Swing! And A Miss...

Well, it looks like Fay is going to miss us, so it's time to go to work. Just another rainy day for this part of the state.

Looks Like Fay Will Be Stopping By For A Visit

The forecasts are all over the 'map', and quite literally. We'll let you know what the weather really was like tomorrow. At the worst, Fay will be a Catagory One hurricane, which is about 75 MPH and lots of rain. Pretty much how it has been this summer, lots of rain and some strong winds.

Geocaching - Back In The Swing Of Things

August 15th

Since Luann and I took the day off from work, we got a few things done, like taking Katrina to the dentist, titling and registering the van for Florida and going geocaching (of course).

Katrina's boyfriend Brad went geocaching with us.

We found these stickers in the first cache we located. I have never seen an angry Pooh-Bear before, so I call this picture, "Pissy-Pooh" & "Tigger-Tude".

Here we are, searching for a nano geocache somewhere on this fenceline. A nano geocache is about the size of a large medicine pill.

We came across an Anhinga drying his feathers after swimming and fishing in the lake. He's puffing his neck pouch out to let us know he thinks we're just a little too close while taking the picture.

This is one of the geocaches we found that had to be located, signed and re-hidden under the noses of some park visitors.

Here is one deeper in the woods. It's tied to a tree branch and covered with spanish moss.

We stumbled across a couple of mushrooms and we hadn't seen one like this black one before.

While we were looking for a big cache, Bradley mentioned that he saw a weird looking bug on a tree right in front of him, so I scurried over to get a picture of it.

And here is the picture of the strange bug, can you see it? Actually, it's facing head-down with a praying mantis shaped head (white eyes facing to the sides) and has a wide, flat thorax. What excellent camouflage (still checking to see what kind of bug this is). [EDIT: Turns out to be a Florida Bark Mantis, a close relative of the Praying Mantis.]

We even came across this cute little bunny. Unfortunately, we couldn't come up with the geocache that was supposed to be nearby.

We simply had to get a picture of this lizard sitting on a dried-out palmetto frond and watching us.

Ah, sorting through the container of yet another find...

I'm ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMille!

This is another fine example of why we like geocaching. We come across so much flora and fauna. Remember, you can click on the pictures to see a bigger version of it.

Another picture of one of my favorite photogenic flowers, the Black-Eyed Susan.

This little guy was trying to cross the street when we came up. He's another critter we need to identify.
[EDIT: It looks like he's a juvenile Southern Black Racer. It turns out the black racer looks like this when it is a newborn and in about 2-3 weeks, it starts getting darker until it is all black at about 2 months old.]

Last but not least is this Southeastern Lubber Grasshopper. As I got real close to him with the camera, he head-butted me, then leapt away.

August 14th, 2008

I took the day off in order to hang out with Katrina before she has to go back to school on Monday. She decided we should do what we do best, go geocaching!
We broke our personal record by finding 15 geocaches in one day.

Nature was out in full bloom, even though there were some serious rain storms all around us.

Can you see the cache container in this picture? Katrina was looking at me as if to say; "Of Course!"

Near where we found the last cache, we came across this empty backpack with all of these things thrown everywhere on the rocks. Hard to say what happened here...

As we were heading for a cache near the marina, the rain started to pour, so we beat-feet for this fishing catwalk underneath the bridge. It was coming down pretty hard, so the best we could do was wait it out.

At least I was able to get a neat picture of this pelican, standing in the rain.

After the rain quit, we picked up the cache at the marina and continued on for one at the beach. Love the pirate logo.

It was a bit windy at the beach, so the lifeguard put up a warning flag, which means: "Limited bathing. No rafts. Bathing beyond waist deep water may be allowed with swim fins. Boogie boards may be permitted with fins and a leash depending on conditions."

Be careful out there, folks.

It was fun taking pictures of the seagulls on this guardrail.

After a while, even they became tired of flying around in the strong wind.

Got another one coming in for a landing. Looks like the rest of the birds have been grounded.

And then suddenly, a kid shows up with pretzels and we have an Alfred Hitchcock moment...

