| Author | Message | ||
     Ourdee |
HAPPY "B"day in 12! | ||
| Crusty |
Looking Ahead It’s 34 days until Buelltoberfest. Matthew has started posting a daily count down on Badweb. I’m really looking forward to going. Two Wheels of Suches is my all-time favorite campground. It’s a great place that’s run by really good people in a beautiful part of the country. Also, to make things even better, there will be several friends from Badweb there. I will probably not participate in many of the group rides. In nine days, I will officially become an old fart. I turn 69 on the 22nd. I’ve slowed down quite a bit. My riding skills are nowhere near as sharp as they once were. That accident last spring really did a lot to slowing me down. I’m not riding like a little old man, but I’m not getting the pleasure I used to get from going as fast as I used to like. I still love riding, but my pace is much slower. I can still travel at a brisk pace and do, but that pace isn’t up to “Contemporary Professional Standards”. Well; I’m used to traveling to the beat of my own drummer. I can still enjoy riding in my “Comfort Zone”. The real reason I go is the people. I really enjoy hanging out with everybody there. Everyone has their own distinct personality, but they are all fun to be with and they all have a positive view on life. And they will all bend over backwards to help each other, or even strangers. I remember watching the whole crew trying to get Froggy’s starter to work (and Greg’s patient persistence at it until he got it sorted). Or the guy on the Yamaha who had a bald flat tire. There were plug kits and compressors in abundance trying to get him up and running. I don’t drink, but I really get a kick out of Matthew’s amazing assortment of whiskeys; both single malt and blends. Some of them must have cost a serious chunk of change; but he shares them willingly with everyone who wishes. I don’t want to get into naming everyone and their attributes, but I have been helped many times by people there, in many ways. I really look forward to seeing them all, and I feel both proud and humbled to be accepted as part of this particular group. I consider them all to be very good friends. It doesn’t hurt that Jim’s Smokin’ Que is close by. It’s my favorite place for ribs. Their ribs are good enough that they don’t need sauce to taste great. But they are wonderful with Jim’s own sauces. There are other BBQ joints in the area, but I’ve never tried them. Maybe someday, when Jim’s sells out, I will. I think that, unless the weather sucks, I’m going to take all secondary roads down and split the ride into two days. I’ll ride to Cumberland Falls Campground in the Daniel Boone National Forest and camp there overnight. Unfortunately, I won’t be there to see a Moonbow, but I’m hoping that the campground will be fairly empty while I’m there. I think it will; I’ll be there in the middle of the week. Not too many people go camping in the middle of the week in October. Except maybe in Florida, but I have no desire to go that far south. Anyhow, I’ll have an easy, low mileage day each day on the way down. I haven’t plotted my ride home yet, but I’m thinking that maybe I should take a route that covers different areas. I’ve got over a month to check out different roads and campgrounds online, so I’ll think about it some more. In the meantime, I have a Meet-N-Eat to attend on Sunday the 22nd of September. That’s another event that I’m looking forward to a lot. Joe’s going to be there with his reacquired Roadster (he sold it, then missed it; so he bought another, made it look pretty, traded it for a Softail, then traded the Softail for his original Roadster. If that sounds both crazy and convoluted, it’s because it is. However, Joe has his Roadster back. Paul’s going to ride down from Michigan, and Jcolleyoh is coming. I don’t know who else is going to be there. Paul mentioned that he might bring along some members of the Posse. Quite a few folks have stated on the forum that they can’t make it. Since I was the one who broached the idea, I considered canceling or rescheduling it, but no matter when it gets scheduled, there will be people who can’t attend. I fell back to my old position of, “At such a time and place, I’m going to be there. If there are others who wish to join me, that would be great! If nobody else shows up, that’s OK, too. I’ll still have a good time.” With Joe, Paul and Jcolleyoh, I think we’ll have fun. If more folks show up, we’ll have more fun! Anyhow; I have to get ready and go out. I hope everybody has a Great Day today on Friday the 13th! | ||
| Ourdee |
Nice. I plan on having an amazing time in Ga. I wanted to take 2 days to get there. But, I wound up with a commitment that takes a day off the front. So, I will be teaming up with someone to remedy that. Wish that I could show up a week early. I am already thinking a year ahead for a two week ride ending at Two's. I need to get on it. | ||
