Category Archives: Of This and That

And Now For the Drone….

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I knew the odds were Hubby would eventually want a drone. I suppose we loosely categorized it as his present for his birthday/our anniversary since the two things are about a month apart. You probably can’t see it well in the photo, but I can’t find the shot he took of just it. So, as it turns out, not surprisingly, there are all sorts of different license categories. In his case, since he will use it at times in a commercial capacity, he fell into whatever category that is. It included him having to take a particular test that was administered at our small airport at the Executive Jet Center.

There are all sorts of restrictions – as there should be – about heights you can fly the drone and obviously places. Interestingly, they are prohibited in National Parks. Apparently, when they first became easily accessible, there was real or perceived  harassment of wildlife to bring about the rule. He studied up for his test and of course did well and his real card came in yesterday to take the place of his temporary. His first “commercial” use of it was for the December 5th, Holiday on Krome Ave Drive-thru Parade where he did get some great aerial shots.

Roughly speaking, he can shoot from I think it’s 400 feet and down. Because of our closeness to Homestead Air Reserve Base (HARB), large sections around here fall under extra restrictions, but as with so many things these days, there in an on-line form to fill out to receive permission to still fly within certain parts. Downtown Homestead falls into that sector. It is several miles from HARB, so permission is pretty routine. It really is too bad the kids aren’t coming this year for the holidays; I can just imagine how much drone flying would be going on. And no, I have no interest is messing with this thing.

Hubby with drone; Nov 2020

“What’s Old Is New Again”……

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In yet another example of adaptation to trying to keep a small business going in the time of COVID, drive-in theaters are popping up in a lot of places. For those of us who grew up in the era, the idea was easy for families watching budgets. Pile everyone in the car, take your own snacks, ignore the kids asking for concessions and enjoy a movie together. I don’t recall all the movies we went to, but it was a fairly regular thing for us. And then there was the high school and college student part which included more than just watching the movie.

Anyway, there have been regular local festivals that featured a “movie in the park” element, but back in the summer, an entrepreneurial brother and sister were in town for college summer break. Their dad owns a large, empty lot and they decided to give the drive-in movie theater a try. As it turns out, when they calculated the cost of renting the screen and other equipment, they went on a search for used equipment instead. They found a pretty good price and figured they might be able to sell the set-up for a decent amount or not much loss. They were both due back at school in late August and so were doing this as both a way to offer entertainment that included social distancing and to see if it would work. I interviewed the brother and did a short piece for the paper. I even reached out to a couple of contacts to see if they might be interested in buying the equipment although their interest wasn’t enough to pursue it.

Someone else has recently started showing movies and I have an inquiry out to see if they either did buy the equipment or were simply inspired by the idea. I always enjoy that kind of connectivity.

Income, Profit, and Making a Living……

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During dinner last night with friends, the discussion entered the realm of the difficulty in making a living in the arts. There are multiple dimensions to this, but if one strips to the core, it’s relatively simple – all be it disconcerting. As much as people do enjoy the arts, for those who have money to spend, what they are willing to pay is a different story. Almost as important is the reality there are many, many talented artists/artisans (this includes writers), and as in any commodity, markets are often “flooded”. Oh, for the sake of this post, I’m referring to freelance. Yes, there are teaching positions, but that’s a different path.

Unlike numerous careers where you won’t become wealthy, but you can earn enough to achieve and sustain middle class, few in the arts are genuinely likely to achieve that. Certainly not if there’s a family to care for as well. The tiny percent in the arts who do “make the big time” help fuel the dream though of all who have such aspirations. (Yes, there are also those who create only for “art’s sake”; that though is yet another topic).  The desire to create, whether it’s acting, art, craft, dance, music, or writing is something that should never be discouraged as it is a profound aspect of being human. Balancing the drive with “real life” is the trick as I’ve posted about when we were faced with son’s intent to be a dancer. And of course I’ve written  plenty about my own experience which was part of last night’s discussion. In never having the commercial breakthrough, my writing has been a consistent tax write-off, but the IRS does get a bit touchy with year in and year out of that. Since I do primarily self-publish and I no longer publish at least one book a year, it  works out that I “make a profit” every few years. That is very much a relative term as it means yes, I have more income from writing than expenses. Let us say the ability to make a living with that income is not the same. On the other hand, I’ve refined the process to where my costs are no more than we spend on an average vacation and we do both take pleasure in my books.

