'Donation', skis, and fixing a flat

It has been a little on the windy side the past few days so I haven't cut on my willow tree anymore. Instead I have done a little of this and a little of that.

I baked a pumpkin pie and a loaf of pumpkin bread with some pumpkin muffins.

Yesterday I went uptown to give some people, who asked me, a copy of the County Commissioner's agenda with the date and time the Commissioners approved the subdivision where Commissioner Hall "exchanged" (the word Traci from the Planning Office used at last weeks Planning Board meeting) his vote to reduce the open space buffer along the river from 200 down to 100 ft for a 'donation' of $10,000 to the County. These people are interested in getting a copy of the transcript from that Commissioner's meeting.

The 'donation' was written into the conditions for the prior subdivision by Hall. However for this latest subdivision proposal - while most conditions were carried forward - the $10,000 'donation' was absent. Hmmmm?

When I asked Traci during the Planning Board meeting what happened to the 'donation' condition she stumblingly said it was dropped because the new subdivision has less houses and was less dense so the 'donation' wasn't needed. Uh, huh.... nowhere in the original Commissioner meeting was the 'donation' related to the subdivision's density. I was there. Then the Planning Board chairman interrupted me and said I was only to speak to the Planning Board and not the Planning Staff during the time I spoke. Something fishy is going on behind the scenes. Don't ya just love honest open government?

While uptown I also spoke with the Kalispell Planning office about a public meeting on a study of traffic and road in and around Kalispell. I was trying to get an idea whether to attend today's public meeting. People have encouraged me to do so. The meeting is 6 hour long with a public comment period at the beginning, at 10 am.

I know I should have gone this morning, but I am not a morning person, and wasn't too enthused to get out of bed early in order to butt my head again a wall. So I didn't go.

Yesterday after mentioning my arterial road concerns to the planner, Tom, we spent time discussing bicycling as he and his family are avid bicyclists and they traveled on my road weekly when Costco was located along Hwy 2.

A local sporting goods store is having their year end ski sale. I dropped by in hopes of buying a pair of boots to go with the 3 hole ski bindings on my skis. I found 3 hole bindings are old and the bindings are not sold anymore - so no shoes. I looked at their cross-country skis and spoke with their salesman. The newer ski designs seem to be better than what I have. New skis would have metal edges to help me steer and stop. Also some designs have a fat tip which also helps steer and stop. For the kind of skiing my group does in the mountains and up and down trails, these new skis sound like what I need. The problem is the price - even on sale - is $200 to $250+.

I am still repairing my bicycle tube. When I took the tire and tube off to find the flat I discovered two previous patches leaked air. That would account for the bubble-wrap popping sound before the leak occurred. I easily repaired the one leak but the second leak is proving troublesome. It continues to leak after my attempts to fix it. I should be able to repair it and need to pay attention to what I am doing. My first mistake was not realizing the leak is a "snake bite" (2 small holes near each other). Fixing one hole didn't cut it. Not waiting for the glue to dry is also not good. I'll see if tonight's repair job worked.

Tomorrow my hiking/skiing group decided to bicycle on the plowed part of Going-to-the-Sun road. Since it is not April 1 (when the park officially begins plowing the road), the road is only partially plowed to allow the repair crew to reached the parts of the lower road damaged during last November's rains. No telling how far the road is open to bicycle traffic. I'll find out tomorrow.