No Ball is an Island

You can see the baseball field at the end of the hallway on the second floor of UHS.

You can also see the top of this small roof.

Last year a foul ball landed on that small roof. The lonely baseball sat there during the summer, fall, winter, and spring. I'm sure the custodians are too busy to worry about retrieving it. I had thought about taking a picture of the ball during all four seasons. I've seen it covered in leaves and in snow. I suppose I didn't take the pictures because I felt a little sad for that baseball.

The ball was still there in August for its second year of school, but this time things are different.

Everybody needs a friend.

By the Light of the Moon...

... Charlotte sledded.

She was playing at a friend's house after school, but there was some 'tween drama. Char came home upset, and by the time things calmed down, it was time for dinner. So, we promised her snow time after that.

Blurry action shot:

Our backyard law requires one snow angle per sledding event. Dues paid:

For me, it feels too early to have a two-hour delay for school, but that's what we had yesterday morning. I have heard that this winter is supposed to worse than last year.

But I think I hear that about every winter.

The Rollfast Project: Rollin' On

What's nice about the Rollfast project is that I'm not on any type of schedule. If it gets too cold in the garage, then the bicycle can wait while I warm up. With that being said, it was nice on Saturday, and Char had an afternoon playdate. I got in some garage time after I mulched the leaves. 

The modified chain breaker successfully pressed the cotters out of the cranks. Kroil helped.

You can't tell from this photo, but this freed cotter is bent. The other cotter's top threads were stripped, so I ordered new cotters from BikeSmith Design and Fabrication.

I was able to free the fixed bottom bracket cup using this bolt/washer set up. Kroil also helped.  I got the idea from RJ the Bike Guy's website, he has several videos where he shows you how to make tools using parts from the hardware store. RJ got the idea for removing the cup from the late Sheldon Brown's website. This exchange of ideas is how the internet is supposed to work.

I now realize that I haven't tried turning the cup back into place. I have no idea if I stripped the frame's threads. If I did, then this project is over. I'll have to check when I get back to the garage.

Dried grease can be removed with the grinder's wire brush. But I got a tip from John's Bicycle Restorations blog: I can also use an old crockpot. I fill it with water and a few squirts of Dawn dish soap. The crockpot is set on low. After 12 hours, I can wipe the grease off with a shop towel. I have to be careful, though. The parts are hot!

I used the wire brush and the polishing wheel method on the left crank. The sprocket / crank was soaked in the crockpot. I don't see much difference in the results.

But there was dried grease caked on underneath the crank, and it came off in the soapy water. That would be hard to reach with a wire brush. It is useful to have both methods available.

I ordered gum wall tires from Amazon. I placed them next to the bike and decided I liked the look.

The front tire was tough to install.  It was such a tight fit. First I got a blister on my palm, and then I tore the blister open. I'm not going to mess with the rear tire until I find the correct spoke to replace the broken one. I'll do the two jobs at once.

I spent the rest of the day polishing the frame's paint with rubbing compound and a clearer wax.

I don't mind the patina, but I bet the bronze green paint was pretty when it was new. 

Now to go out to the garage and see if I ruined the bottom bracket's threads...

Whew. I didn't ruin the threads; they're fine. I don't know why I scare myself like that.

About Time

Flix showed a different Harry Potter film on each day of spring break a few years ago. That was such an awesome idea. It was too bad that the movies would have been too much for Char at that time. I’ve been lamenting that we missed that week ever since. 

Last week I received an email that Flix was going to show the films again! I was so pumped. We checked our schedules, and purchased tickets for last night’s showing of Goblet of Fire. That’s my favorite film in the series, and it’s fair to say I’ve been waiting to see it at Flix for years. 

They had a special Hogwarts menu, and everyone received a pin that represented the horcrux made out of Salazar Slytherin's Locket. 

A drawing was held before the movie. There were winners from the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the Durmstrang Institute, and the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic. But then a fourth name was magically drawn. How did that happen?

None of our names were chosen, but Char did get a butter beer. I asked her what it tasted like, and she replied, "So good!" Charlotte drank the whole thing. That doesn't usually happen. She often pushes away from the table halfway through a shake.

Charlotte really liked seeing Harry Potter on the big screen, but the film is 2h and 32m long. She was shot by the time it was over. We got home about an hour later than her bedtime, and she fell into the covers. It's all good; eating breakfast in the car this morning gave her an extra 35 minutes to sleep.

That did confirm that I don't need to buy her concert tickets next month to see JD McPherson's Christmas show. It's an all ages show at Wooly's, but it's also on a Thursday night. I don't think JD will hit the stage until after 9. There's no way she make it through that one. We'll just enjoy his CD in our car.

