The Truff is no longer showing even the slightest bit of fear around Morty. In fact, I saw her chase him once. Not in any aggressive sort of way, but it was playful. She still doesn't want much to do with him, but when he sniffs at her, she only takes a step and then turns around to face him. For the most part, she has been following him around, and he is being somewhat protective of her when they are outside. That is of course unless he is playing fetch with a tennis ball. He barrels through the yard at high speed, while skillfully avoiding her if she is in his path. She just looks at him like he's crazy.
I mentioned that Morty likes sleeping on the couch now, and that is his spot. Here is a picture of what he looks like sprawled out on the couch.
Ok, so he only lays like that when he sees me coming to pet him. That is his spot though, and he is there as I type this. I learned a few more things since Tuesday about Morty. I have had to set an alarm for 2:30 in the morning, so that I can let him out. He did have an accident one night because I didn't wake up to take him out. I don't want to do that clean up job again, so I will gladly wake up for 15 minutes or so, emphasis on the or so, to avoid that natural disaster.
The other thing I learned was on our walk last night. There were several times that we came across other dogs. The first was two large dogs in a backyard, that just barked and barked and barked. Morty paid them no attention what so ever. He just went about his business walking and sniffing. I was so proud of him for that. The other occasion was a gentleman walking his small dog in the street. Morty and I had to walk in the street as well because there was no sidewalk on our side, and the gentleman was crossing to the other side of the street at the time. Morty did take some interest in the small dog. It wasn't anything more than a desire to go over and meet this new dog. It didn't take much to redirect him either. He was better on the leash and didn't pull as much, so when I gave him a slight tug and told him to, "come on", he did with only a little hesitation. Once again, I was a proud pitbull daddy.
I may take him to this little downtown area tomorrow and walk along the river with him. It will give me a chance to see how he interacts with other people. I don't see him having any problems, but I'm going to keep a good grip on his leash when we go there.
As you may have guessed by the fact that I will be taking Morty for a walk in that little downtown area, I am off tomorrow. Yep, another short week in the books, but I was kind of hoping for this one. Since my nights have been disturbed by waking up in the middle of the night to let Morty go outside, I am exhausted. I've been a walking zombie all day today, and was only picked up briefly for my guitar lesson. I learned Little Red Corvette by Prince today. I don't know that I've put as much emphasis on my Prince fandom on here as I did the 365, but if you have been following along since those days, you know very well, that I am giant fan of The Purple One. I have the Love Symbol tattooed on my left rib cage, and it was worth every bite of pain. This is a poor representation of the Love Symbol Ƭ̵̬̊ but that will give you a small idea of what it looks like. I could probablydig up a picture for you. I think I will.
There you have the real deal McGraw right there. Form my experience, it hurt like hell to get my ribs done, and I thought I would never do it again after that, but then went with the Bowie tattoo on the other side. I'm truly happy with both of them, and glad the I got them, and also glad that I don't have to do my ribs ever again. That is, unless I complete lose my mind and decide to get a body suit done. Not going to happen.
That's it for tonight. I plan on spending the weekend getting to know the in's and out's of Morty, so I'm not going anywhere. I did want to leave you with one last picture, just to show you that I'm not neglecting The Truff. I took this yesterday when she was out following Morty around. I tried to get them both in the picture but Morty took off to do his own thing. So, here is The Truff wishing you peace in and goodnight.
The Truff is coming around. She doesn't shy away from Morty so much anymore. It's only been a few days, and I can see the difference. She still gives Morty a wide birth, but she doesn't run, she just stands there and stares at him. There was even a moment yesterday when I was letting them both out, and Morty was taking his time, so The Truff just ran underneath him between his legs. That doesn't sound much like a tiny dog that is afraid of a large dog. I forgot to tell you about Morty's size, you can't really tell in the photos I posted on Sunday night. He weighs in at around 50 lbs. He stands at the shoulder about 30 inches high, maybe a couple less, not real exact on the height, but if he stands on his hind legs, he can look me in the eye.
I took Morty on his first walk around the neighborhood today. He did fantastic. I brought treats with me, just in case I needed to redirect him, but they were really unnecessary, so I used them for training purposes. I want him to heel, he is a bit of a puller on the leash, not too much, but I'd prefer that he walks by my side, not only for the reason that I can control him better, but because he has to get exhausted pulling the whole time. There was proof of his exhaustion while on our walk. That one ear that always stays up, well, it kind of flopped over halfway through our walk. That is also a lesson for me. I will cut our walking distance in half for now. It could have been too hot for him today, or he could just not be in as good a shape as he looks. He was pretty tired when we got back to the house, and we only walked a mile round trip.
I have to tell you about the first night. The plan was too have Morty sleep on a makeshift bed. It was a large fleece blanket that I have, folded to a good size for him to have some padding. This is until I can get a good sized bed for him. He did like the little makeshift bed, but only when I was in the TV room with him.
Adorable right? Anyway, when I said my goodnights to both pups, Morty got up and wouldn't take no for an answer. he followed me in my room and was going to sleep in my bed whether I liked it or not. It had it's endearing moments, but it was a very restless night for me. He did rustle me up around 2:30 after I had finally gotten to sleep, so that he could go outside. That, was actually a good thing. It let me know that he has no intention of going to the bathroom in the house, and will do everything he can to get outside. I think they said that he was an owner surrender, but I can't see how anyone would give him up. He really is a great dog.
I didn't get much sleep that night, and I was prepared for it to happen all over again the next night, but Morty outsmarted me. He found out, that he really likes the couch. I put a blanker over it and there is already a pillow on it, so he was really comfortable for the night. I even woke up around 3:30 because I was worried that he wouldn't know how to get to me so that he could go out. When I walked into the living room so get him and take him out, he was still sacked out on the couch. He woke up though and I let him out anyway. He was happy to go and even The Truff made it outside.
