Tim and Wendy's Adventures (and Non).

Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Erin Is Enjoying African Diversity With Sarah And Calvin.

On Sep 30, 2015 4:32 AM, We wrote:

How is Spring in SA?.
Hoping to hear about your new adventures.
Mom Dad and Tim

Seeing lots and lots of animals!

Rick Hyrax, southern red bishop, common fiscal, Cape superfowl, greater flamingo, Cape cormorant, white breasted cormorant, kelp gull, black headed heron, grey heron, blue crane***, Egyptian goose, spurwong goose, Cape Robin chat, southern masked Weaver, Cape canary, great double collared sunbird, Savannah baboon, Cape fur seal, southern right Whale, Cape crow, Cape white eye, angulate tortoise, African sacred ibis, black headed heron, Cape sparrow, common ostrich, hadeda ibis, helmeted guineafowl, speckled pigeon, and verreux eagle.

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Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Scooterman Looks Like Me?

My friend Mike sent me a picture called "Scooterman". He said it looked like me.
I'll let you decide:

Okay, I doctored it a bit, and he is maybe a little thinner than me. I see the resemblance. Below is the original... I'll spare you from viewing an actual full-body nude picture of me. I don't look good naked anymore.

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Monday, September 28, 2015

Getting My Dinghy In Shape.

In other years I've washed and scrubbed my dinghy in the bowels of the underground garage. It was dark and hard to see what I was doing. I was always worried about scratching my bottom, dragging things around on the concrete floor.

This year I tried something a little different.

I removed everything that might fall out and turned the boat upside down at the floating dock.

It was looking a little dirty but there were hardly any adult zebra mussels this year. There were though, thousands of pepper sized baby mussels that were very securely attached and gave the feel of sandpaper to the bottom. It took a lot of effort with a brush and a ScotchBrite pad to get it clean.

For greater stability, I was able to drag it partly up on the dock to scrub. What a difference! That's a lot more comfortable on a nice day than washing my bottom in the basement.

All freshened up my bottom is clean and my little dinghy is ready to go back onto the trailer for the winter.
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Saturday, September 26, 2015

Whistles On The Water 2015

It was a beautiful day; sunny mid 70's F so we decided to go to St.Clair Michigan for the annual "Whistles-On-The-Water" event. Our good friend George from the condos came with us and we also enjoyed a nice, scenic 8 or 10 mile ride down the river.

Al Johnson owns a hydraulic equipment company in St Clair and actually built the huge boiler that supplies the huge amount of energy to power these whistles.

The rope allows the commentator to pull the whistle valve from a safe distance. They have had incidents where these old antique whistles have come apart under pressure with explosive results.

The huge steam horns emitted so much vapour we lost visual contact. I love the smell of the hot steam.

We saluted a passing freighter (Algoway) and the master responded with a long and two short blasts. (the greeting signal when two ships meet on the Great Lakes).

CLICK HERE to read more.
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Friday, September 25, 2015

Updated: Erin In Cape Town South Africa

Another good day!

Click map to enlarge

To Carroll's Mailbox
Today at 1:42 AM

We drove up the west coast yesterday and saw all kinds of animals, plants (tortoises, 1000s of flamingos, osrtrich with young, 100s of eland, bontebok, steenbok, grysbok, duiker, ice flowers and more) and spendid sights. Maybe be the most beautiful coast I've ever seen!!! Today we will take it easy at Sarah and Calvin's enjoying a day at the beach.

From Erin's Uncle Doug:

Carroll

Today at 10:27 AM

The surf was up earlier here is a shot of Sarah getting chased. The girls seem to be having fun. Sarah seems to think it's the good life.
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Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Cape Town Capers.

Erin has been doing a little touring and exploring around the area.

Internet pic

They've been to the aquarium and now they are back at the beach house sampling some of the local wines at $3 a bottle.

Internet pic

She emailed that she is having a nice relaxing time. Looks lovely.
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"Science of Stupid" Buys Dash Video.

Well, it's official. Dash's royalty check is in the bank ($122.50 USD). His agency in Hollywood, Jukin Media Inc. informs us that the Fox Network, National Geographic Channel US and Canada have purchased the rights to the clip. Specifically "Science of Stupid" is the TV show.

