My solar-assisted custom tricycle FOLLIES

[ddk]

......
If anyone calls, Please Leave a Message... otherwise I will never know, because I never return or save calls that didn't I.D themselves.
Have an e-grin moon!

chelshire cat.jpg (70.56 KiB) Viewed 1788 times

[ddk]

While most forum members here have (or had) a fascination with extreme speeds using electricity (on a bicycle?) mine own was something else... Hill climbing.
My facination with climbing steep hills is a reflection, somewhat, of my experience during my teen years in East Omaha, where I lived adjacent to what was then, the steepest hills to be found in Omaha (or most anywhere else).
I, of course, took it as a personal challenge to climb these hills using single-speed bicycles of that era, and in doing so destroyed crankarms (notably, bending and breaking several single-piece cranks and breaking every multi-piece crank, which I continued to destroy... until recently) pedals (is there anything more painful than slamming ones' testicles onto an upper bicycle tube? I think not) bottom bracket tubes and chains. Sometimes all a the same time.
The streets, Castelar, Center and Hickory, heading east from 13th St to 12th St. are one-block insane grades that even challenged cars. (esp. during winter...)
During winter months we usually amused ourselves by watching automobiles attempting to negotiate these snow and ice-covered hilly streets, the cars descending while attempting assents (and, with their brakes fully-locked, sliding slowly into other cars making the same journey, or parked cars, telephone poles, trees, bushes, signage and the occasional house) ("That house just jumped out in front of me! Really occifer") This was when those 3 channels on the old black and white (TV) (sometimes 4 channels) just wasn't enough!
Anyways, when I first started using electric motors on bicycles I only intended using the motor to 'assist' climbing hills so they were suitably geared for such activitys. (after destroying some... ahh, experiments! Science!)) Obviously, I usually sported unlimited range... by not using the motor for any other activity.
When I bought my first commercial ebike (e-zip trails) I was, of course, highly disappointed by it's lack of ascending capability, or any other capability. It did, however, ride somewhat like a bicycle.
So it goes...


edittited for boredom

[ddk]

I was reminded that the single-piece crank I broke was of a defective casting.
However, I did manage (reluctantly) to break every cottered crank assembly made. For some reason no one would lend me their bike after a bit.
**********************************************************************
My e-trike battery usage continues to hover around 12kW per month. This has been one of those 'wet' years but hopefully better weather is soon to come.
Locally spring sprung last week with the (wild) easter lily blooms. This area is famous for its' commercial easter lilies but apparently some lilies have escaped capture.

[ddk]

three times this week I've been caught in rain/hail storms... it's been a wet year here.
One person, upon seeing MPdPM speculated I must get wet because "...it doesn't have a floor!".
Weird assumption on their part since I was standing there, completely dry after riding though a downpour.
I swear (I do, as much as possible and quite loudly) "most people sleep though life" (quoting my neighbor who often sprouts this bit'o wisdom)

I wanted to sleep though life!
... but something or someone would always shake me back to consciousness.

[ddk]

and

its a hard rain.jpg (26.13 KiB) Viewed 1686 times

...and speaking of downpours, it's been a particularly bad-d-d-d year for hail storms.
Thank bob the hail here is generally pea-sized or smaller, unlike Nebraska where hail is generally destroy-all-monsters size.

...gonna fall

riding for the hail of it.jpg (54.06 KiB) Viewed 1686 times

[ddk]

a day without rain or fog. How different is that?
I was searching for the elusive Oregon Iris.
Took off MPdPM's door, grabbed the camera(s) and tripod and discovered the state destroyed the roadside plants.
...oh well

oh chute.jpg (127.79 KiB) Viewed 1665 times

mossy.jpg (119.28 KiB) Viewed 1665 times

next day change.jpg (115.28 KiB) Viewed 1665 times

a wild daffy dil appears.jpg (93.66 KiB) Viewed 1665 times

flock of flowers.jpg (133.57 KiB) Viewed 1665 times

[ddk]

one day of sun then rain and more rain with rain predicted in the foreseeable future.
But we'll always have yesterday. (or was it the day before?)

full optical only zoom.jpg (71.08 KiB) Viewed 1634 times

I probably circled the wrong tree but whatever

full optical and digital zoom.jpg (47.89 KiB) Viewed 1634 times

urple.jpg (106.77 KiB) Viewed 1634 times

pine cones.jpg (173.43 KiB) Viewed 1634 times

I am still liking my latest camera...