| 1313 |
Anyhow; I have to get ready and go out. I hope everybody has a Great Day today on Friday the 13th! INDUBITABLY!  1313 | ||
| Crusty |
Strange Moods I’ve been having some really strange mood swings over the past few days. I go from obsessing about my bike to obsessing about the house then back. I’m undecided about whether I should rebuild the engine in the Roadster using first rate and long lived parts, or whether it would be better to buy a new Roadster and change things around to suit me. I weigh the pros and cons of both possibilities and both have their merits. The merits of the better suspension, better brakes and fuel injection are countered by having an engine that’s been gone through with an eye toward durability and reliability. Then, I start thinking about the house. There are a lot of changes and improvements that I’d like to make. New paint in the bedroom and kitchen and new carpet and I’d like to make the one bedroom into two; as it originally was. I also want to rebuild the bathroom. Get rid of the bath tub and have a nice shower with a seat. Get rid of the ceramic tiles and have smooth sheet plastic for the shower walls, put in a new vanity and sink and get rid of those damned cherubs. And then I wonder if it might not be better to just sell the house and buy another that won’t need as many changes. When my thoughts go there, I think about how I was convinced that I was meant to live in this house; that I belong here. If I were to sell this place, the wraiths from Raiders of the Lost Ark would start floating around me and make my face melt, or something equally unpleasant. Now, my recent impoverished status is because I’ve been focusing on getting my debt paid down. Having to spend myself broke replacing the lead pipe is only part of it. If I wasn’t pouring so much money into paying off my credit card and paying off the loan for the furnace, I’d be comfortable, financially. However, at the Loan Shark interest rates Capital 1 is charging, I just want to get out from under ASAP. I gave them almost $1,200 in Interest last year. That alone is almost enough for a down payment on a new Roadster. When you add in the amount I pay monthly, I could buy the bike and have it paid off in short order. So, lately, my thought have been jumping from the bike to the house and back. Yesterday, I was cruising through Craigslist, looking at assorted things, motorcycles, tools of different types and even furniture when I spotted an ad for an electric hedge trimmer for cheap. Now this is the last week of the month and I‘ve spent myself real close to flat broke. I’m not really concerned too much because there’s a lot of food in the freezer, but cash is sparse. Still, I wanted that trimmer so I decided to look in the Laundry Jar. When I got my washer and dryer, Don advised me to take the money I spent at the Laundromat each week and put it in a jar and save it. I’ve been doing that and I’ve used the money to fund a few trips. It paid for my trip to Daytona, last year and it helped pay for my trip to Massachusetts this past July. I had emptied the jar in July, but I had put $20.00 in the jar in August, so I took that and went over to Florence, Kentucky and bought a used hedge Trimmer. The guy (Darryl) selling it had a bunch of yard tools and the one I really want to go back and get was the weed whacker. It’s got a two stroke engine; it’s not electric and he only wants $40.00 for it. Darryl’s a bit older than me and he understands that I’m living on a small fixed income, so when I told him that I get my next SS payment in a week and I’d be calling him then, he said he’d be happy to save it for me. Before I bought the trimmer, I was thinking pretty strongly about going up to Velvet Smoke and trying their chicken for a meal. Supposedly, it’s really good (according to reviews on Google). I guess I’ll just have to wait until next week to try it. After I bought the trimmer and bungeed it down on the bike, I decided to skip the Interstate and took back roads over to the Anderson Ferry and crossed the River on it. People sure give you some long looks when you’re on a bike with a hedge Trimmer strapped to it. They also gave me more room than is usual. I didn’t mind that at all. I wonder if they thought I’d attack them with it if they screwed with me? I’ll have to borrow David’s car for a couple of hours next week so I can go pick up the weed whacker. There’s no way I really want to carry a six foot long yard tool on the back of the Roadster. I probably could figure out a way to do it, but if I can borrow David’s car, I think it would be easier. In any event, I‘m still in a strange mood. I was watching both Pale Rider and Murphy’s Romance on the idiot box. I’d watch one until the long ad break, then switch to the other until it had an ad break. At first, the ads were at different times, but eventually the breaks were in sync. Finally, I got sick of the ads telling me that I could receive significant financial compensation if I took certain unpronounceable drugs or if I was exposed to Round Up weed killer or I had to watch all those poor, mistreated animals that I could help for only 19 bucks a month or the newest Hemp product to help me sleep better (it’s Natural!); so I shut the TV off and started hacking this out. I feel better now. | ||
