First Real Bicycle Ride 2012

Took off early today for a 3.5 hour ride up in the hills. Other than a few short mountain bike rides this winter I haven't been riding.

Highlights:
 Just as the sun peeked out over the eastern ridge I saw a herd of 30 deer turned golden in the early light. Oh! how I wish I could ride as lightly as they move.

A turkey hunter got his gobbler. Still in all camo he was prepping it on one of the stone fences that are ubiquitous off Ash Creek Rd.

Then lead legging it up Millville Plains a whole flock of riders, maybe 50, came from the other direction - all cheery and fresh. At least the front riders and main pack looked cheery. The stragglers looked tuckered and couldn't have started much earlier. I of course pretended to be cheery, which I was in a "40 more minutes and some short steep climbs left" sort of way.

I love the world just before sunrise.  

Do You Use Anti Static Dryer Sheets? Reconsider :

Clothes rubbing against each other in the dryer form static electricity. Many people use dryer sheets to remove it. The dryer sheets cause the lint trap to clog, extending drying times and wearing out your dryer. Liquid fabric softeners are a better choice however some people have allergic reactions to the fumes or to the chemicals which coat the clothing fibers.

Check the lint trap:

Pull your lint trap out and run a little water on it - the water should run right through. If it doesn't then the anti-static stuff has plugged it up. Take a toothbrush or other soft brush and give it a gentle scrub. Test with water again. Do not put it back in the dryer until it is completely dry or lint will stick to it in a glutinous mass.

Natural ways to stop static:

Put a damp washcloth in the dryer with the clothes 10 minutes before they are dry. Static occurs in dry air. The damp keeps the air moist as the clothes finish drying. Set the dryer to the lowest heat setting when doing this to keep the washcloth from drying out completely.

Static cling may be prevented by adding 1/4 cup of white distilled vinegar to the washing machine. The white vinegar coats the clothing in the same way fabric softeners do and changes the electrical charge. Do not add bleach to the wash when using vinegar as this produces chlorine gas - an extremely toxic poison.

Synthetic fabrics usually hold far less moisture than natural fabrics - so it makes sense to separate them for drying. However, another good reason to separate them is that it helps keep static from forming.

Static causes clothes to cling. Try this: Wet your hands and shake off the excess water so they are simply damp. Shake the clothes as you take them out to remove the static. Your damp hands will help keep them from clinging. Re-dampen your hands when they become dry.

The Infamous History Of Chimney Sweeps

Chimney sweeps have a long and infamous history.

Children, unable to be fed through the winter in the European mountains, often were sold to dealers who made them chimney sweeps in the big cities. They were ill fed to keep them small so as to fit inside the chimneys. These were the “climbing boys”. The first industrial related disease cases studied were in these boys who had high incidents of testicular cancer.

After outlawing cruelty to children the sweeps used geese to clean a flue. They would tie the legs together and toss them down the flue. An old saying is, “The blacker the goose, the cleaner the flue.” I have seen this done in the former soviet republic of Georgia with chickens. It wasn’t good for birds either.

In general Sweeps did not charge for their services. Profit was made selling the soot as a soil amendment. This lasted until the advent of chemical fertilizers in the 1870s. Sweeps were noted for having many devious ways to short a customer the goods they purchased such as selling hollowed blocks of soot.

The following quote from the introduction to “In The South Seas” by Robert Louis Stevenson pretty well sums up the character as regarded by most people of his day:

“Disliking his studies, Louis took to absenting himself from lectures to wander through the more disreputable quarters of the town in search of the excitements and experiences that appeal to young men. … As he later recalled, “I was the companion of seamen, chimney sweeps, and thieves; my circle was continually changed by the action of police magistrates.”

Cruelty to children, animals, and ripping off other people are all the wonderful heritage of the humble chimney sweep.

We distance our selves from these darker aspects of of trade history:

Flue Season:

We stand for a warm secure hearth in the home.

I. Our Philosophy:

We want people to be better off after meeting us than before. We are not interested just in servicing the chimney but we are interested in our customer’s life, needs, hopes, and dreams. We want people to talk about us because we are good for their life.

Our biggest competitive advantage isn't only the quality of our products and services; it's the number and strength of the relationships we have with clients. We focus on building those relationships. We are looking for friends.

We are starting a new "History of Chimney Sweeps".

In Defense Of Chimney Sweeps - in Russian 1926

The New year in many countries is associated with chimney sweeps and good luck. This photo is from a book for the enlightenment of Soviet children in 1926.

