A Family Tradition -- Happy New Year

Here we are again. This time we are on the downside of the Christmas holiday and only a few hours away from celebrating the new year.

We had a great Christmas week starting with the arrival of the New Jersey Gang last Wednesday. The weather continued unseasonably warm through most of the week as we enjoyed all the visiting, Christmas present sharing, Christmas Eve church services, and the Evringham night at the movies to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The weather was great, the visiting was great, the food was great, and the movie was great. 

But then those Canadians decided to share their weather with us. The winds turned cold, the clouds moved in, and then on Tuesday the snow arrived. We only received a few inches of snow and then some sleet and freezing rain ... but it was enough to bring us back to the reality of the season.

The weather improved a bit yesterday and Brian, Nicky, Alyssa, and Emily returned to the land of Wawa. A long travel day for them but they made it home safe and sound. We sure enjoyed having them for the week.

With 2016 only a few hours away I suppose it is time to bid 2015 adieu. 2015 was a bittersweet year. We lost several close family members this last year including my mom, my Aunt Vallie, Peggy's Aunt Velma, and several other close friends. 

It was a tough year in that aspect but we had plenty of good things happen as well ...

We started the year traveling south to Florida seeing some dear friends along the way in Tennessee (The Pattersons and Curps) and Georgia (The Jonses). Our short stay in Florida allowed us to visit more friends (The Swartzs, Balls, and Zellers. Then we were off to Alabama for some Gulf Shrimp and more visits (The Paynes, The Martins, and The Camerons). 

We continued our trek west with a sightseeing stop in New Orleans and stops in Texas to visit with more friends (The Kendalls and The Witwers).

We spent Super Bowl weekend in Tucson and then a week in Congress, AZ visiting with the Meachams, the McFalls, and a whole bunch of others at the Escapee North Ranch RV Park before moving on to our destination at my sister Marcie's place in Minden, NV. 

Some folks accuse me of eating my way across the USA when we travel ... but I think we just travel from friend to friend. Our 2015 Winter Trip West sure turned out that way!

After more visiting in Minden, and a bit of caregiving support for Nan ... we made our way home after a spending another week or so more in Arizona -- you guessed it - more visiting at North Ranch and a whole lot of busy attending the Escapee Escapade in Tucson.

We wandered our way back home via Alamagordo and Roswell, NM and then across I-40 back to Tennessee in the latter part of March. We finished up our trek back home to Maine -- where the snow was still here to greet us on the 1st of April!

We spent the spring and early summer in Maine ... just enjoying the nice weather, visiting with kids and grandkids, and playing with projects.

When Nan's health declined in July we loaded up Winne and made a beeline back to Minden. Back through the heartland (hotland) of the country along I-90/I-80. Although our trip west had its sad moments we were glad to have had the opportunity to visit with plenty of folks we don't see often enough.

We even got to see a couple of new (to us) National Parks on the way home.

We spent the fall recovering from our busy summer schedule but we did find time to spend time with the youngest grandchildren around doing fall chores and once again -- Mikee played with his motorcycle projects.

All that brings us to December 31st, 2015 at 10.25 PM ... only a few hours before the ball drops in Times Square.

I'm sure Peggy will wake me up when the time comes to let me know we made it to 2016.

It's a family tradition.

Waiting on Christmas (and may the force be with you)!

Here we sit. Three days before Christmas. Watching it rain.

It appears we will not have a white Christmas in southern Maine this year. Actually it's probably a 50-50 proposition in any year but it is pretty rare when we make it this far into the winter season with no measurable snowfall. What does that mean for the rest of the winter I wonder? 

Peggy and I (mostly Peggy) have finished up our Christmas gift shopping and we are working on finishing up the wrapping as I write this (ya'll can guess how much help I am at wrapping) and then we are pretty much ready for Santa to arrive. We still have a bunch of cards to get out ... but those have traditionally been "New Years" cards anyway!

Peggy and I received our Christmas present to ourselves last Friday when our new furniture was delivered. Peggy ordered a new couch and chair & a half a couple of months ago and they finally arrived. Just in time for Christmas and company - what planning!

