A Fresh Look, A Stubborn Tattoo, and It's a Small World!

We were due to have our house painted later this month but due to a cancelation, our painter could fit us into his schedule earlier than planned. As of a few weeks ago, it's all done! And they did it during the year's hottest week (so far). We kept a cooler filled with drinks and nutrition bars available to keep the guys fueled. 

It's been 15 years since we last had our home painted and we're happy with how it's held up so well but it was definitely time to give it a thorough power washing and painting. We're very pleased with the job they did. If you're anywhere near us and need a bid on some painting work, give me a shout and I'll send you Josh's contact info. 

I wrote in my blog back in January about having my Christian fish ankle tattoo removed. I've had 4 sessions so far (each spaced 6 weeks apart) and none of them have yielded much in the way of results. It's faded some but it's not changed much at all. I went in for another round of laser treatment this past week and asked the woman doing the procedure if I'd be better off having it covered with a flesh color tattoo. She wasn't keen on that idea because the fish tattoo would likely still show through but she also added that she didn't think more treatments of the kind she was doing, called Q-switch, were going to be of much help. She recommended I pay Removery a visit as they use a different kind of laser, a PicoWay laser, which is more effective. I found this short video that discusses the differences between the two types of tattoo laser removal options. I have an appointment for Tuesday morning with the people at Removery to give their laser method a try.

I trashed one of my road bike rims this past week. I was trying to stretch a very tight-fitting Continental GP 5000 tire over the rim while using nylon tire irons to coax it into place when a small chunk of carbon fiber broke off of the rim, compromising the integrity of the rim—meaning, I trashed it. My heart sank because that was an expensive mistake. I gave Adrian a call at Flanders Bros in Minneapolis and explained my embarrassing situation to him. It's not the first time he's fielded a call like mine. He set me up with a much better pair of rims/wheels that are built stronger, lighter, and more aero than the Boyd wheels that came with my bike. I'm now the happy owner of a Campagnolo Bora WTO 33 wheelset. A nicer pair of wheels I can't imagine!

For my cycling friends: I came across this impressive chain lubrication video recently and thought I'd share it here. I've never seen a more thorough breakdown of chain lubes. I won't give away the ending/results but I will say that Rock N Roll Gold lubricant is what I'm currently using.

My volunteer gig giving bicycle rides to residents at Trinity Care has been going really well. Tammy assists me for the first 90 minutes of the day by sitting with memory care residents so they too can enjoy the experience. They don't appear to ever remember having ridden with us when we see them the following week but in the moment, they enjoy it a lot and that's really all that matters. After Tammy leaves, I make my way over to the assisted living part of the complex and give rides for a couple more hours or until the bike's battery runs low. 

This past week I was chatting with one of the residents while giving him a ride. Arnie is 99 years old and is such a sweet and kind man. He has the most pleasant attitude and is a pleasure to talk with. I learned that he used to live in Babbitt (a 4-hour drive north and where Tammy was raised) from 1956 until 1960. He was the city's banker and said he knew pretty much all of the men in town. I gave him Tammy's father's name and he assured me that he knew him. I asked him his address and without hesitating he told me "34 Fern Court". That was just a few houses down from Tammy's home also on Fern Court. What a small world. He then gave me the names of a few close friends of his from back in the day. I made a note of them and gave them to Tammy. She was familiar with them. I'm going to get Tammy and Arnie together so he can reminisce with her. Tammy said she would like that. I know Arnie will.

I've added a number of riding videos below from the last few months. I hope you like them.

That's all I've got.