Signs of Spring and a small Natural Wonder

Today on our walk in the park we came upon one of the sure signs of spring. A dandelion in bloom. WOW. The short winter freeze is just a memory now. Here is photographic proof (sorry for the quality but I used my cell phone for this photo).

I saw something lightly amazing to me on the walk. A small finch type bird flew into a thick holly bush and exited the other side of the bush. With no apparent loss of speed. I mean this little bird flew in and within 1 second came out the other side. WOW. How did it navigate that thick brush?

Riley and I are gonna do the American Male thing and watch the Superbowl today. I expect the Packers to prevail but it can go either way. Hopefully it will be a good game. Dinner is planned for halftime, a nice looking T-bone, mashed potatoes, gravy, salad with peach cobbler for desert. MMmmm.

I spoke too soon

Well I have been talking about how warm it has been here in South Texas. Not right now. It didn't get above freezing yesterday and the wind was brutal. This is going to last for about three days. Sleet and freezing rain today. The local news for Houston is ONLY about how the traffic is at a standstill. It is nothing like the winter weather everyone else has but is a really a big event here. Our daily walks are postponed for the duration. We did the 'french toast' supermarket run before this all happened plus filled the propane tank so we are warm inside Roz.

I am really glad the Mack water pump problems happened when it was warm. My boy Riley is getting frustrated and needs to get out. He doesn't understand why we are restricted. He definitely loves it colder.

Losing my Hair

Woof (that’s “Hi” in dog speak), Riley here. It is my turn to chat a bit. I can't quite figure out why there is none of that white stuff I love to play in. Nothing but warm — so warm that my winter coat is falling out already. Mike is always complaining about hair all over the floor. I guess it's true what I heard about global warming. Here are some photos of me playing in that white stuff.

Trying to catch a snowball.

Gee this is fun.

A couple days ago Mike spent most of his time doing something with that thing he calls Mack. You know, the thing that takes us to the park. Speaking of the park, I love that place. So many smells and puddles to play in. (Mike here. I have discovered that Riley loves to play in puddles. The road we walk along in the park is raised with shallow drainage ditches on both sides that retain water after it rains. Riley trots along, with a lot of bounce in his step, splashing while at the same time lapping up a drink as he moves along. My boy is so cool.)

Do you mind? This is my blog time. Now back to the park. Yesterday I saw these two strange animals. They were BIG. Way taller than Mike, had four legs, two arms and two heads. And they spoke, from the middle head, people speak. Both of them said something like “hello and nice dog there.” They were nice though, and Mike waved and said hello back. I wish I knew what they were.

Sniff, sniff — I smell people food cooking. I think it's time for breakfast. I gotta go and see if I can beg some. How humiliating. Woof. (“Bye for now” in dog speak.)

Some Sentimentality, a Bit of Gratitude, and a Side of Mechanical Problems

A dream woke me early this morning. I was back in Pennsylvania with all of my children, grandchildren and friends. I could only see everyone's faces, especially the grandkids’ — Sula, Sophie, Wade, Henry, Isabelle, and the as-yet-unnamed “wee lass.” But the wee lass' face was kind of indistinct, I assume because I don’t know what she looks like yet (that will change when she is born in early April). I guess I am missing those beautiful grandkids, and my kids and friends, more than I thought.

I have another overdue thank you. Recently my friend Carrie in North Carolina sent me the absolute bestest-ever, most delicious loaf of pumpkin bread I ever had. Wow, Carrie (Carrie1957 on Cyclefish) it was great! THANK YOU.

The downtown photos of Galveston have not yet happened. One thing or another has diverted me. I will get there.

More Mechanical Problems
Mack the Jeep had some mechanical problems that turned into an ordeal and my laptop PC died. At first I was a little frustrated over this, but, in retrospect, I am actually feeling good about all that transpired for several reasons. First is that the Jeep never let me down away from home; he only failed in the driveway. Second, we are in a place that is warm and snow-free, and thereby a much nicer place to do this work. And third, I get a “feels good” sense of accomplishment when diagnosing and repairing problems such as this.

