Another Year

That makes 2. Actually yesterday.

Doing this for 2 years makes me wonder if I’ve found a new hobby that might last a while. The posting has been lacking content the past few months. (Although, after looking at the numbers below, I’ve posted more and had more hits this year than last.) Work, PGR, volunteering for various things... yada yada yada... blah blah blah, same old excuses, get in the way.

Hopefully I can start a new series and stick with it. Not like the Fiction Friday thing. That got to be like work. This year I’m gonna review restaurants and movies. *crickets chirping*. Hello, anybody out there...? We’ll see how long I can stick with this one.

We (the missus and I along with various friends) go see a new movie about twice a month. The excursion almost always includes dinner, “Dinner and a Movie”. So, I’m gonna start rating and reviewing them both. Heh, There was one rainy day over the summer we saw three movies in one day... Man was that expensive. We’ve even gone out on a Thursday to see the midnight release of a new movie and still made work on Friday. Talk about dragonass... sheesh.

The posts on the 14th were the start. Maybe this will bring some readers back. Maybe some new readers, who knows. If you’ve seen one of the movies or been to the restaurant, let me know what you thought.

I did this last year, seems like a nice trend.

Two year summary;
17,842 visitors, up 12,087 from last year
26,003 page views, up 17,282 from last year
490 posts, up 258 from last year

Ten Things from betme's Place

WOW!! Did that bring back some memories. I read this at betme’s place last night. You’ll need to go read hers for some of these to make since.

1 - My mom says I would wonder off in the grocery store all of the time at the ripe old age of 4. Hands crossed behind my back just looking all around. Says if she didn’t come look for me, I’d never miss her. Even then I was very independent.

2 - Maybe guys learn to protect their private parts sooner. I ALWAYS swung a leg over while standing on the peddle. (gettgin off and on) Even on smaller bikes.

Is that a peddle on the handle bars of your pic??

3 - Our ‘throwing wars’ were green apples. There was a place about a mile from the house that had about 10 acres of green apple trees. They were about the size of golf balls and every bit as hard... unless you could find a rotted one!!

4 - We always went to grandmas for vacation. Have been to Mt Rushmore, Crazy Horse and the Bad Lands in the RV a few years ago. (when gas was under $2 f’n bucks) Hope to get back soon on the bike.

5 - We swung a tire swing AT the tree. The objective was to spin your friend at the tree and try to make them hit the tree. You got to swing until you hit the tree, then switched... Led to many a bloody arms, knees and shoulders.

6 - heh!! I bought Aerosmith’s “Night in the Ruts”. Never did show my folks the back. Two of the letters were crossed out and the title then read “Right in the Nuts”. The guys were naked too... I think.

7 - We lived on a hill. Felt like you could get up to 30 mph on a skateboard. I left MANY pounds of flesh on that road. Surprised there aren’t rocks imbedded in my knees, elbows and face!

8 - We didn’t have snow drifts quite that high. We did, however, dig snow forts and tunnels in the piles at the end of the driveway and in parking lots. We’d sit in a small dug out hole with 8-10 feet of packed ice and show above us. Every once in a while you’d hear a car loose it and run into the show pack... it would rain ice for a few seconds, everyone holding their breath. Then we’d all bust out laughing.

Yes, the thrill of getting killed was VERY entertaining.

9 - There is something very therapeutic about poking a fire, stirring the coals and burning things.

Ya know, if you knock on the door of an old farm house (the kind that had the key-hole that went all the way through) and waited to hear the foot steps get just close enough... you could use the “hair-spray-flame-thrower” as entertainment... Light it and aim it into the key-hole. The screams could shatter glass and you better run your ass out of there, FAST... at least that is what I’ve heard. What...?

10 - I still hate chores.

Oh Shit!!! From what I learned yesterday and what K said, you better tell LL not to come over here... That last pic may do her in!

A House Fire

This post at Sparrows (All Atwitter) and the fires in SoCal got me thinking...

A slightly different decision a few years ago and I’d be living in SoCal... maybe even one of those in the fire... huh... kinda surreal.

