The Daily for Tuesday Jul 13, 2021

[Horizon chaser 1957]

Somehow, this posted (the second time) to a different thread altogether. Hopefully third time is the charm!

 

Good afternoon, all. My post just plain disappeared, again. Let’s see if it works this time!

Please forgive my absence for the last couple of days. Saturday we raced up to the Okanagan to pick cherries and raced back on Sunday. Yesterday we headed over to Salt Spring to be with DD now that she’s out of quarantine. By the time I had a reliable wifi signal on those days, it was really too late to post on the Daily.

Today I am freezing, jamming, and dehydrating cherries. I freeze them in bags that contain one pie’s worth. The unprecedented and prolonged heat wave either cooked or dehydrated everything on the south facing side of the trees. I picked several pounds of those, to see if they could still be pitted and turned into dried cherries. They still needed some time in the dehydrator, but it’s worked quite well. There’s enough left for two batches of jam and 5 or 6 pies, plus some for fresh eating. Even the good ones aren’t nearly as juicy as usual. The bing cherries are more like pie cherries this year. Other regions have had better luck.

DS and BIL live near Vernon. When we left, there were two big wildfires just north of there. We could see one in the distance on our morning walk along the lake. On Sunday the water bombers were grounded because of some idiot with a drone. The smoke was getting bad there when we left. My fingers are crossed that it gets under control soon. They are still calling for unseasonably hot weather there for the next week.

Meanwhile, the banana plant is loving this weather to an almost frightening degree. I could cut one of the leaves and use it as a blanket at this point!

 

And for those who have lost track, Happy Tuesday! And I still miss my BHB’s.

 

 

[Tbay]

8 hours ago, rafinmd said:

No, I can't and am not really sure what it is.  Jamie is new; Luke came home from the hospital yesterday but still has a long road to recovery.  It's a small troop so 2 scouts in trouble is very sad.

 

Roy

Prayers heading to the Scouts.  Both my boys spent years in Scouting. One went to an International Jamboree and was a Queen's Venturer.  Many good memories.

[Tbay]

7 hours ago, rafinmd said:

On my 2017 Grand Asia cruise we had a Barbershop Quartet, the Alley Cats:

 

 

They got more of a gig than they were planning on as they were supposed to disembark in Dutch Harbor but were held over when storms prevented us from getting there.

 

Roy

Had the Alley Cats on 2 HAL cruises. Packed the showroom. Also saw them on New Year's Eve in Las Vegas.

[irishjim]

Graham have you and Helen ever been to Doncaster.I lived and worked

 there for 20 yrs and still have brothers and a sister { belated welcome

to the board JIM.

 

[dfish]

1 hour ago, Norseh2o said:

1 hour ago, Norseh2o said:

Home from a trip to Whidbey Island, hot drive both directions but perfect weather for the 4th, crabbing, shucking a few oysters and spending time with family and friends.

I want that crab!    

 

 

[grapau27]

27 minutes ago, irishjim said:

Graham have you and Helen ever been to Doncaster.I lived and worked

 there for 20 yrs and still have brothers and a sister { belated welcome

to the board JIM.

 

Hi Jim.

Pauline has never been to Doncaster.

I have been there many times while working visiting pharmacies, convenience stores and cash and carry's.

Last time I was there was about 24 years ago.

Graham.

 

[USN59-79]

Nice, comfortable weather here today and the rest of the week.  Took DW to a physical therapy session this morning and since it is close to Costco we stopped there on the way home.  She saw a mattress on sale that was just what we had been looking for.  So I drove the Prius home and came back with the 4Runner.  It was too big to fit inside, so some of the Costco employees helped put it on top and I had enough line to securely tie it down.  Got it into the bedroom so now our old mattress will go in the guest bedroom and that mattress will be taken for disposal.  I sometimes surprise myself that we can still do things like that at 81 and 79.  

