Today is Tuesday, 9th of September; we
BOTH went boardsailing today - it was wunnerful - on the 4.5 meter
sail. It was Mr. Bill's first time out on the sailboard since his
shoulder-accident a bit over 9 weeks ago... NOW he has ice on his
shoulder, but the boardsailing was good in the 20-28 mph winds.
So - maybe my tenure as a Couch Potatoe is nearing it's end and
it would NOT be 'too soon'...
Today is Sunday, 7th of September: - we went for a short (7.96 miles) bicycle ride before breakfast...
- here's a (GPS) track-log of the bicycle ride (in red), then the
blue-line-track is where we sometimes go while paddling our kayaks...
( click for larger image )
Today is also 'clean up the bicycles' day and cut-up / dismantle /
throw-out shop-junk for the hurricane season ... I've already
been trimming trees and other such "what if it blows down during the
hurricane" things as well; 13-15 trash cans once a week
for the last few months means we have a LOT LESS than we did, but we
still need more trimming. AMAZING how much things GROW around here!
Today is the 5th of September,
and though one hurricane is 'passing-us-by' as I type this - before
08:00 a.m. on the 5th, another hurricane is set to really nail us
(heavily) before another week goes by... - so - Now is a time for
reflection and public admittance to failures...
First though: - if you're watching (and you may or may not be) our
hurricanes - this 'fairly new' web-site built by a couple of guys from
West Palm Beach, Florida (just south of us (and REALLY in the
hurricane's path)) is an AWESOME way to watch and track the hurricanes.
http://www.stormpulse.com
These guys really do a good job - and the 'advice' here is MAKE
SURE to learn to use your right-mouse-button - and MAKE SURE to 'HOVER'
over various things - because there's not a lot of 'on-line-help' - but
the web-site has some amazing features and functions and there is a
HUGE amount of informtion there, but you have to work to find it!... -
If you're an Apple Macintosh person - you may have to FORCE yourself to
learn to use the right-click... (as I did)...
Secondly: Mr. Bill approaches 9 weeks of
'left-shoulder-inactivity and exercise and stress and pain' and all
those other things. As he does this he reflects on the reasons he
got himself into this situation (two related, bad decisions), and the
fact that
he has become (mostly) a COUCH POTATOE and he is VERY BAD at being a couch potatoe...
As a bad couch potatoe (since with only one shoulder 'working' he can't
kiteboard, boardsail, hang-glide, or do much else). - He HAS done
'some' yard-work - but the right shoulder-arm 'dominates' - especially
in yard work - and along with Mr._G from two houses down he's re-fitted
a newer (about 15 years newer) air-conditioning unit
into the hole-in-the-wall in Ms._May's studio where the OLD (noisy -
not very efficient) OLD aircondtioner was and wow, what a difference.
on the other hand - while learning (not very well) to be a bad couch potatoe, some activities:
- reading (a LOT) of books
- reading (a LOT) of 'e-books' on the computer (see treatment below)
- watching (a LOT) of movies (from Netflix and the Library)
- doing (a LOT) of computer-stuff
- doing (a LITTLE) yard-work (mostly with my right arm / shoulder)
- doing (a LOT) of napping / attempting to sleep (mostly not very successfully)
- doing (a LOT) of cat-petting / hugging / talking
Maybe sometime soon, his shoulder will be better (it's definitely
improving all the time, but slow!) - he'll be back at things (like
kiting, sailing, hang-gliding, etc. etc. etc.) and then he won't have
to be a really really BAD couch potatoe...
Today is the 1st of September... - "Labour Day" here in America - the day to celebrate all who work 'for a living' (unlike me)...
Went for a bicycle ride before 08:00 a.m. this morning - ended up at a
little place here called the "Whistle Stop" - for 3 scrambled eggs,
sausage, (wheat) toast and grits, along with a little OJ for the two of us for less than $9.00 - not bad...
We also found a fruit we'd never seen before - click here for
picture_1 (not cut-open; (132k bytes)) and
picture_2
(cut-open; 102 k bytes)) - of this fruit.. The 'winning' vote comes from 'Mr._Erik' at
Pine Island Nursery... This thing is called a 'Pond Apple'.
Wikipedia has a good treatise on it, here.
Apparently one can eat them - but they aren't the most flavourful
things, Wikipedia (and other web-sites) also say that jams can be made
from them - maybe we'll try that?
Since it's ONLY the first day of the month - there is VERY
LITTLE to report - other than the passing in the night - so - to -
speak of a couple of hurricanes: (The US's "National Hurricane
Center" web-site:
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov)
Other than the hurricanes and the fact that we feel we are 'ready'
(well - mostly) - we've trimmed the trees & bushes and we've tied
up this and that - and we'll see... - Mr. Gustav looks like he'll
touch-base a bit west of New Orleans on Monday about noonish, 1 September - and Ms.
Hanna may visit us way more intimately later in the week - (like the 4th or 6th or so) of September...
Later this month we'll be off to Georgia for a short visit with some
friends, then to do a Hang Gliding clinic, then onward and upward
to Kentucky to visit even more friends... - Hope the weather and the
hurricanes cooperate!
AND - here's a very small / first-try at some '
fractal art' by Mr. Bill... - things may get better in this area as I have more time & effort to devote...
AND - FURTHER: - Mr. Bill's taken into 'electronic books' (or
'e-books') again - as the paper kind are getting rare... - these / this
is a way to read a book on your computer (and/or laptop) (with a 'pared
down version' of Adobe Acrobat (but there are other
'reader-software-tools') - and some libraries (not all) have a
'selection' that you can rent or borrow from them. Sometimes you
have to 'buy' the book from an on-line e-book retailer (but it's
typically less than $5.00 or so)... - Anyway - the selection is not
what generic books are in the library but they are there and there is a
definite improvement in reading from the screen (for me, anyway, it
seems easier on my eyes?)
Mr. Bill's best hang-gliding-flight (Ever) - see the FlightLog.Org web-page, here...
last updated: 18:53 p.m. (EDT) on Tuesday, 9th September, 2008 revID: 1f