Archive for August, 2007

Out with the old, in with the new

Tuesday, August 28th, 2007

KTM 625 SXC (and Emily)

My new toy, to replace some that I’ve grown tired of.  I’ve got a couple of very nice motorcycles, the blue ones) that I’ve enjoyed but they are just not as high performance as I really want. 

Vstom 1000cc and DR650 (and Ashley and Emily)

So, I added a new KTM(orange one) beast of street-legalized dirt bike.   To put it in perspective, the blue dual-sport bike weighs about 350 lbs, and makes about 33-34 horsepower.  The Orange KTM weights 290 lbs with 55-60 hp.  50 lbs less weight with nearing twice the horsepower, QUITE the difference.

It’s a fully capable race machine, having won the DAKAR rally in Africa (3,500 mile offroad race over 17 days, through the Sahara, Morocco, Senegal, etc) multiple times.   Hmmmmmm, interesting.

North Carolina Vacation

Friday, August 17th, 2007

We just returned from our Summer vacation in North Carolina.  We did a ‘treasure hunting’ vacation up to Franklin.  This is an area known for many Gem mines, where you can mine for Rubies, Sapphires, Emeralds, and variuos other stones, depending on the mine.  We rented a 30 foot Class A Motorhome for the trip up.  First time we have done that, and I must say, we had an AWESOME time of it.  The kids said it was the best vacation we ever had, and they want to keep the motorhome.  I was surprised to find driving the big, wide, long truck to be a pleasure, I loved it. 

It was so cool to be driving down the road, while everyone was comfortable and relaxed in their own space, watching TV or playing games, Tamara’s cooking stuff in the microwave.  It’s the way to travel.  Of course you pay for that at the gas pump!  See photo!

Driving the big rig AIN’T cheap.

Here is a link to a few of our other photos from the trip
http://daveharperphotos.irun100s.com/GalleryThumbnails.aspx?gallery=32151

We still have to gather our finds at the mines together and get a photo of them to put up.  We mined(we found rubies, but we aren’t exactly rich from it), played in the local rivers, did some hiking, and plenty of shopping.  Around camp we also had a river running by to play in, we fished, and did the campfires and cooking out.   

The best thing about the trip was that EVERYONE really had a good time.  We all wished we could have stayed another week.  On the way home, we were planning when we could do another RV trip.  Maybe something at Christmas time.

Doing a little ranch work

Monday, August 6th, 2007

Sunday was ‘build the horses paddocks’ day.  We had some issues with Uno(the gray Arabian) last week, and had to keep him off the pasture for extended periods.  Ashley’s Blog (equinechick link on left) has more details.  For a while we’ve been planning to build paddocks off the backs of the horses stalls, so we could keep them contained in the barn,  but they could also walk outside.  I hate keeping a horse locked up in a 12 x 12 stall. 

With Uno needing to be kept in more, today was the day to get it done, and I had help off and on from Emily, William and Ashley. 

Ashley worked hard with me for quite a while tooEmily helping me with setting posts

By the end of the day, all was complete and all three horses have some extra space.

And with finished the day with these paddocks behind the barn for the horses