Archive for October, 2006
Saturday, October 14th, 2006
I will keep this short…
Last night, the tempurature dropped into the 30s, so I thought it was a great time to get the new Harman P38 Pellet Stove kicked into high gear.
I think I will get the knack of getting the fire started soon enough. I filled up the pellet tray and squirted some starting gel on the pellets and lit the fire. I think the directions say that you should turn the fan on level 1 and then close the door. I did this and the fire stayed burning for about 5 minutes and then went out. After it went out, I applied more starting gel and mixed up the pellets a little. This time, I turned the fan on level 1 and kept the door open. This way, the fan is sucking out the smoke, but it’s not so strong that the breeze puts the fire out. After a few minutes, the pellets were glowing red hot, so I closed the door. I heard the screw turn to release more pellets into the tray and then the second fan kicked on to blow the heat around the room.
The stove heated up the room in no time, but I did smell some exhaust. I had already sealed up two joints in the exhaust pipe, but two more need to be done. I got in back of the stove to smell the suspect joints and sure enough, they stunk. A project for today…
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Posted in Autumn, Home Improvement | No Comments »
Friday, October 13th, 2006
Have you ever had a piece of clothing that went in your washing machine fairly clean and came out with a stain on it? Probably at one time or another. There are many things that can stain your clothing, besides you. Probably the most prevalent washing machine caused stain is rust. If you have a washing machine basket that is chipping, your clothes can push up again the rusty basket during the spin cycle and create those beautiful little orange stains that never come out. I have also been reading a lot about grease type stains on clothing. They say there are two main causes for this: 1. Your shaft bearing and seal are worn and the transmission oil is creeping up to get in your water. Once this happens, it gets on your clothes to cause staining, and 2. You have a buildup of fabric softener that comes loose off to put a greasy like substance in your water and on your clothing. Once you put your clothes in the dryer and the old fabric softener melts, wham, you are hit with a few stains.
I have read about a few others, but I forget what they are. That is probably because I have my own problem…and unfortunately, no one on the planet has heard of this particular problem. That is why I am putting it out to you.
Here is it - we are getting stains in the form of brown lines or “streaks” on our clothing when it comes out of the washing machine and dryer. I usually notice them after I pull the clothes out of the dryer, but I am sure the staining is occurring in the washing machine. So here is the dilemma: What in the world is causing the staining? The lines look very much like they are brown creases. I need to find out if something is coming through the water pipes into the washer or if it is coming from the washer itself. We have a new greensand filter installed, so I am pretty sure it is not in the water. Unless of course, the purple potassium backwash is flowing through the pipes into the washer. If I can isolate the problem to the washer, I can pull it apart and look for the culprit. I will take a look at the shaft going into the transmission to see if there is any grease or oil on it. If so, I will buy a new washer. The picture below is my actual shirt that came out of the dryer with this mark on it. It is about 6 inches long, so you can understand why we are getting so frustrated with this problem.
So, my question to you is: Have you ever had, or known anyone, with brown stains or streaks that look like “creases” come out of their washing machine? I beg of you…
UPDATE…
Ok, this is an update to the above post I wrote about 6 hours ago. I came home tonight on a mission. After going to Home Depot this afternoon with Paul, I had a few things to look at. We decided that perhaps the problem can be isolated to the water lines or the washer. It is pretty important that I figure out what is causing the problem, because purchasing new parts and a new washing machine can get quite expensive. Then, the possibility that you haven’t even fixed the problem still remains.
I came very close to purchasing two $33 water filters…one for each water line of the washing machine. I figured that maybe the pipes still had gunk in them from all the years the previous owners ran the water with iron sediment building up in them. Paul talked me out of that. We agreed that before I purchased the filters, I would go home and take off the rubber hoses that attach to the back of the washer. Then, I would snake a wire through each one and pull a small piece of cloth through them, to see if there was gunk built up in them. I came home this evening and did this. The cloth came out completely filthy. Bingo…I thought. I pulled the cloth through a few more times until there was no dirt left. I reattached the hoses and put the washer back in place. I took the front panel of the washer off so I could see what happens when it runs. I tried to simulate a real wash, so I filled it with clothes. The outer tub on this particular GE washer is clear, so I could get a good picture of what was happening. I was looking for little beads of grease floating up in the water. If the problem wasn’t the hoses, I would catch it here for sure. I wanted to find out something before Laura got home.
I ran the wash and watched the machine go through all of its cycles. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. This wasn’t much fun. As I sat there, I started to think about how our new strategy to avoid these stains was to turn our clothes inside out and wash them that way. That way, the stains wouldn’t show on the visible side of our clothing. It has been working well. Wait a second…what difference does it make whether or not we wash our clothes inside out? If there is something in the water, it makes no distinction between which way our shirts and pants are situated. The oil would get in any which way.
HOOOLD OOOON……..
Laura came home and we started talking about this horrible issue. I told her what I found and told her about the inside out dilemma. We both started getting a little quiet. I mentioned how this never happened in Brewster (where we lived a year ago). She also mentioned that she never got any stains on her scrubs (she wears them for work). Hhhhmmmm. In Brewster, we had a different dryer. Also, she never puts her scrubs in the dryer because if she gets a stain from the washer, she doesn’t want the dryer to “set” it.
THE DRYER…….
I ran downstairs with a white sock in my hand. I opened the dryer door, took the sock and rubbed it hard, up and down, against the rear corner, between the rear wall and the drum. I pulled the sock out and looked at it. Well, well, well. I nice brown grease-like streak that looks identical to the photo above. I guess when the dryer heats up, it makes this, what ever it is, get gooey and easily transferable to clothing.
Now that we figured out what is causing the stains, I can start pricing out new dryers.
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Posted in Home Improvement | 11 Comments »
Wednesday, October 11th, 2006
I made it the flight school early again and wanted to get some of the preflight stuff out of the way, but the plane was locked. I figured it would be, so I cleaned the dew off the windshield. Yigal came and I got the key to do the whole preflight. We needed fuel, so we started the airplane and taxied over to the filling station. Putting fuel in a Cessna (high wing) is a bit different than the Piper (low wing). You need a ladder to get up to the tank caps. Other than that, it is about the same. The tanks were pretty low, so I put about 45 gallons in them.
Today was perfect weather for practicing more takeoff and landings. I am getting pretty good at them. The one problem I am still having is not gauging the height of the plane from the runway when we are almost at the touchdown point. We are generally higher than I think we are, so the touchdown is slightly bumpy. Also, in a Cessna, you need to keep the yoke pulled back while landing and after you land as well. If you don’t, you will put too much weight on the front wheel.
What really excited me about these lessons is that I actually learn things. This lesson, the major point I took away was to keep my speed at least 70kts when approaching the runway to land. During one landing, our speed was only 60kts, so when we approached closely to the touchdown spot, I stalled the plane to drop somewhat hard. Controlling the airplane at that low speed is difficult as well. I think the tendency for new pilots is to slow the plane down as much as possible to land, but that shouldn’t be the case. It just feels weird giving the airplane more throttle as you are approaching the runway. I will be sure to practice this next time, as I am sure we will be working on this more. Yigal wants me to practice staying above the blacktop at a height of about 3 feet for as long as possible. After that hard landing, I explained to him what I did wrong. That put a smile on his face. He likes it when his students realize what their mistakes are and plan on correcting them next time. He says that flying is all about corrections.
One of my mistakes during takeoff is climbing at too high of an airspeed (not enough pitch). I usually climb at 80kts, when it should be only 70kts. The way to lower the speed is to pitch the airplane up so you gain as much altitude as fast as possible. There are two reasons for this: 1. to gain altitude fast in case you lose your engine, and 2. to save fuel. I will be sure to work on this as well.
I am really starting to feel very comfortable flying these airplanes. If I had to do my solo tomorrow, I would be able to. I hope Yigal is not reading this. (haha)
After my sixth takeoff, I looked over at the ridge and told Yigal I can’t wait to start flying around to look at the beautiful views of the area. Since he seems to really love the Autumn colors, he said, “Let’s do it.” I said, “Yeah baby!” and headed towards the ridge. We flew about 10.5 miles Northwest, straight for the Mohonk Mountain House tower . I climbed to 3,500ft and we cruised all the way over at 2,200rpm (110mph). When we reached our point, I descended to about 2,000ft and we circled the Mountain House. We flew over Minnewaska State Park (earlier post) and further South along the ridge. I think I am pretty lucky to be learning how to fly in this area of the country. I really couldn’t ask for anything more.
