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 |  An attempt at creating a daily blog. |
| I'm hoping I can turn this into a daily repository of random and not so random musings of my daily activities. Perhaps it will gel into a common thread that I may be able to work towards creating something interesting. |
| Three in a row! I hope I'm getting back to my original routine. With wife still gone for over a week, i probably won't settle back in until she's back. It will be a omewhat busy week this coming week. Pain management folks tomorrow morning and then dentist on Wednesday. Finally, they will pull a back tooth that has been a problem for way too many years. The tooth in front was removed long ago and it always leaves a gap to collect "stuff". It's had multiple crowns to help fill the gap but it always shifts over time. It has no mate on the top but I haven't been able to get anyone to pull it...finally, I got a dentist to agree with me and it will be gone by the end of the week. Small things that matter. Pain management for ongoing back pain issues. Since they have prescribed opioids in the past, you have to sign a contract saying you won't get meds elsewhere, I guess to cut down abuse. I rarely take them, aspirin works just as well, if not better, and has no lingering effects. They used to take a urine sample to make sure I was taking them but haven't for quite some time, maybe it is to make sure I haven't been selling them...some people apparently do that type of stuff. It's going to be hot today, looking at eh forecast, it looks like it will be quite warm for the rest of the month. It is August though, and in the southeast. It's to be expected. All too soon I'll be complaining it's too cold...but my electric bill is the highest it has ever been...and they tacked on an extra 5.5% due to increased costs of getting the electricity. Strange though, my rate has been slightly less than back in Washington where they have the dams which have been in place for ages...that should be cheap power...but I'm sure other states buy the power which drives the cost up. I was going to go trim the grass around my fledgling lilac bushes but I haven't found my grass shears. They should only be in one of three places but with my eye condition, I could stare right at them and not see them. I'll have to keep looking or replace them. They didn't seem to work very well for me, probably operator error. meanwhile, I took the shades off the pole lamp and the ceiling fan and put them in the dishwasher to clean the dust off. My wife has never been a good housekeeper. I guess while I have the shades off I shoudl go ahead and update the bulbs to LEDs since incandescent bulbs are no longer available. I'm also doing some light dusting while I'm at it. I won't mention it so my wife probably won't notice...but I will. With 3 dogs that go outside then run back in we do collect dust. Now only 2 dogs after the older collie crossed the rainbow bridge last week (I do miss her) but she wasn't very active in her later years with a spinal issue that impacted her rear legs. It's always sad to lose a pet. We did have her for over 11 years though...within the normal lifespan of the breed. I ordered a small sprayer, electric powered and it should arrive tomorrow. I'll spray my redbuds with a fungicide and with the systemic fungicide I put on yesterday, I'll keep my fingers crossed. It looks like the second one is showing symptoms of the disease as well. The odds are against recovery but I'll try. I think that's going to be a wrap for today. Now I need to get back to bicycling. I could go out now but it is already 87 degrees and high humidity...My body isn't ready for that yet. Maybe next year. Tim |
| Up and at 'em! I woke up early this morning, not sure why. I was cold though even though the room was plenty warm. My body is strange sometimes. I have an eastern redbud I planted early this year. I purchased 2 of them. Both seemed to thrive but one was a month behind the other when they bloomed. Now, the early bloomer has some type of disease, leaves are dying and have holes in them. I don't see any bugs on them. From what I've been able to research, it appears to be a untreatable fungus. The second one, about 40 feet away, is thriving. I put some of that systemic fungicide/fertilizer on this morning and I'm giving it a very deep watering. I'll keep my fingers crossed. These were planted basically to fill empty spots of the yard that are shaded and as perches for the birds. An added benefit is they provide seed pods which I've read birds enjoy in winter. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I picked up a board for my upstairs project and some speaker wire yesterday. I also got clips for the wires to keep them up and off the floor, hopefully out of range of my feet and anything that might get stashed under the table. Since I was able to cut the grass yesterday, it means the only outside project I have is pressure washing of the front porch. I think today will be an upstairs day until I get tired/bored, then maybe I can fire up the pressure washer and get started. I picked up my back brace at the VA yesterday, maybe I'll be able to stand longer and get more done. I still didn't manage to get out and ride my bike. I started out so well but then the bronchitis made me lay off, now I'm struggling to get back into the groove. All I can do is keep trying to convince myself to get out and do it. I put on almost 6 pounds when I started riding again and it is not dropping back off. Frustrating. I don't seem to have much to say of interest today. Perhaps tomorrow will be better...hope springs eternal. Tim |