[ddk]

no pics (yay)
no sunny days for awhile...
February was the Top Ten rainiest months in recorded weather history and I'm pretty sure March is making that same attempt.

I should probably check my phone more than once a week (or two) but...
Tells ya how many phone calls I get.

[ddk]

It stopped raining for a few hours today so I first, removed a winter's worth of hair growth on my head
(yes, I looked like the hermit I am) and second, went down to the beach to see more whales than I've seen my whole life.
Unfortunately the sky was overcast and most my pictures are quite crap. + the whales were not gray whales and had a distinctly weaker blow. When they spyhopped they did so only fractions of a second which made photographing that impossible.
Had I been moar cleverer I would have taken a movie and captured snapshots later, but alas, I apparently cut off most my brain along with my hair.

making it hard to see anything much less the weak spouts

ugli sky and water.jpg (98.92 KiB) Viewed 1616 times

what a weak blow spout looks like

unknown species.jpg (78.13 KiB) Viewed 1616 times

waves hi

have a fin.jpg (113.79 KiB) Viewed 1616 times

hard to see 10 whales in this picture, but there's actually about 20

gray green skyocean.jpg (95.08 KiB) Viewed 1616 times

I spotted a group of about 40 whales headed south and 20-25 whales hanging out in the harbor. None of them had mannerisms similar to a gray whale and I did spot a white-ish whale (small, not the Hermann Melville size but larger than your common porpoise, which also don't spout) (on porpoise)

[Rassy]

Typing with a cat on my lap is a pain, just lost my whole message...will try again.

Nice whale watching experience, thanks for sharing. That's one more thing I miss since moving to Eugene.

An old schoolmate from Waldport days and I are driving over to Waldport on Tuesday to have lunch with another old schoolmate. Maybe we'll see some of your whales if they are heading North. Will end up driving the coastline from Waldport to Newport.

EDIT: and when I say old I mean really old. My buds are both 76 and younger than me!

[ddk]

..,.
An old schoolmate from Waldport days and I are driving over to Waldport on Tuesday to have lunch with another old schoolmate. Maybe we'll see some of your whales if they are heading North. Will end up driving the coastline from Waldport to Newport.

Good luck on your trip. Hope you see lots of marine mammals.

Seeing this many whales porpoises and dolphins (not like I can tell the difference between a dolphin or a porpoise when they're mainly underwater and I'll never get in a boat anymore as I get seasick just looking at boats rocking in dock)... any way seeing this many sea mammals reminds me of a time in the 80's when I realized raptors and other large birds had made a dramatic recovery from DDT damage.

and when I say old I mean really old. My buds are both 76 and younger than me!

keep riding the trike and you'll last another 20 or 30 years!

Take care

[ddk]

...spied an orange Elf on the road which looks like the local green Elf except it's orange.
Twas taking pictures of non-existent whales which have left the premises, apparently.
So here's a different pic...

nom de plume is Artsy Fartsy ...
sometimes

artsy fartsy.jpg (30.68 KiB) Viewed 1572 times

I never process pictures
And I never lie
Except when I do
And I do.