We headed back towards the airport and I actually knew where it was. I figure that if I flew Northwest towards the ridge, I should fly Southeast back to the airport. I really felt like a genius. I descended from 3,500ft to 1,400ft and entered the airport landing pattern. When I entered the pattern, Yigal pushed the throttle to idle and told me to do an emergency landing. I banked for a tight left and kept my optimum glide speed of 70kts. I came in to land and we drifted slightly to the right. Yigal was telling me to use the left rudder, but we had already landed ok. He asked me what happened and I explained to him that we were in an emergency situation and I had to land the plane. He loves it.
Till next time!
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Tuesday, October 10th, 2006
I have a bit of a challenge for you. We have a flower that we planted mid-summer in our front garden…it was received as a gift. Recently (mid-October), it has started to bloom. I have been taking photos of this pretty amazing process, but have no idea what this flower is called. If you take a look at the photos below, I think you will agree that this flower definately has some potential. We would like to purchase some more of them, if only I knew what it was. I think it would be a great way to keep some color in the garden during the fall.
I took photos of all the stages of bloom. There is another bud ready to pop and its color is a brighter yellow, instead of the orangish above. The leaves are somewhat purple / maroon with a green underside. Any help would be much appreciated.
PS - Just a side note…if you want to see some great photos of flowers, visit this site. Geez, and I thought my pictures were the bomb diggity.
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Posted in Autumn, Gardening | 3 Comments »
Monday, October 9th, 2006
We waited and we waited, all year long, and then came time for Oktoberfest 2006 at Hunter Mountain. And then it rained. We kept looking out the window and checking the weather report last weekend, but there was just no way we were going to get a good day of drinking German beer and riding the skyride, It actually cleared up later in the day on Sunday, but still, by the time we got there would’ve been time to leave. We also would’ve been beating ourselves up for not going yesterday, because of the perfect weather we had.
Yesterday was the day. It doesn’t happen too often. You know…those days that just couldn’t be better. It was 63 degrees all day, it seemed, and half of New York was on Rt. 28 driving through Phoenicia, NY. When we drove through that little town, there were Harley Davidsons lined up and down both sides of the street. Again, it just couldn’t be better.
We took Rt.3 from Kerhonkson, so I could show Laura what I discovered when I went up to get the bluestone for the pellet stove. It wasn’t what I discovered really, but what we were missing every time we took the Thruway North to Kingston and then onto Rt.28 West. It is probably the best Catskill country road I have been on yet. It follows the valleys of mountains and passes beautiful farms…and not to mention the patches of crunchy leaves to drive over while watching out of the rear view mirror at them being tossed into the center of the street. Lots of shade and lots of White Pines and Hemlocks. You know what I think of Hemlocks…
We made it to Hunter Mountain and just passed the mini-golf place at it’s base, when I saw the first shot I wanted for this entry. I kept laughing and telling Laura that this whole day was a blog post and she was living it. I am not sure that went over too well, being Autumn and romantic and all. Yeah, a guy with a camera and his blog on his mind…Hmmm.
So there it is. If you haven’t been to Hunter in the off season, now becoming the on season, this is what it looks like. Personally, I like it in the Summer better. Grabbing your mountain bike and cruising down the mountain is more of a rush, I bet.
We parked the car and went inside for one thing…the beer. We come for the beer. It just tastes better up here. I have this illusion of steam boats leaving the docks in Germany loaded with wooden barrels of dark Oktoberfest beer settling for the ride. It takes weeks to get the ports of Boston, where they place the barrels in horse drawn wagons for the trek to the Catskills. I think that’s how it works, right? Well, that’s how it works to these people…the die-hards who make it every year, just like us.
They dance and dance and dance. These guys love to dance and love to be watched by all the folks sitting at the tables drinking their dark German beer. This is one tradition that will be with me for life, and I’m sure for these guys too.
So we had our beer and had a stroll around to see what the vendors were offering. Some nice sweaters, candles, fudge and jewelry. Ok, what now…well let me tell you. It’s something that I have been waiting to do for years. Good thing I am a patient person. Take a look at the next photo and take a guess.
