Getting Settled In.....

The trip here was remarkably UNeventful, except for the YUUUUGE traffic delay in East Vail along the I-70.

The night before, while we were in Grand Junction, a semi that was Westbound on I-70 "lost control", crossed the median and both lanes of the oncoming Eastbound traffic, hit the ditch, flipped over, broke up and came apart, and caught fire.

The trailer was upside down and in big and small pieces, and the tractor was nowhere to be seen.

We just heard tonight that it was further down in the ditch, and not visible from the highway.

Normally, going through East Vail is one of those "don't blink or you'll miss it" drives, but this trip it took us a little over an hour to get through there. And I was low on fuel......

I should have stopped in Vail proper but didn't. We coasted into Copper Mountain with 2 or 3 gallons in the tank.

The other "low fuel" incident occurred when we got off I-15 and on to I-70. There were dozens of gas stations in the 5 miles leading up to the junction around Sulphurdale, but we had about 3/4 of a tank, so I kept going. A few miles East on I-70 I saw the "No Services Next 103 Miles" sign, and knew I should have fueled up.

Oh, well....Press On Regardless!

The country we drove through was absolutely stunning, and my son was just blown away by it.

But man, if you look up the word "desolate", you'll see pix of these areas as an example!

We rolled into Green River with about 1/8 tank. After that, the drive into Grand Junction was quite nice.

ANYWAY....the DIL's brother came by yesterday to move his boat out of the garage here, and then my son, my step-son, and the DIL's brother all pitched in to unload the 6'x12' U-Haul I towed here. We had it emptied out, and things neatly arranged in about 30 minutes, as the trailer was only a bit over 1/2 full.

We finished up just as the rain started to fall, and fall it did.

I had to take my son and wife's BFF to the Denver airport, and with the rain, the road construction, and the Saturday night traffic, it took almost two hours to get there from here.

Coming back, I missed the turn for I-25, and was almost in Boulder before I knew I'd really screwed up. Got turned around, but it took almost 3 hours to get back here.

Took the U-Haul back today, rummaged around in the garage for a while sorting things out, digging out a set of boots that were better than these things I've been wearing since "ever", got out a jacket, a liner, and some long pants, as tee-shirts and shorts with leaky shoes just don't cut it when it's 42* and raining!

Then we had dinner with The Kids, played with baby Noah for a while, and then back here.

If I can figure out how to transfer the pix off my phone to this laptop, I'll post the few I took.

And the dog is settling in, finally. She's back to eating, and seems to have found a preferred spot to do her business when shew wants to go out. BUT....just like back in Long Beach, if it's raining she'll stick her nose out, see it's raining, and then retreat back in.

Wonder what she'll do when it snows?

Got Internet Now, and a Trailer to Unload

Spent about 20 minutes on the phone getting my Boost Mobile 4G/LTE WiFi Hotspot reactivated.

It's a far cry from the 150 MB FiOS we had in Long Beach, but at least I have some connectivity.

We have to completely unload the trailer to get the ammo cans out, as I can't store ammo at the storage place.

Then I'll take the big trailer back to U-Haul, which is located on the South side of Fort Collins. Monday I'll go back there and rent a small open trailer, load up the items that I'm allowed to store, and drag them over to the storage place.

Final Leg of Journey Today

Looks like I-70 Eastbound is open again. Woke up early (for me) when the dog started making a ruckus to go potty, which she FINALLY did today.

This trip has been hard on her, as she's never been in the car for more than 20~30 minutes before.

Time to take a shower, get packed up here, fuel the Jeep, grab a BIG travel coffee, and head out towards Fort Collins.

The Kids don't really have any Internet service at their place in Bellvue, so I'll be using one of my wireless 4G hotspots, *IF* I can get a connection.

If I can't get a connection, posting might be pretty spotty for the next month until we get settled in whatever house we buy.

Talk at y'all later today.......

In Grand Junction for the Night. Next Stop....Fort Collins

Long day driving. Not so much in hours, but in "mental calculation load" terms.

We filled up in St. George before we left, and then twice more. The Jeep was guzzling fuel like crazy towing the loaded trailer through the mountains. Tomorrow we cross the Rockies, IF we can get through the Vail Pass. A semi truck heading West went out of control, crossed all the Eastbound lanes, and then crashed into the side of the mountain and burst into flames. CoDOT is working to clear the mess, but as of  1811, the pass was still closed.

The CoDOT website gives a detour route, and hopefully if Vail Pass is still closed tomorrow they'll have the detour signs in place.

I'll check again Friday morning after we have breakfast.

Made it to St. George

Had very little traffic leaving L.A., so I guess leaving at 1000 on a Wednesday is a good idea.

Went through Vegas around 1600~1630 and hit quite bit until we got out of the city.

Then smooth sailing to our arrival in St. George.

The trailer tows fine, but I think they should have spread the weight of the heavy items a bit more evenly, rather than concentrating almost all of it in the very front of the trailer.

I think it's a bit "nose heavy", but these guys have been packing stuff for 14 years, so I'll cut them some slack.

Tomorrow will be a drive from the SW corner of Utah up to where the I-15 and the I-70 split. My wife took the 15 into Salt Lake City, and will catch I-,80 go through Southern Wyoming, and then catch I-25 South, and come into Fort Collins from the North.

I typically take I70 East, go through the Rockies, and catch I-25 in Denver. Since my son has never seen the Rockies, I think we'll take that route.

Next Stop, UTAH!

Just finished loading "The 1%" remaining in the Jeep and trailer. As soon as the dog finishes up her business in the back yard, we're outta here.

See you tonight, God willin' and the circk don't rise.....

I'm Too Tired To Think Straight.....

12 hour marathon.

House and garage are packed into the 6 U-Boxes (God are those things flimsy JUNK!) and the overflow filled about 2/3 of the 6'x12' trailer.

The house in 99% empty, and the remaining things will go with me, my son, and the dog when we depart Long Beach Wednesday morning.

I was wondering why me feet were hurting so much, and then I inspected the Denali boots I was wearing all day.

They're worn out and shot, and I've only been wearing them for six months!

I not only hurt in places I forgot I had, but hurt in places I didn't know I had.

Next post will most likely be from St. George, UT, our first night's stop. I'm pretty sure we'll need to get gas in Baker, CA, and one place I want to stop is "Arne's Royal Hawaiian Hotel", and abandoned hotel where the two guys on RoadKill made a stop.

I'm hitting the showers, then the sack.

G'night, all.........

T Minus ONE and Counting.....

Good Lord....this is the most monumental PITA I've ever been through.

The packing/loading guys are here filling up the six "U-Boxes" that U-Haul dropped off and positioned yesterday, and "1-800-GOT-JUNK" is coming by for another load.

This is stuff I really wanted to keep, and have definite future uses for, but I'm dumping it to keep peace, or at least try to.

If the marriage survise this, it should be damn near bullet-proof in the future.

My son is coming over tonight after he gets off work, and he and I and the dog will take off tomorrow after U-Haul picks up the U-Boxes.

Per our real estate agent, I'll lock up everything except the front door, leave my keys on the counter by the stove, and set the snap locks, and close the front door behind me.

I'll post from the road, and probably one more from here tomorrow before we leave......

Things Ending and Things Beginning.....

Dragged out my big Toshiba laptop to get ready for the trip. Spent about 45 minutes last night updating Windows and all the other "security" utilities I run on it.

The former Radio Room is now empty. All the equipment is packed away, the desks are dismantled and in the front yard, and "1-800 GOT-JUNK" is coming this afternoon to haul away many things of my past.

