I HATE WINTER

[NeverMore]

NeverMore, how much rain did you guys get, Wow!!?

Someone told me we had 6 inches of rain, though the open buckets I had outside only had a coupe inches in them. The wind was really strong so the rain was being driven sideways, probably missed the buckets. I heard the wave were wild, I should have gone to the beach. Would still take 6 or more months of rain like that to get us back to normal. Actually, it's the snow that's important because the runoff keeps the reservoirs supplied during the dry part of the year.

[Pumpkin_Man]

When all the snow we have on the ground melts in ernest, we are going to have some major flooding. The National Weather Service is very concerned about the Kankakee River over running it's banks, and the creek that runs through our town is almost totaly burried in snow, so that could cause some basements to floow.

Mike

[Kolchak]

That's pretty spooky NM. I knew y'all were low but not THAT low!!

[Pumpkin_Man]

Well I have to agree, that is one problem I don't have to gripe about. Here in Illinois, we may have the lousiest weather, highest unemployment rate, and highest taxes, but at least we have plenty of water to drink and bathe in.

Mike

[Kolchak]

Talk about screwy weather. It was in the 70s here today and it was regular spring type day with sunshine and a few clouds.

Tomorrow they're predicting heavy rain and after the rain moves through they say the overnight temperatures will drop down into the 20s!!!

[Pumpkin_Man]

Well we're getting socked with one last 'hurah' of snow and cold temps for Winter 2014. It was white knuckle driving to work this morning, and falling to about 12 to 8 degrees tonight. The good news is that it stopped snowing before I arrived at work this morning the weatherman says it's going back up to 50 by Friday which will melt what fell today. Spring is also edging ever so closer so Winter 2014 will be a thing of the past.

According to CBS radio, Chicago and surrounding area got a total of 79 inches of snow this Winter, making it the 3rd worst in Chicago history. 67 was likely THE worst, and I would guess that the Winter of 79 was a very close 2nd. I'll never forget the snow of 79. By the time we finished shoveling out the drive way, there where two piles of snow on each side of our drive way that where actualy higher then our Winabego camper.

Mike

[MauEvig]

I honestly should be more grateful. Friends and family in my home state got slammed with winter weather today, and here I was complaining about how I had to work two nice days in a row and now it's all rainy out outside on my day off.
Sunday was really nice though. We went to a festival and had some of the best Pancakes around.
The days are getting longer though, and it makes me feel cheerful to know that the sun won't go down until after 7:00 now. I think it's going to be a great summer. I'm really looking forward to back yard barbecues and long warm days.
I'm also getting a nice tax return and planning to make a trip to my home state. Hopefully I can do that when they have their festival.
Honestly I'm not sure if I love holidays or festivals better. A festival feels like a holiday in some ways because it involves a big celebration, but it's different as well.
In the mean time I need to keep looking for work. Still no luck yet, but at the very least I have a job and things are going good right now.

[Pumpkin_Man]

That's how it is for me, Mauig. I can't wait to fire up that barbecue, and I can't wait to fire up the Harley. I'm going to have some time on my hands to do those things, too.

A trip to the Warren Dunes is also in order for June or July, but I am also going to make a trip to either Misouri or Indiana for a fireworks run.

Mike

[MauEvig]

We don't have a Harley to fire up, but better weather does mean more car trips. lol. I think it would be fun to ride a Motorcycle, or even get a Four Wheeler. I've drove a four wheeler before, and the only time I road on a motorcycle is with someone else. How hard is it to learn how to drive one? Not to mention, I'm short so I'd probably want something smaller than an average size Harley, unless Harley Davidson makes some smaller bikes. lol. There was a Motor Cycle shop where I used to live, they not only sold the Motor cycles, but Dirt Bikes, ATVs, Snowmobiles, and parts for the bikes, and they had accessories like helmets and leather jackets and such.

Seeing that sun shine makes me want take that package of hot dogs in the freezer and light up the little charcoal grill, but I think it might be too windy for that yet. Great weather if you like flying kites though.

The only long trip I plan on taking is my trip North to visit family, although we may take a few mini trips here and there.

[Pumpkin_Man]

MauEvig, learning to drive a motorcycle is no more complicated then driving a car, but it is a whole other ball game in driving. It takes getting use to, and the vast majority of motorcycles are manual transmission. In other words, you don't just put a motorcycle in "drive" and go down the road. You have to know how to use the clutch and shift gears. They are also just the oposide, in terms of breaking, and acceloration of a car. For instance, your left hand lever is the clutch, and the gear shift lever is a foot pedel. The right hand lever is the front break, and the rear break is a foot pedal. Sprisingly, motorcycles alfo require a greater stopping distance then a car, for two reasons. They're only on two wheels, so you don't have as much grip on the pavement, and if you where to ever lock the wheels on a motorcycle you would wipe out.

If you are really considering a motorcycle, I would suggest you take a motorcycle rider's training course if your state has one available. Most states do, and in some states, like Illinois if you satisfactorily pass the course, and do good on the driving test, you won't have to take the driving test at the liscence facility when you go to get your motorcycle classification on your drivers liscense. It will also cut you a major break on insurance, too.