Mentoring Women for Racing….

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I’ve posted before about NASCAR, but also about how Homestead Speedway has lots of other activities that aren’t as well known. One of those is the FARA races that come I think twice a year. Hubby was at the track all yesterday afternoon. FARA is Formula and Automobile Racing Association and there are different classes of cars and types of racing. Some have the potential to go on to the higher level circuits of Indy, NASCAR, and so forth. In other cases, people have the resources to be part of racing at this level with no expectation of anything else.

Something special though has to do with a program called Shift Up Now. Hubby discovered it back in February and included this in his overall article: “Arguably the most well known racer to participate in the Miami 500 was Pippa Mann. She is an Indy Car Racer who competes regularly in the Indy Car Series and finished 16th in last year’s Indy 500. She now also works with Shift Up Now as a driver coach.

Mann was in Homestead to coach and co-drive with Kristina Esposito, a 17-year-old New York racer.

Shift Up Now Founder and CEO Lynn Kehoe was also on hand to support Kristina. Ms Kehoe summed up the mission of the organization as “We’re all about helping racers and non-racers by inspiring and instilling confidence in women and girls.”

With their partners such as TLM Racing, Shift Up Now will be supporting Kristina as she competes in the FARA series of races with her goal being a class championship.

Kristina also uses her racing to raise money to support the New York Fire Department’s Widow’s and Children’s Fund.”

Both women are here in Homestead this weekend, still doing well in their racing and promoting interest along the way. Hubby’s article will probably be in next week’s paper.

No Caterpillars Yet…..

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As I have previously explained, Hubby and I are still unclear when it comes to certain gardening things and it looks as if one of the orchids may have died after doing well. It  for months. It happened rather suddenly and the others are okay, so perhaps it was some sort of bug. One of the other plants (the chocolate raspberry) we thought was a goner has re-bloomed and is looking great.

That leads me to the milkweed. Last year we had a few caterpillars, chrysalis and butterflies. I mean we have different types of butterflies flitting about every day, but these were some we felt certain came from the milkweed plant. It was devoured though and seemed to be down to bare stem. We left it alone and sure enough it has also grown a great deal. We haven’t seen any caterpillars yet, but then again, we don’t know what the cycle is. There are quite a number of black “dots” on the underside of a couple of the leaves toward the back of the plant. Perhaps those are eggs although I can’t be certain. We will pay more attention this year. I know we can order chrysalis through the mail, but it would seem in this environment it makes more sense to allow nature to take over.

Oh, a related topic is the bananas haven’t ripened yet even though they are growing. I say haven’t ripen as in they haven’t turned yellow or softened very much. We’re still not certain as to that process either. Yeah, I know. You would think after being in this house as long as we have been we would understand how these things work.

October Trip, Day 4…..

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Okay, am posting this from the house. Flights went smoothly today and traffic from airport was not bad. Even made it inside 20 minutes ahead of the rain currently falling.

We did have a late night last night as Clyde’s, the restaurant we went to, took longer than we expected – good food and the delays were understandable. For one of the first times ever, I did not get my crab cakes during the Virginia visit. I fully intended to, but when they have lobster Shepard’s pie on the menu, how does one resist? I did have Maryland crab soup though, so a regional homage was involved. We all wanted to spend a little more time together and thus did a nightcap in the room as granddaughter was a bit “wired” and needed to wind down. Had done my Grandma duty with an hour in the pool earlier in the afternoon and let’s just say it was not overly comfortable. The kids did have a nice “date day”, but with the weather rainy and chilly, they mostly relaxed rather than went anywhere special.

