One of Our Cats...

Little Boy, has developed an interesting habit. He sits in my lap and sticks his tongue out at me!

One of the other cats, Orangie, has developed a bit of a behavior problem recently. We took him in to have a tooth checked, he was knocked out and dental work was performed. The Vet we used can't or won't keep animals over night so he was brought home still under the effects of the anesthesia. Orangie was always the #2 cat. One of the lower ranking cats, Rudy, saw that Orangie was weak and walking a little funny after returning from the vet. So now, Rudy has decided that he wants to challenge Orangie for his place as #2. For the last month, Rudy has been chasing Orangie any time he sees him. It seems he has forced Orangie to live in my office in the basement.

It's pretty unusual for Orangie to back down from anything. He was a true FERAL cat when he started hanging around our house in Prescott. He's used to fighting with other wild animals and has chased off quite a few unsuspecting Skunks and Opossum, and avoided being a snack for the Fox and Coyotes that used to gather in our back yard. With people, it was different. He refused to come inside, was terrified of people, and would run away if he saw us looking at him out the window. It took 4 years of feeding him and us quietly sitting outside, for him to trust us enough to even enter our home. The first time he wandered up the stairs, he heard the TV and he bolted back down the stairs.

He's been around us since 2005, but it's only been the last 2 years that I've felt comfortable enough in his "tameness" to try and pick him up without fear of losing a finger. He's very much my cat and won't come out of hiding if there are visitors.

Rudy, on the other hand, was born in my closet 4 years ago. He was always the meekest cat, with the softest and most pitiful sounding "mew". He still tries to nurse off the alpha cat(male)and seldom leaves his side. He is, however, the largest and most muscular cat of the 5!

I hope they get this sorted out soon!!!

Orangie...

Rudy...

This is Screamer, Rudy's brother... He's the little trouble maker of the bunch. He talks and whines way too much!!! I'm sure he's the one that kept knocking over the Christmas tree!

This is the Alpha Cat... Sticky, short for "F-stick", which is really the polite version of his name. Yes, that "f" word..
He has lost all his teeth, but is still the best hunter. In one day, he brought home a Mouse, a Chipmunk, and a Chickadee!

I know that's not motorcycle related, but it's the dead of winter and there isn't much else to comment on or do.... except maybe shovel snow.

Here Comes the COLD! pizza pictures added!

The local news has been talking about the expected temperatures of the next few days. Here's a screen shot from weather.com for Cable, WI. It shows the projected temps for Monday. For the Celsius temp people, -14°F = -25.5°C. Either way, it's cold!
The garage wood pile is stocked and ready! Bring it on!

Updated and current weather from Weather.com!!

On a happier note... One of the nice things about living way up north and away from civilization is, when you make a trip to the "cities", you make it worth while. On our last trip down, we stopped at El Burrito Mercado a small Mexican food market in St. Paul. They have a large kitchen and serve food there, as well as their own fresh cooked items in the coolers, a large grocery section, and a gift and household items section.
We stocked up on pre-made beans, rice, tamales, real Mexican cheese, and their own fresh Pico de gallo. mmmmm. So today, for lunch I had a warm bowl of rice and beans with a couple of quesadillas.

Dinner tonight was home made pizza. No tomato sauce, just olive oil infused with garlic, red bell pepper, onion, and cheese!

The First day of the New Year... Updated!

And it's starting out cold.... Maybe not as cold as some places this morning, but still cold!

OK, so acting upon Martha's question about COLD, I did some "Google-ing". It seems tht I'm very close to the cold spot of Wisconsin. About 40 miles south of me, in Sawyer County, is the little town of Couderay. It has the distinction of being on the books as having a few cold temp records for WI.

3-1-1962 .... -48°F
12-19-1983... -52°F
2-2-1996..... -55°F
2-4-1996..... -55°F

The little town of Winter, just 15 miles east of Couderay, is listed as the coldest location ranked by lowest average annual temperature: 39.2 F.....That's chilly!!!

John and Wendie Come to visit...

...and work progresses on the utility trailer rebuild. My riding buddy, John, and his wife, Wendie, came up from St. Paul on Saturday. John brought with him a few gifts he had been making.... Gifts in the form of Oak stakes for my trailer. John was able to locate some Oak pallets, bust them apart, and salvage some nice pieces. He trimmed them to length, planned them down, and even cut notches in them. When he was finished, he had 12 pieces that were 29.5" x 2.75" x 1.75". A little hand fitting with his custom made sanding blocks and my belt sander and we're in business! I used 10 of them on the trailer and have 2 for spare parts.

Next, I need to get some 5/4" x 6" x 8' Cedar decking to use for the sides.

John works with wood and and also does custom engraving. He's very meticulous, so the pieces look like something from a furniture factory!

Last night, the 4 of us went out for dinner and had BBQ at "Famous Dave's". Nancy and I also gave them the tour of the Christmas light displays in Hayward.

Thanks John, and thank you too Wendie... You guys are the best!

Merry Christmas...

Here's wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year!!!

It's been an very interesting year for Nancy and me.

