January 01, 2017 new year
---------------
My first entry of the new year! I spent the day organizing files, both
the end of year ones and some basic organization of photos and other
files. I got the old Manon 2 up and running and copied a lot of older
files over and also fired up the Family Address list which is on
Pagemaker. It's a pretty clunky computer and takes a long time to do
anything but i survived.
I also tried to install a free SSL on nodered
but so far I have failed. I do have the SSL port exposed which is
443 as well as the traditional port 80. Found a neat tool called Webmin
which manages the server. Libbie made our traditional Sunday pizza
which was excellent as usual.
~
January 02, 2017
---------------
I spent quite a bit of time with a Pi and SSL. I want to be able to use
Alexa to send commands to it so i need a certificate on port 443 of
traviata. I installed Apache and successfully got a certificate.
I spent some tinkering getting it working with Nodered. I finally was
able to get Nodered to work with the SSL certificate. The settings
had to have the exact path to the certificate in Pi. Apache is no longer
needed. Unfortunately I did not work on the garage door sensor.
Dinner was penne pasta and the leftover spicy marinara sauce.
~
January 03, 2017 web scraping
---------------
Today I got a webscraper running on an ESP8266. I was going to work
on the garage door sensor but chose to do this instead. The gamble paid
off because by late afternoon I had the device scraping the enphase
hub page and publishing the solar production numbers via MQTT. I'll
do the Nodered portion of this remotely from Sarasota. I spent the
rest of the time packing. Dinner was spaghetti using the rest of the
tomato sauce and leftover pizza cheese.
~
January 04, 2017 drive
---------------
We had a leisurely morning since it doesn't make any sense to leave before
9 AM due to Tampa rush hour traffic. We left at 8 and surprisingly
breezed through the south side of Raleigh on the beltline. We stopped
for breakfast and coffee just before Florence at the McDonalds/Shell
combo station. Once we got back on I-95 we ran into a traffic
jam. We lost around 30 minutes creeping into a merge then a single lane
over the PeeDee River where there was bridge work. Further down
I-95 there was another closing so we went around. unfortunately a bridge
was also out on our alternate which was 301 so we went back and
further down to June Burn Road to Manning, SC. It was a quirky road
through the swamp and wetlands. incredibly scenic in it's own way.
We lost a total of 1 hour. Our next stop was Darien, GA for gas and
Wendy's lunch. Darien is an old rundown outlet mall and barely any serviceable
services. The Wendy's looked like it should close soon, the
dining room furniture was in tattered shape. We sailed further down
the highway and had a small backup merging from I-95 to I-295 in Jacksonville.
We chose to avoid Gainesville at rush hour and kept on 301
to just before Ocala. With the bikes onboard our gas mileage was only
26 so we stopped again in Zephyrhills at a nice Marathon where I
also did a bathroom break. We got into our condo at 8:15. After putting
away the bikes and unloading some of the car we went out to dinner
at Mad Moes. I had Fish and Chips and a Yuengling. I was hungry
and it was good. It came with some nice fries and coleslaw.
~
January 05, 2017 easing into Florida
---------------
We took it slow today. After the long drive yesterday which really wasn't
too bad, it was just long, we eased into acclimating ourselves into
the condo. We unpacked our suitcases, found towels and missing items
and set up the satellite radio. Lunch was the leftover fish and
chips from yesterday. We then went out for a bike ride around the neighborhood.
It's a warm 78 degrees out with a little bit of wind. It
was nice to be on the bike again. We had wine and cheese for sunset.
Libbie had a very nice conversation with her Dad this evening. He
talked about the book he finished reading which made her incredibly
happy. We then went out to rib night where we had a nice booth. The
ribs and horseradish were delicious which I had with a yuengling that
I couldn't finish.
~
January 06, 2017 whimsy
---------------
Played some more with configuring a Pi for the HVAC closet in the condo.
We went out at lunch time to the club house for lunch. I had a Southwestern
chicken salad with a Yuengling. It was good but needed some
spice to turn it into a Southwestern dish. We then drove to the
Whimsy Museum. It was fun walking around viewing all the art and kitschy
stuff on display. I talked to Marietta about her Backus paintings.
She must have about 10. and another dozen or more of the highwaymen
paintings. She said she is working to catalog the collection.
We
came back and had our wine and cheese at sunset then a peanut butter
sandwich. That was our dinner.
~
January 07, 2017 Nabucco
---------------
It rained pretty hard this morning after some thunderstorms overnight.
We left at 11:30 in a rainy mist for the theater in Bradenton. Got
there very very early, there were only 2 other people in the theater.
I also bought tickets for the Romeo and juliet performances in 2 weeks.
We thoroughly enjoyed this opera. It was full of choruses plus
James Levine and Placido Domingo were good. When it was done we went
over to Walmart across the street and bought a yoga mat for Libbie as
well as a Brita water filter. We then drove over to Bill's condo on
a golf course. We had some nice wine and cheese at Bill and Barb's
then wnt out to dinner at Anna Maries Oyster Bar. We had coupons for
Margaritas. I also ordered Fish and Chips which were quite good. Left
there happy and drove home via Siesta Key where we saw what was left
of the Christmas lights.
~
January 08, 2017 SSL
---------------
I tried quite a bit to configure the router and secure nodered on the
stoneybrook Pi. So far i have not had any luck. At home it is quite
cold after about one inch of snow. The weather station stopped reporting
at 8 AM but 2 or 3 hours later it began reporting again. I don't
know what's going on but I need to get the wireless Moteino reporting
to a Huzzah sending MQTT packets ASAP. In the meantime I fretted
about the potential for freezing pipes since our crawl space fan is
activating every hour even through temperatures in the lower teens.
This is bad and needs to be replaced with an MQTT based controller as
well as supplemented with an outdoor temperature sensor.
We had
wine and cheese outside even though it was only in the 50s then we ordered
a mushroom pizza from the Italian Grill for dinner. While having
pizza I watched the Golden Globes which was pretty boring.
t
~
January 09, 2017 Monday
---------------
There was a WSJ outside the door of our condo this morning! They found
me. I wasn't sure if this was going to work. Libbie has a cold today
so we didn't go out. It's very cold out today anyway with a stiff
wind as well. I ran over to Publix in the evening and picked up some
chicken from the Asian buffet for dinner. We had wine and cheese for
sunset but the sky was clear enough it wasn't spectacular. Listened
to Sirius XM live from the Met this evening.
~
January 10, 2017
---------------
It's a beautiful day out today. I spent some time getting a Sonos interface
configured on the Raspberry Pi. I finally got it all set up,
now i need to get a Sonos and also install the skill on Amazon.
Libbie
is still not well so i went over to Publix and picked up a rotisserie
chicken and some fixings for dinner. Sunset tonight was spectacular.
We watched it while having cheese and wine to toast the end of
the day. Romeo and Juliet was live on the Met tonight on Sirius. I
listened but wasn't too interested. I continued to configure the Pi.
Tonight I added back the Nodered which was disabled when I had to upgrade
node.js to accommodate the Alexa to Sonos Api code. Dinner
was rotisserie chicken with macaroni and potato salad.
~
January 11, 2017 Selby
---------------
We had lunch here in the Condo, leftover chicken sandwiches then we went
to Selby and took a slow walk around. The African Masks are back
in the Payne house. Libbie couldn't resist and picked up 3 violets
in the Garden shop. We came back and went over to the clubhouse for Pub
night. Besides the very nice salad I had a beef and pork Lasagna
with veggies which was very good. It was a different kind of Lasagna
but tasty.
~
January 12, 2017 Not much
---------------
Libbie is down and out today. I spent most of the day watching YouTube
videos. We did have one trip to Walmart where we transferred our prescriptions
then picked up a grow light in addition to replenishing
some of our groceries. I'm going to hang the grow light in the space
over the kitchen sink but first i need to pick up some hooks and chains.
We went over to the Clubhouse for rib night. Tonight i had the
half rack of ribs along with a yuengling.
~
January 13, 2017 bike ride
---------------
Libbie is determined to be well so we took a 6 mile bike red to the North
end of the trail. In the PM we picked up our newly transferred prescriptions
at Walmart as well as dinner fixings. Picked up some Hispanic
rolls which were delicious. We had the rolls filled with sauteed
onions and prime rib. This was delicious! Previously today we watched
the sunset while having wine with cheese and crackers.
~
January 14, 2017 shrimp
---------------
I made a morning run to Publix and picked up Shrimp for dinner along with
fruit and cocktail sauce. I did quite a bit of reading about configuring
node-red to accept an Amazon request. I cut and sanded the
board for the kitchen pass through so I could hang the grow light. I'll
paint it tomorrow. We listened to La Boheme live on the radio while
running a tutorial on YouTube. The pin fell out of the front door
opener so I took it to Lowes and bought a screw and nut of the same
diameter and put it in while trying to damage the threads on the screw
so it won't come apart. I was mildly successful at this. After our
sunset of wine and cheese with Triscuits Libbie boiled the shrimp in
Old Bay seasoning. We had this along with Basmati rice and fresh broccoli.
Mondavi Cabernet complemented our meal. I bought Moose Tracks
ice cream but forgot to serve it.
~
January 15, 2017 pizza
---------------
Painted the board today for the kitchen passthrough. It dried quickly
so I was able to get a second coat on before evening. Then when it was
dry I brought it inside to completely dry overnight. I struggled with
trying to get a hello world sample recognized by my Pi. The great
news is the SSL is working great. Also, systems at home are working
great. I'm able to log in to Traviata and then use the browser to
contact the Stoneybrook Pi via https which indicates the SSL is correctly
installed. Yes!
We had wine and cheese at sunset then ordered
a large cheese pizza from the Italian Grill. It was ready in 15 minutes
and was good.
~
January 16, 2017 suitcases
---------------
I completely failed with Amazon Echo. Today I used a Youtube video that
put an app in AWS and also an app in the Alexa Skills kit then hooked
the two halves together. No luck other than Alexa seems to think
there is a skill there but reports an error response. After lunch
we went to JC Penney and shopped the MLK Sale. I had a 15% off coupon
as well as a $42 gift card from Christmas a year ago when i returned
a Christmas sweater. Next stop was Sears for a vacuum cleaner belt
which had broke. Unfortunately I should have also bought the second
belt which is the power brush belt. It seems stretched out. Then it
was off to Walmart to get our groceries which included wine and triscuits.
I checked the frozen salmon filets and found they were from China.
No thanks.
Dinner was tuna sandwiches with celery and tomato on
the nice Hispanic rolls.
~
January 17, 2017 Success
---------------
I finally had some luck today with Alexa. I followed an excellent YouTube
video where a guy supposedly opened the Alexa Skills and Lambda
functions for the first time. He loaded the color example from Amazon
so I followed step by step. It didn't work at first but I found when
I went one step beyond, into the part that fills out the privacy statements,
the app was able to be used. My Alexa worked successfully
with the favorite colors I told it. Based on this success I revisited
the Spaceball app I loaded yesterday. I discovered the logs on Amazon
and found it was indicated a bad intent. Studying the code I found
that the intent "spaceball" was case sensitive. I fixed
this and everything started working. I'm ready to move on to Downing
place apps with Alexa.
We went over to Lowes to get screws for the
board I want to install in the passthrough. Next stop was Sears for
a vacuum cleaner belt then the seafood store I found online. We bought
tuna steaks at the place just before Southgate. I tried to get
the grill running but never got it quite warmed up. We grilled the steaks
anyway. There were mosquitoes around the grill which buzzed in
my ear. I hate that. The steaks came out OK but seemed a little dry.
We had this with Mondavi Cabernet, broccoli and rice. It was a nice
meal. I started writing again, this time a short story. I feel rusty
at the process but I know this improves with time.
~
January 18, 2017 pub night
---------------
The disk drive and the usb drive adapter both arrived today. I struggled
recognizing the drive until I downloaded the Seagate Wizard and partitioned
the drive which was a start. Next I used the Microsoft built
in format program and formatted the drive successfully. I decided
this was enough for one day, I'll resume the drive loading tomorrow.
We went to the clubhouse for pub night. We met Teri and Sue from last
year who live in the condos that are not in the golf portion of Stoneybrook.
Lucky them!!!! I ordered the blackened redfish which was
delicious. I ate it all including the veggies. A Yuengling accompanied
my meal. Terri talked about Bocci in the morning at 9:30. We
were going to go ballroom dancing afterward but it was 8:15 when we got
out so decided not to.
