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It's been hard to get an entry posted -- lots going on and yet little going on. I sorted ancient USB cables as part of my holiday vacation. I did get rid of quite a pile, retaining a few including a USB mini B to USB mini A cable (what that was for i have no idea, but if i ever need it, i still have it.) And now i have a clue as to the various fast charging standards and have culled wall power adapters that are low powered from the collection.
I'm also designing a shed, and I'm collaborating with someone who will cut down two large pines from right next to the power pole (as well as another large pine that has died from a beetle infestation). The preemptive culling of those two pines will allow us to mill the wood from the trees as the supporting members for the shed. It sounds like cutting siding from the trees is much more expensive than buying the siding, while the benefit of getting nice 4x4 or 6x6 from your own trees is quite cost effective. I've priced out roofing -- i'll use metal on the open south side and translucent or clear plastic on the walled north side. That will allow the back of the shed to have daylight. I have decided to go with a concrete footing rather than using a bed of locally sourced decomposed granite called "Chapel Hill grit." The grit is a bit more expensive than i assumed.
I am grateful for how the previous owners grew gladiola. I would not have grown them on my own, particularly with the advice one lift them for over winter. But here were gladiola clearly left to their own devices (and the deer). Fenced away from the herbivores, the flowers are a riot. I have plenty more to rescue once digging seems like a good idea. [See complaint 1.]
I am thankful for my sister taking on some of my mom's role of instigating family gatherings. We met on the patio at my parents' place for blueberry scones (baked by my sister) and donuts (baked by my niece E) on Saturday morning. Other than the distance at which we sat from one another, it was just what i would have loved on a pandemic-less Fourth of July. [See rumination 1.]
I am thankful for Christine's idea of watching movies outside with family as a safer way to socialize. We sprang for a projector and screen which will arrive soon. [See rumination 2.]
I am so happy that Dad's second surgery last Wednesday turned into merely a esophageal scoping. First, the health condition may merely be acute and not chronic, and all the risk of surgery went away. For me, it meant the wait in the parking lot was fairly short. [See complaint 4.]
1. Negotiating appropriate levels of pandemic safety has been emotionally challenging. On one hand, i know we have been very safe until recently. Then between the eye doctor appointment and the one clinician who took her mask off and the maskless bed delivery dudes, suddenly more vectors. I had decided i would begin wearing masks around my parents, and then i had to spend 18 hours with my Dad. Out went that resolution.
Christine and i talked over everything we knew about her sister's "bubble" and we decided we could risk some contact with them. So we had D-- over to watch a (very long) movie (Gettysburg) on the deck, fan blowing each person's breath away from others out the screen. B-- came down to have a pizza dinner with us. There was some "pandemic theater" with sanitizing wipes brought by D and 70% ethyl alcohol and paper towels provided by me, but not that much use. Generally distant though and on the safer side of interactions than not.
2. I hope the experience is as fun as i imagine. There might be some peripherals needed for DVD and there's some comments about lack of updated android media apps available. I can't tell from the reviews how much is a fair complaint compared to other projectors or just a wishful complaint compared to what's on "smart" TVs.
1. Gah! my back. The discomfort faded and i thought it was better, then it came back. Here i am six days later feeling almost as bad as last Monday. Fortunately, we have Doans and we have a nifty heating pad.
2. Between aches and the smaller bed and a few late nights, my sleep has gone to hell in a handbasket. (Or, as she was invoked innocently by a person taking minutes at a board meeting at "The Minnow," Hellena Handbasket)
3. The glasses from my optometrist that were supposed to be "transition" lenses (changing to dark lenses outside) are not. Miffed.
4. I wish i had had the foresight to realize that Dad would need accompaniment after the anesthesia, but we did fairly well with the rapid change of plans - me spending the night with Dad. I didn't do so well there getting to bed in time, one of many
5. AIR CONDITIONING FAILURES. Argh. The condensation drain line was problematic in March just as the pandemic reality hit along with a crazy unseasonable heat wave, and we had a spate of problems including last week.
6. CAT PEE. Marlow peed ON MY FOOT. Which is hard to not take personally. There is also evidence of peeing in our bathroom at the base of the toilet which is... cute? Nice try? as well as in the shower, and in random spots on the hardwood floor. Not clear why this is happening.
I'm also designing a shed, and I'm collaborating with someone who will cut down two large pines from right next to the power pole (as well as another large pine that has died from a beetle infestation). The preemptive culling of those two pines will allow us to mill the wood from the trees as the supporting members for the shed. It sounds like cutting siding from the trees is much more expensive than buying the siding, while the benefit of getting nice 4x4 or 6x6 from your own trees is quite cost effective. I've priced out roofing -- i'll use metal on the open south side and translucent or clear plastic on the walled north side. That will allow the back of the shed to have daylight. I have decided to go with a concrete footing rather than using a bed of locally sourced decomposed granite called "Chapel Hill grit." The grit is a bit more expensive than i assumed.
I am grateful for how the previous owners grew gladiola. I would not have grown them on my own, particularly with the advice one lift them for over winter. But here were gladiola clearly left to their own devices (and the deer). Fenced away from the herbivores, the flowers are a riot. I have plenty more to rescue once digging seems like a good idea. [See complaint 1.]
I am thankful for my sister taking on some of my mom's role of instigating family gatherings. We met on the patio at my parents' place for blueberry scones (baked by my sister) and donuts (baked by my niece E) on Saturday morning. Other than the distance at which we sat from one another, it was just what i would have loved on a pandemic-less Fourth of July. [See rumination 1.]
