WalMart sneaker fail

9-18-11
I bought these sneakers at WalMart in the spring of 2010 to use while mowing. My feet had grown considerably and I had no shoes that fit me that I wanted to turn green so I bought these. They were cheap, maybe $9 or $10. Not real comfy, but adequate. Since I only planned to wear them a couple hours a week during lawn mowing season, I expected they would last a long time. I find it odd they both failed in the same way at the same time.

I keep them in the back of my Jeep. Maybe the heat there affected them or something, but when I went out yesterday to mow the lawn, BOTH of them exhibited a delamination of the thin rubber sole. The last time I mowed both were OK.

I thought about just tossing them out but decided to try an experiment instead. I reattached the left sole with super glue. I probably did not use enough, but I did use a whole tube of generic super glue from Harbor Freight.

The right side one I reattached with black Permatex.

ETA: 5-12-13

Both shoes are still holding up after the hasty repairs I made some time ago. I only use them a few hours a week during lawn mowing season though.

Outdoor Products Fanny Pack (WalMart)

I bought this at WalMart back in the spring. It was around $10. I started using it instead of a backpack. It was smaller and while it does not have a drinking bladder, the bottle holders work well. It came with two 1/2 l bottles that I chose not to use in favor of these two diet root beer bottles that are 1 l.

Unfortunately it developed a rip in the stitching. I did not notice it and catch it in time to fix it when it was just a little rip, so it ended up being a much bigger rip than it had to be.

My wife sewed it up with some heavy nylon thread that came with a sewing awl I bought from Harbor Freight. It probably would have been a minor fix if I had caught it early on.

I have a tough time blaming this on the product. I just did not check it and catch a minor thing in time to keep it a minor thing. The pack has provided good daily service on my morning dog walks and occassional hikes in the woods since I got it back in the spring.

For the $10 I paid for it I still consider it a good deal.

More stuff

9-11-11
Loglis is doing some work out front.

9-16-11
A new door at Logli. They cut a chunk out of the retaining wall and the side of the building. I wonder what this is about. Seems like a lot of money to spend to put in a door when there is one already there about 15 feet away.

2011-9-17 ROCK RIVER RECREATION PATH

Wilma and I went walking on the bike path along the river. Normally I prefer the woods, but I have never walked this section of the bike path, so I figured we would give it a shot. The section of the path between Sportscore and Riverside is almost like being in the woods. It is tree lined and in the shade. Fairly quiet. Not a ton of traffic on it, although we were passed by maybe half a dozen bikes on our way back north.

We started at a parking lot just south of Elmwood. The little short stub you can see on the GPS plot is where we started. We went south and then took a detour off the main path, came back and followed the main path down to Riverside and then back. We walked up the road a bit past the parking lot to meet Fran as she was coming back to get us.

GPS said less then 3.5 miles. It seems about right given the time involved and it being a paved trail.

6-4-12 ETA: This was moved here and edited somewhat as part of a reorganization of some other pages.

It is not really a single path so much as a series of discontinuous sections, joined by streets. It starts at Davis Park downtown on the west side of the river and heads north for a few blocks thru the park, and maybe a block farther outside the park and just stops.

The next segment starts at the Whitman Street bridge about 3/4 of a mile to the north. There is a bike way across the river and on the east side of the river the bike path heads north thru Sinnissippi River Front Park, past Spring Creek Road and stops at Illinois Street Park.

It picks up again at Shorewood Park and stops at the north edge of the park.

There is a break until you get to Martin Park in Loves Park. It winds thru Martin Park and back across the river at Riverside Blvd. There is a bike/pedestrian bridge there but you have to go a block or two to the west to a stop light to get across Riverside Blvd, and then come back for the next chunk.

The last chunk is continuous from Riverside Blvd all the way past Sportscore One to Harlem Road (or maybe it is now Frank Bauer Pkwy) on the west side of the river.

The Forest Preserve District HQ trails connect directly to it at Harlem Road via a path that goes under the bridge there.  At Harlem Road it also connects to the Bauer Path that goes into Machesney Park.

The nicest sections are the Sinnissippi River Front Park section and the part north of Riverside Blvd up to Sportscore One.

ETA 6-3-12 We hiked the segments from Martin Park to the Whitman St Bridge and back 6/2/12. The post there includes lengthy commentary.

ETA 6-10-12 See Dec 2011 review at TrailLink.

Hard to believe

I did not run across this on my own. I ran across the lawyer's story on a gun forum. I had previously read the SCC comments about the case, and wondered how such a miscarriage of justice could happen. I take out of this that one should never forget that when one is only listening to one side of an extremely emotionally charged story one is unlikely to get the full story.

These posts all describe the same incident. Hard to believe they are all talking about the same incident. I offer it without any further comment.

Newspaper article about the incident at the time it happened

Commentary from a Chicago police officer's blog after a mostly white and mostly suburban jury found a black defendant not guilty of shooting two cops, apparrently on self defense grounds

More commentary from a Chicago police officer's blog

The defense lawyer's story of how he came to take the case and how it proceeded

The defense's closing argument

Rock Cut State Park 9-5-11

It has either been hot or wet this summer so Wilma and I have not had much chance to go hiking until Labor Day. We had a nice hike on some horse trails. Saw lots of horses and their humans. This is the trail we followed. The red X is where we had to climb over a tree that fell across the trail.

The GPS trip computer called it 4.21 miles, just over 3 hours. The GPS plot called it 5.1 miles. My guess is it was about 4.5 miles, but hard to tell with any certainty.

This is a tree that was across the trail. I sent the park an email about it. Maybe next time someone from the park staff is out in that area they can bring a chain saw with them. It was not real hard to get over.

Some interesting purple berries on a tree.

ETA: I am told this is an black elderberry.

Latest stuff - mostly road construction

8-23-11
They have now filled in the ditch in front of the house.

8-26-11

8-29-11
A lot of cars are ignoring the road closed no thru traffic signs.

9-1-11

9-4-11
Fran says this is a "four oclock". I took this picture in the afternoon at Rock Cut State Park.

9-10-11
I managed to scrape my elbow on a fiberglass door in my office yesterday. Took two large bandaids to cover it.