Last day at 72 years old today! 

Been a good day except for dropping the KLR on a soft dirt road and having to pick it up. Darn, getting too old for that. Probably need to lower it a bit. Just may do that tomorrow. Broke the tip off the clutch lever so replaced it with one I had in stock. Need to order a replacement now. Thinking about trying a different set of handle bars I have in stock also. We'll see what mode we're n tomorrow. ;-) 

Banana wine coming along fine and still bubbling lots in the fermenter bucket. 8 days so far and as soon as it slows down to about a set of bubbles a minute, I'll test and rerack to a bubbling bottle for a few months. 

Was heading to see Ty yesterday but bad rain in New Orleans stopped that trip at the Basin. So, came back the old way though Breaux Bridge and old 90 though Lafayette to Jennings. Then took wife to eat at the Asian place at the motel. Good food and about 28 bucks damage. 

Went out to Bubba's Chosen here in town for a few beers Friday for the first time since lent had started.   Was okay and a bit of fun but being stopped up in the head the next morning sucks. Do beleive we not gonna get into that habit. ;-)  Sip a bit of wine over here or maybe once in awhile at Darrels will do the trick and no smoke . 

Probably net fix in a bit. Did add near 100 songs and balanced the volume ( I hope ) and put jump drive with added stuff back in the truck radio. Listening to the same album on the computer now. 

So, that's about it for the day. ;-) 

Hello the end of the Lenten season.  Gave up bars and beer for this year.  Don't miss the smokey bars, but., do miss seeing a few friends and a beer once in awhile. I'm mainly a wine drinker for sure and love to make my own. In fact, have about 5 gallons of Banana wine going now in the garage that's been active with the yeast for the last 5 days. A long ways to go yet. Move the production there due to it being warmer in the garage rather than the shop.

Did get 3 tomato plants in the ground today. They were getting pretty big in the hot house.  I had pulled some cantaloupe plants out of there last week and they are just sitting in one of the plots and we'll see what's going to happen with them. Have not had much success with them before.

Some pretty good rides in the last week on Bandit. Just roaming all over the places. More just taking off in a direction rather and any destination. Really have to download the track file to see just what all roads I'd been on. An example below.

An example of a 150 mile ride on Bandit the 22nd. No stops, just ride ride ride. 

See the wife has stuff for dying eggs for Easter. Have not asked who or what for. Just know it's gonna be a noisy kitchen when she starts banging things around so be a good time for a ride or go fishing. ;-) Just not a Holiday person here. 

Did get the oil and filter and chain adjusted and inspected on Bandit a few days ago. Time just slips away as it's not my everyday bike for just around town and local stuff. 

Did make a fishing / boat riding trip to the Streeters area last Tuesday. Muddy waters and pretty windy. A couple bites but nothing in the boat. Trying out new riggings on baits mainly. Was not really happy with them so they come off when getting home and tied on something different for the next trip out. But., gonna just start staying on the river pretty much. It's a 50 mile round trip by truck to the landing at Cameron Lakeside and probably about 10 miles to Mermentau round trip.  Want to learn the river system in my area more better anyway. . 

And the day has arrived that most area fishing peeps love. The Wildlife and Fisheriers has open it's many water ways to the next 6 months of fishing. So  the truck and the boat and the owner is in the ready mode.
Not a lot been happening as of late except getting fishing equipment ready, running the boat engine in the drive way etc.
A few bike rides in the afternoons, two on Suzy and yesterday on Green.

Finally found the grave sites I was looking for in Basile. My two uncles and family from the Veronie side. The place was still pretty wet at places so the boots got wet some more. Begining to wonder if they will ever dry out completely.




I recon the next graveyard roaming will be Iota where there are several from Mom's side of the family buried. Just do one section at a time and finally it gets done.

Have not done much in the gardening for the start of this year yet. The wife has stuff planted though. Really don't know what I want to plant. I do have a tub of plants in the hot house I'll probably transfer out this week. Not sure what they are so we'll just wait and see what comes up.

Till the next.

04:30 and up and outside to watch the winds blowing clouds rapidly to the North with it's 67F air. Luce did her thing and quickly back to bed. Me - Coffee, oatmeal, lemon water to wake up the system, a bit of exersize to get the heart pumping and muscles moving. Email, done. My pulley for the air compressor is shipped via USPS.

Also waiting for shipping confirmation on the new riding jacket ordered yesterday. Ordered XL instead of L this time in accordance with their charts.

Did pull boat out to get GPS coverage to check out new mapping program for Helix 7 GPS/DI combo. Decided to fire up the engine also and let run awhile. With the winds and weather coming, it's gonna be at least a week before I get it in the water for a good run.

Planting season is upon us and I don't have anything new planted. Do have a few plants in the hot house but not sure what it is. Guess I'll transfer it after this weather system comes though and we'll just see what happens. The wife had stuff planted in a couple garden plots and some in the hot house.

