• I have been promised a Brazilian in Seattle, a home cooked rijsttafel in the Netherlands, and a party to remember in New York City.
• All this is a result of my new FB group that is an offshoot of a website I’ve been on since ’94 that shut down yesterday.
• People are grateful that they have a place to commiserate over the closing of the site. We’ve all relied on it for contact over the years.
• Looks like biking weather all next week, except for the weekends. Of course I don’t believe a word the weatherliar says and my repeated emails to the station are now being ignored.
• The owner of the gas station at the next exit, that is no longer there just called. They offered me the lot and equipment for $400,000.  The land comes with a house, 3 gas tanks, and the pumps. Once they list the place they will list at $500,000.
• I declined. I’d need to steal the place to make it work.
• Erin’s fish are doing great. No dead fish so far. Marylou enjoys watching them, but she thinks I overloaded the tank with fish. I did, but I did it with past experience and equipped the tank to handle the overload. Filtration and aeration are the key. I like an active tank.
• Marylou’s father had aquariums and she feels that what he did was better than what I am doing.
• Let it be known, Marylou has no opinion that she has kept to herself. I like telling her that she’s wrong and it angers her, but she will not rise to the bait.
• I’m tired of the homeless guy getting killed by the Albuquerque police story. The cops were wrong. They should have known what they did was wrong. They should be dealt with by now, but they haven’t been. And I wish the story would just go away, but it won’t and I see this cropping up regularly for the next several years.
• The rain we’ve received lately is wonderful! While the Memorial Day receipts were down because of it, we still did better than a normal weekend. Besides, I will not complain about the rain because it’s for the greater good that we get it whenever we can.
• The area is greening up nicely. Dust is not an issue right now. People with allergies are no longer suffering. All of this is good!
• Well, I need to get to work. I’ve got a full day ahead of me. Well full day is a bit of a stretch. I should be done in an hour or so and then I plan on heading to Vegas to meet Nina for lunch.

• Erin returns to the “others” today.
• But we get her back on Sunday.
• I really don’t like sharing her.
• I’m just selfish that way.

In other news . . .

That website I “worked” for closes its doors on June 1. That is a sad thing too, but I was made aware of it yesterday. Once I found out I made a FB group for all the forum refugees to gather and commiserate. In under 24 hours there are 160 members of the group from all over the world, including Iran or Iraq. We’re a strange group of people for sure, but so many of them have become friends over the years.

I have met many of them, talked on the phone with others, and communicated in various other ways with the rest. In reviewing the member list on FB, I’m amazed at the talented people that are now in this group. Everyone from manual labor to academia and government types. Business owners, retirees, self-acclaimed wealthy types, and others. I feel weird knowing that a FB group I created could attract such people.

Anyway, I’m sad at the loss of the website, a place that I’ve been a member of for 20 years now, but I am happy to retain the friendships I made there.

From Australia, Brazil, Venezuela, Germany, and England, all on rentals from Chicago and heading to Los Angeles. They’re on day 6.

A young guy from North Dakota moves to Florida and goes to a big “everything under one roof” department store looking for a job.
The Manager says, “Do you have any sales experience?” The kid says “Yeah. I was a vacuum salesman back in North Dakota.”

Yesterday, Nina and I went for a ride. We left around 11:00 and returned home shortly after 3:00. It was a nice ride but the lunch was just OK. We headed south from here on NM Rte. 3 and headed to Vaughn to have lunch at Penny’s Diner. It’s a retro style chrome building that has mostly counter seating and is probably known better for breakfast than lunch. We returned home a different way and we probably added about 200 miles to the bike.

I also passed my 2500 mile mark and I need to schedule the 2500 mile service at Harley. I’ll call tomorrow. I think it consists of a minor check up and an oil change. They also wash the bike, which is good.

Vaughn is an old railroad town that has seen better days. Dozens of closed buildings and we’re thinking of taking the Jeep there soon and take some pictures of the old buildings and ruins. The area is still a big railroad center, but Vaughn is pretty much out of the picture for the RR business. Moriarity to the west is now the epicenter for the RR stuff.

Moriarity also has a neat old hotel with several rooms outfitted with the old style claw foot bathtubs, one of which has 2 side by side overlooking the nearby mountains. The hotel also has a resident ghost. One of these days I plan on heading east along Rte. 60 that is the main east/west routes in that area. I’d like to see where that takes me/us.

That area of New Mexico has a special beauty that takes a special person to appreciate it and live in it. We are not that special, not even close.

Peace out dude!

• Business from this holiday weekend was not up to what we normally see on holidays.
• The weather played a large part in that. No one driving to picnics or fishing, no gas or ice purchases.
• We needed the rain of course, but we miss the added income from the extra traffic.
• We did do better than normal, but not as good as expected. Oh well, the rain benefitted more than we lost in general.
• Erin is getting a haircut today. I voted for a bob, but I seldom get my choice.
• Erin and I went and bought more fish yesterday. Some cats, a couple sharks, some mollies and the like.
• She likes to feed the fish and keeps looking for the sharks. They’re her favorites.
• I like the dyed fish. Kinda cool looking.
• Well, I think I’m going to go riding now. the banking’s done, Erin’s gone with Tori, and I lent out the tractor so I can’t do the lot. May as well ride!

Crappy.

httpv://youtu.be/axhZ0Tx2L4U

Well, Erin is back at home with us now. She’s in an outfit that actually looks like it came from a real store and not a Goodwill box. The color, turquoise, looks great on her and she’s in a good mood.

I bought Erin an aquarium and it’s finally up & running. We picked it out together and the decorations were Erin’s idea. The picture is a bit hard to take because it’s a bow front aquarium.

I bought a few fish to see if they’d survive and it appears that they’re doing fine. I added the bubbler today since the smaller fish were hanging near the top, a sign of oxygen deprivation.  It’s a 26 gallon tank and I plan on adding a total of 35 fish. There’s about 22 in there now and Erin gets to pick out the rest.