I have always wanted to go to the top of a ski mountain without the snow, just to hike around. I always thought that we would be the two people going up, because it wasn’t that popular. Well, remember all those people I told you about that we passed in Phoenicia? They arrived here right after us and hopped on the skyride too. What a cool thing to do. There were so many people and so many smiles and the best day of the year.
We got near the top and the guy asked us if we were getting off. To tell you the truth, I never even gave that a thought. I just assumed we would ride up and ride down, until I saw everyone up here walking around taking pictures. Sure, we hopped off to enjoy the view…and to pose for some pics. By the way, my sister Steph saw this photo and called me granola. Can you believe that?
There was one thing that disappointed me…there were none of the wooden barrels of Oktoberfest at the top of the mountain. We would just have to make do with that we had. We took a bunch of pictures and hiked around to every possible point we could, when we started heading towards some sort of action near a cliff with a cable handrail.
We started down the path and asked a couple what that engine revving noise we heard was. They said it was the statue. What? The statue. Neato. We continued on the path and made our way to…well, the statue. Right in the middle of the woods at the top of the mountain, there were two guys carving Rip Van Winkle out of a large stone.
This is undoubtedly going to make for some good stories for the snow boarders. I can hear it now, “Yo, did you see the old man in the woods?” “What old man?” “You know, the old dude up near the double diamonds…” Yeah, this was going to give Hunter some buzz.
We stayed on top of the mountain for quite some time and I really wanted to get a picture of my favorite trail, “Belt Parkway.” So, we wandered over and took a few pictures of Hunter Mountain’s longest trail.
This will change your perspective come Winter. We needed to get down and head back towards Rt.28, because I saw a vegetable stand on the side of the road and I really wanted apples. I wanted to be sure we got their before closing, so we headed back down the lift…
…and left Hunter to get some apples. What a view. We couldn’t get enough of it.
Just to let you know, we did make it before they closed and got some big, beautiful New York apples, but will hopefully have an entire apple picking post up soon…Cheers!
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Posted in Autumn, Hiking, Travels | 4 Comments »
Saturday, October 7th, 2006
I woke up this morning and looked at my thumb. Strangest thing…it was green. Oh well, I didn’t have much choice but to go outside and do some gardening.
I have had a project on the back burner for a while. The people who owned this house before us decided to plant some Bearded Iris right next to a Peach Tree. This isn’t the best spot for Iris to grow, because it gets mixed in with the grass and gets mowed over a lot (Who me?). So I decided to dig them up for transplant.
I had no idea how deep the bulbs were. Funny thing…I just assumed they were bulbs. I started scratching away the dirt on top of the Iris closest to the Peach Tree. I kept hitting these weird “roots” very close to the surface. I thought they were the Peach Tree roots. Whatever…I went in a grabbed a shovel and started digging all around the Iris patch. Guess what I found?
Up came the weirdest looking root-like beasts. I shook off all the dirt and went inside to do a little research on the internet about what the heck I was looking at. I found this good site that tells all about how to plant Iris. Then I found another good site that focused on how to divide Iris. Apparently, you are supposed to do this every few years so they maintain their beautiful bloom. I pulled all the tangled roots apart and cut where I was supposed to. These “roots” are actually called “rhizomes.” The weirdness of them still makes me feel a little uncomfortable.
After dividing all of the rhizomes, I had about 30 or so individual plants. I really hadn’t thought about where to put them. I decided that a little more green in the front garden would be a nice touch. I have a strange feeling that this front garden is going to be nuts come Spring. These Iris should be kept towards the rear of the garden because they get quite tall.
It’s pretty simple to replant these Iris. Basically, just follow the few rules that can be found here. I dug shallow holes spread evenly throughout the rear of the garden, one at a time. I wrapped the roots around my finger, because some of them are over 18 inches long. Then, I just placed them in the holes, near the surface and covered them up.
Of course, again, I sprayed deer repellant all over them so I wouldn’t witness a family of deer running down the road with my Iris hanging out of their mouths. We’ll see what happens in the Spring!
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Posted in Gardening, Home Improvement, Landscaping | No Comments »
Friday, October 6th, 2006
Something has been on my mind lately. I know it’s coming and I am starting to get a little nervous. I have been doing a good number of take-offs and landings and am a pretty fast learner. Everything I do in my life is before schedule…hopefully this will be too - My first solo.
