Ditto Tuesday

Well, just when I'm ready to go geocaching, it rains.  Then it rains some more.  After which it rains again and again and ... . Later we expect some rain.  Picked up another book from the library.  Looks like I'm going to need it.

Rainy Tuesday

Ditto Monday.  Ah well, it looks like Wednesday will be nice.

Rainy Monday

What's to say, it rained, I read.  Richard's Take No Prisoners chili for dinner.  Very nice on a cool wet evening.  It looks like more rain the next couple of days so I tend to house things and read.

BB biking

BB and I went over to the Bikeway Store in Bedford, rented a couple of bikes and went riding for about 1 1/2 hours on the rail bikeway there.  Had a good time though my knee bothered me a bit and of course my pelvis.  I suspect that we'll buy a bike for BB in the next couple of weeks.

Leftover salmon and coconut rice for dinner.  I froze the rest of the salmon for salads.

It's a rainy day today so I'll do paper, read, and work on my bike a bit.

Bike shopping and dinner with John and Marie

BB and I went out bike shopping for her yesterday.  Tough to find a bike for someone so short.  Had a good time anyway. 

Went to dinner last night with John and Marie at Prime Bar.  OK food but place is NOISY. 

Today we plan to rent a couple of bikes so BB has a chance to see if she is really interested.

Geocachine - Trolls Cache

Decided to try "Trolls Cache" since it is nearby.  Got to WP 1 without any effort.  As expected it was a bridge of some sort.

Looked about and under the bridge and in the surrounding area for the WP container.  No joy.  Noticed a curious chain on the bridge that I suspect may once have been attached to the WP container.

If this is where it was then it's gone.  I tried walking down the trail as a previous find did and got to the fork OK.  Looked around for the cache but no luck.  Neighbors frequently walk in these woods and mentioned a bit ago that they found a cache exposed and hid it again.  At any case I've DNFed it and will try again after someone else reports a find.  TFTC.

Geocaching - Walk in the woods

BB and I went out to find the geocache "Walk in the Woods" today and run some errands.

We'd tried to find it last winter in the snow with John and Marie without luck.  Today, absent the snow, it was a pleasant walk in the woods.  Right now the mosquitoes aren't bad though we did have on bug spray.  Found it after only a little searching, SL, TNLN.  This really is a very pleasant walk in the Gardner Hill Land Town Forest.  There is an easy trail in that's not on the posted trail maps.  Unfortunately, just now my GPS cable is being difficult and I'm not able to load the route.  The unmarked trail is at 42 25.3376/071 29.8237 and provides easy access to within 10 yards or so of the cache.

If you go out this way stop at Erickson's Dairy for some ice cream.  It's generally very good and creamy.  Makes a nice lunch on a warm day.

The trip photos are below.  There may be a spoiler but not by much.

Plan for the day

Well, BB is off today. She's off most Thursdays so we'll go on some sort of outing. Notwithstanding that it's the first day of fall we're going to have one of those lovely NE days with clear skies, Canadian air, and mid 60s. What's not to like! We'll take a hike in the Gardner Hill Town Forest and search for a goecache that we were unable to find this last winter in the snow. Stop for a bit of ice cream at a real dairy that believes in milk fat content (some is good, more is better). Then of course the errands, always the errands. Never got to the yard work yesterday. Hope God doesn't mind.

Geocaching - Track & Field - Video Game Classic Series

Managed to sort through some cable issues with the PN 40 - I feel a Garmin 60CSX coming on - and get out to do a bit of geocaching.  Track & Field is an easy find, almost a park and grab, but the hide is good and I had to look a bit notwithstanding that I was within 5' of the container.  Took a coin and geocoin.  Left some stickers (this would be a fair kids cache but watch for beer bottles - I took out a bag from the area), a caribeaner key chain, and a kite TB.  TFTC.

BB's Birthday

Had a rather busy day with BB's birthday.

Started with a trip to court, yes me in court, to deal with a traffic citation.  The first one in 25 or so years.  The judge was somewhat amused I think but I did end up spending the entire mourning dealing with it.

