Repairs, Make-Do's, Gas & Transcriptions!

Well, Dave's bike is up and running again! Yay!! He has been taking it to work all week...which really helps with these awful gas prices! If it were not for that, we are not sure he could actually afford to go to work. The gas prices are driving up the price of everything, including food. I know a lot of people who are getting hit really hard by that. I wish I could somehow help them.

It sure is noisy around here. We don't know if maybe there are some cicadas, or if it is all just other insects. I love hearing it, though. I really like the sounds of nature. If/when we ever move back toward city life, I will really miss it.

I was blessed with two transcription jobs. They were both audios of business talk radio interviews. It was very interesting. Having never done transcribing before, the learning curve was huge, in spite of my ability to type fairly fast. Of course, it did not help that I had to use my laptop keyboard for the first one.

Typically, I use an external keyboard, but the PS2 port my keyboard plugs into got pulled on and it does not work right any more. By the time I started the second job, I was so frustrated that I figured I just had to find a way to get it to work. So, right now I have the keyboard cord taped to the top of my laptop in just such a way as to hold it in the right position for the port to work.

I know the problem is the port because I can plug my keyboard into my PS2 to USB adapter and it works just fine. However, I cannot use the adapter because I need it for my mouse. Laptop mice drive me nuts! My mouse does not work in that port, either. I tried another adapter, but it did not work. Dave tells me that a lot of them don't. So, my setup looks a bit wierd, but hey, it works for me right now!

I am praying that, someday, I will be able to replace the laptop. There are too many things going wrong with it. Amazingly, it is cheaper to replace it than to fix it. I was floored to find that out. We can do neither, at this point; but so long as it keeps working, I will keep writing! *smile*

From our little RV on the hillside, I hope this finds all of you finding ways to work around the gas prices. I also hope that all of your technical marvels, whatever you may have, are working correctly!

Motorcycle Flat!

Well, Dave got a flat on his way home from work on Friday. Thankfully, it was pretty close to home. His rear tire went flat. He had to sort of "power walk" it the rest of the way home.

He picked up a screw. Why there was a screw on the road, who knows? We have had van flats, too, from screws.

Over the weekend, he got the back tire off. His back brake had started to scrape a bit, too, so this provided an opportunity to look at that, too. It is way too early for his brake to be so worn, so we don't know what would make it wear so fast. The pads are pretty much gone and even the rotor may need to be replaced. We hope not.



His motorcycle is so low that Elias had to get big rocks to put under it to get it high enough to get the jack under it.










The front wheel is braced with rocks to keep the front tire from turning.




The poor guys were working in the sun. He did not think about moving it into the shade first! So, I took pity on them. While Dave went up to the RV for a minute, I had Elias help me rig something up to provide shade. Dave helped us finish it up when he came back down.

There was actually a bit of a breeze, but you couldn't appreciate it when in the direct sun.



He is taking the wheel into a local shop so that it can be balanced. The tire is not that worn, so we are hoping the bead was not damaged and that we can save it. We are also hoping that the rotor is OK. He is not so sure.

With gas prices, we are dependent upon his taking his bike to work. Yet, if we need a new tire and rotor, this is going to wipe us out. Actually, I don't know how much a rotor is. I am hoping we have enough to get another one, if it is needed. Any way you look at it, Yahweh God will provide.

Of course, right now, it would sure be nice if He provided for me to get MY bike fixed. I miss riding, plus the three of us can take two bikes cheaper than we can take the van anywhere. Besides, the bikes are a whole lot more FUN!!!

It also would not hurt to have a back up bike when things like this happen. Although, Dave on a Virago 535 looks a bit odd. He really needs a bigger bike than that!