I made up a network diagram of our home network for the new owners. There's a "Coaxial Segment" and an "Ethernet Segment", but I'm pretty sure my nice, neat drawing might as well be done in Martian for the new owner, as he's not a "Tech Guy" at all. Perhaps it will help whoever they call if there's a problem. They only active component is the network switch; the coax splitters should last 100 years unless the house takes a lightning hit.

Oh, well....time to get my hand cart and start moving large boxes of stuff out to the front yard for the junkman......

Network Going DOWN....

Seeing as I have to empty this room TODAY, I'll be powering down this PC, tearing the desk apart and dragging it out for the junkman, and falling back on my laptop.

Posting from this point on will be very sporadic.

See you all on the flip side.......

Leaving Kalifornia.....

Last post here for a while. I may or may not post from the road...we'll have to see about that.

And the place we'll be staying at has basically NO Internet, so I'll be using one of my portable 4G WiFi Hot Spots.

Things are going South in a hurry here. My wife she was going to arrange the junkman pick-up, but since *I* didn't get this room cleaned out yesterday because I was outside making big piles of stuff into smaller pile of throw-away and very small piles of keep, she says I broke my promise to have the room cleaned, and now it's my task to make arrangements to having the stuff hauled away.

And I'll have to park the Supra on the street starting Sunday night, as she's demanding I have the entire driveway empty so U-Haul can fill it with pods. I took the tap measure outside and measured out the area they said they'd need, pointing out that two of the six pods could be placed alongside the house, by OH NO!!!!!! The whole damn driveway MUST be empty accord to She Who Must BE Obeyed.

And other misc BS, dagger stares, etc, etc, etc.

Makes me wonder why I bothered to get married again. I can give myself this kind of abuse, and then it's over. She's running at flank speed all over me, and shows no signs of letting up.

Oh, well......

So here's something I ginned up a while back. I was planning on making it pretty and polished, but that wouldn't really fit with this blog very well, so here it is:

Leaving Kalifornia…..Or Should That Be “Kommiefornia”?

As our time in The People’s Demokratik Republik of Kaliforniastan draws to a close, I thought it interesting to go through my time here and reflect on some things. There’s times I wonder if I made the right decision when I moved here, and ponder what Might Have Been if I’d stayed in Illinois. I can pretty much say that I never would have had the interesting career I’ve had, and I know I wouldn’t have been able to do a lot of the things I got to do while living here.

Things I’ll miss:

My family and friends

The Battleship Iowa

The weather. My wife has never lived anywhere with REAL weather. The first major thunderstorm will have her under the bed clutching the dog

The ocean. Now I’ll have the mountains, though, so I’ll call that a wash

In-N-Out Burger. The closest one is in Utah

Really good “Chinese” food. The only place I’ve that I like is the HuHot, a pretty good “Mongolian BBQ”, but the add-your-own sauces are pretty bland, at least compared to The Golden Camel in Torrance

REALLY good Mexican food, although The Kids tell us Fort Collins has some great Mexican restaurants

KLOS, KCBS (“Jack FM”), KROQ, KSWR, KYSD, and a couple of other FM radio stations

150MB high-speed Internet for a reasonable price

Things I absolutely, positively, will NOT miss:

The congestion that comes with “postage stamp” sized lots. Our lot is 5400 sqft, with maybe 15’ between the houses, and is in a neighborhood consisting of a couple of hundred other houses. I don’t want to know when my neighbor flushes their toilet, or what they’re cooking for dinner

The traffic. Used to take me 20~22 minutes to get to the Iowa in 2008. Now it takes 45 or more

The graffiti that gets painted over only to reappear a day later, larger and more colorful

The trash alongside the roads and in the parking lots. It’s everywhere. It really boils my blood to see somebody open their car door, dump a bag of McDonald’s on the ground, and then walk to a store that has a big trash bin right by the entrance...

The crime. This part of Long Beach is pretty safe, but go a mile or two North or West, and the whole scene changes….

The STOOPID gun laws

The even STOOPIDER (is that possible?) politicians. How Nazi Pelosi and Dianne Frankenstein manage to keep getting elected is astounding

The taxes. You name it, and it’s most likely taxed here. And at an exorbitant rate…..which is increasing. Our betters in Sacramento just added $1/month to everybody’s water bill, domestic and commercial, to pay for “Safe, clean water for our rural brothers and sisters”, or some equally inane reason. They’ll probably want another tax to repair Oroville Dam…..

The ever increasing numbers of The Entitled and their attitude. And their driving is getting worse. Cutting across multiple lanes without a turn signal, stopping in the street to talk to somebody, blatantly blabbing away or texting while they’re driving, etc, etc, etc

The FOURTEEN Mexican and SEVEN rap crap radio stations on the FM dial

I’m tempted to say “The DMV”, but that’s highly dependent on which office you go to

So bye-bye Kalifornia. You used to be The Golden State, but that was a long time ago, in a USA far, far away

Light Posting Ahead.....

Getting down to the wire, and the stress level here is past eleven....

I'm going through the remaining piles in the backyard, and told the wife to call the junk man.

This is as hard for me to do as it was for me to stop on the aft brow of the Iowa yesterday, and salute our flag before I walked off the ship for the last time.

I know, it's just "stuff", and it's bad to be too materialistic, but this "stuff" is a collection of things I managed to acquire after I got sober in 1995. I put my life back together and got my own apartment after living in a men's sober living house for a year, and slowly started rebuilding my life.

Amateur Radio played a big part of that, and for years I scratch-built equipment because the job I had managed to hold on to before I had my "Moment Of Clarity" didn't pay all that well, so I had to build stuff if I wanted to get on the air.

So I guess this "Pile Of Junk" as my wife refers to it represents a whole lot more to me than just parts for future projects, and parts from past projects; it represents a time of my life where I not only found sobriety, but had to "reinvent myself" as a means of keeping busy. "Idle Hands" and all that....

I'm happy that my son kept all the little things we built together during that time, as I was completely out of his life for a couple of years after my first wife tossed me out. I didn't really come back into his life until my best buddy from college dragged me out of the cheap motel I was slowly dying in, and helped me clean up. It took me another couple of years before I finally manged to get sober, and stay that way.

Maybe it's finally time to put that all behind me, and open a new chapter in life.

I still hate tossing out good parts and equipment, but the clock is ticking, and if I don't get it done in the next 48 hours, it'll cause a real mess with things....

T Minus Sven Days and Counting.....

Next Wednesday we bid goodbye to Kailfornia.

It will be bittersweet.....

The movers are scheduled, my 6'x12' trailer is scheduled, and I dragged a bunch more stuff to eWaste today.

I was "saved" from the agony of dumping perfectly good stuff because of the gentleman who bought a receiver I sold on eBay. He lives in Costa Mesa, and came up here to pick it up so he could save the shipping cost. We got talking, as Hams do, and he followed me back here from our meeting point. Together we went through all the stuff I've collected over the years.

He's a "hard core" Ham, and scratch builds things and restores equipment, so he lit up when he looked at the stuff I had.

He took three radios in various states of restoration, all the parts for them we could find, four pieces of old (but working!) HP test equipment, and TWELVE boxes of miscellaneous parts, cables, variable capacitors, transformers, chokes, knobs, tubes, and other stuff.

We had his Subaru Forester loaded to the gills when he left with a big smile on his face.

My wife couldn't believe somebody was so happy to drag a car full of "junk" home, and the huge piles of "stuff" in the backyard are now manageable.

I spent some time after he left consolidating several boxes of stuff into single, larger boxes, and if I keep doing that over the next few days, I should make the piles of "stuff" get down to "Wife Approved" size.

