Beach
Web
- February 2008
Today
is Monday, 25th - wow - February is going by fast these days...
Well - talk about 'the
past coming back to 'haunt' you...' - this is a picture (dredged up
from some SIGNIFICANT years ago) - by someone who was a fellow
Motorolan, back when I lived and worked in Hong Kong (1988 -
1998)...
This image must be at least 15 years old - if not closer to 20 years
old - click on it for a larger image...
Our garage-concrete-slab
roof is 'essentially finished', and final inspection(s) were done this
morning... I need, now that the 'building permit' is
'closed' (if you want to see the pretty-slick Martin County web-site /
building permit, go
here ) to work on some of the miscellaneous things that need to be
done but that were not on the permit:
- figure out what is suitable & required parking
under the new roof
- paint the east-side
fascia (did first coat on Monday, 26th - need to do another coat
- put-up a gutter on the
east side - that's where most of the water will run-off to- but I'm
'stuck' trying to decide on vinyl-plastic guttering or metal (aluminum)
guttering? - I'll procrastinate a while while trying to make this
decision.
- compressed-air - did most
of this on the morning of the 26th
- 110 volt electricity -
this still needs some thought
- 220 volt electricity -
this still needs some thought, also
- light(s) - which will
probably happen when I get the 110 volt electricity - I already have
one light and that may be enough - since I probably won't work outside
here, much, after dark? - but WHO KNOWS!
- dirt-splash-guard - have
some 'bits' of old corrugated fiberglass - and this is good but need
something else, I have 72 lineal feet that needs to be done (4 feet is
already done) but - we'll see - have to think about this, too (that's
an excuse to procrastinate!)
Here's a couple of small pictures of the finished roof with the
mini-van parked underneath and our kayaks and our hang-gliders
hanging-up...
PLENTY More (still) pictures at Mr._Bill's
.Mac web-gallery - look for
an album called " Roof " at
this web-link: http://gallery.mac.com/vikingasia1
Mr._Panda had another bath, over the weekend. (this was
his second
bath in 19
years). In order to do this monumental task; Mr._Bill got
up EARLY and took Mr._Panda to the BIG plastic
basin in the shop; washed the basin; turned on the hot-water-heater;
and Mr._Panda had his bath. So - he's all CLEAN NOW! - (and Today
is Monday, 26th and he's essentially dry so he can sleep with us
tonite...
Here's a picture of Mr._Panda (drip)-drying-out - if this episode is
similar to the last one (about six months ago) he'll take about 3 days
to dry completely. However, the humidty is HIGH today
(about 80
percent (though it's supposed to go down in the next few days)) it may
take him longer to dry-out this time?
We have a close friend in Hong Kong, - Ms._Cathy - who sailed with
another friend, Ms._Rita in the 470 World Championships in Australia
recently. Ms._Cathy also has a Europe_Dinghy like ours and she
sails that, also.
Here's a picture of them sailing down in Australia... - Though they
didn't win, they had fun, learned a lot, and let the world know that
Hong Kong is a sailing place...
Ms._May and I (first) met each other racing 470s in Hong Kong - and we
didn't weigh enough, overall - but we soon discovered Mr._Bill on the
trapeze and Ms._May skippering (steering) was a 'winning
combination'.
AND _ Mr. Bill's finished the "Roof_Project" - and called for the last
of the inspections. One of these happened on Friday afternoon,
22nd, the other(s) he'll call for on Monday, 25th and we'll see
if we can't get them taken-care-of during the next week.
Here's a web-link
to the permitting / inspections web-site - pretty slick stuff that
Martin County (where we live) offers-up if you've obtained a building
permit (we did). As in the past, the (almost 60, now)
pictures are available at his .Mac
account web-gallery-site
- look for the Album called (very strange name) " Roof ".
And - lastly - this was sent to me by a friend - I USED to think I knew
geography pretty well - and I guess I do - but - apparently I don't
know my European geography as well as I thought I did. Try this European
Geography
test and see how YOU DO!
Well
- it's another week gone by - today is Sunday, 17th of February
and things are 'keeping-on / keeping-on' here in SouthEastern Florida.
This past week went by with considerable speed as Mr._Bill continued
work on the roof-project (on the .Mac web-site (as
an 'album' called
(strangely enough) "Roof" )) (though you will find 'some' pictures
below - this web-site contains all 40-something pictures from the
project's begining on 4 February... We HOPE for an
inspection of the decking-nailing on Monday morning and then we'll put
on the 'underlayment' coat (first coat) of the roofing material (peel
and stick (over the wood-decking)). My
hang-gliding-friend_Mr._Terry is taking the time out of his busy
schedule to drive all the way over here from Naples_Florida (with his
colleague and friend Mr._Dave, to help me with this...
