a 'Red Tree' - I have NO IDEA what these things are called, but they are blooming all around Stuart, Hobe Sound, Jupiter, etc. right now and they are GORGEOUS (but not QUITE as gorgeous as my _Huggly_Bunch_, though she has taken some pictures and put them on her _blog-site_.
Life in south Florida has it's 'ups and downs' - we discovered, yesterday, some 'animal abuse' - it was very very sad - but - well - it happens, I guess. (Picture NOT for the "Faint of Heart") - HOWEVER, the bright-side is that today I discovered just the opposite, - animal love!. - so - enjoy
abuse of animals (not very large) Animal Love and Tenderness LOTs of Love and Tenderness (much bigger-image)
Lesson to learn; do NOT leave your garage door open if you tend to 'abuse' your animals;
AND: if you think the "Love and Tenderness" picture looks a 'little' skewed' (or funny) you are NOT WRONG - this is an 'artifact' (near as I can describe it) of digital camera(s) (this one on my iPhone) when digital cameras (especially in-expensive ones) take a picture of a 'moving-object' things do NOT LOOK CORRECT. So it's not that you are getting old or can't see or need glasses (or maybe a new computer) this IS A FUNKY IMAGE - don't worry about your eyes (but maybe worry about your digital camera...)
Oh Oh OH OH _ almost forgot - met this guy while riding my TriceQ today (Saturday, 29th) and he said he desperately wanted to be on my web-site so here he is:! small_picture Largerester_picture
and - oh - I guess there's more pictures I 'should' publish... - this one is (kind of boring, huh?) of the new 0.8 mile long 'bicycle-path' that the Martin County government just completed... - Mr._Bill has been riding on it now nearly a week. It's the 'final-piece' in about 50-80 miles of a bicycle-pathway (some of which is sidewalk)
, and this one, tiny little (0.8 mile) segment was 'missing' and this was a VERY DANGEROUS road, before. Now with the new bicycle-path - it's MUCH SAFER!....
Epic Journey: (the return trip was 16 hours of driving / 960 miles in one day (Monday, 24th))
The most recent to the far-reaches of western-Kentucky - specifically to "Paducah" for their Art and Music Festival" - we have some friends there (mostly Ms. May's pottery-friend(s) but the guy (Mr._John) was the 'catalyst' for why I bought my recumbent tricycle...
ANYWAY - they were in the 'heart' of the closed-off-streets of the Art & Music Festival, but we DID get a chance to do some tricycle-riding and some other things - here's a random-collection of 'pictures'
Ms._May's blog will have more content as time goes by and she has a chance to organize pictures and write some text...
- A 'balloon-post' that they used on various-and-sundry entrances to the Arts & Music Festival
- Trike-outing to take their two kids (18 months and 3 years) to the day-care-center via trike-pulled-trailer
- Another day - Ms._May_on her trike in the woods, and again
- Mr. Bill's trike-ride one day (can't remember which day, though (and here's yet another day (courtesy of MotionX-GPS on my iPhone) ( and here's another day in ...kml format) the ...kml format is so that you can 'play-with' the track-log on YOUR COPY of Google-Earth!))
- Mr._Bill's TriceQ in the woods (very nice path through the woods)
- Two old guys with no-hair, laughing about whatever?
- At one time "SOME" of us (most of whom shall remain nameless) decided that trikes were a good excuse for not having a skate-board so they became 'Lunatic Adults' (we use this term VERY LOOSELY) and triked-around the skate-park (which is most probably VERY ILLEGAL, but - well - being Lunatic Adults who cares, huh)?
- AND for the few days we were in Paducah, we had a 'visitor' and/or an 'occupier' - in our bed!
- AND a VERY INTERESTING picture by Ms._Wong, some windows in the side of a local building... Notice how they almost all at different elevations and different shapes - VERY unusual...
This little-link is for Mr._John on how to assemble his new 'bike-flag' - picture1 picture2
AND a brief stint (well the better part of two days, actually) spent on the 'Sand Pumping Station' at Boynton Inlet (about an hour's drive south of home), working on a camera-system and wireless radio(s) and such. This location is nice and presented a opportunity to let you see why this work that I do, every once in a while is NOT BAD DUTY for an old-guy like me... VERY pretty scenery...
Friday, 14th May, 2010:
Well - MANYMANYMANY times in my life I've been exceedingly proud to be married to someone so intelligent, versatile, beautiful, etc. etc. etc. (need I say more)
BUT _ WHEN she comes up with "THIS STUFF" _ this is when I'm most proud!
This we call 'Antenering' (Ant Engineering) - and - well - we suppose that you can tell EXACTLY what this is for... - but - it's WONDERFUL to have a huggly_bunch who does this stuff...!!!
