Random Picture Thread

[Ki-ri-n]

I couldn't resist

View attachment 822505

 

[balrog]

 

[GrogNerd]

you don't have to outrun the bear. just have to outrun one of your friends.

I'd be so effed.

1) no friends
2) old, fat & slow

 

[El Whedo]

I took the hardtail into Cimarron Canyon State Park for some nice twistys!

 

[GrogNerd]

if you ever get to the east coast

https://tailofthedragon.com

I took the hardtail into Cimarron Canyon State Park for some nice twistys!

View attachment 822605

 

[day_trippr]

And if you survive RT129 you can head up to "Motorcycle Weekend" in Laconia NH for merrymaking and mayhem...

https://laconiamcweek.com/2023_events/
Cheers!

 

[El Whedo]

The next village over just had a BIG motorcycle rally over Memorial day weekend. I skipped it like I skip all bike events. It's a good thing too because the Banditos did some bike mounted drive-bys and killed several guys, and injured more.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-mexico-motorcycle-gang-shooting-memorial-day-red-river-rally/

 

[Pkrd]

 

[Pkrd]

Now I have a headache.

 

[day_trippr]

That is so trippy.

 

[El Whedo]

We finally got up in the sixties F so I planted a blackberry and a raspberry cane in my yard.

I also gave my hardtail it's first wash, and conditioned the leather saddle and batterybox cover. As best as my butt can tell, the coefficient of friction on that saddle is approaching zero!

I changed into my hunting buckskins to stick to the saddle and take a ride.

 

[balrog]

 

[corkybstewart]

Statue of Joan of Arc crushing English soldiers in the main free parking lot in downtown Chinon.
She met the King of France in the fortress here and was given support for her army. Later the kings of France and England worked out a deal and barbecued her. Or so the story goes.

 

[Erik the Anglophile]

It might be a sweaty night's sleep, almost 9 in the evening here and it don't seem like cooling down anytime soon...

 

[corkybstewart]

It might be a sweaty night's sleep, almost 9 in the evening here and it don't seem like cooling down anytime soon...

In our area of France it's been hitting 30C with very high humidity all week. But today we had a decent rain shower that dropped the temperatures and the humidity so it's very comfortable right now.

 

[corkybstewart]

 

[doug293cz]

View attachment 822849

What's going on here? Training exercise in your vicinity?

Brew on

 

[ba-brewer]

parking enforcement

 

[lschiavo]

Russian. Looks like he's checking google maps on his phone.

 

[corkybstewart]

What's going on here? Training exercise in your vicinity?

Brew on

There's a huge armored cavalry training area just west of here and they use the back roads and small villages for training all the time. Mostly it's just a few of these tanks and some jeeps chasing each other around. A few years ago it was nighttime howitzer training from a field just down the road-that was a very, very long sleepless night.

 

[corkybstewart]

Russian. Looks like he's checking google maps on his phone.

I have a picture of one operator last year eating a baguette ham sandwich with one hand and scouring the countryside with binoculars with the other hand. Every once in a while he put the sandwich down and shouted into his field radio.

 

[GrogNerd]

I'm always saying... if you can't have air support, bring armor or, at the very least, artillery

 

[Rodent]

my first batch of Rainier cherry jam came out wonderful. flavor is outstanding, and the color is gorgeous

 

[Rodent]

pitted (chopstick + wine bottle method), halved, and loaded roughly 35 quarts of Rainier cherries into the dehydrator last night. they should be finishing up late today

I tasted a sample about an hour ago - intense flavor, and great texture so far. I have another batch of the same size to run in a couple days, and then I'll start over when the second Rainier tree is harvested. Here's what I picked on Sun afternoon from just one of our Rainier trees. there's still another 20 quarts or so needing to be picked before the tree is completely harvested for this year.

the heavy pruning this spring has resulted in excellent cherry size

 

[Rodent]

the boozy Bourbon Cherries are coming along nicely

Next time I do this with Rainiers I'm going to leave the pits in and trim the stem to about 3/8" so as not to 'damage' the fruit. you can see some browning around the pit extraction areas - if these were Bing or similar dark red cherry I don't think it would be noticeable, but the light color Rainiers make it easy to see. I like the yellow/red color of the cherries in the Bourbon, just not the brownish areas where the pit broke thru

Next up: spiced Rum cherries

 

[balrog]

I feel like I'm watching Forest Gump, only it's cherries instead of shrimp.

 

[corkybstewart]

pitted (chopstick + wine bottle method), halved, and loaded roughly 35 quarts of Rainier cherries into the dehydrator last night. they should be finishing up late today

View attachment 822969

I tasted a sample about an hour ago - intense flavor, and great texture so far. I have another batch of the same size to run in a couple days, and then I'll start over when the second Rainier tree is harvested. Here's what I picked on Sun afternoon from just one of our Rainier trees. there's still another 20 quarts or so needing to be picked before the tree is completely harvested for this year.

View attachment 822970

the heavy pruning this spring has resulted in excellent cherry size

View attachment 822971

Ranier cherries are the best. Hands down, no contest. We had a tree here in France years ago that produced a very similar variety called pigeon hearts. I'm not sure what happened to the tree.

 

[corkybstewart]

3 pints of sour cherries soaking in 140 proof plum brandy made by a neighbor 30 years ago. They're going into the wine cave tomorrow and will be ready next year.
I trimmed the stems to about 3/8 inch, left the pits in and added 2 tablespoons of sugar to each jar.

 

[Rodent]

View attachment 822981
3 pints of sour cherries soaking in 140 proof plum brandy made by a neighbor 30 years ago. They're going into the wine cave tomorrow and will be ready next year.
I trimmed the stems to about 3/8 inch, left the pits in and added 2 tablespoons of sugar to each jar.

I like that the darker color doesn't show the browning around the pitting holes

I'm drooling just imagining what those will taste like

 

[corkybstewart]

I like that the darker color doesn't show the browning around the pitting holes

I'm drooling just imagining what those will taste like

When we got married 42 years ago and I started spending vacation time with her family every lunch ended with a small bowl of these. But after a few years her father quit making eau de vie and the sour cherry tree died or was cut down.
I have about 80 bottles of FIL's pear and plum eau de vie, roughly 4 lifetimes worth. And my BIL has 3 apartments he rents in our tiny village. One of his renters moved away 2 years ago and left 2 large clay jugs in the apartment-one peach, one plum. BIL had to quit drinking 20 years ago so he put the jugs in our garage. It's remarkably good stuff.

 

[corkybstewart]

I like that the darker color doesn't show the browning around the pitting holes

I'm drooling just imagining what those will taste like

In the olden times there was a small Montmorency sour cherry tree behind the house. It was short but produced many, many buckets of cherries for booze and pies. I have no idea why or when it disappeared

 

[Rodent]

16 racks of cherries dehydrated down to 3 dry quarts, running @165F for the initial two hours (to ensure everything had a dry outer surface ) and then at 135F for 16 hours (until moisture content was right for putting into storage)

those big cherries lost most of their volume

after sending my sis home with some I ended up with 2-1/2 dry quarts remaining.

running another batch today to clear up the remaining cherries from Sunday's picking and make room for harvesting the second tree

 

[day_trippr]

Are these like the raisins of cherries?

Cheers!

 

[Rodent]

they have texture like fresh high quality raisins, and not those pasty chewy mess that is typical of store bought bulk dried cherries

 

[Dland]

Wondered why my '85 Mercedes handled funny on way back from "safety inspection". At least the guy was consistent and bent both tie rods in same place.

 

[Broken Crow]

Wondered why my '85 Mercedes handled funny on way back from "safety inspection". At least the guy was consistent and bent both tie rods in same place.
View attachment 823057View attachment 823055

I'm stewing in rage on your behalf...I've seen that before. The 85 Mercedes was one of the last 'new' cars that I really liked the lines on before they all turned into phlegm-wads in the wind. I grew up in a service-station and immediately recognized that some idiot put it up on a hoist without setting the stands...Did you check the rest of the underside where the hoist arms would have touched? I've seen car bodies crunched in 4 places and exhaust systems bent and broken multiple times when people from the chain-shops have brought their cars in to be fixed and sometimes documented for legal-action against the idiots.
If you haven't yet; check everwhere you think their hoist may have pressed against the underside, and sue the asshats.

 

[Dland]

Actually, the guy did it with a regular floor jack checking the front end. I was pissed off for sure, but how mad can you get at some poor cretin who lives in a trailer behind the garage?

The owner of station, who I kind of know, was mortified and of course offered to have his guys fix it it. I said no thanks, ordered OEM grade parts and fixed myself, took me about a half hour. That's my lift the car is on in pictures. Owner is going to pay for parts, and alignment if I want.

 

[corkybstewart]

Actually, the guy did it with a regular floor jack checking the front end. I was pissed off for sure, but how mad can you get at some poor cretin who lives in a trailer behind the garage?

The owner of station, who I kind of know, was mortified and of course offered to have his guys fix it it. I said no thanks, ordered OEM grade parts and fixed myself, took me about a half hour. That's my lift the car is on in pictures. Owner is going to pay for parts, and alignment if I want.

I'm glad it didn't turn out worse. You're lucky to be able to fix stuff like that-my mechanicing days ended back when you could set the points with a guitar pick. If you understand you know what I'm talking about.

 

[gromitdj]

I made sure to keep a business card and a screwdriver in the glove box of my VW, so that I could adjust the points on short notice.

 

[DBhomebrew]

I replaced the points with an electronic iggy.