Our 1915 Singer Red Eye Treadle...

Click on arrow in the bar above to watch the video © 2010 jim otterstrom

Peggy treadles away at our 95 year-old Singer Model 66 Red-Eye.

This reliable old machine was purchased something like 20 years ago from a local antique & junk shop for $75. It runs like a top, purrs like a kitten on steroids, and consistently sews a perfect stitch.

We also have a 1917 Singer Model 99 Hand Crank "portable", which also runs perfectly. The 93 year-old hand-cranker was found here at a Big Bear thrift store, where we gave $50 for it maybe 18 years ago. For my money these are two of the best purchases we've ever made, as these Singers seem nearly indestructible, and all you need to run them is a tiny bit of muscle power. I don't think technology gets much more elegant than this, I could wind bobbins all day just to watch the bobbin winder work!

Last summer we downsized our bed from a king size to a queen size (when we found a like-new second-hand mattress set for free) and, in this video, Peg is altering one of our old king size sheets to fit the new mattress.

Peg still has her fancy Viking electric machine but she's really enjoying working with the treadle right now, and getting some practice on it, because she wants to use it for her upcoming sewing project.

This post also seems the right place to share with you this post, at antiquequiltdating.com, about Anne Kusilek, a professional quilter and sewing machine collector who, since 1990, has done all of her sewing on human-powered machines. Did you check out Anne's custom sewing table with five machines mounted above five individual treadle bases? An inspiring post and a beautiful collection of machines too!

Alpine Pedal-Path Morning---Slightly Smoky

~Wildfire Smoke from Upstate~

Click on photo to enlarge - © 2009 jim otterstrom

For the past couple of mornings smoke has been blowing into the valley from the wildfires burning in the more northern parts of the state, near Santa Cruz, and Santa Maria, to name a couple of them.

We started off this morning intending to ride around the lake but breathing the smoke at our end of the lake (east) was already bothering us a bit, and when we saw how thick it was on the west side, over the dam and Fawnskin, we decided to alter our plan and ride the Alpine Pedal-Path along the North shore instead.

So, our near 20 mile planned ride turned out to be somewhere between 10 & 15 miles instead, but still very enjoyable, as you will see.

~Sagebrush Delight~

Click on photo to enlarge - © 2009 jim otterstrom

It seems that everything has it's benefits, the smoke from the fires made for a gently-muted light this morning, almost as if I had a light-diffusing color-saturating filter on my camera.

A Meadow Along The Bike Path
Click on photo to enlarge - © 2009 jim otterstrom

We stopped for awhile by a little stream to contemplate the soft loveliness of a smoke-tinged light falling on this meadow, all the time acutely aware that the sources of this very smoke are causing great anxiety in other parts of California ( and I hope our friends in those parts are out of harms way).

Ancient Juniper - A Veteran Of Many Wildfires
Click on photo to enlarge - © 2009 jim otterstrom

This Western Juniper (Juniperus occidentalis) along the bike path is probably somewhere between 500 to 1,000 years old, and possibly older, which means it has lived through many, many wildfires during its life, and, as raggedy as it looks at the base, it's still very much alive. One tough old tree!

Enjoy your day...

Another Beautiful Morning Ride...

Click on photo to enlarge

Peggy at 8:10 this morning on the Alpine Pedal Path, the last leg of our 20 mile ride around the lake.

We left home before 6 A.M. but stopped a bunch of times, once for coffee, and many more to take in the scenery of this beautiful mountain valley we live in.

We got home about 8:30 making this the longest it's taken us yet. Our fastest time riding it together was 1 1/2 hours, and I rode it once in just under an hour on my road bike (when I was in my 40s). Peggy and I both enjoy lollygagging, we're just not in a hurry, so our bike rides are more than exercise, for us they're pleasure cruises not time trials.

So when I write about how long our rides take, it's not because we're trying to improve upon that time, I'm just attempting to give you an idea of how long it takes to ride 20 miles at a leisurely pace. At our pace, riding that distance isn't a grueling experience, it's more like an enjoyable walk in the park.

The worst part is the initial conditioning of the butt to the bicycle seat!
And don't attempt this ride if you've just come up for the day from sea-level!!

It takes weeks or months for a persons lung capacity to expand enough to do even moderately strenuous exercise at nearly 7,000 feet. Over the years, four visiting friends have tried to make that ride that with me. Two of them made it---both physically fit males much younger than I---and swore they'd never do it again. All of them could have easily done it at sea-level.

I finally realized that no matter how great of shape you are in, you can't come up for the weekend and expect to make that ride and have it be an enjoyable experience, you'll get way too winded very early in the ride.

Peggy just now reminded me that, during the Xeriscape Garden Tour Wrap Party, we won two tickets (for us and our bikes) on the scenic chair lift to the top of Snow Summit. The tickets expire in September so I guess we better use them soon. A short distance from the top of the chairlift is Skyline Drive, a gravel forest road, that runs miles along the ridge overlooking the San Bernardino Valley. Skyline Drive connects to more miles of dirt roads and trails leading in all directions. Peggy and I have ridden back to the valley from there down Mill Creek Road before, and our daughter Jamie and I rode it once too. It's much more hilly and challenging than the ride around the lake but it's exhilarating and scenic to the extreme. So, in the near future, when Peggy and I make the ride again, I'll try and remember to take my camera, with the SD card installed. ;~)

Anyhow, right now, the garden is calling, so maybe I'll post more later on.

Have a good day all.

PS

I realize it probably bothers some people that I add to or edit my posts for some time after they initially appear. But this is a journal of sorts, and I don't always have time to complete each entry at one sitting, and I apologize for that.

Just be aware that many of the posts may not be complete for about 24 hours or so, as time allows, events progress, and my thoughts come back to the day or the subject.

I've noticed when I make more than one or two posts in a day, most people don't read the earlier ones anyway. Who has the time? So I've just taken to expanding my entries until I feel it's time to move on to something else.

Jim ;~)

She'll Be Comin' 'Round The Mountain...

Click on photo to enlarge

Peggy and I both rode around the lake this morning and here she is, at 8:24, coming around the last bend before the dam.
There's nothing quite like the sight of a cute 54 year-old chick rolling down a mountain road on a bicycle with a big smile going and bugs in her teeth!
;~)

Handelbar View - 8:33 This Morning

Click on photo to enlarge

Another bike ride around the lake today found me here on the north shore home stretch about 10 miles from Big Bear City at 8:30. The ride took under two hours today because I didn't stop as much. There's a slight chance of thunderstorms today and I could already feel the humidity in the air when I started the ride. We could use a little rain to wash away the layer of green dust on everything, it seems to be a banner year for pine pollen, which makes many people a bit itchy & sneezy, including me.
How do you like the width of the bike lanes we have up here?

Boulder Bay From A Bicycle

Click on photo to enlarge

I took off at 7:40 this morning for a bicycle ride around the lake, about a 20 mile trip. It's such a beautiful day that I stopped several times to take pictures, talk with some fisherman, and just enjoy the natural beauty of this place we call home.
This photo of the Boulder Bay Islands was taken at 8:39 after stopping for a cup of coffee, a bottle of water, and quick pit-stop to air up the tires a little.
I've posted a few more pictures from the ride, in sequence, below this one...

Grout Bay

Click on photo to enlarge

I stopped here at Grout Bay, near the north shore town of Fawnskin, for a water break.
At this point I'm something more than 1/2 way around the lake.

One More Water Stop...

Click on photo to enlarge

I stopped along the Alpine Pedal Path about 5 miles from home for one last water break in the shade and to take in the nice view here to the southwest across the lake.

Rolling Right Along...

Click on photo to enlarge

Peggy rolls out of Earth Home Garden at 7:40 A.M. today.
The Big Bear Xeriscape Garden Tour is this coming Saturday and the weeds are still winning so you know where I'll be for the next few days anyway.
;~)

Peggy Power!

Click on photos to enlarge

Although we do plenty of bicycling, walking and hiking, and Peggy is trim as she can be, she's always had a weakness for exercise machines. At different times she had one that simulated cross-country skiing, a rowing machine, and one that she could set up differently depending on what she wanted to do. Trouble is she never used them, so they ended up at yard sales or the thrift store (I think one of these contraptions is still in a closet somewhere).

So when I saw this hydraulic splitter, I thought, now there's an exercise machine Peggy can use, while getting her chores done at the same time. Here she is splitting logs yesterday before the big snow hit, and building up muscles too!

Just kidding girls!

I do most of the wood splitting but Peggy did try it for a spell yesterday having no trouble operating it long enough to split several hefty logs.

Her part of this job is usually the placing & removing of logs from the splitter, and as a two-person operation the task is done quite efficiently.

The splitter is much like the gasoline powered ones in design, a long I-Beam frame with a sharp steel wedge at the far end, and a fluid-driven cylinder for pushing the log.

But instead of an engine, this one is powered by the hand-pumping a hydraulic jack with long handles that pump at two separate speeds. The one on the right is low speed, for easy pumping against strong resistance, where the high-speed handle on the left is for pushing the cylinder out rapidly to engage the log, and breaking through it faster after the end splits.

With a little practice you are using both handles in conjunction for fast, efficient, non-polluting, healthful log splitting.

The splitter will accomodate logs up to 18" long, the same length that fits our stove, and I've split logs up to 30" diameter with it so far.

The splitter is simple, sturdy, well-made, and the jack is rated at 10 tons which is 20,000 lbs of splitting force, and does the job just fine. We got ours online for $99 at Northern Tool but the shipping is very expensive for this heavy item. I think they had a deal on the shipping charges when we ordered ours, I had been looking at them for quite some time.

We spent a couple of hours yesterday having fun together in the brisk winter cold, getting great exercise, and moved, split & stacked over a 1/2 cord of wood.

Strike Up The Band!

Click on photo to enlarge
A collection of musical instruments makes for fun possiblities on the deck this year!
This picture is posted for the inspiration and amusement of our friends in the virtual band 'Compost' at the Path To Freedom 'music' forum.

Laundry Day!

Click on photo to enlarge
Today was really like spring here, T-Shirt weather all day, so I decided to do laundry in the James Washer (that's really the name of the thing), we bought it from Real Goods about 6 years ago.
It's bolted to the back porch and Peggy & I do most of our laundry out here in the summer.
We love the exercise and being outside as we do our chores.
Peggy has some neck & back issues and says the exercise of working the pendulum arm is really good for working out kinks in her neck.
We use non-polluting, phosphate free, bio-degradable laundry and dish detergents.
The washboard on the wall is for scrubbing out tough stains (and sometimes it's a musical instrument).

Human Power!

Click on photo to enlarge
As I wring the water from the clothes they fall into the laundry tub and a flange below the rollers directs squeezed out water back into the washer.
Note the handle on top of the wringer which allows for adjusting the rollers to thicker garments like these jeans.

Retractable Clothesline

Click on photo to enlarge
Because of our small property we use a retractable clothesline so it doesn't take up space when not in use.
Once the weather is reliably warm I usually do my laundry on Monday morning, because there never seems to be many interruptions then, and maybe it's a bit of a lapse into the old Monday morning work routine too.

Hauling The Goods

Click on photo to enlarge
Peggy showing the load of groceries we stuffed into the Bob trailer at the supermarket in town this afternoon.
There's 41 lbs. of cat litter and pet food for the animals, and 1.5 liters of Cabernet Sauvignon and a nice assortment of veggies & mushrooms for us.

Here's A Suburban I Like!

Click on photo to enlarge
Me pointing to a beautiful vintage Schwinn Suburban parked in the bike rack next to us at the Vons supermarket today. The bike belongs to one of my old Post Office customers, Mike Kilian, and he paid $20 dollars for it at a yard sale. Mike had to replace the tires, handgrips and added the collapsible basket.
But for me, the most important part of this picture is in knowing that the site of this shopping center, which is smothered under incredible tons of concrete and asphalt, used to be a lovely mountain meadow at the edge of a wetlands, and was home to countless numbers of native plants and animals.
photo by Peggy

Earth Mother!

We had a busy day of hard labor in the yard today and I didn't take pictures, but here's one of Peggy tilling the soil for a garden expansion in spring of last year.
What we were doing today was simply cleanup from our winter storms, nothing visually interesting to photograph, but the place is sure looking better.
More pictures soon!

Pedaling Homeward

Me heading home with a trailer load of groceries on one of the boardwalks through Stanfield Marsh at 10:43 this morning.
And I do usually wear a helmet but it was put away for the winter and I haven't found it yet.
photo by Peggy

Pedal Power!

Me sharpening my machete on the pedalstone for some compost chopping duty today.
photo by Peggy

Treadle Lathe

More human powered tools!
I found this cool old lathe on eBay, minus its treadle base. I'm going to adapt it to and old Singer Sewing Machine treadle so I can do some small wood turnings. Click on pictures for a larger view.