The Bezabor Log

2012-02-11T23:59:00.000-05:00

ATV initial ride ; prep for Florida trip ; starting to talk to contractors for basement-bath project ; iPad problem

(posted from home)

(This post covers 1 – 11, February, 2012)

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Saturday, 11 February -

Today I checked the local Gander Mountain store and found they didn't have the clay-bird launcher I'm looking for in stock-- I guess the sale cleared them out. I found the Harrisburg store had one left and Labashi needed a break today so we drove up to take a look. It didn't take long to confirm that this one was really the only choice and it's a rugged unit. I'm looking forward to this! I've got a lot of learnin' to do!
I also took a look through the ATV-accessories section and found just the thing. I hadn't considered a handle-bar bag but this was perfect.... a simple bag to hold maps, goggles, gloves, dust mask, permits, my SPOT, cell phone, etc--- and all for $10. I've been looking at ridiculously-expensive rack bags but haven't seen anything that seems right. I will probably come upon the right waterproof rack-bag eventually but this will be perfect for now and will remain useful later.
Late in the afternoon I watched an interesting documentary called 'The Parking Lot Movie' on Netflix. It's about employees of a parking lot in Charlottesville, VA. It's surprisingly interesting to hear the employees talking about--- well ---- life as a parking-lot attendant.
That evening we watched a documentary explaining the Boer Wars in South Africa. Good one!

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Friday, 10 February -

Last evening as I was using the iPad it rebooted unexpectedly. I've had four or five of these since the new year began and two in the last two days. I researched it a bit on the web and decided it's time to take the iPad in for warranty service. Late last night I used the Apple web site to schedule an appointment with a tech at the Apple Store in Lancaster.
I had scheduled the appointment for this afternoon since we had another contractor coming this morning. This one turned out to be the best we've met so far. We could both sense that he 'got it' as we spoke. He has a similar sense of what we're looking for in our basement bathroom and a good solution for preventing a recurrence of our flooded basement should another Lee-like tropical storm happen.
On the way over to the Apple Store I dropped off the water-test samples and paid the $100 analysis fee. I could have gotten water-softener-specific tests free from a water softener company but I wouldn't be able to trust the results and it wouldn't include the bacteria tests-- the most important ones.
My Apple tech this afternoon was Jill, a very bright young woman with what looked like fish hook wires in her lower lip. I enjoyed our interaction as she ran diagnostics on the iPad and then restored its operating system and firmware. Somehow the operating system had gotten corrupted, perhaps from a static-electricity hit or perhaps from my connecting it to various HDTVs to show our Africa photos or perhaps from the Bluetooth keyboard / Evernote combination that seems to act a bit oddly and was in use on the first unexpected reboot.
Late in the day I again looked up the info I had saved from earlier research on an automatic clay-bird thrower for trap shooting. I've been thinking of taking one along to Florida. There's a perfect place for one at the shooting range in Ocala National Forest. With the Florida trip coming up shortly I needed to make a decision one way or the other today if I was going to have time to get one. I was considering driving up to Cabela's today for one. But when I found Gander Mountain has a 25%-off deal on them for the next few days, that made the decision for me.

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Thursday, 9 February -

We had a bit more snow overnight but by mid-morning I noticed the roads were clear. Apparently the warmer-than-normal weather we've had this year has meant the roads retain heat more and therefore clear snow more quickly. After a few days stuck in the house I was ready to get out. I took the Concours to York to pick up a water test kit at Associated Laboratories. We've decided to do another water test before we spend money on a water softener and possibly a UV light.
After picking up the kit I rode on to Starbucks for a cappuccino then home. I'd like to have walked but the trails would be too sloppy so I rode on home. There I worked on the cargo trailer and ATV. I replaced the bad battery harness (the connection for my electric jacket liner) I had installed a few days ago. I also came up with a solution for the tie-downs at the rear of the trailer. I had installed removable tie-downs but I had installed them directly behind the rear tires. If I installed them further toward the sides of the trailer I'd have to step awkwardly past tie-down straps when entering and exiting the trailer. And if I installed them inside the tire line they wouldn't be as effective at preventing the ATV from rolling sideways or forward. The position is the best compromise but the eyebolts stick up too high to simply roll over them without risk to the tires. Unscrewing them and replacing them each time I unload/reload isn't a big deal but shouldn't be necessary.
I cut two 12” lengths of 2x4 and cut a large hole in the center of each (using a hole-saw). I can leave them in place over the eyebolts and of course they're easily removed if I need to have a flat floor for other cargo. When I tested them with the ATV I barely noticed the bump as I unloaded and reloaded it.
That evening I researched the web for the 'right' GPS mount for the ATV and ordered it and some wiring accessories (Battery Tender harness, power outlet, etc) as well as a specialized battery float-charger (a CanBus-compatible one) for the F650GS.

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Wednesday, 8 February -

A bit of snow today-- only an inch or so. I woke with a headache but some Excedrin soon took care of it. I'm still under the weather a bit but feeling much better than yesterday.
We had an appointment with a contractor this afternoon. The guy seemed nice enough but we didn't really click. I don't imagine we'll be using him.

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Tuesday, 7 February -

We had contractors in today. I felt awful much of last night and it's even worse today. I have nausea, a bit of fever, and am very tired and can barely stay up. Labashi talked with the contractors for most of their sessions, then I'd come in to ask/answer a few questions at the end and get a feel for the company. At this point I think we're going to have problems coming up with an acceptable contractor. I predict we cut back plans to just having the work roughed in and then finish it ourselves.
After the contractor sessions I went back to bed and slept for a few hours each time. That evening we watched a Boardwalk Empire episode and then I went to bed early. What a miserable day.

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Monday, 6 February -

Today was another nice one, sunny and 50. I thought I might want to take the ATV out today but we have contractors coming to the house tomorrow to look at Labashi's latest projects so we had to talk through a few things.
That afternoon I rode the GS down to Starbucks, then to Rocky Ridge Park for my 5-miler. I finished in 1:43 today, walking part of it in short sleeves.

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Sunday, 5 February -

We drove to Chambersburg today to see our friends Hardy-Har-Har and wife. We spent the afternoon reminiscing and catching up.
On the way home we stopped at Lulu's Grill in the Altland House in Abbottstown for supper. We've passed this way many times but never given this restaurant a try. I was happy to find they had conch chowder, turtle soup, and fish tacos on the menu and tried the latter two.
We made it back home by the second half of the Super Bowl so I turned it on to see what was happening. That happened to coincide with a drive by the Patriots so we ended up watching to the end... something we hardly ever do. This one stayed interesting to the end.

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Saturday, 4 February -

Labashi and I drove to Messiah College today to see the Oakes Museum of Natural History. This nice little museum has some very interesting dioramas and taxidermy. The African savannah animals and North American bears are particularly impressive.
We then went looking for a new place to eat. I had taken a look at Yelp this morning and came up with Cedars Lebanese Restaurant in Camp Hill as one of the possibilities. We decided to drive by and check it out. We ended up having one of the five-mezza deals. 'Mezzas' are appetizers, sort of like having tapas. Ours featured things like pickled eggplant, aged cheese with onions and peppers, spiced ground beef, and others. Not bad at all! We'll be happy to go back and try other dishes.
That evening we watched 'Justified'-Season Two episodes.

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Friday, 3 February -

This morning I installed the bed-bolt tie downs in the cargo trailer. Since we again had nice weather I couldn't stand it to stay home any longer. I loaded up the ATV gear and drove Mocha Joe over to the Michaux State Forest ATV trailhead above Pine Grove Furnace.
At the trailhead I met a guy who lived in the area and was just out for a bit of a walk. He said a ranger had just been through on an ATV and warned me to be sure I had all the paperwork I needed for the ranger. We talked for few minutes about ATVs and traveling. He said he visits a friend in Montana and talked about riding forever-and-ever out there. Sounds good!
When I left the house I had planned to stop at the state forest office for a map of the ATV trails but as I drove it seemed that would take me well out of the way and put me late in the day by the time I reached the trails. I decided I'd go ahead without the maps and would carry along the GPS if I needed any assistance finding my way back out.
I spent the next hour and a half riding the ATV, exploring trails. The guy I had spoken with had given me some directions but those turned out to be wrong. But I didn't really have any problems getting lost.
The main trails were more jeep roads or logging roads with a lot of whoop-de-dos, puddles, and rocks. When I found myself atop a ridge at a good resting point, I stopped a walked about a bit and then ventured back a secondary 'trail'. The trail was very narrow-- barely wide enough for the Rancher-- and was more a series of marks on trees than a trail on the ground... at least with so many leaves down.
I was pleasantly surprised how well the Rancher handled the roughness of the trail, easily bounding over (small) downed trees and football-sized rocks and dealing with puddles. I did get myself into a couple of precarious-feeling situations. When side-hilling I had to be careful to counter-balance and felt vulnerable when I came to downhill-tilted dips. I felt I should have brought along the satellite-messenger. And when I came to a steep, rough off-camber downhill section, I backed out and turned back.
I was pleasantly surprised how well the two-wheel drive did. For the most part, that's all I needed. With four-wheel drive engaged I had more noise and more steering effort so I expect to use it sparingly. All in all, though, I was quite pleased for a first time out.

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Thursday, 2 February -

I made a grocery-shopping run this morning. Later in the day I rode the GS down to Rocky Ridge and walked the five-mile end-to-end circuit.
We're still having unseasonably-mild weather with highs in the Sixties. It's certainly odd to be walking in short sleeves in February..... but nice!
Late in the day we learned the prospective buyers had rescinded their offer on House 2. Our agent didn't know the reason but thought they had had second thoughts on the whole idea of buying a house as they saw reconsidered the financial commitment. He said they had been talking of another offer but he later received a phone call saying they had decided to pull out entirely.

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Wednesday, 1 February -

I spent much of today considering an offer that came in on House 2 and preparing a counter after speaking with my brothers.
I also took time out to install a Gerbing battery harness on the ATV. However, it turns out the harness is bad and will have to be replaced. I contacted Gerbing and talked it through with tech support and they've put one in the mail. This particular installation was a bit of a pain because the screws in the battery post aren't quite long enough to accommodate additional thickness of the harness connectors and I had to wedge the nuts in place to get them to connect. I'll have to go through that again on the new harness.

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2012-01-31T23:59:00.000-05:00

Prep for Florida trip ; new cargo trailer and ATV

(posted from home)
(This post covers 17 – 31 January, 2012)

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Tuesday, 31 January-

This morning I prepped to take the ATV out for its first run. I then remembered I couldn't yet leave because the hitch was locked and I didn't have the key. Snap!
I wasn't quite ready to leave anyway. I called up my motorcycle agent for a quote on the ATV and was shocked to be quoted a $355 add-on cost. That just didn't make sense. I don't pay much more than that for my two motorcycles and I'd think the liability risk much lower for the ATV.
I called up my home-insurance agent and asked if they also do ATV insurance. It turns out they are agents for multiple companies and gave me comparison quotes on the ATV. With my discounts, I ended up paying $75 a year for the same coverage as the $355 quote. And you can be sure I'll be checking there when my motorcycle insurance comes up for renewal.
That afternoon Labashi drove me over to Lititz to pick up the F650GS from the shop. We had a wonderful 60-degree day today and we have rain promised the next few days so better now than later.
The shop replaced a valve-cover gasket and cleaned the engine up, all under warranty.
On the way home we stopped at Texas Roadhouse for ribs, then returned home to watch 'Boardwalk Empire.' Ah, Nucky, you scoundrel!

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Monday, 30 January -

This morning Labashi and I had our tax-prep appointment. We hadn't yet received all our statements so it was a short one--- just set up the basics then when the paperwork comes in we'll just pass it along.
A bit later I rode the Concours down to York. After my Starbucks fix I walked over to Lowe's and bought two combination locks. These are also Magnum locks with hardened shanks and very tough lock mechanisms but they are four-digit combination locks. Since I can set my own combinations I can come up with my own way of remembering the set of combos and not have to depend on keys.
I made the decision to return the key locks and go with combination locks after making a mistake. When I last parked the trailer I didn't yet have a ball-lock for it. Rather than leave it unlocked and unattended I used my motorcycle lock on the hitch's safety latch. Unfortunately, the key to that lock was now at the motorcycle shop in Lititz and I didn't have a spare! I wouldn't be able to use the trailer to go pick up the motorcycle unless I'd first make the round-trip to Lititz to retrieve the key. Yikes!
I spent a few hours in the afternoon planning our itinerary in Florida this year and then picked up Mocha Joe from the garage. The rear wheel brake adjuster had fallen out of place and I had a leaky rear cylinder. That cost me almost $200 in repairs (sigh).

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Sunday, 29 January -

This morning I worked on catching up the blog.
That afternoon I set up the combo locks with a set of combos I can remember and I made a license-plate mount for the ATV. I had to run to the hardware store for stainless-steel machine screws and nuts and rubber washers for the mounts but came up with a nice-looking mount for good ol' 00R00 (the ATV's new name).
I also had time to buzz down to Rocky Ridge Park for a walk (1:50).

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Saturday, 28 January -

Today Labashi and I drove into York on errands. We lunched at Fuddrucker's then went to Lowe's. I picked up locks for the trailer and she did some research for her upcoming projects on the house.
I ended up buying a hitch-lock kit that gives me one key for three locks at the hitch. One lock is for the hitch-pin in the receiver, one is for the safety latch, and the last is a ball-and-U-bolt arrangement to lock the ball-mount when it's not hitched to anything. I also bought a 30-foot armored cable and padlock so I can lock the trailer and/or ATV to an immovable object when the need arises.
For the doors I bought Magnum locks but I'm not sure I like them. They're the highest-rated locks but I don't like dealing with keys.

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Friday, 27 January -

Today I hauled the new cargo trailer up to State College and bought an ATV.... my main purpose for the trailer. I bought a Honda Rancher 420, which is one of the smaller ATVs these days. I wasn't fond of either the bright red or olive standard colors so opted for a camouflage paint scheme. The Rancher has selectable two and four-wheel drive and a manual-select transmission. The tranny is similar to the old Honda 50 in that you kick it into gear without using a clutch lever. Honda has electric-shift and 'automatic' (constant-velocity belt-drive) transmission options but that just seems like asking for complexity and therefore trouble.
The trip up was mostly uneventful but Mocha Joe certainly doesn't like pulling a trailer uphill. I had to climb the Seven Mountains hill at 25 miles per hour. I shudder to think what it would be with a loaded trailer.
The purchase process went smoothly. By going to this dealer I got the ATV for an out-the-door price less than the base price quoted by my local dealer back home .. and that was for one without the camouflage upgrade.
On the way home, though, I had a problem with Mocha Joe. As I neared home I noticed the brake pedal felt different when I'd apply the brakes. Since I was nearing my regular garage, I stopped there and had it confirmed that I did indeed have a problem. I ended up continuing on home to drop the trailer (since I didn't yet have locks for it) and then brought the van back for service when they can get to it next week.
That evening we watched disk 1 of 'Justified' Season Two.

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Thursday, 26 January -

Today I put the new trailer to good use. I loaded up the F650GS motorcycle and hauled it over to Trans-Am Cycles in Lititz. I had noticed a small oil leak on top of the engine and wanted to get the work done before the warranty runs out. As expected, I had to leave the bike for parts to come in next week.
That afternoon Labashi and I drove up to see Mom and Dad and had supper with them in the apartment.
That evening we finished 'Modern Family' 2:2.

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Wednesday, 25 January -

Today I spent the day buying an enclosed cargo trailer. I found the trailer I was looking for at AJ Trailers in Harrisburg. It's a 6x12 vee-nose, single-axle trailer with side door and rear ramp-door.
The trailer brand is Carry-On and it weighs 960 pounds, cost just under $3000. I chose this model because it's 35% lighter than similar-sized trailers from other manufacturers. It's certified to haul up to 2000 pounds and is therefore under the 3000-pound gross weight limit before needing trailer brakes.
On the way up to AJ's I stopped at the Ace Hardware store and Tractor Supply to look at surface-mount tie-downs so I'd have an idea of what's available.
The actual purchase was easy. The guys took the trailer into the garage and added a spare (mounted on the tongue) and welded on a pair of stabilizing jacks to the rear. The jacks allow me to load and unload the trailer with it unhitched. I also bought a good set of heavy rubber chocks.
On the way home I lunched at the local Five Guys, then stopped at my local Ace Hardware to pick up three sets of 'bed bolts', i.e., tie downs that bolt through the floor, each with removable eyelets.
That evening we watched 'Modern Family'- Season 2 disk 2.

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Tuesday, 24 January -

Today I hooked up Mocha Joe to the fishing boat and took it to Chambersburg to drop off for Maypo's use next Spring. Also, I need the space in my driveway!
While in Chambersburg I dropped in at House 2, our second rehab project. I found the back door standing open a few inches. If we hadn't had a safety chain on it, it would probably have been open the whole way. I'd guess this happened because a prospective buyer touring the house hadn't closed it fully and the windy day several days ago opened it. I took a look around, checked the dehumidifier for freezing and ran the water a bit.

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Monday, 23 January -

Today was a miserably foggy, cold day. I spent much of it on the web researching enclosed cargo trailers for my upcoming Florida trip.
That evening we watched a 'Boardwalk Empire' episode and then a Nova documentary called 'Lizard Kings'. The documentary examines the very diverse world of monitor lizards and does a great job, both in photography and interesting content.

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Sunday, 22 January -

After watching 'Sunday Morning' (a favorite), Labashi and I drove into York. She dropped me off at Starbucks to work on my blog and did some grocery shopping at the nearby Wal-mart, picking up stuff we can't get at our local Giant.
That evening we watched 'Kilimanjaro: To the Roof of Africa', an IMAX film from Netflix.

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Saturday, 21 January -

We woke to four inches of snow this morning, our second of the season. We took it easy until 1100, then cleared the drive and walk and vehicles in about an hour and a half.
That afternoon I watched a documentary-- 'Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead'. It's about two guys who went on all-juice fasts to get their weight and underlying diseases under control. It's a bit odd and perhaps too enthusiastic in pushing the juice-fast diet but interesting.
I then tried 'Trollhunters' but abandoned that after a half-hour. This one is a Norwegian mockumentary in the style of 'The Blair Witch Project' and seemed to be going somewhere. Then they brought out the 'trolls'. They weren't scary, they were ridiculous... at least to my eye. Perhaps their form means something to people more familiar with Scandinavian troll images but to me they looked more like Muppets.
I then watched 'Vernon, Florida', an Errol Morris documentary. I liked it! I'm sure it's WAY too slow for most people but I'm a fan of rural Florida--- warts and all --- and enjoyed it.
That evening we watched 'Mad Men' 1:9 and 'Kilimanjaro: Roof of Africa'.

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Friday, 20 January -

I spent much of the morning back on searching for an enclosed cargo trailer for the ATV and motorcycle. I had looked at one locally last week that seemed to fit the bill but it weighs more than I like (1325 pounds). This week I looked at a lighter one (960 pounds) but the dealer didn't have any in stock and it's not clear he'd have one in time for my trip.
We have snow headed our way this weekend so I had to get out today if I were to have a motorcycle ride and my walk. I zipped down to Rocky Ridge for my walk (1:46). I've noticed this colder weather (under 30) is hard on the iPod battery. The iPod now dies in about 1:15.
Looks like I'll have to be a little careful about my walking. After today's walk I had some pain in my left foot. I may be over-doing it a bit.
That evening we watched 'Mad Men'- Season One, eps 7 and 8.

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Thursday, 19 January -

I spent the morning patrolling the web then ran down to York on the Concours to Action Motosports to get a price on an ATV. The sales guys have me re-thinking whether I want to go with a sport ATV or a utility ATV. I went into this thinking I want the less-complex and 150-pound lighter sport model but I'm now not sure I want to give up the four-wheel drive option. This whole decision is complicated by trailer options. The sport model will fit in a 12-foot vee-nose trailer along with the F650GS but the additional length of the utility model causes a problem. The sports model only has four inches of clearance, though, (to the utility's 6.5 inches) and little storage capacity.
I then went over to Rudy Park for a walk (1:30 today).

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Wednesday, 18 January -

Labashi is still heavily into her Ebay stuff. For the last month she's been spending hours each day preparing to sell family possessions left over from her parent's downsizing when they moved from their home in Michigan to an apartment nearby. Unfortunately, the items aren't selling... but it's easy to understand why. The day she posted a silver-plated tray, there were 800 other listings for silver-plated trays and similar items.
I've been helping out when Labashi runs into technical problems or needs another opinion as she navigates Ebay and Paypal and researches the histories of the companies who produced the items. It's interesting but so far doesn't seem to be paying off in bids for the items.
I did get out a bit on the motorcycle today. I ran over to the bank on an errand then down to Rudy park for an hour's walk.

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Tuesday, 17 January -

Today Labashi and I took Mocha Joe for a drive to State College. I've been looking at ATVs nd wanted to talk to the guys at Track N Trail, a Honda dealer who claims to have 800 vehicles. I was surprised how small the place was. If they have 800 vehicles, then 700 of them are in the warehouse because they weren't visible anywhere. The sales guy seemed very slow on the uptake but as we talked more he seemed to relax and became more helpful, at one point going out of his way to find an answer to a question that had merely come up in passing. Still, the ATV model I had come to see wasn't there. The computer said they had two somewhere but the location was unspecified-- meaning they were either in the warehouse or due in sometime 'soon' (in the next several days).
The visit took less than an hour and we headed back home, enjoying the winter's day drive while listening to episodes of 'This American Life' on the iPod.
That evening we watched 'Buck', an excellent documentary on Buck Brannaman, a 'horse whisperer', i.e., a horse trainer with an extraordinary affinity for horses. Buck's own life story and his family relationships are compelling. What a great job of story-telling by the film-maker.
We stayed up late to watch a second documentary, 'Ride the Divide'. This one is the story of mountain bikers racing from Banff to the Mexican border on a series of Forest Roads and trails. The ride is incredible at any pace but to do as a race and doing it unsupported is incredible. I'm continually amazed at what the human body can endure but absolutely astounded what mental anguish people put themselves under to test themselves or prove a point.

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2012-01-16T23:59:00.000-05:00

Starting to prep for Florida ; Lancaster day-trip

(posted from home)

(This post covers 9 – 16 January, 2011)

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Monday, 16 January -

Martin Luther King Day. I'm afraid the great man would not be pleased with what has become of our country. The Great Conservatard Backlash continues.
Today was a cold, windy and threatening-rain day and I spent much of it on the web researching various topics for the Florida trip. I did get out a bit in the afternoon to run over to the Giant for a few items but otherwise it's one of those days that makes me want to go to Florida just to feel less cooped-up. We received an flyer from Cabela's yesterday touting a Cabin-Fever Sale. My immediate reaction was it's too early for that but now I'm not so sure. We've been very lucky to have fifty and forty-degree days recently but the trend is of course downward now.
That evening we watched 'Big Love' Season Five episodes. I was wondering how the writers would keep us interested in this ever-downward-spiraling tale but they seem to have done it.

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Sunday, 15 January -

This morning the temperature was only 18 so before dressing for my Sunday motorcycle ride I went out and started the Concours to be sure it would run. I've ridden it temperatures as low as 12 degrees but have also had problems getting it started in temperatures below 30. Getting it started depends not only on the condition of the battery (how new it is) but also how much I've been riding that bike lately. The battery is only a few months old, I've been careful to use StarTron additive on gas fill-ups, and I've been out on it a good bit in the last few weeks. The bike started up on two tries, an easy one. I left it idling while I went in to don my safety gear.
I rode down to the Tollgate Startbucks on this gusty morning (wind-chill of 13 degrees), careful to take a route less likely to have ice from frozen run-off. I spent the rest of the morning catching up the blog, this time using the laptop rather than the iPad. I've found I can't rely on the iPad for this. Two weeks ago I spent an hour writing up a blog entry only to have the iPad screen momentarily go black and lose everything I'd just done. I'm not sure if that was an iOS or email fault but the fact that the system isn't keeping backups as I work tells me the iPad isn't yet ready for prime time.
After Starbucks I rode over to a nearby Five Guys for a quick burger, then on to Rocky Ridge for a brisk walk. (1:47 today).
That evening we watched “A Thief of Time”, a Masterpiece Theater film adapting Tony Hillerman's novel featuring Joe Leaphorn, a Navajo Tribal Police officer. I'm a fan of Wes Studi, Adam Beach, and Gary Farmer's films.

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Saturday, 14 January -

Today we drove up to Harrisburg to visit our friend rar and wife. We've not seen them in years and it was great to get together to catch up. We spent the afternoon and evening looking at travel pictures, chatting, and having an excellent meal (and wine!).
We arrived back home around 2100 and watched two episodes of 'Mad Men', Season One. We're into it.

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Friday, 13 January -

Today Labashi and I drove into town to run a few errands. We hit the Wal-mart, lunched at Five Guys, and then did some grocery shopping on the way home.
That afternoon I got back to researching a sport-model ATV and the OHV(Off-Highway-Vehicle) trails in Florida. I'm trying to decide whether it would be worth the hassle of trailering an ATV to Florida to explore the trails there. After seeing a map of the Ocala Adventure Trail in the Ocala National Forest and the trails in the Withlacoochee River and Osceola National Forests, I'm thinking it would be worth it. Perhaps I could hit the Hatfield-McCoy trails in southern West Virginia on the way home ; I've long wanted to try them. But I don't have a good place to store the trailer back here at home .
That evening we diddled around on the web, then watched our weekly 'Gold Rush' and 'Flying Wild Alaska' shows.

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Thursday, 12 January -

Today I took Dad's car in to the Honda dealer for inspection and to have an outside mirror installed. Somehow the mirror completely disappeared. We're not sure if it was knocked off by a vandal or what-- it was just gone one day. During the inspection a load-test of the battery showed it was on its way out so I went over to the local Battery Warehouse and had a replacement installed.
That afternoon I took care of a few errands then watched two more episodes of 'Better Off Ted'. I think we're going to pass on this one.
We watched three more episodes of the latest 'Big Love' season. I'm interested to see how the producers turn this around. At this point it's unrelentingly depressing.

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Wednesday, 11 January -

This morning I took the Ody in to the Honda dealer for an oil change and to repair a tail-light. Labashi had backed into a tree limb overhanging a parking-lot space and it had, fortunately, only broken the tail-light lens. That wasn't cheap (almost $200) but much better than body-work costs.
I didn't get back until mid-afternoon and was running late to take a walk. But once I changed clothes and went out to the bike, I noticed we had incoming rain-clouds. I abandoned the idea and instead watched a Gordon Eastman movie from the early Seventies called 'Savage Wild'. This movie is reminiscent of the wildlife movies we used to have come around to the local junior-high when I was young. Some guy goes off into the wilderness with his camera and self-produces a film which he then travels the country showing it to small audiences at schools, churches, and YMCAs. This one was about Gordon spending two years in the Yukon raising some wolf cubs and then releasing them. I used to love seeing this type of film for its footage of the wild and the gear used by the guy and his buddies.
I also watched two episodes of the TV show 'Better Off Ted' to see if we'd like it. Not sure yet.
That evening Labashi joined me in watching two episodes of 'Big Love'.

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Tuesday, 10 January -

Labashi wanted a break from her Ebay-ing today so we drove over to Lancaster for the day. We took a walk through Central Market, then lunched at Carr's Restaurant nearby. We then walked over to the Lancaster Art Museum for their local-photographers exhibit. Afterwards we toured the shops of Gallery Row and the gallery at Millersville University's Lancaster building.
On the way home we stopped for our favorite ribs at Texas Roadhouse and a look through the new Books-A-Million store nearby.
That evening we watched 'Powwow Highway', a good Native-American-produced movie with Adam Beach and Gary Farmer. The story is a friendship-story of two guys from the Coeur-d'Alene rez who take a road trip to Santa Fe after the death of a father. Well done!
We then watched a Netflix-Instant movie, 'Lebanon, PA', mostly because of the location. We were surprised how good it was though it did have a controversial point of view and treated us locals too simplistically.

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Monday, 9 January -

I spent the morning scheduling appointments for car maintenance and researching a motorcycle hauler for Mocha Joe. I have a discount certificate for a Harbor Freight hauler which looked suitable to the task. But once I read the owner's manual I saw it wouldn't really work for me.
Most of these receiver-hitch-mounted models suggest you have two people in order to get the motorcycle up on the ramp and in place and tied down. I need to be able to load and unload by myself (since I travel alone on my winter trip). That seems possible with some type of design which would allow me to roll the bike into a front-wheel grip and therefore steady it enough to get my front-end straps on, then deal with the back end. But the Harbor Freight design has you run the motorcycle only halfway across the back of the vehicle, then remove a pin so the motorcycle's back wheel can roll into a slot. The pin is then put back in place through the wheel spokes to secure the bike. Well, that just won't work. I also looked at Versa-Hauler models but once I saw how heavy they are I lost interest. I'm also betting I'd need to put air shocks on the van to use a hauler.
I hate to think of towing a trailer all over Florida just to get a few motorcycle rides in so it looks like I'll just forget about taking my bike down. I'll need to do some research on renting motorcycles down there. Come to think of it, if I'd be able to find some interesting bikes to rent, that would even be a better option. If any rental shops were to have the current Triumph Thruxton 900, I'd jump on that opportunity. That seems unlikely but I might find an interesting BMW rental. I know there are Hardley Abelsons available so I can always do that if the rental terms aren't too onerous.
That afternoon I walked at Rocky Ridge (1:48 today).

****** END OF POST *********

2012-01-08T16:55:00.001-05:00

Happy New Year!

(posted from home)
(This post covers 1 – 8 January 2012)

-------------------------

Sunday, 8 January -

Hey, it's Sunday so it must be time for a motorcycle ride, yes? Today's weather isn't quite so nice but, still, it's almost fifty degrees out, though a bit cloudy. I took the Concours and the iPad, intending to catch up the blog. I worked for an hour or so as I sipped my cappuccino only to have the iPad suddenly black out the screen and lose my work. NOT cool.
I packed up and headed toward home, intending to divert to Rocky Ridge until I realized I didn't have suitable walking shoes. What the heck's wrong with me? Ahh, well, no bother. I did 5K yesterday and have been doing a good bit of walking so should probably rest anyway.
I returned home and re-created the blog entries I had lost and posted the blog update.
That evening we began watching 'Mad Men'- Season One.

-------------------------

Saturday, 7 January-

After a morning of doing a few chores and patrolling the web news sites, I took the GS down to York to look at cargo trailers. I'm thinking of taking an ATV and a motorcycle along to Florida this year and wanted to see if a trailer would be practical. I then hit Starbucks and walked at Rudy Park. I had again gotten a later start than normal so went to Rudy so I wouldn't get caught too far from the bike as darkness came on. As it turned out I had made the mistake of using the time on the GS and hadn't changed it to daylight-savings time. I had plenty of time before dark. (And that explains why the sun seemed higher in the sky than it should for that time of day!)
That evening we watched 'Smoke Signals', a nice little indy movie about two young guys from the Coeur d'Alene Indian Reservation who have a complicated relationship which plays out in a road trip to Phoenix and back. Good one!

-------------------------

Friday, 6 January -

We spent the morning on the web and then later in the day we joined Mom and Dad and one of their neighbors for a visit to Cafe Bruges in Carlisle. Dad loves the moules-et-frites there and I like their Monk's Ale, a sour red ale. Today's temperatures were over sixty so it made for a nice day to be out for meal.
I also worked on Dad's answering machine today (it was hung up, perhaps by a power surge) and on his Skype application on his PC. Dad and Labashi use Skype quite a bit for routine contact so I need to keep it running. Unfortunately, the latest Windows version has problems with Windows Vista. I downloaded the beta version and that seemed to tame the problem.
That evening we watched 'Gold Rush' and 'Flying Wild Alaska' for our nightly entertainment.

--------------------------

Thursday, 5 January -

This morning MissusMaypo made us a hearty (and low-carb!) breakfast, then Maypo and I drove over to the Greene Township park to look at the new ice rink. This is the first year the township has tried the rink (which of course is an extra-warm year). We happened to arrive as one of the township guys responsible for it was just wrapping up today's inspection of it. He had hoped to get started on the final surface prep today but it's not quite ready. The surface prep is done with a squeegee-type contraption with a water connection, in this case to truck-mounted water tank since there's no water connection handy. The water melts the surface a bit and then it refreezes to a flat surface for the skaters to enjoy. It was great to run into this guy and get some inside info on the ice rink and efforts by the township to increase recreational opportunities, even in such tough economic times.
After the rink, we drove to the nearby Gander Mountain store to peek in the used-guns case and look around in general. Nothing special today.
After dropping Maypo off I headed home, arriving around 1400. I changed clothes and jumped on the Concours and rode over to Pinchot for a walk.
Pinchot Lake is ice-covered but it's still unsafe for skating and ice fishing. We had a pretty good breeze today so I headed away from the lake and walked up to the Ridge Trail and circled back to the Nature Center. Again, I started out a bit late so my walk today was only an hour.
That evening Labashi and I watched the last disk of season one of 'Modern Family'.

------------------------

Wednesday, 4 January-

This morning I called Maypo and arranged to meet him at his house around lunch time. He's off for a few days. I drove Labashi's car over, stopping at the Carlisle Starbucks for a quick cap-to-go along the way (lunch!).
We jawed a bit catching up on the holidays and then went over to 'Good Ta Go', a local beer emporium that's relatively new to the area. I had not been to this place before but Maypo had been there just yesterday with his son and had enjoyed himself. I'm not much of a beer drinker but was interested to see the place. It's a bit odd in that it has covered drive-through lane yet has bar-style (high) tables, a munchie-menu, and a big-screen TV for those who want to venture inside.
We were greeted by an offer of a free draft and then given a tour of the rows of six-pack-filled coolers with sections devoted to Domestic, Import, Specialty, (and other) beers. You can mix-and-match a six-pack if you like (subject to some restrictions). They also have a PC set up to access BeerAdvocate.com to help in your selection process.
They also have almost a dozen non-traditional beers on tap. After finishing my freebie Yuengling, I tried a Lindeman's Framboise Lambic and Maypo tried a toasted lager (I can't remember the name).
We went home after just the two beers but not long after arriving Maypo received a call inviting us to 'the FBI'-- the Fannettsburg Inn.
I drove us (me, Maypo, and MissusMaypo) the forty-five minutes to the FBI where we met up with a small group of Maypo's friends from work. We had a very pleasant and light-hearted evening as most of the group indulged in Taco Night. I stuck with a Coors Light and a bacon-cheeseburger without the bun to try to stay somewhere in the neigborhood of what I should be having on my diet.
On the way back to Maypo's he invited me to stay over rather than make the long drive home tonight and that sounded like a great idea.

------------------------

Tuesday, 3 January -

This morning I had another late start because of being awake a few hours during the night. I began thinking I'd like to go visit Maypo today but waited too long to make up my mind so didn't go. By mid-afternoon I was getting antsy so rode the Concours down to Rocky Ridge for a walk. Unfortunately, I waited too long to start out and had to cut my walk off early, only getting about an hour of walking in.
That evening we watched 'Shake Hands with the Devil: The Journey of Romeo Dellaire', an intense documentary about the civil war in Rwanda and the isolation of the UN peacekeeping force during the genocide.

-------------------------

Monday, 2 January-

We're so out of it we didn't even realize today's a holiday. I wondered why there were football games on TV and why the mail didn't go.... until the lightbulb finally went off.
We started back on our low-carb diet today and I'm looking forward to it. The diet quickly gets my blood pressure back down out of the 'borderline high' range and I normally sleep pretty well while on it.
I had called in our phone line problem last week and we were supposed to have a visit today from the phone company tech this afternoon. But he called late morning and said the problem had been fixed. A mouse had built a nest in one of the phone pedestals down by the creek road. In any case, the buzz and crackling noises are gone. Thanks, Verizon!
That afternoon I rode down to Rocky Ridge on the GS to take a walk. When I saw the parking lot crowded I headed for the more remote parts of the park. And when it started to rain lightly, I thought that would be good to clear things out a bit. I was surprised to run into four other people in the steeper and most remote part of the park, all with the same surprised look at seeing someone else back here on a rainy day. This walk was a longer one than normal, taking about two-and-a-half hours- about six miles. Afterwards I took it easy riding the wet roads home.
This evening we caught an episode of Alaska Wing Men, a reality show about pilots accompanying the Iron Dog long-distance snowmobile race. At the end of the show we saw a brief shot of one of the pilots, Jim Arie, with a note saying something like 'he died doing what he loved best'. I stayed up late finding the notices of the flying accident in which he was killed. His plane clipped a tree while searching for wildlife at very low level. After watching him operate in very sketchy weather conditions to support the snowmobile racers, it was a shock to learn he had crashed in good weather and it was apparently due to pilot error. What a shame.

-------------------------

Sunday, 1 January -

Happy New Year!

I was awakened around 0200 this morning by unexpected noise and lights. I heard a few whoops of a police siren and then noticed our back yard was being flooded by the strobing lights of a police cruiser. The back yard runs along a side street and apparently someone being tailed by the police car had pulled off the main road into the relative safety of our side street.
I couldn't see much due to the trees on that side of the yard but did see there were at least two police cars and the perp's vehicle. I didn't hear much, just muted voices--- and they didn't seem angry. After a half-hour one police car left but the other stayed another half-hour or so until the tow truck showed up and took away the car. I'd guess it was a drunk-driver stop but who knows.
After sleeping in a bit I took the Concours down to Tollgate for my Sunday coffee-and-blog, then went on to Rocky Ridge for my five-miler. Nice day.
That evening we watched 'Darwin's Nightmare', a documentary about the lives of Tanzanian citizens affected by the perch-fishing industry as managed by the First World countries. Not a pretty picture but very worthwhile.

****** END OF POST *********

2011-12-31T23:59:00.000-05:00

Starting to think about this year's Florida trip ; Quick visit to DC burbs

(posted from home)

(This post covers 21 - 31 December, 2011)

----------------------------

Saturday, 31 December -

The falling temperatures of next week had me thinking I need to get my rides in now. I figured I wouldn't be able to make my regular Sunday ride down to the Tollgate Starbucks so I went today.
Afterwards I took the longer way home and stopped at Rocky Ridge for a quick break (but no walk) late in the day.
Back home I realized today was my last day to stream the movie 'Black Robe' from Netflix. I had been using this movie for testing at Labashi's brother's home but had only seen a few sections of it. Today I saw it all-- it's one of my favorites.
That evening Labashi and I watched Ingmar Bergman's 1961 film 'Through a Glass Darkly'.