Thursday, 13th May, 2010:
Ms._May has added some roses to the 'DirtGo' project (adequately described below). - We now have 2 of this - and 2 of that - roses by _Home_Depot_ coupon(s) (we are both now members of the _HD_ "_Garden_Club_") and we get coupons for this, that, and the other.
looking-south (these are the northern roses: - click on image for bigger
looking-north (these are the southern roses: - click on image for bigger
We also bought five more _Maxijet_ sprinkler_stakes and Netafim sprinkler-heads and we're getting into the 'irrigation' thing really well. These two products really put the water RIGHT WHERE YOU WANT / NEED it and there's little over-spray and virtually no waste.
These little sprinkler things are designed for plants, shrubs, tree-roots, NOT for 'lawns' - which is the 'application arena' for the bulk of the sprinkler heads that most people have seen and use...
HOWEVER, the holes in these things are on the order of 1/32 to 1/64 inch or less (about 0.2 to 0.5 mm) and so when you drill a new hole in the (distribution) pipe (hose) and/or let dirt get in the distribution pipe (hose) - you're really in for some fun-times getting all that 'goo' out of the system (blowing out the sprinkler-heads with an air-hose works great though).
Oh - here's a ...pdf brochure from the Maxijet people - (who make the stakes / hoses) - with a little - little - little TINY sprinkler head that goes on top - if you want it... We're not using these but they could be VERY EFFECTIVE if you want them. The 'main' Netafim sprinklers (all plastic) web-page is here.
Picture of Maxijet sprinkler stake (and associated hose) - along with a "_Netafim_" micro-sprinkler-head (which 'screws-into' the hose-end at the top of the stake... - click on image for bigger
Here's the whole-thing 'assembled' before plugging the hose into the distribution pipe(hose) and before putting the stake in the ground...
I think that what you see here is about $1.65 plus tax - pretty good value for money...
They have black stakes, but the company we buy from (Kilpatrick Irrigation) always seems to be out-of-stock of something... - On the other hand _ I think all this 'micro-irrigation' stuff we have we might have a grand-total of about $30 invested and it's not only REALLY INEXPENSIVE stuff but it's REALLY EFFECTIVE, also...
Mr._Bill the trikist has 'added-value' to his life from the kindness and thoughtfulness of his huggly_one...
Ms._May found - by searching on the internet - a little-tiny radio with a crank-handle AND Solar-Cell power (options) and it does AM, FM, and a bunch of other goodies... IT arrived this afternoon, via postal-mail and we made a bracket for it, and even tested it (and YES it sounds pretty-good even at VERY LOW volume - right behind my head!.. - Also note, from the abot picture(s) that it is RED, like the trike - and I even, now, wear a long-sleeved RED Shirt - so MAYBE I'm becoming fashion-alert in my old age (but don't hold your breath!)
Saturday, 08 May, 2010:
Today is the WWEEKKEENNDD! - and we are liking this - However, we managed, this week, to accomplish a few things (not many - just a few) - and these are the sorts of things we live for in our semi-retired-life:
- We managed to 'rebuild / refurbish / renew / relax / re-invigorate' our OLD mailbox and street-number-sign... ( small picture / large picture )
- We managed to buy and haul-home another six bags of 'Dirt' (we actually found out this stuff is called 'Soil' (at least in the dictionary)), however, I like what my sister said, after a picture of the mini-van-full-of bags of this stuff, she said, "Ah HA! - you've been to the 'Dirt Store'". (see project information and picture, below, called "DirtGo" project...
- We managed to understand (maybe a tiny bit) our cat, who said, "I ain't gonna eat that 'stuff' you've been throwing-at-me, I want something BETTER!" - so we went to the cat-food-store and bought her some 'pouch-food' (at a significantly greater cost per meal (or per ounce - or per purr (or whatever other criteria you want to use to measure - it's MORE EXPENSIVE!))
- We managed to find a new restaurant ( Thai Bistro ) that serves "_Thai_Food_" that's way more betterer than previous Asian_Food restaurants around here...
- Mr._Bill managed to fix all the broken-parts / pieces / rigging on the Europe Dinghy ( International Class Association web-site ) (I mean the boat IS 15 plus years old)... that I broke earlier this week by sailing it in 18-22 knots of wind, (when YES - even though the tricycle riding has caused me to lose 20-25 pounds I'm still 30 to 40 pounds too HEAVY for this little boat...
- Managed over 100 miles on my recumbent tricycle - and that makes me 'feel-good' - though it is HOT HOT HOT out there these days - and if it's this HOT now, what's it going to be like in July and August... ??? - and I've been wanting something other than my DARK black and dark-blue long-tights to keep the sun-off, I think the wifely_one is going to get me some tights that have one orange leg and one green leg - that ought to be interesting. I HAD (in the distant-past) some tights that were pink and black, but I was not allowed to wear them in 'public' (Publix?)? - I also now have some cotton & polyester mix tights that have teddy-bears on them - but again - my compliant wearing is limited to inside the house...
