I grew up on a farm and my parents had some pretty strict rules about who was allowed in the house; people were inside and animals were outside. Not to say that rule couldn't be broken; there were times on a cold winter morning we would wake to the sound of a calf bawling in the basement. The poor little creature would have been born in a snowbank and my dad would have carried it, half frozen, into the basement to thaw out. We were thrilled to be able to go and pet it without worrying about the mother interfering.I was thinking about this earlier today as I contemplated taking Eselin into the basement to escape the mosquitoes while I touched up the paint on her rack. As I child it only seemed natural that my dad could carry a calf. A calf is so much smaller than a cow. It is only now, looking back 40 years, to realize how tough that must have been. My father is not a large man. He is probably 5'9" and I doubt at that time he weighed more than 160 pounds. Calves are not that small, and while he undoubtedly put it in a wheelbarrow for most of the trek, he still had to wrestle a wriggling, long-legged, 120+ pound animal through a set of doors and down a flight of stairs. And he didn't wake us once. Taking Eselin down these stairs would have been a walk in the park.
In the end, the bolood-suckers were not to bad (I guess they can't fly in the rain) so I just did my repairs in the garage.
The panniers I have been using are meant for a rack made of smaller gauge metal and the metal hooks have made a mess of the paint. The new panniers I order from Naturalcycle a couple of months ago have arrived. Plus I was extremely lucky and I am awaiting the
pannier I won in Trisha and Dotties'
Summer Games, so now I can fix this damage since it won't continue to happen
I took some fine grit sandpaper and roughed off the surface.
Then removed the dust with a rag so I could paint.
Luckily no rust had started yet, but this was the best black gloss paint I could think of.
I will have to do another coat tomorrow morning.
The original paint is much thicker than the rust paint, but already this makes a huge difference.
I took some fine grit sandpaper and roughed off the surface.
Then removed the dust with a rag so I could paint.
Luckily no rust had started yet, but this was the best black gloss paint I could think of.
I will have to do another coat tomorrow morning.
The original paint is much thicker than the rust paint, but already this makes a huge difference.
1 comment:
You could always look at something like this:
http://www.thetankslapper.biz/
It's a clear protective vinyl covering that you put over the areas that see a little more friction.
You may be able to find one that's not specifically intended for motorcycles (and would therefore be less expensive).
I was looking at getting some for my gas tank but realized I'd already scratched the heck out of it, heh...
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