spoke cards and beer coasters

Happy 2009!

2009-01-03T08:56:00.000-08:00

I know I haven't keep this blog up last year, so I'll start this list of things to work on for '09 with:

Try to blog more consistently.

I'm not giving more or less weight to anything here, just things I want to work on for the new year.

Cook more at home: Last year we filled our freezer with fresh local meat and I have been trying eat out less often while improving my cooking techniques. We've done fairly well but that means changing habits and remembering to think ahead.

Brew beer: I have been scheming with friends who are experienced home brewers and while we haven't quite got organized, we're close.

Bicycling: This is the year I am going to finish the Midnight Century. I would also like to do a few more all day rides with friends, maybe a wine or beer tour. More trail riding, more exploring back roads.

Gardening: Our backyard is over going a transformation, we have a new patio and sod, for the long term plan I would like to squeeze some veggies out of the edges. I will also try to get over and help my brother and parents on the large family garden(I know I've said it before but that's what this list is about)

Well it's a start, if anybody's still checking this blog occasionally, thanks 'til next time.

Excuses for not keeping this Blog up

2008-08-18T11:46:00.000-07:00

OK so I don't have any real good ones, it has been a busy summer so far and doesn't look to be slowing down to soon.

We went to Joseph Or. for a brews and blues festival. After a long day on the motorbikes having a mountain stream at a brew pub to soak your feet in is a bit of heaven.

http://www.terminalgravitybrewing.com/

My turn for flats

2008-07-02T07:44:00.000-07:00

My buddy John is always giving me a hard time because I hardly ever get flats on bike rides, but my number finally came up. Friday I went on nice ride with John when I got off work, riding up on the Palouse then coming in on highway 195 for a beer at the Swamp. The first flat was on 195, I grabbed my spare tube, changed it out and started pumping a little over enthusiastically promptly braking the stem off. OK so stick John spare tube in, pump more carefully then off to the bar for a beer. Fast forward to the next day I stop by Wheelsport South and pick up a couple of spare tube return home and notice the tire is flat again. Pinch flat from sloppy change near as I can tell. Monday morning I was riding the other bike with Wade and noticed my tire was going flat just before Boulder Beach. This time I pulled a 2 inch nail out of the tire and got it changed first try. So I think I've had my share of flat for a little while anyway.

Weekend Riding

2008-06-23T12:40:00.000-07:00

Summer is here, perfect riding weather and having a Sunday Monday weekend is great. Sunday morning I met with John and Pat and rode up to the top of Tower Mountain this requires a little road poaching a.k.a. trespassing but totally worth it for the view. Picture by Pat.

This morning I headed out the Fishlake Trail, cutting though Highbridge Park on the way to catch the unfinished beginning and to Marshall. Coming back in I met a couple where the trail crosses Marshall Road trying to decide if they wanted to keep going or turn around, I talked them into continuing so hope they enjoyed the ride. All in all a good weekend on two wheels.

'Cuz Mondays are for riding

2008-06-02T14:17:00.000-07:00

Had a very nice long ride this morning, in the summer my schedule changes from Mon-Fri to Tues-Sat this means I can get a good ride in on Monday. Today I went out the Centennial Trail along the Spokane River. It was nice cruising on the go fast bike, a Bianchi Breve newly set up with Nitto Mustache bars, and enjoying the scenery. I don't usually take the Ipod but loaded it up with pod casts from http://www.garagepunk.com/ my favorite place for obscure music. All in all a nice day off. Someday I'm going to have to get a camera to take along so I can post pictures too, oh well.

Not dead yet...

2008-05-31T08:38:00.000-07:00

Ok so I'm really bad at this, it's not that I don't want to write it's just that I get distracted easily.
So here's what's new I bought motorcycle this month during bike to work week, but I'm still trying to bicycle to work at least a couple times a week.
Musically nothing much new, still lots of stuff I would like to get but it adds up so quick I don't know where to start.
We did a Tequila tasting in early April, I found that a good sipping Tequila is just as tasty a good whiskey.
It's not much but like I say I been busy

Nothing Much

2008-03-30T14:28:00.000-07:00

It's almost April and still snowing, quite frankly I'm sick and tired of it. That being said I've been commuting by bike a fair amount, tried some good beers and generally had a good month. I'll try to be better about blogging in the coming month, thanks for checking in from time to time.

