On a Lighter Note

So much negative. So much bad news. So little civil discourse anymore. It seems. So I thought maybe a posting on my childhood might be in order. Especially after seeing this first bit re-posted on my Facebook page this morning.

Have you noticed how the Facebook gods occasionally re-post postings you uploaded a year or two or three ago? Ah, memory lane! Well, this one really does bring back very fond memories for me.

A chili dog joint back in my home town of Merced, California called Rose's Chili Dog was a wonderful place to stop and pick up dinner back in the day. Merced was a small farming town, also home to Castle Air Force Base. Its located in central California. There were literally no fast food joints in Merced back then. We're talking the late 50's and the 60's. The McDonalds and Taco Bells hadn't been invented yet. The only places in Merced that approximated these kinds of places were Rose's Hot Dog stand down on 17th Street; a small shack snuggled into a vacant spot next door to the old Merced Sun-Star building and A and W over on 16th street. 

Roses's didn't have much seating. In fact I don't recall their being any at all. There was no indoors at all. You stepped up to the window and placed your order. Most folks lined up for the chili dogs. The chili was amazing!

Yeah, they were greasy as you can see by the waxed paper in the photo above, but it was the best chili I have ever tasted. You had to sit with your legs apart and try not to let the bits of grease and chopped onion get all over you. Dad gum good! 

A few years later the stand moved over on "J" Street (now MLK, Jr. Blvd.) near the fairgrounds, then the stand disappeared altogether. I left town, moving to attend college, marrying, starting a family and careers took over. With our family all passed on or moved on, there is no real reason to even go back.

Rose, too, is long gone but it turns out Rose's grandson has taken over and still makes those greasy torpedoes using Rose's traditional recipe. You have to watch on their Facebook page to find out where they will be open on a particular weekend, kind of like a lunch wagon. If I ever find myself down that way again, I know I will plan ahead and try to hit town when Rose's is serving up those great dogs.

And then there was the old A and W root beer stand over on 16th Street. Open only from spring through early autumn, we always new spring was around the corner, as was summer vacation, when we'd see the family who ran the joint inside the building cleaning up the place. 

I don't know why the weren't open throughout the year, that is just the way it was. That ice cold root beer was only served in ice cold glass mugs. It was a drive up joint. Pull up in your car, turn on your head lights and out of a swinging door would come a car hop on roller skates. When she returned with your order, our dad would roll his window part way down so the tray of food could be hung, cantilever-style, outside the window. Dad would pass around the food each of us had ordered for us and we'd sit in the car munching on our burgers, nibbling the salty fries and sipping our root beer through paper straws. Dad would turn his headlights back on when we were ready to pay the bill and have the tray removed from the window.

Sometimes we would get out of the car and sit at one of the picnic tables sitting under the enormous tree that stood in the patio.  A and W eventually closed, became something else, eventually a Mexican restaurant the last I knew. As the town slowly grew out nearer the new mall that went in in the early 70's, as 16th Street, which had been the highway 99 route through town was replaced by the high-speed freeway by-passing downtown entirely, there wasn't much reason to keep the place open. And so went another part of our childhood. That, as they say, is progress.

He's Not My President

I didn't vote for him. He represents none of the values I, nor do I believe, most Americans hold dear. Despite his winning the election by Electoral College acclamation, He lost the popular vote by some 3 million votes. I know, I know, I didn't mind when the last election went the way I wanted it to in the Electoral College.

I don't necessarily have a problem with the Electoral College making the ultimate decision. That's not my concern in all of this messy election cycle. It has instead been the way that it has divided our country. People who didn't even like the winner simply wouldn't vote for the loser under any conditions...and vice versa.

From the beginning I was for the Democrat, not because I liked her but because I agreed with the party's progressive platform. The problem with the winner was that he didn't even honor his own party's platform. He continuously veered off into unpredictable territory that changed from one day to the next so that no one had any idea what he believed or planned.  Even his "minders" couldn't keep up with him so they found themselves making ridiculous excuses for him and taking all the flak for how ridiculous they sounded.

