Bookmark and Share

Sunday, December 21, 2008

A Christmas Party Celebration


The annual Mt. Baker Chapter Christmas party was held at the Bellingham Country Club on Friday December 19th, 2008 and we all had a rockin’ good time.

We were to begin arriving at 7:00 PM, but people began showing up early because we always enjoy the social mingling with friends before the festivities begin, and the Ladies needed time to show off their dresses and shoes. The weather was freezing at around twenty-two degrees outside while we were a toasty at seventy-four or so degrees inside. Good thing because some of the Ladies had short dresses and some had spaghetti straps. There was satin, lace, cashmere, and silk in red, black, blue, green, purple, silver, with sparkles, glitter, rhinestones, and bling from top to bottom. What were the guys wearing--tuxes, suits, sport coats, jeans, casual shirts, and that was okay because the Ladies wanted them to be comfortable and happy.

Ron Johnson probably had the most unusual gift, a video of Broke Back Mountain and two cowboy hats—a his and his. He had a good laugh and wore his hat for pictures.

We had a Charlie Brown tree that members could attach money to and for every dollar hung on the tree you received a ticket for a drawing to win a $100.00 gift certificate for H-D Bellingham. Guess who the luckiest guy in the chapter is? Dave McNeill. That’s okay because Dave also was the recipient of a special award--“Hutch’s bitch”. You see, it all started back in the spring when the Ladies had a garage sale as a fundraiser and Mike Gilbert put up $100.00 if Dave would put on a dress that was for sale. Wrong person to dare. Not only did Dave put on the dress and model it, but just as this was taking place, Glenn Hutchings rode in on his bike and Dave climbed up behind Glenn and unexpectedly cuddled up for pictures that made the group roar with laugher. Then being the gentleman Dave is he donated the $100.00 to the Ladies fundraiser. A pretty classy guy, our Dave McNeill.

A couple of months ago, Mike Gilbert brought a special bottle of Jack Daniels Bourbon to the chapter meeting to auction off with the proceeds going to our chapter scholarship fund. Larry Marrs bought the bottle for $250 and brought it to the Christmas party, unopened, to share with the rest of the members—at $20 a shot with these proceeds also going to the scholarship fund. The bottle raised another $280 at the party. So Mike’s bottle will pay for over ½ the cost of one of our $1,000 scholarships. Thanks a lot to all of you drinking guys!

Dave Lahr and Mark Williams were inducted into the Bun Man Club for flipping hotdogs at a Ladies of Harley fundraiser to earn tip money for our charities. They each received a gift bag with…what else? Hotdog buns. Dave Wright was also inducted into this group but was not in attendance to receive his award.

Dinner was a magnificent feast of prime rib and barbequed chicken with several different green salads, orzo salad, wild rice, grilled vegetables, roasted potatoes, green beans and rolls; it not only looked great it tasted wonderful. Rita provided a wonderful array of desserts including a five layer chocolate cake, pumpkin cheesecake, Boston cream pie, apple pie, cookies, and more. At the end of the evening the dessert table looked deserted.

A few drinks to be merry, a filling dinner to make us content, and and the "ladies" paraded across the dance floor in their shoes, twirling, dancing, and flirting with the judges as they checked out the “killer heels”. There was a lot riding on this contest, a gift certificate to the Chrysalis Inn Spa for a pedicure. Those who had already paraded before the judges, gave back rubs to the judges hoping to influence their vote. When it came down to the end it was a tie between Shelia and Lisa. They had one last chance to prance and dance for the judges and still it was a tie. Again, our big hearted guy Dave McNeill stepped up and threw in a second gift certificate and both Lisa and Shelia are this year’s co-winners of the “killer heels” contest.

Jeannie Gilbert gathered a basket full of wine, coffee, Harley mugs, chocolates, and too many more goodies to name that was raffled off to members who brought a $5.00 gift to donate to WomenCare Shelter or donated $5.00 cash. Of course most people donated more to get receive extra tickets for a chance at the basket. My own hubby Larry was the winner of this heavy basket and I am sure we will be enjoying the goodies for some time.

So after all the shoes, the gifts, the raffles, the special awards, all we had left to do was “get down”. It was party time and the music was rockin’. Some of the guys just don’t enjoy dancing unless their arms are twisted but the Ladies don’t mind. We’ll dance with each other or join in with another couple. Pretty soon we were one big happy group moving to the beat and working off the desserts.

It was an evening to remember.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Speed and motorcycles











Chapter chaplain Art Anderson sent this article and pictures with a suggestion to pass this on to new drivers or soon to be new drivers, or new motorcycle owners. A picture is worth a thousand words.

Do you see the motorcycle?

The Honda rider was traveling at such a 'very high speed', his reaction time was not sufficient enough to avoid this accident. Police estimate a speed of 155mph before the bike hit the slow moving car side-on at an intersection. At that speed, they predicted that the rider's reaction time (once the vehicle came into view) wasn't sufficient enough for him to even apply the brakes. The car had two passengers and the bike rider was found INSIDE the car with them. The Volkswagen actually flipped over from the force of impact and landed 10 feet from where the collision took place.

All three involved (two in car and rider) were killed instantly. This graphic demonstration was placed at the Motorcycle Fair by the Police and Road Safety Department. The sign above the display also noted that the motorcycle rider had only recently obtained his license.

At 155 mph the operator is traveling at 227 feet per second. With normal reaction time of 1.6 seconds the above operator would have traveled over 363 feet (21 yards more than the length of a football field) while making a decision on what actions to take.

Monday, December 8, 2008

Toys4Tots Challenge

Patrick President Chapter 1 CVI
I want to thank everyone who participated in today's "Toys for Tots" event. We had a very good turn out considering the weather.
As everyone could notice when you were at the drop off site there were a lot of children and family's standing in line waiting to pick up what most likely will be the only toys that they will receive this year.

Every one who participated should feel especially good about what they did today.
On that note I propose that we plan on doing this again next year. The first Saturday of December 2009 will be the 5th. Mark that date down on your calendars, pass the word onto your friends, relatives and anyone you can think of and ask them to join us next year.

Art
Billie, as our HOG director, you can be extremely proud of our membership. Mt. Baker HOG brought in Dec. 6....193 high value toys...and were 1st place winners receiving two $25 gift certificates to the Quarterback Sports Club Restaurant and Bar.

Totaling all motorcycle groups was 458 toys. A very welcome sight and will help restocking the inventory.

I would like to present the two $25 gift certificates to you at the Christmas dinner and also thank again our members. The effort was much appreciated.


Billie
At the January general HOG meeting, we will draw for the winners of the two gift certificates. Everyone who donated toys for the Toys4Tots challenge will receive one ticket per toy for the drawing. Thanks to all of you who showed up and donated toys at the dealership even though you couldn't attend the ride. Thanks, also, to those who came in cages so you could participate, and the riders of the twenty-one bikes that showed up and rode--a lot of those were two-up. Because of your generosity and caring there will another 193 children in Whatcom County who will have a merry Christmas when they wake up to find presents under the tree. I can't thank you enough for helping make this possible. I also want to tell you how proud I am of all of you for not only participating in this toy run but for all the events and rides we have participated in this year where we had fun riding while helping our community. Merry Christmas and may the New Year bring good tidings to all.
Related Posts with Thumbnails