Keeping Busy on the Lee-Side

It's winter on the Lee-Side and I've been fighting a horrible sinus infection for the past month. I'm sad to report that I haven't been jumping off any cliffs or surviving 100 mile mountain bike rides in the desert. My sinus infection is so bad I even missed a trip to Utah that would have included some winter Hang Gliding at the Point and a couple epic powder days. Argh! I haven't even been able to work - I never thought I'd complain about that! It's been hard to keep busy. One thing that's kept me sane from the hours on the couch and the giant piles of tissues has been Problem A, aka the stolen, but recovered Honda Civic I just bought. Here's what I've done so far:

I managed to get the driver's side power window and door lock to work. The window was off the tracks because the front track was horrible bent. The lock mechanism was just broken off its mounts.

I've completely replaced the entire steering column. To do this I had to remove the airbag without triggering it to go off in my face which was way more involved than you would think, then remove the steering wheel.

Remove the wire reel and what was left of the headlight and wiper switches.

Unbolt and remove the universal joints in the steering shaft.

Remove the what was left of the old steering column without another trip to the emergency room!

Done.

The replacement column went in pretty easy. I had to cannibalize the old steering wheel, airbag assembly, and some wiring, but I managed to get it all together without the airbag going off.

The car is completely drive able and secure right now. All that's left to do is replace the heater / AC console and some extensive body work. I managed to get the mangled rear bumper close to it's original shape with a drill, pri-bar, and a metal screw! You can barely tell right!

Oh, I almost forgot about the Problem B I mentioned in my Solution B post, Problem B:

A nail in the worst possible place, the sidewall-tread junction. Not having the funds for $400 worth of tires, I found Solution B on Craigslist for $60 bucks. I will say you get what you pay for, the first run out in the M Coupe with those tires was downright scary!

Problem A

Problem A:

Problem A is really a solution to a future problem. Jo's current car, a 1998 Saturn, is nearing the unreliable end of its life. My friend Laura recently had the misfortune of having her 2000 Honda Civic stolen, but recovered with damage. Even though the car was damaged, Laura didn't like the idea of her car going the way of the crusher lot. With Jo needing a different vehicle, I saw an opportunity that would cure both of our dilemmas. Unfortunately, so far it has paned out like just another of my crazy schemes, involving drama, injury, failure and hopefully success.

Problem A

The plan: A well executed plan is done so in steps and the first step of my plan was to get the car off the dealer lot, where it was being stored, and into my garage. The problem with this step was that in place of the ignition key slot was a mangled mess of wires and plastic. Never having stolen a car before I tried to retrace the steps of the thieves to get it started. I twisted the two stripped ignition wires together and used a screw driver to contact what was left of the starter tumbler. It started right up. Step one almost complete. All I had to do was simply put it in gear and drive home to a nice lunch and spending the afternoon recovering from the sinus infection I've been fighting. That didn't happen, this is where it the day turned from plan to crazy scheme.

I decided it would be prudent to tighten the ignition wires more securely and insulate them, so I shut the engine off. It never restarted. I repeated my first steps a dozen times, checked all the fuses, checked all the wire connections, nothing. I just wouldn't start. A mechanic even came out and put a jumper on the battery for me. He mentioned the all the fuses in the engine compartment were good. I shouldn't have trusted him.

After about an hour I gave up on using the mangled remains of the ignition to start the car and implement Solution A, a complete used steering column including its own ignition key. It should be plug and play, but to get to the connectors I had to take the dash apart. The plastic covers came of easily, but the metal knee impact absorber behind was being stubborn. I struggled with a seized bolt in a narrow opening. It was cold and I didn't feel the razor sharp edge of the impact absorber slice through the flesh on my first knuckle. The first thing I noticed was the pooling blood on the floor mat. It had cut through the skin and fat in my finger and just grazed my tendon. As I moved the nickel sized opening in my skin back and forth I could see the gray tendonal shealth and muscle underneath. For a surreal moment I was mesmerized by the insides of my finger and the different colors of each anatomic component. Then I though: "Dude, that's your finger!"; "OOOOOOOOOUCH!!"; followed by instant nausea and the sight of a growing pool of blood in the white snow below.

The only thing I could find to stop the bleeding was a Starbucks napkin and a hair tie. It was like plugging a garden hose with a Q-tip. I did manage to tourneqet my wrist, which slowed the blood flow, but didn't stop it. I was suddenly in a race against time. I needed to get the car running in time to drive myself to the emergency room before I lost too much blood to function. My deductive reasoning skills faded proportionally to my blood loss. I scrambled to hook up the replacement steering column. The problem was that I didn't have the tools or time to remove the old one, so I stood the new steering column vertically on the floor and plugged it in. This put the key position on the floor between the gas and brake pedals. I crawled into the floor of the drivers side, inserted the key and turned. Nothing. It wouldn't crank.

