Fire Fox Issues.... or is it my Computer??

I have had a problem with Fire Fox on my other laptop and when it has happened, my friend Dan has always fixed it by doing a complete cleaning of my computer then putting programs back in.  I am now having this exact same problem with Fire Fox on my new laptop.  I don't have a clue how to reformat hard drive, and Dan had to move to Alberta for work nearly a year ago, so I guess I am just stuck with this FF problem. I can still use this as my browser of choice, but it is most annoying to have it working like this.  The tabs at the top can't be seen except when I move my mouse up to the top of the page, then it moves down to show the tabs, but moves back again as soon as I move the mouse. Also, the bar on the bottom of my page with the clock etc. on it disappears and I have to close FF to see that again.  Another thing, all of my bookmarks go away and I can no longer access them!! Most annoying!!  I have found a way around this though. If I open a second tab, then pull it away so it make a second window, then the second window does work the way Fire Fox is supposed to work. I can handle having 2 windows open to have the program work as it was meant to do.

Motorcyles... 2 and 3 Wheeled

 I think this is so cool and I would LOVE to have one like it.  I do have a couple sculptures of trikes, made of metal, mostly old nuts and bolts welded together.  They are great and I think something like this trike made of old watches would be a perfect addition to my collection.

 

 

 The answer to this is easy... it will be the motorcycle every time!!!

Vintage Motorcycle Rally

I went to the Vintage Motorcycle Rally at O'Keefe Ranch today.  I was supposed to display my trike there this weekend but won't be able to now with it not having the drive shaft in it (see yesterday's post DANG!) They had saved me a very special spot, right by the gazebo, and it sat empty all day. Many people came up to me all day asking where my trike was and I told them all the story of breaking down last night. I don't know yet what I will do, but I must have it fixed and back on the road as soon as possible!! It would have been so great to have my trike here,  but at least I had a good time visiting friends and looking at he other bikes there.

DANG!!

I was riding home from a nearby town last night and suddenly there was a loud and nasty noise coming from underneath me on my trike.  I immediately pulled over and stopped, looked down and saw I had no drive shaft.  I looked down the road and saw my drive shaft laying in 2 pieces on the highway.  I ran down the road and picked up the pieces before any cars could come along and run over them. As the night came on darker and darker I called friends one after another getting no answers.  Well, okay, Tug answered and would have gladly come out to see if he could help, but he is pretty much blind after dark so can't possibly drive at that hour, and DJ & Rolland wanted to help but their truck and trailer are not insured.  Finally, after many many people drove by me, a pick-up truck pulling a trailer with a boat on it came along and stopped to ask if they could help.  We talked a bit then Wide Load & Katt said they would take the boat home then come back for me. Wide Load gave me a reflective vest so people could see me and off they went.  About 40 minutes later Kelly stopped, he was riding his motorcycle from Quesnel to visit  friend in Kelowna and stopped to see if all was okay.  He kept me company until Wide Load & Katt returned about 5 minutes later. Their trailer is not wide enough to carry my trike, so the 2 guys lifted the front wheel and I pushed from behind, putting the front wheel onto the trailer where it was tired securely and the back wheels rolled along behind.  This is not exactly a legal way to move it, but hey, when you are broken down on the highway with no way to get you and your motorcycle home you do what you have to do.  We both got home safe and sound.  I will see Wide Load & Katt again and I'm sure will ride with them, since they both ride motorcycles too.

Happy Trike Update!!

I just got a phone call from my new mechanic. He said that the linkage as it is on my trike is not working and never going to work, so he has to rip it all off and start from scratch. He will totally redesign it for me and make my brakes work properly.  He knows I want to ride it to the Show & Shine this weekend, so he said if he doesn't get it done today during business hours, he will stay late to do it for me!! AND, unlike the previous guys who did it all wrong, he's not charging me an arm and a leg for doing it!! Thank God I finally got it to the right place!! I will be telling the world about how bad the other guys are.... and how great Doug is!!! Honest, good at his work, and reasonably priced too!!! I have been most unhappy with past so called mechanics and their shoddy work.... I am not happy to be paying yet another person to do the work.... yet I AM happy that my trike will finally be working right!!

More Trike "Stuff"

In an earlier post, I told about the problems I've been having getting quality help to fix the back brakes on my trike.  I wondered if 3rd time was the charm as I took it to yet another guy that said he could fix it for me. Well, it wasn't!!  I paid the guy, Dean, $450 just to drive away and find that my back brakes don't work any better than they did before I took it to Dean.

