Posted By RichC on May 24, 2016
As with previous years, the ducks have adopted the pool as a safe place to learn to swim. One would think a pond would be better, but danger lurks beneath the surface for ducklings (snapping turtles). Unfortunately once the mom leads them into the pool, they can’t get out … so I fished them out — unfortunately not all alive.
Posted By RichC on May 23, 2016
Some of us are paying attention to the beginning of Hurricane Season … as are the folks who live in Florida. It is suppose to be a bit more active this year, I’m just hoping the weather experts are wrong.
The official start of the 2016 hurricane season is June 1, but the atmosphere is brewing up a little preview that may form into a tropical system by Memorial Day.
Meteorologists are watching forecast models that show an area of low pressure forming near the Bahamas that has the potential to become the season’s first tropical depression with a path toward Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas.
More at PalmBeachPost.com
Posted By RichC on May 23, 2016
My Sidney Ohio ties are close to ending as my brother and I are getting Mom and Dad’s house ready to sell. We’re planning an estate sale on June 4-5th to clear out the final household furnishing. It should list for sale it shortly after that.
Just in case any of my friends or acquaintances are looking for a 3 bedroom/2 bathroom ranch home on 1.5 acres with a large outbuilding and workshop, let me know.
Posted By RichC on May 22, 2016
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Posted By RichC on May 21, 2016
With a little help from the tow company’s flatbed delivery guy, my Dad’s 1958 Packard Hawk has been safely moved from Sidney, Ohio to my garage. Although I was able to get it started a few weeks ago, something is wrong with the transmission (stuck in gear) and it also has a known master cylinder problem — no brakes! While trying to move it out of dad’s garage, we had to drag the car with a wheel skid onto the truck. On the reverse, I put a wheel dolly under the locked up rear wheel to get it off the truck and into the garage. No time currently tinker with it, so I tossed the car cover back on and look forward to working on it someday.
Who knows, with only 588 of this last Packard ever made, maybe I can get Jay Leno (of Jay Leno’s Garage) to stop in Cincinnati someday? 
A couple of dad’s models came to me too — although this one is a Studebaker!
Posted By RichC on May 20, 2016
Read and email from an ActiveCaptain.com the other day and wanted to archive it as information/discussion when talking about "flag flying" protocol.
>>> The Flag Advisor – 1 >>>
Nearly every cruising boat on the water flies one or more flags. But get into a discussion about flag etiquette and rules, and no one can seem to agree on the full set of what’s right and what’s wrong.
So we’ll take it on over the summer. We’ll research the generally accepted practices and bring a couple of topics into the discussion. Note that we’re going to present the findings for recreational boats. Military, government, or special use boats might well have different sets of rules and accepted practices.
For this first part, we’ll discuss the rules surrounding national and
courtesy flags, and flag sizes.Courtesy and national flags
Rule 1. There are no real rules. There are customs and some flag
etiquette rules that have been adapted for boats. However, when visiting another country, make sure there are no laws about flying courtesy flags because boaters have been known to receive fines. It is often an insult to fly a courtesy flag of another country incorrectly.2. A vessel’s national flag is flown from the stern.
3. If not prohibited, you can fly another location flag (state, province,territory) at the main masthead in place of any private, yacht club, or officer’s flag. On a mastless boat, a state flag flies from either the bow or radio antenna.
4. Only the national flag should be at the stern. It is considered a place of honor for the vessel’s national flag. Never put any other flag there.
5. Do not fly a courtesy flag (a small flag of the country you’re visiting) until your vessel has been properly cleared by customs and immigration. Until clearance is complete, fly the yellow Q (quarantine) flag.
6. On a powerboat without a mast, the courtesy flag replaces any flag that is normally flown at the bow.
7. On a powerboat with a mast and spreaders, the courtesy flag is flown at the starboard spreader. On a powerboat with two-masts, the courtesy flag is flown from the starboard spreader of the forward mast.
8. On a sailboat, the courtesy flag is flown at the starboard spreader. On sailboats with more than one mast, the courtesy flag is flown from the starboard spreader of the forward mast.
9. Don’t fly a foreign courtesy flag after you return to your home country.
Flag sizing
These are not well agreed upon. Chapman’s suggests the following:
1. The national flag at the stern of your boat should be one inch long for every foot of overall vessel length rounded up to a normally available size.
2. Other flags (club burgees, private signals, courtesy flags) should be one-half inch long for every foot of overall vessel length.
Another competing sizing suggests:
1. Boats up to 50 feet in length should use a 16 x 24 inch national flag and 12 x 18 inch courtesy flags.
2. For every 25 additional feet in length, increase the size by one standard size.
Posted By RichC on May 19, 2016
When consuming the news and information, whether on the Television or any other news media, it is important to pay attention to the biases of who is “painting the picture.” Off the top of my head, I’m thinking about how Facebook priorities their newsfeed.
Posted By RichC on May 17, 2016
It’s shocking actually at the video and uploading of my wirelessly wifi connected Raspberry Pi 2 has been flawless in streaming a video feed to uStream for nearly a month … MORE on American Pi
Posted By RichC on May 17, 2016
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