Steamed...

The storm system that is messing with a good portion of the middle of the country kinda made its way to the Tropical Tip.  Seven hours north of us, in Austin, they've had flooding... we had a bit of rain, a lot of wind, and humidity... the kind of humidity that fogs up your glasses when you step outside.

It was a good day to enjoy the air conditioned comfort of... indoors.  By mid-afternoon, I was beginning to feel a bit of cabin fever.  I went down to our mailboxes, anticipating the "pink card" that you get to take to the Post Office and wait in line again, to pick up a package.  Anything to get out of the house.

Spend a few minutes in that humidity, and the air conditioning beckons.  Back home, I tried to coax Izzy out onto the deck... she poked her nose out the door and said, "Huh-uh."  Smart cat.

She kept me company while I surfed...

Computer and internet, not in the waves.  The weather weasels were calling for 6 to 8 foot waves.

One of us (not me, not Izzy) was productive: sewing, cooking, baking.  Whew!

Tomorrow, the "cold front" moves in; instead of 90º, rain, winds gusting above 25, and 80% humidity, it's supposed to be low 80s, lower humidity, no rain, and wind 10 mph or less.  I'm thinking some scooter time!

Boo!

Earlier this month, I made a post about the Halloween decorations in Port Isabel.  There is a 4 to 5 block stretch along Highway 100 with a beautiful, wide, landscaped median between the east and west bound lanes.  It is the main road through town.

These decorations make me smile every time I drive by them.  Knowing that they will come down soon, while out on the scooter today, I stopped to take some photos...

Joan's favorite display - the baseball game...

Batter up...

And the crowd in the bleachers...

All kinds of skeletons, witches, spooks, goblins, bats, black cats; some home-made...

Some store bought...

Lots of skeletons!  On bikes...

That last one above had a female skeleton on the bike originally... whether the strong winds took her down or someone took her home, she was replaced by the Frankenstein head.

Skeletons coming out of the ground...

In a wagon in front of the cemetary...

A witch and a cat on a zip line...

A spider web in the air...

A HUGE spider on the lighthouse...

A bride and groom...

Some other spooks...

And, a little tribute to the city workers who put this all together...

Happy Halloween!

So, watcha doin'?

No, I haven't made a post in a couple days.  Some have questioned me about that.  Yeah, we're all fine.  It's been hot, humid, and windy.  We've just been livin' and enjoying our down time.  Out and about on the scoots; lunch out; guitar time; cooking; Izzy time.  You've heard the phrase, "Nothing to write home about"... well, we're home.

Orcas on South Padre Island!

Really?  Yes, really.  In fact, they've been here a while... since March, 1994.

That is a "Wyland Whaling Wall" - painted by the artist, Wyland.  If you've ever been to Hawaii, you may have seen a Wyland gallery... beautiful work.  Wyland painted 100 of these walls, depicting all types of whales and marine mammals; starting in 1981, and the last one was dedicated in June of 2008.

This will give you some idea of the size...

That is yours truly standing in front of the wall.  This particular wall is on the side of the South Padre Island Convention Center.

There is a lot more to see around the Convention Center.  Many people have been to concerts or other events here, and have never seen the grounds.  Behind the Convention Center...

Follow the walkway back to the water...

It overlooks the Laguna Madre...

The water is shallow here.  The people you see on that little island waded out to it.  Just north of here is The Flats, an area popular with wind surfers and kite surfers.

Back to the walk.  There are memorials in front of trees - you can dedicate a particular tree to a loved one...

The sidewalk leads to a Nature Walk on a walkway over the marshy area...

You will see all kinds of birds (The World Birding Center is right next door), turtles, and an occasional alligator.

Back down the walk way, on the south side of the Convention Center you will see the continuation of the Wyland Whaling Wall (another view many people miss)...

Back to the scoots and more cruising around...

On being retired...

I have mentioned before that my favorite part about being retired is: no schedule.  Unless, of course, you put yourself on a schedule; which we seem to do regularly.

Today, I talked Joan into some kayaking.  When we went to clean up first... no hot water.  We have a tankless water heater - it works great, but like many things, it needs to be fixed once in a while.  Ours seems to go through a temperature sensor every couple years.  Not a big deal: determine which of the 4 sensors it is, turn off the power to the unit, drain the lines, replace the sensor, and you're back in hot water.

