Last rides of the year...

 

Rides? Plural?  Yep.  I got out on the e-bike and the Vespa this morning.  The wind was blowing in the upper teens when I got up this morning, predicted to be 20 to 30 mph before noon... seems like a good time to get out and enjoy "the last rides of the year.'

Funny how we put those descriptors as we close out a year: This will be the last time I'll _______; fill in the blank.  Odds are pretty good we'll be doing all those things again, often starting tomorrow.  With the predicted wind and a cold front predicted to blow in tomorrow night, it will probably be a while before I get out on either of my two-wheel conveyances in the next couple days.

I enjoyed both rides.  The e-bike is my morning ride around our island - it's for the exercise.  Getting out on the Vespa is because I need to ride.  Need.  It satisfies something deep inside me.  No, I'm not going to get philosophical or ethereal... I can't really explain it myself - I just need to ride.  Regularly.  The sensations, the feel of the wind, the smells.  Plus, no one cut me off in traffic today.  ;-)

File photo.

You know those eye tests?

 

The color acuity ones where you see "a number" within the circle?  Yeah, I took one of those today...

 OMG - I need a new motorcycle!  LOL

Another pleasant day in the Tropical Tip - I took Joan's bike out for a ride.  It was a good test of the new earplugs, and they work great.  Her Xmax sits me a bit more "in the wind" than the position on my Vespa.  The run across the causeway is a good test for noise in the helmet... and those new molded earplugs pass that test better than anything else I've tried.  Also, her bike is a fun ride!

We spent some time formulating our plan for the trip north to get the motorhome.  No, we haven't heard anything from Winnebago - they're closed until the 3rd of January.  And when I say "we," I mean that Joan was looking at routing, timing, mileage.  She presented the plan to me and I gave her that "Huh?" face... then went for a bicycle ride to digest the plan.  More on that as it happens.  And, when it happens.  First we need to know that they've put it back together.

Huh?

 

Not a sense of dumbfoundedness... rather: "I beg your pardon, I didn't hear that."

I seem to be collecting an assortment of hearing protection devices; well, all kinds of ear plugs.  After 50+ years of riding motorcycles (and scooters) and playing rock 'n roll, my hearing is still in pretty good shape.  Example: I can hear when Joan grumbles at me under her breath.  In the next room.  ;-)

I have tried all kinds of ear plugs to wear when riding.  The cheap foam ones.  The not so cheap foam ones.  Silicone plugs that look like 3 little umbrellas.  Most recently, I have been using my Apple Airpod Pro earbuds, with active noise cancelling - those do the best job so far.

Last week, I saw some "mold your own" ear plugs advertised on a shooting site: Radians, Custom Molded Earplugs.  They get good reviews on Amazon; less expensive than some of the silicone styles I've bought that are marketed to riders.  With these, you get two little containers of material; you divide each material in two, then mash them together until it is a solid color.  Shove that in your ears and don't talk or eat for 15 minutes while it sets up.  Peel it out of your ears, let it cure another 3 hours, and you have custom molded ear plugs...

While they are in your ears, curing, they make crackly noises - the plastic blend is out-gassing.  It reminds me a bit of the brine shrimp chomping on stuff on the bottom of Wild Blue when we were in the berth at night.

I left them in for about 15 minutes then pulled them out of my ears - nice snug fit.  After letting them cure, it was time for a test run.  It took a couple tries to fit them in - that will get better with some experience, 'cause when you have them lined up properly, they slide in like a key in a lock.  You definitely notice the difference with them in.  Out on the scoot - they fit great under the helmet.  At speed over the causeway, they were... blissfully quiet!  Yes, even quieter than the Airpod Pro earbuds.  Next time out, I'll try them with my Nolan helmet with the communicators in it to see if I can adjust the volume on that so I can hear Joan talking to me.  At this point, I am very pleased with how these work.

