In May Tammy called the gas company to see if we could get gas for our house (we have an oil burner now which was getting a little old). After a lot of circling around they finally said "yes" and this week the contractor finally showed up (yes 5 months later!) to run a new gas main and drop to our house.
I thought the whole thing was very interesting. The gas main ended 300 feet from our house and the gas company decided to run it 400 feet to serve everyone on our end of the street (due to Tammy's work two others have already signed up). The gas lines are plastic and come in 40' sections about 4" in diameter. To start the process the sections are all fused together using heat (450F) and pressure. In parallel they used a horizontal drilling rig to drill from the new end of the main to the hole dug where the old main ended.
The tip of the drill can be located very accurately using an RF directional finder and the rig operator gets steering instructions via radio. The drill tip can be steered remotely to go up, down, left and right. After the tunnel is drilled, the gas pipe is connected to the drill tip and pulled back through the tunnel. Pretty cool to drill a horizontal hole 5 feet under ground and come out within inches of your target 400 feet away.
Our neighbors were quite concerned the drilling would cause their driveway to collapse. Actually, the contractor said that if they aren't careful the driveways will heave UP. The drill uses a water and bentonite lubricant that is pumped into the hole. Near the driveways they had to dig some pressure relief holes to let the lubricant run out.
Although the pipe looks pretty rigid, it is actually amazingly flexible. To keep it out of the way before it was pulled it was stored on a side street and when it was pulled into the tunnel it bent around at 90 degrees in about a 4' radius with no problems. Even more amazing to me, when they spliced the new main onto the existing main they did it by putting a clamp on the existing main and simply smashing it flat so no gas could come out. Then they cut the cap off the old main and used a hub to heat fuse it to the new one (all with gas in the main).
Running the drops was interesting too. A tap for the drop is heat fused onto the main and pierces the main without any loss of gas. The drop was run from the main under our street using a small air pressure driven tunneling rig. The operator aims it by eye, sets it level, and an air hammer inside the tip pulls it along underground.
That worked to get under the street, so we have a gas line running to the end of our driveway. However it got stuck in our tree roots, so they couldn't get the gas line to the house. They are supposed to be back soon with another tool for that.
Interesting solutions and a lot less mess than trenching all over, the final result (despite our neighbors fears) left almost no signs of the digging or tunnelling.
In the last 10 days I got a crash course on well pumps. In our last house we had a deep well with a submersible pump. It was in the well, I never saw it, it always worked. The most I learned about that well was how the holding tank worked. The rubber bladder in our tank failed and we always had water, but the pump would "short cycle"... so I replaced the holding tank (but that's another story).
In this house we have a shallow well jet pump. This is a pump in the basement and it is set up for wells less than 25' deep, there are other jet pumps for deeper wells but they are plumbed differently. Our pump has one suction inlet and one outlet (that makes it a shallow well jet pump).
Last week we noticed that the pump pressure was dropping so low (30 psi) that the pump would just never shut off. Fortunately after hearing it run for an hour or so Tammy asked me to look at it. I had no clues... So Tammy called the nice well pump people who left their sticker on our pump and told them our life story. They were actually kind enough to walk me through how to clean out a pump by opening the cleanout plug. Amazing how much iron scale accumulates in there!
So last week we were able to get the pump making 50psi again by cleaning out the inlet... but it would still not turn off -- so we spent a week manually turning the pump on when we needed water, then turning it off to stop it from running. Today I googled the pressure switch and figured out how to adjust it. By backing off the cut in/out pressure spring by 1 1/2 turns I was able to get the pump to operate normally again. It's making 50 psi at the max and coming back on again at 30 psi.
At this point I'm not sure if the pump is just so crudded up that it is incapable of producing much more than 50 psi or (my suspicion) that the iron crud got into the pressure switch and messed up it's calibration. Hopefully this will do it. We have found we really like (automatic) running water. If this doesn't do the trick my next try will be to clean out the tube leading from the pump to the pressure switch, then replace the switch and finally if all else fails replace the entire pump. Hopefully it won't come to that. I hate plumbing.
Last week I attended 6 of the 7 days of the Bay Hill Invitational tournament in Orlando, which was a practice round, a Pro-Am and the 4 tournament days. I had a BLAST! I am also VERY thankful that with a lot of stretching and Ibuprofin my knee held up to all the walking (maybe I'm on the road to recovery). While my favorite part of watching pro golf live is still walking with players in small galleries, I must admit that by Sunday I did get a little caught up in Tiger-mania.
