Magnet

There's nothing much to say about cycling today so I thought I'd prattle on about the house. I got some active rest on the sore knees last night by doing some yard work. Our property line extends only a few inches east of our wooden fence around the backyard, but the previous owners planted a nice yellow bush and a circle of some sort of thorny thing a few feet into the neighbor's big yard. (How about my detailed knowledge of horticulture, eh? I think the thorny thing might be a rose bush but "yellow" is the best I can do with the other bush.) The neighbor is currently renting the big old house next door, and left a big section of long grass between us and them when they last mowed. I can only guess they have no idea where the property line is and didn't want to go too far.

The old house next door sits on 3.8 acres of what used to be industrial property. The rumor is that it is being sold to a "developer" who will be putting in sixteen condo units, to be sold around $350-400K each. If we were looking to sell our house in the next five years, I'd say "whoopee" as I'm sure that will raise our property value, but we're not, so all that means is that we'll have to absorb a hefty increase in the already oppressive tax burden. If you don't like taxes, don't come to good old New York State.

Anyway, in a likely vain attempt to encourage the developer to not build right up to the property line, and to keep in place the nice row of pine trees on their side of our fence, I raked and mowed about three swaths past our yard to give the appearance that we're responsible for the trees. I imagine the first thing they'll do is come in and level the old house and cut down everything living before remaking the area it into what condo type people like. There goes our nice backyard shade.

Oh well, if you can't stand neighbors doing their thing, then you've got to buy a hundred acres in the country and live in the middle of it.

There's a huge project I need to dig into with the house. I desperately want to replace, refurbish, and or fortify the windows. We have storm windows on the first two floors, but on cold days in the winter, we still get ice built up on the inside of the inside pane, which then melts and over the decades, has damaged the wood in the sills. Damage aside, it's darn cold around the windows, and being a lightweight, I typically freeze all winter even with the furnace cranking. The attic is especially annoying because it has new windows, but they opted for super cheap ones, and there are no storms, so it'll get down to near 40 up there on the coldest days, with the wind whistling right through and that's just no fun for working out.

So, I need to do some major research about how to put in more efficient glass and tighter window frames, while maintaining the old, wide wood molding and the look of a classic victorian. Suggestions, anyone? With over 25 windows in the house, I'm looking to get nailed big time in the wallet.

For your daily cycling fix, here's something I ran into again on the 'net a few days back. The retirement of Lance means at least one big thing: Nike won't be pouring money into making any more awesome cycling commercials for a while. So, you've seen it before, but it's worth another viewing. Watch Magnet for some good music and some quick inspiration for training.

See you on the road.