Silversea Water Cooler: Part 3, Welcome!

[Tothesunset]

The thing about naturally dried wood is that the moisture content is consistent across the log with the big downside that dense woods such as oak take 3 years to dry. That's not a huge problem unless you have to store the wood for that time. We tried using one year oak a few years ago. Terrible mistake - wouldn't burn well, lots of soot and impossible to split for kindling. If we couldn't get properly seasoned oak then I'd go for the kiln-dried.

[UKCruiseJeff]

I envy your access to oak and ash which we love .... but now we can only get what we are given. I use to love burning less than completely dried ash. That was a grate of character and constant reminders. We now burn coal and wood together and wifey has become a real expert and master. I bring it in and she burns it. :)

[TLCOhio]

I agree with you Terry, Katrina was negatively impacted by lack of local management abilities. I am also more confident with Texas in this regard.

 

Before Terry gets on the cooler and begins his Ohio State football cheer, let me remind him of November 26, 2011.

 

Appreciate Jeff's interesting comments and insights regarding Princess Diana. YES, the media does love to go to super excess on some topics. Personally, I am not a fan of Prince Charlie and Camilla. Far, far from it. Diana had her "issues", too!! It is sad and hopefully William and his wife will stabilize things. And QEII will continue to live a good, long life. On Diana, a wise TV person once told me that there is a tendency among the media to go way above and beyond in covering "white women in distress". That fits much of what has happened with Princess Diana. It has been an almost "made for TV" soap opera with so many different twists and turns. Sad. BUT, many people like to thirst for more and more media coverage about her, speculate about her death, etc. Even twenty years after her tragic death. It goes on and on. Maybe to excess?

 

Nice follow-up from mdpa on the Katrina versus Texas/Hurricane Harvey question. Impressed by Jeff and his wood-stacking skills.

 

For Spins, it is "special" that you brought up the results of the November 2011 Ohio State versus Michigan game. BUT, you forgot to share that since November 2001, Ohio State has won 14 of those 16 college football games. That's an 87.5% winning rate for Ohio State!! Since 2012, OSU has won 100% of those most-recent five games. From my perspective, I do not need to cheer. I just look at the record and cite the actual results. Those facts make things fairly easy and simple. BUT, Michigan has a very good team this year and a skilled coach who was born in Ohio. Like during the years when Ohio-born and educated Bo Schembechler coached Michigan, they had a pretty good success record, overall. So for Spins, is November 2011, the best and most recent you can find and offer up? For Saturday at 3:30 pm, I will be cheering for 11th-ranked Michigan to beat 17th-ranked Florida in the Texas AT&T Stadium. Go Blue!! Tonight, Ohio State has a tough opener at Indiana that ESPN will televise nationally.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Did a June 7-19, 2011, cruise from Barcelona that had stops in Villefranche, ports near Pisa and Rome, Naples, Kotor, Venice and Dubrovnik. Dozens of nice visuals with key highlights, tips, comments, etc. We are now at 227,098 views for this live/blog re-cap, including much on wonderful Barcelona. Check these postings and added info at:

www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1426474

[UKCruiseJeff]

Terry .... our Queen is not a ship .....:)

[Randyk47]

Just finished stacking our much enjoyed kiln dried wood around the house and I must say all joints, knees, back are all suffering. And I broke a filling!

 

 

 

 

 

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That's more wood than we'd use in four or five years here in San Antonio. We just don't get enough really cold days to light a fire that often and we don't do any cooking or baking with a wood fire. While I don't miss the snow and freezing temperatures from when we lived up north I do miss a real wood fire.

[spinnaker2]

Terry.

I knew you would respond in kind:-)

All in good fun.

What do we eat?

Gator meat.

 

Good luck to Ohio.

I have many friends who went there and our family also has a good natured rivalry between some who chose to go to live in the state of Ohio. Weird that they root for the team where they live instead of the college they attended. I think it's because the college they attended doesn't have a football team.

 

We just lost a good proportion of the coolers.

[MissSophia]

Evening All.....log fires bring back many memories of long cold winter nights.....remember my grandmother toasting bread with a long brass fork!

 

In many ways l felt sorry for Diana....she was used to produce the heir and spare and couldn't get to grips with the stifling establishment. Charles was and still is weak......and stupid enough to think he could marry yet still hang on to the mistress and became petulant when his new young and very tactile bride became the star attraction.

Wrongly...the royals thought she could cope having been brought up within the aristocracy albeit in quite a volatile environment......she carried a lot of baggage but she met the criteria!

But....she became very savvy and knew what she was doing and also what to do to attract attention when the Wales war began.....she worked the press exceedingly well!

Hopefullly the good will now continue to shine from William and Harry...lessons have been learnt.

