FinChasers Half-Page

Timing is everything

Gerry in a nutshell

Here is some great video that may encapsulate the epitomy of "The Good" in a Clint Eastwood film. The guy that doesn't mention "These foals will probably fetch a few million bucks". Instead he says "Do you like horses? Would you like to pet these?".



And the horses roll like Sting in the 80's... "Don't stand, Don't stand so, Don't stand so close to me".

Portland rock at it's finest

Put it in any city and it would change musicians perspective on
what could be accomplished- the Rick Bain train swung through Portland as it does haphazardly around the NW.
-It is always showmanship in authentic form and generations of musical
influence amalgamated to the present day.  Whoever is playing with him is reliably some of the best musicians available in the city that night.

Bold statement, I realize. His songs makes me smile in wonder and awe. The world needs to
experience this. And it happens every time he plays.

Sex and legos.
Eliot

The rise of opportunity

Missed opportunities often come without warning. When I miss a trout
who gently sips at my fly it's often that my timing is off by just a
split second. What hurts the most is when I have been spending the
previous hours diligently figuring out the correct fly placement or
retrieve, or the right pattern or most likely changing all factors
over and over. Sometimes I feel like I add a negative energy to the
set up with my frustration in achieving success. Then an osprey
glides overhead and I get caught up in jealous wonder of her seemingly
effortless, gliding quest for the same trout. My mind wanders off my
game as I look for her snag nest in the treetops nearby and catch
sight of the glorious glacier capped mountain scape that I have
neglected to notice all day. It is then that a trout rises- when I
take my mind off my goal and the energy releases from my line and
allows a fish to come into the vicinity to swipe at it.

Removing layers of a hardened heart, again

Dad,
So this is a great example of how email works well for engaging
another person. I can choose my words carefully and try to sum up a
whole lot as poignantly as possible.
Lisa and I had a great dinner party last night. 8 adults and their 7
kids -singing into our karaoke machine and parents dancing like idiots
with our kids and having some laughs over wine and cocktails on our
deck. These are friendships that are going on toward 20 years now-
great friends that still get my very best efforts for filling their
stomachs on a random Thursday night. I grilled two whole chickens on
my "beer can" roaster rack and slow cooked pork ribs in a huge dutch
oven all day and finished them on the grill. Every time I make either
of these two dishes people leave realizing they have never had much
better. The bummer is that I bet you didn't know that my grilling and
cooking talent is exceptional.
There are quite a few things you don't know about me. Did you know
that in high school football, there was not one person on the team
that wanted to go head to head against me? I'm just a small guy
really, but they said it "stung" when I hit them them. All I know is
that it was the only place to legally put every ounce of my body and
being into an act of such destruction toward another human. I
remember getting called out by a coach during my junior year and the
first week of pads with my new team when I transferred high schools -
after the third divorce. The coach stopped the play and asked in a
booming yell "WHO HIT Byrne!!???!??" I didn't answer. "WHO HIT
BYRNE???!" I thought I was going to get in trouble for sending the
starting senior running onto his back about five yards behind the line of scrimmage. It was also
the day after my mom and I had a heated argument that ended with me
staying at a friends house. Leaving wasn't something I had ever done
before -not like this. But I put all the aggression regarding my
family situation into that hit, and most of the other hits that were
notable in my career. I can't imagine having a son and not wanting to
somehow get a tape of him playing football or watch him get awarded
Valentine's Prince or the myriad of other things that are good. I
can't imagine not being there for him when he needs a friend- when
things aren't "good". I can't imagine talking to him in his growing
up years and not trying to find some excuse to see him, even if it's
just a VHS tape from a random Friday night game. I have spent the
majority of my life without any real family that is staying or
lasting. I have no brothers, no real cousins and that is what it is.
So when I see some time in my schedule and stupidly offer to spend it
with a dad who I have softened my heart toward in my later years and
get rejected... well it makes me want to put some football pads on.
My friendships are lasting because I care about others. But I have
learned to be okay with letting friendships go if they are unhealthy.
Why I still reach out to you is a question I need to keep wrestling
with.
I need to get better at being able to just let you go too, in a way I
guess- let you live in your world of not knowing how cool your son
really is, and somehow not take it personally. I have a few friends
who had dads die early in their childhood. I wonder if that is easier
to live with than the rejection time after time. I had thought I had
forgiven you for being disinterested in my life when I was younger. I
thought you had finally "learned" but most of that hurt came back with
my phone call to you this week. I am selfish for writing this to you,
because I am doing it for my own health. I just had to tell someone
how it felt... and how it feels all over again.
Dad, I wish you the best- if I don't then it would mean I am not
taking the necessary steps forward for myself.

Ribs DeBoer

Get boneless country style ribs... but any cut will do I just hate
wasting space by adding the bone in there.

You Need:
Pork Country Style ribs boneless. (I like to cook about 8-12 lbs)
Liquid Smoke
Lawry's Seasoning Salt
2 litre of some cola full sugar... but you only use about 2-3 cans worth
BBQ sauce

A dutch oven and a grill and regular oven.

Directions:
Use a big dutch oven or other big pot. Mine has a custom rack in the
bottom that lifts the meat off of the liquid that sits about an inch
high.

Put the rack in the bottom of the pot. Fill pot with 1/2" of water
or so (halfway to the meat).

sprinkle the meat while in the plastic on the top side with lawry's
seasoned salt.

lay that seasoned side down in one layer and pour a sugarry cola on
like coke or Dr.Pepper basting the meat. How much cola?...
Well...Watch your liquid level in the bottom and plan out the same
amount of cola going in for the next two or three layers of meat.
(You don't want the liquid touching the underside of the lower layer
of ribs when finished.)

So you've poured some cola now sprinkle with lawry's again the top side.

add another layer of seasoned-side-down meat.

pour some more cola on, basting this next layer.

sprinkle some lawry's on the top side of the new meat layer.

add another layer of seasoned side-down meat, sprinkle lawry's and
cola-ize if you have room...

then pour two or three "cap-fulls" of Liquid Smoke kinda down a gap
in the meat and a few drops on the meat on the top.

bake in oven at about 300 degrees for 2-4 hours or 250 for 3-5 hours.

Then pull the meat out carefully since it will want to fall apart and
place the pieces on something so that you can start slathering your
favorite BBQ sauce on them. grill them for a bit to carmelize the
sauce and fill your gut until you can barely move from the table

Oil cooler adapted to a 1982 CB650

I found a guy in Oz who machines an adapter plate in between the oil filter cover and the crankcase. We will run lines going in and out of the adapter plate up to an oil cooler from a later model bike like a CB900 or a nighthawk from the mid-80's.

He needed a picture of the area just to machine it perfectly so I posted some here for him.

I'll have to remove the horn I bet, hopefully I can keep my chains that work as my bar stop so that the clubmans don't hit the tank. 

The Farmer debuts

Brent DeBoer the Farmer

Raask Rear sets

Here is a close-up of the rear sets I purchased from Omar's Cafe online.  The ones they have for the Honda CB650 are not quite what is shown for the other bikes.  They are a huge clunky piece of melted pot metal.  But every hole is in the right spot and the only thing needed was a longer through bolt that went from one side of the frame through the engine and out the other side.
The rear brake pedal is actually the stock CB650 that I cut and welded then had the local truck bed liner guy dip it for me for 5 bucks- it adds a bit of traction from the oil the bike spurts out all over my legs and boots.

Cheers to the forum guys at SOHC4 that wanted some close-up pics.

Super Secret goose hunting equipment