The Old and the Restless

Megan arrived home on December 21, to find water running throughout the house. Despite her fear of electrocution, she went into the basement, turned off the water and called the plumber. Michael helped her with the inital clean-up before we returned on Dec 22. The hose in the master bedroom vanity (shown above) seems to have been the culprit. Notice that it has "popped" out of the coupling. The question was "did it fail spontaneously or did it freeze?". [The insurance adjuster said the hose could fail spontaneously; but, since it failed in winter, the likely cause was freezing (an uninsured event).] Water flowed from this hose down the hot air vent "frying" the furnace circuit board causing the furnace to fail. At some stage, the house did freeze. The picture above shows the two hose segments that failed. They were sent for analysis to detect possible ice scarring using an electron microscope. Notice the ice fracture on the hot water hose into the main ba...

This year Jane and Daryl hosted the Christmas Day dinner for the extended family. The giant Christmas tree in the great room. Cooking Christmas dinner. Having wine and munchies before dinner. Grandma chatting to grandson before Christmas dinner. Two Queens and a King wearing their Christmas hats during dinner. The toast to Christmas and the New Year. At the end of the Christmas Day, all but Joshua (who was asleep) posed for the group photo.

Mark's family started the celebration of Christmas with dinner Christmas Eve (also Sandra's birthday). Joshua entertained himself by "talking" on the telephone before dinner. We were invited to join in the festivities this year because of the "flood" at our home. This glum group includes: Mark's brother, his grandmother, and his mother. The smiles came out for the family photo of the entire group after dinner. Seated round the table after dinner.

Our dive buddies, Glen and Norma, came to stay with us. We had planned to ride/walk the beach and bird watch at Canaveral National Seashore. The weather was sunny and warm but the Red Tide came and stayed right off shore at New Smyrna. While driving the beach...with the windows up...we saw many good sized dead fish washed up on the beach. The newspaper reported 6 dolphins and 4 large dead turtles were found as well as sea birds. The air quality was so bad that it was difficult for us to breathe even on the short walk to the car without coughing. Instead of birdwatching, we decided the next day to visit Winter Park, near Orlando where the air quality would be better. On the narrated boat tour we saw the homes of the rich and famous from the past and present...as well as some egrets, cormorants and anhinghas. An opportunistic blue heron stood on shore to pick off the fish that the cormorants and anhinghas drove to shore. A rose between two thorns? Sandra, Paul and Norma. Is Sandra checki...

Hanging out. Did you call? What's this? I can get it out of the pot. Does Mommy's orchid really need this stick? Hmm. What should I do with it? Put it over there! For other photos of this this day and more, see the slideshow at: http://web.mac.com/macwpm/iWeb/Paul%26Sandra/Joshua_files/slideshow.html

Ten years ago, the Sea of Cortez was known for its sharks and manta rays. Now, it is known for its sea lions, which are found on almost every rock island. Here is a family of sea lions cavorting over our head. A sea lion pup comes down to investigate Sandra. There are more green moray eels per reef than I have seen elsewhere. In spite of the dangerous looking teeth, fish "know" the moray is not hunting in the daylight and swim close by. This stary moray was out hunting during the day. I "harassed" it by getting in close for a picture and it ducked into a hole and came out to have a look at me. Along came another stary moray out on a daytime hunt and it tried to get into the same hole. A tangle of thrashing bodies and teeth made me a little cautious about getting within a foot and a half to take the picture. One of the signature fish of the Sea of Cortez is the giant hawkfish. Sometimes, the giant hawkfish lined up side by side. The amarillo snapper didn't see...