Modern Vespa

I trust you have a nice cigar picked out too.....mmmmm

one laced with about 300mg of fentanyl hopefully.

Christmas eve, made it up to Deadwood for coffee today.

Put a new battery in the old CB900C yesterday and got it running after about a month of it sitting in the garage.

Needed the coffee (strong and black) to wash down the toasted cinnamon raisin bagel with maple creamcheese goo.

The Allen Edmonds Sturgis 2.0's were in need of a resole finally. Boxed them off to Potter & Sons near Nashville, also known as "Trenton & Heath" on the ol' YouTubes. They pulled the super-soft AE lugs and stitched on some Vibram Montagna lugs in their stead. Even did a lil revamp on the uppers which wasn't requested, but that didn't stop them doing it just because. The brothers are excellent peoples and the boots are once again ready for winter. What little there really truly is of it here in MD. Can't wait til we move to CO in the summer.....back to the midwest where I belong.

Nice! But wrap those laces around the back or get shorter ones.. you're making me nervous.

I just had a buddy get a lace caught while crushing up our residential street to see if a repair had worked… It sucked his foot right off the peg and into the frame. Luckily the lace broke and it was only a scare and a bruise.

Allen would want you to have shorter laces.

Creating this cheers me up:

'Searching for corners'
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DEHWwtUxPeN

December 27th in western South Dakota, 45-50 degrees (F), dry roads with almost no snow anywhere. Some clouds, but anytime that it's reasonably rideable this time of year in my area is a good thing and should be taken advantage of.

It could just as easily be minus ten degrees with high winds, knee deep snow, or waist deep snow for that matter.

Took the Vespa out for a 30 mile spin on the paved county roads in the area, second time in two consecutive days.

I again wanted to see if it was still running well after my ASR issues a week or two ago, and it once again ran flawlessly (with the ASR turned off), accelerated seamlessly and with full power. Climbed hills and ran up to 75 mph (70 actual?) on the flat roads.

No problem whatsoever....making it all a cheery experience....except for one thing....

I took a photo yesterday of the GTS alongside the road at one point, and some asshole photo-bombed the picture. God! some people piss me off.

As a licensed architect, the state of Florida requires all of us to take 24 hours of continuing education every two years.

This effort must be completed by the end of December 31, right in the middle of the biggest holiday season of the year.

I completed most of it before heading to North Carolina over a week ago, leaving only six hours to get it finished.

I completed the last three this morning, staying inside on a rainy day.

After finishing, I took my truck out for a ride on some of my favorite roads.

What is cheering me up is that it is probably the last time I will have to do these classes.

I will be retiring within the next two years.

Another reason to be happy, today is our son, Sam 's 36th birthday today.

We will be taking him and his wife to dinner at his favorite restaurant tonight.

Bill

In doing a tiny headcount of my buzzy, stingy, winter guests in the Waspatorium today, I am cheered that there at least nine teensy Vespas still alive in there.

Some have of course, expired since taking up residence (taken prisoner) last fall, over half of them are still, as they say, kicking.

They're pretty much dormant this time of year, and I only ever see a couple at any given time, the rest of 'the family' hidden away in the crumpled paper towel sheet I gave them to hide in.

The ones that survive through the winter and early spring in the Waspatorium will be set loose around the first of May...probably to just fly off and die anyway, since the non-queen survivors don't have diddly-squat purpose to their lives anymore, but that's up to them, I will have done my part to interfere with nature's natural cycle of things.

The cats noticed the increase in cootie activity inspired by me shining a flashlight in there to see if I could find them, which I did...most of them anyway.


Of course, this cheered both of them up too...

Nice! I love "lifetime" boots. I have a pair of Chippewa boots I bought in 1978, a pair of custom made Wesco boots from the late 1990s, and second pair of custom made Wesco boots from around 2008. Most boots these days are disposable.

The weather has been freakishly warm for late December. Got a chance to take the PTW out for a spin. That always cheers me up.

This post was not quite
What we were hoping to see
Try again, perhaps?

Nah there's loads of resole-ready stuff out there. You just aren't likely to find anything other than the occasional Iron Ranger or 1000-Mile in a big box store.

Alden, A-E, Truman, White's, Fitzpatrick, Carmina, Zonkey, C&J, TLB Mallorca, Lof & Tung, Meermin, Tricker's, Beckett Simonon, Grant Stone, Thursday.....tip of the iceberg there. Lots more besides them.

Yep, I got a quick lunch run in on the Bonneville yesterday. Rollin it down to the gym here in a few minutes then off to Walter Reed after.

Guessing the Chippewas were the ones made here in Wisconsin? Still have mine around. The first pair of hiking boots I bought in HS, CA. 1973. Not worn much, but if I've got a rough outdoor job they get dug out of the closet. My pair of Red Wings from that era gave up the ghost, but I missed them enough to spring for another pair that will last the rest of my life ( though frankly, that's a growing list. ).

I bought a pair of the Chippewa 1901M24 Aldrich Black Odessa 6" Service Utility Boots a few years ago.
Unfortunately, the recommended "buying a half size smaller" didn't work out for me. I ended up gifting them to my Son and he wears them "all the time".
They've broken-in nicely over the years, still looks great and he loves them!

Since I'm here on the West Coast, I bought a Goretex lined pair of Danner boots in 1995. I've had them in -40 to 105 and they're on a recently first resole. Here they are in the Baja peninsula.

It's true, there are a lot of options for high quality boots. But few people are willing to pay the cost. All those quality boots builders combined only have a small slice of the total market.

Strong concur on that one.