[ddk]

...another day
...another storm
Being kept awake by the loudest hail storm on a roof I rarely hear from.


meanwhile in the daytime

nappy time.jpg (100.55 KiB) Viewed 1529 times

loons and seals rest

wut sea.jpg (91.92 KiB) Viewed 1529 times

[ddk]

couple of nice days means a couple of things, like shopping and whale watching.
pictures also...
It's funni how a gray skys turns color photos into black and white

on a grey day comes.jpg (85.45 KiB) Viewed 1483 times

close to home.jpg (95.35 KiB) Viewed 1483 times

smoke on the water.jpg (77.34 KiB) Viewed 1483 times

old blow hole.jpg (86.96 KiB) Viewed 1483 times

ready set.jpg (94.63 KiB) Viewed 1483 times

tree blossums.jpg (102.01 KiB) Viewed 1483 times

obviously whales are still on the move
oh, and have a nice spring!

[docnjoj]

Um...............time warp. Wasn't Spring Mar 21? Nice photos by the way.
otherDoc

[ddk]

Yo! spring season

I know as much about plants as I do whales...

i.e- not much

But I do know plenty of the plants I take photos of are not just photogenic, they're also deadly poisonous with many of them too poisonous to even touch (like- foxglove... but isn't it pretty?)
Which is why I take photos from a distance, as I wouldn't know a petunia from a peony.
Unlike whales, plants make good photographic subjects cause they don't move (too much)

non native probably.jpg (116.64 KiB) Viewed 1428 times

more closer.jpg (95.23 KiB) Viewed 1428 times

monkey flower maybe.jpg (105.58 KiB) Viewed 1428 times

lily in da poppy.jpg (181.42 KiB) Viewed 1428 times

...next up
"how's that rust, besides rusty?"

[Rassy]

too poisonous to even touch (like- foxglove...

Dang, I probably won't live to see 50. Oops that was 27 years ago, oh well, I still won't ever see 50 (again).

We used to pick foxglove leaves to sell. I think they extracted digitalis from the foxglove leaves. Often picked them and kept them in vases in the house because they were so pretty.
As kids (which lasted until my second childhood kicked in) we would put those petals on our fingers (like gloves). Then when we got tired of doing that we would pick some berries and eat them, using out foxglove tainted hands, or maybe we would still have some petals on our fingers!

Anyway, I never heard anyone say they were poisonous. Okay, I had to go look it up, and yes it is very poisonous to both humans and animals. Too bad we didn't have the internet back then:

Foxglove, also called Digitalis purpurea, is a common biennial garden plant that contains digitoxin, digoxin, and other cardiac glycosides. These are chemicals that affect the heart. Digitalis is poisonous; it can be fatal even in small doses. It was the original source of the drug called digitalis.

[ddk]

been a while...
recovering from another "incident" but I can walk and talk once more.

@Rassy I only learned about these plants recently, having no knowledge about any of them other than a castor bean plant, which a house I lived in as a child had a jungle of in the back yard. I thought the jungle looked great but my parents thought otherwise and had the plants removed (by their kids, of course...think about it)
The plants were so old they had thick, woody stems and had to be chopped out with axes.
This was the point in my life I got to learn how to use an axe.

what one season's exposure does to metals in my location (close to big ocean, blah blah blah etc etc etc)

boo hoo

exposed surfaces.jpg (83.56 KiB) Viewed 1376 times

... on the other hand, kept in garage

patinaed.jpg (97.44 KiB) Viewed 1376 times

[ddk]

...and here we are, recharging the battery packs.
It's most convenient for me to recharge only 2 packs at a time but the packs take about 45 minutes to recharge and so I usually spend three hours doing so.

a bee without mites, maybee

bee cuzz.jpg (95.84 KiB) Viewed 1309 times

**********************************************************************

these blooms are already gone

in bloom county.jpg (115.99 KiB) Viewed 1309 times

One of the reasons I rarely recharge is because my shopping is only 100W away (new method of measuring distance)

[ddk]

wonderful day in para-dice

riding the mowed path.jpg (152.58 KiB) Viewed 1281 times

Road to nowhere stopping nowhere to take pictures of the wild undergrowth

stealing time.jpg (154.6 KiB) Viewed 1281 times

...if one looks closer they get some rewards for their efforts

not do deadly deadly plants.jpg (146.3 KiB) Viewed 1281 times

wild stuff.jpg (129.68 KiB) Viewed 1281 times

is this fushia.jpg (141.9 KiB) Viewed 1281 times

about 1% of the plant photos I take are of cultivated plantings (gardens) because sometimes those are hard to pass buy without a serious look-see.

