My Blog

Avast! Another Talk Like a Pirate Day has come ‘n gone. It be hard to be talkin’ like a pirate when the only ones to be talkin’ to arrrr meself and me dog. Me did have a bit o’ fun by having my portrait done and by sharin’ me mid-day meal with me first daughter, Cap’n Ashley.

And here be some piratical music fer ye by the Dread Crew of Oddwood

— Cap’n Rich

It is amazing what a difference a few days makes when it comes to forecasting hurricanes.

On Wednesday, August 28th, it looked like Dorian was going to pass directly over us as a Category 2 hurricane. By Saturday, August 31st, not so much. And by the time Tuesday, September 3rd rolled around, Dorian passed well enough offshore that we had just a couple of inches of rain and some occasional winds.

After having brought everything inside and having rolled up the carpets in the front rooms away from the windows “just in case”, I spent some time preparing a YouTube livestream of the storm’s impact. Using 3 old iPhones, the Live Reporter IOS app, OBS, the ZoomRadar Widget, and an MacBook Pro with lots of RAM, I set up a “4 up” scene showing 3 views out through the windows and the live radar. It worked most of the time, but the iPhones kept overheating in the windows, their streams to the OBS software were not always stable, and it was pretty useless once the sun went down. It got me thinking that what I really needed was some streamable outdoor cameras, possibly some lights, and maybe even a weather station so that I could provide the current wind speed and direction, temperature, precipitation, etc. But who am I kidding? That sounds like a lot of money and I have no real way of getting power to where I’d like to put the cameras. Oh well, I guess we’ll just need to avoid any more hurricane scares.

— Rich

Ahoy, mateys!

Cap’n Rich didn’t be dressin’ up in his full pirate regalia this year for Talk Like a Pirate Day, so no likeness to be showin’ to yer crew and sniggerin’ over.

Instead, here be hopin’ ye be enjoyin’ this hurdy gurdy cover of Stormseeker’s “The Longing” performed by Patty Gurdy and that it get ye in the piratical mood!

— Cap’n Rich

I’ve seen many men wandering
All strong and brave and keen
Seen them growing into rulers
But I long for the sea
Heard a ship came from North
To our harbour for a day
And before misfortune knows
I’ll be on my way

I’m all set to veer away
And I’m all set to go astray
All burdens I will leave ashore
To find what I’ve been longing for

Don‘t tell anyone
That this night I’ll be gone
Greeting the eternal blue
Right at the break of dawn
Sailing t‘wards the unknown
With my crew on the sea
And the day that I return
A hero I shall be

I’m all set to veer away
And I’m all set to go astray
All burdens I will leave ashore
To find what I’ve been longing for

I’ll be headed to my FLGS (that’s Friendly Local Game Store for the uninitiated) in a little bit to enjoy 13 hours of boardgaming to celebrate International Tabletop Day. I’ll hopefully get a chance to play some new (to me, anyway) games, play some old favorites, and even teach a few games to some newcomers to the hobby.

Game On!

— Rich

It’s still hard for me to believe I’m a mother. I don’t know when it will really become real, after all I’ve had nine months to prepare. But I continue to wake up and realize that the little person I’m holding is really here and I’m going to get to watch him grow up.

My Wiggly Little Boy is so perfect, even when he cries all night long and won’t let us sleep. Everyone is healthy and happy. We are thankful for the parental leave policies at work that mean I can stay home for twelve weeks and Josh has been able to take off an entire month to help us adjust.

Thankfully it hasn’t been that difficult, he is as easy of a baby as he was before he was born. He loves being held, and would prefer never to be put down. He gets along with Captain Jack, who insists on alerting us for every diaper and whimper.

I love sitting on the couch with all my boys. Getting to watch Josh hold a baby for the first time and learning together how to take care of him has been a wonderful start to the adventure of motherhood.

