Motorcycling Update

I have actually become a "Biker Chick"

I have learned how to ride a motorcycle.

I have a motorcycle: It's a Harley Davidson Sportster, 1200, Low (Which has been "slammed" to a lower, Low)

I was first learning, and ... well, I drove into the ditch. I was trying to turn onto main street: I was looking at the ditch, rather than onto the road where I wanted to go. I did learn quickly that you go where you're looking.  Fortunately, it wasn't a deep ditch. Unfortunately, Mike had to get it out. He was able to.

After this, I had taken a motorcycling course. It was from Vanderhoof: E & R training. They provided motorcycles, helmets, and safety vests. They had plenty of bikes, none of which were very tall. (Which was a good thing) It was 2 and a half days of training. And, we received our 2nd test. Which I passed! yay!

So, after learning how to ride, I decided to go and try it out on my very own bike. Big mistake. I went to get it out of the shop ... and dropped it.  I vaguely remembered seeing and reading a little card at the Harley shop: pick it up with your legs, not your back. I attempted repeatedly; it didn't work. I ended up going into town and asking Colin to come out and pick it up and train me to do so. Once he showed me the technique, it made a lot more sense than the way that the motorcycle pick-up card said.

Later, I was able to ride all over the Valley (The Bulkley Valley: Topley to Smithers, Topley to Burns Lake, Topley to Prince George.) It was a lot of fun. When I had asked Colin to pick up the Bike at the beginning of the summer, it had 119 km on it. When I parked it after the Biking Season ended, it had over 7000.

I failed the first time that I attempted the final test. For some reason, I became completely unglued. Nerves, bad habits I'd developed, probably more nerves. Further self-training and I tried one more time. I made it that time. So, now I'm licensed for class 5 and class 6. My new license states "Class 5,6."

Since becoming a motorcyclist, I have found other women locally who ride. It seems to have become something that women just decide to do. There is a terrific age range: My great-neice is 14 (and has been motorcycling for 2 years) all the way to over 60. I've met women in their early 20s and early 30s who motorcycle.

It's a very fun thing to do. I appreciate it. My husband says that I look good on a bike. Many others are surprised that I decided to take it up.

Mike's "Man Cave"

Before Christmas, I was wandering around our local Canadian Tire store, and saw a neon sign for sale: it was an outline of a "mountain" with a "cave" outlined in the bottom of the mountain. The caption, also in neon tubing said "Man Cave". It amused me, and I would have bought it for Mike ... except for the price.

For the last few days, he has been calling his shop his "man cave". He's become attached to the title for his shop.

So, I am assigned to find out from a store or two here in Prince (George) what a sign similar would cost. He has a specific idea for what he wants it to look like. I have the "specs" written down. I hope that it'll be less than the one available in Canadian Tire. If it isn't, I'll call M. and see if he doesn't just want to purchase the one that is in C. T.


Update:, August 6, 2013

Well: even though I'd thought it was just a "flash in the pan" type of idea, apparently it has caught on --- hard. If you enter "Man-Cave" in the search bar on Google Search Engine, you can get pages and pages of 'images' of a "Man Cave". In the internet search, you get 36,000,000 results (in .18 seconds).

I didn't know that it had caught on and gone as large as it has. I presumed that it would remain being a shop-type of area, place where guys 'hang-out'. Where they can do 'boy-stuff' --- no girlz alowed! However, when you do look on the image-section of Google Search Engine, some of the "man-caves" that are out there rival some of the fanciest restaurants that I've been in. Many are built around a "theme"; sports, bars, cars, motorcycles, basketball courts, pools ... many of the images are incredible!

Of course, Mike, being himself, hasn't let moss grow under his feet either. He has built an "office area" in part of his shop; our daughter calls it a stage. Either description fits. He will be using it as an office, but at the moment, it does resemble a stage. Beneath it, Mike has built it into a storage area.

This past spring, he hired a guy to do the painting that he wanted done. It's now Dark Forest Green and Blue-Gray.

Plus, he has been collecting various things for the decor: the "Man Cave" sign (pic above) being one of the items. I have also purchased a couple of other items, with "Man Cave" written on them. Plus, he's bought a couple of posters (to be framed), and had ideas kicking around for various other elements that he wants to do in his shop.

Calling the area a "Shop" almost seems to be a misnomer, now. He's cleaned the entire place up, and has organized his "Storage Area" so he can find stuff when he looks. He has plans to have an Office Space there. He plans this, that, and the other thing. I don't doubt for a moment these things will come to pass.

December 28, 2013
Our daughter has been home for a short time for the Christmas Season. She has seen Mike's "Man Cave" for the first time. She's really impressed. She can "see" in her imagination whatever Mike tells her what he's going to be doing in the future.

January 23, 2013
This Saturday, Mike will be holding a Prayer meeting/Study in there. He's cleaning it up, and going to be getting more chairs and arranging an area for this meeting. As far as I know, there's Henry coming. Some of the other neighbors have been invited. It's a very exciting thing.

Here's a link to the Wikipedia information:
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_cave