On Thursday I walked with Corey Pavin (2010 Ryder Cup captain) in an early group. He was getting out-driven by 20 to 50 yards on each hole but he made the cut. I saw Woody Austin put a ball in the water from 100 yards out and I saw Richard Johnson sprint off the course to the bathrooms only to return to a 100 yard pitch and hit it 80 yards fat. When Mark Calcavecchia went in the water off the tee on 6 he muttered to Marc Turnesa (also in the water) "let me hit again now while I'm hot"...
But those were the exceptions. Mostly there was a lot of amazingly good golf. I saw John Senden hit a sprinkler head and bounce over the grandstands. He took a free drop in thick rough behind the hole, then with astounding touch found a place to land the ball and let it roll down a slope from the first cut to the hole. The margin for error was almost nil - really an all-star par.
For a second year in a row I was standing in the right place at the right time and met Arnold Palmer. This year I was in the Mastercard pavilion waiting in line to hit the newest Callaway driver when we were told that Arnold would be making an appearance in 10 minutes with Jimmy Roberts doing an informal interview to promote Jimmy's new book. They did a nice 20 minute chat with a group of 50 or so and I got to hear the story of how Jason Gore went to Latrobe Country Club one day to meet Mr. Palmer and ended up deciding to become a professional golfer.
Saturday I camped out on the 6th hole, 4 groups ahead of Tiger to see him hit the big ball over water. Tim Herron was on 6 when Tiger and his gallery came by 4, the adjacent tee box. Tim's caddie looked at me and quipped "I wonder who they all came to see?". Tim had been waiting for the fairway to clear and was just ready to hit when Tiger arrived, he called over "Hey Tiger -- MY turn" and hit first. I can see why, after Tiger hits his gallery immediately begins to swarm away and makes a lot of commotion. By the time Tiger got to 6 there was a mob standing behind me. Steve Williams went to get some water and in a very nice gesture pulled an extra water out of the players cooler and gave it to a young boy who had been waiting with me at the ropes. Instead of a 335 yard bomb, Tiger hit a safe 300 yard shot away from the edge of the water. I backtracked to find the leaders playing with essentially no gallery and walked along with Sean O'Hair and Roger Maltby in relative quiet for the rest of the day.
Sunday brought rain all morning, some heavy -- so when I arrived on the course at 2:30 Tiger had not even tee'd off. With a 5 shot deficit to Sean O'Hair I expected little excitement and planned my day around seeing Tiger up close a few times and then following smaller galleries, maybe even leaving early if Sean had increased his lead -- little did I know... After watching a few of the first groups hit off 7 I walked to 3 to stake out a place behind the tee. When Tiger walked up 2 it was clear that his gallery was HUGE. The extra people meant I could no longer see #2 green from the #3 tee box - but when the roar went up I could guess a Tiger birdie had cut the lead to 4 strokes. I was able to get a great look at Tiger drawing a three wood to the center of the fairway before O'Hair put his ball off to the right. Tiger's gallery now filled the entire 400+ yards of the 3rd hole at least 10 people deep in most places. I walked across the old railway bridge from 3 to 7 tee to wait for the group there, as O'Hair/Woods went Bogey/Birdie to cut the lead to 2, but by the time I saw a scoreboard Tiger had bogeyed 4, giving O'Hair back a margin of 3 shots.
When Tiger stepped onto 7, the lead was still 3 and I watched Tiger, O'Hair and Zach Johnson all hit the green. As I walked over to the 8th fairway I heard the roar as Tiger birdied and O'Hair bogeyed - a two shot swing, and the lead is now only 1 stroke! I had picked the right place on 8 and watched Tiger's ball land a few yards away, then watched Tiger and Zach miss the green with O'Hair making a nice approach. Tiger and Sean traded pars there and I headed for the back nine to find a new place to wait.
Walking up #1 I towards the clubhouse I struck up a conversation with a few other people who were also trying to see Tiger without battling his gallery. When I asked where they were heading one kid told me he knew a perfect place to watch on 18, did I want him to show me? I skeptically asked how that could be, since I was SURE all the good places around 18 were long gone at this point. He said his name was CJ and he LIVED in the house next to the 18th green - for $10 he'd SELL me a seat in his backyard! Still suspecting a scam I said OK, lets go see. He took me out the back gate, just down the road and we jumped a fence to get into a yard - right next to the VIP stands and shotlink tower at 18 green. Sure enough he had a row of 20 seats, at this point all empty. I gave him the $10 and claimed a seat greenside, directly behind the hole and barely 20 yards away. In the next 2 hours CJ sold a few hundred more passes to his backyard (later in the day he dropped the price to $5 but I didn't mind) and he began to sell drinks too. I'm sure he cleared several thousand in cash by the time he was done - he even had one guy insisting on getting a written promise for a seat there next year.
