Playdate...

 

We are doing this most days: Tango comes over to our place for some playtime with Murphy.  Well, sometimes they play, most of the time it is both in the same room, playing separate.  But, it's always friendly.

 They're both good boys.  :-)

WARNING - this post is intended for mature audiences only!

 

This post will contain adult themes, sexually suggestive scenes, graphic violence, full frontal nudity, and adult language.  Not to mention: oversharing.  Those who are easily offended or lacking a sense of humor should press the back button now.

It all started when my buddy Earl posted: "Cats will lie through their pointy little teeth."  As regular readers here know, Rufus could speak for himself.  The new boy Murphy channels through me - I don't add or take away anything, and I try to keep his message in the context and emotion intended.

I was minding my own business this morning.  I went to the sanctuary of our bedroom to prepare to take a shower.  A pretty Blonde spoke to me suggestively: "Take off your clothes.  Now!"  Being somewhat shy, but obedient, I began to disrobe.

I know what you're thinking.  Me, too.  It must be laundry day.

She said, "Put the darks in this pile."  Yep, it's laundry day.

As I removed my black boxer-briefs in the manner I used to do when employed as a male exotic dancer (it's how Joan and I first met, but that is a story for another day).  There was a chuckle from the hot Blonde.  And not the "That's hot," kinda chuckle... no, this was a laugh of derision.

I couldn't help myself - I thrust the sexy black boxer-briefs in the direction of that pretty face... stopping well before any contact was made.

There was some stammering while the pretty Blonde tried to find words.  I heard someone mock her attempt at speaking... I was shocked when I realized it came from ... (gasp) me!

And that's when Murphy spoke up: he said, "Meow."  It seemed short and to the point for those not fluent in cat, but I translated: "He said, 'It ain't nice to make fun of my Momma when she isn't too smart.'"  It wouldn't have been so bad, but he said it in a Forest Gump voice.

And that's when the fight started.

It was thrust and parry with the sexy black boxer-briefs as my weapon, while the Blonde picked up a wet wash cloth to use as a whip.  This was the equivalence of bringing sexy black boxer-briefs to a whip fight.  I was out-gunned.  With nothing to shield my glistening naked body... What?  Glistening??  Yeah, with the water from wash cloth - now let me finish.

Where was I?

Oh, yeah... outgunned.  She was fully dressed with a weapon designed to do great bodily harm.  I was naked, with the body of a mildly athletic Shar Pei.  Hey, I've lost some weight over the last few years, but I digress.  The options were limited: stand my ground and die the death of a multitude of wet wash cloth snaps... or run naked from the room, screaming like a little girl.

Obviously, I locked the bathroom door behind me in my hasty retreat.

The adult language, you ask?  Pretty sure some slipped out while the woman scorned (is "making fun of" the same as being scorned?) aimed that deadly wet weapon at my unclothed loins.

No photos will be posted here, but for $19.95 (plus shipping and handling), I can send the video to your inbox.  You must be 18 or older and verify that you have a strong stomach (and weak mind) before placing your order.  I was not aware that Murphy was filming this entire mostly true (except for the parts I made up) unprovoked attack.

The sexually suggestive stuff?  I'm writing it right now: 

"Dear Forum Advisor, I never thought something like this would happen to me..."

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Picnic on the patio...

In spite of the morning "duel" (skirmish?) all is good in our home.  Mid-afternoon, I made burgers on the griddle, while Joan made onion rings and fries inside.  After dining all that All-American fare, we went out to the patio... Murphy walked right to his catio and wanted inside.  OK.

Joan asked if I'd bring out a guitar... "Well, sure."  I played for her and Murphy, and before you knew it, it was 5:00... not just somewhere, but right here.  That doesn't mean break out the margaritas for us - it means supper-time for Murphy.  Rather than bring him inside to eat, I went in and prepared his meal... then brought it out to the patio to see how he'd do with that...

The boy did fine with this new meal development.  A car ride yesterday, dining al fresco today.  It's good to give him some new experiences so he can learn to "roll with it" when we take him traveling.  That's the corner of his catio in the bottom photo on the right side.

On this date...

