Friday, December 28, 2018

End Of December 2018


A mix of things this last week of December.  First of all, these things I unwrapped under our tree.  Note the Mr. Rogers soap....my 2 stroke eau de cologne fragrance will never be able to compete with this bar of soap.  Says right on the package, "It's Such A Good Feeling!" and I'm feeling good without even removing the wrapper.


Ben left for Texas mid-week and sent this photo of motorcycles southbound behind a MN Toyota ..... the coffee drinkers and I are still thinking we should know who this is, so far still a mystery.  Rodney checked and his white Guzzi is still safely in the garage.


It snowed over night on Wednesday, 2" worth of very wet snow in our neighborhood and then at 37 degrees, it rained all day.  Peg the only one home, the rest of us in the Twin Cities for the day.  By late afternoon we came home to a lot of flowing water over our driveway.

It wasn't this bad but close enough.....



We really hoped that by late evening conditions would improve.  To buy time, Hanna and I stopped at a local eatery in Lake City and ordered the slowest meal that we could.  I introduced daughter Hanna to Patti, a favorite waitress and when we got up to leave, Patti only then noticed, looking in great surprise at Hanna's violin.  Eyes opened wide, she said, "Wait just a minute, I have something for you" and handed our daughter a small wrapped package with instructions, "don't open it here."

To buy more time for our valley's river to stop flowing, I thought it a good idea to visit our local library, hoping to close the place down.  As soon as we got comfortable inside, Hanna opened her gift and found it complete with its own case....a very big and fun surprise.


It had been awhile since I'd seen the Big River magazine (I keep thinking I'm going to subscribe) and thought this article was interesting.  We've been regularly hearing owls up the valley.


Then the big surprise.  Our high school library had a copy of this book, I enjoyed it then and have been searching for it off and on ever since, remembering only the subject and not the title nor the author.  Paging through the magazine, the mystery finally solved.  Soon it will get a second reading.


As mentioned, we closed the library down at 8pm and headed back to the top of our driveway.  Walking in the slippery dark down to where the water rapids were sounding a bit less hectic, we still found far too much water to safely drive through.  By 9pm, we had checked in to a couple of cozy (dry) motel rooms for the night.


This morning around 8am, nothing but a trace of last night's commotion and back to life as we've known it.


Spring must be here.....the days are getting longer and my motorcycle license tabs have arrived in the Post.  I spent some time this morning with the grueling task of dating and providing insurance info on each of these.  Peg walked by as I struggled with them, glancing over at what I was doing.  We've been together now more than 35 years and the look she gave me was not immediately recognized as being related to anything in the empathy category.


Home after the bonification process was completed.


They will all be applied as machines are readied for 2019 and a year from now, the process will be repeated.  Tomorrow morning I'll be up and out early, on the way to Minneapolis for coffee.  In a few days, an event even more motorcycle related will be documented. 

Stay tuned!

8 comments:

  1. You need the registration system that we have here. For any vehicle more than 7 years old, you can pay $25 more and get a "Z" tag or permanent registration. No more renewals needed...

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    1. Richard,
      Mike eludes to this below; we're a relatively high tax-rate state. We can (I have a few of them) purchase CLASSIC plates for motorcycles. Criteria dictates, "20 years old, must have another regularly licensed motorcycle, the fee $100"

      So our bikes need to be at least 20 years old, the machine can't be the only one in the garage and it's going to take 6 years to get our current yearly registration rate of $16 back. I have 5 of mine licensed as CLASSIC...2 not licensed at all ....yet.

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  2. This being Minnie Cold Duh, Land of 10000 Taxes.. we can have forever plates.. $100.oo. Not sure of the age requirement....

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  3. "We've been together now more than 35 years and the look she gave me was not immediately recognized as being related to anything in the empathy category."
    MAN, that was funny!

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  4. It was only a couple of seconds but I recognized it immediately and continued about my task.

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  5. Happy New year to you and Peg.

    Probably a good idea to take the motel rooms rather than try and go across the driveway if there is a current going across.

    It sounds like a pain to do the bike registrations every year. Hopefully they aren't too spendy. In Oregon new bikes get a 4 year registration then every renewal after that is 2 years, same as cars.

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    Replies
    1. And to you and Brad; hope you two have a grand year.

      We have lots of practice at driving through the deep(er) water. Even when the vehicle can make it, it's been very hard on the undercarriage plastic...license plates....spare tire carrier on the van. I've learned my lesson.

      Registration really isn't that difficult or obtrusive. Each bike is $16/year, proof of insurance all that's required. I think we can do 2-year permits but I never have.

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