Happy 30th Birthday to my wonderful daughter Katelyn

Posted By on May 14, 2016

katelyn_of_54_900px

I love glancing at old photos especially when looking for something to add to a birthday wish — here’s a photo from about 10 years ago when Katelyn was in med school and living in an apartment with her roommates in Kent, Ohio. As you can tell by the "tiny toys" on the address sign, "the Men of 55" (more appropriately "Boys of 55") from next door had visited and were up to their shenanigans. Of course one of those "boys" ended up being her husband Drew, so obviously a little immaturity worked on her!
Smile
Anyway, today is Katelyn’s 30th birthday and I couldn’t be more proud of the woman she has become. Happy Birthday … "daughter" (affectionately stated in same tone she says “father”).

EDIT: Drew sent a photo from a birthday night out to a “Beauty and the Beast” dinner theatre production … it was such a great photo I wanted to archive it here (even caught the “glint” of happiness in Drew’s eye – click for larger!).
KatelynDrewBirthday160514

Congressional Medal of Honor recipient Ed “Too Tall” Freeman

Posted By on May 13, 2016

Sharing a post as it was written back in August of 2008 then edited with shaming political commentary many times after. It is still as poignant as ever. For me it is worth sharing again not only to remember Captain Ed  Freeman, but as a reminder to Americans of those who served our country heroically in the unpopular Vietnam war … EVEN as they were belittled, criticized and ignored for years.

hueyvietnamYou’re a 19 year old kid. 

You are critically wounded and dying in the jungle somewhere in the Central Highlands of Viet NAM.

It’s November 11, 1967. LZ (landing zone) X-ray.

Your unit is outnumbered 8-1 and the enemy fire is so intense from 100 yards away, that your CO (commanding officer) has ordered the MedEvac helicopters to stop coming in.

You’re lying there, listening to the enemy machine guns and you know you’re not getting out. Your family is half way around the world, 12,000 miles away, and you’ll never see them again. As the world starts to fade in and out, you know this is the day.

Then – over the machine gun noise – you faintly hear that sound of a helicopter.
You look up to see a Huey coming in. But … it doesn’t seem real because no MedEvac markings are on it.
Captain Ed Freeman is coming in for you.

Ed_freeman_2001He’s not MedEvac so it’s not his job, but he heard the radio call and decided he’s flying his Huey down into the machine gun fire anyway. Even after the MedEvacs were ordered not to come. He’s coming anyway. And he drops it in and sits there in the machine gun fire, as they load 3 of you at a time on board. Then he flies you up and out through the gunfire to the doctors and nurses and safety. And, he kept coming back!! 13 more times!! Until all the wounded were out.

No one knew until the mission was over that the Captain had been hit 4 times in the legs and left arm. He took 29 of you and your buddies out that day. Some would not have made it without the Captain and his Huey.

Medal of Honor Recipient, Captain Ed Freeman, United States Air Force, died last Wednesday at the age of 70, in Boise, Idaho. May God Bless and Rest His Soul.

I bet you didn’t hear about this hero’s passing, but we’ve sure seen a whole bunch about the thug Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, the government shut down, "what difference does it make!!!?" and the bickering of congress over Health & Obamacare.

BUT NOTHING ABOUT THE PASSING OF Medal of Honor Winner Captain Ed Freeman.  Shame on the media !!! Now… YOU pass this along. Honor this real Hero.

EdFreemanMoH
After receiving the Medal of Honor, Ed Freeman was inducted into the Pentagon’s Hall of Heroes on July 17, 2001. Army Chief of Staff General Eric Shinseki (left) officiated and was assisted by Sergeant Major of the Army Jack Tilley (right).

Still tinkering with the BMW X5 35d after limp mode ordeal

Posted By on May 12, 2016

Replaced the defective Throttle Actuator on the BMW X5 35d last night … unfortunately it did not solve the Limp Mode problem. Now to look further into the disconnected sensors after the ECU came back from Andrew Rodriguez and FixMyVW.com.

BMW_X5_35d_oldthrottleactuator160511 BMW_X5_35d_newthrottleactuator160511 
old | new

NewInstalledThrottleActuator

Busy week, a little catch-up and weather

Posted By on May 12, 2016

Traveling Ohio

Short on blog posting time after a bit of travel this past week, so just a spring weather photo while driving Ohio highways. Thankfully we have avoided most of the damaging storms hitting the midwest. Heavy rains, dark skies and a bit of lightening has been the norm … I really need to get the soggy backyard cut!

What are we having for dinner?

Posted By on May 11, 2016

Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes … [photos to iMovie video]

Posted By on May 10, 2016

With the passage of another birthday came a bunch of appreciated well wishes from long time friends. While I was including a couple old photos with my comment back to a couple high school and college buddies, I realized how much we had changed.

I also spotted a few other photos of myself (with my immediate family) and the memories gave me that warm fuzzy feeling … even if the photos highlighted the “Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes.” Since they were handy on my iPad, it was relatively easy create the “photos to video” with the iMovie app … that was until I tried to include some David Bowie music (copyright I assume … but here’s the mp3) — just pretend the photos are displayed to Changes.

Thanks to all who sent me well wishes by email and Facebook; very appreciated.

Found it! The Vane for the Cape Horn Self-Steering gear

Posted By on May 9, 2016

 

It is hard to believe I found the vane parts after almost fabricating my own or contemplating ordering a new $160 (plus shipping, I think?) part for the Cape Horn self-steering gear. While going through my bins of spares and the chart table, the clean-up process had me pulling out an outdated chartbook when low and behold both the light wind and heavy wind vanes for the Cape Horn gear appeared sandwiched in them. I’ve been wanting to rig up the passagemaking gear to see how well it self-steers Encore (based on wind direction) but without all the components passed on rigging it. I’m still short a couple of adjustment lines, but “think” I should be able to test it out on the next sail.

 
The sun was out for a couple of days after some hard rain which really “uglied” the water, but with the blue sky and sun, Encore needed an updated photo. Unfortunately she needs a good cleaning and as always, some buffing, wax and brightwork.

Happy Mothers Day to my mother-in-law

Posted By on May 8, 2016


Unfortunately I’m not able to be with my mother-in-law or my wife today, but here’s wishing her a wonderful Mother’s Day (Happy Mother’s Day to Brenda too!)

Temporary LED galley light after removing old fixtures

Posted By on May 7, 2016

LED temp galley lightingDuring our last trip to down to our sailboat Encore, Brenda and I removed the final three tarnished boat lights that were in the galley and over the chart table. The previous lights that we already replace turned out looking good and working out after she gave them the faux verdigris look with paint (a crafty skill learned from my mom). The new look seemed like a great way to get more life out of the old fixtures even if I still need to find “acceptable” LED bulbs for a fair price.

Unfortunately, the missing lights left me in the dark this weekend and so I decided to rig up a spare 12 volt LED fixture. Hm, I think the quality of light is better than the old ones! Perhaps I should rethink putting the old ones back up?

A coastal Hawaii hike for the bucket-list

Posted By on May 6, 2016

kauai hiking

The Kalalau Trail hike along the Na Pali Coast on the northern most Hawaiian island of Kauai is a hike to add to the bucket list. Having seen the beauty “mostly” from the air for the short couple of days we were there, I see this  as a  must return island. Just reading about the Five Best Hiking Trails in Kauai Hawaii makes me want to start planning a trip again. Just beautiful. (http://richc.us/hike-kauai)

Desultory - des-uhl-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee

  1. lacking in consistency, constancy, or visible order, disconnected; fitful: desultory conversation.
  2. digressing from or unconnected with the main subject; random: a desultory remark.
My Desultory Blog