I loaded up the Jeep to the max with stuff I'm taking down to the Iowa, and that cleared off the back porch, and made several of the smaller piles disappear.

Wednesday will be my last day on the Iowa for the foreseeable future, and walking down the brow to the pier for the last time will be hard.

As one of my blogging friends has told me "Colorado is beautiful, but they don't have battleships".........

Jeep Maintenance, Part II

Just finished the front brakes, and inspection.

Took about three hours, and all of the rubber boots on the CV joints, steering rack, and other suspension bits are in good shape. NO tears, rips, or leaks, and not even any seepage indicating a pending leak.

Taking a break after I washed up, and then I'm off to get the oil and filter changed. I generally do that, too, but I don't have any 5W-20 oil, or a filter.

I'll take the Supra for a drive on Thursday and then change the oil in that.

The hardest part about doing the front brakes was jacking up the car, and dealing with the BIG rims and tires...

9-11

Read the others who have posted.

They've done a better job than I could ever hope to.....

Jeep Maintenance....

Started off this morning by replacing the two gas struts that hold open the rear hatch, and the one for the hood. Then I changed the "cabin" air filter for the passenger compartment and the wiper blades.

Then out came the power tools, floor jack and jack stands, and I commenced to replace the rear rotors and pads.

Making sure the parking brake was OFF and the front wheels were  chocked securely, I jacked the car up and pulled the drivers rear wheel off. The caliper came off easily, but the rotor....SHEESH!

Took me about 20 minutes to find some videos on YouTube showing how to do it. It's really quite simple....you just wail away on it with a BFH until it comes loose!

I found by using a big pry bar between the rotor and caliper mount I didn't have to bash on it as much as the people in the videos were bashing on it.

Took longer than I thought, and it was nice to have my son over to help with the big, heavy rims and tires, and flying the floor jack.

Got the rear finished, but it wasn't all that many years ago that I would have continued and done the fronts, too.

Those will have to wait until tomorrow. I'm trashed and filthy and need a shower and a good night's sleep to do this again.

T Minus 10 Days And Counting.....

I scheduled this to post today, but somehow it got inserted out of order.  Guess I wasn't watching what I used for the post date!


Boy.....I'll be leaving Kommiefornia in ten days. Things are getting really REAL here!

Monday morning I'm picking up the little 4'x6' trailer again, and taking another full load to the eWaste / electronic recycling place. It pains me to dump perfectly good, usable, serviceable stuff, but I just can't take it all with me.

A couple of my friends came over to look through it, but they're not satellite or microwave guys, and one of them expected everything to be pristine, 100% functional, include the manuals and original shipping boxes, and be free-for-the-hauling.

Well....the equipment I have like that is NOT going to be given away! It's already packed up and waiting to be loaded on the trailer.

"In The Good Old Days", Hams were happy to take stuff that needed a bit of work and some cleaning, but was otherwise useable, and especially if it was FREE!

These days? Most of then have devolved into "appliance operators", very few people build anything more complex than station accessories, and unless the gear you have to offer is clean and fully functional, nobody wants it.

And as soon as the coffee kicks in this morning, I'm going to tear into the Jeep and do the brakes on all four corners.

I figured since I was putting new rotors and pads on the rear, I might as well do the front, so I picked up two new front rotors while I was at O'Reilly's. I decided to go with ceramic pads on the rear, along with matching pads for the front. These will hopefully last a good long time. I should probably replace the rear shocks, as they're just starting to get a bit "bouncy", but that can wait. I'll do the front and rear shocks once we're in Colorado...

Junk/Spam Comments On Old Posts

Am I the only one this happens to?

I keep getting obviously junk comments on posts that are several years old.

Blogger usually catches it, as it goes to the email I used when I first started the blog.

Others are equally obviously spam, as there's always a punch line at the end, but the ones that say things like "WOW! Great Blog!" or something similar that look to be machine generated are anooying, but look harmless.

Oh, well...they go in the spam bucket, which gets checked and empty every so often.

Down to less than two weeks now. Hope the crazy little Fat Bastard with the bad haircut doesn't start anything until we're out of here!

And yes, I keep a complete HF radio and power supply in a sealed up steel box, "Just In Case"......

Idiot Kalifornia Drivers

I went to U-Haul today and rented a 4'x6' open trailer, and towed it home.

I filled it with electronic stuff that had value, but nobody wanted, and my wife was yapping at me to get rid of.

As I was towing it to the eWaste recycling place, some MORON in a brand-new Buick "mini SUV" shot out of a side street about 25' in front of me, not even bothering to heed the stop sign, and proceeded to cross all THREE lanes of the street, and get into the left-turn lane. I laid on the horn and got on the brakes so hard the ABS kicked in, and missed her by about six inches. She had a "deer in the headlights" look to her once she heard the horn on the Jeep, and heard the tires screaming for mercy.

I damn near had to stop and change my shorts.....

I haven't seen anybody do anything that freaking STUPID since about 1980 when some young bimbo ran a stop sign about 50' in front of me, and I plowed into her after trying to take evasive maneuvers and realizing I could 1) go through the guard rail and into a 100' deep gravel pit on my left, or 2) brake as hard as I could, slow down as much as I could, and hit her.

She was driving a battle-cruiser class 1976 Chevrolet Caprice, and I was driving my 1975 VW Scirocco. I couldn't get around her to the right, because right after she ran the stop sign and entered the intersection, she looked to her left, saw me coming, and slowed down to a complete stop with her mouth gaping open.

There were half a dozen witnesses who commended me on driving skill, and told the Illinois State Trooper who responded it was "100% her fault".

This happened on the Friday afternoon of a Memorial Day weekend, she stunk of beer, and said she'd been in a hurry to get to her friend's party "before the band got there".

The cop cuffed her, threw her into the back seat, and took her away. He was NOT happy that my girlfriend's little boy, who we'd just picked up from pre-school, had split his head open and was bleeding all over the place.

So anyway.....I dropped off all the stuff after filling out some paperwork because I dropped off a couple of old CRT monitors and some other electronics items the State of Kommiefornia has deemed "especially hazardous", and took the trailer back to U-Haul.

I went back home, picked up the 10 items that sold on eBay, and took them to my shipping place.

Sure enough, on the way back home I met another freaking idiot who can't drive. This one came blasting out of a strip mall on the left side of the road, went across all three lanes of oncoming traffic, and then shot across all three lanes in my direction of travel, missing me by a foot or two, and all the way over into the right turn lane. I was on the brakes (and horn) hard again, and their passenger threw her hands up over her face when she noticed me bearing down on them.

Cripes.....TWICE in one day! WTF is wrong with people?

And I still haven't repaired the brakes on the Jeep, but I'm damn sure getting the parts and doing it tomorrow!

I won't comment on the ethnicity of either driver........

T Minus Seventeen Days and Counting....

Wow...."The Day" is rapidly approaching.

My son came over last night, and it looks like he'll be going with me and the dog on our move from here to Fort Collins. He's never been in that part of the country, and he really wants to see it. He got to be pretty good friends with my wife's sone and our daughter-in-law while they still lived here. He's withing a couple of years of them in age, so they all hit it off quite well.

And he REALLY wants to see his little nephew Noah.

I'm not afraid doing the drive by myself, but having him along puts my wife at ease. AND I'll be parking the Supra at his and my ex's house while we're gone. I'll get to FTC, have a couple of days to unload the trailer into a storage facility and return it to U-Haul, and rest for a day or two. The I'll fly back into Long Beach, Uber over to their place, and head back with the Supra.

SO...instead of loading up the Supra to the gills with car parts and calling a transport company, I'll *carefully* select some tools and spares I might need, and leave a few boxes of car parts for the trailer I'll be pulling with the Jeep.

