Sep 24 - wild on the ocean

We went for a walk to the beach before Sandy had breakfast. It would be interesting to be here during a hurricane. Right now, it's just windy. Here are the data from the nearest ocean buoy to us, from the marine weather forecast internet site -- note the wind gusts at 31.3 mph and the wave height at 12.8 feet ... now they show a "dominant wave" and a "wind wave" -- I believe that these two amplitudes are added together when the waves coincide -- that would be 12.8 + 9.84 ... almost 23 feet ... but of course it never actually seems that high because the trough wouldn't be right at the bottom.

Air Temperature: 77° F / 25° C
Humidity: 70
Wind direction (W Dir): NNE (15 - 24 Degrees)
Wind Speed (W Spd): 23.3 kts (26.8 mph / 43.2 km/h)
Wind Gust (W Spd): 27.2 kts (31.3 mph / 50.4 km/h)
Dominant Wave Period (DWP): 11 sec
Dominant Wave Height (DWH): 12.80 ft / 3.90 m
Dominant Wave Range (DWR): exactly 12.8 ft / exactly 3.9 m
Wind Wave Period (WWP): 8 sec
Wind Wave Height (WWH): 9.84 ft / 3.00 m
Wind Wave Range (WWR): 9.02 - 10.66 ft / 2.75 - 3.25 m
Atmospheric Pressure (AP): 30.00 in / 1016 hPa

This is one of those things that I had to add to the blog right away or I'd forget ...

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Last night, for the second night in a row, a bobcat walked by the back door. I tried to get a picture of him but was not fast enough -- and that's not because he/she was in a hurry. It strolled by our back door and then across the neighbor's deck.

I spent the morning cleaning the boat and packing the car. The bike box is on the roof, along with the dog kennel. The dog kennel will be fore Mya at the cottage so Stef does not have to bring our our kennel up, which she is using at their house. The bike box is full of Stef's new All Clad pots and pans as well as Aaron's bike parts. The back of the SUV has the dehumidifier, it's ducting & vents, dog food, my bike tools, and then later today my darkroom chemicals. The back seat will hold Abby and our luggage, with my guns lying across just behind the driver and passenger seats. We'll be packed to the hilt although I guess that you could count the stuff on the roof as "over the hilt".

I went over to Home Depot to look at tarps for two purposes -- to see if there was a better solution for covering the boat and to wrap the gazebo for the winter. I did find heavy duty tarps that would work for the gazebo but they were expensive and I'd need four of them. Jason is going to look around Brantford Canadian Tire and see if there is anything in stock -- their website has a 20x28 white tarp, albeit a lighter weight, that I could cut in two and make two 10x28 tarps that would do the job. If he cannot find one I'll chase it down in Sudbury or order online.

I forgot to mention that I'd talked to my brother Philip the night before last, just catching up. I had called him and missed him when we were driving down. I asked him if Olivia could send an email to Arlene and me with some thoughts and pictures from her trip to Africa ... he's going to relay that to her. All is well there -- he, Meaghan and Bruno are in their house, Sarah, Olivia and the other dog are in the other house. He and Sarah had gone to Winnipeg to see an Elton John concert on Friday night -- tickets that they had bought a long time ago. Since they are still on friendly terms they decided to go ahead to the concert. To me it seems like a strange arrangement but I guess that there are many MUCH stranger relationships in this world.

Sandy caught up with her sister Sheryl last night to check on their schedule next week and it looks like they'll be around so we will go to their place on October 1st, then to Frank's on the 2nd, likely returning on the 3rd -- but that depends on Stef's plans. If Stef is not planning on coming up on the 4th we'll probably stay an extra day.

Sheryl was talking to Wayne -- their brother -- and confirmed that he and Mary have both retired. Sandy and Sheryl talk to each other more often than they do with Wayne. Wayne, Mary, William and Mark were down in Hemingford visiting prior to William's deployment to Afganistan. Yes, he is in the Canadian Forces. He's on his way over there now. Sheryl is going to get an email address etc. so that we can reach out.

For dinner we had shrimp stir-fry so nothing for me to cook. Shrimp, peppers, mushrooms + rice -- delicious. Tonight's fish has already been purchased -- another type of tuna. Hopefully it will be better than the one that we discarded !

Today -- a bike ride for me; dog beach for Abby, finish packing the car, ready for an early a.m. departure. I'll tie the boat cover down and do other closing-up activities. The weather is supposed to be good, albeit still somewhat windy.

That's it ... I'll probably do a brief blog update tomorrow morning but am not sure if I'll be able to do one at Linda's.