Today was had another breakthrough moment. The Truff tends to eat very slow. She's lost most of her teeth, so the has to position the food just right in her mouth to chew it with her remaining teeth. Morty doesn't eat slow, at all. I had to grab his collar the first couple of days and physically pull him away from The Truff's bowl, so that he wouldn't eat all of it. When I fed them today, I put The Truff's food in the TV room where she stays, and put Morty's food in the dining room. I want to keep them a part and close off the TV room from Morty so that he gets the idea, that he eats in one place, and The Truff eats in another. It's going to take some time to get it to set in, but it will eventually set in. Tonight though, I had to put The Truff's food away for a while, because she just didn't want to eat when I gave it to her. This was going to create a giant dilemma. I had to figure out how to keep Morty from getting to The Truff's food. I had a plan I just needed to execute it. I had Morty walk with me as I got the bowl of food. I then grabbed Morty's collar, so that I could keep him away from the bowl as I set it down. I then directed Morty to a chair with me so that The Truff could eat. As soon as he saw that she was eating, he relaxed and sat down. I didn't need to hold his collar, I only had to pet him. He stayed away until she finished eating. He didn't even lean in her direction until she was down. I was shocked. When food is present, Morty goes into a feeding frenzy. He would eat an entire 60 lbs bag of food if he could. I'm sure he would get an upset stomach from it, but he would try to do it, so when he just sat there and let her eat, it was incredible. He is such a good dog.
Another thing I learned on his walk, and I meant to write this above when I was talking about redirecting him. I wanted those treats in case we came across other dogs, and he tried to go after them. The ladies at the shelter told me that he gets along with all other dogs, but you never really know how true that is until you see it for yourself. We came across 3 dogs while we were out. I did keep Morty to the opposite side of the street, but he made no real movement to go over to the other dogs. There was one brief moment when he saw two of the dogs with their owner, and he just looked at them, but with a light tug on the leash and a "come on", and he turned and walked away. This is really good news, because it shows me that he won't be distracted by other dogs or even people for that matter if we go anywhere. This is going to work out well, because at some point, I want to take him to meet Elie and her dog Gandi. I think it will go well, but I want to take another week to just really see that today wasn't a fluke and is his true personality. If it is, this is fantastic news, and opens all kinds of possibilities for things that we can do in the future.
Ok, this can't all be about Morty and The Truff, but I could easily do it. I watched a new show today. It was one that I recorded last night. It's called Me, Myself and I. Oh, it really bugs me that they don't use the Oxford comma in the title. I'm a big fan of comma's and the Oxford comma in general. Let's put that aside though. Here is the concept for the show. You are following one man's life through childhood, adulthood, and older adulthood. As each episode plays out, you see every perspective as to how it relates throughout his life. The first episode is about a lost love. As a teenager, his mom remarries and moves to L.A. where he starts a new school. He meets a pretty girl and his new step brother is trying to help him with his high school persona. It's all about that first impression. Then step brothers goal, is for him to kiss this girl at the back to school dance. Step brother is pressing it too hard, gives the kid a mint, and when the moment comes, because the girl is wanting to kiss the boy, he begins to choke on the breath mint. The brother gives him the Heimlich and he spits the mint out and it goes in the girls mouth. His high school persona is "Chokey". In the middle age part of his life, he is fighting through being a failure at his job, which is that he is an inventor, but he is at a mental block on creativity. His step dad, who turns out to be a really great guy, told him as a child after the chance to just keep shooting. It's a basketball reference. He is a huge Michael Jordan fan. The step dad mentions that as great as MJ was, he missed a lot of shots, but it was because he kept shooting that he was successful. When He goes to step dad for a pep talk, step dad tells him that he has to look to the past and get out of the future for a little while. He of course thinks step dad has gone crazy, so step dad knocks a spoon off the table and asks him to pick it up. He does and sees an old invention that he made as a kid. He took that invention and sold it to start his business.
We now look in on older adult version of him. He is just recovering from a heart attack, his daughter is the GM for the Chicago Bulls, and he pretty much has everything except that first love. He is at a diner with his daughter, she left to meet the team in Sacramento, and he pays the check. When the woman gives him a mint with his receipt, he says,"You can keep the mint. A mint cost me my true love once." The woman cashing him out says,"Alhe ex?" He looks at her perplexed and says, "Yes, (reading her name tag) Eleanor?", and then it hits him. His first love was called Nori, which just so happens to be short for Eleanor. They sit and catch up for a while, and then he starts to leave. He walks out the door of the diner, which she owns now, and is the same as when they were kids, and stops. He is struggling with the fact that he is making a huge mistake, he then says, "Just keep shooting", goes back in, taps Nori on the shoulder, and as she turns around, he pulls her into his arms and kisses her.
I'm sold, and I already set the DVR to record it as it pops up. It stars Jack Dylan Grazer as young Alex Riley, he is in the new movie IT, Giant hit right now, Bobby Moynihan as Alex Riley, he was most recently in Saturday Night Live, and finally John Larroquette as Older Alex Riley, You probably now him from the old TV show Night Court. I've been a big fan of him since that show, he is the reason I recorded it last night. It was on at 9:30 on CBS for a Monday night. If you get the chance check it out, you might just like it. You can watch the first episode on the CBS website right here.
We are going old old school for tonight's Favorite Song of the Week. This band was a favorite of mine when I was in middle school, and this particular song was off their little known first album. It made me grow my hair out as long as I could, and started my desire to have tattoos. The hair went away a long time ago, and it would be decades until I got my first tattoo, but the dream is real people, and this band started it all. I'm talking about non other than Motley Crue. They put the mayhem in metal and kept Aqua Net in business far longer than they should have been. This song was when they were rough and not the polished hit maker when they did Home Sweet Home, or Kickstart My Heart. This is the pure essence of hair metal. They didn't have the spikes and spandex yet, but they had leather and spikes, and that was part of what brought this grinding sound to life. I got to thinking about this song last week, and that is what I learned in my guitar class. It may not seem like it, but there is a lot going on in this song guitar wise. Enough about all of that, let's just get to the song, and rock out. Here is Motley Crue with "Live Wire".
