Motorcycle safety, part II

All that earlier work got me nice LED turn signals, but not DRLs (Daylight Running Lights). Today I removed the headlight from the "bucket", revealing the spaghetti mess of wiring you can see to the left. Just about every electrical circuit on the entire bike passes through this bucket, but it was pretty easy to identify the turn signal wires since the turn signal stalks run right into the bucket.

Now comes the challenge. Normally, the blinker relay sends voltage to the turn signal bulbs to light them up. However, if you set them up as DRLs, the bulbs then get voltage all the time and you need to blink them off when you use your turn signals -- this is, of course, backwards.

To "invert" the signal, I used a trailer light adapter. Trailer light adapters exist because most vehicles have three wires: stop, left turn, and right turn. Trailers just have two wires going to two lamps though. This saves money on wiring and lamps, but as you can imagine, there's an extra step to make three signals transform into two signals. The solution requires a little XOR digital logic, which is a little complicated to make from scratch but you can easily buy a plug 'n' play solution prepackaged into a little box. You can pay $100 for a motorcycle specific DRL box, or you can pay $16 at your local U-Haul for a trailer light adapter that does the same thing. I, of course, went to U-Haul. Actually, I first bought a cheap one online but it wouldn't fire LEDs so I wasted some time and money there. All new U-Haul trailers have LEDs so U-Haul's adapter supports LEDs just fine.

Basically I just cut the wires going to the turn signals, and inserted the box in between the turn signal voltage supply and the bulb. This still just gives you normal signals until you connect the "brake" wire on the adapter box to any ignition-on wire: now the adapter will think the brakes are on all the time, and light up both lamps all the time (until you turn a blinker on, and then that one side blinks off). The adapter box was a tight squeeze into the headlight bucket, but it just barely fit.

The LEDs do not cast an even light like the old bulbs did, instead they concentrate most of their light in a couple of directions. From the direct front, they're not very bright but that's ok as my headlight will always be on and is much brighter than the DRLs anyway. However, once you get off to the side a little bit, the LEDs shine nicely. These pictures were taken in the evening, so they are not going to seem as bright in broad daylight but I still think these will give me a nice bit of added visibility to other drivers.

Motorcycle safety, part I

I've been thinking about making myself more visible on my motorcycle, since the other day when I did a head check to change lanes and found another motorcycle riding in my blind spot. I almost didn't see him... and I'm hyper-sensitive about looking for other two-wheeled vehicles! It didn't help that he was dressed in black on a black bike.

So... I'm taking a three-pronged approach to making myself more visible. Phase 1 is marker light upgrades. Most of you are probably familiar with DRLs, Daylight Running Lights, which were introduced on new cars just a few years ago. Though motorcycles have already had always-on headlights since 1978, I want to use my amber turn signals as running lights for added visual impact (yellow is more attention-getting than white... plus, I have twice as many turn signals as headlights ;) ).

However, there are some considerations to leaving two 21 watt bulbs on all the time. One is heat -- since the signal housings and lenses are only designed to have a light on inside them occassionally, they can actually be melted by the heat generated from a continuously lit bulb. The other consideration is electrical -- motorcycles have weak electrical systems, and the added strain can kill a battery or prematurely burn out alternator brushes, rectifiers, and voltage regulators.

To address these concerns, I switched to LEDs for my front turn signals. LEDs take far less power and generate far less heat, so they are perfect for this application. Rather than replace the entire turn signal stalk, I simply purchased a LED module designed to replace a common automotive 1156 bulb -- it just plugs right into the bulb socket for the world's easiest LED installation. It's the silver cylinder you see in the middle of the bulb housing (don't worry, the amber lens was reinstalled after taking the picture ;) ). You can easily do this upgrade on cars, too, if you are so inclined (LEDs practically never burn out, so you're less likely to get pulled over and issued a fix-it ticket... the only downside is, they are pretty expensive).

Great as LEDs are, there's a catch: Old-school turn signal blinkers won't blink them. The flasher relay requires a certain amount of current to be flowing through it, and since LEDs draw less current, you get no flash. The solution is a modern electronic flasher that doesn't care how much current the bulbs draw.

In my case, installation was a snap and is completely reversible. I was prepared to cut and splice wires into an ugly mess but I got lucky not once but twice.

First, my stock blinker relay had a plug (green arrow) with female spade connectors. All I had to do was add male spade connectors (red arrow) to my new blinker and stick them into the stock wiring plug with zero modifications! This means I can easily switch back if I ever sell the bike (the expensive LEDs will be staying with me for my next bike!).

