Friday,
25 August 2006: - we're in Vancouver, - and we did a hike this
morning - we've done this hike, before - it's around "Buntzen Lake" -
about 6 miles total - took us about 2 1/2 hours or so - we did a
'track-log' with our little-tiny-old-Garmin 48 GPS ...
We 'normally' come to visit May's family here in Vancouver in February - March - when it's chillier and we go snowboarding, but this year we're here in August - when it's HOT HOT HOT - and this hike was definitely HOT, even though 90% of it is in the shade of the forest - it's still HOT HOT HOT _ though definitely not as HOT as in Florida at this point... May's Dad's birthday is early next week and so we're here for that - Then Ms. May will be attending a pottery-workshop in Seattle, and we'll visit friends, there, too...
15 August, 2006: - today is Tuesday... - Mr. Bill is just back from J'ville, and he's run a number of errands today and accomplished a number of house-home-tasks, but the most important is the acquisition of 'beach-materials' for a 'summer-play-environment' recommended by Ms. Toby, who will take GOOD CARE OF our Ms. Siew Mei while we are away... - Here's a 'before' picture of several items - see if you can figure out how they go together?!
Tuesday, 08 August, 2006: - today is Tuesday... - Ms. May is off to visit family - and while the cat is away - the hubby-will-play
Sunday, 06 August, 2006: - today is Sunday - and it is:
my sister's birthday - she's getting older, like me, but she's probably better looking, and more well educated, to say nothing of more likely to 'succeed' - whatever that means...
the day that I swep-up (yet-again) some 'squirrel dining debris' (and I thought I WAS A SLOPPY EATER) this stuff ends-up all OVER our driveway... and here's one of the culprits of this debris...
Ms. May believes we should offer a 'puzzle' and so here's this month's (compliments of our friend Ms. Mary Wong - down (further) in south-Florida) - see how fast your reaction-time is: http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/sleep/sheep/reaction_version5.swf
Friday, 04 August, 2006 (only 4 days into the month and LOOK at ALL this STUFF on our web-page, now!)
Mr. Bill has been 'toying' with the 'toy' camera that we had bought a couple of years ago to do VoIP telephone. - Now he's attempting to make it work to take pictures / videos of Ms. Siew Mei when we go away... - However, - he's not been totally successful in this effort - so in the mean-time he's been 'clearing more yard'. - but at the same time we've found Mr. Bunny, to help us... AND When Ms. Siew Mei isn't 'modelling' for movies (and stills) we also use Mr. Bunny (or is it Ms. Bunny (how would one tell?)) as a model for still pictures and for videos.
Our new (almost complete) hood-based-rack for car-topping a couple of Hang - Gliders... We bought the 'suction-cups' from a supplier here in the USA- rather than order a ready-made rack from the UK. We think we saved about $100... (that is if one doesn't figger-the engineering time Mr. Bill spent on this project...)
Another "new-toy" arrived, today, this gives me a 'new way' (rather than a bunch of banana plugs and a bunch of cigarette lighter plugs) to connect all the 12 volt DC "junk" I carry around (in the Mini-Van). This thing uses something called "Anderson Powerpoles" - the little red & black plastic things that connect 12volt DC things. These (Anderson Powerpoles) are a 'standard' in the ARES / RACES world (the Amateur Radio people that help-out with communications in a 'disaster' situation (where police, fire, Red-Cross, etc. radios / phones don't work) the Amateur Radio people help-out and all their equipment uses these genderless, positive / locking connector system(s)...
Other things:
1.) Mr. Bunny-rabbit (and/or his immediate family ( or larger-image ) continue to enjoy 'sniffing-around' in our yard, eating our carrots (well, we think so), and digging little tiny holes... And SOMETIMEs Ms. (or is it Mr.) bunny-rabbit gets inside our fence - but sometimes he (or she) gets outside the fence - apparently tiny bunny-rabbits go THROUGH our fence - I guess we won't have a veggie-garden INSIDE our fence, huh?
