Just another day? Or not?

Just another day? Or not?

Today was just another day, get up, go to work, get stuck behind a computer again doing bids and drawings all day long. Rainman has been rather busy lately so he has me going to work with him to help out. He says it is for support to keep him from going crazy. With having a life of doing that for 5 days a week plus all the other bullshit he goes through I could see why he needs me around.

Jimmy Buffet says it best “It's five o'clock somewhere” and brother, that is a true statement. 5:00 didn't come soon enough for us today with it being a Thursday. Bike night at the Pride is always something good to look forward to. We escaped early, headed home, changed clothes and hit the road. The bike needed gas before we headed too far out. As we approached the exit to the hood, we found plenty of rush hour traffic blocking us from turning left out of the hood. We figured to head down Foster road and take some back roads over to the Pride. It would be a longer route and that was just what the doctor ordered for us. We stopped and topped off the tank and we were off for the nights adventure.

Adventure being the key word. You would think that living on the outskirts of the city would make it a breeze getting to the back roads. But that was not the case tonight. Riding on Foster road sucked., it is full of road construction and pot holes. It made it impossible for us to keep a straight line rolling down the road. Now when I say the road was bad, that was an understatement. We hit one pot hole so hard (going 15 MPH) I thought I broke my back from the shock.

It just adds to the irony of city slicker living. We had to dodge and duck them chucks for 2 miles, til we crossed over I.H.10. We were finally able to speed up and shake off some of the stress we were having. To feel the cool breeze running through your face and hair is some of the best G D therapy you could ever have. No wonder my FM1604. As we came up to our exit, Rainman hit the gas hard and made my head flip backwards. I though he had gone crazy and was going to try and lay the bike into the turn at high speed. Nope, instead he just shot past the exit and headed on into La Vernia. I guess Rainman need a little more therapy from the week of doldrums and BS.

We hit La Vernia a few more miles down the road and did a U-turn at the Valero to head back to the Pride. I guess he was feeling better now. Once at the Pride, we found more therapy in a couple of chopped sandwiches with some good old sweet tea. Now if you need a good sandwich, get the chop at the Pride and load that sucker up with some pickles, onion and sliced jalapenos, that will fit the bill. After dinner, we settled in at one of the tables for some good rock n roll from none other than Jimmy Spotcheck. Old Jimmy was wailing on his guitar like he always does, putting on a good show for the crowd. More therapy that the docotr ordered for us.

After a couple of songs, Jimmy turned the mike over to named Uncle Willy Sparks, a blind man who played the blues on his guitar that had been signed by the none other than B.B.King. While Willy played on, Jimmy came down off the stage to have a quick bite to eat. Well he ended up sitting next to us with his band. I leaned over and told Jimmy who I was and that I liked his guitar playing. Jimmy, always being the professional musician, was gracious enough to say more than just thank you. He said that he remembered meeting me before. Wow, I couldn't believe it, two Texas legends meeting up and knowing each other. We talked a bit about music and riding. It's always fun when you get to hang-out with the band.

Well to keep this long story from getting too much longer, I'll just get to the point that I wanted to say. Life is never on easy street. I don't care who you are, we all need to remember that when you are overwhelmed, overworked, stressed out or just plain old confused as to how much more you can take, don't let yourself get all caught up in life's red tape. Take a little time for yourself, you won't believe what it can do for you. Once you are able to let go of all that crap, you won't believe how much better you will feel.

So when I say this, I mean it!

Ride Hard or just Stay Home

Pig

Its Chili Making Time

It's Chili Making Time

Howdy ya'll,

Pig's here once again for another round of Pig chat.

On of the great things about living in Texas is when October comes around, the weather changes from super hot to tolerable. And with that change in weather come events to attend. All around our great state there are chili cook-offs and varies of benefits to attend. Texans have always had big hearts and have always tried their best to help those in need. This weekend, it will be no different when a bunch of bikers will get together for the Confederation of Clubs meeting at the Deer Crossing Saloon. There will be a Chili Cook-off and the money raised will benefit children who are placed in foster care.

