Misc Ramblings and thoughts...nothing to deep or intelligent.

 Happy Halloween, almost.  It's not till tomorrow, not that you could tell by the stuff in the stores....you'd think it was already the Christmas season.  I don't know why retailers feel the need to bring out all that stuff so early...other than greed.  I suppose that they cater to the forgetful, hoping to sell stuff to people that have forgotten what they have.  I will say that it is nice for the people that decorate outside, here in the great white north...It would be nice to hang those lights on the gutters and in the trees before the windchills are below zero, before a light hanger has to brush icicles off their nose and can simply climb the snowdrifts to reach the eaves. 

It is nice that we can get extension cords in many colours now....used to be only orange....now you can get yellow, white, green, black, and blue.  I know that they do this so that you can use a cord that blends with the landscaping.  HA!  So you start off with a green cord, but then you have to change it to white once the snow falls.  Oh, I know what you're thinking....the snow will cover that green cord and no one will know that it is green.  Well:  I say to that:  If that is the case, why do you womens wear underwear that matches?

I suppose that the stores put out all the crap to stimulate kids.  One major retailer here is "Fleet Farm", I reckon that they started off as a farm supply store, and their inventory has grown to include hunting, toys, fishing, auto supplies, clothing, some groceries, candy, books, lumber/building supplies, cabinets, plumbing, electrical, appliances, marital aids, and oh yeah, farm supplies.  The point to all that....in the middle of September they wall off a large square in the middle of the store for "Toyland", which they open in the middle of October.  I've heard that it makes Toys r Us look bad. 

BUT!  Mid October???  No one needs to buy all their toys in Mid October, hide them away for 10 weeks.  The kids are going to be snooping and will find them, I promise!

What I find interesting about Americans is this:  everyone says they hate Christmas stuff in the stores so early.   Everyone says that they hate all the political correctness.  If you do....don't participate!  Don't buy the stuff until after Thanksgiving.  Encourage your friends to not buy Christmas related stuff until the Christmas season. 

If you're against the "political correctness" don't participate in that either.  Here's how. 

• Don't be offended by stupid stuff. 
• If someone is an American, call them that.  Drop the African, Asian, native, etc.  ALL of us could have some sort of descriptor in front of American if we insisted.  It's not offensive to call a black person a black person.  An Indian is an Indian....dot or feathers???  Whichever!  Actually I'm surprised that the casino owners are not more demanding...wanting to be recognized for their tribes. 
• Vote republican. 
• Discipline kids

Comments welcome, as always.

Yesterday/Saturday, we went to Val's folks to split wood.  We've gone over before and they wanted to quit after only 2 hours.   That really annoys me...because we had given up the ENTIRE day...because they couldn't decide what they wanted to do until about 10 on that Saturday.  Anyway.  We went over at 1:00, we got to work pretty much right away.  Firstly I installed the new ebay parts onto the old saw, but like a dumbass, I didn't get the nut tight enough, it was lost.  Oh well....I'm sure the nut store will have one.  We cut and split, loaded and stacked 3 loads of wood.  Some was rotten punky box elder, some was really good elm, some was punky cherry, some was maple.  Most of it was heavy.  W/o that splitter, we'd still be working on the first load, I'm sure of that.  I do wish that the engine of it had a different exhaust system, on a day with no wind, the exhaust stays right there, going up my nose.  We worked until almost dark...I think we finished up at about 6:15.  Go in, wash up for dinner...Val's favorite:  peppery sausage.  I don't know if her mom doesn't remember that she doesn't like sausage, or doesn't care.  THIS JUST IN:  a peek at SpeeCo's website shows that the size of splitter closest to Bob's has an engine with the exhaust on the other side.  (Bob is Val's cousin, he owns the splitter, loans it to her folks.)

I've been reading Lee Child's books about "Jack Reacher".  6'5" 220-250# former MP, gets dragged into different scenarios having to solve crimes that current cops can't figger out.  Finally they're going to make a movie...after 15 books, they've decided to start on #9.  The star??? Tom Cruise. 5'7" 77kg.  Oh, I have to do the math for you?  BTW, why would they have his height in SAE but weight metric??? weird.  The runty bastard weighs 170#.  The book and movie will be "One Shot", I just started reading it yesterday.  These are awesome books.  One part Spencer, one part Travis McGee, one part Columbo, one part wikipedia/google;  I tell you...these are hard to put down, these are really good books. 

Congratulations if you made it all the way to the end of this...here I go to read more One Shot.  :)  Sorry I didn't post any pics!

Last Post on Oct 4???WTH??

Thanks to all of you brave people that read this.  Know that I be having keyboard troubles.  Perhaps it just needs blown out.  Perhaps it is worn out, even though it is only a year or so old.  

