Why Harley Davidson Closing Plant Due To Declining Sales

Harley Davidson Closing Plant Due To Declining Sales

From a friend........

Harley Davidson Closing Plant Due to Declining Sales

Apparently the Baby-Boomers all have motorcycles. 

Generation X is only buying a few, and the next generation isn't buying any at all.

A recent study was done to find out why?

Here are the reasons why Millennials don't ride motorcycles:

1.  Pants won't pull up far enough for them to straddle the seat.

2.  Can't get their phone to their ear with a helmet on.

3.  Can't use 2 hands to eat while driving.

4.  They don't get a trophy and a recognition plaque just for buying one.

5.  Don't have enough muscle to hold the bike up when stopped.

6  Might have a bug hit them in the face and then they would need emergency care.

7.  Motorcycles don't have air conditioning.

8.  They can't afford one because they spent 12 years in college trying to get educated.

9.  They are allergic to fresh air.

10. Their pajamas get caught on the exhaust pipes.

11. They might get their hands dirty checking the oil.

12. The handle bars have buttons and levers and cannot be controlled by touch-screen.

13. You have to shift manually and use something called a clutch.

14. It's too hard to take selfies while riding.

15. They don't come with training wheels like their bicycles did.

16. Motorcycles don't have power steering or power brakes.

17. Their nose ring interferes with the face shield.

18. They would have to use leg muscle to back up.

19. When they stop, a light breeze might blow exhaust in their face.

20 It could rain on them and expose them to non-soft water.

21. It might scare their therapy dog, and then the dog would need therapy.

  Shamelessly stolen very blade of grass


    Will post something tomorrow just got back from the lake.

Sold and Sold

   Well  I sold the Blountsville property and my BOL. Both went to folks that have more use for them than I will in the near future.

    Our granddaughter bought my bug out property to put her camper on . Whether or not she will move and live there remains to be seen. I hope they will . She is getting married on the 25 th of this month. They are talking about how they are going to fix the property up . They pay 700$ a month in apartment rent which to me is unbelievable . The way I see it with the camper and the 10 x 20 shed properly placed and porched  so both are usable they could be living for basically free. There would be plenty of room to build a nice cabin as they could with the money saved. I cant  say if they will or wont but I can hope.

     On the 25th I will be catering the granddaughters wedding .
Its going to be a casual event at the lake . I doubt there will be a suit attending . Knowing both sides of their family's there will be a lot of drinking and country music. And yes it will be BBQ  Butts Ribs and chicken  baked beans, coleslaw and tater salad.

President John Tyler's Grandsons Are Still Alive

Here's the most amazing thing you'll ever read about our 10th president:
John Tyler was born in 1790. He took office in 1841, after William Henry Harrison died. And he has two living grandchildren.
Not great-great-great-grandchildren. Their dad was Tyler’s son.

How is this possible?

The Tyler men have a habit of having kids very late in life. Lyon Gardiner Tyler, one of President Tyler’s 15 kids, was born in 1853. He fathered Lyon Gardiner Tyler Jr. in 1924, and Harrison Ruffin Tyler in 1928.
We placed a somewhat awkward call to the Charles City County History Center in Virginia to check in on the Tylers.
After we shared this fact on Twitter in 2012, Dan Amira interviewed Harrison Tyler for New York Magazine. Lyon Tyler spoke to the Daughters of the American Revolution a while back. Snopes is also in on the fact.

February 15, 2016 -

  If my math is right John Tyler had  Lyon at 63 !!!!
Lyon had his sons at 71 & 75 !!!!!
  
    Found at mental floss

Family

   Sorry for not posting for a while. We all know life gets hectic at the holidays. I hope every one had a good Christmas and New Year. It seems like for 2 weeks we have run somewhere  every day. All in all it was a nice time with family .

