Just a quick post to wish all my family, friends, and many readers a Happy Thanksgiving celebration. May you’all have the chance to enjoy a wonderful meal with family and friends. As part of your celebrations, you might also take a few moments to reflect upon the many blessings of the past year, and to give thanks.
Winnie and I have a considerable amount of experience in home improvement. My expertise goes back to my teen years and I’ve been involved with projects (some of which involved contractors) on each of the five homes I’ve owned. Winnie used to help her uncles pour concrete and lay tile roofs back in China, and has worked with me on all our home improvement projects starting right after hurricane Katrina.
One would think that with all this home improvement experience something fairly simple like installing an over-the-range microwave would be easy.
A few weeks ago I was out for a late season kayak run up the Bull Run River. It was a warm sunny day, as nice as it gets around these parts in late September. On this particular day, I also had the opportunity to make a difference in the life of another creature.
We’re in the dog days of August but time still seems to be flying by. So many chances of fun have passed without actually seizing the moment. Those few moments of fun that actually happened stand out like jewels in the cluttered mass of routine that hardly vary from one season to the next. It seems there’s just not enough time to do fun stuff, but always enough time to do the chores of daily life.
Yesterday I faced the possibility of a mass shooting in a place I worked, that had seen a mass shooting only 21 months ago. It turned out to be a false alarm, but the response by law enforcement and reactions of people involved showed me just how close to the edge we’re living.
Being married to a Chinese lady means I have frequent adventures in Asian cuisine. Along with the cuisine comes the adventures of accompanying Winnie on her shopping trips to local Asian grocery stores. I enjoy visiting these stores for a chance to explore the amazing things Asian people consider edible.
Winnie has been talking about learning to swim for almost as long as she’s been in the US. A few weeks ago she finally took the plunge and signed up for swimming classes. Of course, she also wanted me to sign up with her, so I could “help her out” with her classes.
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As I’ve been exploring the Potomac River by water, I’ve discovered some interesting spots and learned some interesting history. One spot that is rapidly becoming my favorite is Mallows Bay, on the Maryland side of the river, which is the location of the largest ship graveyard in the Western Hemisphere.
I was in Las Vegas, Nevada, last week attending a Navy reunion with the crew of USS Scamp (SSN 588), the first submarine I served on during my Navy career. In addition to sitting around with old shipmates drinking, sharing sea stories, and generally catching up on 35 years of living, I chartered a kayak trip down the Colorado River. And what a trip that was!
Winnie finally returned from China on Saturday evening, just in time for me to leave for Las Vegas on Sunday evening. It seems we can’t seem to get our schedules aligned.
