Welcome to the September 2005 BLOG. Didn't see the end of last month?
Click here: August 05 BLOG

Sep 29, 2005 Thu

Here comes the rain. The foundation guys had to knock off early. Dang. They are ready to pour the concrete, too. Now, we wait.

Evie and the pup - Tizzy

Anna, too

Sep 28, 2005 Wed

Pictures are still coming in from that trip to Michigan last month - this from Jim's brother, Jerry -
Jacob and Jim

Whoa! Scary ~
under the house stuff .

Not so scary, puppy stuff

We think this puppy is going to be called 'Tizzy'. From some language, (Italian) 'Tizia', which means 'Jane Doe'. Or in this case; Jane Dog

Sep 26, 2005 Mon

Sunday we were up pretty early and off to Tacoma, where we become the new owners of a Toy Fox puppy. That's what Chico is, by the by. This one is a girl, and she is very tiny. Still unnamed, at this point. Anna went with us. The puppy is seven weeks old.

Here's Ann making that all important first inspection.

Anna and Evelyn document the occasion.


Back home, in the rear yard.

Chico isn't real thrilled about this new competition for his Mom's (Ann) affection. The cats are boycotting the house altogether, hanging out in their outside wire enclosure.
Riding in Ann's bathrobe pocket, this morning.

Sweatshirt pocket

Thanks to Bill for sending along these storm shots. Amazing! This was Katrina coming on land.

As mentioned, the Annual Oyster Run Motorcycle Extravaganza was also Sunday. We hung out downtown most of the afternoon. There is nothing else that happens in Anacortes - of all the many Fests and Festivals - to compare. No more pictures, this year - not that much all different from years past - shown elsewhere. Type 'Oyster Run' into the site search engine on www.davesmock.com

It was great fun to watch the many, many thousands of folks and their magnificent machines. Great Fair Food, too! We might even have found our next motorcycle.

Don't forget that house work (the foundation, at this point) is continuing - not all that interesting, perhaps, but very real on a personal and day to day level, for those of us trying to deduce where we're going to find heat and water?

housework - click here

Sep 24, 2005 Sat

Fae comes to town! Bringing along cousin Nicole. Photos by Ann

Anacortes is gearing up for the yearly 'Oyster Run'  Motorcycle Extravaganza! This officially starts (and ends) tomorrow. But the bikes start trickling into town as early as yesterday. By tomorrow afternoon, there will be over 14,000 (last years estimate) bikes in town. It is great fun! Cassady (employed by a local pub) says that this is their busiest single day of the year. We wouldn't wonder! He also points out that there is one less tavern in town this year (there might be five or six total?) - since the Cannery Row establishment is closed. That building got historical status, and is being rehabbed into low income housing. However, the Majestic Hotel (burned out several years ago) has finally reopened - and they have a lounge. However, that would be a far cry from Cannery Row, with their two dollar pitchers of beer!

Seen below - the 'Brown' - that is, The Brown Lantern - the history of which is lost in time. Cassady works this place.

Across the street - the Majestic has re opened! This is a small town. . .

Wait 'til tomorrow! This place will be all bikes!

Ann, trying out Chico's old puppy carrier. This will be put to good use, tomorrow. The new puppy comes home, you see.

Sep 23, 2005 Fri

Since everything going on under the house, is going on under the house , it's hard to get pictures without crawling under there myself. If I could do THAT, I coulda' saved a ton o' money.

These fellows are making good progress.

PD (puppy day) is only two days off - the search for a suitable name goes on. Suggestions are welcome.

Thank goodness the weather continues to cooperate. Woe the day that I can't add that tag line.