The YUGE pile of "stuff" in the back yard has shrunk somewhat, but I still have a lot of stuff that I'll be either taking to eWaste, dragging down to the Iowa, giving away, or loading on to the Junk-To-Go truck we'll be calling in a few days.

This is finally starting to get "real", and my wife is stressed out to about "eleven"......

T MInus 10 Days And Counting.....

Boy.....I'll be leaving Kommiefornia in ten days. Things are getting really REAL here!

Monday morning I'm picking up the little 4'x6' trailer again, and taking another full load to the eWaste / electronic recycling place. It pains me to dump perfectly good, usable, serviceable stuff, but I just can't take it all with me.

A couple of my friends came over to look through it, but they're not satellite or microwave guys, and one of them expected everything to be pristine, 100% functional, include the manuals and original shipping boxes, and be free-for-the-hauling.

Well....the equipment I have like that is NOT going to be given away! It's already packed up and waiting to be loaded on the trailer.

"In The Good Old Days", Hams were happy to take stuff that needed a bit of work and some cleaning, but was otherwise useable, and especially if it was FREE!

These days? Most of then have devolved into "appliance operators", very few people build anything more complex than station accessories, and unless the gear you have to offer is clean and fully functional, nobody wants it.

And as soon as the coffee kicks in this morning, I'm going to tear into the Jeep and do the brakes on all four corners.

I figured since I was putting new rotors and pads on the rear, I might as well do the front, so I picked up two new front rotors while I was at O'Reilly's. I decided to go with ceramic pads on the rear, along with matching pads for the front. These will hopefully last a good long time. I should probably replace the rear shocks, as they're just starting to get a bit "bouncy", but that can wait. I'll do the front and rear shocks once we're in Colorado...

Fleet Week 2017 Los Angeles

Figured I should post something a bit more serious after the previous post....

Fleet Week 2017 in Los Angeles kicks off tomorrow, and if you can stand the crowds, and you're in the area, I highly recommend you swing on by.

This year we have the following ships docked next to the Iowa:

USS Dewey (DDG-105) – is one of the Flight IIA ARLEIGH BURKE Class of Aegis guided missile destroyers and the third ship in the Navy named after Admiral George Dewey.  Besides the 62 vessels of this class (comprising 21 of Flight I, 7 of Flight II and 34 of Flight IIA) in service as of 2017, an additional thirteen ships are under contract - including the most recent contract award on June 3, 2013 for nine ships as part of the FY13-17 multi-year procurement contracts with Huntington Ingalls Industries and Bath Iron Works.
Keel laid: October 4, 2006
Launched: January 18, 2008

Commissioned: March 6, 2010 – Seal Beach CA Naval Weapons Station
Builder: Northrop Grumman Ship Systems' Ingalls Operations, Pascagoula, MS
Cost: approx., 1.843 billion dollars.
Propulsion system: 4 General Electric LM 2500 gas turbine engines
Propellers: 2 five-bladed reversible controllable pitch propellers Power: 3 Allison AG9140 Generators (2,500 kW each, 440 V)
Length: 508,5 feet (155 meters)
Beam: 67 feet (20.4 meters)
Draft: 30,5 feet (9.3 meters)
Displacement: approx. 9,100 tons full load (long tons)
Speed: 32 knots
Weapons: 1 × 5-inch (127 mm) / 62 Mk-45 mod 4 lightweight gun; two Mk-41 Vertical Launch System (VLS) (96 cells - 32 forward and 64 aft) for Standard missiles, ASROC missiles, and Tomahawk ASM/LAM missiles; one 20mm Phalanx CIWS; two Mk-32 triple torpedo tubes for Mk-50 and Mk-46 torpedoes; two Mk-38 Mod 2 25mm M242 Bushmaster machine gun systems Aircraft: 2 SH-60 (LAMPS 3) helicopters Electronics: AEGIS Weapons System (AWS) including SPY-1 3D Radar, multiple sensors and processing systems, electronic warfare and decoy systems
Homeport: San Diego, CA
Crew: approx. 320 (20 officers and 300 enlisted) USS Anchorage (LPD-23) – Landing Platform/Docks (LPD) are used to transport and land Marines, (with their equipment and supplies), by embarked landing craft / augmented by helicopters or vertical take-off and landing aircraft (MV 22 Osprey). These ships support amphibious assaults, special operations or expeditionary warfare missions and can serve as secondary aviation platforms for amphibious ready groups.  There are 10 San Antonio Class warships in service, with an additional 2 ships under construction; LPD 27 and LPD 28. Keel laid: September 24, 2007 Launched: February 12, 2011 Commissioned: May 4, 2013 at Anchorage, AK Builder: Northrop Grumman Ship Systems, Avondale, New Orleans, LA Cost: Their average cost is $1.6 billion Propulsion system: 4 sequentially turbocharged Marine Colt-Pielstick Diesels - 40,000 hp (30 MW) Propellers: 2 fixed pitch Length: 684 feet (208.5 meters) Beam: 105 feet (31.9 meters) Draft: 23 feet (7 meters) Displacement: approx. 24,900 long tons Speed: 22 knots Armament: 2 Bushmaster II 30 mm close-in chain guns; 2 RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) (anti-missile missile) launchers; and ten .50 caliber machine guns Well deck capacity: 2 Landing Craft Air Cushion hovercraft (LCAC) or 1 conventional Landing Craft Utility (LCU) and 14 Amphibious Assault Vehicles (AAV). Aircraft: landing platform for all helicopters and the MV-22 Osprey; maintenance facilities for 1 CH-53E or 2 CH-46s or 1 MV-22 or 3 UH/AH-1s. Crew: Ship: 28 officers, 332 enlisted Marine Detachment: 66 officers, 633 enlisted (can be expanded to 800) Homeport: San Diego, CA  USS Scout (MCM-8) – is the eighth, (out of 14), AVENGER Class mine countermeasures ships, designed to clear mines from vital waterways.  The Avengers have wooden hulls with an external coating of fiberglass. They are equipped with sophisticated mine hunting and classification sonar systems, as well as remotely operated mine neutralization and disposal systems. Launched: May 20, 1989 Commissioned: December 15, 1990 Builder: Peterson Shipbuilders, Sturgeon Bay, WI Cost: 61 million Propulsion System: 4 Isotta-Fraschini Diesel engines (600 hp (450 kW) ea.) Propellers: 2 with controllable pitch Length: 224 feet (68.28 meters) Beam: 39 feet (11.89 meters) Draft: 15 feet (4.6 meters) Displacement: 1,312 tons Speed: 14 knots Armament: Mine neutralization system, 2 .50 caliber machine guns Homeport: San Diego, CA Crew: 8 Officers, 76 Enlisted USCGC Active (WMEC-618) - is one of 14 active United States Coast Guard medium endurance Reliance Class Cutters.  Active is assigned primarily to law enforcement and search and rescue duties. The law enforcement duties involve counter-narcotic operations, fisheries, and environmental protection. Launched: July 31, 1965 Commissioned: September 1, 1966 Builder: Christy Corporation (now Bay Shipbuilding Company) Sturgeon Bay, WI Cost: 3.5 million – mid-life 20 million dollar upgrades to class (1990s) Propulsion System: 2 V16 2,550 horsepower ALCO diesel engines Propellers: 2 (assumed) Length: 210 feet (64.2 meters) Beam: 34 feet (10 meters) Draft: 10 feet (3.28 meters) Displacement: 1,127 long tons Speed: 18 knots Armament: 1 Mk 38 25 mm machine gun, 2 M2HB .50 caliber machine guns Aircraft carried: 1 HH-65 Dolphin helicopter Homeport: Port Angeles, WA Crew: 12 officers, 63 enlisted HMCS Ottawa (FFH-341) - is the twelfth and final ship of the Halifax Class that was built as part of Canada’s Patrol Frigate Project.  The Halifax Class frigates were designed as a general purpose warship with particular focus on anti-submarine capabilities.  Ottawa serves on Maritime Forces Pacific Formation (MARPAC) missions protecting Canada's sovereignty in the Pacific Ocean and enforcing Canadian laws in its territorial sea and Exclusive Economic Zone. Ottawa has also been deployed on missions throughout the Pacific and to the Indian Ocean; specifically the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea on anti-terrorism operations. Launched: May 31, 1996 Commissioned: September 28, 1996 Builder: Saint John Shipbuilding Ltd., Saint John, New Brunswick - Canada Cost: approx., 795 million Propulsion System: Combined diesel or gas (CODOG) - 2 General Electric LM2500 gas turbines, generating 47,500 shaft horsepower (35,400 kW) and one SEMT Pielstick 20 PA6 V 280 diesel engine, generating 8,800 shaft horsepower (6,600 kW) Propellers: 2 Escher Wyss controllable pitch propellers Length: 440 feet (134.2 meters) Beam: 54 feet (16.5 meters) Draft: 23 feet (7.1 meters) Displacement: 4,750 long tons Speed: 30 knots Armament: 8 RGM-84 Harpoon surface to surface missiles in two quadruple launch tubes; 24 Honeywell Mk 46 close-in anti-submarine torpedoes launched from twin Mark 32 Mod 9 torpedo tubes; 16 vertically launched Evolved Sea Sparrow anti-air Surface to Air Missiles carried in two Mk 48 Mod 0 eight cell launchers; and 1 20 mm Phalanx CIWS for missile defense Countermeasures and sensors: 1 AN/SLQ-25A Nixie towed acoustic torpedo decoy; 2 BAE Systems Shield Mark 2 decoy chaff launchers; SLQ-501 Electronic Warfare System; and the SLQ-505 radar jammer - AN/SPS-49(V)5 long-range active air search radar Aircraft carried: 1 CH-124 Sea King helicopter Homeport: Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt at the southern tip of Vancouver Island, on the Strait of Juan de Fuca Crew: 17officers, 198 enlisted / aircrew; 8 officers, 17 enlisted		-

