Start 'em at an early age

I had to laugh at Irondad's blog post, touche' good sir, touche'.

Now that we have both strayed and gone from motorcycle to baby blogs, I should really get my blog back on route. This may be a slow process but we did manage to mix baby clothes shopping with motorcycle shopping yesterday. We stopped into a baby clothing store and sure enough blog fodder struck. I may even be able to tie it into motorcycling.

January 1st of this year Oregon introduced a cell phone ban while driving. Evidently a hard habit to break as I still encounter many drivers chatting away with a cell phone held to their ear. I could never figure out how this habit became so popular until I came across this:



I know that children look up to their parents and it is natural to mimic adults and siblings, that's why new parents clean up their language, stop smoking and drinking to be a good example to their kids. One bad habit they don't seem to break is the cell phone while driving habit. I understand that cell phones have become an albatross and driving has become a necessary form of transportation, especially in smaller cities where public transportation isn't an option, but to package these both together as a toy is just wrong. We are teaching kids young that these two activities go hand in hand with each other.

That isn't the only model available, you can get this one too:



As a motorcyclist I beg new parents not to purchase this toy for your children, you may as well buy them a toy gun and ask them not to point it at people.



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Welcome to the family, Faith

It's been another busy week at work and at home. It is our busy season at work to get the store shelves stocked with grass seed for Spring, if Spring ever arrives in the Mid West and East Coast.
At home we've been busy getting our guest room ready for a little visitor, no not our little visitor. My brother Bear, (whom has commented on previous posts and painted my side cover) and my sister-in-law Lisa have arrived with their baby daughter Faith.



What is it with motorcycle blogs turning into photo blogs, turning into baby picture blogs? It seems I am following a certain blogging mentor.


I promise I will get back to motorcycle blogging soon but I do use this blog as a journal too so without further ado, here is my niece, Faith.




Born 02/12 and weighing in at 7lbs. 7oz.




Of course, what kind of Uncle would I be if I didn't goof around.




And what kind of budding amateur photographer would I be if I didn't get that 'one shot' of Daddy and baby.



It is also my Mom's birthday today, I don't think I'll be able to top my brother on this birthday gift, making Mom a Grandma. Congratulations to you two and Happy Birthday Mom!!!

I stopped at the gas station tonight to fill my bike and when I pulled up to the pump...

Was it? Could it really be? I looked two, three times at the black and white lettering of the sticker on the pump, then I glanced at the other pump across the lane from me, a tear came to my eye, it was posted on all the pumps. My quest was over, I had finally found what I was looking for, in of all places, the Wilco Farm Store and Cennex Station in little ol' Tangent, Oregon just a stone throw away from my work.

I had finally found....

Non-Ethanol Blended Premium 91 Octane Gasoline at the pump!!!

Oh happy day. I had found non-ethanol gas at another station but I'd have to ask the attendant to pull it from a 55 gallon drum from the garage and have it transfer to my bike. Most inconvenient and expensive at $3.50+ per gallon, the last time I purchased it, it was $4.50 per gallon so I was most happy to find it at the pump for a measly $2.91 per gallon.

Wasn't I just ranting about cutting expenses? Yes, but this is a cause, this is to show the man that we want a choice, a choice between ethanol and non-ethanol blended gasoline, this is a stand, I am voting by purchase and voting with my wallet.

In small town America, we still have a voice and we ethanol and non-ethanol believers can live together in harmony.

And thanks to t-bolt for finding this webpage where you can post your local non-ethanol station for all to see and show that we have a choice at pure-gas.org

Fugly boots...

They're not just ugly, they're FUGLY


I'd be afraid someone would piss on them to put the fire out, which would be an improvement.

Take, take, take...

Everyone wants just a little bit more...so we are forced to tighten our belts. Way to boost the economy.

We are getting the first bills in of 2010 and with them come rate increases. It is a new year and a new decade but it is not a good time to nickle and dime the consumer. First we received our electric bill and accompanying rate increase. We subscribed to Blue Sky at an additional $5 to $10 per month, now CUT.

Our water and sewer bill came in next and it too came with a rate increase, this summer I'll add another rain barrel to the downspouts and cut a little more lawn out of my yard making my shrub beds larger to save water. I have overseeded with a more drought tolerant variety of grass seed and I really don't care if my lawn goes dormant in the summer (less to mow). Ironic, considering I work for the grass seed industry, but we did not receive a wage increase this year.

Now let's see, what else can we cut? Nothing boosts the economy like spending less.

Netflix, they support an already antiquated, financially failing government run postal service. We dropped our service from three movies at a time to one movie at a time saving us $8 a month. Sorry letter carriers, times are tough.

I wonder how Red Robin, Applebees and Ruby Tuesday restaurants will survive when they are no longer in business selling $10.79 soup and sandwiches off their lunch menu. We are going out less and eating at home more. When we do go out we usually share something and eat at small local shops like Vietnamese Baguette, Taylor Street Ovens and University Hero. Of course, we always have and always will pack our lunches to work everyday, this is how we were raised, thanks Mom.

I have to add something about motorcycles, it is a motorcycle blog after all. I ride my bike to work everyday...rain, shine, fog or 8˚ freezing weather. I made this decision several years ago but really severed the ties when I sold my lawn ornament of a truck two years ago to buy a new bike. I went into this knowing that I was giving up the luxury of driving a nice warm vehicle into work everyday. I also knew that 40+ miles to the gallon beat the heck out of the 17mpg I was getting from my truck. Owning a bike is a luxury and a recreational hobby, but it is bottom line, an inexpensive way to commute to work. I buy regular gas as I have rarely noticed a difference in how the bike runs on other grades of gasoline. I buy gas down the street from my work at a small local farm store which is ten cents a gallon cheaper than the big stations in Corvallis.

I guess what I am trying to convey is that the more fees, taxes and rate hikes placed on Joe Q. Public, the more these companies are making us aware of our budget and need to spend less money.

Kind of counter productive, ain't it?