halloween crash

A friend crashed his motorcycle on Halloween.  I say it that way because (if I understand the story correctly) he caused the crash.  As I understand it, here's what happened.

The friend was westbound, crossing a 4 lane divided highway, speed limit is 55.  He successfully crossed the northbound lanes but got hit by a southbound  vehicle.  

That stretch of road is wide, straight, flat, with no obstructions other than the normal signs, and not too many of them.  

The vehicle was equipped with day time running lights, which is good, since Crash's brother said it was one of those colours that blend into the road and sky.

So....what happened???  Was there a blinding reflection off the windshield?  He should have been able to see the car coming south from a long ways away.    He was only wearing a half helmet, so there wasn't a dirty shield in the way, no obstructions from the side of the helmet.  

I was in the area yesterday, and at that intersection straight ahead is the sun.  If you look north, the sight line is clear, same for south.  Somehow he didn't see that dumb car, it's sad.

I stopped in the DQ where the guy that saved his life works.  I thanked him, of course, then suffered thru a peppermint blizzard.

The friend is in the VA hospital, had another surgery to remove infection from his spinal surgery a week ago.  

Look twice for motorcycles, and biker friends....look 3 times for those damn cars....they are everywhere.

garage cleaning

Garage cleaning, autumn 2012

We've talked before about how garage cleaning is a bit like having ADHD, right?  Here's how it went this morning:

Enter garage and turn on the lights.  Look around and swear.  Wonder where to start.  Go sit on the bench for a few minutes, see the pickup and remember that it's sick, better look at it for a few minutes.  I gather up the 4 gallon latex paint cans to take inside, while I'm going in to get the keys.  Sit down at computer, check FB.  30 minutes later, I have to pee, too much coffee.  Done there, grab keys and look at engine for a little while, I see nothing wrong, no surprise there....there's not much wrong, so the problem will not be obvious.

My main work bench is about 2 feet high with stuff, better start there.  Put away some tools, some parts and stuff I've bought, hang some light bulbs on the pegboard, put the plastic sacks in the sack full of sacks. Put the pliers in the can o'pliers, screwdrivers in the rack.  Put the box of screws on the shelf where it belongs and then find a pkg of screws that belongs in the box. 

The sales tax people didn't pick up their lawn sign, so I pulled it and put it in the garage, now to better store it...cut the zip ties, but I can't get the sign wedged behind the plywood in the corner, oh well, leave it for now.

You know how it goes, this belongs on that shelf, oh, hey, there's a small sack of fertilizer.  Autumn is the best time to spread that crap, or so I've been told by AlGore and the internet, so back inside to get some of those nitrile gloves, pour the fert into a little bucket and spread it.  Where's that other sack, this one didn't cover the whole yard...ah, yes, right where I left it last fall, on top of the snowblower.  The crap feels like it's solidified in the sack, that's nice...if it is hard before the sack is open, what will it be like in the spring after sucking up atmospheric moisture all winter.  :(

Lawn sprinkled, I wonder what else I should do while the temp is so nice.  It's 10:30, do I have time to clean the gutter?  Sure I do.  Maybe I'll install the gutter toppers on the east side of the house.  I set off around the house with the ladder in one hand, the box of toppers in the other.  Yeah, the shingles are stuck down very well, there's no way to get the toppers installed the way they're supposed to go.  Descend from the ladder and tripped over a steel rod sticking out of the ground about 4 inches.  What the hell?  I wonder if it's a survey stake.  I wonder if I can pull it out.  Not with my bare hands, even after I kick it back and forth a few times, it's a lot looser, but I'll need pliers to get it out. If it is a survey stake, the neighbor has had his fence on my side of the property line all this time.  About 3' worth.  Oh well....more for him to mow.

East gutter clean, I check the south end of the west gutter, it's full too, but I can see that under the topper is clean, so I see that they're working as advertised.  