Happy coincidence number two was the mounting of the flasher. I was expecting to have to zip tie it or resort to other ghetto methods of securing it, but as it happens the stock flasher has a neat rubber vibration-isolation mount (motorcycles vibrate a lot, and vibration kills relays). My new flasher very conveniently had a mounting tab like the old flasher, only a little too wide. A few seconds with a Dremel fixed that and the new relay slotted right into the existing rubber mounting like it belonged there from the factory.

As an added benefit, my blinkers blink faster, which I think is more attention-grabbing than the old sedate pace.

All that work, though, and I still don't have running lights. That's a project for another day... stay tuned.

Easter Dresses

Here are some pictures of the new Easter dresses I made for my girls. My sister gave us some ribbon the day before, so I was able to tie bows in their hair.

Sack lunches III

Just one more comment on sack lunches, because I thought you might be curious. Tiffany likes the cute lunchboxes. They really didn't improve her problem much, though. The biggest problem is that what she eats is unfamiliar to the other kids, so they tell her it looks like puke (or whatever). She usually takes it in stride, but there are days it really bothers her. Her new strategy is to think up gross names for her food before her friends do. So she eats monkey brains, owl pellets, and alien blood. Right now she thinks it's fun. This morning she told me some of her friends actually tried her owl pellets and (surprise!) really liked them. She packed a few extra to share today. So far, this is a better strategy for her. Click here for the recipe for owl pellets.

Pickin' Up Worms

On rainy mornings, the worms come out. Trying to get out of their waterlogged homes, they commit suicide on our sidewalks, driveways, and roads. I always feel guilty walking past a worm that I know will soon die. Over the years, however, I have come to ignore most of that guilt knowing I have so many more important things to do than save as many worms as I can before the sun takes their lives from them. To assuage this guilt (and the eew factor), I have taught my children to pick up the worms and put them in the grass. Perhaps I am only passing the guilt on to future generations, but I like to think instead that I am teaching compassion. My girls notice the creatures around them and know they have the power to give a chance of life to the helpless. They love doing it. After dropping Tiffany off at the bus, Katie and Emily slowly walk home looking for worms in the gutters and on the sidewalks. I happily point the worms out to the girls, as I seem to have a better eye for such things. I am amazed that Emily's little fingers are the absolute best for picking worms from cracks and crevices. I am more prone to injure the soft bodies, so I have given up trying to pick up the small ones. In fact, I've given up picking them up at all, content to pointing them out with the toe of my shoe. I relish in the joy and fun my girls get from such a simple thing.

Sack Lunches II

After writing the post yesterday, I decided to try to find some nice containers. I started with the dollar store because I needed something from there anyway. And guess what? I actually found almost exactly what I was looking for! At the dollar store! I was very pleasantly surprised. I bought a little 4 inch round two compartment stacked box with a folding spoon. I also bought a square sandwich box and a little snack container set which were two containers with animal lids and a dipping spoon. I hit the jackpot!

So, today, as suggested by a good friend of mine, I cut up numerous veggies so Tiffany could make faces with them. Tiffany was quite excited about it. Plus I included a handful of clover sprouts Tiffany had been working on sprouting herself (to use as mustache or beard). We put some hummus and chili in the little piggy containers, included toast and a little ranch dip. It looked like it would be fun for her. Katie wants to have it for lunch today, too.

Sack Lunches

Almost every day I pack a sack lunch for Tiffany to take to school. That way I know she is eating healthy, and we're saving some money besides. I try to include a variety- fruits, vegetables, grains and legumes, and she usually likes what I send. The problem, I think is presentation. There have been several times she has told me that other kids stare at her meal, poke fun at it, or even tell her it looks disgusting. I usually tell her not to worry about what they say, at least she knows she's eating healthy. I'm concerned though that she does worry about it (she is only 8 after all and she wouldn't say anything if it didn't bother her). So, how do I go about making her meal prettier and more appealing looking?

Today I sent a macaroni salad for her (whole wheat macaroni boiled with frozen vegetables with ranch salad dressing to add later). now I'm thinking I could have made it a whole lot prettier by putting the macaroni on a lettuce leaf, with the cooked veggies on that, then the dressing on the side. I also sent a cut up pear, left over chili and 2 pieces of toast to eat with the chili. I have no idea how to make pears or chili look good. Ideas anybody? I'm also thinking I should have dedicated shallow bowls with lids for her lunchbox. Right now I just send her meal in small kitchen storage containers (4oz or 8oz). Maybe that's contributing to the problem as well. I wish growing up wasn't such an involved complicated affair.

Sunny Days Are Here Again!

It's still pretty cold outside, but yesterday afternoon the temperatures rose above 40 degrees! The sun was shining and it felt quite warm. As a result, I walked to the school so my children could walk home instead of riding the bus. It was wonderful! And I finally got a couple miles of walking in!

