bitch this is!
Showing posts with label Velo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Velo. Show all posts
Saturday, July 02, 2011
Sunday, September 06, 2009
My Leading Ladies
Oh, I slipped! Damn...I hit the L instead of the R! Oh well...you get the picture, they are all readers and they are incessantly reading...only Furry and I are left to contemplate our navels. They read all day and into the night taking little time out for smoking (Aud), going potty, and eating. Mostly...they sit or lay about reading. A life of pure leisure. I'm NOT complaining! Far from it! I get left to my own devices largely, don't even have to drive the car some days as Kelly has bravely taken on that chore to guide our guests about the countryside. Leaves me time to cook, read cookbooks, fiddle around on the computer and fight with Furry.
Not bad. The most "time off" I've had in a while.
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Andy, my ex-student from Hogan oh so long ago...mid 90's has just landed at CDG and is enroute to the hotel with his friend. They are near Port Orleans but are traveloling to London tomorrow via the chunnel, stay a couple of days then back to Paris til the end of the week, then they are coming here to join us for a few days before venturing south. I have some places I think they'd like to observe in person. The Pont Du Gard, Lascoux, The Tarn Gorge and the Bridge over it, there's so much to see and appreciate it's a challenge to do a proper job of being tour director really...all this on the way to Marsaille and Nice which they want to visit.
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Tonight we are having S and D over to meet Katie and have a go at more experimental (not quite) food. I've made Canneloni and Eggplant Parmigiana as the entrees, Kelly has made her beet and blue cheese salad with nut oil and vinegar dressing (delicious!), I also made French Vanilla ice cream from the ancient recipe that everyone seems to like. It should be a pretty filling meal and a lot of fun.
Katie's daughter G is coming via velo from Belin with her boyfriend N and may be calling us any minute now to give us a possible arrival date and time. Biking fron Berlin across both Germany and France! Amazing! It's quite a feat that's for sure!
She's the one going to Circus school too, so she's very athletic to say the least!
Not bad. The most "time off" I've had in a while.
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Andy, my ex-student from Hogan oh so long ago...mid 90's has just landed at CDG and is enroute to the hotel with his friend. They are near Port Orleans but are traveloling to London tomorrow via the chunnel, stay a couple of days then back to Paris til the end of the week, then they are coming here to join us for a few days before venturing south. I have some places I think they'd like to observe in person. The Pont Du Gard, Lascoux, The Tarn Gorge and the Bridge over it, there's so much to see and appreciate it's a challenge to do a proper job of being tour director really...all this on the way to Marsaille and Nice which they want to visit.
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Tonight we are having S and D over to meet Katie and have a go at more experimental (not quite) food. I've made Canneloni and Eggplant Parmigiana as the entrees, Kelly has made her beet and blue cheese salad with nut oil and vinegar dressing (delicious!), I also made French Vanilla ice cream from the ancient recipe that everyone seems to like. It should be a pretty filling meal and a lot of fun.
Katie's daughter G is coming via velo from Belin with her boyfriend N and may be calling us any minute now to give us a possible arrival date and time. Biking fron Berlin across both Germany and France! Amazing! It's quite a feat that's for sure!
She's the one going to Circus school too, so she's very athletic to say the least!
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Le Tour De California...Yippee! and Brrrrrr
Well we ventured out this morning at about 1130 to travel some 24 miles thru the driving winds, rain, hail and sleet...yes sleet to witness the passing of the peloton once again, this time on California soil...er pavement near Lake Berryessa.
We arrived at high noon, the time the riders had left Davis about 25 miles away in pouring rain. How nice. We drove to the junction of highways 121 and 128 to the General Store there amid firemen, policemen, California Highway Patrol and many other brave, frozen souls to see the bikers pass some hour and a half from then.