Music accumulation

2008-03-01T06:45:00.000-08:00

I've been trying to be good and not buy to many CD's, it's the lean time of year what with higher power bills and the slow season at work. I ordered the two in the previous post and kept the long list of stuff I want internal, but then Bloodshot Records sent me an email about a garage sale and KPBX had their recordings and video sale and next thing you know there's 14 new to me CD's cluttering up the living room.

It's a broad mix, one of the high lights from the KPBX sale is Women of Istanbul, a collection of female cabaret singer from late 20's to early 40's Turkey. This is one of those albums I probably won't listen to a lot but I love having in my collection because it's so different from any thing else, plus it will be perfect next time I throw a middle eastern potluck.

From Bloodshot Records a got the newest albums from The Bottlerockets and The Meat Purveyors, a sound track and The Legendary Sundowners. The Sundowners, according to the liner notes, held forth in Chicago honky tonks from the late 50s clear up to late 80s and I do like good honky tonk music.

GW wants us to go out and spend our refunds I wonder if Robin will let me blow it all on music?

three martini bikeride

2008-02-26T09:12:00.000-08:00

Here's an idea for Bike to Work Week, a three martini bike ride. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-martini_lunch
This would be an opportunity for bike minded people to get together casually and discus bike issues in Spokane and in general. This should be done during the work day, you would of coarse get extra points for bringing your boss or an elected official, and dress should be business casual, yes this means a tie. I'm thinking three bars over an area small enough for newer riders but far enough apart that traffic issues will be experienced and can then be discussed in context. This is the sort of ride where the names of the not so innocent must be protected, yes you should do this on the clock. It's about how the business and the bike communities can help each other, so give this some thought and maybe we can set something up.

Fullmoon Howl

2008-02-20T09:35:00.000-08:00

It's a full moon tonight and that means an FBC ride. This a great combonation of some of my favorite thing, cue Van Traps, bicycling, hanging out with friends and sharing a beer. Toninght there is a Lunar Ecipse so we get a little show before the ride, if you care to join the info is here http://fbcspokane.blogspot.com/ look for the full report soon

Commuting to work in February

2008-02-12T08:45:00.000-08:00

I haven't been riding my bike to work much lately, not so much because of the weather, the last time was the first big snow storm in December. It's just that I had another option, my brother loaned me his truck so I drove.
The funny thing about riding is that thinking about it is always harder then doing it, but once you're out there you just pedal and get where ever you're headed. It's hard to get new riders to beleive you when you tell them their commute won't take much longer than driving until after they have done it a few times.
So if you're thinking about it, quit thinking and start pedaling.

blogging for the sake of blogging

2008-02-08T09:12:00.000-08:00

OK so I don't have alot to say, I'm stuggling with the idea that I have to come up with something interesting to write about or I'm just wasting space. There is also the delema of what to write about, if I spend all the time discussing beer and whiskey you'll wonder how much does the guy drink, and if I go stream of concence on how I search out the details of small record label info I will again bore you to tears. I have decided not to worry about it, so if you don't find any of this interesting that's OK I'm still learning to write so check back in a few months or years and see if I've gotten any better and developed any kind of style.

Hopefully the snow will start going away soon and the bicycle content will go up. I did get out for a breakfast ride last week and that helps.

Winter cycling blahs

2008-01-30T09:14:00.001-08:00

I haven't been out on the bike since the FBC ride on the 22nd http://fbcspokane.blogspot.com/ which wasn't a ride so much as a hop from one warm bar to another and with near record snowfall I don't think I'll be going on any long rides soon, altough I have been snowshoeing a couple of time so I guess that will have to make up for it.

