sparquelito

I use this angle grinder rig right here to sharpen my mower blades. Works like a champ. You just take your time, and use a steady hand. Sharp as a Japanese Katana in one or two passes. Long sleeves, long pants, sturdy shoes, and eye protection are advised. 🙂

Small street trail. Suzuki 200. Very nimble, and not very fast. (Both of which help to keep me alive.) 🙂

I'm only a few months into this retirement thing, but I am LIKING IT. Learning to relax, and enjoying slowly painting and fixing up the house. I'm definitely writing more songs since I quit the rat race. I solved a carburetor vacuum problem with my motorcycle, and I enjoyed making a run to Lowe's on that bike yesterday (and it running like a top). Later on this morning, all my six week old seedlings will end up in the raised garden beds out back. Tomatoes, peppers, and squash galore. Most importantly perhaps, I did the fine-pencil math on my finances, and everything is working out just fine. (I had a niggling worry that I would retire and within a year go, "Oh man, I planned poorly, now I'm going broke, and I need to go back to work to make ends meet now.") So all is well, even after replacing all the major appliances this past coupla months. If I DO get a part time gig some day, it'll be something rewarding and very close to the house. I live in a boom-town, and traffic gets worse by the day around here. Close to home will be the key factor in any part-time job. I'm gonna shut up now. 😗

Such artistry. Such patience!! I possess neither, sadly. 😑

Since retiring on 30 December, I have been steadily and slowly repainting the interior of the house. One or two walls or sections at a time. Carefully, patiently. No mess, no disorder, no rush. It's like a Zen thing. Meditation accomplishment therapy. What is not Zen-like (more like karma I guess) is that now that I am on a fixed income, the following appliances or major end items have crapped out and had to be replaced: clothes washer, clothes dryer, oven/range/stove beast, microwave oven, car battery, overhead garage door spring, and three double paned storm windows. The dishwasher ate the main pump, but that was under warranty. (Note: Warranty repairs can take up to five weeks to schedule, order parts, reschedule, and finally get the thing repaired.) Hopefully things settle down a bit. 🙁

Yes. And if she was human, she would be way out of my league. 😒

All my thoughts and prayers to his family and mates. 😞

She's $349 on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/GrandstandZ-Roxie-Guitar-Stand/dp/B077DTY62D I must confess, when she arrived to me the first time, she was badly broken. Called the company, and they said, "Okay. We'll ship you another one, this time with more sturdy packaging." They didn't even want the old broken one back. My girl singer has parts of that original Roxie in her garden. It creeps the neighbors out. 😃

Here she is, holding my BFG. Her name is Roxie. I ordered her from GrandStandZ a few years ago. Good company, nice people. 🙂 Here is a link to GrandStandz's website. https://grandstandz.com/ Roxie is a little more pricey right now, more so than when I bought her a few years ago. I think I paid $299.

Happy New Capo Day. I gave my favorite capo away a few weeks ago, to a good friend and his son who I have been giving lessons to. It was a Shubb, and I really loved the lightweight design. I got to looking around for a replacement, and what managed to jump up and bite me, I mean catch my eye, was this gator-style capo made by Alice. The model is A007G/BR. Ergonomically pleasing, and really very nice on my acoustic and on my electrics. Good times!! 😃

Oh man. I am so sorry to hear this. John played on Bowie's album Black Tie White Noise, one of my all time favorites! Prayers to his family and friends. 🙁

Really loving this song. 🤫

I hear that Harley Davidson is going all electric. Between that, the relic'ing chrome, and Beatles/Stones, I can hardly see me making it to suppertime. 🤨

Reading this thread, I just lost the will to live. For the record. 😑

It's weird but I never got into Pink Floyd. Over the years, I came to know a lot of their songs in order to play them live with different bands and musical partners, but I literally never owned a Pink Floyd album. Don't get me wrong, I respect their body of work, and the interesting dynamic of all the personalities of the band. And I really love performing Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2), Wish You Were Here, Comfortably Numb, and Mother. I did buy the Dark Side of the Moon on cd a few years ago. 😉

My goodness but that is a pricey guitar!! I'm a hard pass on that one. 😶

VERY cool. Congrats, and great work on the set-up!! 😗

Congratulations!! A unique and fabulous acquisition. You did really well on that price too. Locking string trees too! I have never seen such a design, but it's really cool. 😃

QC is quick connect, I agree. Fumblefingers, definitely try everything you can get your hands on. Inspect carefully. Play leisurely, and don't bring along an impatient boat anchor (uh, wife or girlfriend) when you go to inspect and try out any given guitar. After playing and holding a few Les Pauls, one of them will SING to you. That'll be the one. 🙂

As a guitar player (and occasionally, the hopeless guitar collecting addict), I'm a fan of beautiful, shiny, nicely-functioning guitars. I love the look and feel of a well-maintained, nicely polished guitar. I take pains to be precious with my own guitars, and I keep them clean and lovingly maintained. Back in the day, I did not find the notion of stars like Jimi Hendrix, Peter Townsend, and Paul Stanley smashing their guitars on stage exciting or attractive in any way. I found it to be offensive to every hard working kid who had worked their paper route and regular jobs for months in order to save up and buy a guitar in the first place. During the brief punk rock era, I understood the punk fashion and how those guys hammered on their utilitarian guitars and basses, and had them covered in stickers and grimy electrical tape. But I didn't enjoy the notion of it. Not artistically, and not aesthetically. Seemed like 'instrument abuse'. So. To the question of 'relic-ing' perfectly good guitars. I'm not a fan. I get it that it's a curious, improbable money-maker for Fender. So I salute their business savvy. I hope they make lots of money. But I won't ever contribute to their business model when it comes to purchasing a 'relic-ed' guitar. No sir. 😗

Le' me ge' 'his straigh'. Sir Paul McCartney, Sir Ringo Starr, an' Sir Mick Jagger are goin 'o recawd music wi'h commoners like Kei'h Richards an' Ronnie Wood? Bloody 'ell! 🤨

All my thoughts and prayers, rct. Your buddy had a good life, living with you and the Mrs. 😴

Guitars with humbuckers installed, with a coil split on the z-axis of the tone knob. Seems like a popular selling point lately, but I have rarely found a guitar that benefited much from that feature. 😗

So good! Congratulations! 🙂

The 19 year old offender is Max Hartley of Avon, Ohio. According to his lawyer, he's a good young man who has never had a brush with the law in his entire life. He was, however, extremely intoxicated when arrested. Spring Break + teenagers + alcohol = disasters left and right. That's a given. Let's go one further, and speculate some more. I know some dudes who can have a few beers, or a few dozen whiskeys, and they get mellow and affectionate. (I'm pretty much like that myself.) Some others, on the other hand, go from Jekyll to Hyde when drunk. Aggressive, angry, and wanting to fight. It was always disturbing for me to witness. Maybe it's like that with young Mister Max Hartley. True story. I literally broke off a friendship with a good Army Captain that I served with over in Germany, years ago. He was a fairly good dude, cheerful, and competent at his job. (He was an Artillery Officer and a forward observer.) But when he got some drinks in him, he became angry, combative, and unreasonably confrontational. I told him one Monday after breaking contact with him downtown on the previous Saturday night, "Arthur, I'll be teammates with you here at work, but I can never, ever be your drinking buddy off duty. And if there's alcohol at a unit function or gathering, and you are there, I'll be leaving immediately, no questions asked. " "Oh, Spark, it's not that bad. Give me a break." "It IS that bad. You should consider never drinking, my friend." 🤔