Photo Hunt - Chipped

Theme: Chipped ** Become a Photo Hunter

It's another Saturday's Photo Hunt and the theme is "chipped." I love taking photos and this is just a lot of fun. The only requirement is that you use only the photos you take. No copying others or using photos from some webite. Besides, using your own is more challenging. Sometimes I go out looking for something new to use and sometimes I use past photos, like this time. That is okay. So go on over to tnchick and join the fun.

It doesn't technically start till sometime Saturday morning, but I'm working very early tomorrow morning to help pay for my college books. So Photo Hunter visitors, I will be by later in the afternoon to check out your cool photos.

These photos came to mind from a trip to Beaver Creek, Colorado in September 2007. My husband and I went away for the weekend on an all expense paid business retreat. We were the only ones to show up at the five-star hotel on motorcycles. It was a retreat just riding up and back. The parking attendants made us park our own bikes - no tip there, lol.

Well, on the way back home I kind of chipped my helmet (see photo above). The duct tape fix is kind of hiding it. The whole incident broke my heart.

You see, we were on our way back home and I was on a motorcycle scavenger hunt that summer in a contest with the Mountain Shadow Riders (a chapter of Women on Wheels (R) . I got a lot of elevation signs on this trip and actually one first place!!! The above photo is one of my elevation signs. I stopped to get a scenic photo (see below) and my bike was leaning a bit more than usual parked in the dirt. I left the engine running, to get that quick photo, and left my helmet on the seat. It vibrated right off the bike and onto the ground - ugh.

I just wanted to cry. I was stomp'n mad at myself (literally). That helmet was only a few months old and it was chipped and the visor snapped at the right hinge. We weren't sure if it was going to be fixable or not. Luckily, I was able to order all new parts and I still wear it today. Yes, I know once it's dropped you are suppose to replace it, but that was one expensive helmet and I couldn't afford to do that.

I tried riding without the visor, but it had snowed the night before and it was darn cold. My eyes were tearing up bad from the cold wind, even with sunglasses on. So after a few stops of trying a few things, my husband (Sir Duct Tape) reaches into his saddle bag (with a MacGyver twinkle in his eyes) and promply whipped out his hunk'n role of "fix-all" duct tape and fixed my helmet right up. Larry the Cable Guy would be proud, hee hee.

After that, everytime we stopped somewhere that I needed to take my helmet off my husband would come over and carefully peel up the duct tape so I could get it off. We got some weird looks. Even more confused looks when he would duct tape it all back!! Life is never dull.

Wishing you a "No Chipped" and duct tape free weekend in your part of the world ,

Biker Betty :)

Saturday Photo Hunt - Aftermath

Photo Hunt - Aftermath

Theme: Aftermath ** Become a Photo Hunter

The above and below photos are the "aftermath" of our school library having flooded from a busted water pipe the weekend of December 20/21. The above photo shows them replacing part of the carpet where the wood under it had buckled. In this last Monday's post I had reported that we had 370 books damaged and that I wasn't finished going through all the books yet. Looks like we are now done and 596 books were damaged when the water pipe broke. Most of the books were lost in the history section of our library. Water also came down and destroyed most of our Shakespeare books and some of the poetry.

Many kids would say that that isn't a loss, lol. They'd be more worried that the books in the Twilight Saga Series by Stephenie Meyer were destroyed. Even if the water came down in the fiction section of our library, those books would be safe, as every one of the books in that series were checked out over the Christmas break! Ever since the movie "Twilight" came out, we can't keep the books on the shelves. They were pretty popular even before the movie came out. You can get some info over at The Official Website of Stephenie Meyer. Presently there are four books in the series. Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn. For those fans I found out that there is another in the works called "Midnight Sun." I need to read at least the first book, so I can see what the kids are so ga-ga about. I'm just not a vampire fan and haven't had the desire to read them. Have any of you read them and how did you like them?

