Friday, February 26, 2010

Motorcycles Are Heavy

Last week, Jason and I carried my CB175 down to the basement.  This picture is very upsetting because it does not show how steep or slippery my basement steps are, or how heavy a 1973 CB 175 is.  It does accurately portray the fact that Ben was not there... 
 
I have been saying I am going to start tearing this thing down for a rebuild for months now, so I am excited to finally get to work on it.  I know it is not a home renovation, but I think posting about anything we aren't qualified to do on here is applicable.
  
If you ever wonder how I manage to get so many work/tool related injuries, my workshop is a good indication.  
  
Every bolt/mirror/nut/cable had not been touched for years.  I got this thing from the second owner with 2,100 miles on it.  He claims it had been stored "in his garage" since then, though the leaves and rust tell a different story.   The clutch is shaped mysteriously too as it had "never been dropped."  All of this creates some stubborn hardware. 

So the hope is to get it stripped, bead blasted, painted and rebuilt by spring. 

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Safe Dishwasher

When you buy your first house everyone tells you about crazy things that will happen that you could never have been prepared for, but are forced to deal with.  I don't mean like your house getting broken into, or even a furnace breaking down when its 15 degrees, I think most people have an expectation that that sort of thing is going to occur from time to time.  I mean those curve ball problems.  We noticed an odd, almost electrical fire, smell when we walked in after being away from home for a week.  While we were busy walking miles and miles of trade shows in Vegas to make Tigertree better, our dishwasher was running, presumably the whole time.
A lot of issues arise from a dishwasher running for 144 hours straight.  First, we are expecting really high utility bills this month.  Second, even dishwasher safe products (like dishwashers for instance) don't hold up very well to a 6 day dose of hundred degree water.
Unfortunately a lot of our favorite kitchen gizmos, the top of our food processor and our wine saver corks were in there.  So we lost a ton of money in kitchen gadgets and have to buy a new dishwasher.  The upside though, is we get to document a dishwasher installation on the blog!  And if it is anything like my sink/faucet/disposal install (which I unfortunately did not chronicle) it should be pretty interesting.  Honestly, if your dishes are still dirty after 144 hours in the dishwasher, it is probably about time for an upgrade anyhow. 

The grates used to be white.
 
This is not photoshopped.  All of our plastic stuff melted in a similar fashion.
  
I feel like adding some "really, really"'s to the dishwasher safe line.

 

What we were doing while our house was almost burning down. 
 

 We love Canters at Treasure Island, but it is always empty.  This concerns us, so please go have the best ruben of your life next time you are in Vegas.  All of that hot sauce and mustard is in response to the awful cold I had all week.
 
If you were shrewed you would have noticed that Niki is sitting on the same side of the table as me.  Is this because:
a) We are one of those obnoxious couples that sits on the same side of the table at restaurants.
b) We are good photographers and the lighting was better there.
c)  We went to Canters two nights in a row.
Leave your answer in the comments.



New York, New York has this amazing giant claw machine.  I did not win an XBOX.
 

They also had this cotton candy machine.  Which we want for Tigertree.

Then we caravaned home with Obama.