Spring is just around the corner

  We have been up to a few things around here lately. Jan and I just finished a paneling job in our "exercise room " in the basement. I'll throw in a few pictures, if I can get that to work this time around. I worked out a parts list to fix up the XR 650, again, got them ordered recently, and received them just a few days later, much to my surprise. I had ordered a set of hand guards for the Triumph from Bike Bandit and that order had taken a couple of weeks. I think that they had to turn around and order them from Triumph, and maybe they had to come from Great Britain. Anyhow, I have the cylinder and piston out to a machinist locally and he will get them acquainted with each other and then I can proceed to putting things back together. This latest problem occurred last Summer after the bike had been rebuilt after the dealer screwed it up. I am not sure but it may have been an oil starvation thing because it wiped out the top end, pretty much. I have a couple of pictures of that too. Back to the paneling job. Jan and I spent more than a week on that one, and it necessitated two trips to Mankato, one for the wood itself and a return for a power miter saw. I made one cut with the saw I have used for years for cutting trim and said, "Jan we are going to get a power miter". If I hadn't I would still be down there sawing away. Probably the best $110 bucks I have spent in a long time. Next up, Gus's birthday party in Rochester. Jan, and I , and the Great Grandmothers made the trip last Saturday. Believe it or not, neither one of us remembered to bring a camera this time. The party for Gus was the usual house full of relatives, with our car full, Scuba's brothers, and their wives, except for Bill, come to think of it. Scuba's Mom and the next door neighbors, and a couple of dogs to boot. What can I say, but it was pretty wild again. It is good to see the Minnesota branch of our kiddos and their kiddos get together. Only missing Rachel and her family who are on the East coast with the Navy, so to speak. Yesterday was Leah's birthday party here in town at her house. If you read the previous description of Gus's party, just put most of the action in this new location minus Scuba's brothers, wives, Mom and neighbors in this new location and you will get the picture. This time, luckily enough I did bring a camera, so I will add some of Leah's party. In Rachel's latest blog she talks about thinking about past mistakes keeping you up at night. It must run in the family as I have that problem too, lots of mornings I wake up early and start going over things I may have done wrong over the years, and believe me that could fill a book. Eventually I just have to get up and make my coffee and have breakfast, because laying in bed with your mind working overtime won't give you any rest. you think, if only I could have a "do over', I would do things differently, but probably not. On that high note I will close this blog, take care and stay in touch.

Letter to a Friend

I have been wanting to post something new for a few days and the other day Jan found a letter that I had written to her instead of a card for Mothers Day. To tell the truth I probably forgot or was too cheap to spring for a card for her. God knows she deserves more cards and flowers, and gifts than I get around to giving her. Anyhow, I thought that I would put the text of the note that I gave her instead of a card in a new blog. This is from Mother's Day in 1981. At the time we had a 1 year old boy, a 3 year old girl, and a 6 year old girl, so Jan was pretty busy I am thinking. It starts.
              Dear Jan
  When I put the girls to bed tonight and kissed them, I thought how sweet they are- most of the time- and how empty life would be without them. I guess that's what Mother's Day is all about, giving a return gift to someone who has given you so much, three beautiful, intelligent, healthy children, and a warm comforting home. As I have said before, I can't wait to get home to find out what the tribe has been up to, or to see the line up at the back door. This really makes my day. This year I got you a rose bush. I hope that it grows as well as the last one, but I was too cheap to spring for a card, so I wrote this, I hope it will do.
                                         Love Pete
I've written lots of love notes to Jan over the years and I don't plan on stopping any time soon. The early morning of the 23rd she woke me up and we talked about how things went 33 years previously when Eli, our youngest was born. Both of the girls were sick and had thrown up in bed and Jan was getting them cleaned up, when she told me that some thing else was happening as well. My Mom rushed over to watch the girls while we ran to the hospital. Eli arrived a few hours later. This was in the days before ultra sound, so it always came as a surprise when the child made their appearance to this world. I had the privilege of first holding both Eli and Gen when they were born and walking around the delivery room and talking to them, something that I will never forget. Rachel's birth was a little different so I didn't get to hold her until later. So now Jan and I just bustle around the house  and keep in touch by phone and on line too with the kids that are no longer kids, but the same age as we were when we had a family like them.
     Anyhow, on another subject. Jan, Aaron, Eli, and I were up to Comfrey Sunday morning to a benefit lunch fund raiser. They are raising funds to put up a monument for the four Air Force personnel that perished when their B-47 bomber crashed just north of Comfrey in February, 1963. I had come home on leave from tech school and my Dad had met the bus in Albert Lea, when he told me about the crash. I can remember that it was at least 20 below zero that day. The two that got out of the plane as it went down froze to death before they hit the ground and two more rode the plane into the ground. Until recently I had believed that the aircraft was out of Little Rock AFB, but research recently told me they were from Lincoln AFB, Nebraska. Stay in touch and leave a comment if you wish, and even if you don't wish.
p.s.  I was going to add some pictures, but now it won't let me down load pictures from our files, so I guess this will be without illustrations