AND - we have had further visit(s) from Mr. PandaBoy - who we now know
(from having met his 'owner' and other relatives from next door), his
'real' name is "Ralphie" and he's been by several times recently to
visit & inspect, but mostly to watch and chase birds... He is
well-represented, though as a 'building inspector' - in the very bottom
picture on this web-page...
Ms. Siew Mei also has been very helpful in the yard - a
brief movie of her
assisting is here. Mr._Bill spent most of Sunday morning
cleaning-up the yard, which he's neglected for a couple of weeks
while working on the roof-project...
Ms._May
has begun Jazz_piano lessons from a local noted jazz_piano
artist... Last night (the night of the 12th) there was a small
'concert' and we attended and enjoyed!... - Along the way we also
attended dinner at one of our most-favourite local hang-outs: Pei_Wei
- an Asian eat-in and/or take-out diner. VERY tasty
stuff.! More on the jazzzzzzzz thingie on Ms._May's_blog later on
this month; and she took a wee bit of video, too.
Well
- February has been 'consumed' (at least the first couple of weeks
(I started this project on Monday 4 February and HOPE to finish on /
about 16-17-18 February)) with building a ( (local Martin County
building-code permitted) roof (open on 3 sides, but attached to the
garage on the west-side)) over the concrete slab we had poured in
November... the 'primary goal' was to physically exhaust Mr. Bill
during the building and to make a place for sun and rain protection for
some of our JUNQUE!.
Some BRIEF pictures are here - if you're interested in more - let me
know - there's more on the 'start' of this project in the text
below!
picture_1_overall - the top nearing completion
picture_2_some hurricane-ties (24 nails each - 30 sometime ties - you
do the math (all 'manual' nails, too!))
picture_3_ had to take-out this window and cover-up the hole
picture_4_my_helper
picture_5_roof materials - will get some (EXPERT) help to install
this
picture_6_one of several inspectors who came to review quality of
workmanship
Mr._Terry - a hang-gliding friend from _Naples_ is supposed to come
over to Stuart later this week, to help me finish-it-up (put the
roofing material and flashing and drip-edge, etc. on it), but we're
waiting for 'things' to dry-out right now - had some torrential rain
last night (12th February).
On
Sunday, 3 February, we both
went Hang Gliding at "The
Florida Ridge"
- just west of Lake Okeechobee. - It was a very very good day - lots of
LIFT - though the LIFT spots were small they were good... anyway
- it was a good day for flying - Ms. May had two good flights - Mr.
Bill had 3 flights... It is about an hour and 40 to hour and 50
minute ride but it is pretty in the cane-fields and other agricultural
areas of south-central Florida. Mr. Bill used his radio and had
great reception.
For the video-fanatics; there is a large video ( 30
seconds - take-off - ...m4v format - about
10 megabytes ) here; ( smaller-version-here
(about
3.2 megabytes) ) - but mostly it was just a good day and
great weather...
The landing-video(s) are here: (...m4v
format, ... about 40 seconds) large
((15 megabytes / screen-size /
pixels) / small
(5 megabytes / screen-size /
pixels)
our typical sunset picture - taken on the way
back home to Stuart after hang-gliding - it was a GOOD DAY in the air!
Mr. Bill
is now studying (hard)
for his ARRL
Amateur Extra class (radio) license - which he hopes to take (and pass)
on 15 March. - GOOD LUCK!
This is progressing, but
there is A LOT to LEARN and it's NOT simple-stuff.
It's not
'rocket-science' but it is involved, complex, and you really have to
UNDERSTAND what is going on... The first two tests
one can fairly easily pass (especially the first test) by just studying
to "Pass the Test"
With this
last one - which is larger (50 questions) there is a LOT of radio
theory and practice that you simply can not just learn the answers to
the questions -you MUST understand the underlying concepts...
However, with two books (both of which are good) and with my
subscription to: " HamTestOnline
" - where I can take as many 'practice exams' as I want - I'm getting
there - I'm studying (both books and on-line) and taking the practice
exams and I THINK I'll be READY by the 15th of March!...
Other than those things - not much happening - but it's only the 5th
(Tuesday) at this point - stick around for more news, views, still and
video images and whatever else wanders our way...
last updated: 08:28 a.m. -
Saturday, 11 October, 2013; revID: 1j