Now the Harry Potter series - that's a totally different story. I'm a huge fan of that series. The first book was out a year before I finally read it and I couldn't put it down. Took me about two days to read the first book. Then as the rest were published I was at the store that day to buy it, lol. Okay, I wasn't so bad that I was at the store before midnight. My hat's off to those that were, though.

Below are more pictures of the "aftermath" of the flood. As we went through the books on the shelves, we placed the bad ones on the tables.

Below is a close up of some of the damaged books. Just today a representative of Follette Corporation (a book supplier) came out to survey the damage. They are offering us a pretty sweet deal if we go through them to get the books replaced through our insurance. We also will have a representative from another major book supplier, that we also buy our books from, come out this next week. My boss (our school librarian) wants to hear from both before he makes his decision as to which to go through to get all these books replaced.




I was crushed to see the mess this whole thing left our school library in. My hat's off to our custodial staff. They have done a tremendous job cleaning up and drying out the carpet. There were two inches of water that they had to deal with. I have been working very hard wiping down all the surfaces and it's getting there. My last big project is washing down all the shelves that the water and ceiling tiles came down on. This week I can bring the live plants back to work. I take them home to care for them over long holiday breaks and summer. I bought two of them and one of the staff donated one of the others. They add that welcoming feeling to the place.

I was hired the fall of 2007 and the previous person could care less about how the library looked. I love to decorate and slowly, using my own money, I would find bargains of nice items and plants to put on display. We have been getting lots of compliments from the students and the staff about how inviting the library now is. I had a few of the staff tell me that before I was hired the library was like a tomb. The previous person was so mean (as the kids and staff put it) that no one liked to come in. I also like to decorate for the different holidays and seasons. My next goal is to find nice/gently used furniture. We just need a matching couch and loveseat and hopefully some matching lounge chairs.

The library is really coming along and that is pretty exciting. We are recovering from the aftermath of this disaster.

Wishing you a great day in your part of the world,

Biker Betty :)

PhotoHunt ~ Hope

Photo Hunt - "Hope"

Theme: Hope ** Become a Photo Hunter

I haven't done the PhotoHunt in a while and I'm pretty excited to be participating this week. Yesterday I had mentioned in my post how I visited Rocky Mountain Cycle Plaza and Steve Clark, General Manager, was very helpful in helping me locate the new 2009 Yamaha V-Star 950. The above is the basic model in Raven (black). Steve induldged me and took my picture sitting it. Thank you Steve. It fits just like my 2002 V-Star 650 Custom. This is a sweet bike! It is my Hope that when I replace my V-Star 650 that I can get the V-Star 950, but with the Tourer package. It is my Hope that I could replace it this year with the Black Cherry model before my big trip to Texas this summer for the Women On Wheels (R) Ride-In. One can always Hope, sigh.

I learned about this new model for the first time in my Feb 2009 issue of Rider Magazine. They have a Rider Test writeup on it and just reading it highly peaked my interest. I really like my current V-Star, so replacing it with another upgrade V-Star just seems a no brainer. What I like about this model is that it's not too powerful, but way more powerful than what I have now. I really don't need a 1300 or more powerful engine. Plus, lets face the facts, those bigger machines just don't go low enough for my 5'2" tall body.

One of the features that I really like is it come with floorboards. I have footpegs and after a day on my bike my feet start to go numb. Another feature that I like is that it has eight-spoke cast wheels. I currently have spoked wheels and the members of the Mountain Shadow Riders that rode with me last summer can testify how my spokes do vibrate loose over time. That can be very dangerous, if not watch and adjusted as needed. I have learned that my spokes do work loose and that bugs me!

The 950 has a gorgeous design that I would never want to custom paint. In the write-up Clement Salvadori has many good things to say about the design and the ride. I would be very curious about the clutch, as in the write-up it he says that it's very smooth and "minimizes any risks of stalling when starting up." I would be a good test for that, lol. Okay, in my denfense I don't stall often and I guess we all tend to embarrassingly stall on occasion. I just hope the person behind me doesn't run me over at that green light when it happens.

