Fête de la Musique

It's that time of year again and I wish we were in Paris today...

What a great way to start off the summer :)

Enjoy!

Happy 75th

to Sir Paul McCartney

Powering electrical doo-dads

Today was an electrical odd-jobs day and I'm very happy.

Over the last year, I've been ripping our DVDs to store on hard drives. This is a more convenient storage method, plus we got rid of some weight, and recovered valuable shelf space.  Unfortunately, many of our DVDs had deteriorated. One damaged DVD could cause us to lose the entire series if we could not find a replacement for that particular season. When finished, we took all of our old DVDs to Gallows Bay Marine and put them on the free book exchange shelf for recycling.

We have SIX Seagate Expansion 5TB Desktop External Hard Drive USB 3.0 (STEB5000100) and TWO smaller Seagate Expansion 3TB Desktop External Hard Drive USB 3.0 (STEB3000100) as the 5TB drives were backordered at the time. The hard drives are duplicated for backup purposes.

These drives came with 110v transformer "wall wart" plugs with an output voltage of 12 volts. YES, TWELVE VOLTS! I bought some cables with appropriate-sized barrel plugs on one end and nothing on the other end to which Bob installed an Anderson plug today. The hard drives work just fine! Hurray, don't have to use the inverter to run the drives anymore.

Bob also installed our new Marinebeam LED tricolor/anchor/strobe masthead light. We're doing the happy dance!

Another tip is to check the output voltage on your 110v transformer plugs. When at ACE hardware, I check the different models of fans to check their power supply. We have three O2cool fans running directly off of 12 volts, as does our digital piano. If some item runs at approximately 5 volts, such as our AcuRite weather station which required 4 AA batteries, we would find a USB cable with the correct plug and give it a try.

Our Sony AM/FM/SW radio runs on 6 AA batteries which is 9 volts. When I have time, I'll see about using one of our power packs that outputs several voltages. Maybe it has different adaptors that might fit. If not, we can fit another socket with a standard plug. Pas de problème. I wonder where I put it :)

My next chore is printing out 2 pages to include in our boat papers. Fingers crossed...

1st day of June 2017

The first day of June is another one of those special days for me.

Pre-1996, it was a time of anticipation of the coming summer days with all of the fun stuff that it entails. But now, it is the mark of the first day of "H" season with its perennial question of "what's in store for us this summer?"

This year, we have the worry of impending windstorms but we also have joy of beginning a new chapter in our cruising life.

This morning I googled "2017 hurricane season" to see what has been predicted for this summer. Some of the results ranging from 5 to 45 days ago said that it would be higher than average. But the more recent articles of yesterday and today are saying lower... I'm going for lower :)

This one is from yesterday's AccuWeather - 2017 Atlantic hurricane forecast: Possible El Nino to limit development of storms. That sounds good.

Wunderground had a blog post I like from April 6th 

 The CSU team cited two main reasons why this may be a below-average hurricane season:

• A weak to moderate El Niño event is expected to develop by autumn
• The tropical Atlantic has cooled over the past month, and the far North Atlantic is currently colder than normal.

As always, the CSU team included this standard disclaimer: "Coastal residents are reminded that it only takes one hurricane making landfall to make it an active season for them. They should prepare the same for every season, regardless of how much activity is predicted."

Got to finish coffee #3 and start doing stuff...

Have a good one!

Cats & Easter Weekend

Last weekend the cats got out their Easter blind and donned their bunny ears. Hoping to get some treats...

In the end, they had to settle for a bit of cheese :)

It's Spring !

This is a day I always look forward to... the first day of Spring.

It is a day of hope.

Enjoy!

Kitten Academy Makes Me Happy

Here is something that always makes me smile. The Kitten Academy's live feed 24/7 on YouTube. The screen is usually broken up into 3 or 4 segments for different viewing angles.


Click Here To Enlarge and watch on YouTube


Here's the blurb from their Patreon site:

KittenAcademy is a place for kittens to learn to cat.  If you're here, you probably already know who we are and what we do. Fundamentally, we are kitten foster parents, who work with local no-kill animal shelters to rescue kittens and mother cats from kill shelters and animal control. We care for the mothers and kittens until the kittens are old enough to be adopted, then we work with the shelter to help them get the kittens adopted to good homes. Everything we do is to help raise awareness for foster kittens generally, and to help get the kittens we foster adopted, specifically."

