Spring is here, but Mother Nature isn't buying that...

Friday was the last best day and one of the few we have had so far of late....probably got up to 60 with lite winds and sunshine...perfect day for my first baseball scrimmage to finally get played, after 3 freeze outs!  Also a great day to fire up the new tw200 Yamaha Dual Sport M/C and ride it to the Fairgrounds a block or so away...then putt around for a few minutes, going through the gears and riding on various surfaces, gravel, some lite mud, and some sandy pavement areas...didn't get more than a half hour and a few miles on it, but baseball was calling and I couldn't dilly around.

My first thoughts were...."Hell it's been awhile", but I hopped on and pretty quick, with some doubts, I made the Fairgrounds, and found myself dissecting how the TW handled...brakes a bit more mushy that I liked, and the clutch seemed out of place, or mushy as well....but those are adjustable and when we get another half way warm day....I will adjust after taking it for another spin....all in all, I enjoyed it, but like with anything else you do, after not having done it in awhile, you tend to be a bit

nervous...same thing when looking over and prying around the bike after reading the Owner's Manual....guess you are afraid, or at least on my part, you are going to break something...on a dual sport no less?  Go Figure!

Anyway, once done with my small piece of riding the TW on her "Maiden Run"(about 3 miles total) I parked it back in the garage and there she sits....the baseball weather that late afternoon was perfect at Rockford Parkway...Saturday Morning however, the same would not apply, as I was asked to fill in for another ailing umpire.

My scrimmage game at Delphos St. Johns for Saturday had been cancelled due to the field still not being dry....on many diamonds the frost/freeze is just now pushing up through the ground...but Celina with it's artificial turf infield has no such problems...so I told Bob I would fill in for the other umpire...working the bases for the second straight day.  This time however, there would be no sun and the temperature will settle in at around 40 degrees...giving me a chance to try out the new winter gloves.

Sunday was a basketball watching day, cold with sun shining...today is still like yesterday, the temps at the noon hour are still in the upper 20s...no call yet from Allen East as to whether the weather will kill today's scrimmage...if not I will have to dress warm once again.  Tomorrow looks worse, 34 with strong winds and snow showers...that scrimmage in St. Marys is surely going to be cancelled...I hope!

There is some hope for a bit warmer weather by Thursday and Friday...but storms on Friday could put the opening day double header between Delphos Jefferson and Van Wert at risk....to early to worry that far ahead however....Spring has arrived and with like most March and Aprils{May as well at times}, the weather is going to be up and down....nothing we can do about that.

back later>>>>

Photos-The New TW200 at the Mercer County Fairgrounds...getting it's first street and gravel miles on it...and the Artificial Turf at Celina, cold, wet, whatever, it's ready for the upcoming season.

The New Toy!

Old Buddy Nick and I headed for Maumee Thursday morning and picked up my first new{as in brand new unriden} bike in 40 years....the 2014 Yamaha tw200{T~Dub} dual sport{on/off road} is in the garage....and will get it's maiden run tomorrow, weather permitting.....detail and more photos coming:

Photos-In the Garage amd ready for some warmer weather to get it out and about 

Turning 65

First off...I really never thought of making it to the "golden age" of retirement...few of the Houseworth men have...

One of the few was the man who was first born in the United States after his father Jacob Hauswirth arrived in 1751 on the Ship Janet, from Rotterdam at Philadelphia.  My GGG-Grandfather Israel Houseworth lived to be the ripe old age of 83 or so, passing away in Waldo, Ohio, during the Civil War.  The rest, from Great Grandfather Nelson(50), Grandfather Sam(50), and my dad, Stanley(55), didn't make it out of their fifties....Uncle Forest died at 54, and while John Furl, my uncle, made it to 75, he had a massive heart attack while in his 40s....his son Gary, our first cousin, died at 62...brother Mike, 67 in December and me, now 65, are the exceptions...not sure why, it's not that we lived the healthy life...at least not until the past few years...and Hell I still drink too much ale...but stay fit, as for brother Mike?  Not sure what his excuse for making it this long...stubbornness perhaps.

