HOME
BLOG LIST
APRIL 2024
Wednesday,
May 1, 2024
Sack Time went on to 8:22 AM, and by the time I was
dressed, had breakfast, and ready to do something it was
9:00. I spent way too much time playing online, had a
visit fom my cousin Wally, started this new page for the
blog, and it was about 1:00 when I went back to work on
the house. I was just getting back to work on the west
porch when thunder reminded me of the forecast for rain
this afternoon and evening. I decided to avoid getting
soaked by getting a monthly job done before the rain
arrived. Shorty and I went to town and I got a can of dog
food. It's time for her monthly heartworm pill, and I find
that getting her to take it is no trouble at all if I bury
it in canned dog food. This evening the exasperating desktop
computer was being unreliable again, refusing to do anything
online. After 10:30PM it decided to work.
Thursday, May 2, 2024
There are two ways to look at today:
1 I was worthless, spending most of my time playing
online.
2 I spent most of the day playing online, and had
fun.
Friday, May 3, 2024
Oh, my. It's worse than I thought. I suppose the brain
injury has damaged my sense of balance more than I realized.
I set about installing new plastic sheeting on the paint
booth in my shop. Reaching up above my head to tape plastic
to the frame was a struggle to remain on my feet. It was
surprising, disappointing, infuriating, and scary to be so
unsteady. With the project half done, I quit to recover.
I've recovered enough to walk without a cane most of the
time, but my sense of balance doesn't go far beyond that.
After a long break I came back and put up the rest of the
plastic for the walls. I was not a happy camper, but at last
I got the walls held in place by clamps. I hope tomorrow I
can replace the clamps with Gorilla tape and get the roof
sheet in place, and maybe even get some painting done.
Saturday, May 4, 2024
Damn! I thought I would use a step stool to reach the work
of applying Gorilla tape to replace clamps holding the
plastic sheeting on the paint booth. The first one was
terrifying from start to finish. I'm so unsteady that the
whole time I felt that I might topple over and fall, and
maybe break something. I need to have a lot better balance
before I try anything like that again. So I went and got a
step ladder, which would give me a place to lean or grab
when standing on the first step. That was better, but it
didn't completely eliminate moments of terror that I was
about to fall. By 3:30 PM I had the walls in place, held by
Gorilla tape, not clamps, and the roof sheet spread across
the top of the frame with clamps on its edges providing
weight to keep it stretched across the frame. At that point
I needed a break, not physically but mentally and
emotionally. This week's Saturday treat night was dinner at
the Chinese buffet and The Fall Guy at the cinema.
The movie was full of great stunts and lots of action, but I
didn't always understand what was going on.
Domingo, 5 de Mayo, 2024
Independence Day? Nope, that's September 16. May 5 is the
date when the Mexicans kicked French booty in 1862. Emperor
Napoleon III thought he would install his relative
Maximilian as ruler of Mexico, and the Mexicans objected
militarily. Maximilian was a bust as a ruler, but he turned
out to be an excellent firing squad target.
On this auspicious day, figuring that the paint booth was
sufficiently finished, I painted mower parts for my mowing
tractor. I used the second Allis Chalmers orange. The first
Allis orange was more the color of California poppies, while
the second orange is a little darker and a little redder,
and is the color that is available commercially today. In
the afternoon I went to town for groceries and other stuff I
use regularly. I have to watch the spending because I've
already put too much on my credit card this month, with
another week to go in the current billing cycle. I'm what
the credit folks call a deadbeat, because I pay it off every
month so I never pay any interest. When I got home I took
the bolts I painted this morning and put them in the oven to
bake overnight. There's one more piece to bake, but that
will have to wait until it's dry enough to handle so I can
get the masking tape off before it goes in the oven.
Monday, May 6, 1024
Today I actually accomplished a couple of non-internet
chores. I finished cleaning the west porch to my
satisfaction, at least for now. When I went to town for
groceries I stopped at Walmart for a nail clipper. I
observed that the once standard file that was always
attached to the clipper is no longer standard. If you want
it, you had better inspect carefully to see if it's there.
That's like cereal that's in the same old box at the same
old price, but the box now has less cereal in it. One job I
did do online was buy a USB hub not sold in local stores. I
believe its delivery deadline is May 13, a week from today.
