Hobbies and interests thread

[AtlanticMike]

So I love learning how to do new things and sometimes one will interest me enough I'll keep doing it. For instance, last year I couldn't find a toboggan/hat that fit well so I learned how to knit, you got to love you tube😀. I actually enjoy it! 

   So I'm starting this thread so people can share what they're passionate about. So please share videos, articles, self help books or just write about whatever you think others might enjoy doing, what might help enrich someone else's life. You're never to young or old to try something new in life. And please don't tell anyone I knit, that's just between you and me! 😂😂

 

 

Edited May 13, 2021 by AtlanticMike

[strappinglad]

16 minutes ago, AtlanticMike said:

couldn't find a toboggan that fit

Say What ??? Toque maybe ! 

[AtlanticMike]

22 minutes ago, strappinglad said:

Say What ??? Toque maybe ! 

I edited my post and put "hat" beside toboggan so you Northerners would know what  I'm talking about.😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

Edited May 13, 2021 by AtlanticMike

[strappinglad]

45 minutes ago, AtlanticMike said:

"hat" beside toboggan

Got it. I was wondering how to wear one of these 

toboggan - Bing images

Now I discover that there is a Canadian outer wear company called " Toboggan " . Oy Vey !!

[AtlanticMike]

There's this guy at a local park I take my kids to that will spend hours doing yoga right beside the road to the park. He will pull his car up, take out a mat, and start doing yoga in just a pair of shorts, no matter what time of year. I was impressed so I asked him a bunch of questions and come to find out he had a major back surgery,twice, and also is a cancer survivor. Also, he's 81 and his wife passed away a few years back. He impressed me so much my wife and I started doing yoga and come to find out I'm getting old😂😂. Man!!! I'm not naturally limber even though I keep in shape, yoga has been one of the toughest exercises I've ever tried. It's also very rewarding. Here's a great video for older people and beginners.

 

[Tacenda]

11 minutes ago, AtlanticMike said:

There's this guy at a local park I take my kids to that will spend hours doing yoga right beside the road to the park. He will pull his car up, take out a mat, and start doing yoga in just a pair of shorts, no matter what time of year. I was impressed so I asked him a bunch of questions and come to find out he had a major back surgery,twice, and also is a cancer survivor. Also, he's 81 and his wife passed away a few years back. He impressed me so much my wife and I started doing yoga and come to find out I'm getting old😂😂. Man!!! I'm not naturally limber even though I keep in shape, yoga has been one of the toughest exercises I've ever tried. It's also very rewarding. Here's a great video for older people and beginners.

 

I started going to Planet Beach. It's a facility that enables you to work out in infrared rooms, so like a sauna. They have rooms for yoga, Pilates, and many other types of exercise. The rooms are pretty small so you're usually working out with just yourself, which is a reason I love it so much! You watch videos called Hotworx, you can look it up online. I have work out bands that I bought and yoga mat too. So one day when I think it's too much money I can do them at home, but will lack the heat, which helps a lot. 

I love that you and your wife took it up, based on this man you met, talk about living life as you go! 

[AtlanticMike]

44 minutes ago, Tacenda said:

I started going to Planet Beach. It's a facility that enables you to work out in infrared rooms, so like a sauna. They have rooms for yoga, Pilates, and many other types of exercise. The rooms are pretty small so you're usually working out with just yourself, which is a reason I love it so much! You watch videos called Hotworx, you can look it up online. I have work out bands that I bought and yoga mat too. So one day when I think it's too much money I can do them at home, but will lack the heat, which helps a lot. 

I love that you and your wife took it up, based on this man you met, talk about living life as you go! 

There's a lady one city over that offers yoga sessions with goats walking on you. Told my wife nope!! I don't mind eating goat, but I draw the line at having goats walking on me.

[Amulek]

On 5/16/2021 at 10:27 AM, AtlanticMike said:

There's a lady one city over that offers yoga sessions with goats walking on you. Told my wife nope!! I don't mind eating goat, but I draw the line at having goats walking on me.

They sometimes do more than just walk... 💩

[Calm]

On 5/16/2021 at 9:27 AM, AtlanticMike said:

There's a lady one city over that offers yoga sessions with goats walking on you. Told my wife nope!! I don't mind eating goat, but I draw the line at having goats walking on me.

I have very fond memories of baby goats attempting to climb me or chew my clothing and a few head butts while I was feeding their siblings. My daughter usually wasn’t laughing quite so much though she laughed tons, but back then it was easier for the goats to get up on her back when she bent down than me and she had a lot less mass and was easier to push around. I will have to ask her is she remembers. Some of her teen years are foggy due to blood sugar and other issues. 

