We’ve had great weather, with mild temperatures and occasional rain. Spring certainly is an enjoyable season.

We had a lot happen this week. We started last Sunday with a comedian/illusionist with  wine and desert. The entertainment was delightful. Some comedians have a sense of humor based on an edge of meanness. This person was not like that at all. Everybody who came had a great time.

Thursday our hot water heater failed. I was shaving and realized I needed more cold water than normal. I measured our hot water temperature. Instead of 120, it was 155. I used the web and the serial number to determine the water heater was 15 years old — it’s time for a new one. By the time I called the plumber, it was 4:45. They had a new one installed within 24 hours, which I thought was pretty amazing. We had to step down in capacity from 80  to 55 gallons. 80 gallon conventional electric water heaters are illegal in the US because they use too much energy. Plus, so much insulation is added that a new 55 gallon heater is just about the same size as an old 80 gallon heater. Did you notice a weird placement of the word “conventional” above? It turns out one can still by an 80 gallon hybrid heater. This has a heat pump to help heat the water. It uses much less energy, but the added cost and complexity only begin to describe the disadvantage of a hybrid unit. Plumbers fix water heaters, but they don’t know much about heat pumps. As a result, repairs are often trial-and-error affairs. The plumber told me he once had to make 4 visits before a hybrid unit was fixed.

I had the plumber add a “tank extender valve”. Plumbers are not permitted to set the water temperature above 120. The temperature setting is behind tamper-evident doors these days. A tank extender mixes cold water with the hot. The tank temperature can be set to 140, with the valve reducing the temperature to 120, with the net result of getting an extra 10 gallons in virtual capacity. After the plumber left, I turned the valve to increase the temperature as high as I could. I wanted 140, but ended up with only 135. I keep on thinking of the days of yore, when we were told that using a dishwasher meant the hot water should be 140 for health reasons. It’s easy enough to mix cold with the hot at the faucet.

Danita and I had scheduled a lecture at UMBC Thursday. I had to wait for the plumber, so Danita attended for both of us. According to the lecturer, the Chesapeake bay water level will raise 3 1/2 feet by 2080. It will be impossible to protect the popular islands (Smith’s, St. Michael’s ,etc.) Huge swaths of Dorchester County will be under water. It was a sobering talk.

Thursday evening, another resident and I gave a cybersecurity presentation. We had good attendance. Many people told me we did a good job. A few people told me they adopted one or more of the security measures we recommended.

We had an enjoyable neighborhood party Friday. We closed the week out by serving at a parish lasagna dinner yesterday evening.

I hope this finds everybody doing well.

We had quite a week. Tuesday I saw my dermatologist. Wednesday Danita took Bud to see the cardiologist. Thursday Danita planned to eat breakfast with Margo, one of the women she worked with at UMBC. Those plans got changed when Bud called at 4:20 AM, confused and disoriented. Danita spent the morning with Bud, taking him to the Urgent Care. After a morning of tests, they decided there was nothing wrong. Meanwhile, I was calling Margo to cancel the breakfast.

Our street had a brunch at Bob Evans yesterday. I was talking with our neighbor. Carmel was going to go, her husband Jeff was staying home. I twice offered to give Carmel a ride. She twice said she would drive herself. Imagine my surprise when I was standing inside Bob Evans and received a call from Carmel asking where I was! Obviously her recollection of our conversation was different than mine. I was quite embarrassed. But it was all OK. Everybody had a great time at the brunch.

Danita found a new bakery/deli in our area. Of course we had to try it out. We went there for Sunday breakfast this morning. Their food is very good, with generous size servings. We were commenting on how unusual it is to see chocolate covered baklava. The owner overheard us and brought us two, gratis. It was as unusual as it sounds. But the chocolate croissant, elephant ear, and quiche was all quite good. They have very good looking cakes. Many of the cakes come in a standard size or an “individual” size. The individual size looks big enough to satisfy us both. I’m thinking we might find an excuse to pick up a desert before long.

We’re having a neighborhood party this evening. We’re going to see a magician/comedian. I think it sounds like a natural combination of talents. We don’t know how good this guy is going to be, but I’m sure we’ll enjoy the wine and deserts.

I hope this finds everybody doing well.

