Coop's Corner: February 2015

Saturday, February 28, 2015

Hide The Tracks?

Something needs to happen. Just look at the density of these tracks in our backyard. Either we need more snow to allow for a fresh start....

or....

some warmer weather to make them go away. Guess what I'm hoping for??

Every few days I go out and knock a few more frozen real apples down for the deer. The turkeys lack the patience, preferring the crab-apple remnants that haven't yet fallen. It's fun watching the turkey's race down from the woods; their trots are comical. I've been out in front of the house where they can't see me as they approach and once they come around the corner at full steam there's a moment there when I wonder if they might try and run me over. So far, so good.

Official Weather Report.

Cold and snowy November
Average December, little snow
Mild January, almost no snow
Cold February, almost no snow - North, mountainous GA had more snow in one day than we've had in Jan. and Feb. combined
Extra cold start to March predicted, though things are looking great(er) in the long range forecast.

Friday, February 13, 2015

Webb's City - Amended

In our garage (my workshop too), taking up valuable potential machine space, are some of the "treasures" left over from years of hoarding by both sides of my family. Until riding season reappears and possibly even beyond when I'll be able to post things m/c related, I'm going to post a few of the more unusual discoveries that I'm making while sorting through all of this brick-a-brac.

Today's Feature will visit something I'd never heard of before. As a youngster, I remember hearing about dad's folks heading to Florida for a few winters. There were letters and photos that made "St. Pete" a household name and place. My memories are of flowers, parrots, fishing and sunshine. Besides all of the other items deeply stored in multiple boxes, this brochure caught my eye.

This $.25 booklet, all 14 pages, tell the story of James Earl "Doc" Webb and his business acumen. Born in 1899, he was a marketeer extraordinaire. His story is available on numerous websites, from his business beginnings in Nashville with his "17' x 28' Drugstore in 1925....." to what you see below in St. Pete.

I held my tongue on the "Poster Girls" but I will comment on the Dancing Chicken. I can't imagine why more current retail outlets don't feature a dancing chicken??

Karen easily saw what I neglected to......what Doc's old property, between 2nd Ave. S and 4th Ave. S bounded by 7th St. S and 10th St. S.

The tall building just outside of the top left corner is the Ted Williams Museum.

Looked like in 1994 .......

In 2013........

Saturday, February 7, 2015

How Many More Weeks??

It really doesn't matter what the Groundhog saw this past week, winter here will remain though if we can indeed get away with only 6 more weeks of it, we'll be in fat city.

There's a feeling of spring in the air, small and yet, still a feeling however small. At the IMS gathering today, Chad reminded us that there is a lightness in the air and mood......things are definitely changing. Last weekend, a group of 6 of us met to discuss some sort of organized get together of Helix (Fusion, Spazio too) riders. We don't have a clubhouse yet, no need for crowd control, the Roberts Rules of Order volumes haven't been opened but things are moving. Who knows where this will end??

That was last Friday. On Saturday a much different grouping of 10 met for lunch in a valley known for good riding, at a place fun to visit and known for good food. Motorized machines with only 2 wheels (for the most part) were the common bond we all share. Spouses, one Marine son.....we had a grand time together. It was 101 miles one way for two of the couples but we all agreed that it was time and effort well spent. This is the Praag not on the Vitava River.

Today Ben and I joined the crowd in Minneapolis for the International Motorcycle Show at the Convention Center. Poor Ben had to put up with my many introductions ..."how did he get so tall?"....and socializing, over and over again. We'd no sooner start moving and suddenly there was another familiar face. Lots of talk, bikes, riding and otherwise though we did manage to actually check out a bike here and there. I spent my money......on another pair of ROK Straps.

Our VJMC group was both well represented and popular.

I spent a fair amount of time looking at these.....

I'd have to say that I've been hearing the most and loudest buzz about these......

Finally, Minnesota lawn mowing in February. I had been feeling a bit guilty for not getting that last cutting in.....at least someone is benefiting. Seems that once again this year fussing with that nitrogen fertilizer supplement will be redundant and very unnecessary.

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)