The Monster Cookie

       
       
        The official name is The Monster Cookie Metric Century; named for the cookie provided at the finish line. It's Salem's most popular bike ride event. Event bike rides are normally not thought of with affection; but the Monster Cookie (I don't know anyone who uses the official name) holds a soft spot for me. It's not a ride that takes itself seriously:

        But is has the feel of an event:

        You can enjoy it at 10mph or at 25mph. Thus there are those in full race club kit as well as decidedly less serious attire.

        One of the many reasons I like Salem is that even in town I don't feel crammed in aside cars and inhaling their fumes. It doesn't take long to be in quiet country roads. The roads leading to and around Champoeg State Park are particularly picturesque.

         It's a flat route, which is what makes it accessible to so many levels of riders, but the distance covered gives us participants a real sense of accomplishment. We all exert ourselves- just at different speeds.





Geri's Office Revisited

        This was the state of Geri's office as of July 2013.

        Last Summers' remodel did accomplish one of our objectives which was to decompress this room's shelves. Despite the addition of  95 linear feet of shelving, Geri's bookshelves are still densely populated.

       We also needed some storage for her painting supplies which up until the Fall were in the upstairs room along with her work desk. We had seen a repurposed metal filing cabinet which we considered. We tend to procrastinate with items that are either bulky or expensive; thus several months of considering our options went by. With the need for another bedroom to allow for my mom's extended visits, this turned out to be a good thing. Our bed alcove necessitated moving Geri's work table into her office. The daybed in turn became the bed for the guest bedroom.
       It had been our goal to have the upstairs as an area where we could both work on projects and "visit" while we work. The reality is that our free time to do non-work projects seldom coincides. So Ger's art worktable was better off in her office.  We were both happy with the new arrangement as her office seemed much more spacious.
       A new goal was to keep the floors as free of stuff as possible. Thus a cabinet was out for storage. Geri thought a drawer for the desk would be a better solution which gave me good reason to get back in my shop and kept us from shopping for storage. The new drawer has ample space for paint brushes, tubes etc.

       While admiring all that free floor space, it reminded me that I never did put in baseboards or finish the closet door trim.

       I get to put that off as we both agreed that the room really would look great with hardwood floors- another project, maybe this summer!

Sleevefacing

        I came across this meme while looking at one of the many photography related e-mails that land on my mailbox. According to the author, the internet fad started in 2007. There's even a just published book on the topic that I'll hunt down the next time we're in Portland (not available in the only secular bookstore with a new book selection left in Salem).
        Well, the digital crowd may have discovered the concept in 2007, but my sister and I used the concept (we didn't give it a name) more than 30 years ago. It's one of my favorite family photos.

          Books, records and photos were my main household furnishings then and now. I've evolved (somewhat-my wife and family will qualify) as needed; a 300 sq. ft. single at that time to my more civilized dwelling now.  As it turns out, my wife was/is a big Cars fan. So we decided to do a 2013 sleeveface.

Stand-up Desk

As befits a guy of a certain age, my back has been bothering me.  It happens more in the winter when I spend more time sitting on me butt looking at a screen (except in the summer, when I irritate it doing manual labor). I've long been aware of the health hazards of spending too much time sitting down and had been ideating on a standing work area for digital photography.
One of my favorite internet sites is The Online Photographer edited by Mike Johnston. Mike J. is a knowledgeable and entertaining writer on photography both digital and analog. He also will write on other subjects, many of which I also am interested in. One such "off-topic" post was a very useful article on stand-up desks where he outlined the ergonomic and sizing guidelines.
The area allocated to my digital darkroom is cozy- about 7x10ft. The wall opposite the printer was the obvious location for the new desk. The standing area had to be relatively shallow, otherwise it would feel cramped and cluttered. Over the years I learned that a good way to give the feeling of more space is to have the floors free. Luckily, I still had a pair of 12X13 steel squares that I used for the library shelves installed last Summer. There was plenty of 2X12's and 2x8's to use for the top and bottom. The bottom refers to a base support for a pair of Bisley 5 drawer cabinets. I have another pair elsewhere; they are great for storing printing paper, photos, etc.
The expenditures for this project came from shelling out for a new desktop computer. I had been using a Viao laptop  for digital photography  and  to run a Squeezebox Touch. The latter is a little music server that has great audio quality both as an internet radio source (it can access internet stations not available on iTunes), uncompressed CD files and Hi-Res downloads. It can be linked to either a NAS or a computer from either WiFi or ethernet which comes in handy as it's 30 feet away from my desktop. So, a computer that can serve as both a much speedier Photoshop machine and a music source made for a reasonable purchase. My better half is also happy as she needed a more up to date Windows machine.
Here is the new standing desk.

