Bade's web log

Finished crib

2014-03-31T16:49:00.001-05:00

Finished the crib for Brandi & Steven

No Alaska blog...

2013-06-24T18:10:00.002-05:00

We are back home from our Alaska 2013 trip ... because I was unable to actually make posts from the ship I have deleted the web log I started for that trip ...

Back to Alaska!!

2013-06-01T11:46:00.000-05:00

Hard to believe it's been a year and a month since I last posted to this web log ... but it has ... turns out time flies whether you are having fun or not!

So ... Carolyn and I will be joining our travel buddies Woodie and Linda on yet another excursion ... this time 10 days aboard the Princess Grand round trip from San Francisco up into Alaska and the Tracy Arm Fjord and back ... then 4 or 5 days travel by car back home through Fresno, Las Vegas, Flagstaff, Carlsbad ... and maybe a few others that are yet unplanned.

Retirement is great ...

You can follow the web log about this trip by going to this link Alaska 2013 Web Log

.

We must be off ... or ... "On the road again .."

2012-04-29T15:38:00.000-05:00

Well ... we are once again going to join our good friends Woodie and Linda on an adventure to foreign lands ... this time ... GERMANY!!.

As in the past I intend ... (he said) ... to keep a journal of our travel as a web log ... I have started that log at this link => Germany 2012 Web Log. If you'd like to follow along just use the "Subscribe Submit" button near the top left of the home page, enter and verify your email address and you'll receive email updates as I make them.

We are looking forward to the trip and hope you'll come along...

The bed is done

2011-10-28T14:21:00.001-05:00

And I am happy with the results

Published with Blogger-droid v2.0

Carolyn's new bed is taking shape ...

2011-08-31T12:16:00.000-05:00

The current "shop project" is a mission style queens sized bed for Carolyn. This bed will go in "Brandi's room" and will replace a full sized bed that was Carolyn's when she was a girl at her parents home.

Carolyn has been on me for several years asking for a mission style bed (headboard and footboard) and that project finally bubbled to the top of the pile.

I went to a small lumber mill in Huntsville, Texas and purchased a little over 120 board feed of rough quarter sawn red oak ... the grain in this wood looked like it could be pretty spectacular ...

After several hours of cutting I had the "pieces parts" roughly cut to length ...

From QueenMissionBed

I could see that the grain was looking pretty good

From QueenMissionBed

After several hours of plaining and cutting to final sizes I was able to dry assemble the beginnings of the foot board ... getting all those square holes to line up with the square pegs was no small trick ...

From QueenMissionBed

Making the legs for this bead was a real challenge ... I used what is called a lock miter joint cut on my router table ... it took 128 passes total to cut the joints for all four legs ...

From QueenMissionBed

These are pics of the headboard and footboard all pieced together and dry fit ... final sanding and finish and glue is next

From QueenMissionBed

Hope to be done before Halloween ...

In the Looking Glass ... or ... "A mirror for Zoey"

2010-08-25T13:48:00.000-05:00

Since we have been frequenting antique auctions I have been on the lookout for a "cheval mirror" to go in Zoey's room ... I finally found one for a pretty cheap price that LOOKED like it had potential ... sadly I can't locate the "before" pictures I am sure I took but basically the mirror frame was stained almost black and it was mounted on a white pine wood very sad looking frame. The good part was the glass is beveled and the price was right (no one wanted to bid on it and I got it for a good price).

The pictures here-in show just a couple of shots of the frame as I started to build it and then the finished product ... the frame wood is from the same stash I used to build Zoey's crib. I removed the old finish from the mirror and discovered this was not a "cheval mirror" to begin with but rather a wall hung mirror someone had cobbled up and stuck in a floor standing frame ... oh well ... I'm pretty pleased with the end result and I hope Zoey enjoys it as she matures into the "fashionista" I am sure she will become.

The beginnings of the frame:

From Antiques

The finished product:

From Antiques

I added some butterfly ornaments

From Antiques

Announcing The Great Britain Odyssey of 2010

2010-08-17T21:57:00.001-05:00

Carolyn and I along with our good friends Woodie and Linda will be departing in less than a month for a three week adventure in Great Britain ... I have started a web log to document that trip and I invite you to tag along ... the web log is at Great Britain Odyssey 2010 ... you should be able to subscribe to the web log like my others by providing your email address in the supplied link on the upper left where it says "Subscribe for email updates" ... I hope you'll enjoy the narrative as we wander along.

