I don't know if it means good news or bad news. I dropped my bike at the shop on Thursday night and still haven't heard the prognosis. I can't stand the suspense. I told them to call me when the bill hit the $300 range. I hope they were listening. Otherwise they'll just have to hold it hostage until I can scrape up the moolah. I'm getting really itchy to get the wheels back on the road. Most years I've already had a month or two riding under my belt by this time, and I'm really ready for that to happen. My gas expense for the car is almost double that of the bike and I'm feeling guilty about how long it's been since I've been up to see Mom. A 100 mi. round trip on the bike is a lot more affordable for me.

Last night I invited an acquaintance I met at work to come over to pick up the live pine that we had for a Christmas tree. I've run out of places to plant them. Mom decided she already had enough trees on her property so I'd been scouting for a new home for it. Daniel came to the rescue saying he has 20 some acres and would pick it up himself so we didn't have to worry about delivering it. I wanted J and Daniel to meet. Daniel's always impressed me as a sort of cool hip oldster. He's a mastered leveled realistic sculptor and has even brought his gig into the library to demonstrate sculpting to the public. We sat down and shared some munchies and wine, and when Daniel and I started our typical political sparring, J got bored and went upstairs to work in his studio. We continued our good-natured discussion  until Daniel  dropped like a big stinky turd his opinion that my liberal/huminist attitudes are Satanic thinking, then added to the horror by saying that he thinks blacks aren't as smart as white folks. Thank goodness J was upstairs and didn't hear it, or things might have deteriorated quickly. I think Daniel could tell from the look on my face that I was appalled at his bald faced bigotry and he left soon after. I didn't tell J what Daniel had said until after he left and while telling it busted out bawling. J's  immediate response was, "He's not coming to our house again. Why do you attract these people?" My way of thinking is if  you can't talk to someone you don't agree with, how can you ever find common ground? I'm still in shock realizing  my assessment of this person was so far off base.