Windows 10 first experiences...

It's July 29th....   And that was the day that Microsoft promised Windows 10...  And as I was using this new tablet that I purchased, a Microsoft Surface, a few minutes after midnight eastern, it came up and asked if I wanted Windows 10...

Not knowing how to get it otherwise, I closed what I was reading and answered it Yeah sure...  The programs must have been downloaded already, because it started right off installing the files...  And in less than an hour I was running W 10..  Well that was easy peasy...  I didn't mess with it for very long as it was well past bed time.

Today was a motorcycle function, but it rained...  So we went in the car..  And of course it was dry when we got to the distant town, so we took loads of BS about being sissies...

That's another story...  But anyway tonight I tried to see if my laptop would also down load the software....  Nope, no go...  Wait your turn, like a nice fellow.....  Then I saw an article about jumping the line up in Yahoo...  And then Rick up in Vancouver Island had a write up with better instructions, on how to jump the line...  So off I went down loading as he instructed...

This time I had to wait while the software down loaded 3 gig...  And then install it..  I think it was already on my computer, but the software didn't recognize its presence and pulled it down again...  This time it took about an hour and a half from start to finish....  And I have an I7 processor, but I think your hard disk speed is more the limiting factor...

So within less than 24 hours, I have both microsoft computers updated to W 10.  So what am I typing this post on..?  The Linux desktop of course...  But I have messed around with the laptop here for a couple of hours, and I couldn't break the software...  W 10 seems intuitive, especially if you are coming from W8.1... All of that jumping back and forth from the W7 desktop and the W8 charms screen is gone!!

They have put back the start button in even a more robust fashion than W 7..   Clicking it brings up a start dialog box that contains the touch screen charms...  But you can run that with the mouse too...

So if your up in arms about going to W 10.....  Go ahead, its much more like W 7, but runs all the Apps that W 8 ran...  And has an App Store and all the stuff that Apple has got us accustomed to..

I didn't do a thing other than sit here and watch it install itself....

Retired Rod

Kansas heat, but not home bound.

Its been hot here...  Not hot by Arizona standards, but the Midwest humidity tends to make the normal mid 90s figures feel so much more hot...

Yesterday as I arrived home from the mornings motor cycle excursion, it was 94 on the dash of the motorcycle. But coming inside to look at the humidity recorded by my weather station, I found the reading to be 80 percent.....   So I looked on the heat index chart and found 129 degrees.... extreme danger, in vivid red color on the chart....

We had met for a Goldwing club breakfast in the small town of Louisburg, Kansas about 15 miles South of me here in Overland Park...  There might have been 40 or more of us at a long table, with everyone gabbing all at once....  But then we adjourned to the farm of one of our member's brother..

This farm is only an acreage of about 30 acres, with a tree lined lane and big white house...  The yard was green and the sweet corn crop stood beyond picnic tables under the trees...  In the back, rows and rows of vegetables were ripening in the 90 degree sun..  But that wasn't why we came...

Back behind the machine shed were neatly lined rows of Blackberry bushes...  About 5 acres of them..   Folks armed with white plastic ice cream buckets were madly picking the ripe berries for $5 a quart...  Of course the buckets held about a gallon or more..  So I dutifully joined the folks in the hot rows of bushes....

I picked about a quart, and couldn't take the heat any more....  But then I went over and got 6 ears of corn from the fellow on his quad ATV...  The ears were snapped off of the stocks and handed to me....   Would that be fresh?  So now you know why I was so intent to get back inside the air conditioning here at home....

I spent the afternoon making Blackberry freezer jam...  It will keep for a year in the freezer and it won't last anywhere near that long before its gobbled up....  Just for grins, I added some Jalapeno pepper juice buzzed by blender...  So I really have Blackberry Pepper Jam...  Oh and I made it sugar free too....

It has been a busy week of motorcycle events...   Tuesday we traveled to Tonganoxie, Kansas for a cafe on the main street.   This building had a rustic interior with corregated steel sheeting for walls....
Then on Wednesday we met a dozen or more riders at the Gardener, Kansas Mc Donalds for a trip out to Osage City..   That's about 70 miles West of my home here...  Somehow we ended up back in Lawrence for ice cream cones at a local Burger King....  That was almost a 200 mile day...

Then on Friday, I rode by myself down to Parker, Ks about 50 miles South of here...  That was for a 9 AM breakfast, so I left about 7:30.  It was cool that early, but the trip back with several friends was in the 90 s again...   I sat in the Mc Donalds here South of the house for about 2 hours drinking Iced Tea with one of the guys after that one...  It was hot.

Needless to say, the motorcycle has been parked today... The outside temp is 95 and I haven't bothered to look at the humidity or heat index, but the AC hasn't shut off for several hours.....  Life in the Kansas summertime..

Retired Rod

Checking In

Tom_Kathy_retired, says he hit rock bottom for subjects today..............  Heck I've been on rock bottom for subjects all month....

Its been hot here!!  To hot to enjoy the motorcycle rides...  But I went anyway...   But last week it rained and rained...  We passed on the rides when we were having those good old Kansas green sky storms....  We rode on Tuesday this week and it rained before we could get home...  But it was still 97..  The rain just cooled us off for a few minutes..

Then on Wednesday, it was Green Sky day right off the bat first thing in the morning...  We took the Jeep, and my friend Al didn't even want to ride in the car....  Yup, that's Kansas...  Then once we got out to the restaurant in Eudora, Kansas over by Lawrence where KU is located, it was bright sunshine and folks that came from the other direction wondered what was wrong with us...

We did ride the bikes over to the Goldwing Road Riders monthly meeting at a restaurant in Desoto, KS on Thursday evening.   That is mostly couples, and has a large number of Trikes....  But the club director rides a two wheel Honda Valkyrie bike and had to report that he ran into a dog on the interstate at 65 mph..

It killed the dog and totaled his bike, but it was 15 years old so it didn't take too much money to be a total...   He preaches All the Safety Equipment All the Time, and he had helmet and riding jacket with the pads and back brace and heavy leather pants on..    He was bruised and had a cut on his knee, but overall he came out fairly well.   I was sitting there thinking that the move to the trike was a good thing for me....   Your still out in the open, but it just has to be better....

Oh, and this dog fiasco happened at midnight, as he was coming home from work at one of the local casinos...  They presented him with a skid lid helmet with a large rawhide dog chew bone mounted on top......   He was good natured about it....

On Thursday afternoon, I went to one of the KU Med surgeons, to see about fixing my hiatal hernia at the top of my stomach..  The guy said I can do you!   That was after he poked and prodded around on my abdomen....   I just knew this guy could cut me in half in a heartbeat....  But he was jovial about it......  I have to go thru a bunch of tests first to see if the surgery will do me any good...  And the tests don't sound like much fun..........  Think colonoscopy, only from the top...

Well anyway, that's what is happening around here.....  Oh, and Biscuit had her daddy giving her a buzz cut with the electric shears this week...  Just put the #2 guard on the trimmer and mow her off...  I didn't do the face or tail, but her body is much cooler now...  She looks all weird but I will get her a real cut in another month or so....  She seems happy about loosing the fur as she couldn't hardly go out to do her potty runs with the heat....  Thank goodness for the AC...

Retired Rod

Fourth of July thoughts

Its the fourth of July and the kids are all out on the dock here at Lake Ozark...  So I will take advantage of this quiet moment to bang off a blog....

The water here at the lake is about 5 feet over the top of normal pool and the dam was built in 1929 and is quite old...  They have opened up the old fashioned spill way flood gates and the water is cascading over the top at break neck speed....  The lake was declared an idle speed lake Thursday by our Missouri Governor, Jay Nixon....

This had all the folks frumpy as they couldn't drive their boats at the normal wide open throttle...  When the water is up above many of the tops of sea walls, it is up on electrical wiring and dock anchors....  Wave action causes these things to wash out and deaths have occurred from electrical charges in the water....

Still folks that don't have a vested interest in the lake are complaining that it is just to protect a bunch of rich peoples docks....  But they would be the first to sue someone if they got electrocuted....

This morning, Saturday, they lifted the ban as the water is back down a couple of feet...  This is the Osage river, and the water behind the dam is 100 miles back up to the next (Truman) dam..  So how much water is 5 feet of river for over 100 miles...?  I can see the dam outside my glass door, so I have full effect of it here....

Most everything in the Kansas City home front has been city living as usual..  So I haven't bored you with the details...   But, I finally got carpet back in the living and dining rooms of my house...  That turned me into Mr Domestic as all the furniture needed to be moved back into its proper rooms..

Everything was covered with dry wall powder, so the cleaning necessary has been intensive..  In addition, I've had Doctors appointments and Dentist visits where I had a crown replaced..  I hate the numb mouth drooling that goes along with that one..

I've been to 4 lunches with the new trike, so most of the normal folks have now seen the grandpa kit on the back of the bike..   Everyone tells me they like it, but most would never ruin their bikes like that..  I have driven over a thousand miles since the conversion was completed so it is now commonplace...

But then last night, I was out on the Maxi Scooter that I keep here at the lake...  it is the old 650 Burgman Suzuki....  So I have to switch styles of bikes in my mind and lean on the corners, and don't forget to get that foot down when you stop...  Of course that comes naturally, most of the time, but I found myself pulling on the left lever at the stop light thinking it was the clutch...  Of course it is the rear brake, so a rather abrupt stop is the result.. OK as long as the car behind me doesn't run over me..

Thursday evening, there was a bike ride down to Ottawa, Kansas where there is a restaurant called Bar Be Cue Creations...  They take a creative approach with their bar be cue....  I ordered a stuffed baked Sweet potato..  You choose your meat, and I had pulled pork, but on top of that they put bar be cue sauce and a load of cheese...  With a big glob of sour cream on that..  The potato was a small football in size...  I was using the chipotle bar be cue sauce...  Casting fate to the wind..

My hiatal hernia made me pay later..  But it was really good on the way down...LOL!

Retired Rod    Enjoy the Fourth everyone!