And maybe later, we can get on it. 

Talkin’ about the motobike thingy here. 

Last night, I was chattin’ with Brudda B about it, and his ‘two cents’ was ‘Don’t do it” and he had a seriously good arugment for the NO.   Scary picture sort of argument.  Won’t post it, as I didn’t ask permission and its not his to give anyways,,,,  I’ll respect the privacy of his neice.  Prayers for her, even if she is Ok, because some injuries take years to manifest.

And then today, while out doing the bank thing for payday, I was cut off by INCHES from a fast moving cage, close enough I could see the eyes of the driver and no, he didn’t LOOK first, that was second as he realized ‘oh, theres a truck there!’,,, and didn’t slow down,,,,

and not a minute later, nearly rear-ended by another one.  So close I couldn’t see the windshield of the little car over my tailgate in my rearview.   They were so close, I am shocked they didn’t actually swap paint with me. (yes, after that little incident that didn’t go full bore, I pulled up to a store, back up to the big window and made sure my brakelights were working.  They are, all three, so it wasn’t that.)

Me be thinking, Nudge is in agreement with Brudda B (obviously, she sent me TWO signs.) and that maybe, I need to let this dream go for a bit.  At least until such time as I can actually afford it, AND in an area where the Loose nutz behind the wheel are fewer and further between. (which, sadly means, NEVER GONNA HAPPEN,,,,)

I do so miss that feeling though.    I guess I just have to make do with kayaks.

And camping.   The whole ‘escape’ thing.    Maybe pull a Mark E and just do a month down some river, head water to end.   Get away from the world for awhile and get that ‘fix’,,,,    dunno.   Hard to say since its not like I have a reliable income stream that isn’t selling my lifehours to others.  No work, no pay is the rule for now.    (and that is a hard boondoggle to break free from.   Getting the assets that bring in money: doable, but not easily when you are paycheck to paycheck.   And on current course and speed, that is getting even tighter all around, not just for me.)

It’s Turdsday thursday, and I still have a mostly intact truck, no new dings or dinks, though they were both mighty close,,, and I have one more day of workweek before Race weekend.     Life is good enough without adding another headache to it, right?

sigh

vroom!    lol.    Still have my memories from riding all those years prior,,,  Good enough for now.

Keep on livin’

Sometimes I think the mower and the weeds are conspiring,,,  

Follow the imagined conversation,,,,

Weeds: “Hey, ya got a minute?”

Mower: “Huh,,, some’un talkin’ to me?”

Weeds: ‘Yeah, ya gotta minute?”

Mower: “sure,,, let me stretch a second,,,,”

Weeds: “Ok” then to themselves,,, ‘we gotta make this work,,, all brain cells to the front,,,,’

Mower: after a minute of ‘stretching and ticks and pops of expanding metal and skooging oil to fill the new gaps.   “whatcha’all want?”

Weeds: “Well, we notice you don’t seem to like your job too much?”

Mower: “Ya got that right,,, Used to love my job, but man, I am tired,,, just wanna park in the sun and rust away in peace.”

Weeds: “Yeah, well, we don’t like getting cut down in our prime and needing to start over every other week.  That shit sucks,, and then we are feeding on our own when we do get to grow again.  That is just 500 shades of wrong.“

Mower: “man! when you put it like that, Yeah, sounds like a true horror show!”

Weeds: “So what say you,,, You can keep breaking down and we get to keep growing, and eventually, you get your dream of  laying out here with us and rusting away,,,,,”

Mower: “you gotta deal,,, I have more than a few things I can ‘let go’ and piss him off to the point where he just gives up.”

Weeds: “Hot shit! that sounds AWESOME,,, Summer time, here we come!!!!

Went out to start mowing,,, Cord to the recoil starter gave up.   Ok,, No biggie,  didn’t have replacement on hand, but DO HAVE about 2000′ of paracord.  Not optimal, but will get the job done, and I can get the right stuff tomorrow.   

