Archive for March, 2008
Deadly Cup
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“My Cup is deadlier than your sword” Are the words of wisdom and warning from my pal Wolfie otherwise known as Roberta and other monikers not worth mentioning. When not making Mead she is growing grapes in her small winery in the rolling hills of Agua Dulce where her White Wolf Meadery and Winery is located.
If the mood strikes and you find yourself dressing up in combat archery warier outfits, take a tip from Wolfie and keep your tips sharp and your arrow shafts straight. One other tip from her is worth remembering, “Look up before the Cougar Pounces”. For laughing out loud Inga don’t give away all of the secrets of the big cat!
On a very happy note Nancy, who is Number 001 secret agent, and her husband Steve just had their baby boy Aiden. Another Pisces boy to attempt to rule the earth. The trouble with Pisces boys is that they first have to rule themselves with is quiet a challenge. Congrats to both of them and hope to see the little one soon.
Finally, its your hosts birthday today. Let the good times roll and I am keeping my head up Wolfie – looking down for lost little furry things- so keep a sharp eye out! So I end with a little poem writen for our hostess Little Wolfie in the words from the Gard:
True Thomas, the Bard of House Strongbow
Ah, if Inga were Queen….
All the fighters would wear armor made of rawhide
All the speargods would stand in a line
All our lamest shots, would get accepted just fineQueen Inga, Queen Inga, The mighty Wolfie Queen
Queen Inga, Queen Inga, Behold the Lupine DreamEveryone would be an archer, Puns would be outlawed
All the A&S competitions, would be won by tooth and claw
Brewers would be so exalted, and everyone carries a cup
In the hopes that the royal court, will fill every one of them upQueen Inga, Queen Inga, The mighty Wolfie Queen
Queen Inga, Queen Inga, Behold the Lupine DreamThe sky is filled all her toys, flying again and again
Belly dancing at all the wars, would be full of manly men
Wolf coursing is all the rage, with Brun in a Bunny suit
I would have to flee on command, with her in happy pursuit (twang!)Queen Inga, Queen Inga, The mighty Wolfie Queen
Queen Inga, Queen Inga, Behold the Lupine DreamAll of Strongbow would be armored cavalry,
Shooting from the royal golf carts…
We’ld borrow from Aten our favorite targets,
And give them a running head start!Queen Inga, Queen Inga, The mighty Wolfie Queen
Queen Inga, Queen Inga, Behold the Lupine DreamAnd all the folks would call me a lazy bastard,
Who uhm..sang.. his way to crown….
I will laugh, and call the Queens Champions
And point out which ones to poundQueen Inga, Queen Inga, The mighty Wolfie Queen
Queen Inga, Queen Inga, Behold the Lupine DreamAlas my dream has come to an end,
no archery in tourneys they say…
Still Inga will always be MY queen
Until read she this song todayBeef jerky boy-exit…stage left…….running from my deer hart….
Honey I’m Home
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Honey I’m Home used to be the household saying in the “Leave It To Beaver” days. Many of you will not even know or remember hearing of the TV show “Father Knows Best“. Back in the 1950’s women were stay at home moms and the men worked. Today things have changed. To get an update follow the link on the cartoon to the full story.
Oh for the good old days when men were men and women were just women and not the CEO’s climbing the cooperate ladder. Of course I jest. Today is a different day.
On a more personal note. Today was the fourth day in a row that I was able to go out in the sun and ride my bicycle. In the past four days I have put in about 150 miles or so and started work on a nice summer tan. The weather here in Arcadia and the San Gabriel Valley has been gorgeous this past week with Spring galloping in bringing sunny days and really warm weather. Gone are the days of wearing arm warmers and leggings. This morning I rode out the drive way with a sleeveless jersey and no undergarments. By the time we got back to Monrovia after our tour down through the Rose Bowl the temps were 77 degrees (25 degree Centigrade) and sunny. These past few days have been really gorgeous out after our relatively wet and cool winter season.
The new bike coming from Dean Cycles should be ready this month. I ordered the El Diente titanium frame about five months ago. This custom frame has the S&S couplers and will break down to fit into a suit case. This will be the bike that I take with me to the Iowa RAGBRAI ride across Iowa and again in the fall when we travel to China. That will be another story.
