Yesterday we went to the Bicycle swap meet in Downtown Sacramento.  We hauled a big box of parts, Monica's road bike and some panniers.  We met a lot of people, handed out a bunch of business cards,  talked cargo bikes and sewing all day.  We left with only a couple of parts and my panniers.  

The cargo bike was a hit, lots of people interested in buying it from me,  and lots of requests to build more.

I installed a yakima fork mount to the rear of the xtracycle and Monica used it to haul her road bike.

Exciting new adventure

I've decided to start a business sewing and selling panniers and such.  I created a new blog dedicated to the business.  I have two sets almost finished that I'll be taking to a local bike swap this weekend.  You can check them out on the new blog @ http://carsickdesign.blogspot.com/

We have been BUSY lately

Hauling dirt with the cargo bike

Making panniers for upcoming bike swap meet

Planting seeds for our garden.

Horror movie

I am not fond of, and don't watch, horror movies. However, Brian and I watched one last night and yes, it was disturbing but this one is different. It was also very educational, and motivating. I recommend it to EVERYONE. Even if you, like me, don't care for scary movies.

Here is a link to the movie on hulu. You can watch it right here from your computer. For free! It's 1.5 hours in length. Warning: There are lots of facts and statistics thrown at you.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/67878/the-future-of-food

More cargo bike fun

I put the cargo bike together last week. I took it for a test ride only to discover the bottom bracket was too low. I thought I could get by with it, I would just have to remember- no pedaling in corners. Monica assured me this was the wrong idea. So out came the hacksaw and welder. I made a few changes and its was back together the next day. I gained 2 inches without affecting my steering angle too much.

I mounted a flat bed and a gm parts crate on it until I build a box. The kickstand is temporary, I'm working on a better design. We decided to take it to the grocery store today. I was a little worried about getting 5 miles from home, loading it with groceries and having a problem. So I loaded a Datsun engine block in the box and took it for a spin. 85 lbs and it handled with no problem. We bought 65 lbs of groceries, the bike laughed at me. The only problem I noticed is my cantilever brake sucks. Before I mount the front brake I'm going to try and get a set of v-brakes. This thing is a smile making machine. I think I'm ready to start building another one.

Pupa not cocoon

Well, the strange 'thing' we found in the backyard that we thought was some sort of cocoon is a Luna Moth pupa. Or at least it looks very similar to the picture of one we found on Wikipedia, here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actias_luna

What on earth?

When cleaning out the beds on Sunday I came across a lot of creepy crawlies, including worms. Tons of worms!

Brian, however, hit the jackpot when he dug up this. I thought it was a piece of a carrot at first. Upon realizing it was indeed not a carrot and that I had no idea what was in my hand, I tossed it in a panic. It landed on the side walk and we went back to digging. A few minutes later we look over and it had squirted a bright yellow liquid from itself. DI-SCU-SSTING! But I'm still so curious as to what the hell it is. Our guess is a cocoon of some sort. Any ideas?