Swap meets, broken purchases, and gardening

That's about the extent of my life at present.  Yesterday we wanted a destination for our motorcycle ride, and there was a swap meet sponsored by an antique tractor club at Platte City; seemed like a good idea.  
Friends, if your husband messes around with old tractors and is going to a swap meet sixty-five miles from home, do not ride your motorcycle.  There were all kinds of "man toys" there, most of them pretty big and heavy.  
Cliff bought an older drill motor, which was no big deal; it fit in the trunk of the motorcycle.  And then he found a big electric hoist and started salivating.  
"How much do you think it would cost?" I asked.  
"Oh, around $500 at least."  
About that time the owner of this particular batch of junk approached, and Cliff said, "How much for that hoist?"  
"Well, there's a story about that," the guy said.  And he went on to explain that it didn't quite work right, and said he'd take a hundred bucks for it.  
This is the sort of challenge Cliff loves because he might be able to get it working; although at $100, it's somewhat of a risk.  Of course there was no way of getting it home on the Gold Wing.  So Cliff gave the man some money to hold it and we'll go after it today in the car.; you know, because gas is so cheap and all.  
I'm not griping; stuff like that comes out of his tractor fund, so it's neither here nor there to me.    
I've put up fence for the peas to grow on, and I risked planting two short rows of corn, mainly because Cliff noticed some farmers already planting corn.  It's early yet, but it might not get killed by frost.  I'm going to risk setting out a couple of tomato plants in a few days, too.  
Yesterday I ate seven grapefruits, all by myself; I'm not even a bit ashamed about it.  I've already had two today, and I plan to try and surpass yesterday's record.  
Trees are getting leaves, flowers are blooming, and birds are singing.  I now await the arrival of my first hummingbirds of the year.  

BREAKDOWN!

After our weekend visitors left yesterday, I brought six nice-sized eggplants in from the garden, so I called my daughter and invited her family over for eggplant paramesana.  I can't really say I was fixing a proper meal, but they hadn't had a taste of my version of this dish, and they're always willing participants in any sort of food-sampling venture.  
Once they left, Cliff and I decided to go for a motorcycle ride.  Not a long one, since it was four o'clock, and we don't ride in the dark.  Just a nice little getaway spin.  
Not two miles from home, we felt our Gold Wing miss just a little bit... maybe just a one-time fluke?  Cliff thought there might be some water in the gas.  We forged on; when it happened again, he said it seemed like a carburetor problem.  We had planned to just ride 24 highway for awhile, then turn and come back; but Cliff instead went on to Truman Road (yes, Truman Road does extend all the way from Kansas City into the boonies, so far out you can almost hear the banjo music).  
When we turned onto Truman Road (also known as FF), the bike started really acting up, and finally died; as luck would have it, we were almost to the turnoff to New Oak Winery, and Cliff managed to coast that far, make a turn, and get off on the side road leading up to the place.  

His first thought was that he had perhaps failed to tighten up some wire or other when he replaced the starter relay the other day, but he could find no problem in that area.  

He called the son-in-law, who was relieved, I'm sure, to find out we broke down only seven miles from home this time.  He picked us up; he and Cliff took the trailer after the bike, and all was well.  

Once the motorcycle was in the shop, my loving husband found out all we need is a new battery and we'll be on the road again.  

I'll tell you, there's nothing like the excitement of riding a motorcycle; adventure is always right around the corner.  

A Craigslist story

We sold a motorcycle yesterday.   
Cliff's Kansas brother, Don, was told by Phil, their Higginsville brother, about a motorcycle in these parts; a guy Phil went to church with was pretty desperate for money and needed to sell a Kawasaki 1200R ZRX.   This all took place last winter.
The Kansas brother figured there was money to be made on the bike, so he had Cliff go look at it.  Cliff knows nothing about Kawasakis, but he described it to him as best he could.  
Kansas brother's wife holds the purse-strings in their house, so Don asked next-door sister for a loan; if the motorcycle sold, he told her, they'd split the profits.   

