 Cycling (Pages 1 2 )
| McHaggis |
Posted on: 03-Dec-2003, 09:07 PM |
Replies: 16
Views: 889
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Another fun little course was the bike paths that surround the city of Minneapolis..don't remember how long it was but it'd take a couple of hours...we used to ride those every nigh at full tilt during the summer...head down and pumping! It was great....scattering pedestrians and slow traffic.....highly recommended!
RON |
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Forum: General Discussion · Post Preview: #23371 |
| McHaggis |
Posted on: 03-Dec-2003, 09:03 PM |
Replies: 106
Views: 4,199
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Hey, Richard.....you didn't happen to see the 1970 or 1971 Lynwood Diplomats Drum & Bugle Corps on any of those old Red Skelton shows, did you? I've been looking for a copy of that for our files. Naturally, they're not listed in the credits on any of the DVD packages for Red Skelton that I've seen.....I'll keep looking though.
RON |
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Forum: General Discussion · Post Preview: #23370 |
Castles (Pages 1 2 )
| McHaggis |
Posted on: 30-Nov-2003, 10:05 PM |
Replies: 20
Views: 1,156
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I've only been to the Hearst Castle near Big Sur, California.....oh, and White Castles. Seriously, the only castle I saw while in Germany was from a distance....I was in the back of a garbage truck-- new guy rides in the back!-- hauling Army crap to the dump outside Hanau so have no idea what that big castle off in the distance was.
RON |
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Forum: General Discussion · Post Preview: #22855 |
| McHaggis |
Posted on: 30-Nov-2003, 10:00 PM |
Replies: 44
Views: 3,049
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I've written a few poem and had a few published, but I have trouble reading poetry, to me it's as hard to get through as Shakespeare or Chaucer.
But since you asked: what stirs my soul is a hot looking Redhead....woman, that is! I figure it's just in the blood, eh?
RON |
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Forum: Short Stories · Post Preview: #22851 |
| McHaggis |
Posted on: 30-Nov-2003, 09:48 PM |
Replies: 28
Views: 2,108
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"Broom Closet," eh? That's a good one, I hadn't heard that one before. Makes perfect sense, though.
RON |
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Forum: The Grove · Post Preview: #22847 |
Cycling (Pages 1 2 )
| McHaggis |
Posted on: 30-Nov-2003, 09:19 PM |
Replies: 16
Views: 889
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A nice tour is along the eastern bank of The Upper Mississippi River (Wisconsin side) from Minneapolis south as far as you want. The western bank is the infamous Hiway 61 and the northbound lane has very tiny shoulders and your chances of getting to feel like what a moth does when it hits the radiator of a semi are very real indeed....southbound shoulders are quite wide and safe, though.
Also consider the Sparta-Elroy Trail.....a recycled railroad line turned bike trail...very nice in spring and fall....summers are hot and humid.
California's Hiway 1 along the coast has some nice stuff going on between San Francisco and points far south: goes through Big Sur so be prepared for some climbing.
Here's a pic of my old (then brand-new) Motobecane Grand Touring road bike on the west bank of the Mississippi at Lake Pepin, MN looking eastward towards Maiden Rock in WI., circa 1977, I think....part of a 350 mile run from Mpls. over to WI and down the WI side to LaCrosse and back up the MN side and back to Mpls....a great run with a few days camping along the way......travel light, travel fast!
Aside: I had a girlfriend who rode her road bike from LaCrosse, WI on the Mississippi River all the way to Phoenix, AZ some 2000 miles. Watta trouper! I talked to her once after she got to Phoenix but lost her number in a move...wonder what ever happened to Kathy Stiegen, the infamous "Danger Rangerette" from Perrot State Park, Trempealeau, WI? I have met few women tougher than her....great gal even if she danced like a lumberjack! She had a racoon I couldn't pet and a beaver I could.......(rimshot).
