Death in the garden

Today I became a murderer.

I'm a live and let live kinda girl - I enjoy critters of all shapes and sizes, and have been known to defend worms and spiders. But when the grasshoppers and caterpillars start decimating my beans, I get cranky. So with a prayer - "Thank you for letting me set your spirit free" - I squash the little bastards. Quickly, so I don't have to think about it. Ordinarily I'd be going, "Oh, check out the little grasshopper! Look at the colours on this hairy caterpillar." But not today. I've put the word out - I will leave you alone if you leave my vegies alone. Touch them and the boundary is crossed. I will send a hitman (person) after you.

Actually, I'm not quite that much of a nazi - a nibble here and there is forgiven, but when it gets to the point that the plants are calling my name and pleading to be saved from ravenous beasts...well, I have to do something. Just hope I don't come back as a grasshopper!

Yesterday I got new batteries for my electric bike. I got it last year and rode it to uni during first semester, but it hadn't had much use the last 6 months or so as I wasn't studying, and was working too far away to use it to commute. Also the chain kept coming off. So on the weekend I fixed the chain problem, only to find my batteries wouldn't hold enough charge to get me to uni and back, which I now need to do three days a week. Pricing them was a shock - $70-$90 each. And I needed two.

I remembered a site about electric bike conversions which mentioned that the portable jump starter packs used exactly the same battery, yet sold for much less. So yesterday when the jump starter packs went on special I grabbed two at $40 each, removed the batteries and soldered them in to the bike's battery pack. I let them charge overnight and did a few laps of the nearby suburbs today to make sure I had the range, and all is well. :) So tomorrow I can ride to uni instead of driving ($) or catching the bus (less $ but only comes about once every hour on average, and the connecting bus doesn't connect without a half hour or more wait, and it takes an hour to get the 5km between here and uni). And at about 2c a charge, it's even cheaper than the bus, even including a new set of batteries every year.

The electric bike is a el cheapo chinese-made model, which has had some el cheapo chinese-made-product issues, but that's what you get for $200 for an electric bike! When it dies beyond repair I'll get a conversion kit and put it on a frame from the dump shop.