It's A Bit Different Now

Hello to Everybody or Anybody that might stumble across this weblog...

Well, I had forgotten how to get into this site for some time (about 5 years, I think) and I found an old hard drive in a closet full of electrical equipment, and here was the key to allow me to say hello again!

It was sad that I left the blog with the last post being my little buddy Smokey having passed away, but after this much time, Luann and I adopted 2 cats from a local shelter and brought them home. They are litter-mate brothers and one (Andrei) is an orange tabby while his brother (Rocket) is what is considered as a 'cream-sickle', as he is about half orange tabby and half white in coloration.

The 'boys' are 3 years old now, are downright characters in their own right, and are diametrically opposite in personality and attitude. Andrei is the social tiger, while Rocket tends to be real slow to warm up to strangers / visitors. It' going to be interesting watching these boys grow up.

So, quite a few things have happened since my last post and I don't have much time to write about it all in detail right now, but here is a bit of a back story.

Luann and I no longer live in Tampa, Florida after having lived in the same house for over 30 years. We decided we had enough of the area and sold our house and moved out of the state. We just needed to get away from the increasingly intense hustle and bustle of Tampa life. This moving idea had been brewing for some time, with one of the first indications that we needed to move was when I discovered bullet holes in the stop sign on the corner of our yard.

Then there were the several interactions with local police because we had video cameras surrounding our house and they often asked us if our system had recorded a crime that had occured in the neighborhood. Unfortunately, the answer we typically gave was; "Yes, and here are the camera views on a thumb drive".

Then there was the drug dealer catty-corner across the street from us that had one of her 'customers' die on her front door step...

Driving to and from work was a daily misadventure, with a very strong liklihood of being involved in an accident at the hands and misdeeds of others. It used to be that traffic was an issue around the morning and evening rush hours around there, but it seems that rush hour is there all day, every day, including the weekends and holidays. It just never lets up for a nice, trouble-free cruise down the road.

I have often said that it's hard to live in a location where it becomes "too many people in too small of a place", because the people become very angry and all kinds of craziness and the ills of the people, government and even religion becomes obviously prevalent in all they you see and do every day.

This is why we moved from Miami to Tampa in 1987, since Miami no longer felt like we were living, but rather, just existing as we tried to survive another day of drive to work, deal with angry people, drive home and prepare for tomorrow.

We just stopped interacting with the natural world and enjoying its beauty liked we used to. And it seems that the attitude that infected Miami has migrated north and saturated Tampa Bay on its path towards the Georgia / Florida border.

At this point, the Ocala area is quickly becoming this way too as the craziness continues its march northward.

So yeah, it was long past time to leave.

We have been in our new (to us) home for 4 years now, and it's a nice place in a quiet rural (farm-ville) area with enough acreage to the houses around here to have some distance between the neighbors. In the time we've been here, we've made good friends with our neighbors up and down the street and we've completed several sizable projects around the house.

The largest one so far, was building out the basement completely and turning it into a full-blown 80s style arcade. We started it in 08-2022 and just finished it in time for guests that are coming over for Christmas 2025. There are 18 games that range between pinballs, standup and sitdown video games, and lso a Skeeball and shuffle bowling game. I really like finding the older games and restoring them to good operating condition, or better. We also have another 4 games in the garage, but they are either not working or undergoing reconditing to get them into good working order to swap out with other games in the basement.

The last job I had was at a video / pinball arcade, working to keep the games going and doing whatever I could to help the business survive the Covid Crisis. It didn't take long becfoe I was bitten by the game-collector bug and I started buying games for our future home arcade. It's interesting in that have this fun recreational 'nest' downstairs with all kinds of things to do down there, but for th emost part, I don't play them much, as I much more prefer to rebuild the games to like-new condition. The thing I get a kick out of is when we have guests at our house and they get a healthy case of the 'Remember Whens' as they can play these 70's and 80's arcade games like they did when they were kids.

Since I was able to retire fully recently, I now have so many projects around the house, to include the house, the property, the cars and a whole bunch of honey-do stuff that needs to be done, that I jokingly remark that I won't die until I'm 150 years old, because my task list is going to take that long to finish up!

Well, this is about all that my ADD and Fivbromyalgia-addled mind can put out right now, so I'll post this and try to come back soon with more details of our lives that might be worth reading about.

