Finally a new post

I realized that I haven't updated the blog in quite a while, and worse - the way I left it was with a photo of my travertine project on the front porch - halfway finished.

Here's a photo of the finished job (finished back in the early spring).

Below is a photo of the porch before I started the project.

Front Porch Project - Phase 1

This is the front porch and entryway after I've trued up the edges of the step. It wasn't a 90 degree angle and it wasn't square.

During my last week off, I started working on my front porch. I've never liked the surface of our front porch, it was poured concrete and was not very pretty. A couple of years ago, I purchased a couple of large outdoor carpets and put on it and it looked okay.

Last summer, I decided I wanted to put down travertine (a natural stone) for the surface. Summertime is too hot to work outdoors in Florida (for me) and so I put it off. The fall had me working on the boat a lot to prepare for this winter's Bahamas trip, so that left this late winter and spring to do the porch.

First off was buying the Travertine. I needed about 220 sq feet. I could buy it for about 6 bucks a square foot OR if I was willing to buy a whole crate (about 350 square feet), I could get it for 2 bucks a square foot. That was a no brainer, so I bought a crate of Travertine and had it delivered to the house (it weighed 2200 pounds). After I got back from the Atlanta race, I started in on the project.

First up was leveling and truing the surface. Whomever poured the 'upper' part of the porch did a real crappy job of making sure everything was at right angles, so I had to spend a pretty good amount of time preparing the surface and especially getting the edge of the step true. I had decided that rather than butting the tiles where the vertical meets the horizontal at the steps I would put in a nice trim piece that would really make it look custom. This decision cost me about a days worth of prep because the trip piece doesn't span a large area, so the imperfections of the steps had to be fixed.

Then, I decided that I needed some accents in the field tiles, so I looked all over town for what I wanted (pillow glass that matches the color of the front doors) and couldn't find it anywhere. So, I ordered it on the internet.

With all my supplies in hand, I started laying out the tile. This step takes a long time, but make for a good job, so I spent a lot of time making sure everything was laid out perfectly.

With 2 days of driving rain in the middle of the job, it lasted much longer than I wanted, but on Sunday, I finally grouted the 1/16ths inch grout lines and phase one is complete. I now have the MUCH larger area to do that spans the front of the house, but with phase 1 under my belt, I expect that phase 2 will go quite fast (I hope). I have to work through the Martinsville race, so it'll be the first week in April before I get started on it.

The completed "phase one" with the front doors open.

You can see part of the larger porch area here. I'll match the completed area for the main porch during phase 2.

You can see the pillow glass accents pretty good in the larger version of this photo.

Star-Studded Day at the Track in Atlanta

Me and Scott Speed

In this job, I get the opportunity to meet a few 'famous' (or maybe recognizable) people pretty often. Many times, it's a surprise and the opportunity just jumps up in front of you and you have to take it. This was the case today at the Atlanta track.

I left our truck to go out to the catering tent to get some coffee and passed an area in our TV compound where they were shooting a small bit for the race show called 'Racing Chef'. The 'guest' on the show was my favorite driver - Scott Speed. Scott is my favorite driver because of his attitude. He's more like a hang glider pilot, snowboarder kinda guy than a race car driver. He doesn't win races (yet) but he's doing better all the time.

Anyway, I stopped to watch the taping and when it was done, I went over and introduced myself and shook his hand. I always do this in a nice and respectful way and so far, none of the many celebs that I've done this with have been put off.

The new International Truck that Cowboy likes.

Later, Cowboy (our truck driver) and I went down to the pits to take care of some business and to look for this new truck that International has come out with - that looks retro. As we were passing the media center, we saw a girl go in there that looked like she had an olympic medal around her neck. I went in to see if indeed she was an olympian and instead found 4 olympians. Honestly, I don't know who most of them were, but I instantly recognized Steven Holcomb -the driver of the men's 4 man bobsled who took gold just last week in the Olympics. He has an incredible story and I made sure to take the time to meet him, and tell him thanks for making us all proud.

The olympians. Steven Holcomb is on the right.

Shortly afterward, a B-52 bomber strafed the infield - for no apparent reason. It was loud, low and really cool. I happened to have a camera in my hand and was able to get a photo of it as it passed by. A fun day at work!

Atlanta Motor Speedway

I'm in cold,cold,cold Atlanta this week.

