Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all you Moms out there.

Saturday I did a day trip to Debbie's for a visit. While there, we did a web video with Doug and the kids and had a good time. We ate our standard "Saturday Visit" locally made pizza for dinner. I left in the early evening so I could get home by sunset due to my eye issue with headlight glare at night.

The time flew by so fast we didn't get to do all the things we had planned so next time I will do an over-nighter.



I left the dogs at home since they could now go in and out of the house with their new "Doggie Door" and when I got back home in the evening they seemed to have done well.

I received my new 55" HDTV and Blu-Ray DVD player Friday so I was excited about that. Somehow I managed to move the old TV off the stand but could not get the new TV on it since it weighs 83 pounds and my right shoulder still doesn't have the strength. Luckily my neighbor helped me get it up on the stand.

It took me quite a while to get everything reconnected and I had a few issues. First, I could not get the High Definition from the cable box to the TV as the existing one is coaxial and the new TV requires HDMI. Cable company coming out Monday to swap out the box for the HDMI connector.

Next while playing a DVD the audio going to my Home Theater amplifier was real muffled (character voices) and sounded terrible. I spent hours trying all the different audio options and still couldn't resolve it. Finally I did an audio test on my 7 speakers plus bass speaker and found no audio coming from the center channel which is the predominate voice channel. I check the speaker and the wire came unconnected while I was moving everything around. DUH! Fixed that and the Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound now works great.

Let me tell you right now, once you watch a Blu-Ray DVD on a LED Plus LCD 55 inch screen, you will never go back. The video quality is amazing. I used the movie Avatar as a test since I had a DVD version and Blu-Ray version. Words cannot describe it.

My new setup also allows me to connect to the Internet and stream Netflix Movies, Since I am already a member there is no Extra charge for it. I can also go to You Tube and watch mine and other videos, Plus many other services. I was also able to update my Blu-Ray player on line for the latest firmware version. I can even access my computer in the office and view my photos and videos.

Plus I don't have to turn off the lights to see the TV. The picture is very bright and self-adjusts based on the ambient room lighting.

There are many additional features to numerous to mention here.

IT IS AWESOME!!!!


Some of the services I can access:




I watched my You Tube video of the HD camera test.

I tested the NetFlix streaming video. Guess what movie this is??

And here is a shot from Avatar.

Of course the photos shown here on the blog do not have the quality as seeing it live but it will give you an idea.

I guess when I retire, I could easily become a real couch potato.

Next I will be installing a snack machine, beverage server and popcorn machine right next to my viewing chair!

Rain - Rain...

...Go Away and Come Back Another Day!

In the last 24-hours I had over 3.5 inches of rain. The ground is just bubbling with water and my sump pump is working overtime. From that extreme now it is supposed to get into the 90's in the next few days. Wow, crazy weather.

I decided to stop being a doorman for the dogs and also for emergency reasons. I replaced my back door from a full glass to 1/2 glass and installed a "Doggie Door". If you remember, when I was admitted to the ER with my blood clots, the dog's were locked in the house and had no way to go out and do their "business". Now they can.

They learned to use it pretty quick and Max is a pro. Buddy sometimes forgets he can go in and out on his own but he is following Max's lead and doing OK. Here are a few photos.

"COME ON BUDDY, YOU CAN DO IT - SAYS MAX.

Fishing Week - April 17 throught 22nd

Andrew, Brynne and Sean arrived on Saturday. The first thing on the list was to get the dogs to calm down with the guests. As you can see, Andrew seemed to have over excited the dogs and they are "playing" on his lap.

He finally gets them calmed down by holding Buddy in a headlock and not sure what he is doing to Max but Max's eyes seem to be telling me something!

Brynne had a much more calming effect.

Since there was four of us we went out on the pontoon boat to have more room for fishing.

Let's fish now.

The weather was very cold and windy the first few days but eventually it started to warm up. We really had to work hard to find Bass and it was very slow at times. We mostly caught one to two pund bass except Andrew caught a 4 pounder (photo above) and Brynne caught a 3 pound catfish while bobber fishing with a minnow (Photo above).

Our totals for the week were 30 Bass with a total weight of 48 pounds.

Brynne did some time exposure photography one night and it turned out pretty cool.

We also went to the gun range and did some target practicing.

There are too many photos and videos to post here so I will create a YouTube video later and post it.

All in all, we had a great time visiting, fishing, shooting and playing with the dogs.