Last latter part of last week was watching the Bassmaster's Classic on Bassmaster.com and enjoying watching some of the pros fish real time. Glad to see Edwin Evers win. Now, hope I'm lucky enough to win the sweepsteaks at Bassmaster.com which is focused around a fishing trip with him and a new boat. A chance in a Kazillion but enter every day. Always enter all that excite me. Just never can tell when your lucky number will come up. Kinda like the Lotto. But, doesn't cost to enter except time.

Did get a few rides in on Suzy and KLR so keeping them loosened up.

Plus a visit to one of my favorite cousins at Tepetate. Always enjoy sitting outside and catching up on the Veronie Family events.

That's about it till the next.

As time goes by and while watching Supercross tonight on Fox Sports 1. Let's catch up a bit on activities for the past weeks.

Did finally get the boat out and like the new Hummingbird Helix 7 and even more so love the Hummingbird 587 in front for reading depth and down imaging. Saw it reading under a foot at one time. Something the Garmin unit would not do. Still need to load the hi buck mapping in the 7. Plus, Da Luce has so much fun out on the water getting all excited when I'm casting.

Out on Suzy a few times for 100 plus mile ride. Always love getting out in it. Then a smaller run or two on the KLR on more demanding roads as per suspension.

Bottle up some more of the Satsuma and Grapefruit wines into the 350ML bottles, coned the corks and pushed them half way in with the drill press.

For Lenten season , no bars or beer this year again. Just sipping wine and rum here at home.  Easter Sunday being March 27th this year. Two days before my birthday. 31 days left of being 72 yrs old.
Spent some time watching the crews tearing down walls at the Fire Station , getting it ready for all the remodeling.

Bayou Rum! Wow! I had bought a bottle of satsuma run a month or so back and it's 30% by volume. So, trying a bottle of the Spice Rum and noticed it quite a bit stronger. Like 40% instead of 30. So, the sips are smaller and less often. A couple sips of that stuff and a couple small glasses of my wine do get your head light.

A new singer to me I'd never heard of,  Linda Perry. Like her music. Downloaded about a dozen songs. What's amazing is I can understand 90% of her lyrics.  Many, I have not a clue what they are saying with their songs.

Two 4' florescent lights were converted to LED. But, got the wrong lighting and it's a bit amber instead of bright white. But, will do okay for the shop. Will make sure I order the bright white for the next sets. Had one bulb that would not work so took it apart and found the little plug in for the LED strip unplugged on the circuit board.  Lucky me was able to fix it and now working great. You do have to lose the ballast and wire direct to one end of the LED bulb set up. And make sure you wire them right as per load and neutral wires.

Pressure washed the roof on the shop this afternoon. Wow! Need to start taking breaks faster. Was pretty worn out by the time a tank of gas went though. Perhaps a bit over an hour. But, had about 4 sq feet left when it ran out so filled up enough to finish. Tomorrow will spread a new coat of roof seal on it.

Well , that about catches me up so till the next!

12 Feb 2016

Today was mainly working on the boat this morning after walk about and coffee at the firestation. Got the Hummingbird Hellix 7 all installed, software updated and operating. 

Now moving the Hummingbird 587GPS/DI to the bow to take the place of the Garmin Depth Finder up there. Took awhile to get the transducer mounted up to the trolling motor and will have to see how that's gonna work. tomorrow we'll see about finishing up with that project. 

Other things this week wuz starting to redo and throw away non used items in the garage. But, ran out of trash can space pretty fast so have to continue on it later. 

A 130 mile ride on Suzy Yesterday that had me kinda sore when getting off of the thing at home. Today, about 50 miles on the KLR and legs and hips felt much better. 

Later! 

2016/02/03   Has rolled around pretty quick.
Grapefruit juice wine has been reracked a few days ago and chemicals added today to null out the yeast.
Ordered a new Hummingbird instrument for da boat. 7" screen with Down Imaging and GPS chart plotter for a bit under 600 bucks. Wanted a better mapping program more than fishfinder. Love the sonar for depth of water while roaming. Probably will move the old 5 in to the front somewhere's. Have not figured that out yet.
One nice 100+ mile ride on Suzy covering from Jennings to Egan to Crowley to Eunice to Mamou to Ville Platte to Opeleousas to Lawtell to Eunice to Evangeline to Jennings. Gas in Mamou during the run was the only stop.

Wife to her sister's to help with her sister's transportation while getting eye operation so it's me and da Luce in control and loving it.

One day out on the water last week with the boat and mainly just running the engine with about 1/2 hour stop for fishing with no bites.

Marti Gras parade in Lake Auther was awesome with many floats and many horses and wagons.

 Probably 30 or more floats

With people having fun.







and the wagons drawn by mules










and horses that were beautiful.