The new arrangement allows for a 4 foot space between the printer and the opposing desk. By placing the computer at the former desk area, I was able to use the existing cables (except for one Ethernet cable for which I'll need to buy an extension).

In addition to providing a standing area to work in, the new arrangement gives a lot more desktop area than the previous location where the desktop now sits.

Hopefully, my back will improve and I'll be more productive.

Bed Alcove

      One of the many idiosyncrasies of our home is that for the past 10 years or so, we've effectively had a very large one bedroom house. One of the things we like about our house is the ability to easily accomodate overnight guests as our TV room has it's own exterior entry, bathroom and storage. But our TV room sofabed is comfortable only for a few nights which makes my mom's extended stays with us a problem. Further, mom likes to watch TV past our bedtime.
      Part of the solution was to dedicate our bedroom as her pied a terre. Having a place to keep clothing, shoes, etc simplifies travel. A place for her photos, etc helps her feel at home. We'll eventually have a sewing machine in the room.
      The upstair area was the best area for an additional sleeping place. There is an alcove area by the gallery wall area where the bed could readily fit.

Geri's work table would take the place of the daybed in her office. That daybed now serves as the platform for my mom's mattress.
Now the upstairs was used by past owners as a master suite; we wanted to think of it as a studio/crafts area. The problem was how to keep that use while adding a bed. Also was the need for privacy while avoiding window treatments. The solution came while looking for storage solutions for Geri's office (subject matter for future post). We saw some leaded/stained glass panels at Bloomsbury, a Portland architectural salvage store, that had the frames in good condition and at a very reasonable price. I bought the vertical beams from Barnwood Natural here in Salem and the rest were from my stock of materials.

      The new space feels cozy without being claustrophobic. It's a very comfortable place to read. It also provides the needed privacy. The gallery area had turned out to be the most commented on part of our Houzz tour and I was concerned that the change could adversely affect that part of the room. The partition actually improves it as it serves as a framing device.

     The room still has an open feel to it and from most locations looks like a crafts area.

 

 

December 2012

EKG Bookshelf

The big summer project was finished- sorta. We did finish painting the front and back of the house, and replaced some rotted siding that was a consequence of the suboptimal previous roof structure. Some portions of the exterior still need a new coat of paint, but after mid October it's past the time for exterior painting in Oregon. Also, it's a good excuse to do something that's- to be direct- a lot more fun.  The library still could use more bookshelves. The ledge under the transom windows was easily modified to serve as another shelf area along with serving as an anchor for another ladder rail. The ladder is sufficiently light to move to the opposite wall when necessary
I had seen a metal EKG shaped bookshelf in a book and then seen it again somewhere on-line. None available for purchase, however. So something along those lines at the top shelf for the back wall would be a nice variation from the lower bookshelves.
As I began to sketch it out, the focus drifted from a nice little shelf made of wood rather than metal to an accurately scaled representation (hard to compartmentalize OCD). What I wound up with was way too big for the space originally intended. Luckily for me, 1) the dimensions were just right for the area above the clerestory window and 2) I have a wife who humors me.

I shared her concern, though, that I was risking cluttering up the room and offered to put the shelf up in my shop; she kindly declined that option. We both like the spareness of the room as shown in the previous post. At the same time, the books were all crammed together; now, there's more breathing room on the shelves (and another one is on the way). It's also good to have another area where the ladder is needed.