~
January 19, 2017
---------------
It's a nice day and not supposed to be so nice this weekend so we went
over to Spanish Point and purchased 2 $10 admissions. We walked the
gift shop which was high quality then watched the movie as in introduction.
We then drove over to the gazebo entrance and joined up with
a walking tour which was really worthwhile. We learned about the history
of the property and the land from the early settlers to later Mrs
Palmer's estate. I enjoyed the walk around the property which is 30
acres. The sun, nice weather and the bayfront add to beautiful atmosphere.
When
we finished with Spanish Point we didn't feel like going
back to a bowl of soup for lunch. The outdoors and the sunshine feel
so nice. We drove to Spanis Marina which has been refurbished and
had lunch. The plastic chairs have been replaced with patio furniture
but the venue is still beautiful and the food good. We started with
nachos and chili-head Salsa which was fantastic. I really like the
Salsa. Libbie ordered Queso for her chips. The Salsa was the clear
winner here. I had the chicken sandwich with jerk sauce and grilled
pineapple which was accompanied by fries. It was delicious. We made
this our dinner and only had a bowl of tomato soup for dinner.
~
January 20, 2017 inauguration
---------------
I finally heard from the eBbay seller about my Sonos. He supplied a tracking
number that shows it's in Ruskin and should be here tomorrow.
I spent several hours transferring files to the new Hard Drive, 500
Gb worth. The drive is a 1 Terrabyte drive. We spent the whole day
watching the Trump inauguration which was good because the files were
getting copied while I watched. In the evening we went out to the clubhouse
for dinner. I had the Captains platter. The shrimp were overdone
and not great but the rest of the seafood was excellent.
i started
reading about what it takes for Samba on a Pi since I want to
share the Music on the hard drive with the Sonos.
~
January 21, 2017 Sonos
---------------
I tried to get Saamba running on the Pi. I got Samba working but trying
to mount the hard drive in the right place turned out to be a challenge.
i failed. We left for Bradenton at noon for the 1 PM performance
of Romeo and Juliette. I loved the opera but not the people around
us. One couple next to us talked out loud about how dark the picture
was. The guy behind me had awful breath, I ended up switching seats
after the intermission. Our host was very good, a Soprano named
Ailyn Perez. The music for this opera is fitting, emotional and moving.
I loved it. After the opera we went to the Ellenton outlet mall.
Libbie needed slacks and shoes. We spent 2 hours there which was
2 hours too much. On the way back we went to the Italian Grill which
was excellent. We had a short wait for a table then had Kelly for
our waitress who we had the one other time we went there. We both ordered
the same thing, Eggplant Parmesan with salad that had Ranch dressing.
The bread was excellent, it was yeast flat bread similar to
pizza dough. The Parmesan wa over spaghetti and had fresh basil leave
in the food. Wow, was this yummy. I had a Stella to accompany the
meal.
When we got back to the condo the Sonos was finally there. It
took 10 days and it really was new in the box. The real surprise was
it was shipped by Amazon from the Amazon warehouse in Ruskin. I got
it set up but have not been able to get the Samba share working where
I want to serve music.
~
January 22, 2017 power out
---------------
Struggled with the Samba stuff some more. Decided to use the nodered Pi
to do a fresh install of install. Before I did that I made a copy
of the image to my hard drive. I then installed Samba but had a lot
of "not found errors". I changed the pi to Google's name servers
and did a lot better. It found everything but i still had configuration
problems. Tweaked the configuration but had to go to the
ballet. We left at 12:10 for the 1 PM performance. Got good seats at
the AMC 12 at the mall. This is a better theater than Bradenton.
The sound is way better abd the picture seems clearer. After the performance
we went to Walmart for needed groceries. We ordered a sausage
pizza from the italian Grill for dinner which we had with wine. After
dinner i worked some more but the storm arrived around 9 PM and
power went out. We went to bed in the dark. The power came back about
90 minutes later.
~
January 23, 2017 Sonos
---------------
I was happy this morning. The Pi Samba share showed up on my laptop.
Since the power went out abruptly yesterday I didn't know what to expect.
I screwed around with permissions and did a chown changing the
file permission recursively from root to Pi. This made the music directory
browsable. I installed the Sonos app and set the player up.
It worked fine. We spent a little time today listening to our music
collection on the Sonos. Dinner was a salad with the leftover eggplant
parmesan from Saturday night and a glass of Cabernet. Loved it, it
was so good.
~
January 24, 2017 bike riding.
---------------
The Sonos music has worked very well. I made my first attempt at controlling
it via Alexa. I first did a backup of the Pi SD image to my
laptop then started adding the Alexa to Sonos install. I also did all
the work on Amazon in the Skills service and the Lambda service. Next
I created a favorite on the Sonos. It tested well standalone on
Amazon but when I tried testing it to the real device I got an endpoint
error. I believe this is because I do not have https enabled for
the connection. I think I need a setting file pointing to my certificate
keys. I have not done this part.
We went for a 10 mile bike ride
today to the quilt shop on Clark and Honore. This was a long ride
but enjoyable. We also stopped at the Publix on Honore to pick up some
more cheese and triscuits. After the ride we decided to go to the
Club house for lunch. I had a chicken salad wrap which also had bacon
and avocado plus tomato. I had it with a Yuengling. Yummy! This
wiped me out for the day so we chose not to go to the Saradance studio
tonight. instead we had triscuits and cheese with wine then an hour
later a bowl of Clam Chowder for dinner. I spent the rest of the
night reading, looking at blogs on Tumblr and also some work on the
AVM article index that Terry sent me for January 2017. I got the article
index posted but not the photo index. Since this is a new year,
2017, i had to figure out how to add the 2017 tag to the picture.
~
January 25, 2017 photos
---------------
This morning I got the photo index posted to the AVM website for January.
I found I also needed to modify the view to add 2017 to the dropdown.
Once all this was done the photo index was read into the database
and now displays properly. Libbie went to the clubhouse yoga class.
I took the opportunity to work on the first class updates.
I got
all the updates created and uploded the master file but I was not able
to upload the map which uses an android app. HTTPUtils is deprecated
so I ended up rewriting the software to not use this library. It
now uses the FTP built into the NET library. Once the rewrite was done
and debugged I uploaded the map files using the built in FTP. Now
I only have the IOS subscriptions left to fix.
For dinner we went
over to Pub night and got a booth almost right away which was a surprise.
I had the beef brisket which had a nice smoked flavor. It came
with slaw, baked bens and french fries. I am eating way too much.
Need to stop.
~
January 26, 2017 breathing problems
---------------
Today I didn't do much. Replaced a light in the bathroom then installed
the board in the kitchen passthrough and applied caulking. Libbie
went with Barbara to Dunedin to the quilt store. I heard from Sharon
Hammil about the Mardi Gras party. She sent her address and the amount
for the bike tour and the tips. I tried using Colts but kept getting
a Server error. Will call the Credit Union tomorrow. We went over
to Rib night at the clubhouse. I didn't feel like eating but ordered
a half rack. Our waiter was terrible. It took a long time to take
our drink order. When he finally took our food order he offered
bread, After another long wait the bread came but then the food came
out at the same time. I was having problems breathing i felt so stuffed.
I really need to cut back significantly. Listened to Rigoletto
live on Sirius when we came back
~
January 27, 2017 Easy Day
---------------
We went to the Sarasota Opera lunch at 11:30 today with Eggplant Parmesan
at noon with Tiramisu desert and a glass of Cabernet. After lunch
3 studio artists from the Sarasota Opera. They were quite good performing
an aria from Walkure, Lehar and the love duet from Boheme. Incredibly
good! I wanted more and was ready to go to the opera. Later
in the afternoon I took a ride to Walmart to pick up cereal and triscuits.
For dinner we had too much because after cheese and crackers
I was stuffed and didn't want to eat anything else. We had a salad,
leftover brisket with bread, cole slaw and beans accompanied by a glassof
Cabernet. Way, way too much.
~
January 28, 2017 Less eating
---------------
It's cold out today, only in the fifties. While Libbie went to Yoga this
morning I struggled with the Alexa device. I moved it to a static
address at 192.168.1.140 but lost the ability to recognize the device
name of SBnodered when I try to start the sonos app with "npm
start" in the sonos directory on Pi.
This is frustrating. i spent
a few hours doing a reblog on my new Tumblr of only a few days.
Sometime in the afternoon my account was terminated. I'm not sure what
i did but I suspect some images may have contained minors? i'm not
sure but I tried not to reblog anything that looked questionably young.
I guess I'll never know their reasoning. Several other blogs
also were gone that I was following so maybe they just cleaned house?
We
made an attempt at eating lighter. Our nightly wine, cheese and
crackers had no wine and half the cheese. Dinner was left over prime
rib sauteed with onions and put into one of the delicious Hispanic
buns. It was delicious, even with cold water. We did a walk around
Forest Circle in the afternoon because it was cooler today so we didn't
do a big walk.
~
January 29, 2017 Sonos
---------------
I got up early this morning and burned a new image of Raspbian with Samba
that I had previously saved on my laptop. I had to mount the hard
disk but once this was done it was functional. I then did some port
forwarding of the new IP for nodered on the condo router. It was a
success, after setting https to false in the Alexa skill I was able to
control the Sonos via the web and logging into Traviata. Next I got
the voice skill working successfully. I am able to pause, change volume
and select various favorites. It won't select anything in the music
library yet but this is still a work in progress. Earlier this
morning the two used Panasonic cameras I was watching on Amazon were
15% off today so I bought them. The seller has 100% feedback so I should
be good except that they are used. They are BL C10 models which
are exactly what I have on the Lanai now, an older technology that are
only 640x480 but they are PTZ and adequate for monitoring the plant
shelves. Lunch was a new (for us) variety of Progresso soup called
Chicken Tuscany. It's a white bean in a clear broth which was delicious.
On the home control front I heard from Joe who has successfully
gotten nodered running on his Pi. We did a short walk today around
Forest Circle. The sun came out and we had to remove our jackets for
a very pleasant walk.
Alexa is successfully controlling Sonos in the
condo. Now I want to get some presets built to select our music library
favorites. After a reduced cheese and crackers without wine we
ordered a large pizza from the Italian Grill.
~
January 30, 2017 ballet
---------------
Struggled all morning with Sonos and Alexa integration and then finally
I had a breakthrough when I found my skill was in upper case and the
Lambda was sending lower case to the pi. In addition, I simplified
the preset itself reducing it to it's minimum. We went this afternoon
to the Opera House to buy apprentice tickets for March and then to
Ringling to see art. It was my first time in the new Chinese section.
There is a bunch of interesting Cyprian art objects there as well
as a few dozen traditional Japanese watercolors. We came home around
3 then had an open faced grilled cheese with a tomato slice for dinner.
We left at 6:00 for the ballet and got there at 6:52. Traffic
is pretty heavy on Beneva and downtown. No problems at all coming home.
We found a new way to get to Beneva using MacIntosh to Palmer Ranch
Parkway. It's a lot nicer than going around the mall streets. The
ballet was a tribute to Ashton, The first piece was a grouping of
Ashton waltzes which was the least interesting of the program. The
next was by Graziano and was Before Night Falls, a sequence of Pas de
Deux between two lovers and their relationship. It was lit in blue
with movement being diagonal. I really liked this piece. The last was
Changing Light and involved the whole company in shades of oranges
and blues with lighting ranging from the bright white at the opening
to darker shades in between. I liked this very much as well as the
second number of the night.
~
January 31, 2017 Orange Grove
---------------
I'm happily controlling Sonos with the Pi and Alexa. I decided to do
some enhancements today adding another preset. Of course it doesn't
work, I still need to figure this thing out. We went to the Nokomis
Groves before lunch and got some more oranges, a jug of grapefruit juice
and an Orange peeler. Libbie bought us 2 cones. Mine was pineapple.
Wenwent out for dinner to the italian Grill where I had Chicken
Parmesan and Libbie had Lasagna. Both were incredibly good. This comes
with a salad, i chose ranch dressing. I wanted a simple Yuengling
so ordered a Stella. No luck, she came back and said it's warm. next
I ordered a crafter beer but they were out. Tried to order a bottled
beer, she brought me a dark Porter chich was too bitter for me.
She removed it from the bill after Libbie spoke up. Our waitress Kelly
was incredibly slow. It took a long time for her to take our order
and then a long time for the bread which ended up coming with the
meal. Finally the bill took forever, she said it took so long because
she tried to get the beer removed.