This is the show that combines cold hard science with some of the craziest, most spectacular and painful user generated clips ever recorded. Seth Herzog introduces all manner of mishaps featuring brave, if misguided individuals from around the world and then explains the science behind their failure and humiliation with the use of bespoke animations and super slo-mo cinematography.

Each week we show between 50 and 60 clips of misadventure – ordinary folk making extraordinary mistakes. Each episode will feature several themes such as weightlifting, shooting guns or jumping over cars and each theme will be paused, re-wound, and re-played as we analyze exactly what went wrong and why. Seth Herzog explains the physics, chemistry and biology at play, he will present forensic detail to explain the stupidity that resulted in failure. He’ll look at everything including weight, volume, momentum, combustion and even how the brain operates. This is misadventure explained. This is Science of Stupid.

For Science of Stupid CLICK HERE
For Jukin Media CLICK HERE

We miss you Dash!

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Old Geezer Auto Picture For Today

You can always click the pic for a bigger scene.

Here's my "artsy", old geezer pic for today. I shot the old shed at Backus Heritage Village on Lake Erie when Pete and Donna were doing a reenactment last Spring. The '58 Chevy pick-up was lifted from an old car ad on eBay so I combined it for this poster. Just for fun.
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Yet Another "Car Geezer" Pic.

The thrill of finding a classic car in a barn. Is that a guy thing, a geezer thing? Or is it like finding some priceless object at a garage sale? I doubt this picture would appeal to a lady any more than a picture of a pair of fancy shoes or a Gucci handbag would appeal to me. Bear with me ladies. I'm just going through a stage... for the last thirty years.

"Is There A Vette In The House?" (Click to enlarge)

I took the picture of the barn back in 2011 in Eastern Kentucky on our way back from visiting Gary and Ann in Tennessee. I cheated by adding an old dusty Corvette to liven things up.
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Saturday, September 19, 2015

Bon Voyage Erin.

Erin's cousin Sarah and her husband Calvin are in Cape Town South Africa. Sarah is working for Doctors Without Borders. Erin seized the opportunity to visit them and stay there for 3 weeks. We'll miss her while she's away but we know it's an experience she'll never forget. Have fun Erin. Take lots of pictures.

The Robert Q airport shuttle picks up at the Ramada Inn in London, Ontario.

Erin is off, all by herself, to South Africa today for 3 weeks.

Cape Town. South Africa.

It's a long flight. I drove her to the shuttle stop at 11 am this morning. She leaves DTW (Detroit Airport) tonight:

FLIGHT     KL 6119 - KLM ROYAL DUTCH AIRLINES           SAT 19 SEPTEMBER 2015
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTURE: DETROIT, MI (METROPOLITAN WAYNE CO), TERMINAL EM -    19 SEP 18:39
           E.H. MCNAMARA TERMINAL
ARRIVAL:   AMSTERDAM, NL (SCHIPHOL AIRPORT)                      20 SEP 08:05
           FLIGHT BOOKING REF: xxxxxx
           RESERVATION CONFIRMED, ECONOMY (R)                 DURATION: 07:26
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
           BAGGAGE ALLOWANCE:        2PC
           SEAT:                     41K CONFIRMED FOR CARROLL/ERIN PATRICIA
                                     GENE
           MEAL:                     DINNER
NON STOP   DETROIT, MI TO AMSTERDAM
           OPERATED BY:              DELTA AIR LINES, DL 134
           AIRCRAFT OWNER:           DELTA AIR LINES, DL
           EQUIPMENT:                BOEING 747-400