Sep 22, 2005 Thu

Boy, does the house begin to look funny - like it's sitting on thin air! The forty foot steel beams seem really insubstantial, overall.
Today's pix

Added an additional 512 megabytes of random access memory (RAM) to this computer. It was overdue. This doubles the available RAM, to 1024 meg, or - one gigabyte. (or, about entry level, for a new computer) This will help with running programs that use a lot of memory - pictures, movies, etc. and running more than one or two (or five) of these applications at the same time. Multi tasking! We can see already that it's helping in terms of running the Google desktop search engine in the background. Google suggests at least 128 meg of RAM to run their application - HO! That's pretty humorous. I noticed a slow down with 512 meg of RAM, when Google was doing it's thing. It's still worth it, to have this valuable utility. Have you tried it? It will find things on your hard drive you never knew were there. So - be careful!? :)))

Sep 21, 2005 Wed

We are so lucky to continue having lovely fall weather! It did hit 65 and the sun shone all day. Since part of the under house ductwork is disconnected, this is just as well. We'll have no furnace until this situation is remedied. Thank goodness for the living room gas fire. Takes the morning chill away.
The foundation contractor needed a day to get over a bad cold, which was probably just as well, as it gave time for some under the house digging. This to make room for the new center support. Click here for pictures.

Trying to seal a pinhole leak in the radiator reservoir, until the new one gets here. We've been fooling with this thing for a year. Various glues, epoxies, etc. Finally decided to just replace the dang thing! However, there is the matter of keeping dry until then. You'll notice that when it leaks, it sprays a pinhole fountain all over the engine compartment. The last 'temporary' repair lasted over four thousand miles and a whole year. However, while giving a friend a jump the other night, I noticed that the repair had failed. Another clue was the 'low coolant' warning. Going with extra tuff Marine Epoxy this time. Believe it or not, when it's not leaking, one cannot find the wee hole. It's a pressurized system, you see. So, that's why epoxy is spread very generously hither and yon.

Sep 20, 2005 Tue

For today's house stuff, you'll be able to click this

Here are the girls, off to ballet. . .

Sep 19, 2005 Mon

Work commences on the house foundation. Stick a couple iron beams under the house, jack it up, put in new foundation. They say we don't even have to take the dishes out of the cupboards. The lowest corner of the house (where there will be the most change) - alas - is where we have tile work. We may be doing some tile repair, once this area gets more nearly level. Since this will be an ongoing project for the next few weeks - it gets its
OWN PAGE.

Spoke yesterday to the fellow that bought the Honda. We forgot to tell him about the sending unit for the back shocks. He seemed really happy with the bike. Good. It's a done deal.

Jack's wife, April, caught these flying critters lined up at the bird feeder. She's using an Olympus C-750. Like mine. Now, why can't I get shots like that?

Sep 17, 2005 Sat

So slow posting - the last entry (for the 15th) is also new.

Ann, getting ready for the foundation guys.

A forty foot long iron beam will go through here

The scooter sold today. This is good. It went for a hundred bucks more than I bought it for, nearly three years ago. We're talking hundreds, here, not thousands. It was/is twenty five years old. I decided the fact that the new owner could now enter it in the 'Antique Motorcycle Show', was not a strong selling point and did not bring this up.

In my favour was that the buyer had owned a 1978 Goldwing - not all that much different from the GW he might purchase today.

He showed up in shorts and gym shoes, and with his wife. A tall fellow, over six feet. This was very good, the GW being so top heavy. As soon as they started looking, I knew it should sell - he'd brought the boss!

After a bit of discussion, he wanted to drive it. I let him use my helmet. A test drive was the best way to sell this bike - it runs so good. While he was riding, she allowed that for their recent 25th anniversary she had told him that he could get another scooter, adding that he had owned one when they met, back then, in Alaska. She also divulged that he had the money in his pocket! That's all I had to hear.

He was smiling after the test ride. We dickered, and he bought a swell Goldwing. All parties were happy, the sign of a good sale.

An hour or so later - up they came, in front of the house. Now, this is not a good sign, is what I thought. In fact, I had forgotten to give them the radio antenna - which I amazed myself by locating in the shed - in about two minutes. Finding anything in the shed these days is a minor miracle.

Sep 15, 2005 Thu

Let us think Michigan. Detroit. North suburbs. Dream Cruise.

