Stair Jumping

There is a new sport in the house, it is called Stair Jumping. One night this past week when I came in the door I was immediately warned by Kathi about the mess in the stairwell. The kids on the other hand were excited to show me their new activity. They had stacked all of the blankets and pillows they could get their hands on in the landing of the upper stairs. They proceeded to show me how they jump from the top of the stairs into the cushy pile at the bottom.

Brianna's big jump.

Alex's cannon ball.

As a kid I remember doing things like this. Our house in Novato, CA had a long continuous stairway that we would slide down all the time. The house in Tigard had a stairway like we have which is split in two steps. There we would climb through the railings and jump down all of the time.

This just goes to show that kids will create and invent on their own using what is available for fun.

Images of the Ideal Bike

For a few years now I thought it would be fun to build a bike.  Inspired by the coolness of Jesse James and what he does with metal at West Coast Choppers my dream to build a bike was born. Over the years I have seen many bikes, met a few builders and have attended a number of bike shows - throughout that time the image of my bike has developed.

I appreciate many styles and makes of the chopper.  Matt Hotch of SoCal (Fullerton) has a cool modern style that I like;  Zero Engineering has a junkyard cafe-racer uniqueness; Billy Lane of Choppers, Inc. has a rugged, rough-hewn style that is cool; Jesse James has raw chopper stylings that will stand the test of time.  All of these guys have influenced the bike that is in my head. 

Kevin Alsop of Big Bear Choppers has kits for bikes which would take a few of the difficult steps out of the process of building my own bike.  First, my mechanical experience is very limited, although my aptitude is high.  Second, I question the whole licensing issue in the State of Oregon and have a little research to do.  Big Bears kits come ready to assemble minus the paint and are also ready to be licensed as a motor vehicle.  Kevin comes close to my ideal with the Screamin Demon but at my age I think a softtail is probably a necessity.

Recently though I saw the bike in my head already exists.  Want to see it?  This blew me away.  All but one small feature is almost exactly how I picture my future bike.  Maybe I'll bypass all the heartache, fun, and satisfaction of building my own and just jump into the fun of riding by buying one of these.  The only thing that stands in my way is the lack of $20K in disposable funds.

Well here it is in all it's coolness and black.

Those of you paying attention are wondering what change I would make to this thing of beauty... I want spoked wheels.

For more images and information of the bike check out the link here.  Or if you're feeling generous you can order it for me ;-) as an early birthday gift.  To the fella's at South Side Kustom's - Nice Work!

For now I will stick with the nimble, quick, and fuel efficient Buell that I ride.

Duck Art

Brianna is loving her art class at St. Stephens. She loves her teacher.

One of the projects had ducks as the subject. I now have two duck pieces on my wall at work.

Priceless.

I love them.

I wish I could share them with you but my scanner hates me today.

For now picture a duck flying along a range of hills during sunset. That's it, got it? -that's one of the pictures.

Now picture a duck standing there looking at you like he knows something you don't. Got that one? That is the second picture. Sassy duck, I know he knows something.

You can always stop by the office to see them. I like lattes so bring one with you (just not from Dutch Bros. - Sip City preferably)