We went to pick up the bike on a miserably cold and icy day, brought it home, and put it on Craigslist.
The first man to look at it made the mistake of offering us less than the asking price; it hadn't even been on Craigslist for a full day, so it would have been ridiculous to lower the price that soon.  In fact, we decided it was too cheap and raised the price.  
Cliff's brother Don came visiting, and he and Cliff decided to see how the Kawasaki ran.  They left with Don on the Kawasaki and Cliff on our Gold Wing.  When they returned, they had switched bikes.  Both of them were almost trembling with excitement, and I heard Cliff say something about going 110 miles per hour.  Don mentioned 140 MPH, but who knows?  He's always had a tendency toward exaggeration.  Shortly after their wild ride, they realized the title was missing: Cliff had put it in the trunk of the bike so he'd know where it was; Don had done a wheelie, the trunk lid popped opened, and the title had flown out and away.  
I removed the bike from Craigslist and Cliff put in for another title.  Once we had that, we put the &%$#@*& motorcycle back on Craigslist.  
Cliff got a call from a guy in New York.  "The guy sounded like a scammer," he told me.  
The fellow called again the next morning while we were on our walk.  Cliff was having trouble hearing him and handed me his cell phone.  The guy starts telling me he really wants this bike, but he'd like us to take it to a Kawasaki dealer and have them look it over.  
Now come on; we have a life here, and how would we know the guy was going to buy it after we went to all that trouble?  So I told him, "We think you sound like a scammer."  
One of my many fatal flaws is that I don't play games or pussyfoot around about saying what I think.  After all, Craigslist has a warning on the website saying not to deal with someone with the  "inability or refusal to meet face-to-face before consumating transaction."
 When we got back to the house, the man had sent me emails with the location (on Google maps) and address of his house, along with his home phone number.      
Then he called Cliff and said he was paying a man fifty miles from here to come and look the bike over; it was someone who took part in a message board dedicated to this particular bike, which, as it turns out, is fairly hard to find and has quite a following of folks who think it's one of the greatest motorcycles ever.   Who knew?

The man showed up to look at the motorcycle, took about five dozen pictures, and called the New York guy, describing the bike in glowing terms.  When he was done, he said, "I'm pretty sure he'll be buying the bike; he'll likely get a plane ticket, fly down here, and ride the bike back home."  
Well, you can't beat that.  
Then Mr. New York (who truly was a legitimate buyer and really did want the bike) checked on the title; because it was a replacement title and the miles were estimated, the state of New York wouldn't let him license it there.  "Now who's a scammer?" he asked Cliff.  
Insert a long sigh here.  Touche.   
Cliff said, "I'm gonna have to buy the damn thing myself and keep it around for Jim (our son) to ride when he visits."  
And then we got a call from somebody else, someone local.  He and his wife came and looked the bike over.  He liked it.  

We met them yesterday with the ZRX and money exchanged hands.  So far as I know, everybody is happy.  At least I know we definitely are!

Singin' the blues

When we started off on our motorcycle ride Saturday, we happened past an arena in St. Louis (or perhaps it was in St. Charles) where B.B. King was scheduled to appear. Now I like me some blues, and in spite of the fact that I was battling a bit of U.T.I. (is that TMI?), I suddenly felt like singing some blues. In fact, I felt like composing some blues.

Unfortunately, when I start singing blues, it ends up sounding like something Woody Guthrie or Jimmy Rogers would have written... not anything B.B. King would endorse.

If you want something easy to compose, just try the original blues beat: first line, then repeat that for the second line, then rhyme it, for the third line.

So, thanks to the mics in our helmets, Cliff got to hear my original composition as I made it up; here are some samples:

"I'd rather drink muddy water, sleep in a hollow log (repeat).
Than to ride a motorcycle that people call a hog."

"If your baby left you and you're feeling low (repeat),
Buy you a Gold Wing, get on that bike and go."

"G for Gold Wing, G for get 'er done (repeat),
If you have a Gold Wing, you're gonna have some fun."

"I got a Gold Wing, some folks wonder why (repeat),
'Cause me and my man get on that thing and fly."

"I'm from Missouri, that's the Show-me state. (repeat),

And we all know that Gold Wings are great."

That's only a sample; I probably made up fifty verses as we rode along.

Now here's the sad part; my little blues song was so countryfied that after every verse, I felt compelled to yodel. "Yodel-a-di-oh, di-lay-di-oh, di-lay-di!"

Poor Cliff.

Today

When people start telling me that my motorcycle needs new tires, I tend to listen. So today Cliff and I rode our motorcycle into Independence to Hub Cycles, where we'll get new tires and a new windshield installed on our Gold Wing. This isn't going to be cheap, folks.

It was raining, but only lightly. We were able to keep moving, so we didn't get wet.

Right next door to Hub Cycles at US Bank, there were a lot of policemen gathered. We're still wondering if a bank robbery had occurred.

Maybe I should google something up on the local news?

We left our bike at Hub, and the son-in-law, who was nearby getting therapy on his shoulder, picked us up and brought us home.

In case you were wondering how those BIG cucumbers I mentioned are doing, here's how they look tonight.

Motorcycle on the Autobahn

Watching this video made my stomach hurt. The guy wheelies for the first several seconds, so all you see is sky at first.