I hope that helps.

Mike

[MauEvig]

Sounds like I'll need to do my homework then. My boyfriend mentions how the transmission is on the handlebars of a dirt bike. I wonder if I should start with something small like a moped or a dirt bike.
I know how to drive stick shift on a car, in fact that's what I passed my road test on back when I was 17, almost 18. I would have liked to have got my license sooner, but I think my parents wanted me to focus more on finishing High school first. My graduation gift was my first car, a '94 Geo Metro. Not to mention since my mom worked nights and my parents are divorced, I didn't have a whole lot of opportunity to practice driving. I saw my dad on some weekends and he had me drive his truck a lot. I took Driver's Ed as opposed to the 5 hour course. All the kids already had their licenses by then, but wanted to get a D license instead of a DJ. Looking back on it, I would have loved to have had my own car before graduating High school. I hated having to ride the bus when it would take about an hour to get home with all the stops, while a drive was only 15 minutes in a car. I lived out in the country, too far from town to walk home from school so walking was also out of the question. I lived in the country part of New York.
I live in Virginia now, and I was able to transfer my New York License to a Virginia one. If I really wanted to be serious about driving a Motor cycle, I'd probably have to take another permit test right? I'd also need someone with a Motor Cycle license to teach me probably. Plus I'd have to have a Motor cycle to practice on I'd imagine. Right now the budget probably won't allow for that, but maybe one day.

[Pumpkin_Man]

I don't know what the laws in your state are regarding getting a motorcycle classification on your liscense, but if you really want to learn to ride, the first place to start is a motorcycle riders safety and instruction class if one's available.

As for having a car in high school, I had no luck with that either. I drove everywhere in my father's 1971 Datsun 1200. It was a stick shift, and that was the car I learned on and passed my road test. That was my high school graduation present, and 3 months after I got it, someone cut me off in traffic during a rain storm and I slid into a ditch and totaled it out.

I'll never forget driving that little car with poor heating, and bald tires all the way to New Lenox from the Old Chicago Amusement Park right in the middle of the blizzard of 79. I had a buddy with me, and we had to keep pulling over to the side of the road and chopping ice off of the windshield wipers because the defroster just didn't put out enough heat.

Mike

[MauEvig]

Here's how it looked like on St Patty's day, but I'm really hoping that we don't get any more snow: http://i636.photobucket.com/albums/uu89 ... ece52a.jpg
Sure it's pretty to look at and all, but I've had enough. Snow is for Christmas time, after December I've had enough.
Sadly, we had a green Christmas, and a white St Patrick's day. Makes perfect sense doesn't it?

Sounds like you had a pretty scary experience that winter. My first car ended up having a lot of problems with it as well. One time the power completely cut off on it, I think the alternator went on it. At first I thought it was just the battery that died, but it was weird because the electric components cut off when I was going down the road, and had to be jumped started again only for it to quit when I got to the end of the road to my dad's where I was heading. I had to eventually have it toed to my dad's to have it fixed up.
Later on I got a '92 Geo tracker, which was mostly rusted out and ended up having problems with it, followed by a 2000 Geo Metro. Then I went to a 2001 Mercury Sable, and now I have the '97 Honda Civic.

[Pumpkin_Man]

I drive a 2010 Mercury Milan, the very last model year before Ford discontinued the Mercury brand. It's been quite dependable over the past 4 years I had it, but it is a 2 wheel drive so I had some problems with traction when we got those huge snow storms.

People who own Honda Civics very often swear by them. I never had a Honda automobile, but I had a Honda Valkyrie motorcycle, and when I traded it in for my Harley, it had over 120,000 miles on it and still running like a champ. Didn't burn a drop of oil, and started right up as soon as I hit the ignition switch. I actualy got 2500 dollars towards my trade in despite the high milage, because it's a saught after motorcyle now. Honda discontinued the Valk only about 5 years after introducing it.

I was dissappointed in Honda for that move, as I was with Ford for discontinuing the Mercury brand. I have a sentimental attachment to the Mercury brand, though. My father brought me home from the hospital the day I was born in a 1958 Mercury Comuter Wagon. He also had a 1970 Mercury Monterey which he bought brand new, and that car was the envy of the neighbors for a long time. Awesome power, fast acceloration, quite running, solid comfortable ride quality and as dependable as a swiss watch. My older brother ended up with that car, and with over 90,000 miles on it, it was the only car in the whole family that actualy started on those cold 1979 Winter days.

Mike

[Kolchak]

I'm still driving my 2007 Ford Ranger. Ford stopped making it a couple years back and I don't really need or want a full size truck. I always like having 4 wheel drive since it gets me to places I hunt and fish, but I'm going to have to trade it in sooner or later. I'm looking at the Ford Raptor in 4 wheel drive. My wife thinks it costs too much and I don't need something like that as I go through my mid-life crises. We'll see.