Vacation - Final Chapter

Finally, the third and final chapter of our vacation. When we last left you we were in Athens, Greece. On Monday, September 16 we flew from Athens to Paris, with a one hour layover in Madrid. We had a one hour layover however, our luggage spent the night.

After spending a few hours trying to arrange to get our luggage delivered, we got to our hotel for about five hours of sleep before catching a train the following morning to Macon. In Macon we met up with Kent and Heather- friends we met in the Bahamas and with whom we watched the solar eclipse back in 2017.

Kent and Heather have a canal boat in France and had invited us to visit on the way home from Greece. Or maybe we invited ourselves, I'm not quite sure. Anyway, we spent the good part of four days on their boat on the Saone River. We started in Macon and moved up the river to La Truchere where we spent the first night. Wednesday we stopped in Tournus for lunch and sightseeing before moving on to Chalon-sur-Saone that afternoon. When we arrived at the marina in Chalon-sur-Saone we met back up with our luggage. Hooray!

Thursday Kent had rented a car so we headed out see (and taste) some of Bourgogne (Burgundy). Our first stop was a wine co-op in Buxy where we tasted several wines from small vinyards in the area. From there we found a boulangerie where we got some sandwiches to go before stopping at the Chateau de Rully for a picnic lunch.  We had one more wine tasting scheduled for later in the day so we drove around amongst the vinyards and stopped to watch two different techniques for harvesting grapes.  Our last wine tasting was at Feuillat-Juillot in Montagny. Camille was our sommelier and is the daughter of the owner. As an aside, since we met her, she ran the New York City Marathon in 3 hours and 6 minutes. It probably goes without saying, but the wines were fantastic and our pallets don't do it justice.

All in all, we had a great time, ate great food, and thoroughly enjoyed France. Thanks to our hosts Kent and Heather for showing us their France. If anyone is interested in chartering a canal boat and traveling around the rivers of France, Heather has written a practical guide you'll want to read. You can find it at... https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Guide-European-Canal-Charters/dp/1495468038

Now for some pictures.

Kent and Heather's canal boat, Apres Ski

Not many but an occasional barge

Our first lock, where Heather went ashore, knocked on the door
of the lock master's house and then helped him open and close the gates

Chateau de Rully

Brian and Susan after our picnic lunch

Kent and Heather

Kent found some grapes that had been missed. Yummy!

Grapes for table wine can be harvested by machine

Better quality wines require the grapes by harvested by hand

Domaine Feuillat-Juillot

Chalone-sur-Saone

Our route on the Saone

That's all for now. Take care.

Brian

Vacation Part Two

Hi All,
I'm finally getting around to posting about the second part of our "vacation". After our three days in Athens we finally got to the real reason for our trip to Greece, sailing around the Greek Islands. The Saronic Islands to be exact.

When we first discussed chartering a boat with Jay and Carol we discussed whether we should get a local captain or not. Having someone that spoke Greek and would know where the best places to go swung us over to having a captain. Knowing what we know now, we're glad we had a local captain. More on that later.

Saturday was our first day on the boat, Ageri. After ordering food, drink and other items and having them delivered, we pulled away from the dock around 6:00 PM. Leaving this late would not normally be an option as we didn't drop anchor until 10:00 PM that night. We anchored in a cove / small bay off the island of Aegina.

Sunday morning we moved to a snorkeling and swimming spot of the island of Moni. Moni is known for the wild peacocks that live there. I never did see them but I sure heard them. They were quiet until disaster struck. I was the last one of us back to the boat from snorkeling and I noticed some smoke towards shore but couldn't really see what was going on until I was back on our boat. There were a dozen or so boats anchored around us. A sailboat that was anchored closer to shore was on fire. The peacocks were screaming and it sounded like people screaming "get off the boat!"  There were indeed some people still on the boat when the flames were already visible on deck. They got off and in a few minutes the boat was fully engulfed in flames. It was a sad, sad sight to see that boat burn down. We stopped one more time to snorkel on the way to Poros, where we spent the night.

