Who we are

We are a family of 3 – Richard (myself) a retired analyst, software developer and electrical engineer, Molly (my wife) also retired, an analyst and office manager and our adopted granddaughter Jane who has become a teenager and is bordering on moving on to high school since we arrived here. We moved from the Seattle area in 2018 right after I retired (52 years in the workplace seemed like enough) to Brandon FL just outside Tampa. We live on a spring fed pond – probably a little small to call a lake but it gives us privacy and hosts a great variety of birds and other wildlife. We also have 2 pets; Scooter a gray tabby we rescued in November 2013 and Nina an American Staffordshire Terrier cross – also a rescue about 5 months after our arrival in Florida.

Planned Content

I am planning to offer a glimpse into our history together and document my photography journey which became my hobby when we were hiking around Mt. Rainier in 2005 although I will be adding content in reverse chronological order since my later photographs are so much better. It will eventually include content going back to 1989 when we decided to get married so we could continue our life together.

There will also be content from Molly and, hopefully, Jane in the near future

Why now?

I had been intending to update the Cheal website for quite a few years but somehow didn’t get round to it. I thought I would start as soon as I retired but working around our new home and yard just maintaining it and doing updates took up much of my time. I also realized that if I didn’t get round to it now, it may never get done. I changed web host which meant my old site would no longer work properly and new tools made redoing it easier to do – so here is the start that has been delayed for too long.