--------------------------

Friday, 30 December -

This morning I finally made some headway on the telephone problem. As I'd attempt to determine whether the problem was in our in-house wiring or the telephone network, the problem would largely disappear. Today I noticed some of this came from my using two different test phones-- one masked the problem more than the other.
But today the problem seemed to stay. We had both a strong hum and a crackly static sound. I took both test phones out to the network interface box and it was now clear the problem originated with the phone network. I used Verizon's web-based repair service to schedule service for Monday.
With today's extra-nice 50-degree temperatures I decided to take the GS to Rocky Ridge today. I did my regular walk in 1:47 today and it seemed easy.

--------------------------

Thursday, 29 December -

Today we drove home from our pleasant visit with friends. We hung around through the morning before starting for home around noon. We made it to East Berlin and Restaurant Sidney by 1500 for a late lunch, sharing one of Sidney's excellent bar-be-que pork sandwiches.

--------------------------

Wednesday, 28 December-

We had another day with our friends in suburban Washington today. We got up late and Labashi's brother and I worked on getting Netflix working on the new TV. We never did get an acceptable speed for watching movies and blamed it on the PC we were using for the streaming. We also rode along on a shopping trip to Costco and then stopped in at The Big Screen Store to look around. The biggest TVs are now 90-inch behemoths.
That evening we went to dinner at a restaurant in Warrenton called the Iron Bridge Wine Bar and Restaurant. We arrived ahead of time for our 1945 reservation but didn't get seated until 2030. Our meal, though, was great. We had tapas plates and split everything up. We had mushroom pizza, a cheese fondue, a gourmet hamburger, ravioli, scallops, a flight of wine, and a chocolate creme brulee dessert. And because we had had to wait so long for our table, the manager comped our drinks and dessert.

--------------------------

Tuesday, 27 December -

Today Labashi and I loaded up her car and we drove down to her brother's home outside of Washington, DC. We took the GPS-recommended route and that one went around the Baltimore and Washington beltways. I had thought traffic would be light given the holidays but we ran into several slow-moving sections.
We spent the afternoon chatting and then went to dinner at a Bonefish restaurant. They had just gotten a 55-inch flat-screen TV so we watched 'Avatar' and stayed up very late.

--------------------------

Monday, 26 December -

This morning I dug out our older-but-good Weslo treadmill and cleaned it up and tested it.
We're giving it to Labashi's brother on our visit to his home in Northern Virginia tomorrow. They have a very similar one and were looking for a second one so they can exercise at the same time. We're just happy to get it outta here! I'd much rather walk or jog outside, even in very hot or very cold weather. Walking or jogging in place just seems like the ultimate bore.
I took the Concours down to Starbucks to give it some exercise. When I went to pay for my mocha I was told a 'philanthropist' had bought a gift card and told them to give everyone free coffees for as long as it lasted. Nice!
I then rode up to Rocky Ridge Park and took my end-to-end walk. Along the way I ran into a mountain biker and we chatted about the trails here and mountain-biking trail centers in Delaware and Florida. My walk time of 1:57 reflected my long chat.
I do enjoy these walks this time of year. For the last 40 minutes or so I'm headed westerly and though it's only 1600 or so the sun is low in the sky and it's just very pleasant, particularly if the sun is on my face and the wind has died.

-------------------------

Sunday, 25 December -

We spent the afternoon with Mom and Dad in their apartment for Christmas today. That gave me a chance to set up LogMeIn on Dad's computer and my iPad and give it a try. LogMeIn had just dropped the price (from $29.99 to free!) so that gave me the incentive to try it. It seems to work fine but I need to try it from somewhere other than the same LAN as Dad's PC.
I also helped Labashi's sister get Skype up and running for the first time. She had just gotten a webcam for Christmas and this was her first experience with Skype and she LOVED it. It was great fun to see the look on her face and hear the excitement in her voice as the family gathered round to chat-and-see long distance.
We also connected up with one of Labashi's brothers and his wife in northern Virginia and another sister in southern Michigan had skyped-in this morning. Skype rocks!

-------------------------

Saturday, 24 December -

Today I waited a few hours for the day to warm up above 40 degrees and then rode the GS over to the BMW shop in Lititz to pick up my saddle bag. This is a warranty replacement for the one I dropped off a week or so ago. I enjoyed talking with Charlie the service manager who seems to be perfectly matched to his job. Afterwards I stopped at the Starbucks only a block away. How perfect is that?? A motorcycle shop with interesting bikes and a Starbucks nearby.
That evening we watched a few episodes of 'Rules of Engagement'. We're not sold on this one. I understand the concept of 'suspension of disbelief' but I'm not fond of what I think of as negative reinforcement of gender roles. Then again it's just a TV show.

-------------------------

Friday, 23 December -

Today I spent most of my day researching Florida stuff in preparation for my winter trip. I collected it into an email and sent it off to my brothers, hoping to lure them down for a few days.
This exercise started when I ran onto a Field and Stream article about kayak fishing on Hobie Mirage pedal-fin kayaks in the Keys. That of course got me to thinking about things I've wanted to do in the Keys-- such as a JetLev ride or ultralight floatplane ride. I can't afford to do them all but I can work one or two in this year and save the others for next time!

----------------------------

Thursday, 22 December -

Today was a Starbucks-and-walk day. Weather's still holding up pretty nicely so I took the F650GS for the ride in.
My walk at Rocky Ridge was a 1:50 today.

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Wednesday, 21 December -

This morning we drove down to the hospital area to have our TB tests read. We had the injections Tuesday and today was merely a matter of having the nurse check the injection site for signs of a bump under the skin. This was just a routine followup from our series of pills and injections for and after our Botswana trip. We still have two more appointments in February.
I spent the afternoon researching Wide Open Baja cars. These are sand-rail style cars powered by a flat-four Subaru engine of about 175 horsepower. And they have something like an 18-inch travel on the front suspension.
I'm looking at them because they're available for rent both here in Pennsylvania and near Ocala, Florida (one of my regular stops on my winter trip). I gotta do that!
That evening we watched 'Get Low' with Robert Duvall. I think we would give it something like an 85 on the Tomatometer.

********* END OF POST ********

Sent from my iPad

2011-12-20T23:59:00.001-05:00

Trip to Orat's home ; Getting into iMovie

(posted from home)

(this post covers 10 – 20 December, 2011)

-------------------------------

Tuesday, 20 December-

We're having some odd buzzing sounds on the phone line so I tried troubleshooting that and didn't make a lot of headway. The buzzing is intermittent and just when I think I'm making headway, it disappears. I'm 70 per cent sure the source is the phone company's problem but need to narrow that down before calling for service. I did open up all the connections and spray electrical contact spray and give them a quick brush but I think the problem is in the line coming into the house. We've had problems with it in the past.
Labashi went to her parent's apartment today to follow up on some medical issues and I caught up the blog. My experiment in using the iPad for the blog was for the most part a failure. I spent more time cleaning up the formatting because of copying it to Evernote and then copying that to email. I'd be better off to take my laptop than my iPad along on my Sunday ride-and-blog trips.
I also reviewed video clips from my little Sanyo camera today. I had taken the old Sanyo along as a backup and kept it handy while we drove. The Canon's HD footage far exceeds the quality of the Sanyo's 640x480 format but I did get a bit of you-are-there footage with the Sanyo.
That evening we finished the Wallander – Season One extras.

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Monday, 19 December -

Today we drove back to Mom and Dad's apartment in Mechanicsburg. I needed to look at Skype on Dad's PC and also go to the car dealer to see what it will take to replace a broken mirror on Mom's car. After I determined that Skype now seems stable and working fine (for no obvious reason), I drove Mom's car over to the dealer and got a quote to replace the mirror. I also took it to a local body shop for a quote. I think we'll delay getting that done until next month and get an inspection at the same time.
Labashi took Mom to the doctor's office today and didn't get back until late. Dad made supper and we then had a nice long chat before returning home.
We watched the third 'Wallander' episode and one of the DVD extras about Henning Mankel's Wallander novels. I really need to read some of his work. Movies are fine but the really interesting stuff is in the novels.

-----------------------------

Sunday, 18 December -

This morning I did my normal scan of the web while waiting for the day to warm up. We had a tiny bit of snow overnight and I wanted the roads to have a chance to warm before taking off on the motorcycle. I spent much of the time drooling over accessories for the Triumph Thruxton 900 I've been looking at both locally and at a dealer near Orat's home. I've not made up my mind to buy one but after seeing a nice bikini fairing for it and lots of performance gear, the temptation is growing. Now if I just had somewhere to keep it.
I took my regular Sunday ride to the Tollgate Starbucks and took the iPad along to catch up the blog. I had installed Evernote on the laptop and iPad and thought that would do it, particularly after reading an article by a full-time blogger who uses Evernote for this purpose. But Evernote let me down. After typing only a few sentences it began slowing down. I could type three or four words before they'd appear. And then it got worse-- I'd type a few words and the letters in each word would repeat. I powered down the iPad and started over with Evernote but it soon did the same thing. I switched over to email and that worked fine... no delays at all. I'll just have to remember to send myself the mail rather than depend on Evernote's sync function to share the text between platforms.
Later in the day we drove over to see Mom and Dad at their apartment in Mechanicsburg. We called in a to-go order for ribs to Texas Roadhouse and picked them up on our drive to the apartment.
After supper I worked on Dad's PC which had developed an odd problem with Skype. It would start up but then fail with a message saying it couldn't run anymore and suggested I install the latest version as a fix. But it was already on the latest version.
I tried a few things and deleted some redundant security software but that didn't help-- at least not consistently. It would work sometimes but not others. I'm going to need to look at this some more.
That evening we watched four episodes of 'Corner Gas' – Season Four. They've lost the magic.

-----------------------------

Saturday, 17 December -

Labashi mailed out her yearly newsletter to friends and family today and I had to get out of the house. I rode the Concours to the East York Starbucks and found it so crowded I sat outside despite the 40-degree temperature and a bit of chilling wind. I didn't last long at that and then went up to Rocky Ridge Park for my 5-miler. I had the iPod along but found it dead. I had forgotten to charge it after using it a long time for 'This American Life' episodes we listened to on our drive to and from Orat's.
The walk today seemed colder than today's 40 degree temperature but that was because of a persistent wind. I've walked that loop enough to realize I'd be cold on the first part because of walking into the wind but after ten minutes or so I'd turn downwind and it would be much more comfortable--- and that indeed was the case--- at least until I turned back into the wind for the last 20 minutes of the loop.

------------------------------

Friday, 16 December -

Today Labashi and I spent the entire day editing a video of my grand-niece's winter concert performance. The end product was only two minutes long but we had a lot of learning to do in using iMovie, particularly when we started working with sound. I had a pan of the crowd near the end of the concert and Labashi came up with the idea of putting that first as an establishing shot. But the accompanying sound was wrong for that. Labashi found crowd sounds in the iMovie effects library and did a great job of editing that to fit the visuals.
We also played quite a bit with titles, backgrounds, and transitions.
Late that afternoon I posted the video to Youtube and sent the link to my niece's email. Within minutes she put it up on her Facebook page and sent us a heartfelt thank-you ---- a very satisfying end to the day. That evening we did our usual thing on the web and then watched our weekly fix of 'Gold Rush' and 'Flying Wild Alaska'.

-----------------------------

Thursday, 15 December -

Today we had another leisurely breakfast with Orat and then took off for home. The GPS plotted out a new route down the east side of Canandaigua Lake and when I realized it took us past the local Starbucks, I said 'why not?'.
Today was a rainy day off and on so the trip home wasn't quite as pleasant as the trip up a few days ago but I loved seeing the unfamiliar countryside.
At Mansfield we tried a new restaurant (Lamb's Creek Grill) and found it a good alternative to our normal stop at Wendy's and had a long lunch. I then dropped in at the nearby gun shop I always visit on our way through here for a look at the used guns. There wasn't anything I couldn't live without but I did find an H&K .380 that looked interesting.
We didn't get home until 1600 or so and by the time we 'arrived' (emptied out the van), it was dark.

------------------------------

Wednesday, 14 December -

This morning we sat around the table with Orat having a leisurely breakfast--- nice! Labashi then drove over to JustJeff's house to help Giddyup settle in to the new house while Orat and I ran some errands. Orat and JustJeff are rebuilding an older pickup and we needed to pick up parts. That turned out to be easier said than done. The parts house (AutoZone) had to send us to another location for some of the parts and once we arrived there we were directed to yet another location.
After rounding up the parts we had lunch at a nearby Five Guys and then went shooting at the Rochester Rifle Club. Orat is a member there and this was my first visit. It's a nice little out-of-the-way low-key clubhouse but has a nice shooting lane setup, proper ventilation without the common problem of too much air movement at the shooting station, decent lighting, and good lead-elimination hand-cleaning soaps for afterwards.
I started out with a Glock .40 and couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. We had small target sheets but this was ridiculous. In the meantime I watched Orat punch holes in an amazingly-small pattern near the center of his target. Obviously I was using the wrong gun. Oddly, when I tried the H&K 9mm Orat had been using, I was only hitting the paper half the time. Another trade-out for another 9mm didn't fix things but upon trading back to the H&K I at least put 13 of 15 on the paper and had a center-high cluster going. That's good, though. I've not been shooting lately and this is just what I need to get me back out there.
That evening we all went to a winter concert for my third-grade grand-niece. I had the little Canon point-and-shoot along and shot videos of her very animated performance. What a gas! Later we returned to my niece's home and viewed the raw footage from the concert and that turned out to be a big hit.

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Tuesday, 13 December -

Today Labashi and I loaded up the van and headed for Orat's home (in the Rochester area). We left at 0830 and made it to our destination around 1400. We spent the rest of the afternoon helping the movers and then had a hearty spaghetti supper with family.
Afterwards I plugged the iPad into the family big-screen TV and went through the stills from our Botswana trip. It was quite the circus. The little kids both loved the pictures but also had the attention span of, well, little kids!

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Monday, 12 December -

Today I helped Labashi replace a ceiling tile in the guest room. This tile had been damaged by a small water leak and Labashi had spent a good bit of time and energy trying to cover it up with paint. She had taken a similar tile in to Lowe's and had it color-matched but the resulting color wasn't even close.
The problem here was the tile is part of the CeilingMax suspend-ceiling system and takes a bit of finessing to remove and replace. The tile came out easily but getting the new one in place proved a challenge. We still like the CeilingMax system more than a traditional dropped ceiling because it provides more clearance in the room and doesn't have such an industrial look.
That evening I called Orat and learned JustJeff had settled on his new house today and would be moving in tomorrow. I quickly made arrangements to travel up there. We had been planning a trip up there before Christmas and this would make a lot of sense-- help with the move, see the new house, visit with family, etc, etc. Perfect!

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Sunday, 11 December -

This morning I researched and then downloaded 'Evernote' on the iPad and my laptop. This app gives me a way to take notes and have them automatically synced between platforms.
I then rode the Concours down to the Tollgate Starbucks for my regular Sunday ride. I took along the iPad and keyboard and caught up on a few blog entries.
I then rode over to Rocky Ridge Park and walked my five-miler in 1:50.
That evening we watched more 'Modern Family' episodes.

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Saturday, 10 December -

This morning I needed a motorcycle ride so headed into town, initially planning to go to Starbucks. Along the way I remembered I still need to submit a warranty claim for the F50GS's right saddle bag. It's called a 'Vario' and expands and contracts using a lever inside the bag. But mine will no longer contract-- it's stuck in the expanded position.
I rode over to Trans Am Cycles in Lititz (where I bought the bike and bags) and dropped off the bag for the service guy to handle the warranty claim. Today was only a 40-degree day so I wondered how my electrically-heated clothing would do. As I crossed the Susquehanna River bridge I realized my hands were getting cold even though the temperature controller for the gloves was turned all the way up. I turned on the GS's heated handgrips and that took care of it. It seems odd to heat the outside of the heavy gloves but the internal heat was being overwhelmed by the cold air flowing past the gloves. The additional heat from the grips balanced that out.
At the shop I spoke briefly with Dan, the sales guy, and Charlie, the service guy. Both are quite friendly and know their products.
After the shop visit I stopped at the nearby Starbucks for a warm-me-up before the long trip home and spent an hour or so catching up on the news via the iPad. I love the convenience of taking the little iPad along and having access to the web.
That evening we watched several episodes of 'Modern Family', season one.

*********** END OF POST *********

2011-12-09T19:17:00.001-05:00

Late-Fall motorcycle rides ; Uh-oh at House 2

(posted from home)

(This post covers 1 – 9 December, 2011)

-----------------------------------

Friday, 9 December -

This morning I revisited the slideshow of Africa stills I had created and added comments from Labashi and also made a few changes of my own. I think it's finally ready for distribution.
Mid-day I hopped on the Concours and zipped down to the East York Starbucks. I took along the iPad and wireless keyboard and my blog notes. I enjoyed my mocha and caught up the blog. I also had a long conversation with Chris, a guy who works at the nearby Lowes. Using the keyboard with the iPad made a big difference (compared to the on-screen keyboard) and I see it's very possible to start making blog entries this way. But I have to be careful to make backups on the laptop in case the web site were ever to lose my data.
The temperature today is again in the upper 40's and the motorcycle riding very comfortable-- in fact I saw two other bikes out today.
We watched a few episodes of 'Modern Family'- season one.

-----------------------------------

Thursday, 8 December -

This morning I finally got my laptop back. I needed to figure out how to take put our Africa stills online in a form we can send to friends and relatives. After checking out several options I found that iPhoto has easy import and email functions.
I had edited the photos a bit on the iPad and needed to transfer the files to the laptop. Fortunately I found an iPad app (called "Photo Transfer App") for this purpose. It couldn't have been easier.
I had not been on iPhoto before so took a bit of time to research how to import and edit the photos. That too turned out to be easy. The import was a matter of pointing at the folder containing the transferred photos. Editing (color correction and cropping) were intuitive and emailing was easy-- with a few little gotchas but they made sense once you found them.
I sent test emails to Labashi and we reviewed them and tried a few things to improve them. The original file was over 9 meg and I figured that would be a problem for some recipients since many email servers won't take files over 5 meg. But some judicious deletions of borderline-quality photos took it down under 5 meg.
I then added some comments to each photo.
That afternoon I took the Concours down to Rocky Ridge for my 5-miler (1:50 today). I had gotten a late start for this time of year so couldn't take time to stop off at Starbucks. But the woods were beautiful in the evening light (at 4 pm!!)
That evening we watched 'Somewhere', a Sofia Coppola film. This one is a character study and is rated fairly low on Netflix but we like her work. And that was indeed the case for this one-- we liked it. It's not a traditional movie in structure; it's a character study. But this is another movie that grows on you after it (unexpectedly) ends.

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Wednesday, 7 December -

More rain today. Labashi has decided that the video clips I had done could use some work. She had been a video producer before retiring and had done a lot of professional editing so the bottom line is she's right. I was content to have videos that looked like home movies if they captured something interesting. But Labashi wants to edit out the shaky footage, even if it means a much shorter piece.
She had not used iMovie before so I got her started and sat nearby using my iPad. (See, honey, it WAS worth buying an iPad after all!)
Labashi edited and uploaded six or seven videos by supper time. It had taken me three or four days to do that.
We then went out to supper at Deb's Pizza in Manchester. We like their ham boat and roast-beef boat sandwiches.

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Tuesday, 6 December -

It's Tuesday so it must be raining.... as indeed it was. Tuesday is our take-out-the-trash day and it seems I'm always doing it in the rain.
This morning I had a dental checkup. Since the dentist's office is near Mom and Dad's apartment Labashi went along and we visited them for a couple of hours. I diagnosed a problem with Mom's printer and we had a nice chat.
That evening we were introduced to the TV series 'Modern Family'. When I first saw Ed O'Neill I thought we had made a mistake but the pilot was hilarious. We went on to watch all the episodes on Disk 1. Now we can't wait for more.

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Monday, 5 December -

Today I drove to Chambersburg to work on House 2 a bit. I've had an odd problem with the back door. It's a new door and keeps swelling. I've had to plane it off and repaint at least four times now. When we visited Maypo at Thanksgiving I found I couldn't even close the door (after forcing it open).
As soon as I entered the house I noticed the smell of fuel oil. It was strong enough that I really dreaded entering the basement. I found a pool of fuel oil about six-feet around at the furnace. Fortunately we had left a roll of paper towels and a trash can with liner. I sopped up the oil and washed the floor, then found the problem--- a fitting was loose. Last summer we had bled the line after some work and apparently had failed to tighten it. The problem showed up when we had the tank filled for winter.
I then fixed and repainted the door and headed home, all in all about four hours of work.

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Sunday, 4 December -

Later in the morning I rode the Concours down to the Tollgate Starbucks for my weekly Sunday ride. I took along the iPad instead of buying a paper. I'm really loving this thing. It gives me an excuse to look for new apps and I've read more books and magazines in the last month than the previous six. I particularly like having so much capability right with me, from doing video calls to looking up stuff on maps and in Wikipedia and of course Google. I have music as wekk as the photos and several of the videos from our Africa trip. Very nice...
I rode the Concours home and changed my clothes and then rode the GS down to Rocky Ridge park for my 5-miler (1:42 today). These days it's getting dark by the time I get back home and I'm quite ready to take a couple of ibuprofen and then take it easy. So far the body is taking the walking well and I'm not sore in the morning from it. While walking I listen to the iPod and am currently particularly fond of Sia's 'Breathe Me' and 'Lullaby' and Zero Seven's 'Home' (I'm a Tina Dico fan)

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Saturday, 3 December -

Today I spent all day going through the log of our Chambersburg work to figure up our hours and trips. We spent just under 500 hours (actually, just under 1000 man-hours when you realize that both Labashi and I were working) and we made 17 round-trips to Chambersburg for this purpose.
While perusing the log I also uploaded two Thanksgiving video clips for the rest of the family to see on YouTube.
Labashi worked all day in the yard, running her burn barrels. She's an amazing worker and just goes for hours on this. She went down there about 0900 this morning, took maybe a 20-minute lunch break and worked through till dark. She just loves it. And the yard looks great!
I spent the evening catching up and posting the blog.

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Friday, 2 December -

Today I took on a project I've been dreading. I had repaired our front pole light a few months ago and it only lasted a month. I had found – with great luck --- the break in the underground cable leading from our front porch to the pole light. This section had been under our old sidewalk and the construction guys had done a less-than-workmanlike job of splicing the cable after cutting it. I found it using Maypo's metal detector and had done what I thought was a very professional job of re-splicing it. But, as I said, a month later the problem was even worse. Where before we had no light, now we had a dead short which flipped the circuit breaker whenever we'd turn on the light switch.
I dug up the splice today and though everything looked fine, I cut it off and tested the wire in both directions. The tests were good! What the....????
It took me awhile to find the problem. Apparently I had pinched a wire in installing the light fixture and over time the pinch became a short. If I had done my test of the wire from end to end before cutting off the splice, it would have tested okay and would have saved me some work. But in any case, now the light works.

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Thursday, 1 December -

I spent the morning on the web and then rode the GS down to Starbucks on this beautiful mid-Fifties day. We don't have many of these left this year so I'd better take advantage while I can.
I then rode up to Rocky Ridge Park and walked my five-miler, this time in 1:50-- a relatively slow pace. I'm enjoying the new music I've found because of the Soundhound app on the iPad. I heard a song I liked playing on TV and used Soundhound to identify it. That led to more exploration and then my purchase of five or six new songs. This is SO much better than the old music world.
That evening we watched the Fellini film '8 ½'. Now we need to see it again with the commentary turned on.

********* END OF POST *********

2011-11-30T23:59:00.000-05:00

Ipad apps ; editing our Botswana video clips ; Thanksgiving

(posted from home)

(This post covers 14 – 30 November, 2011)

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Wednesday, 30 November -

I was awake until 0100 this morning and then awoke at 0630 and couldn't get back to sleep. What's THAT about?
I had some minor problems with my Adventure Motorcycle magazine subscription so dashed off an email to the publisher and ended up writing a set of recommendations for changes to their web site so others don't have the same problems.
I also happened upon a Field and Stream series of videos about an ATV expedition on the Canol Road and had to watch a few of them. Here's a link to the Wikipedia entry on the Canol Road, a mining road/trail between Whitehorse, Yukon and Norman Wells, NorthWest Territories.
That afternoon Labashi and I drove down to Home Depot to check out the water softener and uv light we think we want. On the way home we stopped at Chili's for supper, then came home to watch another old French classic movie, 'Belle de Jour' with Catherine Deneuve.

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Tuesday, 29 November -

Today I spent much of the day researching water softeners and ultraviolet water-treatment lights. We're thinking it's time to square away our borderline-quality water.
I also bought a subscription to Adventure Motorcycle magazine on the iPad today. One thing the digital revolution has done is bring down the cost of magazine subscriptions and I'm very happy to have the iPad ones.
I also downloaded Henry Morton Stanley's classic 'How I Found Livingstone: travels, adventures, and discoveries in Central Africa'. I've been wanting to read this since watching 'Expedition Africa' earlier this year.
That evening we watched the 1955 French classic movie 'Diabolique' directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot.

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Monday, 28 November -

Last night I decided I didn't have nearly enough iPad games for the grand-niece so downloaded a few more-- Tiny Wings, Doodle Jump, and Animatch.
In the afternoon I spent an inordinate amount of time gathering up all the equipment needed to run the boat motor for the last time this season. The earmuffs for the water supply were over in the storage unit so I brought back an entire load of storage drawers and went through them. I also use only fresh gas for this so I emptied the boat's gas tank into the gas can I use for my old mower and got some new gas from the local gas station.
The boat motor started right up despite not being run since my maintenance run of last Spring. This was a terrible year for boating. Spring was awful given that the water was very high and muddy. We were working all summer until the Africa trip and then found an inch of water in the basement when we returned so of course that had to be taken care of right away. Maybe I'll get some boating in next year.

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Sunday, 27 November -

We whiled away the morning then drove to Chambersburg to my brother's house for a Thanksgiving-weekend visit. I presented our Africa trip and we had Thanksgiving mac-and-cheese (the leftovers were all gone!) for supper. The grand-niece wore me out playing hide-and-seek and iPad games. What a cutie.

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Saturday, 26 November -

This morning I buzzed down to the gun shop to get my receipt signed off (I had forgotten to take it along when I picked up the Single Ten). I then rode over to Starbucks to fortify myself for a walk.
I did my end-to-end five miler at Rocky Ridge in 1:41 today and it seemed easy.
That evening we watched 'Without the King', a documentary about the royal family of Swaziland. We had started early so also watched '180 South', a documentary about a trip to Patagonia and efforts there to develop a new national park in Chile. Both good docs.

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Friday, 25 November -

Today we had a lazy morning then drove down to the Accomac Inn for lunch. We had the place to ourselves until the very end and enjoyed truly exceptional food.
Our guests left for home from the Accomac and we returned home to take it easy. That evening we caught the latest 'Gold Rush' and 'Flying Wild Alaska' eps.

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Thursday, 24 November -

Today we met Labashi's eldest brother and his wife at Mom and Dad's. We watched the videos and stills I've collected from our Africa trip and then accompanied them to dinner in the dining room downstairs. The staff did an excellent job, somehow making a very tasty cafeteria-style Thanksgiving dinner. The turkey was moist and very tasty, the stuffing and gravy excellent and even the veggies were well-seasoned. We had a wonderful time.
We spent a very pleasant evening hosting our out-of-town guests.

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Wednesday, 23 November -

We cleaned house this morning in anticipation of visitors. I decided I need more video clips so did some last-minute editing and posting for much of the afternoon. I then tried to figure out how to transfer my finished videos to the iPad in case I have a problem connecting the laptop. Surprise, surprise--- it's not easy. I found third-party software that's supposed to work but expect it to somehow be crippled so don't want to do that.

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Tuesday, 22 November -

Today I got started on figuring out our work hours for the Chambersburg house this year. But my heart's not in it. I soon decided it's important to download some games onto the iPad to take along to visit my grand-neice and grand-nephew this weekend (LOL). And then of course I had to play with them to be sure they work properly! I also downloaded Hipmunk and did some airfare searches for some possible trips next year.
We watched 'Rock Stars' on TV that evening. I couldn't imagine what they'd do after the first ten minutes but they did a good job of keeping me interested in prying rocks off hillsides to make them safe for passing traffic. But what could they possibly do next week?

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Monday, 21 November -

I spent much of today editing four video clips of our encounters with elephants into one longish clip. I really, really need to concentrate on getting better raw footage. I had one shot of Labashi making supper in our campsite at Savuti which included a pan around to an elephant munching on tree branches nearby. My little camera is quite sensitive to movement and this footage is shaky. All I had to do was shoot it again, this time more carefully, and I didn't do that. So today I edited out the worst of the shakes and ran the clip through iMovies' stabilization process but only got just-barely-adequate footage.
That evening we watched 'In A Dream', a documentary about Philadelphia artist Isaiah Zagar.

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Sunday, 20 November -

I again spent another full day editing Botswana movies with iMovie. I finally could not stand being inside and so rode the GS down to Starbucks for a break late in the day.
That evening we watched 'The Borgias' pilot on DVD.

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Saturday, 19 November -

I spent the entire day editing videos on iMovie. I'm trying to get a series of them ready to take along when we visit family.
That evening we finished the 'Dexter' season 5 and watched two sample eps of 'Episodes'. I think we'll pass on that one even though we're starting to get desperate for a new show.

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Friday, 18 November -

Today I spent most of the day working with iMovie editing clips from our Bostwana trip. I'm just learning how to use iMovie but am starting to like it.
That afternoon I rode the motorcycle down to Rocky Ridge park and walked my 5-mile end-to-end route.
That evening we watched the latest 'Gold Rush' and 'Flying Wild Alaska' episodes on TV.

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Thursday, 17 November -

Today I took Labashi down to Nixon Park's nature center to look at the African wildlife exhibit. This is an amazing exhibit for a small local nature center. I took along the iPad and used the '360 Panorama' app to take a panoramic photo.
On the way down to Nixon Park we stopped into a deli called 'The Festive Board' in south York. I had run onto a listing for it while searching for new restaurants for us several days ago. We took a close look at the gourmet cheeses and wide variety of sandwiches and had a split a gourmet italian one.

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Wednesday, 16 November -

Today I ran over to the local library to get a new library card and spent an hour or so there. I misplaced my old one and now need it to download books to my Kindle-on-iPad app. I also spent an inordinate amount of time researching an interesting light-- the Fenix T72. Labashi says I'm a sucker for lights like this and I have to admit she has a point. I was excited over Cabela's 600-lumen LED light and now here's a 2200-lumen one. Too much money for now, though.
Labashi and I went out to Deb's Pizza for supper and then watched the extras on the Page One DVD.

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Tuesday, 15 November -

I spent much of my morning looking for art exhibits and new restaurants to go visit. I really need to keep a closer eye on local events. I of course found some interesting things that happened last weekend but nothing for today or the rest of the week.
That evening we watched an excellent documentary-- 'Page One: Inside the New York Times'. Ya gotta love David Carr after seeing that.

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Monday, 14 November -

I spent much of the day playing with the iPad and looking for more apps for travel. I downloaded Gas Buddy and AllStays Camp and RV. The former finds prices at nearby gas stations and the latter is an extensive database of campsites. The AllStays product has already shown me campgrounds I didn't know existed in Florida. For the most part these are local-government-run campgrounds which don't appear on state maps or in campground lists. And they're typically cheap-- like me!
While trying out Gas Buddy I remembered I need to gas up Mocha Joe before my discount runs out at the Giant gas station. Today I got a 70-cents-per-gallon discount and saved $13 on a fill-up.
Back home I put a final coat of paint on the brickmold I had replaced around the mud-room door.
That evening we watched 'Barton Fink', another older Coen brothers production I've had queued up for months. Can you say 'magical realism'?

***** END OF POST **********

2011-11-13T20:43:00.000-05:00

Squirrel hunting prep and two-day trip ; barn roof replacement ; window and door trim repairs

(posted from home)

(This post covers 1 – 13 November, 2011)

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Sunday, 13 November -

Today I rode the Concours down to the Tollgate Starbucks for my Sunday read and a mocha. Here we are in mid-November and it's almost 50 degrees at mid-morning. I love it!
The Starbucks wi-fi link had problems so I read a Randy Wayne White novel on the iPad. I had downloaded 'Deep Shadow' from our library yesterday and have already buzzed through four or five chapters. It's great to read some Doc Ford again, especially after visiting Sanibel Island (and the Doc Ford Sanibel Rum Bar and Grille) last winter.
I also downloaded 'Columbus: The Four Voyages' and am looking forward to starting that in the next few days.
Back home I worked the blog and then decided I'd better get out for a walk before the rains come in the next few days. I started out on the Concours but hadn't gone far before remembering I had wanted to put the final coat of paint on the mud-room door's brick-mold today. I circled back only to learn that Labashi had already done the job this morning. Nice!
I took off again and was soon hiking my end-to-end route at Rocky Ridge County Park. For some reason the walk seemed very easy today. After my long hunting walks earlier this week I thought a walk might be a bit of a struggle but that wasn't the case. I walked the five miles in 1:41 today.
I arrived home just after watching a beautiful sunset. After supper I posted the blog update with a 'Gold Rush' episode on tv in the background.

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Saturday, 12 November -

I worked on catching up the blog this morning and then turned my attention to the Penn State game at noon. I'm not a big football fan but was glad to see the team didn't embarrass itself and thought ESPN handled the scandal in a fairly well-balanced manner.
That evening we started watching a documentary about Wonders of Africa. We had both had a few drinks of irish cream with dinner and those caught up with us. We fell asleep!
We abandoned the documentary around 2100 and went to bed to read.

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Friday, 11 November -

I spent much of the morning on the web, mainly catching up on the Penn State scandal. I picked up the news on the firing of Joe Paterno on the iPad at Starbucks yesterday and had to learn more about it to try to comprehend. After my reading this morning there's no doubt in my mind that the board's decision was right.
I also rode the GS into York and picked up my hunting revolver from the gun shop and stopped in at Starbucks for my coffee fix. The wind was quite brisk on this upper-40's day, causing the bike to lean into it quite strongly at times. What a ride!
Late in the day we drove over to Mom and Dad's for dinner. Dad had made 'Daube Provencal', a type of beef stew. It was delicious but Dad's convinced he can do better and will make it for us again sometime soon. Lucky us!
That evening we watched the Coen brothers' “Miller's Crossing”, one of their earlier works (after 'Blood Simple', I believe). Not bad but a bit hurried in production, I think.

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Thursday, 10 November -

I awoke to rain pattering on the van's roof around 0430 this morning. It was actually very pleasant but told me I need not get up at 0600 to hunt. I then slept until 0700 but was on the road only 20 minutes later-- I'd eat on the road.
I set the GPS and headed for Cabela's. I wanted to look for a holster for the revolver I ordered and I like to go up there and look around each Fall. As I hit I-81 I remembered the Starbucks at Progress so stopped there for a bagel and coffee.
As I approached Cabela's I remembered there's a BMW and Triumph motorcycle shop nearby. I drove to Hermy's to get an up-close-and-personal look at a Triumph Thuxton 900. I spent an hour talking with sales-guy John, a very interesting guy. He had just done a six-day tour in Arizona in September. I enjoyed hearing his reaction to the tour run by Edelweiss (the motorcycle touring outfitter) and the other riders. I also liked the Thruxton very much. I didn't get anything from looking at the other models but the Thruxton looks and feels just right and the riding position seemed comfortable.
At Cabelas I was disappointed to have only a very limited selection of holsters. I finally found one that will suffice and it was fairly cheap but it's not really what I wanted. I had to settle for a fabric belt holster when I wanted a leather hunting holster. But try finding one for a left-hander.
Back home we watched four eps of 'Dexter' Season Five that evening.

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Wednesday, 9 November -

I arose this morning a bit after 0600. The hunting digest says I can legally hunt after 0620 but that still seemed awfully dark. Around 0630 I began walking and very quickly came upon a trail I hadn't noticed before. The trail turned into an old logging road and circled up and out of sight, following the contour of the hill. Along the way I scared out two deer. I could see their white tails very clearly but couldn't see their heads at all since their colors matched the background so closely.
I topped out and tried a bit of still-hunting and calling while the sun slowly climbed above the mountain to my east-- what a day!!!
I explored the area for another hour or so, then returned to the van and had a breakfast bar. I then headed down the dirt road into the Hollow. When I came to the intersection of the Perry Lumber Company trail, I took it rather than continue down the road I already knew. In short order I ran into the first squirrel I could have taken with the .22. This one quickly bounced off the trail as I approached but then posed in a perfect target shape some 30 yards from me. I raised the gun to aim but knew from the beginning that I wouldn't shoot. The shot would have been a longish one but the bottom line is I don't have anything against squirrels. It was enough to have one in my sights. And after only seeing a few of them as I walked along, I didn't have a sense that they're over-running the area and need to be thinned out.
As I continued on the Perry Lumber Company trail, I came upon what I believe is a resting place for a black bear. Under a limestone overhang just off the trail I noticed some trash--- three containers. It seemed an odd place for trash to accumulate. And then I noticed all of them had holes and damage--- bite marks and crush marks. A bear had brought them back to its lair.
This overhanging rock was not deep enough to make a cave or den, I thought, but it would make a very nice place for a bear to hang out in very hot weather or rainy weather. A spring lies nearby, the lair overlooks the area and a steep mountainside lies just a few dozen yards behind it.
I continued to the Tuscarora Trail intersection and turned left to another Tuscarora Trail shelter. I had lunch there and then started to walk back toward the van on the gravel road.
Today I saw six squirrels, two of them shootable with the open-sights of the .22. I learned that I need not take the six-mile round trip to and from the far shelter since seven of the 11 squirrels of the last two days were seen within a half mile of the van.
I got back to the van around noon and after a quick lunch took a short nap. I then drove east to the top of the mountain and took the Bower Mountain Road. This one is only open from October 1st to December 10th (for hunters) so it was new for me.
Well back in the boonies I met an oncoming pickup with a Game Commission logo on the side. I stopped and chatted with the young woman driving the truck. It turns out she works for the deer-management staff and she was out trying to track a radio-collared deer. This one had been trapped at the Turkey Pens area and had been hanging around the area but now can't be found. She was trying to find this one using telemetry, i.e. she uses a radio-frequency directional antenna to pick up the signal from the collar. Since I've seen Florida coon hunters use GPS collars to track their dogs, I asked whether they use GPS collars. She said they do indeed have a few GPS collars and they transmit a text message containing their location every few hours.
As I approached Dead End Road I came upon a pickup and trailer blocking the road with two guys cutting wood. I stopped to check (thinking I'd likely have to turn around and take a long detour) and they said they just had a few more logs to cut up and then they'd move off the road.
Just after the intersection I came upon a campsite right at an overlook of Doubling Gap. I've really, really got to go back and spend a night there. The overlook of the ridge doubling back on itself is impressive but I bet the view beyond into the Cumberland Valley at night and the view of the night sky (on the right night) is incredible. I bet you can also see lights of airplanes going into and leaving Harrisburg International Airport from there.
After descending the steep, narrow road to Laurel Run Road, I turned right and drove the few miles to the Frank Masland Natural Area. My camping spot for the night was the parking lot across the road. I've visited this area several times to walk in the natural area but this was my first overnight there.
I arrived about 1530 so immediately loaded up my hunting gear and walked back the Middle Ridge road. I didn't see any squirrels in this area but was interested to see the deer exclosure at the end of the road. I continued through it and followed the trail beyond for a few hundred yards before realizing I need to turn back soon to get back to the van before dark.
Back at the van I made a gourmet supper of canned mac-and-cheese. I read the rest of the evening, finishing the novel 'The Help' and the latest digital issue of 'Leisure Wheels' magazine.