Journeyed to Bedford over the weekend to visit with Granda for her 90th birthday.  Did you spot the keyboard fail?  You probably did if you saw y last FB status thingy.  Oh, sure, I could see how clever I could be and ake sure that I didn't use that one sad issing letter.  But I won't, I'll just pretend it works like I want it to work.  Actually, that is not really true.  I didn't ever get to Bedford.  Granda lives in Newarket now, and the party was in Shabaugh;  we went straight to the party and then to Dad's for horseradish digging.  That is an experience, everyone should do it at least once.  Lots of faily were in attendance...only knew about half of the.  Wasn't feeling too good, so kept to yself ost of the day.  I don't know if Granda had a good tie or not...I think she always liked faily parties like that, when she could hear and stand and talk to her any sisters. 

Pretty sure that she told anyone that asked that she had a wonderful tie.  I hope that a lot of people wrote a eory into that book...if you are wondering what the hell word that is, reeber that it is issing 2 letters.  So any eories to choose fro, which one to pick???  We grew up .7 iles fro the, so we saw Granda and Grandpa all the tie. 


Granda, ary, Jeanne, Lolita and Jack. Not sure why they are clustered around that minivan.



That guy in the front is not really a weird homeless guy, he's as related as almost everyone else is. Those brown skinned people are hooked up with Steve, the guy holding the baby/wearing the cap looking at the Latvian dancing girl off in the distance.  Next to e is one of y cousins...I only have 3 cousins since the one coitted suicide.  (he was a dubass before and ore of one after)

Just learned that I could use spell check to repair ost of the issing lettered words. But not all!  Yep, Jake, the homeless looking guy has turned into not too bad of a person, he just looks goofy and doesn't have a job, or so I've heard.  ay not be accurate...but other than at an "adult bookstore" or the night dishwasher at a truck stop...where's he going to get a job?  He jumped in to help set up and clean up the party, good job, Jake...Grandpa would almost be proud of you.

Soe folks drove a long distance to attend.  Lana cae 7 hours.  Soe of Jack's kids cae 6 hours to see hi, and they live less than 3 fro hi. weird.

You see how Val is kneeling, I think she's looking at the Latvian woen too...but that is as low as she can go, the hip doesn't uch like copound actions.  I didn't help her up, and I don't know if anyone did, aybe she was able to get up on her own.  BTW, I' in trouble for sharing the lost key story.  OH well, I thought it pertained.

We stopped by Freedo Rock, near enlo, IA on the way hoe.

should have turned a little ore to keep that shed out of the pic.  Oh well...you should visit this place...he paints it each year, different each year.  There's even a place for donations!!!  Apparently he ixes dead people ashes into the green paint for the helicopter, it's iportant for soe people, I guess...to be in a helicopter on a rock in the iddle of Iowa.  Watch the blog next suer for a ride report...prob be an overnight trip to the rock.  Also watch for a write up on the house on the rock and the rock in the house (which is in Fountain City).

Val drove the whole way there and back, I read y dubly naed book reader, she listened to her audio book...this way we don't have to talk to each other!  Except when she gets tired, or wants to stop at Sonic...which we will probably never do again.

The bourbon is taking over...the last of the bottle is always the worst...if there's a little ore than I want, I just pour it in anyway, I guess I should just pour it into a different bottle instead of aking the drink too strong!  Live and enjoy, I guess. Good Night!

UP MI Sunday pt 3 9/11/11

Crap, I forgot to type about the falls.

Took a lot of pics of the upper falls, and this is one of them.  It's a nice park...thing is...in MI, they want us to pay for a sticker to enter.  Sadly (for them) we got there late, the shack was closed, so we could not pay the $5 per bike for an hour of looking.  Well....we could have paid, but didn't want to.  We've stimulated MI's economy quite a bit this week, I don't think that 5 minutes looking at the falls warrants a charge.  If we had more time, it might have been fun to rent a boat and paddle around looking at more falls.  We might have gotten lost, too.

here's a pic of the lake shot down by where the boats were.  And:  Look, our Princess is walking, not limping, hobbling, etc.  5 months post surgery.  Back onto the bikes to the lower falls...yes, it is south.

Long walk to get to these falls, and we're tired and we're hot.  There are bugs and we're thirsty.  Huge parking lot, large facilities, great place.

What a pain to have to keep changing the font each time I post a pic.  The things I do for you.  Did you know that you can click on each pic to see it full sized?

UP MI motorcycle ride, Monday Sept ??, 2011

Actually, I could determine what the date is, since I know Saturday was the 10th.  Mystery solved.  Life is complete, go on about your business.  I'm going to continue to type, however.  I think my fingers may have ADHD, and this is the treatment I provide for them.  The only other thing to do is to numb them with bourbon, but then only I get enjoyment from that...and I like to share.  Anyone want some crabs or cat hair?  J/K on the crabs, they're too expensive to share. 