... and thanks for all the fish ... or ... announcing my independence ...

2010-07-06T10:11:00.000-05:00

Well, the United States celebrates its independence on July 4th ... I officially announced my independence from IBM today July 6th. I contacted my manager and requested that she initiate the necessary steps to make my retirement after 36 years and 1 month effective July 31, 2010.

It's been a good ride for the most part ... I have encountered incredible people, traveled a bit and definitely had the opportunity to grow personally and professionally. I have been present to see the phenomenal explosion of the computer and information technology's impact on the human race from a ring side seat ... I've even been inside the ring in some instances and can say I actually had a hand in some of the impact. I was a very early user of what became the "Internet / World Wide Web" and got to enjoy the sense of wonder people experienced as I provided education and tutorial to new users. I was one of the first 'work at home' employees of IBM and one of the first wave of 'laptop computer' users ... the change has been astounding and I am grateful for the part I have played and the opportunity to participate directly in the change.

Things are definitely not the same nowadays within the company. One of the founding tenets of the IBM company was "Respect for the individual" ... sadly I have also had a ring side seat to watch that belief within the management of the company erode to the point where it is a far distant memory in the few of us that are old enough to remember when it existed. In the past 10 years IBM has fallen from one of the most respected American companies and most desirable places to work to a middle of the pack 'also ran'. It's really too bad because I still believe the majority of the employees in IBM and most certainly the ones I have had the privilege to work alongside for the last 36 years are representative of America's best and brightest. The executive and upper management levels of the company however have taken a serious turn for the worse and I no longer have any respect for the people running this once great company.

So ... farewell to IBM ... I look forward to July 31, 2010 with a sense of expectation for what is to come with the change in my life and the impact it will have on my family. I believe that it is the right time to make this transition and am anxious to see what the next chapter will hold.

A quick refinish job ... or ... even the old and ugly can be made 'pretty'

2010-06-27T15:26:00.000-05:00

Carolyn and I have long had an affinity for antiquing and specifically we like American antiques that are 'golden oak' . Recently we have started going to antique auctions in the area seeking treasures and discovering that we have paid way way too much for some of the things we have purchased over the years in 'antique stores' ... auctions are definitely more fun and CAN BE much better 'price performers' ... and besides ... I LIKE TO BID!!!

Anyway Carolyn had been looking for a "highboy chest of drawers" for Zoey's room for some while now and at a recent auction we bought ... this ...

From Bade's web log

The top drawer was just out as I was testing my refinish technique .... so with a little elbow grease and some
stripper and tung oil ... we ended up with ...

From Bade's web log

We are happy with the way it turned out ... I'm sure when she is about 13 Zoey will wish she had a "new" chest of drawers but hopefully someone will manage to convince her this is better!!

Willey Wonka is “home” and learning to be a Texan …

2010-05-28T11:08:00.002-05:00

Well we picked up the new Mini on Tuesday (5/25/2010). Our first stop was Discount Tire to have the Run Flats removed and a set of slightly wider, definitely quieter and a little smoother non-Run Flats installed. So now I have a set of new Run Flats for sale on CraigsList

this ad.

Happy Valentine's Day ... or ... "I went to a garden party ..."

2010-02-13T19:23:00.008-06:00

My apologies to Rick Nelson!

We've been married for going on 37 years and pretty much every year for Valentine's Day I've given Carolyn roses ... very traditional ... but I have to tell you after 37 years it's getting tough to be 'original' with roses!

Pretty much since we've lived here in Bulverde, Carolyn has maintained some sort of vegetable garden. But, the last few years production from that garden has been poor primarily because over 25+ years the trees around the garden have finally gotten so big they effectively block the sun. Consequently, "the garden" has been transformed into more of a flower garden than a vegetable garden.