| Ourdee |
I wish I could get compensated for the migraines I got from Round-Up. | ||
| Crusty |
I wish I could get compensated for the migraines I got from Round-Up. Contact Dewey, Cheatham and Howe, P.C. They'll get a bundle. You'll make $0.67 net. | ||
| Crusty |
Restless I’m feeling restless, but I can't think of a good topic to write about. I suppose I could write about cleaning my kitchen floor. It took me two days and my knees are going to be sore for a while, but the entire floor is clean. The cleanest it’s been in many years. It started the other day. I looked at the kitchen floor and decided that I should wash it. The sponge mop wasn’t quite cutting it, though. Even though I washed it, it didn’t look clean, so I got down on my knees to clean the offending area with a Scotchbrite pad. Then, thought back to the time 25 years ago I cleaned the floor in my apartment in Medford with Brillo pads. It really made a difference. So I grabbed a cleaning sponge and the can of Comet cleanser, filled a small bucket halfway with water and got started. My kitchen isn’t very big, but it took a sizeable amount of work to get the floor clean. At one point, I went downstairs and got a putty knife to clean things that were really stuck to the floor. I pulled the register for the heat/AC and scrubbed it in the sink. Then, I cleaned out the sheet metal box under the register, it had stuff stuck to it from probably decades and getting it clean was a lot of work. I actually had to pour a bit of water into it and let it soak in before I could get all the accumulated funk out. When I was done , though, I could see the galvanized metal and not a coating of brownish black petrified mung. The stove is on rollers, so it got moved aside and the floor under it scrubbed; as did the Refrigerator. My knees hurt after a few hours on Monday, so I quit after getting the worst of it then continued on Tuesday. I got a little smarter on Tuesday and brought up one of the dense foam kneeling pads that I use for working on the bike. Even so, my knees were pretty sore by the time I finished. I went over the floor a couple of times with the sponge mop to get up all the remaining traces of cleanser up and it really looks pretty nice. When my knees stop hurting, I think I’ll give the bathroom floor the same treatment. That will take less than a day, I’m sure. But I’ll have to clean the toilet and sink and outside of the bathtub/shower, first. I try to keep the bathroom clean, but it’ll be pretty much antiseptic and spotless if I get into it. It's kind of like the way I wound up replacing the sink in my house in Leominster. The faucet in the kitchen was dripping. So I went to the hardware store and bought a new set of guts for the valve and installed it. That didn’t stop the drip. When I looked closer, I saw that the cast housing was pitted and cracked, so I was going to have to replace the whole faucet. When I pulled the faucet off the sink, I saw that the metal under the faucet assembly was rotted and the whole sink needed to be replaced. While getting a new sink and faucet, I wound up getting a tubing cutter and installing shut off valves in the pipes because I’d had to shut off the water for the house to fix the sink… Eventually, the original 15 minute drip repair became a 10 hour major project. Originally, I was just going to mop the kitchen floor. It turned into a two day project that is now threatening to become an extended project that will encompass a few days, but will have the kitchen and bathroom as clean as I can possible get them. Well; it isn’t costing me any money, which is good, ‘cause, once again I’m broke and it gives me a little more pride and satisfaction in my home, which is also good. It’s kind of like the way I feel when I put a serious cleaning and polishing on the Roadster. And speaking of the Roadster, she’s looking pretty nice, but the wheels could use a bit of attention. Maybe I should go down to the garage, put on the Classical music station and spend a couple of hours with a few rags, some metal polish and some wax. And while I’m at it, a little Armor All for the plastic and rubber; and when’s the last time I cleaned under the seat? And… (Message edited by Crusty on September 19, 2019) (Message edited by Crusty on September 19, 2019) | ||
