Quest Crank Boom Repair #2 Part 2

Spreading epoxy with latex gloves is a messy endeavor. The glass fibers stick to the gloves and tend to pull apart leaving a tangle of glass fibers around the edges of the patchwork. In desperation I grabbed some plastic wrap from the kitchen and put it on top of the glass/epoxy mess. Then I took off the latex gloves and used my bare fingers to squeeze the epoxy and work it into the glass cloth, and I could feel the air bubbles and extra epoxy shifting around. In the end I was quite happy with the results.

In this photo you see that I have removed the plastic wrap. The epoxy is still quite lumpy but it sanded down easily with 60 grit sandpaper.

While working on sanding the two patches I noticed that the center seam was opening up as shown here. So I decided to put a patch on that as well.

In this final photo I have added all three patches along with plastic wrap, and I have already worked the epoxy thoroughly through the glass cloth. All air bubbles have been squeezed out. I even discovered that I can slide the glass cloth around while squeezing the epoxy into it. I was able to get much better alignment of the new glass. This is probably the nicest glass/epoxy patching I have ever done. Now I have four layers of glass over the area where the bolts will go through. That should hold things together nicely.

Quest Crank Boom Repair #2

It was two years ago this week when I finished repairing the crank boom on the Quest velomobile. See my blog post of Nov 2, 2013. It turned out that I should have also reinforced the fiberglass where the aluminum connects to it, holding the front end of the crank boom in place.

As you can see in this first photo, the fiberglass has broken and the aluminum support has fallen down into the nose cone.

This second photo shows how the original construction contained two layers of fiberglass, and they were not bonded properly to each other. The two layers have delaminated.

The other side doesn't have two layers of fiberglass. I wonder why not.

Here you can see how the aluminum structure aligns with the fiberglass. I have two spring clips holding the aluminum structure up against the fiberglass. Not really a good match, but that would be because the aluminum crank boom broke at the weld and was re-welded two years ago. I think it came out about one quarter inch shorter than the original, causing this mis-alignment and some fairly ugly matching between the top and bottom fiberglass shells.

This last photo shows how the headlight, mounted on the crank boom, nearly aligns with the hole in the center of the nose cone.

I need to think about how I am going to build up that fiberglass again, without causing additional alignment problems, and correctly locate and drill some new holes for bolting the aluminum to the fiberglass.

A Day at the River and Lake

Today we took The Merry Yarn and one kayak out in the river, then out to the lake and back to the river again. It was so hot we all went for a swim too, and for the first time in about 15 years I swam in that cold river water.

Our first photograph, taken from the shore by our intrepid photographer shows Lief rowing The Merry Yarn with mermaid #2 as a passenger. Mermaid #1 had already jumped out to swim in the river.

The next photo shows mermaid #2 in the rear hatch of my kayak and mermaid #1 swimming with her daddy.

The last photo shows that since mermaid #1 was too big to fit in the rear hatch, she was required to paddle the boat herself. She did so remarkably well for her first time paddling, in spite of the wind and current pushing her in opposing directions.

Ultra Marathon Bicycle Race Across Washington

Last weekend I had the privilege of driving the chase vehicle behind my son Lief as he raced across the State of Washington. He started from the Canadian border near Oroville and rode practically non-stop to the Oregon border near Pasco. The clock started when he began riding and it kept running even while he rested, and while he sat at stop lights.

This photo, taken at the Canadian border, was time-stamped 4:54 AM PST, showing that my camera clock is about 20 minutes faster than actual time. Light from the coming sunrise was beginning to appear in the northeast horizon. An hour later a deer hopped out onto the road, then ran across in front of Lief, narrowly missing a collision.

We were so busy watching for traffic, and monitoring Lief's needs, that we didn't take any more photos until we reached the finish line, 12 hours and 28 minutes later. This photo is time-stamped 5:25 PM PST.

With only 40 miles to go, after straining into a horrendous head wind and experiencing a spell of unanticipated overheating, Lief was on the verge of giving up. His brother James poured a gallon of cool water over him and told him to take it easy and just get to the finish line. Then only a few minutes later we came upon a giggle of mermaids who were there specifically to cheer Lief on. It was an enormous boost in morale. They leapfrogged ahead several times and then met us at the finish line.

The posed picture shows Lief next to the "Welcome to Oregon" sign, holding his bike up in victory. We wrote the elapsed time on the back of our chase vehicle.

Wisteria

These two photos were taken at the base of the Wisteria bush in Jones Park. That bush has been there for as long as I can remember. The arbor supporting it was replaced about twenty years ago and now it's even looking old.

I took these photos with my cell phone, just to capture the history, but even with the smeared lens they turned out excellent. It must be the subject matter.