More and more things have to be bought online. A couple of
weeks ago I bought some ⅜" shrink tubing. It's in a 50-foot
roll. I could buy the same stuff at the local hardware
store, but it would be in three short pieces totaling less
than a foot at an Ace price. For a few dollars more I might
as well get a roll of the stuff that may turn out to be a
lifetime supply. When I got home from town I cleaned up
something else — myself. With the Maytag out of the bathroom
and back in its place on the west porch, the coast was clear
for me to hit the shower. When my dad got old, it seemed to
take him forever to bathe, shave, and get dressed. Now I am
him. The whole thing took me well over an hour. A feature of
spring in this part of the country is paying great attention
to the weather, which is considerably more active than in
fall or winter. It's not at all unusual for normal TV
broadcasting to be interrupted by a weather guy standing in
front of a map showing the location of the latest storm that
may produce a tornado. There was no tornado here, but a
little after 9:00 PM the power went off, and came back on
about 10:00. If that's the worst that happens, it's no big
deal.
Tuesday, May 7, 1024
The nice drying weather and the depleted supply of clean sox
made this laundry day. While I was at it I tried to rough up
the drive roller on the wringer with a wire brush, as it had
become hard and slippery with age. The wire brushing didn't
soften it, but the rougher surface improved its ability to
grab and pull in wet laundry. Another activity was taking
advantage of ground soft from recent rain to get in a nice
hour of weed pulling in the yard. When I went to town I
stopped at the optometrist's office to ask about my new
glasses and found out that they had arrived. With the
bifocals I don't have to interrupt what I'm doing to put on
the Walmart readers for working up close.
Wednesday, May 8, 2024
My outdoor job today was pulling weeds behind the house. I
got a lot of them out, and ended up with a pretty good pile.
Indoors I composed this rant which I posted on Facebook,
along with three pictures:
At Fort Polk for basic
training in 1965 I was issued GI glasses. They were
modern, with a plastic frame. That June I arrived in
Korea. Summer there is much like Kansas, but a bit more
humid. I got sweaty while working, and the plastic glasses
would fall off and hit the ground. The solution was simple
and cheap. I went into Seoul and found an oculist.
Pointing to glasses in the shop window, I made it clear
that those were what I wanted. The man took the
prescription from my GI glasses and in a few days I was
wearing the new replacements. They cost me $5. In those
days they were popularly called "granny glasses". I have
worn nothing else since then. This spring I needed new
glasses. What I wanted was not one of the choices
available at the optometrist's office. I went online.
Apparently nobody sweats anymore. All the frames now
available have the same feckless little angle over the
ears and depend on gravity to keep them resting there. No.
No sale. I refuse. I googled "vintage glasses" and found
exactly the right glasses. I'm guessing they are pre-war,
about 90 years old. I took them to the optometrist for new
lenses. Yesterday I went and got them. I'm wearing them
now. They HOOK BEHIND THE EARS so they will stay on. So
here we are. Just one more change that is THE OPPOSITE OF
HELPFUL. When I say, "Don't get old. You won't like it." I
may be thinking of changes that are uncomfortable,
unpleasant, and maddeningly inconvenient.
Thursday, May 9, 2023
Today's job was going through a box of switches
looking for three to replace the ones in the house that
aren't up to the job. All the switches in my house are the
old push button type that were in vogue a hundred years ago.
Most of them are fine, but sometimes they get balky and
won't keep a light lit. When I see a good one in a second
hand store I add it to the collection. I have several extra
good ones, plus some that need fixing.
Friday, May 10, 2023
Oh, my. This afternoon I set about replacing those three
switches with better ones. I got one done. It's
infuriating and alarming how clumsy and fumbling I've
become. That first replacement took over an hour. I kept
dropping things, not getting the screwdriver in the slot,
fumbling to get screws started, and so on. I dropped and
lost three screws. A the end of that ordeal it was obvious
that I wouldn't have time to do even one more replacement
today, so the others will wait at least until tomorrow.
Earlier in the day I went to town and got a 44 pound bag of
dog food for the feeder. I used to move a bag like that
without much trouble, but I'm so weak now that it's a
struggle. My practice was to open the bag, then pick it up
and dump it in the feeder. Now I use a gallon bowl for a
scoop, put a few gallons in, then dump in the rest of the
bag.
Saturday, May 11, 2023
Oh, my, for sure. Have I ever mentioned that I hate being
old? Apparently from now on everything I do will take four
times as long as it used to. From buttoning a shirt to
bathing, from cleaning house to replacing a switch, being
feeble and clumsy works its magic. The only exception is
having to go, which sometimes prompts a mad scramble to get
to the bathroom and onto the throne before disaster strikes.
Anyway, I spent most of the day on switches. The main switch
in he living room wasn't too bad. I got the defective switch
out without a lot of struggle. Putting the "new" one in,
even in my fumble-fingered current state, wasn't a major
ordeal. Going upstairs to my bedroom was another story. The
wires connected to the switch were short, and getting it out
and disconnected was harder than it should have been. At
that point I had those short wires to deal with. I decided
to make them longer. I went to the shop and got a couple of
piece of braided wire about 3½" long, stripped the ends, and
took them upstairs and soldered them onto the ends if the
short wires. I even insulated the splices with shrink
tubing. Shoving the switch and wiring back into the box was
tricky, and I lost a couple of screws trying to get the
switch secured in the box and the wall plate back on. At
this point my back and my balance were past their limits.
