A Ride In The Country

A few short days ago, Sweetie installed the dog bones (lowering links), so, we took our steeds out for a spin to test all our new gear.

The 2012 Suzuki V-Strom 650 handles like a dream. This bike is much improved over my 2005 V-Strom. The gears are smoother so it shifts better (no false neutrals on this one). The bike is lighter and thinner. Plus the comfort in the seat has been improved.

Final Conclusion? I absolutely LOVE my new "Wee Strom"!

Now I wanna go somewhere farther than a few hours away. It will probably be awhile before we travel anywhere far enough to stay overnight. Got too many irons in the fire. One thing is my 13+ year old miniature schnauzer, Maxie, is steadily going downhill. Her bad days are starting to out weight the good days. I really don't know if she'll make it to Christmas (I pray she proves me wrong). Bless her little fuzzy heart. I don't want to board her anymore if I can help it. The weather must cool off a bit more. Mid-80's is still too warm. I'm also concerned that if crapweasel is not kicked out of office, there will be no money at all. For anyone. I think it more prudent to hang onto what we have at the moment.

That aside, I wanna ride! Wanna come with? Grab your gear and let's get motoring!

Yeah, that's me grinning inside that helmet. This bike is GREAT!!

My Sweetie and his 2006 Moto Guzzi Breva 1100

It's Not Easy Being Greasy

My 2005 Jeep Liberty recently began experiencing winder window problems. Rolling it up and down it would rumple and thump. Okkkkk, I knew something was going wrong. After a short internet search, I found a forum on what the problem was: the electric window regulator was going bad. A little more research revealed that when one electric window winder breaks, be assured that the other three will soon follow suit. I also learned from other Jeep owners that this was not a cheap fix! Yipes. So, did a little more searching and I found a PDF file on-line on how to fix this problem ourselves. The instructions are fairly precise and it looks like an 'easy' fix plus it would save us well over $700. One thing other owners stressed was do not go to a Jeep dealer and have this repaired. They replace the broken offender with the same el cheapo plastic part. Steiger Performance sells a better version of the product than Jeep. The ones we bought are made from heavy metal and not cheap plastic.

I could just have easily named this post "Regulator Nation", huh?! *lol*

So, here's our afternoon in pictures.

Before the teardown.
There are only two screws,
within easy reach, that hold
the plastic cover on the door.

Pulling the door apart is slow but easy.





Now, we disconnected the speaker,
the electric mirror, electric door locks and
the electric window winder.

The moisture barrier.
Pull this off gently, perserving the
gooey stuff for reuse between the barrier
and the metal door.

You're committed now!
Or should be ... ha ha
You're down to the metal
and everything is revealed.

With the regulator and other
devices removed, you have to make sure the
window stays in place. Tape works.
I recommend overdoing this part.
Don't want busted glass on
top of everything else!
Then it would get expensive.

Don't do what we did, though,
and work in the back of the Jeep.
Next time I'll put a table with
a strong light next too the truck
to work on. This is hubby attaching
the new part. There's a lot of
little piddly stuff to go through
to do this but it's not hard,
just time consuming.

The offending part! Grrr!
The replacement part is metal.
Do everything in reverse
to put it back together
and you're good to go.

Ta da! The window works fine! I'm tired but happy and still have that $700 in my pocket.

Now, only three more windows to go *sigh* ... I think we'll save that for another afternoon. :)

My Little Chickadee

Yesterday was momentous, to say the least, wasn't it folks!? We are elated to say the least. Remember, there's more about that here if you're looking for the politics.

Another happy event is the little birdie's have taken over our yard this year. Our large Southern Cedars produced so many berries that we have more than enough for the migrating Cedar Waxwings and Robins.

The year-round resident Chickadees are having a feast too. They had been sharing the thistle seeds we put out with the Gold Finches but now they are dining on the Sycamore tree seeds. One Chickadee got carried away and flew into our 6' x 6' plane glass windows. Hubby and I rushed outside and began reviving the little guy.


Come on little fellow,
you can make it!
Isn't he pretty?

After a few moments of cradling and gentle caressing (and me whispering a prayer), he flew off into the Confederate Jasmine along the front walk. That made me feel so good to see the little guy make it. I love our big picture windows but they are deadly for the birds.


Cleared For Take Off!


Hummingbird Nest
Oh, and a few days ago, while strolling around the property, I found my first Hummingbird nest! This one is nestled almost at the very top in the other Sycramore down by the gate. I have a habit of looking up into the trees each day to see who's visiting, and lo and behold there was an abandoned nest. I was so thrilled! The hummingbird's we have here every year are Ruby Throated Hummingbirds.

I hope y'all have an exciting and happy day too! Thanks for stopping by.

Kingston Town Hall Meeting

This afternoon we attended our very first, and probably not our last, Town Hall Meeting in southeast Georgia. We were going to attend the one in Brunswick, but it turns out there was one in Waycross (infinitely closer for us). I would say there was about 200 warm bodies in the room, give or take.

Oh, and have you heard? This administration is labeling those of us who dare to disagree with the Progressive movement or the Magic Negro an "angry well organized GOP mob".

Huh?!?

I don't know about y'all but I'm just as angry at the GOP as I am at the Dem's ... maybe even more so. I feel betrayed by the Republicans. That's why we are now Libertarians.


Angry Mob Photo
Don't we look threatening?

Ok, some talking points about how the, eh, mob reacted to Rep. Kingston speech:

A) Everyone we met and heard was polite and reserved. When Jack Kingston spoke we listened quietly.

B) None of us had pre-printed T-shirts with our agenda proudly displayed, like, oh let's say ACORN.

C) We did not have professional preprinted signs.

D) No one had a megaphone.

E) Nor did we yell perfectly orchestrated chants.

Geez, these angry mobs are sneaky, ain't they?


Rep. Jack Kingston explaining
sections of ObamaCare
There were only two commie lib's that dared to get up and ask their usual stupid questions. One was a school Principal and the first thing out of her mouth was [whining voice] "But what about insurance for the children?" I let out such a loud sigh and comment that all the people around me started laughing. My comment? "Whatever happened to the parents taking care of their own kids lady?!" I actually got some quiet applause.

The lady sat down. [cricket] [cricket]

An older gentleman stood up, very respectfully, at the microphone provided and told Rep. Kingston that we are angry at this Administration and throwing out words now. He stated how ashamed he was that we are even talking about all these freedom stealing legislation's. He also said that if any of these heinous bills pass into law, the government is going to have a full-scale revolution on their hands.

The whole auditorium erupted in applause!! I felt so warmly towards these wonderful neighbors of mine.


So, News Flash, we're not laughing Mr. Obama.

Our Day In Pictures

We lost another giant pine tree to lightning. So, I snapped a few photos of "our tree guy" taking care of the problem of a deadly monster on the driveway. One wouldn't think it to look at them, but dead trees can be deadly. We've personally known of too many instances where people were killed by falling trees, especially in heavy winds.

So ...

The tree had to go!

"'Bye, 'bye savings!" (me waving to the money I'd saved from not eating out for one month). Aw well.

At least the Stock Market has been up this past week, inspite of congress and the Magic Kenyan trying to wreck it.

Good Stock Market = Happy Face!

Here's some photos:

Tony Hudson, Tree Monkey


Topping the tree ... "Watch out below!!"


A neighbor stopped by to say hello and be nosy ... [wink]


Kablooey!!
Please tell me that's not my pretty driveway reflectors under there?!? [groan]


Hubby oiling the chain on his Triumph.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope y'alls day was cheaper than mine. [sigh]

Sunday Musings

We had a very good day at church. Pastor continued his lesson on Second Samuel that we've been enjoying for a couple of Sundays. This time the lesson was about when the The Ark of the Lord Comes to Jerusalem (2 Samuel 6:1-5, 12b-19). An outline of his lesson is here: LINK.

The Ark of the Covenant (symbolic of our blessed Lord Jesus), which housed the clay tablets written on by God, is carried to the permanent tabernacle in the city of David in today's lesson.

Every place that housed the Ark was blessed.

Every place that did not house the Ark, did not prosper.

I also learned today something new about the stone tablets with the commandments that Moses brought down from the mountain. Let's see if I can phrase this properly: Pastor said that after the hand of God wrote on the tablets, they became very light and easy to carry. When Moses descended the mountain and witnessed the crowd worshipping the golden idol, the tablets were too heavy to hold and were broken.

So, my take on this piece of Holy Scripture is this: When trusting God, He wipes away our sin and makes our lives lighter. When we give in to sin, our lives become too heavy and become broken.

Wow, that's profound!

I always feel so refreshed after going to our services. I've never felt that way about attending church before.

I used to hate it.

What changed?

I don't know, either I did or I've found my niche. Maybe both? :o) Who knows but I'm enjoying myself immensely.

Anyway, after service and a nice light lunch, hubby hung a gourd birdhouse for me down by the road. He painted this plain plastic gourd at my request some time ago but with all the medical this and that, we've been too distracted to have any projects of any consequence.

Hubby installing the
birdhouse and flags

Dragonfly side

Ladybug side

Ta Da! All finished.
Well, I hope that y'all had a good Sunday too. What did you do today?