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Tuesday, 8 November -

Today I went hunting (for the first time in 34 years!). I drove Mocha Joe over to the Tuscarora State Forest and checked out camping sites at Fowler Hollow State Park as well as several state forest campsites nearby. After seeing the State Park charges $22.50 a night for mid-week PA-resident camping, I lost my enthusiasm for state parks. So after getting my camping permits from the State Forest office I parked at the Alfarata Trail parking lot along Hemlock Road to hunt. I walked in the dirt road to one of the Tuscarora Trail lean-to's, taking my time and stopping to try my new squirrel call.
On my afternoon of hunting I saw five squirrels. I was carrying my over-under .22 / 20-gauge Savage 24C. Of the five squirrels, three were out of range almost instantly. I think I could have scared the heck out of the other two with the shotgun, if not killed them outright. But I definitely didn't have a shot with the .22.
I got back to the van about a half-hour before the end of the shooting day (as specified in the hunting digest I got with my license). I pulled out the butane stove and cooked up some beef stew and corn niblets.
That evening the moon came up just after dark and it was a full moon. I sat out reading a novel ('The Help') on the iPad. After an hour or so I brought out the Kwik Kampfire and burned it for a half-hour or so.
I then retired to the van and read the rest of the evening, really getting into my novel. The temperature dropped under 50 so I'd fire up the Buddy heater for a few minutes to warm up the van and turn it off for about a half hour, then do it again.
I went to bed around 2200 and set the alarm for 0600.

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Monday, 7 November -

Today we had contractors on site to replace the roof on the barn. Our barn is really just a largish storage shed but of course it's still important to protect it and its contents. We did get more than 15 years service from the roof so it's time.
When we originally ordered the barn we had skylights put in on the end away from the doors. We've long thought we should have also ordered skylights on the other end so today was the day for new skylights to be installed along with the new roof.
The guys did a good job, cleaned up very well, and left us some extra shingles.

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Sunday, 6 November -

This morning I rode the Concours down to the Tollgate Starbucks for my Sunday read. Later that day I turned my attention back to the living room window frame. I thought I had a bit of scraping to do on another section of the frame but that also turned out to be wood rot. I had to repeat the process of cutting back to solid wood, cutting and shaping a piece of wood stock to fit, and then applying and shaping an epoxy filler. Once that was done I applied a coat of high-quality primer. I also painted a coat of primer on the vinyl brick-mold I had installed last week around the mud-room door.

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Saturday, 5 November -

This morning Labashi ran me over to Cycle Tech to pick up the Concours. I knew this wasn't going to be cheap. When we came back from Africa I found it would start but as soon as I'd touch the throttle, it would shut down. I had noticed in early Summer that it was having problems with idling but that would clear up after I'd ride it for a half-hour or so. But now I had to pay the shop to come pick it up. I knew that was going to turn into having to pull the four carbs-- and on a Concours, that's not easy. With the trailer-pickup, inspection, a new air filter, new plugs, the carb cleanup, and carb balancing and performance mods, the bill came to $450. Yikes!
In the afternoon I rode the Concours in to Gander Mountain and Dick's to shop for hunting gear.
It's running GREAT! I'm so glad to have it back and ready for fall and winter riding.
Late in the day I applied the final bondo coat on the window frame and did the final shaping prior to paint application. We also dug out the extension ladder and replaced the flood-light bulbs on fixture on the end of the house. One bulb had burned out but we replaced both since they've been up there for many years.
That evening we watched 'Dexter' Season 5, Disc 2 episodes.

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Friday, 4 November -

Labashi ran me up to the local garage to pick up Mocha Joe after its inspection appointment this morning. The van is doing well at 185K miles but the heavier-duty tires I bought for it seem to be wearing more quickly than they should. I'll have to look up the purchase date and mileage but I think they're less than two years old. Then again we went to California, Labrador, and Florida in that timeframe. Still, they should have tread left.
We drove to Chambersburg late in the morning to meet with our real-estate agent to put House 2 on the market. We mowed the lawn and took a series of backup photos in case the agent's photos don't come out well.
On the way home we came back through the Michaux State Forest and then stopped at Restaurant Sidney in East Berlin for an early supper before returning home.

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Thursday, 3 November -

This morning I rode the F650GS in to Lowe's for some bondo and for replacement light bulbs for our external spotlights. While there I had a coffee at the nearby Starbucks and tried out the iPad on their wi-fi signal.
I dropped by the gun shop at Stonybrook and learned the hunting revolver I had my eye on for squirrel hunting had been sold over the weekend. I put down a deposit on another but now will have to wait a few days for it to come in.
I spent another hour searching the house for my missing wallet-cards but no luck there.

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Wednesday, 2 November -

I ran up to our local Wal-mart this morning to pick up a hunting license. I've decided to do a little squirrel-hunting this fall and winter. I'm not really interested in shooting squirrels but rather am using this as an incentive to get out into the woods this Fall.
I was afraid my plans would be delayed by having to take a hunter safety course in order to get my license. The rules say I don't have to take the course if I've previously held a license but my last license is dated 1977! It turned out to do the trick, though. The only problem I had was convincing the guy I don't yet qualify for a senior license (LOL) !
That afternoon I started work on the exterior frame of our living room bow window. I could see a soft spot on the lower part of the frame from the ground and sure enough a few minutes of poking at it soon opened up a ten-inch-long by inch-and-a-half wide hole. I spent the rest of the afternoon cutting out the rot and then cutting and shaping a piece of wood stock to fit and treating the underlying wood surface with a rotted-wood stabilizer.

--------------------------------

Tuesday, 1 November -

I spent most of today clearing off my desk and re-organizing my home office. I'm also searching for some of my wallet cards I had pulled out of my wallet for the Africa trip. Incredibly, I can't remember where I put them. I THINK I put them somewhere I'd run into them during the normal course of a day but that hasn't happened so far.
That evening we watched episodes from 'The Big C' tv series. We were reluctant to order this one but it turns out to be written very well.

********* END OF POST ************

2011-10-31T23:59:00.000-04:00

Snow at Halloween (!!!), iPad research and buy, brick-mold replacement

(posted from home)

(This post covers 26 – 31 October, 2011)

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Monday, 31 October -

Today I brought back another van-load from the storage unit. The basement is in great shape now after the dry-out, repainting of the walls and floor and setup of new shelving units. We're bringing back stuff as the mood (or need) strikes us, working around the jobs we need to get done before cold weather sets in.
The flood damaged two electric baseboard heating units and we had removed them as part of the cleanup. Today I installed the replacement units I bought online a few weeks ago. We tried to find these locally but apparently both Lowes and Home Depot now only offer the color white. Fortunately, we were able to get the almond-color replacements from the Home Depot web site.
That evening we watched 'The Big C' episodes from disk 2 of the first season.

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Sunday, 30 October -

We still didn't have cable-TV or internet service all morning but thank goodness they both came up around 1230 this afternoon. I had tried calling the cable company to get some idea when it might be back up but they had taken the phone off the hook so it just rang busy this morning. I had called around 2300 last night and they had a recording saying there were widespread outages but they had sent their technicians home for the day because of the dangerous roads. I guess I can't blame them but BOY it's quiet around here!
This morning I read a bit of 'The Paperboy' and my last offline copy of 'Leisure Wheels' (a South African 4x4 magazine). I then caught up the blog and helped Labashi hang her new artistic creation on the foyer wall. In this case 'hanging' includes going out to the barn in the snow to get the extension ladder!
We then called Mom and Dad on Skype and used the iPad's rear-facing camera to show off the new creation. Looks good!
The snow is greatly diminished now and the roads are dry and clear, thanks to 50-degree temperatures today.

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Saturday, 29 October -

Snow. Are you kidding? It's only Halloween (ours was two days ago) and we had six inches of snow today. Wunderground shows the airport measured 9.7 inches of snow. I had to shovel snow in October!!! That's so wrong!!!!! I'm normally in Florida by the time we have shovelable snow.
The snow was of course very wet and heavy and caused many power outages (the papers Sunday say 2 million people had outages in the Northeast). In our case we had at least twenty outages. The lights would go off for a second to five seconds, then come back on. Each time the cable box would reboot. After about ten of these I turned off the power bar feeding the electronics and went down to the basement and flipped off the breaker to the refrigerator. After things seemed to settle down that evening, I turned them back on but by then we weren't getting a feed from the cable-- no tv or internet for us tonight!
I had spent up the morning playing with the iPad and downloaded some killer apps. Thedolite HD is a an electronic theodolite-- you know, the surveyor's tool. Start the app and hold the iPad up and and you see a view out the iPad's back camera with multiple scales imposed on it--- GPS position, altitude, direction, azimuth, etc. Press a button and it takes a photo of the scene. Press another and it opens up an email dialogue: put in addresses and send it off lickety-split. Press another and the display changes to a Google map with your position marked.
We lost cable and internet late in the afternoon and we turned to reading. Labashi is working an art project but at this point is only going down a few times today to put on another coat of glaze. Otherwise, she's catching up on back issues of 'The Economist' (we had a trial subscription), 'The Week', and 'Smithsonian Magazine'. I'm reading a novel I picked up in Florida-- 'The Paperboy' by Pete Dexter. Also, I learned a bit more about how Zinio works on the iPad. I had opened two issues of magazines before I lost my wi-fi connection and those were downloaded to me. I could read them offline. The latest issues, though, hadn't been touched yet so I had nothing but pictures of the cover. Lesson learned. Open up the issues when they show up and let them download.
We would normally have been saved by Netflix DVDs but happen to only have one-- Californication Season Three, Disk 2-- and Labashi doesn't care for that. I watched it on the laptop while she read. Like Entourage, this one is getting stale.

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Friday, 28 October -

Yesterday I activated the iPad and spent a few hours playing with it. The more I work with it the more I understand the friendly advice to not think of it as a laptop replacement. The on-screen keyboard functions okay but will never replace a standard keyboard-- in fact now I need a keyboard for it (I think!).
Fortunately, I wasn't thinking of it as a laptop replacement. I wanted something that runs IOS but didn't want to pay the monthly phone bill of an iPhone. The critical decision-maker for me was learning I could turn data service off and on, i.e., pay for it a month at a time. For me that will be when we travel.
Also, I just have never been a fan of the small screen of the iPhone. It's amazing for a phone but I need a lot more 'real-estate' (screen size), particularly when looking at maps and web pages.
I installed 'Zinio for iPad' and immediately liked what I saw. On the MacBook Pro I could either see a full page of the magazine and not be able to read it or zoom in and get lost on the page. Now I can read a full page and if there are areas I want to zoom in on (like a photo), it's very easily done.
In my research on the iPad I had run onto several apps that appealed to me for travel. Backpacker Magazine had recommended 'Campwhere' and 'Maplets', for instance. Campwhere is a Google-map application overlaid with the locations of all the public campgrounds in the US and Canada. Maplets is a collection of localized maps, like the handouts at the National Forests and State Parks. I'm intimately familiar with the maps of Everglades National Park and Big Cypress National Reserve so I grabbed them and examined in detail. Yep-- they're the real thing. And there are thousands and thousands of others. There are bike maps, trail maps, bus maps, city maps, etc. and they're actively soliciting others. This is a goldmine of maps!
I also installed the GoSky Watch apps for constellations and satellites. Start the GoSky Watch Planetarium app and hold the iPad up to the sky and it will show you the constellations and the stars you're looking at. It does not sense the stars, but rather your position on the earth and the direction and elevation you are holding the iPad. In other words, it will show you the same thing on a cloudy night. The satellite version (GoSat Watch) shows either a globe with the satellites superimposed on it, or a view of the sky at your location with the passing satellites moving across the view. Very, very cool!
I wish we would have had this in South Africa!
That afternoon I finished the brick-mold installation and caulked it with painter's caulk and used glazer's putty to cover the trim-screw holes. I'll paint next week when the weather's a bit warmer.
That evening we watched a few episodes of Entourage Season 7. I'm kind of bored with these guys and am surprised they don't take more heat for their frat-boy view of women.

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Thursday, 27 October -

This morning Labashi had some things to do with her parents and I had a few errands to run so I took Mocha Joe. I first hit two of my local gun shops, wanting to take a look at Ruger Single Six .22 revolvers. These are cowboy-style revolvers with an excellent reputation for accuracy and simplicity. I'm thinking of doing some squirrel hunting and after reading many recommendations for an appropriate (and legal) squirrel-hunting handgun, the Single Six tops my list. The Convertible model appeals to me because it comes with an extra cylinder for magnum shells (.22 WMR) in case I want to try that. The Hunter appeals to me with its rail for a dot-sight or scope. And the Single Ten model has not only a ten-shot capacity but also fiber-optic sights.
The East York shop had a Single Ten and an older (used) Single Six 3-screw (more a collector's gun). I liked the Single Ten right away. It felt right in the hand. And once I looked through the sights of the Single Six it was clear I'd want the fiber-optic sights. I could hardly find the black front blade in the shop so I know I'd have a tough time in a background of trees.
The Columbia shop had five Single Sixes but each had something wrong.... wrong barrel length, wrong grip, or wrong sights. But this little exercise did indeed help me make decisions on all the things I don't want.
Now I have to decide whether I really want to go ahead with this. I haven't had a hunting license since the mid-Seventies so may have to take a hunter-ed course. I'd have to work on my shooting skills but would look forward to that. I envision driving Mocha Joe to places like the freebie campsites below Dolly Sods (WV) or to PA's Tuscarora State Forest (Fowler's Hollow, perhaps) and camp there the nights before and after a day's hunt. The search for squirrels would slow down my hiking speed and give me plenty of excuse to sit and watch-- my fondest memories of my long-ago hunting trips. I'm guessing I wouldn't be a very successful hunter but I'd enjoy the heck out of being there.
After my visits to the gun shops I continued on to Lancaster's Park City Mall and the Apple Store. My goal today was to buy an iPad2. I've been looking at them and reading about them for a long time and today was the day to do something about it.
But things didn't go well at first. The store was crowded and it wasn't immediately clear how to get the attention of a salesperson. I decided to play with an iPad to reinforce my decision.
Right off the bat I had problems. I picked the YouTube icon as a place to start. I thought I'd look up a few clips I've seen recently and see what they look like on the iPad. I entered the search term “Bushlore” (the name of the outfitter we used in South Africa) and was surprised to not see the clips I was looking for. That's because the iPad had separated 'Bush' from 'lore' and was showing me videos of George Bush and some of various folklore topics. No matter what I did I could not get the videos I wanted. Finally, I figured out how to go into Settings and turn off the auto-correction feature. It had only taken me 20 minutes on the iPad to get what I knew was there but couldn't get to.
The other thing I wanted to see what what my magazine subscriptions look like on Zinio (I subscribe to two magazines about southern Africa travel-- 'Leisure Wheels' and 'Getaway' via Zinio). I used the Safari browser to get to Zinio and sign in but when I selected my magazines, I only got back a screen telling me I needed to install the free Zinio iPad app. But the demo machine wouldn't allow apps to be installed. No luck there.
I finally stopped one of the Apple guys walking by (I had been there a half-hour and never been asked if I needed any help) and he directed me to a guy with an iPad. He put me on the schedule and said it might be as long as a half-hour until someone saw me. I almost walked out. But then again, I could play with the iPad for another half-hour before committing to buy one.
To be fair, my specialist showed up less than ten minutes after I went on the schedule and he was very good. He answered my many questions and I soon was back on track. He quickly processed my order and brought an iPad and accessories to me. He scanned the items and swiped my credit card with an iPhone-like terminal he carried with him and I was soon out the door.
Once I got home

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Wednesday, 26 October -

I spent the morning on the web, mostly researching handguns and iPads.
Late that afternoon I began the long-delayed project to replace the brick-mold around the back door-- the mud-room door. I'm surprised how the wooden brick-mold (the trim around the door) deteriorated so quickly after the last time I replaced it so this time I'm going to use vinyl stock.
I had started this project a few months ago but very quickly abandoned it when I realized the newer-style caulk was much more difficult to remove than before. I had given it a try with utility knife and putty knife and they did very little to the hard-rubber-like material. My downfall at the time, though, was the fact that the right tool for the job was on the job-site in Chambersburg.
So today I had the right tool-- Labashi's Bosch multi-tool. The scraper attachment is just the thing to cut into the hard rubber and work your way under it to the point it can be pulled off. That job still took the better part of an hour and I went through three batteries (fortunately they're rechargeable).
Once I had the old brick-mold off, I still had a lot of work to do. Cleaning up the door frame was easy enough but then the challenge became what to do about the wooden door frame itself. The last inch or so was wet-rotted.
I cut off the lower one-and-a-half inches of each side and cut vinyl stock to fit. The problem, though, was how to attach it-- there was nothing there. On one side I was able to run long screws down at an angle to secure it. On the other, though, I had to dig out wet wood back to the good 2x4 framing and put in blocks to build it out. I finished that job but by that time it was supper-time. After supper I cleaned up the area and covered the frame with duct tape to protect it from the rain due tonight and tomorrow.
That evening we watched “Meek's Cutoff”, a somewhat-odd film about a small group of Oregon-trail travelers in the mid-1840s. They have had the bad luck to have taken a shortcut which turns out to be anything but. Their guide, Stephen Meek, has led them astray and it's not clear why. Is he incompetent? Is he leading them away from the 'main stem' to rob and kill them? Is he right about how vicious and bloodthirsty the Indians are in this area?
If you liked 'Gerry', you'll probably like this movie. If you'd prefer a more traditional movie structure, you'll likely be disappointed in it. I'd have to say I fell more on the 'disappointed' side as the movie ended but have since thought about why it was done as it was and what I learned. In the end, I'm glad I saw it and, in fact, will watch it again sometime down the road.

************** END OF POST *************

2011-10-25T18:28:00.000-04:00

Researching an off-road touring solution...

(posted from home)

(This post covers 17 – 25 October, 2011)

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Tuesday, 25 October -

This morning I caught up the online blog and spent a bit of time with a new web site for me -- TTORA (Toyota Territory Off-Roader's Association). Lots and lots of reading and photos here.
I helped Labashi a bit with her art project and managed to mess up. A hanger bracket had come loose on the back of it and I shortened the machine screws on some 3/8-inch anchors to resolve the problem. But I didn't shorten them enough and poked them out through the surface of the art. Fortunately it's very early on in the process and can be easily fixed. But if I had done that to a finished piece I would have been in trouble! The mistake came about because I measured at an edge which was thicker than the area where the anchors went. That was dumb!
I spent time this afternoon learning about Wassa diesel stoves and spent way too much time on them once I realized they are
That evening we watched episodes of 'The Big C' with Laura Linney.

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Monday, 24 October -

Today I continued with web research in the morning and then we went to see Mom and Dad in their apartment that afternoon. We went out to dinner at Pizza Grille and had a very nice time talking and enjoying each other's company.
That evening we watched the final two episodes of 'Damages' – Season Three. Not as good as the first two seasons, I thought.
We then finished up the 'Michael Palin: Sahara' series. Pas mal.

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Sunday, 23 October -

More web 'research' today on Expedition Portal and then long searches on SearchTempest, hoping to run into a good deal on a used truck camper or van-- but without luck. And of course my explorations took off on many side tracks-- like looking for a primo example of one of the Class C motorhomes based on a Toyota pickup chassis-- like the mid-Eighties/early Nineties Dolphins. They would be completely impractical for the off-road travel but on a space-per-dollar basis they're pretty interesting. I've talked to several guys who love them, one who lives in New York part of the year, Florida part of the year and Alaska in summer (I ran into him in the Big Cypress National Preserve in Florida). He has driven his to Alaska seven times.
I also spent a good bit of time researching Engel fridges (like the one we used in Botswana) and their new Deep Blue coolers which claim to hold ice for eight days (no way!). I was interested in Yeti coolers for awhile but I think the Engel has more of the features I'd want. But for now my Coleman Extreme Marine will do just fine. If I were able to see the Engle Deep Blue 65 in person I might change my mind but nobody carries them locally as far as I can tell.
That afternoon I rode the GS down to Rocky Ridge County Park and walked my five-mile end-to-end loop. The weather was perfect and the fall colors particularly nice today. I was also surprised how good I felt in the latter stages of the walk. I've not been getting out much and thought I'd struggle a bit but I felt great and even jogged a bit here and there.
LOVE this weather!
We finished 'Dexter', Season 4 tonight. Shocker!

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Saturday, 22 October -

I spent yet another day on the web, still dreaming about a long-distance backcountry trip. I found Vagabundos Del Mar today. They're a California-based RV and boating travel club that offers just what I was looking for-- a wagon-train down into Baja. Check THIS out: http://www.vagabundos.com/advent.htm .
I may have Labashi hooked with the Guatemala trip and it doesn't get any cheaper than to do their wagon train (a small group of Rvs traveling together) to Cabo San Lucas and back-- only $500!
That afternoon I had the gotta-get-outs and rode the GS down to Starbucks. I'm surprised how I can go months at a time without a motorcycle ride when I'm traveling and don't miss it. But when I'm home I have to ride every other day or so. All I need is the quick fix of a trip down to Starbucks or even over to the local grocery store.
We've been watching “Michael Palin: Sahara” episodes as well as “Lost Kingdoms of Africa”, both of them four-part series.

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Friday, 21 October -

I spent the greater part of the day today on Expedition Portal, reading about various expedition vehicles and expeditions and admiring the fantastic photos. Thank goodness for the development of digital photography!
I also took an hour out to paint a coat of rubber paint on the skylight/fan edges on Mocha Joe's roof. I need to do this every other year or so because the rubber dries out and cracks, allowing water in when it rains really hard.
I also took another shot at getting the Concours running. I spent about an hour but can't get it to do anything but idle. I drained two of the fuel bowls and see sediment so I think I have low-speed jets clogged up. I'll have the Cycle Tech guys pick it up and get it running for my winter season. It will soon be time to put the GS in the barn for the winter and I'll want the Concours to start and run reliably.
We watched two 'Damages'- Season Three episodes that evening.

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Thursday, 20 October -

I spent much of this rainy day researching my next travel vehicle and new places to go. I'm going back and forth between a 4x4 high-top van (Quigley conversion) and a Toyota Tacoma pickup with a lightweight pop-up camper, like those made by Four Wheel Campers, All-Terrain Campers, and Alaskan Campers.
I see Alaskan Campers has a new unit called the 'Mini' for the Tacoma. When we did our Oregon Trail trip in 2009 I saw the prototype for this camper at the factory in Chehalis, WA (about 90 minutes north of Portland, OR). I'm a bit put off, though, by its weight being so close to the Tacoma's maximum load capacity. I remember Dad being unhappy with the similar weight of a Sunline pop-up he had on his half-ton Chevy pickup. Perhaps the suspension could be beefed up a bit but I got a feel for an overloaded Tacoma on our Botswana trip and didn't like it. If I'm close to the limit with just the camper and still want to have all the off-road gear (like two spare tires, a high-lift jack, an air compressor, a winch, etc), I'd very quickly have no capacity for carrying me!
On the other hand, I'm not a fan of soft-sided pop-ups. A high-top van is much quieter in a noisy Wal-mart parking lot or near the occasional round-the-campfire folks who don't realize how much their voices carry late at night. If I were doing it today, I'd go with the van. As usual, though, I'm firmly on the fence on a decision like this.

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Wednesday, 19 October -

I drove the van over to our storage unit and brought back a load of full storage boxes today. I spent a few hours going through each, labeling them, and arranging them on the wire shelving units. All our family-history records and artifacts made it through the flood without damage thanks to our having stored them in plastic boxes. But we had made the mistake of stacking the boxes six or seven high and that made them both difficult to access and the lower boxes vulnerable to (minor) damage from the weight of the stack. Placing them on the wire shelving units is much better.
That evening we watched 'National Geographic: Relentless Enemies' on Netflix Instant. This is another special filmed in Botswana's Okavango Delta and had incredible footage of lions and Cape buffalo.

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Tuesday, 18 October -

I rode the F650GS over to the BMW shop in Lititz today for its inspection. I am also trying without much luck to replace my owner's manual. I had foolishly left it in a saddlebag and had stored the saddlebags on the basement floor before our South Africa trip. So of course that means the manual was ruined by our flooding problem. The odd thing about this is the BMW shop can't seem to simply order me a manual. The part number is locked out and the shop has been making calls but hasn't been able to find out why. The parts guy did say it's not unusual for manuals to not be available for awhile on new models but I bought this bike a year and a half ago and they were on the market for the better part of a year before that.
After the inspection I took a look around the sales room but didn't see anything I can't live without. I finally got to see the new K1600GT in person. It's nice but also has a price tag of more than $25,000 (yikes!). If I had that kind of money I think I'd go with the proven Gold Wing rather than take a chance on this brand-new design. I would jump at the opportunity to rent one for a few days, though.

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Monday, 17 October -

I caught up the online blog this morning and then assembled the final two wire shelving units in the basement and replaced the last of the five fluorescent light fixtures in the 'mud room'. We now have lights which are supposed to work down to zero degrees so they should work fine in the low 50's temps we get down there. The old ones worked some of the time-- most, actually--- but were weak, showed an odd, rolling pattern in winter, had a too-cold color temperature and for some reason also began malfunctioning when the summer humidity would be highest.
That evening we watched 'Inside Job', a good documentary about the financial crash of 2008.

********* END OF POST *******

2011-10-16T22:00:00.000-04:00

Return from West Virginia ; back to the basement project

(posted from home)

(This post covers 11 – 16 October, 2011)

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Sunday, 16 October -

This morning I woke very early, again at 0500, and read a few chapters of 'The Harmless People', then fell back asleep. The book is a late-Fifties book about the 'Bushmen' or San people of Bechuanaland (now Botswana) and South-West Africa (now Namibia). I had liked 'The Lost World of the Kalahari' but this is a whole 'nother level of detail and expertise. I love it!
I assembled two more shelving units this morning and this time had a problem with one. I took it back apart and tried again. I improved it but there's still something odd going on.
After lunch I fired up the F650GS and rode down to the Tollgate Starbucks for the Times and a macchiato.
I returned in time to watch a 'Cafe Racer' marathon on tv for a few hours. I've been wanting to see this show and had noticed it was coming up today as I perused the listings yesterday. As it played I trolled the web for local cafe racers. I'm not interested in the made-over Honda 550s and 750s but I do like the looks of the Triumph Thruxton.
I then watched a few episodes of 'Californication', Season 3.

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Saturday, 15 October -

I assembled the two wire shelving units today and then drove into York to pick up a few more of them and another light fixture. I had to go to the west-side Lowe's because I had bought out the stock on the east side. But of course the west-side store didn't have the casters for them so I had to drive back across town for them.
That evening we watched 'The Bang Bang Club', an interesting-but-uneven story about South African news photographers caught up in the fall of Apartheid in the early 90's. Joao Silva (the real one) is AMAZING.

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Friday, 14 October -

I spent the morning installing the three light fixtures (EVERYTHING had to be changed).
That evening we watched the Ethiopia segment of 'Lost Kingdoms of Africa' and then the first episode of “Michael Palin: Sahara”. We are having the most wonderful time watching everything we can find on Africa.

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Thursday, 13 October -

I drove into town this morning and picked up three fluorescent light fixtures and two wire shelving units for the basement. I'm replacing the old lighting fixtures with low-temperature units (we've had trouble with the old ones once the basement temperature drops below 60). The shelving units are our latest attempt at organization, this time on wheels (casters, actually).
That evening we watched the first episode of 'Lost Kingdoms of Africa' (Nubia), then 'Cape of Good Hope', a lightweight-but-interesting South African movie.
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Wednesday, 12 October -

This morning I unloaded Mocha Joe and then joined Labashi in selecting pictures from our Africa trip. We took a break to run to the doctor's office to get our flu shots.
That afternoon we drove to our local Wal-mart to try out their photo-printing service. We printed off 50 photos for our visit with Labashi's parents in a few hours.
We spent a pleasant afternoon with the parents and went out for ribs with them at Texas Roadhouse. As we drove back I noticed we had a bad windshield wiper on their car so I dropped the others off and drove over to the local Autozone and replaced the wipers.
I returned to the parents' apartment just as Labashi and her parents finished up the picture-stories. We then returned home and watched 'Cape of Good Hope', a lightweight-but-interesting South African movie.

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Tuesday, 11 October -

This morning I woke very early – around 0500. I read until daylight (around 0700), had a quick breakfast, and got underway by 0730. I ran into my fellow campers on the nearby bridge. I learned they are an expedition-based class from North Carolina. The adults take the five boys on van-camping expeditions two weeks at a time and then they have classroom work for a week. While on expedition, the boys get four hours a day of classwork. I'd guess their visit to the bridge first-thing this morning was part of their class work today.
On the far (north) side of the river, I followed the gravel road in the upstream direction. The road was good for miles but then I came to a group of houses. Afterwards the road narrowed and I soon came to a large mud puddle and a section of very rough road afterwards. Since the road I was taking would loop back very near to the same place I'd end up if I simply retraced my route, I turned back. I was soon back on US19 and headed south toward Beckley.
As I started through Beckley I checked the GPS for a Starbucks and found there was one only a mile or so ahead. I dropped in there for a coffee and internet connection. I had updated the blog last night so I just needed a wi-fi connection to upload it to the web.
After I updated the blog and checked the weather I noticed Orat was online so called him up via Skype and we talked for a half-hour. While we were talking Labashi called so I called her back after finishing up with Orat.
That took me through lunch and I realized I really didn't have anything left on my must-do list for this trip. Rain is due in for the next couple of days so I may as well head homeward. The GPS told me I'd have a six-hour drive and I realized I could be home this evening if I pushed.
I hadn't fully made up my mind but headed out I-64 toward the next New River Gorge visitor's center. There I decided I'd go on down to Hinton to see their historic district, then follow the Greenbrier River up to Lewisburg and decide there.
As I drove toward Lewisburg the rain started. That made up my mind for me--- time to head for the barn!
I buzzed on across I-64 to I-81 at Lexington, VA after giving Labashi a heads-up that I'd be arriving late-- sometime between 2100 and 2200.
I plugged the iPod in and listened to 'This American Life' episodes along the way. The time passed quickly and I realized I'd even have time for a quick stop at a favorite restaurant in East Berlin, PA (“Sidney”) along the way.
I arrived home shortly after 2100 and quickly unloaded the essentials for the evening-- I'll take care of the rest tomorrow.

****** END OF POST **********

2011-10-10T23:59:00.000-04:00

Basement work ; West Virginia Fall Colors trip

(posted from Starbucks parking lot, Beckley, WV)

(This post covers 1 – 10 October, 2011)

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Monday, 10 October – Columbus Day

This morning I woke without the alarm at dawn. I piddled about and had breakfast and didn't get on the road until 0800-- mostly because it was overcast and didn't LOOK like a nice day for touring.
I drove down the mountain to the Cranberry River and followed FR76 upriver. Wow-- what a NICE river. It's ultra-clear, bordered by lots of mountain laurel and of course it's looking great with the colors of Fall all along it.
I picked a favorite campsite-- #8-- and waypointed it on the GPS. I'll definitely be back, hopefully next Fall.
I followed the forest road to Cranberry Campground and was surprised to see so many campers. Then I remembered it's a holiday-- that explains it.
Just after Cranberry Campground there's a gate. The road is gated 'to preserve the backcountry nature of the River' according to a sign. I LOVE it! I wandered around a bit and shortly thereafter two fishermen arrived and unloaded their bikes and fishing gear. They were going to bike in 8 to 10 miles today. One explained that the grade is slightly uphill (heading upstream) so they'll work harder going in than coming back to the truck.
I then set the GPS for Richwood and soon found myself back in civilization. At Cranberry Campground I checked the mileage and time to home and it was just under 350 miles and 6 and a half hours (for future reference).
In Richwood I checked in at the visitor's center and chatted with the ladies running it. I learned there's a major development coming-- a new Scout camp. This is apparently and Eastern version of the Philmont Scout Ranch in north-eastern New Mexico. It's a 10,000 acre site being developed for a first Jamboree in 2013. So far $250 million dollars has been raised for it. It will be called the Bechtel Family Scout Reserve and lies along the New River. It will reportedly also cater to the public and allow non-Scout visitors to camp there --- in Scout tents!
I can't wait to visit. I was a Scout many years ago and though I only achieved First Class, I have fond memories of Scouting days. I was a member of Troop 127.
Last Spring Labashi and I visited the Philmont ranch as we returned from our Desert Flowers trip and I wish I had been able to visit there as a young Scout. (I still have my Scouting books and my official Boy Scout camping gear, by the way).
At the Richwood visitor's center I also asked about wi-fi and was directed to the library beside City Hall. The librarian gave me a one-hour pass just for the asking and I went out into Mocha Joe, set up my wi-fi antenna, and called Labashi on Skype. We talked for a half-hour and I learned I needed to give Maypo a call too-- something about the house.
Maypo and I talked a bit and then called Orat on a three-way to set the asking price for the house (house #2)-- Maypo has someone who may be interested.
I then headed to Summerville and the Lake, stopping along the way for lunch. I was disappointed to find the lake drawn way down and at its seven-year low. Facilities around the lake were mostly closed so I decided to just move on.
I then drove to the New River Gorge visitor's center near Fayetteville. I watched the tourist film and asked a ranger for recommendations for a drive. I followed her directions and took a very nice little drive down into the gorge and under the New River Bridge and back up the other side.
I then drove down US19 to the turnoff to Thurmond, an abandoned coal-mining town. The visitors' center was closed but when I tried the door a very nice gentleman came to the door and said he's working on the accounts and I'd be welcome to look around while he does that. I loved seeing the old pictures of the steam-era town and then walking the ghost town that it is today.
I had noticed a small picnic area and campground nearby so decided I'd try that for the night. I found a launch ramp there with a few camping spots and settled in there for the night.
Tonight is very balmy, apparently because of oncoming rain in the next few days. The full moon is lighting up the clouds and it actually got dark, then lighter after sunset and as the moon rose over the mountains across the river from me.
I spent the evening blogging and starting on camera chip 2 from the Africa trip.

---------------------------

Sunday, 9 October -

I thought I had turned off the 0600 alarm but I was proven wrong. I couldn't get back to sleep and was on the road within the hour. I drove back Route 39 toward the Cranberry Glades area thinking I'd take my time so the Nature Center would be open. I took a short walk down to the Upper Falls at The Falls of Hill Creek and then went on to the Cranberry Glades Botanical Area.
I chatted with two backpackers-- a father-daughter pair -- from western Pennsylvania who had spent the night camped nearby. We had a long conversation about travel and I listened intently while the young woman described her trip to New Zealand, Australia, and Fiji.
I then walked the boardwalk at the Botanical Area. This is a high mountain glade, which consisted of a mix of open, swampy area and a bog forest, surrounded by hills ablaze with fall colors. The first thing I saw was good old arctic cotton-- called 'grass cotton' here. There were pitcher plants, sundews, and other plants native to far-northern places. I looked for Labrador Tea but didn't see any. The Glade looked like it had been moved here from Newfoundland or Labrador or certain areas of the Yukon and Alaska.
I moved on to the Nature Center and asked about Labrador Tea. The ranger-lady spent quite a bit of time checking and then I looked through 'Flora of West Virginia', all to no avail. I'd like to have seen its pretty, orange, and delicately-veined leaves. I spent the better part of an hour at the very-well-done Nature Center and bought a map of the Monongahela National Forest.
The Nature Center had a relief map of the area and I saw that I could follow the Williams River and then the Cranbery River on a large loop. And along the way are primitive campsites- something I always like to check out but these in particular, since sites range from $5-$10 per night-- my kind of number!
As I was looking for FR216 I saw a trailhead for the High Rock Trail and stopped in to look at the map. I couldn't resist walking the two miles out to the vista point and back.
After my walk, I followed Forest Road 216 down to the river and began winding along it. This is trout territory and I should come back and fish here.
When I came to the first campsite I stopped to check it out and made lunch. I then spent the rest of the afternoon following the Williams River, nearly to its source, then turned up the mountain on FR101. I followed it to Bishop Rock campground. I saw only one campsite in use in this fairly large campground and liked what I saw. I was tired of driving for the day so even though it was only 1600 I stopped for the night.
I walked a tiny bit of the Bishop Peak Trail, gathered firewood (for a fire I never built), and started logging the video clips and stills from card 1 from our Africa trip. That latter took all evening. Then I read a few pages of 'The Paperboy' by Pete Dexter before going to sleep. I picked that one up in Florida last winter at a rural library just outside the Ocala National Forest. It has been biding its time waiting for me to get to it. It's definitely different-- in a good way....

