Old Fools Journal: Waiting for Hurricane Ida

So while hanging out waiting for yet another hurricane I thought I'd get a little back work done. This is my homemade truing stand clamped into the vise. Works for wheels up to 27 inch. The spring loaded clamp next to the rim is my gauge. My spoke wrench is one that has been kicking around in my toolbox so long I don't even know when I got it. This rig ain't fancy but it works.

I bought a crank removal tool from my local bike shop (Bayou City Bicycles) and they very graciously gave me the spokes and nipples which had to be custom cut. They are a family business and the only game in town. I like them, they are always busy but find time to be friendly and they don't gouge or overcharge.

The wheel is the 24 inch front from the Rollfast that I put together last week. It was missing a couple of spokes and had 40 years of baked on old grease on the hub but otherwise it is a strong serviceable wheel. Not a speck of rust inside the hub and the exterior rust on the rim removes easily.

It's probably going back on the Rollfast to keep it original.

Hurricane Ida Is not coming here but it will pass close enough to just be messy weather. It's currently sprinkling lightly with a stiff breeze from the east. The storm itself has already lost its hurricane status after hitting cooler water in the gulf. East of us is going to get some flooding and substantial winds so they are concerned. They have trouble with a heavy dew in the late great city of New Orleans. We expect tropical storm winds no worse than a big thunderstorm.
I'm ready. I tied up my Fall tomato bucket garden yesterday. There's 18 tomatoes on these plants already. I have one other larger pot with two plants. Nothing special about the dirt. It came out of the pile we bury our kitchen scraps in along with leaves. The worms can turn the scraps into dirt in 3 to 4 days. The dog pack and their cats gets the scraps with fat in them and the garbage man gets nothing but things that won't compost, recycle or re-purpose. I got the seed for these from some tomatoes I bought at the farmers market in the spring. The farmer I got them from said they are a Heritage tomato developed in Czechoslovakia. I don't know if he knows what he is talking about but I liked the taste and size well enough to save the seeds. They are a small tomato with a max size of about 2.5 inches (6.5 cm) and a fairly tough skin. Yesterday morning I had the first one off these plants with my toast (home made bread) and eggs (yard eggs from my neighbor). Yum. Did I mention that I really like to eat?