     It looks like me and the wife will be getting our house back to our selves by the end of the month. I am down to odds and ends on my daughters place before she can move in. My Son got the Deed he has been waiting on and we put in a couple of days their .  All he needs me for is to have a new power panel set and re splice the house wiring . The step daughter and grandkids HAVE TO GO!!!!
We love them but the level of activity and noise is unbelievable. Its beyond normal the mom is a hollower on face book 24/7. The kids want to be entertained and are incapable of imagination or self amusement .

Household growth

     For over a year I have been trying to get my 2 kids out of the house. I am about 2 weeks from my daughter's place being ready for her to move into. My son just got the paper work on that piece of property we have been wanting for a year. This one just need power and 2 days cosmetic work inside.

     Just when it looks like we get the house back the wife's youngest daughter and the 2 grandkids moved in 3 weeks ago. Her and her husband lived in a basement apartment at his mothers house. Bla bla bla mom in law got into a fight . His mom told her to get out. The fight was because our daughter doesn't work . Now in our daughters defense the most she has ever made was 9$ an hour . She would have to pay 300 a week for day care resulting in a net loss.

   Long story short her and 2 kids (2 and 4) are living here. He is living there, they are sleeping in my camper :( while he has to make do with a 3 bedroom, living room, kitchen 2 bath apartment alone. His mom has money and he is scared  she would cut off his freebies. He makes 18.25 an hour they pay NO rent or utilities and are broke.

    I blame  Both him and our daughter for being spineless leechs . His mom is one that dangles a carrot from a stick so she can control them.

  I don't know how this will turn out. Everyone is Mad at me now . I made my view known . Told him all this was her buying him back because she abandoned him and his brother with their father when he was to 2 and returned when he was 28. And he was a SORRY S.O.B to allow his wife and kids to be run off while he stayed  for the free ride instead of leaving with them and getting them a home of their own. If he didn't like my opinion he was welcome to try and knock me on my ass but it wouldn't end well for him.

   Ok I have vented  . Thank you!

Short vacation.

    Me and the wife went camping this week the temps have been perfect to be at the lake. I didn't want to go but she whispered promises in my ear so I was game. We had planed on leaving Tuesday morning but we kept the grand kids (4 &2)and that takes a day to recover from. I had to come home this morning to do BBQ but I will go back tomorrow after I get done. My wife's sister is staying with her while I am here. Even a short vacation helps recharge the batteries.

    I hate leaving the wife but the BBQ has returned to good profitability .After a long hot slow summer it feels good to be making decent money again. Which is needed because the water company finally approved to install the water meter at my daughters place. That's next weeks project having the water turned on and running down and fixing leaks. I still haven't found a licensed Electrician to run from the pole to the trailer. The power company has a new policy any inactive addresses for 2 years requires an inspection . I will set no dead line I have said end of the month since July and its now October .

I got repaid :) .

   Awhile back I had wrote about our granddaughter, her trailer and loan problems. Well she got her taxes back and made a bee line here and paid me for her camper/home. She also paid her Title loan off and deposited a thousand in a C D in case she needs a self funded loan during the year . I am proud of her she got back more than she expected and has used it wisely. She is debt free with  money in the bank a place to live and her trailblazer is getting tuned and aligned. Now if she can find a boyfriend that WORKS she will be on the right road.

Bad money habits are taught.

     Yesterday I posted I had bought my wife's Granddaughter a camper to live in. OK she is 27  , 3 year old son and has been living in bad apartments and couch surfing till she moved back in with her mom last summer. My wife's daughter has a bad habit of using title loan and payday advance loans when she is short or has an unexpected expense .In years past we have saved her car twice from repo.  Well she past this on to Dee the granddaughter and got her to do a title loan for a property down payment. Ok what is done is done. I told Dee I would buy this camper IF she did 2 things when she got her income tax refund. Repay Me and go to the bank and refinance her title loan.

   Ok her title loan was for 2500$ 2000 for the land and 500 for tires. Terms was 257$ for 24 months that's 6100$ for 2500$ I had a freaking heart attack that she did this. Ok as a single working mom her refund will be close to 4500 $. Dee said she was going to pay off the title loan and use the rest for the camper . Great plan but not the one I want her to do. She learned her money skills from her mom I have to break that and make her see a better way!