When I first got the idea to learn how to fly, I kind of thought it would be like driving a car in the sky, and it kind of is. The first few times I flew an airplane, I was nervous and over reacted, over corrected and over compensated. These days, I am pretty casual, but still think my moves need to be delicate.
Imagine flying an airplane by yourself for the very first time. Taxiing to the runway - pulling up and making a radio call - the point of no return, giving the airplane full throttle - taking off and landing.
Since I know this point is bearing down upon me, I decided to see what others thought of their first solo. I found this great piece on the web that I feel captures it pretty well:
I once heard a man speaking and he said that he “got high by flying.” Many of them laughed, but when I heard it I knew it must have been a true high. I was 14 when I first thought about what that man had said and I knew that I may want to someday experience that “high.” My dream came true one day, and it was a day I would never forget.
It was a very warm and sunny day in the swealtering heat of June…lemonade wasn’t pungent enough to expel the dryness from our mouths, yet we carried on. Learning to fly is not an “easy” thing to do; it takes practice and patience. I had become annoyed with myself simply because I was having trouble with landings. For me, landing is the hardest part because you really need to know your stuff.
Well I had done 52 landings that day and I was exhausted. I went to bed thinking that I would not be able to solo the airplane unless I got my act together. The following day was the “Solo Day.” It was the day when pilots were made or dreams shattered. I was hoping I was not in the latter. My instructor and I took off and flew around from airport to airport performing some landings. I knew he was checking up on me and I began to get nervous. I didn’t think he had confidence in me and I wasn’t sure of my own abilities. He told me to land the airplane at the local airport and that he needed something to drink. I figured he meant alcohol so that he wouldn’t have to put up with my flying.
We landed at the airport and I taxied the airplane over to where one would normally park a plane to get out. I pulled up and began to shut the plane off and my instructor asked me what I was doing. Baffled, I told him I was shuting down the airplane. Surely a man of 50,000 hours of flying, knew that I was going to turn the aircraft off. He proceeded to tell me that I wasn’t getting out to get a drink, HE was! He said, “You have some flying to do. You’re ready!”
My heart began to race and the excitement was almost unbearable. I was about to travel alone into the skies with a 180 horsepowered aircraft. As he gave me a nod and shut the door the fear of being alone for the first time began to overcome the excitement. I was afraid that something might go wrong, but I was excited about the challenge I was about to endure.
I started the aircraft down towards the runway and I waited to depart. I couldn’t wait any longer, it was now or never. I was cleared for departure and my heart was racing faster. I had a conversation with myself, but I don’t remember what I said. I rolled the airplane onto the runway, applied full power and began to pull off the runway. “Liftoff” I screamed to myself. I was never more excited. My palms were sweaty and my heart was beating, but I was never happier. I knew from that moment on that the thrill of flying would always be one of my greatest experiences.
I landed safely that day and never forgot the anticipation that I had during the whole week leading up to the solo. The fear, excitement and joy of flying resulted from a week of strenuous training and self-assurance that I was ready, willing, and able to get “high.”
I also found this great blog with all sots of stories and experiences from a student’s perspective. Can’t wait to get down to New York City.
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Posted in Flying | 2 Comments »
Thursday, October 5th, 2006
I was on a job interview a few years back when the interviewer offered me the job. She said, “Congratulations…what are you going to do tomorrow?” I very excitedly told her that I was going to the Bronx Zoo. I hadn’t been there in years. The interview was on a Tuesday and Wednesday we would take advantage of “Free Day.” What a treat! We could enjoy the whole day casually strolling around, enjoying the animals while only paying for gas and food. Sounded good to me…and about a million summer camp kids. Oh yeah, I knew there was a catch. Free day at the zoo - BEWARE. Here is a little piece of advice for you: Pay for admission on another day. But, being the spirited people we are, we enjoyed their company.
I thought I would show you kind of a short picture gallery of what we saw. Of course, there are so many more animals, but I didn’t want to fill up my server with of the day’s photos. If you want to see what the zoo has to offer and donate to their cause, just visit! So here goes…
Oh yeah, all the credit for the photos has to go to “My little friend.” Also, here is a map for you. To print your larger version, just visit this page. If you want to see some nice stills of the zoo with some music, visit here.