Anyway, waking up this morning, I had made "retirement age" ... but I started collecting Social Security at 62, had retired from the Van Wert County Health Department at age 53 back in 2002, so I was pretty well "retired" regardless.   Of course retirement is just a state of mind....I continue to "work" after leaving the Environmental Health field...driving RVs cross country for delivery and pick~up for 6 years, and umpiring baseball for the past 15, as well as picking up Football and Basketball officiating over the past decade.....Retirement is just a state of mind....I have no intention of quitting and sitting on my backside anytime soon...if the Grim Reaper comes calling, he will have to find time to catch me when I'm not busy.

I was born in Van Wert, Ohio, on the evening of March 16, 1949...less than 6 hours short of St. Patrick's Day...the Irish Holiday that mom was hoping for....I just wouldn't wait those extra
hours....but Irish it was, Pat and Mike, were the names, from our Irish roots on mom's side of the family.

Living in Dad's hometown of Scott, Ohio{population 250}, for the first five years, we pulled up stakes, along with our cousins, the Polings, and headed to the beaches of South Florida...living near and in Venice, for nearly the next decade....back to Ohio we came in the early 60s....and since those days, I have lived mostly in Celina, along with stops in the Air Force, and after in Upstate New York, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Kansas....

It's been an interesting ride along the way....I have not done all that I could or should have, have made many missteps, and will continue until they plant me .... all in all however, it's been a good ride, and one that when it does end, hopefully, I will have left behind mostly things on the positive side, well at least on balance.

back later>>>

Photos-Turning 65 and in the middle photo me and Mom in front of Grandma Houseworth's Place in Scott, Ohio, in 1949...

Liberal/She Males are just way 2 EZ

Some sun and near 60 yesterday, clouds and about the same today, before Winter Reality sets back in for tomorrow.  After a front line of rain late this evening, snow arrives back in the area tomorrow with 4 or more inches, and 40 mph winds to bring the chill factors down to -10 or so...Whoopee freaking do!  At least the majority of the snow{except some snow plowed piles} is gone, and we can handle the next batch, which usually doesn't stick around long after March makes it to the calendar.

Pissing on the Left's Morning Cereal.....

I made my way over to ADVrider and the forums this morning...last night I posted some wildlife photos I took last summer and my Hognose Snake photo from the Michigan Mushroom Hunt a couple of years ago...

When I first found the site last summer I thought it would be a good place to surf and look at photos and stories from like minded folks rides....and to a certain extent it is...on the other hand, it has a noticeable "Left" bend to it, especially when it comes to the accompanying "Basement" portion.  That area, like much of the mainstream news, and churches these days, if infiltrated with a collection of left wing assholes, most of whom don't ride{except on the backs of their gay lovers}, have never rode, and who likely live in mom's basement...typing out thousands of posts of political nature, on a Motorcycle Adventure Forum site....some of these assholes have post upwards of 100,000 posts in a few years, and this on just one site...can't imagine what they do with their "spare time".

Anyway, I dropped by this morning just to screw with a few of them....most white limp dick libs, in love with Obammy the Wonder Kenyan and still waxing about the great Racist Nelson "Dingo" Mandela, who no doubt is currently roasting in Hell....fitting for the murdering son of a bitch he was....one thing about Lib She Males....they can neither take a joke or the truth, both are foreign to these gutless little men.  I expect to be receiving another "vacation" perhaps on a permanent level...seems the Administration and Moderators on the side are left wing types themselves, and when the girly men on the left get their feelings hurt, the Mods are there to ease their pain.....boo, freaking, hoo....call me when I give a shit!

I am much more at home on the TW200 Site and Forum....95% Conservative and folks that

actually ride....Speaking of which, the new T~Dub is on order from Honda East and I await it's arrival.  Once it arrives, Nick and I will head to the Toledo bergs and bring it home...hopefully the lates batch of snow will be melted, and I can put a few miles on it.