I wanted to be lead singer Vince Neil. He was the coolest, but then I grew up, and so did he, and the troubles he has had in his life are ones that I wouldn't want to go anywhere near. He has overcome most of them, but he's a true rock star, and they always seem to have some sort of drama going on around them. Everyone knows about Tommy Lee's troubles with high profile marriages and video tapes, but you may not know about Nikki Sixx and what he has been through, or Mick Mars and how is is struggling with a long term disease. Nikki wrote that song I mentioned above, Kick Start My Heart about dying multiple times from drug overdoses, and the paramedics brining him back each time. Mick has a disease which I can't remember the name of, that leaves him in constant pain, and makes it hard for him to even stand up for any period of time, but until they retired, I think two or three years ago, he was right there alongside all of them playing those massive power chords on his guitar. They've been through a lot, and I'm pretty sure that their stories aren't complete done yet.
There you have it, an update on the dogs in my life, and a history lesson about Motley True, what else could you want in life? I've written a lot more than I thought I would tonight, so I'll let you go for now. Peace in and goodnight.
I have someone that I would like to introduce you to, but first, we need to get the story before the story. You may remember that I mentioned early this week or maybe it was earlier last week. I'm not completely sure right now, that I was giving the humane society another week to get a hold of me about the in home visit with The Truff. That week came and went, and no word from them, so it is with a sad heart, that I have to say that I've decided to put the idea of Gypsy having a home with me away.
I also mentioned that I was searching around for other dogs that might be a good fit, and as always The Truff was going to have the final say on anything. While I was searching around the internet yesterday for local shelters and what dogs were available, I happened to notice that the local SPCA was having an adoption event. Due to Irma, they were overflowing with pets, and they were running a special for any dog over 6 months of age. The cost for an adoption during this time? Only $5. You read that right, it is only going to cost $5 to adopt a dog over the age of 6 months.
That is one of the locations of two of the dogs I was looking at, so I decided that yesterday was a good time to head down there and see about those dogs. I got there about an hour before the closed, and I knew that I wouldn't be adopting that day, but I get start the process. The first dog I saw was the one that I thought had the greatest potential to get along with The Truff. She was a Pitbull mix and she happened to be afraid of cats. I thought this could be ideal. The Truff isn't a cat, but since she is small, it might cause the other dog to just shy away from her. Not an ideal reaction, but one that we could all live with. Star was beautiful, but she had more issues than they mentioned on her bio on the website. She is very territorial and I got to witness that as we went back into the shelter to put her back in her room. She lunged at a doorway that another dog was in. She was also very aloof in her interaction with me. She is a sweetheart, and I hope she finds her fur-ever home soon.
The second dog was also a pitbull mix, and she was great. The interaction was promising, so I decided that I would bring The Truff to meet her today. That meet didn't go very well at all. Charlee was similar to Gypsy in that she was a little too rambunctious for The Truff, and she even snarled at The Truff at one point. That was a no go for sure. I'm fortunate in that I happened to know one of the women that works there, and she was on top of things. She asked if I wanted to try other dogs with The Truff since I was there. I was up for it, and The Truff was hanging in there. She brought out a male dog, which I hadn't given any thought to male dogs. I don't know why, I've just always owned female dogs. They are what I know. This dog, also a pitbull mix, was adorable. He was active, but not too active. He sniffed out The Truff in her carrier, but then he could do with or without what was going on in the carrier. I took The Truff out, and even she was more relaxed in his presence. It finally came down to a moment when I was squatting down, holding The Truff, and Monsur sat right between my legs, he turned his head to look at The Truff, and then just casually turned around. It was a match.
We began the adoption process. In a matter of an hour, I was driving home with Monsur in the car, that was when I decided we needed to do something about that name, so, I would like to officially introduce you to Morty.
He has shown little interest in The Truff, which is what The Truff wants. He is maybe the best dog ever, I'm totally biased on this and I'm not apologizing for it. He has been following me around everywhere, and he just wants to hang out and be near people. This is the best case scenario. To make it even better, he and The Truff went outside together. He tried to sniff her out, and she didn't want anything to do with it, and he was just like, "ok, I'll give you time.", and off he went. This is perfection in a furry family. Morty is a little over 5 years old, and that is exactly what I wanted. He has gotten through those puppy years, and is just a great chill dog. When He goes outside I know when he is ready to come back in, because he goes straight to the door.
I'm pretty sure that I don't have to tell you, that you are going to see many more pictures of him in the coming weeks, and possibly years. I'm glad I went up to that shelter, and I'm glad that I went through a tiny little search, because I found the perfect dog for this house. I'll leave you with one more adorable picture of Morty and as always, peace in and goodnight.
Oh yeah, that tail is always wagging. Isn't it the best?
It has felt like an exceptionally long week, and yet, it is once again a short one. Something very interesting happened today though. The boss walked around asking everyone if they wanted an advance on their vacation check, since we didn't work at all last week due to Irma coming through. I'm not completely sure, but I believe that I am the only one that turned him down. Everyone took the advance as far as I know. This is just my opinion, but to me, that speaks of an essence of greed. They didn't save for that proverbial rainy day, one which actually came, and they are jumping at the opportunity to get a little change in their pockets. Here is where the greed comes in, as the boss was walking around, another employee was walking around giving everyone information to get money from the state labor board for lost employment. They are going to double dip, and then, and this is the real kicker of all of this, they will be the first to complain that they are missing money, when their vacation time comes up, and they are short. This will eventually bite them all in the ass twice. The first time with the vacation check, and the second time when they are hit for the taxes on that money taken from the state. I know at least a few of them are going to go out and do something frivolous with the money since they know they are getting more from the state. They are so concerned about right now, that they are forgetting about the future.
Learn from this, and plan ahead. I didn't even bat an eyelash when they asked me, I immediately said no. I already have everything covered with savings, so I don't need it, and I definitely don't want to pay any extra taxes that I don't have too. I think I will get several laughs out of all of this by the time it is over.