Wednesday
Riley was patiently waiting outside for our daily journey to the local park. Since Mack the Jeep is a bit cold-natured, I usually have to let him warm up for a few minutes. With the engine running, I headed towards Riley to unhook his leash and usher him over to the Jeep. Suddenly this terrible noise started coming from under the hood and from my vantage point I could see liquid dripping profusely under the engine.

When I opened the hood it was clear what the issue was; he had a serious water pump problem. I turned off the engine and investigated. Yes, it was obvious I would have to get a new pump. Sorry, I told Riley, our trip will be delayed. You should have seen the look I got from him.

I fired up the laptop (which I had just shut down five minutes before) and the second dilemma of the day presented itself. There before my eyes was the Blue Screen of Death. Crap, I thought, now my internet PC is dead. Nothing I did revived the balking machine. My third line of defense was my smart phone. That worked and I was able to get a phone number of an auto parts place just a few miles away. Some good luck — they had the pump and at a very reasonable price. Things are getting a little better, I thought.

Roz the RV was now my only means of transportation, so securing everything and unhooking was in order. After that 20-minute chore we were on our way, got the new pump, some fresh antifreeze and other things needed for the pump replacement. We were back at the RV park in two hours. Oh, and Riley and I had our two-mile walk.

Being a weekend mechanic, it usually takes me at least three times as long as an experienced mechanic to do any particular job. With this limitation in mind, and the fact that it was nearly 3:30 pm, I decided to delay the install until the next morning. I spent the rest of that afternoon futilely trying to resolve the PC problem.

Thursday
At 8 am I was outside with a cup of coffee in hand evaluating what specific steps I should take. By noon the pump was replaced and ready for a leak check. All was good, no leaks. I put away my tools and rinsed the driveway while the Jeep idled. Then the Jeep just shut down and would not restart. I knew I was low on gas and a gauge check showed empty. I checked the carb input hose and no gas. OK AAA, bring me some gas. Two hours later they showed up. With that little bit of fuel we headed to the closest station to fill up. He only took 12 gallons; if he were empty it should have taken at least 14. That is strange, I thought.

On the way back from refueling he started overheating and blowing all kinds of steam from under the hood. Back at the park I rechecked my installation. Nothing seemed wrong. I will not go into a lot of hard-to-explain details, but I deduced that the pump was the wrong pump. It was pumping the wrong direction. Another phone call to the parts place and they told me there were two pumps for my Jeep.

“If you bring the original pump in, we can have both in the store for you to be certain you get the right one. Tomorrow around 1 pm,” the clerk offered. What could I do?

Friday
I was able to get the correct water pump and back to work I went. This time, considering the practice run, I was able to install it, fire up the Jeep and leak-check in about an hour and a half. No leaks and, best of all, no overheating.

Then, the engine died and would not restart — again.

Yesterday’s fill-up discrepancy now made sense. The tank was not empty, after all. I did some troubleshooting and discovered that I had a cranky electric fuel pump too. Back to the auto parts place, this time for a fuel pump.

The electric fuel pump is a much simpler installation and was done within 30 minutes. Mack is all better now and Riley is glad to be back to our daily two miles. The laptop is still dead but has been replaced with a new netbook PC for internet. That diagnosis is forthcoming. I may have to hire a PC geek for this one.

There’s a Moon Out Tonight (or Go to the Beach and Get Mooned)

The beach near the graffiti forest is fascinating to me. After looking at the sunset, moonrise (full) and tide tables, I formulated a photo safari plan. On Wednesday the 19^th they would all fall within two hours of each other. Now if only the weather would cooperate.

The day arrived and the weather was good — a blue sky with a few clouds. Perfect. I arrived a couple of hours early to allow myself ample time to pick the vantage point for the anticipated full moon rise.

Perched in the best location, all I had to do now was wait. I bided time by scanning the beach, looking for other macro vistas to record. This ever-changing landscape didn’t disappoint me. There were many.

