Thursday, March 28, 2024

You'll have to trust me on this...

 

Yeah, I know: photos or it didn't happen.  Tango came over this morning and laid down in our living room.  Murphy came up to him, and... laid down beside him... gave him a kitty hug.  Joan and I were both, "Awwww - did you see that?"  Then, before we could grab a phone, it turned into kitty wrestling.  But, for one brief moment, they were both incredibly sweet.

I made breakfast on the griddle, and we enjoyed our meal out on our patio.  Under an umbrella.  It was a lovely morning.

 

After Tango went home, Murphy got a walk on his leash - we have been letting him walk around unleashed (while we keep an eye on him)... I didn't want him to forget his leash manners.

I took the CTX to Chandler to visit my buddy, Pat, in the rehab hospital.  He is looking good, and he has a discharge date next week.  He has been doing the work and will be ready to travel (wheelchair assisted) next week.  It is tough when you have a medical situation so far from home.

When supper time rolled around, Joan asked if we could change the plan (she had taken some pork chops out of the freezer): "Would you be OK if we ordered a pizza?"  I can't think of a time that I wouldn't be OK with pizza.  I went to pick it up.  The traffic on the way to the pizza place is generally quite heavy - I was there and back in a flash.  Good clean living.

A good day.

--------

Joan checked her phone to see what she got for photos with Murphy and Tango this morning.  Steph was concerned that Murphy might be dominating Tango - not that I can tell...


LOL

Another video (this one from Joan); audio may have been altered...




Wednesday, March 27, 2024

Boop...

 

Betty?  No, but thanks for asking.

Tango came over first thing this morning; he and Murphy played nice.  Then they both wanted the same new toy...


 A couple stills...

Chillin' above; and All Star Wrestling below...


--------

Joan and I did some running after getting Murphy his lunch - the main thing was going to the motorhome to look it over (all good) and exercise the engine and generator...



I miss being out in the coach; in the past, this time of year, we would have been in it for over a month.  No need to make that run from south Texas to Arizona, since we live here now... but we are discussing taking a few days out in it... it's a lot of work to load it up for just a few days.  We'll see.

--------

Be Gentle - It's My First Time...

"Well, it's about time, Jim," you say?  Yes, it is.  I've been putting it off.  I know it's OK to do it, but somehow it just feels like I'm doing something naughty.

Wait!  What are we talking about?  Thanks for asking.  When we got back from our running today, I was feeling the need for some scooter time.  As usual, it is an easy run to South Mountain.  Today, though, the main surface road between us and the turn to get up on the mountain is closed for road work.  Not the first time since we've been here that the road has been closed.  I had to make a slight detour north to Baseline Road to go east for a couple miles to get around the road construction.

My ride up and down the mountain was a delight, as usual.  So, what about that "first time" you ask?  I'm getting there.  I knew the traffic was going to be thick at 4:00 on Baseline... and it was.  Traffic was backed up for a couple blocks thanks to the stoplight on 35th Ave.  I was waiting in my lane, when 2 sport bikes went by me... yes, "lane splitting."  Well, the legal term is "filtering," and it is now legal in Arizona under certain circumstances... and when traffic is stopped, it is legal to ride the line between the lanes to get to the front of the line.  I watched them go by, and followed behind.  Yes, I felt like I was doing something wrong and was on high-alert to see if any cars were going to shift their lane position to cause me a problem.  They didn't.

The light turned green and the three bikes were all off ahead of the car/truck traffic.  That probably cut 10 minutes off that 2 block stretch.  And, in case you are wondering: when you see some dumbass doing that on the freeway when traffic is moving at 70 mph - NO, that is NOT legal.  So, my first time.  I am no longer a filtering virgin.

For those keeping track, the only states I know where this is legal are California (where it has been legal for years) and Arizona (where the law was enacted just last year).


Tuesday, March 26, 2024

I am consistent...

 

Sometimes it takes a while.

The Facebook Memory from 6 years ago recounted a visit to a motorcycle dealer to check out a low advertised price on a Suzuki Burgman 200.  It turned out that was a complete sham.  As is typical with many motorcycle dealers, all the added bullshit fees amounted to almost the same amount as the low advertised price.  I told them where they could shove their bullshit fees and we walked.  When we were gearing up to get on our scoots, the salesguy came running out and said, "OK, you win - come back in and we'll write this up."

I said, "You can keep that ******* bike.  Buying a bike shouldn't be about winning or losing - I feel sorry for you that you have to work in a job where you have to lie and try to cheat people."  We left.  I won't mention the name of that dealer, but the initials are: Ride Now in Surprise, AZ.

And now, 6 years later, I am riding that same model scoot.


