Let's Go Fly A Kite

With tuppance for paper and strings,

You can have your own set of wings,

With your feet on the ground,

You're a bird in a flight,

With your fist holding tight,

To the string of your kite.

Let's go fly a kite,

Up to the highest height,

Let's go fly a kite, and send it soaring,

Up through the atmosphere,

Up where the air is clear,

Oh, let's go fly a kite!

When you send it flyin' up there,

All at once you're lighter than air,

You can dance on the breeze,

over 'ouses and trees,

With your fist 'olding tight,

To the string of your kite!

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Yesterday we spent an awesome day at the coast with our friends SpartanBabe and BuddyBear (Meg & Josh)  They had the idea to go over spend the day, have a picnic lunch and fly some kites.  It was splendiferous.

We dressed appropriately for a day at an Oregon Beach - Keen hiking shoes, heavy moto-cross socks up to the knee, long johns under the jeans, at least two shirts and a windproof and/or heated jacket.  We still came away with an Oregon tan = windburn.

Troubadour started us a nice fire on the beach with driftwood.  He has mad skills with a Jetboil.  

(Jetboils make for easy fire starting)

(Troubadour feeding the fire)

Josh and Meg brought their two dogs along, so there were games of fetch played as well.

(Annie and Oakleigh)

I occupied myself by wandering a bit and taking photos of different things.  We are lucky that Oregon beaches along the Pacific Ocean are all public.  A person cannot own a stretch of beach - none are private.

We had a wonderful day and I believe there are a few more trips to the beach in our future.

- Au Revoir

" Indoors or out, no one relaxes in March, that month of wind and taxes, the wind will presently disappear, the taxes last us all the year." - Ogden Nash

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Here today......

Gone later today.......

Yesterday was the day for the tree removal crew to arrive.  They were scheduled for two days and I was expecting them to remove all the limbs on the first day and remove the trunks and grind the stump on the second.  I was wrong.

This 4-man crew worked fast.  I arrived home just shy of 3:30 in the afternoon yesterday and all that was left of the mighty sequoia was one 30-40 ft trunk - the one leaning towards the neighbors shed.

(One trunk left to go)

I was able to watch them cut it down.  It made quite the boom when it landed.  

(Last of the trunks down, now just the stump)

I think their hardest part of the day came when they had to saw off the rest of the stump, seen above, so the grinders could come in.

(Stump ready for grinding 7ft in diameter at the base)

They ended up sawing through it and chopping it in pieces.  I couldn't help but think they would have made great end tables or coffee tables.

(One section of lower trunk/stump)

When the crews left close to 6 pm last night our back yard looked like this:

(No more sequoia)

Man, that side fence has to go.  Nice Oregon moss decomposing the fence boards - only on the ones that were under the tree though.  Luckily the neighbors have a chain link fence on the other side to keep their dog in so the only thing we lose is privacy and when you neighbor is well over 6ft tall, the fence doesn't afford much privacy anyway.

Today another crew came in to grind the stump.  All that remained when we got home was a large area of sawdust.  

(That is a lot of sawdust)

We are thinking it might be a good location for a blueberry patch.

Now the back yard appears quite large to us.  We realized the tree was encroaching, but I don't think we realized how much.  Let the clean up begin.

(Not quite an 'after' picture but getting closer)

We have friends and neighbors coming to take the free wood away.  Once it is gone and the rains stop we can begin to transform that corner.  Fence removal and planning and planting of evergreens around the perimeter and filling it in with some shrubs and perennials.

- Au Revoir

"  The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago.  The next best time is now." - Chinese Proverb

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This and That

THIS HELMET:

Not a lot of motorcycle action happening on the home front lately.

When hubby was at a Team Oregon class on Saturday March 2nd, I rode Max to coffee to try out the new helmet.  So far, I am very pleased with it.  

It was quieter than my Scorpion - and yes, I was wearing my earplugs.  It just seemed to fit so well. My peripheral vision seemed wider and when I turned my head the helmet went with me, yay!  One of the other things I noticed about fit was that I didn't have to keep grabbing the chin bar and tug it back up.  The Scorpion used to slide down and give the image I was perpetually looking at my front tire even when I had 'eyes up'.

We thought about riding to coffee this last Saturday but woke up to 29˚F (-1.6˚C) and just couldn't muster the energy to suit up even knowing it would be sunny and warmer by the time we left coffee.  We ended up driving to Eugene to the Home and Garden show and stopping at our favorite Triumph Dealer.  Troubadour sat on and got to play with the features on the new Trophy. I didn't get any pictures though.  And of course I ogled the new Street and Speed Triples.

THAT TREE:

A very large sequoia tree is what has been taking up our riding time.  We have a very large four-trunk sequoia in the back corner of our yard that has seen better days.  One trunk is leaning over the neighbors yard and even one towards our house.  We've watch it grow over the last 6.5 years we've owned the house and it seems to slowly be taking over the yard.  