As it was nearing the time for the moon to show, some heavy clouds moved in. Damn, this is going to mess it all up, I thought. The photo gods must have seen this and helped out a bit. Within a few moments the oppressing clouds moved on and the sky was again as I wanted it to be.

I realize you may be getting a bit tired of sand and surf photos, but humbly I offer a few more for you to see. The next photo endeavor will be in the city of Galveston, sans sand, maybe.

Rivulets in the sand

 

 

Footprints.

Roz Had Incontinence Problems

The old girl was having some difficulty with a badly corroded and leaking hot water heater. There was a constant drip coming from under the heater. I am grateful it only leaked to the outside, and did not soak the carpet. I’m even more grateful we still had hot water.

A phone call to the local RV parts place began an exercise in futility that finally ended well. I won’t go into details, but an inept parts clerk delayed me in getting a new unit for a week. Finally, the new unit arrived.

The installation was for the most part uneventful, although my lack of experience no doubt tripled the installation time. The operation was a complete success and we have plenty of hot water and no drips. Cool, err, hot damn. After the maintenance duties were done I could go on photo op recon patrols without worrying about the leak getting worse.

While on one of these recon missions along the Galveston Seawall, with my Cyclefish friend Kelly, an ex-Philly guy stopped to talk with us. His name is Jim Gibson and his relatives now live in South Jersey. He is a retired police chief from a suburb of Houston and now lives in Las Cruces, NM. He also has a classic car business in New Mexico. I have added it to my list of places to see. We reminisced about all things Philly, especially cheesesteaks. Mmm, cheesesteaks. It was great talking with you Jim.

Traveling the only road that parallels the Gulf in search of scenic vistas, I was getting frustrated. There was nothing but nice, albeit very plain beaches. Finally — eureka! — I found a fantastic group of cement pilings on the beach about 20 miles south of Galveston. I have nicknamed it the “Cement Graffiti Forest.” I humbly post a couple from my first stop there. I have plans to go back at sunrise, sunset, and high tide as soon as the sky is right for the photos I want.Oh and to get there I have to drive on the beach, here is a photo of a warning sign I think is in error.

I am also excited to try some urban street fine art photography in the downtown area of Galveston. The town is crammed with interesting buildings and streets I want to photograph. This will be a departure from my normal genre of photography thus doubling my excitement. Stay tuned for those images. 

I need Caffiene

The first thing I have to say today is
HAPPY BIRTHDAY WADE!! I Miss YOU!

Wade Craney, my Grandson

Now for the Caffeine story...
I have been remiss with an overdue thank you. When I was back in PA my daily caffeine fix was provided by Melitta coffee. I have been a staunch user of their premium coffees since the early ‘80s, gladly paying the premium price for what I consider to be the best coffee on the supermarket shelf.

While traveling through North Carolina I was unable to find Melitta in the local stores so I sent the company an e-mail asking what chain of markets carried their great coffee along my general route. Without my asking, the Melitta representative asked me for a mailing address where they could send me some. They also asked for my preferred blend. WOW! That’s cool, I thought. A few days later my sister Alicia told me a package arrived. We were still a couple of weeks away from Texas at that time so I asked her to just hold it until we got there.

When she handed me the large box I thought, “This can't be from Melitta. It is too big for a can of coffee.” To my very great surprise, it was from Melitta and there were seven cans of my favorite European Roast coffee inside. Big corporations do not often do this and I am impressed. I will be enjoying your gracious gift for quite some time. When my current stock is exhausted you can be sure I will always buy your coffee when I can find it and multiple cans when I do. THANK YOU MELITTA!

I have not done much photography recently but I am working on a few locations and ideas. One thing Galveston has is beaches so expect some photos with a lot of sand. One session I did was an old Ford F-6 flatbed truck, with another old Ford cab on the flatbed. My guess is late ‘50s or early ‘60s vintage. If you could see all the photos I took you would notice there is no cancer, just surface rust. That was when trucks were truly made of steel, thick steel. It was sitting alongside the highway and begged to be recorded. Here are some from that session.

Brown Velvet

Yellow Fender

Nosy