Can we get so lucky ??

[visitortime]

A sign of life? your hits count!

http://bahamian.ebloggy.com/

[visitortime]

link to artwork/graphica in photobucket for those unfamiliar with Boyz
http://s22.photobucket.com/albums/b313/BahamasEng/
click on sub albums too

[visitortime]

Little by little!!!!
check it out! http://bahamian.ebloggy.com/

[visitortime]

the wait is driving quite a few people crazy!
http://bahamian.ebloggy.com/

[visitortime]

seriously now...this is just torture!
http://bahamian.ebloggy.com/

[visitortime]

I just posted on the main forum that the Boyz have put up another image but still no commentary. Check in on it now and then and maybe we will find taht it's full steam ahead again. Like the rant the Blog was so well done. A refreshing breath of clean air! I think I may have learned more about economics /politics/ and the nature of humans than I ever could have imagined...all the while laughing like crazy. Thank you to everybody who hit their site. I'm sure that it was noticed.

[visitortime]

Well, another image was posted last night but I hesitated about mentioning it because it showed some bazoobies. I've seen some senior members of this board get in a little hot water recently for talking about bazoobies ;)

[DrRalph]

Well, another image was posted last night but I hesitated about mentioning it because it showed some bazoobies. I've seen some senior members of this board get in a little hot water recently for talking about bazoobies ;)

Well, one of our members mentioned the bazoobies of another younger female member, and person #Two was not entirely thrilled, but I think that was because it was a personal reference. General comments about bazoobies can be tastefully presented, photographs can be a little tricky. Does that make sense?:confused:

[SamFamAustin]

Yup - and guilty as charged, Ralph. Sometimes what sounds hysterical and funny just ain't. I'll probably keep learning until I'm 80 and then go demented.

As for me is was all a fake thang, since Lori and I are actually very shy people who never do public nakedness of any kind, and we hate displays of vulgarity. I mean we're downright meek!

As a matter of fact, Lori and wear extra clothes on the beach because we have very light skin and blue eyes and burn worse than toast. A good T-shirt or surfer's shirt is at least SPF 95.

My apologies again ... I'll avoid the subject in the future.
sammie

[visitortime]

I thought it was funny! In fact, I think the word "bazoobies" is really funny!! You can't say it without smiling! That's not a bad thing...

[Abacoparrott]

We'll not have you wearin' restraints here buddy.......man, that would be boooooooring......I doubt that you offended anyone except those who are offended by everything.......:D ken

[SamFamAustin]

Thanks Parrot-mon, and I hate restraints and restrictive clothing. I still got me my old belt and some rope because I lost some weight (yay) so my britches don't fall down or show too much "plumber's cleavage." :eek:

Let's sing along with the Rolling Stones, 'Shattered', 1978:

Shattered, shattered
Love and hope and sex and dreams
Are still surviving on the street
Look at me, Im in tatters!
Im shattered
Hey, bazooby, shattered shattered
... Shattered
Hey, bazooby, shattered shattered ...
/sammie

[Patti Puzo]

Don't ever change Sammie, you keep us all in stitches.... and that is a good thing!

[SamFamAustin]

Had a dream last night I was on an Abaco ferry and for some reason I was helping the captain and entertaining the passengers, like singing semi-dirty sailor shanties such as Sally Brown. I woke up in a tremedous thunderstorm just as we hit the dock, me singing out loud. You know dreams, hardly ever make sense, but it was a beautiful vision. My wife laughed a good one on that. "Sally Brown ... keep on dreaming teenage kid!" :eek:

Bummer, had an offshore trip scheduled at 6:30 a.m. to go out 80 miles but it was cancelled because of the weather. Nobody called, since it was obvious nobody could get out in all that heavy weather.

So it's still a steady half-rain or drizzle and we're headed over to our favorite beach cabana for a bite and a bitters. Folks asked on time what to do on a rainy day and sometimes those bars can be nearly empty and a ton of fun. Turn off the TV and canned music - I just want to watch the wild waves, bands of rain, and go home later for a power nap. Sounds good to me.
sammie

[Rock Steady]

Amen...that's why they call it a "lay day", me thinks...