    When her refund comes in she has agreed to deposit 2000 in Cds and take out a 2000 dollar loan to pay off her title loan. She will repay me for the camper and that will leave her  1200$ in savings for emergency's . The bank loan will cost her 172$ for 12 months giving her 85$ a month extra and 2000$ in the bank next year. When I showed her on paper what she would save every month and have next year she called her Mom over to show her. Her Mom said why do that you mite as well keep the title loan. Dee responded are you crazy? Her mom just didn't get it but Dee did.
    I will never change her moms money habits every year she spends like a drunken sailor when her refund comes in. I think I have gotten through to Dee . Dee asked if I pay 172 a month for 4 year I could buy a 8000$ car for cash ?  She is thinking in the right direction . No you borrow your own money and repay your self so in 8 years you would have the car and your 8000$ for 172$ a month. Her reply was WOW why don't they teach this in school . Good question.

Good deals have bad timing.

      No I didn't get me anything. I got my step granddaughter a camper. She is a single mom and has been living with her mom for a year. Her mom lives in a house that her boyfriend owns and as always happens its been DRAMA every couple of weeks.
   Both daughter and Granddaughter want there own place and they bought an acre lot with utilities in place . It was a lease to own deal they made without talking to me or their mom. 2000 down and 100 a month  for 10 years. I think they over paid but they are happy.

    Our Daughter is looking for a used mobile home or large camper for her and her son (14yo). Dee the granddaughter wanted a camper for her and the great-grandson (3yo).  Last summer I told her she needed a camper so she would never be homeless and she has been saying My next home will have wheels.

     Christmas afternoon we had a flood around here and they spent the night . I got on Craig's list and was looking at campers. I know Dee was hoping to find her a camper when she got her income tax refund but prices on campers are high and go up at income tax time. So I asked Dee do you want a 5000 nice camper or would you be happy with a beat up one for 1500 to 2500 for a year or two then up grade.

     Dee told me she would have 1800 left after she paid off her CAR Title loan she took for the property down payment. So a beater was what she wanted. I told her I didn't know if that would get her one suited for a woman and child but I would try, well I found an 89 Layton 29 foot with rear bedroom and futon couch in living room . We went Saturday and saw it. For its age it was solid but nasty inside the guy that was selling was BAT SHIT CRAZY . We haggled a little and I said I had 1000$ cash and would take it home . He agreed to the price .

     Now Dee has a place to stay even if it is in her moms drive for now . I will haul it to their lot in a few weeks . She is going to repay me when her income tax comes in. This camper in this area would have been 2500 + in the spring if cleaned . So us spending 1000 now saved her 1500 later. When her income tax comes in me and her are going to the bank and set her on a 1 year course to be debt free and money in the bank. Title and payday loans are a sure way to never have anything.

Do you have useful junk to.

     At some point in every one's life we need to inventory what we have in our home and what purpose it serves.Anyone that is over 40 probably has a lot of stuff that has accumulated and no this isn't a post on having a yard sale.I have a packed house and 3 sheds.The sheds are my domain and the house is my wife's.I was thinking about building a new shed because the 3 were over flowing but i have changed my approach.USE OR GET RID OF THE CRAP!!!! If i haven't used it in 5 years it needs to go.Yard sale Craig's list E bay or dump.Now the part that kills me is I paid good money for some of the crap that is just sitting.The first thing i did was clean out an area in one building for stuff that i will need for my vending trailers.This was the inventory part.