| Ratbuell |
Eventually, the original 15 minute drip repair became a 10 hour major project. That, my friend, is the story of my life. And also why my kitchen faucet still drips. Sorta. It's a single-handle lever design - up/left for hot, up/right for cold, down for off. But down/center drips, so I've taught myself to turn it off by doing down/center then move right, and that will keep it from dripping. For now. I'm sure it'll eventually get worse, and when it does I'll end up with new-sink, new-valves, and new-faucet just like you did. I remember when the sprayer went south, and what a huge PITA that was to replace (the dispos-all in the way didn't help)...and that's why I continue to down/right every time I turn it off. I'm on a well, so not like it increases a water bill... | ||
| Crusty |
Blueberry Pie Blueberry Pie I made a Blueberry Pie for my birthday. It’s in the oven right now, and will be for another 30 minutes or so. I'm fixing it for a couple of reasons; First, Blueberry is my favorite pie and Second, I can’t bake a cake worth a damn. Until this past year, I couldn’t make a pie, either; but the pie I got last year from the Supermarket for Thanksgiving sucked so bad, I figured I’d try to make my own for Christmas. It turned out pretty good. A lot better than the store bought pie. Now, when I tell people that I’m making a pie, they all expect me to make the filling from scratch. I don’t. I buy two cans of filling and a package of pre made pie crusts and put them together. It takes me about half an hour, and it takes 45 minutes for the pie to bake, so that means it uses up an hour and a half of my time when you figure in clean up time. Some folks are obsessed with doing it from scratch. I don’t care. It’s my birthday and my pie and my mouth. I’m obsessive about spaghetti sauce. I have a friend who heats up some Ragu sauce and boils some pasta and likes it. I make my own. I have tasted Ragu and a couple of other brands and they just don’t cut it for me. But my friend is happy eating that sh*t, so that’s all that really counts. The same thing applies to motorcycles. There are people who wouldn’t be caught dead on a Sportster. They don’t make enough power, they don’t have overhead cams, they don’t rev fast enough, they don’t handle good enough, etc, etc, etc… For me, however, it’s a great bike. Maintenance is easy and minimal. It makes enough horsepower and torque for my wants. And, the way I’ve got it set up, it looks and feels like a motorcycle should look and feel– to me. There are a lot of things that it doesn’t do as well as other bikes, but it does them well enough to suit me and if feels better doing it than those other bikes ever will. So, tomorrow, I’m going to ride my enjoyable motorcycle up to Columbus to meet up with friends and enjoy a (hopefully) good burger. After that, I’ll ride home and for my Birthday, I’ll have some tasty Blueberry Pie a la Mode (with a single candle in it). That sound like a recipe for a really Good Day. Gotta go; the pie is done. (Message edited by Crusty on September 21, 2019) | ||
| 86129squids |
Awww, go stuff it in your pie hole!!  | ||
| Tootal |
Well enjoy your Birthday ride John! And your pie for that matter. It's supposed to rain here tomorrow so hopefully you'll be ok. | ||
| Zac4mac |
Happy Birthday, John. Good food and good company sounds like a perfect day ahead. Z | ||
| Buellish |
Happy birthday from Joe A. and me!See you in October. | ||
| Adrenaline_junkie |
Just took the grandkids back to their parents. I forget, time and location for tomorrow's burger? Happy Birthday you crusty old biker type dude! | ||
| Crusty |
Time is promptly between 1:00 and 1:30. Location is: The Thurman Cafe 183 Thurman Ave, Columbus, OH 43206 Supposedly, their smallest burger has 12 oz. of meat. MSN rated them as one of the top 100 burger joints in the US. It should be a fun time! | ||
| Pwnzor |
Happy birthday! | ||
| 86129squids |
Happy Bday RoadCrust!! Hope the ride and the grub are awesome. I once visited Columbus, got to walk around OSU's campus, hang out on the strip, etc... this was around Halloween. My friends and I had been looking for good haunted houses, but for some reason they all closed by 10PM. Decided to go get some pizza, late- while we were waiting for our pizza order a couple of guys came in. One went to the counter, the other came to our table, as we were the only folks there. He very politely said "How are you folks doing... would you please get up and go to the walk-in in the kitchen?" Yeppers, they robbed the place and us, even took my new Halloween mask! So, in the end that day, no need for a haunted house, we got the bejezzus scared out of us anyway. Funny how calm and polite the guy was... I'll always marvel over that. | ||