This illustrated book confirms the connection of sweeps and luck in the Russian new year tradition as well as the European ones. Of course, the Russian new year doesn't occur until January 13th on the Gregorian calendar. So you can celebrate yet again if you are so inclined.

Wishing you all a fine and joyous year, with lot's of good luck!

Holiday Cooking Ills

One of the things I've always loved about the Holidays is gathering for the big feasts. I love the smells, the kitchen bustle, the traditions... eating - It's all good.

Exhaustion, headaches, and body aches sometimes accompany these days. We often write these off as flu symptoms or simply the result of tiredness from all the work, wine, over-eating, and people. However if you are cooking with gas be aware that your cookstove vents directly into your home. That means carbon monoxide is in your kitchen. Those ills you feel may be the result of breathing higher than healthy levels of CO.

The recommended CO exposure limits are only 9ppm (parts per million) per 24 hour period. Most stovetop burners, if reasonably clean and functioning correctly, put out around 22ppm each. This number increases dramatically when a pot is put on the burner. The oven may vent over 100ppm. And there you are, standing over the stove breathing it in.

What to do:

1. Always run the exhaust fan and/or open a window when cooking. This alone will take care of most of the problem.

2. Install a CO detector. At least one per home is required by the state of California but why not install one in the cooking area as well?

3. Have your oven and burners CO levels checked by a competent chimney and venting professional or expert appliance repairman, and then cleaned and tuned if needed.

We wish you a happy and healthy holiday season!

Using A Self Cleaning Oven To Clean A BBQ

In response to a recent Redding.com post by Anna Moseley about the idea of using your kitchen cook oven to clean your grill:

Don't forget - gas fueled cook ovens vent directly into the home. CO is a dangerous byproduct that enters into the home, and your body, when the stove is in use. Most manufacturers directions include leaving the home and venting it by running the kitchen exhaust fan and or opening windows when running a self cleaning cycle with a gas stove. CO detectors are a must as well as required by the state as of July 2011.

Reflections from the night cyclist

It’s 4:30 a.m. and I’m riding my bicycle by myself.

It’s dark. Not counting the few street and business lights.

It’s hushed.

The one main road I have to be on for about 5 miles has few cars to worry about at this time. Two or three cars going my direction are usual. Once I turn east only none, or one, or two will whoosh past, if it's a weird day. Beyond the next turn I’ll be on a one lane back road and rarely see any cars for a couple of hours.

I generally keep a flashing tail light going and a head lamp. However, I like to shut the lamps off once I’m off the two lane roads. It's like coloring without boundaries.

The air is thick, and rich, and flows around me like cool milk.

I hear startled animals duck off the road.

With limited eyesight my other senses are alert – the morning smells like the first sounds of a newborn – never repeated again in its waking life.

I can’t see the cyclometer or my gear rings. I don’t know if I’m going fast or slow.

There are no lines on the road so I have to look for the slight phosphorescence of the weeds marking the pavement edge. I don’t know how to describe “seeing” in the dark. You relax your eyes. You can’t “look” at things. It’s more like absorbing subtle shadings and textures and then imagining them into place.

This imagining works but it is inaccurate. I am abandoning accuracy for sensation. I hope I don’t “sense” myself running into barbed wire.

To the east the oaks silhouette – like giant puffballs against the waning night sky – The watchmen of my world. I never notice their perfection during the day.

A Mona Lisa smile rises looking like something Van Gogh’s poor eyesight contrived. She puts the grass – i.e. stiff tinder, dull and lifeless, beyond dead, as something that never should have been, thistles, and stickers, symbols of the curse, that everyone always wishes were green, “like in Oregon”... she makes it flow silver, shimmering.

I smell its sweat, its fever, its introspection, its exhibitionism.

It’s easy for random thoughts to emerge in this cloister and I wonder, “If someone sees something so monotonous during the day, as beauty in the night, is the beauty real, or is the monotony justified?” The monochrome pointillism follows me through the day like a little private joke between me and the weeds. I know what they’re “really” like.

It’s light enough to see now and I’m pushing hard to get to the top of this road where I’ll stay hidden from the sun... I don’t make it. It rises directly into my eyes.

It’s magic. It destroys the silver with a glance and, establishing a dominant alchemy, transforms my world to gold. It’s the gold of a climax: the effortless explosion of the taste of a crisp, ripe peach on a summer day, the gold of a chorale winging to its height, the gold of miracles. The chameleous weeds just giggle and glow.

I dodge into the shade for a time. Then, turning my back on the morning, ride into my day.