He's Alive !!

  I know, I know it has been quite a while since I last updated anybody with a new blog. I should really try to bring a few readers up to date on what we have been up to here in the semi-frozen North land. Today the sun is shining and it is actually above freezing again. Let's see where do I begin- Back in December Jan and I traded off our Honda VFR 800 for a new Triumph 800 Tiger, I'll give you 3 guesses what his name is. It's kind of lame but all of our vehicles have names. Our red Fusion is Ruby, the BMW GS is Fritz-BMW is a German brand-etc, etc.. Anyhow, The Tiger is the first Triumph that we have had in the garage, over the years I have slowly moved from an all Honda remuda to a primarily European gang. Two of my three Honda's are in pieces so they hardly count anymore. The Europeans are from Italy, Germany and Great Britain. After picking that bike up in Lakeville Jan and I swung by Cabelas and got a new generator for the home and maybe the Toy hauler if I can't get that generator running smooth again. I think that I covered Christmas, which we celebrated early this year, in my Christmas letter. Over New Years we spent several days at a hotel in the Cities with Hans, Rachel, Josiah, Annika, and William. Steve, Gen, Sam, and Gus made it for a couple of nights, as did Phil, and Laura, and for New Years Eve, Eli, Lindsey, Leah, and Aaron got there too. We really had a good time New Years Eve with the whole gang in one room for several hours. In the last few years, having everybody in the same place at the same time has been way too rare for our tastes. I'll throw in some pictures at some place in this blog to maybe illustrate what I mean. I just had an idea, after this when I have a batch of pictures to send to the people most interested, I'll just do a blog instead, then they will have to read this, this, epistle. Through the month of January and into February things have quieted down somewhat, although, the corner shower in our bathroom is in the process of getting a major overhaul. I think that back a couple of years, if you go through my blog there was an ongoing thread on the process of redoing the old corner shower, hmm, what goes around comes around. The whole old one went into the trash and a brand new one is waiting in the wings. We will have to replace a portion of the floor that got wet over the years, along with the floor covering and all of the shower controls, luckily my brother Phil is a plumber, we have utilized his skills over the years a lot.  Jan also is pushing another project in the basement for our tread mill room. This room has been semi finished for a long time and I think that we will be doing some planking on the walls down there to finish it up for once. Today is the 12th of February and we are sliding up to the 14th which will be Jan and our 42nd anniversary. Holy cow, how did this happen? What can you say about the woman that quite literally saved my life and also made it worth living? Thanks just doesn't seem to cut it anymore. We just love to hang out together. Just sitting at the kitchen table reading the Sunday paper together is one of the most satisfying things in the world for me. Yet when I get the urge to hit the road she pushes me out the door, with a ,"have a good time". Anyhow, this blogs for you St. Jan. Happy 42nd and I would like several more if you don't mind. Love Pete.
p.s. You may notice that some of the pictures are not the best. We were having camera trouble for a while.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas 2012

