Modern Vespa

Was looking at an ugly job of changing the front wheel bearings on my buddy's '07 Burgie. Wheel came off with minimal fuss, but the bearings were hashed and leaking liquid rust. The center race was loose as all get-out on the right-side bearing...no idea why it wouldn't just fall out. Good thing that bike has dual front rotors to keep the wheel mostly in place.

Appropriate prayers and ministrations to the Gods of PB Blaster and Fire were executed. The result was a rusty pool of goo, two disintegrated roller bearings and crunchy seals. The important bit is that the rim came though it all well and cleaned up as nicely as new-fallen snow.

New bearings and seals have been fitted and the wheel gets offered back up to the bike tonight. One more item off the list for the upcoming Vegas trip.

On deck for this weekend, oil/filter changes for the Majesty and the Burgie, plus a coolant change for the X9. Almost ready to ride!

I had no idea what it was and had to google it!

Well-done, at any rate!

Had to trap it first!

Got a boarding time for Rise of the Resistance at Disneyland, and its my husband’s birthday

76degF during the ride today. Man this global warming thing is pretty freaking serious l...

Many of you know but for those who don't I injured my foot and did not ride at all in 2019.

In the fall of 2018, probably sometime in November I put my scooter away. On March 20 2019, the day before I was going to take it out I fell and fractured my heel bone. The recovery has been an ongoing ordeal but I am now well enough to ride and the weather is nice so today is the day.

Happy scooting.

Well that cheers me up too! Great to see you out and about!

I took my wife's sorta-new-to-her Genuine Buddy out for a short spin to see that all's well. Took about 10 minutes for it to settle into a good running purr.

So hopefully she's cheered up too.

vintage red matthew, congrats on the ride. A bit too chilly and roads too salty here for that!

We have an 'explosion' of butterflies over the last month or so. Maybe something to do with global warming.

Had a great long weekend of riding with friends. Left out of Tucson on Thursday for Bullhead City, AZ. I had a late start due to family commitments and had to get into the right grip to make up for lost time. I may have amused a state trooper, who hadn't realized that scooters had gotten bigger and faster in the last few decades. On the upside, I was able to recover a ride mate's misplaced earplugs from a little roadside chapel in Salome, AZ. Caught the group in Lake Havasu and enjoyed a nice lunch while admiring the old London Bridge. Ended the day with a fantastic road up the AZ side of the Colorado River into Bullhead City with 380 miles on the trip odometer.

Met up on Friday with a clubmate who had moved to Bullhead City for a good breakfast and a bit of touring together before he pulled off in Searchlight, NV. We rode into Las Vegas less than an hour before the scheduled day ride for High Rollers 2020. Nobody gave us any static for showing up on maxi-scoots and the ride was fun. Made it back in time for registration and to ogle the collection of vintage iron on display. Finished the day exploring the Fremont Street Experience, dining at Hash House A-Go-Go and visiting the Downtown Container Park, complete with a giant fire-breathing animatronic mantis.

Saturday, we rode out to The Egg & I for breakfast and visited the Vegas sign before touring around the Strip with friends. Had a quick lunch at Pizza Rock and then followed the group ride out to Lake Las Vegas for the scenery and pub grub. We bid adieu at the end of the lake visit and rode southeast to Kingman, AZ for dinner at Mr. D'z Diner and lodgings along Andy Devine Blvd.

Started early Sunday with a hotel breakfast before heading east on Route 66 from Kingman towards Ash Fork, AZ. Got a kick out of the old Burma Shave jingles placed along Route 66. Even found and rode on some of the original 1926 alignment of the Mother Road. Stopped for fuel and warmth in Seligman as things were a bit more cold and windy than we bargained for. From Ash Fork, we headed south to Prescott and stopped for coffee and a bit of thawing. From Prescott, we headed east over to Payson, following 260 and 87. Stopped at a great little diner in Pine, AZ called HB's Place and enjoyed a good meal and a warm fireplace. From Payson, the temps warmed and we were able to shed a few layers as we headed south. Took the Bush Highway down past Seguaro Lake, then turned south over Usery Pass and down towards Apache Junction. After a topping off our tanks, we took US60 east to the 79 Junction, then turned south towards Florence. We detoured around Florence via the Hunt Highway and Attaway Road to pass through Coolidge and followed 287 south to Picacho. It was getting late, so I-10 was the final leg home, covering about 40 miles in the fading light and building traffic. All made it home safe and all had a good time.

1204 miles for the trip and 453 miles for the final day. Despite an iffy battery that required a jump box on the first day's start, the Majesty ran perfectly.

I need to plan some more touring for this year.

Went outside at 3:30 to go home to walk the dogs and I had a parking ticket! Aargh! Somehow I forgot to put my parking pass in the truck yesterday after having the pass in my car this weekend.

