Saturday, July 19, 2014

A Sow's Ear Into Lemonade

If anyone is going to mix metaphors, let it be me.

Today's Post was supposed to be about Lorem Ipsum 2014 but it will not be.  Things went wrong but then again, some other things went quite right.

I was excited to go this morning, Lorem Ipsum has been growing and I was sure that this year's gathering would be the best yet.

Daughter Lauren was excited to go.

I invited others that hadn't been there before and I was very pleased that they decided to go.

Things started out well, Lauren and I were on the Helix at 7:30, headed for breakfast in Alma at Pier 4.  That happened as planned, breakfast was good, Carol was back and served us our breakfast and that was a good thing too; nice to see her again.  I didn't ask if she'd repaired her Ninja but I did find out that she's still in school and that was actually the more important.

Off we went with great gusto and full bellies.......and then I started to feel what I thought was more vibration than normal.  I wanted to blame the road surface.  I wanted to blame the fact that it's been so long since I'd been on the Helix that it was my imagination.

It was not.

We pulled over just south of Fountain City, I got off and looked down, very disappointed to see gear lube weeping out the rear end.  Those 'bumps' I was feeling over the last mile were not bumps but internal mechanisms fighting with each other and resisting rotation.

We limped back to the park in Fountain City (did NOT want the rear end to lock up) where we got off and did only a rudimentary inspection.  Lots of clunking and more leaking gear oil.  Luckily Peg was at home, able to answer the phone AND able to jump in the car to head south for an emergency Save.


We were at least an hour away from home and it took Peg all of that and a bit more to get down to Fountain City.  Lauren and I climbed on the playground equipment, tried out several benches, watched traffic go by and studied our watches which seemed especially slow today.


So far this was my Sow's Ear part of the metaphor.

Peg was busy at home working, she's got two gigantic monitors with so many columns of spreadsheets that they are almost uncountable.  Keeping track of and reporting various quantities, dollars, totals, etc. was  what she was busy with when we called.

We interrupted real honest work; other than for rescuing us, little else would have.

The rest of my broken metaphor, Today's Lemonade, is that as long as Peg was out of the house and away from those columns, we stopped in Nelson at the Cheese Factory for lunch on our way back home.

My "Mr. T. Sandwich", my standard.......sprouts, turkey, swiss, guacamole and a pickle.  We always share the sweet potato chips........


Lauren's "Hot Hoagie Sandwich"......


Peg's "Barbecue Pork Sandwich".......


We all brought half of our sandwiches home.  Once there, I put the trailer on the van and headed right back to Fountain City to retrieve the broken scooter.


What we left behind.....


Not so BIZZIE for the foreseeable future......


I don't remember having to ever haul anything home before but maybe I'm just conveniently leaving an incident out.  If anyone knows otherwise, please correct me.  Peg noted that quite possibly, based on past trips to Viroqua for this eclectic event, that just maybe, there's a chance that I should find something else or somewhere else to go on this weekend in future July's.  My luck has been less than stellar.

The scooter is now parked back in the corner and will stay there until cooler, wetter weather.  I've got so many projects lined up for next winter I'll soon be wishing for that season to grow in length.

Maybe I'll just need to be more efficient at getting things accomplished on those dark, cold evenings.

And....

One more good thing this afternoon.  Our own blackberries but the blueberries and strawberries were from somewhere else.  Even though they may seem so, those bubbled out portions are definitely not problems and will cause no hardship, I can assure you of that.


16 comments:

  1. Coop never a good thing when there is a breakdown, but on the bright side you had pie waiting!

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    1. Dar, I've been very lucky with breakdowns though disappointed in this one and I'm guessing it's a major one. Still, just not that big of deal. It's part of owning old, well used ones.

      Yes, that pie.....it hasn't been opened up yet but that won't last much longer!

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  2. .... gremlins.. part of the..,charm... adventure... if they ran all the time.. ya wouldn't had a chance to ride a blue Dino... :)

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    1. You are very right. Today has turned out more than fine and early reports of the event itself lead me to believe that there's still room for improvement.

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  3. The lunch food pics look pretty good, a lot better than the Helix on the trailer. And the pie looks great!

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    1. Richard, I'd have to agree with you. Interesting re: the Helix on the trailer....it barely fits. It has never been on mine before and I've chuckled to myself hearing about others going to pick up "a little scooter" and then learning that these little 250's are so long that they don't fit on scooter-sized trailers.

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  4. Coop:

    sorry about your scooter BUT that pie looks delicious. The pulled pork BBQ looks delicious, in fact everything looks delicious, everything except the scooter on your trailer photo.

    Blackberries, Blueberries & Strawberries my favourites all in ONE pie

    bob
    Riding the Wet Coast

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    1. Bob, the very best parts of yesterday truly did rise to the top. I've got options with the Helix and I'm exercising one of them by parking it in the corner.....for now.

      This soon-gone pie is (will have been) a fine example of what a fruit pie needs to be.

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  5. Sad to see a bike towed, any bike. Well, Coop, there was a breakdown, but you had Peg to the rescue and great food, plus pie!!! Methinks the outing still qualifies to be called a nearly perfect day.

    And thanks for the mutilation of the proverbs, I had never heard of the "sow's ear" before, and now found out that there is a saying with similar meaning in German about a farm horse turning into a race horse...

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    1. Sonja, as you say, it's never good to end up having a machine towed. Both Lauren and I were disappointed to not fulfill our plan but other than that, it was a day I was happy to be part of.

      I take lots of liberties with our language and have fun doing so. My command of the language isn't as great as it should be but I often actually do know the difference between right and wrong. When I right my final term paper I promise to give it all I've got.

      Silk purse from a sow's ear
      Making sweet lemonade from sour lemons

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  6. Doug, that's the saving grace of having a harem. One ride runs out of steam, there's a bunch rarin' to go :)

    Hmmmmmm... pie :)::::::::

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    1. Having more than one as saved me before; I was out for a quick ride yesterday afternoon and hope to get out again today.

      Breakfast was unusually tasty this morning :)

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  7. Sad to see the scoot leaking fluid. Sad to wish for a long "off" season, but it is the off season and the thoughts and planning that come with it that makes the riding season so special!

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    1. The fluid was a sad thing and my goal would be to strike a perfect balance of off and on season. I'm still looking for that. :)

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  8. Bummer about the Helix breaking down, but at least you were close to a town, had cell service, and Peg was able to rescue you two.

    I am disappointed I didn't get to see you on the purple dino in full gear. :-)

    I think the pie pic makes up for it though.

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    1. Brandy,
      You are so right about the "at leasts". My cell carrier is the best I know of for the hinterlands of Wisconsin but there are many places across the river where service is N/A and we would have been in some of them yesterday had we proceeded much further.

      I never even thought about mounting the dino and it is surprising that Lauren didn't think of it either; she's wired more that way than I am.

      Pie today is making up for a lot of things. It's going to be a strong week, I can just tell. :)

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