Take care, everybody! Hans.

It's Been A Week Now...

It's been a week now, since our 'Little Man' Smokey the black cat, passed away.

He was 19 years old and had been dealing with kidney failure for over a year and a half. We had him on a prescription diet where his foods were adjusted to take the pressure off of his kidneys but since it is a progressive disease that you can't fix, like it or not, this day was coming.

I watched him change over the years from an active kitten to a geriatric old-man cat that hissed and growled when you picked him up or held him, and he preferred to sleep for most of the day. In his last week, I noticed that he had hidden himself away in the base of a cabinet and had stopped eating and was barely drinking any water. We tried to tempt him with his favorite, stinky-fish soft food, but he wasn't in any mood to deal with it.

With this recent development, I stopped by the veterinarian's office to ask for advice and they said that cats will hide themselves away like this as if they can sense their impending death. They told me to keep an eye on him, because he could start having seizures as the body is starved to nothing, which is really bad on the cat.

Well, I watched him closely and saw that he was becoming wobbly on his legs, so I brought his litter box over to his hidey-hole and put out a fresh 'pat' of food on a plate next to him (every day), just in case he wanted to eat. Unfortunately, it was easy to see that Smokey was losing the battle as I helped him into his litter box and positioned him for evacuation, and then over to his water bowl when he was licking his dry lips with thirst. By Thursday the 12th, he was barely able to lift his head, so Luann and I stopped by the vet's office and set an appointment for 'finalization'.

This was so damned hard to do, because you really don't want your family member of 19 years to die, but at the same time, you don't want the poor guy to continue falling apart while you try all kinds of measures to keep kitty going for just... one... more... day.

It sucked having to take him in that day, but as I was holding him in my arms, carefully swaddled in a towel, he had a small seizure as we pulled into the parking lot at the vet. At that point, I knew that the timing was right for this. I won't go into detail about the process, but it was tough on all of us that were present, to include the male nurse, who had to step away for a bit because even he began to tear up as I slipped Smokey's collar off his lifeless body and put it in my pocket.

We didn't realize it until we were home afterwards, that the date was Friday the 13th. A fitting day for a black cat to cross over, I guess...

Here is a poem I came across that was written for a dog, and I edited it so that it is more fitting for our situation.

We took a bunch of pictures of Smokey, and here are a few of them to share. As you can see, he was pretty much the 'Grumpy Old Man' for as long as he was with us.

To begin with, this was a picture taken immediately after he was released from his cat carrier, after coming back from the vet. He's pissed because I have the cone-of-shame in my hand and am about to put on him. After being shaved, then going through exploratory surgery (they found nothing and said maybe he had indigestion) and finally having stitches along his stomach, he was in no mood to negotiate ANYTHING!

This was taken in 2006, when we were re-fitting our sailboat. I was wondering if the small generator I bought would fit in the footwell of the passenger area (nope), and Luann brought Smokey out to inspect the sailboat. He had just finished checking out the salon and was coming back out. He also walked the rest of the boat and when he was finished, he perched on the rearmost edge of the deck, waiting to be taken back indoors. This is one cat that just couldn't stand the great outdoors.

I call this one: How Much For You To Go Away, Man?
I had dropped a gift card on the floor and he decided to park right there and put his paw on the card. I saw this and whipped out my cellphone to take the shot.
Oh, the look in his eyes...

A couple of years ago, Smokey would come into the Dragon Room and find places to hang out, like this. Every time I left the room for the day, I had to find the cat before closing the door.

What is it with cats and squares / rectangles on the floor?

I put the folder on the floor in the D-Room and half an hour later, there he is...

Even wayward kitchen towels are fair game...

This is yet another of Smokey's eccentricities. If Mom was using her nail file, he just had grab it and put his teeth on it. You can see by the look on his face, he was serious about this!

Ha, Christmas is coming and we're trying some collar accessories on Smokey. He didn't seem mind this one.

On the other hand, with this ensemble, he just sat there and hung his head.

...so we took off the hat and he was quite willing to tolerate the red and white collar. It was a cold night, so I've covered Smokey with a blanket to keep him warm. The spots all over are from a laser light show I was testing to put out in the yard.