Our days pretty much consisted of the following... Wake up and have breakfast on the boat. Leave the dock. Mostly motor as there was not much wind most days. Stop somewhere to snorkel and have lunch. Move on to the island where we're going to spend the night, usually arriving early afternoon. Spend some time walking around town, checking out the sites and just enjoying the beautiful towns. Eating an early dinner (early for Greece where dinner is usually eaten around 10:00 PM) at one of the many small cafes with tables along the seawall. Head back to the boat, go to bed and then get up the next morning and do it all again. If it sounds like I'm complaing about this agenda, you are mistaken. It was great.

Sunday we were in Poros, Monday in Ermioni, Tuesday in Spetses, Wednesday in Hydra, Thursday in Methana, and Friday night back in Athens.

Docking. Docking in Greece is, from what I can tell, alway stern to. That is, the stern (back of the boat) is tied up to the pier. Sounds easier than it really is. Especially in Hydra. The technique is to drop your anchor about 100 yards from the pier and then back up to within a foot or two of the pier. Someone will jump off the boat onto the pier if there isn't someone wandering by to catch your lines. Two lines are run from the stern to the dock and back to the boat.  Then there is a few adjustments getting the lines just the right length and tension on the anchor to keep us from hitting the pier. Then there is Hydra, a very popular destination with very little space at the pier. The first folks to get there tie up stern to to the pier. Then when the pier is full, the next bunch of folks tie up to the first line of boats. Then the third line of boats tie up to the second line of boats. Getting in isn't too bad, but getting out can be a pain and you'd better have some patience. It's pretty much just chaos with people yelling at each other and from there it gets worse when anchor lines get wrapped around each other. This is when the decision to have a local captain ranks as one of the most brilliant decisions we've ever made.

On Friday, after our stop for snorkeling and lunch, we headed back to Athens. This is when the wind started to blow. And did it ever! We had a 50 knot wind right on our nose all the way back to Athens. At one point we were running along the shore of an island where it was obvious we could get out and walk faster than the boat. We did finally make it back to Athens and spent the night in the marina there. Saturday morning Jay and Carol headed to the airport and we spent a couple more days in Athens before moving on to part three of our vacation.

I'm tired of typing now. Let's get on to the pictures...

Our Captain, Captain Lik

Our Route

One of the many churches we saw on the islands

Jay and Carol in front of a statue of Laskarina Bouboulina. She was a naval commander and heroine
of the Greek War of Independence in 1821. 

Susan and in the background notice three lines of sailboat tied up to the pier. Our
Captain said it isn't uncommon for them to be four deep. 

In Hydra

A fisherman on Methana

Changing of the guard at the Greek Parliment in Athens

Happened upon a car show in Athens

Good bye Athens and the Acropolis

That's all for now.
Take care.
Brian

Vacation

When you are kinda sorta retired, is it called a vacation when you travel?  A friend asked me that question and I'm not sure of the answer. But anyway, we've been on a trip for the last three weeks and I'm going to call it a vacation. There are three distinct parts of our trip so I'll post them separately.

Part One - Athens, Greece with our friends Jay and Carol.

We met up with Jay and Carol at a VRBO in Athens on Tuesday, September 3. We spent the next three days touring  Athens and Corinth. In a word, wow! We pretty much liked everything about Athens. We liked the city, the people, the sights and the food. Oh boy, did we ever like the food!

Besides the various historic sites we visited, we had an olive oil tasting (Greece makes the best olive oil.  Just ask a Greek if you don't believe me), we visited a winery and had a tasting there (ended up leaving with 14 bottles of Greek wine) and had an excellent meal at a place in the country you would never find if a local didn't take you there.  We had been told Greeks like to eat meat. They do and so did we.

Now for some pictures...

