Reluctant Handyman Strikes Again

      I have told a few stories about my limited handyman abilities. I accidentally got myself into a job the other day.

     I have been finding my that my cycling is more challenging so I watch for things on the bike  to make it easier. Last year I was riding on low tires which took much more effort. So the other day I was looking for dragging brakes, bent wheels or anything else that would slow me down. 

    I looked at the swing which moves the chain from the big sprocket to smaller sprockets. I noticed that the swing  may have been rubbing on the chain. I looked at it and thought it would be easy to make an adjustment. Just shorten or lengthen the cable like the brakes. Wrong!

  I shortened the cable and tried it. The chain went off the front sprocket. That's not right. I lengthened the cable. I couldn't get into the lowest gear. Okay I'll get smart. I'll put the chain just off the slide on the big sprocket. That didn't work. How about line the chain up with the slide on the small sprocket. It's still badly screwed up. 

Two adjustment screws and joints

The slide that swings and moves the chain from one gear to another.

    I began to slowly realize that this job was more complicated than I thought. I had neglected to notice the four movable joints in the slide. I had neglected to notice the two adjustment screws on the top of the slide. I hadn't noticed the adjustment screw on the gear shift. 

   Now what have I done? I've made myself a big mess. Aha! The Internet! On to the computer and look up Shamano swing adjustment. There it was! A step by step method to adjust the swing slide. 

   Chalk one up for the Internet. It got me out of a jamb.

   Do you use the Internet for information to repair things?

Peak Time

     A few weeks ago, July 6, I posted some vegetable garden shots. Things were doing well and the foliage was well developed. 

     Well , a few  weeks later, Aug. 6, and the foliage has gone wild. So this is foliage at it's peak. We've had lots of moisture and sun. 

    

    I've been eating onions for about 6 weeks. My peas are finished and my beans are being harvested every 3 or 4 days. I've had beets a few times and could eat carrots if all the other stuff wasn't at the peak of production. I now have ripe tomatoes and my corn is almost ripe. I'm one of these terrible people who just can't wait and check my corn every day. I'm hoping to be able to eat new potatoes any day.

   Produce directly from the garden is the greatest.

Fort Normandeau

      A few posts ago I described a walk through the Maskepetoon natural area.

    Across the freeway and a mile up the river is Fort Normandeau. This spot on the river was known as the Crossing as it as a good place to cross the river. I've seen kids wade across in September when there is low water. This crossing was known and used by the aboriginals long before the white man came.

      In 1884 Robert Mclellan built a stopping house at the crossing. He had some horses ,cattle and grew some crops. In 1885 when the Reil Rebellion occurred the stopping house was taken over by the army and reinforced to make a fort.

     Now this area is a very pleasant stopping area for locals and tourists. The Fort was reconstructed in the 1960's as the old one fell into total ruin about ten years before. There is a small museum giving the history of the area. The area is abundant with natural habitat. When I went out last week the Saskatoons were ripe.

    The Fort has some chickens and a garden inside the walls. Inside the building there are many artifacts from the 1880's. My first picture inside the Fort and wouldn't you know it, the camera batteries died. So on another trip I will show the inside of the house.

The river widens and gets shallow so it's easy to cross

Work up a thirst and get some exercise to get your drink

The Fort garden

Entrance to the house

The Fort chickens

Overall view of the Fort

Why I Moved My Smoke Detector

      Last week my friend, Dee, fell and broke ribs , a vertebrae and had some spinal damage. It was a shock to say the least.

     Dee has lived in her house since 1965. She was about 26 when she moved into her house. Over the years you get comfortable with your house. You know your house. There are things the house tells you and you get to know ever part of it and how to use it. You tend to do the things you always did as a young person.  You forget that you get older.

    Dee was having a birthday party for a grand daughter and they were putting balloons up on the lights. The sturdy old oak pedestal table was used to climb up to the lights, just like it had always been used. This time it over balanced and Dee was pitched over the open stairway and fell to the bottom. She's lucky to be alive.

    It made me stop and think about risky situations and places in my house. I'm historically a risk taker. It was time to take a sober look at things.

    The first thing that came to my mind was a smoke detector at the top of my stairs. The smoke detector had been placed so that it was above the second step down. So as you changed a smoke detector battery, not only were you on a step ladder at the top of the stairs, you had to lean out over the stair well. That's the point at which I said ,"This risk has to be eliminated." 

The two screw holes show how far I moved the smoke detector so that it wasn't over the stairs.

Look way up and see the tiny little smoke detector

    So I learned something out of Dee's tragedy.

    I hope others will look around and change risky situations or behaviors.

I'm Still Alive!

    Well, some people may not be happy that I'm still here! I will carry on anyway.

     My modem crapped out and it took a few days to get a new one.

      I missed reading the blogs, commenting and hearing what you had to say.

    Tomorrow I will start on my regular routine of reading commenting and reading and posting great comments.

     As for previous posts, I will do my best.

    It's nice to be back.

Steven Harper:Small and Petty

     By now you know that I am no fan of our Prime Minister, Steven Harper. In general , I disagree with his economic and social policies.

    However, every once in a while Steven Harper out does himself and  shows how petty and small he can be.

   Therese Casgrain is a well known and liked Canadian whose work got the vote for women in Quebec in 1940. She was politically active all her life and was a Canadian senator for a short time. An award was set up in Casgrain's name honoring volunteers. There was a prominent photo of Casgrain in the parliament buildings honoring her and publicizing the award.the award.

    Now this is where Harper steps in. The photo was taken down and the awards were cancelled. All of this was done without consultation. In its place Harper established a Prime Minister's award that features him with prominent photo and all. All those who receive the award get their photo taken with the Prime Minister.

    Now how small and petty is this little shenanigan? Take away an award honoring some one else. Set up an award in it's place featuring yourself.

   There is no room in our society for such little self centered people.

That Damn ipad

     That damn ipad doesn't like me!

      That damn ipad is smarter than I am!

     You knew there'd be a post like this.

     When you connect an ipad to your computer, the two have to have many chats with each other. They have to line many things up so that they agree and can work with each other. Most of this goes very smoothly. In fact, all you have to do is tell the computers to do things and  it gets done. You just have to sit there and read what happens.

      I had been told that all I had to do at home is connect the ipad to my computer and I would gain access to the Internet. So the ipad was plugged in and I went merrily on my way to email. Write an email, press send and it's gone. My daughter usually replies right away. Nothing. Then I tried Safari and I got a message saying the ipad was not on the Internet! 

    After bumbling around a message came up to load some updated software. It would take three hours! When it was finished there was a message that an error had occurred. Also my shiny new ipad was seized up! There was a message telling me six things to try to get the ipad back. I wasn't going to try any of them. I would call for my friend. My friend is away.

     A few days later I thought I'll look at this again. A message appeared that said restore. I said aha. I can do this. So 10 minutes later my ipad was back. I learned a few things with that experience.

    Now back to the Internet. I guess some of the things I listened to got mangled. Some things people were telling me were wrong. 

   I'm not on the Internet with my ipad, but I'm still working on it.

   The damn thing is so smart I'm sure it will get me there.