And there will be live bands most every day and night playing on the mainstage setup on the Iowa's fantail.




The USS Pasadena  SSN-752 will be in the outer harbor, but sorry, no tours!


C'mon down if you can. It's quite the experience!

Oh, The HUMANITY!!!

More like the HUMORmanity, but that's not a word....

Found over at Western Rifle Shooters, courtesy of Matt Bracken.....

For Brig.....

This song pretty much describes living in Southern Kalifornia....

Music To Leave Kalifornia By....

Getting ready!

Plane, Profile, and Track Are One!

Well, things are going along here pretty well.

Almost all of the radio gear here in my little Comm Center has been safely packed up, and all the books are packed. GAWD....I hate moving boxes of books! They're like moving solid blocks of wood the same size, or maybe even heavier.

We're going to have six "pods" dropped off in a few weeks, and the "Pod People" will pack them, ship them, and store them for us until we buy a house. Then they'll deliver them, unpack them, and set up the furniture and other things for us.

The biggest trailer I can rent from my local-down-the-street U-Haul is a 6'x12'x5.5' dual-axle rig rated for 2,500 lbs of cargo. I'll probably let the "Pod People" take my two rolling toolboxes, and stuff the rest of the garage stuff in the trailer and Jeep.

I'm planning on overnighting in St. George, UT, and Grand Junction, CO, as St. George is about 8 hours from here, Grand Junction is about 8 hours further down the road, and Fort Collins about 8 hours from there. I really don't want to push it too hard dragging a trailer behind the Jeep, and I think an 8 hour stint behind the wheel will be tiring enough.

Oh, and the back brakes on the Jeep wore through the pads yesterday, so that's something else I have to fix.

I've never owned a vehicle where the rear brake pads wore out before the fronts. I checked the front pads a couple of weeks ago, and they still have about half the lining on them, so geez....the rears should be just dandy, shouldn't they?

Nope....and since there aren't any "wear indicators" on the OEM pads to squeal and squeek before the lining evaporates, they wore out and started munching on the rotors.

Oh, well......I'll get two new rotors for the rear, along with a set of rear pads, and FRONT pads, too. Might as well make sure all four wheels have new pads before I start towing a trailer through the mountains.

The wife's stress level has decreased somewhat, at least until the next "crisis", and then she'll ramp it up again.

Might Be Staying In Kommiefornia A Bit Longer..... ***UPDATED***

WELL...the saga continues.

The alleged buyers, through their realtor, gave our realtor a verbal OK to our response of "NO!" to their request for a $5,000 price reduction, but have not yet responded with a signed, written agreement.

Unless they submit a signed, written agreement accepting the listed "contingencies", our realtor tells us they could decide to drop out of escrow at any point, up to the last day.

Since this is not acceptable to us, he sent them another written document stating they have 48 hours to respond, in writing, or the sellers (us) will consider the entire contract null and void.

The extra 48 hours we gave them is up today at the close of business, and they still haven't responded.

He talked with their agent a couple of times, and she replied that the buyers will not sign anything electronically, and that she has to meet them each time, explain things to them, wait for their decision, get them to sign the documents, and then submit them.

It's almost 1500 here, which means they have two hours to get the signed documents back to our agent, or the deal is dead.


***UPDATE***

Well, my wife just called our realtor, and he was like...uh..."OOPS! They sent the docs by courier this morning and I should have immediately notified you, but I didn't..."

So they accepted our NO reply to their cheap shot at trying to get $5k off the already agreed upon price and conditions, and things are rolling along.

He told her it will probably fund (means we have the money in our bank) several days before the official close of escrow on September 20th.

What really flipped me out was I heard her bawling away in the living room, wonder what the ^^&&%% happened, and almost twisted an ankle getting out there on a dead run.

She tells me was just relieving all the built up stress over "having to go through all this again in the spring".....

I'll never understand women....

2017 Eclipse in SoCal....

Everybody else is posting about it, so......no, I wouldn't jump off a building if Johhny did it!

Got noticeably dark here this morning, more than I expected.

Made a "pin hole" camera with a piece of cardboard and some aluminum foil, and used it to observe a small bite taken out of the Sun.

I've seen greater totality before, so this was pretty ho-hum for me.

Back to your regularly scheduled whatever.......

Meanwhile, in Cheyenne, WY where out daughter-in-laws younger sister lives, she got this picture:

Last Minute Buyer Shenannigans....

Our realtor called us this afternoon, day 14 of the 15 day escrow "perform or die" time limitation.

The buyers wanted a $5,000 price reduction due to asbestos in the 1942-era "popcorn" ceiling, and the "possibility of lead-based paint, both requiring remediation".

These items were fully covered in the home inspection report, and the disclosure, which they've had for quite some time now.

We damn near told them to take a hike, as we have no problem sitting here until spring. And if we do stay until spring, we'll probably get the ceilings scraped and refinished, and the house will go back on the market and sell for $550k, as long as the market doesn't tank.

Our realtor agreed it was definitely a cheap stunt to pull, especially considering they KNOW we aren't in any pressing need to move.

After he and my wife calmed me down a bit, we all agreed the best thing was to "Just Say NO!" to them, and if they pull out, no skin off our nose.

He called back a few minutes ago saying they accepted the "NO!", and things are still on.

Geez......some people's kids!