In the meantime I will wait ...and continue to prepare for the upcoming baseball season.  As president of the Midwest Buckeye BB/SB Umpire Association, a mostly figure head title, I still like to attend al all meetings....already one has been cancelled, and tomorrow night looks in jepordy with the snow and wind in the forecast{if Van Wert Schools cancel, we cancel}...this brings up another problem.  Flemings Sports is heading up from Columbus tomorrow and with them come the orders our guys have made with them...we will see what happens.  Added to this, my next 3 Wednesdays I have either scrimmages or regular season games to umpire, and I still need one more meeting to get in to remain legal.  So I either arrive late, if this happens, or I head to Piqua next Monday for one of their meetings to make sure I am covered ... Or I could just wait to see if one of the games is cancelled{most likely} or hold off until the final meeting on April 2nd, when I have a varsity game at Van Wert, which should be over in plenty of time to drive the mile to the High

School....decisions, decisions, whatever happens, I will get it covered, I just hate waiting until the last minute.

Time to head out for my 2 mile walk...since the day in nice, and we won't see another for awhile, I will forgo the treatmill and weight room for a walk to the Lake and back....a couple of miles in 60 degree weather is doable for sure.

back later>>>>

Winter...any end in sight?

Sunny today, and it is supposed to rise to the mid 30s...by most standards this is still 15 degrees or so below "normal" for this late in March...but by this winter's standards, it is downright balmy.  Tomorrow they say 50 for a high, and various 40 and 50 degree temps for the next 5 or 6 days, before back to winter...at least that is what they are currently predicting...but with the track record of the National Weather Service and the Weather Channel, don't bet on any of this coming to pass.

Sitting here this morning, after my morning workout on the treadmill, I decided to flip on the DVD of "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" .... instead I decided to watch the attached "Making of the TSM" ...turns out the stories of the making of the film, it's actors, locations, and director John Huston, was every bit as long as the 2 hour movie....just now I have turned over to the movie itself...one of my top 10 or 15 of all time for sure. 

Tomorrow I will head to the Hope Hotel at Wright~Patterson AFB, near Dayton, where Bob Griffith and I will meet with staff at the Hope, and make our final plans for the April 11th~13th Vietnam/Thailand Air Force Sky Cop Mini Reunion, the weekend before Easter.  At this point, I'm glad I pushed it back a month...because the rest of March doesn't look all that sweet, weather wise, hopefully April will see a bit more warm and a lot more sun.

Yamaha TW Time.....

In earlier posts, I had talked about getting back into off road and rural motorcycle riding ... well after looking at multiple dealers that offer the bike I want, a 2013 tw200 "Fat Tire" by Yamaha, the best deals within 200 miles I could come up with on a 13 was still way more than I wanted to pay....then out of the blue I come across Honda East outside Toledo in Maumee, Ohio...while they did not have any left over 2013s in stock, they offered me a out of the factory 2014 for less than I could purchase a 13 at most places .... add a rear luggage rack{for hauling my summer baseball equipment around}, taxes, and freight, I talked them into one for less than $4500, all included.  I sent in the deposit, and now wait for it to arrive ... Nick and I will take a trailer the 100 miles north, and bring it home...Crazy I Might Be...buy by gawd I will finally get back in the saddle.

Of course I have no intention of doing any long haul 4 lane riding ... been there done that, that's why I purchase this bike, that goes off and on the trails, and does so with a 200cc 4 stroke that won't top 70 or 75 mph ..."Let's Ride".

In the meantime I will wait for the winter to ease ... Baseball season is set to begin, with my first scrimmage at Parkway in Rockford set for March 18th....but unless we have a dozen dry days with plenty of sun and temps near 70, that isn't gonna happen, and the forecast, while a bit better, is far from that rosy a painted picture ... so we will wait it all out, the forecast is for below normal for the next 45 days or so .... looks like I will be wearing the cold weather gear more often than not again this season, which is the case most years ... but spring, rain, snow, winds, and a bit of warmth, with come.

back later>>>>