Tuesday, October 6, 2009

You're Putting the Harley Where?

Many people are writing about how much they love fall. I enjoy fall, I don’t love it. I will always be a summer girl. And although I think fall is the prettiest time of year, and I really love all things fall, such as pumpkin spice lattes, apple picking, haunted houses, sitting on the couch in front of the fire and putting the lawn mower away for the season, it doesn’t even come in at my second favorite season.

My second favorite season is spring. After a long, cold Chicago winter, there are few things that are better than watching tulips bloom, feeling the warmth of a 60 degree spring day, taking the lawn mower out for the season, shedding the layers of winter clothing, even looking at a yard full of dandelions. By the time February rolls around, winter is getting on my last nerve, as I am sure I am getting on everyone else’s last nerve because winter turns me into a whiny bitch. A mope-a-lope if you will. That’s what Leland calls me in the winter. So spring is definitely my second favorite season. And next spring will have new meaning for me because it’ll be the time I can take my motorcycle out of the dining room and take it for my first springtime ride.

That’s right, I said take it out of the dining room.

Now that it’s fall, it is time to put the motorcycle away for the season. I am hoping to get one more ride in before the weather gets really bad, but the way my schedule is looking, I’m not sure that is going to happen. Leland and I have been building a deck for the past 2 weekends and will continue working on it this weekend. Riding during the week is a possibility, but with fall in Chicago also comes a lot of rain. I have no interest in riding in the rain. I’m pretty hardcore, but not hardcore enough to get soaked for the sake of a ride. The rest of my weekends in October are filled, leaving me with the dreaded feeling that my motorcycle season has ended. For this reason alone, I hate fall. I don’t want my motorcycle season to end.

I have been having so much fun with the Harley. Though I still don’t have my license, I have my permit and ride it fairly often. With a permit I am supposed to only ride with a license motorcyclist along side me or following me in a car. But let’s not play games. We all know I break the law and ride alone. I wanted to get my license before the end of the season, but it just didn’t work out. Taking the test on my bike would be really tricky because it is so big, and my search for finding a smaller bike has me coming up empty. My plan is to take another rider training program in the spring and get my license that way. By that time I will be comfortable enough riding that I hopefully won’t fall over during the test.

But back to the topic at hand.

Now that the Harley has to be put away for the season, I am working on getting my dining room cleaned out so it can hang out in there for the winter months. Motorcycles belong in dining rooms.

When I first met Leland, I was surprised to find a motorcycle in the dining room at his parent’s house. After thinking about it, it makes sense. Cold weather is bad for cars and motorcycles, but cars handle it a lot better because we run them daily. Having a motorcycle out in the cold for months may cause problems for it in the spring. To sidestep that, Leland’s dad stored his bike in the house. This is the ONLY thing I will probably ever copy from his parents. You all know how I feel about them, so I can’t imagine myself wanting to be any more like them. I draw the line at storing a motorcycle in the dining room.

I don’t know about you, but I rarely use my dining room. Leland and I may eat dinner in the dining room once a week, but all the other days it goes unused. I sort of feel bad for it. Like it’s lacking purpose. Maybe my dining room would feel better about itself if I gave it something to look after.

Plus it would be a great conversation piece.

And when Christmas comes around I can put lights on it and make it festive.

24 comments:

Suzi Q said...

Oh boy. I'm sorry but I couldn't help but laugh. A Harley in the dining room.... that's priceless.

Dollface said...

hahah.... a motorcycle in the living room... def a conversation piece!! hahaha xxxoo

i am the diva said...

post pics!!

said...

I love the visual of hanging Christmas lights on your Harley. You could totally make a romantic dinner out of it - Instead of dinner by candlelight, dinner by twinkle lights strung up on the bike. =)

Intense Guy said...

Sounds like a great place to keep it to me.

Michelle@DomesticationoftheSingleGirl said...

bwahahahahaha!!!

:D

Intense Guy said...

I accidently posted my comment before finishing it.

I think the Christmas Lights on the bike will be awesome! You can spend a lot of time, here and there, polishing and waxing it too!

I hope you get the license worked out - your plan sounds like a good one - perhaps the rider school has more managable loaner (or renter) bikes?

Beth Dunn said...

You are so funny. Please post pics of the harley decorated for Christmas!!! xoxo

SC

Aubrey said...

I love the idea of decorating the bike for Christmas. Though I have to say when I get my bike, I will probably lock it in the shed; we don't have a garage.

I've given you an award. More details are on my blog.

Cathy said...

I think it makes sense. Plus I love xmas, so having something else to decorate sounds awesome. It can be your Harley Tree.

I do love fall, but I can understand why a biker wouldn't. It would be sad to put away your toys for the whole winter:(

Carma Sez said...

We also think dining rooms are useless for dining - so we turned ours into an office.

You are making good use of available space - and the Christmas lights - great idea!

Samantha said...

It feels sooo good to have internet again! I suppose I have a lot of catching up to do, but this was a great post to come back to. Before moving, I worked at a Harley-Davidson shop, and you wouldn't believe the stories I've heard about people and their motorcycles! This is a first with the dining room, but I bet a lot of the customers I had would have LOVED this idea!

yellowdoggranny said...

makes sense to me..

Anonymous said...

Every biking dude wants a copy of your post to put on the kitchen wall.

Secretia

Kim said...

I love the idea of putting Christmas lights up on it! Although if my husband ever suggested moving his motorcycles into the dining room, I might have to put my foot down! I blame it on the two year old. Hee Hee! I'm with you on being down with winter in February. I become quite the bitch too as winter wears on me. I think that's why I get so excited for spring, anything to prove that winter is DONE!

JennyMac said...

Law breaker!!!! Love it. I would do it too.

And I love spring too...which rarely comes to GA. haha.

Christmas Harley? Sounds great.

Housewife Savant said...

I hope it's a formal dining room, seperated in the floor plan, and not part of a great room or eat-in kitchen. That'd just be weird.

Intense Guy said...

Hmm... business idea... Harley Drip Pans... different styles for different living room furniture...

Children of the 90s said...

Haha, well if you ever run out of chairs at a dinner party, you'll be set. And I'm with you, I'm totally a summer girl. I like fall, but a little piece of me (the piece that wants to exclusively spend her days laying out by the pool getting a tan) dies when we hit 60 degrees.

Anonymous said...

The bf used to park his motorcycle in his living room. Then I moved in and it went out! hehe

Thanks for your sweet comment on my picture! I can't believe it will be two years this spring since I graduated college!

I V Y said...

cool blog! nice header! :)

Anonymous said...

i agree, cool header for a cool blog

i like fall if only for the changing leaves, it reminds me that to change, i must leave...

Unknown said...

I saw your comment at Vodka Logic this morning and I stopped over to say hi! This is so interesting. I never thought about that before. I am glad we don't have a motorcycle because I have NO idea where it would fit!

I hope you get your last ride of the season soon!

SPEAKING FROM THE CRIB said...

i watched one of those CLEAN YOUR HOUSE UP shows and a man kept 3 motorcycles in his dining room, so there's no shame in your game

found you from antsy pants now following