We went home to Texas not long after that encounter, and I bought that first Vespa from a private party in Harlingen.  That Vespa eventually led to a new 2020 Vespa.  And, coincidentally, I sold that 2020 Vespa 2 years ago today.  (Facebook Memories are a bit like a diary.)

That Vespa was a beautiful scoot... sexy Italian design (to my eye).  I guess I am consisted with color choice, too: my last 3 bikes (the Vespa, the CTX, and the Burgman 200) have all been a similar dark blue color.  Looking back, if I had bought that Burgman 200 6 years ago, would it still be enough?

Here's a look at the current stable of bikes...


That's the Burgman up front, Joan's Xmax to the left, and the CTX at the back.  This makes me want to go for a ride.  :-)

--------

I had a great afternoon of making music with Mark and Ron - these two are good musicians, and great people; it's always fun when we get together.  We learned a couple new songs and refined several others.

As usual, traffic was thick on my way home - mass quantities of people heading out of downtown Phoenix.  When I got home, Joan had supper ready to serve.  A good meal, and discussion of each of our days.  She had already fed Murphy (twice), so I took him outside to get some fresh air.  The sky to the west looked like this...


Yep, the sprinkles started a few seconds later.  We scurried around, putting patio furniture cushions away and trying to herd Murphy towards the door.  The boy is fast.  And can do a good fake, zigging when you think he is going to zag.


Monday, March 25, 2024

Helpful...

 

Last night, Joan was working on a knitting project.  Well, getting some yarn ready for a project, which meant making smaller yarn balls out of one big one.  It is a bit of a cliche' with cats and yarn balls, but Murphy was doing his part to help peel the yarn off the big ball...


 He's very helpful that way.

--------

With yesterday's less than great weather, Joan had covered everything on the patio.  While I was soaking in the hot tub this morning, she came and started opening everything back up.  The only thing better than watching work being done is watching work being done while you're soaking in the hot tub.

When I was done, I went inside to shower.  It's a warm water kinda day.  After finishing my morning clean up routine, Joan announced, "The new umbrella is set up."

The base she ordered for it came yesterday afternoon.  She filled it with water (for the weight) and set the umbrella into the base...


It is smaller than our main umbrella; fits under it, in fact.  The base has wheels, so it should be easy to move around where it's needed.  The shade makes all the difference here in the desert: block the sun and it cuts the "feels like" temperature by about 20º or so... that is not a meteorological fact, more of a "Jim said so" kinda thing.  You can see from the photo that there is plenty of shade - the pergola (making the stripes), the big umbrella and the smaller umbrella.

The umbrella was a Vine acquisition; she had to purchase the rolling base.  Further update on the Vine situation: Joan was just notified that we now have "Gold" Vine status - that ups the number of items we can order per day and eliminates the $100 max value of an ordered item.

When we were ready to head in, I saw this through the glass...


"You don't see me.  You don't know that I am in here, waiting for you to come in a feed me.  Which should be right now."


Saturday, March 23, 2024

Blossom where you're planted...

 

Is that a reference to life in the desert?  Kinda.

I mentioned that Joan has been working on her plants in a previous post.  The numbers keep growing and there is an interesting variety: some cacti, some flowering, etc...


These little guys are my favorites...


She could probably tell you what each kind of cactus is represented - I just like the colorfulness.  Steph has planted stuff in their yard, including a raised planter that has some herbs.  Look at us, being all horticultural.

--------

Gotcha Covered...

More Vine acquisitions, this time another patio umbrella.  We love the patio umbrella we bought several months ago: it is large and solid; heavy duty enough that it can withstand some wind.  With the weighted base, it is not something you will easily move around.

No, that was not a Vine acquisition, but we did find it for half price at Lowe's (off season).  Joan has been wanting another umbrella that we can move reasonably easy - something on wheels, preferably.  She found an umbrella on Vine, but no stand for it...

That is the umbrella - that is not in our courtyard (manufacturer photo).  There was some assembly required - I took it outside to put it together... no tools necessary.  This umbrella sells for around $75 and is pretty lightweight construction.  The fabric isn't as heavy-duty as our first umbrella.  The price was right: $0, thank you, Vine.  Joan had to pay real money for a weighted stand on wheels for it.

The umbrella was delivered today, and I put it together.  The stand should be here tomorrow or Monday.  I think it is going to do what we want: to fill the "gaps" that the other umbrella can't reach.  We cranked it open to check it out... it goes up, it goes down, and it has a "hinge" so you can tilt it.  If the main umbrella is a Mercedes, this one is a Kia Rio... we'll see how it does the job when the stand gets here.


Friday, March 22, 2024

A refreshing morning...

