So my posts have been lacking, quite a bit. There are reasons for that.  Since Mackenzie's birthday I really had not had any weekends to relax. I had installed a little cabinet I built for a recurring cutsomer as well as a few other things. Last weekend I took on a most ambitious project indeed: Overhauling the Civic.

I bought this car in 1998 brand new for oh $14,000.  It has almost 270,000 miles on it and is on the original clutch and shocks. Its 70,000 miles overdue for a timing belt and has a cracked exhaust manifold. Not to mention a few other wear parts, like hoses and thermostats and water pumps and belts.

Why not pull the engine and transmission and fix this up right?  Headed over to Ryan's place where he has a huge, heated shed and sets of tools to shock and amaze.  Oh and a electric hoist.

We started Friday night and worked on Saturday to get it out and on a stand.  Amazingly, this thing is in incredible shape.  Knowing what I know now, I might have held off on a lot of these things. It's just not normal for a car this old and this many miles to be so clean.

Replacement parts have been ordered and are arriving to hopefully get this beast back together in another weekend.

February Stars

1 month down and eleven to go?

This when the cabin fever starts getting to me.  Not enough snow to snowshoe, ski or snowboard (I know they make snow) and just crappy enough to not want to do much about it. Although some afterwork head lamp lit hikes are sounding pretty good at this point.

I start all my planning for adventures now because it helps and then gets me anxious to do it.  On top of that for some reason my employer decided to give most everyone a extra week of vacation. And then in 2 years I get another for being 15 years (if I stay there). That adds to some motivation for sure.

I have thought about some adventure goals to meet.

150 miles of hiking/backpacking. That is only 40 miles more than I did last year, it will be a bit tougher and I will have to revisit some trails around here, but I have also have a few longer treks up my sleeve. Northern Wisconsin and possibly elsewhere.  Oregon? Arizona? maybe.

60 miles or more of paddling. This might be tough.  I did not get out as much this year, but did find new water. Lake Michigan, The St Croix riverway and new sections of the Milwaukee river.  If my to 'hip'sters get better maybe they will go too. Canoecopia is coming up and Tracy mentioned listening into the people who had sessions to talk about the Apostle Islands and Door County. I also talked to the owner of the gym I go to about a group outing (weekend) on the Wisconsin River too. I wonder if I can talk Jim into another weekend trip.  More Namakagon? Maybe the Bois Brule? The names sound good, don't they?

Biking, 30 miles. A few runs and trails with Ryan and this shouldn't be too hard.  Although at under 5 miles a crack my favorite lunchtime trail will still take 6 visits.

Then there are practical things, like fixing up the civic, which will take some weekends of time and we keep talking about remodelling our bathroom.  The only room in the house that has not been altered since we moved in over 20 years ago. And it looks like it.

Time to start moving....