Freebird

Some of you have met my brother in law Terry. He used to rent my guest house and was around for a couple of Maintenance Days. Yesterday I spent 9 hours at the VA hospital in Cleveland with my wife as we waited while he had diagnostic tests and some preliminary surgery performed. He is in very serious condition. They have found that he has pancreatic cancer. Some of you will know that it is one of the most serious of the cancers and very hard to treat. He has some rough weeks and months ahead of him. The good news is that it appears that it was caught fairly early. More tests will be done today to further determine if it has spread but the news so far is about as positive as one can hope. Even with that though, the treatment is very difficult and success rates are very low. He went to the doctor because he was quickly losing weight and was turning yellow. That was due to the tumor squeezing and blocking the bial duct from his liver. Yesterday they put a stent in the bial duct to relieve the pressure on his liver and hopefully he will start feeling better but on January 11th, he will have a very dangerous surgery called the "Whipple" surgery where they will remove the gall bladder, part of his stomach, part of the pancreas, part of the small intestine and his gall bladder. The surgery itself is very dangerous. If he makes it through the surgery with no complications and the cancer indeed hasn't spread, then there is some hope for recovery and even possibly a full cure. The surgery will have to be followed by chemo and probably radiation. My wife has lost her sister, mother, and sister in law to cancer over recent years so is, of course, not taking this well. I ask for your prayers for Terry and also for my wife as she deals with this dreaded disease once again.

I have the tool but no shim kit. Would be glad to let you borrow it if you don't find a complete kit. Just PM me our address if you need it.

The Election is over. My rants are over for now. Feel free to friend me but I'll warn you, I'm a staunch conservative.

That's a first for me. Have never seen it before. What kind of filter are you using? Are you sure it's seating as it should? There has been a lot of talk here about some filters being redesigned so that they are not concave like they once were and not seating properly. That is the first thing I would look at.

LOL...I NEVER said that I wasn't political. I have just always maintained that we are not here to discuss politics and I know for a fact that it causes divides in a membership. I often want to state a political opinion here but I hold myself to adhering to the same rules that I ask of everybody else. It is not only my opinion, this has been put to the vote of the membership at least twice and they overwhelmingly voted to NOT allow such talk here. I'm glad because I've seen the trouble that it almost always causes. My Facebook page is mine to rant as I see fit. It is not an extension of this site though several members are Facebook friends. Not all of them agree with my politics either. And, though I don't rant about religion there, I will state my opinion on the matter.

I am on Facebook. There are things that I like about it. I have reconnected with some long lost friends from high school and from college. I also go on some political rants there that I don't allow to pollute this site. As for the VentureRider's Facebook page, I have somewhat mixed feelings about it. I seldom post to it except to make some announcement or something but though I am a moderator there, I honestly don't moderate it. My gut feeling is that it takes away from our site here. For that reason, I sometimes wish that it didn't exist. We have a few that frequent the Facebook page and never come here. We have many here that have never been to the Facebook page. This site is our home and I wish we could just all come together here and not be divided. I need to clarify one point. When I say that I go on political rants on Facebook, I'm referring to my OWN Facebook page, NOT the VentureRider Facebook page. Our no politics rule should apply regardless of where you are on a VentureRider group.

Not nearly as bad here. About 23 or so right now. Was about 33 last night but the hot tub on the back deck was 103. Sat in the tub with our coffee and Bailey's as a light snow drifted down. Not too bad at all.

Well, hot tub is working again. Hands are a bit beat up due to not having any room but I did manage to pull the cover and remove the capacitor without pulling the motor and disconnecting the plumbing. Could not find the correct size locally but found one that will work until I get one delivered. It is too big physically but I ran some wires and mounted it external for now. Everything is working great. Ordered the correct one off Ebay and it should be here by Friday but it's all good for now.

She posted three times. Two I suppose were an effort to appear legit. The third was a spam post about driveway paving. I did a search on the IP address and found that it was from India. When I banned her for spam, it automatically deleted all her posts.

That article is a bit confusing in that it says that they are a 1% club and then says that they wear a 99% patch. Most 1% clubs take pride in that fact and wear a 1% patch.