We parked in a lot adjacent to Highway 128 and ventured out to find just the right spot to photo this great event. The wind nearly blew us off our feet and the rain, sleet and hail poured down. Waiting seemed an eternity, first the police cars to clear the roadway, the CHP directing traffic off of 128 and back towards either the parking lots or Highway 121 towards Napa and Fairfield. Brrrrr, Audrey and I shivered as we huddled against an oak tree and tried to stay warm and unfrozen. Time went by in small increments of shaking and pulling one's self further into the ever soaking clothing. This was NOT Le Tour in Chateauroux last July...this was California's own tour in Mid February! I wonder how the Spaniards and Italians are taking it? Brrrrrrr. 12:30 and then 12:45, weather actually worsened, now the sleet was continuous and actually forming little mounds in the middle of the roadway.
Brrrrr. 1:00 came and went without a glimpse of our expected valiant riders, many cars began to show, their windshields covered with sleet and hail. We trod back over to the Prius with the ever wise and courageous Kelly inside keeping the fires of warmth alive for us her idiot brood. We armed ourselves for about 10 minutes and then ventured back to the roadway, I readied the ever trusty Nikon for the velo shot of the century, in RAW mode no less, a money shot coming up! I'm ready! Then a roar from the frozen mouths of the crowd and three riders sped into view, pedalling with great fury as they sped by, I pushed the buttons though I couldn't feel them at all to see what I shot then take another and another in hurried succession. At then end the Peloton was some 12 minutes behind the leaders, we moved the car closer as our interest subsided. I check the Nikon...now it says low battery and the @#$##!@ counter shows I only took 2 images! Oh shit! Merde! My god, all of this for that? Then the screen said FOR...which means that the memory card needs formatting! Oh no...NOTHING?! Who knows, I changed the battery and the error message remained, oh grrrrrr. Then I reseated the card and found that the FOR message was gone and the count showed I had taken exactly two images of something...I wonder what? Here's the miserable results!
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We arrived at high noon, the time the riders had left Davis about 25 miles away in pouring rain. How nice. We drove to the junction of highways 121 and 128 to the General Store there amid firemen, policemen, California Highway Patrol and many other brave, frozen souls to see the bikers pass some hour and a half from then.
We parked in a lot adjacent to Highway 128 and ventured out to find just the right spot to photo this great event. The wind nearly blew us off our feet and the rain, sleet and hail poured down. Waiting seemed an eternity, first the police cars to clear the roadway, the CHP directing traffic off of 128 and back towards either the parking lots or Highway 121 towards Napa and Fairfield. Brrrrr, Audrey and I shivered as we huddled against an oak tree and tried to stay warm and unfrozen. Time went by in small increments of shaking and pulling one's self further into the ever soaking clothing. This was NOT Le Tour in Chateauroux last July...this was California's own tour in Mid February! I wonder how the Spaniards and Italians are taking it? Brrrrrrr. 12:30 and then 12:45, weather actually worsened, now the sleet was continuous and actually forming little mounds in the middle of the roadway.
Brrrrr. 1:00 came and went without a glimpse of our expected valiant riders, many cars began to show, their windshields covered with sleet and hail. We trod back over to the Prius with the ever wise and courageous Kelly inside keeping the fires of warmth alive for us her idiot brood. We armed ourselves for about 10 minutes and then ventured back to the roadway, I readied the ever trusty Nikon for the velo shot of the century, in RAW mode no less, a money shot coming up! I'm ready! Then a roar from the frozen mouths of the crowd and three riders sped into view, pedalling with great fury as they sped by, I pushed the buttons though I couldn't feel them at all to see what I shot then take another and another in hurried succession. At then end the Peloton was some 12 minutes behind the leaders, we moved the car closer as our interest subsided. I check the Nikon...now it says low battery and the @#$##!@ counter shows I only took 2 images! Oh shit! Merde! My god, all of this for that? Then the screen said FOR...which means that the memory card needs formatting! Oh no...NOTHING?! Who knows, I changed the battery and the error message remained, oh grrrrrr. Then I reseated the card and found that the FOR message was gone and the count showed I had taken exactly two images of something...I wonder what? Here's the miserable results!
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