My stock answer to complainers is, "I told you so." And I did. I spent the entire election cycle from primaries on, posting the terrible things the winner had done for many years and was still doing. Sharing posts on Facebook, etc. The marriages, the sexual abuse, the stupid statements that made no sense including those that further divided  the nation. And with every opportunity the Republicans, ignored him figuring he'd kill himself off in the primary. Well, now he has come home to roost and all the Republicans can do now is support what they've got, as icky as it might be.

So, brace yourself folks. The next four years ain't gonna be pretty. For all those who voted for independent candidates instead of the democrat or stayed away from the polls entirely in protest of the choice, you helped elect him. You get to take some of the blame for what is to come. For those who voted for the court jester about to take office thinking he was going to "drain the swamp" only to look on now with your mouths hanging open as he selected one billionaire after another to key offices or, listened to his lies promising to put her in jail, only to watch as he dropped the entire subject saying he was only kidding or, listened to all the fake news stories, the truth of which was there all along right under the surface if you'd only taken the time to dig a tiny bit deeper, well, guess what, your laziness and stupidity elected him. Congratulations, America! You got yourself a real winner....but he's not my president.

Oh, Hi! Remember me?

So, its been well over a year since I last posted to my blog. Suddenly, I thought, I should get on there and at least let folks know I am still alive. Most who have followed me already know that but anyway I have a few things to say so here I am.

Since you last heard from me a few things have happened. I have all but completely retired from teaching now. For the first few years after "retiring" I was often called upon by the school where I taught for 17 years, to substitute for various folks on the staff. Sometimes for weeks or even months at a time. But as the years have gone by the requests and calls have dwindled until this year when I have been called in only twice. Don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining. It has been a good way to go--fading away a little each year. Now, most of the staff I knew has retired, moved on or quit. So there isn't too much demand for me anyway.

Now, most of my days are spent doing work for the Bellingham Sail and Power Squadron. Since my year as commander . . .oh, maybe I never told you about that. Well, I was made commander back three years ago. It was a blast but had a huge learning curve and by the time I got comfortable with the job, the year was over and I handed the reins over to the next person in line to the throne.

Here is the cover of our December 2016 issue

Anyway, as I was saying, since my year as commander I have been the secretary of the squadron, a job I loved doing when I first joined the squadron leadership. Add to that my knowledge of the inner workings of the power squadron and I am more and more often sought out when it comes to matters concerning how and when things are done. I enjoy it.

I am also editor of the squadron newsletter, the Bell Signals, I administrate our Facebook page, am the squadron historian and just finished an entire year planning, organizing and managing the District 16 Fall Conference hosted by our squadron here in Bellingham.

I figured out quickly enough that it was going to take a big team to pull off the conference so I selected a great team of folks to help. The six-person Organizing Committee was a god send. We had a blast planning the event. We visited local potential venues, had lots of planning dinners and in the end we pulled off a great event the weekend of October 28-30, 2016. Another steep learning curve but it did go very well.

Last night at our squadron's annual meeting held at the Bellingham Yacht Club, we elected new officers for the coming year (March to March in this organization). I was re-elected Secretary and Leslie, my wife was re-elected as a Member-at-Large.

We also handed out the Herb Hearsey Awards for Safety, Education, Fellowship and Outstanding New Member (I won the New Member award the year I originally joined. A huge surprise). At last night's annual meeting Leslie and I were surprised to receive the Fellowship award. We were very touched. I suppose it was earned largely as a result of the leadership we provided for that Fall Conference.

Oh, speaking of the Bellingham Yacht Club, many of our friends are members of the yacht club and so a couple of years ago we decided to join. We enjoy getting together with friends there and the club is very nice. It is the center of boating activity in the community and we have enjoyed the reciprocal privileges at other yacht clubs when we travel and when looking for moorage for the boat on our cruises (the reciprocal clubs often offer free or near free moorage for the night which can save you a lot of money over time).

