Monday, September 25, 2017, Coach Woodworking Project

The Corp of Engineers' Sawnee Campground on Lake Lanier near Cumming, GA, north of Atlanta was the closest campground to Alpharetta, Georgia, the town where our son, Jon, and daughter-in-law, Sara, live.

We volunteered for a few chores at their house and while I had some familiar tools available (now in Jon and Sara's garage) I tackled a project I had been thinking about for some time. The motorhome water heater access left dead space that was begging for a little modification. Instead of a simple panel, I crafted a shallow cabinet insert. This will be a great place to stow a few miscellaneous vitamin bottles and things.

I used the water heater's "minimum to surrounding woodwork" clearance as the distance to the back of the new cabinet.

Even with lots of extra measuring, it was just a bit tight requiring some trimming for the perfect fit.

I was able to use the original panel as the cabinet back and after Joani stains the new wood to match, it will look like it was always meant to be there! As before, access to the water heater still just requires the removal of four screws - easy peezy.

Monday, September 11, 2017, Hurricane Irma

The remnants of hurricane Irma blew through last night. Quite a few folks decided to leave the campground, but our site was encircled with mature oaks (no threatening tall pines) so we pulled the slides in and hunkered down. The wind was constant, but probably no more than 30-35 mph. Sam had heard the rain for so long he quit paying attention and slept through most of it. He was startled once or twice when a small branch or acorn hit the roof. We cannot imagine what it must have been like to wait it out in Florida where the winds were more than 120 mph.

This morning we headed out to assess the storm damage. It looked like someone went crazy with the pruning shears. At least one large RV seemed to have left sometime in the night. The only thing worse than waiting out the storm would have been to drive in it (at least that's what I would think).

A few medium-sized pines blew over. One came down across the road and had already been cleared for traffic. Sadly, a tree damaged the RV of one of the park volunteers, but fortunately, nobody was hurt. It will be a day or two before things dry out and the park gets back to normal, but for now, we are counting our blessings and hoping for the best for everyone caught in the path of the recent hurricanes.

Saturday, September 2, 2017, Move to Cumming, GA

We have enjoyed our two months in Lebanon helping my mom navigate a hip replacement. She did everything the doctor told her to do and has come through the surgery and physical therapy better than most, in my opinion. It was hard to say our goodbyes, but I'm sure she will be happy to be rid of the SYFY Channel and have control of the remote again.

We traveled back to an old favorite - Sawnee Campground on Lake Lanier near Cumming, GA, north of Atlanta. I was a little nervous behind the wheel after such a long break, but it all came back to me and we arrived without a hitch. We drove 249. 3 miles (83,948.3 total) in about 4.5 hours. The traffic was pretty heavy being a holiday weekend, but it kept moving.

Sawnee Campground is a beautiful Corps of Engineers park. It was full of campers getting in one last three day weekend before Fall. September in Georgia can be nearly ideal - a few clouds, mid-70's and a slight breeze. Our site was nearly perfect as well. Through the trees, we can see the sunrise over the lake directly out our windshield. Looking forward to the next four weeks here!

Tuesday, August 29, 2017, Nashville Sounds Game

My nephew, Matthew, had access to some free passes that he shared with my brother, Doug (Matthew's dad), and me. It was nearly the ideal weather for a little baseball. It was also my first opportunity to visit the First Tennessee Park, home of the Nashville Sounds. The Nashville Sounds are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Oakland Athletics.

As we stood just outside the gate, Nashville's Mayor walked by and took a moment to say "Hello". We kept all of our conservation focused on the weather and the game and avoided any political discussions. 

We had about a half hour before the first pitch, so we found some comfortable Adirondack chairs and had a "cold one" while we waited. There was so much going on that I suspect quite a few people never see any of the baseball game when they visit the park.

Our seats were about 10 rows above the Sounds dugout with an excellent view of all of the action. Even so, we spent some time making a trip around the entire field to do some people watching.

Just about anything you might want to know about the game was displayed on the big guitar behind left field. It was confusing at first but really handy once you learned where everything was listed. 

 Around 9:30 Doug and Matthew both started thinking about how early they had to get up for work in the morning, so we left after the fifth inning. The score at that time was 4 to 2 with the Storm Chasers in the lead. The next day I found out the rest of the night did not go well for the Sounds. They were defeated 9-3.

Monday, August 21, 2017, Total Solar Eclipse

The pressure was on! More than 50 residents and friends in my Mom's neighborhood showed up for the Great American Eclipse. Some of them were there because I had volunteered to set up my telescope. They also had the idea I could provide some expert commentary (such as it was).

I thought I had checked things out pretty well, but this morning I found out there were a lot of things still to be resolved. First, my telescope's power transformer apparently quit working. Then I found I couldn't focus the camera through the 2 inch diagonal (which I needed for clearance to view the sun near the zenith). I mounted the camera piggyback on the telescope and spent about 5 minutes getting the sun in the field of view. Then I realized the camera and the telescope were not aligned. It was too late to start over pointing the telescope first and then adjusting the camera, so I gave up and never got to view the sun through the 8 inch Celestron with the solar filter that took about a week to put together. I output the camera video to a TV monitor, so people were able to comfortably watch the eclipse in real time in the shade of the picnic shelter. 

