Higgins' 29th Annual Toy Run

A few of us did the annual Higgins' toy run yesterday.  The temps were cool but the turnout was great.  Having a run this late in the year means there aren't any other runs going on to bleed off participants.  And, as Matty said; it weeds out the idiots and warm-temp-warriors who don't know how to ride.

Nelly had hoped to join us for the run but his bike wasn't cooperating.  He still took the time to swing by my house and drop off his toy for the kids.  Which of course, I strapped to the back of my bike for the ride over.

I got a few looks from people on my way over to the Post, but that's nothing new.

Doolo, Matt and Artie were there when I arrived.  Unfortunately, Artie's bike is also giving him some troubles, so he was out for the day, but he also had toys to hand off for us to donate for him.

Dale arrived soon after, and we were off.  We headed to the ending location first to drop off our toys and to register for the feed that would happen later.  There were already a few toys lined up but we knew the stash would certainly grow in size before the day was over.

When we pulled in, there were already quite a few bikes lined up, which was great to see.  Damn the temps, this is for the kids!!

Ed and Susan live close to the 49'ers club so they just met us here.  We'd beaten them by a few minutes, so by the time the got inside, the rest of us already had a beer...er...a soda in our hands.  Despite our protestations, Ed was determined that we each get a new one.  He's good like that.

We had to pound those pretty quickly because the run was taking off in a few minutes.  Thankfully we're seasoned pros and it wasn't an issue.

The run itself was good; only about 30 miles, but scenic, relatively straight, and the traffic we tied up seemed to understand what was going on.

When we pulled in to the Commercial Club (ending spot), the lot filled up quickly and folks headed inside to get in line for libations and food.

Doolo had to head back to the Post for the meat raffle, so we bade him well and then headed inside ourselves.  The food line was already almost out the door, but we took our places and moved up until we finally held bowls of sustenance in our hands (all you can eat chowder, chili and beef stew!)

All the tables inside were jammed up so we headed outside to the picnic tables.  Things were much calmer here and we got to kick back and enjoy our feed without being jostled about by the crowd.

When we'd finished eating and had kicked back for a bit, we decided to head back to the Post and catch the end of the meat raffle, and the first half of the Pats game.

I stopped to snap a pic of the toy collection - pretty impressive, once again!

On the way through the parking lot, there was on bike...er; trike that caught my eye.  Why a trike?  Because of the mill that was running it.  Love me some Shovelhead!

It was an uneventful ride back to the Post, and that was just fine with us.  We headed in, found a spot to stand (and eventually sit), and I even managed to win a bundle of meat, which wasn't shabby at all.

At half time, we broke off into our own directions and headed for home to catch the 2nd half...and to just about have full-on heart attacks before they managed to finally seal the with in the final seconds.

Good friends, lots of laughs, and lots of toys and cash were raised for some kids that really need the love at this time of year.

It was a great day.

Ride Hard, Take Chances

Bentley's Saloon!!

I'd heard many good things about Bentley's from buddies that have gone before, but I'd never made it up myself.  Well, that all changed this year, as me and some of the guys headed up for a camping weekend.  That's right, Baby; motorcycle camping in October!

As it turns out, the weather blessed us with clear skies for the most part, and seasonable temps.  Well ok, not so seasonable; a cold front moved in on that Friday, plunging the temps far below what they had (or should have) been.  No matter!  We're fearless bikers!  We thumb our noses at the elements!  (Well, I did.  The other chose to sleep indoors, but no matter, we all had fun!)

The ride up on Friday was smooth and uneventful for me, Artie and Greg.  (Dan and Ed weren't able to make it up on Friday night with us, but did show up early on Saturday morning.)

Artie and Greg had reserved one of the "motel~ish" rooms on-site so we got them checked in and then I headed out back to the camping area.  I'd asked at the check-in office what areas were for tenting, and she'd marked a couple of areas on the map, saying "You're the only tent this weekend, so set up wherever you like."  Sweet!

Entering the camping area out back, I immediately took a liking to the site right near the entrance.  Flat land, a few trees, right on the road for easy access.  Nice!  They even had water and electric hookups, which seemed like overkill to me, but what the hell.  I'd heard great things about this place, and it sure was delivering!

I got the tent set up and soon Artie and Greg arrived, and we all marveled at my sweet home-sweet-home.

