My mother doesn’t like it (”it’s ugly — it’s so black and dark…”)

Went to give Jen a kiss and she said, “gee, that’s weird.”

Anyway, it is like 7 days of growth. Sometimes it itches. Sometimes I don’t even remember that it is there. It’s an experiment… we’ll see.

that felt a little better. I had to rush to get out. Woke up late… So, I forgot my water bottle (doh!) and was late to work anyway. But it was worth it.

I was excited to see that Joe Clark, everyone’s favorite accessibility guru, has a page about cycling in the winter. Once, I had an accessibility question, so I emailed Joe. Literally 10 minutes later, I got a very thorough, thoughtful response. I’ve never met him, but based on that, I’d say he rules.

We have a thermometer outside our kitchen window. I went to bed last night thinking “I have to ride tomorrow. I have to. It’s been too long.”

So, I got up early and layered up. Thermo tights that I got for Christmas last year and only wore once. The REI bike pants on top of that (not skin-tight, luckily for my fellow citizens…) Base layer wicking top, fleece on top of that, ridiculously bright yellow bike jacket on top of that.

Then: neoprene shoe covers, fleece face mask, skullcap, gloves. Oh, and Smartwools on the feet.

Gah, I can barely move…

It was Hell and Heaven, but mostly Hell for the first part. Toward the end I felt a little more fluid.

I think my chain needs to be replaced. And there is a squeak that has developed. I’m gonna take it in to the shop for a good overhaul/tune up, but I wanted to break 1,000 miles first.

Now I’m at work, where the heat really doesn’t work. It is 66 degrees. It will warm up by about 2pm to maybe 70.

It’s weird: at home we keep it at 67 and that feels great. At work, it can be 72, and you’re still chilly.

Olivia wanted me to make her a sled “just like Max’s” (see Max and Ruby), so this is what I came up with — it is kinda beefy:

Matt’s brain-thoughts: “Six inch tall rails should provide enough clearance…”

Can we call it “Sledder S3?”

Things left to do: attach sheet metal strips to the rails, add a rope handle, shellac/varnish/stain it to protect it from the wetness, and wax up them rails. I have a leftover “Slick Brick” from my skateboarding days of yore for that task…

Olivia helped with the drilling and attaching the boards with screws. I used the square/box headed kind I ordered from Rockler a while back — they worked like a charm.

Of course, some snow would really help out here for testing….

“I can do it!”

They didn’t have skates small enough for Natty, but she really liked watching everyone skating. The guy who rents the skates let Jen have a coat from the lost and found. It was downright freezing in there!

“Ta da!” and later: “I want to go ice skating EVERY DAY!”