[Rock Steady]

...was think'in about building a boathouse...more roof...more water...bazoobies may be the appropriate name...

rs

[SamFamAustin]

Dad over on Dickies is making plans for a boat house too! He wants to build a small boats like Willy and when you're done it can become a nice shady spot to relax. I sent him some redneck plans for how they raise boats on pulleys using a small electric motor with the right gear ratio and amps. Basically a long pipe down the cieling has 4 small winch mountings and you wind the wire one way on the right and the other on the left - works perfect when balanced for line stretch. Nice to have the boat up and dry sometimes ... he's working on the perty part.
-sammie

[Rock Steady]

Sam,

Those are plans I'd love to see...got a 23' center console and as you know they all need work...and having it up and off the trailer would be a real good thing...do the bottom paint right, electronics, outboard and prop maintenance...

[SamFamAustin]

RS,

I'm a horrible draftsman and maybe somebody could help in that department like Willy. You know the length and the only other input you really need is beam width. That's because there is a line and pulley that extends from cieling down to cradle or slings that raise and lower the boat - rubbing the topsides is not good and wire cable can act just like a saw on fiberglass. :eek:

My friend and I walked down to the old boat shed one day - a floating dock but a stationary one will do - and we had along a welder friend who immediately said "that is so easy!" He measures the maximum boat width and the width of the hole in between the side of the pontoons and says "show me your trailer." This fellow would fit right in the Abacos I tell ya.

So he measures the skid boards (that the boat rests) on the trailer and how long and spaced apart those are and writes it in a pocket notebook. "Gotta be two by six or eights clear, no knots, treated, painted, and carpetted ... let's go get a cold one." Obviously, we were Team Board and the welder was doing the rest.

Two weekends later the welder shows up just as Team Board is putting the last of our marine screws into the carpet on the runner boards. "You kids, didn't I tell you to knock an ear off that one end and smooth it over?" You know them gruff welders. We fixed that and got the job of carrying all his gear down to the dock, including a big ammo box full of tackle.

We also lugged to long two by twelves to span the boat slot and he placed a box metal beam in the middle of each walk-board. He had already welded and pre-drilled L-tabs to attach the fruits of Team Board. On each end of the box beam he also had pre-drilled some holes for the winch cable stuff. After positioning everything just so, he pointed and declared "beer time for me, work time for you!"

After laughing hillariously and describing us as "two monkeys friggin' a football" we got the cradle built with lots of marine bolts, eye bolts, washers, nuts, and pulleys we decided to take a breather and come back the next day for rigging the wire and electric motor with its wiring. "And get your boat ready right here next to the dock, by the way."

Newly-appointed Team Monkey showed up the next day as the welder already had two rolls of wire cable on the dock, in deep thought. After telling us to be careful for the sharp wire, how it uncoils, and to ask me to please stop falling into the water, he goes to work in a blaze of action. He did know his stuff. After scolding Team Monkey for a bad electric wiring job he slightly raised the cradle so as to balance it perfectly. It had to be plumb is all respects, which of course meant no respect for us! I think he was kidding but it soon because evident we were Team Deadweight. Yup, we had to stand on the cradle, get off, and lift like some crazy ballet dance as he balanced the rigging.

The tag end was double-fastened using cable stops at the cieling. Pulleys were on each cradle end. At the working end, wraps were make around a 2.5-inch pipe travelling the center of the boat shed and then fastened with a large circle clamp. It was ingenious, as the pipe turned one way, more wraps went on the hoist pipe. After barking orders to remove the walkboards he lowered it to see if he had enough wraps on the pipe to extend down near to the bottom of the water with at least six wraps left. I don't have a clue how he knew that but there were exactly six when he lowered the cradle, well maybe five on one. Amazing.

"Now drive the boat up and let's give 'er a whirl."

Done as instructed, Team Deadweight was still in the boat as the welder pushes the "up" switch. With a devilish look in his eye, the cables creaked and moaned as about a ton of boat pulled the slack out of every fitting. We were a little scared I tell ya. Fortunately, he didn't leave us hanging there in mid-air. Down we went. Up we went again, this time with hardly any creaking and fussing although there was some noise. The welder thanked us for doing our jobs so well just sitting there. The crazy nut!

