What I've done this month.

What did you do on your summer vacation?  I think we've already talked about that, so I'll tell you what I've been doing these past couple weeks.

Making people mad, mostly.  Here's how to make people mad: 

1.  Post an opinion on the internet.  
2.  wait

I've lost at least 3 FB friends, which is no loss at all, since they were not friends.  The funny thing?  I didn't insult them, call them names, nothing like that.  They called me names...and all 3 are liberal.

Enough of that.

I finished the bathroom improvement...at least for now.  There is still some work I should do;  I need to take the light back down and do some more patching around it, but I don't know when I'm going to do that.  Here's a list of what I did:

• remove border, old light, wooden towel bars
• scrape peeling paint
• wash walls and ceiling
• prime all bare/scraped areas
• skim coat all low areas, spots where the paint peeled
• smooth mud
• prime those areas
• paint:  3 colours...upper walls and ceiling white.  lower walls blue/green, trim dark blue/green
• paint again  :(
• paint trim again
• sand, stain and varnish secondary cabinet
• prime and then paint vanity cabinet
• caulk several areas
• touch up paint
• install chair rail
• remove one section of the chair rail, patch areas where the paint pulled off
• tape to paint area where the chair rail won't work :(
• install towel bars
• alter light switch plate to fit around towel bar :(
• rehang tp holder, magazine rack, curling iron/hair drier thingy, rehang door

Yeah, it took forever.  Of course, if I'd been more organized, it would have gone faster.  If I had been more motivated, it'd have gone faster.  

I like the colors, I like the chair rail thingy, I like the light and the towel bars, so long as they stay up.  

Here's what else I've done in the last couple weeks.  It's a partial list and not much compared to those of you that are workaholics:

• painted half of the front of the garage
• caulked a window
• planted a few mums
• caulked around the garage door and back door
• pulled the walk in garage door off and sanded/painted it
• patch some concrete where Val backed into the garage and destroyed the foundation
• motorcycle repair and oil change
• wash motorcycle
• motorcycle rides X 5
• pickup oil change and some repair
• reconfigure basement lights
• break fluorescent tube in basement :(
• go thru paint supply and throw out what's no good
• patch hole in sheet rock
• fill crack in driveway
• of course this doesn't include all the other stuff, like scooping the litter box, washing the dishes, grocery shopping, laundry, working, etc.

I've lost track of how many times I've cleaned my paint brush, good thing I mostly use latex paint.  Remember on FB I was bragging up the good paint in a plastic bucket?  18 year old paint, Pittsburgh brand.  We painted the upstairs of our house before we moved in with this stuff, I was amazed that what was left in the can was still good.  That said...several quart cans of paint that are newer but have been opened several times in the interim were not good and have been thrown away.  Some of my gallon cans also weren't good; the steel cans let the paint dry out.  Kind of weird.

Next up:  more garage paint, window maintenance, mower storage, week whacker storage, snow blower startage, car oil change, Val motorcycle oil change, patio clean up, AL can sale, and maybe 2 more things.  maybe.

Davis Rally review

Davis Rally review; always the weekend after Labor Day.  New Hampton IA, which is very close to Waverly, which is where you don't want to go for dinner.

Owen and Virginia wanted to go early, they had an appt to get their new bike personalized at 8, so we left home at 6.  It was dark and cold at 6, and still cold at 7, just in case you were wondering.  How cold was it?  Mid 40's, going 60 mph....makes for cold fingers!  We made the journey w/o stopping for anything other than for Virginia to put on her face mask, she has no whiskers.

We got there, paid our fee, got our wristbands, entered and parked.  There were only 2 or 3 other bikes in the lot, and turns out we knew the owners of 2 of them.  Steve/Lonesomedog from the 202 riding club strolled over seconds later on his way to the latrine and coffee vendor.  Owen took his bike over to the shelter where Lynus was to chickenscratch all over the new bike while we rested and changed jackets and shoes.  

Owen's new bike is blue, and decided to let the painter feller pick all the colours.  Painter did ask:  what colour do you want next...and I shouted out: Magenta!  Yep, worked good, too.  I could be a metrosexual, I'm sure of it.  

We walked downtown for breakfast at the senior center, about a mile, I suppose.  Buffet for $9, scrambled eggs, sausage, taters, fruit, coffee cake, muffins, juice, milk, coffee; it was pretty much worth the cost.  We sat with Steve and Bob, the 202 fellers.

Owen and Virginia hot-footed their way back to the rally to watch the feller paint the bike...can't blame them for that...fun to watch them, like kids in a candy store on Christmas morning.  I don't think I took pics of the painting, but I did take pics of some panties at a vendor's tent.  I may post them.