And yes, we made sure we were in old clothes and went home and took showers if only because their hooves were walking around in their puddles of urine and piles of poop even though their owners worked hard to give them decent living spaces. 
 

Love fresh goat milk and cheese.  Miss my friend who owned them too.

[AtlanticMike]

4 hours ago, Calm said:

Love fresh goat milk and cheese

Haha, today for lunch I had goat cheese, capers and anchovies. Delicious!!! I don't have a sweet tooth, I have a salt tooth.

    Some of my kids most fond memories are playing with animals and learning how to raise them. We had over 60 chickens hatch tonight. My youngest daughter is in charge of taking care of all the new birds, she's a natural state it.

[Calm]

5 minutes ago, AtlanticMike said:

don't have a sweet tooth, I have a salt tooth.

I could do without sugar if only I had plenty of savory...but quality savory takes cooking and right now can’t do much of that. Plus have to go low sodium because of vertigo which means all from scratch.   I start craving sugar only when my tastebuds are bored. 

[Amulek]

13 hours ago, AtlanticMike said:

I don't have a sweet tooth, I have a salt tooth.

My daughter is the same way. I mean, she'll take a brownie (like, almost out of peer pressure) but she'll usually only eat a bite or two.

But drop a can of Pringles in front of her and she'll practically inhale it. LOL.

 

[rodheadlee]

Sailing is our hobby. Offshore voyaging is the best. So far we have sailed from Los Angeles to Cabo San Lucas up into the Sea of Cortez down to Mazatlan. Then we made the 2600 mile sail to Hiva Oa, Nuku Hiva and 850 mile sail to Tahiti. After a few stops in Raiatea. Tahaa and Bora Bora we sailed 1100 miles to American Samoa. We put the boat up in a shipyard.

Then the tsunami came and knocked her off the jack stands while we were inthe USA helping family. 

Edited May 22, 2021 by rodheadlee

[rodheadlee]

After the tsunami of 2009 we fixed her back up and got ready to go again. Our first cruising boat was a Catalina 38 1979 vintage. After we put a new diesel in a custom fuel tank in she was a good cruising boat but severely limited in water tankage and head facilities. We put an ad on the internet and sold her in 2 weeks. 

We had spent 22 months in the states taking care of Patty's parents and then she got cancer. After a miracle she was declared clear of cancer and we bought a boat on the east coast of the United States and took off cruising again. The new boat we named Second Chance. 

She carries 200 gallons of water and has a real stand up shower as well as some other amenities for cruising. We did a refit on her and took off again. We sailed down the east coast of the US to Florida around the West End of Cuba to the Panama Canal, with a stop in Grand Cayman, out into the Pacific and up the West Coast of Mexico and California to San Francisco. Then I went to work in a boat yard for 5 years. We stopped in Costa Rica and El Salvador along the way as well as a few ports in Mexico.

Edited May 22, 2021 by rodheadlee

[AtlanticMike]

23 minutes ago, rodheadlee said:

After the tsunami of 2009 we fixed her back up and got ready to go again. Our first cruising boat was a Catalina 38 1979 vintage. After we put a new diesel in a custom fuel tank in she was a good cruising boat but severely limited in water tankage and head facilities. We put an ad on the internet and sold her in 2 weeks. 

We had spent 22 months in the states taking care of Patty's parents and then she got cancer. After a miracle she was declared clear of cancer and we bought a boat on the east coast of the United States and took off cruising again. The new boat we named Second Chance. 

She carries 200 gallons of water and has a real stand up shower as well as some other amenities for cruising. We did a refit on her and took off again. We sailed down the east coast of the US to Florida around the West End of Cuba to the Panama Canal out into the Pacific and up the West Coast of Mexico and California to San Francisco. Then I went to work in a boat yard for 5 years. We stopped in Costa Rica and El Salvador along the way as well as a few ports in Mexico.

I'm not much on boats, but I do have a funny/scary story about a huge boat I was watching for a friend for a couple weeks. Well, he went out of town, and everyday after work I went buy the marina to check on the boat to make sure no hoodlums broke in. One morning I went by to unlock the boat so the engines could be worked on by a mechanic. He didn't finish the work so he called and told me he would need back in the next morning but neglected to tell me he left the floor panels open that access the engine. So when I went in that night to check on the boat I fell on top of the engine breaking my ribs, I got a black eye, punctured my leg and spranged my wrist. I still remember it like it was yesterday even though it was 20 some years ago. What's funny is, I remember when I was falling, thinking, man this is going to hurt!! And I was correct, it hurt😂!

