The
Squamidian Report – Feb. 16 / 13
Issue #560
Including:
The Ontarion
Hi All,
I think I wrote about a spider that used to drop down and visit me when I was ‘indisposed’. That would have been a while ago, perhaps a year or so or more. It would descend from the ceiling and come to a stop a few inches out from in front of my face. We would have a friendly chat and then it would climb back up. This would happen a couple of time a week and went on for most of that winter. After a while I never saw it again. Don’t know where it went and have often wondered if it misses our conversations.
Well, there is another one visiting us. This one is in the computer room but unlike that other one, it just seems to suddenly be there. It is a different kind too, this one is small, black and very compact with short hairy legs that are tucked in. It is quite flat, the legs stay close to its body. It is very fast and can jump pretty good as well. First time we met I felt it on the top of my head. I don’t know how it got there but all of a sudden I could feel it walking around. It came over my forehead and over my glasses and strolled out to the end of my nose and then jumped onto the keyboard. We, well, mostly me, chatted a bit as it checked out the various keys. After a while it headed off under the desk top and disappeared. Next time I saw it, it was on the back of the chair ‘the wife’ was using as she was doing stuff at her computer. I just caught some movement out of the corner of my eye, and there it was. I told her not to lean back because doing so would have squished the little guy. I coaxed it onto a sheet of paper, it didn’t walk onto the paper, it jumped onto it, and I moved it out of harms way and over to the sky light where it could check out the modem and router and still have a nice view of the mountains out through the window. I don’t know where it went, there are lots of wires and things for it to explore. Sure is cute the way it scoots around so fast, then stops, then scoots again. Kinda miss this little guy, or girl, now. Maybe it will drop in again.
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I was soooo tempted the other day. Many of my riding friends have been getting out a fair amount on their motorcycles lately. Whenever the sun has come out, they have gone riding. My bike is still tucked in along the back wall of the garage, all snuggly under its bike cover. But, the sun was out and it was a good +10 here. I stood there, torn between pulling the cover off, or walking away. Its not that there is anything wrong with pulling the cover off the bike, but then the temptations would kick in. First I’d want to just sit on the bike but that would also mean I’d want to lift it off the side stand into the upright position. To do this, I’d need the security FOB thing so that the security system wouldn’t have a hissy-fit. But, if I had the FOB with me, I’d then be tempted to start the bike, just to hear how she sounds. But, you are not supposed to start an engine that won’t be run long enough to come up to proper operating temperature so the only solution would have been to pull the car out of the way and then jockey the bike out onto the driveway where the exhaust would be outside and the air cooled engine would be happier.
Now, to do all of that would have created another temptation. The best way to get the engine up to running temperature would be to ride the bike. I know from experience that I could probably ride up and down our street as many times as I wanted to without any chance of ‘being caught’. (The bike’s registration expired late last October.) But, whether or not I rode up and down the street, I’d still have to tuck the bike in along the garage wall where it will then sit, again, till at least mid to late March, more likely late March. Not because I want to wait that long before renewing the registration, but because I’m going to have to wait that long. Its a bummer but there are some things that need to be dealt with before my riding season can get started. So, I resisted all those temptations and never pulled the cover off of the bike.
doug
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Greg is taking some time out. He is finding that typing with just one hand is not working too well.
Take all the time you need Greg, let that hand heal.
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Have a good one..
the doug
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