Termite "Inspection" Team Here This Morning

And it sounds more like they're the "Termite DEMOLITION Team".

Granted, I've never watched this being done, so I'm probably gonna get get called "STOOPID" by somebody, but these guys are checking for termite infestation by using a "probe" on a painter's pole, and banginging it against all the exposed wood they can see and reach.,

thump, thump, thump, thump,thump,thump for the last 35 minutes.

And once in a while you hear thump,thump,thump,thump, CRUNCH, thump, thump, thump.....

The "crunch" is not good because it means their "probe" just busted through what was left of a piece of wood that the termites have been feasting on.

So far they've found a couple of spots they're calling "dry rot", a couple of boards on the fascia for the garage, and the 4x4 holding the window A/C unit up.

Orkin was here two years ago and gave the place a clean bill of health, but then they didn't run around banging on stuff, either.

Hopefully this stuff won't be too expensive to repair.

Escrow Closes September 20th.....

Our realtor just called, and the official closing for the house is 20 September 2017.

This totally screws me for going to Supras In Vegas this year, as the event is the 21st, 22nd, and 23rd of September. I'd planned on leaving on the 20th, but now I have the wife, her car, and the dog to worry about getting moved. Her BFF was going to split the driving of her car with her, and I was going to head to Fort Collins right after the event, drop the Supra off, fly home, rest for a day, and then head back to Fort Collins in the Jeep with the dog.

Turns out I'd counted the days wrong, and thought it closed a week later, which would have made Supras In Vegas a bit difficult, but "doable".

Home Inspection Details and Repairs

The "minor leak" under the bathtub drain turned out to be a bit  more than the inspector found. Our plumber friend from across the street went under the house today, and found that the drain wasn't just leaking from the threaded connections, but had a hole corroded through it! He'd brought all the bits and pieces to replace the entire assembly, so it wasn't any big deal, but he said if the inspector had noticed the dirt in the crawlspace was wet, or even damp, they would have called for a "professional" cleanup crew to remove the dirt, and "sanitize" the area in addition to the repair of the corroded away parts.

And in Kommiefornia, "Remediation" means HAZMAT teams coming in, and a HUGE bill when they're done. They've shut down entire freeways for hours to clean up a couple of gallons of spilled fuel after an accident.

That's insane! It's drain water from a bathtub, for cryin' out loud, and unless we were washing off radiation contamination, or giving baths to Ebola victims, it's just used, soapy water from taking a bath or shower.

He also replaced the entire vent assembly for the water heater, using double walled tubing made for the task, and added a discharge line to the safety blow-off valve at the top of the water heater, so now the water heater issues are not only repaired, but fully "up to code".

I replaced the outlet in the bathroom with a GFCI unit, and also the one near the kitchen sink. The one near the kitchen sink was just a regular duplex outlet and two switches, one for the disposal and one for some recessed lighting, BUT, in order to make it look nice, I not only had to replace the outlet, but also the switches, as NOBODY makes a wall plate that has the rectangular cutout for a GFCI and the two oval cutouts for the switches. So add the cost of a new switch ($20) and new wall plate ($8 for a new wood one) to the $18 for the GFCI outlet.

And I still have to recaulk the tub to the tile on the wall. I dug out all the old caulk last year and laid in some good stuff, but ran out before I had a really nice "above grade" bead. Well, the caulk shrank a bit, and left a couple of gaps that the inspector squawked about because water could get back there and "Promote MOLD and BACTERIAL CONTAMINATION!!!"

ZOMG! ARMEGEDDON!

Geez, after reading Old_NFO's post this morning, I really do wonder how so many of us managed to survive those unenlightened and barbaric days of old, before the nanny state insisted on so many "safety" regulations.....

As far as upgrading all the power to the garage, all I can say is "'Aint Gonna Happen"!

The inspector noted that none of the outlets were grounded, and well, DUH! There's only a hot and neutral running to the garage, so what do you expect? And considering when the house and garage were built, it wasn't required, and we're grandfathered in from requiring it to be brought up to code.

Again, I really have to wonder how many people were injured from two-wire, non-grounded (three pin) outlets over the years....

Weather In Fort Collins

As I've told my wife numerous times, she's going to get a whole different perspective on what REAL weather is once we're in Colorado.

This past Thursday, a violent but brief hailstorm pounded parts of the city. Out where the kids live, North West of the city, there was 2" hail, driven by high winds, causing quite a bit of damage.

The house the kids live in got clobbered. Three sides of the house look like this:

And the roof took a beating, too. I'm surprised they didn't have some broken windows.

The nice 1/8 acre garden they had looks like the not-so-jolly Green Giant came in and stomped on it.

AFAIK, my wife has never been through a real Midwestern-style thunderstorm, with high winds, driving rain, and large hail. Fort Collins is a bit protected, being in the Cache La Poudre valley, but it's still in open enough country to get really clobbered. The last time we were there in the summer, I notice really big anvil-heads to the East, and mentioned to my wife that somebody was really going to catch it. Sure enough, as we got in the car the EAS warnings came on the radio about severe storms in Weld County, with tornado warnings. Seeing the anvil-heads reminded me of growing up in Illinois, where we had weather like that several times per summer.

It's one thing to see the damage a storm like this can do, and another thing to be right in the middle of one, and not really being able to do much about it.

I hope whatever we buy has a basement!

House Inspection Complete

One minor issue. The bathtub drain has a slight leak, easily fixed, but not by me. I'm just too old anymore to crawl that far under the house and do anything other than string some cables!

We haven't received our copy of the report, which I had expected sometime today. The new "owners" came by with the inspector, and brought their realtor with them. They were all pumped up up getting their first house, and the guy's wife complimented us on how nice the house looked, and how happy they were that we accepted their offer. They'd been out bid three times on other houses they'd wanted to buy, so they appear to be completely serious about wanting to get this one.

After the report comes in, I'm sure they'll go back to our agent looking for some "compensation" for any issues that were found. Our agent has told us that he'll stand pretty firm on what's already been negotiated. They want the house ASAP, and we have no problem sitting here until spring, so it should be interesting to watch the rest of these proceedings finish....

Miscellaneous Moving Mumblings....

Been "working" in the garage to attempt to get things ready to go. It always seems that whatever I'm doing, the wife thinks I should be doing something else.

Always....

And of course, her constant litany of "Throw It Away" drones on and on and on and on....

So, do I "throw away" $2,000 worth of stuff to save $500 on moving it?

And by the time I go to replace the $2k of stuff I dumped to shut her up, the cost will have risen to $3k.

....SIGH....

And in the process of "decluttering" the house, she just dumped shit everywhere in the garage, with no rhyme or reason as to why things got stacked where they did.

Which means that to even get at my stuff, I've got to tear the whole freaking garage apart........AGAIN.

And she wonders why I have such a hard time getting started on these things......

New "Owners" Coming By Tonight

Technically, their BANK is the new owner, but we'll be nice and play along with them.

Our agent called and said they'd asked if they could come by to show their kids "Our New House", so he checked with us, and we don't have any objections.

The guy wanted to see the garage, which is packed floor-to-ceiling with boxes, and I think the gal wanted to have a closer look at the kitchen and the bedrooms.

We're investigating movers right now, and I can see the fights between the wife and myself brewing  in the distance.

She's going to scream bloody murder about all the "junk" I have in the garage, and how she's not going to pay to move it, and I'm going to insist it goes.

I've already dumped several thousand dollars worth of perfectly usable stuff, and I'm down to "If I dump it I'll have to replace it" items like antennas, antenna rotators, sections of heavy gauge mast, and a bunch of other stuff that simply isn't available any longer.

