Dr Copa

We knew that it was closing the doors forever in a few days, and we wanted to drop in and say goodbye, and see if there was any merchandise we could buy.

We feel very sorry for the owner of the shop, saying goodbye to his dream.  Bill is a very nice guy, and we will miss him.

We asked him what his plans are for generating income once his shop closes, and he said he doesn’t know.  Said something about needing to go on a business trip for a month, and needing an operation, so he will be out of the market for a couple of months.

We asked him for his personal phone number so that maybe in a few months we could go riding together, and he gave it to us.

I wanted to buy a pair of motorcycle boots from him, but he didn’t have my size, what a disappointment!  Everything in the store was 50% off, I was hoping to pick up a bargain. 

I DID buy an air filter for my Harley, and my wife found three die-cast replicas of some Harleys that she thought I’d like to buy.  She was right, I bought them.  I like collecting die-cast replicas of cars, trucks, motorcycles, helicopters, stuff like that.  They were on sale at $3.00 each, so how could I lose?

I don’t know if we will actually see Bill again or not, I hope so.  Regardless, I wish him well in whatever he does.

I just found out recently that the motorcycle shop that I bought my bike is shutting it doors forever.  The owner told me that he had only been open five years, but sales have been declining over the past couple of years, and before he loses any more money he is going to shut the doors.

I’m not sure if he didn’t do enough advertising, or what, because every time I went to buy something there (owning a Harley) I would always go to the Harley shop first and then go there his prices were half (or extremely more reasonable) than the Harley dealership was.

He also had a great mechanic who was a whiz.  This guy could fix anything!  He always took the extra step to look the bike over, no matter what it came in for.  He had really great accessories for bikes, as well as clothing.  He had good prices on helmets, jackets, boots, accessories, and was very well versed in everything that he sold.

It seems like every time I find a good place with good prices down here they seem to be shutting the doors.  I don’t know what is up with that, but I sure will miss that place!

I went out yesterday and started my bike for the first time in three months.  Boy did it sound good!  I gave it a quick coat of wax and checked all of the fluids.  I got out the manual and read it all over to check for things I might have to do for it for spring maintenance to get it ready to ride.  There were very few things that I have to do to it.  I would like to buy some new tires for it this year, and a set of riding lights for the front, but I could get by without either this year. 

The longest thing it took me to do this spring was to individually clean and wax all the spokes on my wheels, but I didn’t mind doing it!  All I have is time right now, and spending time with my Harley is something I enjoy doing.  I probably won’t be able to take my first ride until around Memorial Day, but it will be worth the wait because when I start riding it I’m not going to stop until the first snowflake falls.

Spring is just around the corner!  I just can’t wait to get outside and do some walking and smell Mother Nature!

I noticed just the other day just how many birds have started to come back from their winter homes.

The trees are starting to bud, the days are getting longer and longer, the air smells fresh, and all the little flowers are starting to pop up through the ground.

I planted several crepe myrtles last year and I’m anxious to see how they are going to do this spring!

We were having a major windstorm where I live the other day.  Then it turned to rain.  About the same time I got an email from my sister, who is serving in Iraq, defending our wonderful country.

She told me at the same time they were having one of the worst sandstorms they have ever had over there.  She said when we have white-outs over here when it is snowing, when the wind is blowing sand over there you can’t see five feet over there either.  I found that quite interesting because if it is snowing hard like that here you can still walk down to the mailbox to get the mail, over there, with the wind blowing the sand so hard you can’t walk ten feet because the sand blowing on you hurts so badly.

So hopefully they don’t have very many sandstorms over there, as opposed to all of the rainstorms we have over here.  It seems that where I live now, it is almost 60 degrees every day, it seems like over there the average is 110 degrees.  Like I said, different countries, different climates.  It is a strange world we live in!

I was going to build a new carport to put my vehicles and lawn mowers under to keep them out of the weather.  But driving around several days in a row I found about eight different kinds, all sizes, shapes and colors.  One of the cool things about them is that you can build them anywhere you want (although they do require a building permit in our county to put them up!) You can have one, two, four sides, anything you want!  You can put lights in them.  It takes three to six weeks to have one installed on your property, and most everyplace I went only required 10% down and you pay the balance to the people who come and install it for you.  What a deal!  I look forward to getting one of those put up this summer.