RON |
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Forum: General Discussion · Post Preview: #22838 |
| McHaggis |
Posted on: 30-Nov-2003, 05:27 PM |
Replies: 31
Views: 840
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I'm rapidly approaching 300 posts in less than three months.....! I don't talk to my friends 0f 30 years this much!
RON |
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Forum: General Discussion · Post Preview: #22790 |
Kids (Pages 1 2 )
| McHaggis |
Posted on: 30-Nov-2003, 05:23 PM |
Replies: 20
Views: 541
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In our family, I am my Mother's child. She and my Scots-born father divorced when I was only about 1 1/2 years old. So I had a step-dad to raise me and he will always be my "Dad." In the past few years I have been getting to know my biological father by mail but we've yet to meet. How strange to be 56 years old and find out I have a flock of half-brothers and sisters out there in the world.
There are 3 other fully adopted children in my immediate family:my brother and two sisters.
On my branch of the family tree it would, at this time, say "no issue." I haven't been married since 71 and have no offspring that I am aware of. Things may change in the future, one never knows, but I'm cool with having no kids.
RON |
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Forum: General Discussion · Post Preview: #22787 |
| McHaggis |
Posted on: 30-Nov-2003, 05:17 PM |
Replies: 4
Views: 247
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My closest blood tie with my Glasgow born father would have to lead me back to the Scottish crown...but truthfully I'm American born.
RON HOUSLEY |
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Forum: General Discussion · Post Preview: #22785 |
| McHaggis |
Posted on: 30-Nov-2003, 05:09 PM |
Replies: 38
Views: 1,170
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Well, when you'r doing blood work you have to consider both sides of the pedigree, I'm thinking. My father, born in Glasgow, gives me 50% Scots blood, but if you consider his family migrated from Ireland, that would change things?
On my Mom's side, my grandfather was Swede, my grandmother, English, Scots and Irish.....so somehow I get over 50% on the Scots side if you throw in Granny's blooding.
But since my father was a born Scotsman, I gotta go with that for at least 50% of my blood in one generation only.....lord, that only makes me first generation Scottish American on my Father's side, but 2nd generation Swedish American on my Mom's side......then if we go way back over a hundred years, I have a great-great (or more?) grandmother on my Father's side who was actually born in America of Irish parents but moved back to Ireland while still a child because her parents were killed in a fire in America....there she met and married an Irishman who moved the clan to Scotland before the turn of the 20th century...gets confusing, eh?
Then if we kick in the relatives on my father's mother's side (Fleming), it traces back to 1066 and the Norman invasion.
However you slice it, I guess my particular loaf is pretty much Northern European white bread....but you don't know where the heck those Viking ancestors dropped seed along the way.
Somehow this all has got to explain my attraction for Redheads, I'm thinking. 
RON |
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Forum: General Discussion · Post Preview: #22783 |
| McHaggis |
Posted on: 30-Nov-2003, 12:08 AM |
Replies: 77
Views: 4,091
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"McHaggis" is the name of an arrangement I wrote for the Racine, WI, "Kilties" Senior Drum & Bugle Corps. Since it was a collection of Scottish tunes, a hodgepodge if you will, it was originally just called "Haggis" but mutated into something that sounds like you could order it before 11AM at an ethnic Mickey Dee's. ("Och, w'll ha'e th' McHaggis an' a wee dram, Lassie!")....."Mc" seems to be tagged on to a lot of Kiltie words for emphasis: everything from "McScrewed" to "Wow! She's really a McFox!"
Hence "McHaggis."