At this point all I could do was watch the groups play up, and watch the leader board. More than a few people were in the water or in the rocks and no one made a putt. O'Hair kept a one shot lead for a while, but then the board posted them tie and 15... then Tiger AHEAD at 16. I figured I'd just missed the come-back sitting on the 18th green (but at least I had a GOOD seat). But before we saw the final group coming up 18 and before the scores from 17 were posted a lady in the, now large, crowd standing behind me said "it's TIE, it's TIE, my son just texted me that Tiger bogeyed 17!"
WOW... so it was coming down to 18 and I was in the right place! Tiger comes up hole high and left with Sean right at the pin and long - both putting for makable birdies. Sean leaves his birdie putt well short and Tiger steps up to do what seems both improbable and inevitable... he sinks the putt, pumps his fist and hugs Steve with force as he wins again. I guess HIS knee is OK now.
This faked souvenir picture is oddly pretty close to where I was actually sitting. To give a little idea, this picture ALMOST shows me in frame. To the far right you can just make out three red shirts - those are the volunteers who snuck in below the shotlink tower. I am just to their right and out of the frame here.
For the third year in a row I've been able to go to Bay Hill in Orlando to see the Arnold Palmer invitational golf tournament. This year Tammy got me a full week grounds pass so I've been to a practice round and taken Kirsten to the Pro-Am tournament.
The practice round was harder to follow than a tournament because there's not much info about who is on the course or where they are, so it was a bit random following players. Most players I saw practice alone (with a caddie and a coach) but there were a few in groups of two or three with just caddies and no coaches. The most notable player I found on the course was Angel Cabrera. I spent most of my time on the practice tee being amazed at how effortless, how consistently, and how far those guys hit. I was able to stand at the fence just a few feet away from Ted Purdy as he hit wedges. I also sat for a while in a corner where FootJoy was taping endorsements and Golf Digest was shooting pictures. Billy Mayfair loves his FootJoys and Golf Digest has a ton of headshots of Rocco Mediate. Golf Digest also posed and shot pictures of Boo Weekly's golf bag. Halfway through, Boo came over and said "don't you want pictures of the clubs I'm actually playing?" They had to swap several clubs and start over - I'm guessing it's for the regular feature "What's in the bag?".
For the Pro-Am Kirsten came along so we did not stay so long. We got to see Charles Howell and Bubba Watson hit over the water on #6. We overheard Charles say that on a day with the wind dead behind them he had seen Hank Kuehne cut the whole lake and hit the green from the tee! That's a carry of 340 yards.
After watching a few groups tee off 6 we walked back towards 1 and saw Woody Austin, Stephen Ames, Ben Curtis and Padraig Harrington. After that we waited a little and saw a pro-am group made up of Arnold Palmer, Tom Ridge and Bobbie Orr. Ridge and Orr were both very good golfers. The gallery was interesting since Palmer was declining autographs until after the round but Orr and Ridge were both posing for pictures and signing autographs. After following two holes Kirsten ran out of steam so we headed home. On the way out I saw Harrington sign two autographs for small kids inside the ropes - nice of him.
As with many things new to me, I quickly find out that others have
BTDT. Two weeks ago my chronic knee pain progressed from mild to acute
and after hobbling around for a while I went to a doctor. In the hope
of finding a fix for this, I've been talking to anyone who will listen
to me in an attempt to learnt how to address knee pain. Yesterday it
dawned on me that I've heard quite a lot of varied advice. It seems
almost every third person I meet has knee pain (or some kind of joint
pain)... I thought maybe I'd compile what I've heard so far and maybe
get some comments and new info.
To start... my symptoms were pain and stiffness on the inner part of my
right knee. Stiffness would occur after sitting at a desk or
driving,and the pain would happen the day after exercise - eg walking
several miles. Once the pain progressed to acute I could not walk at
all in the morning (until my knee stretched out) and I could not walk
more than 100 yards at one time without sharp pain starting again.
The anecdotal diagnosis from people I spoke to were: a medial ligament, or a tendon issue. And the first suggestions were:
Ice after activity
Ibuprofin before and after activity
A knee brace during activity
Strengthening exercises
The doctor took X-rays and examined the knee. His diagnosis was early
signs of osteo-arthritis (actually not unusual amounts for my age) and
a possible tear of the meniscus.