Joan had gone to the store before I went out on the scoot - she said, "Be careful out there - there's a lot of traffic."  No joke - a lot of the condos and hotels on the island require a 3-day minimum stay around the holidays, so I think we are at the "crossover" between Christmas visitors and New Year's partiers.  Plenty of cars and golf carts out and about; in the time I was out, there were 4 different vehicles that either cut in close in front of me, or pulled out from a side street too close in front of me.  And you can't just flip 'em off like in the good ol' days - too many of them are crazy, with a capital CRA.

Dumbass drivers aside, it was a good ride.  The wind is down a bit from the previous few days; not the predicted 12 mph, but not blowing like stink.  Glorious sunshine.  A light chop on the bay, but there were plenty of excursion boats out and the ones I saw looked plenty full.

When I got home, there was the usual PSA (Public Service Announcement) regarding shooting guns in the air on New Year's Eve: "Remember what goes up must come down - do NOT shoot guns in the air on New Year's Eve.  Let's keep the celebration safe for everyone."  It's not a joke - every year in memory, someone gets hit by "celebratory" gunfire here in the Rio Grande Valley.  They also warn about fireworks: many communities (ours included) do not allow fireworks... apparently they haven't told all those temporary fireworks stands that are open right now.  Life in deep south Texas.

Serenading...

 

Joan and Rufus like their morning concert.  It doesn't always work out, but Joan had put in a request last night, giving me a list of three things I needed to do this morning: take the scoot out for a test ride with the OEM seat on it, wash the Equinox (apparently a flock of birds had used it for a target run), play some music.  If I got anything else done, that would be a bonus.

I got out early on the scoot to run it at speed across the causeway and back.  I do sit just a bit higher on this seat, but the wind was already blowing at 17 and gusting higher, so it was hard to tell if it was much different.  I have to say that the Shuberth helmet and the Airpod Pro earbuds do a great job of taming the wind noise.

Once back home, I went to work on getting the car washed.  I am absolutely convince that paint manufacturers should use bird shit and bug guts in their paint formulas: that stuff sticks like crazy.  It took a lot of elbow grease to get the car looking spiffy again.

Back inside and on with the Living Room Concert Series.  I have mentioned before about how much Rufus likes me to sing and play for him.  I sat down in one of the recliners, with my smallest Emerald (the X7), and he hopped up into my lap for a "better than front row" experience...

 That is a happy furry boy.  Good timing... since he was feeling mellow, Joan suggested that this would be a good time to trim his nails.  She got out his "sling," we put him in it, I held him up by the handles, and Joan used the new nail grinder to blunt his claws.  He only got riled once, and when he figured out that all the thrashing didn't get him anywhere, he just let his Momma do her thing.  The boy is big and strong - if he doesn't want to be held, you will get shredded trying.  This sling works pretty decent; this is only our second time using it, and Joan was able to get all 4 paws trimmed.  And then Rufus got a nice treat.

From there, it was off to do some running: we had a package to pick up at the Post Office, prescriptions to get at Walgreens, and then some groceries at Wally World.  You've heard "there is a lot of that going around"... not talking about Covid, I'm referring to stupid.  There is no vaccine for stupid.  Joan was 5th in line at the Post Office, and it took a while; the guy in front of her was pretty sure he had "counterfeit stamps."  We were third in line at the Walgreens drive-up, and it took even longer; but the guy right in front of us, after waiting in line, just drove on through without getting anything - no, I don't know why.

And then onto Wally World.  You can tell when people are dressed for the beach at Walmart, even if they are wearing a cover-up.  The wind is blowing 25, gusting to 35... going to the beach today will be like sitting in a sand-blaster.  So, with nothing else to do, they were clogging up the aisles in Wally World.  This made the "Roller Derby experience" from a few days ago look like child's play... instead of shopping carts at a diagonal in the aisles, today it was shopping carts perpendicular to the aisles - it looked like a police road block, only with stupid people instead of law enforcement.  Three kids on one of the handicapped motorized shopping carts nearly ran us down as they came out of a side aisle without looking (they all looked pretty healthy - just stupid).  Looking around at the "unique" assortment of people, I was wishing I had brought a Walmart Bingo Card today - I could have gotten a black-out for sure!