2 Steering Columns

About 20 minutes had passed and I was completely faded. Laura wouldn't stand for my protests anymore and demanded I go to the emergency room. On the way to her car, I manged to glance into the fuse box under the hood one last time only to see the needle in the hay stack - a blown fuse. The mechanic was wrong, why did I initially trust him, why didn't I see this earlier? I had looked right at it! It didn't matter now, I was too delirious and delusional to do anything about it. I grabbed what tools I could see laying around left dazed in a cloud of failure.

The Emergency Room

Four and a half hours, a painful wound irrigation, tendon examination, and 3 stitches later I left the emergency room 30 minutes before the car lot closed. Hand bandaged and pride humbled, Laura and I stumbled back into the dealer lot. I made it to the parts counter as it the miniature garage door was closing, paid $10.60 (ouch) for a new fuse, and rushed install it in the fading sun light. As I ran around the corner to the car, Laura had a sad look on her face. For the second time this year her and now my car had been the victim of a theft. While we were gone, someone had stolen my remaining tools, the floor mats, and even some of the stolen merchandise the original thieves had left in the trunk. All I could do was laugh! The dealer claimed no responsibility even through it was inside their fenced lot because they had already released the vehicle to us. I didn't have the energy argue effectively at the time, but I'm not done with them...

I fixed the fuse, crawled onto the driver's side floor, twisted my good hand into place, turned the key and the car started! Victory! Now I just had to manage to some how fit and drive for an hour back to Boulder with an extra steering column wedged vertically between my legs. After my day, not a problem!!

How I had to Drive Home

Solution A, Solution B

Ahh Craigslist, sweet Craigslist what would I do with out you.

Solution A

Solution B

Bald Eagle Hunts a Grouse

Scroll down to my Previous Post for the first part of this story.

I can't overemphasis how my lack of a zoom lens hurt the opportunity for a stunning sequence. This was my second visit with the Bald Eagle Thursday, I had finished my errands and he was still there. Not impressed with my first shots, I stopped and worked for about 20 minutes creeping through the tumble weeds to get as close as possible. The eagle was aware of me, but not intimidated like hawks or falcons that I have stalked before. I've found this to be true in the air too. The few times I've soared with Bald or Golden Eagles they have been indifferent to my presence or that of the hang glider. I was able to get within 8 feet of a Bald Eagle ridge soaring a couple years ago. He was concentrating on hunting, only periodically glancing back over his shoulder at me.


Back to Thursday, I was able to find good cover behind a road sign in a pile of tumble weeds. The switch grass hurt, but I was in good shooting position. The lighting was terrible, a high overcast blocked out the sun except for the beginnings of the yellow sunset over the Flatirons. It was a typical winter day on the front range. He was scanning the field below, moving his head with sharp twitching motions back and forth. I didn't think Eagles hunted statically while perched. I've always seen them hunt while in flight, but it seemed like that's what he was doing. After about 20 minutes my suspicions were confirmed. Something flushed what looked like a couple grouse from the field below. He lept off his perch, tucked tight and dove at the ground. At about 6 feet he leveled off and hit the grouse from the side at a high rate of speed. The impact killed his momentum immediately and he struggled with heaving wing beats to gain altitude. He executed a climbing right turn and returned to his perch on the same tree. It looked like he killed the grouse on impact because it never moved once it was in his talons.




I'm not satisfied with this sequence, it's much poorer than my Hawk Sequence. The eagle in the lower right hand corner was the original image. Everything else was layered. I didn't see the grouse until after I started the sequence, so it is not framed until the impact. The lighting was very poor, so I had to do quite a bit of levels adjustment causing the eagles to look cartoonish. Here's him landing and feeding with the prey.






The story doesn't end there. I was curious what flushed the grouse so I stood up trying to use the sign for cover. It was a young coyote. I don't think the coyote was part of the Marshal pack (that I run into regularly) because he was much smaller. Can you see him?





How about now?





After I got home, I thought about what happened. It struck me as no coincidence that this Bald Eagle just happened to be in a position to dive on birds that might be flushed by a hunting coyote. I wonder if he made it a habit to hunt by watching coyotes and position himself to prey upon birds they might flush. The coyote lingered for quite a while at the base of the tree. I wondered if he was being opportunistic for scraps that might fall. What struck me as more amazing was that this was all happening with in 30 yards of a busy road and nobody else seemed to notice. It's amazing what is out there if you can learn to see it.