Christmas Happenings

I was able to help in Katie's kindergarten class Friday. It was a partial day, and they had lots of fun activities to do. They had a rotation of 4 activities. They cut out antler hats and had red put on their noses, so they could look like Rudolph. I got to help them with their snack, frosting sugar cookies and applying sprinkles, and lots of other things. I read stories to them as they ate. One of the stories was quite memorable. It was about a little pine tree who wanted to be a Christmas tree, but he was crooked so nobody chose him as their Christmas tree. Instead, a family chose him to plant in their backyard where their little boy would play around him, but he still wanted to be a Christmas tree. He was sad that the family chose a different tree to put in their house and decorate for Christmas. The story ended with nature adorning the little tree as a Christmas tree. As I read, I wanted to say that it was dumb that he wanted to be a Christmas tree. If he had been chosen, he would have been dead! It would have been much more fitting for him to have seen the chosen Christmas tree being dragged from the home after Christmas with the needles gone. Bare. Brown. And dead. Then realize how blessed he was for having a family who loved him and cared for him, and chose him to live in their yard to bless their lives a lot longer than the few days around Christmas.

So maybe that isn't such a cheery Christmasy thought, but I just watched the recorded episode of Dr. Who from last night, which was a pretty nightmarey Christmas Day.

Anywho, yesterday was our ward's Christmas Dinner where Santa Clause came, and my children got to sit on Santa's lap.

Cooking Club

I joined with a few other ladies in our ward to spend a day together about every other week to cook. I hosted this week, meaning we used my kitchen. It was a pumpkin theme (because I have a shelf of winter squashes I wanted to use in the girls' closet). We made cranberry pumpkin bread, pumpkin soup, and no bake cream cheese pumpkin pie. All the recipes tasted really good. I was particularly surprised about the pumpkin soup, because my imagination did not prepare me for what I tasted. It was really, really good.

I don't have anybody else's email addresses but I do have a couple blog addresses, so I'm posting the recipes here where they can copy them off freely.




Cranberry Pumpkin Bread
this is my original recipe

1 Cup whole Wheat Flour
3/4 Cup white flour
1 tsp soda
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 Cup pumpkin puree
1/4 cup orange juice
1 egg
1/2 cup honey
1 cup Chopped cranberries
3/4 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Spray a 9 x 2.75-inch loaf pan with cooking spray.

Mix together flour, baking soda, and spices in a medium mixing bowl. Mix in the pumpkin. Separately mix orange juice, egg, and honey. Mix both combinations of ingredients together until there are no dry spots left. Stir in cranberries and nuts. Spread evenly in loaf pan.

Bake for one hour or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (keep in mind the cranberries add moisture, so the toothpick may never really come out totally "clean"). Cool on a rack for 15 minutes. Remove from pan; cool completely. Wrap and store overnight. Makes 1 loaf (16 slices).

Suggestions for substitutes:
Flour: Of course you can use all white flour, or use up to 3/4 cup other kinds of flours.
Pumpkin: Any winter squash will do.
Orange juice: Any other juice or even water. Whatever you use will subtly change the flavor.
Honey: You can use any sweetener in place of the honey- maple syrup, agave syrup, sugar, or brown sugar. For a darker flavor, you could even use molasses.


Pumpkin Soup

1 large onion, diced
2 Tbs butter
2 Tbs flour
2 cans chicken broth (about 14 oz)
1 small can pumpkin (we used 2 cups puree)
4oz evaporated milk

Cook onion in butter until clear. Add flour. Cook one minute. Add broth and pumpkin. Simmer 30 minutes. Add milk and serve warm.

Cream Cheese Pumpkin Pie
originally from kraftffoods.com

1 graham cracker crumb crust or baked pie crust
4 oz. Cream Cheese, softened

1 Tbsp. cold milk

1 Tbsp. sugar

1-1/2 cups thawed whipped topping

1 cup cold milk

1 can (16 oz.) pumpkin

2 pkg. (4-serving size each)vanilla instant pudding mix (can use sugar-free)

1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp. ground ginger

Beat cream cheese, 1 Tbsp. milk and sugar in large bowl with wire whisk until well blended. Stir in whipped topping. Spread onto bottom of crust.

Pour 1 cup milk into medium bowl. Add pumpkin, pudding mix and spices. Beat with wire whisk 2 minutes or until well blended. (Mixture will be thick.) Spread over cream cheese layer.

Refrigerate 4 hours or until set. Garnish with additional whipped topping, if desired. Store leftover pie in refrigerator.

Halloween, one holiday late

I don't know what it is about getting pictures off my camera, but it seems a colossal chore. So, here it is Thanksgiving Day in a few hours and I'm finally showing you my kids costumed up for Halloween.