Better put the cover on the grill, wish I could remember to do it the same night as we grill, but once the fire is off and the door is shut, I forget about it.  

Cover the mower with the bucket I had used to transport all that squash, and basically, I didn't get much done. 

I did, however, go for lunch with a friend and then rode my motorcycle for 140 miles to get some beer that is only available in WI.  BTW, it's only 80 miles round trip to WI.  :)  I did put StaBil in the gas again, so just in case....it'll be ready.

I've got another full day of work in the garage before it'll be done; can't wait.

buckwheat for breakfast

Celiac disease?  Gluten intolerance?  No one knows...for sure.  What we do know is that we paid $6000 for a scopey experience and they found some ulcers in my stomach or maybe the small intestine.  Of course they don't know what caused them, but one thing could be this celiac sprue thingy.  

So I cut back on foods containing gluten, started eating more whole grains, vegetables, etc.  I just realized tonight that at the same time I cut out the Crystal light style kool aid lemonade stuff I'd been drinking.  :(  

The good news is that I felt better right away.  More energy, less lethargy, sometimes occasional repeated redundancy, and a few other improvements.  You don't care to read about my experiences in the bathroom, do you?

I had attributed the improvements to less gluten, but maybe it is because I'm not ingesting artificial sweeteners. 

If you are my FB friend, you may have read about my breakfast experience the other day.  I'm enhancing it tonight:

• 1 cup buckwheat
• 1 cup rice
• 1 cup oatmeal
• 3 cups milk
• 4 cups water
• 1/4 t cinnamon
• 1/2 t salt
• 1 apple cubed
• handful raisins

put all that stuff in a crockpot and turn it on low till morning.  It will derive the sweetness it needs from the apple and raisins.  It's really not a lot of cinnamon, but sometimes cinnamon has upset my sizable stomach.  

You wanted to see what buckwheat groats look like, right?

I may add a spoonful of peanut butter in the morning to my bowl, and I'd add a sprinkle of millet like Angela suggested, but I don't have any.  Some chopped walnuts or pecans would be a nice addition, too.  I'm thinking I may have to add more liquid to it.  Dunno.  If I do, it'll be coffee.

I'll add that one possible downfall to eating this style of breakfast, and maybe the body will get used to it, is that the bowl contains a lot more liquid than I used to take in that time of day, and I've had to pee more often in the morning.  Given my occupation....that is kinda dangerous.

UPdate.  Hey, dates would be a nice addition.  As surmised, there was not enough liquid, now I've got some nice crustybrownness to scrape out of the crockpot.  I don't know why or if my crockpot gets hotter than the newer units, but it seems to do that a lot.  There was also not enough salt, but that's easy to change.  An apple that doesn't cook away into mush would be good, too.  But anyway...it's an easy way to make a lot of hot breakfast for a large crowd,  but maybe next time I'd use a timer so it only cooked 3 hours or so.  

lurker day

Love Our Lurkers Day 7 has Arrived!

A lurker is someone unseen. They peek in and listen to our conversations. They watch and learn. Sometimes, they may wonder, but they make no sound. Maybe they're a little bit shy or nervous or don't know quite what to say. A lurker is someone unseen. Until today, that is...

Fear not, dear lurkers, because we too are fascinated with the same subjects that brought you here. Better still, today is your day! It's Love Our Lurkers Day. This is your opportunity to poke your head up just enough to say hello. Since you and good people like you constitute more than half of our readership, we bloggers are curious about you.

We're glad that you're here and don't mind you reading anything you like. But if you could write a short introductory comment, that would be simply fantastic. If you will, please tell us your name (it doesn't have to be your REAL name), the part of the world where you live, and maybe a little bit about you're interested in reading more about.

Apparently this LOL thing has been going on for 7 years, but since I've only had this bloggy thing for 1.5 years, I didn't care about it at it's inception.

BUT I CARE NOW!!

Take just a minute comment...either here or on FB or send an email.  thanks