We also hope to be somewhat entertaining. Our most popular feature is our YouTube 24/7 Live Stream. But we also produce short videos on YouTube of the kittens and the Academy staff cats being cats and doing cat things. And of course, provide the Kitten Academy website where there is a blog, and additional photos of the kittens that have attended the Academy.

They recently were featured on the BBC's website:

[ Click this link ] 

I hope it is still working.

I hope this makes your day more enjoyable...

I need some happy news

Happy news goes here...

Help Stop Horse Abuse

I just had to reprint this article from the Animal Rescue Site to help spread the word. Please visit this link and see the petition at the bottom of the page... also, remember to click the purple button.

Trainers: Stop Hurting Horses For Show Tricks!

Help end horse soring for good!

Sponsored by: The Animal Rescue Site

 

It's a sad fact that for many horse trainers, torturous practices like soring are part of the job.

Horse soring involves whipping, burning, shocking, or otherwise irritating a horse's forelegs to get the animal to step higher when presenting in shows and auctions. Other horse trainers shove weights or shims between the hoof and the shoe. Some do both, while wrapping heavy chains around their horse's caustic chemical coated legs.

The barbaric practice has been condemned by government agencies as well as animal activists alike. And while the U.S. Department of Agriculture has been historically responsible for overseeing horse training operations at a federal level, and fining those found guilty of horse soring under the Horse Protection Act, recent decrees from the Trump Administration have severely restricted the Act's efficacy.

A strengthened Horse Protection Act was scheduled to be put into the Federal Register in January 2016, but a White House order on President Donald Trump's first day in office brought it and many other regulations back for review. 

Through interviews with convicted horse abuser Barney Davis, the Humane Society has helped to expose the horrific popularity of soring among horse trainers. "Every trainer sores horses," said Davis, who pled guilty to violating the Horse Protection Act on several counts in 2016. "You have to, to get them to walk...you're not going to win if you don't sore [horses]." Davis not only recounted the gruesome truth about soring — bloody forelegs and horses wailing in pain — he also indicated that judges and inspectors at many horse exhibitions are paid to look the other way.

There is no excuse for horse soring to continue in the United States. The federal government and law enforcement has the authority to end this practice and protect our horses.

============================

Tell the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service that the Horse Protection Act needs to be strengthened and enforced.

 Please sign the petition at the bottom of the original article. CLICK HERE

The Doctor Has Good Advice

Thanks, Doctor

And here's a song that been running through my head all morning...

The Youngbloods

So It Goes...

Has it only been a week?

It's hard to believe that it is has only been eight days. We are going to stock up on tequilla.

bridgesnotwalls

Thanks, Paris... We miss you...

Had quite a good turnout on St Croix, too

According to the St Croix Source, "More than 500 people paraded through Christiansted Saturday, showing solidarity with others around the world taking part in the Women's March (Carol Buchanan photo)"

Listening to Bob Marley

#bridgesnotwalls

A New Day of Infamy

Last week we had Friday the 13th... Today is January 20th, the beginning of a new "interesting times" era.

Thoughts keep running through my head such as...

"Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My" and

"Danger, Danger, Will Robinson".

Is the explosive countdown timer going to stop in the nick of time at 00:01?

Where are the time travellers to set this right? Did they screw up? Or, PTB forbid, is this correcting some horrible event in the future?

Tomorrow, there will be a Women's March on all three islands of the US Virgin Islands. A women's march is cool but I hope it is open to ALL people.

Sad  :(

It's Here

December 21st... Winter is officially here

Enjoy!

November 13th is World Kindness Day

World Kindness Day encourages us to be kind to others, helping to create a nicer, better world. It is a day that encourages individuals to overlook boundaries, race and religion.

 Visit the Random Acts Of Kindness website.

Continue your kindness throughout the year.

#WorldKindnessDay

Happy August 4th

Today is National Coast Guard Day...

