Low tide

The tides have been sizable lately, and junk has washed in and out. Just past sunset I caught this video of Koofis Isl. high and dry, with clear access to the mainland. The rocks beyond were well clear of the water, with just a small channel to ford between Koofis and the rocks. I didn't see the Paceship rudder, but some other jetsam was visible. In the video you can also see the channel that the Whaler uses at low tide... now totally dry. Someday perhaps we should remove those rocks to the right and dredge a bit, but it has been OK for the last 40 years, so why worry? May all your tides be full.

Spring is here!

And I am Marie of Romania! OK, so it's just the January thaw. But none the less welcome for that. Ice and snow are melting. The sun is out. Etc.
However, my thoughts bend toward that defunct Exxon station on the right. In just a couple of weeks we will be enjoying the best fried chicken in Florida in the ambiance of the Georgia bulldog. (You have to see it to believe.)
Meanwhile, we are monitoring the radon in the basement and burning lots of wood. We didn't add to our piles this summer, but there is still plenty for another year, and quite a few trees to fell come spring. Did you hear that? Come, spring!

More web kudos

We have had our Rinnai heater for over ten years and it has served us very well. However, the temperature sensor always produced temperature readings that were 8-12 degrees lower than the actual temperature in the room. Therefore I was using a "snuffleupagus" made of a dryer vent pipe to conduct air from the front of the heater to the thermistor, which was mounted at the rear, near the floor. That would fool the sensor and would cut off the heat, but it did so inefficiently and one of our residents objected to the pipe on the floor.
Although it took me many years, I finally remembered that problems are not unique, and very likely someone would have faced and solved the problem of inaccurate temperature readings in the Rinnai. Indeed. It did not take long to find a solution on the web. I took the thing apart, cleared out the cobwebs, unrolled the thermistor wire, unmounted the thermistor, and placed it higher and outside the heater, away from wall and floor. Now it reads perfectly and the heat is perfectly regulated. Duh. Don't forget the Internet, folks.

Woof woof

If you are not a nerd, stop reading right now. 
Frustrated by the incredible slowness of Windows XP (a problem which is now solved, and if it is your problem, let me know and I will help you), I decided to try a Linux distribution on my old Toshiba laptop. We have rescued two of Emily's laptops with Ubuntu, and I thought it would be a good idea to try again. However, I did not wish to lose XP, as I have several useful programs on the machine, and I have used it for tax returns that I need to carry forward. So a "dual boot" was required. I found Puppy Linux, which is small, and boots fast from a CD, and is lightning fast. The old Celeron is happy as a hog in excrement. And so am I.

Smoke and mirrors

Sea smoke and ten degrees this morning, a little warmer than yesterday. Much as I hate the cold, I admit that dawn on the Kennebec is gorgeous just about every day in the winter.
But the real cheering news comes from our friends at the useless survey bureau. And what wonderful information we received: it's OK, maybe even good, to be a little fat. See here! What's good about this? Well, butter, for one. I'm sure we can think of many others. But for me, the best thing is the lifting of the constant feeling of guilt that I have carried around each day that I do not film the fat ladies riding around in electric carts at Walmart. Bye bye to that project. And I'll just bet this news makes Andy Reid's day. Order up another chicken fried steak, Big Red.

Brrrrrrr

Although the TV and computer said the Bath temperature was minus 2 this morning, here on our tropical isle it was 6 degrees, balmy, right? I do not know if the last three Januarys have been this cold, but I do know that it was really great to be where the sun shone, and the sand was warm. This year we are going South again, but not for a few weeks. Big mistake, one that will not be repeated. The good part of it is that we are able to burn up some of our wood piles. The bad part is everything else.
The Roman god Janus was two-faced, looking ahead and behind. Generally it was thought that he would turn from the past to the future. Janus would be lost in Maine. Looking ahead, all we can see is cold and colder. Geez, just look at the fools at the right. It ain't much warmer in Pennsylvania. Incidentally, Phil comes out to play on February 2 this year. By which time we will have the sand between our warm toes.

Happy New Year

What better way to close out 2012 than with our traditional lunch at Cook's in Bailey Island? It was a beautiful drive, but the most beautiful sight was to your left. Now THAT is the way to make a fish sandwich -- with the whole fish!
We hosted Jonas and Owen for our big New Year's Eve party. It was sparklers at 6:30 and early to bed.
But what a gift the day brought: Andy Reid is gone at last! How arrogant the man is. Most fired coaches are happy to catch on as coordinators elsewhere, but not our walrus. Apparently for months he has been building a shadow staff for his next head coaching job. Good luck to his next stop. And Happy New Year, too.