Temple of Olympian Zeus

Acropolis as seen from Temple of Zeus

Jay and Carol at Temple of Zeus

Panathenaic Stadium has hosted several Olympics. More importantly, the stadium is where the Olympic flame starts on its journey to the nation hosting that year’s athletic contests.  The current structure was restored in the 19th century for the first modern version of the Olympics Games after centuries of disuse. Panathenaic Stadium seats 50,000 spectators and is the largest stadium in the world made entirely of marble.

View of Athens from Mount Lycabettus

View of Athens and Acropolis from Mount Lycabettus

Erechtheum - One of the temples on top of the Acropolis

Parthenon - Most recognized temple on top of the Acropolis

View of Temple of Zeus from Acropolis

Odeon of Herodes Atticus - Music venue that seats 6,000, built at the base
of the Acropolis in 161

Temple of Asklepios - Greek god of health and well-being

Temple of Apollo in Ancient Corinth

That's it for now. Take care.

Brian

Plywood countertops... Gone!

Hi All,
Hope this finds you well. With visits from grandkids, helping neighbors, life in general and the fact it's just plain hot, we haven't made much progress of late. But that's not to say there hasn't been some.

The big news is the plywood countertops in the kitchen are finally history. It's another one of those projects where we didn't really know what we were doing so we spent more time reading, youtube-ing, and discussing approaches than we did actually doing the countertops. Some time ago we decided to do concrete and they are finally in. Some refinement may still come. First was the island bar top that was poured in a form and then flipped over and put in place (with the help of our friend Tony).  The rest were poured in place.

Susan woking on the form for island bar top

The island countertop framed up and the bar top in place

The last and biggest piece poured

We like the look of the chiseled edge and it hides some imperfections

The garden was a bigger success than last year. But there is still room for improvement.

The haul for a couple of days

Our friend and neighbor Stan came across some honey bees that had taken up residence in a water meter in town. Susan has kept bees before and I was interested so we got together some beekeeping stuff and went and got them and upgraded them to a better neighborhood, next to our garden. They only stayed a few days and then moved on. We may well try again in the spring.

That's Brian suited up and gently moving comb and bees 

Over a year ago we bought a 1955 model 600 Ford tractor. I posted pictures of it at the time. Sad to say it just wouldn't cut it. Pun intended. It's neat and it runs well but it just doesn't have the power to mow what we need it to mow. And not having a front end loader and bucket was a shortcoming as well. So we bit the bullet and bought another tractor, one that should last us forever. And it has shade, power steering and a comfortable seat!

2014 New Holland 55HP

I believe that covers it for now. Take care!

Brian

Fishing Tales and Turkeys

Hi All,
Before I get to the headline items, a bit of an update. The fawn that Susan almost stepped on two weeks ago is alive and well. I almost stepped on it a few days ago. It is now big enough and strong enough to run off and it did. Hopefully it'll be back around,  guaranteed to put a smile on your face when you see it.

Last week my daughter and her family visited us from Colorado for a couple of days. We did lots of outdoor stuff, walking in the woods, fishing and riding horses. No fish tale... Both Tyson and Alexander caught the biggest bass I've ever seen from our pond. Unfortunately, neither one of them made it all the way to the boat.  Then there is Amy. She caught a small perch from shore. The boys and I were paddling over in the boat to help out. Before we got there a bass ate the perch and Amy ended up with the biggest fish landed the entire trip.

One of several fish Tyson did get in the boat

One of Alexander's fish. We endedd up with a
mess of crappie which is some excellent eating.

Amy and her bass caught on "live bait"

Thanks to our neighbor and friend Lisa, all the kids got to spend a little saddle time on a horse. Brianna didn't make it for more than 3 or 4 steps before she'd had enough. At two and a half years old, that isn't bad.

Alexander is concentrating pretty hard.

Tyson is wondering why he's on an English saddle.

Had a great time with Amy, Derek and the kids. Miss them already.

