Viking Country

The southwest coast of Norway in the distant, fjords and all, before we cross over Sweden.

Birds at Roost

Sitting idle on the tarmac in Houston, these planes along with a few other groups, are proably being impacted by Sandy coming ashore yesterday.  My ride is not idle and will be leaving the roost in a few hours for the overnight flight to Moscow.

Pool Closing

Our Computer Science student came by this weekend to assist in closing the pool.  One of the easiest closings yet....practice, practice, practice!!!

Manual on-demand Water Heater

Spent some time trying to figure out the whole "Why is there no hot water?" thing until I was turned onto the "water heater" set-up.  Top slide is the on-off and the bottom slide is how hot you want it.  The highest setting would potentially allow someone to brew tea or coffee----or give 2nd degree burns.

Following the wiring to the wall I noticed a wiring block with screw terminals....

....with exposed 220vac electricity.  Guess I'll not splash a lot in this shower or I'd really get a jolt to wake up in the morning:)

Actually a very nifty concept, individual on-demand water heaters, which allows a tremendous energy savings----just needs to be tweaked a bit  to ensure a bit more safety.

Plumbing 101

Call me a skeptical traditionalist, but I can only see future maintenance problems with the setup of this sink....maybe it's just me though.

Flocks of Snowbirds heading for warmer waters

There were several examples of "Looper" transportation around the marina this past weekend.  These smaller motor boats all have a common design that allows them, if needed, to be navigated in rainy, cold weather on inland waterways---especially in the northern parts of the midwest.

Staying at the Guest House this week

A bit different than my usual stay......view out the balcony overlooking neighbors.

Change of Seasons

The change of seasons is well nigh upon us as seen from the entrance from the canal running through Land Between the Lakes.

First Mate showing how to dynamically self level

Windy and gusty, Saturday was a bit of a mixed but allowed the First Mate to try many different ways to handle the conditions.

Trips to the mailbox are interesting these days

Usually just a few utility bills and the endless junk mail, over these past few years we have seen mail from countless schools coming through courting our teenagers as they hit their junior and senior years in high school.  Today's haul includes universities from 5 different states with a very special one from the Transylvania University----which I'm sure will tweak the youngest one's interest from a purely literary stance.  After this school year the little woman and I can probably just ask to have our mail delivered once a week to help the USPS reduce costs. :)

I honestly didn't know there was a real university named Transylvania....

Prepping for some school spirit

While the littlest princess is sporting a few extra items not normally part of her wardrobe, it is what is not seen in her various bags that will complete the outfit for Senior Pride at the afternoon Pep Rally and perhaps require a bit of extra cleanup later in the day :)

Freezer Blues

The trusty side-by-side used for extra freezer storage and beverage conditioning.  I've already removed the food and shelving for clarity....

The refrigerator side has been warming up, and after removal of the cover for the freezer coils, I can see why--all the coils are covered with ice and blocking the fan driven air circulation.  I've actually been putting this repair off hoping that the generational migration of of teenagers would help reduce the need for extra food storage.

I've "thawed" the coils with a couple of gallons of warm water and have begun removal of the heaters that come on (theoretically) during the defrost cycle---a huge step for modern refrigeration.  I remember as a child watching my paternal grandfather literally sawing off hunks of ice inside the freezer compartment from an older refrigerator style.  I thought it was really cool that he could do that :)

Very noticeable difference between the two encapsulated coils---that and they are wired in series like those cheap Christmas lights so if one starts having a problem they both do.

New heaters arrived from Amazon----$28 delivered to the door in two days.  Before the internet, you typically drove to your local (hopefully) parts store with the bad part in hand, while a grizzled veteran looked up the part number in a book before pronouncing he had to order the part.  Actually most of the time they had such things but I'm reminiscing and trying to make the point that things are waaaay better (and cheaper) when it comes to DIY stuff nowadays.  Looks like even the thermostat on the old set was burned out as well when the bad heater coil shorted.

And now we have to empty the freezer side once again.  Looks like we've had a good crop of tomatoes and peppers this year---I'm thinking its chili times when the weather turns!

Even after just two days the coils show signs of icing over.

News heaters and thermostat installed.  We'll give them a couple of days and check out how they are doing.

There's gold in them thar hills!!!

And while all the big equipment fancy toys attract the crowds, it all pretty much started with a guy like this somewhere in the past.

Fishing at the beach---a few moons ago

 Here is my little sister bringing extra weights/leaders just in case....of course back then just getting out to where the fish were was potentially a painful proposition.

Looks like she's hooked a big one....maybe the nuclear submarine!?!

No sub, but she did reel in a pretty good size weed fish!!!

Fall Day----cool, cloudy and wet

A small opossum has decided to spend the rainy day staying high and dry in our screened porch.  While neither of the cats would ever bother him, even at this fairly diminutive size, our older (and fat) cat may have seemed intimidating and drove the young thespian to this lofty height.