Then the draglink to the self propelled popped loose.   A little more paracord to hold all of that together till tomorrow when I can get another allen bolt to put it back together (have them, just didn’t want to dally around figuring out which one,,,,)

and then the governor spring broke,,,,,

Yes, I McGuyvered it with a stinkin’ rubber band dammit!!!!!    That grass (weeds) was getting done tonight PERIOD< END DISCUSSION.     Much more of this and I am going to just make a Flammenwerfer per BCE’s directions and do the nuke option every other week.  FUCK THESE WEEDS!!!!

(And yes, the yard is completed, minus some trimmer work around the tight spots.)

I don’t like mowing when the sun is high in the sky.  Its 5pm now and the sun is still ‘too high’ for my liking.   Mostly, I don’t wanna get burned up by it while I am busting my hump ‘for free’: no income for this crap, just home duties that we all take on.

Picked up a couple gallons for the ‘stash’ to feed the beast so should get through a couple of months before that needs replinished.   She gets thirtsty, but we don’t do this all that often.   I spend more on the ‘beer thirty’ stuff than the gas anymore; even with gas being $3.25/gallon.

Trying to have positive thoughts on ‘mota-sickles’ as they are called around here.   Gotta watch it while driving too: I already rubberneck vehicles carrying kayaks, and now I am rubbernecking the two-wheelers again.  ( I think I always have, just noticed it again today.)   Too many distractions, right?    But yah, that urge for speed, wind, and sounds is calling me again.  The sirens song of open pipes on a v-twin: so much different from a vertical twin or inline four,,,,(I’ve had those too.  Did a LOT of riding back in my post Marine days.   Killed a few bikes learning the hard way.)

More akin to my internal frequencies I think.  

Kayak race this Satyrday.  Start line time for my bracket is 10am.  My bracket this year is “Seniors”,,, ROFLMAO,,,,   55+ and I just made the grade.   Probably gonna get my butt stomped by some 70yo retiree that has oodles of time to play and stay in shape.  ‘S’all good,,,  Won’t be the first time.   Not like I am in it for the win: just wanna get out and have some fun and meet people that like the same things, even if they are hard lefties (usually, go figure)  We at least have the common ground of ‘Kayak’, and can use that.    No need for political drama when you are discussing hull shape advantages or the finer art of Greenland paddles; both in use and making of.  Just as long as they leave the “better than thou” at home.   Had one of those at a race and they made quick enemies all around.  Doesn’t matter if I am paddling a couple hundred dollar used boat and they are in some 8grand speedster, as long as they don’t act ‘I’m all above that’, look down the nose, snootish snob.  We both still have to sit to shit, and shit doesn’t smell like roses, no matter how much more you are worth.

And while I am not in it ‘for the win’, I do intend on doing a might bit better than I did last year.   I took 7 of 9 last year.  I would prefer to be at least in the top half this year.  And I am taking Lyssa for her speed factor.   BlueJean is just drag-assed enough that I would be harder pressed to make that happen.   I had considered taking NORDKAPP, but she isn’t ready yet.  still has this gaping hole in top and I put her up so that I could concentrate on getting Selkie done up for Brudda B.  (Which is progressing nicely now that the weather is a bit more considerate for outside work with epoxies and glues. I hope to be able to deliver her when we first go camping this year.)

Ok, its getting on that time where I need to fire up the whirling guillotine of weed death.  

And mamakat wants foodies,,,,   gluttonous feline,,,,

more laters, keep on livin’

Imaginative people come up with some pretty amazing things: you only need read fiction/spec fic/Sci-fi/Fantasy to understand that,,,,

BUT, the subconcious is a POWERFUL thing as an imaginative engine.   Woke this morning with a word in the forebrain, seemed damned important so I started doing some  internet digs to see what/where/when/how/why,,,,

nothin’     ‘term not found’  

just some nonsense word my brainium came up with and attached some ideas to, nothing of relevence to reality.

It really seemed important like something I was missing and needed to delve deeper into but alas, nothing at all.

I went ahead and wrote down everything I could recall about the word and how it hit me: lucid moments tend to be quite fleeting, and will vaporize in the ‘light’ of living things if not recorded.   (even written down, they get pretty fuzzy)    I don’t expect to find anything, but hey, what I have could be incorporated into some peice of fiction later on, no?   Like it being the name of some nefarious group involved in high crimes against humanity or som0ething equally “Cliché” .