Looking forward to some spring ride, long cold wet rides with a farm breakfast at the end.

Muffuletta

2008-01-27T18:46:00.000-08:00

As the snow fell in near record amounts last night I put the final piece of 'The Sandwich' in place. For the last year or two I've have been playing with the muffuletta, this a New Orleans original created around 1906 in the Italian markets of New Orleans. I've never been there but having read mystery novels set there, where the detective always stops for a po'boy or muffuletta, I was fascinated and wanted to know what it was. I worked at a place that did a vegetarian Muffuletta served hot but I always felt like this wasn't quite what I was looking for and after a Google search I found the Gumbo pages http://www.gumbopages.com/ This a great resource for Cajun or Creole cooking. The bread was the last piece of fine tuning and Friday I tried a recipe that had been percolating in the back of my brain so here's the the result. These three Muffulettas fed 8 people with almost a whole one left, it was a nice evening with friends and family and Wii.

New Music

2008-01-26T10:00:00.000-08:00

I pre-ordered a couple of CDs the other night, they both come out Feb. 5 and other then that I don't think they have anything in common.

The first is Chime Bells, it is suppose to be vintage cowboy yodel, some of it not available since it was released on 78.

The second is Kiss Kiss Kill Kill by the Horrorpops.

Here's a funny thing, since we got an Ipod in Apirl I've lost track of the number of new CDs I've bought. The previous few years I bought mostly from the used bin, letting chance and a good deal dictate what I purchased, now I'm finding obscure rockabilly, surf, 50's & 60's garagepunk, western swing, new country punk and pcychobilly, I've got 45+ record labels and online stores bookmarked... maybe if the major labels work at putting out good music instead of trying to protect an out dated business model... anyway enough of that rant

Winterhop reveiw

2008-01-23T20:30:00.000-08:00

This past weekend (1/19-1/20) my wife and I travelled with friends to Ellensberg for their Winterhop Brewfest. Here are a few of the highlights to wet your whistle.

http://www.lahtneppur.com/brews.html - Lapt Neppur had a Winter warmer, this was a Belgium style aged 3 months and at 9% is very full bodied. Their stout was tasty, but not as memorable. Lapt Neppur is located in Waitsburg near Walla Walla. We stopped there on Labour Day weekend last year and filled up a couple of growlers. This defanately a great little roadtrip destanatin, just make sure you make reservation at Whoop'en Up Hollow http://www.whoopemuphollowcafe.com/ for some good creaole cookin'.

http://www.rogue.com/locations-issaquah.html - Rogue is practically an institution in craft brews, and I've tended to overlook their taps the last few years. I was pleasantly surprised by Bullfrog Ale, hoppy enough for me but not to hoppy for Robin. This beer is brewed in Issaquah and the gentleman behind the taps assured me they real frog.

http://www.roslynbrewery.com/ - This is where we started and after waiting in line to get our wristbands and tasting mugs for 30 minutes it's hard to be subjective, but both the Roslyn Dark Lager and the Brookside Pale Lager were might tasty. The dark was smooth and malty without back of the throat grab I usually get from amber lagers, and the pale clean and bright.

http://www.iron-horse-brewery.com/ - Ellensburg's hometown favorite, I discovered the Brown at Hill'shttp://www.hillsrestaurantandlounge.com/ and had also tried the Irish Death so I was looking forward to trying their other offerings, they did not disappoint. The Rodeo Pale was light and hoppy, while the Imperial Red was thick and hardy perfect to take the chill off.

Altogether Robin and I managed to try 21 beers from 11 breweries and only made it halfway through the list. The weather mostly cooperated with highs in the 40's and the sun peaking out from behind clouds. We will be looking forward to doing this very nice festival again.

trying this out

2008-01-23T17:57:00.000-08:00

OK,not going to promise fancy prose or even proper spelling, this is a place for me to talk about the things I like to talk about, such as but not limited to beer, non-fitness bicycling, whiskey and very bad music. I like big beers, big tires and lots of reverb, so if you share any or all of these interests stop by when you have a chance.