His suggestion was to reduce my activity level,and once the pain
diminishes to do stretching and strengthening exercises --then
gradually attempt to increase activity again. To help, he injected my
knee with something (a corticosteroid I believe). However, he warned me
the the shot was temporary.
Well, the shot worked wonders! The acute pain was gone within hours and
4 days later the knee is better than it's been in years. The stretching
exercises seem to help a lot, however the strengthening exercises seem
to be designed for someone about 80 years old - so it's unclear what
they are really strengthening. Today I find myself wondering what will
happen when the magic shot wears off and what I can do short term and
long term. Here's the rest of the advice I've gotten so far from all
sources...
Some experience of others...
Give the knee rest for 6 months and it may heal by itself
Have surgery to remove the damaged part of the meniscus
Don't over-do it based on the shot, use moderation in activity or pain will return fast
And the advice...
Get a brace with magnets
Get a brace with lateral supports
Make sure I walk correctly heal to toe, and symmetrically
Don't walk on hard surfaces (eg grass, not concrete)
Take glucosamin
Find a doctor who will shoot me up again when it hurts
Don't get shot up again it's bad for me
Change my diet - the acid in citrus is bad for my joints
Use heat after activity
Lose weight to reduce load on the knee
Well... that's all I've got for now. Time to do my knee exercises! More
ideas are welcome (no guarantee I'll take the advice, but the more
ideas I get the better).
As Disney season passholders we got to attend (along with several hundred other passholders) a special presentation today at Hollywood Studios. The main speaker had compiled video clips documenting the history of the Muppets from Jim Henson's earliest TV projects in the 1950's up until the 1990's (shortly after Jim's death.) It was, as expected, very funny, informative and fascinating to see how a group of grown men and women took some Muppets (marionette-puppets) and fashioned a whole entertainment industry out of them.
Part of the presentation was given by David Goelz who is the puppeteer for Gonzo. He has been with the Muppet organization since the 1970's and has a long history with Jim Henson. Included in the audience was Jim's daughter, Heather, who gave a little insight as to what is was like growing up on the Muppets set (which I didn't know was in London.)
After the presentation there was a question and answer period and then a Muppet trivia contest. Some people in the audience were some real die-hard muppet fans asking detailed questions about the Muppets. I don't remember really watching the Muppets (the show started broadcasting on TV in 1976) and didn't even know if they were still around. (They are - not on TV, but in movies and merchandising.)
Through the majority of the trivia contest I sat there never raising my hand. Who knows all this stuff about the Muppets? Things like Gonzo's girlfriend's name, the names of the scientists in the lab, the first time the Muppets were on national TV, but I tell you - this audience knew it all. Then they asked the question, "Which guest actress that appeared on the Muppets had won a Tony and Oscar and an Emmy?" Would you believe I knew that one and nobody else did? Scored myself a limited edition Muppet 50th anniversary pin, which actually means something to me because we have become amateur pin traders since we have been frequenting Disney.
So now my visit was complete. But in true Disney fashion, they had one more surprise. As we left we got to take our picture with Gonzo and David Goelz. If I knew how to post that to our website I would, but I don't, so you'll just have to ask me to see it.
Hi all, how is everyone? I got back from my cruise and figured I'd make a blog about well, nothing. Usually I right a blog about something specific. But I found that my blogs about something weren't as interesting as when I talk to people in person. So I'll start off by saying, my cruise was great. We went on this amazing shore excursion where I got in a really fast boat and rode to a private island where they had a water trampoline and other cool stuff (if i have any pictures Ii'll post them in the photogallery). The rest of the cruise was just ice cream and pizza to me. Then there's the glass elevator, I spent most of my time riding the elevators. The funny thing is, for every person that notices that I have no floor put in, there's was two people that didn't.
My mom got a DVR for christmas. It can record to DVDs and do all sorts of stuff. i just tried using it today, it was a little harder to use than I thought. So I was forced to look at el manual de instrucciones, yes the intruction manual was in Spanish. I eventually managed to use the DVR and it works great.
On Tues. the Glory stopped in Belize for the day. There was no set plan that morning, I just wanted to explore and see what the city was like and find out more about it. First things first, we had to get off the ship. We waited in line for a tender that would take us the 5 miles to the port. This can take some time when you have 3,500 passengers plus various crew all wanting to get off, but eventually we got to the port.