The chart has in it, among other tunes: An intro section of bits and pieces of "Comin' Thru The Rye," "Loch Lomand, " "Syne," and "Scotland The Brave," then goes into "Scottish Mary" ( a fiddle tune), "Skye Boat Song," a "Skye Boat-Flower Of Scotland" mixture, a "Flower Of Scotland/Amazing Grace" mixture, a little of the old "Brigadoon" theme, a ceildeh section playing "Drowsey Maggie," "Scotland The Brave," "Auld Lang Syne" (the previous two being historically a part of every KILTIES show), and......"Stay(Just A Little Bit Longer"/"Syne" mixture..("Stay" being the only non-Scots piece in it, but it fits so well as a counter melody to "Syne" that as a part of a closer it seemed a natural.....and before it's completed there's sure to be some other stuff thrown in as well.....maybe "Minstrel Boy," and "Highland Laddie" quotes or something.....
...darn thing never seems to have enough "Haggis" in it.
I was going to send it to them for the 2004 show, but that book is set already, so I'm going to hold off and present it next winter....or if I feel it's finally finished, I'll ship it off anyway.
Maybe later, I'll ship y'all a midi file of it on this forum.
So, that's the derivation of "McHaggis."
That's why I always sign these posts with my real name:
RON
Addendum: There' s so much stuff in that chart that when I went back to look at again after I entered the above that I realize that I'd left out a couple: a quote from "Blue Bells Of Scotland" in the intro and a whole section that features "On A Bank Of Roses," a traditional Robert Bruce song.....more shite than a Christmas goose, I'm telling ya! |
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Forum: General Discussion · Post Preview: #22670 |
| McHaggis |
Posted on: 28-Nov-2003, 10:44 PM |
Replies: 28
Views: 682
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Welcome from me, too! Where in Germany are you? I spent some US Army time in Hanau, east of Frankfurt, but other than that area and some training time over near the Czech border in Vilsek (spelled badly, I think). that was the most I saw of Germany.
RON (Central Coast of California) |
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Forum: General Discussion · Post Preview: #22520 |
| McHaggis |
Posted on: 28-Nov-2003, 10:39 PM |
Replies: 4
Views: 200
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Well, whatever it was, I guess I wasn't offended, OR. But then little offends me enough to complain except directly to the person. I got some sort of note, too, but it wasn't directed at me that I could tell....maybe it was a bulk mail.
I can unintentionally rub folks the wrong way as well, but if I do, make sure to tell me personally, there's no need to go through a moderator, and I will personally apologize for any ruffled feathers....but that's the chances when posting on public forums, I guess.
RON |
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Forum: General Discussion · Post Preview: #22519 |
| McHaggis |
Posted on: 27-Nov-2003, 03:34 PM |
Replies: 26
Views: 924
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Classic little mtn. biking story. About 10 years ago now, my friend and surf buddy, "Coco" Fernandes, decided on a whim that he wanted to enter the Kamikaze Pro-Am Downhill events. He borrowed some BMX armor and a helmet from one guy, got a jersey from somebody else, borrowed $20 for gas from me and we sent him off down the road as "Team Pismo." I think the gig was at Mammoth Mountain.
We figured he'd either get killed or something and would have been happy if he just made it down alive. As it turned out his first race he came in about 19th out of a very, very big field......and he was hooked!
A few years later he was ranked 14th in the world! Haven't seen him in a few years but Coco did us all proud.
Crazy freakin' Peruvian!
*****
Hey, powerlifting, eh, Raven? Great! What was your best lift? I was training along those lines a few years ago but since I broke my back about 30 years ago in The Army my training is limited....nonetheless at 148 lbs. I managed to squeak 225 one rep max. When I start training again here soon, I still have the goal of hitting 300....twice my body weight, but that would be some 2 years after I start serious training again....I think I can put up that poundage!
Some of us do our best work laying down!
RON |
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Forum: General Discussion · Post Preview: #22294 |
How Truly (Pages 1 2 )
| McHaggis |
Posted on: 27-Nov-2003, 03:21 PM |
Replies: 17
Views: 443
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Therasa, when I was planning on coming up to BC I had my eye on buying some land around Upper Arrow Lake around Nelson somewhere, if I recall correctly. Had all kinds of maps and leads on property, the usual research. So yes, the Koots were on my list. The Canadian Rockies are most beautiful. Red Mtn. is pretty popular, that's for sure. Was alsot thinking about that area.
