Summer Vacation

[jamiebk]

I put together a little slide show of some of the pictures from our backpacking trip. Take 8 minutes from your day and enjoy the beauty and music. (I'm the guy in the orange shirt)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZbgCO1yH4Q

Off to RI on Sunday

[DavidS]

Thanks ever so much, Jamie
Beautiful!

[Trumpetmaster]

Jamie,
Looks like you had a GREAT time!
Thanks for sharing!

Regards,
TM

[Shapley]

That's some beautiful country! Nice job on the slide show!

[Haggis@wk]

Thanks to a slowing economy I was able to use my frequent flier miles to schedule a trip to the UK for three weeks in Aug. I'd tried to schedule the trip for Aug 2008 but learned that the only window open to schedule the travel was 5 days in Sep 2007!!

Now, the entire schedule is almost completely open even at this time of the year.

We are going to spend time in the Lake District, Yorkshire dales and westernish Scotland. Any suggestions for destinations?

[jamiebk]

Thanks to a slowing economy I was able to use my frequent flier miles to schedule a trip to the UK for three weeks in Aug. I'd tried to schedule the trip for Aug 2008 but learned that the only window open to schedule the travel was 5 days in Sep 2007!!

Now, the entire schedule is almost completely open even at this time of the year.

We are going to spend time in the Lake District, Yorkshire dales and westernish Scotland. Any suggestions for destinations?

Good for you Haggis! That's great. We visited the border counties of Scotland and Edinburgh...While we did not visit it, I don't think Edinburgh is far from the Falkirk Wheel which is an amazing piece of engineering.

[shostakovich]

Hi Haggis. I don't know what's close to what, but in 3 weeks you can see a lot. Edinburgh is very nice. There's a castle, the National Gallery, and Holyrood Palace. Walter Scott's home is called Abbotsford. He was also at one time sheriff of Selkirk. There's a sign in Selkirk that says so. Loch Ness should be interesting, even though the monster is terribly shy. There's a broken down Urquart castle to photograph. I'm not sure where Lord Byron's estate is, but it's vast and beautiful. Hope this helps.
Shos

[Shapley]

I'm back from vacation. My family and I traveled took a very pleasant cruise around the United Kingdom aboard the Norwegian Jade. We flew out of St. Louis, Mo to Chicago and thence to London on the 27th of May. We spent three days in London, walking around and seeing the sights. We visited the Tower of London and Westminster Cathedral.

On 31 May, we boarded the Norwegian Jade at Southampton. Our first visit was to Le Havre, France on 1 June. We walked around the city, and took the tour train. The weather was very nice. We enjoyed visits to Falmouth, England; Cobh, Ireland; Dublin, Ireland; Belfast, Northern Ireland; Greenock (Glasgow), Scotland; Invergordon (Inverness), Scotland; Queensferry (Edinburgh), Scotland; Amsterdam, Netherlands; and Brugge, Belgium. We returned late Saturday evening, and are still recovering from jet lag.

All in all, an excellent trip. The weather was great, and the cruise staff was outstanding. We met a number of wonderful people.

V/R
Shapley

[jamiebk]

I'm back from vacation. My family and I traveled took a very pleasant cruise around the United Kingdom aboard the Norwegian Jade. We flew out of St. Louis, Mo to Chicago and thence to London on the 27th of May. We spent three days in London, walking around and seeing the sights. We visited the Tower of London and Westminster Cathedral.

On 31 May, we boarded the Norwegian Jade at Southampton. Our first visit was to Le Havre, France on 1 June. We walked around the city, and took the tour train. The weather was very nice. We enjoyed visits to Falmouth, England; Cobh, Ireland; Dublin, Ireland; Belfast, Northern Ireland; Greenock (Glasgow), Scotland; Invergordon (Inverness), Scotland; Queensferry (Edinburgh), Scotland; Amsterdam, Netherlands; and Brugge, Belgium. We returned late Saturday evening, and are still recovering from jet lag.

