Going Nuts!

The other day I took my bike of the rack and noticed the front wheel seemed to have frozen during the night. Not really surprising, as it had rained and snowed and sleeted during the night. I pushed and pulled and the wheel started to rotate a bit but there was still some resistance. So I put more weight on the bike and pushed and pulled and the front wheel started rotating again. Nice!

Well, the wheel started rotating again, but, unfortunately something had gone wrong: the wire from the hub dynamo to the lights was cut when the wheel and the dynamo connector rotated but the wire stayed put. One nut had become so loose that when I tried to get the wheel spinning, the hub spinned with it. Not Nice.

And this happened a few days after the other light on the bike stopped working. Two lights, neither working. Double Not Nice.

So, although Movember just ended, I recommend you to check your Nuts!

Scary... Evil... Disgusting...

I was riding home in the dark. The sunset was 16:01 and it was cloudy and no snow on the ground so it was pretty dark after 6 pm. I did have lights with me so no problem with the dark.

But then I saw some lights ahead, but off the road. I smelled something... vile. The smell got stronger as rode closer. I knew instantly something evil had happened there. But there was no way around...

It was a small campfire, with several small figures skulking in the shadows... you know, vampires, zombies and things like that. When they noticed me, they called out: "Who goes there?"

In my most impressive, deep monster voice I could make I answered: "MONSTERRRR!"

Satisfied, the evil monsters returned to their task at hand: trying to put out the fire by peeing on it.

Hauskaa Ällöweeniä!

( Happy Disgustiween! :-)

Missed the Supermoon

There was a Supermoon in the shadow this morning. But when I looked outside this morning, I saw clouds so I missed the eclipse. (Looked outside, saw clouds and then I went back to bed. Too darn early!) I tried to take some shots of the moon with my pocket shooter but apparently a camera on a bicycle seat is not steady enough for taking good pictures of the moon. All I got some roundish or oval shapes with no lunar seas visible.

Fortunately, aiming at the ground a few meters ahead of me worked fine. Ah, puddles! At least this road isn't all mud. It rained a whole month's worth of rain in one day last week, and some showers later meant the puddles havent gone anywhere.

 And here's a tree which had nice colours on it a week or two ago. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me until this time. About half or two thirds of the leaves gone so the tree does not look very impressive. And practically no berries either. Did the birds already eat them (the winter food?) or was the summer so bad none grew?

How is the summer going?

One thing is for certain: years are not alike. Last year we had a cold early summer (it even snowed) and then later about a month of hot days (above +25C is considered hot here). This summer were still hoping we might break the +25C limit, though we've had some days above +20C! On the other hand, the winter is coming :-) and the weather starts cooling soon. Jaakko throws the Cold Stone into the lake in a few days and the swimming will be over for the summer soon!

 And it seems it rains every other day at least. In June it rained double the monthly average (the monthly average is something like 50mm) and so far July has been the same. I wonder what happens in the Autumn when it is supposed to be rainy?

Cycling related: I've transported my lumber jacking tools on my bike to/from the woods. So if you've seen someone riding with a helmet, take note: it is probably the only time you'll see me riding with one this year. Lumberjacking helmet is imho great for cycling: the visor protects the face from flying insects, it's well ventilated, the earmuffs protect my hearing from honking cars, and best of all it is bright orange!

Growing grass

1st of May: no green.

5th of May: some green on sunny spots

And a bunch of pictures May 18th to June 8th.

May 25th: not a lot of leaves on trees

June 8th: green!

Question: what is this?

What is this and why is it here? Was I testing out a new camera?  Someone shot at me? Bike ads on the newspaper?

Why is this here?

Any guesses? :-D

A clue:

Artsy photo!

Had to dig out my sunglasses

A few days ago there was some snow coming down in the morning. Once the clouds cleared the sun was shining with full blast:

I had to dig out my sunglasses! :D That snow didn't stay long, it was half gone on my ride back and all gone the next day. Today, though was another day and I didn't need protection against the sun. There are a few low pressure systems circling us so it'll most likely be varying weather for the next few days.

Now, if only i could figure out how to get rid of those specs on the pics.