showoffs.jpg (151.75 KiB) Viewed 1281 times

hidden blooms.jpg (115.91 KiB) Viewed 1281 times

I post less than 1% of photos I take. About 40% are post-worthy but this isn't a photo gallery forum, I just like to say out loud (in forum-speak) "heck, I'm still kickin' "
It's good to be retired

[ddk]

Weird but true!
Automotive switches I've been using with great success suddenly all failed yesterday
The switches used in 12S and larger battery packs welded themselves shut!
How strange is that, considering the ambient temps only reached mid-80s F?

Oh well, life goes on and I'm gonna reuse the same switches because these things gave good service for at least 5 years.
has a fishing party!

schooling for fishes.jpg (126.31 KiB) Viewed 1268 times

[ddk]

more weirdness...
the temps dropped back down to normal (12C-16C) this week and low and behold, all the 'failed' switches are working once more.
But they're on my lil' list o things to fix. (switch switches)

with an 'S'

entrys of camel rock.jpg (83.98 KiB) Viewed 1210 times

foxglove in hues.jpg (180.04 KiB) Viewed 1210 times

parasite plant on foxglove.jpg (113.3 KiB) Viewed 1210 times

[ddk]

my 20C batteries are 5 to 6 years old and still blasting away at over 80% capacity (closer to 90%)

over 5 year old coroplast being used as roofing- not so great... well, one sheet likely contaminated with some splashes of unknown solvents isn't doing to well.
The 10mm coroplast is fine, as is the other sheet material

coroplast after 5 years.jpg (36.37 KiB) Viewed 1155 times

4th of July was a bust, as fog moved in before nightfall. I decided to stay at home and observed the fireworks were "heard, not seen" upon looking outside. (I can usually see the fireworks display from my doorway)

I expect the eclipse in August will look similar

4th of July 2017.jpg (22.13 KiB) Viewed 1155 times

The birds continue their convention.
What do pelicans, seagulls, cormorants, loons, herons and other waterfowl have in common?
- Lots of fish including smelly, dead floating fish clogging the harbor.

bird convention.jpg (135.42 KiB) Viewed 1155 times

birds gather for massive fish die off.jpg (44.22 KiB) Viewed 1155 times

ufos.jpg (39.09 KiB) Viewed 1155 times

The last photo is a reminder that the port authority, in an effort(?) to save money, canceled all harbor activities excluding the kite festival.

[ddk]

...the post above implies that my current trikes are 5-6 years old.
Not too many issues to speak of, although I spoke of all in this thread, including modifications.

...One of the reasons I rarely recharge is because my shopping is only 100W away (new method of measuring distance)

...and on a clear, no wind, 70F day it takes only 35W to go shopping (and back). The difference is staggering.

[ddk]

I'm told this happens every ten years or so.
Anchovies gather in such large numbers they deplete the oxygen in the water and die off in huge numbers.
The last time this happened the port authority added oxygenaters to the harbor.
Obviously not enough were added.

Made a foray into Crescent City where I discovered their harbor lacked birds altogether.

But locally the birds: pelicans, gulls, murres, loons and (strangely) the occasional cormorant, have gathered in numbers I haven't witnessed since I was a mere child (before there was dirt).

Most pictures taken from the seat of MPdPM and why did I name my bike/trike creations?
-lots easier then typing their descriptions.

Crescent City has...

no birdies.jpg (90.29 KiB) Viewed 1067 times

free fishies

bird convention continues with guest star anchovies.jpg (130.51 KiB) Viewed 1067 times

so many birds.jpg (143.95 KiB) Viewed 1067 times

mmmmmmmms

cormmorant.jpg (125.07 KiB) Viewed 1067 times