Rambling thru life

Thank you to all my family and friends for your service; those that are veterans and those still in the service At one time in my life I walked through the airport while in uniform and felt the rage of the population against me?  I was spit on and I was cursed.  While I was proud of my uniform; my leadership told me to not to wear it while in public for my own safety.  That was a different time.  The sentiment today is one of honoring and support.  Everyday heroes recognize. Today I proudly participated at my companies flag raising ceremony with close to a hundred former service men and other company employees.  I stood proud while a tear trickled down my cheek.  I thanked those who served and received the thanks from many.  But as I walked away, silently in my heart I wished I had these thanks during my service time.

In preparation for our long distance trip out west this early summer, my wife and I took some time last week to get time in the saddle. For dinner on Wednesday we road up to Tailor Falls, MN and had dinner at  The Drive In.    The Drive In is a quaint old fashion root beer, burger joint, with a mini golf course.  Just a quick 120 mile run for dinner.   Sorry no map to show. Then on Friday night after work we headed out to  The Friendly Bar  in Star Prairie, WI.   Trying to cross the St Croix river on a Friday night wasn't very fun.  Road construction on Hwy 8 at Tailor Falls and traffic congestion in Stillwater, MN has a lot of traffic routed through Osceola WI.  The traffic was backed up for a mile at the boarder crossing. Once across, we were hungry so we headed directly to Star Prairie. The fish fry at Friendly's is pretty good on Friday night and the price is very reasonable.  After dinner, the traffic was much better.  We zoomed south through New Richmond and the

At the beginning of motorcycle season, my wife is as anxious as I am to get out on the bike.  To ensure her safety and mine, I impose a rule on myself to get onto the bike, get myself re-acquainted with riding, and get myself backup to speed before I take her out. That means that I get out and ride 300-500 miles by myself before I take my wife out. Tonight was my second night out on the road. I left directly from work and got back before the sun set.   Duration: 3 hours, Distance 89 miles, Avg speed: 30 MPH

I've been lately thinking about my life's time, all the things I've done and how it's been. And I can't help believing in my own mind, I know I'm gonna hate to see it end. I've seen a lot of sunshine, slept out in the rain, spent a night or two all on my own. I've known my lady's pleasures, had myself some friends, spent a time or two in my own home. Days they pass so quickly now, the nights are seldom long. Time around me whispers when it's cold. The changes somehow frightens me, still I have to smile. It turns me on to think of growing old. For though my life's been good to me there's still so much to do. So many things my mind has never known. See the land of the kangaroo, I'd like to sail away, motorcycle across the mountains, or go to the moon. I have to say it now, it's been good life all in all, it's really fine to have a chance to hang around. and lie there by the fire and watch the evening tire while al

Today is Thursday.  I've been asked what are we doing today several times.  Its easy to tell everyone about the trip to the Bio Bay tonight.  But that isn't until 8PM.  But for today I was at a loss on what to do.  Previous trips we spent one day in San Juan which used took up a day of the trip.  This time to the island, the family has decided not to go into old town again.  So what should we do? In 1978, I visited Puerto Rico courtesy of the United States Navy.  We pulled into Roosevelt Roads Naval Station, Along with some buddies we went up to San Juan for a couple of days.  But that is a different story.  Today's story is our visit to Roosevelt Roads. Roosevelt Roads Naval Station was turned over to the government of Puerto Rico in 2004.  Today most of the station is abandoned. You can read more about it  here. We entered the station close by the airport entrance.  There were guards at the gate, but they let us in without even checking ID.  From the entrance we dro

Today is a simple day to blog about.  We spent the day at the Balbeario Monsrrat Beach  and we went to dinner at Pasta y Pueblo Restaurant in Luquillo. We brought the boogey boards found in the apartment along with LoriAnn and my snorkel masks.  The water was to silty to see much beyond a arm length.  But it was great practice for Tom and Megan in preparation to snorkeling on Friday.  Because there wasn't much surf, the board din't help much than to hang onto in the water. We still had fun playing and splashing in the water. We made a short stop at the grocery store for more bottled water and food.  When we got back to the apartment, the gate to the parking lot did not open.  Tom got out and pushed it opened so we could park.  It was still open when we went to bed. For dinner we went to the Pablo y Pasta restaurant in luquillo.  We tried to go there on Monday night but it was closed. Its hard to find this location and you may give up before you do.  Don't give

Since my second trip to Puerto Rico, I have always wanted to go to the Arecibo Observatory.   This was to be the trip. Four years ago we tried to go on Thanksgiving day.  We traveled some fun roads to get there only to find it closed.  This time I checked the web site to see what the visiting times were only to find that the Observatory was closed for renovations. I guess this means that I will need to make another trip to Puerto Rico. Instead of Arecibo, I opted to take the family to the  Bacardi Distllery  for the Historical tour. We are not a bunch of big drinkers so some of you might think this was unusual.  Although I have expanded my menu selelctions over the years, I grew up with three primary drinks; Beer, Jack Daniels and coke, and Bacardi and coke. Since this was my eighth trip to the island for work or please, it is about time that I went. From what I understand this used to be a free tour, but that was long ago.  Entrance was $12 each, but that included a free drink