What I accomplished today

The house is a mess.

I had three or four hours of motorcycle-riding...

A couple of hours on horseback...

I'm tired. Somebody just shoot me.

Are you ready for Black Friday?

I found a website with all the major Black Friday ads HERE.

Being a non-driver and having a husband who hates to shop, I've done the black Friday thing only once in my life, with my daughter and a couple of her friends. I've never been one to go all-out buying Christmas gifts, and these days I just don't do any gift-buying at all; call me Scrooge. I do think that if I drove, I'd get out early and watch the excitement, though. I'm sure a couple of hours would do me in; then I'd be begging for the comforts of home.

Which reminds me: Yesterday Cliff and I took his motorcycle to Tipton, Missouri, to have some maintenance work done; fluids changed, brakes, checked... that sort of thing. The cost for this at Ghetto Cycle Center is much less than at Hub, which is where we've always gone before. And with gasoline prices at $1.49 per gallon (and less), we didn't mind the little drive. We even spent a couple of hours visiting with Cliff's aunt, who lives in the area.

Where was I going with this? Oh yeah, shopping: we stopped in Warrensburg so Cliff could buy the oil for our Gold Wing. The Walmart Supercenter we entered was bustling with shoppers, all of whom seemed happy and polite. The management must pipe some sort of happy gas into the store, because I'm used to Walmart shoppers practically running me down with their shopping carts; and if they make eye contact at all, it's usually to glare at me. Most shoppers seem angry at the world. It was like this even before our economy shot craps!

Of course, I have to pause here and admit that when I see a reflection of my own face while shopping, I don't exactly look the picture of peace and good will. So maybe I'm just getting back the same vibes I'm sending out.

And that's my totally random entry for this morning. As I read back over my words, I can see this whole post goes nowhere and says very little. If you made it all the way to the end, aren't you sorry you wasted your time? (Don't answer that.)

We rode our motorcycle to church today

I took this picture in the parking lot this morning, before church.



Cliff and I have been intending to make it to Biker's Sunday for the past couple of years. Two years ago we really would have gone, but Cliff was in the hospital recovering from CABG surgery. Last year we ended up in Branson for that weekend.


That's Pastor Bob on the left. The service was SO cool! There was a blues band (with a harmonica player who was out-of-this-world). There was standing room only. They fed us all! There were more bikers than non-bikers in the crowd.


I often call this church "the biker church", but really it isn't; it's a church for all people. I love how casual everyone is, because I hate to dress up.


Oh, they fed us hot dogs with all the trimmings, pasta salad, cole slaw, and potato salad. Plus many choices of dessert.

I love Biker's Sunday at Heart of God Fellowship. I hope we can go again next year!

My motorcycle DVD

After hours of frustration and much waiting and watching, I successfully put together a DVD consisting of digital pictures I've taken of our motorcycle adventures over the past two years. I'm fairly well satisfied with the music I chose to go with it. It lasts for forty-five minutes.

Watching it and listening to it on TV was almost like going on an actual motorcycle ride. I'm so glad for digital cameras, because back when film had to be developed, I just didn't take many pictures.

Who knows, we may get another Goldwing. Or not.

But I'm glad I at least have the memories.

And now I know how to make DVDs of photos, which may be a handy skill to have. I doubt I'll do another forty-five minute one, though. I am not a patient person.

It's always something, yes it is

If everything works out, the motorcycle will leave us today, and we'll pay off a major bill.

Yesterday I was already feeling sad about losing the Honda. Then Cliff decided to break a doctor's appointment he'd had me make last Friday when he was feeling light-headed, because, "I'm all right now; I don't need a doctor."

Well, he's a big boy, and he will do what he's going to do. I've thought all along he's been pushing himself too hard in the heat. It's supposed to be mid-nineties for a few more days, so we'll see if he decides to weed-eat in full sun at mid-day and gets light-headed again. (He isn't even supposed to be outside (or inside for that matter) in any temperatures over 85, according to the heart specialist.)

I washed a load of clothes yesterday morning only to find out my dryer wasn't working. I don't even have a clothesline now, since I never used it when I had it. So I was stewing about what to do with the clothes, and whom to call for dryer repairs.

It took about two hours for me to remember that I have a daughter with a dryer less than two miles away. And I have a key to her house. One problem solved.

As for repairs, it seems that appliance repairmen around here don't work on Mondays. Maybe they work Saturdays and need a two-day weekend? Monday seems to be a popular day to take off for lots of people: motorcycle shops are closed then, and barber and beauty shops.