When we returned, we found our friends again, and walked the vendor row, seeing what there was to see.  I was looking for a few things, like a throttle lock for Val's bike, something else and one other thing that I don't remember now.  We looked at trailers, and could have bought one, just $3,000.  We didn't spend that much for the trailer that we can put both bikes on, along with a whole bunch of other crap, like oh hell, you don't care about that, do you?

Finally, the paint is dry, and we go for a ride.  We spend 6 minutes looking at a map and set off.  I keep telling people, you don't need to invest a huge amount of time planning a ride.  Just pick a direction and GO!  It was a great ride, Owen and Virginia led, since she can read a map while riding with him, it was wonderful.  We got back just in time for dinner, which was good, got parked for the parade, which was short, and the parade participants clearly did not understand.  

If you are driving in a parade:  GO SLOW!!!  If you are watching a parade, and a colour guard comes by, STAND UP.  Take off your hat.  Didn't you learn this in kindergarten?

Parade over, wind died down.  holy hell, it was windy for a little while...go to Kwik Star for gas and restroom, head home.  Owen and Val nearly hit a live skunk, all in all, it was a great day.  

Restaurant review:  The Fainting Goat, Waverly, IA

A not so perfect place in a nearly perfect town.

Very accurate.  Waverly is a lovely town.  Clean, lots of businesses in the downtown area, seems to be a wonderful place.  Read on to learn about the Goaty place.

I rode my motorcycle down to IA for a party at a friends house and on the return trip I stopped for a late lunch at this goat place in Waverly.  Here's the menu cover:

It's always a dilemma for me...use the flash and get some glare or not use it and maybe it won't show up.  It was really dark in there....maybe because I'd been outside all day in the bright sunshine....or maybe it was just really dark.  I guess if you sit in there staring at the tv throwball games, you don't need lights.

The sign says Seat Yourself.  I find a clean table and do just that.  The waiter twerp (those in the know, knows what this means) comes over to get my drink order, water, and also wants to know what I want to eat.  I need a minute, since this is my first time here, dumbass.

Interesting menu, although it gets annoying that they use an ' instead of an e in the word chicken or drunken or dipped.  Sure, occasionally it is cute or fun.  When he finally comes back, I order the big pig pork tenderloin sandwich thingy.  Batter'd or broil'd, he wanted to know.  Comes with chips, but for a measly $2.....chips will be fine.  Or so I thought.

So I'm a cheap bastard.  Sue me.  Actually, don't sue me, just make fun of me if you must.

The water came with ice, which is appropriate.  It also came with a straw.  Have you ever tried to hoover up a fresh chocolate shake thingy from Wendy's using their normal sized straw?  Yeah, you suck for a while, a pain forms behind your eyes, your ear drums collapse, your throat constricts....so when you finally get some out of the cup, it has nowhere to go.  The straw that come in the water was like that.  So I poured the water into my Denny's cup that I've been using on the bus and on the bike for several years.  It has a matching red straw that is quite stylish and sophisticated.  It does clash with the bike, but nothing is perfect.

Figgered that the twerp would refill my water glass, since it was empty.  Nope.

No, really, the chips were fine, but they must employ a 5 year old midget dwarf  that has hands the size of Tinkerbell's thimble, and is only allowed to give me one handful.  The basket came pretty quickly, and the sandwich had lettuce, tomato and onion on it...believe it or not, the tomato was pretty much ripe, too.  The onion wasn't too strong, quite good...and the lettuce was green!  The meat was well cooked, not over cooked and flavorless.

That's right, folks, before you cook meat, you should season it.  A little salt and pepper before breading would have improved the taste and enjoyability of the sandwich a great deal.  Adding salt and pepper after gets it done, too, but hey....it's the cook's job.  Lazy bastard.

I finish, go to the restroom to do restroom things....what a DUMP!  No, not like at the gas station where the fucker didn't flush the toilet, I mean like:  the sink is cracked, the counter top is covered with dirty water, the divider walls are missing from between the urinals, and the stall is caved in next to the toilet.  The walls are covered with graffiti.  

Again, finally....I don't know what twerpy was doing all day, he only had 2 tables, and he wasn't serving me...he came back with the bill.  "How was everything?"  Everything???

"the sandwich was unseasoned, my waterglass is empty and the restroom is a dump."

"oh"

I gave him my Discover card, he went away.  Probably wrote down the number, came back. "we don't take Discover....we accept Visa, Mastercard, Super America, American Express, Lane Bryant, Kohls, Citgo, Diner's club, and went on to name every other card in the world that I don't have.  Annoying.

No tip.  If he'd filled my water glass, I'd have given him a tip and not complained about the other stuff.  I was thirsty, damn it!  90 degrees, 250+ miles...6 hours, in the sun, uphill both ways in the blinding blizzard...

Recap:  dark, throwball games (no sound), poor service, half decent food, bad restroom.  

Pretty sure I won't go back, unless I find some review that shows I'm wrong/had an abnormal experience.