So, if you got a call or came home to find your place on fire, what would you do? Stand there frozen... Call 911 and wait... run in and grab... photos, jewelry, heirlooms... what would you do??

I personally don’t know. I think I’d be in the house throwing stuff out the windows trying to save any and everything possible. Hopefully fighting the fire.

About 3 years ago, my mom came home from work and when she entered the house she could smell smoke. (My parents house is a long ranch, you go from room to room, then a small hall, then a great room/kitchen/dinging/living room then a sun porch) When she opened the door to the next room she was swarmed with smoke. All gathered on the ceiling, down to about 5 feet. She closed the door and went back out side, called 911. She went around to the back of the house and could see flames and thick black smoke in the kitchen window. She ran around to the front of the house and came in a different door (middle of the living/great room)... with a garden hose, a wet rag over her nose and mouth and attacked the fire.

She actually put most of it out and then went for her babies.

My mom runs a ‘do not kill’ animal shelter for dogs and cats. At any given time she will have 100-200 cats and 50-100 dogs in a shelter she has built in town. There is always the special ones that get to stay at the house though. The number has been holding steady at 30 cats, 1 dog for the last couple years. These are the geriatric cats or special needs cats that will not get adopted at her shelter.

She spent the next couple hours finding cats in the smoke, pulling them out, putting them in carriers and rushing them to the vet. Somewhere in there she called friends to chauffer the cats to the vet while she kept the rescue effort going. Somewhere in there also, the firemen showed up and opened doors and put fans in windows.

Old portraits of relatives from the late 1800’s and early 1900’s were black. The glass in the frames had cracked form the heat. All of their books, some first editions form the early 1900’s were black with smoke. There were these real 70’s style fake wood beams on the ceiling in the dinning area, they melted and were dripping from the ceiling. All and I do mean ALL of the Tupperware or any plastic storage containers were ruined. They hold smoke. I believe one of the cats died, all of the rest made it. The vet bill was in the thousands. Eye washing, nasal flushing, baths. Turns out cats are kinda like horses. When scared they go to there favorite hiding/sleeping spot and stay there. All of the ones that had chosen high spots up in closets suffered the worst.

They spent 6 months in an apartment. The cats stayed in their barn. The heirloom stuff was repaired. There are actually companies that specialize and guarantee that they can remove smoke color and smell from clothes, art and books. They are back in the house now. For years growing up we heated with a wood fire. One of those big cast iron stove inserts. They haven’t used it in years, since the fire. Mom can’t stand the smell of smoke.

The cause... A coffee pot. One of those kinds that is ‘always ready’. Pour the water in and it starts making coffee in 30 seconds or less. That means that a heating element is always on or at least sensing the reservoir for water and turning on when water is poured in. The thermal switch broke, the heating element did not turn off. Burnt itself through the counter top and into the cabinet below. Caught dish towels and other paper products and spread from there.

The firemen said that the smoke and heat told them that it had been going for about 3 hours. Another 15 minutes and it would have been ‘a total loss’. If my mom had not attached the fire with the hose... it would have burnt to the ground before the firemen could get there.

I So Miss The Mountains

Born in south-western PA and lived my later teen years in east TN taught me to love the mountains. I've traveled through them before, taking pictures to show friends and to help me re-live the awe I feel every time I pass through, but the film never seems to be wide enough, or real enough. These days I just drive (or ride) through and look around in wonder. It is amazing I don't crash and burn.

I took these pictures coming through Bean Station, TN. One is looking down about 1,300 feet to Cherokee Lake. The gas station pic is hard to realize what you are looking at. On one side of the road is a gas station. The other is a rock wall about 75 feet high. Then of course there is the ever present kudzu. So pretty and green but it will over take everything. And a tunnel. That was cool on the bike. The rumble was awesome.

I wish I cold down load the experiences, the fall colors starting to over take the green, the smells of home heating fires from the night before. You really should ride the roads less traveled. It is good for the soul.

Blogaversery

It’s been a year... wow! Yippee frick’n skipy!!

Everything I really wanted to say about today I kinda said here.

I’ve met (is reading someone’s blog considered ‘meeting’ them? I’m still such a grasshopper) so many interesting and fascinating people out here. No, I'm not going t list everyone, i know I'd forget someone and that would suck. Just check the blogroll and know that's about half of what I read.