When I removed the sensor, a bit of plastic came out with it... yeah, that can't be good.  I called the company; their tech support is in the good ol' US and they have always been helpful.  "Well, you can replace the housing, or you can replace the whole unit.  Replacing the whole unit will be way less work."

I looked at all the wires, connections, printed circuit board, more wires, and plumbing that would have to be removed and transferred to the new housing.  She was right.  I ordered a new unit.  Knowing they are in Texas (Houston), I asked about overnight delivery on a Saturday.  She said, "We have a warehouse in Weslaco (in the Rio Grande Valley), so I'm sure we can arrange that.

"Weslaco?  We can drive to that in an hour and a half.  Can I pick it up?"

"Sure..."  She gave me the address.  No hot water to clean up, but we brushed our teeth and hit the road.  We got to the warehouse shortly after noon, and found a sign on the door stating that they are closed between 12:00 and 1:00 for lunch.  I tried the door, anyway... it opened, and there was a young man at the desk.  Yes, he had the unit ready for us.  Great, no waiting around.

We rushed back to the house.  This will take some wiring (that I am comfortable with) and connecting to the pipes... and then I discovered that the old unit doesn't just unscrew from the plumbing - it is PVC, and it is glued.  I did not want to cut the plumbing (images of water pouring out all over the floor), so I went by our builder's place (I know where he is working on another home right now).  Of course, he wasn't there.  But, his Mother was, and she needed him to get back to deal with a subcontractor problem (and there's always a subcontractor problem)... he is taking a day off, and is off shore shark-fishing with a friend from out of the country.  His Mother gets first dibs on him when he gets back, then she will send him to our place.

Yep, I'm on a schedule again.  Well, I'm on someone else's schedule again.

-------------------------------

Just before 3:00, there was a knock at the door!  "He's here!"  He was... the UPS driver.  A half hour later, Pete (our builder) showed up.  He said, "Here's how those water intake and exit tubes rotate - you don't have to cut anything.  These are a real pain to wire up.  Do you want me to do that?"

"No, I know this is supposed to be a day off for you; now that I can see how to plumb it without taking the lines apart, I'm sure I can handle the wiring."

He said, "Good.  I was really hoping you'd say that.  Call me if  you have a problem."  I could tell he was hoping I wouldn't call.  That seems to be a theme... after talking with the nice young lady at the manufacturer, she said, "Let me give you my cell number, just in case you have a problem with it tonight or over the weekend."

VERY nice of her.  Maybe she was just trying to get me to call?  Probably not.  Kidding aside, how often do you have a tech support person give you their private cell number so you can call after hours??  THAT is some fine customer service.

Turns out that the plumbing was the easy part.  The wiring was thick and stiff as a piece of rebar.  With Joan's help and a great deal of swearing, I got the unit off the wall and the wiring disassembled...

Pulling apart wires and swearing...

The unit fits into a "dead" cabinet space; just enough wire to get it almost out of that cabinet.  This thing takes 4 circuit breakers for the power - it uses a lot of juice, but it gives us endless hot water... really nice for the jacuzzi tub.  (And I am really going to need that tonight!)  Not enough extra wiring to work standing up, and these old bones are not happy about being twisted up for any length of time.

On the bright side, I have plenty of color in my cheeks.  Joan pulled out a trouble light to be able to see in that small area... it gave off heat - was bright and hot enough to burn the hair off my eyebrows!  It felt like working while in a tanning booth.

A short 3 sweaty hours later, the new unit was wired up, plumbed, and hung on the wall.  Two big things to do: run water through it...

Quadruple check that nothing is leaking.  The instructions say to let the water run for 20 minutes or so before the next big check: turning on the power.  I went outside and turned on the water while listening for Joan who was inside, watching.  She said, "What should I say?"

"How about screaming, 'Oh my God, turn off the water!!!  Turn it off NOW!!!  Help me!! Help me!!'  Of course, that is only if it is leaking, or gushing.  If it isn't, you can say, 'Jim, you are amazing!'  Well, you might want to wait until we can turn the breakers back on."

After 20 minutes, Joan clicked on the breakers while I watched for sparks... um, the LED signal lights on the unit, telling us it is working.  Everything checked out.  Time to turn on the faucet and... hot water!