| Crusty |
A Happy Birthday Yesterday was my birthday, and it was a good one. It wasn’t a great birthday; there were just enough things that didn’t go as hoped for to diminish it to “only” a good one, but it was still a very enjoyable day. And enough didn’t go wrong to make it a bad day by a long shot. In fact, the more I think about it, the better the day looks. I usually attend a Sunday morning AA meeting and yesterday was no exception. While there, I mentioned that it was my birthday and 40 people or so spontaneously sang “Happy Birthday” to me, which got my face to turn as red as my shirt. Still, although it embarrassed me, it was kind of nice; but I will never mention my birthday at that meeting again. As soon as the meeting ended, I jumped on the Roadster and headed up I-71 for Columbus. Google said it should take 1 hour and 50 minutes, and they were pretty close with that time estimate. I arrived just before 1:00. Woody was there when I arrived and was holding a parking spot. Parking in that neighborhood is at a premium but he had a space secured that would accommodate all the bikes. He had posted that he wasn’t going to be able to make it, due to his job, but things happened at work that left him with time off, so he decided to join us. That was pretty neat. I had been expecting three people, maybe four to be there. There was a lot happening yesterday and a lot of folks who might have made it were busy doing other things. Joe (Gravydog) pulled up a minute or two after me, then Joe (Jcolleyoh) pulled up soon after. I wasn’t sure if Roy (Adrenaline Junkie) was going to make it or not. He had asked about the time and location, but never said if he was going to make it. We figured we’d wait a bit, then Brian and Laura pulled up. They were unexpected; Brian was one of the first people to post that they couldn’t make it as they had already made other plans. They had gotten home earlier than they expected, so they decided to join us. We walked over to the café and Joe put our names in and was told it would be a 45 minute wait. Then Roy arrived. He made it on time, but barely (we were supposed to meet promptly between 1:00 and 1:30). He had taken a wrong turn on his way from Parkersburg and it cost him a bunch of time. We stood out on the sidewalk and talked about many things motorcycle related and some things that weren’t. The 45 minute wait stretched out to over an hour and a half, but finally, we got a booth big enough for us and we all ordered. I have to say that the burgers are big. Their smallest burger had 12 oz. of ground beef, plus whatever toppings on a pretty good sized roll. I got a burger with Cheddar Cheese, sautéed onions and mushrooms on it, and immediately cut it in half when it arrived so I wouldn’t be tempted to try and eat all of it. All the burgers were huge. Many years ago, a woman I knew had a poster of a muscle man with the caption, “Size has nothing to do with performance”. The burgers were big, but I’ve had better. They weren’t bad at all, but their biggest attribute was their size. I would go back, but I won’t rave about their quality. However, a Meet ‘n’ Eat isn’t about great food; it’s about great people and we definitely had that. Joe told us about another place called Johnny’s Tavern that’s supposed to have the coldest beer in Columbus and huge burgers of good quality and I think we’ll be going there for a Meet ‘n’ Eat in the not too distant future. It was 4:30 by the time we got out of Thurman’s, and Gravydog had to beat it for home, so he took off first. We all scattered in different directions and headed out. I had forgotten my camera, but other people took pictures, and Roy sent me the ones he took, so I have a few to remember the meet by. One really neat picture is of the seven Sportsters all lined up. They all looked good and together, they really looked good. Great bikes and great people. I couldn’t ask for anything better. I decided that I was just going to take the slab back home, and got on I-71 South, but I got bitten by the backroad bug almost immediately, so I got off when I saw an exit that said Xenia, and took that road west until I found Rt. 42, then I turned south and made my way back to Cheviot. And, as screwy as it seems, I didn’t get lost! I did get to ride through some beautiful country in nearly perfect temperatures and I just wallowed in the feeling that it really is Great to be Alive. I got home and had a monstrous slice of Blueberry Pie a la Mode, and I didn’t even notice that there were two boxes form Amazon Prime sitting on my front porch until David and Jack came by. I now have a new mailbox and post to replace the termite eaten one that I’ve been using, about six pounds of