Geezer Ride

This last Tuesday our farm was visited by six BMW motorcycles and six geezer cool guys. One of the beamers was a Yamaha. Another beamer had a sidecar. These guys had come from various places on the Western Shore. They congregated at the Double T Diner in Annapolis and had breakfast before crossing the bridge. We knew they were coming and son, and wife, and I, all kept a weather eye out for them and we saw the bikes pull in the driveway. Their leader, Doug is an old family friend I have known almost 50 years. But I had never met the other fellows or so I thought. It turns out I did know Mark who had the sidecar. It was one of those times that sociograms cross. Mark is a musician, a pro. And I knew him from my music friends and even have a bit of him on video on my you- tube channel. But I didn't know he was into "air head" motorcycles. Anyway the guys hung out an hour or two and checked out the place and all were invited to the fly-in on Aug 14th. I wanted to ride a few miles with them as they left. I had a lot of trouble starting my little antique Suzuki, but got it going. Two of the biker geezers had already taken off for the western shore, as they had meetings with Doctors, Lawyers, Real Estate Agents, and pills to take and ailments to salve. The other four weren't too crazy about me going along. They had me lead the way and stayed far enough back that they could keep an eye on me, and always claim they didn't know me, and weren't with me. Somehow my little Suzi 425 kept running and made it to Preston, where I pulled off into the Shore Stop, and those big quiet, smooth, expensive, beautiful touring bikes blazed on by with double clicks on their horns to say goodbye. I watched them until they were out of sight. The Suzi made it back the 4 miles home. And I was back in my little isolated world again. For a few minutes I was riding with the big boys, and maybe I can check something off the bucket list. Thanks Doug and all you guys. That is one hell of an Ad Hoc, pick up, we just wanna have fun, tribe. I made five new friends. LLITTY......................::::+::::

The past and future are just illusions

I think the best way to live life is "in the moment". I'm not saying that I do that much. This time of year is my favorite time because I still have autumn to come yet. Autumn is my "real" favorite time. Actually, my favorite time of year is late summer when I feel the first sign of autumn. It might be a breath of cool wind, just a hint, from the north. It might be a tree I notice beginning to change. It might be a store full of school supplies, or a vendor with too early Halloween stuff. It's hard to explain about a favorite time without referring to this "in the moment" concept. You see, this post fourth of July mid summer period means that the dog days of August are around the corner. At that time, Autumn will be next. So since it's hard for me (and everyone else) to live in the moment, I enjoy the time before the moment. Somehow I can be in that moment easier than the "real" moment. Maybe this makes no sense...... but this is really why we like Friday so much. It's not because we like being at work on the fifth day in a row. It's because of Saturday coming. But on Saturday, we'll be too busy doing our Saturday R & R to be "in the moment" and say to ourselves "gosh this is nice, just what I have been looking forward to. I'm happy now". So what I'm saying is that I love the "ides" of July because I'm looking forward to the "dog days" where I can really start looking forward to Autumn. Talk about dwelling on the future. But I'm getting better because I "practice" living in the moment. Right now I'm typing at you and it's what I want to be doing and I'm enjoying it. I "feel like" doing it. Being retired, much of my time is my own and there are few responsibilities which I must dwell on because they loom in the future. Time is a wonderful gift. But alas, the things that we have, we don't value as much as we should. We often wind up overvaluing the things we don't have. It seems I enjoy looking forward to an event more than I enjoy the event itself. This will be true of my "fly-in" on August 14th. If you come and see me here, remind me that my preparations and looking forward are over, and that I can and should "be here now". It will be in the "dog days". My favorite "time". LLITTY...........::::+::::

now that I'm retired, will I run out of things to do?

