The Time Machine application, when in the dock, enables access to functions for showing Time Machine, backing up now, stopping an existing backup, browsing other Time Machine disks and showing Time Machine preferences. If you're like me, you'd like access to these features without the app in the dock; unfortunately, you can't -- by default.

I've done a bit of digging and was able to implement all but one of these features in a menu extra. Download it and the source here.

And yes, the menu icon doesn't scale nicely :)