All in all, an excellent trip. The weather was great, and the cruise staff was outstanding. We met a number of wonderful people.

V/R
Shapley

Welcome back Shap. I thought things were a little quiet on your end. Lots to catch up on!

[piqaboo]

sounds wunnerful!

[BigJon@Work]

Just got back from a week in Vermont at Smuggler's Notch resort. This resort is geared towards families. They have age or interest camps for all kids. Left lots of time for Mom and Dad to do what mom's and dad's do. Delightful country scenery too. Visited Ben & Jerry's, of course.

[monkeymd2b]

Hello again...back from a long hiatus from posting. Life gets busy I guess. Anyway, I started off my summer vacation with a backpacking trip. I went with my fiance (yep, lots of changes since my last post) and 2 of our friends. We learned that June 20th is still too early to hike to the top of Bear Point (near Detroit Lake, Oregon) as we got within 500 ft of our final destination only to run into a pile of snow in the trail. It wasn't just a few spots, it was one large mass of snow that was about 4 ft deep where it met the trail. So alas, after 4 hours of hiking, we had to turn around and head back down as we weren't equipped for hiking in snow, let alone camping in it. We camped a little lower down the trail so we still had fun. Then the next morning we discovered that the mosquitos had a feast on me. I think it happened at the trailhead as i was surrounded by mosquitos...guys are pretty lucky when it comes to peeing in the woods. Oddly enough they only attacked me above my bum in a small strip across my lower back. Or should I say happily they stuck to that zone? Not sure why I didn't think to put insect repellant on but I won't be making that mistake again! Later this summer we're celebrating my birthday with a regular camping trip (no backpacking) so I'm going to bring enough to bathe in the stuff and risk cancer from having too much of the stuff on me.
So yeah, graduated from my residency last june, working since august (took a month off first), got engaged, and getting married at the end of summer. Actually, maybe you guys can help me. I'm contemplating getting my guy a trumpet for his wedding day gift since he used to play and had one that he lent to a friend who apparently never gave it back to him and they had lost contact. The only problem is that i hear picking a trumpet is a very personal experience due to sound differences and how they play. Oh and it costs quite a bit more than what I probably should spend. I feel bad buying big things for him because he doesn't make nearly as much as I do and I think it makes him feel bad that he can't spend as much as I often do on him. The other thing I know he would like is this small dell laptop but again, specs make that a difficult thing too. Already got him a watch and while we both love legos (we made a lego cake topper for our wedding), it seems that I should get something nicer than legos on that day. I just don't know.
Well, it's dinner time...my future house husband made dinner tonight.

[piqaboo]

She's back! Hello ! :happy dance: :

How about a certificate at a music store for the trumpet? Or buy one but get the store to give you full exchange rights, so 'your guy' can go test drive others.

Re the money thing - y'all will have to work that out, y'know? If he gets uncomfortable w it, tell him he can pay you off with serenades

I hope you have a lovely birthday, and a lovely wedding.

WNV is late this year, but still, watch out for it. DEET is your friend!

[Schmeelkie]

Welcome back Monkey! I've missed the cutie neice pics among other things....

Congratulations on the fiance!
When my husband and I first met with my pastor who was to marry us, he asked us about things people argue about kids (both agreed on 2), and money - he asked, "So, does one of you make or have more money than the other?" We laughed and I informed him that we had little assests outside of two computers and husband-to-be's 10 yr old hatchback, but he had more debt than I did! We pretty much lived off the wedding money we received for about 3 months until we both started working for real as he officially got his PhD the August after our May wedding, and I was done but just doing adjunct teaching to get by for the year. So it could be worse...

of course, I just paid off my student loans a month or so ago (WOO HOO ), but got another 6 years I think on husbands as he consolidated and stretched it out to 15 yrs...