Everywhere I go people seem to have some kind of fancy gate at the end of their driveway.  Well, I guess it’s my turn to put up my fancy gates.  About five years ago I built a set for the end of my driveway, but never got them installed.  So when I moved down here I brought them with me.  They’ve collected a little bit of rust, but what gates don’t?  As soon as I repaint them and pour some concrete pillars I will be installing them at the end of my driveway.  I’m going to paint them flat black.  I might even put an electric opener on them.  At the same time, I’m going to install a remote alarm at the end of the driveway so I’ll be able to tell if anyone is coming up to the house.  I can’t wait! 

Before we moved here, I had made a nice game room in our house in New England.  When we found the house we wanted down here and moved one of the obstacles was sectioning off the basement so that I could have my own game room in this house.  It will require wiring, partitioning off around the furnace and making an area big enough for my pool table, television and sofa.  I also want to put in a bathroom, starting with a toilet and sink, and maybe putting in a shower later on.

There’s plenty of room so I’ll start by painting the floor and putting in a new suspended, soundproofed ceiling.  I may also build a small mini-bar off to the side.  We’ll also have a microwave oven there to pop popcorn.  Some of my friends like a little toddy and snacks when they come over to watch the football games or Nascar races.

I may even put a slide in window in one wall so I can slide things in from one room to another.  I have to have a space on one side to reroute all of my wiring and cabling.  I’ve just started plans, so I have a long ways to go, but I’m sure that with a little bit of time it will all come together and work out just fine.

I want to pick out some crazy colors, maybe even paint a flag on one wall.  It’s that or hang a flag up that my sister sent me from Iraq, I’m not sure which I’m going to do yet.

My wife always likes to try something new.   She gets bored doing the same thing over and over again.  Especially when it comes to cooking.  She’ll eat most anything. I, on the other hand, am considered “fussy” although I don’t think I’m fussy at all!  I’ll always eat meat and potatoes! 

Today is one of her “let’s try something new” days.  Today she is cooking some type of pork chop recipe using the crock pot.  Well, I do love pork chops, so I guess I’ll give this one a try, especially since she is leaving out the onions.

I do like to try something new from time to time, and this recipe is from a new cookbook she just got.  I hope we have some real good potatoes, and something different for a vegetable to go with this new pork chop recipe of hers.  When it comes to eating something new, I don’t know how “new” you can get potatoes, but there are certain types of potatoes that I like no matter, what.  Boiled, mashed, or baked, served with butter.  No chives or anything fancy added!   So when I’m trying one of her “new recipes,” I always enjoy the potatoes, no matter what else she is cooking. 

New food is always good to try, as long as she stays away from the onions and green peppers.  Unfortunately, that is what makes the food taste good, (according to most people,) but I just don’t like them!  So, new food for me, unfortunately, has to be made with no onions and no green peppers.  But I usually enjoy new food anyway, and I will try most anything, which pleases my wife when she is in one of her “let’s try something new for supper tonight” moods.

Some people shoot guns, some people shoot for the stars!  I shoot pool.  It’s a great game, it relieves tension and I seem to be pretty good at it.  Never thought I’d be as good as I am, but it just seems to come naturally to me.  Some of my friends won’t shoot pool with me anymore because they can’t beat me, but they’re always bringing their friends over to challenge me!

When I moved from Maine two years ago, I left my pool table behind.  It was just too difficult to move down here.  I thought I’d never have another one, and my heart was broken.  One day my wife and I were out shopping at a local thrift store (she’s always shopping at thrift stores) we had heard about.  We were so surprised to find in a corner of the store, leaning against the wall, a disassembled slate pool table, with all the works!  But of course, someone else’s name was already on it, it was reserved for that person to pick it up and buy it.  We asked if we could be notified if that person did not come to get it, could we reserve it, and they said yes. 