Well, from a financial standpoint I appear to have gotten lucky. I have determined that the problem is only the starting capacitor on the pump motor. That is an inexpensive fix. The bad news is that I don't know if I can get to it without disconnecting the plumbing and pulling the motor out. It is an internal type capacitor located inside the rear cover. Not much room as it is almost jammed against the corner. Once I spun it to get it going, it kept runnning so I'll let let it run until it is heated up. Then I'll take another look. I can tell you, it is COLD under that deck but at least all the mud is frozen.

Well, I got home. Went out to raise the temperature on the hot tub and it won't come on. Not frozen, water is about 56 degrees and it was working last week. Will have to figure out what is wrong with it but not today. It won't turn on though so I put a portable heater down beside the pump and pipes so hopefully it won't freeze and everything bust.

Yes, you remember correctly. He and his wife were here. Great people.

Those of you who have been around for a while will remember our friend Ponch. For those who don't know him, he used to be a very active member here and is a great guy. He had a bad motorcycle accident a few years ago and doesn't get on here any longer. He actually had a stroke while riding his RSV. You may have run across some of his old posts as he was the one who used to make and sell the kits to replace the tape decks on the RSV with gauges. I sent him a Merry Christmas text today and let him know that he is not forgotten here and is missed. I also reminded him that he had a complimentary lifetime membership here and he should stop by and say hello. He asked me to say hello to all of you but here it is in his own words and a picture of our friend Ponch. "Thanks so much for this text. I was in a doctors office & couldn't reply right away. I think of the VR family quite often. Kbay (Kregerdoodle) is about the only one I have regular contact with. We get to see Brad & Lonna & Perry & Molly occasionally. My memory (since the stroke) is so bad, that I can't remember passwords. I can't see well enough understand the website anyhoo. I haven't driven anything (w/ a motor) in over 5 years. I can live w/o 4 or 6 wheels, but, without 2 is hard to deal with! Please tell everyone for me that I appreciate them all. Later, Ponch"

The only comment made here that makes any sense at all is the one about the Hot Tub. Now THAT sounds like a good plan. Just need to turn up the heat a bit, make some fresh coffee, add a little Bailey's Irish Cream and we'll be good to go. Come to think of it....that comment about it being warmer when she is closer is pretty good too.

I'm in Kentucky this week. Headed home later today I guess. I just looked at the weather though it shows 8 degrees in Oberlin and snow. It's a balmy 12 degrees here in Kentucky and not snowing. hmmmmm...... Guess I'll go home though....home is where my lady is. That makes it all better.

This is a pretty good video that shows the importance of weight distribution.

I sleep pretty good most of the time. Last night ... not so great.

I don't think so Jonas. I think it is Bordeaux. VERY dark red. I went to the one on Ebay and if you really zoom in, I THINK I can see that it is the Boardeaux.

Very nice. I like them all but that too is a great color. Hope it gives you many miles of smiles.

Some states in the US have legalized it for medical and also some for pure recreational use. Ohio has legalized it for medical but you can't buy the kind that you smoke. Only oils and etc. with no THC to make you high. BUT....at this time...courts have ruled that companies still have the right to their own no-drug policies so even if it is legal, it can cost you your job if it is against your companies policies. The company that I work for has strict no drug policies. We are subject to random drug tests. Also, if you have any type of accident in a company vehicle, you are required to get a drug test immediately, regardless of fault. I was hit by a semi in my company car a year or so ago. I was not hurt but had to immediately go get a drug test. Had I tested positive, I would have lost my job.

That one would be my choice. Love those full length stocks.

As many of you know, our old friend Black Owl has been in the VA Hospital for a while now. It seems that he takes two steps forward and then a step back. I understand that he is just not doing well at all and I ask that you continue to keep him in your prayers. Russell was one of our very first members when I started this club years ago. I love and respect him as many of you do.

I have just learned that we have a long time member who is fighting a hard battle against the dreaded disease of cancer. It's a word that none of us like to hear and always brings great sadness. I heard about this through a third party and understand that he wishes to keep it private. God will know who we are praying for though so I just ask that you do so if so inclined. He has already had some radical surgery and is now on 10 weeks of chemo.

Update. I just increased the number of stored private messages for trial members to 100. Supporting members get 200.