Last night was the results from the finale of AGT. I did not go 2 for 2 in back to back years. My pick to win it all, didn't even make the top 5. I have no explanation for why Preacher Lawson didn't make it. The only thing I think it could have been, was that he went long on one of his bits, but that was the whole point for the set up for the eventual punch line. This is the clip of his final performance on the show, let me know what you think of the bit.
With Preacher not making it into the top 5 I had to go with my back up favorite for the win, and I was wrong on that one. Mandy Harvey was the one who I thought could have a chance, but it would be hard to overcome Preacher's presence on stage, but she had a chance. She is a fantastic singer, and get ready for this, she is deaf. She lost her hearing 10 years ago when she was a music major in college. She thought her life was over at that point, but she picked herself up, and figured out a way to move forward, and part of that was singing, and playing music again. Her performance for the finale was flawless, so I thought her story, along with her talent could put her over the top. I was wrong. Her is her performance from Tuesday night.
It really doesn't get much better than that right? Plus, she is a Florida girl, how could I not pull for her. In reality, there were no bad acts in the finale. Every act is deserving of getting something out of this show. The group acts, should definitely get a Vegas gig somewhere. Preacher will be a headliner in clubs and should have a special on either Netflix or HBO, or whatever network wants to put him up for one. Mandy Harvey should get some sort of a recording contract out of this. There was a dog act that could easily become part of Universals animal show. Here is why I say Universal. They own Marvel comics and all that good stuff, they even have an area at Universal Orlando dedicated to Marvel characters. Why do I mention Marvel comics in all of this. Sara the dog trainer is definitely a Marvel nerd, and I don't use nerd in a bad sense. The names of her dogs are, Hero, Loki, and Marvel. Come on, they are tailor made for Universal Studios.
The rest of the singers could end up in a broadway show or something along those lines, and the winning act, I could easily see as part of The Muppets or maybe Sesame Street. The winner was Darci Lynne. She is this shy little girl that found her voice through puppets, and she is a really good ventriloquist. One of the best that I've seen. The only reason I didn't think she could win it all, was because I thought her acts was just a little too niche. I was clearly wrong. She is truly fantastic, and she is no going to have a show in Vegas for a year, after that, she can do anything. I could see her doing a yearly Christmas special or something. I could even still see her on The Muppets and Sesame Street, although she may be a little too big for them after all of this. This was her finale act.
I am almost certain that she writes her own material as well, and that is key for this type of act. I've seen several ventriloquist on that show, but they had no material. It's the same thing with impersonators. It doesn't matter how good you are, if you don't have good material, and Darci Lynne did. I remember her first audition for the show, and she blew me away, and I do believe that I said at that time, that I didn't know if she could go all the way, because you would need a lot of material. Clearly she had enough, and from what I saw in the little video piece they did before her performance, she has several other puppets that she never introduced to the AGT audience.
I really hope that I see all of these acts in the future, doing something, there were that good. AGT has done a good job with past winners. They are either touring in some capacity or they have their own shows in Vegas, that keep getting renewed. The season 2 winner is signed to a deal through the next 5 years, and he was a ventriloquist. The crazy thing, i think Darci is better than he is. I'm just still lost over how Preacher Lawson didn't win. I'm with Howie on the assessment of him. He is going to be the next big thing in comedy.
I found out some bad news tonight. One of the motovloggers that I follow on Youtube, was in a very bad accident. One that is very similar to my friend Elie. She is a rider in Miami, and she does ride a little risky. She is normally in yoga pants and a tank top. She does wear a helmet and gloves at all times though. What I've been able to piece together, is that she was t-boned on her Ducati Monster. She broke both of her legs, and I saw an Instagram story with her saying she was going into surgery, and I think she said something about her neck. Not too sure about that one. I do know, that she now has external supports sticking out of her leg. This was what the doctors said Elie was going to have, but they ended up not doing it with her, and her legs are doing just fine. She was recording when she was hit, and she said in her latest Insta story that she has her laptop, and is going to begin editing the video of her accident. Here is a link to her Instagram. If you have the time or are so inclined, go and leave a comment on her photos or send her a message of good hope. I know she will enjoy it. She is a very bubbly and sweet person, and this isn't getting her down, but everyone needs a little help some time.
That's it for tonight. I'm going to try and see the new Kingsman movie this weekend, so I'll have a review for you on Sunday, and I'm still slacking on the Irma video. I may just scrap the whole thing, and just do the helmet review. I going to try to get the B roll footage tomorrow for that. I just need to find the right location to mount the GoPro for a good angle. I'm planning on having that up Sunday some time. I'll see you Sunday. Peace in and goodnight.
I learned another valuable lesson. When you trim a Bougainvillea, you should wear long sleeves and long pants that are rather durable. The reason, Bougainvillea has thorns, and not just an thorns, but throws that are coated in a toxin. That toxin is very similar to poison oak, and it causes rashes and allergic reactions. Here is the best part though, it is all delayed, so I didn't know there was a problem until yesterday. I noticed small welts and lumps that resembled mosquito bites, and they itched like crazy. I had to do a very hard scrub and then use some cortisone to help get over this. I'll get through this, but I'm going to have to continue treating it aggressively with hard scrubbing and cortisone. It's all over my arms and legs, and it kind of sucks.
I'm having some kind of trouble with my wifi tonight. It could be my browser which has an update waiting for it, but the estimated time for the download keeps fluctuating between 20 minutes and 2 days. Something is going on, and I don't like it. After I write and post this, I'm going to try the download again, but I wanted to get this up before that happened, otherwise I could be without the ability to post for a day.
While all this is going on, I'm updating the software on my phone. Ok, I just took a second to checkout this new update, and it's pretty cool. I'll have to play with it later, but I like the look of what is going on with it. Lots of new features to learn, and things to play with.
I mentioned that I had a Rick of Rick & Morty on the way, and he arrived today. that gives me a set of Rick & Morty now, so that they can watch the show with me. I do have a Rick Pickle on the way, but it won't be released until January. Rick Pickle happens to be my favorite version of Rick, and the episode is fabulously hilarious.