FLIGHT     KL 597 - KLM ROYAL DUTCH AIRLINES            SUN 20 SEPTEMBER 2015
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTURE: AMSTERDAM, NL (SCHIPHOL AIRPORT)                      20 SEP 10:00
ARRIVAL:   CAPE TOWN, ZA (CAPE TOWN INTL)                        20 SEP 21:15
           FLIGHT BOOKING REF: xxxxxx
           RESERVATION CONFIRMED, ECONOMY (R)                 DURATION: 11:15
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
           BAGGAGE ALLOWANCE:        2PC
           SEAT:                     34K CONFIRMED FOR CARROLL/ERIN PATRICIA
                                     GENE
           MEAL:                     MEAL
NON STOP   AMSTERDAM TO CAPE TOWN
           OPERATED BY:              KLM ROYAL DUTCH AIRLINES, KL
           AIRCRAFT OWNER:           KLM ROYAL DUTCH AIRLINES, KL
           EQUIPMENT:                BOEING 777-200/200ER

FLIGHT     KL 598 - KLM ROYAL DUTCH AIRLINES              SUN 11 OCTOBER 2015
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTURE: CAPE TOWN, ZA (CAPE TOWN INTL)                        11 OCT 22:55
ARRIVAL:   AMSTERDAM, NL (SCHIPHOL AIRPORT)                      12 OCT 10:30
           FLIGHT BOOKING REF: xxxxxx
           RESERVATION CONFIRMED, ECONOMY (R)                 DURATION: 11:35
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
           BAGGAGE ALLOWANCE:        2PC
           SEAT:                     41C CONFIRMED FOR CARROLL/ERIN PATRICIA
                                     GENE
           MEAL:                     MEAL
NON STOP   CAPE TOWN TO AMSTERDAM
           OPERATED BY:              KLM ROYAL DUTCH AIRLINES, KL
           AIRCRAFT OWNER:           KLM ROYAL DUTCH AIRLINES, KL
           EQUIPMENT:                BOEING 777-200/200ER

FLIGHT     KL 6120 - KLM ROYAL DUTCH AIRLINES             MON 12 OCTOBER 2015
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTURE: AMSTERDAM, NL (SCHIPHOL AIRPORT)                      12 OCT 12:55
ARRIVAL:   DETROIT, MI (METROPOLITAN WAYNE CO), TERMINAL EM -    12 OCT 15:15
           E.H. MCNAMARA TERMINAL
           FLIGHT BOOKING REF: xxxxxx
           RESERVATION CONFIRMED, ECONOMY (R)                 DURATION: 08:20
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
           BAGGAGE ALLOWANCE:        2PC
           SEAT:                     31K CONFIRMED FOR CARROLL/ERIN PATRICIA
                                     GENE
           MEAL:                     LUNCH
NON STOP   AMSTERDAM TO DETROIT, MI
           OPERATED BY:              DELTA AIR LINES, DL 137
           AIRCRAFT OWNER:           DELTA AIR LINES, DL
           EQUIPMENT:                BOEING 747-400

FLIGHT TICKET(S)

There she goes. Viewed on the live tracker: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/KLM597/history/20150920/0800Z/EHAM/FACT

UPDATE: Sunday evening. Erin arrived safe and sound. Here's the emails:

Here safe in Cape Town!! Easy travels...I slept through everything...even the meals! Felt like a short trip to me.
Today at 3:28 PM

It was perfectly clear over the Sahara. It was amazing to see with my own eyes!!!! Landing was clear too, so got a good view of the city
Today at 3:29 PM

Wow!!!! So great hearing. Have fun. Mom and Dad XOX
Today at 3:44 PM

All tucked in. Very nice little beach house. Sarah's Kiwi friends are visiting so a nice vibe here. Feels very safe, but I will still be careful.
Today at 5:07 PM

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Friday, September 18, 2015

Bitter Sweet Memories.

Today we received notice that Dash's movie has been licensed out. (Probably will be on "Funniest Videos") Dash's agent in Hollywood sent a PayPal first payment of $122.50 USD which represents 50% of the $250 fee charged for the use of his movie. I wonder what Dash would have wanted us to do with the money? Gourmet olives (his fav) and cat toys I would think.

Here's the movie. How sad that Dash may never know he "made it big" in Hollywood.

This is the caption by the agency: This kitten was looking for some fish for a snack but when he discovered the fish bowl was empty, he decided to just hang out there himself. Not so bad!

This is the company that Dash "worked for" : https://www.jukinmedia.com/
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