2.) Mr. ToiToi got caught (somehow) inside our fence, so we had to let him out - but he was happier outside - and now we think we've plugged-up (ALL?) the holes - so he can't get in and Ms. Siew Mei can't get out.
3.) We're continuing to clear the land for the green-house / orchid-house - and Ms. May chopped-down this tree and I cleared-it-away ((into 5 trash-cans no less!)
4.) we keep getting great reports from the gang in Zapata, Texas about setting new distance records - Mr. Bill feels like maybe he should go next year, that maybe it's a good place to get great air-time for a little bit of an investment?! you can see some reports by using Mr. Davis' web-site-blog: http://www.ozreport.com
5.) Mr. Bill managed to get the '14' back on the trailer and covered-up with the 'shade-cover' for it's health and well-being - it's much happier, now, in it's shady-trailer...
6.) Mr. Bill wanted to 'clean-up' some errant weeds, but found, instead a 'smoking pump' - (sorry - the picture previously noted is NOT of a 'smoking-pump' - I didn't have the camera handy, so I could take a picture of the smoke (but maybe next time) so he found out that the smoke was due to the fire-ants getting into the switch contacts (not a bad way for a fire-ant to die!) _ AND THEN the pump wouldn't 'prime' but - finally it worked, so everything is all 'hunky-dory' now... BUT _ it was a couple hours of 'labour' and very few'materials' that lead me to the eventual ((positive outcome)) end of this project... - UGH UGH UGH - the trials and tribulations of owning your own home with well-water instead of city-water. Whatever city-water costs, it's worth it... on the other hand - in / after a hurricane - what would one do ?? ? - Maybe that's why we have 36 something gallons of RO water in bottles and 7 cases of 1/2 liter bottles all ready for the next hurricane!
7.) Stump-pulling is a skil-set that Mr. Bill has developed (and that and $3.75 will buy you a latte at Starbucks!)... - here's some 'evidence' (you're supposed to notice that there was once a 'stump' there where the picture shows only sand, now!) and even more evidence (in the lower-portion of this picture is 'no-stumps' - in the lower-portion of this older-picture is 'stumps'?!) and here's a picture of Mr. Bill with his trusty rake, contemplating all the palmetto 'rootlettees' he has to pull-up... - and here's a larger image of the same pose -
8.) After some considerable time when we feared the worst for the squirrels in the neighborhood (like someone, maybe, had poisoned them or something) - they seem to have come back, now, en-force. AND there is at least one squirrel who keeps eating nuts and dropping the 'debris' all-OVER the driveway - AND Mr. Bill sweeps up this debris into a little pile every morning - about 10a.m. or so - and then the next day, there is EVER MORE squirrel-nut-debris all-OVER the driveway (yet again) for Mr. Bill to sweep up... Now WHAT did poor Mr. Bill do before he had to sweep-up squirrel-nut-debris every day at 10 a.m.???
9.) and for our 'daily-exercise' (that Ms. Wong is making sure we do) we've been Rollerblading. Today (early this morning (before 08:00 a.m. that is EARLY)) we took off and Mr. Bill got about 100 yards down the road when his front 'tire' came off the rim (the tire-split) and HE ALMOST lost "IT" on the rough-pavement but saved himself (from skinned-knees, shins, elbows and other things) but realized his 15 year old Rollerblade wheels were 'toast'. So - Tonite - he has replaced all 8 wheels and so maybe we'll get a few more miles out of the 15 year old blades before we buy some new ones. HOWEVER, all this didn't discourage him from looking-up what he wants to dream about getting: Rollerblade (brand) "Crossfire 4D".
Other things that are happening or are 'supposedly' going to happen this month:
Ms. May's going to visit her parents / sister / etc. in Vancouver
We 'normally' come to visit May's family here in Vancouver in February - March - when it's chillier and we go snowboarding, but this year we're here in August - when it's HOT HOT HOT - and this hike was definitely HOT, even though 90% of it is in the shade of the forest - it's still HOT HOT HOT _ though definitely not as HOT as in Florida at this point... May's Dad's birthday is early next week and so we're here for that - Then Ms. May will be attending a pottery-workshop in Seattle, and we'll visit friends, there, too...