~
February 01, 2017 fat ass
---------------
Got up at 4:30 today thanks to Alexa. Libbie's cell didn't go off, she
set it for PM instead of AM. We left at 5 AM and had no trouble except
i missed the turn onto 60 for the airport. Got off at the next
exit and used navigation on Libbie's cell to get to the terminal. Arrived
there at 6:20 for her 7:30 flight. Coming back was a lot longer
due to congestion at Bradenton where I was in stop and go traffic.
Got back at 7:50. I saw a beautiful dawn over Tampa Bay and then the
Sunrise when I was on 75 in Sarasota. Weighed myself and was shocked
I was at 240, an incredible setback from 220 of last year. Decided
to do something about it. Took a 10 mile bike ride today and only had
an orange and a salad for lunch. Dinner was the leftover ribs. Sonoos
is really doing well with Alexa. I burned a new SD card and got
some autostart going for the node.js program of alexa and also for
the drive mount of samba. Samba needed a chron job with a delay because
the usB takes so long to initialize before the external hard drive
could be used.
~
February 02, 2017 biking
---------------
Watched the rest of the "On the Edge of 17" movie this morning
and then played with Sonos presets some more. I started work on
the crawl space ventilation program. I need this to be able to be controlled
remotely. Hopefully I can install it next week when I get home,
probably on Tuesday when I'm home alone.
Libbie will come on Wednesday.
Did another long bike ride this afternoon, this time on the
Venice waterway. Took Honore and then Pinebrook all the way to Venice
Rd which is the road with the train station. This is a superior
way to go to Venice. Weight has not changed so today was another light
eating day. Salad and an orange for lunch, leftover chicken parm
for dinner. I need to lose some weight somehow. Maybe when the last
of the leftovers is gone tomorrow I'll really cut back. I still can't
believe I got so fat. Watched a poor movie, "Good Kids",
this evening.
~
February 03, 2017
---------------
Need to really try hard with this weight thing. I thought I was cutting
back but weight has not changed even with long bike rides. Rode to
Mer Del Lago and went inside scoping out some villas I found on Zillow.
Price is attractive around 300k and maintenance is all inclusive
including landscaping and building exterior for $275 per month. I
really like the place, it covers all our requirements including a garage.
When I got back Bill called. He's at the bike shop in Sarasota
with a dead battery or a dead charger. He came over and I determined
it was the charger because on my depleted battery it was green and not
charging. Bill borrowed Libbie's battery. Dinner tonight was leftover
Lasagna from the Italian Grill several days ago.
~
February 04, 2017
---------------
Drove down Honore and went to Nokomis Groves where I picked up some Oranges
(Honeybelle) and a jug of Orange juice. I had the spinach and
Kale salad from Walmart but I didn't like it because it seemed slimey.
I'll get a bag of Spring Mix from somewhere. Listened to the Met broadcast
this afternoon of Rigoletto. It was great as usual. I like
this Opera. The router and/or the internet keeps crashing here. It's
so frustrating. Spent a few hours reading ASSTR instead of technical
stuff. Dinner was a can of Light Chicken Corn Chowder, 200 calories
total. I was still hungry later so I had a bowl of cereal. I'll
have to measure the cereal quantity in the bowl. It's 180 cals per
cup without the milk. Yikes.
~
February 05, 2017 Silly Bowl Crap
---------------
Did not lose a single pound. Still 240 which is incredibly fat. Measured
the cereal. Half of the bowl is one cup so I must have been having
2 cups every breakfast. Bad, bad, bad. This is a 500 calorie breakfast.
Debating about going to Swan Lake today vs staying here to visit
some Open Houses. All the Silly Bowl hype today may limit the number
of Open houses. I'll check a paper.
Bought a paper at Publix
along with some salad greens. Checked out the open house listings but
nothing stood out. Online is quite a bit better. I got on the bike
and went to two Open Houses. Visited Lolita on Knightbridge. Didn't
like the house, it did back up to the woods but i prefer a more open
feel onto a lake. Visited an expensive house which was 4 bedroom
shown by Charles Offer who lives in Stoneybrook Estates. The house
had a pool overlooking the lake and updated kitchen with wood laminate
floors.
For dinner I ordered online a Dominoes pizza advertised as
3 topping for 7.99. I got onions, peppers and cheese. It was incredibly
tasty, especially the sauce. The crust was a Brooklyn hand stretched
but was a little soggy. This is probably because it's done on
a conveyer belt instead of a stone.
Packed my suitcase and am ready
to take off tomorrow.
~
February 06, 2017 drive home
---------------
Did last minute packing and loading of the bike onto the rack. I am taking
Libbie's non electric bike home to get it out of the way in the
shed. Left at 8 AM. Had a little trouble with slow traffic an exit
before I-4 but all cleared up as I went through Gainesville onto 301.
There was heavy truck traffic on 301. I stopped for gas in Jacksonville
on I-10 at an easy on easy off Pilot gas station. I continued
and was happy at how empty 95 was through Georgia. I listened to a combo
of Met Opera and 50s on 5 as well as a touch of 40s on 4. Next
gas stop was exit 170 just past Florence. I wasn't sure I could make
it that far but when I pulled into the Pilot station my range showed
70 miles to empty. I only took 10 gallons, the light wasn't even on.
Gas was 1.92 per gallon. The remained of the trip was easy, twilight
struck as I turned onto I-40 and by the time I got home at 7:33
it was dark. The trip took 10 1/2 hours which is excellent and is due
more to the fact that I didn't stop for food. At home I went over
to Chipotle for the first time and had a Burrito Bowl. It was outstanding.
I would like to do that again. Because Iw as a first time customer
my meal was free. Hard to believe.
~
February 07, 2017 Super fat ass
---------------
I slept until 6:30 which was quite surprising. The driving must have
worn me down. I got on the scale and was shocked at 242. This is horrible.
I need to stop eating!!!!!! Did some catch up work today.
Payed the Stoneybrook and Frontier cable bill. I also researched a new
router for Stoneybrook. Staples has the WNDR4500 for $84 which is
a very good router at an attractive price, probably because it is discontinued.
I went to Staples but it was $89 in the store so i didn't
buy it. I bought a $10 Dymo label maker. When I got home I fixed
up a 9 Volt AC adapter for the thing. I needed to revers plus and minus
leads which I soldered and heat shrinked. The labels are fantastic.
I wanted this for Stoneybrook but can't remember what I wanted to
label. (It was the bicycle batteries and chargers). I'll bring this
down there. I also need to bring a plastic tub or two for the storage
unit to efficiently organize misc condo things. At home I started
building the crawl space fan controller and also researched crawl space
encapsulation and what is involved regarding installation and materials.
i found a company in Nashville,, TN that looks pretty good.
I have to use butyl tape on the walls then affix the plastic to the
walls before drilling a series of holes every 2 feet and fixing the
plastic sheeting to the wall with a plastic anchor. I had only an orange
for lunch then a whole can of vegetable barley soup which is only
60 calories per serving. I went to Kroger and picked up milk and a
cucumber. Libbie will need milk when she returns tomorrow. i checked
her in today on Southwest. She got TSA Pre and B11 for her boarding
position.
~
February 08, 2017 Crawl fan
---------------
Two of those pounds went away so I'm now an obese 240. Keep working on
it. Built the ESP-Crawl relay board this morning with a Huzzah. This
will be an MQTT controlled fan relay for the crawl space. The hope
is to not allow venting during cold weather. I also updated the magazine
on the AVSA website with Susan's latest teaser for Jan-Feb.
Picked
up Libbie at 3:30 this afternoon and did some catch up but no
real work on projects.
For dinner we went to Chipotle where we each
had a Burrito Bowl. We also stopped at Kroger to get eggs and muffins
for Libbie.
~
February 09, 2017 haircut
---------------
Wow, it's significantly colder and windy today. I went over to Great Clips
and got a haircut at 9. I was the first one there, the lady was
a roving substitute. It was her birthday so the manager gave her a
balloon and a cupcake while she cut my hair. I like the haircut. For
lunch today I had the Corn chowder which I found was high in calories
- 190. Dinner was only a salad with tuna sprinkled on. I finished
the crawl space controller today. Hope it all works. Ran out at night
to Northern to get a Battery Tender. They had a Battery Minder for
$24 which I bought with reluctance. I hooked it up to the Prius and
it is showing charging but not topping off after a few hours. The
Prius battery was dead today. I learned how to jump start it which
is what led to the trickle charger decision.
~
February 10, 2017 car wash
---------------
I made some headway this week in the war against obesity. I weighed 238,
down 4 from my worst moment Tuesday morning. Today is only Friday
but the pounds are coming off but the clothes still don't fit.
I went
to Bunky's and got my car washed this morning. I'm happy with the
cleanliness but not the $20 which ended up being $17 because of a $3
coupon. I stopped into Staples and bought the WNDR4500 Netgear router
for $83 which will be used in Stoneybrook to replace the Verizon I
don't like. Will have to run an ethernet cable to where the fiber
comes into the box in the spare room so I can use the router.
I installed
the crawl space Huzzah but can't get enabled status back but I
can get fan on/off status. I hope this thing works out.
We left at
5:45 for Esquires and arrived at 6:20 without any problems with traffic.
My car was shiny and new looking tonight. At Esquires I tried
to make wise choices. No wine, a large salad and some fish and squash
with one piece of beef. For dessert I had a half piece of Key Lime
pie. Dancing was hard. I tired out quickly during each dance. This
was probably because I have gained too much weight and need to lose
it. We stayed until 10 PM and sat with Gary&Janet, Terry &Charlie,
and Jim and Jane. Met a lot of friends including our neighbors.
It was a good night.
~
February 11, 2017 controllers
---------------
I was having trouble getting the enabled status of the crawl space fan
controller. I found that the MQTT callback was never getting to the
enable/disable status because of a bracket error in the if then else
statement. Fixed that and did some testing and a tiny bit of cleanup
and reinstalled the device into the audio closet. Hopefully it's now
doing it's thing. Next project is to get a temperature sensor working
on a Huzzah for stoneybrook both indoors and outdoors as well as
a Prius timer for the charger.
I finished the Prius timer but it's
possible I don't need it because the Prius battery is now at full charge
and the battery maintainer is now blinking with a green light that
indicates it has switched into float mode. I even unplugged it and
plugged it back in to see if it was repeatable and it was. I can confidently
leave the Prius plugged into the charger without the need for
a timer. I will repurpose the timer I built into a one wire temperature
sensor but I really want a DHT temp sensor that does temperature
and humidity which means one more wire. I'll look at the possibilities
of adding another terminal. Libbie and i went to Kroger to get
Salmon but ended up buying large 21 count shrimp which were on sale.
We also sampled a red blend from Australia called Dark Side which we
bought. Dinner was a salad with shrimp and a glass of the Dark side
wine.
~
February 12, 2017 packing
---------------
After the morning programs I went outside and put up a fence guard around
the tulip magnolia which appears to have a few buds coming along.
Went out to Walmart after lunch for storage tubs and pizza cheese.
Walmart had neither of these but i did pick up a jug of antifreeze.
My level was down to the low mark so i wanted to top it off. I decided
to get the oil changed in Sarasota instead of me doing the job.
It's 1,000 miles away from an oil change.
Came home from Target with
4 tubs and a package of cheese. It was crowded. The tubs were in
2 packs for 4.99 which was excellent. I built two probes with DHT-11s
on them and built 2 perf boards with terminal strips and Huzzah processors.
I packed up a meter and the label maker along with the wires
and electronics. Libbbie made her pizza for dinner with fresh tomatoes,
the 6 cheese Italian cheese from Target and Shitake mushrooms
we picked up in Kroger yesterday. It came out really good and the crust
was perfect. Spent the rest of the night doing a little packing
and watching the Grammys.
~
February 13, 2017 travel
---------------
We got going at 8:15 but got hung up in traffic on 64 going to the beltline.
It was stop and go until Route 1 then it was clear sailing all
the way, The two construction zones on 95 in SC were a normal one
lane merge unlike last month when we did this trip. We had a bathroom
stop at the SC visitors center just over the border then stopped in
Ridgeland for gas and lunch. Gas at Marathon for credit cards was 2.39,
ouch. For lunch I had a Wendy's single with half of a small fries.