Bald Eagle - No Zoom Lens

I spotted this Bald Eagle when I was out taking pics of the M Coupe the other day. I immediately braked hard, pulled over and tried to get as close as possible on foot. As usual I was hurting for a zoom lens (I don't own one) and set up my tripod to get crisp shots so I could crop the hell out of them later. Before I got the camera mounted another car stopped. The guy saw me with the tripod and then saw the eagle. He got out his Cannon camera with a zoom lens and I saw an opportunity. He didn't have a tripod and I didn't have a zoom lens. See where this is going?

My lens had better quality glass, but only went to 85mm. His lens was a 200mm, but with poorer glass. I'll let you compare the results.

200MM Lens Cropped

85mm Lens Cropped Significantly

I'm not sure which one is better. They all are poor quality due to the extreme cropping I needed to get in tight on the Eagle. The solution is to stop obsessing on the M Coupe and allocate some resources to a professional zoom lens.

Later I drove by and the eagle was still there. I got out again (camera in hand) and got some shots of him hunting a grouse. I'm going to make a layered image of those shots. Stay tuned...

I Bought Another M Coupe

I bought another M Coupe!

It's Imola Red, with two tone Red/Black interior, stock wheels, and a Euro front license plate.

Only much, much smaller.

Supposedly these are collectible, but I saw it on ebay and thought it was cool. I violated the sacred rule of every comic book store collector guy, trekkie, and 40 year old virgin. I opened and removed it from the original packaging!

I'm drunk on rebellion!!

The Ariel Atom

I have a new next car. It's the Ariel Atom. This Top Gear Clip and Jeremy Clarkson's wind blown face (about 3:00 min in) says it all.

Longboarding Epic

Last Friday there was a good weather window long enough for me to get the M Coupe out to the detail shop to get a dent fixed and a clear bra installed on my hood. Jo works about 1 mile from the shop and offered to let me use her car while mine was being fixed. Instead of mounting up my roof rack and taking a bike I loaded up this long board John got me for Christmas. It's about 5 feet long and rides smooth as a cadilac. What a perfect opportunity to break it in with a short trip on the bike path.

The Longboard

The Dent

On the way to the detail shop, Josh, the owner called me and said I needed to drop the car off at his paintless dent repair shop first. "No problem", I repsonded and speed off in that direction. When I got there I realized that my one mile skate had just turned into an 8 mile skate on the sandy shoulder of a busy road. Leaving the shop I had to go straight up a hill and then brave the super long and steep downhill side. When I pulled up to the shop, the M Coupe imidiately got the attention of everyone there. After I dropped off the keys, their eyes were all on me as I opened the hatch and pulled out the longboard. The hill started right out of the parking lot. My progress up it and into the 30 mph wind was comically slow. The looks on their faces were priceless as I slowly inched away with each push. I would have gone faster walking up it, but I had to much pride to walk in front of my audience.

I haven't skatedboarded since I was a teenager. Starting out on the wind swept shoulder, as semi's and honking commuters rushed by just a few feet off my left side was bad, but the head wind and sand were worse. The muscles in my front leg protested the strange demands I was placing on them with cramps and pain. After an eternity of suffering I crested the hill thinking the worst was over. Wrong! The downhill side was longer and steeper. I did an incredible job of avoiding the sea of rocks that were just waiting to jam in my front wheels and send me headfirst into traffic, but the shoulder was too narrow to turn and control my speed. My only option was to eject off the board and run full speed down the steep grade of the highway shoulder into the leafless, brittle pricker bushes below. Beaten down, demoralized, and riddled with prickers I shamefully walked, board in hand, to the bottom.

At the bottom of the hill I finally left the chaos of the road for one of Boulder's many bike paths. You can get anywhere in the city on a bike as fast as in a car. This is partly due to Boulder's intricate, well laid out bike paths and partly due to its horrible traffic. With the shear hell of the hill behind me, I settled into a good rythmn and started enjoying my adventure. My leg muscles were getting used the skateboard, my cramps were fading, and I was even starting to add a little style to my form. It was great for about 15 minutes, until the gust front hit.