 

My Facebook Memory from this date over the years was full of interesting posts: the 4 of us at a Little River Band concert (just before things closed down due to Covid) 4 years ago, Rufus 5 years ago, a gathering of carbon fiber enthusiasts 6 years ago, a trip to Laughlin 8 years ago, getting together with friends Pat and Patty Anderson 9 years ago, traveling with Izzy 11 years ago.

Time flies when you don't know what you're doing...

It's like having a diary on-line.

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Oh, yeah... and I made another "movie trailer" from the video I shot on the ride to Tortilla Flats...

 

These "trailers" are fast and easy... unlike a more typical video that takes hours to edit, adding transitions and titles, searching out music to go with the video, then recording a voice-over... and uploading it to YouTube, where their compression will make my efforts look like mush.

 

Hello, Old Friend...

 

We made a trek to Goodyear this morning.  Time to check on the coach, and fire up the generator and engine; look it over; check out the cargo trailer.  We decided it would also be a good time to introduce Murphy to a longer car ride - one that doesn't end with going to the vet.

We started out with Murphy in his carrier, with the door open.  He wasn't sure he was supposed to come out, but with a bit of time and encouragement, he sat on the console between us.

 Based on this trip, I do believe the boy is going to be a good traveler.  Of course, we'll have to do some traveling to find out.

Once at the storage lot, we did what we needed to do with the motorhome...

Yes, that is the "old friend" I was referring to in the title.  Everything looks good, considering it has to be outside (under cover).  We did take Murphy in there, but kept him in the carrier.  He will get more of a chance to check it all out when we can get a trip in.

As long as we were out and about, we picked up mail at the Goodyear Post Office (where we share a PO Box with Steph and Dan... but not for much longer); then a stop at the new Chick-fil-A they built in Goodyear.  Then, back home.  And all along the way, Murphy did great... we did take a portable litter box, just in case (he didn't need it).

When we got home, Joan was heading to Fry's for a grocery run.  I have been wanting to take a ride to Tortilla Flats; it is about 65 miles away... it's a touristy "old west town" that is supposed to be located on a "good riding road."  Leaving before 1:00, Joan didn't think I'd be able to get there and back before 6:00, presuming the usual bumper to bumper traffic on the freeways on the east side of the Valley.

I took a surface road (Baseline) east to I-10, then north to Hwy 60 (which is a 6 to 8 lane freeway), and a few other roads, to get to the good riding.  By my calculations, it would be about 100+ miles of freeway for the 35 miles (out and back) of twisty road to get to Tortilla Flats.

The freeways were all moving good.  When I got to the twisty part, I pulled over briefly to set up a camera on the bike.  I shot video, but made some stills from that... because it is going to take a while to wade through the video.  Turns out, the riding was very good...

It was some fun riding (finally, after working through all the traffic).  The road surface is surprisingly good, the curves tight and twisty, but the big treat: the scenery is striking!

Canyon Lake is set nicely in the middle of all this...

A couple of one-lane bridges to cross...

I caught up to a couple on a Goldwing at one point.  Yes, there was the "looking in the mirror and seeing a scooter coming up on them" - the curves are tight; no way he could pull away from me...

And then, the "(touristy) ghost town" of Tortilla Flats...

I didn't stop and walk around - I'll save that for when Joan wants to make this ride.  Today, I was making time, with a plan to get home before the traffic got too bad.  So, back on the same road that got me here...

It was a good ride.  Longest I've ridden since we left the Black Hills last September.  I took the new scooter - it did an admirable job, considering the fast-moving traffic on the freeway.  And only one idiot that cut in closer than necessary while passing behind me - doing about 90mph as he cut hard to make his exit.  Did I mention: IDIOT.  Most of the time, I was doing 70 to 75 mph while on the various freeways, and keeping my head on a swivel.

On the Loop 202 on the way back, traffic going the other direction was stopped and backed up for a couple miles.  Going my direction, traffic slowed to about 50 mph briefly - I moved to the HOV lane (yes you can ride solo on a motorcycle in the HOV lane) and had reasonably clear sailing the whole way back.  And the timing?  I pulled into our driveway just before 4:00.  Yeah, I made good time.  And enjoyed the ride.  In the grande scheme of things, running up South Mountain is just as fun riding, and it is a LOT closer.  But, the scenery as I rode by the Superstition Mountians was pretty spectacular.