Our next gas stop was an emergency. it wasn't until we were in
the deserted section of 75 next to Tampa Bay that I noticed the gas gauge
had only 27 miles until empty. We got gas in Ellenton at a Circle
K then continued the rest of the way, arriving at 7:30. After unloading
some suitcases we went out for dinner at Mad Moes. I had fish
and chips with a Yuengling. It was quite good. Everything looked great,
i thought i forgot my camera but found it in our dance bag. Good
deal!!!
~
February 14, 2017 Valentines Day
---------------
WE did a 2 mile walk today. I worked on the AVSA website and finally
found the problem with the Colorbox. IT had the wrong name. Instead
of plain Colorbox it was named colorbox1.x After a rename it started
working normally which was great news. Dinner was leftover fish and
chips with a salad. During the evening I read about crawlspace encapsulation
vs crawlspace ventilation. In general encapsulation is bad
and ventilation with a huge exhaust fan is bad if it's humid outside.
I need a smart system that compares the outside humidity with the
indoor humidity and only exhausts when the outside humidity is lower
than the inside humidity. The blogs insist that I need to compare dewpoints
instead of humidity. i agree. The indoor dewpoint will need
to be calculated whereas the outdoor dewpoint can be scraped from weather
underground using either my website data or a nearby site or possibly
a combination of the two with one serving as primary and the
other as backup.
~
February 15, 2017 pub night
---------------
I did a lot of reading and watching videos of crawl space ventilation.
It looks like a traditional vented crawl space is not a good idea.
An encapsulated crawl space is much better. Before I can think about
encapsulation I need to see if the water issue has been solved with
the regrading I did outside the porch where I redirected the roof water
to flow downhill instead of against the foundation. Heard from Tina
about her requirements for the vintage violet listings. I told her
i would look at using Drupal for this. I would like a temporary site
with Drupal installed that i could use to test this out.
We did another
2 mile walk today. It was pretty windy out but we went all the
way around. For dinner I had 3 pieces of Swiss at sunset then we went
over to Pub night for night. I had the Smoked Pork Quesadilla with
a Yuengling.
~
February 16, 2017 database
---------------
This was a "slow" day. I worked on the vintage violet database
for the violet preservation group. I think I can add a group of
violets to the database. We shall see. Lib and I took a short walk
since it was windy. We only went around Forest Circle. Because the
golf course was closed we walked the cart path behind the houses on Forest
Circle. Dinner was a salad and the leftover quesadilla. It was
a more than adequate dinner.
~
February 17, 2017 Home Alone!
---------------
Libbie went for lunch at Bill's then her TSA appointment at the airport.
I stayed around and did a lot of tutorials on putting stuff in the
database using a taxonomy form and reading the data back using a view.
For dinner tonight we went out to Mad Moes. I had the quesadilla
which came with fries and I had a Yuengling.
~
February 18, 2017 Vintage violets
---------------
Today I worked on the vintage violets forms and got them working correctly.
The request loads the database and a view will display the data.
I tried some test data and it worked. Now I need to design the admin
screen to be able to delete the data. Lunch was leftover quesadilla
then We had a simple dinner of salad later in the day. We left for
the 7:30 performance of Italian Girl in Algiers AT 6 pm AND GOT THERE
IN GOOD TIME. We sat out in the courtyard on wet seats while we
waited for the theater to allow people inside. I was wowed by the dress,
especially by one young couple in a tux with silk scarf and a beautiful
woman in designer dress and perfectly coiffed hair. Wow.
The
opera was a total delight. Campy as expected with lots of Rossini
fast singing and very good acting by the singers. Wow, was this ever
a great opera. I want to see it again. We got home at 11:30. It was
pretty long with 2 intermissions but entirely enjoyable for every minute.
~
February 19, 2017 nice day
---------------
Bill and Barb came over today around 11. I previously picked up some
cheese and triscuits at Publix. We sat out on the Lanai and had the
cheese with strawberries and the orange juice she fresh squeezed from
our second bag of Honeybell Oranges. The oranges previously were obtained
up in Citra on 301 where they were buy one get one free. The juice
was great. We then went out for lunch at the Spanish Point. Our
server Brittany was nice and prompt. The girls were wearing some pretty
short short almost exposing their cheeks. I loved it. Libbie
and I split a plate of 3 shrimp tacos. We also ordered chips and chili-head
salsa. I love the salsa. When we came back we went to two Open
houses in the estates that were just listed. One had a realtor from
RI that Bill talked with. The house was nice but in a bad location
facing Tamiami. You can hear the traffic whizzing by out on the street
which was too bad. The other one was by Charles Offer. The house
was priced at 349 and had a much better location. The layout was
a little weird and the furniture had been removed because the owner moved
over to assisted living. In the evening around 6:30 I ordered a
Dominoes pizza online using the 3 toppings for a large pizza for 7.99
coupon. This time I paid online and went over to pick it up. Libbie
said this was her new Sunday night favorite. It was very tasty with
very good mushroom flavor but once again the crust was soggy mainly
because it's a Brooklyn hand stretched pizza that is not cooked on
a stone but instead they use a conveyor belt.
~
February 20, 2017 biking
---------------
Bill and Barb came over after breakfast. Bill forgot his hat yesterday
so he picked it up on the way to Fort Meyers to visit Carrie's parents.
After lunch we went to Benderson Park which is the Sarasota Rowing
facility. We had some trouble on I-75, the traffic was stopped so
we got to Bee Ridge and got off then took honore to the top of the lake.
I was looking for the road at the South end but couldn't find
it. We ended up at a small parking area at the North end. We had an enjoyable
ride around the lake then found the little roadway which is
called Athlete Dr but turned around and took the 4 lane Cattleman to
Fruitville then onto I-75. For sunset I ate the chips from yesterday
but mainly I wanted to taste the chili head salsa. Next we went to
the Party Store to look for Mardi Gras stuff. Lib bought a Boa in green
and gold that was a little pricey at $10. On the way back we went
to Bangkok Thai where I had a glass of Cabernet and Chicken Pad Thai.
We started the meal with 2 Spring Rolls, one each. During the meal
i found not to put the hot sauce on that is on the table. That stuff
is hot, hot, hot. It burned my lips and required tons of water to
put out the fire. Very good.
~
February 21, 2017 packing
---------------
I checked in at 8:35 this morning and ended up in the B group at B3 and
B4. Amazing. Unfortunately weather is showing rain tomorrow morning.
We will have to fly through this stuff on the way to New Orleans.
Spent the day packing and gathering our things. It's supposed to
rain tomorrow in Tampa so it'll be a bumpy flight getting out of town.
Didn't
do too much of anything else. Sunset was nice, I had triscuits
dipped in the Chili Head Salsa which worked out well. For dinner
we had our leftover Thai food from yesterday. I had leftover Chicken
Pad Thai which I washed down with 3 glasses of Cabernet. That was
a bad thing to do since I was trying to cut back but delicious! Went
to bed around 10 and set the alarm for 5 AM tomorrow.
~
February 22, 2017 New Orleans Day 1
---------------
Up at 5 and left Stoneybrook at 5:36 in a light rain. As we approached
Tampa the rain got heavier and so did the traffic. Our only problem
area was the exit ramp off 275 to the airport. It was stop and go
in harder rain. Because it was raining so hard Libbie suggested that
instead of the economy garage we should park at the terminal in the
long term garage. We did but ended up parking outside on the top deck.
We had the worst breakfast ever at Quiznos in the Southwest gate
area. Awful soggy flat bread with tasteless egg and bacon and instant
coffee. it was horrible. We had an on time takeoff in a full plane.
The ride was very bumpy on the climb in the pouring rain. The approach
had some bumpy moments as well. Our seatmate was a charming woman
from the Meadows in Sarasota who was a cajun dancer. She was going
to Lafayette for a week to dance. Pretty cool.
We took an Uber
ride in a Black Civi that looked pretty new driven by a young black
girl named Jimmice. It was a great experience. Ride was $33 plus a
$7 cash tip. Once we checked in, which was great because it was 10
AM and well before check in time, we took a walk into the French Quarter
and had Beignets and Coffee at Cafe Beignet. We had a street musician
just outside our table, We were in the patio which was great.
After breakfast we walked Bourbon a while and ran into a second line
with a group carrying umbrellas and waving handkerchiefs. We then went
back to the hotel and rested before getting dressed up to go out to
dinner. We walked the 7 blocks to Brennans and had the meal of a lifetime
for $210. The wine list is a phone book, we had several servers
waiting our table. i ordered the Poisson Bolange which was a Pompano
in a white sauce over a bed of lobster, clam and shrimp. Wow, was
this good. We started our meal with a Rock Shrimp Remoulade and finished
with Bananas Foster. The experience was so worth it. The couple
at the next table was celebrating an anniversary. They were from
the DC area and were quite friendly. They got engaged here 3 years
ago and have been returning for their anniversary every year.
~
February 23, 2017 New Orleans Day 2
---------------
We got up early this morning and walked down St Charles where we had breakfast
a McDonalds on Canal. The McDonalds there is huge and very
efficient. After breakfast Libbie recognized a guy in the restaurant
as Blaze from Facebook. We introduced ourselves and had coffee with
them while they had breakfast.
We shared a ride on Lyft with them to
the restaurant, Andreas. Cost was $22 including tip. Uber was quoting
$25. We waited in the bar and had a beer while waiting for the group
to arrive. When they arrived we had a fantastic meal of cannoli
appetizer, redfish main meal with roasted potato and veggies and a
Tiramisu dessert. The meal was fantastic and will serve as oue one meal
for today. We got to the hotel, rested a little then went out to
find the French Market on the other side of the French Quarter. Pam
and Eileen from our group came with us. We found music on N Peter at
Crescent City brewery where we sat at the bar and had a craft beer and
wings. We came back and the parade was already in progress. We had
to wait a while at the crosswalk before the Police would let us across
at a break in the parade. We joined some in our group in a reserved
area in front of the hotel. We stood with Tom and Kathy Graham and
Paul and Anne Cain as well as others who came and went. We stayed and
watched Muses until the last float at 11:30. I was tired!!!!. When
we got to the rooom I totally passed out and didn't wake until 6:45.
~
February 24, 2017 New Orleans Day 3
---------------
Didn't get up until 6:45, went down for breakfast and sat with Anne and
Paul. I ordered 2 eggs, a muffin and grits which came with coffee.
Nice breakfast for $10 each plus $3 for coffee. We gathered at 9:45
in front of the hotel where our police escort and brass band were.
We then took off down Poydras and turned on Chartres towards the French
Quarter. We marched thorough the French quarter and had a bar stop
for Mimosa's. Libbie and I each had one. Our next bar stop was at
Jackson Square where we only had water. Finally we marched around the
square and turned at Cafe Du Monde towards our last bar stop. Finally
we went down N Peter and marched into the Jax Brewery where the
band played a lot of music downstairs. i sat upstairs then it was time
to partake of the buffet. My meal was some Chicken Jambalaya, some
Boudin Sausage, a shrimp Po Boy, gator gumbo with a little rice and
a Shiner Bock. I skipped the Bread Pudding which was delicious when
I tried a spoonful of Libbie's. After the parade and lunch we walked
along the Mississippi then though the French Market and up to Bourbon
following a Second Line band with woman with bustiers. it was fun.
our last stop was at a Nipple Glitter lady who was painting young
girls's boobs. I got quite an eyeful of beautifyul unclothed young
boobies of a pretty blonde wearing cutoff short shorts.
We had dinner
on the hotel balcony. It was an open bar where I first had an Abitit
Amber then a Cabernet. Dinner was a por Boy with London Broil, Penne
PAsta, Crab soup corn chowder and then I came back for fried Oysters.
Had a little chocolate brownie for dessert. We had to eat this
standing up on the balcony then watched allthe parades.
~
February 25, 2017 New Orleans Day 4
---------------
We wanted restaurant breakfast but they didn't open till 8 and we had
to leave at 8:30 so we walked down to McDonalds. Surprisingly they had
armed guards at the door. Today is going to be serious! We talked
with some parade campers - they were lined up in front of the barriers
along St Charles for a parade that doesn't start until 1 PM. They
were a nice friendly family and fun to talk with. They do this every
year with their kids, a giant party on the street.
We left the hotel
with the group at 8:30 for the bike tour and had a lovely walk through
the French Quarter on Royal. Loved the buildings at this time
of the morning. We started our tour at a park, Washington Square. We
had a fantastic tour guide, Casey. He was well educated in NO history
and told it in a humorous almost stand up style way. We learned about
the various switching of the ownership of NO. Casey was laid back
whatever kind of guy, probably typical of New Orleans locals. We had
a fantastic tour even with a stop for Bloody Mary's at Marie's Bar.