It felt good to go back to work, but I'm ready for the weekend already. Monday was just that, Monday. Because of the power going off from Irma, it created a weird power flow with our machines, and that created all kinds of problems with the machines running unusually. We had to make constant adjustments for the first 3/4ths of the day, and then when everything seemed to balance out, we had to revert all of the adjustments that we made back to they original settings. It was intensely annoying. Today, the frustration was an employee. He is maybe one of the laziest people that I have ever met. He was supposed to be an employee for the second shift but things went awry and he never went there, and now we are stuck with him. It's my opinion that he should have been let go a long time ago. He cost the company tens of thousands of dollars when he messed up an entire shipment of parts by not checking his work. It was an unfixable mistake and cost us 30,000 parts that aren't just easy to reproduce. That is basically 10 days worth of running those parts to make that many. Beyond all of that, he does the absolute bare minimum to get by, and that bugs me to no end. Oh, there is also the fact that every time I sit down to eat my lunch, he calls me for some problem that is barely a problem, and is usually something that I've told him a dozen times, isn't a problem. One day, I may lose it.
Let's get over all of that and leave it in the past, because it's time for Favorite Song of the Week. It seems like a very long time since I've done one of these mostly because it's been a couple of weeks, and I've been sitting on this one the entire time. This one comes from my choice to win America's Got Talent last year. If you recall, I chose the right one and she won. By the way, I'm watching AGT right now as I write this, and my pick for this year, just preformed, and I'm feeling pretty confident that I'm going to go 2 for 2. There's still few more acts to go, but so far, he is the only act that blew me away. I should name him so you can look him up. His name is Preacher Lawson, and he is a really funny comedian. Anyway, back to last years winner, and the FSOTW. The winner was non other that Grace Vanderwaal, and she deserved her win. She is a super talented little girl with an amazing knack for writing really good songs. you quite possibly have been hearing one without even knowing it. Her song is featured in the Windex commercial where janitor cleans the window at a nursery for new borns and then a new father coming up and leaning on the window in the spot that was just cleaned to stare at his new child. The song I'm sharing with you tonight is off her upcoming album, and it is just a great catchy song. It will make you want to shake your tail feathers. Here is Grace Vanderwaal with "Moonlight".
Really listen to the lyrics in the song, and see if you can figure out what it's really about, I have my own theory and I'll share it with you, if you share yours with me. You're going to have to leave a comment to do that. I had to stop for a second and watch the video again. I just wanted to let you know that she is only 14 years old, and there is a good chance that I'm wrong about that, she could be only 13, I don't fully remember. My theory of the subject goes a little dark and that is daunting for someone so young to be able to write a song about.
I have one more video that I really want you to sit down and take the time to watch tonight. It is from someone I featured on here before. Rosie Gabrielle, she is a free spirited woman that is documenting her travels throughout the world. On this adventure she has been traveling through Oman, and it hasn't been smooth sailing. She has had difficulties with the motorcycle she is riding, in that it is rather large for her, and she has dropped it quite a few times. Because it is so large, she has difficulty getting it back up. That brings us to this video. In the previous episode, she left off with having just dropped the bike and was in the middle of nowhere. She had to run back to the roadway and hope that a car passed by, so that she could ask for help to get it back up. Oh, I should mention that part of the reason she can't lift the bike on her own, is that she suffers from fibromyalgia. It's a disease that affects her muscular system and causes her great pain throughout her body. She has several videos on her channel documenting the times when it flares up really bad, and she has to spend the whole time in bed curled up in pain. The reason I want you to watch this video, is because of the series of events that take place when she waves down a car to get help. It is something that you truly should see. She documents the true beauty of this world in these moments, and it's something that needs to be shared and viewed by as many people as possible. I really hope you take that time to watch it, and truly enjoy it for what it is. It is a beautiful peace of work.
I'm just going to leave you with that and of course, peace in and goodnight.
I really don't have much to tell you about since everything happened for the Friday Post. I have slacked off the last couple of days. I haven't worked on the new video at all. I'm going to take a little more time on it, for a couple of reasons. I have a lot of footage to go through from Friday, because I scraped all the footage I got in my car. I just didn't like it at all. the second reason is, that the footage of the beachside just wasn't exciting at all, so I'm going to try and whittle that down to a couple of minutes and put a music bed behind it with some hopefully slick edits. I'll work on that this week and try to get it posted by either the Tuesday or Thursday post.
I went riding yesterday, and my goal was to push the envelope of my skills. I want to get lower on my lean angles in turns, and the only way to do that, is with practice and pushing it just a little bit each time. It felt pretty good, and I did get lower on those lean angles. I don't have any footage of that, because I was wearing the new helmet. That thing just slices through the wind. There is almost no wind buffing unless there is a strong headwind, and then it is still minimal. I'm going to work on a review video for that helmet next week. I should have that ready for the Sunday Post.
I did get some artsy looking pictures yesterday when I was out. This first one was limited because someone saw me turn into the empty lot where I took it and decided to park right next to me. It bugged me to no end. They were sitting across the road looking at the water and when they saw me, they pulled in and came right over to my little section. I still managed to get a pretty good shot though.
Like I said, I got a little artsy with them, and wanted to show off the helmet a little. All in all, it was a great ride except for one tiny little thing. After I took those first 2 pictures above, I headed down a very long, straight, and empty road. I don't know if you've noticed in my videos, but I have a small disco ball hanging from my front windscreen. I found something out yesterday. At speeds exceeding 120 mph, that disco ball will not hold on. It started waving around violently at 120 and then finally bailed at 126. I briefly caught it between my arm and the gas tank, but as I slowed down and tried to release the handlebar to grab it, it took it's final journey to the asphalt. I'll miss that little disco ball. Good news though, I have 5 more of them, so the new disco ball is already in place. Lesson learned. If I feel like going fast, take the disco ball off first.
