Hurricane Season Kick-Off Recap

And today's event (mentioned previously) went pretty well.  Perfect weather, blue skies, and an enthusiastic crew putting it on all made it come together.  At the radio tent, we had HF & VHF/UHF radios, field-worthy antennas, and solar power.  Here are some pics:

Yaesu FT-450D HF & FT-7250D VHF/UHF radios, along with solar controller and a few other do-dads

leftmost: VHF/UHF vertical; two other poles: HF W3EDP antenna

60 watt solar panel; easy up, easy down

As usual, there was a good bit more interest in the solar than in the radios.  That's OK, emergency preparedness info got passed along in all ways at hand.

Hurricane Season Kick-Off

Details on poster below.  For more info, check at the Franklin County Emergency Management site.

Hey!  That's it's Saturday!  If you're going, don't forget!

Ah, That New Chain Feel

When the gravel bike's transmission starts treating shifter input as a suggestion for eventual action rather than as an immediate command, that's an indicator that it's time for a new chain.  A quick check with a chain stretch gauge confirmed it – not in the red zone yet, but edging onto it – and the change went smoothly.  No need to swap the cassette or chainrings yet, not if you change out a chain in time.  Usually get about three chains to the rest of the drivetrain components, before those need swaps too.  One down, two to go.  And yes, I do keep a log book of these things, because keeping track of multiple bikes would be impossible  otherwise.

The ride today was noticeably more snappy.  Funny how these little wear items creep up on you.

It's Getting Better

My last couple of months:

As spring winds down and (finally!) a few rains have come, it's getting better.  I've been living on zirtec, claritin, and flonase (spelllings... who cares; made up words anyway), but that's winding down too.

Last Friday's Historical Cemetery Tour

Lightly attended, but it was a good test-run for future events.  In a repeat of a tour two years ago, I stood at my great-grandfather's grave and told his story.  Here's a pic a friend snapped of me after it was over, while I was walking home in a very light rain.  As usual, embiggen for full effect.

And yes, I edited out the glaring red gas station sign as well as the two safety yellow crosswalk signs.  Unneeded distractions.

Blogging's been light of late, but not a lot worth mentioning going on.  Re-reading the X-15 engineering test flights portion of Always Another Dawn, and enjoying the fine cool spring weather.

Crossed My Desk this Morning

Yeah, movies have been kind of crappy for the better part of the past decade.  Here's hoping for a brighter future.  However, I suspect we'll just get some meaningless AI-generated slop with dancing rock piles, and the Hollywood execs will remain as baffled as ever.

Good Advice on Bike Wrenching

An ex-mechanic with ten years' experience dives into some useful stuff over at youtube:

• Top 10 Things I learned Working in a Bike Shop (10 minutes)
• Three More Things You'll Find Useful (6 minutes)
• Five Mistakes I've Made (9 minutes)
• 10 Essential Tools for Any Home Bike Mechanic (15 minutes)

FWIW, I still don't have a work stand.  Where the hell would I put it?

Anyway, his channel's just getting rolling, so look around through his videos for a handful of other bike items.  He does some other mechanical stuff over there that you may find useful too.

Yes, after Friday's post, I'm still around.  Though I have to say, that would have been a great post to wrap up this blog.  Not going anywhere though.