This weekend I lost a bit of sleep to some false alarms from the smoke detectors in the house. They went off a 0400 two nights ago.
I decided I'd head to the Home Depot to replace them today. And I decided I would bicycle. Get some exercise.
My bicycle has been locked to the front patio for about 2 years and has a lot of rust and pollen on it. The tires were both flat. Every surface was covered in grime.
I set to cleaning it. Water and paper towels for most of the work. I used the only pump I have: a powered compressor that runs off of my car's 12V system. I used an old can of chain wax that Liz had from motorcycling to lubricate the chain and sprockets.
My bicycle now looks clean and is definitely still servicable. (I wish I had taken before/after pictures. Something I will have to remember for next time.)
I am proud of getting my bicycle in working order once again. It's a tiny bit of practice of living up to my renaissance ideal of becoming skilled in as many areas as I can.
At the Home Depot, I selected a replacement Smoke detector similar to the i2040 model that I had just removed. The Kidde FireX p12040 looks substantially similar but uses photoelectric sensing rather than ionization. To my delight, I was able to use the existing mounts and harnesses.
Hopefully this will reduce the number of false alarms, for a while at least.
I'm also proud that I did not just order something from Amazon this time. I suspect I will be doing this less and less as I try to re-orient my life from being a worker and consumer toward the life of a polymath craftsman.