That's another funny thing about Smokey... He never cared much for chasing laser dots. You could flash one all around him while he's laying on the floor and he would look at it with "Meh!" on his face.

Obi-Wan The Smokey.
He was licking himself so much we had to wrap him in a T-shirt so he wouldn't make himself bald. At this moment, he is sitting in what we call 'Cat TV'. This is when we roll up the living room blinds so he can look out and see the Great Outdoors without actually being in it.

My Kong!
We got him this kitty toy and it says KONG on the label. As you can see, he really liked this thing (maybe because it was filled with catnip?) and wouldn't let us take it from him.

Cat TV, back door version.
For a cat that hates the outdoors, he sure enjoyed watching it.
We knew we could leave the doors open if we were going in and out and he wouldn't try to escape. Instead, he would retreat deeper into the house when the front or back doors were open.

Sleepy-Time on Cat TV.
He really liked hanging out on the back of the couch, especially the section
that faced the living room window (blinds opened or closed).
Many times, I would be working on this computer and lean my head back a little to take a small break, only to find that I had a purring kitty pillow curled up behind me.

The Last Battle

If it should be that I grow frail and weak,
And pain should keep me from my sleep,
then you must do what must be done
For this, the last battle, can’t be won.

You will be sad, I understand,
Don’t let the grief then stay your hand,
For this day more than all the rest
Your love and friendship stand the test.

We’ve had so many happy years,
What is to come can hold no fears.
You’d not want me to suffer so;
When the time comes, please let me go.

Take me where my needs they’ll tend
And stay with me, if you can, to the end.
Hold me firm and speak to me
Until my eyes no longer see.

I know in time, you will see,
It is a kindness you do for me.
Although my purr is no longer heard,
Thanks for all the times that I purred.

A Personal 40-Year Anniversary For Hans

As we are dealing with the Covid-19 Corona Virus throughout the world, an interesting and self-defining date has arrived for me.

Today marks the day where 40 years ago (March 19th, 1980) I nearly lost my life. I'm not talking about choking on a hotdog and I was Heimliched into horking it up, or that I slipped on a banana peel and conked my head...

On this day, I was involved in a motorcycle wreck that was very, very bad. So bad that I required emergency surgery and had to be resuscitated on the operating table, then I was in a coma for 3 days.

The characters involved in this story:

16 year-old me, the driver of my Dad's 1976 Yamaha XS360.
Danny Torres, my passenger.
A powder blue 1970's Ford pickup, with 4-5 teenage boys sitting in the bed.
A 1974 AMC Matador, driven by a drunk driver.

1976 Yamaha XS360

 

1974 AMC Matador Base Model

On March 19th, 1980 it was about 4:30PM when my mother asked me to go to the grocery store to get a frying chicken (cut up) for dinner, so I jumped on my dad's motorcycle to make the trip. Before I could drive off though, my buddy Danny asked if he could go along, so I told him to hop on and handed him my spare helmet.

The drive to the Grand Union grocery store was uneventful and we got the chicken for dinner and started heading for home. For some reason, I chose to head north on US1 and take the long way home, but if I remember correctly, it was because I wanted to extend the ride on Dad's bike just a little bit longer.

As we were passing by the junior high school we used to attend, we had a light blue pickup pass us on our left (single lane each way, double yellow, no passing lines painted on the road). I recognized

the guys in the back that belonged to a local gang called ACE and they started throwing whatever they could find in the bed of the truck at us (strips of wood, beer bottles, food wrappers and such trash). As timing would have it, I saw that the bus drop-off lane at the school was coming up, so I gunned it on the motorcycle and passed the truck on their right-hand side.

It was close to this time that things went... well, wrong.

After passing the truck I looked back to make sure they weren't accelerating to try and hit us from the rear, but when I turned to face forward, there was a car directlyin front of me. Turns out, the driver of a Matador that was drunk had just driven into the intersection from my left, totally ignoring the stop sign. I was so focused on the truck behind me, that I didn't realize the car had pulled out into the intersection and I ran into it, striking the Matador on the passenger side. The front wheel of the bike hit the passenger-side front door about even with the dashboard. The speed at the moment of impact could only be assumed from the gauges on the cycle, because when the bike hit, it flipped forward, smashing the needles against the glass. The speedo showed 35MPH and the tach showed about 4 thousand revs. Basically, I was in 5th gear (of 6) and not hammering the bike at all.