The Pancake House Restaurant in the background of this picture (sent by Jarvis! Many thanks) is within about a few blocks of my house in Michigan. The Dream Cruise is a BIG DEAL, in that area. Maybe like the Oyster Run, here, but on a larger scale.

The Oyster Run  draws several thousands of riders from several states -

The Dream Cruise draws several hundreds of thousands, from many states.

It is simply by chance that I ended up living right off Woodward Ave, for a period of time, in my adult life. I grew up there, in years past, as a kid DREAM CRUISE . It was a great time, of course. The fifties and sixties were pretty laid back, compared to today's worries.

And the Dream Cruise has been an easy going reminder of those times. . .

Sep 13, 2005 Tue

Late additions from Brett! This would be the that same Brett (the oldest of my three children, by the by), Amy, and Hogan Garrison Smock.

Rambus.

That's what the RAM (random access memory - versus ROM - read only) memory sticks in this (and your) computer are called. There are two installed (two, 256 meg sticks) - I put them there when I built the thing, these several years ago. (I'm thinking 2001, or thereabouts?)

At that time, 512 meg of RAM (two RAM sticks of memory, at 256 megabytes each) was excessive. Most off the shelf computers had 56 meg of ram, or maybe 128 meg, tops. Am I speaking Greek here?

Ram doubles, to work most efficiently. So, 56 meg became 128, became 256, became 512 - and now, entry level on a cheapo Dell is a Gig of RAM, that is, over 1024 MEG. Why?

Random access Memory (RAM) is what allows your computer to multi-task. Chip speed (Pent three, four, etc) determines how efficiently it will do that.

With all the things we (and microsoft) are asking our machines to do at the same time (edit pictures, movies, etc), plenty of RAM is a must. All those wee icons down there by the computer date, on the right at the bottom - the 'task' bar? They all take up great gobs of RAM.

I've been wanting to add more RAM to my computer for the last year or so. One of the advantages of overbuilding a computer, is that one might put off these upgrades for as long as possible. Well, the time has come. You might recall that one of the first things we did for Ann's hand me down Dell, was add Ram. It's a cheap fix.

Well, it's time again, except; now it's for this computer.

How some ever, guess what? The top of the line mother board (Gigabyte) I had purchased back then, isn't so top of the line, anymore. In the mother board wars, this one seems to have succumbed. Along with it, the Rambus memory system.

We had to go to Ebay, to find any Rambus memory sticks. Alas, I'd forgotten how to 'DO' ebay, and lost the first two sets of Rambus memory that I'd bid on. You will recall that bidding on Ebay comes down to the last few seconds, literally. Once I remembered what I was doing, I got the third set of 512 meg of rambus, for about half what it had cost new, way back then.

The fun part will be to see what kind of change in performance comes out of this memory upgrade?

We've added a 'Google' desktop search engine, to this computer, and Evie added the same to the laptop. It is great fun!

However, it is a RAM squeezer -

As always, these things are a trade off. I'll accept the fact that the Google engine is pretty busy, if adding some RAM keeps my access times in line. We'll see, here, in a few days.

Sep 10, 2005 Sat

It was the Old Motor Show! We nearly missed it - Laura called with a heads up, and off we went. All types of old motors, from late 1800's steam, to early/mid 1900's gas. Some of the motors were attached to the devices that they were designed to operate. This was an interesting show.
Below is a steam engine running several machines using belts and pulleys.

A restored 1916 Stanley Steamer, 12 seat Mountain Wagon, of thirty horsepower. Carried folks from the many ferries to the local towns, before the railroads.

This fellow (Bill) was very proud of the fact that he had this old diesel engine running like new. We watched him go through the many steps involved in getting it going. It's a 1927 Fairbanks Morse that generated all of ten horsepower. It ran a grain elevator in Finnigan, Alberta.

All types of early gas powered machines, including motor bikes and motor cycles. Ann calls our 1100 cc Honda a motorbike.
One pedaled to start this Rudge, and then a belt turned the rear wheel once it got going.