BB and I went out to buy a new pan, VERY domestic, and looked at bikes for her.  It looks like a 24" would work ok.  If she shows any interest we'll get one as she would enjoy the exercise and, lord knows, I need some exercise.

We'll go out for dinner later and try Bistro 20 a new place in town.  So far it seems to get rather mixed reviews but we'll see.

Tomorrow's plans are to most definitely get to the yard work as it looks like we'll have a somewhat early fall.  I also need to do paper now that things have settled down a bit.

Jim and Ruth, a life well lived

It is a curious fact that many of the most important events, those that effect many people for many years, seem entirely common place when they occur.  Yet their consequences ripple through the years and touch the lives of hundreds and thousands of people.

About 70 years ago a man named Charlie dared his then fiance Ruth to attend an Air Cadet dance at Jefferson Barracks Missouri.  Charlie's dare surely didn't seem like a life changing event at the time.  But it was.

Ruth was a rather spirited Scotch Irish Catholic girl, so of course when her girlfriend ask her to go to the dance and Charlie dared her to go, she went.  While there Ruth Hannah met James Bell, a young cadet from Detroit Michigan.  They spent the dance together.  That was the start of a love that lasted some 70 years and touched many lives.

When Ruth returned home that evening she told her mother that she had met the man she was going to merry!  Her mother didn't take the news seriously, after all Ruth was engaged to Charlie and Jim was in the Army Air Corps and would leave soon.  Ruth knew her own mind though.  Charlie was soon unengaged and Jim and Ruth were courting.  Later Jim would tell Ruth that he'd known that first dance that he was in love but had hesitated for fear that he'd scare her off to which Ruth replied that there wasn't anything that was going to scare her off.  Love at first sight is real.

The couple were married, had five children, and lived full and rich lives.  Today their family numbers some 30 plus.  Jim died a few years ago.  Ruth last week.  They were devoted to each other throughout their long lives, through the good times and bad.

I think this is the definition of a life well lived.  To love and be loved, to have family, and to be remembered.

It's been a busy summer

It's been a rather busy summer. 

BB and I continue to look at boats.  Wish the housing market was better so we could move and buy a boat but it looks like it will be a bit longer.  Even so, we now seem to have a good sense of what we'd like so when we're able we should be ready.

My mom died.  She was 89 and had in her own words "an interesting life."  The funeral was a week ago with about 30 of the immediate family at the service.  It was good to see everyone again, hopefully not for the last time.  I've been giving some thought to an annual gathering.  We'll see.

Last weekend BB and I went to the Newport boat show.  It's always a treat.  This year was VERY crowded, perhaps because the spring show was canceled.  We saw a nice Fleming that we both liked and a lovely, though very over large, Grand Banks.  The GB 46 will have Zeus drives next year and that should be a very appropriate boat for out trip.

Yesterday we dropped by Honeypot Hill orchards to pick up some pears.  I've never seen it so crowded.  With the good late season weather it was almost impossible to get in or out.

This should be a relatively quiet week.  After the last few, I'm rather looking forward to it.

Lobster Roles

As usual, BB was home today.  NECN had an item on the best lobster role in NE.  According to their pole it was the Beach Plum in North Hampton, NH.  BB is VERY fond of lobster so as a surprise I took her up for lunch.  It's a bit of a drive but the lobster roles while expensive were very generous and delicious.  A nice day indeed.

Ribs

BB and I decided to make smoked ribs for the holiday.  Yum.  We had MM and John and Marie over and had a grand old time on the deck eating and solving the worlds problems.  We ended up with a lot of food left over even after sending things home with everyone.

Bikes

I've been saving Seth's mountain bike for many years.  He'd taken it apart but never reassembled it.  At any event, I've wanted a mountain bike for geocaching so I decided to see if I could reassemble it and put it back on the road.

