After The Blizzard

Well, the storm moved on by, as they do, and today dawned sunny but cold. The power was still out, at work, and we had another unplanned day off. So, after shoveling a path out to the road, I jumped on the fat-front bike and headed down to Kaladi Brothers for some coffee and a croissant.

Once there, I didn't want to block the shoveled part of the walk, so I used "nature's bike rack" to park my bike.

Just another view, because I wanted to.

On the way home, I stopped to take a couple of pictures. This is a non-plowed street, which gets a good bit of traffic. As you can see, the sun has cleared most of the snow off of the road, already (this was at about 11:30 AM). Less-traveled roads will stay snow-packed longer, but none of them will be impassable to cars, as they were yesterday. That is one of the benefits of the intense sunshine we get here, in Denver. One of the drawbacks for a Scots-Irish lad such as myself, is the constant sunburn you suffer if you don't use sunscreen all of the time...

The Spruce trees always look a little dejected, after a wet snow.

When I got home, I decided to shovel the drive, sidewalk, patio and truck. (Yes, I had to use a snow shovel to get the snow off of the Dodge.) I always shovel out to the tire tracks in the street, from my driveway, in case someone visits. That way, they don't have to push through a drift to get to the curb. I'm the only one in the neighborhood who does this, but I am also the only one in the neighborhood who doesn't park in the driveway (I leave it for visitors). Since I don't pull in and out, the snow doesn't get packed down at the driveway entrance, so I just shovel it out of the way.

 Here is the view from the door of the shop building, showing the clear drive and the unburdened truck. I am fairly tired, to tell you the truth. Beginning to feel my age, when I do chores like this (especially after the wicked commute, yesterday).

We skipped band practice, last night, because of the weather, so the guys are coming over tonight. I decided to clean off the kitchen counter, since company is coming. As I did, I got distracted and worked on a little project which I came up with at the coffee shop, last week. I am experimenting with leather covers for pint glasses, which would allow you to drink hot or cold beverages without burning or freezing your fingers.

Yeah, I know it's just basically a fancy Koozie Kover for glasses, but the leather makes it a little nicer, to me.

First, I made a short one, pretty much like the paper insulators coffee shops have for their paper cups:

 Front view

 Rear view (laced with waxed cotton thread)

 Then I made a longer version. This actually my second long version. I made one, the other night, as a "proof of concept" which wasn't sized exactly right, and the ends didn't meet at the back. It was functionally okay, but I just didn't like the looks of it.

Rear view, complete with extra lacing hole, where the cord pulled through the leather as I pulled the stitch tight.

I modified my long-version pattern, trying to get the ends to meet up more precisely, and to get the top and bottom edges more even. We'll see how the next examples come out.

I prefer the long version, myself. How about you...?

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