Okay back to my real live monster story, as mentioned before in part one, My Cousin BJ And The Day I Saw A Real Monster Close Up . I did recognize BJ and he came over where I had motioned an waved because I saw him scanning everyone and he resembled himself still only much older now. We talked about family for awhile and played catch up and then I asked him why he was in and he showed me a newspaper clipping.

I still have it somewhere I’ll look for it and add it at a later date because I’m lazy right now. He referred to his crime as hanging bad paper, in other words he was going up and down the coastline making company payroll checks and as the article said even though all stores had been warned to be on the look out these people were still cashing the checks.

When arrested they found many sets of id’s, driver licenses, birth certificates and social security cards plus all his equipment. I will say he was smart when it came to conning people. He had to be the best con artist I have ever met. He started telling me about his life inside and started pointing out the different people and telling me what they were in for.

He told me that some of these men would have their girlfriends or wives slip drugs in to them. Also when visits were over these inmates knew they would be strip searched and every orifice checked, I certainly wouldn’t want any visitors myself if I had to submit to something like that. He said that with just suspicion some of the suspected carries were also strip searched when entering the prison.

It seems a lot of inmates get religion on the inside or at least pretend they do. I saw one man with a young pretty woman walking by his side and he was pushing a baby carriage, but he had guards all around him and wasn’t allowed near the other inmates. I asked why he was so heavily guarded and BJ told me because there were death threats against him and even a contract out on the baby.

I was appalled that anyone would want to harm a baby. BJ had told me how much inmates hated child molesters and child murders so I couldn’t understand why they would want to hurt that baby. Then he told me who that person was and I felt physically sick. It was none other than Tex Watson, what right did this animal have to be walking around with a pretty new wife and baby at his side?

Why did Tex Watson have the right to be to be married at all and get conjugal visits? I was disgusted because all of the images and knowledge of what he had done to Sharon Tate and her baby plus all his other victims swelled up before my eyes. This monster was allowed to be at the country club of California prisons, be married and have a baby. My God is that the way we treat murderers of babies allow them to procreate life and take care of all their needs?

I was really shaking and upset when it was finally time to go and I couldn’t get out of there soon enough I had actually seen a monster close up and it was married to someones daughter. I think the inmates were thinking the baby had to be evil with Watson genes and that an eye for an eye was perfect for this born again professed christian, but as we now know that never happened and after 3 kids and 25 years of marriage they divorced in 2001.

I have been a fan of boxing since I watched Cassius Clay who later changed his name to Muhammad Ali in 64. I wavered a bit when he was refered to as a draft dodger, but to each his own. I enjoyed watching him prance around and enjoyed the banter between him and Howard Cosell whom Paw Paw couldn’t stand and considered Cosell as a has been laywer that made up his own words.

There have been a lot of great boxers since Ali, but as far as I’m concerned none better. The biggest money making fight in history however was the Floyd Mayweather Jr vs. Oscar De La Hoya in 07 and now it looks like there will be a rematch in September at the MGM unless the venue is changed. They say that the winner has the advantage in a rematch, but you never know there could be an upset. I did enjoy Mayweather on Dancing With The Stars because that’s one of my favorite shows.

I don’t think this fight will generate as much cash as the last, but if they promote it right I guess it could. So the big question is, Is Mayweather retired or not? Was this just hype to build up the next big fight or not? How can they already be hyping ticket sales if they aren’t really going to do this thing. I think they will have the rematch and I think De La Hoya will win even though he will have been without a match for 16 months or somewhere around there.

I was just looking at the prices for the Mayweather/De La Hoya tickets and realized there is no way I can afford them even though they are quoted as being cheaper and better seats than if you purchased through the Floyd Mayweather Jr vs. Oscar De La Hoya tickets box office, I still couldn’t swing it even though we all know you will see some of the biggest celebrities that can and will be there.

Well, for those of us that are poor there will be PPV and there are always parties surrounding these events that will make it convenient to view even if it’s not like being right there. It’s still fun so long as the fight lasts longer than 1 round like some of Mike Tysons’. Now that would have really ticked me off if I had paid all that money for some of his fights unless it was the one he bit Evander Holyfield’s ear off in 97.

I don’t know if every family has one, but my family certainly does. I’m not referring to the monster yet, however I am talking about an older cousin who thought the world owed him something. I remember BJ as a funny grown up young man that liked to play the guitar and sing and was always smiling and I was a lot younger so I didn’t know all the stuff he had his fingers dipped in.

