Richmond (6/24/2014)

The weather is still unbelievably nice for this late in June.  Temperatures at home are in the low 80s or in European terms in the high 20s centigrade (my blog has a lot of visitors from Russia and Germany).  In Richmond it is a bit warmer, but still very bearable.  People you talk to mention that sooner or later “we’ll have to pay for it.”  While I do not think the weather gods act like that, we all know that weather is all about averages and that over the years these averages have been going up.  So yes, the statistics tell us that we will have to pay for it; although I do not think that is the reason we called it “sadistic” in grad school.

Anyway it was just nice to go for my lunch-time walk.  Downtown Richmond is a great place to get some exercise and clear the brain fog.  I either walk along the river or try to hit Capitol Square.  Going to Capitol Square you see all kinds of things: lunch carts, beggars, street musicians, business women and men, and yes a lot of government employees. 

Yesterday, the steps of the Governor’s mansion were full of people for a photo-op.  Today there was just a black SUV parked in front of the steps.  The Governor was either on his way out or in, probably a good thing.

Politics in this state are a mess; very much like what is going on in Washington, DC.  There is just too much polarization and too little cooperation and compromise.  It still amazes me that ordinary people allow politicians to do this, basically to their long-term detriment, but to the benifit of their deep-pocketed donors.  Oh well.

So my walk today took me to capitol square, where I took this picture.  It does not symbolize anything; I just thought it made a pretty shot.  It was just nice to get out.  And yes, I had sun screen on!

Lizard's Tail (6/22/2014)

What a great name for plants that look like this.  We decided to take the bikes out this wonderful early summer day, and bike the tour road in the Yorktown Battlefield National Historic Park.  Stopping on the bridge over the Beaverdam Creek we saw this gorgeous looking plant in the water and we had to stop and take some photos.  Lizard’s tail or Saururus cernuus is an aquatic plant that grows in the water.  It seems when the flowers dry up, the green seed heads look like lizard tails, hence the name. 

The tour road on the battlefield is one of our favorite bike routes.  It is approximately 10 miles and mostly has a number of memorial plaques that tell you the story of the battlefield.  There are a number of nice vistas; tow places with canons; a memorial cross; and a big round-about marking George Washington’s encampment.  It is very nice; however, I can imagine that tourists who are used to the other battlefields will be kind of bored driving this route.  It is therefore very quiet and great for biking.  My wife and I often wonder if the park should consider erecting more statues etc, to make it more attractive to tourist; but then, it is our road!  Surrender Field is a different story; that area is very attractive and very impressive! 

Sunday was a great day to bike and get some exercise.  We had a quiet ride; a fitting closure to a action packed weekend.

Seaford Yacht Club (6/21/14)

This may be a lame picture for some of you, but it signifies progress to me.  As some of my readers will know, I am trying to restore (and sail) a 1979 Catalina 25 for the past few years.  Being people of modest means, we have to do it slow.  This is fine; we enjoy the sailing, although going to the bathroom on a Home Depot bucket is getting old for my wife.  We guys have it a bit easier I guess.  This year I have already replaced two of the 6 windows in the boat, and I feel comfortable now that I can finish the head (toilet) on the boat, so my wife gets something better. Last week's sail to the eastern shore with my friend gave me the idea of how to install our camping stove in the boat.  Yesterday I vacuumed the boat, in preparation for us sleeping on the boat last night.  This photo is just me trying to see if my camping stove fits on the location I think I want to mount it.  I will need to make a (removable?) shelf in that location, but that should be easy.  I'll post a picture once I have completed the job.

Seaford Yacht Cub (6/17/2014)

Today I had to post a picture of my own sail boat.  We had our monthly dinner meeting at the club, and after dinner we took a walk to the dock to look at the boats.  Mine is the first one; which may be the right thing to do the shame me in fixing up the boat.  It is going way too slow (the fixing up), but as a friend of mine told me, “you have to enjoy it also.”  I agree, otherwise fixing things up becomes such a chore.  But then safety first, and I do feel safe when sailing.

The yacht club is fun.  There are a lot of social things going on, sometimes (or should I say often) with a lot of drinking.  It is something to watch out for, and I generally try to behave myself. 

As you can see from the photo, the weather was absolutely delightful.  It was hot and humid, which I like.  It was still, as you can see, the river was glass; but there were no bugs, which was amazing. 

Sitting there talking to my wife and father-in-law was absolutely delightful.  One of the boat owners (an older gentleman) came over to let his dog off the boat and walk it.  The dog, a friendly white Scottie, was all over us; I think he was happy to be of the boat.  On our way back to the car, another  gentleman came over to make sure the dog walker had not hurt himself and fallen off the pier.  As you can see a social club, but we all watch out for each other.

The smooth water was disturbed by one of the members whose home is across the creek and came to the meeting in his small power boat. He left, but first went for a short ride, after which he returned home. Very considerate, you could hardly hear him start the engine, and he left very little wake. Not hot dogging for him, just enjoying the moment and being on or near the water.

Chesapeake Bay (6/14/2014)

A friend of mine invited me to go sailing on his boat, destination Cape Charles on the eastern shore (and back), something I have wanted to do for a long time.  It is the first (overnight) cruise I want to take with my boat, and now I know it is doable and really not that difficult.   You basically sail out of the York River, make sure you avoid the shallows on York Spit and set a course for 90 degrees or due east.  It probably helped we were sailing near high tide in the area with the biggest current, but we left at 9 and we were at the entrance to the Cape Charles channel by 2 pm.   Leaving the marina we were accompanied by a pod of dolphins.  It was great to see them, knowing we had such a large die off this past winter.  On the eastern shore we were chased by a couple of rays.  It was neat to see them almost come out of the water and chase the boat.  Other days that we sail we often see a lot of floating trash in the water, but this time it was relatively clean.  Not much trash at all. 

There was a large freighter anchored near the entrance to the channel into Cape Charles harbor, and we sailed passed it, before turning around and sailing back home.  Now it was mid tide and the water was flowing out of the entire Chesapeake Bay, and although we set the course on 270 degrees, or due west, we were slowly pushed more to the south, which was no real problem, but just fascinating to see how the currents work.  It kind of threw my friend off when we passed York Spit light on the other side compared to when we left the river; but then you always hear stories about people being turned around.  Unless you know your shore, a lot of the shore looks alike and you could get easily lost or miss an inlet.

On the way over we had good wind and 2 to 3 foot waves.  It was interesting to see that when you are on top of the wave you could see further over the horizon, then when you were at the bottom.  It was also fun to see the freighter that was anchored near Cape Charles come up from below the horizon.  On the other hand it was so clear that even in Cape Charles we could see the smoke stacks of the power station in Yorktown, and we could see what we call the NASA drop area on Langley Air Force Base.

I was using a great navigation app on my tablet (a Nexus 7).  I paid $6 or $7 for it and it worked great.  It’s called MXMariner  and it is outstanding.  My friend had a few I-Book apps and mine beat them hands down.  I have a few minor beefs with the program, and have contacted the developer about it.  We’ll see how they respond.

The photo below shows the freighter that we saw near Cape Charles.  It was anchored, probably waiting for an assignment or a spot in Baltimore harbor.  They were blaring music from our local classic rock station.  Also interesting was the escape capsule that was mounted on the back of the ship.  Neat to see it.  By all a great day!