Now for those of you who are thinking “Oh great, this just another article about chili.” Well hold on a minute, this one is a little different. See, for those of you who do not live in Texas, one thing about Texas that might make you want to live here is our chili. Texans have always been and still are very proud of the fact that we make the best damm chili's in the US and we even have an expression that sounds something like this: “There anit no damm beans allowed in chili”. (never heard that one before?) OK, so, here is the deal. This particular chili cook-off is well known for it's stiff competition. In fact, I have heard a few Texas tales about the winners of the past that were quite interesting. And I. Pig, have decided to enter this competition to begin another Texas tale of my own with the intent of blowing everyone else clean out of the water with my legendary, damm good chili.

One humorous side note is when I signed up to enter, they asked me if I was making chili or if I was going to be IN the chili. Ha Ha, very funny. After they all got done laughing at me for entering, I drew a line in the dirt and told them all not to dare cross that line, cause them is fighting words around here when it comes to my chili. The challenge has been made and I except it. I just hope the others don't go home crying to their mama's when I whup up on them with my pot of taste bud pleasing, tummy satisfying, smile making chili.

What all of my competition does not know is I have had time to practice and perfect my recipe this past week. I was placed on house restriction (grounded) for getting busted at the strip club last Thursday. Not to worry my fans, all the charges were dropped when it was discover that it is illegal to have animals of a barnyard nature in strip clubs. So it wasn't my fault. If you would like to know the story of how I got busted in the club, you will have to come to the chili cook-off and have a bowl of my legendary stuff(with a donation for the kids of course).

I hope to see you all there, and will someone please go tell Ron “There is a new chili in town, and its name is PIG'S CHILI.

Ride Hard or Stay Home

Oh by the way, Win or lose, I will post the winnings on here Saturday evening, with a full recap of the days activities.

Pig

Bikers and The General Public

Welcome back all my lovers of pork. It's the King of Pork Chops here, yeah that's right my good people, it's me, the Pig. Time once again for another round of loving from the master. Today's subject is about something that really bothers me and I need to get it off my chest. It's about Bikers and having to deal with the general public. This morning Rainman & I headed out for biker church up at the Deer Crossing Saloon, we were hungry when we left so we stopped at a local taco house for some of those flat biscuits stuffed with some eggs and bacon along the way. Now here is what bothers me, just yesterday we were pulling into the Harley dealer when a car behind us honked as to tell us to get out of his way and that if we didn't move he was going to move us. Then as we headed out for the ride with our Brothers to the benefit, another car pushed his way right into the middle of our pack as we were leaving the parking lot. And now as we opened the door to the restaurant, you could hear the place was bustling. As we stepped in the door, everyone stopped talking and just stared at us. I guess they didn't like the idea of a couple of bikers coming in the place.

An older couple in particular seemed rather offended that we walked in as they stared at us with a look of disapproval all dressed in our gear and cuts. Rainman just ignored them and went over to sit down, as for myself, I walked past the old couple and the little old blue haired bat gave me the “look”. You know the look I'm talking about, it's the one that says “What are you doing here? You should be ashamed of yourself going around looking that way.”

I climbed up into my chair and waited for what felt like an eternity for the waitress to show up. We were still being stared at by a few people from across the place, including the old couple, so I had to ask Rainman what was up with people treating us that way and why was he not bothered by it. About that time the waitress showed and so we ordered our tacos and iced tea. He began to explain why people can be such assholes in a very unique way.

mom showing her best side

Bikers are always perceived by some people as “hoodlums, non-law abiding citizens, trash, or maybe even worthless”. What people fail to do is that when they look at us that way; they fail to remember of the last time they took a good look at themselves. We as people need to think before we judge someone. Let me ask you something. What are you guilty of that you are too afraid to admit or don't want to be known? Don't try to make yourself look better by treating us worse than what you truly are inside. There is no one in this world who is perfect. Well, that's not true, at one time there was one who was perfect and they crucified him. But no one else is perfect. Ask yourself this, are you not receiving the respect you feel you deserve? Then try showing respect to others, even if you feel they don't deserve it.

