Fall Cleaning

Monday, 21 October 2019

Washday, and once again my weight-lifting gloves are staying in the
laundry hamper because a good red shirt is in the black wash. The
cotton parts of the gloves are faded to a pale gray, but I still don't
trust them not to bleed when wrung together with another garment.

At least they don't have the Xanth-zombie spell a pair of shorts I
made from dry-clean-only wool had. The bled like a stuck pig every
time they were washed until they had worn into holes, and never got
less black.

All summer, I put the gloves into a bucket of water every time I came
home with them wet, and spun them out in the washer --all by
themselves!-- a few hour later, or the next morning. But now that
I've switched to the all-plastic gloves that fit under my
mystery-fiber gloves, I want to give the weight-lifting gloves a full
wash and rub oil on the leather parts before I put them away for the
winter.

Which led to the thought that I ought to oil the leather parts of my
back-up gloves too. Much to my surprise, they are brand new -- I
thought I'd selected the better pair last spring. No wonder there
were so many darns! This was a great relief, because the
sporting-goods store has stopped selling non-plastic weight-lifting
gloves. Brand-new gloves should last until I find a new source or
stop needing gloves.

This led to a general cleaning of the bike-parts cupboard. Now all
the water bottles are upright and on the same shelf. All except the
one in the cage we took off the walk-behind lawn mower had had their
tops covered with paper towels to keep dust out, and can be used with
only a rinsing.

I found an under-saddle bag I'd forgotten owning, and thought I'd swap
it for the dog's collar bag that's under my saddle because it's
bigger, but after swapping the contents, I realized that the
under-saddle bag is intended to be taken off the bike before you take
anything out of it -- the support strap squishes the bag. So I
swapped back. But I found that there were two sweat rags in the bag
when one is enough --particularly when there are a couple of sweat
rags in my tool kit-- so the dog's-collar bag is packed much looser. I
was also reminded that I carry an emergency whistle. It still works;
now it's packed where it shows. I thought the pencil lying on the
table had come out of the dog's-collar bag, but it wouldn't go in, so
I stuck it under the bungee holding the tool-kit bag in place.

I'd really, really like to find a saddle bag to put my tool kit in.
Then I'd put the dog's-collar bag on the outside of a pannier; there
is nothing but one rag, some paper towels, and a cheap whistle in it,
so the potential for loss doesn't matter.

With cold weather approaching, I'd better make sure the dog-collar bag
contains as many paper towels as it can comfortably hold. I don't
like to carry more than one spare in my notebook pocket.

I fondly remember the spring day when, a few miles from home after a
long ride, I needed to blow my nose and was startled at the color of
the napkin -- that was the first time I'd needed it: spring is here!

I found two empty Rema patch-kit boxes, which I put with my sewing
supplies because that is where I look for small plastic boxes, and a
26" x 1 3/8" inner tube, which I put into the pile of stuff to be
taken to Goodwill. That stuff covers the entire top of the bench we
recently put away for the winter, so I'm set for moderate rides for
the foreseeable. And there may be more hidden among the clutter on
the shelf I got it off of. Moreover, after riding five miles to
Goodwill, I can go around Pike Lake or Center Lake instead of coming
back between them; it wouldn't take too much to make a long ride out
of the return trip. I haven't been to Otsego once this summer. That's
mainly because there is nothing *in* Otsego, but it's an option.

There was a stray cable tie; about halfway to the cable-tie
depository, I made a U-turn and tucked it in beside the pencil, to be
added to the emergency kit when I get ready for Wednesday's ride
tomorrow.

--
Joy Beeson
joy beeson at comcast dot net
http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/