A few weeks ago we decided to act on the notion we have had for the last few years to 'move' the garden to a sunnier spot and significantly reduce the size, concentrating on tomatoes, peppers and maybe a couple of other things in small quantity. We have debated the best way to do this for a few years now and never came up with a plan both of us liked. Inspiration struck when I saw a 'doggie kennel' at the local Tractor Supply! It already had a gate, was 6 feet tall and a manageable 10 feet square. We loaded it up in the truck, bought literally a ton of limestone border rocks and two yards of good garden soil and had "instant garden"!

Cool ... except ... to my eye the damn thing stuck out like a sore thumb on top of the hill. I thought about painting it green, hopefully to camouflage it a bit and had even gotten Carolyn's permission to do so. Happily I procrastinated just enough!

As I was viewing the 'sore thumb garden' from inside a few days ago it seemed to me that if there were just some 'color' it wouldn't look so bad. And like a Senior throwing a rock at a Freshman it struck me that this would be the perfect Valentine's gift ... staying with the 'flowers theme' in general but at the same time giving Carolyn yet another excuse to feed her 'flower buying sickness' (she has it pretty bad!) and dealing with what I considered to be a bit of an eye sore.

Today, Carolyn and I spent a very enjoyable day picking out planters, figuring out how to mount said planters, buying appropriate for the season flowers and planting them.

It was a good day!

Happy Valentine's Day my dear!

From Bade's web log

Here it's not a garden yet .. but all the flowers are planted!

From Bade's web log

Now it's a garden!! The first plant is in the ground...

From Bade's web log

Just some 'winter' vegetables right now but soon tomatoes, peppers and peas will be added!

From Bade's web log

Building a "Playscape" ...

2009-12-23T20:10:00.000-06:00

Carolyn had made a commitment to Zach that when they moved into a new house and had a yard big enough we would see to it that he (and now Zoey) had a nice new "Playscape" (the modern day term for what was called a "swing set" when I was a kid) ... and so for their "big Christmas gift", Carolyn did appropriate internet research, some local shopping and comparisons and ultimately ordered online a "Gorilla Blueridge Outlook" playscape ... free shipping and no tax were both considerations plus the typical "end of year special pricing ..."

I'm not REAL SURE there was TOTAL awareness of the scope of the actual "construction" considered by all parties involved but regardless after a few shipping hassles were resolved a big semi truck pulled up to Scott's house a couple of weeks ago and "dumped" out 4 HUGE boxes that basically filled their garage ...

We arranged to at least start to build the playscape on Monday 12/21 while Brandi and Steven were in town and could lend a willing hand and as it turned out we were also blessed to have Scott's boss give him the day off unexpectedly, and a couple of Melissa's relatives on hand to help as well ... so we had a good sized team of willing labor even if NONE OF US had a clue what we were doing ...

The online reviews of this particular "kit" indicated 2 or 3 people could if all went well finish construction in 12-17 hours ... somewhat more than the 8-10 hours the manufacturer advertised ... I was not looking forward to this task.

The weather was good and we got started at 10AM ... we followed the recommendations to open all boxes and verify there were no missing parts, lay things out in an organized manner and carefully follow the 50 or so instruction steps ...

I've included a couple of photos here and there are MANY more taken by the official project photographer Brandi in the web picasa photo gallery at

Photo Gallery

A few pictures below ...

From Playset

And ... 8.5 hours after we started ... and well after dark ... with a lot of help ... we had ...

From Playset

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

N. B. Willey's birthday --- 11/16/2009

2009-11-15T21:16:00.004-06:00

Carolyn's dad, N.B. Willey will be 90 years old tomorrow, November 16, 2009. That is a pretty momentous milestone in one's life and we are glad to have had him around to enjoy our children and grandchildren. We hope he will be with us for many more years to come.

I was struggling with a "unique" idea for a birthday present several weeks ago and as it happened Carolyn mentioned on her return from a recent visit that her dad had lost his walking cane and had taken one of her mother's old canes and erroneously cut it too short for himself ... and that lead me to thinking that I ought to be able to find the "elements" of a handmade cane on the internet ... I have PLENTY of available cedar limbs that have been cut or broken off and dried for some time and should be very light and easy for an elderly person to carry.

