Coop's Corner: Bit Of This, Bit Of That

Sunday, November 1, 2015

Bit Of This, Bit Of That

After last weekend's trip to Texas, this week's accomplishments were on a much smaller scale. Preparations for winter continue .... there was some painting, more organization though not nearly as much as there should have been. A couple more of the engines that serve winter purposes have received attention and happily, there were some early, first steps taken towards winter motorcycle maintenance that I just wasn't patient enough to wait for snowflakes-flying to start. Ulterior motives (two of them) had me working on things that I'd told myself would get taken care of sometime over the next few months....."no hurry."

I received a nice email from buddy Dave P this week containing a fine quote and a suggested book to read. The book is now in my Kindle and has been started. "The Lost Art of Reading Nature's Signs" by Tristan Gooley. It's been gratifying and rewarding to discover that not every tip or bit of knowledge in his book comes as a surprise to me. Experience, being open to new things and receptive to the world around us with a certain awareness of surroundings are things we would all most likely benefit from with more attention paid. I'm enjoying the book and David was right on with his belief that the book would be a good fit.

Son Ben sent a quick text this week, "Honda is sold, picking up on Tuesday." I'm pleased in more ways than one that the Halloween color Honda is being enjoyed by someone new.

The first Sunday in November is our area's annual Swan Ride. 45 minutes down river from us is a place that not all that many years ago saw hundreds and most likely thousands of Trumpeter Swans making brief stops on their way to Winter Quarters on Chesapeake Bay. For numerous reasons (Mike suggested that the swans may be missing the current version of Adobe Reader and therefore are off schedule) the swans do not gather as they once did, certainly not when they once did. Fury Motors in St. Paul sponsors the ride regardless. There can be snowflakes and then there can be days like today, beautiful considering that we flipped to the November page on our calendars last night.

Some of us handle the ride differently, not doing the free breakfast in St. Paul, nor do we join the group(s) riding down to Rieck's Park on the edge of Alma, Wisconsin. This year's version found 7 of us gathering together for breakfast in Alma. Once finished with breakfast, we head the 1 mile north to the park and awaited the arrival of the various groups on their way to Wabasha, Minnesota across and upriver one town.

More of our small group came all of the way down from the Twin Cities than did not. As I entered Lake City, Mike and Colleen were just pulling out onto the highway, followed for a ways and snagged a photo of me from behind.

They continued on Highway 61 while I turned off to take a route a bit more scenic.

Joan and Steve, Colleen and Mike, Tim, Dave and I all sat down together at Pier 4 for breakfast. Justin was there as well but he stayed outside in the comfort of 'his' sidecar, looking for a bit of sympathy here when Mike got the pup's portrait.

In fact, Mike managed to get the next two photos.

The 7 of us at went to the park and found two riders were there even before we were and we were early.

Around noon the groups began to roll in.....

My plan was to come home and get back to business.....projects and things put off and neglected. But when I got home, I saw the KLR there in the garage with those new couldn't-wait-for-winter new DirtBagz soft bags and brackets and decided that a decent test ride just had to be about the most important item on my To Do list.

Found this witch along the road.....SCARY!!

So today the BMW was able to sneak in its first miles of '15 before the curtain, the KLR managed to pass its test today. This coming week I'll be able to put the new battery in the ST2 and just maybe test that before snow flies.

My 2015 Mileage Pie Chart is in the oven, we'll give it a few more weeks to finish baking and then the slices will be ready to share. An early look shows mileage upped over last year and we'll see what the next few weeks might bring for a breakaway finish.

14 comments:

RichardMNovember 1, 2015 at 11:40 PM
Nice looking airhead RT!
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redlegsridesNovember 2, 2015 at 9:26 AM
Nice sidecar rig.
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motormikeNovember 2, 2015 at 5:07 PM
Great day.... good food...good company... scenic overlooks... Hope to do it again.. Thanks.. :)
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TrobairitzNovember 3, 2015 at 6:54 AM
Thanks for the tip on the book. I am intrigued.
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JasonNovember 3, 2015 at 1:37 PM
One of these days 'll have to plan a breakfast run to Pier 4, you never know who you'll run into there. Post-hibernation. Thanks for the book recommendation. And thanks for following my little project, it's been fun to put together.
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VStar LadyNovember 8, 2015 at 8:03 PM
Are you reveling in a warmer than usual November as well? I love the idea of your swan ride ... this year we had an expanded family of swans settle in the swamp. They discovered it three years ago and have been bringing the youngins back ever since. I didn't notice when they left.
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Others say....

