It has been a beautiful week around here. Spring is happening.

I was riding home on my motorcycle yesterday and it was amazing. The air was warm and the sun was setting. It was a beautiful scene. Then I passed a field where they had just spread some fresh manure. Wow, is all I  have to say. Such a pungent, encompassing aroma stings the nostrils. It made my eyes water. I stung my throat. It was one of those moments that you can’t help but feel alive. I know, you may think I’m crazy, but in that holy moment with the warm air, sunset, and manure - I knew I was alive.
So, have you felt alive lately?

I’m not kidding.

 Its been going on for a while. Every Thursday the Mormon missionaries canvas downtown Arlington. They’ll talk to anyone they pass but routinely see me and keep walking. I have never had a conversation with them. I must smell of Kingdom or something, but they avoid me like the plague. The weird thing is, I’d love to engage them, but for some reason they won’t. This has been a perpetual state of amusement to me. I know it’s Thursday walk down the street and watch them talk to everyone but me.

Okay so that’s point 1. They avoid me because they know something.

Point 2. Tuesdays and Thursdays we have an after school hang out (the Mud Hut) for kids in town. They come to play pool, xbox and drink coffee and Italian sodas. Every session we either have a devotional or read some bible story to the kids (they are sooo bible illiterate it’s shocking). Last Thursday we had one of the missionaries come and hang out undercover (he was dressed in street clothes, not the typical white shirt and black pants). How did I know this? Well, we were going through the Easter story with the kids and this guy started saying we had to believe in Jesus and Joseph Smith. Not to be confrontational we basically ignored him and kept going.

Which leads me to point 3 of why the Mormon’s are trying to kill me. I ride a motorcycle and was leaving the Mud Hut that day (the coffee house/ hang out we host after school for the kids). As I was leaving, I thought I smelled gas, but didn’t think anything of it because on a bike you smell everything when you ride. A few miles down the road, I felt something running down my leg, like I was sweating. I looked down and there was a small hole in my gas tank. Gas was pouring down my leg.

I was a few miles from home, so I covered the hole with my finger and rode home with one hand. After I parked at home, Miriam (my wife) commented that the hole looked weird. I was a small hole the size of a flat head screwdriver.  Evidently someone had tapped a hole with a screwdriver in my gas tank. I’m not kidding.

Coincidence? Mormons avoid Stuart. Mormons argue with Stuart. Mormons sabotage Stuart? Hmmmm.

WWJSD? What Would Joseph Smith Do?

I should be scared, but I don’t want to soil my holy underwear, so I’ll be brave.

Yes, it has arrived! Let the new era begin!

Saturday we made the trek to Anacortes, WA to pick up my new commuter vehicle, an ’82 Honda Sabre.   Now, I’ve never really ridden on the roads… at all. The state endorsement course only takes you in parking lots, etc. for practice. That was it. Never done this before!

Well, some how [thank God], I got some experience - 50 miles worth - driving from Anacortes to Arlington. I made it back safely without a hitch.

And yes… once you go cycle you never go back!

I’ve been out of the office for the past few day. And I can safely say (safe for me but not for other motorists) that I am an officially endorsed motorcyclist in the state of Washington!

It was a challenging few days going through the “Beginning Motorcycling” class. It was challenging mainly because of the weather, rained straight for 2 days. Well at least I’ve been broken in officially to Seattle weather driving!

But in the end, I passed and I’m official! So look out people, I’m coming through (well give it a week or so because I don’t have my cycle yet…)!

And yes below is my new baby (well new is a relative term it’s an ‘82 but considering the fact that I’m a ‘77 it’s a youngin).