September 2005 Beach Club
This is September, 2005, and we have successfully avoided major hurricane damage (so-far, - we have 3 more months to go, though!.   However, those in New Orleans have been significantly thrashed.   For the first time in Many Many Many years, the city of New Orleans (much of it physically BELOW sea-level) is flooded, and virtually the entire population has been evacuated... - glad that wasn't us...

Well - Unfortunately - it probably will not be rebuilt as it's "old self" but I'm sure someone, somewhere, will find the dollars to rebuild it - (probably, again, below sea level, though) - will they ever learn?

Here in Stuart (on the 23rd of September ( a Friday )) it's been raining raining raining raining for days and days and days, but the result is here:

  

our two cacti (hauled home from a friend's house (about a year ago (after our hurricanes (we think))) have both flowered - to some excess we believe?

     
here's a 'bug' May found in Toronto;                and here's  a 'Raccoon track' I found one morning on the porch

ANYWAY _ we here in South Eastern Florida are doing just fine - especially as Ms. May has returned from her family-outing trip to Toronto, from 20 August through 3 September...


While wandering-around in the yard we found these items which had sprung-up as a result of the extensive rains we've had...  Here's a few more pictures of huge mushrooms - picture_1,  picture_2,  picture_3.

Mr. Bill seems to have contracted an ear infection for which he decided a cold "Twisty Treat" ice cream  (inserted into the ear) was better "Rx" than the pills and drops - (and cheaper too.!), however, long-term the ear-drops and the pills DID ULTIMATELY CURE whatever it was that was ailing me.  On another front - while trimming-things in the yard, I dinged my right shin on a tree-stump.  I won't bore you with the 'gory' details other than to say if I'd pulled the 3 splinters  (one of which was at least 3/4" (18mm) long) out of there the day it happened, it probably wouldn't have gotten infected and I wouldn't have spent oodles of hard-un-earned-dollars on doctor visits and pills...!  YUCH!


Some happenings around the house this month...

   
Ms. May's very adept at hacksawing two cats, simultaneously; and she's hired Ms. Tigger to do her Orchid (tying) inspection(s).
Don't let these pictures fool you - it's a LOT HARDER than it looks to hack-saw two 'moving targets' and it's a lot harder
to find the old stockings (to tie the Orchids with (in the right picture)) than it is to actually do the tying...



Siew Mei - looking beautiful in the yard, as always - though sometimes she goes out in the rain and gets wet...


Ms. Tigger - in one of her most favourite hiding places in a kitchen cabinet (I guess so she can watch what's going on in the kitchen in case anything tasty & delicious happens to be in the 'preparation' stage...


I guess the major thing is that we now have a new-roof on the shop-studio... Even though it got thrashed last year
about this time) in a couple of hurricanes, Mr. Bill's repair-job did not leak at all for a year - and we finally found someone to do the new-roof-job... Took them a while to get their act together, get the permit and then get the work done, but they finally did it on August 31 and September 1 - so now there's a new-roof-there... - Whoopie

AND _ Mr. Bill's moved the old 8kw LP-gas powered generator from Mom and step-Dad's old house (in Jacksonville) down to our house here in Stuart.   Picked-it-up on the SeaDoo trailer - brought it back here and put it on a 'skid' made from last year's hurricane-dock-lumber we'd picked-up, and so now it's on our carport - awaiting both LP gas and Electrical hook-up.   Generator on SeaDoo Tralier picture.    Generator on skid in carport picture.

and - Found 'bottled' water on sale and bought about 30 gallons of that for Ms. May - so I think we're more ready than
last time - and on top of that - we have no more pine-trees to fall on anything - so - we'll see? (plus we have 'tie-downs' galore, this time - so I might say we're better prepared! - if you want to see 'just a few' of the things I did, while Ms. May was visiting family in Toronto, and I tried to prepare for Hurricane Katrina (as she moved across south Florida) you can go here for an un-edited view of 'tie-downs galore' in 'action':  http://www.vikingasia.org/ShareFiles/Katrina




Bill's Calamondin Tree in his re-cycled yard-cart.

(2 September, 2005):  One of the other 'big-things' Mr. Bill did in Ms. May's absence (when she went to Toronto to visit family)  was to re-pot his Calamondin tree - which has yielded some terrific Calamondins...      However, now that it's in it's 'bigger-pot' the darn thing probably weighs 80 pounds - so I put it on some wheels - to move it around - and rotate it easier to get sun all around it!  - Kind of hard to see the 'canopy' in the picture, since everything else in the background is also green...

(25 September, 2005 - Updated):  the Calamondin tree now resides in the Mango planter (right behind the tree in the above picture... - we DID 'de-weed' the planter, before moving the Calamondin tree there, though)  in our north yard.    On of Mr. Bill's long-time - best friends is Dr. Sandy Riese (one of those damned yanquis transplanted to the west (he now lives in Colorado)) - he calls Calamondins "wanna-be-oranges" - harumph!!!  - I met Sandy (through is brother Rusty (who was in my class in college (who works for BP-Amoco) and who's from Houston, and we haven't heard from him since the hurricane?)))  when I was in college in New Mexico (that was a Very VERY long time ago)   So if Dr. Sandy thinks Calamondins are "wanna-be-oranges" it just goes to show when you grow up in New York (City) - all those (damned Yankee)  people and all that SNOW affect your brain, a lot...     On the other hand he DOES have a PhD, and he's still employed, so I guess he's still an 'O.K. Guy'...

Speaking of being 'employed' - there's 'word afoot' (I got an e-mail on the 21st) that I'm going to get some 'contract work' doing boat/marine engineering and CAD(software) design.  However, I have received no files, no statement of work, I've given my Social Security Number to no-one - signed no 'Non-Disclosure',  received no money, etc. etc. etc. so who "Really Knows" - well - I'll clue you, it ain't me. - So the 'promise' of work (income) is there - but it hasn't materialized yet?   

HOWEVER, being eternally optimistic, I've been spending my spare time working on Rhino3D tutuorials - getting a quote from HP for a new desktop WindowsXP PC and practicing with some of the other 'CAD-software-tools' that I know and use for boat-marine work. - IF the job really does materialize, then I'm hoping I'll be more 'prepared' if I've done a few more tutorials...  - - - keep your fingers crossed - maybe it will happen, - maybe it won't - on the other hand - there's another role that may happen too? - again - only time will tell?

last updated:  11:51 a.m. on Sunday, 25 September 2005;  revID: 1x