We had quite a nice week. The weather was great, with sunny skies temperatures warming to near 70 near the end of the week. Our dinner out was Gyro sandwiches at Tino’s. This Italian restaurant has Greek Gyros that are as good as any I have ever had. We went to Stations at St. Louis Friday and enjoyed their most excellent grilled cheese sandwiches. (Simple minds are easily entertained!) We went to a Sunday afternoon musical at Spotlighter’s Theater downtown. We used to go to Spotlighter’s frequently when we were young. We haven’t been for many years. I forgot how intimate the theater is. It’s a theater in the round. They have a small stage with two rows of seats on all 4 sides. One corner has room for a 5 piece band, if they are very friendly. There is no way to go to this theater and not be involved in the play.

To celebrate our anniversary yesterday, we use the second half of Mom’s gift card at Longhorn. Thanks, Mom!

After 3 days of rain, cool temperatures, and high winds, the weather turned perfect today — 50 degrees and sunny with light winds. I completed my first long ride (over 40 miles). The really great thing about “out and back” rides, is the motivation to complete the second half of the ride is very high. I’m tired, but good. There will be no riding tomorrow for sure.

Danita enjoyed reading the book “Pope Joan” by Donna Woolfolk Cross. The story is based on folk lore about a woman dressing as a man who becomes pope for a couple of years back in the late 800s. Apparently one can make an argument that Pope Joan was real, but this story is all fiction. Danita enjoyed it. I agree it’s a good story and well written, but there are too many implausible coincidences. I think the story would be better if it were a little more plausible. The book is supposed to represent life in the darkest of the dark ages. If the depiction is any where near accurate, it’s very good that we are living in the 21st century.

This was a mostly quiet week. Things will start picking up again soon.

We didn’t have anything planned because we thought we were going to be touring Texas. I got a cold the day we got back from our travels. It’s still hanging on. My biking skills are greatly diminished. I’m continuously walking around with sore legs, trying to work my way back.

There was a neighborhood St. Patrick’s Day party last weekend. We didn’t go because we thought $25 each was too expensive. Last Friday was Lenten grilled cheese and soup dinner at St. Louis Church, followed by Stations. I think they have really great grilled cheese and darn good soup. Speaking of darn good food, Danita made Cincinnati Chili which we haven’t had for quite a long time. She was hoping to eat the leftovers for her lunches, but I talked her into serving the leftovers for another dinner. It was pretty darn good, if you ask me.

I hope this finds everybody doing well.

We spent two days with the Reeds. We took B & E out to play mini-golf. We took them to the latest Avenger movie, “Captain Marvel”. And we took them to a Harry Potter Science day. We split the ride home with an overnight stay in Burlington, NC. The trip home was uneventful.

We’ve been practicing our fun-having, and doing a pretty good job of it. Yesterday we visited the Kennedy Space Center. There’s a lot of fluff, but also a lot of really great stuff, including: The Space Shuttle Atlantis inside a really big building, a Saturn 5 Rocket on it’s side inside an way bigger building, Control Rooms for Mercury (which had only 12 people!) and Apollo, the launch site for Space-X and the upcoming ILS, and the Vehicle Assembly Building (which was the largest building in the world by volume). All of this was pretty amazing, but what caught my fancy was this picture I took from the Banana River. I’ve never had a day this bad (and I hope I never do).

Yesterday we moved ourselves 4 hours up the road to Savannah, which took us most of the day. Today we visited the Prohibition Museum, which was more fun than anybody should be allowed to have. It was entertaining. It was outrageous. It was surprising. (At one point, two pictures on the wall “came alive” and the two people argued their position about prohibition.) It was a delightful mix of entertainment and education.

We decided to move on to Old Fort Jackson on the Savannah River. Fort Jackson was fun, but we also had a delightful surprise along the way. We were driving through Savannah when we noticed that it was lunch time and it would be good to find something to eat. By this time, we were in the middle of an industrial neighborhood. The probability of finding anything to eat was grim. I pulled off the road, went around the corner, and there was a great cafe-bakery. We had a wonderful lunch and a wicked desert.

Our plan for tomorrow is to drive to Jul’s. The way we stop along the way it will undoubtedly take all day. We’re thinking of visiting a nature preserve. The weather forecast is great. The boots are in the trunk.

