EP is Holding a Shoot

Sunday 8/27

Who ever is close enough and wants to come - I know there are many around the Red river Montague county Texas area that might want to come shoot some clay birds. This is our annual tradition, and everybody is welcome. We have alot of fun, and we always like new victims., just kidding.

We have alot of games we play and it cost you a quarter, yep 25 cents per game. we do it for fun not profit, you will have a ball come join us. Email me at ru4cowboys@yahoo.com between now and Sunday morning at 9:00 AM and I will send you the directions.

This isn't some PC gun club shoot, this is the real thing that test's your skills in every way.

Will there be beer?

A Stuck Screw - Philips Head

First!

Righty Tighty - Lefty Loosey

Use good driver bits or drivers. Don't skimp or try to save money here you'll pay for it in te end.

If you have been smart and stopped trying to turn the screw out before the head is cone shaped try the following:

Apply enetrating oil, wait a half hour. Remove screw.

Tap your screwdriver lightly with a hammer as you apply turning force to it.

If that doesn't work, place a screwdriver bit into the philips "star" and heat it cherry red. Leave it there until it and the screw have cooled. This will expand the scew, hopefully breaking any corrosion bond as it cools. Remove the screw if possible. Use the previous procedure if needed.

Note: - your may want to heat the bit out of the scew and then place it in the screw with a pair of pliers if you are imprecise with your torch work.


If the screw head is stripped or nearly stripped try the following:

Place the end of a flat punch (pin punch) about at least the size of the screw head over the screw and whack it. This will close the philips "star" again giving your driver some bite again. You may have to whack the screwdriver into the new star. You might try heating the bit here as you are almost to the end of the options.

Apply some "valve grinding compound" to the screwdriver tip. This will give is extra "bite" and help prevent it from camming out of the screw head. Remove the screw.

If you have gone and just made a funnel shape of the screw head, get a center punch and drive it into four points arond the screw head making another (boogered up) "star". Heat a bit as described above. I don't hold out much hope with this method, but it will sometimes work.

There are some screw extraction devices that are sold by crafstman and others that look lise reverse running countersink bits. Try these, too. They will work on screws that just need a little extra force to come out, but they will only chew the head off if the screw is actually frozen.


If all else fails: Drill.

I'll not go into this as it requires equipment and o

My Civic Duty

So You Went and Told the Masses

First EP, then Nate, now ABC snews.

Internet websites have been full of speculation that it could be a target date for terrorists in commemoration of the return of the 12th imam, a supposed day of reckoning for Shiites.

I got a dollar says won't shit happen tomorrow.

Zen And The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

Chapter I - The Chain





Modern chains are sealed units with preinstalled factory internal lubrication. Some are of the "endless" variety and must be assembled/disassembled using special tools for replacement or when required for other maintenance prcedures.
They come in different sizes or "pitches" and are specific to an application.

O-Ring:
These are the seals that retain the factory installed "grease" internally. Preserving these is part of the goal of proper chain maintenance.

Masterlink:
This is the part of the chain that allows you to disconnect it from itself. There are three types; Riveted, Slip-fit clip type, and Press-fit clip type.
Only the "Slip-fit clip type" is easily roadside friendly.
The "Press-fit clip type" can be dealt with on the side of the road, but it's a pain in the ass.
The "Riveted" type refers makes an endless chain and requires special tools to work with. It can be disassembled and assembled with common hand tools and workbench, but it ain't fun and it won't work as well or be as safe.

Lubrication:
This is a highly contentious topic. There as many theories as there are riders, but The following is universal.

No matter what you use, use it often and keep your chain as clean as poosible.

There are two basic types of lube; Oily, and chain "wax". Manufacturers recommend "oily" as in 80wt to 90wt gear oil brushed onto a clean chain usually every 300 to 400 miles. Some use WD40. That might be OK for cleaning a chain, but it ain't gonna lube it and some say it will deteriorate the o-rings that seal the chain.
Chain "wax" is a class of spray on lubricant that won't fling off the chain and applies in a somewhat less messy manner than "oily" libricants do. I hate this stuff. It does nothing to prevent corrosion of the chain plates and your chain will look like shit right quick.

The Best Solution is to install an automatic lubrication system such as a "Scott Oiler" or somesuch.

The following manufacturer's link has videos of chain assembley and disassembley.

