Post 200

By some amazing coincidence, this is the 200th post on Mushrooms to Motorcycles, and the 200th post awaits my pen (okay, keyboard) on my other site, The Writing Rag. And today is my brother's birthday (not 200th, though). And today is Talk Like a Pirate day. I have to do something about this. Maybe I'll write about pirate lingo in The Writing Rag, but I suppose it makes sense to write about my brother here.
Bob (the rest of the world outside family calls him either Hey You! or Rob) is 16 months younger than I, and my earliest datable memory is of his arrival in our home. I remember being picked up, held over the basinette, and being told "This is your brother!" I also remember thinking "What's a brother?" and "If it's mine, why can't I have it?"

We were playmates throughout our childhood, and I was often guilty of treating him poorly. To this day I can't think why this was so, but I remember the first day I didn't cause a fight all day long. We were well into grade school. He has since been an example to me of how to treat people well.

When we were kids, he wanted a goat for a pet, and we eventually got one. Dad rigged up a goat harness for our wagon.

 Fortunately for me, I grew out of being a jerk, and he forgave me. We have been close all our adult lives, ever since Jr high school or so. When I began to grow up. Bob would probably say I ain't growed up yet. He likes to rib me, and I let him—I consider it fair penance for having mistreated him so badly when we were kids.

Anyway, Bob has become one of the foremost building energy management guys in the country. It started with a part-time job at a heating and air conditioning company when he was in school, and except for his time in the military, he never left the industry. (Unlike me, who has had several unrelated careers over the years.) He regularly consults on projects from large businesses to peoples' homes. He knows everything about heating and air conditioning at any size scale, and he can handle everything from the nuts and bolts to the rather complicated math of designing an air handling system. He regularly teaches classes on assorted related subjects, and he's been involved with energy management training videos, even starring in one. And he's always willing to share what he knows and give free advice. He's a good guy with useful skills. Unlike me, who can only correct people's grammar.

Bob's hobbies are scuba and blacksmithing. We have several iron implements in our house that he made for us over the years. He wants me to get into blacksmithing, too, and maybe when we finally get the addition done, I'll have room in the shed to set up a smithy.  Here are a couple of his wrought-iron implements:

He also rides a Harley, and he's had several over the years. He got his first bike (a Harley 50 cc 2-stroke) when he was in late high school or early college.

I suppose I better show him on a more recent bike. The pillion is my wife. Maybe he'll add a comment and include a photo of his current ride, a nice Harley with a custom sidecar.

Bob cleans up pretty well. Here's a photo from the last time we were together. I still think I could take him in a wrestling match, but I'm not going to try to find out—He was an airborne ranger (Lt. Col, ret), and he's pretty loyal to his military service.

Happy birthday, bro.











PS he sent me a shot of his side hack, so here it is: