Operation Repo Television Show

I just have to laugh when I've watched this show. If you want to see some truly bad acting just watch it for a few belly laughs of your own. The network tries to bill it as an actual reality show but it is so badly done. All of these shows are scripted and planned out and you can just tell. For some good old comedy give it a look, otherwise don't waste your time.

Bodie Ca the Ghost Town

Just a short post about an historic preserved 1800's ghost town in California called Bodie. Being that I love old stuff this is a place that I would dearly love to visit sometime. This was once a booming huge mining town that after surviving two huge fires was abandoned with an astonishing 300 building still intact to this day. From what I have read and seen pictures of, a visit to this town is just like stepping way back in time. It is literally frozen in time. An actual time machine of real existing artifacts just yearning for my visit to explore the streets, history and life of days gone by. It would be just to cool if the Park service would at least restore one of the hotels for overnight stays. I may be mistaken but it seems like this town is a thirteen mile drive down a dirt road. The park service could have a parking area at the beginning of this road and have an old vintage bus take sight seeing overnight guest up to the motel. But I'm a dreamer like that.

Check it out for yourself and give me a comment.
http://www.bodie.com/

Eating Kudzu & Hosta Plants and Other Tid Bits
( I planted some bird seed and a bird came up, I have no idea what to feed it)


Today while outside I spied a couple of our local rabbits in the yard. Personally I still get a kick from watching the nature just like when I was a kid. Have you ever seen two slugs fighting to the death? I have. Seen ants fight to but most people have I guess.
But back to the rabbits; I watched them hop over to some Hosta plants and cut the stem with flowers down. Then the little furry hoppy thing began eating the whole cutting. I knew that slugs would eat up Hosta plants but Rabbits? So my mind went to hmm, are they edible for us humans as well. To my surprise I found out that they are edible. Japanese eat it all the time and kudzu also, but I knew about the kudzu already. Kudzu roots when dried and pulverized sell for $2 an ounce and the leaves are certainly edible. North Carolinian Juanitta Baldwin in her book "Kudzu Cuisine" has recipes for this free food. "Fry the leaves up like potato chips , there good." I read an 83 year old Henry Edwards said.
I tried some of the flowers of the Hosta and it wasn't bad at all. The leaves should be cooked like other greens so I'll have to try that. Lots of plants in our own yards are edible such as dandelions and all rose flowers. Most of us consider dandelions as weeds and battle to kill them every year. We ought to be cultivating them for salads and putting them to good use. What is a weed exactly? Actually a weed can be any plant growing where you don't want it to grow. A corn stalk in your flower bed is a weed because you don't want it there. Same goes for small tree seedlings like cedar or pine coming up through your azalea bushes. So a weed is any plant growing where you don't wish it to be.
Think about your next motorcycle or car trip and get a book on edible plants. You could eat well and almost free just by learning what is edible out there. You'd have plenty of use for kudzu growing all over the south and elsewhere and more than likely nobody will complain your taking some. Just don't any from right near the road or up close to railroad tracks cause it may have been sprayed like blackberry bushes right beside RR tracks. Hosta plants being edible to but be careful picking those at rest areas, the state might not like it. Pick then when nobody is there I guess. Eat free, don't starve and save money on the road.

Now for a Tid Bit or two of wisdom

Be nice to people on your way up because you might meet 'em on your way down. -- Jimmy Durante

Beware the fury of a patient man. -- John Dryden

The man who makes no mistakes does not usually make anything. -- Edward John Phelps

Just an Old Utility Trailer
By Wooleybugger

I Am just your old utility trailer that is left to the side , feeling all alone until duty calls yet again. Then you will pull me from the forgotten place where you leave me in the shadows. Never do you pay me any attention unless there is money to be made or a work related task to be performed.
I have carried lots of things for you , and yes , I have even carried you.
Oh once I was brand new to you and you even boasted at what a find I was. Anywhere that you wanted me to go , I was eager to tag along.