"it was auspicious to approach any situation from a deferential, inquisitive place. Conceding that there is much to learn is the best blueprint for discovering something new." ----B. Fuller

The Man straightened stiffly above the block of salt fixed to the stake and looked at the young cattle ringed about him. The pasture was holding out well and the stock was looking good. This bunch would be ready to sell in another month, maybe sooner if the market was right.

A stir among the cattle down near the river brought him round to face the swinging bridge he'd built years before. Someone was coming toward him from the bridge. Someone in breeches, but it didn't look like a man, somehow. What was a woman doing in his pasture this time of night?

He bent over the salt again; maybe if he paid her no heed she'd go on past and let him mind his own business. He heard her footsteps come nearer and stop. "Good evening," she said.

Her voice was smooth with book learning but friendlier than most, and somehow almost shy. When he made no answer she went on, "I've been sitting on your swinging bridge....I thought I'd like to say thank-you...." Her voice stumbled a little, then she tried once more.

"You are Mr. ____". His name sounded strange in her voice, but she went on to tell her own.

"That's what they've called me the last sixty-eight years," he said, looking past her face to the hills fast darkening under a single star. "I reckon the woods are free for those that like to walk there."

The unfamiliar voice laughed a little. "That's what Emerson said: the grove belongs to the man who walks in it with an open heart....On that basis I guess I've owned part of your woods for a good many years.....". She made a final effort. "I've always wanted to thank you....."

Something deeply hidden stirred in him. "There's a stump up there, in the notch of the woods", he said slowly, "that before the timber grew so tall you could stand on it and see all over this country."

He kept still a minute, remembering, then, "I used to stand up there an' look at things, an' wonder how they come to be like they was, an' how the hills was created, an' all the things in Nature.... I told my wife I guessed all the religion I ever had I got standin' on that old stump, a-wonderin'..." He turned his face away from her.

She helped him out. "I know about that, a little. This afternoon I saw......." Her account of a thing she had really taken time to look at eased him, and he answered with telling of the badger den at the foot of the swinging bridge.

When she had gone, he turned to watch her. After a moment she stood clear and unmoving against the sky. You could hear the sounds of the river where she stood. She was one that could stand still long enough, he thought, really to hear what a body was saying, or a river.

Then she walked down the farther side of the slope and was gone. ------Margaret Snyder from A Chosen Valley

Fall was the end of harvest, end of the growing season, a burst of color and sun-warmth before killing frost turned the land gray and cold. Fall was a moody time, full of both life and death, a time when we were reminded of the power outside of us, reminded that the seasons happen to us. We do not invite the change to come.-------Ben Logan, from The Land Remembers

When you get those rare moments of clarity, those flashes when the universe makes sense, you try desperately to hold onto them. They are the lifeboats for the darker times, when the vastness of it all, the incomprehensible nature of life is completely elusive. So the question becomes or should have been all along, what would you do if you knew you only had one day, or one week, or one month to live. What lifeboat would you grab onto? What secret would you tell? What band would you see? What person would you declare your love to? What wish would you fulfill? What exotic locale would you fly to for coffee? What book would you write? ------- Ben Tyler

We were also cautioned about journeying far from home. As an example of the dangers, the town had a badly crippled lady named Lucy, who as a girl had traveled to New York City. As she traveled along a sidewalk, sightseeing, she was struck by the outstretched hand of a suicide who had leapt from high above. Her spine had been shattered and for the rest of her life, she was to walk bent forward at the waist, tapping the sidewalk with two black canes. Whenever the subject of travel to a big city was raised, someone would say, "Just remember what happened to Miss Tripp." ---- Ted Kooser, from Local Wonders

"Steamboats are like wedding cakes without the complications...." ----Mark Twain

"It's not about having lots of money, it's about having lots of options......." -----Chris Rock

As the very proud father of three former ponytail wearers, hopefully I can get away with this....."For the past few years it's been fashionable for young women to wear ball caps and to snap the strap on the back under their ponytails. I like the looks of that, their shiny ponytails jauntily swinging, but it's hard not to think of the rear ends of horses. There's a piece of harness called the crupper that goes just under a horse's tail to keep its nose down. If the horse lifts its head to look for a way out of whatever predicament it's in, the crupper tightens and hurts the horse. But it's foolish for parents to think that a ball cap might keep a young woman from running away. Anybody can see they're made for running." ------Ted Kooser, Local Wonders

"I tell the guy's girlfriend that the only difference between the book's main character Phaedrus and myself is that I am neither brilliant, tortured or insane, she looks at my bike and there is an uncomfortable silence." --------ahendepe (a.k.a. Vermin)