Chain Stuff

It's High Time For a Trip

SwampThing has undergone some mainteance upgrades lately, and I'm thinkin' it's time to take him out on the road. So, I am beginning the initial stages of planning a motorcycle excursion. An adventure. No great thing. A small thing. Leaning toward another Iron Butt trip, but a loop this time. Have to see what's 500 miles away and interesting. Looks like a solo trip this time as Nate appears covered up in domestic duties.
Break out my old 2002 edition of Streets and Trips and look around..... Some possiblities: A SuperSlab Tour through major cities nearby (ugh), A Hillbilly Backroad Tour through eastern Kentucky and East Tennessee, A Never Too Far From Home Tour which maintanes a maximum radius from the house of 3 hours driving time. Of all these the Hillbilly Backroad Tour looks the most interesting. May plot a River Road Tour along the Ohio; that'd be fun, too.

I'm Really Gettin' The Itch

I stumbled on this fella's website the other day and checked out his videos. He does some pretty good editing work. Sure, this one is corny, but if ya' got time and bandwidth check some of the others out, especially the rainy trackdays. One fella starts a slide 30yds before the turn!

Bandwidth Warning

Let's Eat!

Riders, Post your general location so I can get a handle on whether or not a Sunday ride to a steak dinner at some central location would be feasible. We may be able to just get a few together at different points at different times as I figure folks are pretty spread out, but I don't need much excuse to ride to a good meal.

MM I got you in Indy.
Nate's near Nashville.
Welldigger is near Nashville.
EP is near DFW.
Bill is somewhere Gawd-awful near as I can tell...

Pipe up, y'all

The Times, They Are a Changin'

Some old ridin' buddies went on a poker run today. They met for breakfast at Cracker Barrel in Lexington, then on to Midway for their meet up.

I was invited. I didn't go. We not exactly, "didn't go"; I met 'em for breakfast and rode with 'em to the meet up.

A couple of these guys have been faithful riding buddies for many years, and leaving them with the poker run organizers I felt like I was abandoning them to a nursing home. What can ya' do?! I talked until I'm blue in the face, but they are beguiled by the flatulent, toothless pachyderm. So, abandon them I did, lest I fall along side them into the morass of fatman's whimsy where reason may not reach and from which there is no salvation.

UPDATE:
I heard back from one of the old-folks. It seems one of the harley ridiers t-boned a roadside tree. From the description it sounds like another Harley rider 30 mph freeze-up. Popped over a hill, saw a curve and a driveway equipped with optional 16" ( " means inches, SB) diameter tree and fixed his paniced gaze upon the tree. You know the rule, look where you want to go. He looked, He went.
Bike is wrecked. Head is bashed, brain is scrambled (it was before) since he wore no helmet. I am told he had no idea where he was, what he was doing, what day it was, or how he got there. He was alive when they hauled him off, though his breathing was laboured and he was wheezing badly.
He sure looked cool w/o his helmet on. Bet his family will think he's cool, too, when they have to wipe his ass because he shits himself now.


Ride safe y'all. And ATGATT; You're worth the trouble.

JACIII

Counterpoint: Honda Shadow 1100 (Sabre)

Ok, 'tis my turn at bat, so to say , 'specially since Bill 's bloviations are done and Nate got in his first salvo on this here deal, Neither on the topic at hand , btw, but I digress . JAC, first of all kudos to ya for taking the time to do a real-deal from the saddle test / your perspective of riding a bike that is not what you would normally ride, but did it with us in mind, a most noble endevour, fo' sho'. Now, to the VT1100 . The ergo's may not be too your liking, but it is de rigeur for " cruisers" , damn I hate that term, but they are made for easy ridin', and no, the aint got the handling thing down to a tee, a good set of tires helps, but the mushy factory suspension needs some help too, Gold valves make a Big diff. The neck bearings could prolly stand a snuggin, too. Are they good bikes ? yes, for the value and their intended use, absolutely . Do I think they are better than a Harley, no.
Brand X

Off Topic: That there's a pic BrandX sent me of some of his kin roundin' up dinner. Always wanted to try 'gator.

Alien Abductors Are Pussies

There's a new airplane terrotist threat so, you guessed it, we need to tighten security at airports! Bend over boys, those "black wands" will soon be put to more probitive use and unlike our pals the alien abductors the rent-a-cops won't have to flit about procuring their own probe-ees. They're linin' up like cattle in a chute for the procedure.

