Horizon Job...

 

Back in our sailing days, if you were racing another sailboat, and they passed you, pulled away from you, and disappeared over the horizon, that was known as a horizon job.  In racing terms, you were getting your butt kicked.

It was another lovely day; I don't take these for granted.  Joan got her patio set back up (after putting away stuff yesterday when a gust front blew threw.  Murphy got a walk and some time in his catio.  I cleaned the filters in the hot tub, after taking a relaxing soak.

When we were riding together on Tuesday and discussing where we wanted to have lunch, Joan brought up the Old Spaghetti Factory.  We agreed to continue on to Amadio Ranch that day, but put OSF on the agenda for today.

Lunch was good; the place wasn't busy.  Prices have gone up noticeably since we were here last.  But, did I mention: lunch was good.

Once back home, there was a package waiting for us: "a zebra blind" that Joan had ordered for the living room.  Navy blue to go with the shade on the patio door.  I asked if she wanted me to get it hung right now... she said, "You were planning to go for a ride - go take advantage of this beautiful day and we'll get it done when you get home."  I have to say, that sounded like a good plan.

I took the Burgman scooter.  I'm not really sure what to call it... it's a Suzuki; the model is a Burgman 200 (identified by Suzuki as an UH200 or a B200).  The name "Burgman" apparently has some distinction in Germany, where the Burgman line (650, 400, and then later, the 200) was first released.  Really, what the heck is "a Burgman"?  I think they were supposed to be an upscale scooter.

Yes, I digressed.  Again.  I took the B200, and was enjoying the ride.  Then I came upon 2 younger guys on sport bikes.  This is the part of the story where I tell you that these bikes with 10 times the horsepower of my scooter couldn't pull away from me.  I could tell you that, but it would be a big fat lie.  They powered out of the curves faster than I could ever hope to on this scoot... they kept pulling away, until I couldn't see them around the next curve ahead.  Until they got behind a slow moving minivan, who had a couple other cars trapped behind them.  Prior to getting caught behind the slow moving traffic, I would call that a horizon job.

I took a turn to head for the antennas at the peak, while all that other traffic went straight.  I had another couple miles of some fun riding.  I stopped in the parking lot at the view area, and took a couple photos...

Someone on my YouTube channel commented that the B200 "is the best bike in its class, but it needs to be updated - it's ugly."  I would call it an acquired taste.  Back in 2014 when I first saw one, I didn't think it was near as sporty looking as the PCX scooters we had at the time.  Now, I consider the Burgman 200 to be "classic"... that sounds much better than "needs to be updated."  No doubt, it could use some of the latest touches, like a keyless fob, and some "pointier" styling... but, this scoot does what I bought it for.

I took this photo of the view looking south from the parking area...

 That is looking away from Phoenix.  You can see some of the other new housing developments off the Loop 202; this is on the other side of the mountain from our house.  The interesting "feature" of these developments: the only way to get to them is off the 202... and that same exit is the only way out of the development.  There are 3 of these, residential only, no retail.  Not my idea of a good situation.

Coming back down the mountain, a Mustang convertible came up behind me.  Quickly.  Yes, I put the coals to it, and... couldn't pull away from it.  Light and easy is fun (as I've described the Burgman), but when it comes to putting down the power, horsepower rules.  I did not do a horizon job on the Mustang.

When I came to a pullout, I did just that, and the Mustang flew by.  I jumped in right behind it, twisted the throttle, and... it pulled away from me.  It's not really a horizon job if I'm not riding flat out... and I wasn't.  Mostly.  But, when I came around that last tight curve, I didn't see the Mustang anywhere.  They must have enjoyed those curves, because a minute or so later, they were headed back up the mountain - we waved at each other as we passed.

Back at home, I put away the scoot, came in from the garage, and Joan had the ladder out and furniture moved... waiting for me to hand this new blind.  I was delighted to find good solid wood to screw the brackets into, but I had to scrape away some drywall at the top of the window opening to get the mounting assembly to fit.  Yes, we had carefully measured the window opening when we ordered the blind, but there was more drywall at the top of the window than at the bottom.  Other than that, it went smooth, and once the blind was mounted in place, my services were no longer needed - Joan cleaned up the drywall I had scraped and figured a way to mount the valance from the window blind that was there to this new one.  It looks good...

The blind is on a loop - it can be adjusted to allow a little light in, a lot of light in, or be a blackout shade.  Steph and Dan put much larger versions of these on their 4-panel patio doors/windows, and we were impressed.  We like the look of it.  The living room and hallway is white, with navy and gray accents, and this fits in nicely.