-----------------------

Saturday, 8 October -

I set my alarm for 0600 this morning but that was too early-- the sun wasn't even close to being up. I arose just before 0700 and drove Mocha Joe to Bear Rocks for the sunrise. The parking area was almost full and there was a lineup of photographers at the sunrise vista. I took a few shots with my little point-and-shoot among the pro-ams with their tripods and yard-long lenses. There was a beautiful white fog in the valley and it changed moment by moment as the sun rose.
After the sun was well up I returned to the van and had breakfast while looking out over the Bear Rocks Trail.
I then drove down FR75, stopping at several vantage points. I've not seen any animals up there and today was no exception. But the colors are worth it anyway.
I then started down the mountain toward Davis and noticed the Forest Road 70 gate was open, apparently because of hunting season.
I drove the three miles of narrow dirt road, hoping I'd not meet oncoming traffic on such a narrow road. I met one guy on the way in but we happened to meet at a wide spot so that was no problem. On the way out I met a large oncoming pickup and we both edged off as far as we could and just barely got by each other.
Back at the main road I talked with a guy driving a pickup with a dog box and he said he was hunting bears. Bowhunting season is also in – for deer.
I drove on to Canaan Valley State Park and stopped in at the Nature Center. The clerk said they had had two inches of snow last week (but it's 70 degrees now!).
The main restaurant in the valley, Big John's, now has Piccolo Paula's Coffee Shop on the side. I had an excellent-plus buttermilk biscuit with sausage gravy (I can't have those at home) and a fresh orange juice for my brunch.
I then drove on through Davis to Thomas and the Mountain-Made Craft Shop. I've stopped here several times in the past and have always been impressed, particularly by the photography.
I drove on to Parsons and tried to hurry on to Elkins to beat the parade. The clerk at Canaan Valley had told me this weekend was 'Forest Days' weekend and the parade started at 1300. and that would surely make a mess of traffic. I managed to arrive in Elkins precisely at 1300 and, yes, traffic was a mess. I was detoured around the parade in about 20 minutes so it wasn't really that bad. Judging by the number of people I saw and the fact that every nook and cranny where a car could be parked was filled, I'd say Forest Days is popular.
I continued down 219 toward Marlinton and turned off on the Highland Scenic Highway-- Route 150-- at 1530 or so.
The scenic highway lived up to its name. The trees are just perfect and with the sun lower in the sky they were lit wonderfully. I stopped at each viewpoint and just soaked in the beauty. Now THIS is why I come to West Virginia in early October.
I drove on to the Cranberry Visitor's Center but just missed it closing by a few minutes. I had seen there were two free campgrounds on the map and wanted to ask about them but couldn't. I drove to the area of the first but couldn't find it but then did find one at Third Bridge. I had my choice of three road-side campsites backing on a creek. I passed the entrance and had to turn around and as I made my turn I saw a black bear scurry across the road.
I made a supper of chicken ala king and sat out in my chair for an hour or so. As I sat there a guy came along in an old Toyota pickup and pulled in to talk. He said his family sometimes comes here to camp and then proceeded to tell me story after story about his childhood, his medical ailments, and, his love for his Toyota pickup! Actually he was a nice guy. It turns out his father recently passed away and he's a bit lost. He was just out driving around today to forget his troubles and happened upon me. I think we both got some good out of our conversation.
I then got on the laptop and caught up the offline blog and read maps and a bit of Michener's 'The Covenant' (South Africa!).

------------------------

Friday, 7 October -

This morning I cleared out the van for my little trip to West Virginia this weekend. I had to get the stuff out of the van and back to the back (west) portion of the basement. I then painted the east basement floor, finishing up around noon.
I loaded up Mocha Joe and got on the road by 1330. I drove to Chambersburg and then down I-81 to I-70 and I-68 to Cumberland, MD. Then I followed US 220 through to Keyser, WV. I finished my provisioning at the Keyser Wal-mart and then drove on to Scherr, Jordan Run, and up the dirt road to the north entrance of the Dolly Sods Wilderness.
I checked the freebie campsites at the bottom of the mountain but most of them had someone in them so I thought I'd run up to Red Creek Campground on Forest Road 75. As I topped out at Bear Rocks there were so many cars there that I thought I may as well turn around and take one of the less-than-terrific sites I had passed at the bottom. But by then I was close enough to Red Creek to want to see it anyway.
Imagine my surprise when I found campsite 1 available. For my money this is the best campsite at Red Creek. I couldn't figure out why it wouldn't have been taken and then noticed a no-tenting sign on the grass. Most of the other campers were tenters, leaving the primo site to me. Perfect!
I made a spinach salad and sat out on the full-moon evening until 2100 or so, then retired to read.

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Thursday, 6 October -

This morning I caught up the blog and brought the online version up to the end of September.
I then mowed the grass and cleaned out the rain gutters on the house. I'm amazed how a small handful of pine needles will completely jam up my the gutter on the back of the house. I also washed down the gutters to get rid of the accumulated grit, leaves, and some type of black scummy growth.
While I was working outside Labashi cleaned and scraped the floor on the east side of the basement so I can finish painting it. That evening I painted the block portion of the walls. I wanted to get it done this evening because I paint an inch or so of the floor at the wall-floor joint when I do this and I want that paint to dry overnight.

----------------------

Wednesday, 5 October -

We took our malaria pills this morning-- one more to go after this one. We had breakfast at McDonald's and went back to work on House 2. We touched up walls and ceiling and painted the back door. We applied the end-cap to the kitchen counter by carefully trimming the supplied piece to fit and then ironing it on to activate the heat-sensitive glue on the back of it. I mowed the grass and trimmed along the house and brushed down the lower siding to remove dirt splashed up on it and grass trimmings.
We finished up by 1600 and drove home. That evening we watched a very good National Geographic special called 'Eye of the Leopard'. A husband-and-wife team had filmed a young leopard in Botswana's Okavango Delta and had produced incredible footage.

---------------------

Tuesday, 4 October -

This morning we loaded up two metal cabinets I'm giving to Maypo onto his trailer and headed for Mechanicsburg and Chambersburg. We had to go to the former to buy heating registers for House 2.
We had an early lunch at the Shippensburg Wendy's and made it to Chambersburg by 1130 or so.
We spent the day installing the nine registers, working on the now-stuck back door (it keeps growing!), setting up the dehumdifier, installing the kitchen stove outlet, and beginning to clean the siding and windows.
We had supper with Maypo et family and spent the evening watching “Dead Poet's Society”
on tv.

----------------------

Monday, 3 October -

With the floor now painted in the west half of the basement, we spent this morning emptying and moving the storage cabinets out of the east side. These are plastic storage cabinets which withstood the flooding but we have to get them out to clean under them. In retrospect, we should have selected a solution which didn't trap water underneath.
Labashi had an appointment in the afternoon and I decided I'd get the F650GS out of the barn. That turned out to be a mistake. I didn't have problems getting it out of the barn but the lawn at the northwest side of our house was so soft that I created a deep tire track through it. Everything was fine at first but as I approached a low spot, the rear tire started spinning and cutting into the lawn. I was barely making headway but couldn't stop. I knew if I stopped I'd be stuck. The ground was too wet to support the bike on its kickstand so the only solution would be to keep going or lay the bike down, creating another mess.
Once I got onto higher ground the spinning stopped and I was able to get to the driveway without any damage to the front lawn. Once there I had to hose down the back tire and fender, now encased in gooky-glop. There was even some on the seat (because the spinning tire had thrown it).
After washing down the bike I dug out my riding gear and rode down to York. I visited a bit with my Starbucks buddies and went over to Best Buy to see what I could learn about GSM phones.
I explained to the Best-Buy phones person that I had been in South Africa and Botswana and bought a GSM phone and the SIM cards for each very cheaply. Did the US have a similar solution? It turns out there is--- it's called H2O. This is a SIM card for any GSM phone which provides prepaid service on the AT&T network. The card is $10, then you buy minutes and the per-minute rate is around 14 cents per minute.
Back home I read through the supporting documentation and learned the card may not work in the phone I bought in South Africa. I'll have to research more.

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Sunday, 2 October -

I painted the floor in the west half of the basement today. Labashi did a terrific job of scraping and cleaning the floor so I had a very easy time of it. The scraping was necessary to remove the paint blisters caused by the floor paint sitting in water for so long. Most of the paint is okay but part of the basement had had a red undercoat of old paint and that's the area with the blistering. The Drylok Concrete Paint has been wonderful on this floor and because of our experience with it in our own house, we've used it in the basements of the two houses we re-habbed in Chambersburg. But it can only be expected to withstand so much and submersion in water for two weeks is expecting too much! I'm really surprised it's not more extensive. I'd guess that the blisters came up on less than two percent of the floor area which had the red undercoat and nowhere else.
The dehumidifiers have now taken the basement down to about 40 per cent humidity and the wood is well dried out.

----------------------

Saturday, 1 October -

The weather turned colder today but at least it's not raining for a change. I mowed our lawn today, much of it very wet but with more rain coming I really needed to get it done.

***** END OF POST *******

2011-09-30T23:59:00.000-04:00

Dealing with the flood damage in the basement

(posted from home)
(This post covers 23 – 30 September, 2011)

------------------------------

Friday, 30 September-

This morning we took the utility-trailer load of trash to the landfill. Our local waste-recycling company had posted direction to take flood-related trash directly to the landfill rather than to the incinerator and there's currently a bit of a price break to do so-- $48 a ton rather than $55 a ton.
The process was very easy. Drive onto the scale upon entering the yard, pull up to the small-loads dock and throw your stuff into large trailers behind (and below) the dock, pull onto the scale on the way out, and pay your fee. We were pleasantly surprised to only have to pay $27-- I had assumed there'd be a minimum fee of $48. That at least helps defray the cost of gas a bit.
I played a bit more with Zinio and ordered another South Africa travel magazine-- this one 'Getaway'. It's less oriented toward four-wheel drive adventures than 'Leisure Wheels'.

---------------------------

Thursday, 29 September -

This morning we have yet another morning of hard rain. Nevertheless the dehumidifiers have been slowly pulling down the humidity level from 93 per cent. Today it's at 50 per cent. My moisture meter has also shown me that the wood contacting the floor (the wall 'plates') is indeed drying out.
This morning Labashi had some things to do and I decided to see if I could get Zinio working. Zinio is a digital magazine website. I first learned about it when looking through a copy of 'Leisure Wheels' magazine in our Johannesburg guesthouse. ('Leisure Wheels' is a 4x4 adventure-touring magazine for Southern Africa). I wanted to subscribe but didn't want (and didn't want to pay for) a paper version. Zinio solves this problem by putting up the magazine online in a digital form and providing the tools to read it both online and offline.
I ordered 'Leisure Wheels' ($12.88 for a year) and created my account. But, (surprise, surprise!), I couldn't read the magazine. I contacted Zinio tech support and they sent me a checklist which resolved the problem. I had told my browser not to accept third-party Flash content and that was preventing the reader from starting.
I read about half of the October issue of Leisure Wheels by lunchtime and then felt guilty for not doing any work in the basement. But I did love reading about touring Lesotho in winter and the new HiLux pickup.
That afternoon I painted the walls with Drylok waterproofer (the original latex version). The actual painting only took an hour and looks good. Now if it just sticks.

----------------------------

Wednesday, 28 September -

Today was yet another rainy day. Labashi and I went into York to look for a better storage solution for the basement. We need a solution that allows us to dry out the basement without having to empty it out first.
After spending the day looking at options, we've decided on wire racks with locking casters. We already have a dozen or so 'wing boxes' and lidded storage boxes to put on the wire shelves. And since the wire shelves can be adjusted up and down in one-inch increments, I think we can come up with a fairly efficient and somewhat-portable setup.
I'm also considering keeping the storage unit long term. Perhaps we'll try a hybrid solution.... keep the hardly-ever-used-but-can't-part-with-it stuff (like family history artifacts, photos, and documents) in the fire-resistant storage unit and gear we need more often (plumbing, electrical, carpenter, and painting tools and supplies) here. We'll see.
Back home I worked on the basement wall to prepare it for a coat of drylok waterproofer. I had dryloked the walls about 15 years ago and we now have six or eight dinner-plate-size blisters of drylok separated from the underlying layer of block and an original coating of drylok. I pried off the blisters and wire-brushed the wall under them to prep.
That evening we watched the extras from the 'Expedition Africa' DVD and then two episodes of 'Damages', Season Two.

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Tuesday, 27 September -

We're finally feeling we're getting ahead of the basement problem. The air purifier is doing its job and we're pulling down the humidity level to dry-feeling levels.
We spent the morning loading the trailer in the rain. We also took advantage of having the utility trailer to also start cleaning out our barn.

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Monday, 26 September -

I've finally realized we just aren't going to be able to deal with all the trash using our regular garbage service. I drove back to Chambersburg today, this time to borrow Maypo's utility trailer. This will allow us to load all the trash on the trailer and take it to the incinerator or landfill. That way we can clear the patio rather than try to set out six bags at a time (our limit) for the next two months.
Once back home I – guess what? – hauled more stuff to the storage unit. It's chock-a-block now.
That evening we finished 'Expedition Africa'.

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Sunday, 25 September -

This morning I made a run to Chambersburg to pick up the high-capacity dehumidifier we had in the house we've been working on. I was happy to find the house in good shape and to find the basement completely dry-- just as we had left it--- despite all the recent rain.
Earlier this year I had ordered the dehumidifier from Amazon with the idea that we'd use it in the Chambersburg house until we sell it then I'd replace our antique dehumidifier at home with the new one. But we can't wait now--- we must have much more capacity for our basement problem. I ordered another from Amazon and will use the antique and the Cburg one for now, will perhaps use all three once the latest arrives (depending on how much progress we're making), and in a week or so, get one down to Chambersburg.
I had started early on my drive to Chambersburg so was back by lunch time. While Labashi continued cleaning and sanitizing, I continued hauling to the storage unit.
We finished the Expedition Africa disk and started the final one tonight,

------------------------------

Saturday, 24 September -

Today we rented a storage unit and began hauling and stacking. We needed to get everything that hadn't been soaked out of the way just to have room to work. We put a few things in our guest room but we're wading in water as we do this and don't want to ruin the carpet in the guest room. We had both Mocha Joe and Labashi's car kept busy with the moving. As we'd get one filled up and the other partially filled I'd take the full one over to unload while Labashi finished filling the other. Our 10x10 storage unit seemed to fill up very quickly with the dry stuff while our patio overflowed with the wet and/or ruined goods and boxes.
Late in the day we showered and changed and took Mom and Dad out to dinner. We needed a break and hadn't seen them since returning. We picked them up and drove to Carlisle to one of their favorites-- Cafe Bruges. They like the 'moules et frites' (mussels and double-cooked french fries) and the Belgian beers there. I'm not much of a beer drinker but have found several we look forward to there.
Today was part of parent's weekend at Dickinson College and the restaurant got very noisy and crowded-- a bit too much for us by the end of the meal. Fortunately we have the flexibility to come here when it's not so busy next time.

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Friday, 23 September-

This morning we started the process of getting the water out of the basement. I first tried the manual bilge pump from the fishing boat but the water's so shallow (about an inch to an inch and a half deep) it doesn't do much before the pump is mostly sucking air. Oddly, I found a dust-pan did much better. This one has a handle that allows you to stand while sweeping dust into it and that was just the ticket for a relatively good low-energy 'pump'. I could 'shovel water' much more easily than I could work the bilge pump.
I used a five-gallon bucket and filled it with about four gallons of water each time. I then took that to the nearby utility sink.
That afternoon we began pulling out soaked boxes of stuff. We had accumulated a lot of empty boxes we were going to use to ship anything we sell on Ebay (one of Labashi's projects) and many of those were ruined. We also had boxes of miscellaneous goods left over from moving Mom and Dad from Michigan last year so Labashi was very worried about those. The bottom boxes were of course completely soaked and then the next up on the stack would be partially soaked and a bit moldy, then the higher levels would be okay.
That evening we watched some more 'Expedition Africa' episodes.

**** END OF POST *********

2011-09-22T23:59:00.001-04:00

The flight and drive home ; a problem with the house....

(Posted from home)

(This post covers 20 - 22 September, 2011)

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Thursday, 22 September -

We arose around 0900 and had breakfast and talked some more, then packed up the car for the trip home and departed shortly before noon.
We lunched in Frederick at a newly-refurbished Greek restaurant we'll use again in the future. We arrived home in late afternoon.
We had been warned there had been flooding from Tropical Storm Lee in the area so were a bit afraid of what we might find in our house. Our neighbor said he had some water intrude from the floor drain in his house but I thought we'd be okay.
Wrong. When I walked into the house and descended to the basement level I heard the squish sound of water in the rug as I stepped onto it at the bottom of the stairs. A short look revealed we have about an inch of water throughout the basement. There's just a bit of a musty smell at this point but I did see a few little patches of mold. But it's NOTHING like the mess we had when we returned to a sewer backup in 2005 or the refrigerator power-outage we returned another time.
Fortunately our guest room is not affected – its floor sits two inches above the level of the rest of the basement-- so the carpet there isn't affected and that room is fine. But we'll now have to clean out and dry out the rest of the basement. Given the weather predictions for lots of rain for the next week, that doesn't look like fun.
We watched two episodes of 'Expedition Africa'. We had started the series before leaving and had finished the first disk. Now it's interesting to see the flora in Tanzania (where the expedition is).

-----------------------

Wednesday, 21 September -

Continuing our flight.... We had boarded at 2200 local time and our flight would last until 1700 the next day according to our watches. As we neared Dakar, Senegal for a crew-change stop, I was wondering if I was going to be able to handle the long flight. My back was hurting a bit and the seat seemed extra hard. After the stop in Dakar the new crew came through and searched each vacant seat-- in case one of the departing passengers had left a bomb there before getting off in Dakar. Then they came through with a spray bomb to kill any insects which may have been inadvertantly brought aboard from Senegal, which has problems with yellow fever. We knew of the process from a friend who thought the chemicals used in the spray to be dangerous (there are mixed reviews about it on the internet) so we had N95-spec masks with us and donned them for about ten minutes after the spraying. We appeared to be the only people with masks though several other people covered their eyes and nose with their hands or a piece of cloth for a few minutes.
After we were airborne we had another, smaller snack and that seemed to wake us up. Over the course of the flight we each watched four movies and that helped pass the time.
We arrived at Dulles shortly after 1030 Eastern time (1630 on our watches because of the six-hour time difference). It seemed to take a long time to get off the plane and take the shuttle to the international terminal. There we got in line for passport control and saw the long line wasn't moving at all. The computer system had decided to freeze up and had to be rebooted. But once the reboot cleared things up the process went fairly quickly and it was only a few minutes till we met Labashi's brother and were in his car speeding toward his home.
We had a bit of excellent lentil-sausage soup our hosts had made, sat up talking a bit, then about 1300 we went to bed to try to catch up a bit. I slept very heavily until 2000, Labashi not quite so long.
We spent the evening talking and went back to bed around 2300.
We both woke around 0230 and were up for the duration-- our bodies thought it was 0830. I finished reading one of the books we had bought about safari-guide experiences in Botswana and read about half of a thin book about the history of the colonialization of Africa-- very interesting reading.

-----------------------

Tuesday, 20 September-

We spent the day in the room at the guesthouse. Our flight isn't until 2245 tonight and the owners of the guesthouse very kindly allowed us to keep our room until supper-time. We spent the day cleaning up our dust-covered gear and packing everything just so for the trip. I also had time to catch up and post the blog online and read a 4x4 magazine called 'Leisure Wheels'. There's lots of good info about touring southern Africa by 4x4 as well as the typical reviews of trucks and gear. I see I can subscribe to the digital version from the US and it's cheap. I'll have to read more about how good the digital version is.
That evening we joined Arthur and Ina and a few guests in the lapa for drinks and then supper. After supper Henry drove us over to the airport around 2000. We had a few minor problems finding things there at O.R. Tambo International Airport because of bad signage. In trying to find where to check in, we had conflicting information posted. The check-in counter was listed as B22 but the terminal as Terminal A. There's no 'B' counter in Terminal A. Fortunately there are a few helper-guys there to assist tourists. He couldn't explain why the sign said what it did but did know to take us to Terminal B. And when the B22 desk was not manned, took us to another where we checked in without problems.
Then we just wanted to get to the gate. As we passed an elevator we saw a sign hanging from the ceiling in front of the door with the words 'Terminal A gates' and an arrow pointing up. We took the elevator up but it dead-ended on a floor with nothing on it. It turns out the sign merely meant we should continue down the corridor we were in when we saw the sign. If it hadn't been posted right at the elevator doors we would have known that.
And when we got to the gate the sign said 'London – Virgin Atlantic – Boarding'. But there was a South African Airways plane at the gate, not a Virgin Atlantic plane and it wasn't in the process of boarding. That sign never changed the whole time we were there and boarded our plane. Of course we checked we were at the right place and we were-- they just didn't bother to change the sign.
The other odd thing that happened was that after we reached the gate we were all told to line up, men on one side, women on the other. Though we had passed through the security checkpoint and passport control, it was only now at the gate where we and our hand-luggage were searched. It wasn't a problem-- just odd, particularly when the staff now had to keep track of who had been searched and who hadn't and, predictably, people would still have to go down the hall to the bathroom before their flight. That meant, of course, that they had to be searched (and take off shoes and belts, etc) after returning from the bathroom. Odd.
When it came time to board they merely announced that we could board--- no boarding by row or section, etc. Fortunately we had been sitting at the back of the waiting area and that put us at the front of the waiting area after being processed through the security search. So we were among the first dozen people walking aboard and so were able to walk right to the back of the plane where our seats were (row 72!).
After we went airborne a round of drinks and then a light supper was served (and it was good!) Then the lights were turned off and most people took the hint to try to get some sleep. We couldn't sleep but were comfortable and entertained by the seat-back monitor's offerings of movies and TV shows.

***** END OF POST *******

2011-09-19T23:59:00.001-04:00

Savuti, Ihaha, Kasane, Francistown, Gaborone, back into South Africa...

(posted from Sunrock Guesthouse, Johannesburg, RSA)

(This post covers 9 – 19 September, 2011)

---------------------------

Monday, 19 September-

This morning the fishing-lake guy came down and talked to us a bit on his rounds of the property. Last night when we checked in he had said something about the Krugersdorp area not being safe. This morning we learned there had been a hi-jacking and rape three weeks ago. Four guys hi-jacked a woman's car right on the main street of town and had driven to the nature reserve and raped her. He also told us the guys we could see camped across the river from us were from Malawi and Mozambique and he believed they were robbing homes in the area. He said we were safe because they knew the first place he'd go if anything happened on his property would be their camp. But they (or someone) had stolen a laptop over the weekend at a house we could see in the distance--- while the residents were sleeping there.
When the guy learned we had been in Botswana he said, “It's like 90 per cent black, isn't it?” he asked. “I'd NEVER go there. You know there's a lot of you foreigners who come over here and don't go home, jah?”. We didn't quite know what to think. He was on the one hand kind of aggressive but also went out of his way to be sure we had everything we need, even offering us access to one of the chalets so we could have hot showers.
We then drove into Johannesburg to Nelson Mandela Square and Sandton City mall--- which our guidebook says is Johannesburg's most exclusive. We at first had trouble finding parking because we couldn't enter the parking garage (due to the height of our tent) but just across the street a security guy waved us over. He arranged parking for us in the fancy hotel's garage. When I asked about price he said we could just give him a tip when we come back. It appears he's the security guard for the hotel making a bit of extra cash on the side by offering parking for tips.
We spent a few hours walking through this upscale mall. It had an Apple Store (called an “iStore” rather than an 'Apple Store') and many, many clothing stores. In one area were cars being promoted (including a Ferrari) between stores. There were upscale Italian coffee shops, a gelateria, and a 'Mugg and Bean' coffee shop. The anchor stores were Ackermans, Edgars, and Woolworths.
We then drove the few kilometers over to Bushlore to turn in the truck. We spent about two hours with the returns process and negotiating the credits we'd get for the tire we had to buy, the extra fuel we returned, and the roof-rack brackets we had bought and had installed. We also went over our list of things that had gone wrong with the Operations Manager. All in all it was an easy process but we'll see what happens when Bushlore has had time to do the final going-over of the vehicle.
Jubaloni then drove us over to Sunrock (the guesthouse where we had stayed when we came in) and dropped us off. Nice guy but a frighteningly-fast driver, that Jubaloni. I was surprised how much pickup the Bushlore bus (a Toyota Quantum) had compared to our rental 4x4 truck (a Toyota HiLux).
We spent a few hours decompressing then went over to the Sunrock's lapa for 'sundowners' (happy-hour drinks) and, eventually, supper. During sundowners we talked to Maypo, Orat, and Labashi's dad via Skype Video. Arthur and Ina (our hosts at Sunrock) then made up another terrific braai, this one featuring boerboer and sausages. Good stuff!
We fly home tomorrow night!

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Sunday, 18 September -

We had a restful night and good, hot showers at our chalet in the Ngoyama Lion Lodge at Krugersdorp Nature Reserve. As we parked to drop off the keys at the front desk, we saw our only lions of the trip-- a male and a female in a relatively small fenced lot. It was depressing to see them like this. They both looked too skinny and very bored.
We drove in to Johannesburg to the Africa Museum. The GPS first took us to an empty lot before I noticed there were two listings for the museum. We parked free right out front and the museum had free admission.
This museum is located in a massive old market building. On the lower floor we spent an hour in a temporary exhibition of cartoon art. This one was wonderful. We wouldn't understand the cartoons at first but underneath each was a good explanation of the issue with sufficient background to understand the cartoonist's point. This also provided an interesting picture of life in South Africa. My favorite cartoon strip was 'Madam and Eve', which has a Dilbert-like incisiveness.
The museum also had a very interesting geology section. It's of great interest to us, of course, because there's so much we don't know of Africa's geology and geography.
There was also a photography exhibit which showed us intimate photos of daily life in rural KwaZulu-Natal, a northeastern province in South Africa.
We spent three hours in the museum and then crossed the square to Sophiatown Cafe for lunch. And there on the menu was just what Labashi has been looking for--- a dish made with mopane worms. These are caterpillars of the emporer moth which feed on the mopane tree. After collection the juices are squeezed out and the remainder dried. They can be eaten at that point but often are cooked in a sauce of some type. In this case it was a wine and garlic sauce. The worms themselves are about two inches long and about 3/8 of an inch in diameter. See http://planyoursafari.com/blog/african-delicacy-the-mopane-worm/ for photos and more info.
After lunch we walked to the nearby Worker's Museum and learned the history of Johannesburg's workforce. The black laborers lived in subsistence conditions in 'camps' which were fenced and monitored by company police. Whites were generally skilled labor and they lived in much better conditions. The Workers' Museum did a good job of showing how recruiters were sent out to fulfill the cheap-labor needs of the mines and why the workers would be interested in coming to live in such conditions so far from home. It wasn't a matter of choice so much as a matter of providing for family.
By mid-afternoon we needed to move on so had to leave the Worker's Museum earlier than we'd have liked. But we needed to make the 45-minute drive to the Lesedi Cultural Village. This village is a tourist attraction which features reconstructions villages of five of the main historic tribes of South Africa-- Ndebele, Zulu, Basotho, Xhosa, and Pedi. That's then followed by traditional dancing and then an African feast of traditional foods.
Our village tours went too quickly. We were in a group of about a dozen people and would first be asked to greet the four or five people manning each village. They'd reply and we'd be given permission to enter. Then our guide, a young Zulu woman, would tell us a few interesting facts about the tribe (such as why they wear the clothing they wear) and then we'd move on to the next village. We'd have liked this portion to last longer but with all the activities of the evening, it would be impractical to do so for most tourists. Oh, yeah... and at the Basotho village we were offered mopane worms. This time they were just the dried worms. They tasted like biltong--- better known to us foreigners as jerky. The group at first didn't want to try them but Labashi jumped in and took one and that gave four or five others the push they needed to give it a try (including me!)
After a short break we were invited into a dirt-floored community structure with a smoky fire burning in the middle. We were given demonstrations of each tribe's dancing specialties, both male and female. The drums were incredible during these dances and readied everyone to give it a short try.
After the dancing we were invited to a restaurant where we had a buffet of crocodile, ostrich, lamb, chicken (“African fowl”), and beef sausage, with salad, veggies, and dessert (milk pudding and koeksisters (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koeksister)). I'm not a fan of game in general but the meat dishes were prepared in sauces and were quite good.
After our goodbyes to our hosts at Lesedi we drove to the nearby fishing lake where we had stayed night-before-last. When we entered asked for and were granted permission to stay until 0900 tomorrow. We were the only customers there and built a fire with our remaining wood and enjoyed a very nice few hours beside the fire before retiring to our rooftop tent.

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Saturday, 17 September -

We arose promptly at 0600 to be sure we'd be out of the camping/fishing area by 0700. For once we packed up quickly and even had time for a quickie breakfast (muesli and fruit).
We drove to the nearby Lesedi Cultural Village since the tourbook said they open at 0700. We couldn't imagine what they'd be doing that early and we were right--- the village opens so the restaurant can serve breakfast but the first tour isn't until 1130 (the lunch tour). We figured we'd go do something else and return.
We drove a half hour through absolutely super countryside to get to the Steirfontein Caves, knowing we'd get there long before their 0900 opening time. Along the way we passed hundreds of bicyclists, some in packs of 30 or so and followed by a club vehicle.
This cave is part of the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site and is the home of some of the greatest finds in archeological and anthropological history--- skeletal remains of 'australopithicus' hominids, i.e., very early beings with characteristics of both humans and apes. One of the remains, called 'Little Foot' is still partially embedded in stone and is very slowly being excavated with dental drills. The remains are so old that carbon dating cannot be used to determine their age. Carbon dating is only good back some 500,000 years and there is no carbon-based material to test. Approximate dating is done by determining what the polarity of the earth's magnetic poles was in the rock around the sample. The magnetic poles change slightly over eons and in fact were at one time reversed.
Our tour of the cave was about an hour long and led by an entertaining guy who called himself 'Maropeng', the name of a nearby tourist attraction. Shortly after descending into the cave (via a concrete stairway), he pointed out a fenced-off opening-- that's where 'Little Foot' is located and is the site of the ongoing dig.
The cave was surprisingly large. From the look of the surrounding terrain I figured the cave would just be a small one. But it had several rooms about 30 feet high. We did have several very low places where we had to shuffle along bent over as far as possible but they were very short.
After the tour of the cave itself we went to the accompanying interpretive displays in the visitor's center and spent the better part of an hour there.
We had lunch in the parking lot and decided we'd drive into Johannesburg to the Apartheid Museum. We arrived about 1230 and spent the next four hours learning about the rise and fall of apartheid and its wrenching effect on the peoples of South Africa. We also spent a long time in a very comprehensive exhibit on Nelson Mandela.
I can't do justice to the Apartheid Museum in describing it. It's truly a world-class, thought-provoking, well-balanced treatment of this tragic part of South African history.
We left the museum around 1700 and went looking for our campground for the night. We tried to call the Krugersdorp Nature Reserve numbers in the 'Camp and Live' book but they were bad. We decided we'd go ahead and drive there and if it turned out camping was not available, we could go on to the same place we stayed last night.
When we arrived at the Nature Reserve we learned the campground was closed for renovations and the entire Reserve was now operating under a new manager. That's what happened to the phone numbers.
With darkness approaching we thought we'd ask about camping at the Lodge and perhaps they'd know of something nearby. On a whim, we asked about the rate to stay at the lodge and were pleasantly surprised to be quoted a price under $60. It turns out the restaurant is closed, the bar is closed and the rooms are being discounted to bring in some cash flow. But that fit our needs very well and leaves us closer to Johannesburg for tomorrow so we took it.
We were shown to a chalet and we cooked supper in the driveway as the sun set. We then had showers, blogged a bit, and read.

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Friday, 16 September -

We awoke at 0600 and packed up slowly. We still had to plan where we were going today. We had the general idea of heading toward the Cradle of Humankind near Johannesburg. The Cradle of Humankind is a World Heritage site but we're learning it's actually several sites.
We drove out of Moklodi Reserve around 0900 and headed for the border just outside Gaborone. The border crossing was very easy and we soon were cruising along along the Madikwe Game Reserve. We had thought about visiting Madikwe when we learned it's relatively new (1991) and has 10,000 animals but we also learned it has no day-visiting facilities, only lodges. That leaves us out.
We continued down through NorthWest Province for the rest of the afternoon. The changes in the land were very interesting. For a few hours we had wild lands on one side (the Reserve) with some signs of cattle-grazing on the other. That changed to more and more signs of cattle grazing and eventually to large farms with planted fields. The land opened up and we had long views across the farms and the landscape looked like eastern Montana for a few hours.
We then came to more crowded areas that looked more like the central California hills and we started seeing farm-based B&B's, grain silos, nurseries, farm implement dealers, the occasional winery, etc. And as we came nearer to Pretoria the weekend traffic increased and we saw upscale lodges, game farms, and small towns with all the services.
We had trouble finding a campground tonight. We have the “Camp And Live” book which is supposed to be a comprehensive guide but it's not very good. NorthWest Province is a huge area and the Camp and Live book only shows a handful of campsites and those consider themselves 'resorts'. We don't have a guidebook like Veronica Roodt's guide to Botswana or the Bradt Safari Guide to help us.
We decided we'd go to one of the Cradle of Humankind attractions and ask for their recommendations for nearby camping. That kind of worked. We ended up at a pay-to-fish lake which allowed campers but we have to be out by 0700 or pay for another day (!!!!!). The good news is it only cost 80 Rand or about $11.
We made supper and spent the evening relaxing and watching the fishermen.

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Thursday, 15 September -

We arose at 0630 and put on our city clothes for our visit to downtown Gaborone today. We began following the GPS's instructions to the National Museum when we happened upon a safari outfitter called Hi-Range. On a whim I stopped to see if they might have brackets or be able to make some up or weld my broken ones. To my surprise, they had a set in stock. Here I had assumed the brackets were part of the Eezi-Awn rooftop tent and had contacted the manufacturer and asked Bushlore about support for it in Botswana. There is none. But the rack to which the tent is attached is a Front-Runner product and those products are a lot more common.
I had found the brackets but wasn't sure I had the tools to remove the old ones and replace them. When I asked Hi-Range about possibly installing them, I was pleasantly surprised again. I'd have to pay $67 for the brackets (a set of 4 and bolts) but installation would only be $25 and they could do it right away. I jumped on it and an hour later we were back on the road with new brackets in place and properly installed and sealed with silicone-seal.
We found the National Museum easily and circled the block a few times to find parking. The Museum is next to the National Art Gallery but the Gallery is closed today. The Gallery store was open, though, and Labashi bought some ostrich-shell earrings. But processing the credit card had to be done in the Main Gallery, so they unlocked the doors and we had a chance to quickly walk through the main floor of the Art Gallery and get a sense of the art.
We then spent two pleasant hours going through the National Museum. It has wonderful dioramas, very similar to those on the top floor of the State Museum of Pennsylvania.
After our visit we walked a block over to the Nando's restaurant for lunch, then walked the open-air market between the buildings leading up to Parliament. We circled the Parliament Building, then back toward our parking spot. We noticed the City Library along the way and checked it out.
We then drove to a international school with a dance theater to see if there was anything going on but we struck out there. That drive took us past many embassies in what looks like an upscale residential neighborhood.
We then went over to the University of Botswana and walked to the bookstore and souvenir store. We've done this on many of our trips-- just to get a sense of the place. We also had milkshakes at the snack bar of the student union building.
We then drove back through Gabarone in late-afternoon traffic. We stopped at a LiquorMatic for some Ipala Cream for an evening toast and then on to the Mokolodi Reserve.
We drove up to the World View Conference Center to see the view, then returned to our camp and Labashi made a spaghetti supper while I set up our sleeping quarters.
We blogged and read and watched stars and went to be around 2100, happily tired.

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Wednesday, 14 September -

Malaria-pill day! (We have to take our nine malaria pills a week apart and our first was on the Wednesday we left so that makes Wednesdays “malaria-pill day” ). Fortunately, neither of us has any side effects from the mefloquine.
We had a truckload of loud (and a bit drunk, I think) guys come in to the campsite beside us last night around 2300. They made a lot of noise and talked at full volume through 0100 but then finally quieted down and we slept well from then on.
I spent a few hours catching up the blog and then we drove over to the hotel and uploaded it via wi-fi from the lounge.
We then headed south for Gabarone, Botswana's capital city. Along the way I noticed I had another broken bracket on the roof rack holding the rooftop tent. That's two of them. I called Bushlore and spoke with Clyde about it and he advised getting them welded and if that's not possible, then secure the tent with ratchet-straps. I tied down the rack using rope and a piece of wire I found in a roadside picnic stop.
We drove all afternoon and arrived at Mokolodi Nature Reserve shortly before sunset. We drove right to our campsite and made supper in twilight.
The moon is full now but not coming up until 2030 tonight so I lit the LPG lantern for a while but Labashi doesn't like all the noise--- she can't hear the animals. We watched stars for a bit, then sat in the truck reading until we decided to turn in early-- around 2100.

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Tuesday, 13 September -

This morning we awoke at 0630 and packed up to move out. We have a passenger today ; Rebecca, the mid-twenties Swedish tour leader. Her clients are flying by bush plane to their next stop near Maun and she's taking the bus.... and their luggage. Fly-in safari clients can only have 25 pounds of baggage on the bush flight so she hauls their other bags with her to the next meeting point. She's going to ride with us from Kasane to Nata, then take the bus the 300K to Maun.
As we learned from talking with Rebecca the other night and on our ride today, she's had more life-experiences than most people twice her age. She grew up in Tanzania, studied in Italy and Sweden, spent a year and a half backpacking through South America, speaks Swedish, Spanish, Swahili, English, and French. She's back at University now working on a degree in Global Studies. She wants to work on development projects in Latin America and/or Southern Africa.
After our three-hour drive to Nata we had lunch with her at a Barcelo's restaurant behind the bus stop. We asked around about when the bus could be expected and got answers “1:15”, “2 o'clock” and “3:30”. But the best answer is 'just wait there and it will show up'. Our waitress from Barcelos said it would be okay for her to wait at the outside table where we had lunch so we left her there with a fond goodbye and promises to email each other.
We drove on another four hours to Francistown and checked in to an unexpectedly luxurious campsite at the Cresta Marang Garden Hotel and Casino. Camping was only $22 and we had the run of a luxury hotel with wi-fi, pool, pool-bar, etc. We had showers and talked briefly with two Japanese guys who are bicycling. They had been backpacking but bought old, beat-up bikes in Bulawayo (Zimbabwe) and have been spending more time fixing the bikes than travelling (they joke). One of the guys has been backpacking around the world for six years. He returns home to Kyoto to work for a few months every once in a while but only to earn enough money to go back on the road.
As sunset came on Labashi made up a pot-luck meal from our stock of canned goods. Tonight is was corned beef and corn and onion and olives. We need to eat out a bit less and work our way through the provisions before we return the truck.