Concerning visas:  I think some countries are requiring them now that did not pre pandemic.  Our next cruise stops in the Philippines and that country now requires visas for U.S. citizens that were not required in the past.  Haven't received an email from HAL, though maybe because the cruise isn't until February, 2022.  

[smitty34877]

@USN59-79,I saw that you mentioned  White Plains yesterday.I was born there Congratulations  on mattress hauling!

[Sharon in AZ]

2 hours ago, richwmn said:

I just listened to the presentation on Navigator. If you are on FB it is worth looking at.

 

I just watched it also. Which question did you ask?  I guess I wasn’t paying attention to names. 😉

[Sharon in AZ]

2 hours ago, Horizon chaser 1957 said:

Good afternoon, all. My post just plain disappeared, again. Let’s see if it works this time!

Please forgive my absence for the last couple of days. Saturday we raced up to the Okanagan to pick cherries and raced back on Sunday. Yesterday

Good to have you back!  I’ve missed seeing your elevator mats. 
 

Question….  Can you make pie from dried cherries?  DD gave me a huge bag and I have no idea what to do with them. 
 

Enjoy your time with your DD now that she is out of quarantine!

 

Sharon

[Sharon in AZ]

1 hour ago, USN59-79 said:

 

Concerning visas:  I think some countries are requiring them now that did not pre pandemic.  Our next cruise stops in the Philippines and that country now requires visas for U.S. citizens that were not required in the past.  Haven't received an email from HAL, though maybe because the cruise isn't until February, 2022.  

I’ve never had to obtain a Visa before for any travel. Do you know if you still need one if you don’t plan on getting off the ship at that port?

[Horizon chaser 1957]

4 hours ago, grapau27 said:

 

I thought for a minute that was a picture of Easter Island when the Mo’ai were taking a lunch break.😉

 

[rafinmd]

29 minutes ago, Sharon in AZ said:

I’ve never had to obtain a Visa before for any travel. Do you know if you still need one if you don’t plan on getting off the ship at that port?

Almost invariably yes.

 

Roy

[Horizon chaser 1957]

34 minutes ago, Sharon in AZ said:

Good to have you back!  I’ve missed seeing your elevator mats. 
 

Question….  Can you make pie from dried cherries?  DD gave me a huge bag and I have no idea what to do with them. 
 

Enjoy your time with your DD now that she is out of quarantine!

 

Sharon

I believe you can, but you need to rehydrate them for several hours. A better option, and one I need to try, is swapping them for raisins in a raisin pie recipe. They swap well for raisins in just about anything, but they’re better!

[richwmn]

40 minutes ago, Sharon in AZ said:

I just watched it also. Which question did you ask?  I guess I wasn’t paying attention to names. 😉

my question -- will chat notify me if I have a message

the answer was yes, but no real information on how except that it could be muted or turned off so maybe under system settings.

[HAL4NOW]

6 hours ago, Sharon in AZ said:

BTW, I got an email from HAL about my Coastal cruise notifying me of a Visa requirement. So weird because the only non US port is Ensenada. We’ve only needed passports for Mexico before. I’ll have to check and find out what is going on. 

 

6 hours ago, Cruising-along said:

It sounds like anyone with a booking is getting that email.  We did too, and like you, we don't need a Visa for any of our ports. 

We also received that "Visa Requirement" email for September Alaska cruise with no stops outside the USA. I don't know if that sailing will have anyone on it that would require a Visa, but HAL has notified us all that it is our responsibility to know.

[Sharon in AZ]

1 minute ago, richwmn said:

my question -- will chat notify me if I have a message

the answer was yes, but no real information on how except that it could be muted or turned off so maybe under system settings.

Yes, I remember now (I had the comments turned off) and I think they said the default setting was on mute. 

[kazu]

37 minutes ago, Sharon in AZ said:

I’ve never had to obtain a Visa before for any travel. Do you know if you still need one if you don’t plan on getting off the ship at that port?

 

Yes.  Absolutely.  If a Visa is required and you don’t have on you will be denied boarding.