 

It was a bit early to start hitting the wobbly-pops, so we decided to go for a ride.  A quick check at the office on the best way to get to the ocean, and we were off.

Man, that didn't disappoint, either.  Talk about beautiful!!

The tide was on its way out and I didn't have to wait long at all before being able to climb on those rocks and check out the various tidal pools.  I love the ocean when the sun isn't blasting down on me!

From there, we rode around the coast a bit and checked out the ramshackle abodes along the water's edge (IE: mansions).  Man, some of these folks really live the lifestyle.

After a while, we hit the roadways and wound our way back to Bentley's.  Feeling strangely content, we still opted to hold off on the bar scene for a bit, and chose instead to head back out and see if we could find a Legion to belly up to.  We'd passed one on our way back, but hadn't gotten a real good look at it because it was off to our side as we'd banked a corner.

Well, it turns out we hadn't missed much...

A Friday night and nobody home.  WTH??
Well, there's gotta be others in the area, let's check Google.  Yep; sure enough; there's one in the next town over, and it should only take us about 20 minutes to get there.

Damn...

Another Post, buttoned up tight on a Friday night.  Man, business must be pretty bad around here!

Rather than wasting more time and gas, we scoured the Interwebs again and found two more Posts that were semi-within our area.  We tried calling them both, but nobody picked up.  Holy shite.  0 - 4 on the night.  Well, nothing much else to do but head back to Bentley's.  Our stomachs were more than ready for dinner...

And the drinks that come with it....

The main bar area is pretty big; kinda looks like a hunting cabin with all the exposed pine boards (which I love!), but that's about as far as the hunting lodge comparison goes.  Because this place has motorcycles hanging from the ceiling, amongst (what we estimated to be about) 400 bras.  Yay, bras on the ceiling!!

The band came out to do a sound check...that lasted for about an hour.  Which was entirely unnecessary because the place isn't that big.  Once they were happy with how things sounded, they dove right in to their first song.  It was ok, poppy country~ish, but whatever.  When in Rome.

After that song, they disappeared again.  Huh?  Ok, maybe musicians take a lot of breaks up here, I dunno.

After another hour long absence, they returned.  But this time they were all sporting tight jeans, fashion-forward shirts and fancy cowboy hats.  What happened to their comfy jeans, t-shirts, and baseball caps?  I guess they like dressing up and playing Cowboy for the crowd.  Bunch of posers.  And the music?  Egads, it was terrible.  The name of the band was "Good Question", and I envisioned them earning that name from someone walking up and asking "Are you guys for real"? and they answer' "Good Question".

Anyway, we had fun, the place got quite jammed up and the drinks were flowing well.  When the evening got long in the tooth, we decided we'd had enough for the day and settled up.  I said my goodbyes to Artie and Greg, hopped on the bike and rolled to the camping area out back.

When I got to where my tent was...er...had been...there was nothing but an entire row of campers.  Huh?  Am I in the wrong spot?  (I know I haven't had THAT much to drink...or have I??).  No, I'm pretty sure it was right....wait...am I in the right spot?  Yeah...I am...so where is my...

Setting my kickstand, I ambled between a couple of the campers to the open area with the fire and all the guys gathered round.  They looked at me inquisitively, and I at them.
"Did you guys happen to see a tent around here?"
     "Oh, that was yours?"
"It sure was...why isn't it here still?"
     "You set up in the wrong spot.  These are trailer spots."
"Huh...well, that would explain the water and electrical hookups."
     "But don't worry; we moved your stuff very carefully!  It's right over there..."

(Sure enough, they'd set me up in the actual camping spot about 20' further back, nice and neat, with everything just like I had it, even my camp chair.)

"Oh...ok, cool, thanks."
     "You want a beer?"
"Why yes, yes I do."

And that's how I wound up staying up another two hours past what I'd planned on, on Friday night.  (And it's also why I was hung over on Saturday morning.)

After breakfast, I hung out with Artie and Greg in their room for a bit (meaning; I napped for about 20 minutes).  My phone rings, it's Dan; he and Ed (and a couple of other guys) have arrived and are in the camping area.  Cool, let's go meet up!

