SO MUCH GOING ON!

Wow, it has been a busy and productive week in Kastle Kvernmo.
On Saturday we had a crowd of Mosquito Fleeters over for a holiday dinner. Eighteen people all stuffed into our tiny home around one long table. It was great. My contribution for the dinner was one 9 lb pork shoulder. I put the rub on the meat a couple of days ahead of time and let it sit in the fridge. The morning of the dinner I got up to start the grill at 3:30 am. I tended the meat all day and by 5:00 pm it was deeeeelicious. Sadly though, I have no photo evidence of the magnificent feast.
UPDATE: one out of focus polaroid was found as evidence of the debauchery:

DEATHped finally has some appropriate shocks, I ordered some 320mm adjustables. I really think that the black fits nicely. The wheels are currently being trued by none other than Haulin' Colin.

The Mermaid bike is really taking shape. Rosanna and I started assembling the parts and it is really coming together nicely. The disc brake assembly is fitting well and once I have everything perfectly fitted I will start hacking the caliper bracket down to a more aesthetically pleasing shape.

The bike as a whole is finally rolling. Some things remain; chains, a pipe, a seat, handlebars, and cables, but really this is a far sight further along than ever.

This tank is of course not THE mermaid tank but merely a placeholder. The forks need to be shortened by about two and a half inches which I hear is a relatively simple process.
I'll tease you with a glimpse of a project Rosanna and I have been working on. Can you spy what this is?

And finally, in sad news, Phil (Responsible Jon) and his wife have moved to Indiana. It's too bad they had to go but they have an opportunity too good to pass up. I helped them pack up the truck and they stayed one night with Rosanna and I before they hit the ol' dusty trail. Here, in video form, is their last rainy moments in Seattle.

Mophoto Fleet

A couple weeks ago Rosanna organized a Mosquito Fleet Family Portrait. It had been a long time coming mostly because I was a very hesitant participant. My hesitation was due in part to the amount of work involved- lighting, procuring a backdrop of adequate size, organizing people, etc- but also due to some of my own insecurities. I just didn't want to be responsible for taking my friends photos and then if they sucked have only myself to blame. Like I said, insecurities.

So the day approached and Rosanna and I worked hard to gather all the necessary things; remote flashes, a giant white backdrop, an armature for hanging the backdrop, tripods, tether cable... the day before the big shoot I thought, "Hey the new Mac OS just came out, maybe that would help!"

It didn't.

It made my copy of Aperture stop working thus requiring me to spend another couple of hundred dollars regain the ability to edit photos. But I digress.

The day arrived and the so did the rain clouds. Ian and I sat in my house, playing wii, watching the weather channel and hoping for a break in the weather as my nervousness steadily grew. As people arrived the pressure to get shooting reached the tipping point so we began setting up and breaking down the equipment between rain showers, the expensive deposit I had put down on the rental equipment looming foremost on my mind.

Eventually we moved over to the school across the street where there was an awning of adequate size. We moved through everyone that showed up, getting some really great pictures, some not so great pictures and some happy accidents.

In the end despite my nervousness, people were really kind and complimentary and that means a lot to me. The members of the Mosquito Fleet can disagree with each other and have personality conflicts but when it comes down to it the positive experiences far outnumber the negative ones. Of course I know that there is room for improvement in the photos but that's life.

So that was fun. Speaking of fun, those Barrans sure are goofy. Here is a couple of gif's that I made from photos of the red-headed duo: