Chazd's (Charles Dowdell's) News Burps

I am putting the final touches on the master bathroom. This remodel included replacing the jacuzzi (sold it on Craigslist) with a fiberglass shower unit and added a bathtub. All new drywall, insulation, electric and plumbing. Interestingly, I didnt have to move the toilet. I incorporated LED lighting in the base moulding. This is the first time I installed an electric heated floor under the porceline tiles. Also included heated fog free mirror, and high-end plumbing fixtures (including a German temp sensing shower faucet).

I certainly feel I could have done better. But at least it is done.

Gracie doesnt like New Years eve much. I am not sure why.

Past destinations in the last few years on Chrismas day have been: Maui, Hawaii (we rented a plane) --- Lima Peru (Fanciest Hotel in Peru) --- Haloong Bay Vietnam (on a boat, kayak, etc) --- Panama City Panama (Trump Hotel) --- Granada, Nicaragua (the shores of Lake Nicaragua)

This year we spent Christmas in an exotic place,--Home. We have traveled mostly on Christmas day since there are good prices and we enjoy it. But we always have a quiet time whereever we are. At home this year a shot of the backyard and some Tennessee stacking boulders for a small retaining wall I am building this winter, 3788 pounds. The rock yard guy commented on the Christmas gift.

Happiness is a new heating pad of my very own.

Angie and I went to Savannah GA for her Birthday. First time staying in a Hotel since the pandemic started. There have been changes, but if you think restaurants are creepy wait until you are in a hotel. We had a great time.

At an advertised 4 hours each way. It was mostly a road trip. Atlanta folks make their trips to the coast. It's a bit like folks from SoCal going to Las Vegas. But there are several equidistant "coasts" for the lost city of Atlanta. It was a good ride and a great honor to let my brother's car speak. We had several people comment about the car at stops and thumbs-up on the highway. The Cayman S is really sweet when you decide that the folks hanging around at 80 or 90 need a bit of a show. The strokey flat-six pulls strong, smooth and quite swiftly from 100 MPH. Coming from this guy taking Asian minivans up over 120 MPH in Germany, the Cayman is a great car for the autobahn, no doubt. The mid-engine and chassis design totally decouples the drivetrain stresses away from the steering wheel, no pulls, no vibration... at speed.

It has been quiet. With the Covid thing, working from home, no travel, and Angie putting in long hours, it has been exceptionally quiet. We will do something special for Angies Birthday next week.

I have to get up to NY. I am moving some property lines on my farm. I have plans for a second house on the property.

The cats continue to be a source of amusement.

I had done a lot of work to the bobcat. Afterwards I couldnt get full power out of it. It was quite frustrating. It was a good case of sticking with it over time, not giving up. It was multiple issues. But the nasty one was that I unknowingly attached an electric fuel pump up to a ignition "resistor wire" feed designed for the original points-type ignition. The ford engine didn't use a ballast resistor. They used a stupid resistor wire, undetectable in most cases. The fuel pump wasn't getting full voltage except during start. The pump ran too slow during run fast/hard operation request. It's fixed now. And yes, I am the only one I know in my suburban Atlanta neighborhood that has a skid steer.

We are staying low but we did start to book travel for next April. Norway. Airfare prices are great.

Gracie has decided that she doesnt like we spending all day talking into the "box-screen thing".

The remnants of Hurricane Zeta hit us pretty good. This time it was wind, not rain with Delta a few weeks back. A lot of trees down; we were without power for a couple of days. I had the generator hooked up powering the entire house once I convinced myself the power wasn't coming back on for awhile. The generator did well and I think it may be the first time I truely needed the generator (in this case it kept the food frozen).

It felt good that I was prepared and we enjoyed the family time.

Here is a video I just found that shows the derailment story in Duluth from back in June. A real high energy railfan was there. This is the train I like to visit and have filmed with my drone. It's a marvel. It is wildly cool this guy caught the train as it derailed although he was about 1/2 mile away from where the cars flew from the track. The next video is the first minutes at the scene of the derailment.

It's definately fall in Georgia. We have been doing the yard word, leaves, etc. We took the boat out of the water for some repairs and upgrades.

We are definately getting restless to travel, we are starting to book flights.

The remnants of Hurricane delta spent some time with us last night. 4 inches of rain and a very high lake level. The boat is on top of the lower dock. My irrigation pump is under water.

We are enjoying Fall in Duluth GA. The leaves have just started to fall. I will be taking the boat out of teh water soon. I have some improvements to make. New batteries, better lighting, better main power distribution and more. It seems like I just put new batteries in the boat, but it was 6 or 7 years ago. They were not treated very kindly either.

Gracie has her own style of relaxing. This is not an action shot. She was lying there like this.

There was a great quote from Clement Mok --"The Music is not in the Piano". This is a very appropriate quote in the early days of Information Design. Perhaps in the age of artificial intellegnce and machine learning the corollary should be: " "The music is not in the piano, but it is definately in the synthesizer".