Until I can Hopefully upgrade, I feel very lucky to already own the 2002 Yamaha V-Star 650 Custom. That is an incredible bike and I can depend on it. I have put over 15,000 miles on it over the last 3 1/2 years and it hasn't failed me yet. It is a rock-solid motorcycle. I have heard other V-Star owners say the same thing. I ride it to work, when the weather allows, and I ride it all over Colorado. It is excellent on pavement, rock, high mountain passes and did an excellent job getting me to the top of Mount Evans, CO (North America's highest paved automobile road). At the top we were at the elevation of 14,240 ft. It is 14 miles of some of the tightest twists imaginable. Once at the top we were warned that due to the elevation our bikes might not start up right away. Well, mine started on the first try and I had no doubt.

I have to say that any day on a motorcycle is a good day. I Hope you have a good day too.

Biker Betty :)

Photo Hunt - Water

Photo Hunt - Water

Theme: Water ** Become a Photo Hunter

I must brag on my husband who designed and made the above pond. We have enjoyed this water feature in the backyard of our previous house for 3 summers. It was so great to hear the trickle of water when sitting out on the back deck. Yes, we plan on putting another pond in the backyard of our new house. My husband already has a few neat ideas in mind, but it will probably wait till next summer.

I can't leave out a motorcycle photo, lol. This was taken two summers ago when the Mountain Shadow Riders were doing a scavenger hunt with our motorcycles. One of the items on the list was a waterfall.

Here's another water photo. It's another scavenger hunt photo. I needed to find ducks to get with my motorcycle. I thought I was sunk with this item, but then I remembered a park in town that had a pond close to the road with ducks. How lucky was I? Just over the seat of my motorcycle is frozen water. This was take late September of 2006 and it had snowed, ugh!!

This Photo Hunt is so much fun. Wow, it is hard to believe that I have been participating in this off and on since 9/2/06. I will be coming up on two years this September, Yahoo!!! Consider doing this. It is lots of fun :)

Wishing you fun in your part of the world,

Biker Betty :)

Photo Hunt - Bad Hair

Photo Hunt ~ Bad Hair

Hello fellow Photo Hunters and other wonderful visitors. It's been a while since I have participated and I've really missed this. When I read "Bad Hair" I instantly thought of the awful state my hair gets in after many hours of riding my motorcycle with my helmet on ~ hence the famous term "Helmet Hair," LOL. I had my hubby take these photos just today after an all morning ride we took.

I absolutely hate my Helmet Hair and as soon as the helmet comes off, a hat or bandana usually goes on to hide it. The above is a very rare photo you will see.

Whew!!! There that's sooooo much better. I put the helmet back on. Now don't you just love the purple gear? I sure do!!! I love my Joe Rocket mesh jacket and ICON Motosports helmet. A huge thank you to these two companies for thinking of us ladies with such super gear and making it purple at that. Now I just need Joe Rocket to create very warm winter jacket in that beautiful purple design for winter riding in the mountains and I will be all set :)

Wishing you better hair days in your part of the world,

Biker Betty :)

~ This Saturday's Theme of Fake ~

Theme: Fake ** Become a Photo Hunter ** View Blogroll

When I saw that this week's theme is "Fake," I knew right away the picture I would use. The giant hercules beetle, being confined in an obviously soundly built fence, is most definitely fake. It does look like something out of a science fiction movie.

The hercules beetle is actually a marker for the locally famous May Museum of the Tropics. This museum is very popular in here Colorado Springs. Many schools and a bazillion students have been here to view the many invertebrates they have to show. Sadly, I haven't been to it myself, but my youngest son has thru a school field trip. He really liked it. Reading about it has me intrigued and I would like to go sometime. They have over 100,000 invertebrates, but as I understand it they only show about 8,000 at any one time.

They also have the Museum of Space Exploration and a Golden Eagle Ranch RV Park and Campground. What more could a person ask for?

What a motorcyclist wears on their feet can be as important as their helmet, jacket & gloves. Flip Flops, sandals and tennis shoes really shouldn't be worn when on a motorcycle. I wear a good, solid pair of motorcycle boots and that's why I chose these for ...