[monkeymd2b]

My concern for just getting the certificate is that if I don't cover the whole amount, he may not buy the trumpet. I guess that's what happens when you end up with someone just as cheap (frugal?) as yourself. Although I must say that I don't worry about him overspending when our assets do merge. We talked about a joint house account to pay bills which I would contribute a larger amt since I do make more money. I don't think he has any educational loans to pay off since he doesn't complain about them...probably because he knows that my loans are hefty (last check - ~$215,000) and will be paid off in 2035. But at least the interest rate on those keeps dropping And my mom has about $10,000 in savings bonds which will go toward our future house. I jokingly tell him that he has to buy me a 5000 sq ft house so he will have space for his stuff. He then tells me he'll buy several trailers and hitch them together for me.
We both seem to agree on 3 kids but he has asked me not to have a litter of children in one pregnancy to which I will gladly comply unless mother nature decides to have some sick fun with us. I think I have a bit of PTSD when it comes to the actual delivery portion. I've seen too many things come apart down there...

Anyway, I'll post a photo of payton in the kid section. She is now 4 and has a new baby brother...well sort of new. He's almost 4 months old.

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

My son's trumpet cost us about $850, and this was about 15 years ago. I'll bet Trumpetmaster spent more on each of his trumpets than we ever did on Fish's. OTOH, the cost of a French Horn is quite a bit higher, and there was the mellophone for field events, and, and, and.

Go to a good music store and talk to 'em. Talk to local trumpeteers (is that a word?) and solicit opinions. Be prepared to spend more per ounce than you would on any other chunk of metal.

[analog]

Be prepared to spend more per ounce than you would on any other chunk of metal.

omg i knew i shoulda grabbed 'em.

the metal salvage yard i frequent gets really weird stuff. Often it's out of those rental storage places where people stash overflow from a move and eventually quit paying the rent. Last week in the scrap brass bin were two french horns, two saxophones and a tuba. The tuba and one french horn were smashed flat but the two saxes and other horn looked perfectly new. They'd have cost only $1.50 per pound.

My bad, guys, i never thought that somebody here might need 'em. Duh... 'twould have been very little trouble to box and mail .

I've seen other instruments there. Promise to be more thoughtful in the future.


a.

[Trumpetmaster]

My son's trumpet cost us about $850, and this was about 15 years ago. I'll bet Trumpetmaster spent more on each of his trumpets than we ever did on Fish's. OTOH, the cost of a French Horn is quite a bit higher, and there was the mellophone for field events, and, and, and.

Go to a good music store and talk to 'em. Talk to local trumpeteers (is that a word?) and solicit opinions. Be prepared to spend more per ounce than you would on any other chunk of metal.

You can get a reasonable priced student model trumpet. Just have to search for it..
There are lots of them on E-Bay.... I would recommend Getzen, Selmer Bundy model, or
Yamaha, for starters.

My FIRST Trumpet was a Selmer Bundy.

Second Trumpet (that I still play today as it is a great crossover horn for pop/classical)
is a Bb Getzen "Doc Severinson" model bought in 1973 for about $240

A good Bach Bb Stradivarius can go from $1,500 to $2,000

I have many trumpets in different keys depending on what music is being performed...

4 - Bb Trumpets (2 Bach, 1 Getzen, 1 Benge)
2 - C Trumpets (2 Bach)
2 - Eb/D Trumpet (Schilke and Besson) these have extra pipes to change key from Eb to D
2 - Bb/A Piccolo Trumpets (Selmer & Scherzer) these have extra pipes to change keys
1 - Bb Cornet (Getzen)
1 - Bb Flugelhorn (Yamaha)

that's my toolbox...

[Shapley]

Here we are in Falmouth, England. The tender is barely visible behind my shoulder.

We only had two tender ports to deal with, Falmouth and Queensferry, Scotland. The weather was excellent in both, so handling the wheelchair presented no difficulties.



Here I am in Queensferry, catching up on the hometown news. (The newspaperlikes to have photos submitted of subscribers reading the paper in distant locations.)

[piqaboo]

Oh bummer, I cant see either picture, nor a red x neither.
I shall try from the home computer.

What a kick, a gallery of people reading the paper around the world.