When we hit, the motorcycle was wedged into the car and both Danny and I went flying (remember Danny? He asked to go along on this ride...). Danny kind of bounced off of my back and landed on a car that was at the stop sign on the right side of the intersection, landing on the guy's left-front fender and hood, which shifted it back enough to where the driver's door wouldn't open. The guy had to crawl into the passenger side of his car and get out through that door.

As for myself, I ended up flying forward into an approaching Cadillac, landing on my left side across the windshield. I was told that the elderly woman driving the Caddy damn near had a heart attack because of that!

After the crash occurred, witnesses stated that the driver of the Matador opened his door and began tossing beer cans under his car, right there in the intersection. He then got out and people that had rushed to the scene to help said he had slurred speech, was stumbling a bit and one witness suggested that "Nobody light a match, because this guy might explode!". The Matador driver seemed to be unaware of what happened, because he took his small dog out of the car and started walking it around on a leash. One of the witnesses said that not only had the frying chicken we were bringing home from the store flown one last time, but the Matador's driver walked his dog over to the grocery bag and let the dog eat the raw chicken out of it. (Huh? Who does that?)

Okay, this is an absurd crash scene, and you may be thinking; "How could this be worse?" Well, several county police cars arrived and started worked on controlling the scene. When the witnesses were questioned as to what had happened, they told the officers what they saw, to include the beer cans thrown under the car post-crash, the driver's slurred speech, his stumbling walk and a heavy smell of alcohol on his breath. At this point, another officer comes over with the Matador driver's information and shows it to the first officer. They step away for a brief conversation, then the first officer continues on with his interviews of the witnesses.

Later in the court case, we discovered the police report did not have any information about alcohol consumption, there was no DUI testing, nor had they questioned the Matador driver beyond asking for his ID and registration. We later found that the Matador driver was well known to the officers because he was a court reporter at the local courthouse and we suppose they didn't want to hurt his career.

Please note: Some of this information was provided to us by the multiple witnesses at the crash scene, which helped us to piece together what actually happened. The last thing I remember before the impact was looking back to see if the blue truck was gaining on us.

Well, I was transported with Mom in an ambulance to a local clinic that our family commonly attended (we Nieborg kids were very accident-prone and knew the staff on a first-name basis) and the CHI clinic had an emergency room there. They took a look at me and realized I needed much more than what they could provide, so Mom & I were shipped north to Jackson Memorial Hospital. I was barely lucid during the trip, and the only thing I remember is complaining about the bumpy ride in the ambulance, stating that it needed new shock absorbers.

More to come (I promise), as this is a work in progress to get this posted...

More of the story to be told:

Emergency exploratory surgery to find cause of internal bleeding.
Transfusions.
Coma for 3 days.
Leg in traction, left arm suspended in the traction rigging.
First hospital room, 10th floor, roommate dies.
Coded with respiratory arrest in X-ray, checking my kidneys.
Second hospital room, Ortho Ward, 11th floor.
Tim, roommate with broken leg too.
Haitian guy next door, freaking out.
Guy with shotgun wound to the shoulder (scares Haitian guy).
Visitors, with my damaged helmet and pics of the smashed motorcycle.
Visitors from McDonalds.
Hospital meal preferences, chucking some (nasty-tasting) stuff through the window.
Code Blue - Bathroom problem.
Could see Dolphins football game from room (kinda), by standing up in the traction rigging.
Surgery to re-break and re-set my left arm with metal plate & cast on wrist (anesthesia issues) .
Candy-Striper and peanut butter cups / trashcan.
Section 8 visitor.
 Body cast - mini spica.
Rehab for walking with crutches and cast.
Free to wander the hospital.
Released, problems with stairs in parking garage.
Home again, dealing with life in a body cast.
Crutches and Chris.
Caught by the police while driving another motorcycle while standing in a body cast.
Broke the cast and its eventual full removal.

Katrina & Brad Are Married

Hello, this is Hans. 

I started reading these posts again and I realized that it's a good chronology of what we have done over the years, so I should really be keeping up on this blog, and make it interesting to read again.

There are changes afoot, as it should be, and I need to document them for friends and family to enjoy.