Many was the time that you offered and lent me out to family and friends at a moments notice. When the work was completed after long hard hours , I was returned to my home. Sometimes these people would ask that I be available for an entire weekend or full week. It was you however that was lavished with praise. It was you that received the thanks and the adoration for my labor , not I.

This old utility trailer has done what it was asked. Did not matter if I wanted to or not as I was pimped out time and again. Sent out in the snow , ice and rain , or the heat and even in approaching tornados and hurricanes. When it was over , some of the same people that I had just served laughed behind my taillights and snickered at how I looked. All the while I felt good about the deed I had just help complete not knowing that I was being put down for my looks as that was the hot topic when I was gone out of sight. Not how they were thankful or appreciative for my time and effort appeasing their wants and needs.

Carried some awful heavy loads without the assistance from anyone even when it was their desire it be done. The times that I was overloaded no one cared but instead added some more on.
One time when my tires were worn and tired I gave it all I had , being forced to the brink. I was so heavily overloaded that one of my tires burst forth a blast of hot stale air. Didn't count , all the things that I had done for everyone. I was cursed and put down , called lazy and even told I'd let them down. Said I don't follow through and can't fulfill a task.

I may have rumbled and squeaked a little from time to time but , I pushed on and did my job always there for you.
All the while you never seemed to notice that my tires were wearing thin and paid no mind that my air was leaking out. My floor was about to wear out and all my wiring was starting to frazzle from lack of regular maintenance. Have you not noticed that my paint is fading and peeling from lack of much undivided needed attention from you. This old utility trailer needs some tender loving care to continue on.
No ! For when I am no longer needed just push me over there with the expectation I'll be there when the moment strikes you. I am passed by day after day ignored in the corner of the yard , with you knowing surely what I am in need of but don't really care.

Why it wasn't even noticed that my tag was missing for two weeks last year. Luckily it was found and put back where it belonged. One time it was even removed on purpose just to see if you would notice. It was not!
I long for the times that we did some things for fun. Creeping slowly through town in the local Christmas parade with a load of cub scouts safely nestled and riding on my floor. Lets not forget the times I hauled everything for the camping trips and, the to few loaded trips to the beach and even more stuff back.
When the short trips were over, again I was put to the side.... forgotten until the distant next time.

Ah , I am sad to say that this old utility trailer has grown tired of being a mule, always ignored and left out in the cold. It is caring and attention I need as my paint is fading away. Yes ! The time it is running out as my tags expiration date is looming ever closer each day.
My wiring craves tending and my tires need some air to keep moving along. Don't forget that the paint could use a little rub now and again.

Lots of people laugh and scoff at me forgetting what I've done. They treat me just as bad by pretending I'm not there.
Some of these impressionable people take their Que from you.

Officer Decoy of the Highway

Some areas are worse than others but these days you need to be aware of Officer Decoy. What's that you say? Who, what!!

Officer decoy is an on duty traffic dummy. However, not all of these cars sitting at intersections and at the side of stretches of asphalt are manikins. There are also the ones who are on the road in plain clothes in some regular type of vehicle. They don't actually pull you over and give a traffic situation, nope, what their job is to do is after seeing you speeding or driving recklessly is radio one of the officers who is waiting up on an on ramp out of view. Officer decoy looks just like any body else who's just driving along minding their own. Or he may be pacing you until a unit can catch up to nab your butt. Then as the unit comes up officer decoy just slides out of the way and goes on his merry way. All while you and others have no suspicion at all.

Sneaky huh.