I was really beginning to understand what my wise old friend was telling me and I felt compelled to show these people what they were doing wrong. So I thought about it, and when it was time for us to go, the old couple was still there sipping their coffee. I slipped down off my chair as Rainman paid the ticket and headed out the door. I had to tell old hair that is she would give it up a little more often, her and grandpa wouldn't be so constipated. To which she replied, “Why I never!” And I responded “That's the problem, you never! Loosen up mama, daddy over there needs to tap it a little more before he dies.” Now I know that the old bird was truly offended and that I shouldn't had said something like that to her, especially since I was on my way to church. But I just felt I needed to do as Rainman said by returning the same respect she showed me.

Ride Hard or Stay Home

Pig

Bastrop Chili Cook-off Benefit

Three weeks ago, The great state of Texas suffered terrible losses in the Bastrop area from wild fire. The biker community responded true to their colors by attending a chili-cook-off benefit for the victims of the fire. The organizers arranged for two groups of riders to converge at the same time as a show of support for those victims. Rainman and I loaded up the bike with water for him (he was the driver) and a six pack for me. We met up with the group going at Gruene Harley Davidson shop just outside of New Braunsfels. The group from Austin was scheduled to leave at 12:00 noon as were we so that we would converge on the San Marcos Toyota Dealership where the cook-off was held at the same time.

It was business as usual for the Harley shop as we pulled in. But on the outside, they had several vendors set up to sell their wares. They had the bandana lady, the accessory ladies and there was a group of cub scouts selling popcorn. Two local radio stations were there jamming their songs and giving riders a chance to meet their favorite DJ's. We paid for got our arm bands for the benefit and kicked back to enjoy some conversation with the other riders. We had a little time so we went in the shop to check out the new 2012 Harley's they had in stock. There was a beautiful white and silver ultra-classic for only 23,000.00. Rainman wanted to play a trick on mom by texting her that he was going to see what the payments on that baby would be. Of course the only response we got was “OH HELL NO!!!”

The call finally came over the loudspeaker for all bikes to line up. We got our bike in line with the others were about in the middle of the pack. The call soon came to fire up. The thunder rolled on through the hills of New Braunsfel as the bikes warmed up. The lead bike headed out and we didn't make it out of the parking lot when a car decided to drive into the middle of the pack (right in front of us). It wasn't a very smart move on the behalf of the driver of that car. Had that dumbass hit one of us bikers, there would have been over 200 hundred of us beating the shit out of him. Luckily he turned off and got out of the pack as quick as he got into the middle of us.

Thirteen miles later we pulled into the San Marcos Toyota dealer on I.H.35. It was timed perfect as about 300 bikers from Austin arrived at the same time. The thunder from the bikes was defining. People were cheering us on as other were in total awe at the sight of our arrival. The dealership anticipated our arrival and had cleared out their used car lot for us to park in. We found that they had set up over 12 different chili-cook off contestants and had sausage wraps, soda, water and other stuff all for donations.

It was fun walking around being with other bikers and watching women try to hula-hoop and the big guys try to show up the Marines booth by doing pull-ups. We tried about seven different types of chili and they were all very good. The only thing I was disappointed in was there wasn't anyone with the “Hot Lava” type chili. Don't get me wrong, all of the chili we tried was good. But this is Texas and we are home of the hottest chili in the country. I guess the weather wasn't cold enough for it. Well anyway, the benefit raised over $10,000.00 for the victims of the fire. One family also received a new Toyota to replace the car they lost in the fire, courtesy of the San Marcos dealer.

I just wanted to say thanks for all the hard work to those who helped work to make this benefit a complete success. It takes a lot of effort to make something like this happen. I would also like to thank all of those who made chili for the competition. They were all very good chili's. What makes everything so worth while is seeing the faces of the victims as you help them out.

Ride Hard or Stay Home.

Pig

P.S. There will be another chili cook-off at the Deer-Crossing Saloon on October 15, 2011 benefiting children in CPS and foster care. Rainman and I will be entering this one with our version of what chili should be. Come on out and cheer us on to victory and help support the kids. Look for us and you might be able to have your picture taken with me and get posted here on my blog.

Peace and love.

Pig