| Back again... It's Friday! As I mentioned before though, when retired, the Monday - Friday becomes meaningless. Every day is Saturday, if you make it one. Time to do things for one's self, family things, everything that work used to get in the way of. Or, just sit around and be lazy...which I fall victim to way too often. I do manage to get a few things done though, slowly...but mainly due to physical limitations. It would be nice to have the drive and physical ability that I had in my twenties...a desire that I bet a lot of people share. It's getting to be on the warm side but I need to take a can to the garbage recycle place, then run to the Veterans Administration to drop off some paperwork and get fitted for a back brace. I've always been told the brace was conducive to loss of muscle strength but, the surgeon refused to do any further surgery. Not many options available, some days just standing in the shower can become an issue. I need to pressure wash my front porch and sidewalk, some of the driveway...but my standing time is limited. I'm hoping a brace will help...if not I'll just keep a chair handy and take lots of breaks to sit down. My grass dried out enough after the short storm yesterday morning that I could have cut it but, I didn't. Laziness crept up on me. I guess I can't really call it laziness, I did some more reading/studying of the Photoshop course I'm working on. And I managed to get a bit more done on my declutter project upstairs. Maybe I'm too hard on myself. I'll go to the VA after lunch and I hope it won't be too crowded. I know the mornings are always nuts. Being as it is Friday, I'm hoping most people will be done for the week and thinking about the weekend. I know the bulk of us going to the VA are retired but that concept of "weekend" has been burned into our brain for so many years that it is hard to forget about it. I need to swing by Lowes and get a board...it looks like I can put one on top of my apple crate things and put speakers on it as well as my stereo. It looks like it will clear the top of my largest monitor. I did find that the speaker wires for one speaker have apparently been disconnected somehow so I'll have to redo it...I may end up having to redo all the speaker wiring. Having been an electronics geek for a career, I don't think it should be much of an issue. I'm really hoping one of these days I can juggle my time and get back to spending time on my test bench. I have some very nice (and expensive) test equipment and currently it is pretty much just gathering dust. It used to be my camera stuff was gathering dust...I need to settle down and devote time to my various hobbies. Having ADD is problematic with hobbies. I can only sit and do something for so longer before my mind starts to wander. Actually, it is nearly impossible to sit down and keep only one thing in focus but I can usually get something done. For a long time I had real issues with it. As soon as i sat down I was wanting to jump up and do something else. None of my hobbies are boring but my brain is never satisfied, it wants to be moving on to something else. It looks like I am at a slow point of the day, still well over an hour before I go to the VA so I have time to do something productive. Maybe I'll work a bit more on the course I'm doing and maybe get real ambitious and go cut the grass before it gets too hot. Have a nice day! Tim |
| Trying hard... I managed to get a few things done so far today, have plenty more to go. I was going to cut the lawn today but we just had a thunderstorm so I guess that idea is out for the day. I did get started with the declutter project upstairs...but wow, there is a ton of stuff...hopefully I can make a noticeable dent in it today, then maybe a bit more each day. I am going to rearrange my computer monitors (I have 3) and move the tower computer to under the table. I have to figure out how to handle my stereo speakers that are sitting on apple crates on the ends of the table. I think one is actually sitting on a board that is on the table so it is off the end. I'll have to see if I can do that with both. That would allow room to place the monitors side by side. I have 3 due to my photo-editing pursuits. One monitor has video tutorials on it, one has the actual editing software on it, and the third has the browser with email, social media and ability to make quick searches for questions that pop into my mind. I think I'm going to use a TV stand to set my scanner on so it will be to the side, there won't be room on the table. I also need to relocate the stereo. It currently is sitting on the table with one monitor to the side. It is fairly large so it will need to be shifted. Perhaps if I can get the apple crates on a board so they are to the sides, then put another board on top to put the stereo and the speakers on. I'll have to measure and see if it would clear the top of the monitors. My wife is in Ireland for two weeks on a tour. That means I keep an eye on the dogs and get them out to do their poop/pee outside. The collie can be resistant to going out but I think she has found that I will toss her out if she doesn't go out on her own. She seems to have a small bladder and never thinks to go, sometimes coming back in and letting go on the carpet. So far she has been good though and I get her and the son's dog out every 2-3 hours. That has been working and since I've never been a sound sleeper, it's the same thing at night. I think my bronchitis is finally cleared up. I do cough one or two times in a day but only a few coughs, none of the sustained, uncontrolled bouts. Now I just need to get back on the bike. I charged up the headlight and taillight while it was in for it's 30 day tuneup and I need to get them back onto the bike. Then I need to check the tires. I need to pump them up about once a week as they do lose a few pounds of pressure. When I was a kid, the only time we put air in the tires was when we had a flat...and that meant taking the tire off, putting a patch on the tube, then putting it back on and try not to pinch the tube and create another leak. Now, tires don't seem to hold air as well. I believe nitrogen, as used in many care tires now, doesn't leak. I don't know if it is due to the size of the molecules or what. I'm pretty sure it is above my level of understanding. I think this is it for now. I need to go check in the garage and see if the tv stand that I'm thinking of is still out there, then maybe make a quick trip upstairs and find a few more things to toss in the trash. Bit by bit, maybe in a week I'll have things somewhat under control. Tim |
