OooSHINY! Part 2. The Next Day. Finally. Mission Accomplished: Now, Where's MY Flightsuit?

Rick demonstrates the reflective effect of the "pattispaladins(dot)com" decal on the back of one of the t-shirts. It's all glowy! Nice and visible in our car's headlights, unlike our beloved mascot Sir Highwheeler, just above it!

Check out the time stamp... we're a little punchy. (Just a little!) But the deed is done and done well. Thanks to Mike Kechisen and Transfer Express (and Rick for putting in a hard newbie shift at the presses), we're going to be one well-turned-out bike team!!

Paladins jersey pour Homme. Or summat...

Reverse! Modeled by my own Co-Captain, it looks marvelous.

Much attention to detail has been paid. The website decal is special hi-reflective stuff for greater visibility.

Frankly, I just like to look at my husband, so this picture is partially gratuitous.

The finished product. With more to go.

Front and back. Bath and fork. Yow. I think my eyes crossed there, a li'l bit...

This project is taking a million years. But the shirts and jerseys look sooooo awesome.

So so SO cool.

 

We're IMPRESSED... or well on our way!

Sir Highwheeler makes his first appearance of the evening on a woman's bike jersey. Looks good. Looks speedy!

 

Hot Off the Press!

A pile of men's jerseys, ready for the next bit of logo-age. I think the next decal we do is Sir Highwheeler.

Oooo! SHINY!!

THIS year, the Paladins website is going on our shirts. With reflective stuff, for added visibility! Marketing and safety first!

Hot and Fast on Blue

Mike's hand (upper left-hand corner of the pic) is a blur, and the room is getting warmer, as we print the Paladins' jerseys and t-shirts for this year's Pedal to the Point to beat MS.

The Thin Line Between Curiosity & Fright

Today we got the perpetually leaky and now finally deceaced dishwasher replaced in the kitchen, and (as I txt) (ooh! they're done!) the Shakespearean-death-throes washing machine replaced. That's 2 different delivery-installation crews, *each* comprised of 2 guys, tools, and big, boxy, clunky things. All of which bring along smells and sounds and who-knows-what-else a cat may sense.

(Interesting and creepy: BOTH crews were guys younger than I am -- and therefore should know better!! -- yet BOTH crews each had one guy with terminal butt cleavage. Do they not watch movies? Are they completley insulated from stand-up comedy? Or is it an ironic statement? First crew? Yeah, maybe that's their excuse... but not the washing machine bozos. If I saw them handling a long plank of wood (and by "long plank of wood", I mean "long plank of wood"; work with me here), I'd stand well away and watch the inevitable Laurel & Hardy comic replay.)

This was taken of Bert 2 seconds before she freaked out and couldn't take anymore. Poor kitty. Yet so entertaining.

Well. I won't get THOSE hours back...

Tonight was Browns Concession Stand Training Day, so Rick, Matt from NMSS Buckeye, Belinda from Team Bee's Hive, another team cap named Holly (with Jennifer) and I met at Browns Stadium.

I don't know about this. These 'organizers" don't seem organized AT ALL.

Seems like all enthusiasm and no substance. One ironic exception was the Legal Counsel, yet he still managed to pull out a 'rah rah' speach.

New low: the 'MC' admitted he "hates being up here". 'Here' being at the mic'ed podium. Hubris sucks. >snerk!<

"UPCOMING ATTRACTIONS" headed one PowerPoint slide (the italics were mine). No kidding! (Try "Coming Attractions".) I know what's *really* 'up-coming', and it's not attractive.

Another deusey to report: apparently they will be 'ramping up' the room at the top of the ramp. Unbelievable. Do these people not listen to the words coming out of their mouths? They sure love the sound of them.

"At the end of the day" (that was THE over-used phrase of the evening), we walked out before the 2nd game ended, well after 9 o'clock PM. Which was clearly NOT "the end of the day" for the rest of the group.

One of the management team leaders came running to see why we were leaving. It must have occurred to him that we couldn't ALL (2 men, 4 women) be going to the restroom... We shared our grievances as best we could, as politely as we could. He was the sort of consoler, however, that regards his words higher than the words of the injured, so it was a little hard to be heard. Also, it was very loud.

The guy who chased us ("End Of The Day Smurf"?) said his management team is "different from all others".

Different is fine. What would be NICE is EFFECTIVE, EFFICIENT, or MINDFUL. Try those; one, or any combination.

This, tonight, was nonsense. But we're probably going to submit to it anyway. Because as much as I despise inept management, I hate Multiple Sclerosis far more.

 

This Transmission Has Been Unceremoniously Interrupted.

Yup. That it has. Even before it began!

>sigh<

Here's a sad, sad tale of woe. Fair warning. You may not want to read any further. Keep your eyes well away from all electronics!

Yesterday we had our quad-monthly visit from The Sears Guy, who not only pronounced our washing machine DOA (his arrival, that is), but (and I find this utterly amazing) he refused to charge us for the visit on the basis that our machine is so far gone. "Buy a new one, avoid the digital read-outs, make sure it's an up-right, and you'll be set; $400 is all it should set you back," he said in parting. Wow.

He was supposed to look at our broken dishwasher, too, but I didn't want to press our luck with the whole "no charge for a dead appliance" juju. I was pretty sure what he'd say. So it's hand-washing til we can scrape together enough to pay whatever the going rate of a basic dishwasher might be PLUS a washing machine for clothes.

When My Beloved got home, we were going to eat our dinner (the stove still works, though the toaster oven went to appliance heaven over a month ago) in front of the TV with a Dr Who episode. (Interruption: are you keeping an appliance count? Because that would make *3* dead appliances in this post. So far.) A friend of his at work lent him the DVD of the first series, starring William Hartnell.

