Good Morning!!!! 59F @ 7:00AM. Partly cloudy early then becoming cloudy with periods of rain this afternoon. High near 60F. Winds S at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near a half an inch.
I feel your Quicken pain, fellas. As a Mac user, Quicken and I have been treated like red headed step children for many years by the Intuit company. The version I have installed is from 2007, and though newer versions are available, I consider them crippleware and up until a year ago had been limping along on the older version. At that time I decided that my finances had greatly simplified in retirement, and just stopped using it altogether, instead just reviewing banking and trading information regularly online. That should work just fine until Mr. Putin or Mr. Kim gifts the US with a string of EMP nukes, and then we'll all have much more pressing concerns.
Ice storms in April? Could be yet another sign of the impending apocalypse. Hope everyone stays safe, even those that must venture out into it.
Yesterday was my friend John's celebration of life and memorial motorcycle ride. I was up very early to load his old bike onto the trailer and get down to his house in time to meet two other family friends in time to ride it to the start of the ride. Bike didn't want to start, but ran well on the way there, then wouldn't start at all when we left from there. A bump start got it going, and all seemed well. Very nice route through winding roads in bright sunshine and great scenery. I made no attempt to keep up with the other riders, all of whom were on much more modern machines, many very high performance sport bikes, which I learned John used to ride regularly (these were his riding buddies from those times). About fifty miles along I started what I thought was increased tappet noise from the right side of the engine, ten miles later I learned I was mistaken as the noise rapidly increased and ended with a bang. I pulled in the clutch and coasted to a turnout at the side of the road, another rider pulling over with me. Got in touch with John's wife, who sent two more family friends down with my truck and trailer, effecting a very easy rescue. A brief examination at the side of the road showed no valve damage on that side, but lots of metal in the oil. Back at John's, no movement could be detected from the piston on that side, so apparently I'll get to go through the only component I didn't rebuild on the bike. Later today I'll stick a little TV camera down the spark plug hole to see what kind of story it tells, but I'm expecting to see a connecting rod sticking through the top of the piston. That tappet noise I heard was probably detonation (Eric would call it pinking), and it likely melted the top of the piston so much it could no longer resist the desire of the rod to break free. I'll know for sure later, and how many pennies to start saving up for the repair.
John and his wife Renee had no children, but from the size of the gathering you'd never know it. Well over a hundred folks gathered to remember John, and the stories they told revealed many facets of his life I had never known. He traveled the world in his youth, including some time in a place called Viet Nam, settled down with Renee and remodeled the house from the foundation up, built a cabin and shop, traveled with her throughout South America on her extended work related humanitarian missions, and bought and sold many motorcycles, cars, and trucks along the way. All the stories involved John's wry humor, strong work ethic, and down-to-earth approach to life. We are all enriched by having him as a friend, and carry many happy memories of our time together into the future.
My misadventure on John's old motorcycle was just another chapter in his life, as I think the same thing would have happened had he gotten the bike put back together and taken it for that first ride himself. I know he'll be looking over my shoulder as I sort through the rubble and get it going again, lightening the mood with jokes and funny sayings that I'll remember, and stores so numerous no one at the gathering could count.
Hope everyone enjoys the rest of the weekend!