Maybe I'll just have to wait a few years for JD to come back to Des Moines. That worked for seeing Harry.

The Rollfast Project

Is this turning into a bicycle blog? No, but my newest project is another bike.

I've been looking for an English three-speed ever since I saw this picture of a Rollfast bike on Etsy. For some reason I really liked the look of the fenders and the chain guard.

I spent a couple of weeks checking thrift stores and creepy Craigslist, but I couldn't find any three-speeds. I checked the Etsy ad again for inspiration, and the Rollfast was 20% off. Plus, shipping from New Jersey was $50, and that's actually reasonable. Hmm...

I knew the Rollfast wouldn't look as shiny in person as it does in the ad's pictures. The seller had sprayed the bike with water, and it was still wet when the pictures were taken. That's a parlor trick that I've seen before. The saddle looked rough, and the handlebars weren't correct, but I have parts sitting on the bench that would love to get into game... Sold!

I bought this after parent-teacher conferences last Monday (that might explain the purchase), and it arrived on Friday afternoon. That was pretty fast. When I opened the box, I knew the bike wouldn't be on the road that quickly.

I tentatively assembled the bike. It was better than I thought it would be in some spots and worse in others. I wanted a project, and that is exactly what I got.

 The drop-style handlebars were put aside. I'm using a tourist-styled handlebar from a Murray 5-speed.

My first job was drilling out the head of the bolt on the kickstand. The stand didn't work, and it weighed about five pounds. Bye for now, stand.

I didn't bother installing the grungy, rubber block pedals. They don't even match.

These aluminum pedals have a rubber block vibe, so I'll go with them for now.

I haven't removed crank cotters before.

To make a cotter press, I drilled and hacked a chain breaker tool from Harbor Freight. I'll save about $60 if it removes and installs the cotters.

I couldn't tell from the Etsy pictures if the fenders and/or the chain guard were rusted out. They have their scratches and dents (don't we all), but they are solid.

I also couldn't see the head badge in the pics. It doesn't look too bad. I might swap out those brakes calipers for something more interesting.

"Guaranteed Genuine English Lightweight" - you'll just have to trust me.

If the New Jersey bike license (1977) sicker was straight, I would have left it. But I thought the crooked sticker was a bit of an eyesore. 

Three layers of license decals were gone after an hour with a hair dryer.

The saddle is not without its charms, but this seat is beat. That's too bad, actually.

The red reflector on the rear fender was missing. I went looking for something to fill the void at a flea market. I bought a Saint George of England medallion for a buck. Saint George is the patron saint of England. That seems perfect for an English bicycle. The medallion popped into place, and I tapped a small nail it the hole at the top of the medallion to keep Saint George from turning.

This is what it will look like. (I hope using the medallion like this isn't disrespectful.)

The Rollfast is stuck in 3rd gear. The seller didn't have the cable or the indicator chain for the 3-speed hub. I knew that going in. The Sturmey Archer hub is marked AW, so I ordered parts for that style of hub from Amazon. If the hub is original to the bicycle, then the Rollfast was manufactured sometime around 1966.

There's a broken spoke on the rear wheel, so that will have to be dealt with. 

I've got a lot of work ahead of me, and I hope I have fun. I'm excited to see how this guy turns out.

According to Charlotte...

According to Charlotte, snow is something you look forward to.

According to Charlotte, birthday gift cards should be spent on Hatchimals.

According to Charlotte, you have to warm the eggs up first by sitting on them. (That was awhile ago, and we felt pretty silly when we discovered how they really open.)

According to Charlotte, the touch screen games at McDonald's are pretty fun. 

According to Charlotte, it's fun when your dad surprises you with a t-shirt that appears in the book series you are currently reading. (No, its not Harry Potter.)

According to Charlotte, it was a good weekend.

A Bone-Chilling Halloween? Riddikulus!

Trick or Treating in snow pants is a rite of passage in Iowa. Even though it snowed in the afternoon, Car was excited about getting some treats, "My candy stash is running low!"

It's lucky that her Harry Potter cloak fits over her winter coat. If you look over her shoulder, you can see that the flurries had stopped and there was even a bit of sun at 6:00.

Hmmm... I sense a theme here.

Daphne's pumpkin design is more traditional.

While coloring this pumpkin for me at a restaurant, Charlotte lamented the lack of an orange Crayon. Then she smiled and said, "Oh! It does't matter. Dad's colorblind!"

Char and Daphne traversed the neighborhood from 6:00 to 7:30. By that time, Char was too cold to care about getting more candy. Her cauldron was overflowing with goods, so I volunteered to help. I got two Reese's peanut butter cups and a Almond Joy before I was caught.

We hope you had a Happy Halloween!