They were great. i would love to do this again sometime and take more
photos of the beautiful small homes in the area. We waalked back
down Royal and ended up on Decatur looking for lunch with live music.
We found BB Kings place with a Blues band. We split a shrimp Po Boy
and a couple of beers. We even got up to dance to a few songs. Perfect
lunch with cold beer, good music and good food and a few dances.
To go home we had to cut over to Harrahs Casino before crossing the
parade route and walk down side streets.
We rested up in the afternoon
then got dressed to leave at 5:50 in our tux and gowns. Everyone
looked fine. We ended up walking about 4 blocks to get to the bus
and had an easy ride to the Superdome. Inside we had a nice buffet dinner
of pulled pork, andouille sausage gumbo with rice, spinach dip
and catfish bites which were really nice. There was an open bar where
I had a martini then a glass of wine which was difficult because I
went to get free tumblers and when I got back the wine was cleared from
the table. I got another wine and headed downstairs to find the group
in the arena seats. I ended up on the floor of the superdome.
The place was crowded but I enjoyed the many beautiful woman in evening
wear. Eventually I found the group in section 114. The noise was
too much to take for me. Making it worse was the stupid band kept playing
loud music when the bands were coming in and the awful announcer's
voice was even louder. His voice was louder than the bands. After
the first float arrived, fireworks went off and the sound was unbearable.
I ran out of that place and met up with Cathy and Blake who
said it wasn't their cup of tea either. Google was showing it was only
a 14 minute walk so we joined them in the escape. The walk back wasn't
too bad. It was such a relief to get outside into the night air
and only hear the sounds of the city. I fell right to sleep after
a very nice day despite the disaster at the Superdome.
~
February 26, 2017 Music
---------------
Once again the street is all cleaned up from last night. We ate in the
hotel. I had an omelet with hash browns. We then wandered down St
Charles where we found another in our group, Cindy, doing the same.
We were on our way to the WW2 museum. We went around the circle at the
Ogden Art Museum and admired the big brown stone building that is
part of the museum. Engraved in the facade is the word "Library".
We went into the WW museum and bought tickets that included the
11 AM showing of the Tom hanks narrated movie. The museum started
with a train trip where we registered our electronic dog tags. i was
assigned a pilot from WW2 named Greg "Pappy Boyington. Throughout
the Museum I followed the travails of my guy at various stations.
This made the museum interactive and a lot of fun. We waited around
the gift shop for the 11 AM movie. The movie starts with a preshow
outside the theater on a group of smaller flat screens that combine
to provide a larger overview. The movie itself is spectacular. The
words 4D are used to describe the movie, it includes a plane nose lowered
in front of the screen that matches the image on screen and a camp
tower and other effects that come and go. The seats vibrate with
scenes of tanks and bombs including the atomic bomb although they didn't
focus much on the bomb. The overall experience was quite good but
very daunting. After a while all the war exhibits, videos, artifacts
and re-creations blur together in a mass. It's hard to give the
proper attention to any of this.
After the museum it was time for lunch.
I wanted a place with music and new Orleans food. We started walking
towards the river with the theory that with cruise ships visiting
the harbor there would be pubs with music. We didn't find any but
we did encounter the Bacchus floats lined up along the road next to
the river. I took some pics then we continued to wander along N Peters.
We stopped into a few gift shops looking for the slate tiles I originally
found but we went into the Crescent City Brewery first. There
was a band playing in the corner that we tipped a few dollars because
they played during our lunch. We ordered two appetizers, a crab
cake remoulade and a shrimp remoulade. The crab cake was to die for
it was so good. We had a beer with lunch. During lunch i called Blake
and spoke to him about tonight. He suggested we join them at Bufas
Bar on Esplanade. Music starts at 7. We walked over to Jackson Square
after lunch and bought the pen and ink watercolor from Lee Tucker
instead of the gift shop tiles. This was a good decision. He is
going to ship the artwork to us in a cardboard. It's already matted.
Lee told us we should take the riverfront troll back to Podyrus. We
didn't know this existed. We decided to take a walk around the square
and found some oils of old houses in front of the Presbytere and bought
one. Asking was $75, we offered $50 cash and the person accepted
the offer.
We made it to the trolley behind Cafe Du Monde and rode
it down to Podyrus. This was a good experience. We loved the fact
that the driver took the time to give directions to one lady who stepped
on but didn't ride. He explained to her how to get to Mannings restaurant.
It would be fun to have a notepad and pencil and ride the
trolley in the PM for 40 cents a ride and take notes of how much fun
it is to record the comments of the colorful people getting on and
off. What fun. MAde it back to the hotel but on the way saw some floats
getting moved that were covered in colored foil. They were quite
pretty.
Around 6:20 we left again for streetcar and rode it to the
end at Esplanade. Met a young girl who was traveling alone and wanted
to go to the French Market then walk her way back to the Hilton
for a cruise she's taking tomorrow. We walked 4 blocks to Bufas and went
into the back and found Blaze and Cathy. This was a treat. We had
a couple of Stellas and a bowl of the best Chili ever. The dual clarinet
players in the band were fantastic. They were accompanied by
a wonderful jazz drummer and a piano. I loved it and didn't want to
leave but we left around 10 but first we did a few Rumbas then went out
into the street and walked down the neutral zone for a while before
using the sidewalk. The streetcar arrived and we watched the driver
prepare it for going the other direction. The pulley has to get pulled
down with a rope and the one on the other end raised. He also reverses
the drive console since the back is now the front. We then had
a very colorful ride to Podyrus. Once again I enjoyed the cast of
characters getting on and off. This was so cool. Cathy came back with
us to our room to pick up beads we didn't want. She wanted to take
back 50 pounds to Raleigh. We passed out but first set the alarm since
we have to leave tomorrow at 7 AM.
~
February 27, 2017 travel
---------------
We got up at 6:30 this morning and gathered our last minute stuff. At
around 7 i called for an Uber outside the Blake. Yusaf was on Podyrus
and came with a Dodge MiniVan in less than 1 minute. The price to
the airport was now $53 compared to $33 last week. Mardi Gras is tomorrow
which is probably why the rate is higher. Traffic was heavy
but our driver went up and around on 610 instead of I-10 which was faster.
We did 18 miles in 24 minutes. Check-in and TSA was no problem,
we both are TSA Pre so we sailed through the line. We had breakfast
at PJs Bistro which is associated with PJs Coffee. This was pretty
good food. They were cooking real food right there. I had scrambled
eggs and delicious crisp bacon on a bagel which came with hash browns.
The coffee also was excellent. This is good airport food. Our
flight was a quick one hour and 8 minutes then we walked to the long
term parking garage and retrieved our car. the bill was $108 which
wasn't outrageous. We got to the condo around noon and talked about
how we can get a Bloody Mary. We ended up going to the clubhouse
and having Quesadillas with Bloody Marys. They were not as good as a
New Orleans style but they served the purpose. I spent the rest of the
evening studying Clarinet buying advice and some clarinet basics on
YouTube. The only dinner was some cheese and crackers.
~
February 28, 2017 Clarinet
---------------
I continued the research this morning and checked some Clarinet prices
on eBay and craigslist. I also weighed the rent vs buy equation and
found i could buy a used clarinet at Sam Ash and trade it back in for
half of what I paid for it. This is a pretty good deal. I also read
a lot of buying advice online. in the meantime i received a phone
call from learn online, a web service in San Diego that has Clarinet
instructors starting at $15 per half hour. I had a nice chat with them
about a female instructor in Davenport, Florida that i will probably
use if I go that route.
Libbie accompanied me to Sam Ash to do an
exploratory trip. The guy in the woodwinds department named ian turned
out to be a Clarinet player. He played a Jean Pierre student clarinet
then also a Yamaha 250. The Jean Pierre sounded great and will
be perfect if i can make it do what i heard. The John Pierre is $99
plus reeds an other stuff. The bottom line was $164. Ian is coming
to our condo tomorrow at 1 to give me some basic lessons. I don't know
what I'm getting into but I'll give it a shot.
We had the leftover
Quesadilla from yesterday for a later lunch. We then drove down to
Nokomis and picked up grapefruit juice and honeybelles. While down
there we also had a couple of orange soft serve cones. The ice cream
business they do in that place is amazing. We had a couple of cheese
and crackers as we got dressed for the oopera tonight. Left the condo
at 6 and got to the Opera house parking garage in about a half hour.
Madama
Butterfly was fantastic. No many how many times I have seen
this opera I never get tired of it. it went so fast and the singing
was top notch. We sat in the center in row J and thoroughly loved
the performance. It was a wonderful experience.
~
March 01, 2017
---------------
I waited for Ian to come for Clarinet instruction at 1 but he never showed
up. I called him at 1:30 and he had the wrong address and no phone
number. This shot the day for me. Later I tried assembling the
Clarinet using Youtube and eventually was able to get a note out of it
like the Youtube video. I think I can do this on my own with the help
of YouTube and possibly some hands on instruction. I tried calling
a studio in North Port who said he would give my name to an instructor.
The instructor never called. Sarasota is vacuum valley for music
lessons. I would have much better luck in Apex. We did a grocery
run to Walmart earlier where I also picked up a dvd/cd player that
automatically rips CDs to a USB stick. It worked really well but needed
a TV for use as a monitor. I ripped the 2 New Orleans CDs to USB
then spent some time manually writing the Mp3 tags to the albums. The
tags are the real work in ripping an album.
We stopped by Costco
to get coffee and tuna fish then went to the AMC theater and bought some
Opera tickets for Rusalka tonight.
We went to Rusalka at 6:30 and
were not disappointed. Kristina looks and sings incredibly well. I
enjoyed the performance although I may have dozed once or twice during
the performance. Libbie made some outstanding tuna fish sandwiches
with celery and tuna. The theater let out at 10 but by that time the
mall was shut down and the parking lot was empty. Welcome to Sarasota.
~
March 02, 2017 nothing day
---------------
This was pretty much a do nothing day. When Libbie went to Yoga at 11
I put the clarinet together and had some success blowing a few notes
and doing some scales. This was a much better experience than yesterday.
After watching a few more YouTube videos I took the clarinet out
again in late afternoon and once again tried some notes and a scale
or two. I had trouble putting out breath to last through a 5 note
scale. This may need some breath control exercises. We had some cheese
and crackers but instead of wine I had a small glass of grapefruit
juice. We then went over to the clubhouse for rib night. I ate half
of a prime rib and half of my baked potato with sour cream and a cranberry
roll. I took the rest home for dinner tomorrow. I went to
bed around 9 PM which is the first time in over a week that I went to
bed early. Unfortunately I woke around 1 AM and lay there in bed for
a while staring at the ceiling.
~
March 03, 2017 Opera
---------------
Watched more YouTube videos and played with the Clarinet some more. Today
is an incremental improvement over yesterday. Maintaining breath
for a while is a problem. We left around 11 for the noon concert at
the opera house. The apprentices were great. We enjoyed some not familiar
pieces consisting of Handel's Armida, Pearl Fisher's Love Duet,
Gounod's Romeo and Juliet, Puccini's La Rondine, and of course a sextet
from Rossini's Barber of Seville which was incredibly beautiful
and lots of fun. Rossini music is always fun and an easy lesson. We
went out to the front of the opera house and spoke with the apprentices.
I sought out Natasha, a pretty blonde and spoke to her about her
treble cleft tattoo on her foot. She's a modern day Soprano.
After
the Opera we drove to Selby and found it was pretty full due to some
programs going on and a Chagall Art show. The gardens were dressed
up with special plantings reflecting the style of Chagall and the colors
of Provence. The tropical house had a few French doorways and windows
integrated with special exhibits of plants in the style of Chagall.
We had a lunch from a French inspired food truck and had chicken
sausage on a baguette. It was delicious. I had an iced tea with mint
for a beverage. We went into the Chagall exhibit after lunch and
were wowed by the three paintings in the Payne house. Admission was
only 25 at a time. There were narrated guides in the front and the
back of the Payne. Afterwards we walked to the Selby house and checked
out the flower pots on the roof and the other plantings to reflect
France. Once we left Selby we went to the Whimsy Museum for a few smiles.
unfortunately they no longer allow photography with anything other
than a cell phone. We enjoyed it anyway. Went home and had the
left over Prime Rib on a bun with cooked onions and a bottle of Mondavi
Cabernet we picked up in Winn Dixie next to Ace hardware on the way
home. The Winn Dixie wasn't too bad although they didn't have a lot
of business.