Phil and I decided that the only other thing it could be was the brake shoes.  We had been told by Rod and by Dean that the shoes were okay, but at this point they were the only other thing it could be since we had gotten Dunbar Automotive to machine the drums ($28), I paid Ray last year to change the wheel cylinders, Dean had done this work to the linkage.  So we ordered in shoes, cost me nearly $60, Phil put them in and still no back brakes.

So finally we took the trike to Myron's Automotive Shop and it turns out my neighbor, Doug, is working there.  Doug seems very knowledgeable so this is a good thing.  He checked out several things and finally they decided that the brake drums are too big, they have been machined too many times and Dunbar should not have machined them for me, it was illegal for them to do so as they were past the point of that being right to do.  So they ordered in a new set of brake drums for me and put them in this morning.  The trike stops better than it did, but still it is not stopping like it should!!! This is really crazy!! Doug is going to change the linkage that I paid Ray to do, Dean to redo, and now will be paying Doug to do the 3rd time!!

I don't know what it will cost this time, but I am so tired of grabbing my own ankles while people lie to me and make money off me but don't give me quality work. I sure hope I have good, working brakes and am out on the road riding by tomorrow!!

Gene called yesterday and said the part I ordered is in, it's a bearing for my steering stem.  I have to go get it and pay for it ($45 was quoted) and Phil will put it in for me.  It's a big job, pulling the front end apart, but needs to be done.

Paint Job on Trike

About a month ago, Phil painted my trike for me.  He did a beautiful job of painting it Lazer Blue Candy over Cosmic Dust.  This is a 3 step process where, after it is all prepped and painted with primer, you paint it with the base coat, in the case the Cosmic Dust (silver), then the Candy Color (Lazer Blue), and finally the Clear Coat.  I think Phil put 3 or 4 coats of Lazer Blue and likely 3 of Clear Coat.  It looks fabulous!!  Unfortunately, the other day I backed the trike out of the carport and got a bit too close to the wheel barrow sitting where it shouldn't be... and I scraped the right fender, putting a huge scrape on it!!  I wanted to cry!! Then I had to go up to Phil's and tell him what I'd done.... not easy!!  One thing he had warned me about was that Candy paint can not be repaired it it gets scratched, unlike the regular base coat, clear coat paint jobs.  Phil's friend Charlie came up for  short visit at Phil's and of course Phil showed him what I'd done.  The next day, Phil told me he had a way to fix it and that Charlie agreed it would be a good fix.  What he did was sand the area and tape it off, then spray painted it with the same flat black paint as the box is painted with.  He did the same for the left fender too.  Not only does it cover up the scraped, but it also looks really fabulous!!! It even looks better than the straight blue fenders did, kind of like 'detailing' or 'pin striping'.  We have decided to do the same thing on the gas tank too.  It will look great!!

 Note to self: Move the wheel barrow before bringing the trike home again!!

Is 3rd time the charm??

I phoned Rod again today, he's the guy who was supposed to be fixing the back brake system on my trike and in 9 days had done nothing more than take off 1 brake drum. When I talked to him today he started making excuses and I said "Rod, it's been 9 days!"
He said, "I can put that back wheel together and you can come get it."
To which I replied, "Good.  I'll be over in a bit."
I phoned Phil. We agreed I'd drive to his place, he'd drive me to Rod's and we'd take my trike back to Phil's until I can find someone else to do the work. Once the trike was safely moved, I phoned Dean. Yesterday I visited Wilma (Butch's "ol' lady") and she gave me a phone number for Brian who has done work for Butch and for Newfy on their bikes.  I called him and he can't do it but gave me Dean's name & number.  When I talked to Dean on the phone I remembered Don had once given me his name & number for some reason I don't now remember.  Anyway, so Dean came over to Phil's and had a look at my trike.  He said he can do the job and he sounds very knowledgeable.  He gave me his address and directions to his place.
Phil had an errand to run before he could go with me to Dean's so I rode down to Polson Park to meet with friends who were down there drumming.  I drummed with them until Phil got there, then hopped on my trike and rode to Dean's.  He lives about 10-15 minutes out of town, so I got a great ride!! It rained a little bit, but I loved every second of it anyway. Now the trike is in Dean's shop and again I am waiting. 

Is 3rd time the charm?? I hope so!! This is the 3rd place I've taken it to this spring to get the back brake system fixed!!! There were others before this. It's time for someone to do the job right!!

I am grateful to have such an awesome trike!!!
I am grateful for all the work Phil has done on my trike this spring!!
I am grateful to have such a good friend as Phil in my life!! He is a true blessing!!
I am grateful my trike will finally be fixed and I will be riding much safer this year than I have the last 2 summers.

Yesterday I went to see the guy who's supposedly doing the back brake system on my trike. He was not home but I went into the tent where he has my trike. NOTHING has been done to it in the 8 days it's been there.... and there is dirt/dust and SPIDER WEBS all over my trike!!! I am most unhappy!!!!!!!!!! I phoned him several times today and left a message on the machine. I will continue tomorrow. When I get a hold of him I will give him 2 days to complete the job and if he can't do it in that time I will just go get it and take it elsewhere.

My 2 Cents Worth!!

Every time I sign in to one of my blogs now, Google wants me to add my mobile phone number so that if I forget my password or can't log in to my blogs for some reason, they can contact me by sending a text message to my phone.  I refuse to do that!! I will not give my cell phone number here or anywhere on the web!! Once upon a time I made the mistake of giving my cell number on the internet and they sent me many text messages and there was a $5 charge for each one, so by the time I got my bill and found out about these charges, I owed a scary big bill!!!!!!! I do not know if Google charges for the text messages they send, or if Telus would attach a charge to those messages, but I will not take the chance.  Google can send the information needed to my email accounts that they have always used in the past.  Not every person that has a blog on Blogger has a mobile phone and if I did not have one then the information could only be emailed to me.... and now the information can only be mailed to me.  I just wish they'd quit asking as it's a PITA each time I sign in.

There.... my 2 cents worth!!

One Door Closed....

I had to change plans for the "Trike Make-over". Some so called friends were to build a new metal box for my trike, put in a set of springs on the back, and change a gasket on the motor as well as the fork seals. Well, they got rather carried away with the planning and didn't seem to hear anything I said so at first I thought I'd just go along with it as it seemed to all be okay.  Then I discovered that changing to a solo seat, though something I would love to do, just is not in my budget at this time and much of the conversion they planned was based on going to the solo seat. Then I spent time one day watching Ray around the trike, listening to what he was mumbling to himself... and I realized that he didn't have a clue what he was doing. He was going to change the frame of my motorcycle and the frame of the trike part.... and he didn't have a clue what he was doing!! He was risking my life as well as probably about to destroy my trike!! So, I said just change the box and add the springs, forget about doing all the rest of it.  Okay, this is all a short version of a long and nasty story so I will skip most of what was said on the club forum just telling you that he started accusing me of 'screwing' him out of money he'd spent on parts and supplies for the conversion.... yet he had not told me about buying these parts and supplies. I asked him to explain and "stuff" went back and forth there for a bit.  I decided to go talk to him in person.  My trike was in pieces in his shop... I had done 30+ hours of work in his shop, doing inventory for his small engine repair business for FREE in exchange for the work he would be doing on my trike.... we had been friends for a year.... so I thought I could go talk to him like adults.  At first he wouldn't look at me or speak to me, then when I didn't leave, I stayed and asked "Ray, can we talk about this now?" he got very rude and was actually screaming at me like a psycho. He screamed that he was starting to get upset and I should leave.  As I turned to go he added that I better get my friends over to get my trike out of his shop.  I assured him that I would have it out of there as soon as possible!  He said more nasty stuff as I was leaving and I must admit that I also said some nasty things, the guy even stood there and said things that were so ridiculous, bold faced lies right to my face, knowing that I knew they were lies!!! I couldn't believe it!! The guy was mentally melting down right in front of me!! Interestingly, I usually get scared when anyone, especially men, get mad around me and especially if they are mad specifically at me.  This time I didn't realize it until later, but I was not in the least bit afraid.  Angry, yes... disgusted, yes.... but not afraid!!

The next day I went back there with friends. Four male friends to be exact!! Do you think Ray yelled at me with my friends there? Do you think he said anything rude to me then? Actually, he didn't even have the balls to come outside!! His truck and motorcycle were there and when we first got there his door was open, yet we saw not hide nor hair of him... he hid inside the whole time!! I guess there is a big difference between yelling at a lone woman and facing her with 4 guys backing her. It felt SO GOOD to have my trike out of there and to know that I will never again have to talk to that psycho again!!! It was like loosing about 250 pounds of ugly fat!!!!!! 