Kenya coffee beans, a few packages of Chips Ahoy and Nutter Butter cookies (to go with the coffee) and a DeWalt cordless Impact driver that I’m not sure who sent. It might be from Don; he’s sent me things from Amazon Prime in the past, and I wouldn’t put this past him. However, I strongly suspect it’s from Kathryn who had advised me to keep an eye out for something from Amazon. I will have to investigate further. I know! I’ll call each of them and ask! What a concept! I also got a bunch of Marx Brothers movies. All of the movies with the four brothers (Groucho, Chico, Harpo and Zeppo) plus A Night In Casablanca. So what were the negatives? Well; I didn’t get my shirt in time. When I ordered it, I was told I’d have it by the 19th, but the e-mail they sent states that I’ll get it by the 26th. Hopefully, I’ll get it by then. And the other negative was the really slow service at the Thurman Café. And that really wasn’t so bad; it gave us more time together to socialize with each other. Now that I look at it in perspective, it really was a pretty Great Birthday! | ||
| 86129squids |
Awesomw sauce!! Glad to hear it, buddy. | ||
| Crusty |
A Chorus Line of Beauties:  My big ass Burger:  An even bigger burger:  These photos were taken by Roy, 'cause I forgot my camera. (Message edited by Crusty on September 23, 2019) | ||
| 86129squids |
Dang. You're gonna make me thaw out some of the 95% lean grass-fed goodness I've got in the freezer, fire up my new grill. Actually I'd like to set my rotisserie up on it and do some cornish hens.  | ||
| Wolfridgerider |
Wish I would have remembered you guys were heading to the Thurman. I got done early with my Motorcycle Safety Class in Chillicothe and would have loved to said howdy to everyone. WAY back in when I got out of the Marine Corps, one of the companies I worked for was "German Village Showcase". Their office was the waiting/restroom area of the Thurman Cafe. When they closed up shop another company I worked for knocked the hole in the wall and added the restrooms. I have went to a lot of Christmas parties and such there. Good times but the food isn't as great as they make it out to be. | ||
| 86129squids |
"I have went to a lot of Christmas parties and such there. Good times but the food isn't as great as they make it out to be. Entropy. It affects lots of things. Love and memory, not so much. | ||
| Crusty |
I’ve Been Bitten On my way home from the Meet’n’Eat in Columbus, I was cruising down I-71 and got bit by the urge to take secondary roads. It took me probably an hour extra to get home, but it was an hour well spent. The ride was immeasurably better than it would have been on the Interstate. I’ve just spent the past hour or so plotting my route to Buelltoberfest next month on secondary roads. It should be interesting. I’m thinking that I might just set out a couple of days early and hopefully see a Moonbow at Cumberland Falls, Kentucky. The full moon is on October 13 and the rally starts on the 17th. I’m thinking that the Moonbow is usually visible for a couple of nights before and after the full moon, so if I arrive at the campground on the 14th, I should be able to see it that night. That would be really neat. From there, I could ride down to Tellico Plains and take the Cherohala Skyway over to Robbinsville and pick up Rt. 19 and take that to Georgia and Two Wheels of Suches. I’d arrive a day or two early, but that would leave me time to explore the area a little bit. Or maybe read a book. Or do whatever in solitude. I enjoy solitude, especially when I’m in a very beautiful location. I’m falling into one of those moods where I’m wanting to spend more time alone. I go through this every so often. It’s not that I hate people, I just prefer to be by myself. I’d rather just do what I feel like doing at my own pace and if I have a spontaneous urge to change things, I can. When I hit the road in 2015, I had a route planned out for my first day. But when I finished putting the last of my stuff in the storage garage, I set out in a different direction on a whim. I like doing things like that. Sometimes, I just feel like doing something spontaneously. If I’m alone, it’s much easier. Then again, sometimes I will stick to a plan and won’t deviate from it one bit. It all depends on my mood. However, I haven’t done any real Tramping since I bought the house and the bug jumped out and bit me hard this past Sunday afternoon. I bet riding south on Rt. 27 through Kentucky will be a beautiful ride. I know the Cherohala Skyway is. With a little financial conservation (the Eagle sh*ts on Monday, Oct. 21), I think a week on the road might be just what the Tramp ordered. | ||
| Adrenaline_junkie |
