Part 2...

 

The practice - this time on the Vespa.  That thing really makes me smile.  I did a bit more riding around, then went to that same parking lot as yesterday.  This time, there was a South Padre Island Police vehicle in the parking lot across the street.  He watched as I did my practice maneuvers - the parking lines really let you see how you're doing on tight turns.  I don't do my braking practice on the lines, but in the lane just outside the lines.  I wondered if the police officer would have any objection to what I was doing, but he stayed where he was the whole time I was there.

End Of The Road Towns...

I like where we live.  But, there is one road in and the same road out.  Don't confuse "end of the road" with "dead end."  End of the road towns seem to attract a different sort of citizenry.  Think: Key West, but no so weird.  Think: Telluride, Colorado, but not so snooty.  Think: Princeville, Kauai, but not so expensive.  Here in the Tropical Tip, South Padre Island and Long Island (no, not the one in New York) are End Of The Road towns.  I like the vibe, but when you go for a scooter ride, you are going to cover a lot of the same roads going and coming.  While I'd rather be riding the twisties, I am happy to be riding.  It was a beautiful day today, into the upper 60s, sunny, and nearly calm wind... jusr a delight to be out on the bike.

When I got home, Joan was working on another "project": one of the lights on the house facing the driveway was out.  It is never as simple as a burned out light bulb.  We replaced the other fixture innerds last year, and now this other one needs it.  She had picked up a couple sockets - one didn't have a ground wire, the other had all three wires that are too short.  She leaves anything electrical to me.  I spliced some wire onto the short pigtail and wired it up.  It is another whole project to reassemble the coach-light type fixture.  In the end, it took two ladders, both of us messing with it, and a minimum amount of cursing.  In the end: it works fine and Joan got to clean years of grub out of the inside of the light fixture.

Not much time to surf (the internet, not the waves) today, but sitting down to write this with the new MacBook Pro is is such a pleasure to type on compared to the old, drowned one.  Contrary to what some have alluded to, I did not pay or bribe Rufus to knock that glass over.  For as big as he is, he is pretty precise in his movements, jumps included; not much flailing or wasted effort.  Using this new computer, it is clear that I was ready to update.