Since escrow won't be closing until the end of September, I've made the decision to leave from Las Vegas after the "Supras in Vegas" event and head for Colorado. It'll be a long drive, but I can always overnight somewhere if I have to.

Hey, I did L.A. to Fort Collins in one shot carrying two wimmens and all their stuff, so "just me" in the Supra from Vegas to FTC should be a piece of cake!

But I'm not looking forward to the Great Garage Pack And Move, at all....

Documents Signed, Should Be "In Escrow" Early This Week

And now the waiting begins.....


And the packing.


I'll start going through the garage this week to see what I'm going to keep, what I'm going to sell, and what my wife will insist I throw away.


The big thing to sort will be all the car parts I have for the Supra. I have gaskets, hoses, belts, water pumps, tune-up parts, brake and clutch master cylinders, clutch slave cylinders, and a ton of other stuff. That stuff can get packed away for shipment, except for the belts and hoses. If I drive the car I'll take those with me. If I ship the car I'll stow them inside.


Radio gear, both in the house and the garage, will get packed for shipment, except for my little Elecraft K2, power supply, SignaLink, and portable antenna. I'll want to take those with me so I can get on-the-air at our temporary dwelling. And I'll take a VHF/UHF handie-talkie or two. The Jeep has a Kenwood TM-D710 in it, and that should be fine for checking into local nets and making some new Ham Radio friends. The radio also has a GPS receiver connected to it, so I'll be "trackable" using any of the APRS applications out there.


And I'll take my camera, a couple of laptops, and a suitcase full of clothes, including my N3B parka!


With the 45 day escrow ( ! ) the buyers insisted on, it looks like we'll be here through September. Our realtor told us the buyers should have all their funding in place after 21 days, so we might be able to push them a bit faster than 45 days, but that remains to be seen.

Counteroffer Accepted. Papers Get Signed Tomorrow, Sunday

At this point I think I can say the house is "sold".

Still have the inspections to do, which should happen in the next 10 days or so. I don't expect the inspections to find anything, except for the termite inspection. They ALWAYS find some termite "damage" that has to be repaired.

They wanted, and got, a 45 day escrow. Not sure why they couldn't do it any faster, but I'll talk to our agent when he comes by Sunday.

Negotiations In Progress! **Updated**

Well.....DUH!

I just  found out from my wife that we did get an offer from the nice young couple that came by Tuesday at 1800 to look at the house.

They've offered us the asking price, but our agent told them we have multiple offers (true, but one "offer" was a joke), and their agent told ours that they'd be willing to go "into the $520k range", which means that they just hit our target price.

My wife was visiting one of her friends the last few days, and our agent sent her some paper work which she electronically signed, and returned to him, and now he and the other agent are going to hammer out a few fine points to get to the final price and what contingencies are and aren't covered.

These buyers seemed to be extremely serious, they have $50k cash for a down payment, both grew up in this area, and have been out bid on the last three houses they made offers on.

I don't know what they're going to come back with as a counter to our counter (see your 20 and raise you 50), but if it's at or above $515k, we'll accept it, and then the clock starts running out for us to get moved.

They were asking for a 45 day escrow, and our agent said he'd try and get them to agree to a 30 day escrow, but that was about the only thing he didn't like about their initial offer.

So, (fingers, toes, arms and legs crossed) the house might very well be "under contract" next week.


UPDATE 

 We just heard from our realtor that the other realtor is going over our counter offer, and we should know something Saturday.

Solid Offer Received On The House......

They've offered what it's listed at, have a credit score well north of 700, have 20% down, and our agent says they're seriously looking to buy, and have been "priced out" (I think he meant "out bid") of the last three houses they've made offers on.

He says they really like the house, and really want to buy it.

He told us he knows they can go higher, so we're in the negotiating stages right now.

We should know tonight if they'll come up enough to satisfy my wife.

The fat lady just might be warming up in the wings.......

Saturday Already?

Gee...time sure flies when you don't know what you're doing....or something like that.

Still Friday, but I'm posting this at 2200, so it probably won't get read by many until Saturday.

Had a busy week. We had five more couples and their realtors come by to check out the house during the week, and we're having another open house Saturday and Sunday.

No offers other than the one couple that backed out.

 I'm starting to think the listing price is too low, and people are saying "What's wrong with the house?" to themselves. One down the street and around the corner finally sold after 60-some days on the market. It was overpriced at $600k, and finally sold for $550k. It was a bit smaller than our house, but had more "modern" upgrades, like the infamous "Granite Countertops!!!", and some other things. We'll just have to see what happens, but at this point, after going through all the hype the first three realtors we interviewed told us, I wouldn't be completely shocked if we didn't get out of here until next Spring. It usually starts snowing in late September in the Fort Collins area, and my wife really, really, really wants to get moved before the snow flies. Once we're settled in to the place we'll be staying at, we can wait it out until Spring to buy, unless a Really Good Deal comes up. Moving is a big enough PITA, let alone doing it during snow season.

Spent three full days on the Iowa this week, which I'm sure is what made the week seem so short. I went down Tuesday for the Great Ethernet Cable Pulling Project, but I was the only one in the work party that showed up! Turns out we'll be going with WiFi instead of being hard-wired in. I haven't heard what type of WiFi router we're going to be using. Hopefully it will be one with some Ethernet ports on it so the two big PC's we have won't need another card installed in them. The laptops we're using for running the logging programs all have built-in WiFi, so no issues there.

Thursday we had a special event to commemorate the signing of the Korean cease-fire, but band conditions were absolutely horrible. The Solar Flux Index was 68 (that's baaaad!), and the bands were noisy. We made a total of 35 contacts on the three stations we had on-the-air from 0900 to 1600 PDST. We can generally get that many per hour, per station, when the band conditions are "good".

And today I was down there to give a personal tour to my late brother-in-law's youngest son, and his two boys, ages 8 and 10. None of them really understood what they were seeing, in terms of history, but they enjoyed it nonetheless.

First Buyer Backed Out.....

Well....we had an offer at the listing price for the house. Our agent said they looked like good, solid people, and their loan pre-approval was for "up to" $550k. The sad thing was that both sets of parents had co-signed on the loan forms, showing that it's tough for a young couple to buy a decent home in SoCal.

Since the listing price is about $15k less than what my wife is willing to accept, and our agent knows this, and agrees with her that the house is really "worth" the amount she wants (which is what the appraisal came in at), he sent them a letter asking them to come back with "Their best, highest price" they were willing to go as our counter offer.

He just called a while ago telling us that while they loved the house, the price they offered was all they could afford, so their original offer was all they were willing to spend.

He said he thanked them, and wished them luck with the purchase of their first home.

This house is only the second one I've had anything to do with buying/selling, so I'm pretty much in uncharted territory here. The last house I bought was in 1987, and we all know how much things have changed since then, especially in the Krazy Kalifornia real estate market!

He's bringing some more agents and clients by Tuesday (tomorrow) to look at the house, so we'll see how that goes.

I have a Doctor's appointment at 0900, and then down to the Iowa for a "Cable Pulling Party". We're putting in five new Ethernet drops for the Comm Center (FACCON 1), and our CTO who runs the network and all the servers on board will be putting us on our own subnet. We'll actually be on our own VPN, which will give us full Internet connectivity, while keeping us isolated from the ship's various internal networks.

All the networking equipment and servers on board are new, first-class stuff he was able to get donated through his contacts, and the network has ample redundancy and back-up servers (also redundant) for our use, so we should have a very dependable, rock-solid network set up once he configures everything. I was the network admin for our little corner of the ship's network, but I'm turning that over to the guy I asked to be Station Manager, and I've been getting him trained up on that. Besides being really good at radio stuff, my "replacement" is also another computer geek, and we've both been using Linux since the early days.