Showed it to the lovely Mrs TSG, and she promptly called the police department and told them "it slipped off the dashboard onto the floor". They looked us up in the system and saw we had a parking pass that was valid and poof! Just tear it up, no worries.

Small town living has its advantages!

My youngest (7 almost told me yesterday that she wants to be President some day. She's going to ask her teacher today for more work so she can learn more. She wants to be a better informed and educated person to help make the best decisions.

Well for me that sucks! It means I have to wait till I'm what? 98 years old to have her as my president!

our neighbor across the street recently called the cops on us for not displaying our parking pass, in a small town.

Nice quiet ride. Not much traffic. Took a more rural route I usually do on my commute home. It's a bit meditative. An undeveloped part of town near the levee. Open fields and old trees. Get to open up the throttle a bit.

Amongst the frustration and all from the multiple things being cancelled around here and a lot of negative energy it was needed.

Yesterday two associates hit some major milestones and I want to celebrate them:

A highschool (Secondary school) associate went on to become a science teacher. She just got granted tenure from the school district! I think this is so awesome for such a passionate teacher and shows her value to the school, the kids and the district. Congrats!!!

A former buyer I begged for a wine spot one time when I was selling wine has been working for four years and just got her Advanced Sommelier certificate. She's failed the test for the past four years. She's been grinding hard, studying. Blind tasting and all that it takes to pass this test and ALL of the hard work over the past 4 years has finally paid off!

Just had a good laugh with my sister. Apparently she got a 4 day timeout from Facebook for trying to get rid of some birdshot that my BIL doesn't use anymore (his hunting dog is nearly on life support). Dummy was rejected from the local buy, sell, trade group so decided to just put it on her timeline. Oops. I told her that I'm questioning having her as our daughter's caretaker should we meet an early demise.

Of course, while handing off birdshot is a huge moral offense, they don't stop my relatives from sharing batshit crazy conspiracy theories about Corona virus.

No, Corona Virus came from Bats, not bat shit. Damn crazy conspiracy theories

+1 - Although she might want to save the bird shot to fend off the marauding gangs that will soon be trying to rob her of toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and Clorox wipes.

Meh, they'd probably disable themselves by tripping over my BIL's ancient hunting dog.

The Indian takeout we had for dinner is cheering me up. After three days of eating Peanut Butter and Fluff, frozen pizza, and hotdogs because we were too scared to venture out, we decided that not patronizing our favorite restaurants was ridiculous. So tonight, we ate a proper meal (albeit takeout - restaurants are closed) to celebrate my wife’s birthday. It was delicious.

In the midst of all the uproar and uncertainty, my wife and I got a little reminder this morning that life is still going on all around us - maybe even more so as humans hunker down for the duration.

This is one of three opossums who were cruising our garden this morning. This is just outside our bedroom. We think this is the mamma who we saw earlier this year carrying her three babies on her back.

Michael

"Hi there, little one. Keep eating those grubs!"

It was yesterday. Sadly didn't scoot. In the cage, a decent song comes on. Toyota 4 runner in front me had two doggo's peaking out the back window who apparently heard me howling to the music. I waved at them and I saw tails wag! made my day.

Cooking and baking! It kinda sucks to not be able to go out, but Bonnie and me have been having a blast, making gourmet meals in the kitchen. When you can't go out, you make it happen at home! 🤟🏻


Chorizo home fries and scrambled eggs for breakfast

Torta al pistachio - Italian style. Made with pistachio flour and pistachio icing.

Home made potato gnocchi al forno made from scratch. It was insanely tasty.

Gnocchi served with sautéed zucchini and a really nice Chianti Classico

Barbacoa boneless shortrib tacos, with fresh guacamole and pico di gallo.

Pasta all' Amatriciana. YUMMY!

Amatrician served with fresh grated Pecorino Romano and an"ok" Sauvignon Blanc

Those are the coolest critters on the planet. They are much maligned and misunderstood for the benefits they bring.

Last edited by Soul Surfer on Wed Mar 25, 2020 11:06 am; edited 1 time in total

That breakfast just brought me up short. Perfect! My wife would have it with flour tortillas. I might just go ahead and have my usual rye toast with orange marmalade.

In fact, it all looks really good.

You've inspired me.

My day was made better after dropping Vanessa at ACE Vintage Motorcycle Specialists to have Chris change out the engine with the one I left him yesterday in Crash.

He should have her running like new with that 1000 mile engine inside.

Warms my heart.

Bill


Effe guarding the two scoots.

Being able to go outside for a few hours and drink wine in the sun. I'm in Ohio so we haven't been able to do this since early October. Nice to get outside for fresh air and some real sunshine. We are on lockdown here so we can't get out to do much else. Felt great.