 

After a delightful breakfast of bisquits, gravy, and sausage, I took the Burgman out for a ride.  The weather weasels are predicting a high today of 86º (if so, it will be the warmest day so far this year), so I got out in the cool of the morning.

Light traffic, light breeze, and plenty of sunshine - nice timing for a ride.  A few photos:

Coming into the mountain park/preserve...


 Some curves ('cause that's the best part)...



I had the Insta360 Go 3 camera on my helmet, so from the rider's perspective.  Another motorcyclist coming down the mountain while I was heading up...

Cacti and antennas...



This spot on South Mountain is a good position for getting TV, radio, and phone signals out to the Valley.  This "SLOW" is letting you know there is a tight curve and a hiking trail crossing the road ahead...

Nice day to be out and about...



That's a glimpse of Phoenix in the distance, between those hills.

--------

A one minute video of today's ride...





Thursday, March 21, 2024

Have a seat...

 

Sit a spell.  Take your shoes off.  Y'all come back now, hear?

If you said, "A line from the theme song to the Beverly Hillbillies," you get 10 bonus points.  If you said, "Did you finally make a decision on the seat for your Burgman scooter?" -  you are right.

I have been agonizing on this seat decision.  The Corbin seat is expensive (nearly 20% of the cost of the bike)... and no returns.  It is a known item for me, since I've had previous Corbin seats on other bikes, and currently have one on the CTX.  The other option is having a local guy remake my stock seat (for about half the price).  This morning, I placed my order for the Corbin...


With the blue stitching and welt, it will look better on my dark blue bike, compared to their "configurator" on their website.  Well, that is my hope.

Now, I get to wait "6 to 8 weeks" for the seat to show up at our house.  If you go to the Corbin showroom/factory in California (near San Francisco), you can get "ride-in service," where they will make your seat, and install it, the same day.  Nice service... if you are local.

When I ordered the Corbin for that first Vespa at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, the timing was such that I ordered it on a Thursday and they had a truck coming in from their factory the following Monday (yes, 4 days later) with my seat on it.  I was impressed.  And the seat was gorgeous.  And a perfect fit.

I am hoping this seat will be a perfect fit, since Corbin has never made one for a Burgman 200 after 2021, and mine is a newer model.  I couldn't find any info that anything had changed on the Burgman over that time.  In fact, to order a new OEM seat from Suzuki, the part number is the same from 2021 and later... so, I am hopeful that it is the same.  We'll see.

In the meantime, when I go out on the B200, I am using that generic seat pad that Joan got for me on Vine.  It raises me up just enough so that my tailbone doesn't rub against the seat.  My seat padding is less than the seat padding on the bike.

Speaking of padding: Corbin seats are firm.  Made more like a saddle than a cushy seat.  It takes a thousand miles or so to break-in the seat... or, perhaps your butt gets used to the firmness in all those miles?  Either way, the Corbin on my CTX is great (after breaking it in)... hoping for more of the same for this new one.

--------

Yeah, yeah... motorcycles, scooters, blah, blah - where's the cat content?

Thanks for asking.  This morning, Joan moved the chairs at our kitchen counter...


This will probably be hard to imagine, but Murph can be an imp at times.  Morning is most often his wild time... he is not allowed on the kitchen counters... and some days that's all he wants to do.  He will sometimes sneak his way up there, but is most often blatant about it.  He jumps from the floor to one of the chairs, and up onto the counter.  Joan has pulled the chairs away from the counter in their normal position, just farther away... the furry boy can make that jump from 6 feet away with excellent accuracy.  Joan has turned the chairs 180º - Murphy will position himself balanced on the back of the chair and make the leap.  If you tell him "No! Get down!" he will generally do just that... and by "generally," I mean about 37% of the time.  As far as we can tell (by checking our inside security cameras), he isn't up there while we're gone... it makes me think this a game... and he is winning.

When Joan put the chairs in that configuration in the photo above, I laughed out loud - it looks like Murphy is riding in a bus!  I predicted that he would jump from chair to chair... it took almost 20 seconds for that prophesy to come true.  He went from chair to chair with the grace of an Olympic gymnast, then turned around and jumped it in reverse.  And then went to the counter... "No! Get down!!"

For full disclosure, Murphy has his own bar stool: it is the same as what you see in the photo, but it has a "cooling pad" on it (slick fabric) - we move that chair to the glass patio door each morning when we get up so he can look outside.

Murphy and Tango had a couple play dates today.  They usually turn into wrestling matches.  This afternoon, Joan brought in some catnip from one of her plants, and the boys each had a chew.  This was a pretty mellow get-together...


There was a bit of wrestling, but it looked like slow-motion and very little contact.  ;-)