~
March 04, 2017 Lesson 1
---------------
Libbie did Yoga and I practiced the Clarinet. She said I was in luck
because neighbors on both sides were out. Once again I watched many YouTube
videos on how to play Clarinet. Ian is coming tonight at 6:30
so before he came we had our cheese and crackers at sunset without wine
and then very nice Tuna sandwiches with mayo and celery. The lesson
was great! I was mostly doing stuff right with the reed but not
with the notes. He wants me to seal off the air on the end of the reed
after each note which is something I had not been doing.
~
March 05, 2017 easy day
---------------
Windy! There are some pretty strong gusts blowing outside today but it's
warm in the mid 70s. I practiced today using a metronome app that
i really like. It has made a difference in my playing. We reviewed
some materials from Uncruise and decided I needed a hat with neck protection.
I'll wait till I get home to shop at REI for the hat. There
are some bird books that would be useful on the cruise so we tried
the local Barnes and Noble then Books a Million on the way back. While
at Books a Million we visited Publix for another brick of Swiss Cheese.
When we got back I set up the Clarinet to practice again but got
a call from the Craigslist guy I emailed about a music stand he had
for sale. I went over there and picked up the stand. It's perfect
for what I need. For dinner I ordered a Dominos online mushroom pizza.
They still have the large 3 topping pizza for 7.99. It's very tasty
but the crust is soggy. After the pizza I tried a few measures
in the music book on the new music stand before putting the rig away
for the night.
~
March 06, 2017 bike ride
---------------
This was still a windy but a warm day. I practiced some measures of notes
on the Clarinet and feel I am getting better but have a concern that
the notes are staccato sounding. Each note possibly only is being
played as a half note with a half note pause between each. We did a
grocery run to Walmart on Honore and picked up the ingredients for the
mushrooom puffs for the pool party Thursday. We also had to buy a cookie
sheet because last time we had to borrow a cookie sheet from Sally.
We next did a bike ride down the Legacy trail and then down Bay
to the other side of Tamiami where I wanted to take a look at a house
that was listed as a fixer upper. It was an eyesore from the street
and needs lots of TLC. It would be a real challenge to restoe this
one to health. Just after wine and cheese at Sunset I did another Clarinet
practice. Dinner was spaghetti with sauce and cheese and a glass
of Cabernet. It was excellent. After dinner I called Lorraine.
Ted wasn't home but we chatted for a long time over kids and Jimmy's
death and also Ann's death. Their family has not had an easy time of
it with the deaths, etc. She said Tommy is now living in Riverwood
nearby in a Villa. Wow, Aunt jean would be shocked.
~
March 07, 2017 dew point
---------------
I saw a Youtube video about how important dewpoint was in making a decision
about crawl space ventilation. I took out the huzzah and hooked
up the DHT sensor. It didn't work at first, I found i needed to pick
up 3.3 V off the Huzzah instead of the Vbat line which actually is
a place to supply power to the Huzzah device. I used Lady Ada's example
code to get basic functionality then found a dew point function that
I added to the program. I found an online dewpoint calculator and
compared my Huzzah readings to the online program and also weather
underground. Everything looks good. I will use two of these to send
crawl space dew points and outdoor dew points via MQTT to a fan controller
that will exchange the crawl space and outdoor air. The timing
of the fan controller is still to be determined. I need an algorithm
that combines when to ventilate in conjunction with a timer to limit
the run time to something reasonable per hour. I spoke with Lorraine
again and we agreed to meet Sunday afternoon around 4:30. I asked
if Tom would join us, She said she would call but he's been pretty
depressed and basically lives in his cave in Riverwood. She said he
has deteriorated significantly since Anne died 3 years ago.
This afternoon
we did a run to Nokomis Groves and picked up a 1/4 bushel of
Honeybelles and a jug of grapefruit juice. We also had an orange soft
serve while we were there. For dinner in the spirit of eating light
we had our cheese and crackers with a single glass of wine and then
had an open face salad with celery, cucumbers, egg and lettuce. It
was great.
I continued my Clarinet practice and feel I am getting a
little better with embouchure and tonguing the reed. We listened to
Traviata live from the Met this evening after dinner and Clarinet practice.
~
March 08, 2017 passport scramble
---------------
It started as a normal day but then we got a call from Uncruise about
our passport expiration. It turns out that a May expiration for our
March 30 trip was not legal, it has to be at least 6 months in the future.
Libbie has her passport here but mine is in MC. I considered
driving back tonight and returning tomorrow. We ended up deciding to
expedite Libbie's and then super expedite mine next week when we get
back. It costs an extra $200 with shipping to expedite Libbie's. Mine
will be an extra $250 plus the passport fee. We backed up out takeoff
to Monday instead of next Thursday. It was a hassle filling out
the papers and getting passport photos made. I took pics and printed
them at Walmart but we ended up going to the store and getting mine
retaken. After looking at Libbie's we went back a second time and her's
taken again as well. Since it was late in the day we had dinner
at 7:15 over at Pub night. I had the salad, some garlic bread and coconut
shrimp which came with a yummy citrus dip as well as fries and
slaw. It was the end of a very stressful day. Ian came over at 1 PM
for my Clarinet lesson. It was a fantastic lesson. We did some double
notes, he raised my music stand higher and had me sit on the edge
of the chair. He played along with me which made a huge difference.
he also told me to set the metronome to 80 instead of the 60 or 90 I
had been using. Tomorrow we will go to FedEx on Tamiami and mail Libbie;s
stuff with the prepaid overnight Fedex label.
~
March 09, 2017 art
---------------
Took a trip up Tamiami after my morning Clarinet practice to mail Libbie's
passport renewal package at Fedex. We had a prepaid overnight label.
We have to drive home next week to get mine so i could renew as
well. We stopped at the Swim Mart store on the corner of Stickney Point
and Clark on the way back. Libbie really liked the store. The New
Or1ean's watercolor art from Lee Tucker came today as well as a package
of a polo shirt and a dress shirt from LL Bean. We can now shut
the mail off here for our trip back.
Libbie made the mushroom pastry
puffs. The Filo dough had some problems because it was very dry.
We had to go next door to Mark to borrow some flour. They also stuck
to the aluminum foil. Parchment paper would have been better. That's
what we used last time but I brought it home and didn't return it.
The
party was pretty nice. Maggy next door made chicken wings that
had spices but were not hot. I like the crab dip and the bean dip as
well as the shrimp someone brought. Annita had some delicious Chocolate
Chip Cookies. The party food served as our dinner tonight.
~
March 10, 2017 opera
---------------
This morning I did my Clarinet practice then we did a little straightening
up before leaving at 11 for downtown. We found parking on Pineapple
just before Main Street. When we reached the Opera house they were
already going in so we joined the line going into the rehearsal room
which was up one flight of stairs. The room is quite large. We
sat next to a couple from Syracuse. He was a college professor before
having a heart attack which put him in a coma. They instantly retired
2 1/2 years ago. They recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.
The concert was wonderful and included the trio from Hoffman,
Nessun Dorma, Soave Fanciulla from Boheme and many other notable pieces
capped off by the entire group of 25 apprentice artists singing
the party scene from Die Fledermaus. It was totally enjoyable. We decided
to take a walk down Main Street and ended up having a very nice
lunch at two Senoritas. I had the Taco Salad with a Margarita which
was very good. It had shredded chicken and topped with Chili Con Carne.
The meals came with chips and Salsa. We luckily had a seat inside
along the rail where we could people watch as well as see what was
driving by. After lunch we walked to a new bookstore and then walked
through a gallery next door.
I did some more Clarinet practice then
we had wine, cheese and crackers which served as our dinner. Only
an Orange was my food after that.
~
March 11, 2017 Traviata and Clarinet lessons
---------------
Practiced with my Clarinet this morning then we had to leave at 11:30
for downtown. We went up Beneva, West on Fruitville to the back of the
parking garage for the Hollywood 20. The performance of Traviata
was outstanding. I loved every minute of this opera with many recognizable
hit tunes. We got out of the parking garage and onto Main Street
by 4 PM then back to Beneva and home. Ian came at 6:30 for my last
Clarinet lesson with him. We covered some more keys on the Clarinet
plus some 1/8 notes which are used in the William Tell Overture which
we both played as my last song. We offered dinner to Ian at the Clubhouse
which he accepted. I had a Cabernet and the plank Salmon which
came with Hollandaise sauce and veggies. It was lick your plate
excellent. Ian has been a good start for my Clarinet non-career.
~
March 12, 2017 Port Charlotte
---------------
Libbie worked on getting our stuff together for our trip tomorrow. I
put together a temp/humidity sensor to sense indoor temperatures next
to the AC vent. This is the one that sends MQTT temperature and humidity
to Adafruit. We left at 3:30 for Ted and Lorraine's and had a
very pleasant drive down Honore and then I-75. We had veggies and nuts
on the porch next to the pool and chatted then went to an italian
restaurant that I really liked, Donatos. The restaurant interior was
Little Italy with fire escapes, subway tiles, a subway turnstile and
Italian business store fronts. For dinner I had eggplant Parmesan with
Rigatoni in a pasta sauce accompanied by a Yuengling. It was a pretty
nice time. Surprisingly Tommy is in bad shape health wise. He
lives near Ted and Lorraine in Port Charlotte. Ted was going to drive
to Tommy's house to roll his garbage can to the street because Tommy
can't walk. We had a small incident on our way home. I was in the
left turn lane and did not know the lane ended before the corner. There
was a barrier there that I braked hard and swerved left, avoiding
a certain problem. We got home safely at 9:30 PM which was good.
~
March 13, 2017
---------------
We packed up the apartment this morning. Libbie scrubbed and cleaned everything.
I made many trips to the car carrying the suitcases and boxes
of household stuff including the speakers, the kitchen stuff, showes,
camera, computer, Oranges, bike batteries, tubs of electronic parts
and other stuff. I had to make a run to Costco to get gas. It
was 2.08 per gallon, member price. We loaded the bikes as our last items
then left the condo at 11:30 AM. Traffic was surprisingly heavy
up I-75 and also on 301. We chose to go around Jacksonville by taking
301 all the way to Callahan. This wasn't too bad since the road was
mostly 4 lane and 65 MPH except for one or two small towns. We may
do this agaim. I-95 was better with off and on rain. We had to get
gas in Baldwin then arrived in Port Wentworth, GA exit 109 for our Comfort
inn reservation. After checking in with steady rain, we went
over to the Sweet Tea Grill where we had the crabcakes sandwich which
came with house chips and house sauce. Everything was delicious. I
had a Sam Adams Seasonal to go with dinner. This was a great meal.
Our room was nice but we had the highway side of the hotel which was
noisey. Overnight I used the Thule cable lock to lock the bikes to the
rack and also used the regular cable lock to lock the two bikes together.
~
March 14, 2017 Drive home
---------------
Up early in the hotel this morning. We had breakfast at 6:30 AM. They
were out of eggs and sausage but I got the attendant to replenish.
The same person is also covering the front desk. It was not a great
breakfast and to make it worse, the coffee tasted like instant. We got
going around 7:30 and stopped at Walterboro for gas and coffee. Libbie
got a biscuit that was the worst ever at a McDonald's. The bacon
wasn't even cooked and the biscuit was mushy. The coffee was OK.
Next stop was the Pilot at exit 170 in Florence to top off the tank.
The sun came out and the sky turned blue on the trip. We got home at
12:20. After unloading the car and having soup for lunch I got to
work on my passport but as I got going, Andrea called and talked quite
a while. I finally got all my stuff together, called rushmypassport.com
and got my shipping label and authorization letter. I took all
this to Fedex in Cary and mailed it. On the way back I stopped in Kroger
and got the Tuesday groceries. While there I stopped into Bach2Rock.
They tried to shove me off on a guy who was not a Clarinet player.
I'm unhappy with this. I'll see what happens when I get the Clarinet
guy who it turns out plays Sax, not Clarinet.
During the day
Robert texted us to see how we're doing. Libbie called him back and
set up a lesson for Wednesday at 2:45 PM.
Tonight dinner was spaghetti
with cheese topping.
Late tonight I received an eMail from B2R
setting up an account in my name and an appointment/lesson with Alan
on Thursday at 2:30 PM. The first lesson is free.