New American Standard Stratocaster
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The news is out and the New American Stratocaster is available now from Fender. The original rock and roll king has been revamped with some modern twists. For several years now I have again picked up playing the guitar. This time with an amplifier ha ha!. When I was younger I player around with a classical Guild Mark IV guitar and became pretty good with it. I played some art shows and Tea parties and other really cool gigs with my classical collection of music. My first love in music is classical guitar but the electric jazz blues thing has always intrigued me. When I picked up another guitar a couple of years ago it was a 1982 Gibson 335 which I purchased used from a starving studio musician for a song – this guitar now is worth a bucket full of money. The Gibson 335 guitar is a classic and I will never part with it. To hear this guitar in action just listen to Larry Carlton’s jazz recodings.
Since then I have added several other guitars, all electric guitars and all Fenders. Currently I have two Fender Telecasters; a Highway one which is heavily modified and an American Vintage 52; two Stratocasters including the new American Standard job and an older American Stratocaster. Both of these Strats are nice instruments but the New American Standard does play a little bit better with a sweeter tone. The Fender Stratocaster is a semi mass produced instrument with variability from piece to piece. I picked up the New American Standard from Wildwood Guitar off the Internet. The people at Wildwood are very knowledgeable about these guitars and I trust their judgment. Just take a look at there huge selection of guitars and you too will be impressed with the selection that they have. Purchasing a musical instrument without playing it is a first for me and this time I was not disappointed. 
The changes that have been made to the New American Standard Stratocaster over the previous incarnation of this icon of Rock guitars has subtle changes that only a guitar player could appreciate. The new version of this classic does incorperate some nice features and as a package is perfect. All in all I really like the new Stratocaster guitar and now is the main instrument that I reach for when playing. This is a very versitle guitar and capable of many types of musical styles. For me I play essentially clean without pedles for a jazzy tone. The New American Stratocaster fills my needs perfectly being a very musical instrument, easy to play and it gives me the tone that I am looking for right out of the box. At least this one that was selected for me by the people at Wildwood is a great example of a sweet sounding Strat.
Some time I will discuss electric amplifiers in more detail but for now I have been playing the Roland Jazz Chorus 120 solid state amp and a rebuild Fender reissue 64 Deluxe Reverb Amp which was modified by Torres Engineering up in San Mateo.
Andy’s New Corsa Extra
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Andy my riding buddy just picked up a used Eddy Merckx Corsa Extra frame this past week. After fine tuning at Temple City Bike shop the bike looks awesome. Actually its exactly like mine except for the paint. Both frames are the Corsa Extra in 56 cm. His is the Blue and Red while mine is the Team colors of the 7-11 fame circa mid 1980’s. Bob Roll who is now announcing on Versus Direct TV was a member of the 7-11 “Team Slurpy”.
Today we took off from Stan’s Monrovia Bike shop for the usual ride down to South Pasadena and the Heirloom Bakery shop. Yummmmy those Heirloom cakes are really something special. We had to ride extra just to work off the calories from the cakes we ate this morning but that is our usual routine anyway.
I picked up the Eddy Merckx Corsa Extra last year when the frame came out as a reissue of the team frame. In the bottom of the cellar at the Eddy Merckx shop in Brussels there were a few stacks of old tubes left from the days of the Corsa Extra. These frames were origanalluy made from Columbus Tubing and this tube set is no longer being manufactured by Columbus. Some one had the great idea of using up the remained of the tube sets and to put out a limited edition of the Team Frame that sported this tube set – Team 7-11. There were only one hundred of these frames made last year and I picked one up as soon as they became available. The only difference between the reissued frame sets and the ones made in the 80’s is the threadless folk. The reissue still sports the all steel fork but mine is a threadless variety that was not thought of in the mid 1980’s.
Andy will be one of the riders in this years annual Cycling Pigs great Iowa adventure at RAGBRAI. I am looking forward to this ride in July very much. I don’t think
Andy will be taking his Corsa Extra to Iowa but its an idea anyway. I will be getting a new travel bike to take made by Dean Cycles in Boulder Colorado. I just talked to John there at the shop and he told me the frame is brazed up and is just going through quality assurance now. Maybe in a couple of weeks I will put up some pictures of the new titanium travel bike with S&S couplers. More on this later for sure but for now it back into the woodwork. This March starts a training cycle that will take me through the summer. My plans for Iowa is to kick some major butt!
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