Headed Home

All of the events we attended went very well, from surprising our Niece and all the family to the visit with Anne's brother John and his family.

Dame Edna was in full swing with a couple of her nieces in cahoots.

I got to see my cousin Elizabeth and her husband Jim twice along with some members of her family.

Here they are, with daughter Janet and grand daughter Rhiannon.

We also met up with Anne's other brother Mike and his wife Mary.

Of course no visit to the North East would be complete without a trip to the motorcycle shops on Westgate Road.

I do believe that I've found my next project bike.

The guy in the store had dragged this out of the river in Hexham; it looks like some one took a sledge hammer to it before throwing it in.

This is something like what it may have looked like back in the day.

It's a 1000 cc BSA V-Twin the built in the 1930s.

Walking around Durham, I was interested  to see this installation of an Archimedes screw, usually they are used to pump water out of the river.

In this case however it will be used to generate electricity for a new building adjacent to the river.

It will, when commissioned produce 100kW which is about 75% of the building requirements.

Next to the screw a small bypass channel was constructed to make it easier for fish and elvers to move up and down stream.

This guy had already figured out what that channel was for!

More soon when I get back to the beach.

Norm

Arrived in Maui

Well not quite.

We arrived in Newcastle right on schedule on Thursday around noon and picked up the rental car.

The weather was pretty fair, cold but at least not raining.

For once, Hertz came through with a better car than the one I ordered.

Friday night was a complete success, a total surprise for all concerned.

Of course the dancing queen was having the time of her life.

A minor problem in the hotel, was that the refrigerator did not work.

So a redneck refrigerator was required.

Finally on Saturday, Billy the maintenance man brought a replacement. Problem solved.

More soon from the islands, British Isles that is.

Norm

On Our Way

I've been having access problems with wifi, but I think that we are on the right track now.

On Tuesday, when we're working on bikes, I tested a beer from Hawaii just a practice session.

Here I am at my bar in the back yard

Not as good as Budweiser but OK, well sorta OK.

Update.

Through security and ready to board.

More soon from the islands. 

Norm

Here Today Gone To Maui

Maui Here We Come!

Just a few days until we leave for Maui!
We are staying on the west side of the island just about where the yellow arrow points.

This is the view looking south across the bay.

Here we are preparing for the trip.

We leave on Wednesday and it is a five hour flight, look for an update sometime Friday night or Saturday morning.

We plan on getting ourselves ensconced and finding our way around before my next post.

Because Anne now cannot have caffeine or acid, she drinks herbal teas and coffees.

However, she just stepped up to the plate and is now sipping on a coconut water.

Be still my heart!

So we bought a tea kettle from Amazon, it is quite small and only holds 0.5 liters (whatever that is)

It is dual voltage and therefore will work in Italy in August when we make that trip.

Aloha Nui Loa

Norm

Arizona

Trip To Arizona

We set off for Arizona, at about 9:00 AM to avoid traffic this is about a five hour drive.

We told Barb and Leon we would be there about 2:00 PM.

Of course I forgot about the one hour time difference during the PST months.

Consequently we did not arrive until 3:00 PM, OOPS!

As we approached Palm Springs the snow was still very evident on the mountains.

We stopped a a roadside fruit stand to pick up some stuff and saw this truck and trailer.

Now what you would do with that many cacti I really don't know.

Make Tequila maybe!

I had sent Leon a picture of a decoration on the outside wall of a steak restaurant.

He decided that he could make one himself.

A good job he made of it too, actually I think that his is better than the original, can you spot the difference?

 I have mentioned this in a previous post, but this time I saw the finished product up close and personal.

The original is below.

Barb and Leon had a barbecue set up for dinner that evening, we all sat around outside and enjoyed Leon's cooking. I had a steak that would have done Desperate Dan proud,

We met up again the next morning and after going out for breakfast, we all went back to their house.

This was the first time that we had walked around the neighborhood where Leon and Barb live.

We got the grand tour with our local guide, Leon.

There are some beautiful parks in the area.

 

As is common with a lot of places with limited rainfall, they make the most use of water features in the parks.

During the afternoon, we headed for the ballgame at Surprise Stadium.

Kansas City Royals Vs The Milwaukee Brewers.

It was a really close game all the way through, but eventually the Royals came through in the clutch.

We had great seats on the first base side with a good view of the field.

As usual, we stayed at the Hampton Inn. This time they just jacked the room rates through the roof for spring training. A 159% increase over the rate for the same room after spring training is over.

All too soon it was time to say good bye and head for home.

I gassed up the truck in Surprise for about $1 a gallon less than it is here in Huntington Beach.

All in all a really pleasant trip and a great couple of days with good friends.

Ciao Bella

Norm

Arizona Here We Come

The Day Before

Today after the rain storm I took Missy to the park.

What a wonderful resource we have right here in our neighborhood.

Of course, as it has been raining Missy has to sniff everything and add new markers.

Sometimes she thinks that she is a Harley and needs to mark her spot.

 This is the path through the original park named for a former mayor of HB, Norma Gibbs. Complete with the Eucalyptus trees planted by the Graham family, hence the "Graham Street" running right past the park. 

