cactusman

Model boat stand built from old cigar box.

Little boy pondering one of my model airboats.

Me and happy tourist in Wilmington, NC, a few years ago. Nothing brings folks together like model boats!

Here is something supercool. I put disc brakes on the back tire of Koykoy's bike. I used the A2Z adapter. (This is a Chinese copy, but a good one.) It works great.

Here is a bike a fixed for this little 4-year-old Filipino boy. His name is Koykoy (that is an example island repeated syllables). It was rusty and falling apart. I replaced and upgraded everything except the frame. Note the supercool oversize handlebars and oversize seat! Also, I put handlebar end on the handlebars. He actually loves those and uses them. All the kids in the neighborhood want one now! His is nice and lets other kids borrow it. Now he has better bike than any other 4 year old in the Philippines. I am putting disc brakes on the back tire tomorrow!!!

Here is a new fat bike that I bought for Jena Mae. She loves bikes.

Jera and Imelda Marcos

This is a deaf family I became friends with in India. (that's right, the son and his mother are both deaf, and the father AND aunts and uncles and cousins.) Their story is intriguing: They are part of a clan (a big family, maybe 70) of deaf people who all live together. They have been that way for at least 3 generations, their friends told me. The boy, V----m (named blocked for respect for privacy), and I developed a friendship: I would buy him model boats, cars, and shoes and shirts, and we would play with the boats and cars together! (I am like a big kid, kids love me). I was so impressed! It was remarkable to me how lively he and his family were, and how well they got along. We would go to the Veli and ride the boats. It is amazing to me how boating (model and full-scale) bridges all cultures and peoples. And I was stunned and amazed by this: They have a genetic defect and are well aware that their babies will be deaf, but have babies ANYWAY! And, more, they DO NOT seek to marry outside of their clan (nor have artificial insemination) to maybe dispell the deaf defect!!! They seem content knowing that their kids will be deaf light them. MY GOD!!! Anyway, my heart was greatly moved by them. My heart grew by a factor of 5, and my friendship with V----m and his mom I count as one of the great blessings in my live. Being around them is very peaceful and calm in a way I cannot explain unless you have experienced. I was stunned and amazed to find that I actually got used to and enjoyed the lack of talking and noise. It kinda flipped my reality. Maybe they think WE have a disability and feel sorry for us and call us "yackers" behind our backs. And think that we have a disease of moving our mouths ALL THE TIME and are constantly distracted by a "disease" called hearing. And never get any peace.

Jera and Jena Mae have grown quite a bit in 3 years. Here is a photo from yesterday (2023Sep01). They had to dress in some traditional Philippine outfit for school project. Jera is in a dress from the Imelda Marcos era (1980s), while .Jena Mae is in tribal outfit.

Nice Indian family I met.

This is me in India last year. I lived there for many months. It was great. Temple and cute little Indian girl.

Hi, I am back on. I moved up north for a while and lived in India for a wile. This is me in a Philippines pump boat (common here) in north Cebu.

Jera with RC helicopter.

Here we are doing rc helicopter (with safety glasses).

This is me and Jera and her sister and a "pump" boat (because the engine is an old pump engine). Fishermen use these here. Then me on the beach (black sand). Then at a nearby cafe. Jere and her sister are pretending to be the Buda (see no evil, here no evil, speak no evil).

This is Jera and her little sister pretending to be the Buda (see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil).

More fun photos of Jera and her sailboat. In the Cebu Straight, Cebu Province, Philippines.

Me, Jere and Jera's mother. Tuesday. I let a local guy try the sailboat.

Jera made a useful discovery for people building a Thunder Tiger Victoria. It is a correction for the (well-known) tooling error on this model, which causes the spreaders to not be perpendicular to the hull (if you follow the stock set up). Do this: --Ignore the stock setup (that's right!!!) presented in the manual. Take the 3 snaps off of the mainstay chainplates on each side, PT and SB. --Put the 2 PT side upper stay snaps toward the stern. --Put the 2 SB side upper stays toward the bow. Then the large spreader will go perpendicular to the hull!!!!!!!! How about that!!!!! Wow! What I am talking about here is that you probably noticed the main spreader does not sit perp to the hull (because of the well-known tooling error). Some people ignore it, some drill new holes, some make new mainstay chain plates. But you don't have to do that!!! Just do the above, and it will go perpendicular and sit right. Jera discovers this all on her on, very smart. I am happy with it now, and do not plan to make any more changes. It works great! The mainstays are a little quirky, but a LOT of things we love in life are a bit quirky. That is just part of its personality!

Success the very first time out!!!

Getting it ready for the beach!

This is a little Filippino girl who helps me build sailboats. We are building a Victoria RC sailboat.

I retired here. I live here in Cebu. I am former military. I have done RC since I was 7, and I got into sailboats some years ago.

This is my Sesbreeze RC sailboat, in Cebu with local kide helping.