I had a lot of fun meeting a bunch of my fellow bloggers this summer on my road trip to Oregon. Thanks for inviting me.
I got to meet fellow blogger Doug this summer. We met up at a local diner to talk of riding and blogs.
I also got to meet another fellow blogger George, from New Jersey, when he was on his epic ride to Alaska. George spent the night here and we swapped many stories.
I got to really pile on the miles with a road trip to Arizona. Thank you John, for riding with me all these years. I plan to ride many more!
I attended my 14th Sturgis rally in as many years. Lyle and Garth, if you see this, I'll see you again this summer in SD. Kent, may God bless you and comfort you and your family.
Bob, you're more than welcome to stop by anytime if your riding brings you by this way.
I've also gained quite a few followers this year. Thank you for coming along!

Nancy and I are headed to MN to visit my sister and her family on Christmas Day, so we decided to exchange gifts a little early.
I got Nancy some warm Sorel boots and a couple of Franklins (Bob, do you need a translation?). She sure surprised me! She bought me the GoPro Hero 3! I love you dear! She also got me a new hat to bring along on trips. Is there really any other color for it??

Bob, notice the blaze orange Toque? (AKA: stocking cap, or watch cap)

I wish you Peace, Happiness, and all the very best,

Erik.

I Love Small Towns...

Tonight, Nancy and I went down to Hayward. The city has decorated the fronts of many of the businesses in town, most of them on Main Street, and is heavily promoting the display. They've even set up a web site to list all the activities and "specials" at local businesses. Here's a link. I was impressed! We walked up and down Main Street and looked at the displays in the windows. There was even a small table in front of a couple of the shops with self-service hot chocolate. How small town is that?

I had a SnoWing just like this when I was a kid. It's heavy steel and was a real pain to drag back up the hill. It was frequently left behind in the garage in favor of the plastic mini-boggan.

They decorated the gazebo at Shues Pond (city park).

After checking out Main Street, we walked in to Angler's Bar & Grill for Pizza! I forgot the obligatory food picture, sorry. Even Angler's was in the Holiday spirit.

Earlier in the day I was busy cutting and splitting more firewood. I had a nice stash of 4' long logs in the garage. I cut up most of them. With the 2 pallets full outside, and this in the garage, I might have enough to get through this winter. I'd rather put in a little hard work and burn some wood, than pay for Propane!
The 4 following pictures are before-afters...

Missing the Winter Storm.. Now With Video!

I think we're on the edge of this big winter storm. It's been snowing all day, but the accumulation is only about 3 inches so far. The fireplace has been burning wood since 6:00 a.m. and the furnace has not been on since then. The cats are content to watch the Squirrels and Crows and even take a nap.

This little guy is curled up next to one of my Grandpa's decoys under the Christmas tree...

We've put out some Bird and Squirrel feed a couple of times today...

We're going into "town", 20 miles away, to get a few things. I'll update with more pictures if there's anything interesting going on.

We were gone about 3 hours, an I'll say that there's a distinct difference in the snowfall totals in the 20 miles between, "town" and home. There's a LOT more snow in my back yard!

The snow is still coming down and the wind has picked up!

2012 Mileage Totals...

I'm pretty sure the riding season is over for this year. I've made it a practice to record the yearly mileage on my blog.

The highlights of the 2012 season included, buying a new-to-me Wr250x, a road trip to Arkansas for an FJR rally, a trip to Oregon to meet some fellow bloggers, and my 14th annual trip to Sturgis and beyond. This year it included New Mexico and Arizona.

Starting mileage on the Zx-14 was 29,209...ending was 38,716 = 9514 mi(15,311 km)

FJR.... starting mileage was ....25,145....ending was 29,647 = 4502 mi(7,245 km)

Wr250x...starting mileage this spring when I brought it home, 1561, now 2442 = 881 mi(1418 km) for the year.

All totaled, that's 14,897 mi(23,974 km)on motorcycles for the year.

My riding buddy, John, is a bit more OCD than I am, and could document so much more information than I can. He could tell you not only how many miles, but also, how much gas, the high and low price for it, the average fuel price, the life time MPG, the high MPG, the low MPG, the total gas ever purchased... and so much more. The information is saved on his hard drive and a paper copy gets printed frequently!!! LOL
John, you know I kid you,...I wish I was that anal, disturbed, detail oriented!

Sunday Night's Snow

Those of us that live in the mid-west and not on the tropical we(s)t coast had to deal with snow this weekend. I spent the morning clearing the driveway. But first I had to fix the tree. The cats did a number on it last night... and I think this is the guilty guy..

I figure we got around 5 inches(12.7cm) last night.
By the time I finished, Nancy had a fire going and the Christmas stocking were hanging from the mantel.. 5 little ones for the cats.

Our 5 Dollar Christmas Tree!

The Sawyer County Forestry Department has a program where a person can cut their own Christmas tree on County Forest land. Nancy wanted to find a tree out in the woods rather than buy one from any of the roadside tree sellers. So, after paying our $5 permit fee to the County, we were off to the forest.

We drove out into County forest land and started looking. A little while later, I parked the truck on the side the road and we walked down an ATV trail towards a promising patch of green.

It took a little looking...

But we found a nice tree.

Once we got it home the cats were all over it! I think if it survives the night and is still standing in the morning, we'll be OK.

3 of the 5 cats under the tree!