It was perfect. It was beer time.
-sammie

[visitortime]

Images are still trickling in....http://bahamian.ebloggy.com/

[visitortime]

Well, it looks as though San Salvador and Rum Cay, Cat Island AND Abaco are all under the gun from another scam artist. This is the type of communication that SGCR recieves on a daily basis. ( The link on the blog page to buyer beware) SGCR has grown by leaps and bounds since it's beginning over 3 and 1/2 years ago. From SGCR came Save The Bahamas. Awareness is the key to making a positive change. http://bahamian.ebloggy.com/ or try http://www.resortbuyerbeware.com/

[SamFamAustin]

Visitor Time I am glad you have the big picture because while Guana is perhaps "the canary in the mine" seaside development is going to happen. I forget the statistics but something like half the population lives within 50 miles of a coastline.

It should get interesting because as more coastal land is developed, more wetlands and seashore is tore up, exacerbating pollution of both direct sources (e.g., waste water treatment outfalls) and indirect sources (e.g., lawn care products). Take that into consideration with Global warming, erosion, sea level rise, subsidence, reef bleaching, invasive species, and so forth and we have a recipe for the "Perfect Storm." Did I mention erosion?

Yeah, hurricanes, nature's giant equalizer.

What is incredible is areas like Perdido Key and Destin, Florida, which was about wiped off the map not by one but two super-hurricanes. Guess what, the condos and beach homes are back! And now the beach houses are McMansions and the condos are half-million dollar per unit wonders. Business is booming. More money to be made than ever, in spite of all the insurance issues. Go figure.

About all one can do is try to conserve some land in perpetuity and pick the fights on large, regionally significant projects.

-sam

[Patti Puzo]

Not quite on the same lines, but this was just in our local paper:


[I]A few years ago, the United States Geological Survey informed Rocky Mountain National Park that Longs Peak

[SamFamAustin]

Perhaps the key is "determination of sea level" is what changed by 4 feet, since sea level or mountain elevation changes are usually measured in centimeters, about a half inch over very long periods of time.

It's quite complicated, since you have to reference to mean high water at a certified national tidal gauge like maybe on the Pacific side. This height is recorded and the calibrated for average mean sea level pressure. After playing hooey with some standard conditions such as temperature, barometric altimeters are set so that this pressure is:

1013 millibars
760 millimeters of mercury
29.92 inches of mercury

OK, now get in a plane or helicopter and hook 'em to Longs Peak. This instrument will measure a much lower pressure because of less weight of the atmosphere. Using some more mathematical hooey, these instruments output height above sea level in meters or feet. That's how the aviation pilots do it, although often they set the reference to their airport tarmac, not right at sea level. First rule of aviation: remember to poof your altimeter! :D

OK, that science works OK but is not accurate sometimes as compared to scanning satellite altimeters, which interestingly must be calibrated for interference from the ionosphere (this is not in the refrigerator at 3 in the morning, Doc). These scanning satellites can be used to very precisely measure mountain altitudes such as Longs Peak.

They also are used for predicting hurricanes and finding fish! I've attached a shot shat shows the Gulf and Bahamas region that shows differences in sea level height in meters. These sea heights are influenced by loop currents, pressure, and gravitation forces. Cool stuff.

[Patti Puzo]

My head hurts Sammie..... whew

[visitortime]

Ok, I can't resist...since you brought up mountains....there is a large environmental controversy surrounding the damage done when mountaintops are removed or cleared for mining and also for development. Suprisingly enough some of the environmental concerns are very similar to concerns islanders face with development. Sediment run-off, chemical usage, contamination of streams and creaks, water clarity/quality issues, altering the pattern of water flow, culutural implications,traditional fishing grounds, exploitation without proper stewardship of natural resources, wastewater treatment,etc etc. Mining companies do it because it makes it easier and cheaper for them to get what they are mining for,bottom line is profit. Developers do it because it is a relatively cheap initial investment that can generate huge returns. Bottom line again is profit. One of Mike Meldman's properties is located in Cashier's, North Carolina. Can you guess the name? Here's a hint, see if you can you fill in the rest:
M _ _ N T A I _ T _ P