15 August, 2006: - today is Tuesday... - Mr. Bill is just back from J'ville, and he's run a number of errands today and accomplished a number of house-home-tasks, but the most important is the acquisition of 'beach-materials' for a 'summer-play-environment' recommended by Ms. Toby, who will take GOOD CARE OF our Ms. Siew Mei while we are away... - Here's a 'before' picture of several items - see if you can figure out how they go together?!
- Picture_1 - materials
- Picture_2 - pool
- Picture_3a - other things -
larger_version
- Picture_3b - some other things -
larger_version
- Picture_3c - more other things
Tuesday, 08 August, 2006: - today is Tuesday... - Ms. May is off to visit family - and while the cat is away - the hubby-will-play
Sunday, 06 August, 2006: - today is Sunday - and it is:
my sister's birthday - she's getting older, like me, but she's probably better looking, and more well educated, to say nothing of more likely to 'succeed' - whatever that means...
the day that I swep-up (yet-again) some 'squirrel dining debris' (and I thought I WAS A SLOPPY EATER) this stuff ends-up all OVER our driveway... and here's one of the culprits of this debris...
Ms. May believes we should offer a 'puzzle' and so here's this month's (compliments of our friend Ms. Mary Wong - down (further) in south-Florida) - see how fast your reaction-time is: http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/sleep/sheep/reaction_version5.swf
Friday, 04 August, 2006 (only 4 days into the month and LOOK at ALL this STUFF on our web-page, now!)
Mr. Bill has been 'toying' with the 'toy' camera that we had bought a couple of years ago to do VoIP telephone. - Now he's attempting to make it work to take pictures / videos of Ms. Siew Mei when we go away... - However, - he's not been totally successful in this effort - so in the mean-time he's been 'clearing more yard'. - but at the same time we've found Mr. Bunny, to help us... AND When Ms. Siew Mei isn't 'modelling' for movies (and stills) we also use Mr. Bunny (or is it Ms. Bunny (how would one tell?)) as a model for still pictures and for videos.
Our new (almost complete) hood-based-rack for car-topping a couple of Hang - Gliders... We bought the 'suction-cups' from a supplier here in the USA- rather than order a ready-made rack from the UK. We think we saved about $100... (that is if one doesn't figger-the engineering time Mr. Bill spent on this project...)
Another "new-toy" arrived, today, this gives me a 'new way' (rather than a bunch of banana plugs and a bunch of cigarette lighter plugs) to connect all the 12 volt DC "junk" I carry around (in the Mini-Van). This thing uses something called "Anderson Powerpoles" - the little red & black plastic things that connect 12volt DC things. These (Anderson Powerpoles) are a 'standard' in the ARES / RACES world (the Amateur Radio people that help-out with communications in a 'disaster' situation (where police, fire, Red-Cross, etc. radios / phones don't work) the Amateur Radio people help-out and all their equipment uses these genderless, positive / locking connector system(s)...
Other things:
1.) Mr. Bunny-rabbit (and/or his immediate family ( or larger-image ) continue to enjoy 'sniffing-around' in our yard, eating our carrots (well, we think so), and digging little tiny holes... And SOMETIMEs Ms. (or is it Mr.) bunny-rabbit gets inside our fence - but sometimes he (or she) gets outside the fence - apparently tiny bunny-rabbits go THROUGH our fence - I guess we won't have a veggie-garden INSIDE our fence, huh?
2.) Mr. ToiToi got caught (somehow) inside our fence, so we had to let him out - but he was happier outside - and now we think we've plugged-up (ALL?) the holes - so he can't get in and Ms. Siew Mei can't get out.
3.) We're continuing to clear the land for the green-house / orchid-house - and Ms. May chopped-down this tree and I cleared-it-away ((into 5 trash-cans no less!)