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Monday, 12 September -

This morning we slept in till 0630 and then readied ourselves for the trip to the Falls. We left the lodge at 0800 and were transferred to the Zimbabwe border where we met Beki, our guide from Silver Tours. Beki drove us the 45 minutes to Victoria Falls and then took us on a two-hour tour of the falls. Afterward Beki took us to a nearby cafe for lunch and turned us loose until our pickup time at 1430. We spent the time shopping the nice shops of the Elephant Walk and then walked over to the Victoria Falls Hotel.... a very historic and impressive hotel of England's Colonial Age.
Beki picked us up at 1430 for the trip back and we met a German couple who Beki had picked up at the airport for their transfer to a safari camp.
We processed back through Zimbabwe and Botswana border stations and were back in our campsite by 1700, after a very, very nice day.
We had supper in the bar at the Thebe River Lodge and then when the laptop battery died, we went back to our campsite and set up a table in the pavilion near the electrical outlet. Labashi worked on an email to family while I had a long conversation with Peter and Jean Morse, an Eglish couple who are in the process of emigrating to South Africa. They were driving an old Land Rover ex-military ambulance which Peter had taken four years to outfit to see Africa. The Morse's had story after story of their adventures on the road for the last four months. We finally called it quits around 2200.

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Sunday, 11 September -

Today we arose at dawn and took a game drive on this spectacular morning, slowly winding along River Road toward Kasane.
We exited the park around noon and went looking for a campsite. We settled on Thebe River Lodge's campground and had a long conversation with Roy, a Zimbabwe-born South African farmer of macadamia nuts. We then went looking for lunch. We had a long, leisurely one at Old House Restaurant in their garden as locals watched South African rugby on the bar television nearby, a very pleasant Sunday afternoon scene.
We spent a few hours in camp and made arrangements for a guided trip to Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe the next day.
We then drove to Chobe Safari Lodge, hoping to be allowed to have dinner there. Dinner wasn't served for a few hours yet so we had drinks at the outdoor bar and watched the sun set. The Lodge is very, very nice and we enjoyed getting the chance to experience its common areas a bit.
We decided we didn't want to wait for supper so headed back to Thebe River Lodge. We had supper in the bar and spent the whole evening talking and drinking with Rebecca, a Swedish tour leader and college student, and our new-found friend Roy, the nut-farmer.

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Saturday, 10 September -

We had a scare last night. Around 0330 Labashi shifted her weight fairly heavily on our roof-top tent, causing the tent to shake a bit. Almost immediately we felt a strong push against the truck. Labashi asked me if I had done that and another sudden jolt occurred. We had seen a largish elephant by the nearby ablution block earlier in the evening and figured it must be the elephant. We lay completely still and listened. We couldn't hear anything definite but Labashi said she could occasionally hear the whoosh of air as the elephant breathed. I thought I heard elephant footsteps nearby. We lay motionless and about an hour later fell back asleep.
At dawn I cautiously zipped open the tent door and checked for the elephant. Nothing. When light came up a bit more I dressed and climbed down the ladder to see the footprints. There were none-- only the old ones we had seen when we first arrived.
Shortly after the jolts happened Labashi whispered “maybe it's Korbus trying to scare us silly Americans”. But there were no tracks from Korbus's camp and he denied having anything to do with it. And there were no 'tracks' of an elephant-nudge in the thick dust covering the truck.
I eventually came to the conclusion that it hadn't been an elephant at all. I had parked one wheel of the truck on a flat rock. The rock wasn't really flat, though.... it was wedge-shaped. By morning's light I could see the tire had rolled off the rock. I think Labashi's jostling caused the truck to roll forward enough to roll off the wedge. The jolts had to do with the manual transmission allowing the forward movement but doing it a gear-tooth at a time ; thus the jolts. It's either that or some kind of ninja-elephant that frightened us.
Anyway, today we drove north from Savuti. I had clear instructions from the wildlife officer on how to find a detour around the deep sand on the lower Ghoha Road. Cross the bridge and take the left turn, then go 10K to a sign to Ghoha. “Immediate left?”, I asked. “Yes-- immediate left”, replied the wildlife officer.
We crossed the bridge and took an immediate left on the road to Linyanti--- the one we know to have the deepest sands in all of Chobe. But it was, after all, a detour. Within a hundred meters we hit deep sand as we climbed a hill and I'm still not sure how we made it to solid ground. But then things went okay up to 9K or so. There we came upon a very long stretch of deep sand and I knew in my heart of hearts that if we go into that sand, we're going to have to be towed out. I walked in about 100 meters and it stretched out far ahead. There's no way I'd have the momentum to get through that and as soon as I made the smallest mistake, we'd be stuck quite badly and have a long, long way to dig out.
I returned to the car and told Labashi there's no way I'm entering that sand. If that means we have to go back to Maun and take the long way around to Kisane, so be it.
We returned to the Savuti gate and learned from another ranger that I shouldn't have taken the immediate left but the left at the split only about 25 meters further on. And once I do that, ignore the signs to Ghoha and follow signs to the airstrip and that will eventually rejoin the road to Ghoha Gate.
We followed the new directions and soon felt we were indeed on the right path. Past the airstrip the road was pretty good and did lead us in the right cardinal direction whereas the Linyanti road seemed to be trending north too much.
After a few hours of rock-and-roll we made it to the Ghoha Gate and signed out of that section of the park. But that also gave us a new problem. The ranger at Xaxanaxa had told us to avoid the 7K stretch of bad sand on the left after the gate but now the Ghoha Gate person told us the opposite. TAKE the 7k road to avoid the worse sand of the straight-ahead route. We decided to go with the opinion of the ranger nearest the turn, i.e., the Ghoha Gate ranger. The 7K segment proved to be quite bad. It was 7K of red Namibian Sand, some of which now adorns the top of my air cleaner and the top of the battery.
After the turn at 7K, though, things got markedly better and we made good time. We broke for lunch at a shady tree and soon approached the village of Kachikau.
A few K before Kachikau, though, we came to a split. The left looked more used so we took it and very quickly came upon two stuck vehicles. They were safari vehicles towing trailers and had all the help they need to get going again so I backed out to the split for another look. Since the road looked good we took it, figuring we could turn around if its character changed. We soon realized it was a boundary line with a patrol road, not the road we wanted. But we could see the village in the distance and it looked like the patrol road would go to it. We continued on and indeed we came to the village. But it was the back of the very large village and we couldn't see how to get out to the hard road. We finally asked directions of the very nice people living there and were soon on good old tarmac, airing up the tires.
We buzzed the 40K to the Chobe entrance gate to the west end of River Road and signed in. Then we got a surprise--- the road was all deep sand for 4K. Fortunately, it was all downhill and didn't go too badly. At the bottom of the hill we broke out to a spectacular view of the Chobe River floodplain and thousands of zebras. It seemed we should have had stirring music at that point-- it was an incredible sight.
We spent the rest of the afternoon dawdling along the west end of River road, stopping to look time and again. We finally reached Ihaha (our campground) around 1600. We checked in and then drove right back out for a late game drive to the east. On this drive we saw a large group of banded mongoose digging away furiously, perhaps after termites or ants--- we couldn't tell.
After dark we returned to camp and built a fire and had supper. As we worked I heard odd sounds in the bushes not far away. That turned out to be Cape buffalo, heading down their game-trail to the river. We had a full moon and could see their massive dark shapes slowly moving to the river.
That night we heard hyenas but didn't see any. We spoke to our next-door neighbor and he had seen a leopard on the evening game drive. We had seen hundreds, if not a thousand, elephants, sable, a dozen giraffes, kudu, storks, warthogs, and baboons.

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Friday, 9 September -

We again headed north out of Maun today, bound for Savuti. Though we had been told the camp was full, we also talked with wildlife officers at Xaxanaxa and South Gate who said the concessionaire would have to take care of us since we had a booking at their other camp (Linyanti). We of course had no idea if that was really true but figured there must be some answer because this type of thing would have to happen a lot.
We buzzed along at 100 kph for the first 50K on hard road, then 60-80 kph on the gravel up to Mababe and the entrance gate to Chobe National Park. But then the character of the road changed dramatically. Once through the gate we had two-track and it was two-track with a high center, stretches of sand, and long stretches of immense potholes we had to weave around and/or idle through. For a first hour or so the forest looked a good bit like the woods at home in very early Spring. A few budding trees and bushes here and there, lots of brown, dead leaves and an open understory. But then the land opened up on the right side to classic African plain. We could see for miles. As we trundled along we saw a dozen warthogs, a dozen elephants, and five giraffes.
As we approached Savuti we took a turnoff to 'Bushmen Rock Paintings', a pretty rock outcropping along the river. We followed a path which supposedly led to the rock paintings but never did see any. But it was a beautiful spot.
We then drove on toward Savuti Camp and promptly got stuck in deep sand. This time we were able to dig out by ourselves. We avoided needlessly spinning wheels (which just digs in deeper) and 'dug the dif' and dug away sand from under the spare tire and bashplate. We used sandladders for the front tires and logs for the rear tires. In this case we backed out to more solid ground. We then made a mad dash over a kilometer of deep sand-- I'm still not sure how we made it.
At the gate, the concessionaire guy said it was unfortunate but the campground was full. I asked about the reserve sites and he said they were full too. Also, there was another car ahead of us waiting to see if all the campers with bookings actually showed up. There didn't appear to be an answer and it was way too late to drive back to Maun. But after a while the guy said we could wait up by the ablutions block to see if something opens up. When I asked what happens if nothing opens up, he said 'Then we'll make a plan'. That's South African code for “we'll figure it out”.
We were only at the ablutions block for 20 minutes or so when the guy appeared and said we were in luck. Nearby campers had agreed to let us share their very large site. That's how we met Korbus and Elsa, a South African couple who farm near Cape Town. We gratefully set up camp and took showers and made supper, then spent the rest of a very, very pleasant evening getting to know our hosts. Korbus had tales of his experiences in Namibia in the Bush Wars of the 1970's and Elsa regaled us with stories of how nice Cape Town is.
Korbus cooked up some steaks for their supper and made some 'brown bread' for us. In this case it's tomato and cheese in a long brown roll (much like a hot dog roll) which is then toasted over the fire. They were delicious. For our part we provided all with glasses of Ipana-palm irish cream. It's much like Amarula Cream, though perhaps a bit more chocolaty.
By the end of the evening we were great friends. We exchanged email addresses and invitations to visit. Elsa insists we must come to Cape Town and stay in their guest cottage.

****** END OF POST *************

2011-09-09T23:59:00.000-04:00

Kubu Island, Maun, Moremi Game Reserve, breakdown

(posted from Marang Hotel campground, Francistown, BW)
(This post covers 1 – 8 September, 2011)

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Thursday, 8 September -

This morning we arose at dawn (0600) and headed for South Gate of Moremi to exit the park. About a click before the gate we startled a youngish bull elephant which trumpeted at us as it dashed for the bush; it had been hidden behind some dense growth as we approached.
We were intending to turn toward Savuti for our connection to Linyanti but two clicks past the gate the truck started acting odd. I'd push the accelerator and it would do nothing. The engine light came on and the truck idled for a bit, then stalled. It would start up okay but pushing the accelerator did nothing. The manual told is the engine light symbol meant 'Take your vehicle to a Toyota dealer' (thanks!!).
After checking over the engine for any obvious problems we dug out the satellite phone and called Bushlore and talked with Mark. He advised another visual check while he talked to their mechanic and had a look at HiLux like ours for ideas.
In the meantime we had a few passers-by come by, all of them stopping to be sure we were okay. One guy said it's water in the fuel. I found the fuel filter drain and drained off an inch of fuel and did see some tiny water drops which looked like grains of sand but the engine acted the same afterward.
I called Mark back and reviewed the situation and he said he'd call someone in Maun to dispatch a mechanic out. Another passer-by asked if I had checked the air filter. I had indeed looked at it several days ago but only gave it a brief glance. I took out the air cleaner element and tried the engine again. It worked! The engine returned to normal and appeared to accelerate just fine. I put the air filter element back in place and expected to replicate the original problem but that didn't happen-- everything seemed to be fine now.
We drove back to the South Gate and I called Mark again. He said he'd call off the mechanic and I said I wanted to go to Maun and put in a replacement air filter since this one was very dirty. He agreed.
We drove back toward Maun and met the mechanic at the veterinary fence (also called the 'buffalo-fence' these are fences erected by the government to prevent the spread of hoof-and-mouth disease to cattle). I followed the mechanic back to the shop and spoke with Mac MacKenzie about the problem. We agreed it probably was a fuel or sensor problem and a replacement air cleaner element wouldn't hurt if I could find one. I had noticed fuel on the side of the engine and as we stood there talking one of the mechanics asked about a drip under the engine. That turned out to be a small leak from the rear fuel injector and was easily remedied with a 17mm wrench (I had tried tightening it at the South Gate but the largest wrench in the truck's tool kit was a 15 mm and pliers didn't do much). I gave Mac a 100 Pula for his trouble and moved on. But it's nice to know who the go-to guy is in Maun for recoveries and repairs. Mac also outfits Land Rovers for self-drive safari's so perhaps we'll do business in the future.
We then were running to late to make our Linyanti booking so we went to the concessionaire to try to change it but no-go; their other camp at Savuti was full. I also picked up and installed a new air filter element from the Autozone at Riley's Garage.
We returned to Sedia for another night and had showers and pizza and a good sleep.

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Wednesday, 7 September -

We arose early and went on a game-drive this morning. Moremi is mostly underwater it seems. The rains in Angola flow down the Okavango Delta, flooding Moremi each year. This year is said to be even higher than the record-setting flooding of 2009 and 2010. Unfortunately that means we couldn't drive most of the roads in the Reserve.
We drove to nearby Paradise Pools, an oasis of greenery among all the drab foliage of winter. We saw many impala and lechwe and loved just hanging out in this area-- it did indeed seem like a paradise.
We then drove toward Third Bridge. We came upon five giraffes feeding near the road and spent a long time watching them. The females are quite lighter in color than the males and we liked seeing the very, very tall male and the awkwardness of the young giraffes.
We then found ourselves in a very sandy patch. I missed a down-shift and we found ourselves very, very stuck in the sand. We got out the spade and sand-ladders (long rubber mats to put under the tires) and spent about 45 minutes trying to get out with no success at all. Two guys happened along in a bush-truck but couldn't stay to help-- they were rushing to the airstrip to meet a plane. But one guy did give us some confidence that we could get the truck out-- we just had to do a better job of digging out the sand from under “the dif” (the truck's rear-differential gear housing). We dug for another 20 minutes or so when along came another bush-truck from one of the nearby camps (Wilderness Dawning Safaris). This time two guys jumped out and plunged into the task. One took the spade and began digging out sand from under the dif and the underslung spare tire. The other went in search of three or four-inch logs and told us they'd work much better than sand ladders. When given the signal I gave it a try but the engine seemed to load up right away when I tried to pull out (I later found this was due to the dirty air cleaner) so I just managed to get stuck again a bit further along. We all dug for 20 minutes or so and we connected their tow-strap with mine and to the vehicles for a tow. One of the guys asked if it would be okay if he tried the driving and between the digging-out, the logs, and the tow, and Labashi and I pushing against the tailgate, we got it up on higher ground. We said our thanks to the guys and I gave each 100 Pula for their help. We decided to retreat at that point because we didn't want to deal with any more deep sand so we detoured around the big sand-hole and got back to better track. On the way back to Xaxanaxa we briefly got stuck again but this time the limited-slip differential got us out-- we hadn't bottomed out as hard.
We then drove back to Paradise Pools and found shade for a nice, relaxing lunch. As we wrapped up our long lunch we heard what sounded like a dog bark once in the distance. And before long we saw a lone baboon. Then, a minute later, another. And another. And then the main troupe of baboons and vervet monkeys, including the cutest little babies clinging to their moms.
We returned to camp and had luxurious hot showers at the very modern, solar-powered ablution block. At 1600 we ventured out again on a game drive, exploring the roads up to the flooded areas. Then turning back. Back at Paradise Pools we took another jeep-trail and soon encountered two big elephants tearing away at trees. And while parked watching them we saw a big monitor lizard come waddling out of the bush and turn down the track.
We returned to camp by sunset (we're required to be in by 1730), built our fire and had supper, then caught up on blog notes and planning for the next few days.

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Tuesday, 6 September -

Today we did a bit of last-minute provisioning (fuel and pula) and headed out of Maun for Moremi National Game Reserve. Right after entering the gate we saw a dozen elephants very close to the road and on both sides of us. In fact we backed off a bit to give them more space and not crowd the young ones and their very watchful (and HUGE) mothers. They were grouped close together (one group on each side of the road) and were slowly flapping their sail-like ears to keep cool in the 90-plus heat of the afternoon.
We arrived at Xaxanaxa (“kak-a-nak-a”) camp about four and settled in to our site. Ours was well away from the 'ablution block' (the bathrooms-and-showers building)--- far enough that it was too dangerous to walk at night. We didn't put up the roof-top tent until late in the evening so we could drive to the ablution block just before bedtime. The only problem this gave me, though, was that I had to leave the fire. The wood had burned down a bit but I spread out the remainder in case the wind came up suddenly. I could see the the campsite in the distance from the ablution block but if a wildfire started it would get out of control quickly. Fortunately the wind was very light.
We had a 5/8 moon tonight and sat out enjoying the stars. I bought Labashi a southern-skies star book when we were in Maun and we picked out the Southern Cross and Scorpio (which she says looks like a great white shark).
Oh, yeah. And we saw the aftermath of an airplane accident which happened this morning. As we approached the Xaxanaxa gate we saw an oddly-tilted 172 in the trees off the end of the grass landing strip. Several guys were standing around it, including the pilot. We learned at the gate that it had run off the end of the strip just before noon this morning. The pilot claimed his brakes had failed but I think he had landed downwind. The wings and most of the fuselage looked ok but the prop was bent and the landing gear partially torn away. The plane had mounted a pile of logs and debris at the forest edge, saving the wings but creating a bit of a nightmare to recover the plane. It will be a long, dusty drive for a crane-truck.

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Monday, 5 September -

Barking dogs awakened us in the night but we were able to get back to sleep. The dogs are a mixed blessing. At Kwa Nokeng Lodge camp we were glad to have them. We could tell from different dogs barking which way the night-wildlife was moving. But they tend to bark TOO much in some areas-- like fenced-in camps. Here at Maun the dog was too close-- perhaps 50 meters-- and demonstrated remarkable barking stamina.
We spent much of today shopping and running down our bookings for the parks. When you arrive at the wildlife office they give you a map of vicinity showing the camp concessionaires. You select which camps you'd like to book, go to that office to check availability and to pay, then return to the wildlife office to pay for your park admission fees for each person and for the vehicle. You cannot enter the park or reserve with your own vehicle without a confirmed booking. The alternative is to camp at a lodge outside the reserve and buy seats for a 'game drive' into the reserve.
We booked campsites for the next five days in Moremi Reserve and Chobe National Park at Xakanaxa and Linyanti (2 days each), and Ihaha (1 day), respectively. We had tried to get a Savuti reservation but it was booked for the next week or so (more on that later!)
For lunch we tried a Barcelo's fast-food restaurant. We had a very tasty chicen stir-fry and noticed they have wi-fi and newspapers. We didn't have time to take advantage of the wi-fi but browsed the South African Sunday paper while eating.
We had to make several trips to the booking offices and wildlife office and we booked a late-afternoon scenic flight in a Cessna 172.
At 1630 we went to the Maun airport for our scenic flight over the Okavango Delta. The flight cost $350 for an hour's flight for the two of us. Our pilot was a young South African who explained that we'd be flying at 500 feet and would see animals but he's not allowed to circle the animals or follow them in any way. The trick, then, was to look ahead and try to pick out animals and the pilot would bank the plane on the animal-side to give us a better view. But honestly, we're in a plane doing 100 miles an hour looking into the setting sun much of the time, trying to spot animals among trees and bushes. We did see a herd of water buffalo, giraffes, and elephants but the view was a fleeting one. It still was very cool to see them from this angle, though. We got a sense of where they were in relation to the river and to the various types and concentrations of vegetation.
After the flight we returned to the Sedia campground for the night. We had a very tasty Mexican pizza for our long, dawdling dinner. As we were leaving, the floor manager invited us to stay for a traditional dance display. Eight girls dressed in traditional clothing of leopard-skin patterns and colors danced and sang in a very interesting chant-response series of songs for the next hour. We learned these were dances of celebration of a young girl's transition into womanhood. The dancing was a series of individual performances, each girl altering the pattern, adding creative moves. Some also invited guests to join briefly. A Spanish group was attending and one woman did a Flamenco version of the dance. That sounds ridiculous but given that the traditional dance involved a lot of very rhythmic foot-stomping, the Flamenco was just a creative twist on it and brought a hearty laugh.
Labashi and I each had our brief call to the stage and our inept tries to duplicate the moves of the girl were hilarious. Also, the women were instructed in uulation and Labashi surprised everyone with an incredibly loud and near-perfect scream-warble (!!!!).
We slept very well after that and for once the dogs were quiet.

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Sunday, 4 September -

Today we got up early so we could be sure to be out of the park by 1100. I'm not sure that's a great rule. At the prices we paid for entry and camping, we shouldn't have to be out of the reserve until at least mid-afternoon so there's time to park and observe at multiple sites.
After the gate, we buzzed the 40k sand road out to Rakops where we once again topped off the 160-liter tank (actually it's two 80-liter tanks plus I have 40 liters more in jerry-cans on the roof).
We drove on to Maun, arriving there by about 1530. As we drove Labashi looked for a lodge with camping and, hopefully, an internet cafe nearby. We were lucky to find the Sedia Lodge, which not only had camping but also had an internet cafe next door. After check-in we showered and had a drink at the pool bar. I had brought along the laptop to the bar so we could get emails and the blog ready to go at the internet cafe. When I opened the laptop, it found a wi-fi hotspot right there at the pool-bar. That was great! We could work there while sipping wine and the connection was free. And, remarkably, the camping charge was only $11 per night. And to top it off, right after I connected, a Skype video call came in from Maypo. He had seen I was online and gave me a call. That just seemed incredible to be sitting in a bar in Botswana while talking to Maypo sitting in his home office back in Chambersburg--- and it was a free call!
That evening we celebrated our Kalahari adventure with a nice meal out at the lodge restaurant. I had filet and Labashi had the extensive buffet.
We went to bed as quite happy campers that night!

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Saturday, 3 September -

We arose at 0630 and were underway by 0745. We had a poor sleeping-night last night, not because of the animals but because of wind. The wind acted very oddly; we kept getting brushed by violent whirls – mini-dust-devils-- which flapped the tent and kept us awake. Between listening for lions and reacting to the thrashing of the tent, we didn't get a lot of sleep. As dawn neared, though, the wind stopped and we slept deeply for a few hours.
We drove the Sunday Pan loop this morning and that led us up to Leopard Pan, where we saw our first lion tracks.... definitely an exciting moment.
We then drove south toward the Deception Valley. I had wanted to visit here since reading 'Cry of the Kalahari', an excellent book about two young researchers who in the Seventies drove out to Deception Valley to bush-camp and make detailed observations of lions and brown hyenas. Their story is extraordinary and I was very happy to get to see Deception Pan and the Deception Valley for myself.
We saw our first honey-badger along the way and thought it rare but within a few hours we had seen four of them. They have a reputation for being very nasty but these guys ignored us. Then again we didn't get out of the car with them nearby.
We drove on to the Letihua Valley for our second night's camp, taking the time to tour each loop-drive. We checked the Letihua waterhole but there wasn't much action. We did see our first bat-eared fox here, though. We stayed until nearly dark and then returned to camp for supper and to build our lion-fire.
We were a lot calmer about it tonight. It finally occurred to us that lions aren't going to come rushing out of the bush at us. We need to keep our wits about us around camp--- both for lions and hyenas--- but we can go about our business with little fear of an attack. Then again, we don't go for long walks, either.

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Friday, 2 September -

We 'stood up' (as Labashi's Uncle Joe used to say) at 0630 and were underway by 0800 today. We've got to work down our time for breaking camp. We circled Kubu Island one last time to see the baobab trees and salt flats in the morning light.
We drove a few hours back to Lethalakane, fueled up and hit the SPAR again and then headed northwest toward Rakops and the turnoff to the Central Kalahari Game Reserve ('the CKGR'). After topping off fuel at Rakops we turned off the hard road and drove 40K of sandy-but-ok road to the entrance gate. There we paid our camping and entrance fees, bought some wood (mainly because the responded to my declining wood with 'But, sir, you need wood to make fire to keep away the lions!').
By then were nearing dusk and so it seemed more urgent to get to camp before dark. We encountered a few deep-sand sections that gave me pause but the truck seemed to handle them well.
We found our camp at Sunday Pan 2 an hour or so before dark and we hurried a bit to get a fire built and supper made before full dark. I also set up our LPG gas bottle and put on the lantern to give us some more light to ward off the scaries (as if that would do it!)
We spent a bit of a nervous first evening, staying close to the fire and the truck. We're advised not to wander more than 100 meters from the campsite but there's enough growth around that even ten meters outside the cleared area of the camp you feel vulnerable.
As the fire burned down we did some reading and planning by headlamp as we sat in the front seats of the truck.
Today we had seen gemsbok (oryx), kori bustard, springbok, and black-backed jackal.

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Thursday, 1 September -

We arose at 0630 and were on the road by 0900-- headed for Kubu Island. This is an island surrounded by land, in this case the Sowa Pan. The Pan is a salt-lake bed. In the rainy season the water can be up to your knees here but in the dry season (now), it's a pancake-flat expanse of white salt. Kubu Island is a rocky outcrop which is very striking in appearance. Among the rocks are massive baobab trees (and other trees I can't name), all large in scale. The baobab tree bark has a reddish hue and when the sun nears the horizon they take on an incredibly beautiful color.
To reach Kubu Island we drove to Lethalakane where we shopped at the SPAR (supermarket) and hit the NEDBank ATM for 2000 pula (about $70) for walk-around money.
Kubu Island is also known as Lethubu Island which led to some confusion as we read signs and tried to compare to our guide book. The track out to Kubu gave us our first taste of driving in a remote area. There were multiple paths, unsigned y-intersections, a few massive potholes, and some short deep-sand stretches. Our Tracks4Africa SIM card in our GPS did a good job of sorting it out.
We arrived at Kubu about two hours before dark, took a break and then a short walk to photograph the trees as the sun fell very low in the sky. We had supper after twilight and then walked over to talk with two guys from Ohio camped a few sites over. It turned out they had grown up in western Pennsylvania and one had lived in Botswana for a few years some 25 years ago and was returning to see how things had changed.
From them we learned we had been fortunate to have rented through Bushlore. They had also rented a GPS but the outfitter failed to put the Tracks4Africa chip in it so it was virtually useless. The base map for southern Africa has so little detail that there's nothing but the hard roads. They had gotten lost several times on the way out to Kubu.
After our visit we returned to camp and sat out watching for shooting stars. We saw three-- one of them a 'sizzler', i.e., one so bright and long-lasting that it seems to sizzle as it crosses the sky.
We went to bed at 2130 and read for a bit before falling into a very deep sleep.

******* END OF POST ***********

2011-08-31T23:59:00.000-04:00

South Africa and Botswana (!!!!!!!)

(posted from Sedia Hotel Pool Bar, Maun, Botswana)
(This post covers 21 – 31 August, 2011)

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Wednesday, 31 August -

Today we decided to stay another night at the Sanctuary and use the day for planning. We spent the morning reading up on future destinations and around lunch time drove into Serowe. We were very lucky to find a guide and a policeman available during lunchtime to take us to the cemetary of the chiefs and to the Seretse Khama statue. Again, we were treated to wonderful hospitality and a detailed description of what we were seeing. The cemetary, for example, lies atop a hill overlooking the town of Serowe and the guide did a great job of pointing out the sights and explaining the layout of the various political divisions (the 'wards').
We also drove by the Kgotla, which is where the representatives of the people meet with the chief and the various 'uncles' who rule the tribe. As we drove by we saw them in session.
Afterwards we returned to the Sanctuary and did a game drive. We saw 7 rhinos, a mongoose, impala, springbok, four ostriches, woodbuck, hornbills, and a black-backed jackal. We encountered two rhinos blocking the road and had to retreat or risk a charge; their body language was very clear!
After dark we returned to campsite 7 and had a spaghetti dinner. We went to bed at 2130, very happy to be in Botswana.

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Tuesday, 30 August -

Today was a GREAT day. After breakfast and pack-up, we drove to the Malemi Pan waterhole to start our tour. The parade of wildlife just got better and better. We saw zebras, springbok, wildebeest, red hartebeest, an eagle, kudu, warthogs, rhinos, giraffes, ostriches, lechwe, a lizard of some type, yellow mongoose, eland, gemsbok, waterbuck, impala (and others!). WOW.
We spent the entire day touring the various game trails but the Malemi Pan was definitely the best.
Late in the day we had tea at the restaurant and then went back to the Malemi Pan for more. We then had supper of chicken livers and peri-peri sauce (a hot sauce).
Back at the campground we set up and sat around celebrating our incredible good luck to have seen so much at the Sanctuary.

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Monday, 29 August -

This morning I bought a Botswana SIM card at the nearby gas station for my prepaid GSM phone I had bought in South Africa. Now I can use either the South Africa card of the Botswana card as best fits. We drove on toward the Khama Rhino Sanctuary near Serowe, about 150k north. In Serowe we had a super tour of the Serowe Museum by a very friendly guide named Kabo. Thank God we've been reading up on Botswana and knew the story of Seretse Khama and had some background on Serowe and the line of succession of the chiefs. The tour was so rich with information we could barely keep up as it was. If we had known nothing of Serowe, we'd have been lost. Good job, Kabo!
We then drove on to the nearby Khama Rhino Sanctuary and its campground. We arrived just a few minutes before dark but we're now comfortable with the set-up process so we didn't mind.
We spent the evening enjoying our beautiful (and quiet!) campsite and did a few small things like testing the satellite phone, charging up batteries, etc.
Note: We are basically following the 'Best of Botswana' itinerary from our outfitter but instead of having them book our reservations, we're winging it. We did not want to get locked into a schedule. Also, most reservations are non-refundable. If we were unlucky enough to have a vehicle breakdown we could very easily find ourselves with a long string of missed reservations for which we'd have to pay but could not use.

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Sunday, 28 August -

Today we drove from our campsite near Pretoria to the Botswana border. We fueled up along the turnpike-like N1 and got our first introduction to rural African life after turning off onto the N11 toward Botswana. There were donkey carts half-on the road, goats and cattle in the roadway, and people walking everywhere. The villages are a mix of rondavels and more modern concrete-block construction, all very small compared to US homes. We're visiting in very early Spring so vegetation is dead (though we see a few buds starting to peek out). We have to be careful of our driving, both because we're not used to driving on the left side of the road and there are lots of people and animals right on the roadway-- far more than at home.
We reached the Botswana border around 1630 and had an easy crossing. The officials are polite and very helpful. They seem to think our attempts at saying a few Setswana words are hilarious.
After the crossing we stopped at a lodge and campground just the other side of the border. We had a whole section of the campground to ourselves. At Reception, we learned there was an internet connection and were told there was damage to homes in Pennsylvania due to Hurricane Irene. We spent a few minutes on email and learned from our neighbor that our house was fine though he had lost some trees in the 50-mile-an-hour winds and three inches of rain associated with Irene.
We ate at the lodge that evening and had a very good beef stew over rice and the best sugared squash we've ever had.
Before dark we had seen a waterbuck feeding along the Limpopo River and that night we heard hippos from our tent.
We also heard something stirring in the brush near us but we felt secure in our rooftop tent.

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Saturday, 27 August -

This morning we looked up the nearest Outdoors Warehouse on the GPS and went in search of it in Pretoria. We were looking for a porta-potty. The outfitter supplied us with a 'bush toilet' but that's just a folding seat with a hole in it. I had expected we'd get a Thetford porta-pottie because I had seen them in the outfitter's catalog and just assumed that's what they'd supply. But the outfitter said they used to supply them but found them to be less-than-acceptable hygene-wise. That is indeed the case if you don't manage it properly or make mistakes in the dumping process. The GPS took us to the Brooklyn Mall. We never did find the Outdoors Warehouse there but did some more shopping at 'Game' for miscellaneous small items (12v splitter, 12v socket with battery clips, spare batteries, night-bottles for the tent, etc. We had a wonderful lunch at Bugatti Cafe... a newish chain of upscale restaurants here in South Africa.
Since we spent the greater part of the day at the mall, we decided we'd better not try to find a new campground tonight but rather would return the short distance to Fountain Valley. Unfortunately for us it was Saturday night and a special one at that. There was live music and a lot of it in the picnic area. The extra-heavy bass shook our tent walls till 0200 Sunday morning. For some reason I wasn't bothered much by it. I slept well until 0100, was awake an hour, then again slept very well.

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Friday, 26 August -

This morning we had our guesthouse-breakfast (lots of choices and very good) then were picked up by the van for the hour's drive to the Bushlore offices where we'd be picking up our rental 4x4.
We spent the morning checking in and going through all the details associated with the truck rental-- agreements, payments, checklists, introductions to equipment, and lots and lots of questions.
We wrapped up by about noon and used the GPS to take us to a nearby mall to provision. We shopped for food, a prepaid cell phone, and pepper spray.
While Labashi finished up the food shopping I used our new cell phone to call campgrounds. I found one about an hour out of Johannesburg called 'Fountain Valley'.
We made it to Fountain Valley after a few wrong turns and arrived around 1800, just at dark. We picked a campsite and set up, then celebrated our arrival in Africa with a toast of “Amurula”, an Irish-cream-style drink which uses the fruit of the Marula tree (reportedly a favorite of elephants). It's very similar to Bailey's or St. Brendan's Irish Cream.
We thought we had it made in our campground but as the evening wore on we wondered why we were still hearing loud music. The music lasted until midnight and wasn't too bad with earplugs. But with the excitement of our arriving in South Africa, highway noise from the nearby road, and the music, we didn't get a lot of sleep. I remember seeing 3 am with no sleep but then crashed heavily.

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Thursday, 25 August -

Our plane landed on time at O.R. Tambo International in Johannesburg. Our luggage came out very quickly and the passport check and customs check were very quick and easy. At the Information Desk we saw a guy holding a sign with our name and the logo of the guesthouse we selected for our first night in South Africa (SunRock Guesthouse).
We checked in to our room and by 1030 local we were sleeping. We caught about four hours of sleep, showered and started planning our next day.
That evening we had dinner-- a South African 'braai', or steak cookout, in the SunRock's 'lapa', a grass-roofed enclosed pavilion. We had a few glasses of wine and a truly excellent char-grilled steak with a superb mushroom sauce.
We were joined by a fellow guesthouse resident, Allan Perkins. He's an Englishman working as a non-desctructive-testing specialist at a Johannesburg power plant. He lives at the guesthouse for six months, goes home for a few weeks, then returns for another stint. He was great entertainment for our evening.
We turned in fairly early-- around 2100-- and read.

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Wednesday, 24 August -

We arose at 0500 this morning and were on the road to Dulles by 0530. The trip was very quick and easy as was check-in with Jet Blue and the security check. By 0645 we were at our gate and ready for our 0815 flight. Next door was a Five Guys stand so we split a cheeseburger for breakfast (Ahh, comfort food!!).
Our Jet Blue flight to New York was ontime and very easy but at New York we hit a snag. We only had an hour between flights but had to take a shuttle the whole way around JFK to get to our stop, then go through the security line again. We made it to the gate ten minutes after boarding started but that worked out fine... we could walk right on. It all turned out fine-- we just didn't like not knowing whether we'd make it on time or not.
Our South African Airways flight to Johannesburg was to be a 15-hour one so we settled in and tried to imagine how we'd stay comfortable for so long. The Airbus 360-300 had good legroom and seat-back displays and the beverages and meals were included so there were no hassles there.
Not long after take-off and leveling out the crew came around and served us South African wines, then a good, filling meal. We were told a second meal (breakfast) would be served about two hours before landing.
We spent the time watching movies (I watched 'Paul' and 'Casablanca') and by reading. Every hour or so we'd get up for a stretch.
We had departed at 1130 (am) Eastern time and by midnight we were over the western coast of Africa at Namibia. With a time difference of six hours, that meant the sun was rising. Shortly thereafter the cabin lights came on and we were served a very good breakfast in preparation for our 0830 arrival in Johannesburg.

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Tuesday, 23 August -

Today we drove to Labashi's brother's house in the Washington, DC area. We'll leave our car with them and catch a ride to the airport for our hop to New York and then the flight to Johannesburg.
As we drove south we were on US15 nearing Frederick, MD when we received a text from Maypo. “Did you feel the earthquake?” it said. My reply was “Hunh?”. About 40 minutes previous there had been a 5.8-magnitude earthquake centered around Mineral, VA. We hadn't noticed a thing.
We turned on the radio and listened to breathless descriptions of the damage to the National Cathedral and to the Tyson's Corners area. But we had no problems driving down 15 past Leesburg and on to Manassas.
We spent a fun evening with our friends and had a home-made spaghetti supper.

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Monday, 22 August -

Tomorrow's departure day. We continued refining our gear and going over checklists and doing the final packing.

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Sunday, 21 August -

Now the packing starts for the Africa trip. We spent the day finalizing contents and making (and unmaking) decisions on what to take along. I spent an inordinate amount of time on cash and passport stashes. I had bought money belts, leg safe, sock safe, belt-loop stash, etc and needed to test each. The leg safe was a complete bust (the straps-around-the-calf thing just doesn't work for me) but the others seemed okay.
We also began packing our suitcases and it became clear I'd need another. I could load my stuff into the bags we have but I'd have to find a luggage cart to lug the stuff around. I'd rather not deal with that so we drove to the Wal-mart and I bought a bag with skateboard wheels and a long handle. That'll do just fine and could be used as carry-on luggage if I wanted.

***** END OF POST ********

2011-08-20T23:59:00.001-04:00

Wrapping up House 2 refurb ; continuing prep for trip

(posted from home)
(This post covers 1 – 20 August, 2011)

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Saturday, 20 August -

We drove to Chambersburg this morning for a long day of cleaning and refinishing the hardwood floors in three bedrooms, the hall, and living room. In this case we're not sanding down the floor, we're just applying a refinisher. Much of our challenge was in getting the floor cleared and then going over it closely with a razor-blade scraper and can of Goof-Off in hand, looking for paint spots. We gave the floors a multi-pass sweep with the vacuum cleaner, then cleaned it with a spray pre-finishing cleaner before returning an hour later with the final refinisher coat.
We had left home at 0730 this morning and worked till 1830 to get the floor done today and then drove back home. We had a few stops to make on the way home-- dinner at Wendy's, returns at Lowe's and Home Depot. We finally pulled in the driveway about 2100, completely exhausted.