Almost any steam engine you might run across will have a governor. Those two or three balls spinning somewhere atop the engine. What did they do? Well, they kept the dang thing from blowing itself up, is what. Below is pictured a 1913 Case steam engine, and its governor is visible atop the motor.


Below are a couple more governors, just to get the idea.

As a steam engine built up more pressure in its boiler (a head of steam), it would spin these balls around faster and faster. Centrifugal force would cause the balls to try and fly outward, which would cause them to 'rise', in effect. When they rose to a certain point, it opened a vent or relief valve, and released some pressure, precluding an explosion from a burst boiler. I mention this because it is the origin of the Conductor's call to the Engineer when it's time to move the train. He yells, "HIBALL!" Which in the Good Old Days meant, 'When you get a good head of steam (the governor's balls are high) - Leave the station!

Seen below is an interesting tractor - the fellow that owns it left one half of it the way he found it. The restored half is seen here.

And this would be the other side, not quite as pretty, but still working.

One of those beautiful sunsets from Dick and Laura's porch, off the living room.

Oh, yes. the first day of school! Evelyn and Ivey are both in the middle school this year, since Ivey has left Mt Erie.

Anna is in the highschool - so, grades 6 thru eleven are represented.

Sep 9, 2005 Fri

Behold - the dreaded HEDGE! Finally trimmed. Note sleeping black cat - fifteen year old female.

Finished! We rented a heavy duty trimmer - what a big help THAT was. We were going to buy one, but we thought we better try it out first. It worked so well that we may just keep renting - they are pricey units.


We learned this trick from the landscape guy that we PAID over a hundred bucks to trim the hedge, once last year. The rental was under thirty. We probably could have taken a bit more off the top. Next time.

Dick sends along a picture of his favorite mountain range - the Grand Tetons.

Mardi and Jim hosted Caroline and brother John over the past weekend. They had GREAT Michigan weather!

In Mardi's kitchen

Sep 8, 2005 Thu

We were fortunate enough to enjoy another dinner at Laura's last night. Warren and Anne (Paul's folks) are leaving town soon, returning to FL.
Here are Eric and friend David - the BULL SLAYERS. Another story. . .

Mother/daughter - Barbara and Heidi at the table.

wife/husband

Warren and Dick

Dick, Ann, Anne and Barbara on the front deck at sunset.

Heidi and friend Sara.


Evie and I at the
Grand Canyon
- the picture that scared Ann - too close to the edge!
An interesting picture discovered by Adam - a Tug named after my sister - Mardi~!

Sep 7, 2005 Wed

Added a few more pix to the 'travels webpage'.

The family was able to congregate on Labor Day for a BBQ at Washington Beach, a local attraction. We were favored with pleasant temps and bright sunshine. Ivey, Ann, Evelyn, Laura and Anna

L to R and Top to Bottom -
Ivey, Niomi, Warren, Dick, Debra, Laura, Ann and Heidi
Evie, Barbara, Anna, Mike, Anne, Paul, Eric

Paul and his Mom, Anne

Grand daughters - Heidi, Laura, Anna, Evelyn

Paul with son Eric, and folks, Anne and Warren

Mike and Eric - (one of whom just jumped in the lake on a dare.)

Ann and Evelyn (by the most photographed tree in Anacortes)

Tree, zoomed

Family portrait with Chico

Sep 5, 2005 Mon

Maybe I'm wasting time changing the whole thing month for month?

However, here we go, again, a new month! Happy Labor Day.

Pictures and editing are still occuring on the
Vacation Page . If you haven't seen THAT, then click Evie's picture.

Ann sends along these photos she received in an email:
Here is Elina's son, Antti-Jussi and his catch!! Then, I think Elina and her 3 boys: Joonas 15, Jusso 13, Antti-Jussi 7.
Elina is my friend from Finland (exchange student at UHS)

Antti-Jussi and brother fishing and Elina's husband, Jouko, and Antti-Jussi

I know that I never caught any fish that big while fishing off the bank with a stick fishing pole!
Nice work, fellows!