| I fell off the train... I was doing so well, then lost my motivation, trying to find it again. My back has been complaining. I had to lift my dog when I had her put down. She was 70+ pounds and I'm not supposed to lift over 10... I always pay for it when I do things like that...so muscle relaxers and percocet...which always destroys my motivation for several days. I'm trying to get back on the train but I'm starting to try to organize the clutter I have upstairs and that will involve moving some things around...and of course, not all of them are lightweight. It may be a few days until I work my way back out of this funk...but I always do. I changed internet providers today. I switched from Spectrum to Metronet. I've been satisfied with Spectrum but I wasn't happy with the upload speeds. I uploaded the resulting files from all the slide scanning I did to Dropbox for my friend and it was over 40 minutes...I had a 1gb downlink (I never got over 900mb) which was good but the uplink was only 40mb. Now, I have 2gb up and down. And no data caps. Of course, I rarely ever have any need for speeds like this, I started out with a 300 baud acoustic coupled modem in the early 80's. I did a ton of programming courses with that and there wasn't anything faster so it wasn't an issue. The school I was going to had several different programming courses going on but only a small number of terminals in their computer lab. If you were able to sit at home and use a modem, you could write your programs, upload them and let the remote system do the compile and run. I was the only one in my class that always had my programs done. One other guy was also using a modem but apparently didn't grasp the logic as well as I did. I've never been accused of being logical (odd since I'm logical when I do electronics troubleshooting) but I was able to get through my assignments, except for C. I never did get a handle on pointers and pointers to pointers...I think perhaps now I could but I have no need to, no interest in programming and the bulk of programming languages now are based on the OOPS concept, object oriented programming so the use of C is a rarity. Now it would be C++ but as I said, no longer any interest and I still have too many things I'm interested in so I don't really have time to pursue software development. I'm currently focused on using Photoshop and Lightroom. I've rekindled an interest in photo restoration and now have several updated books of which I had older editions years ago. Unfortunately, image editing software is updating at an extremely fast pace so even if a book comes out today, it's at least 18 months behind what the current software is able to do. What used to take several steps can now be fully automatic or only need 1 or 2 steps. The hard part is in the books and working through examples is figuring out to do the same older steps from the publication. It does require one to become more intimate with the software though...and I hope I can become proficient in both Photoshop and Lightroom. They are complementary applications and it is beneficial to have a through understanding of both. Some of these folks have been using Photoshop since day one (early 90s) so they have a tremendous advantage in their skill levels. They started when things were much simpler, much like computers. I had my first computer in 1980 and things were tremendously much simpler than they are today. I'm very thankful I'm not just starting to get involved with computers today. I think this is it for today. I want to go watch some videos on Photoshop. I hope that if I keep going over and over things that more of it will stick in my brain. Learning is not nearly as easy as it was 50 years ago. I do keep trying though. Tim |
| Getting a late start.... Breakfast this morning and then I spent most of the day scanning slides for my friend. I finally finished, over a thousand slides total, most from back in the mid-90s. And a mix of subjects, a lot of nature with snow, fast water and some just landscape, then a bunch of boudoir. This guy got started with his own studio and was doing a lot of weddings, then a young lady asked about boudoir...he had no experience but she was willing to work with him as a model and it didn't take long for him to become the "go to" guy for boudoir. Subsequently, he was able to get out of the wedding end of the business. But, that was many years ago...now he's trying to learn all that he has forgotten and he has a penchant for old buildings...around here, those are extremely rare. The weather people were hyping all week how terribly hot it was going to be today...and much like their doom and gloom snow forecasts, it didn't come to pass. The high temperature and the heat index were both 10 degrees lower than they had forecast. Imagine that, the weather people were wrong again. Now that I am complete with the slide scanning, I've decided to focus on getting my extremely cluttered room back into some semblance of