When frontal systems cross over the Eastern Rockies they crash down on the plains of the front range with enourmous energy. Hence my blog name; Lee-Side means "the leeward side" of the Rockies. The front that moved across Coloardo Friday hit me smack in the face with about two miles to go. It litterally blew me off the longboard. I spent the last two miles moving at at snail's pace, weaving on the path through the open fields and paire dog towns of East Boulder. There was absolutely no protection from the wind. Unlike cycling which I am used to, I could find no optimum aero position on the long board. I just had to push through it. After another eternity, I rode into the detail shop to the same priceless looks I left the dent shop to. Josh summed it up best with the words, "You skated that far. (Pause) On a day like today. (Longer Pause) Your (insert your favorite explitive here) ___ing crazy!". I think stupid is a better adjective, but in my own twisted way the suffering in the wind, sand, and traffice was a hell of a good time. Besides, I was due for an epic!

Tormenting Molly

The holidays were good on the Lee-Side this year. Jo and I traveled the country East and West and she got to meet some of the many elements of my family. Throughout the season good times and high calorie meals were plentiful, wonderful gifts were given and received. The old adage holds true - It's the thought that counts! Andrew unknowingly picked the Buttmaster at Chinese Christmas and promptly gave it to me for the fleece blanket I had picked.

The best thing about the Buttmaster is the way Susanne Summers, looking back at us in her 1980's era one-piece leotard, just made people smile. I eventually traded out of the Buttmaster and lost a heated dispute for a wobble clock. I left Chinese Christmas with a stealthy beeping device called an annoy-a-tron that I have been waiting for the right moment to put into action! Back in Colorado I got The Office sitcom on DVD and Air Hog miniature RC helicopters that shoot lasers at each other, they compliment each other perfectly. I've spent hours neglecting my chores, responsibilities, and training for the 2008 mountain bike racing season by watching episodes of The Office and having helicopter battles between them. The cold weather hasn't helped my motivation, but alas, I'm almost through season 3. The Office is a hilarious, yet painful comedy, I liken it to the new Seinfeld. If you've seen the series you know who Dwight is. We all know a Dwight Schrute, although I seem to know a disproportional amount of them from Maryland. Ha!

By far the most hilarious thing about my sedentary lifestyle lately is when Jo and I torment Molly with the RC helicopters. Molly has always neurotically chased laser pointers, which is not healthy in my opinion. The helicopters are different. She goes after them with the same enthusiasm she goes after prairie dogs and bunny rabbits with, excited but not neurotic. It is hilarious!

Boulder Plane Crash

Besides being a holistic pet food Internet mogul Jo, is an EMT for a local ambulance company in Boulder. Last November she went on a call for a small plane crash at the Boulder Airport. The pilot landed his Cessna 206 short of runway 08 at Boulder Municipal Airport on the shore of Hayden Lake. He was trying to delay his landing due to slower traffic ahead. He touched down on the soft lake shore, ripped the nose gear off and the aircraft flipped over. The pilot walked away with only a broken nose. Although the Boulder Daily Camera Newspaper reported the accident, I've been waiting for the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Accident Report to come before posting this in fairness to all involved. You can find the Daily Camera Report HERE and the NTSB Accident Report HERE.

In this is the photo below taken by Paul Aiken from the Daily Camera Article. You can see the skid marks from where the Cessna 206 touched down. The distance from touchdown to where it came to rest upside down is very short considering the NTSB reported an approach speed of 85 mph. It must have been quite a deceleration.

Here's Jo (on the left) talking shop with the Boulder Fire Department. The rest of the pics where taken by Jo's friend at work.

Fall in Appalachia

I took this in Western Maryland last fall.

I wanted to capture the essence of fall in the mountains of Western Maryland, but I didn't have time to go far off the beaten path. It's not a stunningly brilliant shot, but I had to work hard to get it.

I found this creek on the side of the road and after some recon, decided I needed to cross it to get the best shot. I had to do a 7 foot wide static jump across the raging rapids and land on a wet, moss covered rocky ledge. You can see the scale by referencing my foot.

Then I had to traverse a moss covered rock wall at about 3 feet above the water line to get the right angle. Normally, it wouldn't have been a big deal if I fell in, but I only had one pair of clothes for the whole trip so the stakes were high!

Another challenge was the appalling amount human debris in the area. It was riddled with trash and graffiti. This swimming hole was a good candidate, but the person who was inspired to leave a spray painted impressionistic rendition of their dog the rock ruined it me. You could argue that it accented it, but I guess that depends on your perspective.

Chris Carnage was not so creative in documenting his visit on October 15th, 2007. Perhaps it was only because he had a sharpie, or maybe we was trying to maintain some type of journalistic discipline and stay true to the printed form.