Tag Archives: motorcycle

Motorcycles, Eyes, and Birds

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The motorcycle finally was put back together last Saturday. The entire project was to install a 12v accessory plug (aka cigarette lighter). I had to take the front end apart to get to where I could tap into a 12v power supply that was turned on with the ignition switch. It turns out there are several ways the front end can be taken apart, but only one sequence in which it can be re-assembled. I got down to the last item (speaker cover) and found that I had to disassemble everything because that needed to go on as the first thing. As it was, I dropped one of the screws down into the engine area somewhere and it hasn’t resurfaced. But, everything works as expected and the job is done.

Dad came over to see the ophthalmologist today for treatment of his macular degeneration that has changed from “dry” in his left eye to “wet”. During the examination the Dr. took a number of pictures of the eye which were very interesting. It is clear that he has a “wet” problem. In some cases they can use a laser to cauterize the errant blood vessels, but in dad’s case his problem is where a laser would make matters worse. The other treatment is to have medication injected directly into the eyeball (I’m cringing as I write this). The Dr. used a cocktail of anesthetics to deaden the eyeball and the went to the side of the cornea directly into the eyeball to deposit the medication. Dad gets three more of these injections over the next three months. Nina says he didn’t even flinch. Good for him!

bird feeder trayToday I built the tray below the bird feeders. The birds are quite picky about the seeds and toss about half of them to the side. Over the past few years the seeds tossed to the side have ended up on the ground as a feast for all the neighborhood mice. The tray should catch most of the seeds tossed aside and provide another place for the birds to feed. Hopefully this will significantly cut down on the mouse population in our yard.

I’ve also been putting poison down the mouse holes and collecting the dead mice to put them in the garbage for disposal. The poison has yielded a dozen mice (that I’ve found). That means there must be quite a colony underground. It won’t be there long, though. Next week the rototiller goes to work along that whole area and that should be the end of all the mouse holes. They won’t be missed!

Springtime in Pocatello

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When I was growing up in Soda Springs, Idaho, we subscribed to the Salt Lake Tribune newspaper (which is no longer available in Soda Springs). On the front page of the second section of the newspaper, columnist Dan Valentine wrote a daily column on things happening in and around Utah. Sometime each spring he would have a column with the same heading: “Spring is sprung, the grass is ‘riz. I wonder where the flowers is?” (I’ve written about this before….)

The significant characteristic of Springtime in the high desert area of Idaho, Utah, and Wyoming is how fast the weather changes from one day to the next. We’re in one of those weather patterns right now. It was 65° and sunny on Friday, 50° and very windy on Saturday, and today was 40° with rain and snow. The cold, wet weather will continue through most of the coming week.

Since riding a motorcycle isn’t fun when the weather is cold and wet, I tore into the front of my motorcycle on Saturday to install a 12v accessory plug. In order to do so I had to take most of the fairing off as well as the headlight. Behind all of that are the electrical wires that I’ll tap into to provide power to the accessory plug. I’m now ready to wire in the accessory plug and put everything back together.

I ran out of time on Saturday to finish the job. This is the time of year for Ward Conferences in our Stake here in Pocatello and the next set of Ward Conferences was today for the three wards meeting in the Grant Building. The ward conference starts with a session at the Idaho Falls Temple on Saturday afternoon. Nina and I needed to leave at 3:30 p.m. to drive up to Idaho Falls.

We had dinner at the Temple, then dressed in our white clothing for the session, which was nearly full. We left the Temple about 8:30 p.m. and got home last night, very tired, about 9:30 p.m. We enjoyed the session and it’s good to be in the Temple with people we know.

During this year’s set of Ward Conferences, my assignment is to conduct the Sunday School portion of the conference and give a short history of temples and temple ordinances in the Church. Today I had this assignment at 10 a.m., noon, and 2 p.m., one time for each of the three wards meeting in the building. That meant being in Church from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. and taking a very short break from 1:00 – 1:45 p.m. for lunch. It’s a long, but very enjoyable day.

It’s also a day soon coming to an end. Driving home from the Temple last night, I drank a bottle of water. Not a good idea that late at night. I was up twice during the night because of the water! The general rule at my age is nothing to drink after 7 p.m. to give my system enough time to move the water out before going to bed. I shall sleep well tonight, for sure … dreaming (possibly, as I never remember my dreams) of a nice, warm spring day riding the motorcycle across the countryside….

Catching Up

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Ashlyn Stops By For A Couple Of days

Ashlyn finished her school break and flew back out west to begin her next term at BYU-Idaho in Rexburg. She stopped here for a couple of days to “chill out” (her words) before diving into the hectic life of a coed living with a bunch of girls. Today we drove her to Rexburg, had lunch with her (where this picture was taken), dropped her off, and came back home. She plans to now go straight through until she graduates in July, 2009.