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Friday, 19 August -

Our visitors left early this morning and we buzzed down to York for our second Hep B injection. We spent the rest of the day planning our Africa trip.

-----------------------

Thursday, 18 August -

We spent the morning with our visitors then drove over to visit Mom and Dad in the afternoon and had supper with them. Great day.

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Wednesday, 17 August -

Today our visitors arrived. Labashi's sister and her two sons came to visit Mom and Dad (and us!). They arrived late in the day and we had a great evening catching up.

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Tuesday, 16 August -

We spent much of the morning cleaning house for visitors for the next few days.
That evening we watched 'The United States of Tara' episodes.

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Monday, 15 August -

Today we had a lot of little miscellaneous tasks. We touched up paint and began cleaning up the house to prepare for re-doing the hardwood floors.
That evening we drove home and watched 'Robert Magabe and the White African', a very interesting documentary about the president of Zimbabwe and his 'war' on white farmers there.

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Sunday, 14 August -

This morning Labashi went to work finishing the color coat on the risers and treads of the stairway while I replaced a light over the kitchen sink. The old installation was far from standard so I had some problems mounting the new light. But I eventually got it. I was in the process of congratulating myself when I realized I had made a rookie error. I had replaced a light with a pull-chain with one without. That meant I had no way to turn the light off (short of turning off the breaker)..
I sheepishly replaced the old fixture and packed up the light for return to Lowe's. We'll have to look for another pull-chain fixture. The old one is in good shape, we just wanted to modernize the look so it's not that big of a deal but of course did waste my time when we're pushing to get done before our trip.
This morning when we inspected the basement floor we thought we were okay with just the single coat of paint. But as the morning progressed (and the paint fully dried) we saw we really needed to do another coat. We had some color bleed-through of the old gray paint through the new sandstone paint. We made a quick trip to the hardware store for more paint and put it down that afternoon. Once the first coat is on another coat only takes an hour so we probably should have just planned on that from the beginning. Lesson learned.
The basement looks great!
We then drove home.

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Saturday, 13 August -
We drove to Chambersburg this morning and jumped on the job for the weekend-- painting the basement floor and stairs. We spent the day cleaning and scraping and washing down the concrete floor and put on the color coat on the stairway underside and railing. We also finished the walls and ceiling of the stairwell.

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Friday, 12 August -

I spent much of the day researching a medical condition which has suddenly arisen in the family. I don't want to go into details here but this is a bit of a shock and requires immediate attention.

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Thursday, 11 August -

I spent an hour or so cleaning the house before we go away for the weekend and then researched water-timers. We need to set up an automated means for watering the new grass at the Chambersburg house twice a day. That afternoon I rode down to Rocky Ridge and walked my five-mile end-to-end course in 1:45.
That evening we started 'Dexter' Season Four.

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Wednesday, 10 August -

Today I researched and ordered a Steripen for our trip. This will provide a means for us to sterilize water. Our rental truck will have a water tank but we'll need to replenish. I'd like to have a gravity water filter too but haven't decided whether to go ahead with that or not.
I also researched portable battery chargers for our lithium camera batteries and ordered a spare battery for our new little Canon.
That evening we watched the end of season DVD for 'Treme', Season One. Good stuff.

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Tuesday, 9 August -

I was happy to be home today and didn't mind working on bills all day. I had to pull all the insurance statements and three-month's worth of bank statements to determine why a statement showed I had missed paying for a procedure I thought I had paid for in advance. That turned out to be my mistake. But at least now I know where I made the mistake.

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Monday, 8 August -

Today we put the first coat of primer on the basement stairs... a long and messy job. We overdid it, of course, also painting the underside of the planks and risers and also the stair horses and the landing.
That evening we drove home and then watched an Alexander MacCall Smith DVD on Botswana and his series 'Number One Ladies Detective Agency'.

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Sunday, 7 August -

Today a local friend, Maypo, and I cut down and removed a large pine tree from the front yard. Our friend is an expert and has the heavy-duty chainsaws, truck, and know-how to make the job relatively easy. My job was mostly one of loading branches onto the tractor for transport down to the hold pile. This pile will be picked up by the township guys on yard-cleanup day this Fall.
I drained the water heater as part of my disinfection process. This was both good for the water heater and prevents the well pump from running so much to flush out the bleach-treated water.
Maypo also shellacked all the knots on the basement stairs in preparation for painting.

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Saturday, 6 August -

Today I replaced locksets on the front and side doors while Labashi continued painting in the kitchen. I also disinfected the house's pipes using Chlorox. We had installed an ultraviolet light water sterilization system recently but hadn't yet disinfected the house's water pipes and hot water heater 'downstream' of the UV light.
Maypo also joined us and trimmed the basement stairway we had built last week. We all then moved to the front lawn with our rakes and shovels and the stone fork. We used the tractor's rake to get the topsoil close to level, the went to work with the hand tools.
By days end we had it cleared off and grass seed planted.

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Friday, 5 August -

We continued work in the kitchen today. While Labashi patched the walls and painted the ceiling, I sanded, painted, and installed baseboard and toe.
I also spent an inordinate amount of time cleaning up the stainless steel sink. We had such a layer of paint on it from cleaning brushes that I had to liberally use Goof-Off to get it cleaned up.
I also installed a new shower rod, this one a curved model which reflects the design of the new vanity. I had to use drywall anchors in the plaster but they went in easily and the new rod looks great. Good call, Labashi!

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Thursday, 4 August -

We drove to Chambersburg this morning. We picked up some supplies on the way and I spent much of the afternoon messing with the kitchen register. The replacement register is six inches shorter than the original so I had to address baseboard and toe issues. Also, the replacement didn't quite cover the floor cutout so I had to fashion a wooden shim from lauan to move the register out from the wall a bit.

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Wednesday, 3 August -

Today I worked on our itinerary for the Africa trip. I had a hard time finding campground information and sent off an email to our outfitter for recommendations then checked out those recommendations.
That evening we watched the Zanzibar episode of the National Geographic Africa series.

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Tuesday, 2 August -

Last night we had a thunderstorm come through and we had a very brief electrical outage. But this morning we found our refrigerator dark. I know it had been working at 2300 but not this morning. Fortunately, the fridge itself was okay. I just used an extension cord to an outlet on another circuit. That got the fridge back online. But then the mystery began.
Somehow I had a short-circuit in a very simple wiring circuit servicing only three outlets. That didn't make sense. Even with nothing plugged in to the outlets, I still couldn't turn the circuit on at the breaker. The breaker would immediately blow each time I turned it on. I swapped in another breaker and the same thing continued to happen.
I noticed the circuit's outlets were 15-amp but the breaker was a 20-amp and the wiring was rated for 20 amps so I decided I'd change out the three outlets. As I put in each new outlet I tested the circuit. And, surprisingly, the short went away when I replaced the second outlet-- one on the wall above the counter.
I took the outlet apart but couldn't find anything even that even remotely looked like a short. I inspected the wires closely but again, nothing.
All I could do was finish the job.
That evening we watched episode 4 of National Geographic Africa.

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Monday, 1 August -

This morning I caught up the blog and updated the online version. I also registered us on the US Consular Affairs website for our trip to Africa. This is mostly a matter of providing family contact points for us in the event of an emergency.
I also ordered several Botswana maps from Amazon.

***** END OF POST ********

2011-07-31T23:59:00.000-04:00

House 2: concrete porch and sidewalk, kitchen floor, UV light install ; stairway re-build ; More Africa research

(posted from home)
(This post covers 22 – 31 July, 2011)

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Sunday, 31 July -

Today I continued online reading about Botswana and South Africa. In the afternoon I rode the GS down to Rudy Park for a walk. I walked the 5K course in the 94-degree heat, thankful for the shade along portions of the route.
That evening we watched the Ethiopia segment on the National Geographic 'Africa' series on Netflix.

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Saturday, 30 July -

Today I continued with my research for the Africa trip, spending much of my time viewing YouTube video clips people made in the areas we'll be traveling. Today my interest was in water crossings, mud, and deep sand in Toyota Hi-Lux pickups like we'll be renting. I also saw several clips on the bush campsites and wilderness campsites in areas we'll be visiting.
After awhile I needed a break so rode the GS down to the Salvation Army store looking for a couple of bland-color tee shirts for the trip (but had no luck). I then hit the Tollgate Starbucks and read the Times, then took the long way home, stopping at the East York gun shop just to see what's in the used-gun inventory these days, then riding down to Long Level and back. It was a specTACular day at Long Level. Sailboats and kayaks, green grass, blue sky, clear water, Rob Evans artwork on display at Shank's Mare.
That evening we watched two 'Good Wife'- Season One episodes.

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Friday, 29 July -

This morning I researched the subject of traveler's diarrhea for our trip. I then rode over to the new Wal-mart and bought over-the-counter drugs for it as well as some emergency dental supplies and two of the N95 masks for the flight. I also picked up two more 16 GB chips for the new camera.
Back home I researched and ordered some traveler's wallets via Amazon.
That evening we watched the rainforest segment on the National Geographic 'Africa' series.

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Thursday, 28 July -

Today was a recovery day for me. I researched the d-Phenothrin insecticide spray used on South African Airways flights and researched protective masks to buy for our trip. We'll need N95-rated masks but they're available at Lowe's and Home Depot and are quite inexpensive. I'm not at all sure they're necessary but I'd rather have them along and not need them than vice-versa. The World Health Organization approves use of this insecticide for this purpose but of course there are always the details-- it's not abundantly clear that it's completely safe, particularly for asthma sufferers.
I also took a fun-ride down to Starbucks just to get out on the F650GS a bit.
That evening we began a seven-part National Geographic series on Africa. Tonight's episodes were about the savannah and sahara desert in the north of the continent.

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Wednesday, 27 July -

Today Orat and I rebuilt the basement stairway, replacing the old 2x4 tread with new yellow-pine treads and white-pine risers and enclosing the sides with a safety railing. We finished up by about 1300 and it was then I remembered there was yet another job I had for Orat. We drove out to Lowe's and bought a storm door and installed it on the front doorway.
We broke for supper at 1700 and afterwards Orat left on his five-hour drive home and I left for my two-hour drive home.

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Tuesday, 26 July -

Orat and I were on our own today but that didn't seem to slow him down! We first finished fitting the vinyl floor and glued it in place. We then turned our attention to the UV light installation in the basement. By lunch time we had the light mounted and tested and only had one small leak to fix after lunch.
That afternoon we planned out the basement stairs and picked up the materials at Lowe's. That evening Maypo took us to his wood-working shop and we cut the stair treads and risers to length and ripped plywood and 2x6's for the stairway safety railings.

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Monday, 25 July -

This morning we knocked the forms off the front porch and turned our attention to the 17-foot-long-by-3-foot-wide sidewalk. I made a run to Lowe's for more pre-mix while Orat and Maypo began mixing and pouring.
After we finished the sidewalk, we moved the mixer to the carport and poured into the forms Orat and Maypo had made up for a concrete step and a 4x4 replacement cap for the well-house. After supper we again came back to finish the troweling and sweep-finish.

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Sunday, 24 July-

Today we finished building forms and made a run to Lowe's for 20 bags of pre-mix. While Orat and Maypo built sidewalk forms, I worked inside on the vinyl flooring, measuring and laying out to fit the odd shape of the kitchen.
That afternoon we poured the concrete of the porch and began the finishing process. We worked until 1800 or so, then made two visits in the evening to trowel and sweep the surface to make a non-slip finish.
That afternoon Maypo also planned out the UV light installation and we made a trip to Lowe's to buy the plumbing parts for it.

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Saturday, 23 July -

Today Labashi and I decided to make the long drive to Chambersburg in separate cars since she will have to return a day or two early for an appointment next week. With hyper-productive Orat in town I want to take advantage of all the time we can get from him so it's well worth it to me to work with him as long as he can stand it.
I had to make a few stops along the way so I left earlier than Labashi. I stopped at Home Depot to pick up a Mini-Pure ultraviolet light and at Lowe's to pick up some boards to make stakes for our concrete forms. I also then had to run out to Sam's Flooring in St. Thomas to pick up two more pieces of exterior-grade lauan for the kitchen floor.
That afternoon was a very hot one but Maypo and Orat (and, to a lesser extent, I) worked on the concrete forms for the front porch. Maypo used the tractor scoop to peel back the lawn turf and remove a large high spot in the front yard. He then brought several scoops of river-rocks up from the woods to fill in the porch's block foundation we had built several weeks ago. Then we built forms and set up our concrete mixer and gathered all the tools we'd need in the morning.

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Friday, 22 July -

I caught up the online blog today and prepared for this weekend's work session with Orat, Maypo, and Labashi. The wheel problem with Mocha Joe turned out to be a stuck caliper and, fortunately, it didn't do any more damage. I still had a $200+ bill for replacement calipers, brakes, and the labor but counted myself lucky.
I drove the van down to West York Wal-mart today for an oil change. Once again, I had a problem there. The garage guy wrote me up for the special Mobil One oil I like but after they drained the crankcase they found they didn't have the oil in stock. I settled for a different weight and, because I had been thinking of trying this one anyway, didn't make a fuss. But I do have to be more careful. All I'd have had to do was check for the oil on the shelves and I could have avoided this. That sounds like going out of my way for something they should routinely do but the oil I like is indeed difficult to find consistently. I should have thought to look.

*********** END OF POST *************

2011-07-21T19:22:00.000-04:00

House 2: bathroom and basement work ; medical prep for Africa trip

(posted from home)
(This post covers 13 to 21 July, 2011)

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Thursday, 21 July-

Today we had to go in to Memorial Hospital to have our TB tests checked. Labashi wanted to have lunch at Texas Roadhouse today but they're not open at lunch time on weekdays. I got on the web to find an alternative and saw listings for La Casa de Tapas in downtown York. Once I saw they have gazpacho on the menu, I was interested and knew Labashi would be too.
That turned out to be a great find. We not only had the gazpacho, we also had ceviche, fried goat-cheese, fried plantains, home-made breads (with olive oil and Balsamic vinegar dip) and both red and white sangrias. I guess we over-did it (especially for a lunch) but we certainly did enjoy this very nice little restaurant.
We then drove on to the hospital's Industrial Resource Center to have our TB tests checked. This part of the process is establishing a baseline before our trip.
We then went to the East-side Wal-mart to pick up our malaria-prevention prescriptions. They only had enough pills on hand to fill one of our prescriptions but will have the other filled by tomorrow.
While at the Wal-mart I had a chance to look for a small camera for our trip. I really liked one I saw but of course needed more info from the Web. Back home I was pleasantly surprised to find that this model-- the Canon SX230 HS-- is rated very highly by multiple digital-camera review sites. I think I may have found just what we need.
Oh, yeah. On the way home we stopped at the local Toyota dealer to look over a Tacoma 4-door pickup. The Tacoma is the US version of the Toyota 'HiLux' pickup we'll be renting in Africa (the HiLux is diesel-powered and right-hand drive, though). We happened to get a very friendly sales guy who wasn't put off by the fact that we weren't really there to buy and in fact was very interested in our trip. He did a very thorough job of introducing us to the various Tacoma options, trim-levels, and features. Nicely done, sir.
That evening we watched 'United States of Tara' episodes.

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Wednesday, 20 July-

More medical stuff today. We're not feeling any ill effects from the vaccines though our arms are a bit stiff and sore at the needle sites. I rode the Concours up to my dentist's office for the insertion of a crown this morning.
In the extra-hot afternoon weather I took the F650GS over to my tax-prep person to drop off a form and then spent the rest of the afternoon catching up the blog.
That evening we resumed watching 'The Good Wife'- Season One episodes.

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Tuesday, 19 July -

Today our main objective was to get our immunizations for the Africa trip. We spent the entire afternoon at Memorial Hospital in York. A doctor gave us minor physicals and then we reviewed the CDC immunization recommendations for travel to South Africa and Botswana. We then were both given immunizations for Hep-A, Hep-B, and yellow fever, plus prescriptions for typhoid and malaria pills as well as a TB baseline test.
That evening we watched a documentary called '21Up Africa: Mandela's Children'. This film series follows the fortunes and misfortunes of seven South Aftrican children at seven-year intervals. The subjects were drawn from very different backgrounds and it's quite interesting to see how they've grown and changed.
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Monday, 18 July -

This morning I installed the replacement wall-telephone jack after repairing the wall with Plaster Patch. I also once again 'fixed' the front and carport doors. These fir doors expand so much in the heat and humidity that they begin sticking so badly that they have to be kicked open.
Labashi finished up the repair and painting work to the medicine cabinet and light fixture in the bathroom. We then pulled nails, cleaned, and sanded the vintage baseboard trim and toe strip and Labashi gave them a coat of paint.
By 1500 we were wiped out. We loaded up Labashi's car and headed home. Along the way we shopped at the Home Depot for a replacement toilet seat to match the new color scheme.
We arrived home around 1800 and settled in quickly, then watched the final two episodes of 'Shaka Zulu'.

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Sunday, 17 July-

This morning I finished the vanity's plumbing and we turned on the water. We had a leak in one of the compression fittings and that took several tries to resolve. The soft-copper pipe had been bent, so that took it a bit out-of-round and the compression fitting didn't like that. After futzing with it for awhile I called Maypo for ideas and he came over and got it done.
In the meantime Labashi had re-started our basement-painting project. Maypo and I joined her for an afternoon paint-party and we the basement walls its second and final coat of Drylok Extreme.
The dehumidifier has been working overtime but did have the basement down around 50% humidity. The number climbed to 69% while we painted but by the next morning was back down to $50.
That evening we went to dinner with Maypo and his wife at Norland Pub, then we reaturned to watch the last two eps of 'Nurse Jackie, Season Two'

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Saturday, 16 July-

We re-installed the toilet and installed the new bathroom vanity today. I had cut off the water pipes leading into the bathroom because of the old-style copper-to-chrome transitions so needed to extend the water pipes up through the floor using short lengths of copper and compression fittings. While I worked on that Labashi disassembled and cleaned the light fixture above the medicine cabinet and gave the cabinet a very thorough cleaning.
We then set the vanity in place and I leveled it and bolted it down, then added the sink/top. We had hoped to turn water on today but I wasn't quite ready by the end of the day.
We watched more 'Treme', Season One that evening.

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Friday, 15 July -

Today we worked on the bathroom floor in House 2. Last week I had cut OSB subfloor sections to fit the floor's odd shape and today used them as a pattern to cut lauan plywood as underlayment for the sheet-vinyl flooring material. We used the lauan pattern to cut the sheet-vinyl. I then screwed down the OSB and stapled down the lauan. We then final-fit the vinyl and glued it down.
I made the mistake of using the wrong trowel-notch size so we had an excessive amount of adhesive pushed out around the edges. It was just a bit messy to clean up and then make a final clean-up pass with Goof-Off solvent. Lookin' good!
That evening we watched two episodes of 'Treme'- Season One in our TV room (lawn chairs in front of the laptop balanced on an paint bucket).

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Thursday, 14 July -

This morning my task was to drink a gallon and a half of water and a pint of less-than-pleasant oral contrast solution to prep for my now-yearly CT scan of my kidneys. I had the first pint of contrast last night and then had an intravenous injection of another contrast while on the scanner table. Scans were done before and after the IV contrast. All this to get the best look possible at a growth and (hopefully) confirm that it has not grown significantly.
On the way home I decided to get Mocha Joe washed for our trip to Chambersburg later today. But as I soaped up the left-front wheel, I heard a hissing sound and saw steam. The wheel and aluminum hubcap were very hot. After finishing the wash job I took the van home and jacked up the left-front end and tried turning the wheel. It would only turn a short distance; there's definitely something wrong.
I took it up to the garage and found them very busy and unable to get to the van until early next week. Labashi and I thought it over a bit and decided we could still go to Chambersburg but we'll have to sleep in the house. So of course we had to take air mattresses and a whole car-load of 'stuff'.
On the way to C-burg we stopped at Gettysburg for Labashi to try some shoes she had found on the web (the company has an outlet store in Gettysburg).
We made it to Chambersburg around supper time so hit the Fuddrucker's for a burger before going on to the house and setting up our bedroom for the next few days.
We then watched two episodes of 'Treme' DVD on the laptop, sitting on folding camp chairs. Ah, the joys of the mobile life!

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Wednesday, 13 July -

Today I continued looking through various online forums related to travel in southern Africa. Some contain trip reports, crime reports, reports of animal attacks (or rumors thereof) and they make compelling reading for us.
I've just finished reading 'The Lost World of the Kalahari', a late-Fifties account of a search for 'authentic' Bushmen, now known as the San. This one pulled no punches in explaining the sorry history of white interactions with the San. And I particularly enjoyed the detailed explanations of the preparations for, and journey into, the wilds of Botswana (then Bechuwanaland) in the search of remnants of the San people living in the traditional ways.
Late in the morning I realized I had better mow the lawn since we'll be gone for a few days. I used Labashi's self-powered mower and it worked very well. I was able to mow all in one go of a little over two hours. And so I don't need my walk today!
While Labashi drove up to see how the parental units are doing today, I recovered from my mowing by reading through online accounts of camping in lion and hyena country. I also browsed through websites of various private and public campgrounds to get a sense of price and facilities. One problem I hadn't thought about until now was the problem of noise from other campers. I had envisioned us camping alone most of the time but we'll be in the tail end of the high season there so I need to expect some minor problems.
That evening we watched two more episodes of 'Shaka Zulu', the 1986 mini-series.

****** END OF POST **********

2011-07-12T20:38:00.001-04:00

Visitors for the weekend ; trip research ; medical appointments

(posted from home)
(This post covers 1 – 12 July, 2011)

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Tuesday, 12 July -

Today we slept in a bit (just till 0800) but the kids slept in until 1000. We sat around drinking coffee and talking until the kids got up and then our guests packed up and left on their three-hour trip home.
Labashi went back to her parents' apartment to pick up Dad for a medical appointment and I chased down the oral-contrast drink I'll need to take before my CT scan Thursday.
That afternoon I caught up the blog and we watched a 'Shaka Zulu' episode.

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Monday, 11 July -

Today we all got up early. Labashi had to take her dad to a medical appointment for most of the day so after I dropped off the fishermen I took sis to the beach area to relax. I then ran some errands for an hour or so, then rejoined the fishermen. I was surprised to learn that they were doing very, very well. They had already caught about 50 fish. The fish were all sunnies but that was perfect. The kids were amazed that they could catch fish even on an empty hook. All they had to do was dangle it on the surface and a sunny would jump on the hook!
We finally tore the kids away from fishing at 1330 and joined Sis for a swim. We spent the rest of the day hanging out there. Labashi joined us around 1500 and at least had a few hours of down-time.
Back home we ordered a pizza and spent the evening laughing and talking.

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Sunday, 10 July -

Today our visitors arrived and settled in by mid-afternoon. I took the guys a tour of the local fishing spots while Labashi spent some quality time with her sister.
That evening we went out to dinner at Hillside. Afterwards I drove us to the local Gravity Hill. Our guests loved it and I was once again amazed at how strong the sensation is. As you pull up to the stop sign it's very clear to all that the car is headed downhill. But when I put the car in neutral and step off the brake pedal, we drift backwards... and we don't just drift backwards, the car accelerates. We tried it a few times and talked about what could be happening.

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Saturday, 9 July -

I failed to get my blood test done by today's deadline for my yearly CT scan next week. I made a few calls this morning and found a lab open on Saturdays. I buzzed over to a lab in Emigsville shortly after they opened at 0800 and found about 25 people ahead of me! The wait turned out to be a little over an hour, though, and the process itself was quick and painless.
I then took a tour of local fishing spots in preparation for our visitors tomorrow to see what current conditions are. This weekend is a hot one so I don't expect much in the way of fishing success, though.
After checking out Pinchot Park, I walked for an hour and a half from the dam.
That evening we watched 'Milking the Rhino', a great documentary for our Africa trip. It describes the efforts of governments to encourage local communities to set up game reserves and safari lodges for tourists. But is this really best for local communities or just yet another Western belief imposed on them?
We also watched a 'Shaka Zulu' episode.

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Friday 8 July -

Today I spent a few hours cleaning the house for our visitors coming this weekend. Labashi's sister's family's is coming for a mini-vacation. We're really looking forward to seeing them and taking the kids fishing and swimming and just hanging out at Pinchot Park.
That evening we watched the first two episodes of a new series for us-- 'Treme'. I think we're hooked already.

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Thursday, 7 July -

This morning I buzzed into town running errands. I had a simple mission-- pick up some breakfast bars from our local Wal-mart. But I ended up having to run to two other Wal-marts. The bars we like have been discontinued and I had to round up what remaining stock I could find to cover us for our next Chambersburg work trip. Well, actually, I guess I didn't HAVE to do that but I do enjoy buzzing around on the motorcycle so any excuse will do.
I also took a walk at Rocky Ridge (1:50 today).
That evening we finished 'Breaking Bad' S3D2.

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Wednesday, 6 July -

Today I researched tsetse flies, malaria, sulfa drugs and paracetamol in prep for the trip and looked into insurance coverage for the immunizations we'll need.
That evening we watched 'Breaking Bad' Season Three episodes (DVD2)

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Tuesday, 5 July -

Today I researched maps for our trip and found there's a set of GPS maps which cover most of the area we'll be visiting. I'll have to check whether they're on our rental GPS.
I had an appointment in Chambersburg today with Maypo. I rode the motorcycle over for the 1300 appointment. Afterwards we installed an air conditioner in the living room window of House 2 and then I rode home.
Late in the day I looked around on Netflix for a motorcycle movie and ran onto an interesting one. I watched 'Cycles South', a 1971 home-made documentary about three guys riding from Denver to the Panama Canal. It was corny yet amazing.

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Monday, 4 July -

I spent much of this morning researching Steri-pens and satellite phones. I think I've come to the conclusion that Steri-pens are cool but can't be trusted as the only water-treatment method for trips into remote areas. Also, Steri-pens are at a disadvantage compared to filters when it comes to debris in the water. I'm thinking high-flow gravity filter and chlorine dioxide tabs at this point.
I also spent quite a bit of time on Iridium satphones. Our rental comes with 20 free minutes but then it's $2.50 a minute after that. I see the latest model Iridium supports texting so that might be an answer on how to keep down on wasting satphone minutes.
Looking at satphones reminded me of using one while I was still working. During the Y2K fiasco we had a rental Iridium satphone to communicate with our headquarters and other field sites. The satphone wouldn't work from inside the building without an external antenna. I happened to know there was a bit of space around the air conditioner in my office so I ran the external cable there and mounted the antenna outside on the air conditioner case. The guys made a lot of jokes about my satphone-equipped air conditioner.
That afternoon I rode the motorcycle up to Mom and Dad's apartment to join Labashi for supper with them. I then came home and mowed the lawn until dark.

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Sunday, 3 July-

This morning we learned that Labashi's dad had taken a fall on Friday. She spent the day over there and I ran some errands on the motorcycle, then took a walk at Rocky Ridge (1:50 today).
That evening we watched 'Cry the Beloved Country' on Netflix Instant.

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Saturday, 2 July -

Today Labashi and I wanted some together-time so we drove down to the REI outfitters shop in Timonium. We only bought a few small items but I did pick up some hard-to-find add-ons for the first-aid kit and Labashi found a travel skirt she likes.
On the way home we drove across York to the Texas Roadhouse restaurant for their excellent baby-back ribs. We then did a bit more shopping, this time at Dick's Sporting Goods, still looking for a few small items for our trip but had no luck at all. We're very limited in what we can bring so we can take on the trip so we're very picky about what we want... at least for now!

--------------------------

Friday, 1 July-
Today I updated the online blog and then began reading a guidebook for our Africa trip. Finally, we seem to have found an authoritative source for detailed info. This one will certainly be a carry-along book when we go.
That afternoon I walked at Rocky Ridge for 1:43 on my five-mile end-to-end route.
Late in day I made the mistake of doing a search for airline tickets for our trip and found prices have dropped $30 a person since I bought ours. Rats!

************ END OF POST **********

2011-06-30T23:59:00.000-04:00

House 2: finishing up outside ; Prep for next trip

(posted from home)
(This post covers 13 – 30 June, 2011)
-----------------------

Thursday, 30 June -

This morning I started digging my way back into my office. I needed to find some old paperwork for our house-rehab project and that gave me a kick-start. I didn't find the right paperwork (yet!!) but did manage to make lot of headway getting things in order in the office.
That afternoon I tried doing a simple financial transfer and that soon got complicated-- well, more like time consuming. I had an old-format number on file and it took a few hours to work through why that had happened and why it hadn't been noticed earlier. No biggie but, again, a time-waster. Thank goodness I'm retired and have time to work on this stuff!
That evening we watched two episodes of 'Shaka Zulu', the Eighties mini-series.

------------------------

Wednesday, 29 June -

Today Labashi had an appointment to go for tea with two of her friends. She and her friends go to a different tea house three or four times a year and today was one of the long-awaited days.
Since today's event was in Reading, I checked the tires and fluid levels on her car and ran it through the car wash first thing this morning, then turned my attention to the web.
That afternoon I wanted a ride so decided I'd track down Doubleshots. My local Starbucks had told me they can no longer get the little Doubleshot Light drinks I like so I called around for remaining stocks at other Starbucks. I rode down to Shrewsbury where they had an entire case. And there I learned there's no problem ordering them! There must have been some mixup about it.
I then rode to Nixon County Park for a walk. Nixon abuts Kain County Park to make a very nice (though hilly) and uncrowded place for walking. I climbed to the top of the hill via the Hardwood Trail and then followed Trail 4 for an hour to the Lake Redman spillway and back. Along the way I saw a small blacksnake just a foot or so off the trail and a tree-climbing groundhog. I had no idea groundhogs climb trees but as I passed within a few feet of a tree I saw it shake a bit, then the back end of a descending groundhog diving for cover in the long grasses at the base of the tree. At first I was stunned. I expected to see squirrel parts as I glanced over to the tree and instead I saw the big black foot-pads, claws, short-tail, and brown/black/yellow fur of the back end of a groundhog.... at eye level (and descending fast).
That evening we watched several episodes of 'Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip'.

--------------------

Tuesday, 28 June -

We were supposed to continue working paperwork today but Maypo's plans to only go into work for a few hours fell apart and he didn't get home until noon. Labashi painted until noon and I cleaned up the basement for an hour, then got started on the paperwork. After lunch we all worked on the paperwork until 1600 when we called it complete. Labashi and I then drove home.

-----------------------

Monday, 27 June -

Today Labashi and I worked with Maypo on paperwork on the houses. With multiple parties and accounts involved in purchases and returns we have to be careful to keep good records and annotate well.
We worked until 1700 then went back to Mocha Joe and watched 'Cry Freedom' with Kevin Kline.

----------------------

Sunday, 26 June -

This morning Maypo and I modified the carport light and its mount so the light would fit properly against the aluminum siding's profile and yet sit level. I then went back to work on the bathroom floor, removing the old vanity top and vanity and cutting off the water pipes feeding the sink and toilet (to remove the old and unsightly chromed fittings). I then took out the remainder of the subfloor, pulled nails, cleaned up, and leveled the sub-subfloor for two layers of subfloor-- one for strength (OSB) and one for a smooth surface under the vinyl (lauan).
That evening Labashi and I drove out to Norlo Park to check it out. This is a relatively new park right along US30 which we've watched grow (i.e., improve) as we've driven by over the last few years.
We parked in the largest parking lot and enjoyed watching kids playing on the swings and playground equipment. For some reason, there are many Mennonite families here and the kids' traditional clothing makes them all the more endearing.
We read a bit and then as darkness neared, we headed home the back way. A few miles away Interstate 81 northbound was closed temporarily because of an accident so traffic on US30 was very heavy and slow. But since I had worked on a farm near Norlo Park when I was a teenager, I knew the back roads and wanted to see how things had changed (in 45 years!). Remarkably, there was little change here. The land is all taken up by large farms and looks very much as it did in the mid-Sixties.
Back 'home', we watched the last episode of 'Ladies Number One Detective Agency' and the extras.

-------------------------

Saturday, 25 June-

I installed the shop lights in the basement this morning, learning along the way that the manufacturer recommends a 48-72 hour 'seasoning' period for the ballasts. In other words, leave the lights on continuously for a few days. I've never heard of that before.
I then found Maypo out front starting the front porch project. We spent the rest of the day building the block-wall foundation upon which we'll build forms and pour a concrete porch slab.
Labashi continued her painting projects, this time at the front and side doors.
That evening we went to dinner at Norland Pub with Maypo. Excellent cheese-steaks! Labashi and I then watched 'Ladies' Number 1 Detective Agency' episodes.

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Friday, 24 June -

We drove back to Chambersburg today, stopping along the way at Home Depot to buy a vanity and at Wal-mart for food supplies. At the house, I set up the new dehumidifier I bought to get the basement humidity level down to something reasonable for painting while Labashi sanded and primed the second clothesline pole outside.
We then drove to St. Thomas and bought two sections of vinyl flooring and adhesive for the bath and kitchen. Back at the house I began prep for the front-porch foundation by cutting some of the concrete blocks in half (to fit the space). That evening we went to Lowes and compared storm doors to what we had seen at Home Depot and I bought four low-temp shop lights. We'll use the lights in the basement then take them home to replace four shop lights in our basement that don't have the low-temp feature and don't operate well in winter.

--------------------------

Thursday, 23 June -

I went online to select our airline seats for our upcoming trip this morning only to learn I can't do that. The ticket confirmations (from a third party) said we could but this particular airline only allows online seat selection if you bought your tickets from them directly. That seemed like a problem but when I called in via the 800-number I was connected to a very helpful and competent agent very quickly. I also learned this airline has no baggage charges so all in all I'm okay with them at this point.
I spent the rest of the day buzzing around to department stores looking for passport wallets and other travel accessories. Now that was disappointing. I went to Wal-mart, Boscov's, Bon-Ton, Sears, and Target and didn't find anything I liked. Maybe I'm over-thinking it.
I also ordered five books today and was put off by Amazon's coy way of telling me how long it would take to get each book. I do not consider it helpful to be told a book will be sent out sometime within a three-week period and shipping may take up to another three weeks. In fact I cancelled one order which said the book may not even be shipped out for almost a month. No, thank you.

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Wednesday, 22 June -

Today's main project was once again mowing the lawn (lucky me!). Sometimes I think I should get a riding mower . But it would be silly to have a riding mower in order to more quickly ride the motorcycle down to Rocky Ridge Park to take a walk. I also wouldn't want to store the big thing in our storage barn.
That evening we watched the first disk of 'Breaking Bad'- Season Three. I really liked this series early-on but the plotline is getting old.

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Tuesday, 21 June -

This morning I took care of some financial details in setting up our reservations for our upcoming trip. I then hopped on the motorcycle and rode in to Harbor Freight to pick up some supplies for our house rehab project. It seems Lowe's and Home Depot no longer carry sandpaper for Labashi's favorite multi-x tool but there's an adapter available that allows us to put a Harbor Freight sanding pad on it and use HF's sandpaper triangles. This actually works out pretty well in that these sandpaper triangles are a lot cheaper than the original ones and the parts for this conversion are cheap--- so long as I don't count the time it took to chase down the solution!

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Monday, 20 June-

Labashi and I mounted shutters today until 1100. Things went well for the first couple of hours but then the rain started again and I spent a miserable hour drilling and mounting with water running down my neck. We had a good stopping point by noon so headed home. On the way home we shopped at Home Depot in Carlisle for a vanity and found one we liked. We made it home by 1400 and took another hour to settle in.

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Sunday, 19 June-

Today Maypo joined us and he and I dug out the porch foundation, built forms and then poured footers. The project went pretty well until it rained hard just after we finished pouring the first footer. We covered things up and took a break, thinking we'd have a muddy mess after the rain but it really wasn't bad. Our biggest problem of the day was cutting the re-bar for the footers.

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Saturday, 18 June-

Today I continued floor cleanup in the bathroom, then we went to Lowe's and bought OSB and floor patch. We looked at vanities with the thought that we should replace the existing one but didn't find anything we liked.
That afternoon I cut and fit OSB in panels to accommodate the odd floor shape, toilet pipe, and water-pipes. Labashi painted her el-cheapo shutters. She had found still-in-the-box shutters at a salvage store in York a few weeks ago for $2 a pair (though we did have to buy mounting screws and paint them). She also sanded and painted one of the two clothesline posts.

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Friday, 17 June -

This morning I cleaned and removed the toilet from the House 2 bathroom and tore out the subfloor. The subfloor gave me lots of problems and seemed to take forever.
That evening we went out to dinner at the VFW with friends.

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Thursday, 16 June -

Today we finished painting the final coat on the carport beams of the Chambersburg house. We also did some prep work (cleaning, sanding, and painting) for the storm pane over the living room's large window.
That evening we did yet another Lowe's trip then watched the last part of the Entourage Season Six DVD.

----------------------

Wednesday, 15 June-

This morning I had yet another dentist appointment, this one to insert a cap and do the prep work for another. But when I went to pay the bill I had a shock-- my credit card was rejected. That turned out to me a most-of-the day slog. My account had been put on a security hold because of my purchase of tickets for our trip. And though I had contacted my bank to confirm it, the system happened to have technical problems and they couldn't take the security hold off. The card processor did offer and alternative which enabled me to get my bills paid today but it cost us a couple of hours dealing with the snafu.
Late in the afternoon we drove to Chambersburg and visited with Maypo that evening, then watched two 'Justified' episodes on DVD.

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Tuesday, 14 June -

The main task today was getting the lawn mowed before we get back to work in Chambersburg for a few days. I thought it was going to be a bit of a struggle in the heat today but we had a nice breeze so it wasn't bad at all.

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Monday, 13 June -

I spent a good portion of the morning watching YouTube videos about southern Africa, particularly looking for overland travel and camping footage. I'm amazed to see some of the water-crossing footage.
I also sent in our reservations for our trip today!
That afternoon I walked for two hours at Rocky Ridge Park.