Oh, another bit of news....We have been sub-leasing a slip for our boat, the Key of Sea for the past 7 years, In September we were contacted by the Port of Bellingham with the news that a permanent slip was available in the harbor if we wanted it. We quickly accepted it. It is a 36 foot slip. Perfect for our boat. It means paying about $100 less a month for that moorage. Plus we can't be booted out anytime the company we sub-leased from decided to do so. And we don't have to pay to 10% add on the sub-lease businesses charge for the privilege of sub-leasing. And we are now off the $25 a year wait list which the port charges,

So, all in all we are in a much better place for the boat and our budget. We moved the Key of Sea over to the new slip September 1,2016. She now sits at Gate 6, slip M1. We are the first boat on the left as you go through the gate. Perfect!

The Key of Sea is winterized right now which we're glad we did this year especially since it has been a very cold one. Temps have been below freezing for weeks this winter which can be tough on a boat and you wind up with some costly repairs if you haven't taken some precautions.

Evie at her first Christmas candle light service.

Since the last time I wrote another HUGE turning point in our lives has happened. Back in February of 2015 our daughter Kate and her husband Nick presented us (did I just say presented us? Sounds so old fashioned) with a grand daughter--Evelyn Elise Abbott. Evie, as she is known, is the wonder and  sweet treasure of our lives. Why didn't someone tell us how great it is to be a grand parent a long time ago? Don't know what we would have done about it but WOW! are we having a ball with this little lady.

She has her 2nd birthday coming up and we just celebrated her first real Christmas recently. She is in awe with the concept of Santa and we have played it to the hilt. Watching the wonder in her eyes has been such an emotional experience for both us. She is such a sweet little lady. Her mom and dad are wonderful parents and have been so generous with the time they give us with all of them to share in Evie's growing up.

We are so looking forward to taking her to Disneyland and on outings on the Key of Sea and so many other experiences.

On to a new subject. Replacing this damn computer system. Started with a new printer  a couple of days ago. I replaced an older HP printer that stopped doing certain functions, not the least of which was scanning; a very important function with my work on the squadron newsletter. So off I went after doing some on-line research to see what could be found in local stores. My first stop was at Costco and there it was. A printer I had noticed had good ratings on-line and was not an HP which I had heard from several sources was not as reliable as it once was. So, what the heck. Oh, and it was $50 cheaper than any place on line. I let the sales guy talk to me about it a while before saying I'd take it and let him pull it down and put it in my cart. $109 bucks plus a package of replacement ink and I was out the door.
It has some nice features including wi-fi and two paper trays, an auto tray on top lets you quickly print docs and so far it is working very well.

Next, a search for a cpu to replace the dying one next to my left knee. It is an older HP and is taking longer and longer to boot up. Sometimes it forces me to restart it again because the little blue circle just keeps spinning. I have backed everything up on both a 1T external hard drive and on my laptop. o if it goes I won't loose much. Looking at Dell products this time since folks who've bought lately keep bad-mouthing the HPs. I'm thinking along the lines of an Intel i5 with a terabyte of storage and so on. Maybe in the $500-600 range. Don' t want to spend too much since they just seem to last a few years before you have to start looking again. I wish I could find a local company that custom builds them like the last computer I had. It was great and easy to replace parts on or upgrade since nothing was proprietary. Unfortunately, the only place in town that does build them doesn't have a good reputation.

Well, I have finally run out of something to say. That won't last long. Until next time. Cheers!

Key of Sea Projects--Summer 2015

Another year, another set of the ongoing projects which always need doing on our Key of Sea. I'm only limited by the money available to do the projects. That is the money available over and above the day to day costs of moorage, repair and maintenance.

Over the past month or so I have been busy as usual for the time of year. Readying the Key of Sea for the summer cruising season and we have some exciting on-the-water adventures planned.

