MURPHY'S LAW…AND ALL HIS COUSINS

Monday, November 14 - We don't post things like this, but this just hit home so hard we thought we would share it. All 19 have happened to one of us on more than one occasion. No. 11 just happened to us this past Sunday in church…no less. (Side note: We don't have big bellies or long legs, thank you very much! We sat in the aisle seat. You will see that we mean when you read #11.) Can you relate to any of them?

1. Law of Mechanical Repair - After your hands become coated with grease, your nose will begin to itch and you'll have to pee.

2. Law of Gravity - Any tool, nut, bolt, screw, when dropped, will roll to the least accessible corner.

3.Law of Probability - The probability of being watched is directly proportional to the stupidity of your act.

4. Law of Random Numbers - If you dial a wrong number, you never get a busy signal and someone always answers.

6. Variation Law- If you change lines (or traffic lanes), the one you were in will always move faster than the one you are in now.

7.Law of the  Bath - When the body is fully immersed in water, the telephone rings.

8. Law of Close Encounters - The probability of meeting someone you know increases dramatically when you are with someone you don't want to be seen with.

9. Law of the Result - When you try to prove to someone that a machine won't work, it will.

10.Law of Biomechanics - The severity of the itch is inversely proportional to the reach.

11.Law of the Theater & Hockey Arena - At any event, the people whose seats are furthest from the aisle, always arrive last. They are the ones who will leave their seats several times to go for food, beer, or the toilet and who leave early before the end of the performance or the game is over.  The folks in the aisle seats come early, never move once, have long gangly legs or big bellies and stay to the bitter end of the performance.  The aisle people also are very surly folk.

12.The Coffee Law - As soon as you sit down to a cup of hot coffee, your boss will ask you to do something which will last until the coffee is cold.

13. Murphy's Law of Lockers - If there are only 2 people in a locker room, they will have adjacent lockers.

14.Law of Physical Surfaces - The chances of an open-faced jelly sandwich landing face down on a floor, are directly correlated to the newness and cost of the carpet or rug.

15. Law of Logical Argument - Anything is possible if you don't know what you are talking about.

16. Brown's Law of Physical Appearance - If the clothes fit, they're ugly.

17. Oliver's Law of Public Speaking - A closed mouth gathers no feet.

18. Wilson's Law of Commercial Marketing Strategy - As soon as you find a product that you really like, they will stop making it.

19. Doctors' Law - If you don't feel well, make an appointment to go to the doctor, by the time you get there you'll feel better..  But don't make an appointment, and you'll stay sick.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see ya'll back real soon. Have a great day!

HOUSE CLEANING DONE…BACK TO HAVING FUN!

Saturday, November 12 – With all the house cleaning chores completed, we picked up Carrie and her friend, Greg, and headed to the Offshore Drilling Museum in Galveston, TX.

It was nice to have Greg along, because he worked on drilling rigs in the past, and he was able to add background information to our visit. The museum is located in downtown Galveston, a short distance up from the cruise ship ports.

There were two ships in port and one sailed while we were there to watch. We were also lucky to see a drilling rig being towed out to sea while at the museum. Amazing!!!

The Ocean Star Offshore Drilling Rig is a retired jack-up drilling platform. A jack-up rig is a mobile offshore drilling unit with three or more long legs that can be jacked down to make contact with the sea floor. When the legs are set jacking continues until the entire hull of the rig is out of the water (usually at least 25 ft.) The Ocean Star was built in 1969 in Beaumont, Texas for the Ocean Drilling and Exploration Company (ODECO) fleet. It had quarters for 49 persons. It operated in up to 173 feet of water and was designed to drill a well to 25,000 feet.

The Museum features three floors of educational and interactive displays illustrating the story of offshore oil and gas exploration. One is able to walk through this production platform and explore the systems used in off-shore drilling. The museum is a self-guided facility. There are numerous models of the different types of off-shore rigs. The size of these huge rigs is staggering.