Seems BJ was a crook and spent a lot of time in and out of jail before he moved to California and then he was a Mafia wannabe, but of course he wasn’t Italian, but it still didn’t stop him from trying. Apparently he was pretty stupid because he spent some time in Folsom and some of those other prisons that I can’t remember the names of.

I will say one thing he was a survivor right up till his death and that was maybe 10 years ago and surprisingly it wasn’t from being in prison or getting shot or something. He had to have a liver transplant and lived quite a few years before complications set in. Of course if he hadn’t started drinking again he might have lived longer, see I told you he was stupid.

Okay back to the monster part now. About 25 years ago or somewhere around there I was living in Reno and my brother sent me word that BJ was in the California Men’s Colony or CMC and would really like a visit from family so since I was the only one out there that meant me. So he put me on his list and I had no idea what to expect. Of course I was sent a list of do’s and dont’s, but I wasn’t really prepared.

I think I took the bus, but as much as I’ve driven all over the country I can’t be clear on that point. I do remember the coastline was beautiful and being nervous about this adventure. Thinking back it was the bus because there were other people going to visit inmates and I remember them telling me about things to expect and where to get the shuttle to go to CMC.

Early next morning I was up on time and very nervous waiting for the shuttle and cussing myself out for saying I would come and what a rotten way to spend my vacation and I certainly hoped he appreciated this visit. When the shuttle came everyone piled on and off we went. They pulled up outside the prison and we were taken into a house called “Friends On The Outside.”

I found out that we had to take all of our street clothes off and change into clothes that they kept there for people on the “Outside” boy you talk about humiliating. I was really cussing myself by now and thinking I was as stupid as him for even coming, but then I thought about my Mama and she would have appreciated this visit I was putting myself out for if she were still alive.

Any personal belongings had to be in a plastic zipper bag so everything could be seen. We were then ushered through the gates and up to the prison and through the detectors or whatever they had and put into the huge waiting area where tables were and machines for refreshments and everyone waited for whoever it was they were there to see. I wasn’t sure if I would recognise BJ after all this time, but I did.

I spent the weekend riding my scooter and checking out all the local yard sales. I found lots of infant clothes and most of them look brand new. I’m quite sure if I had bought all that stuff new it would have cost between 300. and 400. dollars and I got it all for 50 bucks. I spent last night washing everything even though it was already clean and I’m sure my daughter-in-law will wash it again when I take it to Kentucky in August.

I of course asked my son first before I went looking because some people are funny when it comes to second hand clothes for their brand new baby, but I’m frugal and I love finding a bargain and I guess my Son is more like me than I knew. I personally love thrift stores, you can find all kinds of great deals. I love second hand clothes and it matters not to me that they aren’t brand spanking new. I wont buy someone else’s shoes or underwear though.

Yesterday Bill’s Son took us for a biker breakfast in Lebanon for Father’s Day. I bet there was at least 1,000 bikes there or more and it benefited the fire company. It was $10. per adult all you can eat and believe me there were lots of adults. So I’m quite sure they made a bundle not to much all the extra donations. Both Bill and I were queasy so I felt bad that we didn’t eat 20.00’s worth, but it was for a good cause.

For Bill the best part was getting to ride with his Son again. Since the birth of his 2 Grandbabies his Son doesn’t ride much any more and Bill really misses that, so that was a great Father’s Day present for him. It was a really nice ride and I got to see a lot of new scenery because we don’t normally travel that route. It was chilly so we got to wear our new Harley jackets down, of course we didn’t need them coming back.

When we got home I decided I wanted more practise on my scooter in traffic and Bill let me pick the route, boy was that dumb not him, ME. I decided I wanted to try going to Red Lion and boy was that a mistake, all the hills and that little scooter was straining so hard, but I had to pull over several times because I was too slow so cars could go around me. I now realize that this scooter is only good for getting around town and it’s great for that.

I have decided to look for a Honda Rebel because it’s small and Bill swears up and down that he can teach me to shift gears. I have never been very coordinated so I have my doubts, but at least now I’m willing to try learning because I want more power and bigger wheels than the 10 inch on the scooter. I found out yesterday that with the small wheel base that it’s difficult to maneuver around curbs and take turns correctly and forget about stopping in gravels.

I am very grateful that I made it back all in one piece without wrecking and hurting myself or someone else. I will stick to flat roads and low speed limits until I get something with better speed and manageability. At least I got a lot more confidence even if my nerves were bad the rest of the night. At least I now know what I can and can’t do with this little scooter. If we find a good deal on a Rebel we will probably keep the scooter because Bill likes it and it’s great on gas.

I have always liked Peyton Manning because he played college football for Tennessee my home state and was then drafted by the Colts in 98. This isn’t about him though it’s about his younger brother Eli Manning and his victory for the Giants in the last Super Bowl over the Patriots. I of course didn’t make any money on this Super Bowl because it was an upset and I didn’t see it coming.

Eli Manning is the second quarterback and Joe Montana of course is the first ever to throw two fourth-quarter touchdowns in Super Bowl history. I am a Redskin fan and a Joe Gibbs fan in Particular, but when you see a great athlete you can’t help but root for them especially if they have had a lot of bad press and hadn’t lived up to the rest of the family expectations.

His Father and brother of course are people he has felt like he has had to live up to being great Quarterbacks themselves and believe me when the MVP trophy was given to Eli from Terry Bradshaw another great quarterback that had to be a crowning moment that will never be forgotten. The boy had arrived and played some of the best plays ever.

I have always been a sports fan and we have always revered our star athletes as someone to look up to and it really doesn’t matter what sport it is. I also love how major companies seek these top stars to endorse their products and most of these stars will only endorse a product that is just as great as their star status is because they don’t want to mislead and Eli Manning is one of the Unstoppable Ambassadors for Citizen Watch.

Eli is now living the American dream and he can pick and choose the products he wants to endorse and have his name behind and what better product than a company that has been in business for 84 years and is already a proven winner in watch manufacturing. Eli isn’t the only great sport figure that backs Citizen there are others just to name a few such as Emeka Okafor, Paula Creamer, and Nicole Vaidisova.

These celebrities deserve all the good things that life has to offer and I salute each and every one on their victories.

When I ride the scooter my jeans pull on my knees and restrict my mobility and that makes it very uncomfortable and draws my attention away from what I should be focusing on. So the other day I had to go searching for special jeans just for riding my scooter. It took me forever to find the right ones and I hate to shop and apparently so does Bill unless we’re at a swap meet.

Since riding on the regular streets with automobiles and trucks all around I need all my concentration focused on traffic since I’m still a novice. I visited the Motorcycle Safety Foundation and was reading their tips for all car and truck drivers and things they need to know which I am going to list below because it’s important.

I realize that more than ever since a truck pulling into the fairgrounds didn’t even stop and almost caused me to crash into him. People that are use to riding bikes and scooters are always more alert when driving a car or truck because they know how inconsiderate drivers are toward bikers and that they just don’t think especially the ones on their cell phones.

I think you’re going to find a lot more people turning to bikes and scooters for transportation because of the soaring fuel prices. I know the dealer we bought my scooter from said his sales were way up. I am seriously thinking about selling mine and getting a 150 cc because I think I will be safer with a bigger tire and more power when I pull out.

These are very good tips and should be read by everyone just so you will be more aware. Please take a moment to read, you could save a life and it might even be yours.

QUICK TIPS:
Ten Things All Car & Truck Drivers Should Know About Motorcycles
1. There are a lot more cars and trucks than motorcycles on the road, and some drivers don’t “recognize” a motorcycle; they ignore it (usually unintentionally). Look for motorcycles, especially when checking traffic at an intersection.

2. Because of its small size, a motorcycle may look farther away than it is. It may also be difficult to judge a motorcycle’s speed. When checking traffic to turn at an intersection or into (or out of) a driveway, predict a motorcycle is closer than it looks.

3. Because of its small size, a motorcycle can be easily hidden in a car’s blind spots (door/roof pillars) or masked by objects or backgrounds outside a car (bushes, fences, bridges, etc). Take an extra moment to thoroughly check traffic, whether you’re changing lanes or turning at intersections.

4. Because of its small size a motorcycle may seem to be moving faster than it really is. Don’t assume all motorcyclists are speed demons.

5. Motorcyclists often slow by downshifting or merely rolling off the throttle, thus not activating the brake light. Allow more following distance, say 3 or 4 seconds. At intersections, predict a motorcyclist may slow down without visual warning.

(That’s why we bought the backoff light module, if you just touch the brake it will flash 3 times stay on then start flashing all over again and believe me that will get your attention)

6. Turn signals on a motorcycle usually are not self-canceling, thus some riders, (especially beginners) sometimes forget to turn them off after a turn or lane change. Make sure a motorcycle’s signal is for real.

(That would be me, because I do forget sometimes, but I do my best to remember)