Today we went to the El Yunque rain forest. This forest is the only tropical rain forest in the USA. We first stopped at the La Coca falls for a photo op.    Then we went up higher and found the trail to La Mina falls.  We found the lower trailhead and set out with intentions of swimming in the water pools at the falls.  About half way there I slipped and fell, skinning my knee and cutting my toe.  After continuing on for aways, we decided to abort.  There were a variety of reasons, not just because my knee and toe were still bleeding.   We then went up as high as you could by car, and started our way down. We stopped again to walk around the picnic area.  We all agreed that natures attempt to recover this area added beauty to the forest, it also gave it a eerie look.  A monster may pop out and get us at any time.  The worse we saw were slugs crawing up the trees. Farther down we stopped at the Yokahu llok out tower.  The tower reminded me of the watch

Its Sunday. Our first full day in town is typically a slow going day and today wasn't any better.   Everyone awoke late in the morning, and moved to the balcony to enjoy the sun, wind and view.  We are already well into vacation mode.  But our stomachs started to get the better of us.  It was great to have Eggs and Bacon for breakfast on the balcony.  Megan pitched in to help LoriAnn cook, and Tom and I had cleanup duty. After breakfast we headed over to Balneario Monserrate Beach.  This is a popular city beach for the locals.  Since it was Sunday it was pretty busy.  The $4.50 entry fee we thought was modest.  The beach was clean, the water was calm.  We swam and played in the water for a couple of hours.  As with most trips to the Caribean, LoriAnn again was excited that she could float in the salt water.  We took time out of swiming for a walk down the beach and it was fun to see the families enjoying the day. At one end of the beach, it comes to a point.  There we saw some

We caught a ride to the airport from our friend Scott and had an un eventful flight from Minnesota to Puerto Rico.  The first day being a travel day was exciting, and frustrating with all the much to do with baggage, security, ground transportation and such. Somehow we managed to squeeze all the luggage we had into our rented vehicle and out of the airport we went. Like always, gettiing from the airport to our lodging requires travel down roads where I haven't been.  I always do better when I can leave the airport in the daytime.  Seeing the sun gives me a sense of direction.  Its been almost 2 years since I travelled the Highway to Luquillo, but as sights went by me, I got a sense that I have been here before.  Our lodging is different this trip to the island.  Instead of staying at a resort we decided to rent an apartment. We choose Bella Mar in the town of Luquillo.  Luquillo is located in the Northeast corner of the island close to Fajardo. The apartment is a nice two bedr

Public Meeting to be held to discusses High-Speed Rail between Minneapolis and Duluth  and could cost between $500 million and $600 million. Didn't we have a passenger train rail line between St Paul and Duluth? Oh yeah... It failed due to lack of ridership. What about the tracks? Oh yeah... They are now bike paths between White Bear and North Branch. Don't get me wrong, I love trains... But they need to be self sustaining... They shouldn't need my dollar! http://kstp.com/traffic/minneapolis-duluth-high-speed-rail-meeting/4057719/?cat=12196

I just read about a friend that traded a very old 1999 Subaru legacy outback wagon, and bought a 2014 Subaru Outback. My wife always gives me a non gentle comment when I bring home the same thing, just a newer model. I get the same format of eye-ware, the same type of shoes, same kind of underwear, etc...  I can honestly tell her that there are three things I have never brought home that were the same kind. I never brought home the same kind of Car, I have never brought home the same kind of Motorcycle and I have never brought home the same kind of Wife...  LOL....  Love you honey...  Lets go for a ride!

Superman has no place to change clothes, and Nemo can no longer move freely about on the Matrix. Sadly I must get my own ass into a phone booth before they all disappear. Or I will be stuck in this matrix hole forever... Is anyone else ready to unplug? Read Terrys Rambling... http://terrysrambling.blogspot.com/2016/02/technology-nerd-alert.html

I recently needed to make a change to my payroll direct deposit.  Recalling that I did this in the past on line, I spent time looking for the web page that allowed me to change it.  I didn't find the page that I was looking for.   Not knowing how to proceed I spent additional time searching through the HR site looking for instructions.  I couldn't find any. So I called payroll services.  After answering a bunch of redirect questions I was put into a queue. The wait was short, but when the help agent spoke, the was a buzzing noise which made understanding difficult. Found out I had to go to the forms page, then print out the form, fill it out, then go to the fax machine and fax it in.  Well, gas is under $2.00 a gallon and star wars is in the theater.  We might as well use paper again.​