When I left Tortilla Flats for the ride home. I had Siri send a text to Joan to let her know when to expect me.  I told Siri: "Siri, text Joan - tell her 'Just leaving Tortilla Flats, on my way home'."  Siri did OK with that, except for calling it Tortilla Flaps... close enough, Joan will get the gist of it.

When I got home,  Joan and Murphy were out on the patio (and catio), enjoying this beautiful afternoon.

I could just sit around making music all day long...

 

If you said, "A line from the song 'I believe In Music' by Mac Davis, 1970," you get 25 bonus points.  If you said, "Another music day with Mark and the guys," you are absolutely correct, but no bonus points.

Joan came along today - she and Cindy planned an afternoon of shopping.  It was my turn to get the pizza, and I chose Oregano's; we ordered in the way to Mark's, then dropped me off at Mark's so I could start getting gear set up, and Joan and Cindy went to pick up the pizza.  Very nice!  We got to have reasonably warm pizza... and Oregano's, in case I didn't mention that. 

Mark had this sign by his door when we got there...

"Live Music"... true dat!

We had 6 of us there, so we set up microphones for the 4 vocals, amps, mixer, speakers, etc, etc.  Mark also invited a couple over from his volunteering "job" at the food bank - so 8 of us, 10 if you count Joan and Cindy, but they were out of there shortly after bringing back the pizza.

The wife in this couple (Mary & Greg) plays guitar; I don't think she has played with anyone before, so we invited her to sit in with us so she could have the experience.  Everyone was helpful with her, showing her how to use the songbox software we use, lending her a guitar, and letting her have a mic.  We had already been playing for an hour or so by the time they got there.

It was a good afternoon - everyone contributed on what songs they wanted to play, so there was not a lot of "I don't know, what do you want to play?" going on.

When Joan and Cindy got back, they went to another part of the house and worked on some jewelry Cindy is making... I guess that makes Joan part of Cindy's "sweatshop."

Then, the teardown - we seem to accumulate more equipment each week.  The long drive back home, where Murphy was patiently waiting for us.  The boy doesn't spend much time alone, so the occasional outing for Joan and me is good for him to get that experience of keeping himself occupied.

A good day.  And pizza.

And a nice sunset to wrap up the day...

Oh, and Joan had a "surprise" for me this evening: when she and Cindy were out shopping she picked me up a "Live Music" sign for my music room!

This opens up some motorcycle possibilities...

 

Now what did you do?  Thanks for asking.  Joan saw something on Vine, "Oh, we should get this..."

If you've been reading here, Vine is a program from Amazon, where you can order products to try out - the premise is to give the manufacturer or vendor an honest review.  You get the product at no charge (although you will be responsible for tax, as it is considered "a gift") and you have no obligation to give a favorable review.  In this "entry level," you can order up to 3 items per day, from their listings of thousands of items.  A lot of what you can order is stuff you won't... even if it is free.  Then there are some, "Hey, that's interesting," items that you probably wouldn't buy; often because you didn't know it existed.  And then there are the, "Oh, I really want that!" items.  Sometimes you click on an item and it is no longer available through Vine.

Since we started doing this, we have done over 90 reviews (they ask that you review at least 90% of the items you order); it takes some time each day, but it is also kinda fun... or, at least, interesting.  We take photos of the item, give it a rating, then write something about it.

This is one of those "fun/interesting/are you kidding?" items...

That is a backpack pet carrier.  Or, the way I am using it here, a frontpack pet carrier.  We have seen this advertised on Facebook and other social media, usually with a cute young thing carting around a kitten or a puppy.  The info on this says it is rated for up to 25 pounds for your furry friend.  I was surprised that Murphy fit in there... with a bit of room to spare.

For the record, there is no way in hell I would have put Rufus in something like this - the boy did NOT like to be confined... he would have torn through whichever side I was on and disemboweled me.  And I did that once - it is not fun.  Well, it was a surgeon, not a cat, but again I digress.