When one door closes, another one opens.... and it is pretty much always a better one!!

I took my trike to Phil's place and in 1 day he had done more to my trike than Ray had done in the 2 weeks or so that it had been at his place. More on this later!!

New Laptop!!!

Sadly, my computer died a few days ago and I have been unavoidably offline.  I now have purchased a new computer and am back to business so to speak, lol.

It took a bit to get things set up on this new one, especially since I really don't know what I'm doing, yet I have managed to do it and am back in action.  I still need to install a few programs, though am grateful to be online. My blogs, my Facebook, my emails... yup, I'm back!!

 I am so grateful that I was able to find a computer that meets my needs and wants.
I am so grateful that I was able to have the money to purchase this new computer.
I am so grateful to be back online again.

Nice Surprise

On Friday, after I had another treatment at my Chiropractor, I ran some errands, starting with going to Superstore for a few grocery items.  While there, I unexpectedly met with a lady I haven't seen for some years.  Paulette was my real estate agent when I purchased my first home, all by myself, in 1985 and she was again my agent when I sold the place in 1990.  Paulette was a wonderful person to work with, very good at her chosen career and a very kind person who I really enjoyed knowing.  When we closed on the deal with my purchase of the small house on an acre of land, Paulette gave me a gift of 3 brass butterflies, having gotten to know me and that I was an avid butterfly collector, lol.  When the deal closed with me selling that home 4 1/2 years later, she again gave me a wonderful gift, this time it was the book "You Can Heal Your Life" by Louise L. Hay.  This book helped me a lot and was very instrumental in putting me onto the spiritual path I follow, bringing me into a much happier life.  Paulette is still in the real estate game with her son as her business partner, though real estate sales have been down around here lately.  From what I've heard, be it real estate louisville ky, real estate Vernon BC, or real estate Anywhere North America, sales are down.  With the current low interest rates BC banks are offering, you would think sales would be up, but I think the added expense of the HST (Harmonized Sales Tax) is making people hold off with their larger purchases. We voted down this tax after it was forced upon us against our wishes so it is supposed to being removed... and is taking 3 years to happen.  Anyway, it was really great to see Paulette and to see she is looking really great!!

DVD Burning Completed

Last night, Dan MSNed me a DVD burning program and I was able to burn 3 movies to a DVD for my friend.  He still came and got all his blanks so he can take them to the other friend to have more done, and that's okay.  At least I did what I said I would do.  I followed through on a promise and that is important to me.  Now, if I want to burn any more DVDs I can in future, though this is not something I tend to do a lot.  I just don't seem to need them too often.  I do plan to get the necessary cable(s) so I can plug my computer to the TV and watch my downloaded movies on the big 51".  Maybe I can even plug in to the older TV in the bedroom so I can watch movies while relaxing on my comfy bed. I am very Grateful to my friend Dan for helping me out once again.

DVD Burning

I downloaded some movies from the internet, and a friend without a computer wants me to burn him some.  He even brought some bland DVDs over today for me to do this for him. I've burned DVDs before, but not for a long time and not on this particular computer, and not with the program this computer has on it... Windows DVD Burner or something like that.  It was taking a terrible long time and not really getting anywhere.  I talked to my friend Dan on MSN and he said he could send me another program that would work better, and walk me through using it.  He uses Ashampoo all the time, apparently.  So fine, I cancelled the one I had going and he sent me the file over MSN, but after taking a long time to transfer the file, just when it's about to be done, suddenly I get a message that it can't be completed.  We tried different ways, including zip file and still it can't be sent to me.  So after hours of trying to get the program, all I have is a beastly headache and a ton of frustration.  Guess I'll re-start the Windows DVD program and just let it run all night, hoping it's finished by morning.  I could have used all these wasted hours for something much more productive.

OUCH!!!

On Monday, two days ago, I was doing my volunteer work at the local Food Bank. I had done a bit of portioning of ice tea and orange crystals when Anna came and asked me to do some filing. i was busily doing the filing when suddenly I felt an extremely sharp and nasty pain in my left wrist. I really hadn't done anything that should have caused this to happen, was just moving some hanging files in one of the filing cabinets. It took some time for the pain to dye down enough for me to continue my work. Since then, I have had a very sore wrist and pain up into the back of my hand. I'm not sure what damage has been done in there, but am sure something has happened. This is not normal.