Grizzy ‘woke’ me early,,, I guess he heard me tossing a bit as I was slowly coming to.  Thankfully he waited until I was laying there looking at the ceiling thinking ‘ I need to write this down ASAP’ ,,,  otherwise things would have poofed off back into the void where these things come from. 

most of the time.    I have been having some lucid dreams that don’t vaporize on waking, SOLID dreams if thats a concept you can understand,,,  

Riding,,,

Not kayaking, (thats a fairly new obsession for this getting long in tooth curmudgeon) but riding motorbikes down backroads, the wind in the ears, the rumble of a v-twin, the leans in turns,,,,   That power band when hitting the straights, rocketing forward down the road,,,,,   (I don’t like Harley’s.  Had one, hated it,,, My babies were Viragos, and despite the actual meaning of that name, were wonderful to me.)

sigh,,,

I wanna say its my hind brain playing ‘lets escape this nightmare’: its been quite a few years since I played with iron horses, but the freedom they represent never really leaves you does it?  I think that is whats really going on here. 

Short of some unexpected windfall (which would be needed elseways) a bike isn’t going to happen.    I have been tossing how it being a second vehicle would be a good thing, but

kayaks

I just can not see using a bike to haul around 17′ long kayaks, even if I did come up with a decent trailer that a bike could haul.   Thats one long ass ‘train’ of trouble in a state where people don’t give  a damn and are looking for some ‘accident’ so they can sue your pants off. (and why insurance down here is THREE TIMES more expensive than up in SinSin-nasty)  No, a bike would be just like the kayaks, a toy to ease the burden of living, an escape from the muhndane of daily living, maybe the occasional run to the store for something small, but as a tool of ulitity,,, not so much,,,,

‘Sides, I need more toys like I need a lobotomy,, (my Ex-wife would have happily signed me up for such, but thats another story,,,,) 

But it sure does not quell the dreams,,, maybe my talking about it here WILL,,, the dreams leave me in a state of longing that can bring on depressions.  I have no need of THAT,, plenty enough depressing things in this world without adding to it.

but to share what I am dreaming (I can do that thanks to UToobies in this case.)

More laters,

keep on livin’

Apparently, my mule-ish lawnmower had caught a case of the cruds, pretty much like everyone else I know has done this year, so far.

Cleaned the carb, didn’t really see anything, (it only takes a speck of dirt to clog a jet) but went ahead and replaced what I could, where I could: new O-rings, new gasket at the aircleaner side (that works the priming pump,,, What a DUMB idea that,,,,) some fresh go-go juice and,,,,

Yard is half done at this stage.  I’ll pick up some more go-go juice on the way home and finish this mess for a week or two.   Mowing frequency depends on the rains of course.   We had some good rains and a sudden DRY cold snap and the trees and weeds went WHOOSH!!! with green and height.  

Glad as heck I am not commiting to buying a new mower; at least, not yet.  On the look out for a deal currently, cause this’un has more than a few seasons under her several times replaced blades, bandaids, duct-tape repairs and gasoline washed air-cleaner (No, Sears and now Lowes does NOT carry the aircleaner for this thing anymore,,,,   Yes, she is THAT old,,,,)  Even the present blades are a jury rigged aftermarket set I bought at TSC because no one carry’s the right ones anylonger.  Strange coupling setup is the problem there,,,  Had to do some drilling and hammer to fit last time I replaced the blades.

so, yeah, looking for a deal somewhere in the future,,, Hopefully, no more cruds and we get through another season without TOO many issues,,,,(she’s old, I expect her to be stubborn and finicky. Like the fact that she will NOT start if the temps are below 60,,,,  Unless she has spent the afternoon sitting out getting a suntan,,,)

It’s beer thirty now,,,   Job halfway done, but thats plenty for one evening.  No rush so long as its done before the weekend so I don’t have to sacrifice ME TIME for it.   Week days are for workin’, weekends are for FUN.

Keep on livin’

Full set of hours today at the J.O.B.: setting poles for a pretty big job, punching holes in the ground for them, etc etc,,,

Then get home kinda late after droppin’ the Burnout off.