Earlier this week, and something I forgot to tell you about, I joined a Kickstarter campaign for 121c Boards. They are a skateboard company that I've mentioned before. I was part of their last Kickstarter for their last skateboard, with was called the Rover. It is a smiler skateboard that is better for the every person to ride. The new board, is one that I've been waiting for for a very long time. Actually I wanted this board before I bought their Aileron board, which is a slightly bigger board meant for hard riding. This new one is their long board called the Afterburner.
I don't just like t his company because they make really cool skate boards made from carbon fiber. That is pretty cool on it's own, but what they do is upcycle carbon fiber from a rocket program the would normally just throw the scraps out. They repurpose all of this scrap material and make skateboards out of it, and not just that. The plastic coating that the carbon fiber comes in, is compressed and recycled as well. Here is a link to their Kickstarter. At there very least, take a look at the video on their page and see what they are all about. They are a very worthwhile company that deserves support in any way you can give it, but if they aren't up your alley, go check out other projects on Kickstarter, you may find something you like.
One last thing for you tonight. I wanted to give you an Elie update. She is doing marvelous. If I didn't know any better, I would swear that she was ready to start running and jumping around. I went and saw her today, so that I could take her to the site of the accident. The location was more than half way to her house. She wasn't that far from home. After looking at the location, I think even less about the guy that hit her. There is absolutely no reason for him to not have seen her. It wasn't a four way intersection, there was no median to cause a big separation, and where he was turning from, he would have been looking directly at her when he made the decision to accelerate directly into her. He was turning from the inside line which was right next to her lane of oncoming traffic. She only had enough time to swerve slightly before he rammed into her. In a way, that little swerve alone, did a great deal to save her life, otherwise he would have hit her head on. He was in a normal pick up truck, his quick acceleration lifted the front of his truck up, which is how her bike ended up underneath of it. As I said before, she was fortunate to have been knocked clear of her bike. If she hadn't been, she would have been pinned underneath the truck with the bike, and her injuries would have been far greater. Sometimes the only thing you can do, is attempt to lessen the damage, and that is exactly what she did. There was no other way to survive that accident, outside of superpowers, that would give you the ability to jump off the bike at the exact right time. Even then, it would have only lessened the damage. In that scenario, she would have jumped onto the hood of the truck and possibly gone through the window. Doesn't sound like a much better result does it?
Things are getting back to normal around here after the storm, and I head back to work tomorrow. I found out that my work got power back on Friday evening, and everything appears to be ready to go. It will be good to be back at work, even though I did slightly enjoy my unscheduled weeks vacation. I did get some things done around the house that I normally would have put off until I just couldn't stand not doing them. Oh, I do have one last thing to tell you. I have decided to give the humane society one more week, and then I'm going to have to give up on Gypsy. If they don't contact me this week, then I doubt they are ever going to contact me. I do have contingency plans though. I've looked at some other dogs in the area. One of them is at the same location as Gypsy, so I'm not really confident that I can make that work either, because I've lost faith in the staff their. One is a boxer rescue in Melbourne, and the other two are in Titusville. Either location is not that far from me. There is one dog in particular that is standing out, because of her little bio. She seems to hit all the check marks for what I need and want. She is a little older, she is supposedly good with other dogs, and she has a tendency to be very loyal to her owner. There is also the fact that she likes taking long walks on a leash. That is something that I've always wanted in a dog, and hopefully, I can get her to run along with me while I ride the skate board. I have small dreams, what can I say. I'm not going to tell you any more than that until things are moving in a direction. That won't be until after next weekend though, so you'll hear more about it probably two Sundays from now. There is always the chance that the humane society will come through and I'll get that call I've been waiting for. If that is the case, you will hear about that, sooner. Until then, peace in and goodnight.
The title is more ominous than reality. I do have a couple of pictures to share, but they either have nothing to do with the aftermath or the storm or aren't exactly exciting as storm damage goes. Also, I'm working on the video, and should have it posted tomorrow, if things go well.
Now, to the storm. I spoke to you last on Sunday, right before the storm arrived. Actually about 10 hours before the storm arrived. This storm was like none that I'd experienced before. It wasn't that it was very strong where I'm at, but the winds were sustained for so long. We had 30+ mph winds for a good 12 hours, and we had 50+ mph winds for a good 4 hours. That length of sustained winds did all the damage. Almost the entire county was without power, and briefly without water. The water lasted a day. The power was a far different story. If you've been following along on Instagram, then you would see the random posts I would get up. I got some stuff in the storm and then after, as well as the random post about how things were going. I finally got power back last night, which was Thursday, and the internet back today. In the meantime, I set up a kitchen on the front porch with a little portable propane stove.
With limited supplies and kitchen cooking appliances, I have to say, I made some pretty good meals. The first morning I broke out the last of the frozen waffles. I found out that if you watch them carefully, you can make frozen waffles in a small skillet on a camp stove. Along the way, I made chicken stir fry, breakfast tacos, quesadillas, and if I went into another day, I had rice and beans planned. Not real sure how that was going to turn out. It was going to be baked beans for the beans and minute rice. That one could have been a disaster.
Enough about the cooking though, you came here for the storm. I went out several times during the night, since I couldn't sleep with all the noise and the lack of AC. There was something new for me in this storm. At one point, there would be these lulls of silence. I'd never experienced that at all. I ran out on the front porch during one of them and it was quiet with very little wind. Then I could hear a loud roar. My first thought was that it was a tornado, but they say that always sounds like a train. Out of nowhere came a deluge of rain. It was as if someone had taken a giant bucket and dumped it over my house. it was not a curtain of rain, but a wall of water. I'd never seen that ever. I got some footage outside in the storm and at one point nearly got blown over and down the street. I managed to maintain my balance like a ninja.
When the power finally went out everywhere, it was pitch black, maybe even darker than pitch black. I couldn't even see my hand right in front of my face. It was rather cool. I wanted to go out and ride Saki in it, but I decided that just wasn't a good idea. I wouldn't be able to see debris in the road in time to avoid it, so Saki stayed in the garage at night.
The next day, after checking out the yard and cleaning up broken limbs, and helping the neighbors pick up theirs, I headed to work to see how the building held up. The craziest thing was in the front drive when I pulled up.