This left wrist is the one that was damaged in a crash on September 10, 2010 when I was riding my trike and was hit by a car. The distal radius (bone at base of thumb, goes up to elbow) was shattered right into the joint line (very bad), and every bone in the wrist was dislocated. I also had several other injuries, but this one was by far the worst. I was taken to hospital by ambulance and the next morning had surgery to reconstruct the wrist, and they put a metal plate in with 9 screws to hold it all together. After the bones were healed, the metal was causing me problems, so on March 30, 2011, I had a second surgery to remove the metal. At that time the surgeon also fixed the trigger finger issue I was having since the crash. I've had physiotherapy done on the wrist until the therapist decided she had done all that could be done for it.

Since the wrist healed from the second surgery, for about the last 6 months or so, the wrist has been pretty good. It has days when it hurts more than usual, when there's some clunking going on in there, but for the most part it's been doing pretty well, all things considered.... until 2 days ago. Now I have to keep the wrist and hand wrapped for support and just live with the extra pain. If it doesn't improve over the next few days, I will be going to see a doctor about it, though I don't think they really can do much of anything to fix it at this point.

Death of a Fire Chief

Today is a sad day for the small city of Enderby, BC Canada. In the early hours of today, there was a burning building and the local volunteer fire department went to fight it. As they worked, there was suddenly a big explosion that woke many sleeping people in Enderby, causing them to wonder what in the world just happened! Dennis Botkin, a man I knew many years ago, was watching the fire when this explosion happened and yelled for someone to call for an ambulance as someone had to have been hurt in that. Little did he know that his grandson, a 29 year old man recently married and the current volunteer fire chief, had just been killed in the explosion, and another fire fighter injured.

I grew up in Enderby and moved away in the late 1970s, though still have family there and only live about a 25 minute drive away. I feel great gratitude for all fire fighters as they put their lives on the line to serve and protect their towns/cities and the people that live there. I am saddened for the Botkin family and for the little city of Enderby with all it's residents. The loss of this life was a big loss all around.

Issues Signing In

I've been finding Blogger harder and harder to sign into lately. It is a real run around to get in here each and every time. Oh well... at least I finally find my way from web page to web page and finally get into my blog!!

+ and - in life

I wonder if there is an ergo baby carrier large enough to pack adults that act like babies!! Two people on my Facebook are fighting and I am getting flack for not taking sides. I don't want to take sides and besides, I haven't even been online to get involved. Oh well, I have enough of my own problems and don't need to take on anyone elses. Sad.

Now, on to better things. I am happy to say that I finally got my Income Tax done today. I was having problems with it and ended up phoning Canadian Taxation Agency where I talked to a very nice gal who helped me a lot. Now all is done and just needs to be mailed. I wish I had thought to buy stamps today, then I could mail it down the road, but will have to drive to town to buy stamps and mail it. Oh well... such is life. A nice drive tomorrow or the next day might be a good thing for me.

I am grateful that I was able to buy 5 bags of pellets for my stove today. Though I'm not happy that it's still so cold that I need them, I am happy to have them to keep my home warm for me and my pets.

I am grateful that all my wonderful pets are safe and sound in my home with me.

I am grateful for my trustworthy truck that always runs well and gets me from place to place.

I am grateful that I have many many many things to be grateful for.

I am grateful that I know the power or gratitude!!

Fighting Against Hell

The last few days have been pretty stressful. Due to being in a crash which was not my fault (I was hit by a car while riding my trike {motorcycle} in September) and the fact that I am on a disability pension I am now being given major run around. The insurance company is owned & operated by the provincial government, and my disability pension comes from a different department of the provincial government. Of course, I can't go into it all here, but I am getting major hassle/harassment from both offices and I am getting very tired of it. I suffer from PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) from being suddenly hit, flying trough the air, hitting a car with my body, bouncing off and landing on then sliding along the street downtown in our city and at some point during this sustaining injuries one of which has cost me partial use of my left hand. And yet these government agencies are both doing all they can to make my life a living hell. I am starting to think it is time to retain a lawyer. I had not planned to get a lawyer, or at least to wait and see how things panned out over the next year or two before I made that decision. Now it seems like I might just really need some legal advice, someone of power to stand up for me. It's a sad situation when our own government does it's best to harm the people that I believe they are supposed to be helping.