Stop and Smell the Roses

Last weekend Lief and I went for a bike ride. Actually Lief went for a bike ride and I followed as a support motorist since his route was planned to extend for more than 200 miles. While we were temporarily stopped I took advantage of the situation to literally "smell the roses" and here are some pictures of the roses I smelled.

This rose has the latin name Yellowus Rosus

This rose has the latin name Blueus Rosus

This rose has the latin name Blackberryus Rosus

As you may have guessed by now, I have no idea of the real latin name for these flowers. Well the bottom one is actually flowers on a blackberry vine. These flowers were just barely noticeable and quite a surprise to find alonge the side of the road.

Superbowl XLIX

The fans watched breathlessly...

...while one of the players was taken off the field in a wheelchair.

Maria Parker

Last night we had the incredible experience of meeting Maria Parker and her daughter Lucia. For those of you who don't know who she is: She holds four world records as the fastest woman on a bicycle, and she broke the record for women over 50 in the Ride Across America (RAAM) in 2013. The RAAM is a non-stop race from San Diego to Annapolis, Maryland. It's about 3000 miles and she did it in less than twelve days. As an example of one of her feats, here are the results of the race in Sebring last February. Notice that Maria finished first, riding 100 miles in less than 4-1/2 hours. To put that in perspective, I rode 100 miles in about 8 hours.

Lief organized the event last night. Lucia was a member of the support team on Maria's fantastic ride in the RAAM in 2013. So here I am in the same room with three amazing people.

By the way, Lief is planning to compete in an upcoming race, riding the same model bicycle that Maria rides. It's a Vendetta model designed by CruzBike. You can see a photo of Lief riding his Vendetta bike on this blog in the "Winter Bike/Trike Ride" posting below.

Last night's event was actually for Maria's 3000 Miles to a Cure fund raiser to help research a cure for brain cancer. It was Maria's commitment to her sister Jenny, the "3000 Miles to a Cure" fund raiser, along with promises she made to lots of other cancer patients, that motivated her to the incredible feat of endurance in the RAAM of 2013.

Seahawks Post Game Party

All five sisters were present for the Seahawks game today. We enjoyed the game, and even more, the company. The only Erskine in the photo is Lief.

Believe me, you did not want to hear the roar during the game, with the TV audio turned up to 78, a grand nephew playing the piano, two grand-daughters, three nieces and a great-niece playing video games, and five sisters all talking at the same time. It was actually OK; we didn't need to hear the play by play anyway.

The Seahawks won again: 20-6

Winter Bike/Trike Ride

Riding a bike in the winter time requires some extra equipment, for staying warm and dry. Notice the hand warmers on the handlebars. Notice the black head covering under the helmet. Notice the wind and rain proof jacket. Then notice the yellow fiberglass fairing in the lower right corner that completely encloses me, so I don't need any of the above.

Seahawk Fans

The whole family is ready for the Seahawk game tomorrow. Everybody is wearing a #12 in this photo.

Yard Cleanup

BEFORE

The landscaping came last week and cleaned up Dad's yard in only one day. You can see here in the "before" photos, taken last May, the Lilac bushes were so huge you can't see the house from the street. The Apple tree and the Juniper bush consumed nearly the entire front yard.

AFTER

Now you can see the entire front of the house, from multiple places on the street. The lilac bushes and Rhododendrons are still rather large and will look beautiful in the Spring. The Apple tree and Juniper bush are both gone.

They took away the gigantic brush pile in the back too, from the four trees we cut down. They even cleaned up the raspberry patch.

Potato Fudge

Monya made some fudge using mashed potato, coconut oil, and sugar. It tastes just like real fudge and there's no dairy in it. Finally I can eat something that everybody else can eat and enjoy too.

Dad's Last Photos

May 4, 6:15 PM
Broken Bow, Nebraska
Barb (Zierlein) and Dahl Jungren, and Rich, family of Everett Zierlein in Broken Bow Nebraska, along with the Webers from Arnold.

Barb, maybe you can describe who is who here.

Monday, May 5, 6:28 PM
Cody Wyoming: family of Leonard Zierlein.
Frank and Glenda (ZierLein) Willis, Uncle Leonard and Aunt Carol, Dad and Uncle Bob.

Monday, May 6, 12:56 AM
Cody Wyoming: more family of Leonard Zierlein.
Dad, Kim, baby Toby, Auggie, Louis, Aunt Carol, Uncle Bob, Uncle Leonard

Obviously, Dad's camera clock is about six hours off. The first two photos were taken near noon, judging by the angle of the Sun, so the third was probably taken sometime around 6:00 PM.

UPDATE: The third photo was taken at about 8:30 PM on May 5.