Knowing absolutely NOTHING about how a cane might be fashioned I started wandering around the internet in my typical "research mode" and determined that there were not really that many things one had to know ... a cane has to be dry, comfortable to hold, have a handle that is comfortable to grip, a tip that will assist with stability and be of "an appropriate length for the user" ... that last part is a little nebulous but other than that it seemed within my limited skills if I could find the necessary parts.

A little more research and I found what I considered to be adequate pieces parts and went out in the back "yard" and mused around some piles of dead cedar until I heard a "stick" calling to me ... clearly this was "the one" ... so I drug it over to the back of the shop, cut it down to a manageable length and started pealing the bark off ... this exercise proved to be the most "difficult" part of the whole escapade but honestly was not that big a deal ... pealing, grinding, rasping and a little blood and I had a "naked" cedar stick. I cut enough off of the "big end" to serve in my judgment for a handle and proceeded to whittle, carve, cut and saw until I had a "stick" that I figured looked pretty "cane like". I fitted the top brass piece by whittling a round 1 inch "tenon" on the end and then went to work on the "handle" ... more carving, sanding and whittling I had had what I felt like would serve as a comfortable handle ... a bit more sanding and some finish application and I came up with this result ... I'm pretty pleased with it ... I will present it to Mr. Willey tomorrow night (11/16/2009) on his birthday at a small party arranged by one of his friends in Hondo, Texas ... I will try and get him to decide how much too long it is for him and then bring it back with me to get the final length set and the end cap/rubber tip installed ... I think he will be pleased!

From Bade's web log

Painted Desert and the Petrified Forest ... and homeward bound ...

2009-10-12T21:59:00.001-05:00

The road home is long!! ... and we are ready to be home ...

Much against my "normal nature" (my anal nature) ... we decided to go "off the grid" this morning as we left Williams, Az (where we spent the night after seeing the Grand Canyon) ... "off the grid" being ... abandoning my carefully laid out heavily researched, strictly timed routing to our next stop in Las Cruces ... and head rather to the Painted Desert and the Petrified Forest National Park. ... OMG ... neither Carolyn nor I had ever seen either of those sights and we were "somewhere around 50 or so miles from the park ... we think ..." ... so ... off we go, completely without planning, time considerations, routing details ... aaaaggggghhhhh ... my anxiety was ... uh .... high ... but ... we have "Wicked Wanda" our trusty GPS system ... right??? ... so we should be able to locate the park with that and then get home ... right??? .... right??? .... aaaaagggghhhh ...

As we boogie down IH40 expecting to see a sign ... I'm madly checking out "attractions" on the GPS .... no "Petrified Forest National Forest" listed .... aaaggghhhh ... about 30 miles down the road ... FINALLY ... A SIGN" .... so we exit ...

From Bade's web log

... and into the park we go ... by the way ... it's basically a one way trip unless you totally backtrack ... so "where will we come out??? it WON'T be on IH40!! " ... aaaaggggghhhh ...

From Bade's web log

And as you can clearly see it was spectacular!!! ...

"Wicked Wanda" managed to locate us in the middle of the desert and generally in the middle of no damn where ... and told us how to find civilization ... the whole detour took an extra couple of hours and we wound up going much further North in Arizona and New Mexico than initial travel plans but managed to get to Las Cruces by about 6:30PM Mountain time ... we are in for the night ...

The class is done the sights are seen and tomorrow's 8-9 hours on the road should see us home by 5pm or so ... it's been an enjoyable trip but we are ready to sleep in our own bed, see our grandkids, eat good TexMex and get back into the regime of our life ... hope you enjoyed the ride ...

Still kickin' in "SLO" but getting ready for the trip home ...

2009-10-09T00:01:00.003-05:00

For those following my Lutherie web log you know I've been pretty focused for the last several days and basically dead dog tired when I get back to the hotel from "camp" and writing up that daily log. The folks at camp seem to really appreciate my dailies and so I've really tried to do that before crashing ... also I sadly have not adjusted to the time zone change and so am typically waking up sometime between 4am and 5am pacific time each morning ... makes for a long day.

The hotel we are staying at in "SLO" (pronounced "slow" and local shorthand for San Luis Obispo) is really very nice ... a suite with king bed, bath, "living room" with sink, microwave, fridge and bar, table, chairs, sofa and bar ... more than enough room for the week.