I have a friend from college. He and I used to vacation together fairly often when we were young and single even though we lived 1500 miles apart. We would plan these vacations for at least 3 months and sometimes more than a year. We would read about sites to see and things to do and places to stay along the way. And we would write it all down on a couple of sheets of paper. The significant part of this was that we would wad up the plan and toss it out the window within the first hour or two of the adventure. It was a ritual. It freed us up to do whatever whim caught our attention but we had done enough research to keep ourselves entertained if nothing cool just popped up. The point is, I understand your desire to just go where you want at any damn pace that feels good to you. Have fun my friend. | ||
| Daddio |
Happy (belated)Birthday, Crusty. I've enjoyed your "snippets" for years, written by someone gifted with a story-teller's tongue. Thanks!  | ||
| Crusty |
The Hour of the Wolf I woke up at 3:30 and I can’t get back to sleep. I feel tired, but not really sleepy. My brain isn’t working worth a damn. I tried to play a few puzzle games online, but I’m not playing well and I can’t focus. I’m awake; but I don’t want to be. So; I might as well hack something out. It probably won’t make a lot of sense, but it it’s really bad, it can go into the limbo that other non-finished Snippets live in. One thing I noticed at the Meet’n’Eat was that out of seven Sportsters, five were painted black. The two that weren’t were Laura’s dark blue Custom and Joe’s (Gravydog) orange Roadster. I’m saving towards my paint job, but it’s going to be a while before I have enough to get it done. Yesterday was a day when the Universe decided to rub my nose in it for a while. I stopped by David’s shop for a couple of minutes while out running errands. Every time I go by there, I look at his car and admire the paint. It really is a wonderful color. From there, I rode over to the supermarket and I saw two other Soul Red Mazdas on the way. Then, I saw a couple more in the Supermarket parking lot, including one that must have just been detailed. It really looked magnificent; the deepness of the red just leapt out at me. Then I saw two more on the way home with my 8 pack of paper towels netted to the passenger seat and my saddlebags full of groceries. That got the debate raging in my head; should I just get the fenders and tank done for my present Roadster, or should I wait and get the parts for my next Roadster painted at the same time? I was going to wait and get the parts for my next bike painted and just keep my present Roadster black. However, my rear fender has rust under the paint. It’s bubbling and the paint would crack and flake off if I’m not really careful when I polish it. It’s going to start flaking off without help, soon enough. The rear fender that I got for my next Roadster would go right on, so maybe I should just have the tank and front fender for this Roadster painted. After all; I won’t have the money for a new bike for at least a year and probably longer. But it only makes sense to paint the fuel injected tank at the same time. Since Soul Red is a three stage paint. If I’m going to transfer the fender from one bike to another, all the paint should match. And just how much would I save if I did have the sheet metal for just one bike instead of two painted? Probably not enough to really matter. It would be a lot better if I had extra than not enough. The bottom line is that right now, I don’t have the money and won’t for a while. The Roadster looks good black and the mange on the back fender isn’t noticeable if you’re not looking for it. That will change once it gets bad enough, but for now, all I can do is set aside a few bucks per month. I’ll probably wait until I get the new bike. I’m going to want to make it my idea of a Gentleman’s Express. The Soul Red paint is part of my vision. If the mange on my Roadster gets bad enough, then maybe I’ll just buy a fender from a bone yard and slap it on for the time being. Well; I’m feeling a bit sleepy, now. I think I’ll go back to bed and try to get another few hours of sleep. | ||
| Crusty |
A Revelation of Sorts Yesterday, I ran an errand for my brother. It was a good errand to be running; I went up to Rockafeller’s Pizza and picked up a couple of monstrous pizzas. David buys lunch for his employees on Fridays. Sometimes he brings in cold cuts and rolls and sometimes it’s something different. Yesterday, it was some of the best pizza I've had since I moved here. Anyhow, I grabbed David’s car (it’s painted Soul Red, which is how I became enthralled with the color) and went to pick up the pizzas. I came back on I-75 and went right by the place where I crashed last March. I finally figured out what happened and why I went down. There was a tar snake on the edge of a patched area that was maybe a foot and a half