(Sequoia in the backyard)

We decided to get quotes to have it removed and booked the tree-ectomy for March 19th and 20th.  The problem with actually booking a date was that we had to clean out underneath it. Not much grows under it so we've just used it for storing yard junk and home renovation leftovers.

To give you an idea of scale on how big it seems compared to the yard here is a wider view.

(Nice tree - wrong location)

So for the last few free days we've been moving an entire pallet of bricks, a cubic yard of gravel, relocated a few shrubs to be out of the way of the tree service and moved a lot of wood debris from when we removed other smaller trees such as the stinky persimmon.  

We've never taken out a tree that we haven't planted at least two to replace it though.  The yard sure will look different in another 10 days.  We'll feel a little bare over there but it will be nice to plan what to plant in its place.

It has cut into our riding time, but at least we have a three day weekend coming up and have the yard chores done.  Hopefully the weather will hold out and we can go for a nice long ride.  

Now.....where to go.........

- Au Revoir

"  There is always Music amongst the trees in the garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it." - Minnie Aumonier

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Out With the Old....

On the Saturday that we went to the One Motorcycle Show, we left Corvallis early to do a little shopping on the way.  One of the places we stopped was a motorcycle shop in Beaverton that is known for all of the gear they carry in stock, particularly helmets.

I have been thinking of a new helmet for a few months now.  My current helmet is a Scorpion EXO 400 "Spring Chameleon" I bought in June 2009 for our ride to California and it has seen me through 4 summers.  It is quite warn inside.  The leather/vinyl around the bottom is cracked and the padding inside has compressed enough that I can now wear my hair in a pony tail under my helmet and if I shoulder check too quickly my head moves inside my helmet more than my helmet turns with my head.  Not good.

(Scorpion EXO 400 Spring Chameleon)

At the show in December I tried on an Arai since Troubadour is really happy with his.  Once again I tried on a few different models of Arai but they didn't fit right.  The cut outs for the ears hit at the wrong spot and were not comfortable at all.  Small was too small and medium was too large.

And then I tried on the Shoei Qwest and it fit like it should.  The medium was a little on the large size but the small fit perfect.  Luckily the shop was having a sale and when I found it was $200 under Shoei MSRP I snapped it up.

I now have a Shoei Qwest "Goddess" and as soon as hubby changes over the Sena and I'll be able to use it.  I could attempt it myself, but it is best left to someone that knows what they are doing.

(Shoei Qwest Goddess - stock photo from internet)

And so it went.....out with the old......and in with the new.......

*   *   *   *   

And then.... a week or so ago Troubadour was helping out Pat Hahn to film a Team Oregon group riding video.  He was to play the part of the newbie being left behind (yeah right) so instead of riding Lucy he needed to ride Max - a believable newbie bike.  They were meeting at Saturday Morning Coffee and heading out from there.  I was taking the car and meeting him there a few minutes later.  When I was leaving the house I realized he didn't take a camera with him, so I grabbed our little Canon HS300 (without the case) and brought it to him.

Neither of us were thinking it was going to rain as hard as it did on their ride or that the Scorpion jacket he chose to wear didn't have waterproof pockets like his TourMaster jacket.  When he got home he pulled the camera of his pocket by it's strap and it was dripping wet.  Doh!

(Canon HS300 - photo by Canon)

Several days of drying in rice on the pellet stove later we acknowledged the electronics were fried. It would almost turn on.  The lens would come out and an error message would occur but the lens would not go back in or close.  The camera is now a paper weight. Double doh!  

However much I liked the picture quality of the Canon, I didn't appreciate how hard it was to find all the special features and use the menus.  Now for a tech guru like Bobskoot this wouldn't be an issue, but for someone like me who likes to keep it simple, I thought I'd use this opportunity to explore my options.

I did a little research on cameras and on Saturday we went to Costco as I wanted to see the Nikon S6400.  I played with the display model and was immediately impressed with it's touch screen and ease of use.  I could actually find features quicker on it than I could the Canon we'd had since August 2011.    The Nikon came as a package deal with a Nikon case and 8 GB memory card.  It was $40 off too, so I managed to purchase it for only $159.  If for some reason I don't like it Costco has a 90 day return policy.

(Nikon S6400 - photo by Nikon)

Ummm yeah, I bought the blue one.  So far I like it.  I haven't really taken many pictures but Basil let me take one of him and I took a few of the yard on Sunday.  The sizes seem odd (long and skinny) so I may have to look at the settings and change them up a bit.  They are 4600 pixels on the long side so I have to re-size every one before uploading to blogger.

(Squire Basil on the sofa)

(Citronella tiki torch)

(Viburnum Spring Bouquet)

And so it was again..... out with the not so old, and in with the new.......