Hanging out in Southern California

I'm in SoCal this week - in the L.A. basin. Specifically, I'm in the town of Fontana- which is at the NE corner of L.A. Jan and I used to live about an hour west of here. It's a nice place to visit, but I don't miss living here at all.
Working this track is nice. It's out in front of Cucamonga Peak, so the view is really nice while I'm out working.

This is the only escalator that I can think of in Nascar.

Don't believe your eyes

I've been wondering for quite a while how it is, that many of my favorite TV shows could afford to shoot some of their scenes on very remote locations. Especially when they only shoot 1 or 2 scenes in a place like Prague or the Himalayas. It's just too cost prohibitive to make sense - especially for television budgets.

I knew that 'green screen' technology was used widely in the industry (we even use it at Sportvision), but I was amazed when I watched this video - just how much it's used.

Lighting the Elbow Cay Light

Being on Elbow Cay - in the Hopetown area is a really special thing. We had some friends on boats there and met new ones and so our visit to this corner of Abaco was quite social. One of the landmarks that is associated with Hopetown is the red and white lighthouse that was built there in the 1860's and still watches over the area - warning sailors of the dangerous reefs just offshore.

The Bahamas is a third world country (even though many people think of it as a resort country) and one of the things that accompanies a 'free' third world country is the lack of a lot of rules and structure. Anyone who has read my blog for long knows that after returning from visiting any of these countries that have less structure, I refer to the US as the 'land of no' (click here for past posts on that subject) . We have a rule for everything and every kind of structure in place to keep us from harming ourselves (so we can't sue someone later). We've become used to this and I think it's a real shame - but then again - many people need to be protected from themselves I guess. As I've traveled to different parts of the world, I've been very fortunate to be able to experience some extremely special things - just because I've asked to.

Jeffery getting a new mantel ready for the light

So, as I sat in the Hopetown harbor watching the famous swords of light rotate around and pierce the night sky with 5 beams passing by every 15 seconds, I thought to myself "I'll bet that I can go up top while the keeper lights the light". The lighthouse itself is open to exploration, but it closes to visitors at 5 pm nightly, so my plan was to just go to the door about 15 minutes before dark and wait for the light keeper to show up and ask him.

Priming the vaporizer

So, the next morning, I asked our friend Brad who is living on his sailboat "Mothra" in the harbor, and seems to know everyone - if he knew the light keeper and if he thought I could be there during the lighting of the light. Brad said it would be no problem and to do exactly what I'd planned on doing - just show up before dark and ask.

Getting the mixture right

So, that was my plan. I dinghied over to the old cement dock that is the main access to the lighthouse and waited outside until Jeffery - the light keeper showed up. I asked him if I could watch him light the light and he said sure.

The light is fueled by kerosene and surprisingly it only uses 2.5 gallons per night. The delivery system is pressurized by hand to 60-70 psi and the kerosene is pumped up to a vaporizer just below the mantel. To get the kerosene to vaporize initially, the keeper puts a couple of ounces of kerosene in a container just below the vaporizer and heats it up for about 5 minutes. This heat is maintained while the light is lit so there's no need to 'prime' it afterward. Once the vaporizer is functioning properly, the keeper has to coax the right mixture of vaporized kerosene to the mantel for the proper glow. It appeared to be a bit of a learned art.

This flame, when refracted through the fresnel lens can been focused and seen for 17 miles.

During the day, there's a curtain around the fresnel lens that keeps the sun from shining in a focused manner through incredibly large magnifying glasses. While lighting the light, we worked on the inside of this curtain. After the light was burning (about a 15 minute process), the curtain is dropped and the weights which have been wound to just below the light are allowed to begin their 2 hour descent - which is what makes the lens turn at a speed of 4 rpm. Below is some official info about the light:

"The light source for Elbow Cay was built by Chance Brothers of Birmingham, England and is till sending out the light today from the top of the Elbow Reef Lighthouse. The hood petroleum burner is rated at 325,000 candlepower, a first order light. A hand pump is used to pressurize the kerosene in heavy iron containers in the service room, directly below the lantern room and travels up a tube to an atomizer which sprays into a mantle (a hood of network fabric) having been pre-heated before lighting. Some camping lanterns operate similarly.

