Summer is for Camping

August is turning out to be a very busy month. This weekend found me back at Izaak Walton in Lynchburg with my modern camping gear and archery tackle. The weather was a bit cool but still warm enough for a good swim and the cool temps were nice on the archery range. Jane and I hiked along the new trail the Boy Scouts laid out around the fishing lake and had a nice campfire sing Saturday after the camp potluck dinner. I've gotten my modern camp gear all squared away so its packed and ready to go at the house. Which makes it easy to put it in the truck and go camping without first spending half a day figuring out what to take, finding it in my house and then packing it up. Excess camp gear has a rendezvous with eBay next spring when camping season begins again. I'm getting very fond of eBay, its really helping me clean out my house. A never ending yard sale on my computer. I love it.

A Very Laid Back Affair

Every August about 70 motorcycle riders gather in Buena Vista and, well, ride motorcycles. All kinds of motorcycles - tour bikes, street bikes, dual sport machines, trikes, one guy even brings a trials machine. We camp out mostly at Glen Maury Park, organize our own rides both on and off road, and have a camp feed Saturday night. Its about the best fun you can have with modern clothes on (remember, I do historic attired events too). This year was no exception; Kat, Jane & I all went, we had a splendiferous time, and we enjoyed our selves to the max.
























Jane rides a scooter & my Harley isn't running right (grrr) so she & I headed off in Kat's car (which we brought instead of my truck 'cause it gets better mileage) on Saturday to Amherst and the Monacan Indian Museum. Both of us have been driving past the museum sign for years. Anyway, its a nice little museum on the site of the now closed Indian school and the still open Episcopal church that both served the Native community there. Well worth the trip. And a drive on a pleasant summer day in the Blue Ridge is almost as good as a motorcycle ride through the same area. The only bummer about the Rally is it does sorta mark the end of my summer. Time with good friends never lasts long enough.





Here's a picture of my friend Jane with the cat that lives at the Episcopal parsonage. A VERY friendly critter with a lawnmower purr.

































Of course no LBA would be complete without the Saturday night camp feed and door prize drawing. Door prizes at the LBA are biker themed but otherwise quite unique. We give away new motorcycles (as in motorcycle shaped lighters, Timex clocks or Matchbox toys), various gag gifts, bungie cords, belt pouches, duct tape - you get the drift. I won a baseball cap from The Dragons Tail in Deals Gap (318 curves in 11 miles, very technical ride), a head cover to wear inside a helmet and a rather large bottle of Captain Morgan's Spiced Rum. Not sure what to do with the rum since I don't drink - I tried putting it on the margarita table but it was still there unopened Sunday when it was time to pack up and go home. I'll think of Something. After the dinner and door prizes we were treated to 3 guys playing 'ol timely mountain tunes - a most excellent way to close out the meal.

Run - Run - Run

OK, so I stayed home this weekend and tied up a whole bunch of loose ends. I've finally got internet access to all my bank accounts; the warranty-I-didn't-want has been properly canceled and repayment made; the tents, sleeping bags and cookware are ready for the Laid Back Affair; the laundry and dishes are done; and the bathroom has been cleaned. In my spare time I put things up on eBay, practiced archery, threw my hawk and knife, raked the pet burial area again, watched 2 DVD movies and went to the dentist this morning. Just 2 more days of work and I get to spend time with Urchin and Jane at the ALBA. Bring it on !

OK, so this isn't my kitten, but it sure is how I felt Sunday night !

Ack ! Its Almost August !

This was the work break that wasn't - I had to go into work on my day off for my annual firearms qualification. So I was at work from 7:30 AM until 2:30PM on Tuesday. I did shoot slightly above my personal goal for this year and I got the hearing protection I left at the range last time I qualified back. But I still lost a day off for less than a full day of work. I did go groom Irish & Louise, who are both looking good. Otherwise not much got accomplished. Bummer.

August will be here after this 2 day work cycle, 2/3 of the summer is gone already ! This weekend is catch up on chores and pack for A Laid Back Affair, which is an old school motorcycle rally. Kat, Jane & I are all going, the ALBA is held in a camp ground, most folks stay there while a few will motel it nearby. We do self organized rides and have a rally dinner Saturday evening. Its just a bunch of folks who like to ride motorcycles who get together a few times a year and, well, ride motorcycles.

I hope everyone out there is having a good summer.

Banks Are Weird

OK, so I have my mortgage and vehicle loans from the same bank. It doesn't happen to be the either the bank or the credit union where I have checking and/or savings accounts. I wanted to get online access to the loan accounts so I could check on when payments had posted and then set things up so I could make my loan payments online. So I went to the bank's web site to set this all up only the web site didn't recognize my account numbers. So I called their 800 number and got things setup that way. Except their web site has a broken link in the sign up process so that wouldn't work either. So I stopped at a bank branch while I was doing other errands to get online banking setup. Only because I had already started the process via the 800 customer service line they couldn't set me up unless there was a change in my customer accounts. But since I have 2 loans from them I can get a free checking account. So now I have another checking account so I can get online access for my loans. All of which seems like the long way around the barn door to me. Oh well, I can I can use this account for setting aside funds for rendezvous etc. Meanwhile I still don't have online access set up, I need to wait for the check card to arrive and then call the 800 number that comes with the card. I will get a $50 gift certificate by doing it this way so I guess there is a silver lining to the cloud. Meanwhile there are ads all over the bank's web site and branch office encouraging their customers to sign up and use online banking. Go figure.

A Camping We Will Go

A Camping We Will Go
A Camping We Will Go
Hi Ho the Derry-O
A Camping We Will Go

Part of the reason I pushed to get the house painting project solidly started was so I could go camping with my friend Jane. So Thursday morning I cleaned up my kitchen then packed up my modern camping gear, the long bows with their tackle and my guitar for 3 nights and 2 days of R&R at the Izaac Walton League site near Lynchburg. Jane got there first and had her RV all kitted out when I got there. But it didn't take me long to set my traps up while Jane cooked us venison burgers, fresh veggies and other wonderous stuffs. Then we got right into the serious camp work of making music around a campfire.

Friday saw Jane and getting down to the really really serious business of camping - fletching arrows for my Genesis modern bow, eating fresh blueberries with yogurt for breakfast, swimming in the IWLL lake, shooting the aforementioned bows, paddling on the lake, collecting ripe blackberries from the lakeside bushes via canoe and of course eating more great food. Night fall found us again at fireside making more music with a full moon and fireflies in attendance. Saturday was more of the same with a potluck camp meal to bring things to a close. After the dinner some other campers gave us a how-down of country classics from the likes of Johnny Cash and Jimmy Rogers as well as the country gospel tradition. A good time was had by all and sundry.

The Joys of Home Ownership

This is a banner for the Brother's of the Tomahawk, a Masonic Lodge of Rendezvous Men. I'm obviously not a member, but I sure have been busy as a beaver of late. As of today the wood window & door trim as well as the aluminum storm window frames on my house have all been cleaned, sanded as needed and primed. My feet and legs ache from all the ladder work, my arms and shoulders are a bit stiff from the scrubbing, sanding and brush painting but the door and window areas are ready for the green trim paint I just bought. I'm a very tired but very happy puppy.