Friday, November 13, 2015

Friday the 13th


It's my fave random date and day of the week. Friday the 13th. If it were not for social plans tonight here in the A-T-L I would have certainly went for a ride. In a very small way I'm glad I didn't because I found this creepy little doll that I think someone gave me years ago. She rode on many of my bicycles over the years and eventually I decided for some reason to take her off whatever bike and put her into a tool box.

Well I was rooting through my big ol' tool box in the shed and ran across her on this very day Friday the 13th. I had a buddy tell me that it's "fucking hideous". I admit it's a very creepy little doll, yet not as creepy as a televangelist. Since being told that today I did contemplate putting her on the dash of the truck then decided against it and thought that I should put this little dear back into my tool box for a random self surprise later on.

Anyways happy non-hallmark creepy day that is "unlucky".

Oh and in case you want to mark your calendars here is a list of future Friday the 13ths:

So concludes the "Head full of weird" portion of today's blerg. Thanks for reading.

Saturday, November 7, 2015

Smiles all around

Yesterday I grabbed the ol' Karate Monkey and headed out to my local trails. I honestly thought with it being mild weather that the lot would be full. Nope, It was only me and a couple of other folks who were passing thru whilst escaping from Florida. It has been rather rainy and wet for the last several days so taking a quick turn on local trails seemed a great idea.

It was.

I had the trails pretty much all to myself. Yes, I scared the shit out of a guy sitting on a stump and yes I saw a couple of hikers. I grabbed the ol' KM because I knew the trails would be slick with fallen leaves and I could not really power up some rooty sections with the R/S/S/S Kona. It was a nice little ride even stopped and drank a frothy malted beverage at a lesser known trail intersection. Which is where I ran into the Florida couple. We chatted for a few minutes they were doing a road trip and they moved on. I finished up my beverage and started down the trail.

I have to say as opposed to some of my fellow single track travelers. I've *knock wood* had very few strange encounters and hardly found any weird stuff on the trail. So imagine my surprise to find (actually ran over) a cell phone in the middle of the trail after a little obstacle. I immediately know it belonged to the Florida couple. I was hoping they'd call it or there would be a number on it I could call but to no avail. I tucked it into one of my zippered pockets and hoped that they would discover their mishap before leaving. I made it a point to head back to the Mazdarauder via the single track in hopes of running into there folks. Still nothing.

Got back to the trail head and the Mazdarauder, changed outta my clammy shammy and put the KM onto the rack. The only other car belonged to someone with a Fla tag. I made the logical leap that the phone belonged to them. The phone also had a little stick on wallet with drivers License and a couple of credit cards. Knowing these folks were on the road doing a trip made me want to make sure I put the phone into their hands. Because I can only imagine losing that shit while out on the road.

I did not have to wait long maybe 20 minutes. As soon as they came into talking distance I told them I found a phone and some cards so what's your name. They gave me the right name and I handed over their gear.

Needless to say they were THRILLED.

The woman hugged my neck and the dude shook my hand with great vigor. Truly they were very thankful for the fortune that smiled upon them. Seriously what luck to have the only other MTB rider on 20 plus miles of trail run across your cellie and essential ID and cards. I was happy to be of help to someone because deep down inside I am an over grown and often misunderstood boy scout.

I would have offered them beers problem was I had only the one and I swilled that one one the trail. I should have gotten contact info because damn if I didn't make a good impression on someone for once. I did neither and more is the shame.

At least there were smiles all around. Thanks for reading. 

Sunday, November 1, 2015

The fall holy trinity

In case you have not gathered it in the past I really dig the end of October and the very first of November. The 3 days/nights I'm talking about are Devil's Night Oct 30th, Halloween Oct 31st and
Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) today Nov. 1st.

It's a fine time of year in Georgia the temps have finally cooled down from the summer swelterfest and the leaves are now just starting to change here in Mid-Ga. in the past I've done a myriad of activities on these days which we I refer to as the "Fall Holy Trinity" I have a personal story as to WHY I love these days, I'll spare you the sentimentality this time though.

I had to work on Friday so well Devil's night was pretty much a bust. It consisted of me making the drive back from the A-T-L back to good ol' B-ville making a quick stop at a growler shop near work. Feest Noel was the beer of choice. I drove home listening to a podcast of creepy stories. Got home washed the smell of work off of me then watched a little of Broadway Empire. blissful slumber soon followed

Halloween started off with a trick. Somehow during the night I knocked the alarm clock off onto the floor between my improvised and multi functional nightstand and floor turning on the alarm. Hopes of sleeping in on All Hallows Eve were dashed. So I spent the morning checking the weather obsessively, working on a project that I finally got parts for and getting my shit together for that nights ride all the while listening to a lot of The Cramps and The Misfits. In general being distracted. I also made sure I was properly caffinated.