So, Jim, are you going to take Murphy on the motorcycle or the scooter?  Was that a "one or the other" question, or asking if I would take him on any conveyance?  At this point, I can't say.  Murphy has overcome his initial shyness, but we have put him through enough carting around, with quite a few trips to the vet in the last month... yes, we are still dealing with his ears, and today they took another sample that they are sending off to have a culture done; to see if Murphy has any potential allergies.  He doesn't fuss too bad about going into his carrier for the ride to the vet.  In the car.  I won't be taking him out on either bike.  For now.  Although, he does like to go where we go.

As I make this post, Murphy is out on the patio with Joan.  Well, Joan is on the patio, Murphy is in the catio on the patio.  No, we did not get the catio on vine; but all the stuff that is in the catio came from Vine.

This morning, in the catio...

A little later this morning, on the catio...

I can't imagine it was comfortable on top of the catio, but he is a cat - he likes to take "the high ground."

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After she got home from work today, Steph gifted me back the kittie hoodie with the skull and crossbones that we bought for Rufus when we first got him.  It was the Facebook Memory from 6 years ago today.  He quickly outgrew it.

Steph thought her cat Tango might want to wear the hoodie.  He did not... the boy was nearly paralyzed when she put it on him.

So, the family heirloom is back (like a family passing around baby clothes), and Murphy is wearing it proudly...

It will be the perfect thing for him to wear when he and I go out on the motorcycle!

I'm kidding.  Probably.

Speed...

 

Or: the sensation of speed.

It was another lovely day in the desert.  Murphy got a couple walks in and spent some time with Joan out on the patio.  After lunch at our new (to us) Chinese place, when we got home, Joan worked on stuff in the garage (she moved the e-bikes from the shed to the garage - hoping we will use them again), while I took the Burgman (that's the new scooter) out for a ride.

Yesterday, I pushed the CTX at a pretty good clip on that delightful South Mountain Road.  Even though traffic slowed me down some, the riding was still great.  Today, the traffic was much less.  I didn't put a camera on the bike... but I did stop to get a "scooter in the desert" photo...

 When I got to the top, I saw a couple para-gliders getting really close to the antennas (there are a bunch of antennas there).  By the time I got the bike parked and took my phone of its mount, they had moved away...

You may have to zoom in on that image to see them (left side of the image), as they were a long ways from the parking area.  There are a lot of guy wires holding those antennas in place, and these two gliders seemed really close to those.

Heading back down the mountain, the traffic was very light.  At one point, I looked in my mirror and saw a bicycle behind me... gaining on me... and I may or may not have been exceeding the speed limit.  I was pretty impressed with the speed this guy on that skinny tire bicycle was making.  I pulled into a pull-out parking area, let him go by, then I got behind him... I was curious to see what how fast he was actually going.  The speed limit is 25 mph... he was occasionally topping 40 mph, and not slowing down much through the tight curves.

When we got to the bottom of the mountain, there are speed bumps in the road into/out of the park/preserve.  I slowed down to 10 mph for those, he was still doing at least 25 mph, and he didn't slow at all for the speed bumps.  Good knees, as he'd raise up off the seat going over those bumps.

So, how does the B200 do compared to the CTX?  You probably weren't asking that, but I'm going to tell you anyway... the CTX is bigger, heavier, faster, more power, stronger brakes, bigger wheels/tires; the Burgman 200 is less of all of that.  I really don't pay much attention to the speedometer when I'm pushing either bike through the curves... I'm not reckless, but I do enjoy the sensation of working with the bike.  I can't say which bike blasted through those tight curves faster, but... it feels like I am going faster on the scooter.  That may or may not be the actuality of it.

Many riders will tell you it is more fun to ride a slow bike fast than to ride a fast bike slow.  Well, of course it is.  When I had the Vespa, there were times on Iron Mountain Road that that Italian beauty could take those curves faster than many motorcycles.  This new scoot "flicks" through the curves in a very fun way.  It's not a race.  I'm not trying to beat anyone or get a "personal best" recorded time.  I'm just having fun.

I thing the CTX is one of the most fun bikes I've owned.  This new scoot is just as much fun, in a lighter, easier kinda way.  I'm really enjoying both.