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Tuesday, September 8, 2026

door cams, ham cams

Tuesday that feels like a Monday. I've got tutees this afternoon, and appreciate not having any  responsibilities until then. 

I was on a grateful bicycle ride this morning, and there was a bicycling woman on the pathway a few yards ahead of me. A guy riding an e-bike went past me - on the left after beeping his horn, all very cordial. I waved my hand in acknowledgement.

He then did the same with the woman in front of me - beeped before passing on the  left. She seemed about to similarly wave in acknowledgement, but as he went by, I saw that she instead raised her hand to flip him off.

What was THAT about? There are some reckless e-bike riders around, typically riding powerful e-bikes that aren't allowed on the bike path, but who's gonna catch 'em? Because of those hooligans, many bicyclists and pedestrians don't like e-bikes in general.

But this guy was not going super fast, his bike looked legal to me, and he was following the rules. I don't think he even noticed that she had flipped him off.

Then it was my turn to pass, so I'm thinking, "is she offended by ANYONE who passes her?" I dinged my bell and went by her, possibly flipped off. I didn't check.

We had a nice 3-day weekend. Saturday was very low-key. We went downtown and hung out at the Farmer's market. Sunday, our front door ring camera had crapped out. It's quite old and just didn't seem to have any get up and go. We laid it to rest, got a replacement from Best Buy, and Magnum installed it. We're back on front door surveillance,

Yesterday, we went up to Helms Deep. Meego joined us, and Wolfgang met us after for lunch. 

I've mentioned here that our "driveway" on the property is in rough shape, so I wanted to get a feel for just how rough as we've been considering hiring a contractor to clear and smooth it out for us.

So I took to it with a couple of hand tools to estimate how many "Man Hours" - to coin an outdated cost estimating term - it would take to shape it up.

Here is a view of what most of it looks like while entering.



Then I took a pic of the area I cleaned up without too much effort in about one "Old Lady Hour".



We have a dollar amount that we're willing to pay someone to clear it, but it's not like we need to have a whole road built. There's a road there, it's just been neglected for a while and needs a little makeover. We'll probably do it ourselves like old time pioneers.

The trail cam showed more deer. No cows this time, and still no mountain lions, but we know they're around. 

This guy shows up frequently. Must be a favorite branch. 


Either that, or he knows there's a trail cam there, and he's a total ham.


13 comments:

  1. Everyone is so quick to flip someone off. It's crazy. Your land is beautiful I can't wait to see what you build.

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    1. I don't know what the bird flip was about. Taking a risk, flipping off a stranger.

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  2. Such beautiful scenery from your road rehabilitation project! And it looks like an "old lady hour" worth of work got a lot done? If you hired someone would they come with one of those little bulldozer things, or a road scraper, instead of a shovel like you? Not that I have any road expertise....

    Ceci

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    1. Yes, I assume they would just use one of those Bobcat skid steers or similar for the bulk of the work. The work isn't difficult, it's just a relatively long stretch.

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  3. Ha ha ! "Old lady hour" I love that! Lately my old lady hours have turned into ancient lady hours! I learned that if I try to work too fast or two long my body punishes me for two days! Your work paid off though It looks good!

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    1. Yep, listen to your body. I remember learning that peak performance is a fit, 24-year-old male. The rest of us extrapolate off that!

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  4. WOW you did a remarkable job, you do realize that you are not OLD LADY yet...clearly1 A few more trip to the mountain land and you will have saved your self a bunch of cash.
    The HAM bird is staking out territory for when you move in and try to take over. The branch belongs to HAM.
    Lovely property, I am so jealous!

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    1. HAM branch it is! HAM tree, even.
      Honestly, I originally thought of this land grab thing as mainly the husband's interest he's had for years. Okay, I'll go along with it, but I love now we've got it. Come on down! Grab a shovel!

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  5. That was a really good job of clearing your Road. As for the Lady on Bike, some folks are just annoyed at everyone and everything and project inner anger outwards at every opportunity. The problem being, when they flip off the wrong person, things can escalate, which is unnecessary and never good.

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    1. Yesss, one of my thoughts exactly. Flipping off some strange man? On a bike path? Did she figure I'd help fight him off??

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  6. Wow! You did a really good job in an old lady hour. Not that you are an old lady: I've seen your picture!

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    1. There's something about mucking around in the dirt. Keeps us young? As you know!

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