A Raspberry Coffee Break

It was time to take little Raspberry and "Thing Two" out for another spin.  "Thing Two" had to have his clutch adjusted but after that, he seemed to be just fine. I have to cover the seat because the neighborhood kitties seem to love putting their paw prints all over everything.

Scootard always does the unlocking of our bikes while I am getting the helmets and putting on my gear.

We putted around the neighborhood for a while to make sure that Thing Two was not sick and then we headed downtown for coffee.  This was our first visit to this place.

And to our surprise, there seemed to be some kind of kid's festival going on.

There was music and food and a big bouncy thingee in the middle of the street........

Scootard went inside to get our coffee.  He got the sugar and everything right.  Looking pretty pleased with himself......:-).

I went through the coffee pretty quickly.  I have no idea why.  When I have it at home it takes me all morning!

Raspberry and Thingee Two waited patiently across the street for us to come back.  Raspberry was getting plenty of second glances....:-).  She's soooo cute!

That's the bouncy thingee that I mentioned....They had hoola hoops too.......:-)
.

Well, we finished our coffee and decided that the two-some looked lonely sitting there by themselves.

We got our gear back on and did a bit more riding before going back to the ponderosa.....

Now time to chill out with my favorite person and relax for the rest of the evening....:-)

chow!

Lunch From The Garden...:-).

After selling Ms Vickey, we decided to go down to the garden and see how things were progressing there.  It has been very hot here and we have had to water 3-4 in a week just to keep things going.  Chris grabbed the hose and wanted to get some watering done before it got too hot again.

I watched a few videos from folks who know a whole lot more about gardening than I do and found that if you keep cutting the suckers off of your tomato plants, that you will have bigger tomatoes.  These seem to be quite healthy although a bit small.  But that's ok!  I know what's in them...ha

We also read that if you plant corn in a single row, that it is best to hand pollinate the stalks to ensure they produce for you.  We shook the pollen from one plant and smear it onto the others.  Now, we have the silk starting to show.  I think we might get two- 4 ears from each plant.  We have 6 plants!
 

Chris had the idea of pulling two potato plants to see if we had any potatoes that were ready.
This is our first harvest from two plants.  We have about 8 more plants to go, but are going to wait for another couple of weeks.

It appeared that our broccoli was starting to bolt.  That's when it is going to return to seed.  I think that because it was planted near the corn that it received a lot of nitrogen feed and got really leafy.  The good thing is that you can eat the whole plant!  So, we pulled about 4 plants out by the root and long with our potatoes, we took our harvest back to the house.  I got started pulling pots and pans and Chris started cleaning and cutting everything.

Now, why did he shake his hand right when I snapped the picture? haha...  Oh well....

Anyway, two days ago, we harvested some beets from the garden and I saved the juice. I wasn't sure why, but hey...it came in handy.  Mind you I have NEVER done any of this kind of thing before.

I had some left over chicken in the fridge.  Sounds like a complete meal to me!  And there you have it, folks.
Baked chicken, broccoli greens cooked with onion, pancetta and roasted red bell peppers. By the way, they  taste just like collard greens! Last but not least,  mashed potatoes with creamy horse radish sauce and fresh grated parmesan!

Lord, bless this food....Amen!

A Bitter/ Sweet Farewell To "Ms Vickey" ......:-)

I spent a lot of time over the past couple of months arguing with myself about selling my beloved "Ms Vickey" and going to something smaller.  Well, I did that and got "Raspberry"; my 50cc scooter that I am very happy with.  But I still had the nagging feeling in the back of my head that I needed to go to something else other than a 250cc.

"Ms Vickey"- My 250cc Bet & Win Scooter

After being on the market for nearly a month, I started to have second thoughts.  And then, it happened.  Without any price adjustments on my end, a potential purchaser called offering full price for her.  I found myself stunned and excited at the same time because I had my eye on something else already.  After having made arrangements to meet with the interested buyer, we waited for the day to come; and it did.

The potential buyer was also a mechanic who was very enthusiastic about Ms Vickey.  After checking her out thoroughly......

and checking her out some more......

We headed to the insurance office to do the transfer and complete the sale.

After everything was said and done, Chris put the new tags on the bike for the new owner.