~
March 15, 2017 cars and dance
---------------
This was still a day of getting it together after our trip yesterday.
We unpacked the rest of the suitcases while Libbie got a load of laundry
going. It's pretty cold outside. I chose to have my oil changed
and tires rotated instead of doing it myself. I made a 10:30 appointment
at Hendricks and drop the car off. When i picked it up they
had another $850 worth of service they said it needed. Other than the
battery some day, none of it seemed necessary.
We left for our 2:45
dance lesson and learned a few new steps in Tango. I also bought
10 more lessons since Robert said we only had 4 left. Their policy is
to warn us when we get below 5 lessons. Our Tango step was called a
right fan. It had two possible endings. We could just do it once forward
or we could do a second which turned us around in which case we
have to do a second and then a basic to rotate us back the correct
direction. Dinner tonight was a salad with egg and cucumbers. I got
a 30 day trial Sirius streaming Subscription instead of changing my
Ala Carte Plan to all music with streaming which raises the price from
10.50 to 18.50. At the end of 30 days I'll make the switch. I put
the Play 3 speaker in the Family Room with Sirius streaming and then
a Play-1 in our bedroom. With this configuration we listened to Romeo
and Juliet live from the Met. While this was going on i worked on
my Mrs Robinson story. I practiced Clarinet today for the first time
on Downing place. I have a lesson tomorrow at 2:30. I'll see how I
like the instructor or whether I should dump Back 2 Rock overboard.
~
March 16, 2017 B2R Clarinet
---------------
Nancy came over this morning after I finished my first Clarinet practice
of the day. She brought the Amazon bird books which I had delivered
to her house because we weren't sure if we would be home. She said
Coleman regularly finds Clarinets in the flea market and got one for
Lisa and her brother Tom. Who knew all these people played Clarinet?
I watched some YouTube videos about google voice control using Tasker
and ended up buying Tasker for 2.99 in the Play store. I had a second
practice after lunch and worked on my Mrs Robinson story some more
before class.
I'm not very impressed with B2R. The instructor was
late, had a sax instead of Clarinet and wasn't very familiar with the
Clarinet. He forgot it had holes instead of keys, was clueless about
reeds and wasn't very helpful about tonguing, key fingering and Clarinet
reeds. To make matters worse the policy of B2R is monthly recurring
payments on the first of each month. They had the gall to assess
me $20 for materials for my first lesson. There were no materials
received by me. The story when I talked to them Tuesday was supposed
to be $28 per half hour lesson. This somehow tuned into $90 for this
month and $140 for next. Bullshit! I sent emails to a music teacher
in Cary and one in Raleigh.
Dinner was great. Libbie made pork
chops, snow peas and bell pepper stir fry which we had with Cupcake Cabernet
I sampled and then bought in Kroger.
The Sirius streaming over
Sonos kept shutting off. I found in the logs that it was intentional
because more than one device was streaming. I grouped the two Sonos
devices in party mode and this seemed to help.
~
March 17, 2017 Friday Dance Return
---------------
I did some picture management this morning and also studied hardware for
Home Automation some more. I can't get the Sonos app to read the
Traviata file share. Not sure what's wrong there. It says error 900
when I click on it. This error is a server stack size error which involves
editing the Win 7 registry on Traviata and then doing a reboot.
I
did some reading on Literotica which seems to be higher quality
than ASSTR and also older adults than the mostly teen types on ASSTR.
I only got in one practice today in the morning on the Clarinet. I
have a 9 AM appointment with Justin tomorrow in Cary at Leechford Studio
on Chatham St.
We had a dinner of salad greens, cucumber, and egg
which was topped with the leftover pork stir fry. We left for dance
before 8 and got there around 8 PM which was surprising. I was so
cold i was shivering. I need to do something to warm up. The studio
attendance was surprisingly light tonight. I'm not sure why. Met a
woman there, Laurie, who started dancing in October. I danced a Rumba
with her. We tried our new Tango routine but failed pretty badly.
After dance we went out with the Cains and Harry to BJs Brewery in Crossroads.
Libbie and I split a flatbread appetizer covered with bacon,
tomato, cheese and avocado. I had a Jeremiah Red with it which was
a craft beer with 7.5% alcohol. Yikes! Pretty high but delicious.
~
March 18, 2017 Music Lesson
---------------
Went out in the rain at 8:40 and drove to my Clarinet lesson on Chatham
Street in Cary. The lesson was the first and was scheduled at 9 AM.
I barely got there at 9. I'll try to leave at 8:30 next time. This
time I actually had an instructor with a Clarinet!!!!! He was able
to pick out some problems with my playing, specifically my tonguing technique.
I am not starting the note with tonguing but am cutting it
off with tonguing. He said I am humming the notes out which is incorrect.
I'll need to focus on this. He had a little tuner that determined
that I was using the wrong barrel with the mouthpiece. I switched
barrels and lowered the pitch a little but still not a 440 C. I
like his little electronic tuner. He gave me some pointers on reed placement
and also mouth position on the mouthpiece as well. I need to
practice this.
On the way home the rain let up a tiny bit. I stopped
at Brueggers and picked up bagels then stopped at Kroger for cream
cheese.
Before lunch Libbie and I went back to Kroger and picked up
shrimp and snow peas for dinner.
I enjoyed listening to William Tell
from the Met while reading Literotica on my computer. I had to go
back to Kroger after the opera and pick up cocktail sauce. We had Shrimp,
snow peas in soy sauce with bell peppers, and basmati rice.
Accompanying this was the leftover Cupcake Cabernet and then a few glasses
from two buck chuck Shiraz. After dinner I did some more reading
and saving stories to Google Sheets.
~
March 19, 2017 repairs
---------------
IT's a quiet day and not much activity. I did a lot of reading, then
did a trip to Lowes to get a bird house and a ballast. Replaced the
ballast in one shelf of the plant towers and also installed a new birdhouse
in the turnaround to replace the one that fell apart due to weather.
The new one was cheaper but made of cedar and also 1/2 inch
smaller in all dimensions. Hopefully it will work. The peat cup will
not fit inside. Libbie made her pizza which was excellent. It's been
a long time since we had her pizza. It came out well.
~
March 20, 2017 sonos
---------------
The Sonos soundbar I ordered last night was shipped from Nashville this
evening. I thought long and hard about spending so much on a TV surround
system but in the end I thought it was for the better since we
don't really use the existing sound system. FedEx delivered Libbie's
passport from RushMyPassport.com. We mailed her passport on xx/yy.
I continued to practice Clarinet - twice today. Justin texted that
he has a cancellation for Wed at 6 PM so I took it. Dinner was spaghetti
with cheese. We had Sonos playing a 1958 Trovatore from the Met
on 3 of the speakers - Family Room, Master bedroom and Office all streaming
from Sirius. Sirius streaming may be a keeper. It's on a 30
day free trial, I'll have to call in early April when we get back from
Costa Rica to cancel the trial and add streaming to my existing subscription.
~
March 21, 2017 groceries
---------------
Getting back into the swing of things again. I took a trip to do the groceries
at Kroger. Picked up some fixings for dinner tonight. I studied
intercepting Davis ISS transmissions for use in the crawl space
venting system. I need to get some old clothes on and crawl under the
house to inspect the moisture issues to see if regrading the front
porch worked. Dinner tonight was a salad with tuna, cucumber, raisins
and Creamy italian dressing. Tracking is showing my Sonos Playbar will
be here tomorrow. The Weber grease pan came from the Honey Roaster
today. The old one rusted out and was probably destroyed by an animal.
The new one was an exact fit although a little pricey at $25.
It's good to see that Weber parts are readily available. I have rebuilt
various parts of that grill many times over the past 15 or more years.
~
March 22, 2017 dance, music and playbars
---------------
I did some more reading about the Davis ISS and also took a walk in the
back along the fence line. There are numerous trees that need cleaning
up in the back. In addition, the pond maintenance crews trimmed
all their trees and threw the cuttings over the fence onto our property.
I threw it back. We continued our tango lessons with Robert.
We practiced the right side fan some more and got some tips then did
a run move to cover ground. It was a great lesson as usual. i came
home for a short while then went out again at 5:25 for my 6 PM music
Clarinet lesson. We spent the lesson on rhythm. Apparently i was missing
metronome beats either starting early or coming in late, especially
towards the end of a line of music. We also tried the bottom scale
which involves all 10 fingers on keys. This clearly needs practice.
i paid for 3 lessons. The lesson for today, next Sat at 9 and then
Wed at 3:30 which is a mistake because we have dance lessons at 3:30.
We picked up broccoli in Kroger on our way home from dance. Dinner
was chicken, broccoli, rice and Curry sauce accompanied by the leftover
Trader Joe Shiraz. The Playbar arrived while i was at my Clarinet
lesson. It was bigger and heavier than I thought. I have to rethink
the mounting since I originally was thinking of hanging it off the
TV mount. I feel this would be too much weight so i'll probably bolt
it to the wood board. I unpacked it after dinner and went through
the setup. I'm very impressed with Sonos and how they thought of everything
in the design including programming it to work with my existing
remote.
~
March 23, 2017 Wine Bar
---------------
Nancy was here in the morning so I didn't get to practice until afternoon.
That wa sit for today since later we had to go to downtown Apex
for CBC at wine and vine. i'm not sure how a wine bar is supposed
to make it here but there seemed to be a lot of young pretty women sitting
at tables in the front of the venue. Melanie did a nice job of
leading group lessons during the evening. I had a glass of wine and a
beer. The wine is pricey at $13 per glass. We split a cheese Panini
for dinner which came with chips. The Panini had goat cheese, american
cheese and Pepperoncini between 2 slices of bread. During the afternoon
I made a trip to Costco and picked up a bottle of wine and bag
of coffee. The prime purpose of the trip was to get a hearing appointment.
I'm signed up for 2:30 on Monday afternoon.
~
March 24, 2017 Friday dance
---------------
The Moteino came this afternoon. It was supposed to come yesterday.
I fired it up and was able to get some transmissions from the Davis ISS
but could not fully pursue it do to dinner and then dance.
For dinner
we had a salad with cucumber, tuna and red pepper. I dressed it
with Creamy Italian. We went to the studio at 8 for the Friday night
party. We did quite a bit of dancing and got to do our Tango routines
a few times. I'm getting the hang of it. After dancing we went
down Tryon Rd to Walnut St where there is a brewery named "Craft".
I ordered an Oak Amber craft beer and we split a chicken Quesadilla.
I liked the Quesadilla but the beer tasted a little weak.
~
March 25, 2017 45th Anniversary
---------------
I gave Lib our traditional anniversary 8x10 photo before going out to
my 9 AM Clarinet lesson with Justin. I'm still having big time issues
with hitting the note exactly on the metronome mark. One of the issues
is the metronome is not loud enough. The Clarinet drowns out the
sound from the smartphone. Justin recommended finding a louder one.
Vicki called at 10, we talked quite a while about her looking for
a new home and also about music. Ryan plays Clarinet and Rob plays guitar.
I fired up the smoker at 11 AM and put the ribs in along with
Hickory chips that I kept refilling for the first 3 hours.
I got the
Moteino correctly receiving iSS transmissions and also reading the
onboard sensors I got the pressure to be correct by correcting for
altitude. Now i need to get it all into a packet for response by the
weather program Cumulus. The original purpose was to create MQTT packets
of the dew point for the crawl space ventilation controller now
I can see this as a feed for Cumulus.
I pulled the ribs at 6:30 then
we had them for dinner along with Broccoli and Rodney Strong Cabernet.
After dinner we drove to Brewsters at 8 PM and had a chocolate Raspberry
truffle in a waffle cone. I found that all of Brewsters ice
cream is made in the store. This is hard to believe.
~
March 26, 2017 Busy
---------------
After the morning programs I worked a little on the Davis reception program,
trying to get the Dew Point calculations working. I next went
outside and raked up the piles of pine straw that Libbie created when
she raked the Mondo Grass and the driveway. I then tackled the electric
fence which is in bad shape. It was probably taken down by an
animal running through. I patched it up and also filled the hole developing
under the charger which was under the big dogwood tree. I need
to find more pole insulators since I'm out. Came back inside and
practiced rhythms on the Clarinet. Later i found a good youtube video
to improve rhythm that i need to try. I may be bringing this on my
tablet somehow. Libbie made her excellent pizza for dinner. After dinner
I worked on listing the newest Library DVD which is the lecture
of Debbie McInnis and Ben Haning. I did this while Traviata played
from the Met's Sunday program, Met on Record.
