Canvas Chair Repair

I have a canvas chair, from my stepfather years ago. It is one of the two things I have from him. The other is the chest of drawers that he had as a kid. It is one of those old, solid wood pieces of furniture that will outlast me, as it did my stepfather. The original fabric of the canvas chair (director's chair? captain's chair?) decayed a long time ago. It was revived briefly when my mother in law sewed new canvas for it, but that ripped quite quickly. Either the canvas was too thin or me and some of my friends to heavy and excitable while sitting in it. Anyway, I went to Dressew (on Hastings downtown, an awesome place if you are in to sewing or crafts of any kind) and got the heaviest canvas I could. I also got some advice from one of the other customers on appropriate heavy thread. She asked me what kind of sewing machine I had, and I held up my hand. Anyway, I stitched something to replace the seat. It survived a social event this weekend. Either the canvas is heavier or my friends now are lighter and less excitable.

On the right, notice the fancy wooden thread puller I got at the East Lansing Craft Fair.

A gorilla fixed my belt

Well, Gorilla Glue fixed my belt. This is a belt I got second hand more than a decade ago. It is very solid leather. It is one of those things you have that looks a bit worn, but the same as it did ten years ago after constant use. I stitched that join up once before many years ago but this time, after breaking two needles, I decided to try out the glue I had bought for a different project (it didn't work for that project, btw). Wet one side, glued the other, used my high tech clamps, and three hours later it seems to have worked. We'll see how long it lasts.

Cycling Psychology

I took a new bike route to work last week, cycled it MWF. I varied my route home but had the same new route in all three days. It was noticeably easier the third day I did it. I am pretty sure I did not get myself in better shape in one week, so I think this is all psychological. When you know the route and what is coming ahead, it is just easier to face it I think. Possibly it was just that I paced myself differently on the route knowing what was coming up, but my total time was about the same all three days.

Not all oranges...

Not all oranges are created equal. My wife picks these Cara oranges up somewhere on Commercial Drive: Donald's Market, the East End Food Co-op, or Santa Barbara Market - all excellent places to shop for food, so you won't regret hunting for oranges in these places. Slightly pinkish flesh, but not tasting of grapefruit or blood orange, these are juicy and excellent!

Garden Improvements

I have fallen behind with my blogs, but a few weeks ago my friend, Trent, and I undertook the major Summer gardening task of removing the last section of cedar hedge in the yard. They used to be all around the back yard, taking out about 5 feet on all sides of yard space. Cedar hedges are not trivial to maintain and these had been neglected, by the previous owners as well as us. The yard feels a lot bigger with them finally gone.  

Nothing left but the stumps to remove. My aim is to do one a week and they'll be cleared out by Spring. 

This back garden used to be a fenced in dog area, with cedar hedges all around. I found those ancient roses back there and on the right is now our herb garden (chives, oregano, sage, lemon thyme, and mint) as well as some of the hardy irises that spread like crazy that we have from the place we rented 20 years ago. 

On the East side, which was also taken up by cedar hedge removed a few years ago, we have some vegetable beds. This year it is garlic, blueberries (but you won's survive on the number of these we get), tomatoes, yellow squash and beans. The small one on the right was put in by my son and his girlfriend. 

Scrap material coffee table

I wanted to make a coffee table from the scrap material I have piled in the garage. I looked online through images of coffee tables and saw some really excellent ones. The one below I thought was really interesting, and it wasn't that expensive (listed at $200). To be clear, I didn't make this one!

Below is the one I did make, out of 1by2s and two panels from an old computer desk. I like the contrast between the metal and the wood. It turned out more or less as I had hoped. The joints are not square and there are visible screws, but that just adds to the rustic character!

8tracks

I have re-entered the streaming music scene. I have come to the conclusion that you still need to own music that you want to have available to you "forever". Streaming music sites like Google Play Music and Apple Music don't have everything you want and (as I discovered to my horror) their collections change over time. Apple Music and its lack of transparency with my purchased collection in iTunes was particularly annoying. I have gone to managing my own music in iTunes and using Google Play Music service to sample new things to see if I am interested enough to buy them.

None of that gives me the ability to share playlists with my friends, except by burning a CD for them (very old fashioned!). My daughter put me on to the streaming service, 8tracks, which fills this gap. You upload your own music in playlists that are available for others to play from their server. There are some restrictions on what you can upload but I haven't hit any yet (for example, they prevent you from having too many tracks from any one album or any recording artist on a playlist). It seems like they are keeping it legal and so may stand the test of time. You don't get to see what is on the playlist before you start - it just shows you one song at a time. I don't know what the quality of the playlists on 8tracks is yet as a way to find good new music, but the sharing with your friends aspect seems good.

I have one playlist up now if you want to check it out. Unlike the other things I am using, the free version seems quite useable: https://8tracks.com/brian-wetton