Kristie's weekly-ish pics

Wow, thanks, We don't have that many big cats here in the central Mainer highlands. I'm really enjoying the updates of the Grand Project.

I'm interested in the wheelie-bin pooper now that it's been built and active for a bit. Any updates? I'd like to implement one here on our patch..

We finally got our pocket rocket put in....so excited!

Kristie Wheaton wrote:We finally got our pocket rocket put in....so excited!

Is that just a "U" inside a 55 gallon drum, made of 6 inch stove pipe, and back filled with perilite?Interesting to say the least.

Maybe I missed it, but I haven't seen bicycles much. I would think after any of the motorized toys have been through the trail would be good enough for a bike. Has anyone tried using them for general personal transport? Are things just close enough for walking? They don't carry enough tools? They wouldn't be for everyone, I was just wondering if they found a place at all.

Or maybe you have really good reasons not to have them?

A mountain bike would work, but the terrain is fairly steep and the roads pretty much unimproved at the moment. (No, the roads do not have a crown. ) I think you'd need some fat knobby tires, good gearing and ideally some shock absorbers.

I would guess that road maintenance is not currently getting high priority. Building the first wofati (so Kristie and her family can stop sleeping in a tent!) may be the first priority, other than keeping the livestock safe and healthy.

A worthy project for anybody local (meaning, in Missoula) would be to put together some sturdy appropriate bikes for use at the farm. Isn't there a place in Missoula that takes in all sorts of bikes and allows people to cobble together useful rides from these? I think Paul has enough good karma with those folks that somebody representing him could do this. He doesn't have the time himself, though.

They actually have 1 or 2 bikes with electric motor assist. It didn‘t seem like they would be that practical to go from one job to the other.

Julia Winter wrote:A mountain bike would work, but the terrain is fairly steep and the roads pretty much unimproved at the moment. (No, the roads do not have a crown. ) I think you'd need some fat knobby tires, good gearing and ideally some shock absorbers.

I would guess that road maintenance is not currently getting high priority. Building the first wofati (so Kristie and her family can stop sleeping in a tent!) may be the first priority, other than keeping the livestock safe and healthy.

I certainly agree having a home is a bigger priority than roads. I was not thinking road bikes, the trails look better from bike POV than truck to me. But then I have watched people do things on bikes I would never attempt The fact that there are no roads are what made me think of bikes as they can fit through narrow ways well and can carry quite a lot of stuff if packed right. But really I was thinking of people moving for things like moving fence lines where you have to get out there first but don't require too much in tools. My main concern would be wild life... As in moving fast (and quiet) enough to surprise dangerous wild life. Also, I am thinking from a Vancouver Island POV where bike riding year around is common and trail riding is a big thing.... if a machine can make it through so can a bike.

A worthy project for anybody local (meaning, in Missoula) would be to put together some sturdy appropriate bikes for use at the farm. Isn't there a place in Missoula that takes in all sorts of bikes and allows people to cobble together useful rides from these? I think Paul has enough good karma with those folks that somebody representing him could do this. He doesn't have the time himself, though.

I would think that Missoula is big enough to find throw away bikes that would do just fine. I have 5 1/2 bikes right now that were free on the side of the road or given to me by people. My son has grown through two of them size wise, I rode my younger son around on another with a child seat in front, have a girls bike my wife hasn't tried yet and an old 10 speed that would be no use on a farm, but is _very_ fast on pavement. 3 1/2 of those bikes were off road style, 2 with shocks. There is lots of throw aways if you look.

As a side note, I know biking is not for everyone... I would not expect everyone to be riding one, but was surprised not even to see a kid's bike anywhere.

Adrien Lapointe wrote:They actually have 1 or 2 bikes with electric motor assist. It didn‘t seem like they would be that practical to go from one job to the other.

I was not thinking of electric assist as the battery/motor would take up the weight/space reserve that might be used to carry things... and the ones I have seen don't seem designed for off road.

As a another side note, I walk for a living (with weight) and riding the same distance on a bike would seem.... well, like not working almost So I ask these questions knowing my view points are somewhat skewed.

Here is what happens when i leave my daughters eye sight!

Our "wild n crazy" bull charlie....he is viscious!

Preparing the barrels so they can burn tge paint off of them.