- Au Revoir

"The guy who invented the first wheel was an idiot.  The guy who invented the other three, he was a genius." - Sid Caesar

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Cause and Effect

While driving home from The One Motorcycle Show on Saturday, Troubadour commented that he thought everyone and their dog was going to drag old motorcycles out of their garages, make up a price and list them on Craigslist for those that are now jonesing to customize or own a custom a bike.

He wasn't wrong.  The following are just a few of the gems that have been listed in the last week. Some neat, some just need a little (or a lot) of work.  Oh well, something for everyone perhaps.

**  I make no claim to have taken any of these photos.  They were all appropriated from Craigslist Ads.  I was going to link the actual ads, but it seems when I do that, half the time the ads are gone by the time someone clicks on them.  Hopefully I am not stepping on any photographic toes.**

Need a little iron in your daily riding diet?  How about the last of the Harley Davidson iron heads for a mere $2,200.

(1979 Harley Sportster)

Something with a little more off road capabilities maybe. Perhaps you want to make a flat tracker....  Look no further than this 1982 Honda XL 125.  It only has 4500 miles, but a lost title and it can be yours for only $550.

(1982 Honda XL 125)

Honda not your thing?  Rather have a Suzuki 125?  Mechanically inclined?  How about a 1973 Suzuki RV 125 Tracker.  Unfortunately he is parting it out so there is no price for the whole bike. This makes me think there is no title.  Looks like fun though.

(1973 Suzuki RV 125 Tracker)

Have your own engine and just need a rolling frame - Here is a Softail roller frame for $2,700.  No engine?  No problem - add a seat and make it a Strider bike.

(Softail Roller frame)

Don't want to do the work yourself and prefer to buy something already restored?  How about a 1967 Honda CB77 Superhawk for $5,500.  This too looks like fun.

(1967 Honda CB77 Superhawk)

Want something out of the ordinary?  How about a 1986 Honda custom 3-wheeler for $,3295.  I think this is just all kinds of ugly.  Must have been made for the sand dunes on the coast.

(1986 Honda Custom 3-wheeler)

This one is pretty cool, but I think he might want a little much for it.  A 1971 Honda SL 125 for $1,200.  He says it runs, has a clean title, but is a bit of a project.

(1971 Honda CL 125)

Looking for something a little older and more of an original.  Well here you go....a 1954 Allstate. According to the ad it was made in Austria and originally sold in Sears stores.  Only the second owner and it could be yours for only $3,900.

(1954 Allstate)

(We don't even see these at the vintage shows)

There are even bikes out there for the young budding two-wheeled hooligan.  A 1984 Honda Z50R for $600 would be loads of fun for little kids .....and big kids alike.

(1984 Honda Z50R)

If those aren't enough of a project for you, here is a real challenge.  Bike doesn't run, has a horrendously gaudy paint job that needs to be removed asap (unless of course you're into skulls) and could make a sweet cafe racer one day if you had the skills and patience - a 1980 Honda CB 650 for only $600 - at least they have a title to this one.

(1980 Honda CB 650)

There seem to be a lot of older Hondas coming out of hibernation.  Here is a 1980 Honda CX 500, yours for only $1,300 obo. The ad claims in runs and rides well and just needs a little TLC.

(1980 Honda CX 500)

For the low low price of $300 you can be the proud owner of a 1972 Honda XL 250 that doesn't run, nor does the back tire spin.  But it does come with a key - bonus!  Bleeding knuckles are not optional with this gem.

(1972 Honda XL 250)

Oh, but wait..... what is that I see? A 1970 Triumph Tiger TR6 with shiny gold paint.....  Apparently this is a numbers matching bike, strong daily rider and needs nothing.  It can be yours for $5,200 - ouch.

(1970 Triumph Tiger TR6)

That one too rich for you, but you still want a vintage Triumph, try this one on for size.  A 1970 Triumph 250 Trophy for $ 3,300.  The ad says it runs great and is quite the attention getter (what Triumph isn't an attention getter?)

(1970 Triumph 250 Trophy)

And yet another Honda.  But this one would be so much fun to ride to coffee on Saturdays and all the work has been done to it - a complete frame off restoration.  Bring your checkbook for this 1969 Honda 350 Scrambler for $4,200.  And it deserves two pictures.  I really like this one.

(1969 Honda 350  Scrambler)

Okay, this Suzuki looks like all kinds of fun too.  A 1969 Suzuki T500 for $2,000.  Oh the places you could go.  Apparently the seller is getting rid of it as he doesn't have time to ride it, how sad.

(1969 Suzuki T500)

These are just a handful of bikes that have been listed in the last week or so.  There really are too many to include.  As you can see, some are really nice and fully restored and some no one has time to tinker with they need so much work.  I do find it odd that I didn't see any older Kawasakis for sale.  Their owners must be hanging on to those.

Spring is in the air - are there any neat old bikes coming out of the woodwork in your area?

-Au Revoir

"  You don't get anything clean without getting something else dirty." - Cecil Baxter

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