Brief "Blogables"

It's funny how having a blog, even a lame blog like this one, makes you more keenly aware of your surroundings, searching for something "blogable". While I've lived here for over 7 years now, and feel like I've seen a good portion of the town and its evirons, this heightened "blog awareness" (and new cameraphone) has allowed me to notice and consider things I would have simply walked by in the past. Here are a few examples.

First, I've been riding trails around the south side of town lately and noticed something.

Dan Henries of the Inland Empire are usually old car parts.

We thought we were lost in the maze of trails on the bluff on a recent Saturday ride. Fortunately we passed a piece of metal ductwork and got our bearings. Given the number of classic car shows in the area during the summer months, I think dblbttd will have plenty of car parts to mark the 100 mile MTB race trail. If that fails, I know where there is a big stash at the top of Beacon Hill. I'm wondering if collecting these parts and selling them off to the armies of car enthusiasts would be profitable?

I always love finding unique little niches in town. Saturday afternoon I ran some errands with my 8 year old daughter. We stopped by a local hobby shop for some tools to build the paper/balsa planes I recently acquired. I was surprised to find out there is a hobby shop in town entirely dedicated to model railroads. And I was even more surprised by how busy it was. There were more than 20 people in the store when we walked in.

While I'm on the subject of trains, I saw this commercial the other night while watching "Iditarod: toughest race on Earth" on the Discovery channel. Sweet cargo bikes in action.

While I can't tell how much weight they are really pulling, it looks like these bikes are at least really hitched to the trailers. Makes me wonder just how much weight a bike could realistically carry in an urban environment.

Later, we swung by Hastings to get a book for my daughter. I've always liked how Mountain Gear is a dog friendly store and often there are some nice dogs that sidle up while you're checking out a new pair of skiis or shoes. However, I've never noticed any sign on Hastings' doors that says it is bird friendly. I don't think I'd enjoy a bird landing on my head while browsing books or movies.

Interesting stain there. All I could think of was "hypersensitivity pneumonitis" (bird fancier's lung) with high resolution CT findings including scattered ground glass opacities, centrilobular nodules, and mosaic areas of air trapping and perfusion. Cough, cough. Yuck.

Well, that's all I've got for now. Consider this my small contribution to filling the void left by MetroSpokane's untimely and all-too-premature absence.