As I had mentioned, Katrina and Bradley have been married:

Here is the young couple, freshly married on September 22nd, 2017.

A side view. I have to admit to actually making (sewing) Katrina's wedding gown and lace bolero overlay. Due to a close call from a hurricane, the wedding was almost delayed, but after moving Katrina's grandmother to Jacksonville, FL and back after the hurricane passed, I had only 2 days (48 hours) to make this dress. I told everybody to leave me alone, called Katrina in for 3 in-process trial fittings, and somehow, it was done.

Due to Bradley's heritage, the groomsmen were all decked out in kilts and poet's blouses, while the bridesmaids were a little more free-form in the clothing selection.

A lean-in view from the groomsmen's side...

And, a lean-in view from the bridesmaid side.

The bride and her immediate family in attendance.

The groom and his immediate family in attendance.

The newly wedded couple and officiant, Miranda, a good friend of ours.

This was a Celtic wedding with a hand-fasting, sand-union ceremony and yes, Miranda is wearing a set of wings, which we asked her to.

The 'get away' down the aisle and on their way to the reception, which was held at the same place the ceremony was performed. Just walk over into the building and there you are.

This is Luann's favorite picture, which she has as the screen view on her cellphone.

More coming soon, I promise!

We're Still Here

 We've been busy as all get-out after my deciding to retire (actually, Luann did that for me), then we started up a small business using laser cutter / engravers to manufacture all kinds of things. If you're curious, here are a couple of links to investigate our business activities...

Dragon's Hollow Designs - Main Website (Under Construction). 

We have a Facebook page, which is more active than the website. 

And lastly, we also have a Twitter site. 

If you are curious about what we are doing business-wise, these will keep you informed. As for this blog, I will continue to use it for family stuff, like...

Katrina Is Getting Married!

Yep, she and Bradley had set a date and we are working on making their magical day happen. We have quite a bit done, but there is still more to do.

As per the 'kid's' wishes, the wedding will be a relatively small ceremony and reception, so they couldn't invite everybody they would like to. If you haven't received an invitation, we apologize, but logistics and such has become a factor in choosing the attendees. It's not that we don't love you-all, or we have favorites over others, it's that the size (and the parent's ability to make their day come true... But within certain financial boundaries) is limiting what we can do. Please don't hate us for it!

Tampa Bay Lightning Lost Tonight, But Not By Much!

We went to the game tonight (11/14/15) and we were able to sit in our season ticket member (STM) seats for the first time. We had selected a different location from last year and we are only 8 rows from the glass, near where the Zamboni comes out onto the ice. They were pretty good views and we watched a hard fought game from the Lightning, but the shootout is one of their weaker points, so the Florida Panthers won the game by scoring 1 point on TBL while their goalie didn't let one go by in the shootout. This was quite an enjoyable evening, and then we will head back to Amalie arena for a 'Skate With TBL Alumni" session tomorrow (11/15/15). I think we're going to stop by the Brandon Ice Forum first so I don't make a complete fool of myself. I'll let you know how it turns out.

 Taa-Daaaa! I did alright. Thought for sure I was gonna end up on my butt, but I was able to call upon my quad roller skating experience to make my way around the rink. The only problem I had was stopping...

A Little 'Surgery' On The Camaro

It has been some time since the Camaro was able to start with the key-fob remote, the reason being that the Check Engine light came on and the trouble code was P0449, which has to do with an electronic solenoid in the fuel vapor recovery circuit. I had to buy the whole section, to include the charcoal canister and the tubing, let alone the solenoid, which didn't make me happy. At least I was able to get a new part for about 1/2 the cost, but $70 for this thing was still a bit steep.

Needless to say, I spent the better part of today removing the exhaust, rear brakes and the whole rear-end from the car, just to get access above the sub-frame where the canister and solenoid assembly is mounted. As is usual for me, I decided that since I was working on the rear section, I might as well install the urethane suspension bushings in the sub-frame before reinstalling it.

Of course, I took some pictures, and here they are.

This is how I pulled the complete rear end out of the Camaro. The straps helped to keep the differential from rolling when I dropped it.

And the axle is out, so now I can get to the evap canister that's mounted above the axle.

The red circle shows where the canister is located.

The red circle shows the complete evaporative canister assembly, and the orange circle is the purge valve that failed. All of this work for such a little part.