Marty Robbins

Going to be in Memphis tonight? You can swing by the Stage and check out a restored stock car that Marty Robbins used to campaign. Autoculture has the details and a bunch of photos. Don't know who Marty Robbins is? First of all, shame on you. Second of all, that should be included in the Common Core standards instead of all the freakin' algebra. Marty sold millions of records and was a no bullshit, for real race car driver. And, as the dude from Autoculture noted, he had the 70's porn start mustache working for him as well. 

Cup Of Joe

Photo From Here

Seems to be rather timely, what with the IRS, AP News and Benghazi things going on. There have been a few individuals that have really been put through the wringer not only by the IRS but other branches of the government as well. Nothing like abusing the power you've been entrusted with, now is there?

And now for something completely different:

My first choice of beverage whilst computing is normally a cup of coffee, or as it is often referred to, a cup of Joe. Last Saturday's Wall Street Journal had a book review on the life of Josephus Daniels who was at one time the Secretary of the Navy. Daniels "ordered alcohol banned from naval vessels, yards and stations. The offered substitute - a cup of coffee- became disparagingly known as a cup of Josephus Daniels, and as legend has it, this was soon shortened to a cup of Joe." Probably will never get around to reading the book but at least now I know the origin of something that I say on an almost daily basis.

Superbike

I made it over to school and sandblasted the swingarm for the 900 and got the tubing bent before he closed up shop for the summer. I used to hate guys coming in at the last minute to get things done before school was out while I had to give final exams, clean the shop and keep the boys somewhat under control. So now I'm one of those myself but I really didn't put too much on my replacement's shoulders. I just needed access to the bender.

I stumbled across a really cool Superbike video at Bubble Visor. It's a race at Laguna Seca featuring Freddie Spencer, Eddie Lawson, Wes Cooley, Dave Aldana - all the guys Surly posted photos of the other day. I got a chance to see all of those guys race back then, mostly at Road America, but also at Daytona, Road Atlanta and Mid Ohio. This should take you there:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=XbF0xewsZ2o

If not, go to Bubble Visor and look for August of last year. It'll be there somewhere. The video is about 23 minutes long and a great look at early Superbikes.

Lots happening this Memorial Day Weekend with me. Depending on the weather, some mowing, garden work, traveling and the annual Dead Relative's Tour with Cuzzin Ricky. If I don't get anything else posted here before Monday, enjoy the holiday.

This & That

Almost ran over Momma Woodcock and her clutch when I was mowing the other day. I knew Woodcocks were around here but this is the first one I've seen on my property. As little as the babies are, I would think the nest would be someplace near by. Just one more reason I love living in the country. 

Here's the frame of the firewood rack. I need to get it set in place and then I'll get some sheet metal on the top of it. I'll also put a couple of extra legs on the bottom shelf - I figured it would be easier to cut the legs to the length needed after it's set in place rather than trying to level the ground exactly. Next time someone comes by I'll con them into helping me move it around the back of the barn.

I pulled the swingarm off the 900 yesterday. I was going to head over to the high school to bend up the tubing for the bridge but I had a former student stop by and we chatted quite awhile. He just graduated from Ferris State with a B.S degree and starts a new job in about a week. He showed me his senior project - pretty impressive. Lots of engineering, what with finite element analysis, CAD drawings and the write-up. By the time he left and I ate lunch, I bailed out on going to school but no big thing - heading over this morning. Speaking of no big thing, check out the size of the rear tire in the photo. Puny little thing by today's standards but that was what you got in the late 70's even on a bike as big as the Kawasaki. 

Surly put up a post yesterday with some nice pics of Superbikes from back in the day. You can see they ran some bigger tires on aftermarket mag wheels but still nothing like what you get today. There's also a couple of nice shots there with the bikes leaned over where you can see the swingarm bridge clearly. Lot's of different approaches to going fast on those early Superbikes.

Like this BMW. Check out the mechanical anti-dive set-up on the front end to keep the cylinder heads from grounding. Clever, yes? Real good write up on the bike here. Dirt track racing is experiencing some of the same type of creative thinking these days with a variety of marques coming to the starting lines. Not just the 750 HD like it has been for years. I'm not sure what the figures are but once the English bikes were no longer competitive on the flat tracks, it was pretty much an all Harley show except for a few years when Honda decided they need to show the world they could be the best in anything they chose to compete in. And with guys like Ricky Graham and Bubba Shobert in the saddle, they were. 

Enough talking - off to the fabrication wars. After I pull the tarps off the garden, that is. Ninety degrees on Monday, thirty degrees on Thursday. Craziness.

Adjustable Wench?

I bought some new mower blades the other day and stuck them on yesterday afternoon. Certainly not my first go-around changing blades but because I'm a compulsive reader, I checked out the warning label and the tools required to perform the job: 15/16" socket or box wrench. No adjustable wench.

It's just as well. I don't have a boat wench, or a tavern wench, or any kind of wench, let alone an adjustable wench! I was kind of surprised to see the "R" left out on the label. The blades are premium quality made in the U.S.A. goods. The label was probably made by a young person who relies on the spellchecker too much.  

I do have a couple of trellis sections for my peas to climb up on now, however. I went over to the high school yesterday morning and borrowed a little space in the shop to knock these out real quick like. Not much to them. I bought a couple of panels of concrete reinforcing wire and some 3/8" rebar and tacked them  together. Took longer gabbing with some of the tech guys than it did to actually do the job. As you can see from the photo, I've got vegetables growing in the little squares. Seems to me things are going to get pretty crowded. Let's hope Mel knows what he's talking about.

I've got a few more chores around the house on tap today, depending on the weather. Definitely need to pull the swingarm off the 900 either today or tomorrow, so I can get the tubing bent for that job. Like always, steady by jerks.

J. S. M.

Surly has the story - check it out here.

When It's Round Up Time Again

It's that time of year again, when the farmer behind me waits for the wind to blow onto my property so he can spray chemicals onto my yard. This year it wasn't as bad as many of the past years but a guy really shouldn't have to be concerned about poisons being sprayed onto his rhubarb, fruit trees and all the rest of the foliage. It's a little hard to tell from the photos but in the top one you can see the top of the pine tree all withered up and curled over. Likewise the oak tree in the bottom photo suffering the effects from the spray. Most everything this year will bounce back, it wasn't blasted too hard, but wouldn't it be nice if the jackass would be a little more responsible?

The farmer does no-till farming, which basically means blast it with nasty-ass chemicals to kill the weeds, wait a couple of weeks and then plant, followed by more chemicals to control the weeds as necessary. I'm not sure what the first spray contains but it's some nasty stuff. The guy who farms my property chop stalks and chisel plows, and the weeds are not near the problem they are on the no-till field. He too uses chemicals but he's very responsible with them. Never so much as a blade of grass killed when he farms. I did a Google search on no-till for those of you unfamiliar with no-till farming practice and came across this. Seems it's not what it's been cracked up to be anyway. It's kind of ironic that I just re-read Gene Logsdon's The Contrary Farmer and here he is again - a voice of reason for sustainable agriculture as opposed to chemical farming. I think the guy behind me probably just does the no-till because he's too lazy to do anything else. This is the same guy who picks his beans in November and corn in December.

As I've mentioned before, my goal after retiring was to become pretty much self-sufficient. The vegan diet rules out animals as a protein source and I'm not going to have any rice paddies out front but I should be able to grow most of my own vegetables and a variety of tree and bramble crops. It would be nice if I could do that without worrying about some irresponsible doofus spraying Agent Orange or whatever the hell it is every spring.