That's a big tree, and so it makes me damn glad that Belle DID NOT buy a house that's too big, but just big enough for us. Cause that means we don't have a huge lawn to maintain front and back, which consequentially means we don't have a huge lawn FOR ME to maintain front and back.
I wish I could buy a leaf blower, but I refuse to stockpile our single-car garage with tools or toys that would only see annual use. (And believe me, there are A LOT of tools and toys I'd want to have, not the very least of which is a chainsaw!)
So a plastic rake it is. At the very least, it's good exercise for me.
We're coming up on the closeout for 2011, but I'm not ready to summarize it yet, because I have yet to put the cherry up top for this year. I won't be until Christmas Eve, but until then, I just have to look at this magnificent tree shedding its bountiful leaves of this past season, full of color, getting ready to do it all over again for next year.
If this damn tree's still up for it in all its good years, there's no reason I shouldn't be when I'm just heading into my thirties.
Bring it on, Tree.
Bring it on.
Around this time last year, I was elated to have been crash-free (at the track) for 2010.
Since taking up motorcycle track riding back in 2007 (I think), I had not been without a track crash at least once per season in my attempt to be better and inherently go faster on my motorcycle, up until last year that is. Admittedly, being crash-free at the track was a goal I was striving for when I decided to do less and less trackdays every season; this was my way of decreasing the odds of me having an incident, mitigating danger from an already dangerous hobby. I also wanted to preserve my passion for the sport, and as is with a lot of things I take interest in, I always firmly believed that I end up disliking anything I liked if I did them often enough (with the exclusion of Belle and Rusty, of course!). It was just the nature of my beast.
However, in continuing last year's streak, I am crash-free for 2011! I can say this now since I've figuratively parked my bike from any more trackdays this year, and I may have only done four trackdays this year (the lowest that number's ever been!), but it's not for a lack of
trying to crash per se; I've gone faster at Thunderhill Raceway this year than I've ever had in all seasons I've been at this favorite track of mine (see previous entry).
Unlike last year though, and unlike my current clean streak at the racetrack, I did have
an incident on the streets this year.
It could've been a lot worse, and I'm not just saying that. But what was more important about that incident was that it reaffirmed to me just how good the good people I have already met truly are.
I had planned on making a winter project out of repainting the blemished panels of the bike with the help of my good friend Jeff, who had recently taken up DIY-painting after having done a set of track fairings for himself. He had agreed to help me in the process seeing as he had more quantifiable experience than me, and the tools to do the deed. We just needed the right color code for the red and white used on the paint, so I dropped by Bob Hope's paint shop again, firstly to catch up with him on the fantastic season I had had with the bike, thanks in no small part to his generous and fantastic work on the paint job. After hearing my account of the street incident resulting in the rashed panels, and after having looked at the damage, he offered to repaint it himself rather than just providing us with the color code of the paints he used. I wasn't expecting this, and even though he once gave me a generous price when he painted the whole bike, I did not expect him to repeat this generosity when he told me how much he'd repaint the damage fairings this time around.
Bob didn't need to do anything more than he already has to convince me that his was a giant heart amongst mediocre men. Yet he continues to be like that big tree in our front yard, standing tall and ready to give all he can at every blow of fortune's wind, even at the misfortune of others.
Admittedly, I had once thought to also preserve the bodywork on my bike by implanting them on a rolling chassis (a non-running motorcycle) of my bike, and just park it in my living room.
But it still stands that the very people responsible for helping me make a picture that was in my head a rolling reality, continues to make me proud to run their colors every time that I can, just as much as my personal underlying sentiment in this whole thing does.
I walk with gentle giants amongst
these men. :)