Our son, Jon, drove up from Atlanta and brought my old 5 inch Celestron and the solar filer I made for it many years ago. I set it up at a little less than 40x so people were able to clearly see the sunspots as the moon crept across the solar disk. 

Joani used her old Sony camera to snap pictures of the crowd.  I gave her a piece of the solar film that I used for my telescope to attach to her new Sony to capture eclipse.

 When this is what I saw through my camera, I was so disappointed!

I had a special solar filter, but my camera's auto setting was not getting the job done.

 David was very busy controlling all of his equipment, but he took the time to put my camera in the manual setting and work his magic.  This image was a vast improvement.  It was hard for some to even find the tiny dot once the solar glasses were donned.

Everyone was fascinated by all of the tiny crescent images of the partially occulted sun created by gaps between leaves that acted like pinhole cameras.

We were thrilled that our son, Jon, (far left) and daughter-in-law, Sara, (not in the picture) and very good friend, Bob, (between Jon and David) made the trek up from Georgia to spend the day with us.

The panorama below shows a lot of the neighborhood eclipse revelers and we were so happy to be welcomed as a part of their celebration.

 We felt very fortunate to have such a forgiving day of weather.  A cloud or two appeared now and then, but when the big moment arrived, it was clear as a bell.

I saw something new after maybe 30 minutes in the direct sunlight - a high-temperature indication on the camera video output. I had no idea what I should do about it other than to try shading the camera. The camera seemed to cool off, but the indication persisted. Fortunately, there were no ugly consequences and the video continued throughout the eclipse.

 It took us all a moment to realize we should take the filters off to see the full eclipse. The street lights came on, so other than the corona we were only able to see Mercury and Venus.

 This is the moment that I panicked.  I had set the filter down out of reach and I couldn't find the power off fast enough.

 Filter back in place, it was time to welcome the warm rays. The birds started chirping again and it was time to head inside and break bread and enjoy family and friends.

Our party wound down maybe 30 minutes before the eclipse was officially complete, but it appeared everyone thoroughly enjoyed the spectacle that totality had provided. It was truly amazing! I do wish eclipses were not quite so rare and then I might be able to do a better job of recording one. Until next time I will just enjoy the fantastic memories of the Great American Eclipse of 2017.

Saturday, August 12, 2017, Tomato Art Festival

My brother, Doug, invited me to join him for a visit to the annual Nashville Tomato Art festival. He said we could have a few beers and wander between stages listening to live music. I could not pass that up!

People watching opportunities were plentiful. The image of one particular cigar smoking young woman, dressed as a tomato, was something I wish I had not seen. No, I did not take a picture - I'm still trying to forget what we saw. The woman below, on the other hand, made for a very interesting model atop the street art.

The Burps were one of many bands we listened to playing on the various stages. I can say that nothing we heard was very memorable.

Animals dressed in tomato outfits - what could be more hipster?

We were getting a bit hungry just as we noticed this very welcome food truck. I had been craving some more Nashville Hot Chicken so this could not have been more ideal! Prince's was the original and very highly regarded. The founder was reportedly a womanizer, and after one late night, his girlfriend at the time cooked him a fried chicken breakfast with hot pepper as revenge. I believe that's her picture on the back of the truck. The line was not too long, but it was still a pretty good wait while our chicken was cooked to order.

We opted for a  mix of mild and medium (we avoided the hot). Paired with a PBR it just could not have been better. The medium was delicious with some nice heat, but it was certainly not too hot. Next time I might try some of the "hot".

How does one get ready for a gig playing the violin on roller skates while dressed as a tomato?

I got a little too much sun walking around the fest - I guess the sunburn made me look a little like a tomato.

Saturday, July 15, 2017, Hattie B's Nashville Hot Chicken, Nashville, TN

I grew up in the Nashville, TN, area and do not remember ever hearing about Nashville Hot Chicken. That's why I was surprised to hear about it on some TV show while we were way out west somewhere. My brother, Doug, was pretty familiar with many of the Hot Chicken joints and agreed to introduce me to the famous cuisine. "Making grown men cry since 2012," told me we were going to get some authentic hot chicken at Hattie B's.

We arrived just after they opened and the line of customers out the door meant it was going to be about a 30-minute wait before I could sample the famous tasty treat (the line was even longer when we left). 

You had your choice of chicken heat - Mild, Hot, Damn Hot and finally, "Shut the Cluck Up". Doug cautioned me to avoid that last one, so I chose a couple Hot and a couple Damn Hot. That was some pretty impressive heat. I had a few beads of sweat break out as I was eating, but I have to say I was immediately a fan! Wow! I will be back for more and maybe even try some of that Shut the Cluck Up.