Motorcycles, Family & Da Boyz

I'm gonna start with me and da boyz. This picture was taken Saturday of my 3 youngest granchildren and I. Top (L-R) Dylan (11 mos), me, Jonas (8 mos.) and on the floor Caleb (3 years).

This past weekend was the Little Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in Sturgis, MS, and I had all my children in town at the same time. We spent some nice quality time together (my 2 sons & I all ride), had a nice family cookout and Saturday night had a big bonfire in the field near my house. We talked and generally had a good time until about 1 AM Sunday morning.

Yesterday (Monday) afternoon my upper back started bothering me at work. By the time I got home it was extremely painful. I took a very hot shower followed by one of the muscle relaxants that my doctor had given me. After a very tasty supper of stir fry (thanks to my sweetie, DKB), I sat in my recliner to watch the Monday Night Football game between the Carolina Panthers and NY Giants. I kind of drifted through the first quarter, but when my sweetie woke me up at 8:15 and suggested I go to bed I was sleeping hard. So I got up, as my back twinged to let me know it still was happy, took a Lortab and went to bed. I vaguely remember getting up around 2:30 for a potty break and then right back to bed. Next thing I knew, the alarm was going off at 5:30. My back feels much better, but I'm still dragging - from the medication I guess. Anyway, onward and upward. Everyone have a great day!!!

Time flies like an arrow.....

....but fruit flies like a banana. Sorry, I couldn't resist. I have a mind like lightning - never hits the same place twice. I was thinking about how close DKB and I's impending nuptials are (80 days) which led to one of my favorite Groucho Marx quotes. And he had quite a lot of funny ones. Do yourself a favor and read a bunch of them sometime. You''ll laugh your A** off.

So many details left in a short time. I know we'll get it done, but DUDE!

The motorcycle rally is this weekend at Sturgis, MS - just up the road from me. All of my children will be in town. We're going to grill some chicken and have some home-made tater salad Saturday evening and watch the bikes roar up and down the highway. Of course we plan to do a little roaring of our own Friday and earlier Saturday since I (and all my sons) ride bikes. So cue up Steppenwolf and ..."Get your motor running, Head out on the highway".

Everyone have a great day!

I'mm Meltinggggg!!

Well, not really. But I didn't have the car to drive to work since DKB has gone out of town. Well - that excuse doesn't work either. I had planned on taking my motorcycle into the bike shop & drop it off while I'm at work to get a new rear tire put on it. Well, I had gotten about a mile down the road from my house and the bottom dropped out. By the time I got to the cycle shop (where my boss was waiting on me) I was soaked from the knees down and the chest up. My windscreen kept the middle part of me pretty dry. I got to work. Took off my wet tennis shoes, wrung out my socks, and draped them over the little space heater I have. At this time my socks are dry and I've put them back on. My shoes have been leaning on my heater since I got here (about 3 hours ago) and I've periodically rotated them - and they are nearly dry. So by the time my work day ends I should be ready to go. Thankfully, it looks like the rain is done for the day - so I should be good going home. Where only my doggies wait for me today. DKB won't be back until Friday - but to celebrate her return I'm going to grill a couple of steaks & bake a couple of potatoes - plus I've already picked up a nice wine for us. So, everybody together now - "Awwwww!"

I'm feeling a little scruffy at the moment. I let the three amigos (Harley, Pearl & Shaddow) sleep on the bed with me last night. Well, I was amused with their bedtime rituals (general sniffing of each other, circling, scratching at the covers to fluff their bed) and forgot to set my alarm clock. When I woke up this morning it was 7:22. Well, I told my boss I would meet him when the cycle shop opened at 8 - so I dressed quickly, fed the animals and hit the door. I didn't have time to shave and you already know what happened to me on the road. (If not -shame on you - go back and read the first paragraph.)

Anyway, I'm here! I'm healthy! But I miss my honey! Everyone have a great day!

I've got to get better at this

Its been almost 2 weeks since my last blog. No excuses. I just don't make time to do my posts. I enjoy reading my fiance's blog on a regular basis though. She is a very glib and funny author. I'd much rather read her's than post my own, but a few things have happened since my last post. The biggest being that DKB and I have purchased a new car. We got a 2009 Toyota Yaris. A spiffy little car that gets great gas mileage. Plus my insurance rates came down. The down side is that I have payments for a bit longer, but its more than offset by the up-side, which includes the big smile on my precious DKB's face. She had never, in her entire life, had a new car. It just tickles me to death to see how happy she is with the car. I told her today, that's okay, cause now I'm going to start telling everyone that the car is my wedding gift to her. Said wedding to take place 88 days from now (don't tax your brain - its 10/31/09). We traded in my 2005 Dodge Ram pickup for the car. Nice, big truck and you could haul a bunch of stuff, but 16 mpg/highway was killing my budget. The Yaris get 35 mpg/highway - much better. There are a couple of pictures of the new car on DKB's blog if you are interested.