I thought that I would try something different this year and since I have not been able to work up the ambition to blog since March, I thought that this would be a good way to kill two birds with one stone, so to speak. I usually do the letter in a month by month format, so her goes. January, the temps varied from the 50s to cold. I was working on re jetting a bike which worked quite well, and some carpentry work in the basement. We moved my Mother-in-law back to Sherburn from Wadena this month too.. Leah, our grand daughter started piano lessons that I sat in on, and I painted the bathroom. In February the weather was not too bad and I got in some riding, and of course some snow too. Jan and I were over to Rochester a couple of times, once with both of the great-grammas along for Gus' birthday party. We also spent some time clearing out my mother-in-laws storage unit here in town and getting her settled in at her home in Sherburn etc.. Jan and I spent a few days with Leah and Aaron at their house while Eli and Lindsey were up North trying to find enough snow to do some snowmobiling. Oh ya, we celebrated our 41st wedding anniversary on the 14th. March, the temperatures vary quite a bit from the 30s to the high 70s, needless to say I got in a lot of riding, with a trip out to the Hills in the middle of the month. Also spent some time, and money, needless to say for maintenance on said bikes. Jan and I made a couple of trips to Rochester, celebrated Leah's birthday, and did some work for my Mom. I also hauled another load of worn out jeans to Grove City to a PGR buddy's home, where they make quilts for autistic kids from them. I did paint and hang the window boxes we got over the Winter, and they looked good this Summer full of flowers and greenery. April, the weather got better and better, but wetter and windier. I had to start mowing the lawn the first part of the month, and we drove my mother-in-law, Bernice to Sioux Falls for a doctors appointment. On the 20th, Jan and I started out for Virginia again, after a stop at the Air Force museum in Dayton and a couple of motels we arrived in Norfolk on the 22nd for a visit. We had a nice visit with the Defors and headed home on the 28th, and arrived back in St. James the next day. This trip I tried a new route around Washington, DC, I will not be trying that way again if I can avoid it. May started out with some heavy rains and several PGR missions to Jackson, Rochester , and Jackson again. Jan and I got our trailer out for the first trip of the season, which is to Albert Lea KOA. We did some riding down into Iowa around Decorah and the Theobald's came down to visit one afternoon. I think that this is the first year that we have been down there and the weather has been nice, the last few years it has been rainy and cold to boot. I had to replace the battery on our 94 Ducati and after stating her up I found the clutch AWOL. So I had to rebuild the master cylinder, it works good now. Gen ran in the Fargo marathon in May and naturally we drove up to watch. I am not so sure about her but we had a lot of fun watching the race on city streets. There were assorted bands on almost every block set up in people's driveways, it made for a festive atmosphere to be sure. Gen was happy with her time, so I guess that is what really matters. Toward the end of the month I rode out to the Big Horns in Wyoming to try some trails that I saw on my maps, but when I got way up in the Mountains I ran into a lot of snow so I had to turn around and head home. I guess that I was there a little too early, this time. It looks as if we got an awful lot of rain later in May, luckily as the crops needed the water in the drought that lasted the rest of the year around here. On Memorial Day we had our annual picnic at a park in Owatonna, with all of the family in this area at least including my sister Kathy who was home for a visit at the time. On the first of June I rode to Fergus Falls on a PGR mission for a soldier killed in a swimming accident. Jan and I drove down to Sherburn for her to visit her Mom and I went to the movie in town, yes Sherburn still has a theater that shows first run movies. Good grief, even Fairmont the county seat does not have a theater now, there used to be two and a drive inn. I was shopping around, looking for trees to replace the two ash trees in our front yard that were taken out later on. One was planted when Rachel was born and the other was for Genevieve. Eli's is on the east side of the house and is a maple. Gen, Sam,Gus, and I went to Mankato to the airshow to see the Blue Angels perform. Jan and drove over to Peterson for Scuba's softball tournament, this is getting to be an annual event too the way it seems. We had a PGR mission to Bloomington for a soldier KIA one day and a funeral for a PGR friend's Mom in Hardwick the next day, so I put a few miles there. Jan and I went to Mankato so that she could talk with Social Security and PERA about her upcoming plan to retire from Watonwan County Human Services where she has worked for 20 plus years. This is something that we have been looking forward to for years praying for the time to be together after retirement. So far so good. On the 4th of July we got the trailer out again and headed down to Lanesboro for a few days. Gen, Scuba, Eli, Lindsey, and families joined us, camping next to the trailer for a couple of days mostly to catch the terrific fireworks display that they put on down there. We got some riding in and had a good time with the gang. We celebrated Aaron's birthday on the tenth, and I spent several days sanding the deck off to re-apply a finish in the future. Jan and I met my brother Phil and his wife Laura in New Ulm one Thursday so that the ladies could do some shopping followed by a tour of the Schell's brewery and a burger at a small town burger joint, all in all we had a nice time. I did get the two maples in the front yard planted toward the end of July. Boy did we pick the wrong year to remove trees, it's been so dry and hot that I have been watering those trees almost on a daily basis ever since. On the 30th I was at a small cemetery in rural Canby waiting for the funeral procession to arrive from South Dakota, and realized that it was exactly 50 years ago that I had entered the Air