Verna and Bob's Weblog

Bob

Bee Party

b-party.jpgWhen I got up this morning and let Bear out, I noticed more of the cactus flowers had opened overnight. I grabbed Verna’s camera and went out to get a couple of close ups, since these flowers fade fairly fast in the summer sun. I was surprised to see that there were so many bees up at six AM – buzzing and pollinating and gathering nectar – a regular Bee Party!

I couldn’t get in for a real tight shot because of the spikes on the cactus stalk next door, but you get the idea.

Click the image for the close-up.

June 24, 2008 by Critters Home & Garden

South Palos Verdes Panorama

During a drive on Saturday, I captured a series of images and patched them together to create this panoramic image. From left to right, you can see the new development going on at the old Marineland site and the Palos Verdes Fishing Access Cove. In the haze in the distance, Catalina Island can be seen. Click for the full-sized version.

South PV Pan

This was a cool place to visit on a rather warm day.

June 23, 2008 by Panoramas

Impromptu Car Cruise

FordOne of my colleagues, Jim, sent me this photo of his restored vintage Ford. Jim was at a friend’s birthday party; the friend (although not having any vintage wheels) has several friends who are into the pastime of restoring classic cars. While at the party, the buddies lined up their cars for a little informal cruise.

carsI’ve known Jim for about nine years or so – he’s been working on that Hi Boy for most of that time that I know about. It’s good to see it looking all nice and cherry. And the same color as cherries too.

All of these look like very nice wheels, even the newer yellow Corvette on the end. Speaking of Corvettes, Jim’s other car can be seen here.

Click on the thumbnails for a larger view.

June 6, 2008 by Classics Nostalgia

Outstanding Entertainment

entertainment-center.jpgVerna has a rather extensive DVD collection. So, to try and keep track of each title, genre, rating and any remarks, I developed a web-based database interface. One of my technical skills deals with doing that sort of thing, so it was fairly easy for me to do.

One feature allows us to assign a rating to the DVDs we see. When I enter a DVD into the database initially, it is rated as ‘UNRATED’ and gets updated afterwards. We have the following ten rating categories (least to most): Sucks, Bad, Weird, So-So, Good, Very Good, Excellent, Outstanding and Sensational.

Less than stellar DVDs get RETIRED and are donated to charities like Goodwill or The Salvation Army. You can check out the listing on the public DVD page, Verna’s DVD Collection.

Not everyone will agree with our ratings, but we think very highly of the following Outstanding and above titles:

Continue reading…

June 5, 2008 by DVDs Entertainment

Island Express Helicopter Crash

Readers here may or may not know that I know a thing or two about helicopters – I have an airline transport helicopter rating with hundreds of hours of instruction given, charters flown and cross-country ferry flights. I have had a mishap or two along the way, but I’m still here to blog about it.

I can’t comment about the crash of the Island Express helicopter on Catalina Island other than to observe that the pilot had a lot of experience and that the weather conditions were certainly less than optimal. The FAA and NTSB state that the investigation might take up to a year to complete. We offer our condolences to the families and friends of the victims in this terrible accident.

We have been passengers several times on Island Express – we were married in Avalon, and often go back, especially for our anniversary.

We’re going again this year as well and we’re planning to fly over on Island Express helicopters. We believe that it is a safe and enjoyable way to cross the channel.

So, with that in mind, click on the video to the right and see for yourself just how nice an adventure you have when taking the helicopter to the Island.

May 29, 2008 by Aerospace Culture

Conflicting Ballots?

This week, we filled out our absentee ballots. Everything was fine until I happened to notice that the ballot pamphlets were in conflict with each other. For the office of city council members, one instructed vote for one while the other instructed ‘for no more than four.’ Verna’s pamphlet is on the left.

I attempted to contact the Los Angeles County Clerk’s office, but as everyone knows, that is a bottleneck. I waited more time than I had and finally gave up.

Has anyone else noticed this? I believe the vote for no more than four applies, but wonder how many absentees will only vote for one.

ballot.jpg

May 28, 2008 by Bureaucrats

Avalon 1998

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