Make America Great Again

We've all seen Donald Trump's private jet,..  and we've seen the Trump helicopter,..

But I found the Trump pickup truck and it's for sale in North Idaho!  Own a part of history.

Rock Patio

While on vacation this summer, Queenie and I built a rock patio down by the lake.  We've been collecting flat rocks and turned a spot that was neglected to a nice place to sit and have a fire.  We re-purposed an old wood stove fireplace insert that we bought in BC into a fire pit that will draft and enclose. I'm going to install a short stove pipe and spark arrestor.

We cleaned up a bunch of brush and and trimmed dead tree branches then placed our rocks and wood stove. Then we filled it in and washed it off clean.  Queenie made a little garden for the milkweed which the butterflies like.

I had two old metal lawn chairs that I bought in St. Regis last year, and while we were antique hunting this summer we found two more that matched in Kalispell. I didn't buy them when we first saw them because I didn't have the truck to get them with.  Later, I figured we might as well have 4 matching chairs.  I actually have two more in Washington but one of those is a rocker so I figured I'd go ahead and buy the two in Kalispell as they were within reach and looked good.  I'm glad I did as I think they are really cool.  I did have to take the truck back up there to get them on a day when I was supposed to return to Washington, then I had to wait for the antique store to open as they were an hour late opening.  So I worked for those chairs and I paid a premium, but I'll probably have them for years.

Chromcraft Dinette

I tend to keep buying mid century dinettes.  I found this Chromcraft table at a thrift store for $14.99.  It came with a leaf.  Good deal..!  The minute I saw it I knew what it was and knew I had to have it.  It did not have the chairs, and I'm still on the hunt for the matching ones, but I did find these tulip chairs at another antique store for about $30 each which I think work OK with the table.  I believe them to also be Cromcraft.  So I'm into this set less than $150.  I took this photo before I had it all cleaned up.  The chairs are in really good shape as is the table.  I'm going to try some of the new headlight polish on the chairs.  I'll do it on a spot that doesn't show first, but I suspect that the "Lucite" is acrylic actually and it should work fine, not that the chairs really need it.  The back side of the chairs is a matte finish and the seating side is gloss.  I'll just polish the gloss side of course.  I'll clean up the chrome as well.

One thing I've noticed is that a lot of things I buy are really dirty.  This table was so dirty I could see why they were only asking $14.99 for it.  If the thrift stores and even some of the antique stores would just take the time to clean things up, they might be able to sell them for a lot more.  I guess part of the fun is cleaning the things up and feeling really good about how much you were able to improve the old crusty things..

Mid Century Two Tier Lamp

Here's something you'll really like!.. A while a go I bought this lamp shade off of Craigslist.  I drove all the way across town to get it and that's quite a long way to go.  I thought it was a large shade but when I got there it was small and just for a night stand lamp or something like that.  The gal wanted a large lamp shade price for it and didn't realize it was small.  At least thats what she tried to tell me, but of course Iknow better..  So I talked her down, she wasn't that happy but she sold it to me.  Even so I paid more than I wanted to for it.  So I've been on the hunt for a lamp that would work with it.  I found this lamp outside in the rain at an antique store in Canada.  Got it for $5.  And I think I paid $30 for the shade.  But now this will be a nice lamp for my side of the bed in the Gochenour cabin.  Looks like something out of a 1950s motel.  Love that stuff..  Now just got to hunt down a small blonde dresser to go with it.  Also notice the kitchen tins behind the lamp.  Got those for $6 I think it was.  There are three of them, Tea was the small one.  Coffee the medium sized one and Sugar was the large one.  They didn't have one for lard..

Amana Radarange

Here's how the new Amana Radarange microwave looks in the Gochenour kitchen.  It's one of the newest things we have in there. That and the Mr. Coffee.  Modern convenience, what can I say.. (it's the thing on the left counter top with two knobs on it.  The upper knob goes to 5 minutes and the lower knob goes up to 30 minutes of radar cooking. The knobs light up when turned on. 

I found out that the polarity of the microwave gets reversed back and forth and that creates friction in the food which heats and cooks it.  Early models of these had an issue of the door leaking microwaves, but that was resolved in 1971 and this is a 1975 model.  A good rule of thumb is if you feel like you are getting hot next to a microwave, then stand back away from it.

From what I understand, Raytheon built a microwave oven in 1947 called the Radarange, then a consumer microwave oven came out under the Tapan brand in the mid 50s but they were expensive and not very common.  In the late 1960s they produced a model like this branded Amana Radarange and had a campaign to introduce them to the public.  At that point they  became affordable and popular and the rest is history. The main difference between this one and the late 60s one is the door leak has been fixed and it has a defrost switch.  Other than that they look the same from what I can tell.

Steyr Clubman

So I needed a road bike so I could keep up with Queenie while riding with her in Canada.  She is quite speedy on her new bike and it was all I could do to keep up with her on a loaner mountain bike.  So I've had this old Austrian Steyr Clubman from the early 70s in my basement for several years which I got at a yard sale for next to nothing.  It doesn't have any braze on cable stops so I figured I'd convert it into a single speed.  However, that would have required me to hunt down some new wheels and that would have been expensive while I had plenty of 10 speed wheels and fittings.  