The port was a dizzying array of all kinds of shops trying to sell us various memorabilia to drag home. Of course, we have no room for any of this stuff at home, so shopping was not my goal - I wanted to see houses and people and stuff. So we make it to the gates that let us out of this tourist shopping mecca and what do we find? The gate is literally blocked by dozens of Belizians who are trying to sell us more stuff, tours... we couldn't walk anywhere without all of them following us. It was a little weird having people follow us. Many of the women wanted to braid Kirsten's hair (yeah, where will they be when I have to pull all of the beads and junk out of her hair, huh?) So we kept telling them no. Finally, Dave said, "You know they are not going to leave us alone." So we agreed to let Willard drive us around Belize city in his van.
Willard was a nice man who had somewhat of a British accent. This makes sense since Belize (formally called British Honduras) was a British colony from 1862 to 1981. He showed us the Governors house and other colonial era buildings around Belize City. He also explained that all the bricks used in the foundations of those colonial buildings arrived in Belize as ballast from the ships that had come to take the mahogany harvested here back to England. Belize got the bricks, England got the mahogany.
Old Belize was our next stop. There Mark finally stopped whining since we let him go down the zip line. It was really high and really long. Mark says it was fun - but as I am not so much into heights, I wasn't going to join him. They had a man-made beach there but after the beautiful beach on Isle de' Pasion, it looked just so-so. I think you have to venture out of Belize City to see the really nice beaches.
We drove past St John's Cathedral (oldest church in Belize - built in 1812 out of those bricks again!), the Lighthouse monument at Fort George Point (donated to Belize by Baron Bliss of Portugal - he is entombed there) and the only manual swing bridge that is still in use today.
But along with the historical sights we also got to see some of the less than touristy spots. The poverty in Belize City was readily apparent by the ramshackle housing, open sewerage systems and number of people begging in the streets. One cute little boy came up for me and asked for a donation. I purposely carried no money with me because I was afraid it would get stolen, but I really wished I had something for him. Willard said it was a shame that whenever something nice was put in the city like benches or whatever, it always seemed to get stolen. He also noted that large sums of money had been given to Belize, but somehow, none of that ever seemed to be used to make the city better.
The traffic was terrible in the city - the streets were narrow and there didn't seem to be any traffic rules except "he who gets there first, goes". There were many people on bikes and we even saw one women on a bike with a child balanced on the crossbar. That wouldn't be so unusual except that the child looked to be no more that two years old. That certainly wouldn't be legal in the US - at least not without a child seat, safety harness, helmet, knee and elbow pads...but, I digress. There are exactly three traffic lights in the city which Willard explained didn't always work.
After our ride was over we spent a half hour or so talking to a former Californian who has made Belize his home. He also lamented how poorly things are run in the country. We could have spent even longer talking, but we had, by this time, bored the kids to tears so by 1:00 pm we were taking a tender back to the ship.
Oh yeah, I did buy a couple of touristy things in the shops at the port in Belize, but really, they were small! And you have to have something to remember the trip by, don't you?
On Sat. Jan 10, 2009 we left Port Canaveral, Fl on the Carnival Glory for a family cruise to the Western Carribean. Our stateroom had a king size bed, pull-out couch for Mark and a bunk bed for Kirsten. Many people may have thought it a tight squeeze, but after months of living in our RV it felt immediately like home to us. And the best part was the walk-out balcony! What amazing views we saw as we sat out there watching Florida disappear on that first day.
Sunday was spent at sea enjoying the good food, meeting new people and participating in shipboard activities. Dave and Kirsten entered the putting contest (the ball breaks towards the water) and Mark discovered his new avocation - riding elevators. He spent hours riding up and down the elevators meeting the other guests. He also spent time playing on the Wii, but quickly found out that he has more games at home.
On Monday we arrived at Cozumel. It was a beautiful sunny day and a great day for an excursion. We took an awesome speed boat ride to the Isle de' Pasion with our guide, Miguel (who spoke English) and the driver, Wilbur (who smiled a lot.) All of us got drenched with salt water as we did 360's and rode really fast towards the shore (slightly frightening.) Kirsten got salt water in her eyes and was really upset on the way out - she enjoyed the ride back much better (we didn't get as wet sitting in the front of the boat on the way back as we did in the way back on the way out.)
Once on the island we got to eat (a lot) and play in the ocean (which I must add was amazingly blue.) There was this water trampoline (picture a really huge inner tube with a trampoline in the middle and a rope ladder dangling off the side, all of which is just floating offshore) that was determined to not let me up. Wow! I really do not have very strong arms and I couldn't pull myself up. Mark tried to help me up, but I was afraid I would end up pulling both of us over. I finally realized that there was going to be some pain involved and that I was going to have to wrap my legs around that thing to get up. I did it, but boy am I glad there is no video footage of this embarrassing moment. Also note, a water trampoline is really hard to bounce on since the entire thing sinks when you jump on it. I kept landing on my knees. My kids confirmed that it is not like a real trampoline. Does that excuse my gracelessness?