The Coast Guard celebrates its 226th birthday in August this year. The Coast Guard is one of America's five armed forces and traces its founding to Aug. 4, 1790, when the first Congress authorized the construction of 10 vessels to enforce tariff and trade laws, prevent smuggling, and protect the collection of federal revenue. Responsibilities added over the years included humanitarian duties such as aiding mariners in distress.

The service received its present name in 1915 when the Revenue Cutter Service merged with the U.S. Life-Saving Service to form a single maritime service dedicated to the safety of life at sea and enforcing the nation's maritime laws.

- from Military.com

and, it is also National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day!

17 National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day Deals and Freebies

From https://www.gobankingrates.com/personal-finance/national-chocolate-chip-cookie-day-2016/

If you truly enjoy dessert, this is a good time for you to indulge. From free chocolate chip cookies to discounts on cakes and candy, use these Cookie Day deals to eat your way through this delicious holiday without paying full price.

• 1800Baskets: Use code SNACKS20 to save 20 percent on snack gift baskets until Sept. 30.
• Bake Me a Wish: Take 15 percent off birthday cake delivery with code HB15 until Sept. 7.
• Baskin Robbins: Take $3 off any $15 or more ice cream cake with this printable coupon until Aug. 14.
• BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse: Use this coupon to get a free Pizookie with any $9.95 food purchase until Aug. 31.
• Cheryl’s: Take 15 percent off any purchase with code TAKE15 until Oct. 31.
• Cookies by Design: Enter code ACCUSA16 at checkout to take 15 percent off orders greater than $40 until Dec. 31.
• DoubleTree by Hilton: Walk into any DoubleTree hotel — with or without a reservation — and at the train stations in NYC and Chicago on Aug. 4 to receive a free chocolate chip cookie as part of their “Nice Travels” movement.
• Eleni’s New York: Enjoy free shipping on orders more than $50 with code SHIPFREE until Dec. 2050.
• Great American Cookies: Buy one regular cookie, get the second free when you register to receive email updates.
• Max & Erma’s: Celebrate National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day one day early by heading to Max & Erma’s on Wednesday for Free Cookie Day. Get two free freshly baked cookies with any menu purchase every Wednesday — no coupon required.
• Mazzio’s: Get a small chocolate chip dessert pizza for $3 with this printable coupon until Dec. 31.
• Mrs. Fields: Use code MW15 to save 15 percent off your order until Dec. 31.
• My M&M’s: Save 10 percent on orders greater than $50 with code MYSAVINGS10 until Dec. 31 .
• Steak ‘n Shake: Present this coupon to save $1 off a regular-sized classic milkshake until Sept. 18.
• Tate’s Bake Shop: Enter code TATESTREATS at checkout to take 20 percent off any order until Jan. 2017.
• Tortuga Rum Cakes: Get a free 4-ounce golden rum cake with purchase of a 32-ounce golden rum cake with code GOFORGOLD until Aug. 21.
• Village Inn: Present this coupon to receive 20 percent off your check until Aug. 5.

So, if the you cross paths with the USCG today give them a cookie.

Enjoy!

Happy Birthday, Paul

We would like to wish Sir Paul McCartney a very happy birthday.

74 years old today...

I remember listening to "When I'm Sixty Four" back in June 1967 when Sgt Pepper's came out. Paul was only 25 (going on 26) at the time and I couldn't imagine any of The Beatles ever being that old... that would be like Dean Martin! Ooh, yuk! Dino was only 50 then but to a pre-teen he seemed ancient.

Photo from
 https://www.paulmccartney.com/the-collection/oneonone-tour-2016

So Happy Birthday to you and many happy returns!

[SOLVED] Problem with new laptop battery

UPDATED July 17, 2016: SEE BELOW

Last week one of our laptops (Toshiba Satellite C75D-A7370, Windows 8.1) started shutting down unexpectedly. A couple of days later we noticed that the battery was not lasting very long. Hmmmm, time to go shopping.

We found a place on eBay that had our battery for a good price, free shipping, and they would send to us via US Mail (USPS).

We installed the battery per instructions. The instructions were poorly translated but basically boiled down to: insert battery, let it run down to 8%, then fully charge to 100%. Of course there was the usual warnings about not carrying this out in the bathtub, etc.