The project I was working on is the LED light project. A long while back BIL give me a string of LED lights for the Mazdarauder. With promises of hooking up a switch for the cab/cargo area. Well it never happened and I was stuck with a very functional and useful item I did not know how to make work. I had tried hooking it in to a straight plug right into the wall but well, it tripped the breaker in my apartment which threw sparks and made me do the "Ah fuck" dance. Which is the dance you do when you fuck something up. Fearing electrocution by the wall fairies and lying in the burn unit at work I decided to rethink and research this problem.

Let me add here that I am TERRIFIED of electricity. I've seen some tragic deaths (a couple of which were lingering and painful) to it so let's just say I tend to want to be VERY cautious with the wall fairies.

I researched on how to wire up LEDs on the old you tubes and lo and behold I can buy conversion kits on the ebays for cheap. The happy dance is what I did when I saw the box containing the kit. I wired it all together and let there be light:

I left it plugged in for a couple of hours to see if you know it would catch fire, it did not so I added some magnets I had lying around to hang off metallic surfaces like in my kitchen because it's as dark as the inside of a coffin in there. Also, I can now plug it into my yeti 150 for truck camping trips/adventures.

Later in the afternoon I loaded up the Ol' Karate Monkey and struck out for Dauset trails. Dauset is special for many reasons. First it's close to where I live about a 20-25 minute drive. Next it's a well maintained and traveled set of trails located next to a nature center and finally most importantly on this night is that the trails close at 2200 (10 pm for you civilian types) I rolled into the trail head parking lot close to sunset right when most folks were packing up to leave or returning from their rides. I took my time made sure all my lights worked and hit the trail at almost 1900 (7pm).

I have to interject here that I was a little sad I did not ride the Voodoo. It's down at the moment because I'm trying to get the stem height just right. Bummer I know. The KM is a great choice because it's a damn stable bike. 29er that I've ridden for years. Its a help with aging eyesight and a pitch black night to have a bike that can roll over most anything.

Another unforseen tricks I played on myself was grabbing the wrong map out of the mazdarauder and forgetting my emergency whistle. I really don't need a map at dauset I'm familiar with the area. It's just helpful when I'm on the trail because I don't have the same consistent loop, in the spirit of Indiana Jones I'm making it up as I go.

Oddly enough there was night course being done by the Georgia Orienteering Club while I was there. I saw a few of the points and talked to a few of the folks participating. I saw a few of the check points lots of people at the pavilion there. I've thought about doing the orienteering thing but then I remember the orienteering course from my hitch in the army and decide not to relive that particular time in my life. They were really focused on what they were doing unlike me who was marveling at seeing raccoons, opossums and deer out at night. I even had an owl swoop down into my view over on the #9 trail. Good fun!


I got back to the truck and set about making some dinner and drinking one of my special occasion cold malted frothy beverages from Colorado:

And let's not forget my Ghoul Friend of the night:

While cooking dinner and drinking above beverage I had a guy and his girlfriend pull up and ask directions to the local haunted house. Without missing a beat I told him I did not know about any haunted house but I had just heard a radio report of a deranged mental patient roaming the area. He and his girlfriend laughed nervously but left in a bit of a hurry. The cops never showed up. It was said in the spirit of good Halloween fun.

I wrapped up and headed home while listening to The Cramps (rockin and reeling in Auckland New Zealand) and then to a fave pod cast Dirt bag Diaries edition of Tales of Terror.

So ended the all hallowed eve.

Today is Muertos. I would normally go to Pop's grave and drop off some stuff there in remembrance unfortunately I have to study for an algebra exam tomorrow. I feel awful that I did not spare the time to do that today, I should have woke up early to do just that or not write. Instead I lazily slept in. I'll make it up there this week and lay my remembrance down then.

My next "holiday" ride will be Black Friday. REI is doing a great promotion which hands down I totally agree with:




Working retail for many years soured me to 'black friday" and now over the years since it seems like Thanksgiving is no longer a day off for most of the retail workers I give a hardy salute to REI for not giving in to corporate greed and letting most of their folks on this holiday of consumerism. From what I gather all retail locations will be closed. Weather depending I'll be down at the trail:


That's all I got here. thanks for reading.