Oh, and somebody please tell me why exploding ragheads need to actually board a plane to slaughter civilians when several planeloads worth are lined up for the taking? Are we gonna have an airport security checkpoint checkpoint?
That's it, line up, single file! Be patient, pretend it's a breadline in the old USSR. There now, we'll pretend it's an interesting historical exercise instead of a mind-numbing, dehumanizing exercise in futility.

Bike Review: Honda Shadow 1100 (Sabre) Conclusion

Sorry I took so long to finish this up.

... I rode the Shad'er for about 50 miles, took my youngest daughter for a spin. She liked it. The oldest sneered at it and went back in the house.

Something I noticed while doin' some city ridin' on this thing is that cruiser riders are real catty toward each other. They don't necessarily wave back and they do a lot of checking out the other guy's bike out of the corner of their eye. 99% of the time anybody on any motorcycle waves to me, on the SwampThing, on the Voyager, on Big Red, but not on the Shad'er. Weird, huh?! My theory is that cruisers are all about looks and all about looks is a distinctly feminine perspective so, of course they're gonna act like bitches toward one another.

Finally, there is no question the Shad'er is well built with all the fit and finish you expect from Honda. That said, it is a royal pig on the road. The front end manages to be heavy and unstable at the same time - neat trick that. The riding position is bizarre and no one who has ridden a modern bike with a rational riding position any length of time is gonna tolerate the gynecological exam riding position (or in Nate's nomenclature the "flying squirrel").

Conclusion: The Shad'er is an OK bike for What It Is. Now, "What It Is" is an antique motorcycle with a few (very few) refinements. I can understand a motorcycle company that has never designed or manufactured a modern, competent motorcycle (Harley) turning one of these out, but not one of the Big Four. Their engineers had to be taught how to make a bike this inept. Sadly that is what the American market demands a lot of. Go figure.

If you took a poll of random Joe on the street:"What kind of motorcycle would you like to have?" Most would answer some form of cruiser, so it is true most people would like to have a cruiser. It is also true that most people don't know shit about bikes.

Bill, Bill, Bill.....

Here's some input on the cruisers of yesteryear from Bill:

I'm not aware of a decent "cruiser" made today. They took the decent engines (which MUST, MUST, MUST be a water-cooled V-4) and wrapped all this ugly plastic around them. I've never been impressed with the Shadow, or any twin for that matter. They just can't spool up fast enough, what use is being on a bike if you don't have power on tap? It's like being in a car except you get wet when it rains. My Magna (sadly gone lo these many years) could cruise happily all day at 120, and it'd get there in a hurry. If you didn't mind shifting gears it could hang in there at 150, but was a bit buzzy and the wind was beginning to be a problem, and if your balls are bigger than your brain it can hit 180.

The older cruisers handled pretty well, too. Dragging foot pegs is a constant problem, but with minimal countersteer and reasonable body english you can throw one through a decent line on a curve (just ignore the sparks and they'll go away).

When Harley came out with the V-Rod Honda was wonderin' what all the fuss was about since they already made that bike 20 years earlier and no one (hardly) bought it.

I like havin' you around, Bill, so rather than figure yer blowin' smoke up my ass about the 150 MPH Magna, I'll mark it down as hyperbole. It reminds me a lot of most older fella's I know who remember their old cars/bikes as a lot faster than they really were even allowing for optomistic speedos.

Dad still swears he drove his old '46 ford 130mph throught the mountains of Tennessee on the way to Florida to elope with Mom. We just smile and nod. What are ya' gonna do?

Bike Review: Honda Shadow 1100

I spent the day on a cruiser. I know, " It must be snowin' in hades!". Well, first thing is first:

JACIII Review - Honda Shadow 1100

First thing I noticed was the handlebar controls , mirrors, and gauge (singular) were all in the right places. Fit and finish, from the paint to the shiney bits is nearly flawless with only age blemishing the Shad'er, and then inconspicuously.

It's carbeurated, so I set the enrichener and hit the starter. Fired right up. The Cobra pipes have a nice snap on-throttle, but off-throttle there's a kind of hollow gurgling sound. Weird and out of charecter.

Time to go! I notched it into first (once I found the shifter up by the front wheel) flipped the enrichener off and fed in some throttle as I eased out the clutch. Easy, smooth take off. No surprises, no faltering engine. The Honda has plenty of oomph to get out of its own way and no feathering of the clutch is called for.