[Sharon in AZ]

5 minutes ago, Horizon chaser 1957 said:

I believe you can, but you need to rehydrate them for several hours. A better option, and one I need to try, is swapping them for raisins in a raisin pie recipe. They swap well for raisins in just about anything, but they’re better!

Great idea!  I’ll have to look up a recipe, I’ve never had raisin pie. 

[kazu]

5 minutes ago, richwmn said:

my question -- will chat notify me if I have a message

the answer was yes, but no real information on how except that it could be muted or turned off so maybe under system settings.

 

There was a dot in the corner last time signalling a message.  From what I gathered, it sound like it is set to silent but you can change the sound.

 

A dot or whatever it is now, is good enough for me.

[Quartzsite Cruiser]

17 minutes ago, Horizon chaser 1957 said:

I believe you can, but you need to rehydrate them for several hours. A better option, and one I need to try, is swapping them for raisins in a raisin pie recipe. They swap well for raisins in just about anything, but they’re better!

Wish more people would swap the 🍒 cherries for raisins, as it would make most things much better.  🤣

 

Glad you had a safe trip and are now enjoying being with your daughter.

 

Hope your family in the Okanagan are safe from the fires.  Would be nice if they find the idiot with the drone and at least fine him.

 

Lenda 

[rafinmd]

11 hours ago, rafinmd said:

I was scheduled for Djupivigor once but missed it due to weather. 

I was mistaken about that.  I was thinking of Akureyri.  I visited Djupivigor on my first Prinsendam cruise in 2011.  It was kind of a foggy day and I took a tour to Papey,  a small privately owned offshore island,   In it's  heyday there were about 20 people there engaged in sheep farming, but the last died off in 2003 and it is essentially abandoned.  Despite it's status most buildings are still maintained and there is a small church and cemetery.

 

 

As we returned to Djupivigor the Elegant Explorer was quite shrouded in fog:

 

 

Roy

[HAL4NOW]

The marine layer is just beginning to burn off now after 4PM. Temperatures have stayed between 53 and 57 degrees Fahrenheit. Yesterday the marine layer didn't begin to burn off until after 7PM.

My DW dropped me off in Tokeland this morning and I took a 14 mile beach walk back home to Westport. The tides were perfect for a longer walk and the clouds made the walk much more comfortable. Over 100 Brown Pelicans flew by all at once. I was so busy just watching in amazement as they buzzed the surf that I didn't even think about taking a picture until they were well up the beach. I also got to see a lot of plover, seagulls, a bald eagle, plenty of crows, and a large contingent of vultures.

The crows, gulls, and vultures were feeding on some salmon that had washed up on the beach. Most of the vultures were too shy to hang around for a picture. Here is one shot showing the marine layer, the surf, and a few of the birds enjoying their feast.

[TiogaCruiser]

55 minutes ago, HAL4NOW said:

 

My DW dropped me off in Tokeland this morning and I took a 14 mile beach walk back home to Westport. The tides were perfect for a longer walk and the clouds made the walk much more comfortable. Over 100 Brown Pelicans flew by all at once. I was so busy just watching in amazement as they buzzed the surf that I didn't even think about taking a picture until they were well up the beach. I also got to see a lot of plover, seagulls, a bald eagle, plenty of crows, and a large contingent of vultures.

The crows, gulls, and vultures were feeding on some salmon that had washed up on the beach. Most of the vultures were too shy to hang around for a picture. Here is one shot showing the marine layer, the surf, and a few of the birds enjoying their feast.

 

You are brave.
I would have ducked and covered. 

[irishjim]

3 hours ago, grapau27 said:

Hi Jim.

Pauline has never been to Doncaster.

I have been there many times while working visiting pharmacies, convenience stores and cash and carry's.

Last time I was there was about 24 years ago.

Graham.

 

Thank you for your reply. I now live in Ontario Canada since 1974 l loved  your photos. pleas stay safe.