Jello

One of the things I've started having a lot of is various flavors of jello and I'll add fruit to it. This green jello I got on sale recently and I decided to make it up. The little containers are for my lunches.

What I figured would be good for this batch of jello is that pear would be good that's what I've added here. If you're going to put fruit in it you'll need to let the jello solidify a bit first before adding the fruit. For these smaller containers you need to reduce the total time a bit before adding the fruit.

This is one of the changes I've made in my diet. I figured I'd be getting a bit of fruit just about every single day. I've also made a lot of other changes too and my energy levels seem to be increasing.

HOA

The mobile home court where I live got some new owners. They're kind of nice but they created new HOA type rules. Supposedly the rules are meant to maintain home values, etc.
   Anyway, as a result of the rules now being enforced there are some things I have to do to my house. One the laundry list is painting and the paint used must be one of ten colors. In the image you can see how it looked as of Saturday night. Toward the back of the house you can see the brown color it was.
   As of last night I have the west side to do, and the shed. I guess the blue color looks nice, it was the only one of the ten colors I halfway liked.
   Tonight, the shed. I'll have to use the extra thick roller pad to do it.

Story bit

I did quit writing but occasionally a bit will come up and I'll have to write it down. This is one of those.

   Smiling down at Charlie she stood silently a moment. He expectantly gazed at her eyes and held a small box in both hands. She had wanted this day for so long, and yet, a million doubts surfaced.
"What you say Maya? Will you?"
She wanted time to think about it. Given long enough she would have come up with a reason to say no.
The room became filled with painfull brightness, and the window shattered. Fragments of glass pelted the couple. Under them the floor violently shook and Maya fell on top of her beau.

Rocky Mountain Motorcycle Museum

I've been getting out a bit and the other day I went to the Rocky Mountain Motorcycle Museum. It was pretty cool and the motorcycles were fascinating.

Could you imagine driving this one? It's a 1914 Indian Twin. Having looked them up you had a whole 7 HP.

This 1915 Harley-Davidson Model 11-F had 11 HP and I believe it had a 60 cubic inch engine.

This is a 1965 Harley-Davidson Panhead. It's the first Harley that had an electric start.

This 1929 Harley-Davidson was sure flashy. It had a 750cc engine.

I guess this thing is what my scooter is related to.

A Harley Davidson Moped. These weren't made very long.

This bike caught my eye as it looks pretty cool. I'll bet it's a two stroke but I couldn't find a placard.

This is a Harley-Davidson MT-500. They were built in limited quantities for the military in 1999-2000. They are also only 500cc.

MPG's

 When I went to get my new license I wanted something really cheap to operate, and simple to repair. I got this Taotao 50. It has a 49cc single cylinder four stroke engine that drives it along 35-40 mph on level ground. This picture was taken right after I got it out of the crate it was delivered in. The scooter cost $580 plus $199 delivery.
   Here in Colorado you do have to carry vehicle insurance and you do have to register the scooter. For full coverage I'm paying about $120 per year. My registration is for three years and cost about $6. You get a little sticker you apply just about where the plate would normally be. I will note, at least here in Colorado the odometer reading is not noted on your registration and I made a smaller sized copy to carry along with my insurance card. You never know when you'll get pulled over so it's best to be prepared.

   I will also note that you probably won't find a shop that will work on these. You'd better learn how to repair then including replacing tires. Luckily they are simple to repair.

I got an app on my Droid that I keep track of fill ups, and mileage. Here is the average over the last two months. I will note that I have to take the odometer reading and convert it to miles since the odometer measures kilometers. 

March was the first month the scooter was registered. It was also during the break in period which obviously didn't have the best mileage. 

Now, in April the break in period is complete and now I'm getting full MPG's. They are great!

Garden 2015

I thought I would share a little of this years effort. Something I've wanted is a watering timer you can see it in this picture. Pretty simple device that times up to two hours.

This bed with the bulbs now has its own water. I just have to flip a lever to start watering it.

This is at the back end of the garden. Those little bushes produce tiny pink flowers and the plants are drought resistant.  

All the little green sprouts are Cosmos. They are coming up in a thick blanket. In some places I'm probably going to have to pull them unfortunately or they will kill the other stuff I'm trying to grow.

This is the new rose bush I'm trying this year. I'm also trying out twenty Liatris bulbs most of which I planted in the formerly unused center section.

I'm hoping the strawberries will do well this year. 

This is the Wisteria that I guess still has several years to go before it flowers. 

I had planted another one of those flowering bushes up front and you can see the one established rosebush.  

Part of my irrigation system died and I replaced with this soaker hose. It emits, according to the package 1 gallon of water per foot per hour. Being new it hasn't sunk into the soil yet like it's going to. 

Old bridge

The part of Colorado Springs I live in there's some trails that I've went walking on many times. In one particular place there's this decrepit bridge. Here's a few pictures of it from Mark Dabling Blvd. I'd always seen the bridge from the other side of the creek before.

I was researching the area tonight and why the bridge looks like does is probably the result of a flood that happened in 1935. Three bridges had been destroyed. The one that made the newspapers was a footbridge in a part of the park near downtown. This part of town, however, was part of Roswell which had been annexed by Colorado Springs in the early 1900's. 
   The main power plant for the city happened to be located in the center of Roswell. Around this area was a large number of coal mines that were dug into the bluffs and hillsides. I live a short ways from this bridge however and the ground consists of fill from the mines. This I researched once I found out about the mines as I didn't want my house falling into an abandoned mine shaft. 
   Apparently around Rockrimmon Blvd that's been an issue. There was also drainage issues where Nevada Ave and I-25 meets. Of course that intersection has about eight mines extending outward according to the Bureau of Mines map. I will note that directly across Nevada Blvd from where I live are some abandoned mine shafts. I'll note that not too far away you can see two of the beehive shaped kilns that was used to take the coal and bake it into coke for power plant. The power plant has been modernized but it's still there.

Here's a view of the bridge from the satellite in Google maps. As you can see it's in the left side of this image. Mark Dabling Blvd is to the left, and Mountview is to the right and points toward the bridge.

Now I'm really curious so I research further and I found this map from 1940. In the upper left hand corner is a block of city blocks that doesn't exist now. I think, though I'm not totally sure, that bridge was the access for the people living there who happened to be miners. I'll have to double check it at the library.

   That's enough of this little stroll through history. Have a great day.