“House done, man die.” – Chinese proverb
Sunday, February 03, 2013
Got the “Fancy Gallery” Going
I've found a great template for creating an image gallery for the web site. There are thumbnails you can click on to see a photo a bit larger as well as a slideshow capability to scan through all the photos. As a test, I've posted a few photos from our last Christmas at the Cabin -- clear back in 2005. We had seven dogs then: Daisy, Body, Bart, Sailor, Millenia, Hailey and Alex. And, we had three cats: Sam, eBay and Vincent. I guess we didn't get any shots of Vincent.
Enjoy!
Posted under: Stuff You Gotta Know! • by Rick on 02/03/2013 at 07:24 AM
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Thursday, January 03, 2013
Welcome to 2013
Hope you don’t suffer from triskaidekaphobia.
Posted under: Stuff You Gotta Know! • by Rick on 01/03/2013 at 10:16 AM
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Wednesday, December 26, 2012
New Feature on Weather Station
For Christmas, Santa brought me a heater for the rain collector on the weather station. This allows it to better collect and measure moisture (rainfall) when the weather is cold and the precipitation takes the form of snow or ice. I installed it today, just before we got some snow. And, it seems to be working fine. We are now getting sleet and ice on top of the snow and the temperature is still below freezing.
Thanks Santa!
You can follow the weather at our home at this web address:
Posted under: New Jersey • by Rick on 12/26/2012 at 06:51 PM
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Thursday, November 01, 2012
Gas line
I went to work today. I left home around 8:00 planning to be at work around 9:00 or 9:30. It took forever to go the 12 miles or so to 287. And, when I got there the power was on so I stopped in a grocery store to pick up some things we agreed we should buy at the first opportunity.
All the frozen and refrigerated items were being purged from the shelves, but I did get some water, hamburger buns, etc. Then, I decided to go ahead and go to Home Depot to return an item I had bought a few days earlier. They took the return, and then I saw a guy with a couple of 5 gallon gas cans in his cart. Turns out they had a shipment of them and were allocating them 2 to a customer. I stood in line and scored two new gas cans.
As I drove back down 23 toward work, I decided to try to get some gas. I got in a line in the curbside lane that only took about 1/2 hour to get to a gas station. They let me have $20 in gas, so that filled one of the three 5 gallon cans I had (1 old one and my two new ones).
I got to work around 10:30. While there are some heroic people at work doing production, and all of them in a similar situation to us (or worse), for me there was not much to do but catch up on email and catch up on colleagues’ situations. I was able to take a shower.
Late afternoon I decided to head home and help Lynne with chores and dinner. The main road home was packed with people. Lights are out so it is a mess. Etc. So, I decided to take the back roads home. At one point, I am on a two lane road and crawling along. It took about an hour to go 3/4 of a mile. I just could not figure out what was wrong. On a call to Lynne she suggested that maybe I was in a gas line. After all, there is a gas station at the intersection I was headed for.
Sure enough. Even though I had not started out seeking gas, I had just spent more than an hour in a gas line! It was as if the lane of the road was routed through a gas station. When I finally got to the front of the line and was given an option of turning (to head home) or getting gas, I opted for the gas! After all, I’d spent my time in line!
I got 10 gallons! They were limiting purchases to $40.
So, now I am home. We had a great dinner grilled outside. And, we have 15 gallons of gas! I feel like a successful hunter today and I think my skills as a hunter are appreciated by Lynne.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Posted under: by Rick on 11/01/2012 at 06:43 PM
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Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Without Electricity
I get frustrated living without electricity. Getting about and doing things is a bit like a choreographed dance, but it takes practice. Everything needs to be in the right place at the right time or you end up working very inefficiently backtracking to get a flashlight, for example.
We have several flashlights and lanterns. Each needs to be staged at a certain place in the house so we can always find it. And, if you want to go to a dark part of the house, like to the basement, or into a closet, you need to remember to grab the right light. Of course, this would work if we always remembered to pick up the light when venturing into a dark place. And, if we always put lights back in their known staging location—which I, at least, don’t.
And, making sure the right kinds of light are available for cooking or cleaning can be a challenge. I know it sounds silly, but having to backtrack from the closet where I went to get some shoes all the way downstairs to get light, then back up to rummage in the closet can get frustrating and tiring.
To this, add the fact that without electricity we have no running water. In preparation for Sandy, we filled both upstairs bathtubs with water. This is for two purposes. One is to refill the toilet tank after flushing (which we do only when necessary), the other reason is for emergency water in case we go through the 15 gallons or so in plastic water “cans” also filled in prep for the storm.
The issue here is making sure you have a small bucket of water with you when you go to the toilet. With three bathrooms and two bathtubs and only two buckets, it becomes a complex asset management problem to take a crap.
Now, try making sure you have a water bucket plus some form of light each time you go to the toilet in the dark of night. They are never in the same place. And, you may need to go upstairs to fill the bucket from the bathtub prior to doing duty. Sometimes I go to look for the bucket forgetting to take a light.
The dogs seem to have it easy. They can pretty much see in the dark and don’t feel a compelling need to flush.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Posted under: New Jersey • Stuff You Gotta Know! • by Rick on 10/31/2012 at 10:59 AM
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