Once out on the road I had to make myself short-shift it as I am used to SwampThing's 7500 RPM redline which isn't much, but Swampy's a screamer compared to a cruiser. No tach, but I figure it cruises 65mph at about 2500. It's entertaining trying to get it to lug at low speed. It'll do it, but you have to try to make it happen. Basically, it doesn't much care what gear it is in.

There's not much grunt down low, but it tractors out pretty well. The top end is, well, . The Shad'er fills in the torque curve at the midrange, though. It's has some passing power from 45 to 60, but you are still at the mercy of traffic flow rather than its master. Momentum is your friend as there are no sudden bursts of speed, quick direction changes, and you're not gonna bleed of spped at a steep rate, either. Plan ahead. Sorta like towing a travel trailer.

This is one heavy steering bike. Between the 'flying squirrel' riding position and the big inputs required to make this thing turn, I can understand why cruiser boys don't ride very much. I had to hold it into the turns with continuous steering pressure. No 'set it and forget it' here I'm tellin' ya'. You're probably thinkin' it's the compromise cruisers make to be stable at highway speeds, right? Wrong. This thing tracks every ripple, rut, seam, and crease in the roadsurface. SwampThing is more confidence inspiring on the interstate. That said, the Shad'er is pretty happy clippin' along at an indicated 80mph. Past that it starts gettin' squirrely; vibratin' and waggin' it's head. Some of this could be the old-style tread pattern on the tires, but then again it might not be.

I pusuhed it up to and indicated 100mph. 100 is no place to stay for long on this thing.

I'll have more later on the Shad'er. For now, though, some explanation is in order.

It's snowin' in hades because I leant SwampThing out to a friend of mine so he could take his son out on the trail on his little JR50. See he rides (I use the term loosely) a cruiser so he would not have been able to take the boy ridin' someplace besides his back yard unless SwampThing stepped in.

I got to worryin' about somenoby else bein' out in the woods on my bike so I called him and told him to bring me his bike so I could hold it hostage. That way he might think twice before gettin' careless with ol' Swampy. I figured I could always run his bike through the creek if he mistreated SwampThing. Swampy came home without much more than a broken turn signal lens and he coughed up the $30.00 right quick so I have no complaints.



I found this while looking for an image of the Shad'er.
Caution: Not work safe!

I've been stirrin' shit elsewhere

So your example is right on target to show the need for a representative democracy. But where is the need for the electoral college?

Its foundation was based on the concept that local people would only vote for local candidates as it was impossible for one cadidate to present their views to all voters (back when this all started, it is just a little different today) and was a means of preventing one local with a large number of voters from constantly electing the "local hero".

Additionally, it was setup to try to protect us from political parties (that did not work) and it has been modified to a point where it now helps protect the two party system that we currently have - this is supported by statements from supporters of the Electoral College.

If we are truely a "Representative Democracy" then our representatives, including the President, should be elected by those they will be representing not by the electoral college.

Mike

It's the part of representative democracy where "winner take all" applies to the allocating of delegates and representatives that we should not dissolve. This preserves (somewhat) geographic political distinctions and representation thereof.

Example: There are surely some treehuggin', bleeding heart commie rat bastards in Kentucky and they are concentrated in Lexington, Louisville, and Frankfort near colleges and universities, however most of the state is good God fearin' redneck. As such this state should be represented by those beholden (theoretically) to the rednecks hereabouts for votes and not the pantywaist girlytypes in town. We don't want to proportion the block lest the useless cityfolk vote here gets combined with the useless cityfolk vote everywhere else to create a national representative power block of these no good critters when within most smaller geographic political boundaries (states) they are the minority. There is no homgenous "American" culture, much as "progressives" (socialists) would like us all to believe other than the hive dwellers.
Edit/Delete Message

Man Down

I just got word a rider on the GPZ1100 email list went down after a cager ran a stop sign in front of him. This man is an accomplished rider with mucho miles and time in the saddle. Seems he was able to get the impact velocity down to a glancing blow but it still broke his pelvis when he finally hit the ground. As bad as that is, I submit the following from the notification email:

Fortunately he was wearing full gear including his riding pants and has
no road rash anywhere, something which apparently surprised the
emergency room attendants who are used to seeing the Harley guys come in
looking looking like a freshly skinned deer (or ungulate for Mr. Mason).