Force, holy cow a half century ago! The Air Force I served in had more in common with WWll than does today's service. Many of the personnel I served with were veterans of that conflict. At the time I had no idea how many of those hero's I was surrounded by. I just wish that I knew then what I knew now about their sacrifices. I just finished another book about the air war over Europe in 1943 and 44, it seems incredible to me that we can expect people to just keep going out when the odds of coming back are slim to none! August started with me installing Mom's new stove, I have been helping out on her kitchen remodel here and there, so it is coming together at this time. Jan and I made another return trip to Rochester to see my doctors for a follow-up check, and everything looks fine, so they said "you don't have to come back in a year, if you don't want to". We said that I think we will be back just for the peace of mind of it. If we didn't go back, I think that we would kind of miss wandering around that facility checking things out. In the middle of the month Phil and I made a run out to the Hills for a little dirt biking etc.. It has been a while since we had been out there, what with several trips to Colorado over the years taking up some of our off road time. Toward the end of the month I headed south through Nebraska and Kansas so that I could clip the panhandle of Oklahoma and Texas, cross northern New Mexico and end up in Colorado. By riding Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico I would add 3 more states to my riding list. Anyway I was on my way to Rapid City for the 28th Bomb Wing reunion, and I had to be there Thursday the 30th, due to the fact that I was running behind I had to skip Texas and New Mexico. I found the panhandle of Oklahoma to be the most God forsaken part of the country I have ever had the displeasure of passing through. The next day I rode to the top of Pike's Peak, there's a really good view from up there, and up through Breckenridge, Granby, and Walden to Laramie for the night. The next day was on to Rapid city and the reunion check in, which turned out to be a bust. Evidently this was a function for senior NCO's and officers, so I felt really, more so than ordinarily out of place.So I headed home the next day, won't be doing that one again. Oh well I had a pretty good ride anyway. September stated out with Eli and I making a run to Maple Plain for him to get a different bike, again, a Yamaha FJR, which seems like a nice machine. We got the trailer out and loaded for our run over to Oakdale, Wisconsin for almost a week pf riding and relaxing. As usual we had a good time in the hills of Wisconsin on some of the best roads in this part of the country. I also finished finishing the deck before the end of the month when Jan officially spent her last day at the office!! The day after her retirement we loaded up the Mustang for a run to Norfolk to visit the DeFors for a couple of weeks. The primary excuse was Hans and Rachel were going on a cruise to celebrate their 10th anniversary and we, well Jan and I were going to watch the kiddos for a week or so. It went pretty good for the most part, but I guess that I forgot how much work 3 smaller children are. You've got to admire grand parents that take over raising their grand children. The only downside of the trip was hitting a deer near Jaynesville on the way home, as usual didn't even see it until it took out the front of the Mustang. Naturally it took out the radiator and a few other things, all to the tune of $4500+. After returning home I had a couple of PGR missions and we celebrated Jan's birthday with a retirement party at her former place of employment. Along with my brother and sister-in -law, we made another run to the Black Hills for a few days. We had a good time one day touring the wineries that a popping up in the Hill City area. November started with a trip to Rochester to help the Theobalds finish their basement with some painting assistance. Shortly after that Jan,i, Phil, Laura, and my sister Kathy flew out to Washington DC for a few days. Kathy has been reading names at the Wall every five years for a while now, I've been with her now for the past ten years. Jan, Phil, and Laura had never been to DC before so it was quite a treat for them. Our hotel this time was right in back of the Air and Space museum so it was a short walk over there and then a pretty good hike down to Wall from there. We did ride the trolley one day around town, stopping at the National Cathedral, White House, etc.. It was really beautiful there this time of the year, cool, with the trees turning. Did I mention that Kathy picked up the tab for this whole adventure? I can say without a doubt that the gesture was greatly appreciated! Jan and I say that we would go back in a moment. I did manage to get in some more riding and two more KIA funerals with the PGR, one in New Prague and the other in Algona, Iowa. Thanksgiving was in Rochester at the Theobalds again this year, this is also an annual event at their house. It is nice developing traditions like this.  December, it seems as if now days we spend the better part of the month leading up to Christmas itself. We, Jan and I were over to Rochester to attend both grand son's Christmas programs and the Cities for Rachel's mother-in law's concert at Woodale. The Woodale Christmas concert is quite a production, you need to see it to appreciate it. We had our family Christmas at our house last Saturday with the whole gang here minus the DeFor family, who are coming home from Norfolk by the end of the year for a visit. We plan on holing up at a hotel in the Cities with them for a few days. Our son-in-law Navy Cmdr Hans DeFor just got the word that he has been approved for the command of his own ship, something he has been working toward for over 20 years of service.
 I have to say that this has been an exceptional year in a string of exceptional years with our family, God has surely blessed us through no fault of mine, good proof that our deeds don't determine our good luck in relationships, children, and the blessing of having been born in the United States of America. Take good care of yourselves and those around you, and hopefully the Mayans are wrong and we will see you next year.