~ This Saturday's Theme of Shoes ~

Theme: Shoes ** Become a Photo Hunter ** View Blogroll

I had a pair of boots before these, but the tread was just about worn out. Then I went on the search for another pair of boots. I love the above boots. They are River Road motorcycle boots and they are very comfortable. When I bought them, I ended up getting a half-size too big. They didn't have my exact size. I'm glad I bought them a little big, though. Sport and motorcycle socks are pretty thick and with them my boots fit just right. With these boots, my feet stay dry even in a hard rain. They have the special soles that stick great to the ground. My feet feel very solid on the ground with these. I feel great confidence and security with these boots.

Here is one of the reasons I wear a good, solid pair of boots. One day, two years ago, I parked in front of a friend's house in the gutter. I had no problem parking, but when I went to leave the slope of the gutter caught me off guard and I tipped over when I lifted my left foot to get into gear. My right foot got caught between my 500 pound Yamaha V-Star 650 and the cement curb. My ankle smarted for days. I'd hate to think of what might had happened if I was wearing tennis shoes or sandals, like I have seen some lately.

I also have to tell you. The extra cost of sport or motorcycle socks is well worth it. They do a great job of wicking away the sweat. I've tried the Harley socks, REI skiing socks and another brand for skiing and they all work great. I use them even in the heat of the summer. My feet get too sweaty (ewwww!) with regular socks.

Wishing you happy feet,

Biker Betty :)

Saturday Photo Hunt - Art

~ This Saturday's Theme is Art ~

Theme: Art ** Become a Photo Hunter ** View Blogroll

The above photo is of a turf maze in the village of Hilton in Huntingdonshire, England. We were very happy to live in this village for three years. Our neighbors/friends in this village were so nice. I didn't want to leave when it was time to head back to the states. The United States Air Force had assigned my husband to RAF Alconbury and this village was about 15 minutes from there.

The village of Hilton is very proud of this maze, as it's only one of barely eight left in the country. This maze was cut in the ground by William Sparrow (age 19 yrs at the time) in 1660. I would say he truly is an artist.

The village has maintained it since then, wow!!! My eldest son was just 4 years old when we moved here and we would walk this maze from start to the center and back again. It's one continuous path weaving to the center. We would have so much fun doing this.

I enjoy making miniature quilts and the above photo is my creation of the maze using hexigons that measure 1/2" in size. I drew it out on paper first, just to make sure it would work. Aside from it being in a hexagon shape, and not round, the turns in the path turned out right where they needed to be. My quilt measures 18 1/2" from side to side and took about 1, 684 hexagons. It was completely hand made (10-12 stitches per each hexagon side) using the english paper piecing method. Needless to say, I was very happy with the outcome.

This last March, when my husband and I flew to Las Vegas for a friend's Air Force retirement ceremony, I found this wonderful art on the walls of our airport here in town. They were made by kids in our local schools and I think they did an awesome job!!! The above photo and the two below were all done by kids. Well Done!!!

Saturday Photo Hunt

~ This Saturday's Theme is Cooked/ing ~

Theme: Cooked/ing ** Become a Photo Hunter ** View Blogroll

Ahhh, here's one of my family's favorite dinners (minus the beer for the kids, lol). It has affectionately been named "Taco Mama." Tonight I didn't make the homemade flour tortilla shells that I quite often make, but I did make my own special taco sauce that we all love. Yummmm Yumm.

This photo hunt is being posted late as I slept in this morning and then I really needed to do some work in the front yard before the afternoon thunderstorms came in, shuttle my youngest son to a school activity, wash my filthy dirty motorcycle, and then cook dinner. I slept in because I stayed up till 2:30am this morning playing Clue and Phase 10 with my 18 year old son and some of his friends. My kids have wonderful friends. They are so amazed (well not anymore, because they now know me) that I love to play board games, card games and some video games with them. I just recently got to try Guitar Hero 2 for XBox 360. That is soooo much fun. My youngest son's friend brought it over and was so surprised when I wanted to try it.