Carolyn has been chauffeuring me to the camp each morning ... we get up, she has breakfast supplied by the hotel (waffles, sweet roll, toast , juice ceral ...) and we leave around 7:30AM ... it's about 20 miles to Roger's house and takes about 20 minutes ...

While I'm at camp Carolyn has done some needle work and a bit of exploring around SLO ... it's a pretty college town (Cal Poly) of around 45,000 people nestled along the Pacific coast in very scenic rolling hills.

Since my meals are included in the camp price Carolyn has been having lunch and dinner alone and I feel bad about that but tonight (Thursday) she joined us at the camp for pizza.

After dinner tonight Carolyn and I drove back to the hotel (we got out early tonight) and took the trolley right out our hotel door to the "Farmer's Market" downtown SLO ... the trolley was a pricey 25cents per person each way ... the Farmers Market has been held here on Thursdays for the past 35 years or so and is basically a combination of the typical hill country farmers market where you can buy fresh produce and Night In Old San Antonio during Fiesta ... they block off a very long main street and vendors set up booths selling everything from strawberries and onions to psychic readings ... I took a few pictures and will post them later ...we bought some strawberries and cherry tomatoes and a bag of kettle korn popcorn and headed back on the trolley to the hotel ...

My lutherie camp will be over about 3:30PM tomorrow and we will stay the night in SLO and drive to Las Vegas starting early Saturday morning ... we will be staying at the Mirage and from there Sunday morning we will drive West to the Grand Canyon ...

We are having fun and look forward to being home ...

Bade

San Luis Obispo is very pretty ...

2009-10-05T00:26:00.001-05:00

We left Palm Springs around 7:30AM PST and proceeded to San Luis Obispo.

The wind was phenomenal as we left Palm Springs ... it was blowing sand and small rock all over the highway ... I was gritting my teeth thinking about what I suspect will turn out to be a pitted windshield and paint ... it was UGLY and Carolyn has all she could handle to keep MiniRita on the road through the mountains in the wind.

Palm Springs is a VERY picturesque little town ... leaving Palm Springs ... not so much ... very very desert like ... think Egypt ... worse than West Texas ... hills, mountains, plains ... all sand ...

As we motored thru the outskirts of Los Angeles the wind died down for the most part ... once we got on Hwy 101 we had a better scenic drive but a couple of things became abundantly clear:

1 - California has not spent ANY money on road repairs in a LONG time ... and they need to ,,, pot holes, rough spots ... really bad at 65mph

2 - The further West one drives ... the less attention people pay to speed limits ... whether it says 65 or 70 or ... it doesn't matter ... people drive however damn fast they feel like and it is apparent that the highway patrol doesn't care or isn't staffed to fine the speeders ... I'd wager that a week of passing out tickets on IH10 or 101 would clear up the state deficit ... Carolyn and I have tried to stay at or just barely over the posted speed limits on this trip ... and when we were doing 67mph down 101 (posted 65mph limit) we were being run over by every vehicle on the road ... including highway patrol, trucks, busses, RVs ... I'm pretty sure I saw a horse drawn buggy zip past at 80mph ... and the motorcycles are definitely motoring along near 100mph ... it was scary and rampant!

We arrived at our hotel safe and sound ... it is a GREAT hotel, wonderful 2 room suite, good wireless internet (free), good breakfast , heated pool and spa, fridge, microwave ... I think it will be perfect for the week! The hotel is about 20 miles from the mandolin building camp.

I've posted my first log about the mandolin building camp over on my Lutherie Web Log if you are interested take a look ... it's going to be a great learning experience I do believe ...

Gotta get an early start tomorrow ...

Bade

Saw two UGLY wrecks on IH10 today ... MiniRita NOT involved!!

2009-10-03T21:38:00.000-05:00

We left Las Cruces at about 7:45AM Mountain time and crossed into Arizona at 11:19AM Central time (using central time as a standard) ,,, crossed into California at 5:20PM CST so about 6 hours to cross Arizona.

We stopped in Tuscon for a bite of lunch and then right back on the road .... not much to say about the scenery ... Carolyn made me pull into a rest stop so she could take pictures of the big Saguaro cactus ... MOST of the speed limit thru New Mexico and Arizona was 75MPH it turned to a sorry 70MPH in California ,,, damn liberals!!!