The upper deck wrapped dark blue canvas was the original location
to stow our new kayaks.

The biggest adventure is a 3-week cruise to the Canadian Gulf Islands. Unlike our 5-week cruise last summer, this one will keep us in the Gulf Islands, far south of where we ventured last summer. Never the less, we will be exploring a lot of interesting bays and coves. We'll have the benefit of our new toys to help us peek into some of the less accessible nooks and crannies that our boat or dinghy can't get us into or that we'd like to explore quietly and closer to water level. I am referring to our new kayaks which I have written about in the previous blog entry.

Project #1 was to attempt to build racks for the kayaks to hang from while we are under way. This turned out not to work as our boat isn't long enough for them to hang where we wanted them to--off

The railing  along one side of the boat turned out to be the best
solution given the size and space on our boat. We'll bungee
them to the railing.

the upper deck. Oh well. Turns out it will work to just lay them along the inside of the railing along the port side of the boat. Just a couple of bungees wrapped around each end of the kayaks should hold them in place. It will be much easier to bring them aboard and launch them from this location. So, project #1? Complete and total cost only around $20.


 

Finished cap rail. Wow!

Project #2: Refinishing the cap rail around the cockpit in the aft of the boat. The cap rail is the teak one by 6 cap that surrounds the cockpit on three sides. It was looking particularly worn, even showing bare wood in a couple of spots. I decided to strip the old varnish and re-varnish the entire thing. I chose Cetol natural teak and Cetol clear gloss as my products of choice. Three coats of each. But before I could refinish I had to strip the old varnish using a heat gun and scrapper. This turned out to be a pretty easy job. A little back breaking only because of the position you have to stand in to do

the work. But it went quickly. I sanded off the few blemishes followed by progressively finer grit paper and I was about ready to begin the varnishing.

The weather has been extraordinarily sunny and warm which made the completion of the project go much smoother and faster. Each coat was followed by at least 24 hours of curing. Weather here in B'ham can change so quickly so keeping an eye on the weather forecast is essential. Rain falling on freshly varnished wood work means you have to sand that coat down and start again. Something to be carefully avoided. The weather completely cooperated and the project turned out beautifully! So, project #2? Complete. Cost of this project? Something less than $75 due to the fact that I have tools that can be reused on future projects and enough of the Cetol products to do several more projects.

Soldered connector to plug into the VHS radio

Project #3: Installation of the new VHF antenna. This turned out to be the biggest pain of all the projects due to my own stupidity. I bought a very nice, higher end VHF antenna back around Christmas from West Marine. In the Spring I gathered the other connectors and tools to do this project and, on a nice day, went to the boat to do the install. Because there was already a coaxial wire running from the VHF radio to the old antenna, I figured I would cut off most of the coaxial cable that came with the antenna, add a connector and plug in the two ends of the cable to each other. I measured and calculated that I could cut off 18 of the 20 feet of cable leaving me a two foot pigtail to add my connector. BIG MISTAKE!

New VHS Antenna ready to be installed 

DO NOT EVER cut any wire off when it has been given to you. Coil it and tuck it behind a bulkhead in some other out of the way spot BUT--DO NOT CUT THE WIRE THAT COMES WITH THE DEVICE!!!!!

This made my job so much more difficult. What I SHOULD have done was run the new cable to the radio unit and pull the old cable out. Why not? A new radio. A new antenna. Why use old wiring? Ya, dumb idea. Now I know.

Long story short, I bought new wire (Uh Huh, I'd thrown out the 18 feet of wire that I cut off.) and ran it to the radio and antenna after soldering the new connectors to the cable. Voila!The radio actually works better than it did. So, project #3? Done. Cost? Aside from the antenna which was about $150, the connectors and wiring was about another $100. It should have only been about $10. Live and learn.