I like how the one on the upper-left is looking at me while I was taking the picture.

This cache was simply mounted to a light pole in front of an eletrical repair facility. All you need is the combination to the padlock and...

...Voila! You gain access to an over-stuffed container. We dropped off a keychain fob that looks like the Owl from Winnie-the-Pooh (it's attached to the bright orange clip in the bag).

Katrina found this one while I was talking on the phone, helping out Luann with a sound-check. Taa-Daa!

So, she found another one. She's starting to look a little smug now.

Jackpot!

A mega-cache loaded full of goodies. We picked up a racing game and an Etch-A-Sketch pen, then left the fuzzy dice and Eyore, from Winnie-the-Pooh (seems to be a theme going on).

Another Episode Of "On The Way To Work"

Once again, I have been presented with a photo opportunity of a fine example of life on the road, to and from work. Perhaps I should start a blog about traffic issues I come across and call it, "On The Road Again"...


It looks like this is a classic "boat on a trailer / sudden stop" accident where either somebody pulled in front of the truck pulling the boat (a very nice Wellcraft, I might add) and stopped quickly, or the driver of the truck wasn't paying attention and 'used the vehicle in front of him for brakes'. Whatever the cause, the boat was only restrained by the bow eye to the winch tower on the trailer. So when the boat experienced a sudden stop (from an impact with a vehicle in front of the truck) there were no restraints between the back of the boat and the trailer to keep it from moving forwards. Well, this means that the boat simply broke its bow eye from the tower and leaned to the right as it exited the trailer. The evidence to this are the marks on the port side of the boat in the dark blue paint as the boat scraped down the tower and came to rest on the asphalt, the missing (ripped out) bow eye on the boat and the obvious lack of any restraints on the rear of the boat being the main clues. If the boat had been properly tied down, it is likely it would have remained on the trailer.

I hope that whoever is responsible for this mess has good insurance, because not only is there a damaged truck to deal with, the boat itself is probably around 80-90 thousand dollars if it is found to be a total loss, not to mention the replacement cost of the trailer. I think I'm going to have another look at my coverage levels...

So, How Was Your Day?

Well, as for me, my truck broke down on the way to work (the alternator gave up) so I had to walk the last 2 miles into the office with my computer backpack on. Then, I ended up receiving 2nd & 3rd degree burns on two fingers of my left hand from a 4000-volt flashover while I was working on a piece of equipment. I should have been paying attention to what I was doing and not let myself become distracted. But because I did, sizz-pop! Electricity doesn't let you get away with anything. I should have a picture or two of the damage to put up here soon.

So, this is how my day have been up to about noon today. I'll let you know how it goes for the rest of the day...

[LATER]

Actually, things only got a little better. After cutting a finger on my right hand when I picked up a spring with a sharp edge on it, I did get the alternator and nursed the truck back to the shop. Unfortunately, when I went to install the new alternator in the truck, it wouldn't fit. Well, I decided to use the regulator and brush set from the new alternator in order to fix the older one. After getting everything swapped around, I went to install the original alternator with the new guts in it in the truck, only to discover it wouldn't fit. Come to find out, the tensioning bracket had moved up and the new one would have fit in the first place. Since it was getting dark, I decided to limp the truck home with what was left in the battery. I did make it, but as soon as I got home, it started raining hard, so I decided to try to fix it again tomorrow.

I did take pics of the burns on my fingers (below) and you can see from the side view of the index finger (the 'pointer' finger) that there is a white-ish mark just before the knuckle. This mark is a second degree burn and indicates the entry point, or first contact point, I made with the equipment I was working on with 4kV still energized. It's actually like a blister, in that it's a patch of surface skin separated from the underlying area. About ten minutes after this happened, it started weeping. I'm going to have to remove the dead surface layer eventually.


The second picture shows the middle finger sporting a 3rd degree burn. This was the second point of contact, so the arc from the high voltage lept between my hand and the equipment at this point. When an arc is created like this, it creates a heat that is purportedly hotter than the Sun, if ever so briefly. In the work we do, we have found that an electrical arc can be strong enough to vaporize copper, so it was no surprise that my hand didn't put up much resistance.