Beaver Relocated

For the past several years I have seen signs of beaver along the Cedar River. Last winter he started really attacking some gigantic Cottonwood trees, cutting one down altogether, and killing three or four more by girdling them (chewing off all the bark, all the way around. Today I walked over to see how he was doing and discovered that the Parks Department has cut down the dead trees and put wire mesh around the remaining trees to stop the chewing. I also heard a rumor that they had trapped 9 beavers, or trapped one beaver 9 times, and relocated him upstream. Maybe this is the last we'll see of the beaver for a while.

Here in this first photo you can see three stumps, all that remains of three awesome Cottonwood trees.

This second photo shows the freshly chewed wood over the top of the dark brown older chewing marks. The whole trunk is now surrounded by 1/4 inch wire mesh.

This third photo shows the tree the beaver successfully cut down and then stripped of all of its bark. Notice that the beaver only had to chew away the outer layer of wood since the Cottonwood's heartwood was already rotten and was unable to support the weight of the tree.

This last photo shows a close up of the teeth marks on the log that had been laying in the river. You may have to download the full size photo and zoom in to see the teeth marks.

Christmas Morning: Sunrise

This photo was taken from the end of our driveway. The street runs directly southeast. As you can see, it was a beautiful day.

Gingerbread House 2013

Here is our gingerbread house for 2013. We can't remember the last time we did this.

Notes for next year: Try to roll out the gingerbread thick at the edges, and don't cook it so long that it's hard as concrete. Soft gingerbread will be difficult to assemble but it's easier to eat. Yum! The scraps were scrumptious!

Comet ISON Approach

Comet ISON has the potential to be one of the most amazing comets of a lifetime. It's orbital trajectory has it passing so close to the Sun that it may evaporate into a gigantic cloud of dust and debris that would be visible with a naked eye in daylight. Today the comet is 1/3 the distance from the Sun as the Earth and it is still descending toward perihelion.

There are multiple images being posted on the Internet and they frequently generate the question, "which way is up?" This posting might help to show which way things are moving, and which way is "up" from the perspective of a person standing on the ground, on the planet Earth.

This first excellent photo was taken from the ground, likely with telephoto magnification. Except for the magnification this is the way the comet would have appeared if you were to see it with the naked eye or with binoculars. The Sun is below the horizon to the left, and the comet's tail is extended up and to the right, away from the Sun.

Here is an image from my SkyMap software, showing the positioning of these objects before dawn this morning, looking southeast from my house. The horizon is the border between the blue and grey backgrounds. The white line is the ecliptic, the apparent path of the Sun caused by the orbit of the planet Earth around the Sun. The Sun is shown as a hollow yellow circle on the ecliptic below the horizon. Notice the angle of the ecliptic, up and to the right, generally in the same direction as the photo above.

There are two comets showing on the map, comet Encke and comet ISON. Planet Mercury (and Saturn very much farther away) is also lined up near the comets. Encke and Saturn are not very bright so I will not make much note of them.

Here is the really interesting photo, taken from a spacecraft designed to watch the Sun. The objects are labeled but their relative positions are confusing. Where is the spacecraft positioned so it could capture this image? How can the planet Earth be in the image along with the comets and Mercury all at the same time? Which way are things moving?

Professional astronomers have looked at so many images where orientation is rearranged that they don't even notice when it looks odd like this. So they didn't bother to explain this one.

The answer is easily demonstrated by flipping the image horizontally. Extend a line from the Sun (on the left) through the planet Earth to represent the ecliptic. Note that Mercury is above the line and the two comets are below the line. This matches the SkyMap image very well. Rotate the photograph by 47 degrees and it will look even more like the SkyMap image.

Now you can see that the north pole is up, Earth is in the foreground, moving toward Mercury and the comets, and rotating in that same direction. So when you are facing toward the comets, Mercury, and the rising Sun, the spacecraft that took this photo is behind you.

Here's a link to a NASA JPL YouTube video that was created on October 14, 2013. It makes several excellent points regarding the direction things are moving and it shows the alignment of the planets Earth and Mercury that match my "flipped" version of the spacecraft image.

King Henry VIII

Cutting chess pieces out of a Hazel wood blank has become a bit more of a challenge than I thought it might be. As you can see in this photo, the King turned out fine, but the Queen didn't quite make it. The blank began to shudder as I was putting the final touches on her head, then it snapped in two, leaving the Queen's head stuck to the bottom of the King. As soon as I told this story to Great Grumpy he said, "ah, that would be Henry VIII." Today I will try again, only this time I will cut only one piece at a time from the blank.

Quest Crank Boom Installed

For those of you who can't relate to the photo of the crank boom when it has been removed from the Quest, here is a photo of it after it was re-installed. You can see the new weld to the left of the crank and motor assembly. This photo was taken on October 26.