So far, fingers crossed, the turkeys are doing ok. We moved them out of the house to their new home in the pasture by the garden. There are three levels of escape / predator prevention so hopefully they will make it.  At this point we're not sure of the sex of either of them. If we have a tom and a hen we'll keep them and let them breed. They are Bourbon Reds so if they survive the holidays we plan on naming them Jackie Daniels and Jim Beam. If they are both the same sex, their names will be Thanksgiving and Christmas.

The turkeys' new home. For my family, yes, it is built on the
Coleman trailer my dad bought back in the 70's.

Getting used to the idea of being outside

In the next post I'll tell you about the Guineas we have acquired and include some pictures.

That's all for now.
Take care.
Brian

Third Time Is A Charm. We hope!

Hi All!
Well... We're going to give the Turkeys one more try. The poultry netting we are using to keep the birds confined had openings that were a bit too big. Turkeys are more long and narrow where chickens are more short and fat. Several times when we were around their pen the turkeys would get out and come visit us. We figured after living in the house for six weeks they were imprinted on us and only got out because they saw us. Evidently not so. After a couple of days they were nowhere to be found.

Not ones to give up easily we bought two more. They're just now three weeks old so we're back to having birds in the house again. Learning from our previous mistakes we have a plan to keep them   in the pen once they move outside.

Yesterday Susan was working by the garden and just about stepped on this critter...

We talked to a friend that said momma will come back at dusk and dawn to feed it and in a couple of days they'll move on. Checked on it this morning and it's still doing fine.

My brother and sister-in-law gave us this sign.
We finally got it up along our driveway.

That's all for now.

Take care.
Brian

Finally!

Hi All!
It may seem that we haven't been doing much on the house for the last couple of months. Truth is we've been working on the same thing for what seems like an eternity. We had this grand plan for the master bathroom floor that has been difficult to make happen, to say the least. The vision was to have a stream (complete with fish) running through the bathroom and into the shower. The rest of the floor is flagstone, as you've seen in previous posts. That was easy.

First I'll show the pictures of the finished product and then I'll explain what went into it.

After watching countless videos on YouTube and asking everyone we could think to ask via email and in person we were told it just wasn't going to work. But we just couldn't let it go. Two main problems, the clear epoxy that looks like water in the stream was going to a) try to run down the drain when we poured it and would be b) very slippery when wet.

After multiple attempts with multiple tactics we solved the problem with the epoxy running down the drain by putting a collar around the drain and pouring the epoxy right up to it level with the flagstone. In order for the shower to drain properly the floor has to slope. Hence the problem with the epoxy running down the drain.  A sawzall (recipricating saw) and belt sander removed all the excess epoxy and created a slope down to the drain.  Fortunately a thin coat of fresh epoxy fills in all the sanding marks and makes the epoxy clear again.

Slippery? Oh baby was it slippery. One shower told us it was a major medical expense waiting to happen. Early on in the project our stone mason had suggested some grit that is made for mixing in floor sealers to make floors less slippery. We had tried it a couple of different ways in some tests we did. It always made the epoxy cloudy to the point we lost the effect of water in a stream.  We had to come up with something so we tried again. One teaspoon of grit in 100 ml of epoxy ended up being just right when applied with a paint brush. The epoxy was still clear enough to appear as water and there was enough texture so as not to feel as though you were taking a shower on an ice skating rink. Actually it feels very safe.

Now we can get back to other house projects that will hopefully move much faster than the bathroom floor did.

An update on livestock. Chickens are doing fine. We get between 3 and 5 eggs a day. Of our two turkeys, only one made it. We really wanted more than one, so we bought two more at about the same age as the lone survivor. We set about making a shelter / roost for the turkeys and put them in a fenced enclosure right next to the chickens.

The Turkey's new home

Set up in the pasture next to the chickens

We moved the turkeys out to their new home on Sunday. Monday morning we went to check on them, no turkeys. I cannot believe that some varmint got all three of them the first night. And the netting around them is electrified!  Seems they got lonely and jumped the fence. The were over with the chickens. We let them stay there until today when we combined their yards into one. Who knows who will roost where tonight.

Thats all for now.
Take care.

Brian