Meinhardt Vineyards and Winery

Today, we traveled from our country home to the lovely small town of Statesboro, Georgia about hour and a half north of us. Statesboro is a great town located in Bulloch county is rich in history that goes back as far as 1758.

This trip we took an as yet untraveled backroad, by us, and found a nice winery called Meinhardt Vineyards & Winery. So we stopped and participated a wine tasting. I thought I'd share our photos with y'all tonight.


Hubby tasting his red wine


Eagle Run (white)
I brought 2 bottles of this home.


Meinhardt also sells jellies and syrups


There is a lovely wine tasting area
under a large pergola on the grounds
for large or small groups.


Ah, you caught us leaving
with all our loot! [hic]

Hope you enjoying the tour too. We're gonna make it a point to visit this winery again. They also have an outlet in Savannah, GA, for anyone who may be in the area. That branch is located at 306 West St. Julian Street.

Now I'm sleepy. [yawn]

'Night y'all!


Meinhardt Vineyards & Winery
305 Kennedy Pond Road
Statesboro, GA 30458
(912) 839-2458 Telephone
(912) 839-4017 Fax

Hours:
Tue, Wed & Thu 11am to 8pm
Friday & Saturday 11am to 10pm

Fun Time At The Hospital

WELL! I don't know about you, but I am so glad that yesterday 'is in the can', as I've heard them say in the film industry.

Gosh, what a day. It wasn't bad, just long and tedious. Our hospital rents the machine that does the kidney stone pounding (can't remember the name of the machine).

First, the truck hauling it broke down enroute. The hospital called us at home, "don't show up until 10:30 am". No problem. We arrived at the appointed time. Hubby gets prepped with needles in his arms so he can't move on the gurney. Then, we learn that the machine itself is 'broke' or malfuntioning in some way. We had to wait until 2:00 pm for Fed Ex to rush a part from somewhere. Then the doctor is so backed up with work that he can't get to Steve until about 5:30 pm.

With all this going on, we didn't return home until 9:30 pm! We were gone about 12 hours. The house was dark, doggies were worried and both of us were so tired. Steve had terrible nausea this time for some reason. He *never* throws up but did so twice last night. Poor guy. And I felt sorry for the hospital staff. They were tired too and couldn't go home for quite awhile. I thanked them all profusely, they kept apologizing and I said "it's not y'alls fault". We all had to smile and laugh at the comedy of errors. The staff were exceedingly kind. I got to talk about the love of Christ to quite a few people too. To me, that's a good day.

Our pastor and wife were able to visit with us that afternoon in the hospital and he looked tired (he's had heart trouble). I didn't know that he also has kidney stones but they can't be removed because of the pacemaker and he may bleed to death! Please continue to remember Pastor Byron Scott in prayer? Thanks y'all. Anyway, I made sure to keep the visit short so he wouldn't feel bad about having to leave and get some rest. Pastor said he's napping twice a day now. I hope that's a good thing. We all prayed together, then they could go home and relax. Their stopping by meant a lot to us. At least they live right there in town and only had to travel a couple of miles to get home. We live over 30 minutes from the hospital. That's not bad out here as it's "country minutes". All country driving, not much traffic. :o)

Short story long [giggle] all my husband's kidney stones have been pounded with sonic waves and a stint put in the right side to ease passage. The stint is scheduled to be removed in the Doc's office next Tuesday. Now the remains of the stones should pass as grains of sand and small pebbles as time progresses. Poor fellow is so sore and achy but at least now he can heal and, after about a week or so, get back to his normal activities.

Thanks so much for all the kind thoughts. I will certainly convey y'alls warm wishes his way.

Like, He's So Stoned, Man

Sweetie in Dahlonega, GA
My husband is scheduled to have minor surgery tomorrow (Wednesday) at a local hospital, time unknown at the present. The surgery goes by the wordy title of "Extracorporeal Shock Wave Lithotripsy (ESWL)". That's a mouthful, ain't it? He is pre-registering for the procedure this afternoon.

Put simply, he has kidney stones on both sides and they will be "pounded" with shock waves, then two stints left in for one week to allow the stone remains to flush safely. Poor guy. This is the second time he's had to have this done.

In his case, the stones are caused by consuming too many 'dark fluids' (i.e. coke, coffee, etc.). Some stones are caused by eating too much red meat. I think that's how it works. Anyway, this last motorcycle trip jarred the stones lose and upon our return he had terrible back pain on both sides. The real clue was when he started passing a little blood. OK, time to see a doctor! He was fortunate that the Urologist could see him so quickly. After the proper CT scan and exam, Doc said "Yep, you've got stones again." So, there we are.