Tomorrow I get up early because my husband and I will be doing the motorcycle run I talked about in the previous post. The weather man has predicted the best weather of the week for tomorrow, so hopefully it is. Anyway, we have our rain gear and are prepared.

Wishing you a great weekend,

Biker Betty :)

~ This Saturday's Theme is Five ~

Theme: Five ** Become a Photo Hunter ** View Blogroll

WoooHooo I did it again!!! At first I just couldn't think of anything for this Saturday's theme. I was going thru my photos when I found my file of the Harley Davidson 5 in 1 run I did last July. Above are the batches (now on my vest) I got for going on the run. We did 5 mountain passes at 10,000 plus elevation in one day. I did a post on it after the run.

There was a LOT of people who went on this run. The above photo doesn't do justice for ALL the motorcycles that went on this run. They divided everyone into groups of about 18-22 motorcycles. There must have been at least 12 groups participating.

The above picture show my motorcycle with my bags. Most of us spent the night in Leadville that night. The run ended at a reststop about 1/2 hour away from Leadville. It would have been about a 2 1/2 to 3 hour ride back home and most elected to spend the night at Leadville. It was so much fun.

Here is my Yamaha V-Star 650 at Kenosha Pass. It was our first stop. Needless to say, I plan on doing this run again this summer. It is on my calendar already!!

Now I must get to bed. I need to get up early for the Mountain Shadow Riders montly meeting. It's going to be a quick meeting as many of us plan on doing the Pikes Peak Harley Owners Group #405 Ladies of Harley Annual Mother's Day Run. This will be my first year in this run. Last year I thought it was for Harley riders only, but I found out this year that it is open to all motorcycles. So I plan on sneaking my Yamaha in amongst all those Harleys *smile*.

Goodnight,

Biker Betty :)

~ This Saturday's Theme is Childhood ~

Theme: Childhood ** Become a Photo Hunter ** View Blogroll

With the photo hunt theme "childhood," I needed to dig through my photos of when I was growing up. I actually had in mind a photo of when I was pretty young on a bicycle. I was pretty excited when I came across this photo I forgot I had.

This is the first time I was ever on a motorcycle. I'm in the white helmet riding the motorcycle by my dad, who is sitting on the tailgate of his truck. We are at Clear Lake, California and it's April 1970. I'm 11 years old.

It was a lot of fun going through old photos.

Words to the Wise: Don't show your kids your photos of when you were younger, say around 20 years old. They look at you, they look at the photo, they look at you and they look at the photo. Then they get this horrified look like some accident has happened to you, because they are wondering where's the pretty person of 20 years old. My eldest didn't mean to do that, but by golly, he sure did, lol. Then he stammers out, "This is YOU!!!?!?" Yep, I'm an old fart now, sigh.

Have a great Saturday,

Biker Betty :)

PS: In rereading this I discovered an error. I was 10 years old in the photo. It was written 11 on the back of the photo, but I couldn't have been in 1970. It was written there by my dad's girlfriend at the time.

~ This Weeks Photo Hunters Theme is "Water" ~

I hope no one is tired of seeing my motorcycle scavanger hunt photos from last summer. It just so happens that I had another that matched this week's theme, lol. In the background is a "water"fall. This particular day I was riding with the Mountain Shadow Riders up to Terryall, Colorado. During this trip we got a little rain, almost snow, and lots of cold wind. Later in the ride most of us put on our rain gear and were quite warm. This ride, like all of them, was a lot of fun.

If you're ever looking for fun, I highly recommend taking the Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF) beginners course, pass it and get the motorcycle endorsement on your drivers license and get yourself a motorcycle.

Ladies, motorcycles aren't just for guys anymore. The motorcycle companies are recognizing this and making great motorcycle gear for us now. They just need to make more motorcycles for shorter people, that's my only complaint!! But they can lower some of the models, so don't let that stop you. After the MSF course you won't be intimidated by them. They do a great job of breaking it all down in manageable chunks for learning. So you gotta get a motorcycle. It is just loads of fun!!!