And start mucking with carburator for my wayward Mule of a Mower,,,

and now

i’s dark,,,   dunno if what I did is gonna work or not: just pulled it apart and cleaned it with some carb cleaner, but had to replace some o-rings that were rather ate up from gas-a-hol,,,  That took more time than anything else.  I have a mess of O-rings from days gone by, working on AC systems, and other things,,,   Finding the right size was the trick.

fuggit, can wait till tomorrow.   beat tired and grumpy

And it looks like WRSA is down again,,,   I probably won’t feel an attack like that since I have so few readers and don’t hammer the issues at the same rate or intensity,

But who knows,,, they are getting damned desperate for something, anything and SILENCING DISSENT of any nature or volume is their only tactic left.  The WEF even stated as much at thier last meeting,,,, 

Not eating popcorn watching the decline, but I am doing the watching,,,,  Too much to do in the meantime,,,

I’ll be back tomorrow with more, may be late again if that mower runs right.  I have a lot of grass (weeds!!! get it right Dio) that need a haircut,,, 

Here’s my problem,

I fight a war with grass (weeds really) every year, (every homeowner knows this war, right?)

but thats not the real problem; that real problem is I have been doing so with a lawn mower that is 20 years old.    One made by Craftsman, that is no longer making that model and there are ZERO parts available for it now.   I have been keeping it together with a shoestring and composite resins,,,   Literally in the last item: the intake manifold is this cheesy peice of plastic tubing that has a bend on one end where it goes into the engine.  It cracked a couple years back and was sucking air but no fuel.  I found the problem, found I could NOT get parts for it, and figured, “alright McGuyver, you got this, make it work”.   And I did.   Well, long story short, its that time of year again and here we go with me trying to yank start an engine that is fickle on its best days and down right muleish on its worst (today being ‘worst’)    This old shoulder doesn’t wanna, if you get my meaning,,,,  Old girl has mown untold acres of grass, shaved a few rocks flat, and has seen better days, and I don’t know that fiddlin’ with her is worth it much anymore,,,,

SO,,,, Looking around the webs, making some inquiries local,,, Looks like I am going to be coughing up a bit of cash for new, or used, and there isn’t much difference in price in either case.  

Where my sign of the times post comes in is here: Do I really want to make the investment of buying a new mower, on credit with 0% interest over 6 months,,,,

When we don’t even know if the world is going to hold together that long: IE, is there going to be work to be had to make the FRN’s to pay that debt back?

Gee,,, Wish the asshats in the Swamp were forced to account for things in the same way,,,,  Naw, they just print what they want and WE pay it back,,,,   Must be nice having a blank check whenever you feel like padding your wallet with someone elses money,,,,,Fuckin’ thieves, one and all,,,,,

Haven’t made up my mind if I wanna play the McGuyver role again and pull things apart and bandaid whatever I find. (and it will be bandaid.  new engines are MORE expensive than a complete mower,,,,) OR, bite the bullet and hope shit holds together long enough,,,, 

or bite the bullet and if things go south, fly the finger at all creditors and ride the shitty credit rating thing,,,,   Not my style, really not my style and would eat at me,,,, so really not ‘an option’,,,,

I have been playing with pullin’ old girl apart and using the current intake manifold as a pattern to cast new, or find some aluminum tubing and fabricating a new, PROPER intake,,,  Time space and money thing there; that holey trinity we all face when things aren’t ‘just right’.  

and if I do that, welp! the weeds will get taller and taller for a spell.  And they aren’t exactly short right now,,, We’ve been having weather that fits their needs quite well and they are gunning for the sun.   You can almost hear them growing out there.

and right now, I don’t even know that that, is the problem,,, could be a crapped out carb, or coil taking a crap, or, or, or,,,,   Ran good just a week ago.  Now???

grrk,,,, wallet or grubby fingers????   sigh

frillin’ weeds,,,, stoopid mower,,,,,  

((updated:: pulled it apart, intake fine, no fuel getting to engine.  Runs like a scalded dog if I shoot fuel down the intake.  Bad Carb,,,   Gonna see what I can do to clean/fix that before I go dumpin’ mad money into new.))