"The beautiful Fresnel lenses concentrate the mantle's light into a piercing beam straight out towards the horizon. The eight thousand pound lenses and burner equipment float in a circular tub of lubricant thereby reducing friction so that seven hundred pounds of weight, when wound up to the top of the tower by a hand winch and using a series of bronze gears, rotate the four ton apparatus once around every 15 seconds and very smoothly at that. The keeper on duty has to wind up the weights every two hours. The smooth sweep of the turning lenses with their five swords of light cutting the darkness over the sea, while the light constantly glows between those beams, is know as the 'soul' of a lighthouse. Once seen and compared to an electric flashing light, it is not soon forgotten and the use of the word 'soul' is more easily understood."

During the day, I put my GoProHD camera on a headband and headed up the lighthouse, then put it on a 5 ft. pole to give a good perspective view. You can see the video from that below (watch it in HD if you have a fast connection)

To see this video larger click here.

Here's a short video from the lighting of the light - taken with my canon elf.

To see this video larger - click here.

Enjoying Hopetown

Hopetown Harbor this morning at sunrise

We decided to leave Great Guana Cay thursday morning and head over to Hopetown. We were a bit sad to leave because we'd once again gotten to know the locals. We visited new friends - Bruce and Deb - who have just finished building a new house on the south end of Guana Cay. We had dinner with them in 'town' on Tuesday night and then hiked out to their place on Wednesday for lunch. We had a great time. Back in town as we were sitting on the front porch at Pirate's cove, a couple of the locals told us we shouldn't leave because we were like locals now. Of course, that's far from reality, but it's sure nice having folks treat you that way.

Sunrise on Guana - Thursday morning.

We're on a mooring in Hopetown, on Elbow Cay. This is Jan's favorite place in the Abacos. It's a quaint 'colonial' town with lovely streets and pastel houses. There's no anchoring allowed in the harbor, so all the boat are all swinging on moorings and there's no derelict boats.

We arrived yesterday around noon and was greeted by an old friend of Jan's from her days when she worked on the Manteo waterfront. Brad owned a old gaff rigged sailing vessel named the "Downeast Rover" which he would take tourists for daysails. Now he lives on a catamaran in Hopetown Harbor.

We had a lovely dinner with him and 2 other outer bankers who arrived yesterday - Tony and Martha - from Hatteras Island. We ate at Captain Jacks and played trivia where we came in 2nd by 1 point.

We'll be here for 5 days or so - waiting out the current frontal passage that's on the U.S.'s east coast.

Hanging on the mooring in Guana Cay

We got to Marsh Harbor saturday morning. Our flight on Locair (a little 'mom and pop' airline) took us through Treasure Cay first - where we had to clear customs and then on to Marsh Harbor. There was a bit of a delay in Treasure Cay due to a few passengers being clueless (or acting like they were clueless) and by the time we caught a taxi in Marsh Harbor to the ferry dock to take us over to Guana Cay where our boat is, we got to the ferry dock in time to see the ferry leaving.

Not to worry, we're on vacation so we just moved around the Marsh Harbor area and sampled each establishment's version of the Goombay Smash. 3 hours later, we were on the next ferry to Guana Cay.

We arrived at the Government dock in Guana at 2 pm and walked over to Pirate's Cove where a fella by the name of Jerry (a retired Air Force officer) runs a great little 'catch all' place that serves everything from ice cream to mixed drinks. Jerry had one of his workers pick me up off the boat when we left 2 weeks earlier - that way I could leave the dingy on the davits and not worry about it. As we arrived at Pirate Cove, the tide was low and Jerry's boat couldn't get out, so we settled in for what we thought would be a couple of hours to get a ride out to SERENITY.

As we were sitting there enjoying a 'Guana Sunrise', I saw a group of 8 people coming in on a dingy, so I rushed back to the government dock and convinced the captain to give me the short ride out to our boat.

We were back on SERENITY by 3 pm and got settled in. The weather here is a little cooler than normal with a couple of fronts coming off the U.S. mainland. It's 29 tonight in Port Orange and 60 here in Guana, so I guess on the bigger scale of cold - we're doing alright!

Jan's starting to relax a bit. Some of you know that she's been having some health problems with bulging discs and such - causing nonstop headaches - along with her workaholic tendencies, this has not been a good thing. We're determined to get both fixed over the next few weeks - at least as much as we can. We're going to hang out here through this next frontal passage and probably move to Hopetown on Thursday.