Little helper

Silas helped make sure I had all the parts I needed to pipe in our new gas grill.

First bath in the "new" house

Yes, we've had the house for nearly three years, and it's taken this long for the bathroom to finally be 95% finished. There are some details to finish, including finding/commissioning a vanity, but nonetheless, it's functional. Bethany got her first bath a few days ago. Tonight was my first. Yay! I needed to soak after a long run with Guthrie. For the bibliophiles, I got the notion to read Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth. I made it through several chapters in the late 30's during the relaxin'...

Bathroom becoming useable!

Our contractor installed the toilet temporarily in the bathroom today. Bethany is leaping for joy. I just hope it doesn't push the baby out. I want him to hang in there another two weeks so he's as fully cooked as possible, and so contractor Bruce can get as much of the bathroom completed as possible.

We bought the toilet a couple of years ago, but the bathroom project stagnated until the impetus of the fetus brought us to the sensible decision of hiring a contractor. It's a dual flush toilet from Mansfield, made in Perrysville, OH (we think). The funny thing is that Mansfield isn't in Mansfield, Ohio. I was wrong all these years, evidently.

The decision for a dual flush toilet was a very straightforward one for us. We tend to practice the "if it's yellow, let it mellow. If it's brown, flush it down," method of toilet etiquette. Of course, we modify it for when we have visitors that frown at such behaviors. The dual flush toilets use a lower flush volume in the "number one" mode. When you need the flushing power, they have the "number two" mode that flushes like a normal low-flow toilet. I haven't run the calculations to see how much water we have the capability of saving. As I mentioned, we're pretty sparing to begin with. This can only help us conserve this valuable resource. I can't remember the cost, but I don't think it cost any more than similar quality toilets we were considering that were not dual flush. We sourced it from Lowes, who had to special order it. It didn't take long to come in, but then again, as we had it for two years and today's the first time it's gotten wet, that didn't matter so much to us...

19 July Ride - Rivers, Graffiti, Ladies, and a Vodka-Drinking Ryder

The intent is to relay something fun about every day. Today included all sorts of fun found on two wheels in the greater Pittsburgh area.

The first stop of the ride today was Crescent Supply to look at vanity cabinets for our bathroom renovation underway. I'm looking for a vanity cabinet to support two vessel sinks. The trouble we're having finding one is that the tub is larger than our initial drawings had it, so the vanity needs to be shorter than we'd originally planned. There are few options out there the correct size that aren't a bazillion dollars. I won't get distracted with this now...

From there, I got to bag another bridge and rode the 62nd Street bridge over to Etna/Sharpsburg. Here is a view from the bridge.


On the trail along the railroad tracks from Etna to Millvale, I stopped to admire some graffiti. I have issues with some graffiti, specifically the kind that is vandalism on someone's house, garage, or other property. However, in certain areas, it is not so bad. Crumbling infrastructure devoid of architectural design seems like a pretty benign venue... Here is one that caught my eye.


I met up with my friend, Ryder, for some riding. Like how that works? We rode down from Bloomfield to the South Side and met up to eat lunch with our partners and some other friends who had gathered to go see Mama Mia. This group of ladies was ueberkind to put up with two sweaty boys out on a bike ride. We're thankful. :)

To cement that point, here is a picture of Ryder during our ride. This is how we roll! Drinking vodka straight from the bottle on the trail. Actually, he was exercising his right to reduce, recycle, reuse, with a focus on the REUSE, filling up an old bottle with water for the day.


After lunch, we hightailed it out through West Mifflin to McKeesport to check out a shorter, safe route for Ryder and Maya to begin their upcoming Great Allegheny Passage ride. More on that later. We had all sorts of fun and adventures and lots of bridge crossings, much to the chagrin of the local drivers that feel the roads are too narrow to accommodate bikes and cars...

All told, Ryder and I rode 30 miles together. Add that to my 12 from earlier in the day, and I got a nice 42 miles in. Not a bad way to spend a day in Pittsburgh.