Sailor

Up here in mountainous B.C. I found Avons to be best for me. They seemed to make the bike feel lighter and more agile. Made in the UK where roads are very twisty. If you don't need the agility, just doing flatland cruising, another tire might be just as good.

You are getting old when you forget to zip up. You are getting realy old when you forget to unzip.

Got your fingers zipped into your fly again?

They have now declared a province wide state of emergency. They did that last year as well, the first since 2003. While not as bad as California it is still bad. 566 active fires. 29 evacuation orders affecting 3050 people and 1521 structures. 48 evacuation alerts affecting 18-20,000 people and 9359 structures. 3808 firefighters on scene and more coming. I don't know what they term a "structure". Does an outhouse count as a structure? I think that "spirit fire" needs to be put out immediately, there is nothing spiritual about it.

My neighbour built a log cabin. You need a very strong foundation for them. Logs are very heavy. They found the place very dark and had to add windows and skylights to the original construction. Even with an extra strong foundation it did settle over time. Maintenance was higher than expected. I don't know what you have in your area for kit houses but I got a pre-cut house. It is a Lindal home. I took their outside walls, added windows, redesigned the interior and their engineers signed off on it. You can get these in any size and the cost depends on what you want in it. The saving is in the fact there is very little waste. They measure and cut the lumber at the factory so you don't have to buy an 8 ft 2x4 just to get a 6 ft piece. It is all pre marked so assembly is fast, another saving. I figure our place cost less than half what a comparable standard build would cost. Be careful. If you go that route research it thoroughly, the quality can vary considerably. We have been in ours now for 25 years with no problems.

We have been lucky so far. Not too many evacuations or houses destroyed but that could change with the wind.

Have had days of heavy smoke haze here. Sore eyes. The sun is a dark red ball through the smoke. We have about 600 wild fires going with 30 on Vancouver Island which is next to us. Have firefighters from around the world coming in as well as the army. This is worse than last year which set records.

Just a reminder for anyone who might be interested. It is Toy Run time again. Open up for camping at the Farmers institute on Rainbow road Friday August 24. Music and BBQ. Saturday Toy run departs 11:00 sharp, led by yours truly in Santa suit ( with ice packs stuffed down pants). Games, dinner and dance follow. Sunday clean up. This event is put on by volunteers and all proceeds go to Santa's Workshop for underprivileged kids on Salt Spring which is also run by volunteers. More info can be found on our website or facebook. Salt Spring Island Toy run 2018.

I like it and want one but I live surrounded by salt water and wonder just how well it would stand up to corrosion. Guess I will have to settle for the blond.

We hit 100 in the shade on our deck the past couple days. Should be back to normal temps next week.

Media farce. I have given a number of interviews in my time. I have found the truth to be irrelevant. All they want is sensationalism. They will twist your words into what their editor wants. Even with a sympathetic reporter the facts get twisted because the editor has last say and as they say " If it bleeds, it leads". Most reporters will simply take whatever the cops say as fact and won't bother going any further.

Look up the "Hurt Report". Dr Hurt got the co-operation of the local police and had a police scanner in his office. When there was a motorcycle accident his crew would rush to the scene to investigate. What they found is that 70% of motorcycle accidents are caused by car drivers and that most police reports were wrong. The police would automatically take the word of the car driver and discount the bikers testimony. They would not check for skid marks. They would not check the damage done to confirm the car drivers claim the biker was speeding. The car driver inevitably claimed the biker "came out of nowhere, must have been speeding" and that is how it would be written up. I had an accident about 5 years ago. I was in bumper to bumper traffic when a chunk of wood came out from under the car ahead of me. It had metal shards on it and went under my front wheel. I was in the inside lane as I was planning a left turn a couple kilometers ahead. I tried to get to the shoulder but the traffic had me blocked and I could not get through. The tire came apart and I hit the pavement at 80 KPH. The first two officers at the scene accused me of speeding ( in bumper to bumper traffic?). One then accused me of cornering too fast (on a dead straight road?). When I told them what had happened they basically accused me of lying and told me to prove my story. The bike was right there with the front tire shredded. It wasn't until another officer showed up that I got to say what had actually happened. I came out of it with a broken ankle and broken ribs but I was damned if I was going to let them put in a false report blaming me for the accident. I have noticed that in the local media when there is a picture of a motorcycle/car accident the car usually shows little damage and there are no skid marks indicating the car turned into the bike giving the rider no time to hit the brakes. The lack of damage shows the bike was not speeding. The media always reports it as the bike running into the car, no mention that the car was acting illegally. My son got nailed on an extremely obscure regulation that no one knew about and had not been enforced before. When I went after the cops to find out why he was being harassed they assured me it was not just him, the politicians had ordered them to harass all motorcyclists.

There is a woman ( usually) involved. No man will ever figure it out.

Janet doesn't know it yet but we will be there. We enjoyed the last one at Castlegar. I will be on the new bike but Janet will probably bring her van. No comfy armchair on the back of this bike.

I know what you mean. Can't get my breath and real hard to get a yawn going. Thought I heard the bells tolling but it was just Avon calling.

Woke up one morning last month. Felt uncomfortable and with some pain in my left arm. Figured I just slept on it wrong. After a couple hours with no improvement my wife took me to the hospital. Turns out I was having a mild heart attack. Got inspected, injected, Hooked up, wired up and wound up spending 7 hours in there. If you even think something might be haywire, don't wait, get checked out.

I am in the same situation. Have an appointment next week for the A-Fib then into the hospital the week after..

Marcal.........I think it would be an M rather than a V.

If they make them out of titanium and carbon fiber with fragile tires 1/4 inch wide and 46 forward gears so they don't have to break a sweat the spandex dweebs will snap them up.

According to news reports Harley expects the tariffs to add $100,000,000.00/year to their costs and that is why they are moving out of the US. They are also closing their factory in Kansas. Mid Continent Nail laid off 60 workers and expects to be out of business by labour day with all 500 workers laid off. Tariffs on steel from Mexico has driven up their prices to where they have lost 70% of their business. The tax Foundation predicts job losses of 48,585 (I don't know how they can be so exact) and up to 250,000 if tariffs are increased on China. On the other hand 4,700 jobs have been re started in industries.

Here in B.C. the fiberal ( liberal) government looted the coffers at I.C.B.C. and transferred millions in profit into general revenue to make themselves look better then announced that I.C.B.C. was broke and needed to raise their rates.

I love being on the water. I got my first boat when I was about 10. It was a 12 ft clinker built with a 3 horse outboard. I spent a lot of time gunk holing the gulf islands and sleeping on the beach. Got my first sailboat when I moved to Salt Spring island. Enjoyed it for many years. I liked going out in rough weather and conversely ghosting along at 0100 in dead silence with just the stars and phosphorescence streaming off the stern. I hated to sell it but my knees gave out and I couldn't get around on it any more.

Nice! Now we can get the ribbing going between rag hangers ( sail boaters) and stink potters ( power boaters).

Can't go wrong with an RSV.

Have you checked out the new 160 hp in line 6 from BMW? Looks interesting.