Taming the DT 250

It's been a few weeks now since Dave and his crew at O'Hanlon's sorted out the mystery problem on the DT. A flattened out lock washer on the timing plate that was allowing it to slip. A couple times the timing was so retarded the engine actually ran backwards.

Yes, you read that right! A two stroke engine can run backwards if the timing is too far off. It was more than odd starting it up at a service station, putting it in first and then rolling backward as I attempted to head out. ...but now I know.

I also know more about the mechanics of fouling plugs and have actually been accorded some finesse with regard to avoiding it. For the most part the plugs on this type of bike foul when you funnel too much fuel through the engine. It can't burn off properly and the rest is predictable. These things tend to bang and pop a little even when they have fresh plugs, and I do mean, a little. If, like now, the bike is tuned well for how you ride it, when the plug is going stale you can develop a sense of when it's going to be shot and how to stretch out your time before you absolutely have to swap it.

Doing things like riding up hill under full throttle, into a headwind or whatever, where you can't get the RPM's up is a sure way to foul that thing out. Riding for too long at higher RPM's will also burn the plug. You just have to get a feel for it and every engine will be different based on the engine itself and how it's tuned.

The DT is currently tuned to start a little harder but have slightly advanced timing to better handle higher speeds. It seems to be working OK and I've gone from replacing one or more plugs a day to maybe one a week depending on how I ride it. They're cheap and easy to swap out so it's not a huge deal to replace them and I've come to think of it as part of the gas budget.

Still hunting a new twin plug head and a bigger fuel tank but that's way down on my priority list at the moment. Just happy to have a reliable bike until something else catastrophic happens to it. I can only hope these repairs will continue to be further and further apart. Finally getting out on it enough to be back in the realm of knowing who's out and about by their bikes and being known the same way. That's certainly a nice thing about riding custom and vintage bikes. You can roll by and know immediately if your friends are about.

Wild Edibles; Fennel

One of the more well known Bay Area foraging favorites, fennel was reportedly first brought to the area by Franciscan friars who grew it in their gardens. Widely used in European cooking, but far less so here. All parts of the plant are edible with the seeds, stalks and bulbs being the most useful parts. Though even the feathery fronds make a lovely and aromatic garnish for salads.

Best in spring, fennel is everywhere from parks to roadsides and flower gardens. Recipes abound in books and across the web so it's very easy to find ways to prepare this plant. In Italy the bulbs are often brushed with olive oil and roasted or grilled and the stalks are cut and pealed like celery for dipping in spicy olive oil.

Easy to spot and unmistakable from other plants after you've seen it, know it by it's feathery, almost fluffy appearance and licorice smell. Depending on how you intend to use it, fennel can be gathered year round in the Bay Area.  Once you start adding it to breads, sauces and meat dishes you'll soon find it sneaking onto your table as a dish unto itself. 

Wild edibles; Miner's lettuce

The San Francisco Bay area offers some incredible things for foragers. One of them is a lovely spring crop of miner's lettuce. Miner's lettuce, like Nasturtium, is a member of the Purslane family but unlike Nasturtium, lacks a spicy kick. Far more similar to spinach, it goes well in all manner of salads and makes very nice cooked green.

One of my favorite uses for Miner's lettuce is in a simple trail salad. Some of the areas where I climb are thick with it, as well as Nasturtium. I often bring along a tin of tuna packed in olive oil, a lemon, a small packet of soy sauce and forage greens as I go. It takes no time at all to build a fantastic salad you probably couldn't buy if you wanted to.


Earlier this week I ventured out with my mobile office(laptop and phone) and managed to forage enough Miner's lettuce, Nasturtium and Fennel to bring a pile back to Nook, one of our fantastic local cafes, where they were nice enough to use my wild treasure to make a meal fit to please even the most seasoned foodie. Though, I have to admit I'd almost eat grass if you added the right dressing, goat cheese, walnuts and some sultanas. In this case we added all of those as well as some tomatoes and Arugula. I think we decided it was the equivalent of eating a circus.

Yes please, and I'll be doing that again soon. As these posts come together it occurs to me that I may indeed be able to compensate for lack of space to grow as much as I'd like simply by settling on some regular foraging spots. The wild harvest is certainly out there for the taking.

Wild edibles; Pine needles

This one is about as simple as it gets and it's blissfully safe. All pines are edible so, as always, make sure you've got a pine. That shouldn't be too tough but you never know. If it's got needles and cones, it's a pine. There are a number of edible elements in addition to making tea with the needles, though chewing them raw is even a source of vitamins C and A. I have no idea if the heat from making the tea destroys the vitamins but it might.

You can also eat the inner bark. If you do it just right, it's possible to cut it into strips and use it like spaghetti. It certainly doesn't taste like pasta, but if it's available or all you have to eat, it's there.

To make the tea simply steep the needles in hot water the same way you would make any other tea. I like it with a little lavender and pine needle tea is admittedly somewhat of an acquired taste but nothing a little honey won't fix if you aren't in a "survival" situation and have access to it.

Pine needles can also be used to flavor breads and roast meats or fish. One nice thing about them is pines grow all over the place, so as a forager or survivalist, it's basically there for you from the Everglades to Seattle in all sorts of conditions and you can gather it as you walk meaning you expend very little extra effort or energy in your day to add another element to a foraged diet.