Monday morning in Newberry.  I think Val set her alarm every day, I don't remember.  Sometimes we got up right away, sometimes we didn't.  Sometimes she would get up and go to the bathroom and then come back, but sometimes she'd just get ready to go.  Today, I got up and peered out the window.  Fog.  Lots of fog.  Val stays in the rock.  I mean bed, of course, she stayed in bed.  Which was as hard as a rock....as most hotel beds are.  I understand why, but I don't like it.  I did what I need to do to get ready to go and went down to see what they had for breakfast.  HAHAHA  waffles, dry pastries, juice, coffee, etc.  They do have a computer, so I go online to check weather.  That turned out to be a waste of time, but not as much of a time waster as talking to the desk lady.  It's after 9, so I try calling Peggy.  She's not in, but the lady that answered the phone was glad to tell me that it was sunny there in Esky.

misc small talk...blahblahblah and then the big question!  "When it's foggy here, is it also foggy other places?"  I know, dumb question.  But the answer!!!  "I don't know, when it's foggy here, I don't go anywhere any else.  I think that it's usually foggy around the lakes."  Thanks for nothing, lady.  Turns out there are lakes all around this place, it's just like MN.  Or WI.  Why is the UP not part of WI?  It'd make more sense for WI to take care of it than for MI to do it.  Where's wiki when I need it.  I quickly got tired of her, so went outside to look  around.  Took my camera too.  OK, at one point, it was so foggy that I could hear a truck going by but could not see it...and the highway was not far away.  I could hear it and I could see a blinky light on it.  We're not going anywhere till it lifts.  Keep in mind that I've been in and out a few times.

Finally, Val's ready to go, it's 10 or so, so I haul my crap out to the bike, uncover them, etc.  I see some people next to the 3 goldwings that were there when we got in last night.  We exchange the pleasantries that you might expect, then I see the tshirt on the lady:  Hanson's Holdup, which is located in Arcadia, WI, a nice ride away.  So then I ask:  "where you guys from?"  "Well, we're from Hayward MN, and they're from Wabasha, MN".  As you know, Wabasha is where Grumpy Old Men was based and is less than an hour from here/home. 

I see that I think that  I've forgotten to finish Saturday, did I type about the falls?

Finally at 10:20, all our crap is strapped on, and Val is searching for her key.  And I mean she's searching for that damn thing, she goes thru all her pockets, her purse, her jacket, the saddlebags, checks the ignition, determines it must be in the pants she was wearing yesterday, she's flapping because McDonalds is going to throw out all the biscuits in 10 minutes, she won't get breakfast.  So, she says:  "go get breakfast ordered, I'll be along as soon as possible."  Off I go, hoping I'm going the right direction.  The fog is almost gone by this point, and lifts entirely by the time we're done eating.  The key was in one of the pockets that she was wearing, btw.  She unpacked and repacked the bike for the exercise.  I had thought by now she'd have found a place to put the key each time she removed it from the bike.  Oh well, we got breakfast, fog is gone, we're set.  We do need gas, kind of unusual that we need gas right at the beginning of the day, so we pass BP and hit the next one.  Time to hit the road, south! South to Lake Michigan.  Well, they call them lakes.  Personally, I think of them as fresh water oceans.  If you can't see across the damn thing and it affects the weather....it's more than a lake.  On this day, the road did what we wanted all trip...to spend some time riding along the shore of the "lake" but being able to see the "lake".

We stopped to adjust gear, add gloves/jackets or something.  The Nifty 50 place was closed, and I wanted to pee.  Hmmmmmmmmm  Bad ride leader!  Oh well, I figgered I could wait a while, and I did.  We stopped somewhere and gassed up, offloaded some coffee, got a snack.  In Esky, the road turned west, away from the "lake", by the time we got to IronMt, WI, we were HOT.  Take off coats, chaps, sweaters, get something to drink, ask the guy how far Rhinelander is, he says approx 40 miles.  WRONG!

Val didn't see this, I saw it and turned around to get the pics.  Laona, WI.
We got to Rhinelander, and had quite a time finding the hotel.  Oh well.  We skipped lunch today, too.  We were able to park the bikes right next to the door, and our room was right inside the door.  Handy.

The top pic is the yard/park behind the hotel, we got off the bikes, turned around and there it was.  The restaurant was across the parking lot, so about 5 we walked over...it was totally empty, but I had seen Open signs, so we burst in, got seated and was served mediocre food.  Nothing wonderful here, so we head back to cover the bikes and get the cocktail going.  I had 2 rather large drinks and got kinda goofy, sorry...no pics of that...it was just verbal goofyness.  I had bought a bottle of lemonade at that dumbass station where we stopped for a break, it worked very well as a mixer for the cheap whiskey I had bought at the corkscrew place. 

I really enjoyed the scenery after we turned west in Escanaba, we might have been home!  There were corn/bean fields and pasture and hayfields and lakes and woods and houses.  It was a nice ride....all in all, a nice day, nice hot day.