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Posted in Animals, Travels | 1 Comment »
Thursday, October 5th, 2006
One of the benefits of my daytime employment is perks. I earned a trip to Vermont, which I took with Laura. We stayed at the Silas Griffith Inn, in Danby VT. We stayed for 2 nights, which is not my style. On vacations, I usually show up and go home. People laugh about that…so this was a long trip for me. Lately, I have been learning that it usually takes about 3 days for me to unwind, so I have been trying to extend my trips. I worry that if I unwind too much, I might not want to come home.
We drove North in the dark of night into Vermont and made our way through Bennington. We continued on Rt.7 when we noticed fewer and fewer lights. It’s like we were heading into absolute nothing. We saw signs for Danby coming up in only a few miles and began to worry. There was nothing out here…how can there be a bed and breakfast? We finally got into Danby and it was pretty much a little one road town. Up on the hill to our left was the Silas Griffith Inn. We went in to meet the most personable people. After chatting for a while, we headed into Rutland for some sushi. We had a good dinner and headed back to the inn. Luckily, we had the pick of the inn because there was only one couple there. We had the biggest room in the house…Silas’ room. The next morning, we were delighted to see the most perfect weather we could’ve asked for. It was about 40 degrees and not a cloud in the sky.
The inn offered great places to sit and think…
I immediately began to unwind and forget about the world. Vermont has a unique characteristic about it…the silence. If you need to get away, Vermont is a great place to go. Stress slides off you. If you live in a very busy place like NYC or LA, this will take some getting used to, but give it a chance. We ate our breakfast and walked around the grounds a bit. I couldn’t remember the last time I walked through a field. It kind of made me think about what the heck I was turning into if I hadn’t walked through grass in years.
We really didn’t have any plans for the day but heard that Killington and Woodstock were nice places to go…so off we went.
We drove North through Rutland and made our way to Killington. We made a right into the area where people party for weeks at a time. Since it was early in the season, there weren’t too many people around. I saw a little road that went into an area with lots of Hemlocks and cabins. We pulled in that road and stopped for a few pictures at a small stream…
Then, we continued to head towards the mountains. There are a few there that make up “Killington.”
Since there was some snow on the summits of the mountains, there were some lifts open.
After taking a ride through the area and stopping in some lodges, we headed out towards Woodstock. I pictured some little town like all the rest. Main Street, etc… On the way towards Woodstock, we stopped at a Vermont mall. This was basically a barn type building with a cluster of small stores inside…a food store, art gallery, etc… We purchased some wine, syrup (of course) and some ROCK CANDY!!! When was the last time you had rock candy?
By the way, who takes better pictures than me? I didn’t think so…
We made our way into Woodstock and were pretty surprised. This town is extremely inviting and VERY clean. It is the epitome of the quintessential Vermont town. Notice how there are no ugly thick black wires hanging of the sidewalks and roads? Hmmm, there’s an idea. I have always wondered why every town doesn’t do that, but no, they have far too many excuses.
We walked around for quite a bit in the peace of Woodstock. There were people just strolling around, looking in windows. It reminded me so much of when I was a kid walking home from school on an Autumn day. I would get bored and sit on the side of the road or climb a tree. It sounds strange, but that was the pace of this place and it seemed like you could do those types of things. We popped in a few stores and went in a coffee house to get some coffee. Then, we made our way down a small trail to sit at the side of a river that ran through town.
There were a few unique items on the sidewalk meant for tourists like us…
One thing that really impressed us was the quality of the condition of the older homes in the area. Woodstock definitely has some money. I think the last time I looked, there were about 2 houses for sale in this market.
Lastly, as it started getting darker, we walked across the town’s covered bridge. Of course, it was in great shape. We hung out for a while looking at a field downstream. I was very temped to walk down there to take a nap. Man, this place was relaxing.
So, Woodstock Vermont makes its place to the top of our list for great towns in America to visit!
PS - Ya ever wonder what it would be like to live in Vermont? C’mon, we all have had that dream once or twice…or just to walk to your mailbox in the Autumn. It’s so simple…
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Posted in Travels | 1 Comment »