Shell's Bullwinkle jacket platform is 1,751 feet tall, and sits in 1,353 feet of water off the coast of Louisiana. The platform's legs are 10 feet in diameter, and the base cover 4.5 acres of seafloor. Twenty-eight piles, driven as deep as 400 feet into the seabed. The platform has 38,000 sq. ft. of deck area and a jacket constructed from 77,000 tons of steel.

The cost of these rigs and the servicing equipment needed to keep these rigs in production is unbelievable. It can easily exceed a million dollars per day!

Wearing atmospheric diving suits, divers can safely descend to 2300 ft. and work for extended periods. Powerful manipulator claws and specially built automatic wrenches, cutters and grinders give divers what they need to perform hundreds of deepwater installation and repair tasks.

A diver actually gets inside this thing.

Look how big it is compared to Carrie.

Pigs are devices that service pipelines. They pass through the pipeline to clean, to repair, or to inspect it. Pigs are entirely soft rubber, or are equipped with soft rubber rings that seal against the inside of the pipe. The seals make a slight oinking sound as they slide along—hence the name "pig."

After a leisurely tour inside the museum, which is located in the “housing” portion of the platform, we walked outside and experienced what is is like to stand on the drill floor of an off-shore rig.

You can visit the pipe deck, work the controls the driller uses to operate the drilling equipment, see the bits and other equipment used in drilling and roam throughout the three story drilling platform.

The traveling block lifts the load of the drill pipe during drilling operations.

An escape capsule, or pod, is the lifeboat of an offshore rig. Twenty-eight crew members could fit inside this escape pod and be lowered over the side of the rig. They are equipped with a two-way radio, safety gear, first aid supplies, water and a cooling system that pumps seawater over the pod until the crew inside can be retrieved.

This rig is so big; we look like midgets.

But it wasn't all play. Look at how dirty we got just walking around.

This is a great museum for only $5 for seniors. We learned so much about offshore drilling. Greg did an excellent job of filling in the gaps. Thanks Greg.

After our three and a half hours in the museum, it was time to treat ourselves to some delicious Galveston Island sea food. We headed over to the popular Strand Blvd. and the famous Black Pearl Oyster Bar.

We chose four dishes to share among the group. Paul was anxious to try Oysters on the half shell; Greg chose Alligator; Carrie selected the Cajun Shrimp; and Marsha the Boudin Balls. What a seafood feast! We all enjoyed sharing the different dishes.

We all had our favorites but the raw oysters were surprising enjoyed by all.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see ya'll back real soon. Have a great day!

FALL CLEANING

Tuesday, November 8 – Day two of Fall Cleaning continued, that summed up our day. We jumped right into cleaning, after our morning workout. Marsha was scrubbing the kitchen area, and Paul was giving the woodwork a once over with Murphy's Oil.

He also was instructed to clean the vents under the refrigerator…Her wish is my command.

Of course, Bella wasn't about to move out of “her spot” on the sunny dashboard. That's OK, Marsha will just clean around you, Bella!

All the appliances were scrubbed, the stainless steel polished, the carpets swept,  extra good, and the tile floor scrubbed. Oh, don't forget the windows, the TV's, computer screens, and all those dashboard electronics. The inside is sparkling clean and germ free…as much as possible.

Wednesday, November 9 – A miracle occurred here in Houston…RAIN! What a storm we had. It lasted several hours but only hours after it stopped there was no sign that it even happened.

Paul took advantage of the sunny weather to get back up on the roof to add some Dicor Roof Treatment to some "iffy" areas on our fiberglass roof.  Don't want any leaks this winter.

Marsha has been diligently working on her pine needle baskets. She has one more basket to complete, and she will have all her Christmas gifts completed. She will share some pictures later. Some of the baskets are for people who follow our blog. Don't want to ruin any one's surprise.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see ya'll back real soon. Have a great day!