That is not our dumpster. That is from across the street. The other strange thing about it being there, is that there are no scrape marks anywhere around it. We all figure that the street flooded and it floated over. The street where I work has a tendency to flood in just a brief down pour, so a good ten hours of constant rain lifted that dumpster up and floated it across the street into our driveway.
Since I didn't have any power, I decided that after a couple of days, I would head up to the humane society and give a visit to Gypsy to see how she was doing. When I got there, they had just gotten power back, so they allowed me to go back in the kennel. It was a bit sad seeing all those dogs in their cages. I found Gypsy and she was clearly agitated. She didn't seem to recognize me either. She barked and snarled a bit. I'm sure the storm and the lack of power bothered her as much as us humans, so I'm not holding it against her. There was one bright spot. Two of the women that have seen me interact with Gypsy walked by as I was there, one of them gave me a small treat to give to her, and she took it without any anxiety, but as soon as she finished eating it was back to the snarled lip and barking. My hope for the visit, is that it would light a fire under their feet so that they would get back to me about that in home meeting with The Truff. Only time will tell if it worked. Still haven't heard from them. I do realize that they are probably very busy getting everything back in order, and a very large tree was down into one of their play pens for the dogs.
I got internet back today, just in time to have a package arrive so that I could celebrate the power of the internet. I don't think I've talked about Rick & Morty here yet. I have discovered Rick & Morty, and I am now a giant fan. I've heard people talk about it before, but never grasped onto what they were saying, so I never tried to look for it. A few months ago, there was a lot of buzz going around about it, and it turns out that the new season had begun. I stumbled across a marathon of past episodes leading up to the season premier. I watched and I was hooked. It was time to add to my Funko Pop collection, and the first one arrived today. it was Morty and here he is.
The way I describe Rick & Morty is a very crass version of Doctor Who. It is hilarious, and if you want to laugh your tail off, then give it a try.
After that showed up, I went out and trimmed back more of a bush that had been decimated in the storm. It was hot, the bush had thorns, and it pretty much sucked on all levels, but it needed to be done. The grocery store was next. With the house at full power, it was time to put the fuel back into it. Food was needed, and the local Publix didn't let me down. They were still understocked, but they had all of the important things. The power is back, the food is in the fridge, and another hurricane has come and went. This is Florida, we do this sometimes, a couple of times a year. This was the most damaging one I've been through in my history. I know other storms have been deadlier and more costly, but this was bad. Not as bad as originally thought it would be, and I'm very thankful for that, but it was bad. I checked the radar at one point in the middle of the night, and the entire state was covered by Irma. From tip to tail. For comparison. if you used a quarter to represent Irma, Jose which was more of a normal size storm, it would be a dress shirt button. I looked at both of them on the map, and Jose was five times smaller than Irma. The storm was massive and it was lucky that weather currents and landmass worked against it to weaken it considerably by the time it reached us.
The rebuild and clean up as begun, but Florida is open for business. Peace in and goodnight.
It's 6 o'clock in the morning. I woke up early to watch Moto GP while the power is still on. Irma has shifted far to the west and the eye is going to go over St. Petersburg, Florida now. That puts me out of the major impact zone, but not completely out of danger. I am on the Northeast corner of the storm, and that is the deadliest part of any hurricane. That is where all the cyclonic energy is. That means tornados. Since the storm is going to be on the other side of the state, it shouldn't be as bad here, but I am currently under a tornado warning for the next several hours. Right now that is mostly south of me. I went outside just before sitting down to write this, and I'm getting light rain and winds. I'd put wind gusts at maybe 20 mph right now. That will change later today.
Once the storm gets around the lower edge of the state and the feeder bands start to reach out to this area, the winds and rain will increase. I'm expecting winds in the 60 to 70 mph range, which is nothing like we were going to get if the storm went along the original expected path. I still expect to lose power at some point today. With sustained winds of at least 50 mph, the power lines won't hold up for long.
I did get out and ride a little bit and made not 1 but 2 videos for you to watch. I kept them as brief as I could, and you can get a little look at what is going on in this area ahead of the storm.
I introduce you to my new helmet in this one, as well as show you Elie's helmet. I found something out about Elie's helmet after filming this. I was looking at it so that I could clean it up, and I noticed something very unusual. As you could see in the video, she took a shot directly on the chin from the hood of the truck, but what you can't see in the video, is that that shot bent the helmet out of shape. It actually bent the chin bar over about a half inch. I noticed it when I dropped the internal visor and saw that it was off center from the nose guard. If there was any doubt in your mind at all, that that helmet saved her life, I hope that that little piece of information changes your mind. If you ride, think very seriously about wearing a helmet, and not just a half shell or open face, but a full face helmet. It just could save your life as well.
Before I get into the next video, I just wanted to share some good shots of the new helmet. I still haven't ridden in it yet and I will get that video put together and up as soon as I can, but I did try it on, and it feels great. The helmet is an AGV K5 S Hero. It fits snug but not tight, which is what you want.There is no movement while it is buckled down. About the buckle, it is long, which I really appreciate. My other helmet straps seem short to me, and because of that they are difficult to get on at times. The AGV has an internal visor, but it may be difficult to use. It seems very stiff right now. Maybe that will loosen up with time, but it may be an issue when I have gloves on, to get that visor in place to block the sun. I'll have better information on that after I've ridden in it. I'll do a whole review with footage of me riding in it.
Sharp looking helmet right? I'm really looking forward to riding in it. This is going to be my daily rider. Now on to the next video.
That was yesterday. Not a whole lot to see there, but it will give you an idea on how things are going. I'm going to be getting footage as I can during the storm, and then after. I'll post that as soon as I have power again. Yes, I'm going to lose power, it's just a matter of time. I may be doing updates on Instagram. If I do, I will be limiting them so that I don't use too much of my battery. I have a power bank that should charge my phone about 3 times, plus that JBL speaker that I got is a power bank as well. I'm not sure how many charges I can get out of that, but I have it fully charged and ready to go when I need it.