All was going well except that after 30 minutes the battery icon was still displaying 100% even though the time left was ticking down normally.  Houston, we have a problem.

Time to search the internet for a solution which I found here...

http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Software-and-How-To-Questions/Battery-Indicator-shows-100-charged-at-all-times/m-p/1303533#M196993

STEP ONE

• Shut down the notebook
• Unplug the AC Adapter
• Remove the battery
• Then hold down the Power button for 30 seconds

Device Manager - Batteries

STEP TWO

• Plug in the AC adapter without the battery inserted
• Start the notebook
• Open Device Manager
• Expand the entry for Batteries
• Right click Microsoft ACPI Compliant Control Method Battery
• Select Uninstall - do not uninstall anything else here.

STEP THREE

• When the uninstall is complete, shut down the notebook
• Unplug the AC Adapter
• Re-insert the battery
• Start the notebook on just the battery.

Windows will automatically reinstall the driver - leave Windows running for a few minutes and see if the charge level decreases as it should.

Problem solved. The battery power percentage is displaying properly and the new battery is lasting much longer... sort of like when the computer was new :)

Well, we are happy with this and we are buying another battery for our other computer as it is only a matter of time before that one will fritz out.

UPDATED July 17, 2016:  A couple of days ago we swapped out the battery for our other Toshiba Satellite laptop.  No problem. Showed 100% to start and then counted down to 8% whereupon we plugged the charger in.

Hope this helps if you are having problems with a new battery displaying correctly.

Apologies for lack of blogging...

Sorry for my lack of blogging but I've had issues with my eyesight for several months. I could not work for much more than an hour on the computer and even with that short timespan I experienced eye soreness, general fatigue, double vision, etc.

But, now that seems to be all sorted out and I'm a much happier camper... Yippee!

Daylight Saving Time 2016

I didn't realize today was the beginning of Daylight Saving Time until Bob told me... Thanks!

2:00am is now 3:00am

DST begins on the second Sunday of March for the USA and Canada. This is when you must set your clocks forward... Spring Ahead.

Most countries in the Caribbean do NOT change. We stay the same all year round. A few US states and some areas of Canada also ignore DST. What a mess that must cause.

Mexico changes their clocks on April 3, 2016 except for some areas that border the USA which follows USA time.

The UK and France (along with other European countries) change time on the last Sunday of March.

Of course, in the autumn, the dates to return to standard time also varies from place to place but we won't worry our pretty little heads about that just now :)

(By the way, it is "Saving" and not "Savings")

Leaping lizards... It's February 29th

 

Today is February 29th which is Leap Day. 

What to do? Hear are some leapy things...

• Leap at the chance to do something
• Leap for joy
• Take a leap of faith
• Look before you leap
• Leap on the bandwagon
• Leap in the dark

 I like "leap for joy".

This is an interesting website with many "leap" quotes: 

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/leap.html

Happy leaping!

New restaurant in Christiansted, St Croix - Sai Gon Deli

We had planned to have lunch at Sharkey's Bait Shack last Thursday as it was $7.50 burger+side day. which is one of our favorite shoreside lunches. We were looking forward to our burgers until we opened their door and was hit by a cacophony of noise. The place was full of school children for some reason.

We quickly turned around and did a bit of shopping in Seaside Market next door with thoughts of getting a sandwich. This didn't happen because there was no place to sit at their outside tables. In fact, three of the tables had one employee per table just hanging out on their break.

Our next option was to try out the new Vietnamese place (Sai Gon Deli) just down the street by the laundry. We usually do our laundry on Sundays and they were closed each time we went, plus they didn't have a menu up so we had no idea on dishes and prices.

Glad we stopped by. Turns out they've been in business about 2 months and they are closed on Sundays & Mondays. I took a picture of the menu on the wall... sorry that I cut off the right side of the menu.

They are located at the little strip mall across from the Canegata Ball Park between the laundromat and the Mt Welcome Pharmacy. This is an easy walk from Christiansted Harbour and Gallows Bay.

We will be back soon for another lunch...

Click image to enlarge

Enjoy!