I did hear one clever woman who was on her cell phone, and whose shopping cart was not blocking the aisle (one in a row!): "I have to go now, I have ice cream in the cart."  No, there was no ice cream in her cart.  Of course, this excuse to get off the phone will only work if you aren't heading home to the person who was on the phone - they'll be expecting ice cream.  ;-)

Where the Queen sits...

 

Another quip from my dear ol' departed Mother.  If I were to ever ask, "Where should I sit?" her reply was always: "Where the Queen sits - on your ass."  My Irish family upbringing.  ;-)

This isn't just about "where to sit," but also "where is my seat?"  That's seat as in: the original Vespa seat for my scooter.  When I asked Joan, I found out the original seat was in our storage unit.  I like the Corbin seat I have, but I was feeling I might try a change.  Well, back to the original seat.  The Corbin seat is a bit wider at the nose (front of the seat) and more firm; I'm OK with firm.  Also, with the "bomber jacket brown" leather, the Corbin is better looking (to my eye) - it sets the Vespa apart.  The original seat allows me to slide back a bit further, and speaking of sliding: the fabric on the seat is "grippier" than the Corbin.  Not sure if that is a plus or a minus; I know Joan does not like the slipperier feel of the leather on the Corbin.

Fortunately, it is a relatively straight forward bolt on/bolt off to change the seats.  Well, except there is a bit of aligning that needs to be finessed so that it latches properly.  After mounting up the original seat today, it took me several tries to get the alignment right for the seat to latch... and then it wouldn't unlatch.  Well, that is going to be an inconvenience.  The seat opens with a button you push on the dash - I couldn't push that button and pry up with both hands, so I had to ask Joan to come out and push the button while I pulled.  Yeah, that worked.

I bit more adjusting on the alignment and all is good.  I took the scoot for a very short test ride up our street.  I'll have to give a longer, higher speed test before deciding which seat to stay with.  This original seat sits me up just a bit (maybe 3/4") higher, and at speed, that may be enough to induce noise into my helmet.  I'll give it a good run tomorrow or Wednesday.

In the meantime, a couple photos of the original seat re-installed...

I know where I'll be sitting... I don't recall any photos of the Queen riding a Vespa.  ;-)

It's a Date...

 

No, Joan still doesn't let me date.

One of our little "gifts" to each other the last couple years is a new Rufus calendar.  It's a small desk calendar that is easy to take along in the coach or have on a shelf here at the house... and it shows off different images of our big furry boy.

 The cover...

 

The image on the left is how Rufus looked the day we adopted him; the boy was in serious need of being rescued.  The image on the right is how he looks currently.  Yes, that is the same cat.  We watched him blossom.

Inside the calendar...

A month at a glance, each featuring one of our favorite photos of Ruf.

We picked it up today at Walgreens in Harlingen.  They could have mailed it to us, but I was looking for an outing.  It is another windy day (gusts to 30 mph) - if you don't get out early to do things like ride a bicycle or go for a scooter ride, afternoon isn't the time to "go outside to play."  But, it works fine for taking the car for lunch, picking up a calendar, and a stop at the nearly empty storage unit.  Warm (82º when we were in Harlingen) and sunny, but windy.  Still beats cold, snowy, and windy.

A Christmas Ride...

 

72º at 8:30; I decide to swap out my usual bicycle ride for some time on the Vespa.  It is quiet in the neighborhood as I get the scoot out and gear up.  The wind is already 17mph and building.  It is gusty riding across the causeway.

Nice to be out in the breeze on Christmas morning.  I stopped at Jim's Pier on the island to take a couple photos...

Enjoying the riding, I stopped at the Dolphin Docks on the way home for another shot...

One of the definite pluses of living in the Tropical Tip: year 'round riding.  Well, summer when it's hot and humid can be a bit sticky.

All I want for Christmas is the front fender I ordered in July.  ;-)  Oh, and world peace.  And all the little children of the world to hold hands and sing in harmony.*

* Steve Martin bit from Saturday Night Live.

Merry Christmas!