Open Houses and OFFERS!

Having "Day 2" of this round of open house.

We had about 15 people come by yesterday, and the agent said they all looked like solid prospects.

He also brought by our first offer. It was for the listing price, and my wife is insisting we get $15k more than the listing price. $15k above the listed price is what the appraisal is, and would pay for our moving costs.

Hopefully we'll get some more interested, people today.

I don't how youngsters do it these days. Buying a little house like ours at over $500k just seems nuts to me. The only house I've ever owned (so far...this one is really my wife's) was purchased back in 1987 and we paid $156k for it. I was making about $40k a year then, and along with what my then wife was making, we could easily afford it. That house is worth about $450k now. While the price of the house has TRIPLED, I doubt that the wages of the kind of person who would be interested in it have kept pace.

As the last line of "The Bridge On The River Kwai" says........."MADNESS!"

Open House Again Saturday and Sunday.

Hopefully we'll get some more interested people.

Our Realtor is a really cool guy. He's a staunch conservative, NRA Life Member, and so are the rest of his family members. I was supposed to take the dog out the other day when he had the "mini" open house, but just as I was leaving, a potential buyer walked up, so I took the dog out back. After that person left I started talking to him about firearms and things and another couple showed up, so I dragged the dog out again.

We never did make it to the dog park as we had so much fun yakking away between people coming by to look at the house!

Best Commercial EVER!

Saw it on Bill Whittle, and just had to share it.

Busy, Busy Week.....

I was happy to go to "work" on the Iowa today!

We had two realtors bring their clients by on Tuesday, and our realtor brought two people by today.

Thursday he's having a mid-week open house from noon to 1500, so the dog and I will head out to the dog park for a few.

He said mid-week showings allow people who work weekends (typically medical, firefighters, and LEOs) to have some time to look at a house and walk around for more than a few minutes. The people that came yesterday were wearing scrubs, and one was an ER nurse, and the other a physical therapist.

He had expected to get at least one offer this week, but the week is drawing to a close, and he hasn't heard anything yet.

I would expect him to want to have an open house again this weekend, but he hasn't said anything about that so far.

I'll talk to him tomorrow about the upcoming weekend and see what he wants to do....

Second Open House Today. Be Back Around 1500 PDST! **UPDATED**

We had 40 people yesterday. 10 were neighbors who were "just curious", 10 were "lookie-loos" who just like looking at open houses, and 20 were people definitely looking to buy.

Our agent is off today, and is taking his wife out for the day to celebrate their first wedding anniversary.

His Mom will be doing the open house today. She's been selling real estate here in SoCal for 35+ years, so she's seen several bubbles, where the prices went nuts like they are now. It should be interesting to hear what she has to say....

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We "only" had 15 people come through today, BUT...the first couple that came through while I was still there had their realtor with them, always a good sign. If their realtor is taking them around to open houses, it's almost a sure bet they're seriously looking to buy. I had just finished showing "Mom" the house and explaining some of the finer points she didn't know, like we have a whole house water filtration/softener system, and every room is wired with an RG-6QS cable and a cat 6E Ethernet cable, when they came in. The husband wanted to see the garage, and I asked the realtor if it was OK, she said sure. He liked the solid work benches, and the fact I was leaving the four 48" LED overhead light  fixtures I'd put in last summer when I was doing all the work on the Supra.

Our realtor's Mom (a VERY cool lady, BTW..) said that she had two couples come by who had been here yesterday, and they came back with their realtor, and were asking fairly detailed questions about the house and neighborhood, another good sign that we have some pretty solid buyers checking the place out.

After I got back today (little Pebbles has had TWO days in the dog park! YIPIEE!) I spent some time talking with her and she said if we didn't at least get a couple of offers this week she'd be surprised, which pretty much echoed what her son told us yesterday before he left.

SO....I'd hazard a guess to say the house will sell, and fairly soon. We're priced very fairly compared to some of the other houses in the immediate area that have slightly bigger lots, but the people are asking $65~$75k more than we are, and those house have been on the market for 4 weeks or longer.

Open House Today.....Be Back Later

The agent dropped by and is out running around putting up his signs.

The open house is from 1100~1500, so we have to be out of here. We're taking the dog to the dog park, but before we do that  we have some "Hazardous Waste" to drop off in San Pedro.

Got some used motor oil that has water in it, so the auto parts stores won't take it, along with some old paint, RoundUp, bug spray, oven cleaner, and junk like that.

The wife would have taken it in to the Long Beach place, but they're only open one weekend per month!

Se y'all after about 1530 PDST!

Another Step Closer....***UPDATED***

Well, our little place is now listed.

The listing price is what the agent told us, slightly under the appraisal, and he expects "solid" buyers will bid it up a bit to meet the appraisal.

LL stopped by today to pick up the big Pelican case I bought years ago when I had vision of operating Maritime Mobile from the Sea Launch ship I was on. It turned out that getting a Reciprocal Operating Permit from the ship's flag country was extremely difficult, and those plans never happened. I was happy to see the case going to somebody who'll use it!

And the dog treated him like she's known him for years.

Today I got the wireless doorbell working again (dirty battery contacts), changed out the old, worn-looking toilet seat, replaced the switch for the ceiling fan in the Radio Room, dragged all the "eWaste" down to the collection place, and did the vacuuming. There's only one street-view photo of the house, as the photographer had to back out Wednesday, and won't be here until Friday afternoon.

Saturday is the first open house, from 1100 to 1500, so we'll take the dog to the big dog park, and let her run until she drops!

The photographer and agent just left. They were here for a couple of hours taking lots of pix.  The pix will be processed (he shoots in RAW format) and posted with the listing later this afternoon.

The agent also want a second open house on Sunday, also from 1100 to 1500.

Looks like the dog will get a lot of park time this weekend!

"Deep Cleaners" Here Today / Other Progress **Updated**

Finally got the radio room suitably "emptied" in preparation for the cleaners to take a whack at it.

They've been working in the kitchen for several hours, and are almost done in there. Next is the "master" bedroom, then the bathroom, then the front bedroom, bathroom and finally Radio Central.

Oh, and the living/dining area.

They're very thorough and "bubbly/perky" young ladies.

The gardener came again today with his big truck, and hauled away a ton of trash. The city also came by and picked up all the stuff we had by the curb. Long Beach gives you three "Large Item" pick ups per year, and we still have two we can use.

I think the cleaners will have to come back tomorrow, as it's already 1210, and considering how thorough they are, I just don't think they'll be done by 1700. The quote was for "Monday and possibly Tuesday", and I'm guessing they'll need at least part of Tuesday to finish. I also have to drop, disassemble, and pack the tripod/mast my discone is on, and the mast on the side of the house holding the weather station and another small VHF/UHF vertical antenna.

The photographer is coming by on Wednesday, and the house gets listed Thursday.

The realtor told us the market in this part of town is "crazy hot", and he had the sales figures to back it up. He thinks we should get some good, solid offers the first week, and it should definitely be under contract well before the end of July.

That means we'll be outta here by the end of August, possibly the middle of August.

I have quite a few items in the garage that the movers will not ship, so I'll either rent a trailer to pull behind the Jeep, or a big "Box Van" like I rented when I moved here to Kaliforniastan some 35 years ago.......

-More to come-

Holy smokes, the house positively sparkles! 

They even managed to make Radio Central here look good.

My hats are off to the young ladies who showed up on time, didn't take any breaks, and worked seven hours straight to clean the house.

We not only paid them the agreed upon price (which my wife haggled down before they came), but we also tipped each of them $20 each.