I have been busy out in my shop the last week or so, getting about four coats of paint on the ceiling and changing out all of the lighting. The fixtures that I took down were salvaged from the central office at the phone company when we went to a digital switch back in 1990. Anyhow it has been a project, all of the things that a person accumulates over the past 30 years plus the bikes had to come out of there plus covering the carpet with plastic, lets us just say, I'm glad it's almost done. Anyhow, now I can get back to putting the rest of the year down on paper, so to speak.
March was next. Things were pretty quiet until the 5th, when we had rain, snow, hail and lightning in the same storm. one of those wet snows that are like trying to move wet cement with a scoop shovel. I was working on the carbs on 94 Ducati and helping Eli with his 64 Falcon project. Jan and I were attending basketball games for Sam and Gus at assorted locations in southern Minnesota, and Leah's 12th birthday party. It looks as if the temperatures hung just above freezing most of the month, so on the 24th we got another dump of 8 to 10 inches of the wet stuff again. I may have waited for warmer weather on that one. On almost the last day of the month it got up to 48 degrees, the warmest day of 2018 so far. Only a few years ago I rode to the Black Hills in the middle of March. Just to show how much it can vary around here.
April started out with more snow and cold temps. I have been getting out to the rest home to visit with Mom and look at her mail. I needed to pay bills and things for her and with brother Phil's help get her to doctor appointments. Not to change the subject, but we just received news that Phil's father-in-law and Laura's father just passed away. This must be a bad time of the year for deaths to occur for more than one reason, it's the Christmas season for starters and in the back of your mind you knew this would happen sooner or later, it's just that it wasn't supposed to happen now. About a year ago now our brother-in-law Steve Johnson passed away after fighting health problems for some time. I covered that last year December I believe. Anyhow back to April. I actually got a couple bikes out of the garage on the 12th,it was 50 degrees!! Almost the next day we had a two day snow that dumped 18 inches of the wet stuff again. Between snowstorms Jan and I managed to get out to the farm, me helping with the Falcon, and Jan with the goats, and doctor appointments for the both of us. We ran to Rochester for the boys basketball, got the Mustang out of the garage, and took the GS to Sioux City for servicing. Eli and I went to a parts expo at Sherburn hoping to find some new old parts for his Falcon, but no luck on that front. At that time I headed south for my first bike trip and ended up in Osceola Iowa with the idea that I was going farther south and then east. One look at the weather channel the next day threw cold water on that idea, so I went over to Council Bluffs and home again. It seems that trips to the south early in the year will usually run into bad weather of some kind. Last year I did manage to get as far as Louisiana and back up through Mississippi, Tennessee and Kentucky. The weather turned on me from that point until I reached home in 35 degree temps. Oh did I mention by this time we did have a 70 degree day?
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