We caught up with the crew, they'd found my tent and were deciding on where to set theirs up.  Dan was going to sleep in his monster trike (those who have seen it, will understand), and Ed was looking to pick a spot.  After discussion with Scott, the other guy who was going to tent with him, they decided to skip the tent and sleep inside; Ed would sleep on the floor of the camper that Artie and Greg had for the night, and Scott was going to sleep inside the van that Dan's uncle had driven up in.  So that left just lil' ol' me sleeping in the cold.  Oh well, less chance of me stumbling out and peeing on someone else's tent in the middle of the night.

We all got settled in, went out and did some riding (checked out the coast again), picked up some beer and firewood, and headed back to the site.  Cold beer and a hot campfire.  Afternoons don't get much better than that.  Well, except for the hail.  Yes, it was that cold; it actually hailed on us as we were gathered 'round the fire.   Did I mention that it was cold this weekend?

When the sounds wafting up from the Saloon, proper, began getting decently loud, we cleaned up and headed over.  Holy crap!  They really pack this place in!  They have huge parking areas, and it looked like every spot was already taken.  There were even vehicles parked on the grass, bikes tucked two-to-a-spot, etc.  The bar inside was beyond jammed, and the huge outside area was jamming, too.  Bands inside, bands outside, bars inside, bars outside, women inside, women...well...you get the idea.

Unlike the night before, we lasted until last call this night.  (I think we did, anyway?)  Artie, Ed and Greg got settled in to their camper thing and then I rode back to my tent.  Everyone else was out, so I tucked myself into my sleeping bag and welcomed the cool night air - great for sleeping, no matter how much your breath crystalizes from the plummeting temps.

Sunday morning, myself, Artie and Greg had to hit the highway early to get back for a meat raffle at the Post.  Ed and Dan headed out with us, while the other two guys opted to sleep in a little bit longer.

The ride home was also smooth and uneventful, and that was most welcome.  Nothing like going hard for two days and then having to deal with a bunch of nonsense traffic when you just want to get where you're going.

So there you have it; my first Bentley's excursion.  It sure as hell won't be my last, and I'm already looking ahead to making this an annual thing.

For those that haven't checked Bentley's out yet, I cannot recommend it enough.  For those that have gone before; when are we going again??

Ride Hard, Take Chances

Costume Creation

The Cognex work party has come and gone.  I did quite well - all day long, folks were coming up and telling me that my Scarecrow costume was the best they had EVER seen at Cognex (we've been doing this contest thing for over 20 years, so that's not a shabby compliment).

At the after-party, where the winners get announced, I had folks that didn't even work at Cognex coming up and asking to take pictures with me, and saying how awesome it was.  Sweet!

So I was buying in to the whole thing pretty deeply by the time the winners were announced.  How did I do?  2nd place.  Say what?  Yep; I lost to a semi-exec that is a favorite of the owner (he makes the final decision over what order the winners are).  I literally thought the crowd was going to start changing Bull Shit!  Bull Shit!  but apparently we all like being employed too much to do that.

For the rest of the night, I did have coworkers coming up and telling me that I got royally f'd over, and now back at work this week, I keep having folks coming and saying the same thing.  So it eases the pain a little bit, knowing that everyone else knows I got jobbed.

But enough about that, on to more fun things.  Saturday (Halloween, proper), I brought the costume over to Ed & Susan's for the annual driveway Trick or Treat party.  Matty, Bill and Tara, and some other friends of theirs showed up as well and we got lots of laughs out of utilizing the scarecrow.  Some of the little kids were too scared to get close until I'd pull the mask off and hunker down to say hello.  Others would walk right up to me, asking questions ("Is that a real bird?", "Are you really that tall?"), which was awesome.  One little girl, dressed as a magician, raised her staff at me and shouted "I command you to DANCE!", so I started hopping about, exclaiming that I didn't know what was going on, and why were my legs moving on their own.  She loved it and it put her at ease.

Then there was the group of tweens who came in, got their candy and marveled at the costume, then mosied on down the street to other houses.  On their way back, they called down the driveway, saying things like "We're not afraid of you, Scarecrow!".  Well, that was all well and good until I started up the driveway after them.  I wasn't running, but with those stilts on, my strides were covering a lot of ground, and in no time, I was chasing them down the street.  All in good fun!  They were screaming and laughing and I was doing my best not to get going so fast that I flopped forward onto my face (my arms were still outstretched to the sides, due to the wooden handle across my shoulders).