Computer problem - Wifi, Limited Access [FIXED]

Late yesterday afternoon I was working online and when I went and pressed a submit button I noticed that I was no longer connected. My wifi icon down in the taskbar (Windows 8.1) had a yellow triangle with an exclamation point proclaiming that I was connected but had limited access. Darn!

Bob has this problem quite often (too often) but right clicking on the icon and clicking on "Troubleshoot problems" generally fixes it. If not, we then shut down the computer and restart, and the other thing we can do is to reboot our ISPs modem.

I tried these things (troubleshooting told me it couldn't find a problem) and Bob's computer was still happily surfing the net.

Using my tablet, I queried Google for something like "wifi limited access" and looked at several results. I tried one thing (netsh int ip reset) but it didn't solve my problem. It was time for our sundowner and quality time on the foredeck.

After dinner, Buffy took my spot at the table so I took my computer and tablet into the forepeak and started looking for YouTube solutions as my eyes were too tired for reading.

After watching a couple dozen videos of various quality and intelligence, there appeared to be about 4 or 5 things to try. I decided to try one option that seemed quite likely to work. Basically, it was to disable the wifi network connection and then enable it.  IT WORKED!

How to: Reset The Network Adapter

• Right click on wifi icon in taskbar
• Click on "Open Network and Sharing Center"
• In the left column click on "Change Adapter Settings" (see below)

Click image to enlarge

• You then get the following screen

Click image to enlarge

• Right click on "Wi-Fi" and it will give you a list of options. Choose "Disable". Give it a few seconds and then right click on it again and this time choose "Enable".

The icon in my taskbar was still showing the yellow triangle.

I restarted my computer. On the pre-signin screen it was still showing the wifi limited access icon. I then signed in and had the black screen for a brief period of time (probably updating stuff) and when it displayed the deskstop I had the normal wifi icon. I have internet access.  Peachy Keen!

Here are some other possible solutions you might find useful. Plus I found this link this morning: CLICK HERE...

• Reinstall your driver (some videos say to go online to do this... Duh!)

• Modify power management settings so computer doesn't shut down wifi connection to conserve power.

• Using command prompt with administrator privilege:

ipconfig /flushdns 

(only noticed this once in my search, then...)

ipconfig /release

(you will receive some error messages)

ipconfig /renew

(Windows reissues new ip for computer & there are more messages about media disconnected, etc)

(look at wifi icon and it should now show connected. If not, restart computer)

• Using command prompt with administrator privilege:

ipconfig /all

ipconfig /release

ipconfig /renew

• Using command prompt with administrator privilege:

netsh int ip reset

(or I sometimes saw with a filename, below)

 netsh int ip reset C:\resetlog.txt

(restart computer)

• Using command prompt with administrator privilege:

 netsh ip tcp set heuristics disabled

 netsh ip tcp set global autotuninglevel=disabled

 netsh ip tcp set global rss=enabled

 netsh ip tcp show global

Hope this helps someone.

February 2016

Well, it's February tomorrow so I need to put up a new post... Hope your new year is off to a good start. Our's is. We've finished our new salon cushions. How firm and comfy... Hurray! We will be getting our new mattress in a couple of days which is great; a good nights' sleep is very important. This week we will be modifying our salon dinette. Looking forward to it.

As you know, our next big holiday is February 2nd, Groundhog Day...

Let's see what Punxsutawney Phil will have to say :)

UPDATE: Groundhog Day: Punxsutawney Phil Did Not See His Shadow

Other days of interest in February 2016:

• 1-29 February : Black History Month
• 2 Feb - Groundhog Day
• 7 Feb - Superbowl Sunday
• 9 Feb - Mardi Gras
• 14 Feb - Valentine's Day 
• 15 Feb - President's Day
• 15 Feb - Grammy Awards
• 17 Feb - Random Acts of Kindness Day
• 22 Feb - National Margarita Day
• 28 Feb - Academy Awards (Oscars)
• 29 Feb - Leap Day
• 29 Feb - Sadie Hawkins Day 

So it goes... time to get crackin!

Best wishes for 2016

All the best wishes for the good things in life.

• Good fortune
• Good health
• Good times
• Good eats
• Good friends
• Good neighbors
• Good weather
• Good sailing
• Good fun

etc..

You catch my drift :)

So it goes!