In Arizona we came upon a fairly horrific site ... MANY emergency vehicles (fire & ambulance) in the center median where it was pretty evident a driver had fallen asleep or some such and crossed at a high rate of speed into the very wide and rocky median ... I couldn't see any other vehicles involved but debris was scattered over a large area and the car was in bad shape .... ugh!!!

THEN ... JUST as we crossed the California border and where the traffic was being slowed from 70mph to 45mph and then a full stop for a border check point ... RIGHT IN FRONT OF US ... at about 45-50mph a "mini-van" type vehicle rear ended a semi with trailer and broke the min-van pretty bad ... fortunately I along with others were slowing for the upcoming checkpoint and no other vehicles were involved ... it was literally one car in front of us ... WAY too close ... I think the mini-van driver didn't realize the truck was slowing WAY down and pulled into him changing lanes ... Carolyn called 9-1-1 and reported the incident, there were other cars stopping and we saw both drivers walking around so we proceeded on thru the checkpoint (less than 1/2 mile from the crash) ...

We pulled into Palm Springs right on schedule at 5:20PM PST (7:20PM Central) so it was a pretty long day ... we drove to downtown Palm Springs for dinner at Ruby's Diner ... lottsa folks walking around downtown ... seems to be a sort of RiverWalk without the river ... very dry air and pleasant temperature.

Up early tomorrow AM and 5 or so hours drive to San Luis Obispo ...

It's all about the SPEED ... or ... "high speed" apparently means different things to different people ...

2009-10-02T19:51:00.001-05:00

Well we have landed for the evening in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

We left the house at 7:45AM and crossed into New Mexico at 4:11PM
Central time ... almost 8 hours from home ... From just South of
Junction, TX until just South of El Paso, TX we had 80MPH speed limit
and that was very very nice ... made good time ... good weather all
the way.

So the 70MPH "speed" limit was a bummer on both ends but I expect that
may be what we see all day tomorrow through NM, AZ and into CA.

We got to our hotel, checked in, discovered that the "high speed"
internet connection is NOT wireless ... found a Radio Shack, bought a
too short but functional ethernet cable and discovered our "high
speed" internet wired connection is TOO DAMN SLOW to do much of
anything beyond simple text ...so we were not too sorry to see that
the Smithson Valley highschool football game is NOT broadcast over the
net ... cause it would choke this connection big time to try and
listen to a stream broadcast!

Had a good steak dinner at a Texas RoadHouse and have settled in for the night.

Up early tomorrow AM and headed to Palm Springs.

--
Bade
Like an old desperado ... painting the town beige

"Westward 'Ho the Wagons ..." ... errr ... the Mini ...

2009-09-28T19:48:00.000-05:00

Well it is about time for the great road trip of 2009 to get underway! We will depart Bulverde around 8AM Friday October 2, 2009 headed about as far West as we can go.

Our first stop is a mere 592 miles to Las Cruces, New Mexico. According to mapquest it should take about 8 hours to make the drive and our stop in New Mexico will put us in the Mountain time zone so around 5PM allowing an hour for stops along the way we should be pulling in for the night. 562 of those miles will have been on scenic IH10 through a whole lot of not so pretty West Texas.

Saturday morning (10/3) we will leave Las Cruces (again I'm shooting for an 8AMish wheels rolling time) booking it for Palm Springs, California. This drive will be one of the longest planned at around 660 miles and about 9.5 hours. We will drive through a good bit of New Mexico and all of Arizona (passing through Tucson and Phoenix) into California around Blythe, CA again changing timezones to Pacific. We should roll into Palm Springs AROUND 5:30PM Pacific if we again allow as much as an hour along the way for eats and breaks. We will log another 643 or so miles on IH10 on this leg.