I want to tell you about a day I had. It was busy for a retired dude, who is naturally lazy. It was last Tuesday, July 6th. The day before my son's birthday and three days before a party we were having for his birthday and graduation and post 4th of July swimming. It was a very hot day in the middle of a heat wave that lasted two weeks. I awoke at 7 and got up at eight. With the parties coming, I resumed the working I had been doing the last few days. I did the dishes. Made coffee. Put in a load of laundry. Went out and picked up the cluttered deck. It was already 93 degrees in the shade. Went back up to my air conditioned bedroom and made a bunch of phone calls, and kind of planned a trip of running errands in the afternoon before the end of the business day. Then back out into the heat to work on my pet project. The project was in the hangar. In the shade which was now 95 degrees. The project was building three small 5' X 5' prefab deck platforms which could be bolted on to my deck in back of the house. But first they would be used as a "stage" in the hangar for three parties. One party in three days. The next would be the fly-in on August 14th. The third, a "coffee house" in mid October, yet to be announced. By then I will be out of money. I'm actually already out of money! The July 10 party is history and it was quite rained on, but not out. We had a great time. And played with the "stage" to stay out of the rain. Anyway back to July 6. So I went out to work in the shade of the hangar building the stage. I had two fans going and the oldies on the CD player. Soon it was time to run those errands. I was covered in sweat so I jumped in the pool with half of my clothes on. Then without lunch I was off to the first errand. It was to the Doc. who was going to write me a letter I need for my FAA flying once- a- year physical. Good news was that my lab work was in and they shot me a copy, and the results were good enough to pass me. Bad news was the Doc had dislocated his artificial hip and was headed for surgery and could not see me or write me a letter. It's a long story, but I really need that letter by July 18th at the latest. And there is no way he can do it. And I feel for him too as he has two replacement hips and as u can imagine, it ain't no pic a nic. Back to my Corolla and the errands. Next I gotta get to the hydraulic shop in Preston and drop off two hoses which will be rebuilt to get my back hoe up and running again. (You never know when you're gonna need to dig a hole). Before I can get to Preston though, something pops up. I see my neighbor digging a big hole in front of his property next to an old building that has collapsed. As I drive by and slow down I realize he must be getting ready to knock down and bury that building. He's got a dump truck he's filling with the dirt. I make a quick decision and a u turn. I drive through the two track in his field and it's so dusty in the drought I'm leaving a plume of smoky dust behind me. He can see me coming a half mile away. He shuts off the excavator and comes down to talk. I ask him if he would like to sell me a load of fill. He says he's very busy. Can I do it now and for cash. I say yes yes. In two minutes he's in that dump truck following me to my house and I'm on the cell phone calling wife and son and house guest and telling them to find all the cash we have. Cookie jar, pizza money, my desk, the bottom of mother's purse. And move the cars out of the driveway--put them anywhere. So the guy dumps the load and it's beautiful clean fill. We pay him and he says he'll try to come to my fly-in. His buddy has a Grumman Cheetah. Now time was getting shorter on my errands. I run in the house. It's so hot I get three beverages. A low carb shake for the lunch I didn't have. A diet coke. and a water. Run back to the Corolla. Off to the the hydraulic place to drop the hoses. But I had to wait about ten minutes, because the guy was in the back and finishing up somebody else and about to tell me he couldn't do it today when I told him I just wanted to drop my hoses off and get them another day. Back into the Corolla and off to Koons Toyota where I was to get a sign off on a repaired tag light bulb. My son had gotten pulled over in the middle of the night for the tag light, and you gotta get it signed off in ten days or else. I wanted to catch the state inspector before he left at 3:55. And I made it. Then off to Pasco before they close. Pasco is one of those battery, alternator, starter, places. I had the starter from my International 574 gas tractor which my mechanic had pulled the day before. The good news was they had an exchange in stock and the clamps I needed. The bad news was the price was north of $200. Credit card. And they locked the door behind me as I walked out at 5. It was 100 degrees out. Next stop was Lowes and they were open for many more hours, so I slowed down and chilled at McD's drive thru with a burger and a coffee and sat in the air conditioned Corolla under a tree by a pond and sort of meditated and made a few phone calls to mentors about what to do about no doctor's letter for my medical certificate. At Lowes I got some joist hangars for my pre fab deck project and a can of white spray paint for the deck chairs, and a solid cement block I needed for my crawl space project. Then I head home. Wife, son, and house guest were in Salisbury celebrating son's birthday at a movie and Outback. When I get home I take the cement block and use it to finally finish an ongoing project in the crawl space and put up the crawl space door. It's nasty and hot in there and now it's done and I jump in the pool with no clothes on. Then I redress and toss those crawl space clothes in the wash, and I paint the deck chairs with the spray paint. Then I mow with the push mower, but it's so dusty I have to wet the ground with the hose and it takes too long and it gets dark on me and I quit. I come in the house and do the dishes for the second time today. Wife and son come home and they brought me a steak from outback. I wolf half of it down and save the rest for breakfast. I go out into the warm night. Son has turned on the pool light and lit three tiki torches. I caution him of open flames in this awful drought. I take my fourth and best swim of the day. And to think.... I usually only do one thing a day. LLITTY ::::+::::