Took the first bike ride of the season last night. Little story about that later. I'm still working on cool ties, I have about 250 started. The Russian is using a shop vac to turn them right side out, works pretty good. He's a smart cookie :)
I ended up buying an entire bolt of tea-dyed muslin at Joanns this weekend, but haven't started cutting it out yet. I'm hoping to get the Ironrite machine out tonight so I can press what's been serged and turned. I think that'll go a lot faster since I'll just feed the stuff through it, several at a time.
So anyway, I took the little bike out last night for a spin around the lake and downtown. Before I left, the Russian charged up the battery and warned me about not stopping until it had time to really charge up. First mistake: not checking to see if the gas was on reserve or on. I made it all the way down Woodside to Toronto, then around the lake by the zoo (across Lindsay Bridge, which is one of my favorite parts of that particular ride), to Stevenson, to 6th to Capitol, then south on 2nd. I got 2 blocks south of the capitol, at 2nd and Cook. I was sitting at the light, it changed and nothing. Died, right there. There's a lot of traffic at that intersection, particularly when the legislature is in session, and it was around 8 at night, so the traffic was probably a little drunker than usual.
Anyway, I moved it around the corner and parked and called The Russian to come rescue me. He brought jumper cables and figured out that the reserve was on (which I thought I had already checked but it didn't start when I flipped the switch, but I think that was a battery issue). Finally got it going again, I got to 6th and South Grand and filled up. Wouldn't start again, so TR push started it and I got it home. I'm going to try and bring it to work today at lunch. It was either that or the little Jeep, and I don't want to put the top down for one day, although at this point I'm wondering which one is more hassle...battery issues with the Honda or wrestling the top off the Jeep.
The ride around the lake is one of my favorites locally. I noticed last night how different things smell on a bike. When I got to the east side of the lake it was noticeably fishy, but that's the only part of the ride where I notice that. The views are really spectacular, particularly around the power plant. I also find the difference in temperatures interesting, just a degree or two drop in temp can make a huge difference if you're a wimp like me. I couldn't find my normal gloves last night, so I wore some gardening stiff latex gloves (hot pink, natch), and I finally got the chance to try out my new Wiley goggles. I switched the lenses to clear...very, very dorky. However, they really do keep the wind out of my eyes, although when I was coming home on 2nd street I had my head down and they started to fall off my face. I'll use the strap with them today and see if that makes a difference. And maybe I'll use the sunglass lenses, they look a little better that way.