I called Bruce, the local guy who fixes everything from furnaces to appliances to water-well pump problems. He works on Monday, but was fully booked up.

Once I realized I could use my daughter's dryer, it wasn't so urgent. Just an inconvenience, really. But now I sit wondering how much this is going to cost: maybe I'd be better off getting a new or used dryer?

Let's face it, I'm still just bummed about the motorcycle leaving. I'll be fine.

A motorcycle ride

Cliff took today off so he could have a longer weekend. We watched the weather this morning, and learned that although it was going to be cloudy all day, there was no rain in the forecast. We headed out on the open road, thinking perhaps to go to Hermann, Missouri and spend the night there, returning tomorrow before the forecast rain started. Today was supposedly rain-free; the next four days had rain indicated. Are you with me here?

Not a half-hour from home, sprinkles started, and continued sporadically for the next couple of hours. We didn't get wet; our leathers were sufficient to protect us, and the tall windshield on our fairing kept it off Cliff's face. Missouri's rolling countryside is beautiful even on cloudy days, and we enjoyed ourselves. However, somewhere along the line, Cliff suggested we simply ride to Versailles and then home.

Lunchtime approached, and we couldn't find a suitable place to eat. The rain finally let up, so we decided to have lunch at the first city or roadside park. I carry a large freezer-bag with emergency rations in the Honda, consisting of at least a couple cans of sardines, a roll of crackers, some 100-calorie packs of cookies, and single-serving cans of fruit.

Not far out of Boonville, we came to this park (click to view pictures larger).

It was cloudy, but we had ourselves a satisfying lunch. All we lacked was our after-lunch coffee; we prefer McDonalds for coffee, but couldn't find one. so we stopped at a Breaktime station, where I took the following shot of us:

When I take these self-portraits, I always seem to be giving the world a shot of the inside of my nose. But YOU try holding a camera at arms length, aiming it at yourself, and shooting with the camera backwards. Not an easy task, I assure you. I was quite proud, by the way, that I accidentally got the Gold Wing in the picture.

We stopped by Cliff's Aunt Gertrude's in Versailles. Her son, Darryl, is living with her right now; he and Cliff had a great visit. As we were getting ready to leave, these Clydesdales came past. I have no idea what they were doing on a city street, but it was a pretty neat thing to see.

So we've started our weekend with a bang. If the rest goes as well, I will have no complaints at all.

Oh, about the forecast of rain for the rest of the weekend? That's all changed. No rain is forecast now until Tuesday.

Motorcycle expenses

Cliff isn't too interested in horseback riding, and he reminds me often of the high expense involved in keeping a horse. It's true, there's plenty of money involved in Blue's upkeep. Plus the ever-present danger that he could get injured or sick and require lots more time and effort.

Well, paybacks, as they say, are hell. While I thoroughly enjoy our trips on the Gold Wing, the Honda is chiefly Cliff's baby. I'd even say it's his passion. So when we have to unexpectedly spend money on it, it's my turn to rub it in.

The motorcycle developed a little problem. Whatever it was, it involved "forks" and "hydraulic oil". I think.

The cost to fix it is $300. Why, that would keep Blue in shoes for most of the year! And he doesn't require $3 per gallon gasoline, either.

Since I don't drive, our daughter came over to follow the motorcycle in the car and bring Cliff home. I wasn't in the mood to ride the motorcycle with Cliff, so Natalie took my place. Her first real, going-someplace-as-a-destination ride.


Ready to roll.

We laughed at the way Natalie leaned to the right if the motorcycle leaned to the left.

This shot is a little dark, but Natalie turned to wave at us.

We did a little window-shopping while we were there. The girls liked the four-wheelers. Cliff and I priced a new Gold Wing with GPS, seat warmers, and handle-grip warmers. $20,300.

I think I like our old bike just fine.

I certainly hope we didn't turn Natalie into a biker babe.

I'm back

Yes, I did have a successful Shutdown Day, thank you very much.


One of Cliff's aunts and her son were visiting Cliff's brother, so we went over for a brief visit, and ended up eating lunch there. Because it was a lovely day, we went for a motorcycle ride when we got home. Then I worked with Libby in the round pen; Cliff watched, and pointed out some things I was doing wrong.


No day is complete without a ride on Blue, so I spent an hour on back roads with him, and found adventure. Who'd expect to find a firetruck and a cop down on the river bottom where nobody lives? Actually, I was expecting it, since I met an ambulance on the way down.

Jessica was here later to tend to her mare, and she knew about the accident, since she and Adam ride four-wheelers in the river bottoms often, with their friends. She said the injured fellow wasn't too seriously hurt... perhaps broke a hand, and banged up his head some.