Oh, thank goodness.  I don't have it in me to take that thing apart again.  I've poked and pinched all my guitar-playing fingers, and I can't straighten my legs.  Damn, I need to soak in the hot tub!

:-)

Beach baby, beach baby, there on the sand...

Give yourself 1,000 bonus points if you said, "Gil Shakespeare and John Carter."  They did that song in 1974.  No bonus points for David Hasselhoff, who did a cover of that song.

Yesterday was a "Chamber of Commerce Day"... today was even more beautiful.  Sunny with a few puffy white clouds, high in the mid-80s, less wind than yesterday.  We took the scooters over the causeway, and up to Clayton's for some beach walking...

While having lunch and looking out on the water Joan said, "If there was some Hawaiian music playing, this could be Hawaii... if there was some Jamaican music playing, this could be the Caribbean... some Mexican music playing, it could be Cancun."

Yes, this is my favorite time in the Tropical Tip.

OK, so I was wrong...

On Monday, we were at the jetties area on the southern tip of South Padre Island...

We could see some dolphins playing, but they were too far out to get a photo...

A while back, I had said that we probably wouldn't have any dolphin photos from the water to share this winter.  I may have even said, "Fricky-dickie dolphins," for my buddy, Pat.  That's the way it is since we left our boat in the PNW.

Today was one of those "Chamber of Commerce Days" that are such a delight: it was 68º when I got up this morning!  Lots of blue sky, low humidity, some breeze.  It was nice to have the door and windows open.  Yeah, this would be ideal for some kayaking.

Joan was going on a grocery run, so I shoved off solo.  Down our canal...

I pedaled two canals over and turned north down another canal leading to the ICW.  The breeze was in my face, keeping it comfortably cool.  Across the ICW, this boat (that I've posted photos of before)...

Arrrrrrgh, ya scurvy dogs - that be a pirate ship!  It has been windy the past few days; you might notice that the pirate ship has a bit of windage.  (understatement)  When the wind is blowing, this boat and a few other excursion boats that are exposed to a north wind at their own docks come over here.  I find humor in the proximity of this boat and...

That building surrounded by chain-link fence just in front of the pirate ship is the local office for the Department of Homeland Security.  OK, so maybe I'm the only one that thinks this is funny?

I pedaled my way past the pirate ship and DHS, making a turn into the channel to the old shrimp basin, when...

Dolphins swimming around my kayak!  The downside of the GoPro is the wide angle... that dorsal fin you see in front of my kayak was less than 10 feet away!  Nice to see my dolphin friends.

I sat for a while, enjoying dolphins.  And, remembered this sign that we saw when we were at the jetties the other day...

If you can't read the fine print at the bottom of the sign, is says, "Please observe wild dolphins from a recommended distance of 50 yards.  Marine mammals are wild animals and can be dangerous."  You have to watch out for those attack dolphins!  The dolphins here are very curious and playful - they often come right up to your boat.  And, your kayak!  ;-)  They're not going to be very happy about that 50 yard recommendation.

When the dolphins moved on, I pedaled down that channel...

This boat has been here quite a while.  I think the owner of this place gets boats on salvage, then (when he gets around to it) fixes them up.  Other "projects" that have been sitting a long time...

Some shrimpers...

A guy on the back of FP Tower waved as I went by; "Hey, that looks like fun!  Where's your paddle?"

"Don't need it - this is like taking a walk, only better 'cause it's on the water!"

This guy pulling out...

Those steel-hulled trawlers look even bigger when you're sitting low on the water.

These guys were fishing in a back channel...

I watched as they went by me.  "Fishing" doesn't actually describe it: the guy standing cast his line towards those pilings.  It stuck right into the top of the piling.  He was attempting to climb up that piling from the boat when I took this photo.  No idea if he ever made it up there... without huge slivers... or those ratty old pilings collapsing.

On the way back up that same channel...

That house is one of two that has been built in that area... a great premise for a deep water channel (deep water around here means about 8') in a planned upscale housing development... planned before the economy tanked.  Those docks in front of that house are nice.  Look close - those dark spots all along the dock are seagulls.  There are a few boats on the docks on the other side, but the docks are mostly home to the gulls... you might be about ankle-deep in bird poop if you step onto those docks!

Up the channel, across the ICW, and into the canals on our island.  A very pleasant outing.