How about some pics?  I took a few of the headpiece as I was making it, and here are also some pics from the party, and from Halloween...

Here's near the starting point.  I'd bought the face mask, stapled it to a hat, and then stapled burlap around it.

 I didn't like the simple edging against the mask, it looked too much like an English knight's armor or something.

So I took pieces of burlap, crunched them up until the threads were pointing in different directions, and then glued them to the edges.

I next had to glue the rope around the neck.  The first piece was the hardest to figure out.  It took me several tries before I was able to mark where I wanted it to go, and then glue it into place.  After that, the next two pieces (three, total), were easy to glue on.

 

Nice.  Now we're getting somewhere.

But the neck flared too much.  I needed something to hold the back together so the headpiece would be more form-fitting around my head.

So a bit of Velcro near the top, and some wire to hold the edges of rope together...

 

...and I was good to go.

 

 I was all done with the headpiece and taking a break for the night.  Made and ate dinner, and was doing the dishes in the kitchen...when I had a feeling I was being watched.  I looked over at the headpiece, half expecting it to now be looking at me (creeeeepy!!), but nope, it was still facing the opposite direction.

But as I looked at it, I still had the feeling it was looking at me...and then I saw it.  (Click on the pic to enlarge it and then look at the TV screen...)

Ok, well...let's go out to the porch and get moving on the legs, shall we?

This part wasn't hard, but it did take some time.  I'd picked up some corn stalks from Home Depot and had to cut them a bit, so that I'd stand high enough to not be obscured by them.

Here's one leg done, and one leg to go.  (Did I mention that with the stilts on, I stood 7.5 feet tall?  It was awesome to be tall for a change!)

My last post showed you how it looked from the front.  Here's a look from the back (LOL, my friend Ann felt it was necessary to take this pic.)  I couldn't walk with my arms out to the side because it would have been too wide for the hallways.

 And now on to Ed & Susan's Halloween night party.  Here's a few shots that Ed took of me in their graveyard.  I cropped the last one down to get a closer look at things.

Man, this was so much fun!  There were kids (and adults) who began showing up, asking about the Scarecrow they'd been hearing about.  And, later when I was home, Susan texted me to say they had some friends come by late-night who were inquiring about the "Scarecrow at Ed & Susan's house".  Apparently word had made it around the neighborhood!  So I think it's safe to say that I will be breaking this costume out again next year.

So there you go.  My Halloween costume for this year.  It's definitely my favorite costume so far.  I wonder if I can top it (for my work party) next year...

One last pic, from my work party.  I stood in a corner and struck the pose.  With the lighting off to the sides, people thought I was just a prop...up until I moved.  Then they'd jump.  Which was awesome.  :-)

Fright Hard, Get (scared) Glances!

All Hallow's Eve

So today is my work party-day.  Everyone dresses up in costumes and the general populace votes on their favorites.  Then there's a party off-site after work hours and the votes are tabulated...and then the execs toss out the vote numbers and rank the winners in order that they like them (usually company product themed costumes get ranked high.  (shrug)  It's a process I've come to accept, and I don't play that game, I like to do my own thing.  So enough about the process, here's this year's offering...

First up; the poem/poster I created to put up around work (lots of folks put up flyers to drum up interest/awareness of their costume).

Here's a pic of the headpiece I put together...

And here are the legs; plastering stilts with corn stalks zip tied to them...

And here's how the costume came out...

I added bloodied gloves and a broom handle with a crow on it.  Not too shabby.

I haven't fallen yet while walking around, but the day is still young.  I'm about to head out a bit early with the rest of the fun people and hit the bar for a bit of priming before the work party.  I gotta be sure to go easy, though.  Nothing will ruin my chances of winning faster than wiping out half of the execs up on stage.

Or maybe that will help?

At least in years to come, folks would be like; Remember that year that Dave took out the President, CEO and CFO with his costume?  Yeah, that was hilarious!  I wonder where he's working now...

Tomorrow I'm headed to Ed & Susan's for their annual driveway trick-or-treat shindig and I'll wear whatever is left of this costume to that.  So wish me luck.

Everyone have a happy, safe, and SKEERY HALLOWEEN!!

No Glove, No Love

Gonna be another quick one today.  Short on time and need to get outta here so I can finish up my costume for tomorrow's annual Halloween day/party extravaganza.  And, the Pats are on tonight and they'll be kicking some Dolphin ass up and down the field - hopefully!  Lynner will owe me a beer if we win!