Sunday morning (10/4) we head for our destination San Luis Obispo, California. Still a 5 hour drive logging 308 miles or so. We are supposed to attend a welcome dinner at the Siminoff Lutherie Camp Sunday evening at 5:30PM so we should have PLENTY of time to find the hotel, locate a place for groceries, identify some spots for Carolyn to scope out during the week and get to the dinner. I expect to arrive in SLO around 2PM if the traffic through the Los Angeles area and up Hwy 101 isn't too slow. We only get 70 miles of IH10 on this leg. We pass North of LA going through Pasadena and pick up Hwy 101 just North of Studio City and West of Burbank. We have 190 miles on Hwy 101 and I must remember to take my Scopolomine (sea sickness med) for this drive ... in the 1980's I drove along the coast up Hwy 1 North of San Francisco and got sicker than a dog ... maybe 101 won't be so curvey! We drive North along the coast from Ventura through Santa Barbara.

Once we "get there" we only have about 1800+ miles to drive to get back home ... gonna need new tires on MiniRita after this trip!!!

Whaaaaahooooooo .... On The Road Again ....

I have a new web log ...

2009-09-13T16:18:00.000-05:00

Just a brief note to subscribers of this web log ... I have created a new separate web log dedicated to my hobby interest in "Lutherie" ... building stringed instruments.

Hopefully, I can keep this more general log focused on "general things" like our adventures on our upcoming Westward-Ho roadtrip to California in October and keep the hobby specific things in a more focused log.

You can link to the "Lutherie Log" from this site's sidebar or this direct link and when there you have the option of subscribing to that separate log for email updates ... take a peek and see if you have an interest ... Link to Lutherie web log

Bade

The Sewing Machine restoration is complete!

2009-09-01T19:40:00.006-05:00

Finally ... decided to get it finished and out of the shop so I can start something new ...

You can see completed pictures by clicking on this link and then using the arrows at the top to move forward or back ... => Sewing Machine pics

A few teaser images ...

From SewingMachine

Some Cozumel dive pics ...

2009-08-05T20:39:00.002-05:00

These pictures are courtesy of our good friend Russ Wilkins. Russ is a very fine underwater photographer (published) and an all around good guy ... he shared these photos with me of our dives together in Cozumel this past June (2009).

On the boat ... two happy divers ...

From Cozumel 2009

A nurse shark we chased under a ledge ... pretty big 8' or so ...

From Cozumel 2009

A Sting Ray on the move ... some photo effects obviously ...

From Cozumel 2009

Tortuga ...

From Cozumel 2009

Another turtle ... over the sand ...

From Cozumel 2009

Silversides on the C43 wreck ...

From Cozumel 2009

Bade cruising along ...

From Cozumel 2009

Carolyn ...

From Cozumel 2009

The Lion Fish picture

2009-06-25T07:33:00.001-05:00

Here is the picture Russ Wilkins took of the Lion Fish we saw in Cozumel a couple of days ago ...

Something you don't see everyday ...

2009-06-22T22:13:00.000-05:00

Today is Monday, June 22, 2009 ... Carolyn and I have been in Cozumel for 6 days and will return home Friday June, 26.

To date we have done 10 dives with a total of just over 10 hours underwater. All of the diving has been very relaxed and typical "Cozumel
Clear" but today we saw something worth mention.

Today we saw a "Lion Fish" on one of the reefs at about 35 feet depth. This is significant for a couple of reasons .... first and foremost, Lion Fish are NOT native to the Caribbean sea, they are in fact typically found all the way over in places like Fiji and such. Apparently, in the last couple of years there have been sightings of Lion Fish off the coast of Florida and even some "mention" of sightings around Cozumel in the last several months ... BUT ... per a recent diver magazine article indicated there had been no "documented" sightings of Lion Fish around Cozumel. We had asked a couple of local dive masters about them and they had all claimed to have seen a couple here and there and even knew of one having been captured ... you see ... the deal is ... Lion Fish are not only highly poisonous to humans, they are also voracious eaters of other fish and are actually a very bad thing to have showing up on the reefs where they are not native. They are indeed beautiful ... but unwanted in this area. Regardless, one of our dive group today is a very fine underwater photographer and he took several pictures of this critter . I will share a picture once I get it from the photographer ... we believe this one to be a juvenile fish since it wasn't very big and not as darkly colored as the pictures we have seen ...

So ... we can log another creature as "sighted" in our personal logs ... we have also seen several sharks, barracuda, a splendid toad fish, seahorses, lobsters, crabs, an eagle ray, several eels, crabs and many other less exotics during this trip ... but the rare (so far) Lion Fish is the big deal ...