We are anxiously awaiting arrival of the New Jersey Gang (Son Brian, DIL Nicky, and Granddaughters Alyssa and Emily). They should arrive sometime late Wednesday and will be sharing the Christmas Holiday with us for several days. We don't get to see them often enough so we are looking forward to the visit!

We are planning a special day after Christmas family get together this year. No -- not a family gathering to open presents ... we will do that on Christmas Eve/Christmas Day. No -- not a gathering to share good food and visiting ... that is always on the agenda. Nope -- this year we plan on gathering pretty much the whole gang for an Evringham Exclusive (by special invitation only) Premier Showing of "Star Wars VII - The Force Awakens" at the local Cinema. No particular reason why other than it just opened, the new local Cinema is one of those places where you can get dinner with your movie, and ... well ... just because! Ought to be a fun evening!

And for those of you who have been wondering ... I did manage to find the engine for my motorcycle project. Not only that .. I coerced my son Eric into helping me get it into the basement and onto the engine stand.

I have spent a few hours working on it over the past couple of weeks and have completed the "top end" rebuild (cleaned and rebuilt the carburetors, removed the cylinder head, cleaned the piston tops, valves, and combustion chambers, lapped the valves, replaced the valve seals and gaskets and reset the valve lash). All the internal components look fine so far - so once I finish checking a few more items I will finish the external cleaning, painting, and a bit of polishing and she will be ready for re-installation in the spring.

So that's about the story here for these Maineiacs Not So In Motion.

Merry Christmas to all !!

and may the force be with you!

4 into 2 into 1 into 4

Here we be - December 9th already. Only a couple of weeks until Christmas.

Peggy and I have made some progress getting ready for the Christmas season. The outside lights and the Christmas tree are up, and many of the presents have been gathered. We still have plenty to do to get totally into the season ... but we are making progress. No sense getting it all done at once I say ... getting ready is at least half the "experience" ... don't you agree?

Believe it or not, our part of Maine still has no snow. We did get a small amount overnight a few weeks ago -- but any that accumulated was gone by noon. My heating bill appreciates it -- but as long as we are going to be here for the Christmas season we might as well have some snow.

I did manage to present myself with an early Christmas present over the past few weeks ... .

You may recall that my Honda 350F project bike had an aftermarket 4 into 2 exhaust system when I purchased it this summer (4 cylinders going into 2 exhaust pipes/mufflers). Most surviving bikes of this model have been retrofitted with some sort of aftermarket exhaust system since the original pipes (originally in a 4 into 4 configuration) rusted out in short order and Honda hasn't manufactured replacements for many decades now.

I really didn't care for the looks (or sound) of the 4 into 2 system - so I purchased an aftermarket 4 into 1 system upon our return from our summer trip out west. The looks and sound from this replacement system was a nice improvement over the previous setup.

Then the internet happened ... .

While browsing a vintage Honda Motorcycle forum a few weeks ago I happened upon an entry from a Canadian fellow who mentioned that he had 3 of the 4 necessary original pipes - in very good condition -- and would be willing to part with them for a "reasonable" price. Well now ... one thing led to another ... I inquired ... he sent pictures .... I made a low offer ... he accepted ... and that's how I ended up being the proud owner of 3/4 of an exhaust system for a 1974 Honda CB350F!

The pipes arrived from Toronto a little over a week ago and they were in very nice condition with only a couple of small scratches. One pipe has been repaired in the past but the repair looks to have been done quite nicely. Considering these pipes are 40 years old and essentially unobtainable in any condition -- I was very pleased.

But now what? Nice looking pipes for cylinders 1, 3, and 4 aren't going to do me much good when I have nothing for cylinder #2!

Back to the internet ... .

It turns out that an outfit in the UK partnered with the original supplier of these pipes to Honda and had a small batch reproduced a few years ago. Not only that ... they had one #2 cylinder pipe in stock and would be willing to sell it to me for 1 large bucket of US Dollars.

I really had no choice now --- did I?

So --- Although the bike still has no engine installed, here is what she looks like with her new pipes.

Can't wait to hear it run!

Where did I put that engine?