So, there you are, a few projects that took some time but being able to do more and more myself is saving me hundreds, sometimes thousands of dollars avoiding having to call in a specialist.

Sometime I'll tell you the story of replacing my oil this year. Sounds exciting, huh? Well, anytime you can have fun AND save a several hundred bucks, well, THAT IS an interesting story.

Let The Winterizing Begin!

No photos for this entry. Too depressing....

I spent the day down at the boat yesterday. The Key of Sea sat forlornly, gently bobbing in her slip as if to say, "Come on, dad, let's go for a ride!"

Not today...

Instead, I carefully removed items from the boat and did some chores that only lead to one conclusion. Cold weather-proofing time has arrived again.

I removed the generator from its place right behind the fly bridge, lowered it to the cock pit deck below, removed the fuel can, wrapped the captain's chair in its new cover to keep the weather out, closed up the bimini.

I've noticed the hatch cover has leaked down into the cock pit over last winter and so I added some weather stripping and chalking to that in hopes of eliminating that problem.

On the plus side, I had a member of the Power Squadron down to do vessel safety checks on our new kayaks. I should have been done last spring but just got it done.

After they were inspected, I deflated them and packed them away in inside the salon out of the weather, I'll probably bring them home eventually since they take up too much room inside the boat making it uninviting should be decide to spend a winter weekend on the boat.

I hooked up the electric heater so it is ready should we go down for the weekend and to keep things from freezing during extreme weather.

Oh, I just got a new label maker and so I was finally able to put labels on a couple of unlabeled or incorrectly labeled circuit breakers.

Finally, sadly, I removed the standard from the stern of the boat and the burgee from the bow, wrapped them up and stowed them in the v-berth,

Still a couple of chores to do before draining the water and waste tanks one last time (we might go out for an overnight yet). I need to attach a cabinet door that broke in the master stateroom. I have the new hinges on so it is almost done.

The big job left is to remove the starboard alternator, have it bench tested and possibly replaced. About a $150 job if I do it. Chump change...

Toodles!

Our New Advanced Elements Kayaks

Advanced Elements Advanced Frame 1012

 Meet our most recent purchases and additions to our cruising the Pacific Northwest. Last summer during our 5-week cruise into Canadian waters, our cruise buddies, Mike and Sarah McEvoy had two of the Advanced Elements Advanced Frame model 1012  (that's the orange one). Leslie went out several times with Sarah in the rather calm waters in coves, bays and inlets we'd anchored in for a day or two. She fell in love with it. I chose not to try it out since the kayak looked to be a bit small for my size. 

We came back from the trip and started researching the Advanced Elements line of inflatable kayaks. These seemed like a good idea but I was weary of how well they might hold up over time. They are inflatable. I also wondered whether I could find a model that would handle my height and girth. 

After looking on-line reviews of inflatables in general, the Advanced Elements line kept coming to the top, consistently getting the highest ratings from everyone I found, even making certain to mention their quality despite there being an inflatable. They didn't see that as a particular disadvantage. 

4-part travel paddle breaks down and stores in the travel bag.

Next to figure out, where is the best deal available. I tried the usual--Amazon, REI, West Marine. No matter where I looked on-line, no one under cut a local dealer in Anacortes, Marine ServiceCenter, the dealer Mike and Sarah had bought their kayaks last year. 

They had purchased theirs at the Seattle Boat Show where they got a free paddle and the upgraded inflatable lumbar seat that offers much better support--a great deal.

We decided we'd wait until this year's boat show to make our move and so for the past several months we've been waiting for the show. When it finally arrived I called the store to find out if I could get the same deal as Mike and Sarah had, the answer was no. That was an introductory offer with a new line of products. This year the offer is just a free paddle. 