 

Off to take in some sea air tomorrow with a trip to the theatre and an overnight stay up on the coast....

 

Happy Weekend

😊

[UKCruiseJeff]

That's more wood than we'd use in four or five years here in San Antonio. We just don't get enough really cold days to light a fire that often and we don't do any cooking or baking with a wood fire. While I don't miss the snow and freezing temperatures from when we lived up north I do miss a real wood fire.

 

There's very few necessities in life that one really also enjoys, but I so love our open fire.

 

I guess we start at around September and we're done by about Easter. And what we spend on the open fire for wood and coal means we're keeping the lounge toasty but not keeping the rest of our largely empty house hot and wasting oil. We had a new oil boiler installed a year or so back and that seems to have saved us a lot of oil.

 

We were promised a few frosty nights a day or two back and I was rather looking forward to them .......

[UKCruiseJeff]

Enjoy your trip to the coast and theatre Soapy!

[MissSophia]

Thanks Jeff....going to see my old friend in concert...and to enjoy some fizz after the show....😉

[UKCruiseJeff]

Thanks Jeff....going to see my old friend in concert...and to enjoy some fizz after the show....😉

 

She was on TV today ..... and we were thinking of you! Talking about up coming TV stuff she is doing.

 

If only you could play the old joanna .... you could do a Hinge and Bracket! :D

 

Have a really great time and ensure you drink lots of bubbles. :)

[TLCOhio]

Terry. I knew you would respond in kind :-) All in good fun. What do we eat? Gator meat.

Good luck to Ohio. I have many friends who went there and our family also has a good natured rivalry between some who chose to go to live in the state of Ohio. Weird that they root for the team where they live instead of the college they attended. I think it's because the college they attended doesn't have a football team. We just lost a good proportion of the coolers.

 

Appreciate this great, FUN follow-up from Spins!! Glad you "pushed my buttons" so that I could properly "educate" folks on the twenty-first century record of Ohio State doing very well versus Michigan. Lots of interesting situations for how people stick with and/or attach to a new favorite team whether at the college or pro level. Here in the U.S., in Europe, etc.

 

Very good added info on burning wood, the various qualities with certain types of firewood, etc.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Enjoyed a 14-day, Jan. 20-Feb. 3, 2014, Sydney to Auckland adventure, getting a big sampling for the wonders of "down under” before and after this cruise. Go to:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1974139

for more info and many pictures of these amazing sights in this great part of the world. Now at 185,716 views for this posting.

[MissSophia]

Yes Jeff..saw her this morning promoting her new cruise show.......one lovely lady....I'll tell her about the Hinge & Bracket suggestion.....😧🤗

[UKCruiseJeff]

Yes Jeff..saw her this morning promoting her new cruise show.......one lovely lady....I'll tell her about the Hinge & Bracket suggestion.....😧🤗

 

When we saw the Viking suite we thought she was on The World ie Residensea .... it looked just like the two bedroom appartment ..... extremely Lucky lady.

[ShotsnCruises]

For all you Trump bashers, what President has ever donated $1000000 of their own personal money to a natural disaster? Why so quick to judge? What would you do different if you were in his shoes? Lest we forget we have North Korea threatening war on our footsteps, and every other part of national security and the country to run. We cannot comprehend the burden that the office brings, yet everyone is so quick to judge. He came too soon, he came not soon enough.... blah blah blah. He will never please you no matter what, and anything done will be judged through a negative filter. Meanwhile, we have Antifa beating people in he streets of California and no one condemns their actions!!!

 

This board was fine when judgmental comments were kept to ones self, but recently the leftist libs have killed it for me. I'm sick of it!!

I spent hours on my knees in tears crying and praying for the victims of Harvey and in 2 days I fly out with my company's Operation Black Swan to provide crisis services for the victims.

So much for the fun of the cooler.

You should all be ashamed of yourselves.

 

 

 

 

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[jpalbny]

Shots - be safe, and thank you for volunteering to go. Groups like this, coming together to help each other in times of need, are the pillars of a great county.

 

My cousin is on his way there with his group as well. If you come across Archangel Airborne, tell him I said Hi!

 

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[spinnaker2]

Shots.

I echo the praise for the goodness of your heart and your willingness to provide support to the survivors of this catastrophe.

May you be guided with blessings and love.

The survivors need so much healing.

[mysty]

Safe travels Shots! And we have nothing to be ashamed of.

[UKCruiseJeff]

Shots,

 

I feel that I should defend the general rights of coolers to freely express their views as they wish. No one intended offence to you personally and hopefully in time you will agree the cooler should remain a place where people can express themselves without being unduly inhibited or attacked unfairly for simply expressing views. I have seen members of our Royal family criticised and it is part of every day life here as long as people also explain why they feel the way they do so it can be understood and possibly debated. That is healthy free speech and debate and all of us are offered the learning possibility of hearing and considering contrary views to our own. Trump is clearly against freedom of the press (as we know it), and it is good that he has made this cash contribution.