Who was obviously very happy to have her....:-)
 

He thanked us and headed off into the sun......:-)

I know she is in good hands.....:-).  Farewell, "Ms Vickey"......:-)

And now.........On to my next adventure...

 A Honda PCX 150cc.  .....:-). I should have her this Saturday.....:-)  Sweet!!

Stay tuned!

Raspberry, Ms Vickey and Thing Two!

After doing some work in the garden and chatting with a neighbor, I decided to take a time out at the beach.  

the sun was hot and seemed to be drawing the fluid right out of my poor feet! ha

No sooner than I arrived, Chris was back from a run in town.  I thought this would be a good time to take Raspberry and Thing Two out again for a run.  However, he noticed a problem with his clutch while on the way home.  Time to do some adjustments.

I'll just sit in my very comfy chair and sip on some water while I wait for my beloved "gear head" do his thing.

Ok, time to go.  Now, I'm tired and hot, but ready to go none the less......:-)

I feel my scooter juices starting to flow!

Well, we didn't get but about a mile from the house when we noticed that the "fix" that Thing Two had didn't quite fix the problem.  We headed back to the house and I offered for Scootard to ride Ms Vickey instead.
 

Poor Thing Two was going to have to sit this one out while we went on the hunt for some tools and some coffee....:-(.  

 We found the coffee, but not the tools.  However, there is hope!  Someone will try to get us what we need tomorrow.

Don't they look cute together!  xoxo.....Two sisters on an adventure holiday!

The coffee was ok.  I mean when you buy it from a place called "Bean Around the World", how bad can it be??

Poor Scootard!  He was sad that "Thing Two" was better off parked until we could get the matter resolved.

I don't know if he will ever get over it!  ha....poor guy....:-(.

Maybe by the time I finish, he will feel better.....

We rode around for quite some time before going back home and putting Ms Vickey and Raspberry to bed.

tomorrow, I'm on the hunt for a pink helmet.....or a Raspberry beret!

see you on the road!

Ms Vickey Rides Again!

Poor thing......:-(.  Ms Vickey had been ridden once or twice around the parking lot by Chris since last year.  She sat so long that I was about to pull the battery out to keep it from draining.  But today was her day!
It was lunch time and we had to run a couple of errands, so I decided to take Ms Vickey out this time so that she wouldn't think I didn't love her any more.

 I noticed the difference immediately between the weight of the two bikes, the brakes and even the position of the mirrors!  We came to our first stop and I just about threw myself off the bike!  Going from drum brakes to disc brakes was quite the eye opener.

 We made it to the restaraunt in one piece!

Scootard and I were both really hungry because neither of us had breakfast.  So, we were ready to feast!

And feast......

and feast!

After making a quick stop and taking care of some unrelated business, we rode home and prepared the bikes for stowing.  Scootard hooked the combination lock to Ms Vickey and Raspberry and another one to Ms Vickey and "Thing Two".  We covered Raspberry's seat before leaving Penticton the day before because she has a tiny tear in her seat cover and I didn't want rain water to seep inside.  I forgot to take the plastic off.  Looks like a Huggie diaper....ha

And here they are!  Raspberry looks so tiny next to Thing Two and Ms Vickey.....:-).  But now, all of them have had a nice run and are in good shape.  Except for that wierd sound that came from Vickey when I started her outside of the restaurant.  Maybe just a "cough" from not having been ridden any serious distance since last year.

Here is our little moto family.....just like children; Young adult, teenager and pre-teen.  And none of them alike!
Thanks for riding with us!

The Big 20!

It was going to be a good day with lots of sunshine......we hoped!  After spending some time in our Sunday morning book study, we got ourselves ready for the road......:-).

Now, if you have been following my blog for a couple of years, you will remember my first "dirt nap" with Ms Vicky on this same road.  Most of my fellow biker friends ride motorcycles with gnarly tires unlike my scooter tires which seem to have very little traction.  Anyway, here I was again facing this same gravely, pitted, incline (on worse two years later), where I came off my bike and slightly dislocated my shoulder.  I decided not to take the chance this time.  

Scootard kindly took Raspberry down the hill for me and I walked down.  And let me tell you, I had never walked down that hill and had to walk "sideways" to keep my feet from slipping!  Had I taken a shot in the other direction, you would see the slop that the drive way is on.  You couldn't park a car on it without using your emergency brake or you would roll into the traffic below.