- Managed to find (FINALLY, AFTER LOOKING FOR THE BETTER PART OF FIVE YEARS), some FREE ENCs (from NOAA (US Government)) and a FREE ENC viewer (called PolarView ( from: http://www.polarnavy.com )). If you don't know what ENCs are, they are "Electronic Navigational Charts" - (that is computer-based marine / maritime navigational charts...) - more info here, and there, and almost everywhere (except for our Antarctic cruise (in February of 2011), looks like we might have to PAY FOR the ENCs - as neither Argentina nor the Falkland Islands give their data away for free...
- Turns out, though, that the UK Hydrographic office MIGHT be able to help us, since we are non-professional and 'consumers'...
- HOW - SO - EVER, please note that because all this stuff is FREE FREE FREE, that it is a LOT of WORK to get the program (the viewer) and download (FOR FREE) the various and sundry charts from the NOAA web-site (and - of course agree to the liability clauses and licenses and all that sort of stuff - and ANY AREA you want to 'view' - is - of course, - covered by "n" charts - each of which has "y" different scales and - of course - knowing that these are based on PAPER, that ANY PLACE you are interested in - is ALREADY, CONVENIENTLY LOCATED at the intersection of AT LEAST FOUR CHARTS - so - well - you get the picture, huh?
- We managed to find out what certain people do when we are not around and not looking ( picture_1 picture_2 )
- We managed to find out what certain OTHER people do when they want to SHARE in the morning-activities and they can't 'Hold-On' long enough?
Today is Monday, 3 May, - Mr._Bill proved the saying that, "Old sailors never die, they just get a little dinghy...!!!" - he spent about 2 1/2 hours sailing around in his 'little dinghy' and it was fun, (but a LOT of WORK!)... little dinghies are a hand-ful in the (terrific) wind I had today... - Wind was roughly 135 degrees at about 16-22 knots - gusting to about 28 knots... - It was a REALLY GOOD DAY, though, wind-wise...
The infamous "DirtGo" project is nearing completion... - Here's a picture taken actually, LATE on the 30th of April (before the month of May begins), but not much... - However, one should recognize that to MOVE all the DIRT that was here (about 1,500 pounds) took almost a WEEK of VERY HEAVY LIFTing (so to speak) - twas a MAJOR 'huggly-do' project! - but it's "MOSTLY" done, now, and on the evening of the 30th (a Friday) we went to Lowe's (not Highs (as someone suggested)) after dinner and bought 20 bags of various and sundry soil-types - so MAYBE for the very first time in the roughly six and and half years we've lived in this house - this 'planter' will both GROW Something and won't "Leak Dirt" onto the driveway anymore...
What ELSE has transpired, - in the very first few days of the Month of May??? - well - not much - to be exact....
BUT a few things transpired as we 'closed-out' the monht of April:
- Mr._Bill is now old enough to need 'reading glasses' (that have my 'prism' in them and are also very nice for computer-work
- Mr._Bill decided that his six-year-old Windows XP PC laptop was not 'young-enough' to boot Knoppix from a USB-disc (ho-hum! (maybe buy a new PC?)
- Ms._May is still 'building-bowls' trying to figure out how many bowls she can make with one bag of clay (25 pounds)
- Ms._Siew_Mei is still bringing home lizards, both dead and alive...
- Mr._and_Ms._Owl(s) have begun frequenting more than the trees across the street to the east, we have now seen them in the trees to the west, also.
- Mr._and_Ms._Bunny-Rabbit(s) continue to dig holes in the yard and holes under the fence
AND - I passed the "G.R.O.L." test (elements 1 & 3 (124 questions) on Friday, 2 April, down in Ft. Lauderdale... -It is considerably more work, questions, study, electronic theory, etc. than any of the Amateur Radio tests were, and I've been studying the "G.R.O.L." material for nearly 3 months... - here's a Wikipedia Link if you're interested to learn more about this 'advanced' FCC license... I'm hoping to pass other elements (7, 8, 9 (about 200 questions)) late in May, that will give me even more useless pieces of paper to hang on my wall...
Mr._Bill's best hang-gliding-flight (Ever) - see the FlightLog.Org web-page, here...
and-or see the track-log over Google Earth Image(s), here... small_image larger_image (1 megabyte)
Archived BeachWeb monthly site(s): Click here for a list of the archived months
Some people have asked, WHERE can I FIND, "X" - whatever the heck "X" is?; but in my case - these two things are being asked about...
The "Tire Changing Web-Page" and/or the VANC (VikingAsia (Networks and Computers)) Consulting) web-page.
AND / OR if you 'WANT' (or desire or need or have an 'urge' for something you don't see, then you can e-mail me at: bill@vikingasia.org
Archived BeachWeb monthly site(s): Click here for a list of the archived months
Some people have asked, WHERE can I FIND, "X" - whatever the heck "X" is?; but in my case - these two things are being asked about...
The "Tire Changing Web-Page" and/or the VANC (VikingAsia (Networks and Computers)) Consulting) web-page.
AND / OR if you 'WANT' (or desire or need or have an 'urge' for something you don't see, then you can e-mail me at: bill@vikingasia.org
updated: 11:52 a.m. on Saturday, 29 May, 2010 - from the Macintosh "G5" - revID: 1h