I am thankful for Christine's idea of watching movies outside with family as a safer way to socialize. We sprang for a projector and screen which will arrive soon. [See rumination 2.]
I am so happy that Dad's second surgery last Wednesday turned into merely a esophageal scoping. First, the health condition may merely be acute and not chronic, and all the risk of surgery went away. For me, it meant the wait in the parking lot was fairly short. [See complaint 4.]
1. Negotiating appropriate levels of pandemic safety has been emotionally challenging. On one hand, i know we have been very safe until recently. Then between the eye doctor appointment and the one clinician who took her mask off and the maskless bed delivery dudes, suddenly more vectors. I had decided i would begin wearing masks around my parents, and then i had to spend 18 hours with my Dad. Out went that resolution.
Christine and i talked over everything we knew about her sister's "bubble" and we decided we could risk some contact with them. So we had D-- over to watch a (very long) movie (Gettysburg) on the deck, fan blowing each person's breath away from others out the screen. B-- came down to have a pizza dinner with us. There was some "pandemic theater" with sanitizing wipes brought by D and 70% ethyl alcohol and paper towels provided by me, but not that much use. Generally distant though and on the safer side of interactions than not.
2. I hope the experience is as fun as i imagine. There might be some peripherals needed for DVD and there's some comments about lack of updated android media apps available. I can't tell from the reviews how much is a fair complaint compared to other projectors or just a wishful complaint compared to what's on "smart" TVs.
1. Gah! my back. The discomfort faded and i thought it was better, then it came back. Here i am six days later feeling almost as bad as last Monday. Fortunately, we have Doans and we have a nifty heating pad.
2. Between aches and the smaller bed and a few late nights, my sleep has gone to hell in a handbasket. (Or, as she was invoked innocently by a person taking minutes at a board meeting at "The Minnow," Hellena Handbasket)
3. The glasses from my optometrist that were supposed to be "transition" lenses (changing to dark lenses outside) are not. Miffed.
4. I wish i had had the foresight to realize that Dad would need accompaniment after the anesthesia, but we did fairly well with the rapid change of plans - me spending the night with Dad. I didn't do so well there getting to bed in time, one of many
5. AIR CONDITIONING FAILURES. Argh. The condensation drain line was problematic in March just as the pandemic reality hit along with a crazy unseasonable heat wave, and we had a spate of problems including last week.
6. CAT PEE. Marlow peed ON MY FOOT. Which is hard to not take personally. There is also evidence of peeing in our bathroom at the base of the toilet which is... cute? Nice try? as well as in the shower, and in random spots on the hardwood floor. Not clear why this is happening.
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Try Zenni for the glasses, I got mine, progressive no line bi-focals and transition and I LOVE them. All for $102 which my insurance paid me back for
back stuff - the acupuncture I had was amazing and I WILL be going back, might be worth a try for your back
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She's off for a teeth cleaning soon, so getting her urinary tract checked is on the list.
The optometrist is replacing the lenses, free, but i think Zenni will be my next try. I like the optometrist himself, but just enough to put me on edge with the glasses and the no-masking. And that's a lovely price for progressive bifocals!
Thanks for underscoring the acupuncture. I have tried chiropractic in the past and thought the treatment stretched out long enough for my back get better on it's own. This is pain when i wake up from the new bed and it's gone after i sit with a heating pad and Doans. So first is seeing about getting the new bed straight, i guess.
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I sorted USB cables a while back, but messed up the organization when I needed to find one. I have not figured out which are the faster chargers - so many wall-warts.
I would LOVE to hear more about this shed design! I am kind of jealous, even though I have a shed. Mine is a pretty basic 10x12(?) feet that came in a pre-cut kit (I had someone do the cement foundation and put it together, plus electrician for the kiln. But it has fake plastic windows.) But designed from your own trees!! Is this for storage, gardening?
Watching movies on an outdoor projector sounds wonderful other than the bugginess. I am not sure how you set up fans to blow away from each person. For a while I was looking at screen-gazebo type things, but I do have a screened porch - it's just not big enough to have people at a distance. Screening does take away from light.
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The shed is for all the gardening equipment. We need at least five parking spaces for wheelbarrows and mowers etc, then places for various chemicals and gas, for the shovels and rakes, and for all the various plant pots. That would get all the dirty stuff out of the garage and give us room to move around.
The garage door is literally slipping off the tracks and must be replaced: we want to replace the garage door with windows and a people scale door to turn the garage into a studio space. Doing that work before we have a place to put shovels and gasoline and wheel barrows seems like a headache because of how crowded the garage is now.
We have a pedestal fan that we set in the center of the arc in which we were sitting, rotating back and forth, blowing past us and out the screens. It occurs to me as i write this that it worked ok last weekend because we had the computer monitor out there. With the ridiculously massive screen, the fan will be right in the center... I guess we can lower it or bring out a shorter oscillating fan.
Anyhow, it was safer than inside, and was a way that i could get comfortable with the idea of Christine's sister being over. I'd say i'm still wondering how risky it was, but the value -- Christine's connection with her sister is through movies, and Christine's connections to others is so fraught, that this was a way for her to connect in the otherwise austere time -- was worth the headache of thinking about the routes of exposure (Christine's sister's husband's daughter is working in an office with other people).