************ END OF POST ************

2011-06-12T19:42:00.000-04:00

Painting House 2 siding and carport ; planning for our next trip ; getting back into walking

(posted from home)
(This post covers 1 – 12 June, 2011)

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Sunday, 12 June -

I spent much of today catching up the blog. Thank goodness I have a work-log notebook and a few notes in a small daily-appointments book on what I've done each day.
We continue to review options for flights and arrangements for parking our car, baggage charges, terms-and-conditions agreements, etc. I think we're very near booking the trip.
I took a day off from walking today, both for a bit of rest and because a thunderstorm was approaching around my normal departure time. That storm turned out to be a hailstorm but the hail was not big enough to do any damage to our property or vehicles but the large rye field across the road from us appears to have taken considerable damage.

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Saturday, 11 June -

The extra-hot weather has broken a bit. I spent the morning on the web, still reading about South Africa and Botswana. Late in the day I again took my Rocky Ridge walk.
The walks seem to be paying off. My blood pressure is down very nicely.

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Friday, 10 June -

Today was another day to check on flight prices to South Africa and review schedules to figure out how best to structure the trip. I also spent considerable time looking for new music on YouTube but didn't have much success. My luck seems to vary considerably on this.
Late in the day I walked for an hour and a half at Rocky Ridge Park. That evening we watched Nurse Jackie S2 and United States of Tara S2 episodes.

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Thursday, 9 June -

I've been doing a lot of reading on the Web. In addition to my normal patrol of news sources, I also read a few articles recommended on Longreads.com. In the mid-afternoon I rode the motorcycle over to Rocky Ridge for an hour-45 minute walk on my end-to-end route.
That evening we watched Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip episodes.

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Wednesday, 8 June -

Today I spent much of the day researching trip insurance and in the end decided I'm not the personality type who would buy it. After reading through details of terms and conditions agreements and customer reviews, it's clear there are so many 'gotchas' it's not useful to us.

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Tuesday, 7 June -

Today we recovered from our house painting push of the last few days. We got back to researching the possible South Africa trip, now trying to figure out how to get the best price for the flights. Prices were in the $2000 per person range when we first started looking but we were unable to get our first choice for a vehicle reservation. The good news, though, is that pushes us to the edge of the high season and flight costs are more in the $1400 per person range. Still, that's a lot of money.
That afternoon I walked at Rocky Ridge-- 1:43.

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Monday, 6 June -

Today we continued with the carport roof, now finally applying primer to the wood of the 2 x 6 grid support the roof. The weather has turned hot once again and every few minutes I'd have to go out and hose down the roof. I've been doing this hosing down for all of our painting of the carport roof by monitoring the under-roof temperature with an infra-red temperature gun. When temperatures exceeded 90 degrees I'd hose down the roof and that would take it to the high Seventies or low Eighties but of course then the temps would start climbing again. Today the sun was so hot that we had to spray down after painting each 32 x 32-inch panel. In areas where I didn't spray, temperatures got as high as 130 degrees.
We finished the first coat of primer by 1530 and decided enough was enough for today. We wrapped up by 1600, then headed home for a well-deserved break.

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Sunday, 5 June -

Cburg-- We painted the underside of the carport roof today and that took forever. The roof is a corrugated aluminum on a 2x6 grid making up 42 panels. We had to use a small brush to get paint into the recesses of each corrugation to ensure complete coverage. All we were doing at this point was painting the underside of the aluminum.

That afternoon we went to Lowe's and Labashi picked out a very light green color which should go well with the gray-green of the siding. We again painted the underside of the roof, then worked into the evening to finish scraping and cleaning off the 2x6 grid.

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Saturday, 4 June-

Today we finished painting the aluminum siding's second coat on the front of the house. It looks great!
We then began the long process of scraping, cleaning, and painting the carport roof. I had to replace a section of the 2x6 frame holding up the roof while Labashi spent hours scraping old paint.
We then had to wash down the framework with TSP and to wire-brush the underside of the metal roof. We're using Zinser's BIN 1-2-3 Plus primer which is supposed to stick to anything and if it doesn't we're going to be very disappointed.

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Friday, 3 June -

This morning we painted the front of the house (first coat), then the second coat on the west, north, and east sides. The second coat goes on much more easily since you don't have to be so careful around the edges (windows, doors, soffit, etc) to make a nice, straight line. Long day.

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Thursday, 2 June -

This morning we cleaned the west and north sides of house 2. I was able to start painting the gable end within a few hours and by lunch time we had finished the first coat on the entire west end. After lunch we started with the north side of the house (the back) and then did the east end, finishing up by 1800. We could have gone on with the south side but were very tired and beginning to get jittery and impatient so thought it better to wait until tomorrow morning.

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Wednesday, 1 June-

This morning I had an appointment to have a replacement cap put on a tooth. But it turned out the cap was too short so the appointment was a complete waste of time for both me and my dentist. I have another appointment two weeks out.
Today was quite hot but we wanted to go ahead and drive to Chambersburg to get started early in the morning with our big project-- painting the aluminum siding on the exterior of house 2.
We left around 1530 and at 1800 decided we'd go ahead and begin cleaning the house with a scotchbrite pad and TSP, then give it a good rinse.
We worked until 2030 and finished cleaning the east end and south side of the house. The cleaning process is actually easier than I expected.

********* END OF POST ***********

2011-05-31T23:59:00.000-04:00

Researching possible South Africa trip ; more work on Cburg house 2 ; visit with Labashi's brother

(posted from home)
(This post covers 18 – 31 May, 2011)

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Tuesday, 31 May -

Today the temperature was 94 degrees and I had lawn work to do. I had a regular checkup appointment with the dentist and learned the two chips I've accumulated over the last few months will require two new caps.
I also made calls about immunizations for our proposed trip. If we were to get the entire set, they would cost us something like $1200 (yikes!!!) That kind of number tests our resolve. With the flights, vehicle rentals, park camping fees of up to $50 per person per night, etc, this is adding up quickly and is looking less and less possible. On the other hand, it's Africa!
That evening we watched 'Tsotsi', another South Africa story.
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Monday, 30 May -

Today we read through the response from the South African company on our enquiry. That led to a long research session on whether or not our credit cards' car-rental benefits could save us some money on collision-damage waiver insurance. After very frustrating long calls with Mastercard and Visa I learned that our cards' features don't apply to renting a pickup truck or any of the 4x4 vehicles or SUVs rented by the South African company (Land Rovers, LandCruisers, Fortuners, etc). So much for that!
That afternoon I rode the motorcycle to Rocky Ridge for a walk. This one took an hour and 47 minutes.

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Sunday, 29 May -

We spent the morning with Labashi's brother and his wife, then took them to brunch at the Accomac Inn. We had a great time with them and very long brunch there on the porch.
Our friends left for DC after brunch and we returned home. I then rode the motorcycle down to Rocky Ridge County Park and walked for 1:36.

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Saturday, 28 May -

Today we drove to Mechanicsburg to visit Labashi's parents and her oldest brother and his wife who had driven up from DC to visit. We went to supper at Theo's and then at home we watched 'Casino Jack' with Kevin Spacey.

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Friday, 27 May-

This morning I sent off an enquiry to a South Africa 4x4 rental company (Bushlore) which features 4x4s with rooftop tents for 'self-drive safaris'. We then spent a few hours cleaning the house for visitors coming this weekend. I also finished up the air conditioner installations and, since I had the ladder out, cleaned our the rain-gutter jams.
That afternoon I walked at Pinchot for an 75 minutes. It's the Memorial Day weekend and the campground was rapidly filling up. That evening we watched the first disk of Entourage's last season available on disk.

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Thursday, 26 May-

This morning I rode the F650GS up to Harrisburg to pick up my replacement glasses. I've been very disappointed in my latest lenses and had them replaced on warranty. We'll see how the new ones do. These don't have the anti-reflective coating and I'm hoping they'll be easier to clean.
On the way home I stopped at Pinchot State Park to walk for an hour. It was a very hot and humid day so an hour was plenty.
Back home we decided it's time to install the air conditioners. We normally wait until at least the Fourth of July to install our two airconditioners (and most years install only one of them) but we have very hot weather (around 95 degrees) coming soon so why wait?
That evening we watched 'Red Dust' with Hillary Swank, a South Africa movie.... and a good one!

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Wednesday, 25 May-

Home-- I spent the morning catching up my work log, a handwritten log book I keep of the work we've done on the houses. That afternoon I took the Concours in to Starbucks and then went to Best Buy to look for a better Netflix Instant alternative. I looked at Roku and Sony and Logitech solutions and now need to do some research on the web.

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Tuesday, 24 May -

Today I finished up the vent installations, then fixed two 4x4-sized holes in the block foundation using hydraulic cement and chunks of old concrete. These holes had apparently been used in construction of the front porch but I don't quite understand how. Maypo had demolished the porch and perhaps had removed 4x4s from the holes in that process. I used the hydraulic cement left over from our patching work in the basement. I also again planed doors. I'm amazed how they've expanded in the warm, humid weather.
That afternoon Labashi caulked the bathtub and surround and I mounted the tub hardware so we can begin using it for our showers. We've been taking showers at Maypo's house and that's disruptive so we really should be taking advantage of this alternative.
Late in the day we drove home.

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Monday, 23 May-

This morning I covered the front and rear door brickmold trim with aluminum cladding and finished replacing the last soffit panel and cutouts for the vents. We also painted the fascia and Labashi caulked the soffit joints. We had supper at Quiznos, then watched two movies in the van-- 'Black Swan' and 'How Do You Know'. 'Black Swan' was just okay and 'How Do You Know' was awful--- surely a contender for a Razzie.

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Sunday, 22 May -

We continued the outside work on the Chambersburg house's soffit panels. We installed nice little louvered-and-screen aluminum vents in the panels. I also struggled with a light fixture above the back door for WAY too long. The electrical box had been installed poorly and stuck down a good half-inch below the soffit. That was because the back of the box interfered with a rafter. I found an old-construction shallow-depth box at Lowes which took care of that problem but then had extended difficulties mounting the motion-detector floodlight fixture to it. The 'universal mount' was a miserable piece of engineering which defied assembly with the non-standard design of the fixture. I'm guessing the fixture had originally had a custom mount which would have been much easier. Eventually I prevailed but the fifteen-minute job took me more than two hours.
We worked late then drove out to Ciao Bella near Caledonia for supper.

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Saturday, 21 May -

Labashi and I drove to Chambersburg today and resumed work on House 2. Maypo and I spent the day replacing soffit panels and Labashi painted them. We also planed the badly-weathered front door sill and Labashi then painted it. That evening Maypo joined us for supper at Norland Pub.

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Friday, 20 May -

We finally had a bit of a break with the rains but I had to mow wet grass just to be able to leave for a few days and not return to an impossible-to-mow lawn! We also continued our web research of the South Africa trip. I've also ordered a series of Netflix films about South Africa.

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Thursday, 19 May-

We still have daily rains at this point and the grass is going crazy! We spent the day on the web looking at different aspects of the possible South Africa trip.

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Wednesday, 18 May-

Today is yet another rainy day here at home. I spent most of the day on the web, working on our possible South Africa trip. We're looking for what amounts to renting a vehicle something like Mocha Joe.

************ END OF POST ***********

2011-05-17T20:39:00.001-04:00

Front-tooth endless problems ; House 2 kitchen and living room work plus rim-joist damage repair

(posted from home)
(This post covers 1 – 17 May, 2011)

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Tuesday, 17 May-

What a crappy day. It rained much of the night and almost all day. I did a little office work (paying bills, checking on insurance stuff, etc) but spent most of the day on the web. Labashi spent most of the day researching a possible trip to South Africa (if we can find the right deal) and I spent a few hours catching up and posting the blog.
That evening we finished up the 'Entourage' disk and also watched a 'Good Wife' episode.

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Monday, 16 May-

This morning I picked up the supplies to run a separate 'home run' circuit for the new outlet above the kitchen counter from our home-repair stock. But a new circuit just seemed wasteful and I wasn't looking forward to opening up the power panel. So I went back to the kitchen and reviewed the circuit layout. I pulled the outlet covers to look for the end-of-string outlet and realized I had a better answer. I could tap in to the existing circuit by connecting into its wires running through the attic. And that even turned out to be easy. And on top of that, it meant the existing GFCI outlet was first-in-chain to the new outlet and I could return the GFCI outlet I had bought for the new home-run circuit. I spent the rest of the morning running the cables and connecting things up, then testing that all the kitchen outlets worked as they should with the GFCI function.
That afternoon we switched gears entirely. We changed into our Sunday-best and attended the funeral of a long, LONG time friend. This friend had a connection to both Labashi and I and our parents and families. What an amazing, amazing woman.
That evening we returned to the house to lock things up and then drove home. We watched three episodes of 'Entourage' S6.

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Sunday, 15 May -

Today Labashi painted the living room walls while I cut in a new receptacle above the kitchen countertop. After creating the hole for the receptacle and finding a utility box which would work with the extra-thick (1-inch) plastered wall, I had problems running the cable. I had neglected to notice that the bottom of the cavity was filled by a furnace duct. That forced me to drill through the nearby stud and then drill up from the basement into the cavity. Unfortunately I kept hitting nails, though they seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. Once I had a hole we had to use a cable-fishing rod to get the cable run completed. But even then I wasn't happy-- it meant I'd have that outlet on a different circuit than the others. I decided to talk to electrical-expert Maypo about it this evening and turned my attention to cleaning and patching the kitchen wall and painting the various wood blocks used for mounting stuff on the basement walls.

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Saturday, 14 May-

We drove to Chambersburg this morning, this time via Mechanicsburg's Carpet Mart. We were looking for alternatives for the vinyl sheet flooring but didn't make out well. Oddly, the salesperson told us they don't know what the patterns or product lines are of their remnants. They buy 'remnant packs' from manufacturers and don't get that info so it's just a shot in the dark as to the quality of the remnants. Makes you wonder what the SKU codes were on the remnant tags though, doesn't it?
Labashi painted the living room ceiling while I cut out some remaining termite damage from one of the joists in the basement and scarfed-in a 2 x 4 to replace the compromised section. Structurally, the joist is sistered by a new joist beside it.
I then spent the rest of the afternoon installing a new 4 x 4 post at the bottom of the basement stairs so we can close in the stairs.

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Friday, 13 May-

My main job today was to get the mowing done and I had a great day for it-- overcast and cool.
I cranked it out pretty handily in two one-hour sessions.
We're headed to Chambersburg tomorrow so I also spent time planning our work for the weekend.

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Thursday, 12 May-

This morning I rode the GS up to Harrisburg to drop off my glasses for replacement lenses. Late in the day Labashi and I visited her parents at the retirement village in Mechanicsburg and had supper with them.
That evening we watched 'Wit', a Mike Nichols-directed film with Emma Thompson. It's a very powerful story of a woman dying of ovarian cancer. Emma is astounding in this role.

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Wednesday, 11 May-

Labashi spent much of today at home making calls looking for vinyl sheet flooring for House 2. She ALMOST hit a home run with her calls. We were looking for pattern UL-164 and she found a very cheap piece of UL-163 that would have fit. The pattern's the same but the color is a bit too dark for our purpose. Her calls did tell us, though, that we're getting a really good price at Sam's. Now if we can just get the flooring! They make their big buy in June each year and that's not far off so we may yet be able to get it. We should do the flooring as one of the last items anyway and there's plenty of work to keep us busy into July on this house.
I spent yet another afternoon at the dentist and did manage to get some motorcycle riding in. I took the Concours down to York this morning looking for a replacement helmet and took the GS to the dentist's office in the afternoon.
That evening we re-watched 'Out of Africa' with Meryl Streep and Robert Redford since we're getting interested in taking a trip to Africa. Good movie. I also learned quite a bit more about both Karen Blixen (Streep) and Denys Finch Hatton (played by Redford). In the intervening years I read 'West with the Night' by Beryl Markham and was surprised to learn that she was not only a contemporary, she and Finch Hatton were reportedly lovers.

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Tuesday, 10 May

Today Maypo had to go back to his regular job. He's working a demanding full-time job yet worked through the weekend and took yesterday off to work on the house with us.
This morning Orat and I replaced the bottom two rows of aluminum siding with new-old stock that my Dad and, later, Maypo had kept around for just such a use. The job went well though we did have a minor panic when we couldn't find the tar-paper we needed for under the siding. The key to getting the siding to zip back up was getting the starter-strip placed just right so the zipper-tool could work its magic. Orat did a magnificent job... nary a dent or mark and the siding is a good fit.
The siding job took up most of the morning and Orat was due to head home today. We spent the afternoon doing plumbing work in the basement. We had had one very small bad section of copper pipe but had decided pipes around the water heater and up to the bathroom looked hideous. They had been formed from soft-copper roll-pipe (as opposed to straight lengths) and a nightmare of criss-crossed pipes filled the area. They weren't leaking but looked amateurishly-done.
On one of my trips to Lowes I picked up six ten-foot sections of pipe and the requisite ells and connectors. By 1700 we had a new look. The web of pipes was gone and an orderly (and shiny!), well-planned set of pipes was in place.
That evening we had a super-duper spaghetti dinner at Maypo's house before Orat headed back up I-81 and I-15 for New York and Labashi and I headed for York Haven.

------------------------------

Monday, 9 May -

This morning I finished up chiseling out the bad section of subfloor partially under the sill plate to make room for a rim joist. I went to Lowes and bought a fourteen foot 2 x 10 and a twelve foot 2 x 8 for the job. We cut down the 2 x 12 to act as both rim joist and to fill in the area of subfloor we had removed to the right of the door. To the left of the door the wood was fine so we merely installed the 2 x 8 there.
Late in the day Maypo and Orat installed the formed aluminum I had picked up from the fabricator on the gable-end trim. Orat also installed a cone of rubber roofing material over the plumbing system's vent pipe to stop a small leak. We then had a pizza party at Maypo's that evening.

--------------------------------

Sunday, 8 May -

Today Labashi painted in the bath while Maypo and Orat and I (mostly them!) installed kitchen cabinets and the countertop. We had come up a cabinet short somehow so I made yet another trip to Lowe's, this time in Shippensburg, to get a small bridge cabinet for above the refrigerator's new location.
While the guys worked I also caulked the new windows Maypo had installed. While outside caulking I saw my first termite swarm. The dang little things were launching from the front door sill! Apparently Maypo had disturbed them by demolishing the front porch and now, with the right weather conditions, they were abandoning the nest. I rushed down to our storage garage trying to find termite spray but then had to go out to Lowe's once again for it. While I was there Orat called and said the countertop we had bought had a bow in it so I bought another-- the straightest in the bunch.
By the time I got back tot he house the termites were all gone. I dug around the area where just an hour before there had been hundreds, if not thousands, and there were none.
The termite incident really struck home. We switched from inside work to outside work. We unzipped the bottom three rows of aluminum siding and removed and marked the bottom two. We then began the tedious work of removing the termite-damaged rim joist, a three-foot section of sill, and about 15 feet of subfloor edge. Fortunately the damage to the subfloor was only about an inch deep so we were able to use my Zipsaw to flush-cut most of it out.
That evening we had a Mother's Day celebration at Maypo's house.

---------------------------------

Saturday, 7 May -

This morning I had to make yet another trip to Lowes while Maypo installed the last two of the replacement windows and Labashi worked on wall and ceiling patches. Orat arrived just before noon so we hit the local McDonalds before digging in to the work. The three of us tore out the kitchen floor and replaced it with a new layer of OSB underlayment by the end of the day.
We all went to supper at Tito's Tacos that evening and then sat around half-asleep on Maypo's giant comfort-chair reclinables.

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Friday, 6 May -

This morning we returned to Sam's Flooring to buy the sheet vinyl in the pattern and color we liked. Unfortunately, they didn't have a big enough piece in stock for the kitchen and ordering custom would more than double the price. Now what? We left with another sample but I don't think either of us really liked it.
We then drove to the aluminum fabricator (Shadle's) to order three pieces of formed aluminum to cover an exposed section of trim over the gable end. There had been a long section which had apparently blown off in some long-forgotten wind storm.
We continued on to Lowes and bought more materials for the weekend. Back at the house I worked on the front door so it would close properly and then we demolished the old set of upper cabinets to make way for the new ones we had just bought.
That evening we cleaned and patched the walls where the new cabinets will go.

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Thursday, 5 May -

This morning we returned to Chambersburg to continue work on House 2. On the way we stopped at the Carlisle Home Depot to check out the kitchen cabinets and countertops. My impression was the Lowe's cabinets are a bit better built. The reinforcement in the corners of the sink-base are glued-in corner struts while the HD cabinets had small stapled-in plastic brackets. And the HD sink cabinets had a space between the doors rather than a vertical post. Also, we realized we'd have a better chance of coming up with a complete set of cabinets from Lowe's since there are more and closer Lowes stores to Chambersburg.
We then drove to the house and took a final set of detailed measurements to be sure the design would fit. We then drove to Sam's Flooring to get floor samples and underlayment for both the kitchen and bath.
We then went to the Chambersburg, Shippensburg, and Carlisle Lowes to buy the ten cabinets we needed. We were looking for the finer-grained versions of the cabinets and were doing well until it came to the sink base. We ended up taking a sink base that had a bit of a larger pattern than we wanted on the doors.
We returned to the house and unloaded around 2100--- a long day today.

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Wednesday, 4 May -

Another day, another dentist appointment. I again lost my front-tooth cap last evening so called in to my regular dentist with my sad tale. They very graciously shuffled schedules around and got me in mid-afternoon. I had a different dentist than my regular guy and then was handed off at the end of the day to my regular dentist. The job today was giving me a replacement post and then a temporary cap. It turned out I didn't have to have the cast post recommended by the endodontist. Thank goodness for that. Both dentists said they hadn't done one since dental school! But in this case they had a wider selection of 'stock' posts than the endodontist's office and the largest of them worked fine in the extra-large hole created by removal of the broken post.
Again, the work was painless.
That evening we began watching a new TV series, 'The Good Wife', with Juliana Margulies. We were hooked right from the pilot.

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Tuesday, 3 May -

I had contacted the endodontist's office late in the day yesterday and had been given an appointment about a week away. But my tooth fell out last evening. I called this morning and asked if there had been any cancellations and explained my predicament. Fortunately, there HAD been a cancellation and I was able to get in this afternoon.
I only had an appointment for a consultation so I was surprised when the endodontist gave my tooth a look and then said something like “Ready to get started?”. An hour and a half and $1000 later the post had been removed and a temporary cap put in its place. I had instructions to contact my dentist about having a special 'cast post' made and installed and then the replacement cap made.
My endodontist was a a young woman originally from Nigeria who was both very good and entertaining at the same time. She and the assistant kept up a constant light banner which both kept the mood light but also kept me apprised of how things were going with the procedure.
That evening we watched a curious movie called 'Cloud 9'. It's about an older married woman falling in love with another man and the devastating consequences to her family. Her affair at first seemed harmless enough but soon spiraled out of control-- and at her own doing. I don't know about this one. It was unnecessarily explicit for one thing. And I have mixed feelings about what it means, about whether or not it was a mistake for her to pursue the affair. Maybe I'm just too used to everything wrapping up into a nice little package by the time the end-titles roll.
The endodontist had given me two packages of pain pills for the evening, predicting I'd have a less-than-delightful evening after the nummy-juice wore off but I didn't have any pain at all.

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Monday, 2 May -

Last evening while chatting with our friends I happened to touch one of my front teeth and it moved! This one is a cap so I supposed it was time to go back to get it re-cemented.
My dentist scheduled me in to an emergency appointment slot this morning. It didn't take long to see that this one was going to be trouble. The cap hadn't just come loose ; the post had broken in two. Not good. After staring at it for a long time he gave me the bad news-- he couldn't do anything for me and would have to refer me to an endodontist to have the post removed. He did cement the cap back on but without a post, I don't give it long.
Labashi came with me to the appointment so we could then continue to Lowe's to look for kitchen cabinets for House 2. We also went to the nearby Just Cabinets to look. The latter cabinets are cheaper but I think a pretty big step down in quality and it looks like there are consistency problems in the finishes.

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Sunday, 1 May-

This morning I took my regular Sunday motorcycle ride to the Tollgate Starbucks. That evening our Boulder friends returned to spend the night before catching their flight in the morning. We picked right up where we left off and chatted away the evening.

************* END OF POST *************

2011-04-30T23:59:00.000-04:00

Home for a break ; House 1 sells ; visit from our Boulder friends

(posted from home)

(This post covers 25 – 30 April, 2011)
----------------------------------------

Saturday, 30 April-

We're finally supposed to have a clear day today but this morning didn't look like it. I caught up the blog this morning and Labashi began planning out an alternative layout of cabinets for House 2. We need to replace the kitchen cabinets and counter and one of the shortcomings of this house is the kitchen layout. The current one allows little room for a table if the stove and fridge have to take up valuable floor space. We think we can build in a space for the fridge in the line of cabinets and then hang a few more cabinets toward the stove to make a much more cook-friendly and table-friendly kitchen. (And, yes, this is how we start down the path of spending too much money, time, and effort on these houses!!!)
That afternoon the sky cleared to a beautiful blue and Labashi went out to play in her landscaping projects. I thought I'd get the Miata going but found the battery almost dead. This is the new one I put in in January. I put the charger on and jumped on the motorcycle to go for a coffee. I wanted to try the new coffee bar they recently put in at what had been Shiloh Nursery in Emigsville. The landscaping business is much the same but now there's a produce shop and coffee-and-sandwiches bar inside and a cafe seating in the greenhouse.
I had a mocha and was happy to find it didn't have the bitter taste I often find in independent coffee shops. This is great! Now I don't have to run all the way into York to Starbucks to get a decent mocha.
As I sat there I felt guilty about wasting the beautiful day. I buzzed home and got out the extension ladder and cleaned out the rain gutters. There. That took care of the guilt!

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Friday, 29 April-

This morning we had breakfast with our friends and watched a few video clips from our travels. Then they had to go. They are visiting family in the area this weekend, then will be back Sunday night to stay with us before going to the airport bright and early Monday.
It was approaching lunch time by the time they left and afterwards we began watching television shows. We finished up Season One of 'Nurse Jackie' and then watched four episodes of 'Sexual Healing' (the Dr. Laura Berman series).

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Thursday, 28 April-

This morning I dug out my old Trek road bike and prepared it for one of our visiting friends to ride. He has been doing quite a lot of riding lately and was regretting missing a week of riding during their mini-vacation. While he mapped out a local route using mapmyride.com, I prepped the bike. Later, I took a motorcycle ride and followed that route to catch up with him and check that everything was going ok with the bike and the route. His ten-mile ride over very hilly terrain gave him just the workout he hoped for.
Late that afternoon we looked at photos and video clips from a trip to Japan. Then we took off on a two-and-a-half-mile walk to a local restaurant. But after two miles we had a problem: last nights rains had flooded the road. Our friends picked their way around the flooded road while Labashi and walked back for the car. We had decided the creek was rising fast enough that even if we got through to the restaurant, we probably wouldn't be able to get back home the same way.
Shortly after we turned back we saw emergency vehicles coming and briefly wondered whether our friends had somehow encountered trouble. But we later learned a woman had tried driving her jeep through the flooded area and had stalled out and someone had called 911. Our friends saw the woman blithely drive into the water and she disappeared around the turn (before stalling). Minutes later, emergency equipment began arriving from both directions. As we drove back looking for our friends (in case they had turned back) we saw quite a crowd had gathered. We could see the car, now with water up over the wheels and the creek still slowly rising. It was in still water and there hadn't been any danger of the car (and woman) being pulled out into deep water ; it was just a shame she ruined her car.
We had a very nice long dinner and were very glad to have the car to get home. We then finished up the slide show about Japan and turned in.

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Wednesday, 27 April-

This morning we took care of a few final errands to prepare for guests and they arrived mid-afternoon. These are old friends from Boulder and we love to see them. We spent the afternoon and evening chatting away.....

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Tuesday, 26 April-

The weather has been hot and very humid the last few days. With all the rain we've been having the grass (and dandelions) have been growing crazy-fast. So even though I just mowed a few days ago I had to mow again today.
I've had a cold for the last few days and felt hard-pressed to get the mowing done. Normally I do it in two one-hour-long sessions with a short break between. But today I had to stop every twenty minutes or so, getting very over-heated as I worked in the sun. I also ended up with a sunburn. The nice tan I had gained in Florida has been lost completely in the weeks since.
I also ran over to the state-store on the GS to pick up a few bottles of wine.
Late in the day I watched the pilot episode of a new TV series for us-- 'Sexual Healing' on Netflix Instant. I've seen Dr. Laura Berman on tv occasionally and she seemed to have her act together. I was impressed with this episode. The people seemed real, i.e., not just looking for their 15 minutes of fame. And as the underlying psychological problems are uncovered I felt I gained some insight into why the people were behaving as they did. I'm scouting out new series for Labashi and I to watch and I think she's going to like this one.
Oh, yeah. House 1 sold today!!!!!!!!! We feel like we spent WAY too much time and money on the house but then again it 'sold' in thirty-some days in a market averaging 154 days per sale-- primarily, (we believe), because it was so clean and nicely-refurbished. We did only have one offer but, as they say, one is all you need! The thirty-some days figure is misleading in that the offer was first made by that time but we had a long, long closing as we worked through the inspections, fixes for problems found, and two different financing paths. We had put the house up for sale in the last week of January and closed today, the end of April. So the real selling time was more like 90 days from listing to closing.

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Monday, 25 April-

We're still at home, taking a break. Labashi continues working on painting the vanity top in the bathroom with an epoxy paint. The cultured marble top has been around for many years and our recent bathroom upgrade re-used it because Labashi couldn't find a top she liked better. We had cut out the molded-in sink portion of that top some 15 years ago on a previous update and used it the remaining surface to mount a sink. In the latest iteration Labashi had painted the underlying cabinet an espresso color to match the new color scheme and we replaced the sink with a more modern design. So the trick now is to get a flawless paint job on the two-inch-wide cultured-marble edge around the sink. She has sanded and re-painted it four times so far and doesn't like the results. Now she's going to try using a low-nap roller to see how that works out. After today, though, she has to stop and put things back as we prepare for visitors coming later this week.
I spent much of the morning running the vacuum cleaner and dusting. I did manage to get a motorcycle ride in that afternoon to take some old batteries in for recycling. I hit the nearby Harbor Freight for a few more hand-tools on the way home.

**************** END OF POST *************

2011-04-24T16:09:00.001-04:00

Back to work on House 2, some final work on House 1 before finalizing the sale, then a break for medical appointments and Easter weekend

(posted from home)
(This post covers 14 – 24 April, 2010)

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Sunday, 24 April-

This morning we had wonderful sun but it was supposed to rain in the afternoon. Labashi spent the day outside working on her landscaping. After a bit of reading on the Web, I rode the GS down to the Tollgate Starbucks, this time toting along the laptop to read there rather than buy the Times.
Afterwards I rode back into East York to shop for a few small tools at the Harbor Freight. I just needed a few little things as try to round out our tool tote with essentials and also have sets of commonly-needed tools in the van and in our house.
Later in the afternoon I updated the online blog and began the long task of organizing things in my office, both for my sanity and to prepare for upcoming visitors.
Cross your fingers. If all goes well the sale of House 1 will settle tomorrow.

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Saturday, 23 April -

This morning I worked on catching up on the blog. Shortly after lunch the clouds thinned and the sun came out, giving me an excuse (and a strong desire!) to go for a motorcycle ride. The old Concours needed the brake discs scrubbed off and internal engine, trans, and running gear parts liberally bathed in warm oil.
I've not been on the tangle of roads to the west of I-83 around Strinestown for a long time so started there today. These roads continue to deny my attempts to figure them out. They curve back around on themselves as they avoid Conewago Creek and I-83. The roads are narrow and still have a lot of junk scraped up and left behind by the snowplows this winter as well as dead branches from spring storms. Speed limits are generally 30-45 with turns as slow as 15 mph. In one place I had to crowd over as far as possible to allow a small car coming the other way to pass.
But I had a lot of fun. I spent an hour and a half or shuttling between Lewisberry and North York while trying to find a good back way across to Pinchot State Park. I finally ended up at a familiar intersection close to Dover and worked my way home.
That evening we watched two episodes of 'Shark Men' before turning in a bit early to read.
I'm nearly finished with Michener's autobiography and just have to say it's incredible reading and it makes me want to read all of his books.

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Friday, 22 April -

Labashi was a bit 'over-scheduled' today so I volunteered to do the grocery shopping this morning. I left right after breakfast to get a bit of a jump on the crowd and that seemed to work out. As I was checking out the store was getting very crowded because of the Easter holiday weekend.
The day was yet another rainy one so I spent much of it on the web, enjoying several articles on Longreads.com. I can spend hours just trolling and reading. Today I read about the swine flu ripoff perpetrated by drug companies, a very interesting history of President Obama's mother living abroad, an article detailing the surprise finding of a Chinese vase which sold at auction for $43 million pounds, and an introduction to the life of 'Kiki Kannibal', a Florida teen who built up an internet 'scene' personality and made many enemies in the process.
I also spent quite a while trolling the video sites for videos of motorcycle accidents, trying to understand what mistakes the riders made. I found a good series on YouTube covering crashes and near-crashes on a section of Mulholland Drive (near LA) called 'The Snake'. Apparently the poster (YouTube ID 'rnickeymouse') sets up cameras on a particularly accident-prone turn on the Drive and waits for the action. These are particularly instructive since they have both real-time and slow-motion footage of the crashes. 'The Snake' section where many of the crashes occur is a decreasing-radius and continuing turn which riders tend to enter too fast and, as the radius tightens, lose traction and control. We see 'high-sides', 'low-sides', spins and crashes into, under, and over the guard-rail. These are NOT, by the way, fatal crashes. The interest for me is to see the physics in action. I noticed, for instance, that just as the back end breaks loose, engine rpms climb. Sometimes the front tire lifts off entirely (talk about a 'light touch' in the steering!). And I also was very interested in how well the safety gear protected the rider. Most riders were sensible enough to be wearing full leathers and a full-coverage helmet (though one young fool crashed his motorscooter while wearing a tee shirt, shorts, and sandals!)
One conclusion I took from it, though, is I need to go back to wearing my full-coverage helmet. My old one got too ratty so I switched to my open-face helmet and I could see that's not a great idea. Most of the time the riders helmets would smack the pavement high enough on the helmet that it didn't matter but a few times the chin bar just sort of slid along on the pavement. That would be a bummer with an open-face helmet.
That evening we watched the German movie 'North Face'. It's the story of the 1936 attempts to climb the north face of the Eiger for glory for the Fatherland as the Olympics approached. The climbing footage is incredible and the story compelling.

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Thursday, 21 April -

Today I had a bit of a fiasco with my blood-pressure machine. I've been getting higher readings than I like but this morning the machine blew my mind with a 172 / 106 reading. My BP had been okay at the doctor's last week and we had discussed that fact that my machine needed to be checked since my records of mostly-daily readings seemed to be a bit high. So today I rode up to the doctor's office for a BP check with my tester along for comparison. The nurse found my BP to be 138 / 92 while my tester said, moments later, that it was 160 / 100. But it also had a new symbol--- a low-battery indication. Later that day I took another high reading with it, then changed the batteries and it suddenly read a more reasonable 137 / 84. The high readings I've been getting for the last few weeks came from low batteries though there was no indication of that until today.
It was finally a nice day so just riding up to the doctor's was not enough. I took off from there and rode over to Pinchot State Park, dropping in at each of the boat ramps and the Quaker Race swimming area to look around for a bit. At the far end of the Quaker Race parking area I saw a trailer-load of racing sculls and a young guy nearby. I learned he's an assistant rowing coach and Franklin and Marshall University and he brought the boats over for an practice that evening. It was only mid-afternoon and he was taking a break from his own workout in a single scull.
After checking out the main boat launch (near the office), I came upon a walker just a big younger than me just emerging from the trails to cross the road. I stopped and asked if the trails were wet, knowing full well they would be quite wet. I've walked these trails in Pinchot many times and this is perhaps the worst time of year for walking them. Come to think of it there may be a worse time. In late May and well into June there are many, many ticks in the grasses here. I've found as many as five ticks at a time during my walks and jogs on the trails in this area.
I had a nice, long chat with the walker. He's winding down his career as a lobbyist in Harrisburg and is looking forward to traveling out west. When I began telling him of our experience traveling in Mocha Joe, his eyes lit up. He had looked into buying an RV but of course those are far too expensive. As I described how we have Mocha Joe outfitted and how (relatively) cheap it was to do, he pulled out a map and started jotting notes. As I left we both said 'great conversation!'
That evening we watched 'The King's Speech' with Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush. Excellent movie!

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Wednesday, 20 April -

I still have my cold and was feeling miserable in the morning but started to feel better around lunch time. I had a bit of cabin fever so rode the GS into the East York Starbucks for a ride and to get a case of Doubleshot Lights.
That got me home around 1430 so I started mowing the lawn-- my assigned task for the last four days but the first day dry enough. I mowed for an hour and took a break, then finished up for another hour.
That evening we watched '127 Hours', the story of Aron Ralston, a hiker who became trapped in a slot canyon in Utah by a boulder he dislodged while down-climbing. James Franco played Ralston and did a very nice job.

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Tuesday, 19 April -

Today I had a cold big-time. The weather today was crappy and I felt the same. Labashi was gone most of the day, taking her Dad to a medical appointment. I spent the day on the web, much of it on video-clip sites.
I also tried once again to figure out why my Netflix Instant movies are choppy. Something appears to be throttling my link. The theory from Netflix today is that the speed of my line is varying back and forth across the 5 MBPS line and supposedly that's confusing things as the movie player tries to adjust to a non-HD format and an HD format. That sounds a bit fishy to me given that I've run Netflix movies without problem using a link barely getting 1 MBPS without this kind of jerkiness.
I also had some things to take care of on the house we have for sale in Chambersburg. We're close to a sale but have to be sure all our i's are dotted and t's crossed.

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Monday, 18 April -

This morning I rode the GS into York for my first appointment with a new dermotologist. I had gone to this doctor because her practice appeared to be better equipped to treat the skin problem I had been diganosed with than my old dermo. Imagine my surprise, then, when she said the diganosis by my previous dermotologist was wrong and I didn't need the treatment with the expensive equipment-- all I have to do is use a different lotion (though it's an expensive lotion!).
After the appointment I dropped in to Starbucks for a warm-me-up (the high today was only around 50), then I started chasing down the lotions at my local Rite-Aid.
Labashi has been painting our bathroom vanity for the last few days and continues with cycles of sand-it-all-off and paint-it-again.
That evening we watched 'One Week' on Netflix Instant. We really liked this little independent Canadian movie. In the first scene the young protagonist learns he's dying of a cancer and only has a short time to live. He elects to buy a motorcycle and tour Canada via the Trans-Canada Highway from his home in Toronto. We loved seeing the iconic shots of that trip. We've only missed one or two of the places he visited. We've been on the TCH from coast to coast with only two exceptions. We missed a small section in southwestern Saskatchewan and a small section from the BC-Alberta border to the Fraser River.