Spring has Sprung

Finally, the long awaited Spring is here in Alabama. The weather is great; lots of sunshine and 70-80 degree days. Today it almost got up to 90 degrees.

However, this spring is unusual. Normally at this time I would have seen a multitude of Golden Finches at the feeder, but have only seen one or two. Also, by now I would have had Blue birds nesting in my bird houses but I haven't seen any yet. Hummers are usually at the nectar feeder but none so far. Very puzzling.

I have increased my activities but carefully due to current medical situation. On the weekend, I planted some more onions and cherry tomatoes (sweet 100's) in my garden. Last year the tomato plants did not grow to well and I did not get any fruit due to insufficient sunlight from all the trees (I think). I thought I would try it one more time.

I also fired up the bass boat and got it ready for the upcoming fishing derby with some of my children. It was so nice out Sunday evening I even tried a little fishing. It has been months since I have been out. Luckily, my right arm is not my casting arm. I put on a life vest because I knew I couldn't swim very good with only one arm. Then I put on the right shoulder sling over the vest. What a sight! I bet people wondered what the heck was going on.

Anyway, I caught a nice 2.5 pound bass in one of my favorite fishing spots. It was a little challenging to get the bass in the boat and un-hooked with only one hand but I managed. That topped off the evening for me.

I forgot to mention in a previous blog that my company sent me a big lunch box full of fruit and tasty crackers when I was seriously ill. Here is a picture of it.

Looking forward to visits from my family and more fishing.

Move'n On

A lot has happened since my last update. All medical stuff but everyone should be familiar with that so I'm going to skip it here. Last Thursday it was time for the Lights Out marine survey to be done for the buyer. Due to the rain we, did not go out on the water for the sea trial tests which check all of the engine and mechanical components as well as stress testing the motor mounts, etc. Friday we did the sea trial tests and the surveyor took some photos of LO away from the dock.

It was really hard to run the boat with just one hand and due to the strong wind, it was very difficult to put back in the slip with just one hand. It took me 6 attempts but I finally got her in. I was very exhausted as I wasn't back to normal due to medical issues. Here are a few photos.

It was very cold also. During the sea trial, I donated another hat (the one in above photo) to Lake Guntersville as the wind blew it off my head and it now resides in 44 feet of water. It was my Thunderbirds hat and one of my special hats as I got it at an air show at Doug's air base many years ago.

I finally emptied the dishwasher Sunday. The dishes were from when Brynne and Pamella visited more than a week ago!

I took both dog's out for a short walk today holding them both with one hand. They behaved well and really enjoyed the walk.

That's it for now.

Camping 2010

After reviewing my retirement travel plans, I decided to upgrade my camper and change to an RV (Motor Home) which is self-contained, additional inside space and drivable. The camper was always a struggle to hook up, tow and set up as well as being very cramped, especially with the Buddy and Max.

I traded the camper for a 2009 model Fleetwood Tioga Ranger. It is 31 feet long and has two slide-outs for expanded living space. What I really liked about it is it has two bunks where the grand children can sleep as well as the dogs! It will sleep 8 adults and two children.

It has a Ford E450 truck chassis with a V10 engine at 305 HP. It will have about the same gas mileage as when I was towing the camper with the Durango. The engine has very good torque and going up hills and mountains is easy. It will cruise at 70 mph without a struggle and with the overdrive, the engine RPMs are the same as a car so very fuel efficient.

View inside looking toward the cab.

Close up of Cab

Galley area with sofa

Bunks

A Monitor in each bunk for video games and movies (for Grandchildren)

Last weekend I took an overnight trip to a nearby State Park (Buck's Pocket) to test everything. All went well and I created a video of the trip (click link below). It will show more detail inside the RV as well as some of the things I did while there.

I had some trouble creating the video in HD so for now it is in a standard format.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Alf7_0oXXc

I have found several Alabama State Parks here in the Northeast which offer stream fishing for Trout, Walleye and of course Bluegill and Bass. I will be exploring these parks this year. Who knows, in 2011 I may head for Alaska!

Kaitlin has been wanting to go camping for over a year now so I expect that will be coming up soon.

Let's go camping!

Snow Day

I'm a little behind with the blog but on February 13th Guntersville had some snow.

The dogs like it and I made soft snowballs and threw them. The dogs would catch them and eat the snow. I even saw some "yellow" snow which I hadn't seen since I lived up north!

Other than that I have been busy as usual.