Morris Batzer Decommissioned

Every time we tried to retire the old wooden double named Morris Batzer, we couldn't quite bring ourselves to do it. Maybe another layer of fiberglas, clean him up to put on the wall some bar, make an end table... Finally it came to this, October 31, 2009.

From GMR_Boathouse

UVM and Middlebury were dueling it out on the river while we put the SawzAll to the lovely dark plywood shell. Rest in peace.

Bicycle Culture

I got an email from Joshua Lambert, a student at Burlington College. He is doing his 'capstone project, which is documenting the Burlington Bicycle Culture through photographs and audio.' Would I be willing to talk with him?

This made me give a little thought to what makes up the bicycle culture around here.

Here is a list with links.

1. Local Motion
2. Community: Bike Recycle Vermont
   
3. Burlington Walk/Bike Council
4. Vermont Bicycle & Pedestrian Coalition
5. South Burlington Recreation Path Committee
6. Safe Streets Collaborative
7. Chittenden County Metropolitan Planning Organization
8. Bicycle Polo
9. Burlington Bike Path
   
10. UVM Cycling Club
11. Green Mountain Bicycle Club Discussion List
12. Skateboard/Bike Park
    
13. Critical Mass Ride
14. Ski Rack (shop)
15. North Star Cyclery (shop)
16. Old Spokes Home (shop)
17. Earl's Cyclery and Fitness (shop)
18. The Alpine Shop (shop)
19. Commuting Bike Report (traffic and conditions)
20. Touring Group: Silver Spokes
21. Touring Group: Silver Streakers
22. Touring: Colchester Causeway Bike Ferry
    
23. Touring with GMBC
24. Touring: Annual VerMontreal ride to le Tour de l'Ile Montréal
25. Maps: Lake Champlain Bikeways
    
26. Maps: Local Motion Trailside Center Sales
    
27. Racing: Green Mountain Stage Race
    
28. Racing: Burlington Criterium is part of the GMSR
    
29. Racing: Mountain Bikes at Catamount: Cyclocross
    
30. Racing: Mountain Bikes at Sleepy Hollow
31. Fellowship of the Wheel, FOW
    
32. Racing: Colchester Triathlon
33. Racing: Burlington Triathlon
    

Visit from Librarian

Jessamyn visited last evening and helped me figure out a bunch of techie issues. I've been working with Todd Taylor at Local Motion to put together a system for reporting bad conditions on the paths and bike routes around here. We are using Twitter to gather reports, which are then posted at a website along with an interactive map to give users an idea of where the problems lie.

Albuquerque

In late October I flew out to Albuquerque to visit my cousins Beth and Judy. Beth is 6 months older than me and Judy is about Ira's age. We timed the trip to meet Ira and his motorcycle buddies Bill Leenheer and Wayne Miller.


Motorcycle Gang: Ira, Wayne, Uncle Bill, (Judy, Bike Chick).


Beth's boys are Steve Shain and Matthew Shain. They are each married and each has a child.
Steve and Stacie are parents of Kadin, and Matt and Jeannie have Lilly. Lilly is a conscientious student. She had her books open and worked on her projects while visiting with the family. Judy helped her set up an interview with an expert on cults, which is the topic of her project.

Kadin is 11 and rides horses and ropes. He explained how he heads off the cow and ropes the head and his cousin ropes the rear legs.


Dave & Kadin play miniature golf on the phone.

That's Uncle Bill in the background.

The Palace Almost Kills Josh Farr

I stopped to help a young artist who was working on a set of stone etc sculptures/constructions on the Lake Champlain shore near the water treatment plant and railroad roundhouse. Josh staggered up from the lake; he was trying to place a rock high on one of the sculptures and it fell on his head. He was bleeding and was pretty disoriented. He knew he needed help.
We called 911 and the EMT folks came and checked him out.

I looked for him over the next few weeks and didn't see him. Feared the worst. But Josh had told me where he went to school, so I called the registrar and she sent him a message. He's OK.

He started this blog to post photos of the installation. Josh Farr and Mikhaela Stinson's The Palace.: http://thepalaceburlington.blogspot.com/

Here are the "After" photos, taken in mid-October, 2009.

sculpture

Shag Bark Hickory Ride

I stopped by Tim Parsons' house on the way back from Colchester. He is back riding after separating his acromioclavicular joint (same as I did years ago). He wanted to visit the scene of his crash, so we rode down to Oakledge Park. He's taking a tree-identification course and wants to decide which trees to keep on the beach in his neighborhood. Can we identify a shag bark hickory? As a matter of fact, there is one right in Oakledge. A grand old dame. We had a visit and Tim took a twig to help identify the sample back home.