Anyway, thanks for reading and commenting over the last 12 months. It’s been fun, it’s been real and it’s been real fun.

It took me 364.75 days, but I think I finally broke out of my blog-fathers circle. I met Preposterous Ponderings and Tequila Mockingbird yesterday. They’re not on his blog roll... Great writers, go check them out. Be sure you swallow your coffee first. I’m not responsible for monitor damage or nasaly discharge of your lunch, m’k?

As my gift to you I was going to label all of my posts so you could find like-stuff easier (Zen, jokes, missions, etc) but the weather just won’t cooperate. Too many nice days and the bike, she just keeps calling me...

“Look, the sun is out! We could get in 200 miles before dark, and another 50 after sunset!! Come on big guy, you know you want to ride me...”
See how she is?!? heh, hell yea I like to rider her... I swear I can hear her start purring in the garage sometimes.

Wait, this isn’t a bike post.... where was I...
Oh yeah... so I keep riding on nice weather weekends and haven’t done the great blogaversery post or the labeling. And this weekend, it’s gonna be in the 70s Saturday and 80s Sunday. Hoping for a thousand miles this weekend. We’ll see.

One year summary:
5,589 visitors
8,721 page views
232 posts

I added a few humming bird pics to Pho Tog, let me know what you think.

One Year Ago Today

No, not a bolgaversery, but it was the beginning.

***flashback August 12, 2006***

The PGR had just finished a parade in N. Manchester, IN. My wife and Dazd had come from a SAR demo to the parade in time to participate. In September of ’06 I had been with the PGR for 7 months. I must say I have never felt more welcome or more surrounded by friends. And yes, that includes any church I have ever been in. As it turned out, Dazd felt the same, even though this was his first ‘mission’.

After the parade and before September 25, 2006, Dazd had written these (here & here) about his experiences. The writing was fantastic. I was enthralled. And I read comments... I went back into his archives and read more. I was fascinated.

I was reading the commenter’s blogs and, assuming the post were real, getting to know some of these people. I remember thinking, “These people are friends some are almost like family”.

***jump to September 25, 2006***
It didn’t seem like many days after the parade that our phone rang, late... near mid-night if I remember correctly. Missus Dazd was calling... Dazd was in the hospital, he had a heart attach.

My missus agreed to inform some of their mutual friends and I was going to let the PGR folks know. Dazd had connected with many of them and had joined the group.

Who would tell Dazd's online friends what had happened. I volunteered.

I posted “hey, he’s ok but...” messages on MrsJ (she's blog AWOL right now) and Janet’s sites. Freddie may have been in there to. I knew nothing about bloging or the blog-o-sphere. I think I learned pretty fast.

That is, more or less, how I got started and why.

------------

I'd tell (ask) you to go over and wish him a happy anivesery buuut I think it's a day he'd rather forget. He has said something about having a head ache today so maybe you can go just wish him well.

Thanks!!

Remember

I just finished reading Freddie’s recount of that day... And thought I’d like to get my memories down before the sands of time wear them to a nearly unperceivable dream. Like an old coin, nearly worn smooth. You still know it is a nickel, or quarter but the details are gone.

Just as I was walking into work Larry asked me if I had heard about the plane that crashed into the WTC. My mind flashed to a single engine Cessna hitting the tower(s). Some little plane that would do some damage and besides the pilot there would be no deaths.

“Where did you here that?”, I asked.

Larry said “Bob and Tom”.

heh “yeah, right”

Shit heads, I thought. Bob and Tom are doing some War Of The Worlds spoof. Guess they got you Larry, I was still thinking.

I went to my cube and started my day, doing things. At some point I was at the copier and realized there was a small group of people standing in one of the execs offices (he had a TV) watching something. I headed that way expecting a cooking show, or some morning news show with semi-nude pole dancers. Before I could enter the office Carolyn came out with her hand over her mouth, visibly shaken and crying.

OMG... as I stepped in they were showing a close up of the first tower on fire. I stood there in complete disbelief.