March Road Trip post script

After telling my story of woe yesterday I realized that I had forgotten to add the crowning touch to the part where I lost my wallet and camera and got them back. After returning from Sanborn, where I met the UPS driver, Hoot Malmgren, whom I have known for years, I thought that I would run out on the Sizer road to see if he had missed anything. So I got the XR650 out and headed west again. A few miles out of town "Harry" stopped running and I switched to reserve, thinking he was low on fuel. A little bit later the same think occurred and that's when it hit me, the bike was seizing up. For some reason I had changed jackets before leaving the garage and naturally I left my cell phone in the other jacket, just to compound the string of errors that were mounting up that day. Anyhow, I ended up walking back to town, calling Eli to come help, getting the truck and ramps out and bring "Harry" home. The knife twist in the back on this one is this, for years every time I changed the oil I tried to remove a filter in the oil lines without success, so this year I took him to the Honda dealer in Mankato to do the job along with the oil change. I hauled him back to Mankato and the oil filter housing was dry,not a good thing. They tore the engine down and the piston is scored etc., but luckily the top end, cam, rockers, etc. are ok. So now "Harry" sits forlornly, in pieces in a strange shop waiting to be rebuilt. They promised to split some of the costs, so hopefully it won't be too bad, but it will be bad enough. The thing is, I was doing all of this extra maintenance with the idea of heading back out to the Big Horns sometime this Summer. Was it Robert Burns who said" the best laid plans of men and mice oft times go astray"? I think that that statement fits here, don't you? That about covers it for now, see you next time, same time , same station.