Not to Wonder Why

I like to watch the stars at night
Way up in the sky
Listen to the crickets, listen as they sing
Lightingbugs they dart, dancing all about

And then I try not to wonder ...
Try not to wonder why

It's hard for me to say goodbye
When there's oh so much left to do
But paths sometimes though they've crossed
They go and seperate to

And then I try not to wonder ...
Try not to wonder why

The smell of spring is in the air
Flowers bloom and rabbits scare
Full of life that once was bare
Soon turns back into fall

And then I try not to wonder ...
Try not to wonder why

People we know they come and go
Sometimes like the falling snow
For a time it brings such beauty and joy
Then it leaves us all to soon

And then I try not to wonder...
Try not to wonder at all

Son Learning Guitar

I got my son a guitar years ago but until just recently he's now trying to learn to play it. I've showed him just a little and he wants to do the rest on his own for now. You know, sit in his room to play when nobody is around to hear the mistakes. When your trying to learn or practice others can get fed up with you trying the same notes over and over until you get it right. That's the nature of the beast. But once you get those chords and notes and a few songs under your guitar strap, well, then it's time to move on to your own style. Simply following what everyone else is doing just makes you another them. What you really ought to be striving for is something new and different. Perhaps a mix of one guitarist melled in with the style of another. Your own sound and not someone else's. Otherwise you'll never be a stand out only another stand up. Forget about looking cool just learn all you can and create your own way and IT will be cool and different. Then everyone will be trying to emulate YOU.

Sand and Prime

Alright, I spent the better half of two days sanding and priming the saddlebags. I kept finding more bad spots every time after I sanded the top. So, I'd have to use more glazing putty, let it dry then sand it down smooth. More primer would show sanding scratches and surface blemishes that I thought I had got but had not. Each time meant more putty, waiting, sanding then priming. The weather was a might muggy and in my hast when I thought the primer was dry at one point I tried to sand the surface. Great gobs of drat. The primer was still wet just under the surface so sanding made it roll up like pencil eraser bits and some stuck back to the surface. What a pisser. That's what I get for trying to rush things up a tad.
The good side is that I had not done the main bag itself yet which was still in the wait for glazing putty to dry stage. I sanded on this part as I waited for the top to dry, then did some more putty in spots, let it dry and sanded down smooth before priming it up. Of course there were more spots to fix just like the top. It was touched up and primed then set on the shop table to wait for to dry well. I don't want to sand to soon like the top.
That is where I am at for now. Reminder to myself: Get more primer.
Until next time.

Motorcycle Saddlebag Update

Made some more progress on the saddlebags. There is a lot of prep progress going on because I want these to look good. The model, form, plug whichever you want to call it requires tons of sanding and molding to get it right, if you don't have this right then the end product will just look like crap. The inside of the plug does not have to be anywhere near perfect because it will not be mirror imaged like the outside of the part will. The outside of the plug is what needs to be as close to perfect as you can get it otherwise you'll need to do tons of sanding and filling of the mold when it comes off of the plug. Why? Because the outside of the plug becomes the inside of your mold which in turn becomes the outside of your finished part. And, you don't want to be sanding and filling your finished part do you.
I have some previous holes in the saddlebag plug that need to be filled and in the top as well. I've had to degrease the plug and sand it with 80 grit then 100 grit, 220 grit and then I'll go to the 400 wetdri and then a 600 wetdri. The 400 and 600 won't be done until after all scratches, pits and holes and imperfections have been filled with glazing putty. This is tedious work but my end result should be a superior set of saddlebags that will look good on any motorcycle.

After all the initial prep work of the plug is done it will be painted and sealed. After seal is done then I'll wet sand with 600 wetdri, apply five to six coats of parting wax and let this cure. As the wax cures the process of the two part mold box will be built. This is what will hold the plug that becomes the mold that becomes the finished saddlebags will come from. Whew! Did you get all of that?
Just before I lay on the fiberglass to make the mold the plug will get another coat of parting wax and be buffed nice and smooth then sprayed with some PVA (Poly vinyl alcohol release agent) so everything comes out of the mold all nice and easy like.
Sure, maybe this first process is taking a tad bit longer than some would do it but I just hate making bad parts and like getting it right the first time.

These will also be great for bicycles as well as the weight will be fairly light. On the scale with hinge and latch they come in almost exactly at 5 pounds each. Plus they are water tight so a bicyclist won't have to worry about anything getting wet like with bicycle baskets.