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Sunday, 17 April -

Today Maypo and I completed installation of the UV light and whole-house filter for the water system in House 1. The house had flunked the water test, we think because the water lay dormant in the pipes for long periods of time. We had tried a 'shock' treatment of the well but that didn't do it. Fortuntely, Maypo had a UV light left over from his home's switch-over to city water so we just had to buy a new bulb and quartz tube-- about $125 --- versus a new system for $500.
After the installation we sterilized the pipes and drained and refilled the water heater.
That afternoon we finished up at 1500. Labashi and I headed for home, arriving about 1630.

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Saturday, 16 April -

Maypo and I spent the day installing and testing the ultraviolet light and water filter in the house we have up for sale. I ran a new electric line and mounted the main parts while Maypo did the plumbing work. We were glad to be inside given that the rain just poured down by the bucket-load today.
The project went well right up to the point where it didn't! We thought we were done around supper time but then found a small, tiny-weep leak in a place which meant we had to cut the pipe and rebuild. After supper we had to go out to Lowe's for parts for the repair tomorrow.

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Friday, 15 April -

In Cburg today. Labashi finished up painting the back door of House 2 and I took care of some small electrical problems. I contacted the water-treatment-systems guy and made arrangements to meet him to buy some parts we'd need for tomorrow's work. Labashi and I picked those up, then drove on to Sam's Flooring in St. Thomas to look for sheet-vinyl flooring remnants for the bath and kitchen. We think we've found the 'right' flooring for both places but brought home a few samples to be sure and for Maypo to see what we're thinking.
Maypo had the day off work today so he came down and we reviewed the work of the contractors we have on site doing work on the front of House 1. Looking good!

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Thursday, 14 April-

This morning we drove back to Chambersburg to get back to work on House 2. I'm now keeping a daily log of work on the house and keep the details of projects and hours there rather than try to summarize here and try to re-construct later. I tried that with the work we did on House 1 and saw only that we had put a thousand hours of work into it but can't really say what the heck took us so long. When I think of the individual projects, each doesn't seem that long.
That evening we had supper with Maypo and family.

************** END OF POST ************

2011-04-13T21:47:00.000-04:00

Back to house-rehab work in Chambersburg

(posted from home)
(This post covers 1 – 13 April, 2011)

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Wednesday, 13 April -

I had a doctor's appointment this morning and took care of that then chased down a tennis-elbow armband. I had over-stressed it working on House 2 this Fall and have had some minor pain ever since. I'll use the armband when I hammer or otherwise stress that arm.
That afternoon I caught up the blog and had a long Skype video call with Orat. Labashi and I then watched a Nurse Jackie season-one episode.

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Tuesday, 12 April -

We had rain overnight and today so decided not to keep Drylok-ing the basement walls for fear of water intrusion. By mid-morning we were seeing evidence of water on the coving-- small beads of water totaling about six feet in length. I had painted one area and that was a mistake... the intruding water diluted the paint to the point you could see through it. Though the paint was more than twelve hours old it was still wet to the touch.
I borrowed Maypo's dehumidifier to fix this problem but it kept freezing up. I put a 500-watt flood lamp in front of it and measured the temperature of the grill at varying between 70 and 100 degrees yet the coils would frost over and quit dehumidifying with about 20 minutes. I later looked up the specs for the expensive Frigidaire dehumidifier and it's spec sheet said it would operate at a minimum temperature of 41 degrees. It might 'operate' but it doesn't dehumidify for more than 20 minutes and, worse, doesn't detect the ice. The room was 55.
We turned our attention to other projects. Labashi painted baseboard in the bedrooms and I tested all the outlets, fixed an outlet and a switch, and traced all the circuit breakers using my new 'Circuit Detective' toy.
We had supper with Maypo and family and then headed home, arriving at 2030. As we pulled in the driveway our headlights illuminated a dead deer under a pine tree in our front yard. I checked it out and called it in to County Control. We called our neighbor who said he had seen it on the way to work this morning. It had apparently been hit overnight.

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Monday, 11 April -

We drove to Chambersburg then spent the day painting but didn't seem to get very far. I only finished an end wall and maybe ten feet down the back wall while Labashi did about 15 feet of the opposite corner. I spent the rest of the time monitoring the contractors and taking pictures of their work.

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Sunday, 10 April -

We were at home today resting up but will be going back in the morning because we have contractors coming and want to be there while they work.

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Saturday, 9 April -

Cburg today. Labashi and I wanted to go home by noon but didn't make it. Maypo and I worked to find a roof leak (successfully), cleaned out the gutters, and fixed a problem with the first house's well cap.

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Friday, 8 April -

Cburg today. Still prepping the basement walls and doing the coving. We worked late tonight--- till 2200 to get the coving done.

--------------------------------

Thursday, 7 April -

We drove to Chambersburg this morning and started work on the basement. We're prepping to Drylok the basement walls. We spent the day cleaning and patching the walls with Fast-Plug hydraulic cement. We also did a moisture-survey of the walls and made a map for future comparisons of readings. We worked late-- almost 2200-- 'coving' the wall-to-floor joint the whole way around.

--------------------------------

Wednesday, 6 April -

Today we prepared for returning to our house-rehab project in Chambersburg. I organized tools and loaded the van practically to its limit with tools and supplies.
That evening we took Labashi's parents out to dinner at Cafe Bruges in Carlisle.

-------------------------------

Tuesday, 5 April -

Today I took it easy and celebrated my 'win' with the pole-light repair. I spent much of the day on iTunes and YouTube looking for new music. In the end I didn't find anything I was willing to buy. But I did enjoy seeing some of my favorites including Alizee (“J'ai Pas Vingt Ans”) and Mylene Farmer's concert intros.
That evening we finished 'Big Love' Season Four. This season has been a little TOO frenetic so we're ready for a break until next season.

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Monday, 4 April -

Today Labashi asked me to get rid of the old computer stored in our guest room. I dug out a monitor, keyboard, and mouse and fired up the old beast to format the hard drive, found a computer shop what would take the equipment and drove down there with the computer, monitor, and five boxes stuffed full of periperhals, cables, etc.
On the way home I got to thinking about my next steps on our front-yard pole light. I decided it was time to get out the shovel. I had decided I'd try to find the break by cutting the cable at the mid-point and testing both directions. If the break was on the light-pole side of the cable, that end is in the yard and therefore 'diggable', albeit a bit messy. But if was on the switch side, that goes under the front porch and is impossible ; I'd have to move the light to the other side of the sidewalk and dig a 75-foot-long two-foot-deep ditch around the opposite side of the porch and sidewalk for a new cable run.
Labashi thought she had told the porch contractor to run the cable along the house before pouring so I first dug where it would have exited and found nothing. I then tried the metal detector again and found a large target just off the front corner of the porch. I dug there and hit right on the problem. It was an improperly-protected butt joint the contractor made after cutting the cable to get it out of the way. He then built the forms and joined the cable back together just before starting the pour. As I uncovered the cable joint I saw two bright-green corrosion dots where the black and white conductors had been spliced. I cut the still-intact ground conductor, cut back to fresh copper conductors, stripped the wires, and tested continuity in both directions. Yep ; that was the problem.
I rode the GS up to the hardware store, bought an underground-cable butt-splice kit and an hour later had everything back together, tested, and buried. I was very happy to have Labashi flip the switch and see the pole light back in operation.
That evening we watched two episodes of 'Big Love' Season Four.

------------------------------

Sunday, 3 April -

This afternoon I rode the GS down to the Tollgate Starbucks to read the Times. It was such a nice afternoon that I decided to ride down to Holtwood Dam area. At the launch area I met two backpackers just leaving their car for a training hike on the Mason-Dixon Trail. They are planning a 40-plus mile hike on the Appalachian Trail this summer and are getting used to their packs and working up their endurance for that trip.
I then rode across the Susquehanna and then south to Susquehannock State Park. There I met a younger couple at the main overlook and we struck up a long conversation about traveling. As we spoke, another motorcyclist came along to check out the view and overheard us talking. He turned out to be Carl Millhouse, a very interesting guy who lives near the Shenk's Ferry wildflower area and has a very long history riding BMW motorcycles. I later learned that he has a very low member-number in the BMW owner's group. Member numbers today are well above the 100,000 mark and his number is in the mid-two-thousands. He has four or five BMW bikes, one he bought in Germany, and was riding a mid-Seventies model today. I loved talking to him about riding in Maine and his adventures in Europe. What an interesting guy...
That evening we watched the pilot and two episodes of 'Nurse Jackie' S1.

--------------------------------

Saturday, 2 April -

(No record for today.)

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Friday, 1 April -

Today I installed the toilet tank-to-bowl kit I bought earlier in the week. For some reason the tank was a bit crooked on the bowl and we didn't really notice it until the floor guys re-installed the toilet somewhat off-level. I corrected that as best I could and then mounted the tank and tightened down one side a half-turn more than the other to level the tank's upper edge with the line of the chair-rail on the wall behind it.
We also had to call the plumber back to fix a leak. As Labashi went to replace items under the sink we found a leak emanating from the faucet-mount plate. The shop sent 'Tom' over right away and he silicone-sealed the base of the plate. The manufacturer's design or installation instructions may have been a fault here. There's a rubber seal recessed under the plate but it appears to be recessed to far and the instructions pamphlet said nothing of having to seal it.
That afternoon we drove into town for something at Lowe's and stopped at Texas Roadhouse for their yummy baby-back ribs on the way home.

*********** END OF POST *************

2011-03-31T23:59:00.000-04:00

Bathroom upgrade work at home

(posted from home)
(This post covers 27 – 31 March, 2011)

--------------------------

Thursday, 31 March -

Today the plumber finally showed up to install the new sink, faucet, shower valve, tub spout, and flush handle. Labashi had hoped to have this work (and the entire bathroom update) done before my return from Florida. But the order took forever and then the first shipment came in damaged (at least that's what the scheduler said). But the installation went fine today. Our installer, Ed, was a very nice guy and though he had many little challenges he'd just say 'it wants to fight me' and fix the problem.
Ed started at 0800, took a short break at noon and finished up at 1530.

-------------------------

Wednesday, 30 March -

Today I installed a new baseboard electric heater we ordered last week for the bathroom. With all the work Labashi has done to re-do the room, the old heater looks a bit shabby. The new heater is only $28 including shipping though we did have to order it online to get one in an almond color.
The installation went well even though the new heater is 3 inches longer than the old. I did find scorch-marks on the dry-wall paper behind the old unit so I installed a piece of aluminum flashing behind the new heater to better distribute any hot-spots the new one might have.

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Tuesday, 29 March-

Today I rode the F650GS into York, both for the ride and to pick up some tools. I've long wanted a kit of threaded fiberglass rods for running wires but the cost was too prohibitive until now. The Harbor Freight flyer showed a kit on sale for $10 as well as a 'circuit detective' circuit-finder at half-price ($20). The latter consists of two units-- a 'sender' you plug into an outlet or socket and the 'receiver' to scan the home's electric panel to find which circuit the sender is on.

--------------------------

Monday, 28 March-

This morning I read several articles recommended on Longreads.com. In the afternoon I began one of my long-delayed projects-- repairing the underground electrical line to the pole light in our front yard. Last week I had borrowed Maypo's metal detector while in Chambersburg for this. I had also bought a wire-continuity tester last Fall. The tester quickly told me I didn't have continuity to any pairs of the three-conductor wire. Unfortunately it doesn't tell me the distance to the breaks. I spent an hour trying to come up with a way to run a new wire but the alternatives aren't great. I really need to find the break.
The metal detector does seem to be able to find the wire but only here and there and therefore I'm not sure it's working properly. This isn't going to be easy.

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Sunday, 27 March -

I spent much of today catching up the blog and then posting the update. I also took my Sunday motorcycle ride down to the Tollgate Starbucks and this time came home via Red Lion. The rides are getting more comfortable now that the weather has gotten to the low-Fifties.

************ END OF POST **********

2011-03-26T23:59:00.000-04:00

Trip to grandniece's birthday party ; trying an air purifier ; getting motorcycles ready for Spring; maintenance for Labashi's car ; trip to Cburg for house 1 minor repairs

(posted from home)
(This post covers 15 – 26 March, 2011)

----------------------------

Saturday, 26 March -

Today I ran into town on the Concours to pick up a toilet tank-to-bowl kit from the plumbing supply. As I left the area I made a mistake and turned left at a right-turn-only sign in a construction zone--- with a police cruiser behind me. In thinking back on it I can only think that I missed the sign because of all the visual clutter of the construction zone. In any case, the officer was very professional and I appreciated it. I ended up with a warning, I think because the officer recognized the temporary and confusing nature of the construction zone and the fact that there were no barriers to my turning left there-- no curving curb or arrows painted on the street (again, because it's temporary).
That afternoon I felt very tired, a bit nauseated, and had a pounding headache (I think I'm coming down with a flu or something). I read and napped for a few hours after taking some Excedrin and the headache slowly-- very slowly-- faded.
That evening we watched 'Amelie', a Big Love S4 episode and a Dexter S3 episode.

-----------------------------

Friday, 25 March -

Today I drove to Chambersburg to work on house 1 (the one for sale). We learned early this week that the water test taken as part of the inspection process had failed. This is not particularly alarming given that the water hasn't been circulated at all for several months.
Maypo and I lifted the top off the well using the tractor's loading bucket and then treated the well with chlorine and ran the treated water through all the pipes and the water heater. We then took care of some other small items from the inspection report-- cleaning out the gutters, fixing a bathtub drain actuator, and fixing a mis-wired receptacle (lesson taken: test receptacles with a polarity tester, not just a light).
That evening we went to supper at Norland Pub before I headed home.
At home Labashi and I watched 'The Social Network'. If it weren't for the photos and videos of my grandnieces and grandnephews, I'd give up my Facebook account after seeing that. Facebook may have made a lot of money and will undoubtedly make much, much more but I still don't like it and don't think it is well-engineered. The user interface is kludgy and unpredictable. It just doesn't feel right to me.
I'm reading James Michener's biography now and it's quite surprising, particularly his early years.

----------------------------

Thursday, 24 March -

This morning I took Labashi's car to Rahal Honda for service. I was delighted to find the service department now has loaner iPads for customers. All I had to do was give them my driver's license to hold until I returned it. I had the engine and transmission oils changed and had the brake fluid flushed and replaced, this at the 40,000 mile mark. The car passed inspection but the rear brakes were right on their lower limit so I gave the okay to have that done now. I'd rather do that than return in a few months and risk damaging the rotors in the meantime.
I loved playing with the iPad during my two-hour wait. But ultimately I decided I wouldn't buy one. At first I thought the touch-screen interface was cool but as I played I noticed it kept misinterpreting what I was trying to do. I was just trying to scroll up or down and it kept shifting into copy mode. And I didn't like the on-screen keyboard. It operated reliably enough but I didn't like the upshift/downshift. And it seemed clumsy to hold. It had a very nice stand to place it at different angles but I didn't find any of them-- or laying it flat-- to be nearly as comfortable as using the laptop.
It would be a different story if I was doing something like reading a magazine and perhaps that's its niche. I also happened to sit beside a fellow customer who had brought in her personal iPad. She confided that she hated it, even though (she said) it was the model with max memory and all the bells and whistles.
On the way home I stopped in at Cycle Tech to pay for my Concours. I had dropped it off last week for repair of the clutch hydraulics and a flush of the brake system and had gotten the 'it's ready' call. I paid the $160 bill and got the keys (since they were closing shortly). I then went home to pick up Labashi and my riding gear and returned for the bike.
That evening we watched several episodes of Dexter, Season Three.

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Wednesday, 23 March -

Today I spent a few hours researching South Africa as a possible vacation destination. I found a 4 x 4 camper rental that would substitute for Mocha Joe. Bottom line, though, is it would have to be a much shorter-duration trip than we normally take in our own van and we'd have to save up awhile to make it happen.
I've been having some sleeping problems for the last few days so I took a short nap in the afternoon to catch up a bit. I think I have my sleep pattern disturbed and need to get back into my normal pattern. This time it's a bit odd in that I feel sleepy after reading but once I turn off the light I wake up and then won't get sleepy again for hours. Then I'll sleep an hour or two and wake again.

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Tuesday, 22 March -

This morning we received the air purifier we ordered last week. Setup was easy and gave me a look at the three filters and the inside of the unit. It appears to be a quality unit and, as advertised, is very, very quiet. The automatic mode uses odor and dust sensors to determine how fast to run the fan. Just walking up to the unit stirs up enough dust for it to recognize and react. We're trying to improve the air quality in the house and cut down the amount of dust circulating as well as provide a means to remove cooking odors on occasion.
That afternoon I walked 5 miles at Rocky Ridge County Park.

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Monday, 21 March -

I spent the morning on the web including an hour or so researching maintenance for Labashi's car and then scheduling the appointment. I've decided to be a little more proactive and go ahead and have transmission oil changed and brake lines flushed at 40,000 miles since we're planning to keep the car.
That afternoon I walked the 5K cross-country course at Rudy Park. It was a nice, sunny wal

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Sunday, 20 March -

Today we spent the morning and early afternoon chatting with Orat and Taro around the kitchen table. It's surprising how fast time flies and how much fun it is to chat on and on about whatever comes to mind with these guys.
At 1500 we drove over to the local park to help finish the setup of the room for the birthday party. We then had a great time meeting extended family and watching the pleasant chaos all the kids created just being kids. Our grand-niece was flooded with presents, including a (battery-operated) ride-on John Deere Gator. Man, I would have eaten ALL my vegetables for that when I was a kid.

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Saturday, 19 March -

Today we drove up US15 to Orat's home in the Rochester area for our grand-niece's third birthday party tomorrow. As we drove we had plenty to keep us busy. The Susquehanna was very high-- above flood stage in some areas.
We visited Orat at his pizza shop and overstuffed ourselves with Ontario County's best pizza. We then went on to the house and watched television with Taro for the evening.

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Friday, 18 March -

Today we finally had our new bathroom floor installed. Labashi had made arrangements for it to be installed while I was in Florida but the installers had shown up (TWICE!!) with the wrong flooring. The installers are subcontractors, though, and they didn't do the ordering. If they hadn't been such nice guys, we might have called the whole thing off and ordered the flooring from the Internet and installed it ourselves (since the delays meant I'd be home).
The actual installation of the 'Adura' vinyl plank flooring only took a little over an hour. It looks great!
This morning I installed the harness for my electric jacket liner on the BMW's battery. I then tried it out with a ride into Starbucks for a mocha. The temperature was around 50 and the heat was very welcome.
I then rode to nearby Rocky Ridge County Park for a walk. I only walked for two miles but was very glad to get out.
That evening we started watching a documentary called 'Objectification' about industrial design but we both soon fell asleep and abandoned it.

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Thursday, 17 March -

Today I spent a few hours manning the vacuum cleaner. Labashi had been using the living room area to refinish a cabinet for the bathroom and that added sanding dust to the regular dust.
We've been talking about getting a quality air purifier. I had done some research on it before I left for Florida. Today I continued that research and then ordered one. We selected a RabbitAir BioGS-- a re-branded Mitsubishi. This particular model isn't top-of-the-line but seems to get very good reviews.

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Wednesday, 16 March-

I spent the day on the web. I've just run upon the term 'longreads' and spent hours reading very interesting articles recommended by various sites under this term. One of the best was an article about the health-care costs and outcomes in McAllen, Texas.

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Tuesday, 15 March-

The big project of the day was the blog. Once I get so far behind, I generally have a hard time determining what I had done so many days previously. On my Florida trip I started using a small calendar book to jot down a few notes and reminders. That was a big help today.
Late in the day I finally finished and posted the blog update.
I'm still reading 'The Swamp' and loving it. Though it's called a 'political history' it's a recounting of what happened in the Everglades to make it what it is today. Things make more sense to me now. For instance, this year I took notice of the raised-highway construction going on along the Tamiami Trail just west of the the Miccosukee casino. I had only gotten a vague description of what it was locally (as in “another government boondoggle”). It is one of many projects to restore a more natural waterflow – 'sheet flow' – through the Everglades. The Tamiami Trail is said to be restricting waterflow to one-third its historical (pre-Trail) level.

*********** END OF POST ***************

2011-03-14T23:59:00.000-04:00

Marco Island, Naples, Picayune Strand, Sanibel and Captiva, Myakka River State Park, Lake Manatee State Park, Little Manatee River State Park, Alafia River State Park, the trip home, trip to New York

(posted from home)

(This post covers 1 – 14 March, 2011)

---------------------------

Monday, 14 March-

This morning Labashi made the chicken pot-pie we had bought at Monicas for us. These are fantastic comfort food but we can only have them occasionally. We weren't in any hurry since we had had a light snow during the night. The roads didn't look dangerous but still, there was no reason to hurry. But around 1100 we decided it was time to go so we'd be home well before dark.
Our trip home went quite well and the weather improved along the way. We had left new snow and a cloudy, spitty day in New York and arrived home in sunshine and near-50 temperatures. The weekend's time change meant we still had several hours of daylight.
We unpacked the van and settled in for the evening and watched a modern-art documentary called 'The Cool School'.

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Sunday, 13 March -

We spent the morning and early afternoon sitting around the kitchen table talking with Orat and Taro. Around 1500 we drove to a nearby park and its community center room rented for the party. As the adults arrived, things were very subdued. But when the kids showed up, things started happening ; nothing dramatic, just kids being kids... and it was a hoot! The dramatic moment of the day, though, happened when the birthday girl got her big present-- a kid's John Deere Gator. The drama was the birthday girl's reaction to it. She was clearly awed by the present but she wasn't ready for the attention of everyone in the room to fall on her. She burst into tears and ran away! When it was clear she wasn't about to come back, her Dad took the Gator out into the parking lot and only a few close friends watched as the little one assumed control of her new toy. The giggles soon came.
We had a big meal at the party and afterwards returned to the house. We had brought along a bottle of Limoncello. Given the big meal, that's just what we needed. We spent the rest of the evening sitting around sipping and telling stories.

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Saturday, 12 March -

Labashi and I loaded up Mocha Joe and drove the 250 miles north to Orat's house, stopping along the way at Monica's Pies (near Naples) for some goodies.

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Friday, 11 March -

Today Orat called to ask if I was coming up for my grand-niece's 3rd birthday party. I had forgotten about it since I had intended to be away another week or two. But it was an easy decision-- heck, yeah!
That afternoon we went shopping for a birthday present and that evening had supper at an Indian restaurant in Mechanicsburg.

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Thursday, 10 March -

I spent most of today on the web, catching up and re-charging. I did make a trip into town to return my last batch of Blockbuster DVDs and make a quickie stop at Starbucks. But other than that, I was glued to my laptop at home.

------------------------------

Wednesday, 9 March -

Ah, it's nice to be home!!!
My Florida trip this year added 4600 miles to Mocha Joe's odometer-- now around 178K total. I had one 'breakdown' but it was my own fault. While spending a rainy first week in Jacksonville I spent much more time than normal using my laptop. It's powered by an inverter running off the van's battery. So because I wasn't driving nearly as much, the battery was being drained down.
I did get a warning but didn't recognize what it was. The inverter's 'Overload' LED would light and I'd get an audible alarm. I thought this meant the laptop was drawing power in excess of the inverter's capacity. But that didn't make sense. I've used this setup quite a lot without a problem.
I thought my inverter must be going bad. I even went so far as to look up the local West Marine in hopes of finding a direct replacement. Think of the irony of it. There I was using power to search for a replacement inverter for the inverter that was telling me (if only I'd listen) I should be shutting down because my battery voltage was too low.
I finally shut down and decided to leave. Imagine my surprise when I heard nothing but a click when I turned the key. But, as I described earlier, I got lucky. When I opened the hood two guys at a car-wash across the street noticed and came over to help. They gave me a jump and I was on my way only ten minutes after discovering the problem.
Though I may have been able to charge up my existing battery and continue on, I knew that my battery was aging and was nearing the end of its life. Given my desire for reliability, I drove to a nearby Pep Boys and bought an Optima yellow-top. I've been monitoring battery voltage since to try to get a feel for 'normal'.
Gas mileage ran about normal. I get 14 – 16, depending on how much interstate driving I get.
As far as gas prices, my best this trip was $2.84 a gallon in South Carolina the first week of February. Prices back home were in the $3.12 to $3.15 range at the time. But of course with the uncertainty in Egypt and Libya, gas prices were rising the entire trip. The highest I saw this time was $3.89 but that same day I bought gas for $3.65 not far away. On the way home gas was $3.35 in South Carolina and $3.45 and $3.55 the rest of the way up I-95. Strangely, I saw gas for $3.29 that evening in Manchester, only five miles from home.

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Tuesday, 8 March -

I left Manning shortly after 0700 this morning, determined to get around Washington before rush hour. I did pretty well, arriving there by mid-afternoon. But I was surprised to find the going pretty slow around the beltway, apparently because of all the construction south of I-66. Things seemed to open up but then slowed down again on I-270. It was only 1530 but already traffic was only running at 25 miles per hour. Looking back on it, that was only about a half-hour of my time but of course once I'm in my 'headed for the barn' mode, any delays seem never-ending.
I arrived home by 1730 and spent an hour unloading and 'arriving'. It was GREAT to see my sweetie again.

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Monday, 7 March-

This morning I woke and almost immediately knew it was time to go home. This has happened several times now. I just suddenly know I've played enough and it's time to go home.
I thought I'd first go see the 'Fantasy of Flight' attraction along I-4. I drove over there and waited for them to open at 1000. But once inside I lost my interest in touring the facility. It seemed too contrived. A walk through the gift shop and a look at the schedule confirmed my gut feel--- “nothing to see here, move on”.
I spent the rest of the day headed north. I decided to go up Route 41 to get a look at the countryside and did enjoy that. By evening I was in Waycross, Georgia and soon got back on I-95 around Savannah.
I drove through to Manning, South Carolina where I stayed at a relatively quiet Wal-mart. That would put me within striking distance of home the next day.

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Sunday, 6 March-

My night at Wimauma Wal-mart was a fairly noisy one so I slept in a bit. By mid-morning I had driven to Alafia (Ala-FI-ah) River State Park. This park has an extensive network of mountain-biking trails. I first walked a short loop trail through the spoil-banks of the old phosphate mine, then got out the folding bike and rode the River Trail-- the easy-level mountain-biking trail. That one turned out to be a bit more challenging than expected, mostly because of large roots across the trail and narrow clearances (and tight turns) between trees. I also zoomed up on an armadillo (“EEEK!!!!”, said the armadillo) and a small family of wild hogs (“EEEEEEKK!!!!”, said the wild hogs) at the far reaches of the trail.
The riding really wiped me out so I took a bit of a nap and read for an hour that afternoon. I then headed for the nearest Wal-mart. Along the way I came upon a Panera so dropped in there to pick up a wi-fi signal and had Skype-video chats with Labashi and Maypo.
I spent the night at the Zephyrills Wal-mart. It had a Chili's nearby so I enjoyed a Presidente margarita and a quesadilla. And there I saw a 'cowboy', a local guy in cowboy hat and cut-off tee shirt hanging around the bar, talking with everyone and teasing the kids. I asked my server about him and she described him as a lonely guy who lives nearby, has no family and spends a lot of his spare time entertaining the guests.

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Saturday, 5 March-

This morning I drove on to Lake Manatee State Park. I walked two and a half miles on the Bobcat Trail and around the campground that morning. I then drove on to Little Manatee River State Park. I had extra-terrific weather and after lunch decided I needed a break. I read a few chapters of 'The Swamp' and napped a bit to recharge my batteries.
I then drove to the other side of the river for what I intended to be an hour's walk. But once there I saw the trail was a 6.2 mile loop. I couldn't resist seeing the entire trail, even though I had to keep up a fast pace to finish the trail before dark.
That evening I drove to the Wal-mart at Wimauma. I picked up 'The Girl Who Played With Fire' from the Redbox and settled in for the evening.

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Friday, 4 March-
This morning I left the Cracker Barrel and drove to Myakka State Park. I had heard this one is very nice and it was indeed very scenic. The main road goes through trees heavily hung with epihytes and this makes for a wonderful 'green tunnel'.
After checking out the park I opted for a hike recommended by a ranger. I parked at Fox's Lower Road and walked to Mossy Hammock, then returned via the Florida Trail segment, totaling six miles.
As the day ended I drove on to another Cracker Barrel, this one at Bradenton. I loved the back roads from the north side of Myakka River State Park to Bradenton-- it's very nice ranching country.
That evening I decided I should return DVDs to Blockbuster and ran into a problem. I went to the nearest Blockbuster and found it out of business. I then started calling each Blockbuster on the GPS. I had to call five of them before finding one still in business. When I finally talked to a Blockbuster in Sarasota I learned all the Blockbusters in Bradenton had been owned by a franchisor who ended up closing them all when times got tough. I was less than happy to have to drive what I considered an 'extra' 15 miles to return the videos. But then I realized it was actually about the same distance I have to drive at home to my nearest Blockbuster. No big deal!

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Thursday, 3 March-

I woke very early (around 0600) and decided I'd take an early-morning drive to look for panthers (you never know!). It was still dark as I left but soon the skies lightened up enough for me to turn off my headlights. I cruised several roads I hadn't been down before and in the process came upon a herd of turkeys (okay, a 'flock' or 'rafter' of turkeys). I couldn't see them well as the entire flock was walking rapidly down the road ahead of me. I saw at least eight, two of them toms. The highlight of the morning, though, was seeing the 'grandfather' cypress. The photographer I met last night had told me about it and gave me basic directions ('off Miller and 116th '). Once close, I could see it towering above the other trees in the area. It was absolutely spectacular. It's a very large cypress with a huge (at least 3 feet in diameter) hole in the trunk. And nearby was a mystery. It was a small green box with what looked like a t-shaped antenna on top. Someone had scratched words on it- something like “I can hear you!” on it and I saw the logo 'SongMeter'. I subsequently learned it's a bird-sound digital recorder (see http://www.wildlifeacoustics.com/sm2_platform.php ). Sounds are recorded on a chip over many days, even months and they're time-stamped. Researchers can then use special bird-sound software to determine what species had visited and when they were there. Cool!
I cruised around until 1030 or so and headed back to the campground to relax. I spent an hour or so reading 'The Swamp', a history of south Florida and the Everglades. I then cleaned out the cooler and re-stowed gear.
I spent the afternoon driving to Fort Myers. Along the way I passed a Batteries Plus and was finally able to find replacement batteries for my video camera (at $35 each!).
I then drove to Sanibel Island, arriving only two hours before dark. I spent the time cruising the island and the Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge. I also cruised on through to Captiva Island but only had time for a quick drive-through before dark. I stopped at “Doc Ford's Sanibel Rum Bar and Grille”, a restaurant owned by novelist Randy Wayne White. I've long been a fan of his Doc Ford novels. I didn't stay, though. The restaurant was quite busy and I still had to find a place to park for the night.
I then drove to the Fort Myers Bass Pro, hopefully for the night. According to my overnightrvparking.com list, I could stay there with the manager's permission. I had my doubts when I saw the parking area was part of a large mall and that indeed turned out to be a problem. The manager explained that the parking lot was owned by the mall and it had a strict no-overnighting policy. It happens.
I moved on to a nearby Cracker Barrel (also on the list) and the manager there welcomed me. I had dinner there and then spent a few hours with my friends on 'The Mentalist' in the van.

---------------------------------

Wednesday, 2 March-

I had stayed at this Wal-mart before and it had always been very quiet. But last night I was awakened at 0130 by a noisy vehicle and a loud radio. The rain had stopped and now a work-crew was working on landscaping the 'islands' in the parking lot. The noisy vehicle was a backhoe/loader running back and forth with loads of mulch for the workers. The radio was theirs.
I quickly realized that I wouldn't be able to sleep through the noise so my choices were to wait it out or move. I decided to stay and read. The noise tailed off by 0330 or so and I then slept very heavily.
This morning I drove back to the library, mostly to continue reading books in the Florida Room at the Naples library. I got back into 'Cry of the Panther' and then browsed through 'Weird Florida' and 'Florida Off the Beaten Path' for touring info. I also found a great book about plans to re-establish the Florida panther and panther habitat. I loved seeing overlay maps showing plots of panther-radio-collar triangulations. These plots did indeed show significant hot-spots in the area of Royal Palm and Hidden Pond as the ranger had told me during our starlight walk on the Anhinga Trail. It was also remarkable to see all the dots all over the Picayune Strand, Fakahatchee Strand and Big Cypress.
Later in the day I drove to the Picayune Strand State Forest. I planned to camp at what I call the 'horse-campground' at the northern end of the park. It's called 'Belle Meade' and serves as a trailhead for a network of horse trails, has corrals for the horses and has plenty of room for camping. It doesn't have defined campsites (which to my mind is a great plus!) but is rather a large grassy area, about half of it under beautiful, massive pines. It lies alongside the state forest offices and this year there was something new – an office trailer for the Army Corps of Engineers.
I stopped in the state forest office to see what's happening in the Picayune but it was near the end of the work day and I was only able to talk briefly with a forest-service guy. As has always been the case with these guys, he was very friendly and helpful ; we just didn't have much time to talk since he was just leaving on an assignment.
I spent the rest of the day cruising the state forest roads. In this case the 'state forest' is the network of streets and canals installed by the Gulf American Corporation in the failed Golden Gate South development. The streets and canals interrupted water flow to the Everglades but today the Picauyune Strand State Forest is now a cornerstone project of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan.
So I was interested in both seeing wildlife and in seeing how the restoration project is doing. As to wildlife, I had my best day ever in the Picayune. Even as I crossed the bridge into the state forest, I sighted wildlife-- in this case a bald eagle at eye level (as I topped the bridge). As I cruised the state forest 'streets' I came upon two cottonmouths, one crossing the road, the other in a short canal section. I also saw five turkeys, four deer, five red-shouldered hawks, and the largest black bear I've ever seen! The black bear was a fantastic sighting. As I eased along Everglades Boulevard a block north of Lynch I saw the bear off to my right, less than 30 yards away. It had not seen me coming because of roadside growth. It was a massive female (I could clearly see its teats and they, in fact, appeared oddly distended) and, luckily for me, it didn't immediately know what I was. It stood up on hind feet, clearly squinting and sniffing to try to figure out what I was. It then went back down on all fours and started walking toward me. It came close enough that I reached for my power-window switch to put the passenger window up. But before I pushed it I saw from the bear's face that it suddenly recognized what I am. I also noticed that the wind had changed and was now blowing toward the bear. In any case, once she recognized what I was, she made a bee-line (bear-line?) into the nearby heavy growth. And it was at that moment that I resolved to find new batteries for my video camera! (In other words, no, I didn't get it on video!)
Shortly after sighting the bear I came upon a photographer. He was shooting sunset photos over a particularly scenic clump of trees. His name is David Bosworth and told me he has spent hundreds of days shooting (photos) in the Picayune. He gave me his business card and I noticed its background is a photo of this same clump of trees.
I got back to the campground well after dark, paid the 'iron ranger' ($10 this year) and spent the evening relaxing and watching 'In Treatment' and 'The Mentalist' episodes.

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Tuesday, 1 March-

Last night an interesting thing happened. I'm still not exactly sure what the story is but I had awakened shortly before midnight and was lying there solving the problems of the world. After ten minutes or so, I saw a a flash of light out the side window. I thought a car must be coming down the road and I was just seeing the flash from the headlights. But the car never showed up.
But then I heard a sound behind the van-- it was someone talking. And now I could see an LED-type flashlight-- probably a headlamp-- pointed down at the campfire ring. Someone was talking to himself while leaned over the fire ring. I had noticed several burnt-over logs in the fire-ring as I had come in.
The fire-ring was only about 25 feet behind the van but I couldn't see through my dusty rear windows. In any case, the guy seemed to have an argument with himself over which of the three logs to take, finally decided on one, picked it up, and went off. The logs were completely charred so he must have made a mess of his clothes as he wrestled the unwieldy log into his arms and against his chest as he left. I had no reason to challenge him about taking the log and given what I could hear of him talking to himself, I was doubly sure to not try. I lay awake another half hour or so, thinking he might come back, but that was the end of it. Why someone would pull a stunt like that escapes me. Perhaps he had been camped there the day before and was just retrieving his favorite log from yesterday's fire-- I don't know.
This morning as I drove out I looked at nearby campers but couldn't tell which it had been.
I awoke to heavy fog and dew today and thought I'd go ahead out the Turner River Road.
I drove slowly, enjoying the morning fog lifting. By the time I made it to the Tamiami Trail the fog was gone. It was still cool so I only saw a few gators though I did have a cotton-mouth cross the road in front of me.
As I drove west on US 41 I came upon a new-to-me visitor center. The Big Cypress visitor center is all brand new since my last visit in the spring of 2009. I took a quick walk through the inside and went out to the boardwalk. I noticed a ranger walking along the canal in front of the building and realized it was okay to walk there despite the fact that there are no signs or walkways leading to it. I at first thought it was too close to US41 but soon saw something to change my mind. A large gator lay close along the bank. I looked twice because at first it appeared to be a very-well-executed bronze.
I walked away to look at birds in the nearby trees and at that point heard a mysterious sound. The gator was making a 'motor-boating' sound. It sounded like someone had started up a small outboard, revved it a bit, and then shut down. And as my gaze switched back to the gator, I saw water dancing on its back as it made the motor sound. VERY cool! Up to this point I had only seen that in nature films.
Continuing my tour, I drove into Collier-Seminole State Park for a quick drive-through. I was dismayed to hear that the cost of camping there has now risen to $28, even if all you need is a place to put up a tent or to park the van for the night.
I then drove in to Marco Island and took a break at Caxambas Park. I had a slow wi-fi connection there but got frustrated with it so I went to the local Starbucks and had a nice, long chat with Labashi.
I then continued on to Naples and its library as skies clouded up. I stumbled upon a book called 'Cry of the Panther' and spent the rest of the afternoon reading most of it, though I did end up just scanning the last few chapters.
I had intended to drive out to the State Forest for the night but since it was raining I decided I'd get a movie and stay in a Wal-mart parking lot. I watched episodes of 'In Treatment' and 'The Mentalist'.

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