Also on the island was a Segway and a miniature ATV, both of which Kirsten got to ride. They also had an organized balloon toss game that I think was rigged because Dave and I lost on the very first toss. I am pleased to say that he is the one that got splatttered and not me. Hey, maybe I am stronger that I think? Nah, must have been a defective balloon. Everyone else seemed to make it a few more rounds than we did. Kirsten and Mark were a team and they made it pretty far. They lost on the behind the back tossing round.
We arrived back at the Glory that afternoon sandy, salty and tired. I really did appreciate that someone else had been making dinner while we were gone - and even better yet- they did the dishes! I could get used to this.
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ok, my mom usually does these, but I decided I’d take a shot at it.
I'm going to use the same rating system my mom does. If I miss a ride,
just leave a comment and I’ll go ride it and add it to the list.
**** sorin' - a great ride where you glide through many scenic places.
The ride really makes you feel like you're there.
*** Ellen’s energy adventure - a slow moving ride that takes you through
different types of energy
*** Journey into imagination with figment - imagination, imagination.
a nice ride that takes you thought the sights, the sounds, and unfortunately
the smells, of imagination.
**** Mission space - going to mars 5, 4, 3, 2, 1,
LIFT OFF
*** Spaceship earth - a nice little slow moving ride, not much too it
**** Test track - weeeeeeeeeeee, lets ride again. a roller coaster
like ride.
It was a beautiful day yesterday (75 degrees and sunny - just like most days here!) so we decided to take a ride up to Blue Springs State Park in Orange City, Florida. I had called the park and they said there were 122 mantees sighted in the morning, so off we went. It was about an hour and fifteen minute ride, which was pretty quick considering I-4 almost always has traffic jams, but it was all clear today.
When we first got there Dave, Kirsten and I went straight to the first water lookout to see if we could spot the manatees. We didn't see any. But we did see some large gar fish and lots of little schools of fish, and Kirsten saw tadpoles. Mark refused to look and sat on the grass moping. (This trip wasn't his idea - he wanted to stay home and play on the wii.)
So next we walked along the boardwalk nature trail that leads up to the spring. I was struck by just how beautiful it all is. The live oak trees make a lovely canopy and with all the Spanish moss hanging from them, it feels like you are walking through the jungle. The spring itself is crystal clear and produces millions of gallons of water a day. It is over 110 feet deep, but it sure doesn't look it. It is striking that there is no vegetation growing anywhere along this tributary. We learned that is because of the low oxygen content in the water. But the constant 72 degree water temperature makes this an excellent hang-out for the manatee.
We next went to listen to the ranger program. Mark was told he had to listen or we would assign him a manatee book to read for school. He can now recite some manatee facts - to the chagrin of his sister, who wants to be the bearer of all knowledge.
So again we went looking for the manatee. This time we walked down the boardwalk that leads to the St. Johns River. First we saw an alligator and a LOT more fish. But then, there they were. At first we saw only one swimming up towards the spring, but then we looked across the tributary and there were another 5 or 6 of them. I say five or six because at first I thought one of them was an alligator, but I was wrong. Since these animals weigh over a thousand pounds (some as much as 2,000 pounds) I thought they would look huge, but they didn't. I think because the water was so clear that they were probably down deeper than they appeared and that made them look smaller. They also were careful to stay on the other side of the river away from the people, probably since the water was deeper on that side.
There was one mother manatee we saw with her baby next to her floating around, but mostly they just sort of lay down under the water. They have to leave the spring to find food each day (up to 10% of their body weight means they might have to eat 200 pounds of vegetation) and when they come back they save all their energy for tomorrow by doing absolutely nothing. There was one manatee that did roll over about a half dozen times, and that was fun to watch. We believe he was trying to get the fish off that were eating the algae off his back. But after he found out that that was useless, he just went back to sleep with all of his friends.
A large plantation-style house that was built in the 1880's by the Thursby's still stands on the property, but unfortunately it was closed. I can just imagine sitting here on my large front porch along the river in the peace and quiet (before all the thousands of tourists) watching all the birds and animals. It would have been wonderful - well, except maybe for the alligators. Just a little taste of a quieter, slower lifestyle. Who knows, maybe I would have been bored?