With my head spinning I sat down in a chair. A quarter hour
of rest was nowhere near enough, so I went to my office
above the shop, lay down on the mat on the floor, and slept
for over an hour. Fortunately, despite my lingering
weakness, I've regained enough strength to get up off the
floor without grabbing anything, including a cane. Feeling
OK to get back to work, I turned on the power in the house
and went inside to try out my handiwork.The "new switch in
the living room worked perfectly, with no problems. When I
went up to my bedroom it was a different story. Not only did
the lights not go on, but all the upstairs lights and
sockets were dead. So finding the short and fixing it will
be a project for tomorrow. I ran an extension cord from the
living room up the stairs and plugged in the router in the
attic, so at least I have internet in my office. The
Saturday Treat Night dinner this week was enchiladas blancas
at La Fiesta. The movie was Kingdom of the Planet of the
Apes. I was very impressed by how the apes, played by
human actors of course, spoke naturally, with expression,
and mouth and lip movement that went with what the
characters were saying. Another notable feature was the
physical performances. The stunt people moved and jumped
like apes, and there was so much action that they really
earned their keep.
Sunday, May 12, 2024
Done. It's annoying that it took me three days to do what I
would have done in less than one before I got so old. Today
I pulled that last switch out of the wall, found where
broken insulation was grounding it, fixed that, and
reinstalled the switch, and now it works normally. The
upstairs outlets and lights are working as they should,
including in my bedroom, and today's effort took "only" four
hours. The denouement is that of the three fuses in the
cellar, two are dead and going in the trash. I'll go online
and see if anybody can beat the Ace price of eight bucks
apiece.
Monday, May 13, 2024
Yes, somebody could beat the Ace price of about $8 per fuse.
I went online an ordered a box of four for $13.16, which is
$3.29 apiece. First up this morning was a drive to a Home
Depot in Wichita to pick up the order. Was such a long drive
to save $18.84 worth the gas I burned up? You bet. The
satisfaction of beating Ace high prices made it worth my
time. The opposite of satisfying was the ticket I got this
afternoon for driving with an expired tag. Either I got the
renewal notice and forgot about it, or it was lost in the
mail. Tomorrow I will go to the courthouse and get my tag up
to date. Tonight brought one more online purchase. I have
some wall plate screws, some of which I used in my switch
replacing adventure, but I ordered another 50, probably a
lifetime supply, because they are extinct in local stores.
Tuesday, May 14, 2024
Mom and I were at my cousin Clara Mae's house. The two women
were visiting and drinking coffee, and seemed to be enjoying
it. So I insisted on trying it. Bleccccch!!! It was the
awfullest thing I ever tasted. Later, in my twenties, I had
a cup just to be polite, but that was the only time. It
tasted bad when I was three, and the following 79 years have
not made me like it any better. When anybody asks if I want
coffee, I tell them that's not my cup of tea. Funny how yard
work gives you time to recall experiences from long ago or
recently, and wonder why you remember them and not the
jillions of other things that have faded from memory.
Yesterday's ticket for an expired tag hasn't faded from my
memory, and today's first job was a trip to the county seat
to get the registration on the Camry up to date. Being
almost a year late paying my $89 reminds me that this year
I'll need to watch the mail for the renewal notice and take
care of it quickly, before I forget.When I got home I worked
on one of those switches I replaced over the weekend, and I
think I've got it working as it should. The next job was
trimming the twigs and little branches from part of a tree
that was brought down by a recent storm. An hour and a half
of that persuaded me to rest my aching back and continue
tomorrow. Next was an indoor job which would be easier on my
ancient back. I made a chain stretcher/holder. When a chain
saw throws its chain, many times the throwing causes damage
in the form of burs which keep the chain from fitting back
in its slot. The idea of the holder is to keep the chain
stretched flat while I grind off the burs. We'll see how
well it works.
Wednesday, May 15, 2024
|
|
It works
OK. It holds the chain straight and flat while I grind off
the burs, or at least most of them. I got the chain back on
the saw, and tomorrow I'll find out how well (if) it works.
What else did I do today? Got back to trimming twigs and
small branches off the big limb that came down in the storm.
I hope I can attack the trimmed part with the chain saw and
turn it into stove sized or fireplace sized pieces
HOME
BLOG LIST
APRIL 2024