order. That will be a massive undertaking but, it needs to be done. And I should have some time to go out with my camera. I have some assignments I need to do for one of the online courses I'm taking. Hopefully I can get those knocked out in the coming week. My wife is going on vacation to Ireland towards the end of the week and I need a backlit photo of her...so far the sun hasn't really been cooperating and the Canadian smoke hasn't helped any either. Currently our air is the cleanest it has been in a while and it looks like the sun might cooperate tonight. I'd like to get that shot done with. I received a book a few days ago which is a better guide to my camera. These latest cameras are extremely complex and I am amazed at how much computing power is in them, and fast. However, that also comes with an extremely steep learning curve. Of course, the downloadable manual does have all the information in it but, it has to be one of the most disorganized guides there is. The book is in more of a logical order and the index doesn't have you playing hopscotch going from one section to another. Meanwhile, I am still watching this series on Netflix but I think it may be coming to an end. I hope so, I'm finally getting wore out with the same theme episode after episode...the only redeeming feature is there are many "hooks" that have been put in place and they are finally starting to come together. Maybe I will finish it tonight. Finishing the slides and the series could be a double whammy. I think that is it for today. While I was scanning the last of the slides I managed to contact a guy in Ireland on my ham radio. That was a first. Meanwhile, I need to go take a quick look at the sun, still an hour before it sets but I can see if it is going to cooperate for me. Tim |
| TGIF! A common expression which I have found to be of little value since retirement. The days all seem to blend from one to the next. After I started going to breakfast with friends twice a week, it's pretty much a blur of days broken up by a day out and it seems to make the time pass even faster. Time is a strange concept....the week that seemed to last forever while working at a job now seems to just be a blur. Not many days ago it was New year's Day, now it is almost August (as fast at the time seems to fly, it may be August by the time I finish typing this paragraph). It was hot and muggy this morning, our air quality still leaves a bit to be desired so I decided to give my lungs another day of rest from the heavy breathing that goes with my bicycling. Tomorrow is breakfast day again so that will be another day off. My bronchitis appears to have finally ran it's course and I'm glad of that. I'm down to 160 slides to yet be scanned for my friend, the total will be over a thousand when I'm complete. Considering it takes about an hour for my process to scan 16 slides, that's many hours I've devoted to the project. Once done, I do have some prints taken way back in the late 70's from when I was stationed in Guam. Many pictures of sunsets and storm clouds taken with an inexpensive "point and shoot" camera using 110 film. I sure wish I had the equipment and knowledge back then that I have now but it is what it is. Several of the photos I'm quite happy with and would like to scan and post them on social media. I have plenty of packages of prints taken from over the years. Many are from my early days with an SLR. Unfortunately, I was always in "auto" mode because I didn't understand the manual settings. In reality, it has only been in the past year that I have learned all about the aperture/shutter/iso triangle involved in capturing an image. When I was still shooting film, ISO was determined by the film you had, now with the digital age upon us, that is an additional control one has...or can be confused by if you don't understand the relationships involved. I do tend to shoot with "auto" ISO much of the time. This allows me to control dept of field with the aperture and stopping action (for moving objects) with shutter speed while letting the camera decide how much amplification of light. It is amazing at how much computing power is in the current models of cameras and how fast it all works. Time to go now, more slides to be done and I need to move the sprinkler on the grass. No appreciable rain and the grass is crying for moisture. I hope you all have a good day! Tim |
| And it is yet another hot and humid day in North Carolina.... I had my Thursday morning breakfast with some friends...and the guy I'm doing all the scanning of slides for bought us all breakfast. He was supposed to buy me a piece of cake and he though it would look bad so he bought breakfast for everybody. I did get a piece of chocolate cake though but I can't say I was overly impressed with it. And I really didn't need the additional calories but the thought is what counts. Tomorrow I'll hit the bike again and see how far I can get. It appears the bronchitis is on the way out, finally. This has been going on since the end of April. I went to the beach for a few days with my friend and I got the sickest I've been in over 20 years. I rarely get sick any more and this was one heck of a serious cold. Then apparently it turned into bronchitis....hopefully I am done with that. I noticed yesterday that there is apparently a piece of flashing coming off my roof so I had to call a roofer today and now I'm waiting to hear from him. He came out and repaired a few loose tiles for me in the past and didn't charge. (boy is that rare). |