All-in-all we saw probably a dozen manatee and learned a little bit more about them as well as enjoying the natural surroundings. We saw a beautiful part of Florida that doesn't involve bright-flashing marquees, massive crowds and frustrating traffic jams. I would say our day away from Kissimmee was a day well spent!
On Monday night (December 15, 2008) Dave, Mark, Kirsten and I had tickets to the taping of Wheel of Fortune at SeaWorld in Orlando, Florida. We were all excited to see what goes on during the taping so we got there at a time that we thought was early. We arrived at about 6:50 PM and the doors were not scheduled to open until 8:30 PM. Would you believe that hundreds of other people had the same idea? We were dismayed to see how far back we were in line, but the longer we waited the longer that line got, so that by 8:30 PM our spots in line were looking pretty good! Also, we got to meet some other nice people in line. That helped a little to wile away the hours.
They opened the doors late (about 8:45 PM) and by that time my feet were pretty sore. I just wanted to sit down and Kirsten started getting a little tired. But she perked up when we walked into the arena. The taping was held in the outdoor arena where the Shamu show is in SeaWorld. Everything was beautiful! The skies were clear and the air was warm (70 degrees or so.) There were fountains with pretty lights shining on them and the roller coaster in the background was all lit up with blue lights. And of course the Wheel set itself was pretty colorful. Mark made the classic comment that it looks bigger on TV.
We were fortunate and got some pretty good seats on the left towards the front. Apparently, all of our patient waiting paid off. Once everyone was seated they got the production rolling pretty fast. A production director came out and explained about the cameras scanning the audience (don't look into the cameras, watch the set was rule one- somehow, that was tough for some people) He cued us about clapping and being quiet and not whispering the answers to the puzzles. Would you believe that people could not remember that one either? I heard people saying the answer and partly through the production Pat Sajak also had to explain to people not to do that because they would have to throw out the puzzle if they could hear the answer on-stage. I guess some people just can't control themselves.
I was surprised that Pat and Vanna did absolutely no interaction with the audience other than one "Hi, glad you are here" during one break between puzzles. I guess after all this time of doing this show they have run out of things to say to people? I don't know. They didn't even speak with the contestants.
Another thing we couldn't figure out was where does Vanna go between the taping and why? As soon as the taping of a puzzle had stopped she slipped off backstage. She didn't re-emerge until the very second that taping re-started. Does she need that many make-up touch-ups? That would be hard to believe as beautiful as she is.
Speaking of Vanna, Kirsten was enthralled when she walked out on to the stage. Not so much because of Vanna, but because of the dresses. The first one was a shimmering sea-green long gown that sparkled. Kirsten loved the sparkles. The second one (they taped two shows when we were there) was a deep red long gown that was equally beautiful and elegant.
Between shows (when Vanna and Pat had to go change clothes) they were going to do a dance contest to entertain the crowd. Kirsten so much wanted to participate that she kept waving her arm trying to get their attention for a good 15 minutes, if not more. She was disappointed when she didn't get selected. I was amazed that my shy, "don't pay attention to me" nine year old would want to go dance on stage in front of thousands of people but she said she wanted to. She cheered up though when one of the stage managers said he saw her with her hand up the entire time and he gave her a T-shirt. The T-shirt had SeaWorld written on the front and back and has a picture of the "Wheel" on it. She loves her T-shirt and raved about it most of the way home.
Do you know it is hard to clap for an hour? You think you can, but after the first show was done taping, my hands were red and I had to give up the clapping. Sounded to me like a lot of other people did also. I wonder if they have to add a clap track in later?
It was close to 11:00 PM by the time we were leaving the arena. Lucky Pat and Vanna got driven to their awaiting stretch limos in a golf cart. We walked right by them getting into the golf cart, but I couldn't see them (Dave is taller - he saw them.) Then we walked by them again as they were getting into their limos. We were literally feet away from them with nobody else near us (we were not walking with the crowd to the trams - we decided to walk quickly to the parking lot so we could beat everyone else out.) But again, I didn't catch a glimpse of them, oh well. But we did get a Wheel of Fortune magnet....
We ended up getting stuck in the parking lot traffic (probably 10 - 15 min) despite our best efforts, so we got home really late. But what great memories we have! We all had a good time, the weather was fantastic, the night was beautiful, and we got to spend some good family time. What could be better than that?
Mark, Kirsten and I went to the Magic Kingdom after school on Thursday, November 13, 2008. Mark requested no princesses or fairies. Kirsten requested princesses and fairies. Luckily, we could agree on rollercoasters and rides.
