Little Black Sambo

    No, I am not a racist, I am only telling a children's story that was popular when I was a child.
Of course I can not quote the story word for word but from memory I can give you a brief condensed version that will get the point accross.
    Once upon a time there was a child who lived in a land far away, named Little Black Sambo.
One day Little Black Sambo's Mother dressed him up in all his best fine clothes. You know, all the usual stuff. Umbrella, vest, shoes, the whole works. Then she told him,  "You just go and have a good day now, You hear?"
    So, off he goes, hiking through the jungle all dressed up in his best finery. As the story goes, Little Black Sambo encounters a tiger who happens to be hungry, as tigers are.

The tiger says to Little black Sambo, You know, I am pretty hungry, but if you give me your fine umbrella, I just might not eat you. Well sure, Little Black Sambo is a smart child and says to himself, " Self, it is better to give up apparel than to be eaten. 

    And so the story goes. This child is wandering around in a dangerous jungle filled with preditors and continues to encounter hungry tigers, who can be temporairily satisfied with a vest or a\ pair of shoes and so forth

     Eventually though, He runs out of enticing clothes and soon the tigers say,  "You know, I really like having an umbrella, or whatever, but I am still hungry".

     So, the tigers get together and find Little Black Sambo, and tell him, "Your clothes and things are not enough and we are still going to eat you.

    It was about this point, that Little Black Sambo says "my only remaning defense is to run" and he did.

Around a tree he ran in continueing circles so fast the the chasing tigers melted into tiger butter, at which time

he gathered up his clothes and went home to tell his Mama. She said, "We will have pankakes with tiger butter and they all lived happily ever after.

     You ever notice how childrens stories always end with "Happily Ever After"?

Any way, the whole point is that Little Black Sambo was a human child and did not have a tail.

Recently one of our cats gave us some much needed additions, and 3 of them were tiger colored and one was tiny and black, born with a tail. The large black one in the corner is not one of the litter, but just a visitor.

Needless to say the tiny black kitten is now Sambo and the other three are named tiger 1, 2, and3.

Y'all have a good day now you hear?

     My Goodness it has been a very long time since I updated this blog. The last time I had any thing to say was when I first got the new Goldwing.
     Anyway, since that time the Goldwing has carried me to, Enid Oklahoma. My wife and I rode it to Pueblo Colorado. I made a trip to California, and also to South Padre Island. Some time later in the day I will exceed 23,000 miles ridden on that machine. I still love it. Planning a trip to Odessa Texas in the near future, and the major trip will be a year from now when I ride the thing to Alaska. My jaws will probably ache by the time I get back from smiling so much.

2012 Goldwing

Well, there is no other way to say it than the 2012 Honda Goldwing is the ultimate motorcycle. Sharon says it is a car without the shell and she is right. Just to name a few features, Navigation system, heated grips, heated seats, surround sound stereo featuring AM, FM, XM Sirus, and auxillary flash drive connectivity that lets me carry my whole collection with me. Automatic volume control that increases volume as RPMS increase. What's the word of currant times? Awesome!!!  Did some one say "Heated Seats?" Actually on maximum setting they will make you squirm. They get too warm. Heated Grips? Very nice but the backs of your fingers and hands still get cold. Maybe I need to tell Honda to enclose the handle bar grips to keep the heat around the hands, but still, very nice. Navigation system, on a motorcycle no less? There is a large screen under the speedometer that shows location, direction currant address and not only that, but it talks to you. Even if I turn it off, there is a neat 3" compass that shows up in it's place.
     Foot vents? Well you know it.
There is a lever to slide that allows air warmed from the engine to pass over your feet and ankles. That could stand a little improving, but when I tested them it was 26 degrees out. Maybe to give it a true test I should wait for another 26 degree day and make the same ride without the heated vents on my feet.
    Adjustable windshield? Of course!!  It can be raised as much as 4". Sure, there is a air vent in the windshield. Digital odometer? Natureally. Time, tempeture, and miles traveled? Adjustable rear shocks for passenger or a load? Why even ask. Not only that but a pre-set memo switch to quickly change from one to the other. Tire pressure monitors? CB radio capibility? Headlight adjustment while riding? 200+ miles per tank. Electric cruise control. Pockets or compartments every where. A horn louder than most car horns.
     One of the key words in it's description is "Touring". I keep telling Sharon, "We need to plan a trip somewhere, anywhere, and the only requirement is two tanks of gas out, two tanks back, plus one to run around on. That means at least 400 miles away, At least one nights stay. I think I can convince her to do it if
I include a PBR event. Heated Seats? Yeah, I know, I covered that. Except it is necessary to mention, "Individual Controls." Can you say Amen, Brothers and sisters?
    I LOVE IT!!! I don't know if it has features I left out, Probably does. Like my little Brother says, " Looks like that thing could fly to mars."
     Well, give me an address and a couple of warm days and we will see.
   Ok You want to see it.

