Hog heaven.

Bringing home the bacon.

Ham it up.

Hogs.

Harleys!

This weekend is the much anticipated Texas Rally for Harley Davidson owners in Abilene. Over 5000 motorcycles are expected, 2000 of which will participate in the parade this morning. Virtually every where you go, you see these two wheelers. Most are in groups, some small, some large. Helmets, doo-rags, leathers.

With the weekend forecast I figured "Hell's Angels" was coming to town because it is going to be HOT! Just kidding! Some of the bikers attending the rally began arriving Tuesday. Many have set up travel trailers at the fairgrounds, I have seen HOGS being hauled in pickups and on trailers, but most came with a rider astraddle. It seems that no matter where you are you can hear the rumble of the deep throaty engines. Many activities have been planned. There is a Harley display at the Grace Museum, there are road rides that will take the participants to the old Forts situated North and South of Abilene, and of course there is Buffalo Gap and the State Park area. The rides offer a wide variation of surroundings.

This weekend is an opportunity for Abilene to showcase itself to a bigger public. Of late Abilene has been mentioned as a preferred destination for a thirty-six hour get away by a New York writer. Just yesterday Abilene was named to a list of the ten cheapest places to live. Much to my surprise Abilene was selected by the HOGS over San Antonio for this year's rally.

At least it isn't a bunch of dirty old cowboys!

I ran some parts and prepped other parts yesterday. Some things you just can't hurry. I did take time out to take down the temporary construction fence between us and our neighbors. The new fence is in place. I got the bright orange plastic fence on the ground and then Krl and I rolled it up and it will be back in the company storage before anyone misses it! I was trying to get things ready for the lawn guy to come. This is kind of a frill, but with this guys pricing it isn't much more that doing it ourselves, especially with the price of gas! Krl and I will have to make a decision once the company pre-pay runs out. Yesterday the "yard man" brought the "yard wife". They are pretty neat. Krl takes good care of them too. About an hour before their arrival she began making some "cold brew" tea and at half time she took it out to the patio table and they sat down and cooled off, so we got to visit a little. It seems that when they got to our house they broke the pull rope in the John Deere mower and discovered after a call that it is a major project to replace it. Krl pulled out our trusty mower and they got down to business. Krl told them to take our mower and use it until they got theirs fixed (it probably needs to charge the battery anyway). They were planning on going to Stamford over the weekend where their kin folks that work for John Deere live and get their mower fixed. Last evening when they left, they had one more lawn on their Friday schedule.

Yep, seems like nearly everyone I know is beginning to have my kind of luck!

I received a fax yesterday from the negotiator in the metroplex. It was a representation contract along with a payment schedule for fees. This wasn't even close to what we had talked about and agreed on. I sent an e-mail to them pointing out the discrepancies. My biggest fear is getting caught up in the moment and agreeing to something that I can't pull off for the long term duration. (That new car nightmare.) Add to this the fact that I am having to sell whatever program I support to Krl and anyone else who might be involved, when the hard copy comes in it had better darn sure match my verbal version. This didn't. I got pretty bent. Krl was a little more level headed, "He (the negotiator) probably gave it to a secretary and the notes and changes were misplaced and she just did a standard agreement". This morning I had a corrected payment schedule on my desk accompanied by a very unhappy e-mail. Krl tells me that I have to remember these pompous azzes have huge egos. They can have whatever they have, but I am following which way the money is going to flow. They work for us!

And that is today's sermon!

I may grab a quick bath and go to the HOG parade. Our illustrious Grand Potentate, the Honorable Mayor of Abilene, Norm(an) Archibald (my former dorm supervisor) is scheduled to lead the parade. First of all I want to see if he has training wheels on his "mo-mo" and secondly I want to see if it is possible for 2000 bikers to maintain some type of order! You go get 'em Coy!

Be the real deal!

FATHER, rest me well, prepare me for what you have ahead.