And of course, the third picture is after I bandaged it all up. The good part about all of this is that I still have full movement in my hand and can still work with it. Also, since it was my left hand, it isn't effecting my activities too much.

I did make an appointment to see my doctor over this and I anticipate that everything should be ok.

Mom Was Laid To Rest - Saturday, August 2nd

Mom decided that she wanted to be buried within the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, so we had her ashes placed near the Christ of the Abyss statue that is in the water about 6 miles east of Key Largo. This is a video that somebody made of their dive to Christ of the Abyss in July 2007. I decided to include it here so you can see the area that Mom chose to be left at.



Actually, we worked with Funeral At Sea in order to take a boat out to the burial site, which was nearby, but not directly over the statue.

All ten of us boarded the boat named, "Silent World" for the 6-mile trip. Mostly, it was comprised of members of Mom's generation and her children, but Luann had also invited Karen along for support.

Funeral At Sea even provided flowers and something for us to drink. The 2 boxes by the flowers contain the water burial urn (seashell) and the smaller urns, one for scattering Mom's ashes at the cemetary where my grandparents are buried and one as a keepsake for my Dad.

We are getting under way and so far, everybody is upbeat.

We have left the 'No Wake Zone' and now they are pouring on some speed.

I decided to simply contemplate about what is soon to occur.

Several of us were talking while Dad chose to hold the box containing the smaller urns in case the rocking of the boat might cause them to fall. Meanwhile, Aunt Donna read a book.

When we reached the 'scattering' spot, Uncle Frank said a few words for Mom, reminding us about all that she had brought to us in this world. (Dad still has his hand on that box...)

We kind of moved a bit closer to each other as Uncle Frank continued with the eulogy.

When Uncle Frank was finished, I removed the seashell-shaped urn from the box.

As I was positioning myself in order to place the urn upon the surface of the water, Dad requested that he have the honor, so I handed the urn to him and held onto his belt so he didn't go 'splash' with the urn. Meanwhile, Captain John of Funeral At Sea took a picture with Dad's camera.

Dad, Jody and Treesie placed the flowers on the water, and we watched as the urn slipped away from the boat.

The seashell looked like it was drifting away from the boat, seemingly headed in an easterly direction. We were making jokes that Mom decided that instead of sinking, she was going sail to the Bahamas, or perhaps even Europe. Actually, the boat has a higher profile and it was being blown away from the seashell in a westerly direction. After the seashell drifted so far from us that we couldn't tell if it was still floating, the boat was restarted and we moved closer to the urn, which indeed, was still bobbing on the waves. Normally, the seashell urn should float from 5-15 minutes, then it should slowly sink beneath the waves. In this instance, it took about 35 minutes and Jody said he was able to take some pictures that showed spurts of water coming from the top vent holes of the urn before it went down (I would really like to see those images).

On the way back in, it began to sink in that we had left Mom behind, as she embarks on the next step of her 'Fantastic Voyage".

As we were heading back in (it took 25 minutes each way), Dad made a funny statement. We couldn't hear what he said on our side of the boat, but the look on his face was priceless. Remember, you can click on any of these images to see a larger version of the picture.

We slowly regained our composure as the boat entered the 'No Wake Zone' and idled its way back to the docks.

The "Silent World", back in her berth.

Here we are, walking back to the cars, still offering comfort to each other.

This is a picture of the keepsake urn I made up for Dad out of components I collected from several stores. The box it is sitting on, is the container Mom's 'cremains' were shipped to Florida in. The tag on the front of the urn is an ID tag that was placed with Mom's body when she was placed in the crematory chamber. This tag was the only way to identify her ashes after the process was done.

This urn was constructed in order to spread some of Mom's ashes on my grandparent's gravesite. I hope it served its purpose well...

About the time I was working on placing Mom's ashes into the 3 different containers in order to comply with her wishes, I turned around and saw a great photo opportunity of this cloudy-sky over the still waters of the ocean. To me, it was just perfect for this blended image I wanted to create. If anybody wants the full, large-sized image, let me know.