Family ... Do NOT visit this blog Post!!
Not until after Christmas!!
Peg's been busy with hats....
I know which one is mine but I'm not telling. Top right is Arthur's, the only one that has been test-fit. Ears (holes) needed tweaking, otherwise we're good to go.
More hikes.....
And finally.....the Cold Water.
Our son Ben is in the 101st Airborne Division of the US Army and was lucky enough to be invited to participate in the 80th anniversary ceremonies of the Battle of the Bulge in Belgium. The Army flew him over, he flew his lovely bride over in order for them to attend and represent his unit together.
In the museum...
Mrs. Cooper was able to leave home a day early and spend time exploring Brussels before Ben arrived in time for the official ceremonies.
"Nuts".....the American response to the Germans' demand to surrender.
Two years ago to the day on a milder evening, a large crowd gathered at Bruegger Park in Wabasha, MN to attend the Canadian Pacific's Holiday Train. I was there back then and last night I was once again present. That evening I had the drone along with some lovely aerial footage. In 2024 I only used my phone for the images and video that follows.
This railroad crossing is known well to all of my motorcycles, the preferred route through Wabasha for Wisconsin rides that use Mississippi River bridge to Nelson, WI.
In Bruegger Park, a half hour before the train arrived....
The train was ahead of its 5:45 scheduled arrival...
....but not for long.
Lots of Autumnly things going on, enjoying being outside, at least for the most part. After the extra warm early fall that we've had, there's been a few days extra cold.
Other than a light 1" of snow, one day....we've had no other accumulation. From what I'm seeing in the '10 Day', we'll be lucky to have a White Christmas. Now old enough, I'll be able to cope with that....there have been many white ones at this point.
Vehicles have been winterized, the plows are on both snow moving 4WD machines, the walk-behind snowblower popped right off and should be ready. Last year I did the Annual Maintenance on it, the first in 4 years.
We move ever closer to finally emptying with the eventual removal of the mobile home that allowed us to live where we are while building our permanent house. It was a big adventure having it moved onto our property, leaving a home in the city for rural living "...in a trailer...". But we have nothing but fond memories of those days....warm, dry and well fed. The 4 young-uns that grew up here feel the same way as far as I've been able to tell. Serving as a storage facility, the trailer's time here needs to come to its end.
Not the only exercise I've been getting, the pooch and I are still out exploring every day. Hoofing it rather than wheeling, we're doing well.
Peg and Arthur go often but they just walk, he and I sniff and explore.
Every so often in the "off" season (not hot and ice-cream-focused) we get to Nelson for a midday meal. I continue to promise to try something new but seem to always come back to my Mr. T sandwich.
Eating out much less often, we're trying to do more of this.....
Aromatically distinct and a long-time favorite, our Meatless Chili hits these cold wind-chill evenings where it counts.
The Christmas cards have begun to arrive .....and I need to get busy in kind.
But not tonight. If things go as planned, I'll have some more blog content to work with later this evening.
Stay tuned....
I missed this at Thanksgiving, it was still in my pocket over the holiday weekend.
I hear it all of the time..."Oh, I couldn't drive a school bus....the kids...."
Well yeah, there are more of those times than seem really necessary but then this beautiful surprise comes along....
Well it's a (riding) wrap for 2024....they've salted the roads and the temperatures are low enough to be well below my "fun" range. I've said for years that above 50° F is fun, as long as it's dry. Below that 50° is the "endure" zone and I'm just not dedicated enough to be out in the wind in those temperatures.
Which means that at the end of November the machines are all in hibernation, their odometer readings were photographed and then entered into my master spreadsheet where the computational wizardry establishes the ability to graphically show the 2024 miles accumulated.
As always and I swear this is true, during the riding season I never 'check up on the miles'. My goal each year is to spread out my riding amongst the machines....this one, next weekend that one. With that as an unofficial goal, this year was a winner. Mike B. got a sneak peak a week or so ago and his first comment was...."pretty even". While that "even" was the goal, had things worked out as hoped, there would not have been nearly as much equality.
Now at first glance the drop of roughly 1300 miles from last year's total seems a worrying trend. The contributing factors were numerous....none of them were really all that bad individually.
