Monday, August 31, 2009

Pictures

Here is the slide show of the woodcutting adventure.

Sunday, August 30, 2009

It's nice to go places and nicer to come home

The load of wood measured out at 3.75 cord. At 1 and a quarter ton per cord, that's a decent load. The boys had the woodcutting out of the way early Saturday afternoon and off on 4 wheelers they went. That part of Oregon is different than most of the state, A drive through that forest and all you see is trees, the vistas are few and far between. Can't see the forest for the trees? lol
A hot shower and a nap sound real good right now.

Friday, August 28, 2009

Off to the woods we go

I have to find something better than bread crumbs to mark the trail, we have all heard of Hanzel and Grettle's misadventure, a GPS should do the trick...lol
Going camping with my sons is an adventure in packing, they tend to take enough for a month's stay, just for a weekend. I travel a bit lighter, We moved to Denver in a Carman Gia in 1967, so I am good at packing. My camp kit fits in a standard storage box, stove and camp tools included. A bed roll, tent and a cooler completes all I need to go camping. The boys take a field kitchen that would service a company, maybe a division. Actually the pioneers left Independance Mo with less than the modern camper needs for a weekend.
The excuse for the trip is woodcutting and there will be 3 cords wood come back from the hills, but I think the trip would happen just for the camping if nobody had a wood stove at home.
I will check back in when we return, if i survive.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Darwin Awards

I got to thinking about the Darwin Awards while I was pruning the walnut tree that had grown into the powerlines. Being 12 ft up an aluminum ladder with a metal framed bow saw clamped to a 10 ft steel tubing, trimming limbs away from a powerline had a lot to do with where my thoughts traveled. The list of things that could have gone terribly wrong would fill a book.
Since I am here to tell the story, it is obvious that I failed in my bid for the questionable honor of a Darwin Award. Maybe I can try again next year.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

anniversary day #42

Here I sit, low and down hearted, I came to blog and can't even get started.

Thinking back to where I was 42 years ago, I have come to a few conclusions about life and marriage. Marry young, before you are set in your ways. Move your new spouse a thousand miles from family and friends. Start your new life with a minimum of outside influences. You will quickly learn to support and comfort each other. The "me and I" will quickly become "we and us". The rocky spots become challenges rather than obstacles and meeting those challenges together, cements a bond that is unbreakable. This may not work for everyone, but it has served us well for 42 years.

Monday, August 24, 2009

Looking forward, backward, anywhere but here

I just got to thinking, 2 years ago we were off the coast of Canada on the Vision of the Seas. That reminds me that tomorrow is our 42nd anniversary. I am so ready to be cruising again. I hope when we do get to it, that it is as good as I remember. 18 days and counting!

Sunday, August 23, 2009

I hate suspense

19 Days, but who's counting. My paranoia is expecting a major plan changing catastrophe any day now. I do get a bit of comfort knowing that the things, one worries about the most, almost never happen...lol

Friday, August 21, 2009

Internet plans

The last time we went cruising, I bought some expensive shipboard internet package that turned out to be a real dog. The satellite link just doesn't work very well and was barely adequate for simple email w/o pictures. I don't plan to even mess with it this time. A little research shows many of the ports have public library wifi hotspots and those ports that don't feature this, have cyber cafes with paid access that is cost effective. The cyber cafes are a chain that you can buy a card with time and use it in any of their locations and the locations are adjacent to the cruise piers. It has to be better internet than last time, when I had to fall back to email only and didn't update the blog until we got to my son's place in Eastern Washington. Nobody got any pictures until after the cruise was all over. I hope to be able to blog at the least every other day and upload my pictures to Picasa for those who want to see them.

When you're hot you're hot

The temperature has been bouncing off the century mark this week. I have been checking Juneau and the 60F temps makes me in a hurry to get this show on the road. The snow will probably be flying up there in 3 weeks and right now I could use the 60 degrees.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Charlotte in the cloud

Charlotte was wanting to write in my blog again this time. After the confusion of of both of us posting in the same blog last time, I told her to go make her own blog and she did! She has been using Facebook and email and is figuring this cloud computing thing out. This morning, she informed me that she created her own blog, but she had lost it and didn't know how to get back to it roflol. A quick search of her history and it is found and now bookmarked. I am following her and now she says I look like a stalker in my profile. There is just no pleasing some people.

Counting down the days

Count down to the road trip for the cruise is 3 weeks and a day. It has got me thinking about packing. I should do a bit of planning here.
We took everything but the kitchen sink last time and needed very little of it. We are not going to do that again. It is a fine line of not taking too much and finding you wished you had brought something that would really make the trip more pleasant. I can't talk Charlotte into camping along the way this time, so leaving the camp gear home makes more room in the car. I don't think I can force myself to leave it all, I like to make my own coffee in some of the nicer rest stops. A half hour of making and drinking coffee is a good driving break. I always make better coffee than you can buy when traveling and we are pretty spoiled when it comes to coffee.
Electronic gizmos will be limited to netbook, USB GPS and audio player. They can easily share space in the backpack I am going to use for my carry on. I am not even going to be carrying a book, maybe a couple of ebooks on the computer, but there is too much going on on the ship to need much reading material. I can always use the ship's library in a pinch. I find myself "listening" to a lot of audio books lately, I can read with my eyes closed that way :)
I sure didn't need the amount of clothing I took last time. It didn't help that they lost my luggage for long enough that I duplicated much of it in Juneau before they found my bag. About half of what I started with last time should do it. I can makeup any additional needs along the way with souvenir t-shirts. I know how to pack a carry-on now that I can survive the whole trip if the main bag gets lost again.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

It's a computerized world

When we cruised last time, I took a Windows laptop with us. I was using Linux on my desktop computer, but had kept the laptop on Windows to use Delorme Street Atlas and GPS. My GPS died on that trip and with it my only use for Windows. Street Atlas ran fine on the Linux in Wine, but I was never able to resolve the USB to RS232 adaptor that the old Tripmate GPS needed. I put Linux on the laptop when we got home and have been quite happy with it ever since.
This time around I have a nice small Meso netbook running Ubuntu Netbook Remix, a new LT-40 Earthmate GPS and an open source navigation program called RoadNav. I do love using a computer that has never seen Windows and I have not had to pay the "Windows Tax" that is included in the price of new computers that come with Windows installed. Mr Bill Gates is rich enough, he does not need any of my money. The money is not the only reason to switch to Linux, it is just a nice side benefit.
In the last several years I have become an advocate for all forms of free and open source software. The FLOSS (Free Libra Open Source Software) development model advances the computer development in ways that that closed source model can never match. Ok...no more soapbox, at least for now :) I'll tell you later about the Microsoft work shops, that I see on the on the ship's activity itinerary. Those poor instructors are going to wince every time they see me...ROFLOL

Monday, August 17, 2009

Cruising 2009

Here it is 2 years later and I haven't touched this blog in that time. Charlotte has another cruise booked, so I better catch up.
Lots has happened in the two years. Charlotte has retired (if you can call day care of two and sometimes three grandchildren retired). We remodeled the master bedroom and bath last year, no money for a cruise also. This year we did the floor in the small bedroom/computer room. It was a wonderful idea to pull out the 30 year old carpet and make use of the nice pine flooring underneath it. I hate carpet, area rugs are so much easier to keep clean, just roll them up and haul them off to clean and you get to mop the floor under them to spic and span.
Here's the plan so far. Drive to Seattle on Sept 11 and take the Amsterdam cruising to Alaska on the 12th.