They're so readily available that I have never tried to dry them but I imagine you might be able to. I also use the needles to make baskets and freeze the needles for storage once in a while for that purpose. When I get them out they still smell fresh so I'd guess you could at least freeze them if they are scarce in your area.

Neil Strauss



ELYWYD

Last night I ventured out and made the climb up to the Haight for a Neil Strauss book signing at Booksmith. I read his book Emergency not long after it came out with mixed thoughts but completely enjoyed it and got more than enough out of it to make it both and entertaining and worthwhile read as well as to recommend it to others who in turn got a lot out of it. Emergency served very well in one particular way I felt had been lacking from the survival/self reliance canon, it's a real story about someone going from little or no knowledge to being an expert in a number of areas. Neil was human and forthcoming without be self deprecating or fake. Emergency is often billed as a how-to, I think it's more, and more importantly; a why-to. The book won't turn you into Jason Bourne but it might actually inspire you to learn a few things that'll save your hide. Or in my case, become a NERT volunteer so I can save someone else's hide. Thanks go to Neil for that if nothing else and motivating someone to take a more active role in their community is always a big deal.

Last night was a signing for his new book Everyone Loves You When You're Dead. It's not something I'd typically read but I'm glad I went. Incidentally, I had been on Neil's very inclusive VIP mailing list from when I signed up for something related to Emergency and got switched over for reasons I can't remember. I've been mildly curious about The Game but as of yet have not read it. To be candid, I've spoken with a few people who've been curious about The Game and we've all felt we would be a little embarrassed to be caught reading it. We've also all been in long term committed relationships since becoming aware of the book and feel that reading a book on picking up women might not be a good relationship move when you are currently in one. That said, The Game and Neil's other books are well liked and no doubt worthwhile, Neil is a talented writer who has had every bit as much a rock star life as the people he writes about, it's just not my genre and I've historically gotten into more than enough trouble on my own.

Maybe not personal but Personalized!

Anyway, to get on his new list, the VIP list is closing, you need to buy a copy of his new book Everyone Loves You When Your Dead, or ELYWYD in it's handy acronym form. I was slightly hesitant as I am generally resistant to that sort of marketing but it was clever and I'd wanted to meet Neil for a while. He didn't disappoint in person. I'd have liked to chat with him a little further about some things in Emergency but he seemed pretty beat from his book tour and I was admittedly off my game last night.


My one question after meeting Neil in person is, why did he ever have trouble getting the kind of attention from women he wanted. He came across as genuine, interesting and real as well as not threatening or too much of a bad boy. Maybe that's today's Neil Strauss and I simply don't know the old Neil but from our brief meeting I'd have been surprised to learn he ever had bad luck with women and maybe that's the point of The Game.

Either way, I'm enjoying the ELYWYD and looking forward to email discussions about The Game as it relates to something other than pick up artists while I try to find a bookstore that isn't perpetually sold out of it.

Garden marauder

Why yes, that is a pheasant!

Yes, "garden marauder", not in the dramatic sense of being overrun by hungry vegetarian vikings but rather an unexpected avian guest in the city. For about a month now we have had a pheasant hen in our back yard tearing up the small garden plots and planters. After the initial destruction of some plants it looks at though it's eaten up the bulk of the slugs that had been plaguing us. I suppose that's a good trade for losing a little miner's lettuce and having to re-plant some garlic as this season has been more than a little wet and I was expecting a real battle with the slugs.

Still a little surprised to see a pheasant, of all things, in San Francisco. We're in the city proper up in the hills not far from Grace Cathedral so this isn't simply a Golden Gate park or Presidio bird that has stepped beyond it's normal bounds. It's a real urban pheasant. It certainly hasn't been living on garbage and I bet it would taste great.

What I've learned about knitting

Mobius scarf

So, I've been knitting for a few months now and while it isn't compelling to have a conversation about yet, it is somewhat compelling to do once you start. Likely it's simply lingering "guyness" that prevents me from striking up knitting chatter.

Thus far I have learned that it's a pleasant activity that both takes practice and rewards it. The learning curve isn't steep but as noted before it can seem so at first. I've knitted a scarf and simple hat for my toddler daughter and a sort of hood/scarf for myself. After being shown the ultra basics at the knit shop in something like five minutes, I've been able to sort out rib stitching, purling and binding off on my own. I've also seen that while there are a multitude of variations they all essentially stem from those same basic knit and purl stitches.

It's become evident that knitting is very useful and I'd say in terms of DIY, self sufficiency, prepping and even survival, there is no good reason to not know how to at least make a scarf, something simple that can easily be turned into almost any other item with simple blanket or whip stitching. If you are blessed or cursed with a job that has a lot of wait time, maybe security or rendering images, something that requires a person to sit and be present and awake but not actively engaged in much for even a half hour at a time, you might consider using that down time to hand make things you need, can trade for things you want or need, or to stretch those gifting dollars around the holidays. Though, knitting things like blankets and sweaters is not cost effective unless you happen to have a ready supply of wool or yarn, most of us don't and won't in the foreseeable future.

Bottom line, it's no worse a time suck than video games and the usefulness of the end product goes a long way to easing the guilt of what would otherwise be lost or idle time.