.:harleyghost:. deal with it

sunrise, i'm still here

Hey folks, sorry about not blogging the last few days ... the weather has been awesome and we have been riding every spare minute we could find. Friday afternoon we cruised up to Forestburg, TX. Had a coke and an ice cream sandwich at the only little store on main road coming in. Then we headed back and ate at Babe's in Sanger. It was a lot of fun.

Saturday, after mowing and weed eating ... yuck. I headed over to Maxim in Allen and also the Harley House. Picked up some highway pegs, found a Auto Zone and installed them and rode home. It was a lot of fun. Hmmm ... I already said that once. Ok, disregard that last "lot of fun" and replace it with a "ton of fun". 

Yesterday ...

I had another preaching gig, came home, took a nap, and then worked on and washed the Valk. It's a good thing ... the forecaster predicts 5 straight days of rain. I grabbed this shot with my new D50 ... through our front door. Now, I'm off to the races for this week. A lot of work to get done. We have a sign show that we want to go to on Thursday ... so we have to work double hard the next three days to get it all done.

Thanks for stopping in.

HG --

motorcycle motorcycle blog honda valkyrie

garage dentisty - florida

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - "A man was held Wednesday on charges that he performed dental work on customers without a license in his "filthy" garage, authorities said. Roger Bean, 60, was arrested Tuesday and held on $6,000 bond.

Bean performed denture fittings and made false teeth in his garage, charging just $200 for a full set of dentures, a procedure that typically costs more than $2,000, authorities said. But he was not licensed to practice in Florida."

Poor guy ... he was just trying to help old people who couldn't afford dentures. I wonder if he does crowns?

HG --

motorcycle motorcycle blog garage dentist dentistry

big flood

Imagine my shock this morning to see this photo from the Denton Record Chronicle. It took me a couple of seconds to realize that the water level in this picture was up to the car windows. This feed store is near the TWU campus and needless to say ... pretty much was flooded out. 5 inches of rain fell in our area.

You can't see our back yard ... flooded. We are ok ... just some damp carpet where the 50 mph winds blew in rain around every window casing. Then I read this ...

Storm watchers were reporting seeing some cloud rotation, and one tornado was reported to have touched down near FM1385 and FM455 about 2:45 p.m., but no damage had been reported from that sighting.

Hmmm ... this is less than a mile from our house. We are fortunate that we live on high ground and that nothing blew off ... I think. We are not used to this kind of storm system and I am sure the folks in Denton and Pilot Point have a lot of clean up today.

Be Kind --

HG --

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spring '07 --- strange

This spring (so far) has been really weird ... weather wise. Last year at this time we were hitting 90 ... this year we have storms or threat of storms every three or four days. Really jacks with the stuff I am doing. Oh well ... some will say ... we need the rain. All in all ... it cuts down on my riding and my generally cheery mood.

For you nay sayers ... I did get my camera ... and collected $250 from my blog. Who's the man? Kenneth and Gloria don't have anything on me. Except it was just $250 and not a million dollar Gulfstream.

It's all fun.

Be Kind --

HG --

motorcycle motorcycle blog texas spring valkyrie

more good news

Today I was asked to fill in for a pastor who will be "out of the pulpit" for the morning. It's kind of weird because it's a little church that is actually very close to our home.

The pastor called me about a month ago and asked ... and told me it was a very small congregation ... about 20 folks gather. I'm speaking on Maximizing your Living. John 10:10 text.

Some of my close friends and relatives have asked if it's just going to be a message that I have already preached ... and I said no ... it's a fresh one. Who wants to get day old bread when you need the freshest you need. It will be fun. The church ... Mustang Baptist Church.

You could pray --

HG --

good news

I thought I would bring you some good news today ... there is no violence going on in Iceland. Here is a great photo of Skogafoss waterfall, some 100 km (62miles) south-east of Iceland's capital Reykjavik, April 14, 2007. (REUTERS/Stoyan Nenov (ICELAND) Sat Apr 14, 4:57 PM ET).

If you are like me ... I'm depressed to see and hear of all the violence going on worldwide. Frankly, I am overwhelmed by it all. Obviously, a lot of people are depressed over the conditions of living in our world. When people come to the point that the best that they can think of is to kill others and then kill themselves ... folks are in a bad way.

I have heard it over and over again ... "how could anyone do the things that those "people" have done?" In a small voice inside my head I remember these words ... "there go I but by the grace of God."

All this violence in the US will spark many debates on Capitol hill and soon the loss of these families and all the families of my lifetime sacrificed at the hands of really messed up folks ... will be forgotten as the politicians and the lobbyist continue to discuss what "they" will do about "gun control".  Gun control is only part of the problem ... the real problems are the conditions of living. Stress runs rampant. Enough said.

