Riding...

I'm a rider, I ride a motorcycle and I love it. There are some very important things that one needs to remember when riding a motorcycle.

My first rule of riding is to be aware of what is going on around you. To survive on a motorcycle you must believe that you are invisible and nobody can see you. Expect them to pull out in front of you and make sure you are prepared. Expect them to turn without signals, and be prepared. They are in a tank, you are riding an eggshell. Who wins in the crash? The tank beats the eggshell every time.

Even when there is no law that tells you to wear a helmet, it's really a good idea, because eventually everyone goes down, and the helmet can be the difference between being a dude on crutches or being an organ donor. A good friend of mine ( who has gone down!) says all the time, "Dress for the crash, not for the ride." His point is that while 99% of the time you will probably have a normal day, a few idiots drive you nutty, but all in all there is no incidents, but that 1% of the time you will be very happy to have put on the helmet and long pants, gloves and long sleeves. Some people go all out with the leather and the pads, I'm not quite that bad. I do believe that you should never ride in shorts, take a stone thrown up from a tire in the side of the leg once or twice, or perhaps have your calf bump into a hot tranny, jug or pipe, and you will remember that skin is much more delicate than you can believe. Good shoes or boots are always the better choice over sandals. You laugh, I have seen knuckleheads riding in shorts and sandals! You never know when your gonna have to drop a foot to the road surface, it's not common, but a sandal or your bare foot is pretty useless at that point, a boot is always a better friction source. I am guilty of riding in short sleeves, but only for small rides, in general when I am riding for more than short run to town, I try to wear long sleeves, especially if I'm on a road trip. First of all the sunburn is killer. Secondly, it's just better protection for the skin, bees and hard-shelled bugs can actually draw blood. I have had it happen!

Keep the Bike in good repair. Cobbled brakes, cracked tires and oil leaks are not good. There is nothing worse than being out on the road away from your tools or your mechanic and having bike trouble. Ask me I know! Of all the problems I have ever had, only the dirty air filter was completely preventable. I have gotten bad gas, and had to have the carbs drained and cleaned, while on a road trip. I have blown a headlight out on the highway at dusk! I have fouled spark plugs and had speedometer and tach cables break. You can never prevent everything that can go wrong, but by taking care of your equipment you can minimize the things that do.

Enjoy the wind, and ride safe. If you don't ride, keep your eyes wide. Bikes are small and fast. Look twice and be sure that there is no bike coming before you pull out, Please! We will do our best, but we need you to look out for us too.

Life continues... for some....

People continue to die, and the US government continues it's Genocide of the American Indian. There is far too much for the American Government to finish on the reservations of America, before they can even hope to be able to begin formulating a healthcare plan for the general public. Prove that they can care for the people that they tried to eradicate, and then maybe they can start working on the rest of the population. The government has the bad habit of making a law and then forgetting about it. This is this proof. The US Government needs to revisit the books from time to time and adjust for the current situation, this is definitely one of those time. 700 Billion dollars to bail out idiot financial "wizards", yet people continue to die. There is no need for it, and no good excuse either.

Warm blooms...

As summer approaches, there are more and more flowers blooming all over the place, and every now and then some are so cool that I just feel like taking a few pics of them. Sometimes I get carried away and get 20 pics of the same blossom, and other times I get one and I can never find that particular bloom again, and I want more!!

So this is a peony that I have in one of my yards. It was left by the people who once lived on this property, and it grew wild for about 20 years and nobody paid it any attention, then I unknowingly mowed it down the first 3 years that I owned the property, then I realized what I was seeing there and I let it grow. Boy, I'm glad that I di, it has proven to be an amazing little bush. It blooms every year and the blooms are huge and SO sweet smelling that you can't believe it. The sad part is that the blooms are so big that the slightest wind or a good rain will knock them down, because they are too big for their own stems!



I have no idea what this bloom is called, but I have a bunch of them in various colors and I really like them. They are low to the ground and really bright.
They come in so many colors that I have to get pictures of all of my favorites. The more neon-y colors are my favorite. They are like little electric sparks in the garden. They have come from a wildflower mix that I bought a few years ago, and it takes 2 years for them to show up, but when they do... Man is it worth the wait!






