I can explain it to you, but I can't understand it for you.

A guy here was teaching his wife how to ride a motorcycle, using an empty parking lot for the lesson. She lost control of the bike and crashed through a plate glass window, breaking a leg and a wrist.
Suppose she’ll want to go back for the next lesson?
We hope not.

I go to the tonsorial equivalent of Jiffy Lube for a haircut. No point spending anything more than necessary. Lipstick on a pig and all. Less than a year ago it was $12, then it went up to $14 about four months back. Today I paid $17! Plus the tip. I gotta shop around, because that’s too much money for a haircut.

Pam left this morning for a week visiting her mother, so I’m on a diet. Probably cutting out supper since, “What do we have to eat?” is going to be met with deafening silence.

Listed Gerta on eBay this morning. It’s hard to know where to set the reserve because it’s tough to get comps on a 42-year old car. It’s not that hard to find other ‘67s, but conditions vary so much. We’ll see what the next week brings.


FAILURE IS ALWAYS AN OPTION (but what’s the worst that can happen?)

Twenty years ago Bill and I were standing waist deep in the lake at his cabin in Michigan, cooling off on a summer Saturday afternoon. We got to talking about things we’d always wanted to do and I said I had always dreamed of riding across the country on a motorcycle. At 40 I’d only been a passenger on a bike once as a college student (my mom found out and was NOT happy), but it seemed like a cool adventure. And I’d never seen Easy Rider.

On the way back to town that evening I told Pam about the conversation and she didn’t freak. A month later I owned a well-used Suzuki 425 and a helmet. I taught myself to ride and a year later took the MSF course (well worth it!). A few months after that I bought “Black Watch,” the 1980 Yamaha XS1100 Special, a bike almost 15 years old and a beast of a bike with performance to match. For several years I took a solo trip every summer with a tent and sleeping bag strapped to the back - Colorado, West Virginia (twice), Pennsylvania, southern Ohio.... I’d ride the freeway to my target location, pull out the map and find the narrowest, squiggliest line I could and go riding. I had a great time and lots of adventures. (Don’t break down on a back road in West Virginia. They don’t take to guys in leather jackets on big, black bikes.)
When I bought that first bike people thought I was crazy.

About that same time I went to Quinn’s house to talk about the wedding ceremony I’d do for them. I’d never been to her house before but I fell in love immediately. “Love is blind.” The place was a bit of a wreck outside and inside but it was a 100-year old Craftsman bungalow with all kinds of potential. I called Pam and told her I’d found home. She went through it and agreed instantly. A few months later we moved out of our 10-year old home with a built in vacuum system and into 2020 Porter. I spent the next five years re-doing almost every room in the house. I’d never done 90% of the projects before but adopted the motto, “Fake it ‘til you make it.” Gutted the kitchen and remodeled it from the lath out, including installing a pressed tin ceiling.
When we bought that house people thought I was crazy.

In 1994 Sadie called to say she and Vern were going to go through a house that had been on the market for awhile. It was out in a tiny community called Forest Grove and she thought that because I liked old houses I might like to see the inside of this one. Three months later we were out of 2020 Porter and into 3494 Perry, aka The Smallegan House. Built in 1906 by the wealthy Forest Grove merchant (he owned the slaughter house, the general store and the coal distribution business) it had three floors plus a full-height basement. Five bedrooms and a second kitchenette/laundry room on the second floor. About 3400 square feet. When we moved in it dwarfed Porter both in size and in the work it needed. We had trouble getting insurance because the outside was in such bad shape. The inside...worse. But it was an incredible piece of architectural art and we could see the potential. One room at a time I worked and worked and worked. But what great fun to see her gradually return to her former glory. I tackled things I’d never thought about doing, including building railings according to the original blueprints I was given by one of the descendants of Johannes Smallegan.
Right after we moved in we had an open house for the folks at Celebration Bible Church. People thought I was crazy.

If you keep on doing only what you’ve always done your gonna miss out on a whole lot of fun.

That’s why I decided to try marathons, and century rides, and triathlons, and handbells, and community theater, and radio voice-overs, and....

Monday I bought a ’62 Gulf Blue VW Beetle. I’m going to take her apart bolt by bolt and put her back together in as near the factory condition as I can. I don’t know what I’m doing; I’ve never done most of the things this project will require. But I’ll fake it ‘til I make it. There’s lots of help out there, including people who have the skills and are very willing to give guidance.
People think I’m crazy, but I’ve heard that before.

I’ll screw some things up. So what? Yeah, some people will shake their heads at my mistakes but that’s OK. I’m not looking for a show car, just a nicely restored ’62. I’ve got plenty of time to figure things out as I go. And when I’m done I will have fulfilled another dream. Hey, I may even drive her cross country. If she breaks down I’ll have nobody to blame but myself.

You don’t stop doing new things because you get old, you get old because....

Know what else I’ve got?
A terrific wife who’s willing to let her crazy husband live out his dreams.

What have you always dreamed of doing? What’s stopping you? Hey, what’s the worst that can happen?