Then... right... there... before my God damned eyes, the second plane hit the second tower. WTF!!!

I don’t remember how long I stood there. I do know I didn’t get much work done. I saw President Bush interrupt the book reading in Florida. I heard there was a helicopter crash at the Pentagon and later learned it was the 3rd plane.

Then the 4th plane... I’m from Pennsylvania. It hit about 100 miles from where I grew up.

Somewhere in that haze of crashes, death and the news announcements. I realized this was cross intercontinental planes being used as weapons.

September of 2001 my brother was employed by US Airways. He was on a flight crew with US Airways. He almost always did the Charlotte to Los Angeles flight, intercontinental...

I called him... voice mail.

The news is talking about other planes and more possible attacks. All planes are landing. The FFA has grounded all flights

I called him... voice mail.

I called my mom. My parents are simple folk. My mom could easily go weeks with out seeing TV. I knew she had not heard about any of this when I talked to her. I tried to explain it to her and convey the gravity of the situation. She didn’t get it. Not when I talked to her. We hung up with her promising if she heard from Ian that she’d call me right away.

I called him... voice mail.

At home that evening I, like many, watched the news non stop. I don’t remember eating dinner. I had to know why and, if it was what we thought, just what the hell were we going to do about it!

About 10 hours after reality hit me in the head with a 2x4, Ian called. He had been in route to LA. They had been diverted to New Orleans and spent 6 or 7 hours in the plane waiting for a security check every person and to get them cleared. They had landed under fighter escort. He was going to be stuck in New Orleans until the airline decide to bring him home.

In the days that followed, I remember looking up into a bright blue crystal clear sky and seeing nothing, hearing nothing, no con-trails, no planes. There are always con-trails, it was eerie.

I wanted to go to NYC so bad, I would have gone to NYC to help. I so wanted to help. To do anything...

I flew a flag on my car window until I could no longer find them at the store. Had to be close to 3 years. The flag had polished a 8”-9” arc on the roof of my car. Now a days I fly a 3x4 flag on the bike.

I will not forget.

Loop For Life

Imagine, if you will..

You are walking on what seem to be a rather crowed a bridge that crosses the interstate loop around your city. For some reason, although you can’t put your finger on it, something just doesn’t look right... Then it hits you, there is no traffic in the counter clock wise direction, nothing, nada. As you look around trying to gather some reason for this oddity, lights begin to appear in the distance, breaking the heat induced water mirage with an alarming quantity. First a couple, then a dozen, hundred... thousands? Can’t be that many, you whisper to yourself. Then there is the ‘sound’, a low rumble as the first lights come into view. Again increasing in volume with the lights to a thunderous level that seems to be coming from everywhere. The thunder is broken only by the louder shriek of the occasional truck horn.

A sea of color, from black to white and every color of the rainbow and many with flags, American Flags. Waiving, fluttering, popping with the speed of their approaching and departing. The people around you are cheering, some are waving flags or their own, the riders below wave back and cheer, as those around you cheer even louder. Taken up in the moment, you wave and smile with civic pride. At that moment you step back from the edge, a small boy in a wheel chair has approached and holding a small American flag, asks you if he can see in front of you. As you turn to leave you hear, “Moma, look at all of them!! Are they the ones that helped us buy me this new chair?” “Yes dear, those are the ones”.

As quickly as they came, they leave. Thousands (yes thousands) of men and women on steel horses. The sparkle of the chrome, the shine of the colors, the pride in their flags, disappear into the distance and for a brief second there is a silence that is more deafening than any horn blast.

This is the Loop For Life, a one day, once a year event in Indianapolis when they actually close the inner, counter wise lanes of Interstate 465 to car and truck traffic and only motor cycles are allowed, the police block all of the ramps and escort us from the Marion County Fair Grounds around the 60+ miles back to the Fair Grounds. As a participant there is a free lunch, there are also vendor booths and a band plays for the rest of the day. It is a good time. Last year we raised about $100,000. This year the goal is $150,000.

If you have some time Saturday and are in Indy, stop by a I-465 bridge a little after noon and watch as the steel horses and their riders break the silence with a roar of thunder. And remember the children, the sick and the needy we ride to help.