Is that why your screen name is rodhead, you like working on engines?

Edited May 22, 2021 by AtlanticMike

[Maureen]

I retired 5 years ago and got interested in gardening. Garden Answer is my inspiration.

https://youtube.com/c/gardenanswer

M.

[AtlanticMike]

44 minutes ago, Maureen said:

I retired 5 years ago and got interested in gardening. Garden Answer is my inspiration.

https://youtube.com/c/gardenanswer

 

That's a great YouTube channel, I'll have to show my wife, she's a lot better gardener than I am. I mainly raise the animals we eat while she does the gardening, gardening takes patience, something I'm definitely lacking😁. The only thing I grow is fodder and that's soilless, it's wheat/barley peroxide and water, that's all she will trust me with😂.

Edited May 23, 2021 by AtlanticMike

[Stargazer]

I'm a flea. I bounce around doing (or trying to do) too darned many things. Now that I am retired, and have time on my hands, I'm all over the place.

• I have a science-fiction trilogy I want to write. I have some of it written, and maybe 50% planned out for the first book. And vague ideas of what happens in the next 2 books. I suspect I will never finish it.
• I have a software project that I am about 20% done with (I'm a retired computer programmer), that I would like to make into a commercial product. It's a photo-indexing system.  I suspect I will never finish this, either.
• My wife got me an actual "real" camera for Christmas. It's a Canon 4000D. I have couple of lenses for it, and I am gradually learning how to use it. It's primary use right now is in gathering photos and videos for my hobby YouTube channel (see below)
• I have three quadcopters. Two are cheapish. One is an expensivish Hubsan Zino 2+. I've had that one since December but have only flown it once. Why? I'm afraid I'm going to break it. I'm a wuss. I got it mainly to gather video and photos for my hobby YouTube channel.
• My hobby YouTube channel is currently in my signature. It's called "A Yank in Sussex," and it is about the things I am finding here in England where I now live. I currently have  a "huge" number of subscribers: 65. So far, there are 12 videos including the channel intro. The most popular video (this doesn't say much about popularity) is Robin Hood and the English Accent. About 500 views, wow, just swimming with interest! The next video is partly finished, and I hope to upload it this week or next.

I also watch lots of Youtube videos about space and astronomy, and other scientific subjects.

[AtlanticMike]

On 6/3/2021 at 2:37 AM, Stargazer said:

I have a software project that I am about 20% done with (I'm a retired computer programmer), that I would like to make into a commercial product. It's a photo-indexing system.  I suspect I will never finish this, either

I can look at a 15,000 sq ft house and not be intimidated at building or fixing any part of the interior or exterior what so ever. But being on this board, this is most time I've spent typing, well, forever, and I've realized I'm an absolute dummy when it comes to computersa and there's no reason I should be intimidated by such a small little box😂. 

    So I bought a used computer from a guy off of Craigslist, he builds them, and I tore it down to the very last piece. I actually put it back together and it worked, thanks to about a dozen you tube videos. I'm in the process of upgrading many of the internal parts to make it run faster.  My goal is to understand enough about the operating system in a few months I can upgrade my security system to be an all hard wired system running off of a nvr instead of the wifi cameras I'm using now. I want to buy new 12 megapixel cameras and  two lpr cameras and wifi won't support that much data. 

   

[Tacenda]

On 6/5/2021 at 9:41 AM, AtlanticMike said:

I can look at a 15,000 sq ft house and not be intimidated at building or fixing any part of the interior or exterior what so ever. But being on this board, this is most time I've spent typing, well, forever, and I've realized I'm an absolute dummy when it comes to computersa and there's no reason I should be intimidated by such a small little box😂. 

    So I bought a used computer from a guy off of Craigslist, he builds them, and I tore it down to the very last piece. I actually put it back together and it worked, thanks to about a dozen you tube videos. I'm in the process of upgrading many of the internal parts to make it run faster.  My goal is to understand enough about the operating system in a few months I can upgrade my security system to be an all hard wired system running off of a nvr instead of the wifi cameras I'm using now. I want to buy new 12 megapixel cameras and  two lpr cameras and wifi won't support that much data. 

   

Before joining and commenting on this board, I didn't put words together that well, still can't haha, and after commenting on the board and trying to make sure I use good grammar I know it's helped me academically lol! 

Edited June 6, 2021 by Tacenda

[AtlanticMike]

33 minutes ago, Tacenda said:

Before joining and commenting on this board, I didn't put words together that well, still can't haha, and after commenting on the board and trying to make sure I use good grammar I know it's helped me academically lol! 

I think you write very well