Prayers for a speedy recovery are appreciated.

Be safe out there fellas. Wear your gear and watch them sons-a-bitches. That goes double for you MM and DJ.

Montana: No Alligators Allowed

By KRISTI ALBERTSON The Daily Inter Lake


Boys reel in 5-foot, 60-pound alligator in Kalispell pond
Some birthdays stand out as exceptionally memorable; 16 and 21 usually make the list.

Josh Bryant will never forget his 11th birthday, when he came nose to snout with a 5-foot alligator in Kalispell.

On Monday afternoon, Josh and his mother, Lynn, were trying out the new fishing pole she’d given him for his birthday. The Shady Lane fishing pond near the old Steel Bridge, where he spends three or four days a week during the summer, seemed the perfect place to test the rod.

*
It was about 4 p.m. when Lynn Bryant spotted something swimming toward them.

“I thought it was a muskrat,” she said.

Then she took a closer look. Muskrats didn’t swim with just their eyes and back ridges sticking out of the water.

The Bryants couldn’t believe their eyes, but there was no doubt the animal swimming toward them was an alligator. Bryant moved to the edge of the dock and started taking pictures with her camera phone, knowing no one would believe them otherwise.

At first the alligator was almost friendly, she said, but they still wanted to get it out of the water so someone could come take care of it. A friend grabbed Josh’s pole and tried to hook the gator. He succeeded a few times, but each time the alligator simply swallowed the lure.

A few more would-be fishermen showed up soon after. One of them had a stronger pole; he, too, tried to catch the alligator but once again it swallowed the proffered minnow, hook and all.

By this time, onlookers had called friends and soon a crowd of about 50 people had gathered. Some simply watched. Others tried to help subdue the alligator, which was now agitated.

“This thing was very aggressive,” Bryant said.

“It was snapping at us kids and adults,” Josh added.

Someone brought a bow and shot it. They knew the alligator had been hit because the arrow was sticking straight up, Josh said. Then the arrow — and the alligator — disappeared for almost an hour. Suspense mounted on the banks of the pond.

“It was like a serial killer movie or something, a killer alligator,” Josh said.

The gator didn’t stay down for good, though. When it surfaced, the crowd was ready.

“His dad jumped in the water,” Josh said, pointing at his friend, Kaynen McGuire.

McGuire, 11, nodded. His father had plunged in the water with a stick, grabbed the alligator by the tail and swung it onto the bank.

“This was right out of ‘Crocodile Dundee,’ I swear,” Bryant said.

Four men held it down and tied its jaws shut with fish stringer, then put it in a canoe and dragged it up to the road. Someone produced a knife and tried to slit the animal’s throat. Still it didn’t die.

Wouldn't you like to be able to tell that tale?
"Yeah I grapped that ol' gator by the tail, pitched his ornery ass up on the bank, but he wouldn't settle down. I ended up havin' to cut his throat. Damned shame, too, he woulda looked good in my goldfish pond..."

Go There. See That.

This right here.

This is why anyone dumb enough to want to buy a Harley should have his/her (chick bikes remember?) motorcycle endorsement revoked.

Note the pussy sayin', "They're gonna beat our asses." Been watchin' Orange County Hospital ???

Vacations are Hard

and Sailing's hard work.

So, I got out the genoa yesterday. Man, that's a powerful sail!

We were hummin' along on Green River Lake waiting for the wind to pick up just enjoying a 3 to 4 MPH port tack after we came around this point, I came about and all of the sudden the wind just grew, and grew, and GREW. Before I realized what was going on we were heeled over 30 degrees and Mrs. JAC was asking if I wanted her to release the genoa halyard. I was just startin' to have fun so I said, "What for? We're OK."

Wrong answer. Man we were really hummin', too.
I finally noticed Mrs. JAC was white knuckled and pale so I brought her in a little closer to the wind until the main started flapping just a bit on the upper luff and eased up on the traveler to let the main spill some air. I just all but released the jib sheet and it popped out like a parachute in front of us. The boat quicly righted and .....

"Man, we were really cookin'! You alright?"

"No. That's it. I'm done. No more sailing for me." And I got the waving index finger.



Wanted:
Sailboat crewmembers.
Hard work. Low pay. Bad food. Free beer.
Hours of relaxation.
Occasional intervals of boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror.
Apply within.

Gone Sailing

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