Hopefully we will look back at this whole episode and laugh someday....

Bob

I fully understand the uniqueness and value of opossums in nature, but IMO, god those mothers are ugly. I'm still traumatized from seeing one some years back...walking down a suburban Chicago street, passing a pine tree next to the sidewalk, heard a noise and saw one sitting in a low fork of the tree, mouth wide open, needle- like teeth exposed, hissing. Really caught me off-guard. Chill, little fella....

Soul Surfer: That food looks to die for!

Bill...congrats on the engine. Be careful of that dog, it looks hungry.

Apparently you weren't the only one caught off guard. One can only imagine what it posted to the Modern Marsupials forum about the encounter.

'Possums tend to polarize folks. I'm on the side that sees the cuteness. This one looked like a cross between a rat and a pig. (I knew about the long hairless tails, but I never noticed their little pink snouts before.) And somehow Nature snuck in a marsupial pouch.

Definitely a bodge.

But still cute.

.

My other significant run-in was years ago at a friends farmette...we'd been away, and got back after dark. Outdoor cats were fed in a shed. I volunteered to go out and feed them. No lights in the shed, but enough dim light to find the 5-gallon pail with the food. Slid the cover aside, reached in for a handful of kibble, and instead got a handful of coarse fur. Turns out I'd surprised a snacking possum.

"A lot of us have elderly neighbors who are lonely and isolated right now, many of them getting by on a fixed income. Don't be afraid to reach out to them. It doesn't take much - $20 or less, usually - to persuade them to shop for you during those early morning 'seniors-only' hours, when the best stuff is still in stock. #wereallinthistogether"

And then later, this: "I've got some exquisite fresh blueberries here, if anyone wants Doris's phone number."

He's pretty twisted at times, and easy to misjudge, as in real life has a great heart, so I'm reading this like, "Hey, Frank's being genuinely caring!" and start reading it to my wife in that vein...until I got halfway through.

Came close to having coffee out my nose....

24 hours before our Prime Minister put the UK into lockdown with all but essential travel outlawed, my mate and me managed our first long ride of the season, a 250 mile round trip to Barmouth in the sunshine.

It may well be our last for a long time, so it was even more special ..

https://photos.app.goo.gl/HA8gacjouXR65q487

Looks like a new bridge at Harlech Castle - and talking of bridges, did you ride across the railway bridge at Barmouth? Done that a few times.

I thought it must be new Jim, it has been a while since I last went to Harlech. Didn't do the Barmouth bridge this time.

My wife had surgery to remove pre-cancerous tissue from a delicate area on March 13. The surgery went well, none of the tissue was cancerous.

The week of March 16-20 was Spring Break, and the District give hourly employees the last day of it as a paid day off, so I was able to only use 5 PTO days to take care of my wife post-surgery.

Then, two days into Spring Break, the school district decided to put all employees on Extended Emergency Leave, with full pay, without affecting PTO balances, until the need for quarantine is over. If we're able to work from home, we can do that, too, but we'll only get paid for 40 hours of work/leave per week.

My wife works for the Catholic Diocese in the Communications Department, specifically as a web developer. Due to the Church going essentially online only, her department is one of three that will not have any cuts. She's able to work from home, and had been planning on it during her recovery, so we're good.

tl;dr: My wife and I both have jobs and are getting paid to stay at home during the COVID 19 crisis, and she's recovering nicely from her surgery.

When I heard the suggestion that we check in on our elderly neighbors, I thought, "Maybe I should do that."

Until a young neighbor of ours rang our doorbell and said. "I just wanted to see if you guys are doing OK".

D'oh!

I sorta needed that!

Lostboater sent me a fly screen, that I received today.

Put it on Razzo and gave it a highway run.

I kind of like it.

Bill

Probably better than Soylent Green...

Possum (1941 New American Cookbook)
Cook time: 1 Hr 30 Min Prep time: 1 Hr 15 Min Serves: 4
Ingredients
1 young possum, 2-3 pounds
salt and pepper
juice of 1 lemon
large kettle of very hot water
roasting pan with tight-fitting lid or heavy tinfoil
Directions
1. Plunge animal into very hot but not boiling water 2 minutes. Pull out or scrape off hair without damaging skin. Slit belly from throat to hind legs. Remove entrails, feet, eyes, and brains. Do not remove head or tail. Wash thoroughly. If possible, freeze for 3 or 4 days.
2. When ready to cook, wipe with a cold, damp cloth. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Put in roasting pan. Add 1 cup water and juice of 1 lemon. Bake in hot oven (400°F) for 15 minutes, turning once. Cover. Reduce heat and bake in moderate oven (350°F) for 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours.
Last Step: Don't forget to share!

Sure that's not from the Road Kill Cookbook?