Much to our surprise, they called us two days later, said for us to come and get it!  When we got there, there were three other names underneath ours!  We weren’t long paying for it and getting it.  They delivered it to our house the next day.  I shoot pool as much as possible.

As my wife & I watched yesterday’s NASCAR race in Atlanta, we were saddened by the misfortune of Carl Edward’s loss of the race due to mechanical problems.  It looked like he had the race “in the bag.”  What a huge disappointment it must have been for him, his team, and his fans, to lose the race after such a valiant effort he made throughout the race to keep getting into the leading position.  We are glad that he is safe, however, to race another day.

My wife was also very surprised, later in the race, to hear Tony Stewart and Dale Earnhardt Jr criticizing race sponsor Goodyear’s tires!    I knew that Tony Stewart has been a long time critic of Goodyear tires, but my wife was shocked to hear a driver criticize one of the race’s sponsors!  We can’t imagine that kind of bad press makes Goodyear too happy!

3-D puzzles, who would’ve thought?  I’ve put a lot of puzzles together in my time, but boy was I surprised at Christmas when I got a 3-D puzzle.  I didn’t know WHERE to begin!  After reading the instructions three times, I started in.  It was a puzzle of a train station, with little cardboard figures.  It took about twice as long to put together, but it looked pretty sharp when I was done.  My next one is going to be of the Pentagon!

when it comes to food.  I disagree.  Just give me a salad with only lettuce and cucumber slices, a steak (cooked medium,) a baked potato, sweet peas, a dinner roll, some butter and A-1 steak sauce.  And a mudslide and a glass of milk to drink!  Nothing fussy about that!  I’m a plain and simple man!  Is that too hard to ask?  I think not!

I don’t want any fancy-dancy dishes with gourmet sauces.  Just plain ol’ meat and potatoes!

And whatever you do, do NOT, I repeat do NOT let me catch you putting onions or green peppers anywhere NEAR my food!

I have a daughter that lives in New England.  She is a county deputy police officer.  She is soon to be a State police officer.  She has been invited to try out for the SWAT team.

I’m very proud of her!

I’ve been looking for a new hat for a year now.  Last week I went to the Harley Davidson shop to see if they had anything I wanted.  Lo and behold, I found what I wanted on the rack, first time around, and purchased it.  It fits great, feels great, looks great.  I’ve gotten a lot of compliments on my hat since I purchased it.  Since I ride a Harley, and enjoy Harley memorabilia, it seems to fit right in.I’ve been looking for a new hat for a year now.  Last week I went to the Harley Davidson shop to see if they had anything I wanted.  Lo and behold, I found what I wanted on the rack, first time around, and purchased it.  It fits great, feels great, looks great.  I’ve gotten a lot of compliments on my hat since I purchased it.  Since I ride a Harley, and enjoy Harley memorabilia, it seems to fit right in. 

I have some new eyes.  It’s a pair of binoculars with a built in camera.  I’ve seen these in the stores for years, always wanted some, but couldn’t afford any.  I also like to watch birds a lot.  I’ve been laid up for the past several months due to an auto accident and severe back injuries.  Fortunately, I am able to be recovering from these injuries at home.  Everyday whether sitting by the window, or walking down to the mailbox, I see lots of birds.  I love to watch birds.  I love to take pictures of birds.  But with no income for processing camera pictures, etc., I have had to be content with just watching the birds and hoping that some day I would have some money to buy film, or to replace my missing binoculars that got lost during our move here.

Back to my new eyes….  Last night, I was sitting at the table, getting ready to eat supper.  (I cook supper frequently, as my wife works and is tired when she gets home.)  I was sitting at the table when my wife surprised me with a new pair of binoculars with a built-in-camera that she put in front of me.  I was extremely shocked and happy; now I can watch the birds and take pictures from a distance with my new eyes.  And, I can download the pictures onto the computer to share the pictures with my family.

Had a nice visit with my mother – she was so surprised to see me!   She was so happy she cried!  (Well, at least she SAID it was because she was so happy!)  While I was up there, there was a pretty big snow storm.  They have had a lot of snow this winter!  I took a few pictures of her house, which was pretty well hidden/buried from all of the snow!