Apparentlly I don't have a picture in my file but you can see what I mentioned at Honda.com     . On that site go to touring motercycles,  Sooner or later if you choose blue  color you will see what I recieved with 8 miles on the odometer.

ride video

How about a little ride video. It was difficult to hold the camera still at the end of a tripod, but you get the idea.

So, Sharon and I took a little ride to California on the motorcycles and I had a really nice ride.
We went for my parents celebration of 60 years married to each other.

Sharon got pretty tired but we did not have any trouble. It did get a little cold at times.
The leather clothes helped to cut the wind.

Today is a good one!

Well, it really was a good day. I mentioned several times that I thought I needed new tires for my motorcycle, and we decided to do it before the trip and not have to be bothered with it on the road.
     We left here at 6:30 am and rode our motorcycles to Amarillo. Once there we left my bike at the shop and rode to have breakfast at the Cracker Barrel. Then we went to a HarleyDavidson dealer and Sharon got some kind of hair holder. Then we went to the Tri-State Fair. We had free tickets because we had some of our stuff on exhibit.

       Remember the afghan?
Yup. First Place. Remember the Shirt, (number two)? Second place on that one.
Also a first place ribbon on another scarf.
    Then we picked up my bike and we came home. On the west side of the city of Amarillo there are a bunch of cadillacs buried front end down. Every one stops by these cars and goes out to them for pictures, which Sharon and I have done in the past.
     On the east side of town there is another group of cars also buried in similar fashion. Needless to say, we stopped for pictures.

Then to Braums for a burger and hot fudge sundae, and then home.
270 miles and some cheap thrills. Yup, a good day.

Shirt number two

Well, here it is. The second shirt so far and it turned out alright. I don't know if I will continue making shirts or not. Depends on Materials that I find. The selection of fabric stores is very limited here.

New Shirt

Well, Folks, I said I would make a shirt and did. The material was about the only choice at the time for some thing that could be considered masculine.
    It started last month when I made a sissy bar for Sharon's bike and then decided to make a pad for the sissy bar. So we bought me a little sewing machine but not knowing much about the machine, I decided to make a shirt to become familier with the machine. So we got a McCalls pattern and some pepper material, and I proceeded. I did not speak Pattern language so Sharon translated the language into understandable Redneck. She gave me some pointers but I did the sewing, and lo, and behold, a shirt came out of it.
     Counting the cost of the machine, pattern, thread, and material, the shirt wound up costing about 100 dollars. If I do more then the cost will come down, but it is not cheap to make your own clothes.

     Let's see if I can show you a picture.
Yup. There it is. Sharon calls it "Busy".

next project

Well, I have a sewing machine, a bunch of material, and a shirt pattern so the next undertaking will be to teach myself how to make a shirt. I have kin folk that sew, so I can ask for pointers along the way.

Recent stuff, Denver, Afgan

Well, some time ago Sharon won a vacation and we chose Denver Colorado from the choices offered. There were several places but, Denver it was. We went, and stayed at the Hampton Inn and Suites in Downtown Denver. The first thing we noticed in downtown Denver was parking isn't  free.
      We rode a steam train, toured a silver mine, saw Elitch Gardens, the aquairium and the Denver mint.
Also the zoo. Had a pretty good time. Ate some good food. Came home.
      My second flag afgan is finished and is just like the first, but this one is for Mom who asked for it.
Oh, we drove to denver in a car so it wasn't nearly as much fun as it could have been.

ski mask?

Well I took a short break from my latest flag afgan and made myself a ski mask to wear on the bike in cold mornings.

It is all single crochet and I just used a bunch of yarn pieces. 

Chores

Well the weather is nice and we said, today we will do some needed chores. Oh, to start over and say "today,
we will sit in the recliner and watch tv."
     Chores it is so we first went out for breakfast and then the first chore was to go to the landfill and get rid of an old refrigerator. That went smoothly enough.
    Next Sharon was going to paint a sissy bar/luggage rack that a friend built for her motorcycle and so we took it off the bike and she got started. While she did that I mowed but first had to get fuel for the mower.
    Then we got around to the big chore of the day and that was to level the house. We live in a mobile home and  over the years it settled and shifted a little here and there. So I go under the house with a jack and start raising the house back to where it used to be. I had to lift one side about  4 inches. That is all well and good, except over that much time and that much settleing, all the PVC plumbing was now adjusted to it's new lower level, and if I had raised it as slowly as it settled it may have re-adjusted. No, I did it all at once and so the next chore, an unintended one, was to fix some PVC pipe that refused to shift all at once.
    Now it is time for the recliner.