A very different experience on the connecting flight to Miami which went far better than I thought. We were in aisle and center seat and lady was right behind us who was in the window seat. Okay, we step back out to let her and her dog in. Some kind of long hair terrier mix. As she was juggling everything, I made the comment of it would take her a minute to get the dog in the carrier. She said, “No, she wouldn’t be needing it.” Ah, the dog was to be in her lap for the entire flight. You can understand my concern. Now, my sister, who is allergic to animal dander, has commented before about this being something that bothers her. We happen not to be allergic, but it was a full flight. I have no idea what would have happened if one or both of us were allergic. The dog did squirm around a bit, but also behave and it wasn’t an issue. In truth, as startling as it was, the dog was quieter than having an crying baby/child next to us.

 

 

October Trip Day 3….

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I was actually expecting granddaughter to be knocking on our door by now (8:45 a.m.), but she did expend a lot of energy yesterday. Today’s plan is for the kids to have a “date day” as we take granddaughter to the Air and Space Museum annex near Dulles. That’s the reason for staying on this side of D.C. For those not familiar with it, the official name is the Smithsonian Institution Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. The Air and Space Museum in D.C. has far more items than they can display and there are physical issues with being able to expand. Many years – okay, decades ago – there was the idea to build an annex out close to Dulles where a facility could be constructed to hold the famous SR-71 – the “Blackbird” supersonic spy plane and even a space shuttle. That was obviously a major effort. I don’t recall now when it opened, but the kids have visited it once and Hubby has wanted to for quite some time. There are of course restrictions now as to capacity, so tickets are issued for timed entries. We’re at 10:30 so no one had to rush around. Will report after.

Good exhibits even with a number of really cool ones closed because of COVID restrictions. Kept granddaughter’s attention for 1.5 hours and the trip through the museum shop was reasonable. In discussing potential careers like engineers, astronauts, etc., learned granddaughter’s intent is to be a vet so she can take care of puppies and llamas.

Moving on to next unexpected travel irritant. Turns out there is no housekeeping. Process is beds don’t get changed (not an issue as we take that option anyway when it’s only a few days), towels can be delivered when you ask for them as are other amenities. Trash is to be placed outside and is picked up. No actual cleaning provided until after checkout. In sorting through that logic, it would have been nice to have been informed of this on their website before booking or certainly as least when we checked in.

October Trip, Day 2…..

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Okay, have philosophically accepted the drawbacks of very limited amenities. In the final frustration of the night the Italian place the front desk gave us a menu for did have a nice menu. Ordered pizza – usual Friday night fare. The 45 minute delivery time wasn’t an issue; at least until 1.5 hours passed. Call to the place assured Hubby it was out for delivery. By 9:00 (2.5 hours), I went to the front desk and explained the situation. The young lady did apologize and I selected two cold turkey club sandwiches and chips from the limited options available by that time. Who knows what happened to the pizza or what the guy told his boss. At least we had been planning to pay cash so there was no credit card charge. The sandwiches were good although hardly what had intended.

The weather is pleasant and we got a walk in this morning. Daughter-in-law and granddaughter arrived for us to visit a bit, let Grandpa give her the camera he’d bought. It is rated for up to 30 feet underwater so naturally it went with granddaughter and I when we headed to the pool. Since she didn’t have mask and fins there wasn’t much “swimming”, but almost an hour of playing around. We had the pool to ourselves which makes it nicer as not all adults enjoy sharing a pool with small children. At graduated depths to five feet, she can now stand in the 2.5 and 3 foot water with a little to spare. It was not what would call totally comfortable from a temperature perspective, but inside meant there was no wind which really helps.