March Road Trip

This blog will be the first that I have put up in quite some time. The subject, as usual, will be a bike trip heading west. As this has been one of the nicest Marches on record, I had the bright idea of making a quick run out to the Hills, again. I picked a couple of days when the weather looked promising and got ready to go. I left home one Tuesday morning headed west, about 20 miles from home I started looking for my wallet, stopped and check all of the 15 pockets in my riding gear and the trunk, no luck. I headed back home checked around the house, still no luck. About that time I noticed some recordings on the machine, one was from UPS with the note that a driver had picked up my wallet on the road west of town, and one from the post office letting me know that a rural carrier had picked up my camera. Looking back I then recalled putting them on the bike while I was getting suited up and neglected to put them in a pocket. Anyhow, to make a long story short I ended up in Sanborn to meet the UPS guy and retrieve my stuff. After that much stress I headed home to think again how lucky I have been. God must really be fond of me, and for the life of me I can't figure out why. In the future I have to try and rely a little less on good luck and the kindness of strangers, and a little more on paying attention to the details. The next morning I did head out again and this time each item had an assigned pocket and stayed there the whole trip. I went out through Pierre and across country to Sturgis. Leaving Pierre there was a sign that the next services are 66 miles away, and that service, when I passed by, did not not look real promising. An unusual sight at the intersection of highways 14 and 34, west of Pierre is a baseball diamond surrounded by big banks of lights and all of the facilities that go with a ball diamond, but it looked as if it hadn't been used in years. Things like that get me thinking, "what is this ball diamond doing out here miles from any settlement of any size". I could see it if it had been a rodeo arena in that area, but no, a ball diamond. Things that make you go hmmm. Anyhow, I got to Sturgis checked in and ran up to the Terry Peak area to see if the property Eli, Phil, and I looked at last Fall was accessible, but no, the snow was pretty deep, at least deeper than I wanted to wade through. So back to Sturgis via Lead and Deadwood before it got too dark. The next morning I was on the road headed toward Rapid City and I passed by one of those huge RV lots, so I turned back and stopped in to check out the 5th wheel toy haulers. Jan had asked that I keep my eyes open for one even though we keep saying we are happy with the one we have. Sure enough the had a very nice 30 foot model right out front. I took the tour and videoed the whole unit. Needless to say it ain't cheap, but as soon as I got home and played the video for Jan , I could see the wheels start to turn. The whole drive to the 5th wheel camper is the idea that it will pull easier than the trailer, and thusly save some of that $4+ diesel fuel. So now we are thinking about a run to the Hills to check it out. Last weekend the weather was nice, but windy, so Jan and I rode over to spend some time with the Theobalds. We had a good time with the gang and were home by noon on Sunday. This time of the year I have been busy changing oil and mounting new tires on a few of the bikes, and getting the new window boxes ready to mount on the south side of the house. Well, that is about it for now, stay in touch and reply if it moves you.

Driving Ms. Jannie

As usual, if you look at the photos from the bottom up, they will be in the proper order. It has been quite a while since I last drug a blog out of my head so here goes. First the title, in a round about way it all goes back to a day in September when we upgraded from our 2006 Mustang to a newer model that happens to be a stick. Thus, Jan no longer drives it. We took it out to Chesapeake in October to be on hand for Will's birthday party and to watch the kiddos for Hans and Rachel while they attended the Navy Ball- come to think of it I need to include a photo of the couple on their front porch. Anyhow we spent a good time with the DeFors at their home in Chesapeake and on the way home, somewhere in Indiana or Illinois, I looked over at Jan and said "I know what the title of my next blog is going to be". That sounds a little like Fineas and Pherb- I know that I have those names misspelled- "I know what we are going to do today". We watched a lot of them while we were there, touring the "tri state area". Since getting home we have been over to Rochester a couple of times for Sam's birthday and Thanksgiving and nothing medical, thank God. The Theobalds, Jan, and I recently spent a weekend at the Spearfish Lodge in Spearfish Canyon, naturally. I have a couple of pictures in this mess from that weekend also. Lately, since the riding season is over for all intents and purposes, I have started taking the BMWs apart so that I can just get to the valve covers just to set the valves. Another twist is the fact that to get the valve covers off you first need to remove the spark plug coils. This step in the plan requires a special tool, that naturally used to be included in the tool kit, but no longer is. So, I am waiting for my dealer to round one up and sell it to me. Oh well, I shouldn't complain I guess, as I have recently added a new tv to the shop, so I can turn up the heat check out the tv channels, or turn on the sound system and clean and wax to my hearts content. Winter in Minnesota gives the biker a long chance to catch up on maintenance etc.. Sometime this month I need to get started on my annual Christmas letter too, so I had better not spend too much of my creativity on this single blog. I hope that this blog finds everyone fit and looking forward to the Holiday season (Christmas).