Just an update

Well I gave the afgan to my boss who claimed it while it was in progress. I figure I will need to make 3 more just like it to satisfy a few other folks.

Afgan

Well it is finished and I will probably give it away tomorrow, but for those of you who would like to see my first afgan,  I will include a couple of pictures here. It is. big enough for one person to wrap up in.
It is all double crochet except for the border which is a half double crochet.
Later Y'all.

Lightheaded?

Well, yesterday The Woman and I went to Amarillo for a few errands and the lady that accepts the locks of love hair donations was not to busy so we waited, till she could cut my hair. It will take about 2 years to grow again, but that is ok.

Sharon's niece is a photographer, and needed to practice Dark outfits against a dark background but the photo she took was recent so I can show you how long my hair was.
     It went from that to this.

Folks, have a good day now, You hear?

Valentine's Day Present for Sharon

Y'all know that the Women in our lives are special and they always expect something on Valentine's day. Well I figure, I am typical when it comes to this sort of thing and so I started looking around the internet for what I had in mind about 2 weeks ago. I found it, but we were not able to go get it until Wednesday two days after the actual holiday. We went to Amarillo and she liked it. We had a nice lunch and ran all over town, but because of certain break in proceedures, she asked me to bring her gift home. So I did. Here it is.

It is a Kawasaki Vulcan 500 LTD. It had 164 miles on it when we first saw it and now has a little more than 300. The first five hundred miles on a bike are supposed to be ridden at less than 50 mph so it took a while to get home.
     It has a windshield that doesn't show up too well in these pictures, and yesterday I got some saddle bags for it.
    She says she likes it.
    Meanwhile, I have been learning to crochet, and have been working on an afgan for a month. I am getting close to being finished so I will surely photograph it when I am done.
                                                                                      Later Y'all and allaY'all.

Just an update

Hello, any one who is interested.

So winter is here and motorcycle riding has diminished but I did get it out yesterday and ride to work. Of course you do have to bundle up some when it is 32 degrees. Still it was a nice ride. They always are. I gotta tell you, I feel the urge to make another cross country trip coming on. West is always a good direction, but I will wait till spring or so. This photo is from my return from Oregon, and that was a good trip. I don't have the goldwing any more and this bike did ok. It started every time and that is a good thing. Maybe I will get another Goldwing after the car is paid off. Sharon might decide to go with me then. Then, this bike will be hers again.
     My hair is almost long enough to donate again. It will be nice to have it gone.

Thanksgiving was a good day.

    Howdy Y'all. 

We had a special day with some good friends of ours with all the traditional stuff. We took our turkey fryer over to their house and deep fryed a nice turkey. That is the best way to cook a turkey, you know? 

Except, when I first started doing that, My fryer was propane powered and was dangerous but we now have an electric fryer, and it can be done indoors.

    While we were there, Lee, (our friend),  showed me how he hooks his computer up to his tv and I think I will try it. I have all the needed stuff.

Y'all be good now, you hear?

The swing

Now then this is the last of the videos that were made at Zero Gravity. This is actually the first one we rode and it was kind of tame compared to the others. There was one other ride that was literally a slingshot, but
it is still very large.
     For those of you that like to mess with video cameras and then want to change the format of the video,
go to,
http://online.movavi.com/
and they make it pretty easy.
    Traffic in Dallas was miserable. The Texas Longhorns were playing Oklahoma University on the day that we went to the State Fair, and it took an hour to go one mile on the freeway. Sharon got the Dallas map out and we went through town and made pretty good time that way.
     We saw the Bureau of Printing and Engraving, in Fort Worth and it is one of only two places where they print money.  Sharon wanted a page of uncut bills and we wound up with not a complete page which would have 32 bills on it, but a quarter page. Her page has eight one dollar bills and oddly enough, the government makes a profit on the money they sell that way. That was a good tour though, but they make you leave almost everything that is normally in the pocket, outside, like Mace, knives, guns and so forth.
       I missed the free sample portion of the tour.

How about another one

Well the videos seem to work so I will stick another one in here but this is a one time only experience for me.

One more time, bad language.

The videos are large and maybe that is why I am having trouble getting them in here. This one should not be too big though, as it is slightly bigger than 7 mb. We will see.
    While we were in Dallas we went to Heritage Village. It is a Civil War era mueseum of buildings that you would expect to find at that time, and the people dress in period clothing and tell you stuff. The thing is it is right in the middle of Dallas with Skyscrapers all around.
     Ok, Sharon's video made it. Should I try another? Nah they all look too big so I may have to try to change the format to a smaller kind. Once again, I don't know what the people had to say when Sharon dropped, but it is not something for me to control. The two people waiting on the tower still are a couple of young men who were new to the army and about to ship out. They were looking for some fun before they left.