     I do BBQ for a living but i have 4 trailers not counting 3 campers.3 of the trailers need to be set up for something.When i was going through the sheds i found I had a ton of equipment not in use.
 stoleing ice cream machine
 funnel cake cooker
 shaved ice maker/snowball
 a 50 count hot dog/sausage cooker
 cotton candy maker
 nacho cheese and chip station
 pizza oven commercial set up
 full size propane stove/oven
 2 box smokers capable of 400lb cooking
 3 high output 2 burner stove tops
 40lb 2 basket fryer
 20lb 4 basket counter fryer
  This list is'nt bragging it is STUPID that i have all this stored and not in use or sold.I closed down my store 3 years ago sure some of it was from it but most of this crap i just got for a steal.BUT what good is it doing in my shed.Between now and the first of the year I plan on setting up 4 trailers.My trailer is already in demolition stage and will be built by November(I told you in an earlier post i was building a LARGE multi use one)but i will have 3 trailers to set with 
   1. funnel cake and ice cream
   2  shaved ice ,cotton candy, nachos
   3  pizza hot dog/smoked sausage,Sub/hogies
  This will clear out my sheds of a lot of large item's and my yard of vending trailers.First i will see if any of the kids or grand kids may be interested in using them.If that fails it is time to sell them.I am 1man i can't use 2 at once let alone 4.I hope the kids will try it my worst weekend in 3 year i made 180$ for 8 hours work and my best i made 1600$ in 10 hour of work.The kids think it is a waste of their time to even try.I love it, it isn't work its fun, smiling people make it worth doing.Its paid for equipment it needs to be put to use.I do not need to store stuff i want to clear out and not have the up keep.
    What have you stuck back and got that needs to be used or got rid of ? I bet it is more than you think.For me it was an eye opener.

If your a Grandpa you need to see this !

Saw this on http://ofmadventures.blogspot.com/ as a grandpa i loved it.

Never under estimate kids screwing up plans.

      When you are making plans be it for a trip to the lake or for the end of the world assume one or more of your kids will screw it up.The way that they can do it are endless.Never under estimate them if they can find a way they will.A lot of parents try to be friends with their kids my wife fits that profile,Me I take the I AM THE KING, approach.To some this may sound unkind but it isn't its my job!No group can survive living by committee.Yes other input is important but in the end someone has to make a decision and enforces it.
      This little rant was caused by planning a 5 day trip to the lake going with our sister in law and was going to have 3 of the kids and 2 grand kids spend the weekend up there.My wife's youngest daughter is in jail on a failure to appear for 30 days everyone thinks us going to the lake should be canceled .I didn't get picked up she did the others shouldn't suffer I am going our plans or camping at the beach wont change.My job is to make these plans for everyone to have fun.I am sorry she is not going to go but as a FATHER i have to think of the rest of the family.This is just 2 trips that i have had to provide for.If this was a matter of life and death i would still side with what is best for the rest.Now to be fair if it wasn't this child it would have been my son.These two seem to do this every time we plan or are on a trip.We even plan on it and wonder what it will be.
     

Homeless Relitives are getting old!!!!!

        For the last 2 and a 1/2 weeks my wife's oldest granddaughter has been staying with us.This girl is 29 and has been homeless and crashed on more couches than she can count.Her and her new husband lost their apartment last month lived in their car for 2 weeks before he got back into tile work.The car blew the heads he borrowed his moms car for now,The new job was to work out of state for 3 weeks so we got Brandy.After I threw my son out i swore i was done with house guests but i gave in and agreed to give her a chance.She has not been a problem but her lifestyle and spending habits are at the root of her problem.This girl burned the roads up for a week till the ball joints broke on the car.I had it towed to my mechanics shop my buddy is fixing it for 200 anyway her other bad habit is small spending 5 here 10 there it was adding up.
     After a few days of staying at Granny's she was antsy to GO and called a friend ,no problem shes 29 .Friday before she went to work(part time as a waitress) I asked her how much had Chuck sent her in the last 2 weeks.The sum was 300$ OK what do you have to show for it? Your sleeping here eating here and we take you to work now i know you gave us 40 for gas but what else did you have for the rest?She looked at me and said nothing it just went The cost to tow and fix your car almost right.Yea i think i see your point.
      OK chuck has to have his mom,s car fixed and back in a week so I have a friend that has a long wheel base van that runs its a old work van but for 1000$ and a little fixing up inside it will get them a place to sleep and a way to work.Chuck her husband will be back in town in the morning I will pitch the van idea.Otherwise i am hauling them and the teardrop to a campground and wishing them luck.2 week loan of my camper is all i will do.A van fixed up for under 1400 or homelessness.Am i being to hard?