And of course, He just cruised on down with his knobby tires.   The tires on his bike look like dirt bike tires....  Lookin good there, Sir Scootard!

I think Raspberry was as nervous as I was!  I mean afterall, this was going to be her longest trip with me!  You know, we had to establish "trust" and all........:-)
 

She purred along like a kitty around the winding roads and even got up to about 58k's (down hill of course), but dropped quickly to a mere 28-30 when trying to climb steep hills.  We pulled over about 4 times to let cars go by.  I thought, wow.....  no wonder these little guys can't go on the expressway!  haha.  A person would get squashed like a bug!

We went to the beach on the main street in Penticton and found a spot marked just for motorcycles.  Yay!  There was also a bench in eyeshot right by the water.  That was pretty cool.  Raspberry was taking in the view....:-)

We noticed an ice cream shop right across the street and Scootard went to go get us a taste......:-).

The skies started to look a bit suspicious to me while Scootard was gone.  Or maybe I just noticed it when we got still.  I was hoping that it was just going to be a nice cloud cover for us.......

The ducks were hilarious!  They just waddled up to this ladies blanket and decided that was going to be a good place to roost.  She chased them way....ha.  Oh well.  I would have let them as long as they didn't start ......well, you know.  Who wants to clean that off of their blanket!

This ship has been sitting there for many years.  You can take tours, but we have ever been inside. I suppose we will do it one of these days.  It's called Sucamous.

Hey!  He's back with the ice cream..........\o/ \o/ \o/..... (that's me jumping up and down).

And guess what it was called........wait for it.........."Rocky Raspberry"!   haha.....I had to get a picture

 The street was decorated with banners like this one.  The Volkswagen on the front of this one made me think of the famous Heights/Ashbury district in San Francisco.

We must have stayed at the beach for at least an hour and then decided to find some coffee.....

Unfortunately, we had to park across the street and up a little ways.  But, I kept my eye on everything.....:-)

Scootard was "chillin" and checking messages on his android while I decided if I wanted coffee and desert or just coffee.

After deciding on coffee....I went in and saw the menu.  And guess what they had....did you guess?

Wait for it.......Raspberry cheesecake coulis.   Hahahaha.  Seriously, I had never been in this place to know what they had before that moment.  But isn't it funny that I keep running into all things raspberry?  ha.  It must have been her day!

The cheese cake reminded me of the kind you would make with cream cheese and the "coulis" just about locked my jaws it was so tart!  Scootard scraped it off after having witnessed my agony after the first two bites of trying to "brave it"....

And as we sat....here came a butterfly (or moth??) that landed on Scootard.  He's thinking of what to do next with it.....

Bad idea!

He decided to let it live.......:-).  Then "it" decided to fly off into the middle of the street where a couple of birds picked a fight with it.  They didn't win, but the car that came behind them did!  Poor thing.....:-(.

Well, back to my coffee......The coffee was pretty good. I love bistro settings.  My kitchen is set up like one at home.....:-)

Well, it was time to head back since we had a twenty minute ride and it was starting to rain.  AND.... don't forget those hills I had to go back up on slick roads.  Somebody else was feeling pretty confident, though...

This being my second ride of this very short season found me with a case of "monkey butt" when we got back to the house.  I decided that the next time I ride her, I would borrow Ms Vickey's airhawk.  That should take care of that issue.  I made sure it would fit.

We made it back without incident although the skies opened up on us and I had to slow wayyyyyy down.  We were soaked, got our gear off and loaded the trailer for the ride home the next day.
  Total miles today......The Big 20!  (or about 30k's).  Did I mention that the gas tank hadn't moved?  ha

Along the way, we saw these guys.   I'm sure this is the closest to hell I will ever be!  Ride on, fellows, ride on!

After our 6 hour road trip, we stopped past our garden to give it a water and decided to pull some beets to make more room.  I discovered while we were in Penticton that the tops of beets taste just like spinach!  I love spinach.....:-).

After they were soaked in a mild vinegar and water solution, they were rinsed......

the stems chopped, and the roots boiled.  Very nice, indeed!

We settled in for dinner and enjoyed the fruit of our garden.  Thanks for coming along...:-)
 See you next time.....:-).