Nothing to say....

It's been a few days since my last update.  I try to do at least one update - even if it's something silly or stupid  or just a time waster - once a week.

Yes, me in shorts in December.  Eat your hearts out.

This past week or two there has been little to report.  Nearly all of the riding I've done is back and forth to work, I spent one beautiful weekend on my roof cleaning out the gutters and mowing grass (Yes, even in December you can mow grass in Florida).  In other words, I've been trying to play catch up on the never ending work of being a home owner.  Being on the roof did give me an interesting advantage to observe a family of Cardinals however.   I was also considering accepting another independent job, which would have doubled my monthly income, in the end however I turned it down...sometimes mental health is more important than money.  Still it was nice to be offered the job.

  

Our tree 

We spent an afternoon putting up the tree and decorating it, while various holiday songs played on the computer thanks to Pandora, although I believe that Handel's Messiah was a bit over represented.  The lovely Sue will actually be leaving later today for a week meaning that I will be a free man for a change.  I might have more to write about then, as I consider finishing the Green Swamp ride or a few other places that I've been meaning to go to.

I considered posting something to the challenge laid down by Princess Scooterpie, for I've had some wonderful Christmas pasts and some not so good.  If you ever spent Christmas night eating Chinese food and going to a strip club for something to do, then you know loneliness.

Considering the events at Newtown, CT recently anything that I write seems to pale in consideration.  I can't even begin to imagine the emptiness that the parents must be feeling.  It's put a damper on the Holiday spirit here, and in a way has made the holiday all that more special as families will pull each other closer.  The memories that will be created will be all that more special for those with small children, knowing that despite your best efforts...tragedy can happen in mere seconds.

If any good can come from this, it's knowledge that life really is a wonderful, precious and amazing thing.   I'm lucky to live my life in peace.  I only hope that those who lost loved ones recently - friends and family - can find some peace.  Some hope in the coming days.

Random thoughts and images.

June 1st is the official start to the Rainy Season in Florida.  We need the rain badly, as the lakes are below their normal levels and countless turtles take their lives in their own hands to find a patch of mud on the other side of the blacktop.  As much as we need the rain, as much as I want my veggie garden to thrive...I am weary of the rain as well.

I ride to work every day and if I didn't have my paper route to do two days out of the week I get the feeling that my car would sit for weeks without moving.  I don't necessarily see this as a bad thing.  I am planning on replacing one of my two cars eventually and using the bike full time anyhow.   The problem is that my experience riding in rain is limited.  Over the past two years or so that I've been riding some sort of scooter I can count the number of times I've ridden in the rain on one hand.  One of the first things I bought when I got the Burgie was a good rain suit.  It sits under the seat in it's pack...waiting.  I have a 50% chance of getting wet tonight, a 70% chance tomorrow.

June 18, 2012 is also National Ride to Work Day.  I'm always amazed that there are 3 or 4 other motorcycles at work, that I know of, and yet my old Scooter is always parked there.  I do understand that there may be reasons why someone can not ride to work.  I also understand that their are other alternatives - for example when I lived in Pittsburgh I rode the bus every day despite that fact that I could have driven in and parked for free.  It was just easier to ride the bus.  A girl at work owns a Prius and a Harley, yet the Prius gets better gas mileage than the hog...so yea, I get it.  However it seems to me that if you own a bike, you should ride it.  Not just on the weekends or from Tavern to Tavern but to work and to school and to the grocery store.

For example, the other day I was in Tampa on business and driving past an ancient woman riding a Peace scooter.  Her toothless smile was so wide that you could get lost in it.  She had a look of pure, simple, childish joy on her face.  I could not help it and yelled out "YOU GO GRANDMA!" and got the biker wave in return.  Some images you have burned into your brain and have to acknowledge them.   I know that years from now I'll be riding somewhere with that same grin and sense of childlike wonder, I only hope that someone see's me and that I impress them as much as she did me.


That is one of the reasons I write.  To share these impressions and images with others.  One of the other reasons I write is to hopefully teach someone else something...anything really.  What not to do, what to do.  To just get them to think about something differently for a moment or two.  One blog that does a fantastic job of that is "How to ride your scooter safely."   If your riding any sort of two wheeled vehicle this is required reading.  


Finally, if your not familiar with a site called Fuelly, you should be.  It's designed to give you hard figures on your fuel consumption as well as tips on how to increase it.  It's not hard to use and it should be interesting to see how my car's and bike compares to others over time.

Lets take a moment.

I was going to write a big remembrance piece today, about where I was and what I was doing.  Some moments stay with you.

I was lucky, I didn't know anyone that was directly affected when the towers fell...indirectly and profoundly changed yes, but no one who lost their lives or the lives of a love one.  No one that I know suffered the loss of a loved one indirectly either.

Illustrations By Richard Dorgan (Dick Dorgan) U.S.N.R.F. Published in 1918, by Frederick A. Stokes 

Since then, yes.  To war, to accidents...to disease.

On such a day as this I will remember the little things.  Remember how quiet it was, how strangers hugged.  How blue the sky is, and how the song of a bird seemed so sweet at that moment.

I will kiss the girlfriend and hold her tight.  I will call my brother, a volunteer firefighter, and thank him.   I will tell my friends and family I love them.

These are the moments we need never to forget.