We popped the DVD into the PlayStation (we have a combination DVD-VCR, but the DVD part is broken...) and got everything set up, hit "Play," and before we even got the FBI warnings: "TV system doesn't match."

I posted that here yesterday. First I had to pick my jaw up off of the basement floor.

Rick fiddled around with it, but after a bit he concluded that the disk was HD, and our TV (dated from 1994, perhaps earlier) was most DEFinitely NOT.

So we watched an episode of Brisco County, Jr. instead, because THOSE disks work just fine in our PlayStation.

Afterwards, just to see, just to make absolutely certain there was no fault with the disks, Rick tried playing the premier Dr Who episode (An Unearthly Child) in his laptop. No problems. No glitches. Absolutely no issues. Well, other than the fact that I was trying to head upstairs to bed.

I watched the entire episode standing up, punctuating every few scenes with: "I'm heading upstairs now. Let me know when we can rewatch this." >snerk< Like I'm superhuman enough to pull myself away from Dr Who!! (This illustrates one reason of several why we don't have cable/satellite.)

It was Rick's first experience with Hartnell: "Wow. Cranky." Heh. Wait'll he experiences the full bi-polarity Colin Baker.

Good thing we don't have a sonic screwdriver. That'd be on the fritz, too. Doesn't keep me from wanting one, 'specially now that I know they're so much more affordable than a washing machine...

 

Cool. NOW What?

With the skin off, no one is quite sure what the next step is.

Wundermanner sind Bob und Mike. Nekkid, as usual. (Well, partially.)(The excuse? "Everybody needs Vitamin D!!! And M!!! And B.O.B!!!!!")

All the other outbuildings victimized/taken down by this family have simply fallen over at this point of the demolition. This one shudders when pounded, but shows no sign of sweet complicity.

 

Last Bit!

This corrugated metal was all that held some of this shed/barn/outbuilding together for a while. It proved to be one of the most persnickety bits to remove!!

 

'Here, hold my beer and watch THIS!'

(You have to read that title in a Jeff Foxworthy voice.)

Pulling down the beam.

Mag pulled on the twine, and Mike did ... Aw, heck, I don't even know what he did. Definitely something useful. Besides that, all I know is he didn't fall, and that's quite an accomplishment.

 

Bats in the Belfry in the Barn...

Bob and Mike do a high-wire act/barn demolition demo on what increasingly seems like 'borrowed time'.

It was (quite frankly) getting a little scary at this point. And those of us charged with pounding nails out (yes, OUT) of the boards pulled from the shed frame were getting fewer and fewer boards, and therefore less and less work to keep our attention occupied.

The frame was actually rather sturdy. But the knocks it was taking from the sledgehammers Mike and (you can't really see him, but he's on the other end of the shed, on the other cross-bar) Bob were swinging at planks while clinging to the beams ON WHICH THEY WERE SIMULTANEOUSLY HANGING... (shudder), were actually making the entire remaining structure shiver. It was a bit nerve-wracking.

After lunch most of the crew returned to tear down the frame. I was too sun-burnt, and besides, my dog needed looking after. Especially since Someone returned to the farm and told all of the children present to be very afraid of my dog. Which, of course, made the children seek out my dog; first to see what exactly she would do to them, and secondly, to accuse my dog of the evils it would exact upon them (sometimes to warn me to get 'the bad dog away' from them... odd, since they sought her out...). Cleo, however, was a model citizen all day. I found it rather confusing and very hurtful.

Otherwise the day was very nice.

 

Not much skin left!

Some MORE progress...

Hemiptera ROCKS!

It's a milkweed bug! My husband always thinks of me. What an awesome guy!

It was a very interesting day. Many expected to see the families of groundhogs that had made homes in this shed over the years, but they were no-shows. Rodentia was well represented instead, however, by several field mice who ran from the shed to the burn-pile!! (The burn pile was not put into action that evening.) There was a bat (little, but whether brown or black no one took the time to ascertain) in the shed. It had been 'playing possum' for at least an hour before it took off for the trees. I saw several species of spider (wolf, orb weavers, jumping, 'daddy longlegs', others), so many types of beetle (deathwatch, several ladybirds, 3 types of longhorn, 2 types or 2 sexes (I didn't have time to look closely) of click, lightning 'bug', a couple others), and a cricket.

Then (hours later, and to my complete delight) I saw a little brown bat at the gas station, hunting for food which was attracted by the lights, when we made a fuel stop on our way home. What a rich day!!

 

Boom and Bob

I hope we get to preserve this somehow.

Actually, what's going to happen is Rick's Uncle Bill will keep it after all. (Phew!!! I was very worried it would end up on the burn pile!!)

It turns out there's some use for it. Since I'm not sure who reads this blog, I don't care to share what the deal is since it's not my story. It's public enough knowledge that it's going on the utility pole by the road, so that's fair enough to report. It won't be that far removed from its original spot; it'll still be a fair landmark for local folk. I'm glad of that, too.

It's just SUCH a fun and whimsical sign. If it were going to be destroyed, I wanted to salvage it. I'm just as glad it's still got life as advertisement.

 

Skylight

That roof won't keep the rain out now. Heck, it barely keeps Bob out!

Demolition Men

Some progress...

We have arrived to help with the demolition of this barn, shed, out-building, whatever-you-call-it! The whole family is around to help with the deconstruction.

It's a Barn-Razing in Amish Country!! A Community Event! Much food is involved!!

(I helped pound out nails. We salvaged as much of the beams and planking as possible.)

 

Phew.

OK. There's very much to do, and very little time in the day. That's the downside to going out of town. I have a lot of catching up to do. Running to stand still? I'd like to take it that easy. There are a lot of posts that need responses. I'll get to you all, I promise, but it'll take a while.

You don't want to see my To Do list. Actually, I don't either!