BYU-Idaho has a kind of a tri-mester system where a third of the students are on their break each trimester and the other two-thirds are in classes. Ashlyn’s term starts in mid-April and goes through mid-December. We had a fun visit while she was here and she got plenty of sleep (I think that’s the definition of “chill”). Notice the new hair do … she’s trying out being blond for a while.

Butchered English Grammar?

While we were in Rexburg we had lunch at a sandwich kind of an eatery. While paying the bill I noticed this sign next to the cash register saying, “No bills higher than $20 thank you!” My first thought was, “How high is a twenty dollar bill? Would that height be measured in inches, feet, or miles?” That got me thinking about language skills and whether or not this wording was correct. I certainly would have said, “… bills larger than $20…” and put a period between “20” and “Thank”. I spent about an hour trying to find online a reference to substantiate the way I would have worded the sign. I found some oblique references, but nothing really substantial. I’ll probably give up the search and declare my wording as being the correct English grammar!

Rider Up!

Last Saturday was our first really nice Spring day. After doing some work outside in the yard, I pulled the motorcycle out of the garage, gave it a good washing, and then took a short hour-and-a-half ride. Very enjoyable, but when I got ready for bed, I had some muscles complaining. I definitely need to do some more riding to get back in shape…. (big grin). Today the weather went back to winter with huge winds and a high temperature of 43 degrees. Today was also the day to take the bike in for service … it’s annual spring cleaning. Naturally, the day would be cold and windy for the ride over and this afternoon for the ride back. I’m definitely a fair-weather rider!

All of these pictures are using a new WordPress Blog feature for pictures. If you click on the picture, a new window / tab will open with the picture and some words specifically about the picture. Click on that picture to see a full-sized picture.

Winter Keeps Hanging In There

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more snowAs we went to bed last night Nina told me that she thought it was snowing. When I went out to get the newspaper this morning, this is the scene that greeted me. A light covering of snow on the grass, clear walks, driveway, and road, and bright, sunny, clear skies. By 10 a.m. the temperatures were closing in on 45° and the high today was 52°. The new snow was all gone by noon. There’s still a little bit of snow left in the back yard up against the south fence where the sun doesn’t quite shine at this time of the year. In another few weeks the sun will be far enough north that the whole yard will get sun during some part of the day.

The problem is, of course, no yard work is getting done. I think that’ll be my task tomorrow morning. The front yard needs to be completely raked and I’ve only got about a third of it finished. It’s supposed to get up to 60° — so a ride on the motorcycle may also be in the agenda. We’ll see. NIna’s niece Ashlyn will be here sometime tomorrow and will stay through the weekend. We’ll take her up to Rexburg next Tuesday for her to start her next term at college. It’ll be fun to have her here for a few days while she reacclimatizes to our cool, dry air after being in Ohio for the past four months. Spring must be close if the Spring Term is starting at BYU-Idaho!

Spring, Yard, Motorcycle, Piracy, Taxes, and a Pregnant “Man”

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Raking the Grass

The snow piled up pretty deep on the front yard. The anti-skid piled up on the tree lawn. The voles made several pathways under the snow leaving lots of dead grass behind. Now that the snow is gone, the yard needs some serious attention. I raked a strip last Saturday. I took a few days to recover (with an intervening snow storm) and raked another strip yesterday. I figure at this rate it’ll take a couple of weeks to get the front yard raked and ready for fertilizer and ready to have the sprinkler system checked out. Raking is definitely a workout! I was pooped for the rest of the day.

Of course, with the departure of the snow, thoughts turn to … motorcycles! My battery wouldn’t hold a charge so I picked up a new one this morning and have it on the charger in the garage. It’ll go in the bike tomorrow and I’ll fire it up for the first time this spring … and maybe take a short trip around the block. The appointment is set on Tax Day for the oil change and spring tuneup. Let the riding begin!

Speaking of Tax Day, I finally entered everything into Tax Cut Pro. There’s a couple of small adjustments needed, but I’m very close to being able to file. We will get a refund from the Feds but have to write a check to the State of Idaho. A few years ago the competing program TurboTax very stupidly tried to combat supposed piracy of their software by putting a hidden program on the user’s computer. This hidden program caused a number of computers to crash, including mine. They eventually refunded my money but it took a lot of work to get the malicious program off of my computer. While they quickly realized their mistake, I’ve not returned as a customer. Tax Cut does just fine and there’s no reason for me to change providers. By the way, I just ran across an interesting article on H&R Block and Tax Cut. Click on the link.

Speaking of piracy, a luxury yacht was seized by pirates in the Gulf of Aden yesterday. Fortunately no passengers were on board, but the 30 crew members are being held hostage. I think we’ll avoid doing any cruises in that part of the world! According to the news article, more than 25 ships were seized by pirates in that area last year. Looks to me like a captain needs to find other work.

Finally, in the weird news department, some ten years ago a woman underwent a sex change procedure to become “male”. “He” is now six months pregnant in what “his” obstetrician is considering “a normal pregnancy“. I’m speechless.