Dinner at McCormick and Schmicks was the usual excellent meal with the complete package of ambiance, good food, service, and granddaughter hung in with no issues. The only drawback is the promised plummet in temperature was noticeable when we came out and headed to the parking garage. Ah well, no rain is forecast.

Day 1 Oct 2020 Trip….

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In deciding to make the trip to the D.C. area for son’s 40th birthday (yeah, I know), I was aware of certain limitations in traveling. I’ve already posted about the surprise in discovering we couldn’t fly direct at any sort of reasonable time. I also knew we would have to pretty continuously be in masks. (10 hours as it turned out)

Now, traffic to the airport was like it used to be and I’m not going to complain about that. After all, we have access to the American Express Lounge which is a pleasant place. Except I forgot to ask the direct question and it’s closed. It would have been nice if they had posted a sign before we walked all the way down, then back past our original point to get to our gate. Okay, we get on the flight. And now we learn there will be no complimentary beverages, but hey why not have paid extra for those particular seats anyway. Our layover in Charlotte allowed plenty of time for a leisurely lunch with a couple of adult beverages. Except, the terminal our connecting flight was in has no such service and since Hubby is hauling my carry-on (no wheels) and his backpack, I’m not going to ask him to haul us back the 7+ minute walk to the other terminal. Okay, on the plus-side, the weather is good and no flight delays to this point. More to follow as we arrive.

Okay, a delay, but not too bad. Now for more frustration. We are at a hotel I will not name, but let us say it’s a nice one. So, the granddaughter was “cheated” out of the complex pool this summer due to COVID. The idea was we picked one of the three hotels in the correct location that has an indoor pool. We’re bringing the kids out tomorrow after they get off work to spend Sat and Sun night and we fly Monday morning. We will take possession of granddaughter Sunday to allow kids to have a “date day” – that also happens to be son’s actual birthday. Good plan. When I went onto the hotel website to see the restaurant, bar, and pool, there was a notice about some services might not be available. I of course immediately thought of the pool and called about that. I was assured that yes, it was open. However, knowing that things can change, I explained to the kids we would check on the pool when we arrived.

What I didn’t think to ask about was the restaurant and bar. Indeed, neither are open and by the way, there’s no ice either. Ah, and no glassware; plastic only. Shall we say, I was not happy to discover all this. Okay, Plan B. Call the Kiddo. When you come tomorrow, bring cooler, ice, bourbon and perhaps scotch. And yes, the pool is available.

Another TV Series……

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A friend recommended the TV series “Yellowstone”, but our tastes don’t always mesh. I watch DVDs when I work out on the stationary recumbent bike and decided to give it a try. I don’t recall which cable network it airs on and we don’t have a streaming service, so I can’t advise that part. Kevin Costner is the main “name” and character – John Dutton – father of four Dutton adult children and fourth or fifth generation to own the sprawling Yellowstone Ranch. It’s actually filmed in Utah although it’s “Montana” on the TV. This is very much an adult series with complex characters, violence, some occasional nudity, and constant profanity. The cinematography is breath taking and the music is great. An advantage of watching the DVDs is the behind the story segments. The sense of authenticity brought to screen is because all the actors do go through “cowboy camp”. There are lots of horses in every episode and often cattle. Anyone who has lived in cowboy country understands the portrayal.

As for intricate plot and sub-plots, they can be difficult to keep up with. In one telling scene between the Governor and the soon-to-retire Attorney General, she says of John Dutton, “He still thinks it’s the 80’s when no one is looking over our shoulders.” A new Chairman of the Indian Tribe, a developer wanting to build, others seeking to carve away part or all of a legacy they deem as, “too much for one man to own”. The shifting of stances, the intense dysfunction within the Dutton family, the readiness to use violence to achieve a purpose and few characters who are not flawed. Layers are peeled away slowly and steps that seem to go forward take periodic turns. Like many dramas these days, this one can provoke thought and conversation. The casting, acting, writing, and production are all well executed.