4.) we keep getting great reports from the gang in Zapata, Texas about setting new distance records - Mr. Bill feels like maybe he should go next year, that maybe it's a good place to get great air-time for a little bit of an investment?! you can see some reports by using Mr. Davis' web-site-blog: http://www.ozreport.com
5.) Mr. Bill managed to get the '14' back on the trailer and covered-up with the 'shade-cover' for it's health and well-being - it's much happier, now, in it's shady-trailer...
6.) Mr. Bill wanted to 'clean-up' some errant weeds, but found, instead a 'smoking pump' - (sorry - the picture previously noted is NOT of a 'smoking-pump' - I didn't have the camera handy, so I could take a picture of the smoke (but maybe next time) so he found out that the smoke was due to the fire-ants getting into the switch contacts (not a bad way for a fire-ant to die!) _ AND THEN the pump wouldn't 'prime' but - finally it worked, so everything is all 'hunky-dory' now... BUT _ it was a couple hours of 'labour' and very few'materials' that lead me to the eventual ((positive outcome)) end of this project... - UGH UGH UGH - the trials and tribulations of owning your own home with well-water instead of city-water. Whatever city-water costs, it's worth it... on the other hand - in / after a hurricane - what would one do ?? ? - Maybe that's why we have 36 something gallons of RO water in bottles and 7 cases of 1/2 liter bottles all ready for the next hurricane!
7.) Stump-pulling is a skil-set that Mr. Bill has developed (and that and $3.75 will buy you a latte at Starbucks!)... - here's some 'evidence' (you're supposed to notice that there was once a 'stump' there where the picture shows only sand, now!) and even more evidence (in the lower-portion of this picture is 'no-stumps' - in the lower-portion of this older-picture is 'stumps'?!) and here's a picture of Mr. Bill with his trusty rake, contemplating all the palmetto 'rootlettees' he has to pull-up... - and here's a larger image of the same pose -
8.) After some considerable time when we feared the worst for the squirrels in the neighborhood (like someone, maybe, had poisoned them or something) - they seem to have come back, now, en-force. AND there is at least one squirrel who keeps eating nuts and dropping the 'debris' all-OVER the driveway - AND Mr. Bill sweeps up this debris into a little pile every morning - about 10a.m. or so - and then the next day, there is EVER MORE squirrel-nut-debris all-OVER the driveway (yet again) for Mr. Bill to sweep up... Now WHAT did poor Mr. Bill do before he had to sweep-up squirrel-nut-debris every day at 10 a.m.???
9.) and for our 'daily-exercise' (that Ms. Wong is making sure we do) we've been Rollerblading. Today (early this morning (before 08:00 a.m. that is EARLY)) we took off and Mr. Bill got about 100 yards down the road when his front 'tire' came off the rim (the tire-split) and HE ALMOST lost "IT" on the rough-pavement but saved himself (from skinned-knees, shins, elbows and other things) but realized his 15 year old Rollerblade wheels were 'toast'. So - Tonite - he has replaced all 8 wheels and so maybe we'll get a few more miles out of the 15 year old blades before we buy some new ones. HOWEVER, all this didn't discourage him from looking-up what he wants to dream about getting: Rollerblade (brand) "Crossfire 4D".
Other things that are happening or are 'supposedly' going to happen this month:
Ms. May's going to visit her parents / sister / etc. in Vancouver
- Mr. Bill's going to join her - later-on
- Ms. Siew Mei is going to hold-down-the-fort here in Stuart, and Ms. T is going to feed her (often, we hope!)
- the weather continues to be HOT HOT HOT - I only worked til 10:00
a.m. this morning. There is a tropical storm in the area -
his name is Mr. Chris - and he may be around here (Stuart) by next
Tuesday, on the other hand - watching him on the National
Hurricane Center's web-site
one might believe he's going to 'die'?
- we had dinner with our friends Mr. T & Ms.
B on Wednesday night - great to catch-up with good friends...!!!
- Mr. Bill's working with a new piece of 3D / NURBS / CAD
software from Italy, it
has some 'problems' but the support staff are working hard to remedy
them. - it should be good, though, because it works on the
Macintosh,
which almost no other (really good / really NURBS-based) CAD
software
does...