Girls' ride yesterday starting at Colin's trail to Robs to Hunters and then dropped down into Pinebrook. I had never been on the fun, tight, twisty Pinebrook singletrack because of the copious "private trails" warning signs, but on a Saturday afternoon on perhaps 5 miles of these private rich-people trails we saw exactly three other people. I guess rich people are inside playing Wii.
The company was divine, although Theresa had to bail out early because she was feeling ill. I am extremely lucky to have such athletic and happy friends. The trees are beginning to change color, so I guess I will have to admit that fall is coming. Finished the day with beer and sandwiches on the patio of O'shucks bar and grill in PC.
...and work.
Drew and I (mostly Drew) erected the frame for this privacy/shade screen on our back deck on Friday morning before he left. Then I hung the panels while he was gone. It cost us a whopping $3.15. Our neighbor is tearing off his old deck, so we salvaged the still-sound pressure treated 4x4s. The green shade cloth was from one of my very excellent street-cleanup finds. Street cleanup is this awesome thing Salt Lake City does where once a year each neighborhood has a designated day homeowners can put all their large trash items (branches, old couches, etc.) out on the street to be hauled to the dump. The part I love is that people scavenge the piles for useful stuff. "One man's trash is another man's treasure" in the purest sense. In recent years, I dare say less than 10% of the metal that goes to the street ends up in the landfill. Instead, scavengers snag it and cash it in for the recycling dollars. Anyway, years ago a neighbor was throwing out several long panels of garden shade cloth - the nylon material you can almost see through but provides shade for your greenhouse or whatever. I picked them up and have used the material to make shades for my lettuce and always planned to use them in my greenhouse. Well, the greenhouse is not in the plan at this small lot, so I used a double thickness to hang on the frame Drew built. I finally got to use my nifty grommet maker but had to buy hooks (that was the $3.15). It is only a temporary solution until next summer when we redo the deck, but it provides some privacy from the neighborhood playground being constructed next door and the neighbors' kitchen window, which looks onto our hot tub.
In other home front news, we each used a vacation day and finally got one half of the garage floor epoxy coated. I used my limited artistic ability (why did cousin Ruth get all the gift?) to paint on a Ginkgo leaf motif. I wish we had this floor in our spare bedroom.
Bobke update: He runs!!!
Picture above of what Bobke may look like after extensive reconstruction surgery. The shop where Bobke has been having an extended sleepover trip finally was able to look at the engine. After 3 hours of tinkering, mechanic man got Bobke to sputter to life and spin around the parking lot. Unfortunately, Bobke seems to have esophageal cancer (problems with the fuel intake system) and some other internal injuries (needs the engine rebuilt) plus needing hip replacement surgery (new U joints). It will be a couple of months before he is ready to go camping with us, but at least we know his medical problems are not terminal.
I love the ginko leaf! Your garage floor beats our guest room too! When can Bobke come to Oregon?
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