Wishing you many adventures,

Biker Betty :)

~ This Saturday's Theme is Empty ~

Theme: Empty ** Become a Photo Hunter ** View Blogroll

These pictures were taken last summer for the MSR motorcycle scavanger hunt. I had to have my motorcycle taken with the World Arena. During this time of day the huge parking lot was "empty."

It was a gorgeous day for these photos and it was the second time I ventured out on my own with my motorcycle for a long ride. When the day was said and done I had done 129 miles on August 28th of last year. I went to Penrose and back and was it fun!!!

Wishing you many travel adventures,

Biker Betty :)

~ And There Were Drinks All Around ~

Theme: Drink ** Become a Photo Hunter ** View Blogroll

A small group of the Mountain Shadow Rider's (MSR) took a ride this last Saturday after our monthly meeting. I wrote about it just before this post. We took off about 11:15am and I got back at 3pm. It was a nice long ride. While down in Canon City, we stopped at Coyote's Coffee Den for a quick bite to eat. We had rain threatening to dump on us in the distance.

The main reason for stopping at the Coyote's Coffee Den is that they were one of our sponsors for our very successful 2006 Breast Cancer Awareness Ride. I know I will stop there again the next time in Canon City. They have cozy southwestern decor and it was very pleasant to sit there and have a lunch. I can highly recommend their food. I got half a sandwich with the "works" and I wasn't one bit disappointed. It was very healthy and yummy.

Thanks to the Coyote's Coffee Den and all our other sponsors, the Mountain Shadow Riders broke all previous records by earning over $5,700. All of which went to the local affiliate of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. This was MSR's sixth year with this fundraiser. Over 230 people registered for the run and over 100 businesses and merchants donated over $3,000 in prizes. We owe a huge "Thank You" to everyone who helped.

We will be doing the 2007 Breast Cancer Awareness Ride again in October. Anyone who lives in Colorado Springs be on the lookout for the flyers all over town in late summer.

The group was very willing to help me with this week's theme. So everyone grabbed their drinks - soda's & coffee's - and gathered around so I could get a pic. Aren't they great? Thanks everyone for helping me out.

And because I was holding the camera, here I am with my drink of soda. As I mentioned in my previous post, we did manage to get back without getting rained on. It downpoured an hour after I got home, whew!! I hope everyone else got home before it rained on them. I know a few had errands to do before heading to their homes. One of the ladies had a bike that kept cutting out on her and she wanted to get it in the shop pronto.

Wishing everyone a great weekend,

Biker Betty :)

~ This Saturday's Theme is Architecture ~

Theme: Architecture ** Become a Photo Hunter ** View Blogroll

When I learned of this week's theme I immediately thought of this picture taken last summer. I love the architecture of this building. It was taken for the Mountain Shadow Rider's scavanger hunt. I needed to find a red building. It's funny how things work out. This is where we did all the paper work to buy our house.

~ How about a little "salt" with your motorcycle in this week's

Saturday Photo Theme ~

Theme: Salt ** Become a Photo Hunter ** View Blogroll

Some very dear friends of ours gave us these motorcycle "Salt" & Pepper shakers as a gift. They were on vacation when they saw these and thought of us. Bet you thought there was no way a motorcycle could get in this theme, lol. I also had to include Sponge Bob Sqaure Pants who lives in a pinapple house at the bottom of the "salty" ocean in Bikini Bottom.

Why not test your knowledge of how much you know about Sponge Bob. I did and I actually did pretty good, lol.

~ Meet my dog Herbie, who I am featuring in this week's Photo Theme ~

Theme: Soft ** Become a Photo Hunter ** View Blogroll

When I thought of this week's theme "Soft," our dog Herbie came to mind. His fur is very soft and many people have commented on how soft his fur is. It surprises them that he is so soft.

Herbie is a cool dog. He's part Golden Lab and Basset Hound. He has the lab body and the basset legs. God does have a sense of humor. Herbie about the cutest dog there is. When he's laying down, people don't notice the legs and think we have a lab. That is till he jumps up, lol.