DKB's taking the new toy and going to visit her friend, F***h in Birmingham for a couple of days. Gonna seem a little weird being on my own again. I've gotten so used to having her around. Just me and the doggies and TV for a couple of nights. Oh well, guess I'll let Harley, Pearl and Shaddow sleep on the bed tonight. Not quite the same though. DKB came by my place of work to have lunch with me before she hit the road. I told her I was already planning something nice for when she comes back on Friday. Picture this, a couple of nice steaks on my grill (mine - rare), baked potatoes, and a nice wine & maybe a candle on the table. (And 3 little doggie sitting around with the "woe, pitiful me - I'm starving" faces on).

The big motorcycle rally at Sturgis (Mississippi) takes place August 14-16 and all (5) of my children are supposed to make it home that weekend. It promises to be an interesting and entertaining couple of weeks coming up. If not before, I know I'll blog after that weekend. Anyway - everyone have a great day! OOHH! I ALMOST FORGOT: Today is Coast Guard Day. The U. S. Coast Guard was founded on this day in 1790 in its original incarnation of the "U.S. Revenue Cutter Service". A big "Semper Paratus" from one retired "Coastie" to all, past & present, "Coasties" around the world.

100 and counting

I had made up my mind earlier this week that I was going to make time today to do an entry here. As the title says, its 100 days until . . . . . . DKB & I get married. So it is a bit of a red-letter day for me. We've got a lot planned and done already, and it seemed like we had all the time in the world to get it done the way we want. Well, now its right around the corner and the "later" that we were waiting on to do some things is "now".

Whats a little scary is that I found out yesterday that one of my high school buddies, (who married his h.s. sweetheart in 1974) has had his wife leave him. I'm not going to go into any of the why's and what's of whats involved, but he is hurting deeply. It makes you wonder, if it can happen to them, is any marriage for forever. But I refuse to allow this to throw a damper on our plans. It was a shock and I hurt for my friend, but I am truly happy with DKB and have to believe that nothing like this could happen to us. I look forward to having her with me for the rest of my life.

Everyone have a great day! Make everyone count, because you never know how many you have.

Catching Up

Its been a little bit since my last post, but I've been catching up at work and doing other things which have taken up my time and preventing me from blogging.

This past weekend I was pretty busy. Friday, I told my oldest grandson for a trip on my motorcycle to the Chuck E. Cheese Pizza place in Tupelo (about an hour + away). He turns 10 today and this was my gift to him. We had pizza and he played games for about 3 hours. He had a great time and I had just as good a time watching him. We got back to Starkville about 5:30 PM and DKB and I went out to have a leisurely meal at Shaherazad's. On the way, however, since we were passing by the house of my late wife's best friend, we stopped and had a nice visit for around an hour. D.M-P-C seemed to really like DKB and that was kind of important to me, since we are getting married in October.

Since DKB and I had been so busy lately with lots of things, I had decided that Saturday would be an US day. We, took a ride on the bike and had a nice meal at Mugshots. Had a nice little visit with my oldest son and his wife (& my youngest grandchild), and then went to see the latest Harry Potter movie. I've not read the books, but I've seen all the movies, and I expected great things from this one - since all the pre-movie hype said it was the best one yet. But, I have to say I was disappointed with it. It was OK, but I guess (because of the hype) - I expected more.

Sunday, I worked on a few tasks around the house (cutting up a storm-felled tree w/my chainsaw, fixing a step, combing out Shaddow, and bathing my 2 small dogs) and then in the afternoon (after a nice, hot shower) DKB and I watched a couple of movies. Dick Tracy (1990) with Warren Beatty and Madonna and The Crow (1994) with Brandon Lee. I thought both were good, but for different reasons. One thing that struck me about "The Crow" was that there was a line at the beginning of the movie (just after Eric & Shelley are killed) where the cop looks at an invitation and says "They were getting married on Halloween? Who the hell gets married on Halloween?" DKB and I looked at each other and grinned, because that is the planned date of our nuptials.

Ahh well, thats enough for now. I have more things to do. Everyone have a great day!!!!!!

Greetings from "The Natural State"

Atleast thats what it says on the licencse plates here abouts. I thought I would take time to make a quick post today. DKB and I got here late Friday and have spent a very pleasant couple of days visiting with her parents and brother. We had thought about heading back today, but my sister called me this morning and said it is raining back in Mississippi and that we should wait until tomorrow. I thanked her for the information and went back to bed, failing to mention that if she had checked her email she would know that we had already decided to do that. Thanks for looking out for me though, Sis. The weather report for tomorrow is predicting only a 10 to 20 % chance of rain along the route we'll be traveling. This is very important since we are on my motorcycle.

If you've never rode through Arkansas, its very beautiful country. Part of the only mountain chain in the U.S. that runs East-West is here. It made for a very pleasant bike ride. Very curvy, but for the most part, well maintained mountain roads, and if you didn't know - which I didn't until we got her - Arkansas is a helmet optional state for bike riders. I had never ridden without a helmet before (and it is not a practice I endorse) but everyone should get the opportunity to do it a least once. You really do get a rush of freedom.

A couple of times when we were all sitting around the table talking, DKB's bro and I would go off talking about scince fiction, books, authors, TV shows and movies. After a few minutes I would look around and everyone else would just be looking at us with a glazed look. I would apologize for M. and I "geeking out". And get back with everyone else's conversation. It was fun though. I probably won't have time to blog again until next week. Once I get back to work on Wednesday, I'll be playing "catch-up" for a while.

Everyone have a great week!!