I love this little one because the blooms are still opening and they are uncurling in such and neat way that I wonder how nature puts things together sometimes! They kind of remind me of a bouquet or roses and rose buds mixed together.
No matter how you slice it they look pretty darn cool.

Not all blooms are flowers, at least not our "normal" definition of a flower. But Mushrooms are also a flower of a sort, because it is the head that grows the spores which eventually become the seeds of the next generation. And they look so cool!






Never take for granted the lowly little Mushroom, after all, he really is a "Fungi"!! LOL old, stupid joke but still funny!
When you live in a place where most panoramic views are blocked by trees, hills or buildings, you tend to appreciate them more when you actually see them. I am lucky in that I have a place where I can see this basic view every day, and some people might think that this would get boring. Truthfully it is far from boring, because it is nature that changes the view, stars, wind-blown dust, blooming fields, harvested fields, waving grass, painted trees, fluffy clouds, flat clouds, gray clouds, white clouds and snow! Look out in the rain sometimes and later you are treated to a rainbow. These things are all out there to see, but you have to look now and then to catch them.

There is nothing more ephemeral than a view in nature. If you forget to look you may never get the chance again.

funny what changing, changes...

Hello Lovely readers, and thank you for paying attention! If you have been following this blog for the last few weeks, you know that I have been on a mission to lose some weight and to change my lifestyle.

One of my changes is activity, I need to be more active, and I have been riding my bicycle as often as possible, for at least 30 minutes each day. I tried to do this last year, but that little seat seemed to hurt my fat ass, so I went and got a different seat, and now it's MUCH better. The seat is wider and a little softer, so it is less likely to disappear up my ass! Now that I can feel that my ass cherry is safe when I ride, I actually like it again. I have to say that now that I am riding on daily basis, when the weather is bad enough that I can't ride, I actually miss that 30 minutes or more out there in the wind and the sun. I never thought that there would be a time when I was missing physical activity. Heck you could knock me over with a feather when I realized it. I have a new pair of rollerblades that I am getting used to, and I hope to be able to skate for an hour without needing to rest my feet before the summer is over. I wish I had somebody close by who I could play frisbee with. or to ride with, or to skate with. I'm ready to have some company while I try to get myself smaller.

Someone asked me why I decided to lose weight, did I have heart problems or diabetes or high blood pressure, and truthfully, I had none of those problems. What I had was sore feet, and a belt that was getting tighter in the same hole! I was in the shower one morning and I realized that I had to lift up my tummy to make sure that I rinsed all the soap out from under the fat roll. Then I looked in the mirror and realized that I had fat rolls under my arms! I had become the people who disgusted me in wal-mart! My knees hadn't yet started knocking together when I walked, and My pants size was still under 50, but it was getting close, and I was completely disgusted with myself. That's why I decided to lose weight!

I am getting into smaller pants now, and in fact I had to dig out a smaller belt and punch a new hole in it so I could keep up my smaller pants. Man, how good did that make me feel? !! I keep working at it, and I know that eventually I will be even smaller yet. I keep working at it, and seeing results sure makes me feel better about what I am doing, and gives me motivation to continue.

I'm feeling better, and with the right plastic surgeon I could even look better!!

the fall continues...

The falling weight that is!! Yes indeed, I am now down 40 pounds. It seems like a huge amount when you think about it, but it barely scratches the surface of what I wish I could get rid of. The good news is that I am nearly halfway to my goal. I stepped onto the scale this morning not knowing what to expect, because it has been a weird week, and I haven't gotten in all of my wanted exercise time, but I have been busy and doing physical labor, so I guess it has been a wash.

I have been taking great pains during the regular week to stay away from certain things, but in order to keep myself from binging out of control I use from dinner time on Saturday night through dinner time on Sunday as my " have some of the good stuff" time, and today I treated myself to some chips and dip! So far my method has been working, and I will continue with what I am doing, despite all of the unsolicited advice I seem to be getting from so many well wishers!