First off, there's Katie and Tiffany by their respective carved pumpkins. Katie's was a witch. Tiffany's was a haunted house. Emily was napping when we took this picture, so we had to get one of her later. We made a circle trick or treating around our block, and the girls came home with heavy bags. They ate candy for a few days, then I asked Corwin to take the rest to work to share, so it wasn't laying about the house tempting us (especially me) any more.

Just a few things

Emily is pretty much potty trained now. She's been wearing panties all week and has very few accidents. She tells me when she needs to go, and makes me come along. Well, that is until today. She's actually gone to the toilet a couple times by herself. It is sooo nice not to deal with diapers anymore.

We spent some time a few days ago going to a corn maze. Even though Emily got tired almost off the bat and had to be carried, it really was a fun time. Wonder of wonders, we got through the evening with no whining! That was the best treat of all, family time without the whine. We also enjoyed hot chocolate and mini donuts from the shop at the corn maze. I figured (with the diet), that once in a while it's ok to splurge. The next day, I had sugar withdrawals again (a headache), so maybe it wasn't such a good idea for me after all. I need to be a lot more careful with sugar.

Speaking of dieting, I have lost a little over 20 pounds now, putting me back within my normal range on the BMI. So, I'm not looking so much at weightloss now, but more at focusing on eating healthy (in case anybody is curious). The focus for me is whole foods, without a lot of added fat and sugar. I'm still not going to eat meat, and very little dairy. Though, for the sake of peace in my household, my baked goods will mostly have to be half white and half whole wheat flour. Corwin just doesn't like heavy breads, so he compromises with me.

We had our trunk or treat at the church last Friday. I dug out our Halloween box to see what costumes had been put away. There was the winged unicorn that Emily wore last year (that really, she was already too big for at the time because it was for an infant, but we let her feet hang out the end instead of snapping it under her feet). I don't really know why I saved it, except it was so cute. Sigh. Of course it fits none of my girls this year. There were two costumes that fit Emily this year. There was a jack-o-lantern shirt thing, and there was a baby Simba (Lion King) costume. She chose to wear the lion. Next we had a firefighter costume that fit Katie quite well. Lastly, I had placed my cap and gown from my highschool graduation in the box. Tiffany was so excited that she could wear it this year, as it didn't drag on the ground like it did when shetried it on last year. Yep, I admit it, I save things. I'm working on that habit, and I am getting better about letting go. The Simba costume is going to the thrift store soon after Halloween (I'll let them store it for a year) since it won't fit any of my girls after this. But the other two will go back in the box, even if it takes Emily two or three years to grow into the firefighter outfit. And I'll save the cap and gown, after all I had to pay for them. I have to get my money's worth. Ok, maybe I'm a little crazy. I mean isn't it easier to buy new costumes every year than to store the ones you got? But then again, I've seen what the stores want for a costume that will only be worn for a few hours. Even the thrift stores want quite a bit for one. So, I guess I'll save the two that have a chance of being worn in my family at least one more time.

I'll let the girls dress up and go out one more time on Halloween. Then I'll get a few pictures.

Update

It's been a while since the last post, so I thought I should give an update as to what we've been up to. Let's see. My dad gave me a bunch of grapes, and I made raisins. His neighbor gave me a bunch of peaches, and I made fruit leather and smoothie popsicles. I've had a birthday. Tiffany and I have been getting a workout everyday riding our bikes to and from school. She averages 2 1/2 miles a day, and I get about 7 1/2 with my three times a day trip.

In other news. Well, I don't know how to put this, but I've changed to a mostly vegan diet. I'm eating much better, and I feel great. I say "mostly" because, I'm still adjusting to how I can eat when away from home. When I'm home, I have no problems sticking to the diet. Unfortunately for me, I've got to find new "family favorite" recipes. Besides animal products, I've also cut out sugar, processed grains and added fat.

You're probably wondering what Corwin thinks of all this. Well, perhaps he'll write and tell you. From my view, he's been very tolerant and supportive of me thus far. He insists on cheese and milk for him, so sometimes I make part of a dish a little different, and he takes care of his own breakfast. So, there's only friction when I run out of dinner ideas.

I've also created a separate food blog for experimenting with new foods and sharing my experiences. It is located here.

Other than that, things have been plodding along. Things get done slowly, and we haven't really started anything new. We're just working on the same old projects.

Air Show

We went to the Mountain Home Air Force Base Air Show today. It was quite windy, but we had fun together looking at airplanes, watching the show, and touring airplanes close up.

The first pictures are from the search and rescue plane.

The girls sitting on the fold down bench seats along the wall:

Emily sitting on the floor of the cargo area:

Tiffany in a seat at the front of the cargo area:

Corwin in a seat behind the copilot:

Tiffany as copilot:

Katie flipping switches and pushing buttons:

The Blue Angels flying in formation:

Katie standing on the wing of a Diamond Star: