On the Road Again

Took a nice little ride this morning. The weather was brisk and cool and humid, with dark clouds overhead. It didn’t rain, but it was humid enough to feel a little clammy. I rode north to the Wichita Mountains and Lake Lugert, and further to the Lodge at the lake. Climbing the hills to the lodge was good for my legs, since I’m trying to get a little work in preparation for my upcoming cross-the-state ride.

I can’t look at the mountains without thinking about the history involved; the native Americans who live there for generations, and the forays the white soldiers made into the “wilderness” back in the 19th century. It all seems like it wasn’t that long ago, but so much has changed.

The lake is finally full again after a six year drought. Water is actually spilling over the dam. The river is full from the spring rains. I like it. Can’t wait to get back out in the kayaks again soon.

Saw lots of wildlife today … lots of wooly worms on the road. I guess they like the warmth of the asphalt. While I was going through the mountains on the way to the lodge I had three vultures swooping near my head. Don’t know what was up with them. I also saw some cottontail rabbits, a jack rabbit and a big bird that looked like a brown pelican.

Patio Cover Day 6

Installed the felt (some folks call it tar paper) over the bare decking on the old roof. Today's effort was all about precaution ... the felt is not a necessary part of the finished structure. The new hip roof of the patio cover (hereafter abbreviated as pc) will cover and protect all of that section of the old roof when completed. But I needed to install the felt simply to prevent water damage to the house in case of a deluge before the pc is completed.

I've been studying the weather closely for the past several weeks, and have determined that it's pretty hard to predict exactly when the mother of all thunderstorms will happen. That's always the case during the monsoon season here in SW Oklahoma. The forcast is for a chance of t-storms tomorrow, so I think we're protected.

If we can get good weather Sat and Sun, I'm predicting a roof over the pc this weekend!

By the way, this pc is costing more than we expected. It's already cost me my favorite pair of jeans. See what happens when you scoot around on the roof on your butt for two days!

Patio Cover Day 5

On day 3 my wife and I put up the joists you see in the above picture. Day 4 was a bust due to rain.

Here on day 5, if you look closely you can see that I ripped the shingles off the house where the patio cover will intersect. It took all day. (well, yes it took nearly an hour to get ready because I had to unbury my extension ladder from where I had it stored because I knew I wouldn't need it ... until now). But as I was saying, it took all day because there were two layers of old shingles to remove, and they were brittle and stuck together from many years of sitting in the baking Oklahoma sun.

My wife and I loaded them all into the back of my pickup where they now sit waiting to be unloaded at the dump.

If tomorrow goes well, we'll have a new layer of felt on the old part of the roof, and a good many of the rafters put up for the new part. So far so good.

Patio Cover, Day 2

Oh, you missed day 1 ? Dang.

Oh well, here you can see the basic size of the patio cover. Nothing very spectacular here. It will be your standard hip roof patio cover.

You'll be able to tell more about it as it takes shape. I know you're breathless.

Cycling content: I went for an early ride this morning before church. Rode about 16 miles to the little neighboring town and back. Nice ride ... no wind, perfect temperature, new bike ... it couldn't have been better. Even found a wrench on the road.

Guitar Overdose

If you like guitars, be careful. Too much viewing of the pics below could result in fatal drooling.

I dropped by a guitar shop here in Wichita today. They had exactly what I needed. And a whole lot of really nice stuff I don't need.

Whole racks of Gibsons ... J45s, Hummingbirds, les Pauls ... you name it.

They also had some really nice hand-made instruments, along with some of the mid-range brands. In the back there were banjos, mandolins, classical guitars, dobros, and even a dulcimer.


Nice place to browse, even if all I bought was a $15 music stand.