I believed that getting the princesses and fairies done first would be wise so we set off for Mickey's Toontown to meet the characters. Would you believe that the line for the fairies was over an hour long! We passed on meeting them this time, more on that in another blog.
We did wait the 15 minutes to see the princesses. Cinderella was a bit miffed to find out that the line for the fairies was out the building. Apparently having flawless princess skin, hair and a dazzling smile (not to mention the gorgeous gowns!) is just not enough to compete with the gals from Pixie Hollow!)
Having completed the princess meeting, we went off to Tomorrowland. This is my rating of the attractions we saw there. ( 5 star the highest - NR- not rated)
*** Indy Speedway. It was fun to ride the gas powered cars, but my children chastised me for going too slow. I'm telling you I had the thing floored!
***** Space Mountain - a roller coaster in the dark, what could be better? Even Mark liked this attraction. We fastpassed this and rode it twice.
*** Astro Orbitor - We waited a bit to get on this one. It is basically a children airplane ride that travels in a circle and you can make go up and down by pulling on the handle. The cool part about this one though is that it is on top of a building, so you have to take an elevator up to ride it. Normally, I am pretty good with rides, but I am not so keen on heights, so my kids would probably rate this higher than I would.
NR Transit Authority - This is a train ride that goes through Tomorrowland.
NR Carousel of Progress - We've seen this before so didn't do it again. Maybe next time.
**** Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin - We like this one so much we rode it 3 times in a row. It appealed to Mark because you could shoot things as you traveled along in the car. Too bad we have no idea how the points add up as you shoot things. It would be even more fun to challenge ourselves to get higher scores.
*** Stitch's Great Escape - I guess when the shoulder harness came down I expected this to be more like a "ride", but it was still fun to watch the show.
**** Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor - Great new attraction. We all laughed at the jokes (most corny) and the audience participation was fun to watch.
We spent about 3 hours in the park. The weather was absolutely perfect and I think even Mark had a good time (After the princesses that is.)
On Wednesday November 12, 2008, Kirsten and I went to the Magic Kingdom without Mark and Dave. That left us free to ooh and aah over all the beautiful Christmas decorations without Mark groaning and rolling his eyes at us. We also spent a good deal of time walking through the stores and admiring all the Fairy stuff for sale. (Yes, Fairymania has hit Kirsten - she is the "true" Tinkerbell.) But we did have time to see a lot of the other attractions in Fantasyland. So here is our opinion of each of the attractions: (with Tammy's star ratings- 5 being the highest - NR-not rated)
**** It's a Small World - just try to get that song out of your head when you are done. But it was a lot of fun for us to try and figure out what country we were traveling through based on the costumes of the kids. Kirsten thought that she would love to get a job as one of the kids swinging on the swings all day. I told her there was a reason that they used all robots - it would get boring after awhile, she disagreed. I liked this one so much because Kirsten liked it a lot.
**Peter Pan's Flight - was cute but after going on the other theme rides, it was predictable.
**** Mickey's Philharmagic - this is a classic. The 3-D effects make it a lot of fun. Even I tried to reach out and grab the bubbles! And we loved the surprise ending in which Donald Duck goes flying.
NRDream Along with Mickey - missed this stage show, guess we'll have to go back...
***Fairytale Gardens - what a beautiful place to sit and listen to a story with Belle! Would be even better if Kirsten was young enough to be picked for audience participation, but they only picked the little kids (under 7 years- I guess it makes it more interesting because you never know what they will do.)
**Snow White's Scary Adventure - another cute, but predictable theme ride. Maybe Kirsten was just too old so we didn't "catch the magic" on this one. Once upon a time Kirsten was very into Snow White (she even dressed as her for over a month straight - wore that dress everywhere, school, the mall, church...) but now she is onto other things (think Fairies..)
NRCinderella's Golden Carousel - long line and we have done carousels before, so we skipped this.
NRDumbo the Flying Elephant - ditto
NRAriel's Grotto - long line in which you get to meet Ariel, we passed.
NRPooh's Playful Spot - designed for toddlers, we passed.
** The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh - we waited an hour to go on this since we thought it was a new ride. I don't know if it was new or not, but it seemed exactly like the Peter Pan and the Snow White ride to us, just with different characters.
NR Mad Tea Party - this is the teacup ride. We passed since there was a line and we have ridden similar at Great Adventure dozens of times.
Kirsten and I had a great time together that day and it took us about 31/2 hours in the park to see the things I noted. We could have seen more if we had skipped the Winnie the Pooh ride, but now we know that it is not a ride worth waiting for. By the time our season passes expire next November, we will be Disney World experts!
