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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We Are Having a Blizzard, And It's Not The "Dairy Queen" Kind...

Yesterday, it was 72 degrees F, here in Denver. Yet, on the news, last night, the weather man predicted a blizzard, with significant snowfall for today. And ... he was right.

Welcome to Springtime in Denver.

I got up and rode my bicycle to work, this morning, as I do on snowy days. The wind was in my face, at about 35 mph, but there were less than 2 inches of snow on the road, and the ride wasn't too bad. The 8.5 mile ride took me about 43 minutes, on the fat-front bike.

About an hour and fifteen minutes after I got there, our building experienced a weird, partial power failure. Some rooms had lights, some didn't. All of our communication stuff was out, none of our lab equipment would run, and it was pretty much impossible to get anything done. Word came down at about 9:00 that we were to all go home. I had a bit of work to do, which didn't involve any electrical equipment, so I stuck around a couple of hours before riding home.

In the meantime, the snow began piling up. As I left, riding on the streets was impossible, unless I stayed in a car's tire tracks. For the most part, it was just a matter of going slow (8 mph seemed to be about as fast as I could go and maintain control) and staying inside the ruts.

At least the wind was to my back.

In the Crestmoor Park neighborhood, I saw a VW Tiguan get high-centered on the snow which was between the wheel tracks on his side of the road. I rode on. It didn't look like I could pull him off of the snow with my bike...

Just south of Alameda Ave., I hit a stretch of road where the tire tracks had filled in, after the last car had driven through. I had to push the bike on that section, and then along the bike path behind George Washington High School.

On the bike path...

I ended up pushing the bike about a half-mile, in snow that varied in depth from just below my knees to just over them. At one point, I had to pick the front of the bike up and drag the rear along, because the snow was so far over the axle height that the wheel wouldn't roll.

At the point where I normally leave the road and cut through Garland Park, I had to continue on the street, since the bike path through the park was unplowed. As I rode along on Cherry Creek Drive, a Denver cop drove right by me, without giving me a second glance (which would have required him to stop texting as he drove along). The next car by was a very nice young lady from Texas.

She rolled the window down and asked, "Are you all right?"

"Yes ma'am," I called back. "Thanks!

As she pulled over, it occurred to me that she had actually asked if I wanted a ride, not if I was all right.

I thanked her, and assured her that I was fine with riding the 2.5 miles to my house, from there. 

I had to change my route, a bit, after I crossed Cherry Creek, because the neighborhood roads were untravelled, and unrideable because of that. I stayed on car-tracked roads and made it to my house a little over 2 hours after I left the office. 

As I arrived, a lady was getting out of her car and into another car, leaving hers in the road, where it was stuck. The car she got into got stuck, and another driver put her bumper against theirs and got them rolling. 

 The abandoned car, near my driveway. It is in the traffic lane, not against the curb...

My truck looks pretty aerodynamic, at this point.

My commute was a bit of an adventure, and a really nice mountain bike ride, actually. I'm hoping we have a snow day, at work, tomorrow. Otherwise, I am burning some annual leave. I can't imagine that the roads are going to be any better, in the morning, than they are now. And, I don't really have the energy to make that ride twice in 24 hours.

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Boy, That Month Flew By!

It kind of shocked me to realize that over a month had passed since I last posted on the old bloggarino. It's been a fairly intense time, art work, which entailed working overtime, going out of town and just generally being so busy that I didn't feel like I even had a home-life. I haven't ridden the bicycle to work in the past 3 weeks, and I've barely ridden it, otherwise. But, today it snowed, and that gave me an excuse to bust out the fat-front bike and pedal down to the coffee shop on this, my first Friday off in 3 weeks.

So, I bundled up against the 24 degree (F) chill, and toodled off to Kaladi Bros., this morning. I was glad to have the studded tires, as the wet spring snow had compacted down to slushy ice under the tires of earlier car traffic. It felt good to pedal the fixed-gear, and I really enjoyed the ride.

After working last Sunday's NYT crossword, I headed home. Along the way, I pulled off the road to ride around in the snow in Observatory Park. I am ready for some mountain biking, and this was as close as I am going to get, today!

This year has started out slowly, when it comes to cycling. I hope to rectify that situation, soon. In the meantime, I plan to start riding to work, regularly, once again. It's not the greatest cycling in the world, but it sure beats nothing!

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