And you thought I'd never use the axe. Ha!

Point Reyes yesterday was awesome - ~5 miles of gorgeous scenery, equally beautiful weather and excellent company. The stop at the beach was the icing on the cake (even though the water was ass-cold). With minimal elevation changes the path we took, the Laguna Trail to the Coast Trail, was not particularly strenuous, but I was still super hungry when we were done.

The hike was followed by dinner in SF at a hole-in-the-wall Vietnamese place called "Cordon Bleu," which is actually run by Cantonese people. The food was excellent, promptly prepared and very cheap for the huge portions they doled out. I definitely remember nearly drooling all over myself while posing for pictures with my food.

Today, I did a bit of work on my bike (still trying to sand/dremel the old paint off before applying primer) and then there was the yard work.

Typically, I'll mow the (very small) lawn once a week and prune the roses while I'm out there. I went out this afternoon planning to simply mow the lawn and maybe bring in a couple of the many, many roses that are blooming outside, but the stump (see artist's rendering to the left) in the corner near the house caught my eye. Someone had sawed it down the tree that it used to be a while back, but left about a foot of stump remaining, which had started sprouting again.

I eventually managed to remove most of the above-ground portion of the stump with a combination of sawing by hand, sawing with my electric reciprocating saw, drilling and whacking at it with my hand axe (which, was probably the most effective). You can't tell from the picture, but it's in a very awkward position - cornered off on two sides by the house with my A/C unit and irrigation system boxing it off from the other two directions. The coolant/power cables also passed within about a foot of the top of the stump, further decreasing accessibility. Had there been more space, the reciprocating saw probably could have taken care of it alone. So after the stump was cut down more I drilled a bunch of holes into the stump in preparation for the stump killer that I plan to apply. I think more than anything else, I just wanted to play with power tools :)

The rest of the yard work was not nearly as entertaining - I weeded the rose beds, pruned the roses, harvested a few of the blooming roses to populate the vase and tall shot glass I have on my kitchen table and was then stabbed repeatedly by rose stems as I bagged my yard waste.

All in all, a pretty good weekend.

Roses!

It seems as though all the pink roses in my back yard are blooming. It's pretty neat. I cut a few to bring inside (and did a little bit of pruning before work - ie I didn't feel like going to work quite yet, so I spent 20 minutes playing in the back yard).

The three on the right are pretty with the two-toned pink, but the one on the left is ridiculously fragrant. I left these on my kitchen table today and came back this evening to the smell of roses, rather than the smell of the leather couches that typically dominates the olfactory experience of entering Joe's house.

I was thinking earlier today that I should leave the new blossoming roses outside since I'm not really home often and they might survive longer on the plant, but it's kind of nice having them inside - it's a good contrast with the random bike parts, tools and electronics that typically litter my kitchen table.

Make your own Dremel Stand!

I made a stand for my Dremel!

Stuff you need:

1. 1/2" Copper Pipe
2. 1/2" End cap
3. 1/2" 90° Elbow
4. Dowel Rod (slightly larger than the inside diameter of the pipe
   
5. 3/16"x1 1/2" Bolted Eyelet
6. Gorilla Glue
7. Lamp table clamp (from old lamp)

Basic Procedure:

1. Saw off 5" of Dowel Rod
2. Use Dremel with sanding band to work away excess on about 3" of the dowel if there's no way the dowel's going to fit. You want it to end up a little bigger than the inside of the pipe though
3. Apply some Gorilla Glue to the sanded down end of the dowel and tap it into the pipe, leaving 2" hanging out at the end.
4. Use the Dremel and a cutting disc to saw off a couple of inches of the other end of the copper pipe
5. Using a drill and a 1/4" drill bit, drill a hole in the center of the 1/2" cap
6. Bolt the Eyelet to the cap (stick it through the hole)
7. Use Dremel + Cutting disc to saw off the end nub of the eyelet to make it more like a hook
8. Glue the bits of piping together with Gorilla Glue

And then you're done! It cost me about $7, but I already had the clamp and the Gorilla Glue . . .