So I went to Fred Meyers and bought a cheap cable set that included brake and gear cables and housings.  They weren't the best as they don't have the nylon tube inserts, but I remembered to lube the cables when inserting them into the housings and that works pretty well.  Old school technique using cycle lube or something like that.  Not having cable stops presented another challenge.  They used to have these little tin bands you'd use to fix the housing to the frame, but those things were never that solid so I used black zip ties and it worked better and looks pretty good too.

I have boxes of old bike parts in my basement.  I had everything I needed pretty much.  At first I wanted to have a simplex rear derailleur as that's what came on the bike, and I had a pretty good body but the pulleys kept breaking teeth off so I installed an old Campagnolo Valentino rear.  It looked cool but they never worked that great when they were new.  So I found an old Shimano Eagle rear derailleur which was missing a pulley but I found a pulley and it worked well.  An Eagle was the first rear derailleur I ever had experience with on my first road bike.  It wasn't the best either as it fell apart on a century ride and I ended up riding 50 miles in my middle gear on the back wheel.  For a long time after that I had no confidence in Shimano parts and my next road bike was french with Simplex and Mafac and those parts were solid as rocks back in the 70s when Shimano really hadn't figured things out yet. But now the Eagle works better and it will do fine.

The last thing I might change is the shift levers.  The bike came with the old Simplex plastic levers.  I had two sets and built one working set out of the two.  But I think I might switch that to a Shimano set too as it has more purchase and should work better with the Eagle rear derailleur. And I have a bottle cage and some clamps to hold it onto the frame as once again there are no braze-ons for that either.

My friend gave me some green cello tape.  And I had my choice of the dual position brake levers that were so popular in the 70s or just the single brake levers.  I went with the dual position just for that retro look and also the convenience of being able to brake from the top of the bar.  I also had some nice toe clips and straps.  It has a totally cool hard plastic saddle exactly like I used to use back in the 70s.  I totally love that thing and despite how it looks it is really comfy at least for me.  I wish I could find a few more of those.

Then to finish things off I'm going to put a rear rack on the bike and I might even add fenders.  I have a couple of nice sets of fenders but we will see on that.

One of the things I love about this bike is the cottered crank.  I was getting a little bit of play on that but I tightened up the cotter bolts and it took the slop out I think.  I'll know for sure when I test ride it.    The other thing I love is it rides like a steel bike.  It has that springy feel that you don't get out of other more modern frames.  Can be a little punishing on long rides but on short rides steel bikes are great in my opinion.  Nothing like them.  I'll shake this bike down riding to work a bit.  After I know it is sorted I'll pack the wheel bearings the derailleur pulleys and treat the chain.  Then it should be good to go.

New and Used

Been hitting the back roads of Alberta with Queenie for cool old things to add to the Gochenour collection.

Picked up a mid century pole lamp at a thrift store in Lacombe I think it was for $10.  It was hard  to see the potential the way they had it in the store but it really came to life and I'm loving it.  These things are a lot cooler than people think.  You can have 1, 2 or all three lights on, and divide the space in a room.  Pretty nice.

And we saw this Amana Radarange on Craigslist.  Got a killer deal and it will look great in our retro kitchen.  I love everything about this.  Now gotta hunt down a retro cart for it.

Windermere Lake

Here's a picture of Windermere Lake.  What a lovely morning we had along the shore, and what a difference a day makes.  It is pouring down rain and high winds today.  Easter marks the  start of my cycling season and this year I vow to ride my bike more to work.  I did ride it to work last year but not as much as I would have liked.  I smashed my shoulder skiing a couple of years ago and I had trouble leaning over the bars on my bike.  I seem to have recovered enough now though.  I would have ridden to work but I draw the line at riding in the rain.  We will see what happens on Wednesday..

But back to the picture,.. The kit lens that came with my Nikon failed so I ordered another cheap Nikon lens without VR.  I've had trouble with the auto focus and I'm not sure I understand the problem.  I think I've discovered that the lens wasn't making contact with the body as I got one lens not attached message.  So I took it off and put it back on then it started working.  We will see.  I think I'm going to just get a fixed wide angle lens.  But it is nice to have the Nikon back anyway.

Shampoo for bald guys

So I was in the grocery store the other day and walking down the shampoo isle and there's this bald dude picking out shampoo.  I wanted to say, Dude,..you're bald, you don't need shampoo don't waste your money..   But then I thought, this is a pretty big dude, I'd better not say anything, and who knows, maybe you still need shampoo even if you are bald.  It's not like I have a lot of hair these days and I still need shampoo..  But maybe there's a business opportunity here..?  Shampoo for bald guys..

Happy Valentine's day!

I love you sweetie!

Macy's closes in downtown Spokane

When I was a kid we used to come to Spokane to shop at the Bon Marche.  It was like this really classy place to shop and the whole thing back then at least for my Mom and sister was this great big treat.  I could have really cared less as a little boy.  My Dad and I would go to the sporting goods section and I would lust over the wooden water skis and wooden bows for archery.  But that was it for me, as Dad and I could have cared less.  We were just killing time while the girls of our family got their shopping fix.

I have to wonder about Macy's closing now though.  It has been said that women shop and men hunt.  I can't remember who said that.. It might have been me who said it.., That at least used to be true.  If women aren't willing to shop at that location now I don't know what the answer is.  I don't think they can expect men to come to the rescue.. unless..

It's too bad in a way though.  For the employees especially.  It's sort of like now what..?  I think everyone thought it would always be there in one form or another.  Maybe if they opened a gun store there.  It seems like that is what is selling these days..