 

Shots, genuinely best wishes to you in what must be an extremely harrowing time for you. You're a much respected and liked poster here. People have expressed opinions at a time that coincides with extreme pressures on you and in time, when emotions have subsided a little you might agree that the right of people to express views even those that are contentious and disagree with our own is one of the very reasons why the Cooler has been an interesting place to hang out and those freedoms are in these days of "political corerectness" I feel worth preserving. It seems to me that when times are bad, that is when friendly free-spirited banter is at it's most precious and needed most. It is often what get's people through.

 

All the thoughts of your Cooler friends are with you during this extremely difficult time and all of us are totally in solidarity with all those affected by Harvey and please keep us in touch with what you are doing and share with us what you are experiencing.

[biggersn]

For all you Trump bashers, what President has ever donated $1000000 of their own personal money to a natural disaster? Why so quick to judge? What would you do different if you were in his shoes? Lest we forget we have North Korea threatening war on our footsteps, and every other part of national security and the country to run. We cannot comprehend the burden that the office brings, yet everyone is so quick to judge. He came too soon, he came not soon enough.... blah blah blah. He will never please you no matter what, and anything done will be judged through a negative filter. Meanwhile, we have Antifa beating people in he streets of California and no one condemns their actions!!!

 

This board was fine when judgmental comments were kept to ones self, but recently the leftist libs have killed it for me. I'm sick of it!!

I spent hours on my knees in tears crying and praying for the victims of Harvey and in 2 days I fly out with my company's Operation Black Swan to provide crisis services for the victims.

So much for the fun of the cooler.

You should all be ashamed of yourselves.

 

 

 

 

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I admire the work you are doing, shots, but referring to 'leftist libs' and 'North Korea threatening war' is very judgemental in itself. Let us all disagree amicably! And well said, Jeff!

Edited September 1, 2017 by biggersn
additional comment

[mdpa]

My version of freedom of press is independent free thought like views expressed via this forum or well regarded talk radio hosts (Rush Limbaugh). I'm not a fan of large news conglomerates who work very hard to define the news for us (ex. Reuters).

 

 

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[UKCruiseJeff]

Thanks both.

 

And simply in the interests of "completeness".

 

Trump has always claimed that he is worth more than $10bn. And as we know, that is not "fake news". If what he claims is true, then $1m is a modest 0.01% of his total net worth. In other words If my sums are correct then he has contributed 1c for every $100 he is worth. Is that correct?

 

It appears, that I contribute considerably more of my net worth each year to charity than he does. :)

[Lois R]

Never mind..............

Edited September 1, 2017 by Lois R

[mysty]

Greetings Coolers!

 

Thanks Jeff! You did an exemplary job of describing the nature of the Cooler! When I first dipped my toes into the Cooler water, I was hesitant. Having read other threads on other sub-forums and the sometimes nasty disagreements arguing the merits of individual opinions I was very reluctant to open myself up to attack. The Cooler waters in comparison were like a warm bath with bubbles. So I submerged myself. And I found a safe place to “play”. Yes, there are disagreements. And those disagreements have in the main been civil and respectful. Thus it was very disconcerting to run into the harsh criticism and finger-wagging expressed in an earlier post. I sincerely hope the white caps on the Cooler waters settle back into the gentle flow that is their custom.

 

 

Have a great day all!

[UKCruiseJeff]

We all sympathise entirely with the genuine emotion we all share about the terrible consequences of Harvey. But it mustn't be concatenated with other topics we discuss on The Cooler or used for legitimising abuse of other posters and their opinions. It would be a shame if the cloak of genuine grief were used as a way of attacking others and seeking to the reigning back or censoring the extremely appreciated latitude we are allowed by CC and the mods judgement here.

 

FWIW I feel that Trump appears to be ratcheting up the critical situation with North Korea and with every utterance and tweet makes us all unsafer. That should not be his aim.

 

Soapy is in my thoughts at the moment. She is heading towards a lovely traditional first class British hotel with a treasured friend of hers, where she has taken their most expensive and prestigious two bedroomed suite overlooking the sea, and tonight she is meeting one of Britain's much loved TV and concert performers who is one of Soapy's mates and who she has also cruised with and will watch her concert. Life doesn't get much better than that and I really hope she has a really wonderful memorable time.

 

Anyway, also on the important issue of living each and every day as we find it when we wake up, today has been a really lovely ribeye day. Even though the logs and my age has not been kind to my knees or back. I am walking around like a Lowery matchstick man, but plumper.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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