tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3267224089554889479.post4796509508476425511..comments2024-02-03T23:48:14.712-08:00Comments on The Trailer Park Cyclist : White BeachTim Joe Comstockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05351911607475089105noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3267224089554889479.post-90146236667254920842013-05-24T13:09:04.559-07:002013-05-24T13:09:04.559-07:00I only catch the references if they are in my musi...I only catch the references if they are in my musical wheelhouse. I'm sure you have them that zip right over my head and I miss. I caught it but I was never a Billy Idol fan. He had that lip sneer that only Elvis could do well.Jim Bangshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11618333090634257257noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3267224089554889479.post-37653045849135625862013-05-23T11:13:25.444-07:002013-05-23T11:13:25.444-07:00I put those references in for you, Jim. And blogj...I put those references in for you, Jim. And blogjack anytime you feel the earth move. (tee hee)<br /><br />tjTim Joe Comstockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05351911607475089105noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3267224089554889479.post-82676507742752276442013-05-23T09:53:26.802-07:002013-05-23T09:53:26.802-07:00tj,
Good piece!
I have lived that double agent li...tj, <br />Good piece!<br />I have lived that double agent life most of my adult life, just not a secret double agent life. Selling sticks for a living and relying on the construction trades prosperity to provide my living is in contrast to a love for unspoiled space on this planet. I have spent many days visiting lumber mill operations plus some trips into the forests of the northwest to see for myself how the forest products industry goes about their business. This was more for my own self-interest than anything a small-time operator like myself could make any difference in the world of millions of board feet produced every year. I just wanted to know that I was in an honest business instead of a big earth rape for a buck scam. I have come away with the knowledge that forest management is a healthy and environmentally sound practice here in North America in spite of the negative public sentiment. Don't fret Steve Z, I am sure that your Penny Pines will be reforested (unless it is being developed for buildings, which is a different thing)and once again be a beautiful space. People forget that a forest ecosystem is a living breathing changing, aging thing. Old growth forests are destined to become new grow forests.<br />Your paragraph on your relationship with your bike was some beautiful writing straight from the soul. Crazy how we feel about something inanimate. Yet, it is not really the bike but the feeling it gives us as we pedal with our own energy and power and the feeling of "by god, This is me, just me". I am having reflective days here lately and the bike reinforces feelings that I am ME. A friend from my past died this week. We were very close thirty years ago but as you mentioned things change and move on. It was not so much that I will miss him but the time we shared friendship. I mourn the past time that is, of course, embellished in my own mind.<br />I think I'll ride my bike at lunch and think about it some more.<br /><br />Well, look at this.....I have totally blog-jacked the Trailer-Park.<br />Move along...nothing else to see here.<br /><br />Jim<br /><br />By the way, Nice Alison Krauss reference!Jim Bangshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11618333090634257257noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3267224089554889479.post-78489856838670990682013-05-23T06:44:31.156-07:002013-05-23T06:44:31.156-07:00Thanks, Matt! In my case I think that arrested de...Thanks, Matt! In my case I think that arrested development plays a part. In my efforts to not grow up I want all my playgrounds to stay the same. <br /><br />tjTim Joe Comstockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05351911607475089105noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3267224089554889479.post-71906105280954341252013-05-22T20:05:59.907-07:002013-05-22T20:05:59.907-07:00Hey TJ…that was a pure joy to read…you dun-guud my...Hey TJ…that was a pure joy to read…you dun-guud my friend! Makes me think of the old saying we had in the Navy: “you can never go back” (referring to returning to prior duty-stations, hoping/expecting to repeat whatever magic we had there the first time). But time moves forward at an ever increasing peace, and the 'progress' we see on our return means we won't very-often like whatever has changed. We dream about 'what was' I'm afraid. <br /><br />That ol' saying seems to fit most any situation though...not just duty-stations. Maybe part of it is how our minds work...we remember mostly the good parts. Mostly.Matthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10517087265569164625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3267224089554889479.post-29213730156080133252013-05-21T09:13:51.262-07:002013-05-21T09:13:51.262-07:00I fully understand, Steve. I have always found th...I fully understand, Steve. I have always found those abandoned places to be a little eerie and somehow threatening. I just rode past a two-block stretch in downtown Daytona that has been completely leveled, leaving only vast areas of concrete slab surrounded by chain link. If they would just leave off the fences at least kids on skateboards or dancing hobos might bring a little life and color to the place.<br /><br />But litigation being what it is this our Year of the Lawyer 2013, fences, I fear, will be with us from now on.<br /><br />Like I am fond of saying, the Apocalypse has already begun.<br /><br />tjTim Joe Comstockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05351911607475089105noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3267224089554889479.post-67848047156009446042013-05-21T07:01:54.895-07:002013-05-21T07:01:54.895-07:00TJ,