A good read.About what may come

     http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.com/2014/01/seven-sustainable-technologies.html

         If you have never read his blog i strongly recommend it.He is a little different in that he is a practicing druid and believes we are in for a long slow decent as a civilisation back to sustainable population and level of technology.Now if you are a believer that we will have a TEOTWAWKI event he my piss you off.The druid says we are going to repeat declines of the past.He thinks most preppers want to survive and not have to change from today's lifestyle.
        I have read his blog for over a year and he makes a strong argument for his beliefs but even he admits that there will be periods of steep decline followed by periods of recovery.Now i don't know about you but a steep decline in my life time would qualify as the SHTF but to him its history repeating itself.

     I do not know about most people but to me long term thinking is in decades.To some it is only a year others it may be generational.It is hard to think in terms of hundreds of years.At 50 years of age i only have to think about the next 30 or so years.To think beyond my life time is scary.

Its getting to be the holidays

     Its almost thanksgiving soon to be Christmas.Now i love the holidays family the food.What i hate is the stress that always seems to come this time of year.My wife always tries to make everyone happy with family plans but its not possible with 7 kids and 3 grown grand kids.I keep telling her we just need to find times where most are happy.She wants us all to go out to dinner,we tried that last year a party of 25 people.You would think restaurant's would like a party of people that size NOPE ,Cracker barrel said no Lone Star said a Hell No.We did get in at an Apple bee,s It was OK service was good food fair.As me and the wife get older we have quit buying presents (we do for the 3 young grand kids) we take everyone out to dinner.

    Even though we don't buy individual gifts for the family we do make boy girl gift bags.We have found it is easier to do than anything else.a girls bag has hand lotion, candle.candy,and a few other things.A boys bag has socks gloves thin mints a flashlight and a Pint of my Moonshine that is oak aged.Some folks may Think its lazy to not buy a gift specific to a person but as a family grows it becomes difficult and i hate gift cards.Last year dinner for 25 and 32 bags the bill was over 800 and we are still adding to the number with new grand kids and great grand kids.\
      Like i said the holidays are nice but the stress takes a lot away from it.With little kids in the picture maybe it will be fun again in a few years.Nothing like seeing a 2 year old shredding paper.The kids are asking what me and the wife want they don't understand at our age we have all of our needs and most of our wants.

CADES COVE foggy morning

Fog was rising before we left but made for a differant visit.

Here is the two animals that I wanted to hide from.The smaller one is capable of running at top speed all day long.The large one isnt as fast but is louder and more annoying!!!! ;)

Been a great weekend.

     This week has been kinda full.I have almost finished getting the garage roof on.Did my BBQ and had good sales i am going to have to increase what i cook am back to running out before 3. I love football season everyone around here watch Alabama or Auburn and i get a lot of orders on game day.Friday seems to be Ladies day they grab whole butts  or 5 to 10 sandwiches so they don't have to cook.Hope it stays like this till Christmas.
    Maybe next week blogger will let me upload a few pics.Got a few of the garage and the BBQ smoker and stand. I would be farther along but going up and down a ladder did my knees in had to take a couple of days off the roof .Did get a few other odd and end piddly stuff done.
     Today was the grandsons birthday he is 2 and we got him a 6 volt rideing car to ride around the yard.Picked the toy car up at a yard sale for 30 bucks and it looked like new.Kids don't know if its new or not.It beat a new one at 129$ .

Company

      Have had my mom visiting the last 2 days been kinda nice normally i drive up to see her.This time she came down for a few days she plans on going home Wednesday.Mom is 70 years old and her age is beginning to affect her more and more.I think this visit has really shown me i need to spend more time with her than i have in the past.She has Parkinson's and i do not think she will be driving much by next summer.Its 75 miles to her house and this summer she has had leg tremors in her right leg.I think her long drives are about over when she is at home a long drive for her is 5 miles.I carried her to SAMs club she likes to stock up on some items.I don't like for her to drive here in town her home town has maybe 4000 people in a 20 mile area.

     I think this visit has shown me mom is getting old,its strange you never want to admit that someone you love is hitting the last years of their life but it happens to everyone.My brother lives with her so i do know she is looked after.Really I'm not sure who looks after who but it has seemed to work.My brother is a mommas boy always has been always will be but it has kept her going since my stepfather passed away.I have always been the blacksheep in the family but i think i will be visiting more.I don't want to look back after shes gone and wonder what was so damn important that i didn't spend the time with her i could have.In the end what do we have except for family , friends and memory's?

Why bib overall matter.

     Yesterday i made a comment on farmer in bib overalls.Well this is how i learned about the men that wear them.
     When i was about 12 my grandfather loaded up about 6 cows for the auction.We has 6 cows in a 68 model Chevy and i mean aload so off to the sale we went.For a 12 year old at his first cattle auction i was mesmerized by the cows and bulls the ring men and the cadence of the auctioneer.The place was full of old cattlemen with muddy boots and overalls telling lies and caring on and grand paw was right in the middle with them with me tagging along.Now you could spot the meat company men because they wore suits and sat on the front row.I still remember when a Brahma bull cleared the ring and the handlers jumped the rail and landed in the lap of the men in suits.All the ranchers and farmer roared laffing.When it was all said and done we went up to the office to settle up.As the bills were tallied my grandfather and a group was betting on coke bottles.The game went like this old coke bottles had a city and state listed on the bottom showing where it was made who ever pulled the bottle from the farther est point won the pool.There was about 10 overall wearing farmer playing at 5.00 a pull so it was a 50.00 pot and grand paw was right in with em.Well one of the girl hollered at one of the men his bill was toted he said who owes who she told him he owed almost 6000 for what he bought.Well he pulls a wad of hundreds out of that bibb pocket and tosses it to the ladie  tells her to peel it off of that he is busy playing.When she counts it out marks the bill paid she hands it back to him he shoves it back in the pocket.She asks him count it to make sure he just turns around and says it feels about right then he tells all the men  he has to go been fun.When we were in the truck i told my grand paw that roll of cash was more than i had ever seen and how could a man dressed in overalls carry it around like that.Old gran paw told me that that man could buy and sell most 10 times and had earned it the hard way.He told me tha if i ever dealt with a man in bibb overall and mud to his knees.He may be broke but his word was his bond and if he was buying he would have cash in his bibb pocket.Well in my life i have never been done wrong by a man in overalls and i have seen handshake and cash deals done in a minute that most men would need legal papers drawn.On more than one thing some of those old timers have used the phrase "just you wait and see if I'm right"I don't drought what life has taught the few that were old bibb overalls .Ever since that cattle sale i know never to make lite of those men.

no sleeping on the beach

  Some people just cant keep up with us old folks.


the family hoped a seagull well you get the idea

    My step daughter took a nap as we played in the sand.

our spoiled grandson Noah

The little one was wide open all day even as his momma was snoring in a chair. Its funny you have kids when your young but there no fun until you get thegrands.Ever wish you could have skiped kids and gone straight to grandkids? I have.Hear is my sister in law building a sandcastle in the surf.It was more like a hole with sea water in it.


digging is useless on the beach

 Everyone needs a break even an unemployed fat man like me it was nice to have some of the family togeather with us.Normaly me and the wife camp alone but i think we will be inviting our son and linda to go with us on more we had fun.The bigest reason we cant is they work durring the week and i do the BBQ on the weekends.If i worked a regular job i couldnt afford or have time to enjoy life.Unlearn and live!
     It is amazing what you can do when you owe no banker and keep what you earn.STARVE THE BEAST and OWE NO BANKER!!!!!!!