Honestly Thursday is probably the absolute best deal out there for well-made, recraftable, and unbelievably comfortable boots (assuming one appreciates the aesthetic of a work-type boot). I have two pair, natural cxl and matte black. The nattys were on my feet when I borked the scoot back in March when someone tried to smewsh me. They've got a good bit of patina (a.k.a. road rash lol) but are still incredibly comfy. They put poron in the insole, so they are wonderfully cushioned. The leather is crazy soft, and everything arrives feeling like it's already broken in.

The matte black ones have gone on nearly all our euro adventures because i can put miles and miles on them without complaint. Even my alden indys, my soles can get argumentative after a full day's wandering.

Making it home cheers me up.

[NSR] What's Pissing you off Today? III (Post 2716684)

Carry a kit and know how to use it. Practice at home with a tire that is about to be replaced.

As a present to myself, I became a Makita guy and bought myself a powered stapler to complete the Seat Concepts seat I got for the V-Strom (which had poor results with the manual stapler). Acceptable results now when careful.

Now I can turn, with newfound confidence, to the original (and extra) seat I have for the GTS. I still want to take a trip to LA on the GTS, but me and this seat are going to have to reach an…accommodation.

Off to look at DIY seat thread

Still in Mexico City, visiting Colonia Roma which is part of my wife's family history, so some interesting stories. Looking to grab a bite, we stop at a corner coffee shop. I spy a Primavera conspicuously parked on the street and snap a photo. Found it interesting to see the keys dangling, but I assumed it belonged to one of the two guys sitting at a table nearby. Vespas exist here, but it is rare to spot one in the wild in a city with numerous scooters.

We sit outside facing the street corner, and are watching a guy tossing a ragged cloth toy for a dog on the sidewalk. I can't name the breed, but it's clearly one of the herding breeds. He retrieves the toy, drops it and lies down waiting for another throw. The guy leaves, so not his dog, the waiter gives the toy a few kicks, the dog is still waiting...so while I'm waiting for food I get up and join the game. As we're enjoying our food and drink, the waiter tells us the dog belongs to the owner. Great way to keep an energetic dog at work!

As we're finishing, guy comes out, mounts the scooter and calls the dog who jumps aboard between his feet. I jump up wanting a picture while my more fluent wife engaged him to ask for a photo. He obliges, and we chat a bit. Turns out his cousin owns "Vespatitlan" one of the few Vespa shops in town, proffered an invite for a tour, etc.

He leaves, we ask for the bill, but the waiter come out with some slices of special Pannetone, on the house, by far the best I've ever tasted.

If it wasn't a truly memorable moment, I spotted not one, but TWO more Vespas on the street. I was tempted to run over to photograph the woman on the 150 at the light, but didn't want to freaked her out.

Great story and pics. Muchas gracias.

Fledermaus,

Dave, you are also a lucky dog being down in the good weather. Thanks for the great photos and interesting narrative.

Bob Copeland

It's always a good time when the Deadwood clan of Bighorn Sheep decide to block traffic and lick the road salt. Eventually they will wander out of the way, but they're never in a hurry to do so, which is ok.

Later, on my way back out of town, a group of them were pawing the snow to get to the grass beneath it on the side of the hill next to the highway...

This is cheering me up today.

Discovered I'm a panda 🐼

I heard on NPR today that Disney filmed a nature documentary showing the habit of lemmings following one another off cliffs. Problem is, that's a different species of lemming, and they don't do it intentionally. In Norway if Norwegian lemmings crowd a cliff, some get pushed off. Disney discovered this after they paid Inuit kids to catch the little buggers, then said Disney employees pushed them off.

Fun for kids, right?!

?si=rksZDek6rTwRoeUV

So, speaking of pens ...

This is my latest tiny machine. It's a 1930s era Parker Parkette Deluxe USA. Much like this one listed for stupid money on eBay

I soaked it for a couple of weeks and it came right apart. All of the old ink and bladder removed and now it's ready for a rebuild. $10 at a junk shop.

The days are getting longer, I can almost see spring from here....

Yesterday was sunny and almost 60F at lower elevations (4,500ft). Today we're getting dumped on at Donner Summit. So I got a January 2nd PTW ride yesterday and some fresh snow to ski on today. The weather this year can't make up it's mind. But either way, it cheers me up. 😀

REVENGE!

Bruno caught a myna bird today 😹

Death to those evil escapees from hell 💪

Despite having an all-electric car and heating the house with a heat pump, our 3.5kW of solar panels has meant our electricity meter is today reading 8kWh less than it did on Jan 1st 2024, over a year ago.

Win!

To be fair, we pay $102pm to Sunrun, and pay Pigs Goats and Elephants a connection charge - so it isn't 'free' as such - but a damn sight less than we'd pay otherwise. No gas for the car probably saved at least $1000.

Total energy produced in 2024 was 6,101kWh. At the California PGE average of 43c per kWh that's $2623 saved as well.

Is net metering allowed in Cali? It's not in AZ, and one provider charges a $50 premium for those with solar.

My motone picos arrived for the Bonneville, AND I was finally able to get SOMEONE to answer a phone and schedule it for its useless "safety inspection" (the checklist includes such critical things as "does it have an exhaust that functions?"), so once that's done on Monday I'll be able to do the rear fender delete/tail tidy and front/rear LED turn signals.

It is - though the 'rules' have recently changed so it's not as good a bargain for new installations as it was a couple of years ago. Ouch! I can understand some of the reasoning for that though, which is why the CA rules have had to change.

The private utility companies have gotten out of having to do net metering in California. I am lucky to be serviced by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power which still offers net metering.