I can really sympathize with you. As a suppo...TJ,<br /><br />I can really sympathize with you. As a supporter of wilderness protection I have the same conflict - my business is architecture, which is largely the opposite of wilderness. And I truly hate to see favorite places disappear in the name of 'progress'. <br /><br />I think of Penny Pines, a memorial forest in Pennsylvania that was planted after one of the wars, with kids donating pennies to buy pine seedlings to reforest the clear cut hills. When I discovered it the trees were mature, and it was a beautiful, quiet forest with pine scented air. It was one of the few places that I'd ever seen our local wild orchis growing. Went back that way a couple of years ago - and the whole damn place has been clear cut. Even the bronze dedication plaque is gone. I almost cried.<br /><br />But where I'm from is not the hot spot of development. The Steel Valley of Youngstown, Ohio is one of the areas of the Rust Belt that has been in decline for so long that it's made it's own kind of depressing scenery. Parts of the city have so many empty lots from vacant houses being demolished that they're 50% meadow. <br /><br />You can drive down a street and notice curb cuts leading up into - nothing. The buildings that were once there have been gone for so long that the driveways are even gone, and the whole lot is now scrub reverting to woods.<br /><br />Empty manufacturing buildings have lain dormant for so long that even the roads leading up to them have been abandoned, making huge swaths of empty, inaccessible debris. Access to the river is nearly impossible, as the old infrastructure from the steel mills lines the banks for miles.<br /><br />So yeah, over development can suck, destroying great places in the name of profit. But the other side of the calendar page is just as ugly.<br /><br />Steve ZSteve Z (swampboy62)https://www.blogger.com/profile/03594045912519415678noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3267224089554889479.post-38745967257017528202013-05-21T06:12:16.526-07:002013-05-21T06:12:16.526-07:00Thank you anna. tjThank you anna. tjTim Joe Comstockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05351911607475089105noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3267224089554889479.post-66523912033035949412013-05-20T21:59:49.129-07:002013-05-20T21:59:49.129-07:00I love your writing. I really do.
I love your writing. I really do.<br /><br /><br /><br />annahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03781197684265615040noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3267224089554889479.post-83711078722236172392013-05-20T07:12:51.154-07:002013-05-20T07:12:51.154-07:00Hard to say, Dee. For years I went on the road to...Hard to say, Dee. For years I went on the road to work, building commercial restaurants. Then I would come home to my somnambulent little village where big change was your favorite bartender getting a new apron. But then the state widened the road to Orlando from a narrow two-lane blacktop to a fast four lane expressway and that was that.<br /><br />tjTim Joe Comstockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05351911607475089105noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3267224089554889479.post-56214815927600799132013-05-20T07:07:46.670-07:002013-05-20T07:07:46.670-07:00Dan, development and Florida are synonymous. By t...Dan, development and Florida are synonymous. By this point in my life I thought I would be a boat bum in the Carribean, not a bike bum in Florida. But there it is. Makes for good Blogging, though.<br /><br />tjTim Joe Comstockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05351911607475089105noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3267224089554889479.post-55562082690776748222013-05-20T04:21:39.898-07:002013-05-20T04:21:39.898-07:00I feel for you. This part of Australia is growing ...I feel for you. This part of Australia is growing like topsy, but my roots here are shallow and I don't feel the loss as voracious progress spreads. Meanwhile back in the old country my roots harden into an amber resin of negative growth. I am not sure which is most hurtful really.Deehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12707182204683657771noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3267224089554889479.post-22495241635926110102013-05-19T20:45:24.125-07:002013-05-19T20:45:24.125-07:00Hopefully it will be a while before the old places...Hopefully it will be a while before the old places disappear. It makes me sad to see so many places gone forever un the name of progress. Thanks for sharing this!!!<br /><br />DanDaniel Weisehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04637437742446611544noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3267224089554889479.post-39082799010103116002013-05-19T09:16:48.931-07:002013-05-19T09:16:48.931-07:00Oh no, brother, thank you!
tjOh no, brother, thank you!<br /><br />tjTim Joe Comstockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05351911607475089105noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3267224089554889479.post-79591079669246443212013-05-18T08:00:19.672-07:002013-05-18T08:00:19.672-07:00Beautiful man, just beautiful
thank youBeautiful man, just beautiful<br /><br />thank youRoadieRyanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15900109046198641775noreply@blogger.com