We had a one-week cruise in the Caribbean with Mom. The main attraction was the cruise itself. Plenty of good food, terrific service, amazing entertainment, wonderful weather. (It only rained at night!) Danita and I took a special tour package in St. Thomas. We went to Coral World, where we donned big heavy metal helmets with huge glass portals in the front. Then we climbed down a ladder until we were 15 or 20 feet underwater, and walked around. The fish were plentiful and totally amazing. This was a special treat for Danita. She can’t snorkel because she needs her glasses to see anything. These helmets were so big it was easy to wear glasses under the helmet. The helmets were hooked up to an air compressor. The compressed air kept the water out of the helmet. We had a blast.

We dropped Mom at her house and drove up the road to Cape Canaveral, where we have a hotel room for tonight and tomorrow night. We plan to see the Kennedy Space Center tomorrow. After that, we don’t know what we will do. We decided to cancel the Texas Tour. We don’t have any plans at all. It should be fun.

We’ve been home for too long. It’s time for a trip. Thursday, we’re taking the car train to Florida. We’ll be with Mom for a few days. We’ll start a cruise on Sunday, returning the following Sunday. For that week, my phone and Email will be available only occasionally. If you want to get hold of us, the best way is to send me an Email. Or you can call me at 410-417-8854. I’ll get your voice mail message in a few days. If it’s urgent, here’s the emergency numbers:

Holland America Nieuw Amsterdam, Cabin 4069;  Cruise 2/24 – 3/3

Holland America has dedicated Emergency phone numbers staffed 24/7

800-628-4771

800-426-0327  5:00 AM – 7:00 PM; M-F;  7:00AM – 3:30 PM  (Pacific Time)

888-361-8803

206-286-3294

206-301-5393

Additionally, you can call the ship directly from the shore. Recommend that you use this for the most critical emergencies only.  Connecting to a Holland America Line vessel at sea is simple by using Ship Dial. Service.  A credit card is required for all inbound phone calls to a ship. The rate is US$16.00 per minute and billing begins at the time specified. Please have the ship’sname, your party’s name and stateroom number before you call.

Instructions:

1. Dial 1-800-993-5483 (US).
2. Listen to the announcement.
3. Listen to the menu and select the number that corresponds to the ship you are calling.
4. If you receive a busy signal or message, please hang up quickly and try your call again.

Our clubhouse has a large room used for a lot of different activities such as parties, exercise classes, and Monday Morning Men’s Club. Those of us who participate in Men’s club dedicate ourselves to the major issues of the day. The main requirement is that each member must be willing to bring bagels when it’s his turn. Since the room is used for many purposes, furniture is rearranged several times a day. Scooching furniture around marks up the bamboo floor. Some people wanted to refinish the floor. Others felt that would be a waste because the floor will quickly be marked up by schooching furniture. The wrong side won, and the floor was refinished. Being a powerful force in the community, some men arranged for the refinishing to be started on Tuesday, finished by Friday, with the room available for use Monday morning. Unfortunately, the work ran late. And there was a major miscommunication. The floor has to dry a full week to get maximum protection from the new protective coating. As a result, Men had to meet in the clubhouse living room last Monday, and maybe even again tomorrow. This was a serious inconvenience, because everybody who comes in to make a cup of free coffee in our clubhouse kitchen can kibitz — without ever bring bagels, and even if they aren’t men. There’s a silver lining to every cloud. We turned the living room fireplace on. Hopefully this travesty will be quickly corrected.

Another effect of the floor work is that our Chinese New Year party was not held Friday. It is rescheduled, and Danita and I won’t be here when they finally have it. Our neighbors the Jonses (yes, we have to keep up with the Jonses) and we were so disgusted that we went out to Mission BBQ for dinner. Danita wanted to walk, but besides being rather cool, winds were 20 MPH. Because the Jonses help with daycare for their grand kids, they have child seats in both cars. We had to drive our *gas* car 2 miles to get the 4 of us to dinner. As Jeff said on the way back, “the car could be warmer”.

The weekend isn’t a total loss. We’re having a neighborhood concert tonight. The large room is still closed, but the concert will be in the living room. Music, appetizers, desert, and wine. Life is starting to look up.

I hope this finds everybody doing well.