So anyway; on to the glove thing.  The tan fingerless riding gloves I've been using for the past 6 or 8 years have pros and cons.  The pros are that they look great (I think), and I've never seen anyone else wearing a set like them, which I like even more.  The cons are that, to be honest; they are kinda thin and wouldn't offer much protection if I went down.  Being thin also lends to them wearing out sooner than a sturdier glove would.  And one more con; I've always had a tough time finding replacements when the ones I have, finally wear out.  The only place I could ever find them was at the Keene swap meet.  On-line?  Oh believe me; I've looked.  I had the brand name, size, model, etc.  And all I could ever find was huge lots of the Medium size.  I wear the Large size (thanks Dad)  :-D

But anyway, after yet another trip up to the swap meet and having no luck finding them once again, I realized that I needed to improvise.  So, I began searching hardware stores, on-line welding supply places, etc.  Looking for a beefy leather glove, in tan, that would work for what I needed.

Low and behold, I found what I was looking for at my corner Ace hardware store.  Sweet!  But they needed a little tweaking...

First up; the latest pair of the gloves I've been using for years...

They look mummified!  Like they were peeled off of some ancient Egyptian biker or something.

Next up; the new gloves...

Now what the F...the pic is loading upside down.  Let me try and fix it...nope, no luck.  Sorry...

The tweaking they needed was to measure the angle of the finger/fingerless and cut the new gloves to match.  Voila!

Dammit...this one's upside down, too.

Oh well, if you click on 'em to expand 'em, you'll get the idea.

These gloves are thick and sturdy.  And the stitching is top-notch.  I meant to put a few drops of Super Glue onto the spots where I'd scissored right through the stitching, but I didn't get around to it for a few months (yes, that's how long ago I made these gloves).  The stitching held for quite a while, even though it was no longer tied off at all, since I'd cut the fingertips off.  Only about a week ago did I finally break down and get some Super Glue, because the seams had started to spread just a wee bit.  I just lined up the seams, applied a little line of glue, held them in place with a binder clip for about a minute, and they were rock solid.

There ya go.  No need to drop a ton of dough on a good set of gloves when for short money you can pick up a set of normal work gloves and turn 'em into something that nobody else has...

...unless they read this blog and decide they like them.  Or that they're gonna make a pair of these just to bust my chops...

Not that I know anyone that would do that...

Ride Hard, Take Chances

Chipmunker

I know, I know; I've been an absentee blogger.  I've been jammed up with the budget season but you don't want to hear that, you want to hear motorcycle stories and tales of adventure.  Well, I hadn't been having any of those so there was no need to bother (bore) you with nonsensical whining about my long work hours.

I will try and get you caught up on Monday with some of the non-work stuff which has started to appear again, things like the Bentley's camping weekend last weekend (fun!), or the new gloves I got (Not exciting for you, but I love 'em), etc.

So why not get you caught up now?  Because it's almost quitting time and I'm thirsty as hell.  But I will leave you with one little observation I had on the way in this morning, which is the reason for the odd title on this post.

Taking back roads on the way in this morning, I kept seeing chipmunks darting across the street.  One of them even almost ran right under my front tire, the stupid little varmint.  I guess all the leaves that have fallen (and are lining the lawns and edges of the roadways) offer these guys more cover than they're used to, so they're getting more bold about just darting across open pavement.  Well that's all well and good, but it's downright dangerous for the little buggers.

Ok Dave, that's great and all, but what's with the "er" on the end of the blog title?

Well, as these things kept darting back and forth, some pausing at different intervals, others just blasting straight across, it reminded me of the old video game "Frogger" where you had to move your frog across the street in between traffic.  Except now it was with chipmunks.  So I give you; Chipmunker.

You're welcome.

Ride Hard, Take Chances

Singin' the Budget Blues

It's Sunday - the sun is shining, the temps are in the low 50's, and the roadways are clear and calling.  Unfortunately, it's budget season which means instead of our enjoying the highways and byways, I'm sitting here at work.

I think all the time about retiring so that I can get away from this nonsense...

...but then I remember that I like beer and food, and if I retire, I won't be able to afford either of those...

...so it's back to the spreadsheets.

Ride Hard, Ignore the beautiful day outside...