My wife showed me a picture she took from the past of the Old Man pushing the minutes old Day One project bike out of the truck and rolling it around the farm, checking the wheel bearings he said. I don't know how you could feel any rough wheel bearings with two flat tires but I humored him until he wore down from all that pushing. I finally asked him how the bearings were. Perfect! he said panting, still turning after all these years.
I haven't heard or seen him for a spell. It was 80F today in Kansas and that should point him North again on his annual migration. He really hates Winter and should be passing through soon. We did see the first Spring Vulture migrating today and that's always a good sign that things are moving North. I'll keep everybody posted on his arrival.
Max
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The Old Man checking the wheel bearings on day one.
Whoa! Abrupt weather change in Kansas! In the 80's yesterday, flowers and trees in full bloom, near freezing this morning. Typical Kansas spring, stuff that could alter the arrivals of birds and other migrating creatures including the Old Man. You can bet that he'll be hovering just South of the freeze line.
OK, maybe I was a bit premature on Spring and the estimated arrival of the Old Man. It is Kansas ya know!
Maxie
Hey Clarence, what's the climate doing up there? Garden tilled?
Max, the old man definitely will want to stay away from Vermont over the next week or so. We are supposed to get some snow today, it's dropping below 0 degrees F the next three nights, and we won't see the top side of freezing for the next eight days... March can be very cruel!
Ivan, thanks for the report even though you are making me shiver just reading it. You can tell when Max is out of projects when he posts Old Man Going North stories. I think it's Clarence's turn. Good to hear from you and stay warm until riding weather arrives.
Ivan Manchester is that by the sea? Is Ossa the same as a Osso is it related to a yankee, I have a set of Ossa toasters. I still have a Pioneer and a wildfire. That Wildfire was a wildfire in its time. when I ever get the film developed I will show the hodaka painting lessons I recieved , a couple of items I wish could forget. But as the memory fades some things get better. I am waiting for when I can't remember what my problem was.-----Clarence
This stream of consciousness brings me back to one compelling inquiry. What became of that fabulous tank? How clever it is to plan ahead for some serious combat tic-tac-toe if you get to the check point early.
The tank still exists and is hidden in the Hodaka shed. I just don't know quite what to do with it. It does't look to be salvageable in any way, shape or form. Maybe it could be used in some cruel joke. I dunno.
Cut the bottom out carefully lay it in the wife's flower garden. Drive a stake down through the gas cap area, Then fill the planter full of mulch and plant some surprise flowers. They are cheaper and make a very nice arrangement. Seed swept up from the seed room makes a nice original arrangement at a reasonable cost. The wife would be proud. --------Clarence
Clarence and Max, I definitely can't keep up with you guys! No ocean frontage in Vermont so most likely not by the sea...in the mountains though! March can be very cruel, it will get warm here. Vermont is the four season state...winter, two mud seasons, and July!!
The Old Man is definitely in the area as I saw some activity in the Hodaka/misc. shed. I suppose it could be the raccoons but this looks to be the work of intelligent beings. The raccoons just stir things around if the shed isn't locked. I'll put the Game Camera out tonight to see what's really going on.
Well, you have to admit, I have gotten my monies worth on the project. Lotsa material to work with here! More to come, I'm setting the Game Camera as we speak.There's a fair chance that it really is the raccoons. Seriously----Not. Well maybe.
The Old Man once told me that if you take all the pieces to a clock and give them to a chimpanzee, there's a chance, however slim, that he may assemble it given enough time. Not so with Raccoons. They practice reverse entropy. The universe goes into more disarray with raccoons as time goes on he said. All good to know I thought at the time. I do live in a woods with raccoons and no chimps. Each morning the woods are in more disarray and that's why I lock the Hodaka shed. Last year I left the key in the lock overnight and of course it was gone come morning. My first thoughts were that the raccoons had just discovered it and played with it until they lost it, as in entropy and disorder.
Hmm, what if the Old Man was wrong. What if the raccoons are assembling rather than disassembling the universe? There are only three keys to the Hodaka shed, mine, the Old Man's and the one lost. Could it be that the raccoons also have a key? One would think that it it would take a lot of time for a raccoon to figure out how to get into the locked Hodaka shed and begin to assemble a motorcycle from a exercise bike. Unlikely, unless you had an infinite supply of raccoons with plenty of time, again unlikely.
Well, the guy who runs the hamburger stand down the road borrowed the Game Camera the other day to see who was messing around in his dumpster at night. I told him I needed it back to catch the Old Man playing tricks in the Hodaka shed. I haven't set it yet but I did look at the last frame from the Game Camera of the dumpster and maybe I'm not entirely off base as there appear to be almost an infinite supply of raccoons in the area.
Well, I'm off to set the Game Camera in the Hodaka shed. Maybe we can get to the bottom of this mystery soon of who's trying to motorize the exercise bike. I suppose it could be just another cruel joke that the Old Man is good at. Hard to say without photographic evidence. Stay tuned.
Maxie
PS--Gray/misty inside day, just writing. Clarence started it.
Hard to top that.