I ran into a friend at the store today while I was buying my Chips and dip, and He was happy to hear that I had made such progress, and being in quite good shape Himself, he immediately started to make suggestions for me. I appreciate the thought, and that you are trying to help, but I have found a system that is working quite well for me, and I plan to stick to it for as long as it takes to accomplish my goal, and possibly more if I think I can continue doing so. I doubt that I will ever again see the underside of 200#, but that said, if I can continue at the pace that I am going I really could achieve my goal before the summer is finished. I have found a system that I have been able to stick with, and it works well for me. I am feeling better each day, and my energy is increasing also. I find that the more I do, the better I feel later. It is truly encouraging.

My current favorite picture

Click on the blossom to see a bigger version. See the sparkles and the details.

" A rose by any other name..."

As the Bard wrote in "Romeo & Juliet", "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet." It is a truth of humanity and life in general, that no mater what you call something, it is what it is, and no changing of the name can make the debate more or less meaningful. What brings this up you ask, 2 things, assholes ( the people not the body part) and "Gay Marriage".

First the assholes, The internets seem to be stuffed full of them, crammed to the gills with jerks of every shade and texture who think they are being "truthful" or "honest" or "real". By writing in the comments of blogs and comics and news articles, they take the time to spill bile on the works of others. They feel that their opinion matter more than anyone else's and it makes no difference that they are tactless and generally ignorant of most social graces. I have pretty much given up on reading comments sections of many comics and blogs because of these argumentative and annoying know-it-alls and their need to argue every point of minutia, ad nauseum. Someone creats something that is funny or interesting, or beautiful to some people and that is great. Yet there are those who feel that it is their job to speak for those who don't like something. If you don't find it funny, or intersting or beautiful, go find something that you do like. You don;t have to ruin the enjoyment for those of us who do like it, for whatever reason we choose to find it enjoyable. I bet these are the same people who pinch babies just to hear them cry. Bullies are bullies, because no one can or has stood up to them. When the hide behind a computer keyboard and piss on everything the can find on the web and call it honesty, they are just jerks. Come tell me to my face that I suck, and I may respect you dumb ass! Until you have that much stones, leave your bile in your notebook and let the rest of the world enjoy the creativity of others as we see fit.

Now on the subject of "gay marriage", I couldn't care less whether two people of the same sex get married or not. Calling it a :"Civil Union' instead of a marriage makes no freakin sense at all, because all marriages equal a civil union if you have been "legally" married in the eyes of the state. If you have had a wedding at a church, it is called a "ceremony" and is nothing more than a ritual performed in front of friends and family, but it is not a legal union until the marriage certificate is filed with the local authorities. It gives you the right to file taxes as a couple, and to collect death benefits from insurance, and to cover a spouse with insurance. Now many of the opposition say that the insurance is the big problem it will increase premiums and make it harder to pay for insurance if all the gays can put their spouses on their insurance. As opposed to the straight people who make kids by the thousands each year and add them to their insurancd policies? It is less likely that a gay couple will add a child to their insurance. No unlikely, simply less likely. In many cases the gay couples who wish to marry, have already had and raised their kids, and they are independent persons with their own families. In the cases of the younger couples, perhaps they will have a child of their own, or maybe adopt, but the statistics say that it is likely that they will only have or adopt one child, and in rare instances 2. Breeders may have 3,4,5 or more kids. By design or by accident, they will have 2.5 kids ( that's what the statistics say!) where you get half a kid I have no idea! But still, adds to the insurance costs for everyone and it's not the gays we need to worry about! Marriage also allows for hospital visitation, and legal transfer of land, and to provide citizenship to those not born in America. There is no reason that makes sense for keeping these people from calling what they want a marriage. A rose called a turd blossom still smells like a rose, and if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, you can call it a parrot all you want, but I bet it is still a duck.

So just keeping it real, Let them gays get married for cryin' out loud, who does it really hurt? No one!