I'll be sure to let y'all know when he's back home and resting comfortably. And I'm throwing out all the cola NOW! :o)

We Had A Long Way To Go And A Short Time To Get There

"Did anyone order a Biker Gang?"
This is outside the Wagon Wheel Restaurant in Dahlonega before The Big Ride that day. The restaurant has been in business since at least the 1970s.

This was nice mini-vacation in the mountains. The air is cool and crisp, the landscape beautiful, the rides exhilarating and the natives are friendly. Some of those hairpin turns in the mountains with 15 mph speed limits posted are heart pumping (they're not kidding either, better slow down with those decreasing radius' - yahoo!!!).

The only 'bad' part was the ride up and back. It was nasty, stinky, yuck, pooey *HOT*! I think for the remainder of our vacations this year we will stick with riding in 'cages' (car/truck) or wait until Fall for anymore 2 wheel excursions. It was great though and I'm glad we went.

I'm going to invent a T-shirt that says "I survived riding 2 wheels in Georgia in June" or something like that. [lol]

Steve, me, Rebecca and her husband Tom,
Barbara "Bebe" and husband Dennis "Pappy"
We met Barbara for the first time this trip. She is as sweet as Georgia ice tea and sharp as a tack. I really like her.

One thing I've learned as I age, is to enjoy and treasure all my friends more. You never know when you may never get to see them again. And all my friends are such fun to be around. :o)

Well, enjoy the photos y'all! Thanks for stopping by.


Click on each photo to enlarge and/or
make the scrolling stop
or click here to go to MyPhotoAlbum.

Now I Know Why It's Called Sweet Home Alabama

Now I understand that song! I've been to southern Alabama many, many times and was not really enamoured. This trip we journeyed to northern Alabama. The Birmingham - Tuscaloosa countrysides, in my never-to-be-humble opinion, are absolutely breathtaking!

This journey to far off lands was to visit the greatly acclaimed Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum in Leeds near Birmingham. Well, everything good said about it is true. The BVMM is one of the best motorcycle museums I've visited to date.


First, though, we went a little further into Alabama to visit my new good bloggy friend, Gator Mom and her delightful family. This is the first of what I hope are many visits with Gator Mom and family. They sure are nice folks and we had a splendid time. 'The boy' is an intellegent, well-rounded young man. We plan to do something special for him, but don't tell. [shhh] Hubby has something he wants to give the boy that I think he will really treasure.


The museum has multiple over sized statuary scattered about the 720 acres. I wish I had made a note of the name of this one. These out front were about 12 feet high and quite impressive. The driveway up to this place took a while to get there from the highway turn off.


The museum is five floors of vintage motorcycles and a few automobiles, bicycles, and outboard motors. These are all real working machines.


Even the elevator was impressive! It was completely transparent. I have a fear of heights but rode the elevator anyway and I'm glad I did. At least I can say "I did it once".


One of the Easy Rider custom choppers was located for the museum. This was the one that the film crew used in the wreck at the end movie. So, it had to be refurbished and reassembled for display. There are strict rules about DO NOT TOUCH and DO NOT SIT ON BIKES. I can't tell ya how tempting it was to hop on some of these beauties and ride off into that lovely Alabama sunset!

"No officer, I didn't touch the bike!"
Yeah, it's a mannequin. First time I saw this I had to do a double take.


Here we are in front of one of the vintage Triumph displays. I had to drag him away from the Triumph's. :o) "Silly boy, PUT THE CREDIT CARD DOWN!" [lol]

Oh, and a special note, there is a superb Bass Pro Shops practically 'next door' (as next door as over 800 acres will allow). The driveway up to this place alone is worth the stop. It's so overdone with the 'outdoorsy look' that it reminds me of DisneyWorld. The inside was wall-to-wall outdoor clothing, fishing equipment, guns, pet products, etc. There was even a simulator for children to play Nascar. Back to outside: the landscaping was to die for! I now have some really good ideas for future yard projects, on a smaller scale, of course ... (my husband just sighed and rolled his eyes ... ha ha)


Sadly, it was time to leave. We hugged Gator Mom and family goodbye with promises of writing, calling and visiting. It was raining when we left. The roadsides were all green and lush with profusions of lovely nameless wildflowers.

We left Birmingham heading southeast and drove over a small mountain. We're hoping to go back again as much as possible. I just want to live at the museum! Do you think they'd notice if I built a house right on the grounds? [lol]

There are many more photos. The whole enchilada has been uploaded to MyPhotoAlbum. Enjoy!