One year ago we drove across the state to meet a very special little guy. I fell instantly in love with Captain Jack (so named by his foster family to go with his brothers Pepper Jack, Cracker Jack, and Apple Jack) and spent an hour cuddling him at the meet and greet that helped serve to weed through applicants to take home the popular puppies in time for Christmas. We had to head home without knowing if we would see him again, but were promised by his foster mom that we were definitely in the running and she hoped to call us in the next week.

Luckily for me I was working from home on Monday when she called, since I don’t think I’ve ever been that excited before! We drove back across the state the next weekend to bring him home, and he spent the week dozing in my lap while I worked before family arrived and Christmas vacation began.

Here is my adorable baby just after he came home:

This year we will be welcoming another new member to our family as I continue the tradition of spending this time of year in anticipation and joy. And once again I am blessed to have my family nearby during this time of change.

Why do these things always happen overnight?

The winds and rain started in earnest Sunday evening and by 8 p.m. started experiencing some leaking in the front room and the front door (which faces roughly east). Scrambled to get some towels down and some fans blowing before things got too bad. Looking outside showed that the street had flooded up over the sidewalk out front.

Spent the next 6+ hours checking the towels, texting with a friend near Celebration, and watching one of the local networks storm coverage via an old iPhone on the TV via an Apple TV. At one point I had that network on one phone, another local network on the iPad, Fox News on another phone, and a live stream out the front window on my laptop. Had some brownouts just before midnight and moved into the laundry room on some cushions around 12:30 and watched the radar of the remnants of the eye wall pass over around 2:00 a.m. Got up a couple of times in the night to do a quick check.

Daylight revealed a bunch more screens on the enclosure were in need of replacing, the tulip tree in the backyard laying down parallel to the fence, the leaks having stopped, and the fence seemingly intact. The tulip tree had actually been knocked down by the hurricanes in 2004 when it was a sapling and we’d replanted it, so kind of sad to have lost it. The cypress tree right behind our fence by the conservation area is also down. Not sure if the sycamore next to it that is also down took it down or if they fell independently. The street is still flooded (but not as badly as last night) and there is also standing water down at the fence-line by the conservation area behind the house.

Winds are still steady at 30-35 mph with occasional gusts at 50+, so staying inside for now. Will likely take a nap soon because of not getting much sleep overnight.

— Rich

Well, after rushing home from Michigan to prepare the house for what the forecasters were saying at one point was to be a direct hit from hurricane Irma, everything has changed and the latest track has Irma skirting the Gulf coast. May still get some winds, but theoretically shouldn’t be that bad here.

So far the only excitement is that overnight someone drove over the two large community mailboxes across the street. I ended up calling the sheriff’s non-emergency number who transferred me to the highway patrol since a vehicle was involved. They ended up sending out a trooper who apparently picked up the bumper left behind. He said he had been in contact with the USPS to deal with picking up the boxes (hopefully) before the winds pick up here.

— Rich

In a lot of ways, the last 12 months has been “not good” and it can be hard to be thankful: Mom’s passing; Karen’s cancer diagnosis; Job; Chemo; Karen’s mom”s passing; Chemo-radiation; Trying to sell mom’s house. Surgery; Hurricane Matthew; More chemo; The election.

But we do have a lot to be thankful for: Compassionate and skilled doctors and surgeons; Nurses and techs; Family; Successful chemo, chemo-radiation, and surgery; Job; Friends; Our country; Insurance.

Happy Thanksgiving!

— Rich

When I was a kid, Dad would take me to a baseball game for my birthday each year. Back then, I was a Cubs fan. In fact, we were in attendance at Wrigley Field in 1979 when the Phillies beat the Cubs 23 to 22 in a slugfest for the ages.

I pretty much stopped watching baseball after the strike in 1994, but still would consider myself a Cubs fan if pressed to pick a team.

When the Cubs tied up the series at 3 games a piece I decided I’d never forgive myself if I missed game 7, so I forced Karen to watch it with me.

Well, they have finally done it! After a 108 year drought, the Cubs have won the World Series!

Cubs Win! Cubs Win! Holy Cow!

— Rich