I doubt that I will have power by Tuesday, so this is probably going to be the last post for possibly a week, maybe longer, it depends on how the power company prioritizes this area for power. Since nothing important is on this grid, it will be one of the last ones that they get to. I'll post something as soon as I can, even if it's not on the normal schedule. until then, peace in and goodnight.
Cheesy title right? Well, it was kind of a summer vacation, and like most vacations it was cut short due to unforeseen circumstances. I know I planned to get back on the ol' social media train in another 4 or 5 days, but there is a very good reason I am back tonight. I may not be able to write this in the near future. I am distinctly in Irma's path, and I really have no idea when I will have power and the internet to be able to post. The storm is hitting Sunday night, so I'm sure I will lose power before then, but if I don't, you can expect a Sunday Night Post.
There is another reason as well. I missed doing this. I had no trouble not going on any social media outlets, but this, I had trouble not doing. There was a lot going on in the brief time I took off. There are Elie updates, there are Gypsy updates, there is some information about my family that live in Houston and were there for Harvey, there is even a Saki update.
Let's just jump in with the Elie and Saki updates. There is good news, you don't have to read these, because on Monday I made a video telling you everything about that, and for good measure I added in a little info about the music I will now be using on the YouTube channel. Without further adieu, here is said update.
Saki looks pretty good right? Ok I have a few pictures for you that go along with this. The first one is the ramp I made for Elie so that she can get in and out of her house in her wheelchair.
I'm pretty proud of that little ramp. This is something that I love doing, but never get much of a chance to do. When I was a kid, my dad taught me a ton of woodworking things, and I've never had much of a chance to take advantage of those lessons. Sure, when I was a kid, I made a bunch of ramps for my bike, out of discarded boards and things, but that was just hammer and nails. I had a plan in my head for what this should be, so I went out and bought a new circular saw, and got to work. You can't tell from he picture, but the ramp slides onto a little ledge, and the boards underneath are angle cut to support the wood in multiple areas to avoid bowing. It doesn't look like much, but it withstood me jumping up and down on it. I could have taken a little more time on the grip tape, to make it look a little more uniform and just better, but this is more about function and less about appeal. I do have one worry thought now. The wood is weather treated, so this storm coming up could do that little ramp in. If so, I'll just build another one of them. It will give me a good reason to use that new circular saw.
The next couple of pictures are of Saki of course. While I was out on that ride I got a few good shots of Saki with that new rear seat cowl. so here they are.
The first one is that obligatory before and after shot. You get to see what Saki looks like with the pillion seat and with the rear seat cowl. Let me tell you a little about atet cowl. It wasn't just a buy it and slap it on kind of thing. It was a buy it and assemble it kind of thing. I had to put all the dampners on it and bolt the locking bracket on. It wasn't hard to do, but you had to be very careful, so that you didn't scratch it all up while you were doing it. I put soft material underneath it, and gently did everything I had to do. It is an authentic Kawasaki OEM part, so it isn't something that is third party, it was made for my bike. I think it looks really good. As I said in the video, I still have the pillion seat, so I can pop it back on whenever I need to.
Something I forgot to mention in the video, also because I didn't record it to add it to the video, is that Elie gave me her helmet. I'm hoping to do another video tomorrow, and I will add footage of her helmet explaining why she gave it to me, and what the damage is to it. You will see why that helmet really did save her life. If you are subscribed to the YouTube channel it will show up in your subscriptions tomorrow. I will try to post a short promo video to Instagram to let you know it is up as well. I still need to make a promo video for that video up there. I think this one is going to be different from the usual clip video. hope to have it up by the time you are reading this. I will try my best to write a Sunday Post and add the new video there, but if I don't have power and internet it will have to wait until all those things are back in my life.
That brings me to the storm that is knocking on my door. It doesn't look good for me right now. The latest trajectory path has the eye going up through the center of the state. That puts me right on the Northeast side of the storm, which is the worst place to be. That is where all the tornado activity is, and that is right where it is lining up as of 5 o'clock this evening. The next big update comes at 9 tonight, it is 7 o'clock right now. I have a plan, and that plan is to record as much footage during the storm that I can. If everything goes well, I will make a video of all that and the aftermath of the storm as I ride around, and then I will post that as soon as I can. You will see exactly what I see. It could be really great, and it could be something from your nightmares. I'm going admit this right now. I have lived through these storms my whole life. I don't even remember how many I have been through. This one, has me concerned. It is big, and it is powerful. Those are two things you don't want in a storm. I want small and weak, but that isn't going to happen this time. There are still a few more days before it gets here, and that is plenty of time for that trajectory to change. I'm hoping for the best, but expecting the worst. I have everything I need: water, canned food, flashlights, power bank to keep my phone charged, and lighter to get the small grills I have. I may go out tomorrow to see if I can find a few more things, but I don't think stores will have much of anything. They didn't have much on Wednesday when I went around, so I'm not expecting much for tomorrow.
Last but not least, is my family in Houston. They fared pretty well. They all survived the storm. They have quite a bit of flood damage to their homes and other things, but they are going to be ok, and they are already contacting me to see how I'm prepared for Irma. Their turn was last week, so it looks like it's my turn this week. My brother did send me this picture that he took while driving around his neighborhood after Harvey passed through.
Yes, that is a big old gator swimming through the streets. That is just something you don't see evert day. Well, that is all I have for you tonight. I will try my best to keep you posted about everything going on, but it may only be through Instagram until I get power back on. I'm expecting to lose power on Saturday, that would be in line with when I lost power when Matthew passed by last year. I lost it a day before the storm even arrived. Where I live, we always lose power, it is just a matter of when it will happen. Oh, one last thing. If you haven't done so yet, try to donate to a worthy cause that is helping out the victims of Harvey. A lot of people are still displaced from that storm, and there are even more new problems each day as a result of it. Please do what ever you can, even if it's donating your time to a local organization that is sending things to the Houston area. Every little bit helps out. That could also be your RAK for the month. You would be killing two birds with one stone. I've never liked that saying, but I don't know another one that works.