The model 1009 Y

It still seemed like a good deal and so, just the other day, we headed down to Anacortes to make the purchase. when we got there I had my first opportunity to actually sit in one of them--that orange model our friends had. Too small! My legs were too long and it would have been quite a feat to extricate myself from it when the time came.
The salesperson suggested I would do better to try on the Advanced Frame Expedition model 1009Y (that's the yellow one). It fit considerably better. Its length is 13" compared with the 10 1/2 feet length of the 1012. The 1009 has the same 32" beam and only weighs 6 pounds more than the 1012. Yet the maximum weight capacity on the yellow 1009 is 150 pounds greater than the 1012. Just about right for me.

The yellow 1009 does cost quite a bit more than the 1012, the the 1009 come with the inflatable lumbar seat standard--a nice plus. But true to her persuasive ability, Leslie managed to talk the salesperson into throwing in the inflatable lumbar seat on her kayak as well.

The inflatable lumbar seat option

So in the end we managed to walk out with exactly what we hoped for. 

Next summer we will mount the kayaks to either the bow stanchions or to the stanchions on the upper deck depending on where they best fit to stay out of the way when underway and anchoring procedures. Either way these kayaks are going to open up some fun and interesting opportunities to more intimately explore our anchorages. We also hope to drop them in Lake Whatcom or other area waterways.

Because they easily deflate and fold down to store in a handy carrying case, they can also be carried on airlines and taken to some of the places we travel. I can see them being handy when we visit our friends in Florida or on road trips.

Now to start getting myself in better shape so I have an easier time getting in and out of my kayak.    Here is a link to a video about the model 1009: http://youtu.be/_mhaH5cOhBQ

Been a While

It has been quite a while, I know. I didn't mean for it to have taken so long since my last entry. Lost interest, time, life. I guess those will have to be my excuses. A lot has happened since then.

The biggest event has been the discovery that at any minute rhe phone will ring and we will hear the voice of our daughter or our son in law announcing they have become parents. Today is the due date--February 10, 2015. When that call comes it will mean of course, that we will have become grandparents. We are a good deal more excited than this narrative might indicate but it has been many months since we were initially told and the baby has so far been mostly just a growing bump, a trip to Target to purchase a crib and a baby shower hosted by long-time friends of our daughter and her husband. The reality for me will really kick in when we get that call to come to Seattle to meet the newest member of the family--our grandbaby.

It has mostly been a concept so far. Far distant when compared to our own experience becoming parents some 30+ years ago. That was real. We lived everyday of it. The doctor visits, the living with the experience everyday. It was close up and intimate on a level that can only be that for the couple going through it. It seems so long ago. Almost another life.

I've thought back a lot to our own experience with those precious moments. Like a slide show, for those who remember the Kodak carousel projectors. Each succeeding clunk of the projector flashes another frame of life up on the wall of our memory. Clunk. The moment in the Good Earth restaurant in Santa Clara, California, a few blocks from where I worked at the time, where we met my wife's parents and announced that they were going to be grandparents. Clunk. Spooning in bed late at night and feeling the first movements our daughter made in mama's tummy. Clunk. The photo of a very healthy and pregnant wife sitting in the sunshine at an outdoor concert a few weeks before the birth. Then there was the realization that this was all about to get really serious when we headed for the hospital. Those two people looked so young, were young, too young to become parents. So long ago.

So, we wait because there is nothing else to do for us but wait. Anticipation. A sort of nervous excitement is what I feel when I think about this new phase of life.  Is it a boy? Is it a girl? What name will we use when we greet this little one into the world? What name will we hear when this little one calls out to us? What experiences are ahead for us together. More photos flash in my mind. Clunk. Raking leaves in grandma's front yard. Clunk. A cozy bedroom filled with silly doo-dads. Clunk. Christmas mornings to remember. Clunk. Playing school. Reading bedtime stories on the white polka dotted sky blue couch with the smell of her clean wet  hair and that flannel night gown, those tiny toes sticking out the bottom. Trips to Disneyland. Tide pool adventures at Asilomar. What  memories will our grand baby look back on, will we look back on? I'll get back to you on that when we've made a few memories of our own.