Shall we all hold hands and sing "In The Bluuuuuuue Canadian Rockies......?"
Maybe one day I'll get up there, but as for now, I'm all over snow. I've pretty much had my fill of it in both the Upper Midwest and the American Rockies: Gore Range in Colorado, Wind Rivers and Tetons in Wyoming, some spots around Glacier in Montana, the Sierra Nevada in California.
Nowdays give me a 14 ft. wave --though mostly we find ourselves in the 5 to 8 foot range until winter storms kick in and then we might hit 18 to 20 but sometimes un-rideable if it's completely closing out-- and uncrowded conditions and I'm pretty stoked.....I surf every morning, almost, and have found that if I don't paddle out for a few days I get pretty cranky........atttached is a little shot of my little corner of the world....no big waves that night as you can see.
RON |
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Forum: General Discussion · Post Preview: #22290 |
Pinned: Pub humour (Pages 1 2 3 ...211 )
| McHaggis |
Posted on: 27-Nov-2003, 01:12 PM |
Replies: 3,156
Views: 175,242
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A guy with a big old black eye gets on a city bus and happens to sit down next to a guy who also has a black eye. They kind of laugh at the coincidence and the first man says, by way of explanation, "Well...I kind of had a slip of the tongue. I went to get my bus ticket and there was this truly beautiful and amazingly endowed woman behind the counter and I kind of got tongue-tied and accidently asked her for two Pickets to Tittsburg and she hauled off and punched me!"
The other guy says, "I had a a slip of the tongue, too! My wife and I were sitting at the breakfast table and instead of saying 'please pass the butter,' I accidently
blurted out 'You horrible bitch! You've ruined my LIFE!"
RON |
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Forum: Ye Ole Celtic Pub - Open all day, all night! · Post Preview: #22279 |
How Truly (Pages 1 2 )
| McHaggis |
Posted on: 27-Nov-2003, 12:59 PM |
Replies: 17
Views: 443
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Hey, Therasa! Where in BC are you? I'm down on California's Central Coast at Pismo Beach --where Bugs Bunny was always going in the cartoons--halfway between LA and SF.
I came "this close" to moving to BC back in the mid 80s after returning to California from a 13 year walkabout around the United States, mostly in the Rocky Mountains and the Upper Midwest (MN and WI), but ended up surfing again and haven't left the ocean for more than a year since then....had a cabin in the Sierra Nevada between Tahoe and Yosemite, but only used it in the summer as winter is our best surf season down here.
My father was born in Glasgow, Scotland and I fell onto this site looking for Scottish music to arrange for various brass ensembles.....a motley crew around her for sure, good folks! Much good information about the home country (Catriona is a veritable fount of knowledge!) and lots of good time bantering here as well.
And the music is good....so welcome!
RON |
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Forum: General Discussion · Post Preview: #22278 |
Pinned: Pub humour (Pages 1 2 3 ...211 )
| McHaggis |
Posted on: 26-Nov-2003, 11:41 PM |
Replies: 3,156
Views: 175,242
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Along those same lines:
Woman wakes up and goes downstairs to find her husband sobbing in his Frosted Flakes. "What's a matter?" she says. McHubby says: "Remember when you were 16 and your father caught us in the back seat of my car? Remember how he said either I had to marry you or he make sure I went to prison?" She smiles at the memory and says "Yes, dear, but why are you crying?" His answer? "Because today I would have been a free man!"
RON |
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Forum: Ye Ole Celtic Pub - Open all day, all night! · Post Preview: #22224 |
| McHaggis |
Posted on: 26-Nov-2003, 11:37 PM |
Replies: 26
Views: 924
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Same-same, folks! I have my share of adult bicycle scars also. Mostly from back in the days before helmets or leather hair nets. Never rode in the peloton but did a lot of touring in the Midwest (longest ride was 350 miles) and some urban tactical guerrilla racing with my homies on the streets of Minneapolis back in the day.
Chicks dig scars? Really? I should be more popular since I wear shorts all the time. I got some good ones, though they've faded with age.
RON |
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Forum: General Discussion · Post Preview: #22223 |
| McHaggis |
Posted on: 26-Nov-2003, 11:26 PM |
Replies: 25
Views: 622
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Yes, I have, Celeste! It's not a pretty site.....try traveling with an all-girl color guard for a summer when they start linking up luna-centrically. Takes a brave man, I'll tell ya!
And Annabelle, I subscribe to the old Jamaican song "Men Smart, Women Smarter." And as far as a Mrs. McHaggis, there was one 33 years ago and I have eluded the tender trap since then. Every time I though I was going in that direction something happened: either I moved (which I do a lot) or broke up with them or ?, but I saw how it turned out for the guy that they DID marry and I count my blessings every day and night that it was that fool got caught and not me!
I've nothing against marriage, but finally got old enough to not "need" to be married. When I find a woman with the same attitude, all things considered, I might marry her!
And Shadow: I was going to mention that "half the money and all the ....., well you know" but modesty forbid me. Gary Busey used that line in a movie once.
RON
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Forum: General Discussion · Post Preview: #22221 |
| McHaggis |
Posted on: 26-Nov-2003, 07:38 PM |
Replies: 10
Views: 508
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About the only thing I know for sure I want to witness is the Edinburgh Tattoo and Perth, the home of the Black Watch museum.
Anything else would be cake, I suppose!
Or would that be scones? 
I'll gladly read any suggestions, tho, all I've ever seen of either Scotland or Ireland have been in picture books and videos.
RON |
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Forum: General Discussion · Post Preview: #22198 |
| McHaggis |
Posted on: 25-Nov-2003, 11:05 PM |
Replies: 106
Views: 4,199
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Scary thought, that! Hard to imagine Robin of Locksley with that squint and the ever present cigarette!
RON |
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Forum: General Discussion · Post Preview: #22014 |
| McHaggis |
Posted on: 24-Nov-2003, 06:10 PM |
Replies: 39
Views: 1,368
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There's also a "Surf Kilt" out there but it's for changing out of wetsuits in the parking lot without flashing the rest of the folks. Not too much to see, really, especially for us males........that water is mighty chilly!
RON |
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Forum: General Discussion · Post Preview: #21829 |
| McHaggis |
Posted on: 24-Nov-2003, 02:54 PM |
Replies: 26
Views: 924
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Ave: I, too, have been in that situation. I lived in an old uninsulated farm house in west central Wisconsin for an entire winter in 1979. Heat I had, well, kind of: I had a small woodstove that was the only thing that kept me alive during months of cold weather---try 30 below zero! The well was frozen, no running water (I hauled water from town in 5 gallon containers: 4 at a time....and town was 15 miles away....that would last me maybe 2 weeks?
Picture this: I had the couch pulled up as close to the woodstove as I could without it catching on fire. I slept in a 7" loft North Face superlight down bag, wore a merino wool balaclava, wool mittens, down booties and longjohns and was still cold. My 100 lb. golden retriever, a veteran winter camper in Montana and an ocean swimmer, would whimper on the floor next to me because he was so cold and ended up sleeping on top of me....the cat on top of him. That's how we spent most of the days and nights for at least December, January and February.
A cup of tea brewed on the woodstove would be bubbling hot when I lifted it off the stove but would be luke warm by the time it got to the table....drank a lot of Sherpa tea (tea with melted butter in it) that winter.....trips to the outhouse were infrequent and more than miserable to say the least! Not to mention frozen engine blocks and all the other fun stuff one can imagine!
I hope you're doing better than that, Ave!
RON |
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Forum: General Discussion · Post Preview: #21785 |
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