Just to add a note of annoyance here, it is "Past the park" and not "Passed The Park" as I read in a BBC news article yesterday. Even though it does "Pass the park"

Where is Richard Baker when you need him?

This is the new part of the park which was built when the old Meadowlark airport was sold and a housing tract was built in its stead.

As you can see, even though we have not had a lot of rain, the little we have had, has done wonders for the grass.

Finally, a comment about the election.

Well said, whoever said it.

Travel Season

The Travel Season Is Almost Upon Us Again.

We're getting ready to start the travel season off with a trip to Arizona to visit Barb and Leon.

I took this picture outside of a steak house in Naples (part of Long Beach) it is a steer made from straight lines. I sent the picture to Leon and he has made one for his back yard, I'll be interested to see it when we get there.

Whilst we are there we will take in a spring training ball game.

The Milwaukee Brewers VS The Kansas City Royals at Surprise stadium.

Click on the link below for more information on the venue.

Surprise Stadium Info

In early April we have a trip to Maui planned (one of the Hawaiian Islands), we had an invitation to go to the UK for the engagement party of our niece, Stephanie.

Much as we love her and would have been really happy to attend we thought Maui - Fatfield, well maybe Maui wins out.

Those of you who have been to Fatfield will know why.

I am writing the BLOG post whilst hiding out in the office as Madam is watching the Oscars.

I would rather have root canal surgery.

From today going forward both BLOGS will be available through links on my website.

Click on the link below. 

Of course, I have only just started on the website so hopefully it will get better with time.

Sheddington Website

Ciao Bella

Norm

The Panther Roars

A Big Day.

As you may recall from an earlier BLOG the Panther came home on January 14th.

Today, 12 days later we have it running; a not insignificant feat.

We have to be grateful that after two whole weeks of winter we have now returned to 75 degree weather allowing us to work outside in the yard.

Some work has taken place in the meantime, the carburetor was removed and found to have a lot of deposits, the idle jet was completely blocked.

The ignition wiring and HT pickup were repaired.

The center stand was more or less straightened and a new bolt made by Sheddington Enterprises was installed.

An adaptor was made (again thanks to Sheddington Enterprises) to attach the small fuel tank used for setup.

This allows you to start and run the bike with out the real fuel tank in place.

I need one of those stands on wheels they give you in the hospital for an IV drip.

I have been in contact with the Panther Owners Club about the bike and with their help have found that the engine is correct for the bike.

It took a bit of finding, but the build number confirms the assembly of the bike.

Thanks to Alan Ratcliffe for his help in checking the numbers.

I had to use some of Madame's lipstick to make the numbers readable for the camera.

I sneaked it back in when she was out on a walk, but I guess the taste of oil gave the game away.

She was not happy!

All of these projects require some effort, and when you get a bit long in the tooth you may need a little chemical assistance.

My brother Jimmy and I both take the pills from the blue bottle, no not those blue pills, albeit sparingly. You don't need NSAIDS like Aleve to be screwing up your liver, you need to keep it in good shape for beer consumption.

Click the link below for the movie.

The Panther Roars

With my apologies for getting a bit exuberant when the Panther started.

Please note that in future POSTS about bikes and biking will be on my new blog.
Click on the link below for a preview.

Norms Bikes

Ciao Bella

Norm

SoCal Sunday

A Ride To San Juan Capistrano

Today we decided to take a ride down to San Juan Capistrano on the scoot.

We made a stop at a serious biker hangout called The Swallows Inn and Nest.

If you are not familiar with the association between Swallows and San Juan Capistrano, look it up on Google.

As it happened, today we were lucky, there was a band called "Big Fat Steve's"playing.

And boy could these guys play.

They had a lot of different instruments, but I have to say that this is the first time I have seen someone play the fiddle like it was a cello. You live and learn; I'm not sure that Vivaldi would approve, but then he wasn't there.

Click on the link below to see one of the numbers played.

The Band

If you would like to learn more about the band, the link below goes to their website.

Big Fat Steve

The trike gets better by the day.

I'm beginning to get the hang of it now.

Of course, if we had gone to Washington DC instead of San Juan, Madame could have joined the event shown below; she could have worn her Leopard Onesie!

However, as Madame is not much of a snow fan, we probably made the right decision.

More soon,

Ciao Bella,

Norm

Return Of The Thumper

The Panther Comes Home

On Thursday the driver from Haul Bikes Called to say that he was about 30 minutes away.

My bike was on the top deck, this thing has a massive tail gate lift.

The driver helped me roll the bike into the garage.

After a quick check in the tool box, I found a California plate from 1992 which will make registering the bike quite a bit easier.

On Friday my brother Jimmy came around and we put the bike up on the lift for a better look at it.

Some problems showed up right away and we have a plan in place for resolving those issues.

In fact we have two plans, short term goal and long term goal.

The wiring is junk so we will need to replace that.

There are not too many wires, so that should not be too much of a problem.

The side stand is bent all out of shape and the center stand has a few issues, both have been removed for cleaning and inspection.

 More soon on the progress of the Big Cat.

Ciao Bella,

Norm