I started Monday and much to my surprise it seems that most of the parts are in the box I put them in when I packed up Chelmsford!  It's been a bigger project than I'd imagined as it took some time to figure out what was what and where it went.  Thanks to help from the Sudbury bike shop I was able to buy the missing parts and now have the bike almost working.  All that remains is to adjust the seat, handlebars, brakes, and shifters.

The whole effort has given me a real appreciation for what it takes to assemble a bike.  It's a lot of work, even if you know what you're doing (I didn't), have a bike stand (I don't), and have all the tools needed (I had most but not all).

One thing that has made it a lot easier is youtube.  There are videos that go through the steps to adjust most everything! 

I should finish up tomorrow.  After I've tested the bike a bit, I'll try it out geocaching.

Symbol 57

BB and I went up to Portsmouth, NH to look at a Symbol 57 Saturday.  We were gifted with an absolutely lovely day and really enjoyed the trip. 

The boat was at Wentworth By the Sea Marina.  Wentworth has been around for many years.  There was an old wooden hotel there dating from the 1900s.  It was abandoned until Marriott purchased and restored the hotel adding condos and the marina.  The area is now absolutely lovely.  BB and I took the opportunity to look about a bit.

The boat itself was simply magnificent.  Both of us really liked it.  Unfortunately, at 57' it is much to large for our plans to do the loop.  That aside, it would make a very comfortable coastal home.

We took the opportunity to drive back along 1A which follows the coast.  This early in the year there aren't a lot of tourist so it was a very nice drive.  We stopped for lunch in Seabrook at a place with a nice deck overlooking the harbor.

All in all a very nice day.

 

Essex Boat Show

BB and I went down to Essex Saturday to a local boat show.  It seems the New Port show was canceled.  Some of the local dealers got together and had a free show in Essex.

It was interesting as it was MUCH less crowded than the usual shows.  We were able to look at the Nordic Tug 41 and American Tug 42 more or less side by side.  BB likes the NT.  It does have a nicer salon and the teak is nice as well.  That said I prefer the AT with it's center master and better master storage.

While we were out we chatted a bit about the possibility of getting a smaller boat since BB wants to work for another 6 years!  That may make some sense since it would allow us to weekend and do the occasional week or two.  A boat of that sort is, of course, much less expensive.  We'll see.

On the way back I tried to stop at an RV dealer but they only dealt with trailers/5th wheelers. 

What has me interested again in RVs is the issue of when BB might retire.  I'm a bit older than she is so if we wait another few years it is unlikely that we'll ever be able to take the Great Loop trip.  That said, an RV might be an alternative.  They are less expensive, provide access to many more interesting things, and able to travel farther in a short period of time.  On the negative side, I just plainly like boats.

MS BB at her leisure

As you might have gathered I'm rather fond of BB. There are, of course, many reasons, amongst them humor. Consider:

Geocaching: Manny Being Manny

I finally had a bit of time to go out geocaching today.  In between taxes, rain, and a bad knee I'd not had a chance to get out lately.  During all the wet weather I'd solved a number of puzzles so today I thought I'd try one: Requiem for a Slugger: Manny Being Manny.  It  turned out to be a relatively easy find along a paved walk and across the edge of a farm field. Interestingly the field was bordered by MANY blackberry vines.  Might be a good outing when there is some fruit.  The cache is in good order but about 30' or so from the GZ coordinates I had.  I took a button and left a a travel bug.  As usual here are the photos (no spoilers).  Click through to access the album.

Beyond The Stream

Well I finally managed to get out geocaching today with BB, John, and Marie.  I'd been by looking for it several times without any luck.  A week or so Emmett archived the cache then a couple of days later posted a note that it was still there.  Well, it was a nice day so we went out and after a short walk in found it.  TNLN/SL/TFTC.

After we found Beyond The Stream we went to look for Selectively Availability On.  I'd not been in this part of the area before.  It's a lovely area and we enjoyed walking around the pond.  Interestingly, there were many turtles in the pond.  We looked around for 30 minutes or so without success.

Somewhere along the way I picked up a tick.  On a positive note there were no mosquitoes.  All in all a good day.