| I took a handful of days off and felt guilty the whole time. Running out of my meds wasn't exactly fun, I was able to adapt but it always messes me up for days. My bronchitis was being a bear to deal with so I took off several days from riding the bicycle. Finally I was able to get out this morning again but I only went 5 miles. My lungs appear to have taken a beating so I did as much as I felt was doable and keeping my heart rate down within normal guidelines. Tomorrow is breakfast day so I'll have another day off. My hundred mile goal for the month isn't reachable at this point but I'm not going to get overly concerned. I'm at 65 miles for the month and I should be able to get near 80. After having not ridden for several years, I'm good with that amount. It is hotter than heck today. My weather station was reporting 98 degrees and the heat index was around 105. I'm not sure how accurate it is but it seems to track with a few other sensors that I have. The air quality had gotten pretty good for a few days but then it got smokey again. With the bronchitis issue I wish the air was cleaner but, it will more than likely be weeks or longer before it cleans up again. I'm writing this in the afternoon, normally I do it first thing but, today I had to take the younger collie in for grooming and her vet checkup. She's all pretty nowWith th and healthy as a horse. I did make an appointment for her older sister to cross over the rainbow bridge at the end of next week. My wife will be gone to Ireland so I'll take care of it while she is gone. The dog has some type of spinal issue and her back legs are extremely weak and the vet said there wasn't anything that could be done. I hate to put her down but her quality of life isn't what I would want to experience. She's not in pain but struggles to get out the door to do her business. She helped me through some rough times many years ago. For the first time, I'll have cremation done and I am looking for a nice urn to place her ashes and have a photo of her from when she was able to be up and running around. She is too heavy for me to lift so my son will come over to place her into the car. I'm hoping he will come in with me, she always favored him. I'm not sure why but she always got excited when he came home from being in the Army. I recently saw a nice article about how the animal goes into a strange place with strangers and the owners never wish to be in attendance...I won't do that to her. It won't be easy but it's the right thing to do. I'm still scanning slides for my friend. I have 140 to go and he has an additional 80 that he'll bring to breakfast tomorrow. Then that project will be done with. Another friend had also asked about getting a bunch of negatives scanned in case she wanted to have some prints done. I'm not sure how interested she really is. I asked her to set up a time with the other friend and she could use his small scanner to take a look but it is very small so I wanted to have her scan them to a memory card, then we could plug it into the computer so she can see them in a larger view. So far she hasn't done anything so, I'm not expecting any action any time soon. I think that is it for today. I started watching a series on Netflix and I feel it is has been very well written. There are a lot of small twists and turns that keep me intrigued. I'm paying attention in the even I ever want to craft something for a fiction possibility. With that, I'm done! Tim |
| Hah, I didn't sleep well Thursday night. I ran out of one of my meds which I was unprepared for. The pharmacy reported the doctor didn't approve. I called the doc yesterday first thing...but it never did get called in so I'm stuck for the weekend. Last time I got stuck on a weekend, I never went back to the doctor, opting to change. I'll have to see where the disconnect is. I've been with this doctor for a long time....but have been disenchanted lately. Time will tell. My friend took the binders of his slides that I've been scanning, went through and culled out the ones he wasn't interested in. The count went from over 2 thousand to only 400...but, then he found 2 thousand more. So, I'm now back to scanning more today. It's not as hot today but I'm caught up on the yard work, at least for a day or two. Sitting inside scanning in the air conditioning is okay with me. An added benefit is I can also be doing this blog while doing the scanning. Rudimentary multi-tasking. I go to breakfast with a few friends on Saturday mornings but almost didn't make it today. At 6 this morning it was just daylight, the sun wasn't up. No wind and a good temperature....I almost got back out of the truck and hopped on the bicycle. I've taken a few days off, this supposed case of bronchitis and the uncontrolled fits of coughing, I figured I'd give my lungs a rest for a few days. 4 days of rest, tomorrow is going to be a 10 mile day. I'm already looking at my route, there will be no way to shortcut it. If the body wants to say stop, it isn't going to happen unless I want to lay down in middle of the road. Of course, I might just collapse on the spot but I'll push the button on my monitor and they'll summon the medics (at least in theory). 20 slides down, this next page isn't filled...so I'll have 2 of 21 done in about an hour. I'll have to see if I can do three pages. Since this page isn't filled, it means a few over 50 slides....and about 390 to go. I think I'll be able to stay out of trouble for a little bit. Until next time... Tim |
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It is nice to see someone here with similar background interests. I too like to ride my adult tricycle, spent time on Guam Island in 1968, and held a ham radio license. I was known as The Stork because I was an RN in surgery in charge of the OB/GYN Department. Hubby was known as The Bodyman{/] because he repaired and painted car bodies, and my son was known as 10 Speed. What better way to describe a teenage boy. 