HBE4

Thank you for the clarification. I certainly do not want to be spreading misinformation. Some one probably told me that it's "not good" for the trees as it may slow the growth rate of the tree if it becomes to thick and I interpreted "not good" as killing the tree.

Yeah, I'm told the Spanish Moss is pretty to look at, but that's about it. Plus, I'm told its considered a weed that is killing the trees? Just repeating what I was told. I should have clarified, while we stayed in Blufton, the house is close to the causeway to Hilton Head so all pictures , beach and hiking, are from Hilton Head as that is where we spent most of our time.

Finally, some sunset photo's

Another hike that ended pretty quickly thanks to the aforementioned "splits" fall. Site of the accident. 🤬 I basically slipped on loose gravel while trying to capture a candy wrapper that flew out of my hands. Hope the turtles and alligators appreciate my sacrifice. 😄

My attempt to capture wildlife. A Egret, I think? Love these massive, old trees. Hard to capture the whole thing in a picture.

Hiking thru the swamp. Love seeing the Spanish moss from the trees.

We were thinking of doing a dolphin tour. While at the marina eating lunch and discussing it, the dolphin excursion boat from the morning tour pulled in with 2 or 3 dolphins following. They (the dolphins) decided to give us a nice 2-hour long show frolicking inside the marina so we decided to not spend the money on the tour as we felt we had a free excursion. Not really free as lunch turned into happy hour at the marina. Sorry, no pics of the dolphins.

Is that a Tiki Bar I see? Sure is! Good live music as well.

Beach day. The sand was so hard packed; you couldn’t even leave foot prints.

I have new found appreciation for those that take the time to write trip reports, both cruise and non-cruise related. Because I would suck at it. LOL. Background: my step-daughter and I had decided some time ago that once we got thru the holidays and took care of most of the “business” side of the recent sad events, we would treat ourselves to a getaway. Originally, we were thinking ski trip up to Vermont but for various reasons that did not pan out. But we do have family that are new to the “snowbird” lifestyle and have started wintering (i.e. renting a house) down in Bluffton, South Carolina, just outside Hilton Head. Can’t beat the price of the accommodations (free) and JetBlue was having a sale. One-way flight from NYC LaGuardia to Savannah, GA was $79. Same on the return flight. Much cheaper to fly than drive. From Savannah, a 40-minute drive to Bluffton. Originally, I had planned to do a once a day post with pictures as others have done but, well, what can I say? Other than one post about a week ago of the flight down, I just could never find the time to post until late at night when I was to crash. Oh, and I suck at taking pictures too so not many of those either. 😜 Anyways, we were there for a week. My brother-in-law, his wife and niece were fantastic hosts. Weather was hovering around 60 degrees but felt warmer. Unfortunately, about half-way thru the trip, I slipped while hiking and ending up doing once of those painful looking splits that gymnast & ballet dancers routinely and effortless perform. But since I’m neither, it was painful & took me about 5 minutes before I could stand up. After consulting Dr. WebMd, I self-diagnosed myself with a mild to moderate hamstring strain. No bruising or popping sounds so I’m somewhat certain it was not a tear but it did leave me hobbling around for a few days, unable to put much weight on my leg and had to take my time walking slowly. Had to cancel a planned side trip to explore Savannah the next day so I could sit on the couch, icing my leg, playing board games and popping Advil. Fortunately, my niece is also a personal trainer and was able to guide me thru the do and don’ts of how to best recover without re-injuring. Overall, it was much needed trip. Plenty of good food, drinks and company despite the minor mishap that side-lined me the last few days. A few pictures to follow.

Thank you. Usually I take the train to Grand Central Station, then a 20 minute or so walk to Madison Square Garden. But today, I will treat myself to some overpriced parking and park across the street to minimize my walking. But it all balances financially out as I will be drinking less since I'll be driving afterwards. Might actually be cheaper😁 Yes, thank you for refreshing my memory.

That's pretty awesome. Your son-in-law is a lucky man. Does your SIL sit near where the celebrities usually sit? They show them on the big screen during time outs and they seem to be always in the same area, behind the Rangers bench. I'm planning on attending tonight's game but I have a mild hamstring sprain (more on that later) that has me hobbling around. Everyone is telling me I need to rest but I figure with enough pain killers (Advil) will get me thru the night. I can rest tomorrow. 🙂

JetBlue recently added this feature to their app as well.

When the Cowboys lose, everybody wins. 😁

Heading down to Hilton Head, SC. Plenty of leg room on JetBlue. And Buffalo Bill's Mafia is alive & well, plenty of flags flying in Bluffton, SC, just outside Hilton Head. A few Bill's bars are nearby as well that we were planning on going to visit but, well, day did not go as planned. Sorry @bobmacliberty and @George C

Ironically, I was just thinking of her recently.

I read on the other thread no Apple Blossoms? This could be the beginning of the end, sell your RCI shares now. 😉😁

I sorta have tankless water heater. My boiler that heats the house has a small tank - a more of a sleeve really - that heats the hot water. Unlimited hot water on demand is nice. Taking a hot shower while the dish washer & washing machine running - and using hot water - at the same time is nice too. No temperature drop in the hot water, although water pressure does decrease a bit.

My dad had a 1988 Mercury Grand Marquis station wagon that had cornering lights. I thought they were the coolest feature, not sure why they never caught on with more cars.

You have a lot of catching up.🙂 It's amazing how quickly automotive technology advances these days. Back in the good old days, it would take a decade or more for new, high-end features found luxury cars to find there way into "everyday" vehicles. Now it seems today's average car is just as equipped, if not better, than luxury cars of just 3 or 4 years ago.

The auto-stop feature (also called stop-start) has been around for a few decades as a way to reduce gas consumption and pollution, especially in vehicles driven in congested cities where cars spend just as much time idling in traffic than actually moving. I remember reading somewhere that a typical driver will spend 54 hours a year in a idling car and gas mileage can be improved by 10-15% while emissions can drop by a similar percentage with auto-stop. Not sure if those are "real world" numbers or just theoretical laboratory numbers. The feature really came into wide-spread acceptance with hybrid/electric vehicles as a way to preserve and extend battery performance and eventually it spread to more cars. Because electric motors provide instant power and are much quieter and smoother than gas powered motors, the feature seems to work better ( less noticeable) with hybrid/electric cars.

Not too inconvenient, right? 😉😄 "As it turns out, engine auto-stop-start does not operate if the car is started with the hood open. Moreover, the system remains off even after the hood is closed, effectively disabling the system from functioning until the next key cycle. For those who despise the system, this could be welcomed knowledge. To take advantage of the workaround, one would need to pop the hood (before starting the vehicle), start the car with the hood open, and then shut the hood. It’s not the most ideal scenario, but it does provide one more option to those with GM vehicles without toggles to disable the engine auto-stop-start system." https://gmauthority.com/blog/2019/04/little-known-trick-will-disable-your-engine-auto-stop-start-system/

It does have seat belts & a passenger side mirror though, right? 😉 At least you don't have to hand crank the engine before starting it. All kidding aside, one modern feature that I love and should be standard equipment on every car is Blind Spot Monitoring, where a little light comes on when the car in the next lane is in your blind spot. I have 2 cars, one with and one without., and there have been a few close calls with the car without BSM as I've gotten so used to the little red light in the driver side mirror warning me there is a car next to me.

Is that the Griswold car from the original "Vacation" movie?

Combining 2 popular topics, cats & out-dated A/V equipment, here is Leonard playing with a ribbon. And for those eagle-eyed viewers, that is an actual future collectible, a DVD/VCR combo player in the background. FWIW, there is no battery in the remote & it is not hooked up to the TV. it's basically a shiny dust collector. 😃