wide and about a half mile long. The tar snake was over six inches wide and it was just where I usually ride in the lane. Seeing that put my crash into focus. Since the accident, I’ve had that niggling little bit of doubt that maybe I was too hard on the brakes or just wasn’t here mentally and that’s why I went down. Now, when I got a good look at the wide strip of oil/ emulsion, I could see the cause. That just strengthened my resolve to not ride on that stretch of road. It’s undergoing reconstruction and when the pavement isn’t bumpy from being patched so many times, there’s a good amount of dirt that’s coating the asphalt from all the trucks entering and leaving the construction area. Add in the extremely low level of skill of the average Cincinnati driver and it’s a definite Red Flag zone for me. That just reinforced my decision to take secondary roads when I head out to Buelltoberfest in a couple of weeks. Secondary roads don’t attract better drivers, but most people prefer to use the Interstate, so the roads don’t need as much repairs, and the traffic is usually a lot lighter. I’ve been thinking about taking a few days to get home from the rally. The Blue Ridge Parkway isn’t that far away, and I could just take it up into Virginia and then turn west. Campgrounds are common, so I could spend a little more time traveling on beautiful twisty and scenic roads and camping in nice places. That really appeals to me. (Message edited by Crusty on September 28, 2019) | ||
| Crusty |
Why Is It? Why is it that whenever I start a “Home Improvement” project, it always gets a lot more complicated and requires a lot more money than I expect? The mailbox here at Chez Crusty has needed replacing since before I bought the house. The wooden 4x4 holding it was pretty termite eaten, and the pivot on one side of the door was broken. It’s one of those things that, “I’ll get around to eventually”. Well; I got a new mailbox and steel mounting post for my birthday, so today I went out to replace the old one. Now, my collection of yard tools is pretty sparse, It consisted of a very old and tired long handle round shovel, a narrow (6”wide) short handle square garden shovel and an Ice chopper that I brought from Taxachusetts when I moved here (I also have an old, tired hoe, but it isn’t needed for this job). My tools are inadequate for the task. The dirt in my yard has a high percentage of clay in it and it’s extremely hard. Trying to dig through it is a real source of frustration. In two hours (with a long break) I managed to dig a square hole that’s 18” to a side and it’s about 8” deep around the old mailbox. The temperature is right at 92 F and the attempt really kicked this old fart’s ass. During the aforementioned break, I called David to see if he has a pick. He does, but he’s not sure where it is. He’s working today, but he’ll look for it when he gets home tonight. I told him that I was going to put the project on hold, but after I had rested a little longer, I decided to go out and try a little more. This time, the Old, tired shovel’s blade split. I worked as a Miner for over 20 years. I know how to use a freakin’ shovel. When the blade split, it really pissed me off. So, after I put the tools away, I came inside and went online and priced shovels. I can get a Chinesium shovel for something like eight bucks (+ tax) or I can get a shovel that’s made in the USA for three times as much. As I said, I worked with shovels for decades and I don’t want cheap crap. I may only use it two or three times in the future, but, like my tools that I use to work on my bike, I want Quality. When I bought the hedge trimmer a couple of weeks ago, the guy selling it also had a gas engine String Trimmer for only forty bucks. Well; the string trimmer is going to have to go on the back burner. It’s a bit of a disappointment, but not a major one. I’m hoping that David finds that pick and that the handle is in good shape. Otherwise, I’ll have to buy a new handle. Pick handles are fairly cheap, but I really don’t want to have to buy one. I will if I have to, though. That new mailbox will be installed. And if I have to dip into the money I’m planning to use to go to Buelltoberfest, then I’ll do that, too! I’m not going to let a little difficulty stop me. I got rid of that chair rail in the dining room, the hideous wallpaper and the disgusting pink paint; I have a new furnace, air conditioner, hot water tank and the lead pipe has been replaced with a copper one. The drain into the sewer has been rooted out and the tree that was about to fall on the house is in pieces in the back yard. I flat refuse to let something as minor as a mailbox stop me. I just wish that for just one time, things would go smoothly. Just like I wish that for just one time, I could win the Lottery. |