Be kind,

HG --

motorcycle motorcycle blog iceland waterfall gun control

help keep us on the air

Here's the D50 that I want. It's on ebay. The problem ... if I buy this camera with the financial condition we are in right now ... Lori will freak. Granted I can probably pick it up for about $300 - $350  .... still, I probably would make it to the dog house ... and we don't even have a dog house. I would probably have to make the dog house and then move into it.

Anyway ... I saw a guy once use his blog to beg for money to get a Mac book .... and he got it!! So, why not try. Some major contributor to the arts my see my blog and invest in my future. Or ... some major high roller in Vegas may have hit it big and want to share the love. Either way ... It's not beyond me to beg. After all ... in the last 30 years of the ministry, I did my share of begging people to give. Hey ... why not do it for myself. TV preachers do it all the time for jets and large mansions. What's a dinky $350.

Hey, take all this for what it's worth ... not much. Just kidding around ... but my paypal account is wgooden @ redroofventures.com

It could work ... and you would enjoy it!

HG (Ansel Adams) --

motorcycle motorcycle blog nikon d50 photography

the gap

The only thing that I will miss about moving from our current place ... is the incredible sunsets. As clouds rolled in during the afternoon ... and we get ready for another round of spring thunder storms today ... I caught this sunset. I was drawn to the gap in the middle of the heavy clouds moving in. There were the high clouds and the low clouds ... both reflecting the fleeing sun and vivid colors.

It caused me to think about all around us are dark clouds and the potential for stormy weather ... and yet there always seems to be a gap. A way of escape. Something to look forward to. The light. Whatever analogy you would like to choose.

I really don't believe every cloud has a silver lining. I believe you have the option of sewing in the silver lining ... if you choose. Nonetheless clouds come and go.

Keep living in the gap.

HG --

motorcycle motorcycle blog texas sunset optimistic

blues bro - texas bluebonnets

Photography has always been a big love of mine. At one time I remember thousands of bucks worth of pro Nikon equipment and some pretty good work. I sold it years ago when we wanted a down payment on a house and I have kicked myself ever since. But ... I do have this little point and shoot Sony ... which makes things challenging ... but 90% of photography is in finding the right situation at the right time of day, a figuring out a way to get on film (digital media) what you see in your mind as a finished product. Getting a good photo out of this thing is like a fishing guy with ultra light weight tackle trying to pull in 12 lb. bass ... it can be done. You get the picture (wink, wink).

I have to say I lucked out to get this bee to pose for me yesterday at this huge bluebonnet field near Little Elm Texas. It is an old cemetery and literally hundreds of people stop and get their family photos in this field. By the time I had gotten there people had pretty much trampled down the very thing that they wanted to photo. So ... I had to go on a hunt to find a patch of undisturbed bluebonnets and by the time I had positioned myself flat on the ground ... I notice a little bee, doing his thing. Man, you don't get moments like that. I snapped like crazy ... because with the little point and shoots and sunlight ... you can't see anything on the screen ... so I was using the tiny viewfinder to frame it. It wasn't until this morning that I found out that I caught the blues bro in action. I caught some awesome sunlight in his eyes and body. This photo is actual size ... no blow up. 

PS ... I need a Nikon D70 . Please.

HG --

motorcycle motorcycle blog texas bluebonnets nikon

blues image - ride captain ride

The cool thing about having a blog is that you can write about whatever. It is a form of expression just as song writing, hang gliding, motorcycle riding, or basket weaving. Music has always been a huge part of my life. I began to play guitar when I was 12. Forced to take piano lessons even earlier than that ... but it didn't take. I loved guitar and I played in several little rock bands when I was in Jr. High and High School. It was a fun time.

A few days ago I mentioned the title of one of my favorite songs from the 70's ... Ride Captain Ride. I was reading someone else's blog the other day as they thought this song was about Sir Francis Drake ... and even thinking the song was by Grand Funk Railroad ... which it was not.

Blues Image did the song back in 1970. It was a pretty big hit ... making it all the way to No. 4 on Billboard. Blues Image did not stick around long as a group ... but had some incredible players ... Mike Pinera, Skip Konte, Malcom Jones, Joe Lala, and Manuel Bertinatti.

Pinera went out to play a brief stint for Iron Butterfly. Konte went to Three Dog Night. The other band members went on to play with other great bands and did session work as well. Blues Image had the one single hit that made it big with Ride Captain Ride.

Ah ... 70's rock ... there will never be anything greater.

HG --

motorcycle motorcycle blog blues image ride captain ride