~
March 27, 2017
---------------
I had a hearing test this morning at Costco. I was impressed with how
complete it was. The bottom line is that my hearing is quite good surprisingly.
I learned a few things as well such as the fact that we
can bypass the ear canal and hear through bone conduction. She placed
a transducer against my skull and I could hear the tones! I also
was treated to an onscreen view of my inner ear. My hearing is above
the normal line. She nicely drew the various levels of hearing impairment
on my chart. After lunch Libbie and I went to Walmart and got
the CU recommended suntan lotion and also picked up paper towels, toilet
paper and soup which was 1.36 per can. this is excellent compared
to 2.19 per can in Kroger. I nicely got a seemingly accurate calculation
of dewpoint by using the floating point temp and humidity instead
of integer. It worked nicely and puts out dewpoints within a few
tenths of the numbers reported by the console to Wunderground. I may
have to get a second moteino or maybe an anarduino. One would feed
Cuulus web software and the second would feed an ESP8266 to create
MQTT packets for crawl space control. Dinner was spaghetti with cheese
sprinkled over the top.
~
March 28, 2017 guides
---------------
This was a slow day. Libbie had some pics she wanted put on the dB, it
took a while for her to get passwords straightened out so I could get
the pics. There's a lot to do before we leave. Because we already
did the groceries at Walmart yesterday I didn't need anything in Kroger
today. I made a trip to Best buy and picked up a bracket set for
the Sonos Play Bar under the TV. I hung it but do not like the way
it hangs crooked. I need to mount the screws higher up on the vertical
bracket which iwll require drilling a hole. I really like the sonos
system other than that. For dinner we had a simple salad with egg,
cucumber and some pepper rings. I put too much pickled pepper in mine.
it had a lot of vinegar taste. Next time I'll know better. Spent
some time researching Panama and printing out a few maps and guides,
specifically for the bus and Metro and the name of the bus from Albrook
Mall to Mira Flores locks. Uber looks inexpensive for a trip
to Casco Viejo. I learned about Smashwords and purchased an armchair
guide which was pretty disappointing. There was some grammatical errors
and the woman is an ugly American - she knows nothing about travel
except from her cruise ship.
~
March 29, 2017 packing
---------------
Worked in the morning and finally got the update loaded for First Class
for Android. What a pain.
We had our Tango lesson with Robert which
was quite fun and very good. I learned a lot about Tango. When
we got back I packed my suitcase for the trip tomorrow. Our flight to
Panama leaves at 6:15 AM, Dinner otnight was a trip to La Cocina.
I was expecting a Mariachi band but it was not to be. Too bad, I had
2 beers and a Quesadilla La Cocina along with too many chips and Salsa.
~
March 30, 2017 Fly to Panama
---------------
Up at 3:45 this morning and left the house at 4:15. Used the Park and
Relax and then over to Terminal 2 where our 6:15 flight was late because
the pilot was late. He had to go back home to get his credentials
for security. We had a Brueggers bagel with cream cheese for breakfast
at the airport. The changeover in Miami was quick but Libbie had
to go back a few gates to our incoming plane to retrieve her Nook
she left behind.
We went through customs, got photographed and fingerprinted
before being met by our ride. He was a pleasant guy who spoke
English. At the Hotel we were greeted by the doorman who took our
bags up to our room and showed us the room. We went out to walk the
neighborhood, found some lunch in a cafeteria type place where we had
fish, rice and plantain. Walked next door to a market and bought
a $2 Sim card and a $5 data plan. What a great deal. Called an Uber
o go to the Mira Flores locks and lucked out. We had an excellent English
speaking guy who told us a lot about the city. He was worth his
weight in gold.
I enjoyed the locks and actually saw a few ships
going through. We watched the movie then could not get an Uber back.
Instead we took a cab for $20 after some negotiation. It took over
an hour to get back to the Bristol.
We decided to have dinner at
the hotel. We each had the Sea Bass with potatoes. Presentation was
over the top. A bottle of Pinot complemented the meal. Cost with tip
was $116. We shared a key lime pie dessert which came with a delicious
meringue topping. Yumm!!!
~
March 31, 2017 Panama City
---------------
We started the day by going to the 5th floor lounge restaurant for breakfast..
Wow, a beautiful buffet of delicious foods. I had the bacon,
sausage, eggs and ham and a pancake. Delicious. For dessert the fruit
was perfection. It's all included with the room, a nice surprise.
We
got an English speaking Uber driver to take us to the Main Square
in Casco Viejo for the historic part of the city.. Met an old (81
years old) Panamanian who wanted to be our tour guide. He kept following
us around.
We did quite a bit of walking admiring the architecture
of Casco
Viejo. We did a walk around the Panamanian Minister
of Culture
building. The sea wall around the building had a Bougainvillea
vine
covering the walk way under which panamanian artisans
were
selling their wares. Libbie stopped at most of them and admired
the
stitch work. On the way back from the end we stopped at a
gentleman
who said all the Mollas were sewn by his mother. The
stitch work
was fine with tiny little stitches and i liked the
non traditional
Pink Hummingbird. After a while we were really
tired and started
looking for a restaurant that was air
conditioned where we could have
a beer. On the way back to
Independancia Square we found an awning
that said Heineken and a
chalk board that advertised beer.
We
had lunch in this little pub a few hundred feet from
Independencia Square.
Balboa Beer was $2 a bottle, we had 4
bottles. The place was
air conditioned and it felt great to sit
down and also do a pit stop.
We ordered a Margerhita Pizza. I
wasn't expecting much and was quite
surprised it was oven hot
with a risen dough crust that clearly
was baked. The pizza was
very tasty. Lunch for 2 with 4 beers including
tip was $25.
i wanted to see the Fish market so we started walking
back that
way. WE encountered an artist selling watercolors
who didn't
speak English. After quite a bit of trying to figure each
other
out we found his painting was only $15 for an original
watercolor.
We bought one and went to the Fish market. I never
was able
to find the place that had the raw fish for sale. i
wanted some pictures
of all the fish varieties. We left there
and made our way to
a bus stop and tried to call Uber. Two
different drivers didn't show
up when they were supposed to. I
canceled the first, the second
never showed. Uber charged us a
$4 cancellation fee. We walked quite
a bit in the heat up to
the Metro line and ordered another Uber.
We got a very pretty
young Panamanian woman named Diayana. She was
great and
patiently took us in her cold little car to our hotel in the
heavy
traffic. It was a great end to the day.
In the evening
I found a nearby restaurant offering traditional
Panamanian folk dance
at 9 PM. We went to the hotel desk and
had them make us a reservation
for 8:30. The restaurant was
Tinajas. I ordered the Corvina
which came with rice and beans.
We had a bottle of Chilean Cabernet
with dinner. We split a
carrot cake. Libbe liked it, I wasn't keen
on it. There was a
$10 cover charge for the show which I didn't mind.
The dancing
to a live band was outstanding and made it a very memorable
and
happy night. After the show the girls came down to get
audience
members. I was chosen and gladly went up with the girl to dance.
I
did or tried to do Salsa. I followed along clapping with her.
It
was a lot of fun. I spoke with a young lady at the next
table
who was talking English. I asked where she was from and
she said
north Carolina. Shockingly asked her where and she
replied Durham.
They were a group of college girl exchange
students based in Costa
Rica. Small world. We walked back on
the dimly lit street with incredibly
poor or nonexistent
sidewalks.
~
April 01, 2017 Panama Canal
---------------
After a very nice hotel breakfast we settled our bill with the
desk for
2 charges - one for the Moijitos last night and one for
dinner the
night before. We checked our bags into Uncruise
hospitality on the
4th floor. We then called an Uber and got a
ride out to Panama Viejo.
Our
driver first took us to an old ghetto area then found we
wanted
to go to Panama Viejo. He then entered Panama Viejo into
his GPS
and took us to the correct place. The ruins are just
that, ruins.
We only bought Park admission and skipped the
museum. We walked around
a while, read some of the signs then
called for another Uber to
take us back. This time I requested
an English Uber and got Juan Diego.
He was an excellent
conversationalist. I ended up tipping him
$5 for the $5 ride.
We got back to the hotel and filled out passport
papers then
waited. Finally the bus was loaded outside the hotel for
the
long ride to Colon. There was an accident on the North Way,
an
overturned Cement Truck. We finally got going and got to our
boat
where we disembarked. At the top of the gang plank our
greeter was
Heather from our Alaska tour. What a surprise. The
bartender was
also from the Alaskan boat, Daniel.
We got boarded by a fantastic
Canal Pilot. Each boat is required to
have a pilot. our guy has
44 years experience and can captain large
cargo ships or Nuclear submarines.
We
had a buffet dinner on the deck with plenty of wine.
I had a
slider with salad and veggies. Later I got a second Bean burger
slider.
Dessert was an ice cream bar where I had chocolate ice
cream
topped with berry sauce and some coconut and fruit. Wow.
The
canal transit was very cool. What fun to see the
locomotives attached
via cable on each side to keep us centered.
I did movies and pictures
through all three locks on the
Atlantic side. I fell asleep
but woke at 2 AM to see the last
of the lock transit. I made it through
the first 2 but fell
asleep for the third. It was 3:30 AM.
~
April 02, 2017 Skiff Tour
---------------
I got up early and after a shower and shave went to the lounge
at 6:30
AM where I had a cold toast sandwich with egg and
sausage, fruit and
a muffin and coffee while I read my book.
Later in the morning after
a safety talk about the skiffs and
other water vessels we went down
to a brunch which was a ham
sandwich wrap with bacon and optionally
eggs, etc. It was a
very nice brunch. After lunch we took our skiff
tour with
Heather as our driver at 2:20 PM. As a bonus our Ornithologist
Karen
came along with us. We saw Frigates, Boobies, pelicans
and
other birds. Karen was helpful in supplying trivia about the
bird
species. Once we got back we heard about tormoorows
activities.
Libbie and i had a couple of rum punches
accompanied by totilla
chips, plantain chips and a delicious
salsa. Libbie had the guac
which was freshly made and
outstanding. For dinner tonight we had
Snapper in a peach
ginger with potatoes and accompanied by a glass of
Cabernet. We
had the chocolate Biscotti in a creme de cafe sauce
which capped
the meal off wonderfully. After dinner we got an excellent
overview
of the national parks of Panama and Costa Rica that we
are
going to visit. The presenter was a Costa Rican woman who did
an
outstanding job selling her country.
~
April 03, 2017 Hot Humid
---------------
We had to have breakfast at 6:15 so we could leave at 6:45 for
our bird
Watching hike. It's a beautiful day in the tropics. our
group went
out with Archie, a guide who seemed to know quite a
bit of the birds.
it was hot and incredibly humid as we hiked
up a fairly steep
hill. I was breathing pretty hard. We saw a
number of tropical birds
but I was having trouble since we had
to look straight up and it
was difficult to do that all the time
so it limited my bird viewing.
I need to lose a significant
amount of weight but it's not going to
happen on this trip since
they feed us so well. Our guide Archie
had some trouble with
his diabetes on the walk. He radioed for help
and another
guide, Ray showed up to take us back and also brought along
Louie,
our ship doctor to tend to Archie. Louie ended up
running
back to camp then came running back with a can of coke
for Archie.
The beach was wonderful and was a typical tropical
beach. We were
in the shade of a large Mango tree on a white
sandy beach. Several
Palm trees with coconuts contributed to an
idyllic tropical scene.
After the hike I sat under the Mango
tree and enjoyed the beautiful
beach as well as the tropical
breeze in the shade. It was literally
heaven. After a while
we had to leave the beach and take the skiff
back to the boat.
We had a nice lunch of a falfala tostada which
was a mixture of
beans into something like a bean burger. This was
my thing. My
shirt was soaked so I washed it in the sink and hung it
in the
shower to dry. I put a green polo shirt on for our afternoon.
We
went to another little tropical island with a white sandy
beach.
This too had some kind of fruit trees for shade and an
assortment
of palm trees as well as volcanic rock outcroppings.
While Libbie
went to snorkling 101 class i hung out on the beach
under the shade
of one of the fruit trees. I stood in the water
a little bit as well
as walked around and enjoyed the sunshine
before we got on one of
the skiffs going back to the Safari
Voyager. My green shirt was now
totally soaked as well as my
shorts so I hung them up as well and
changed shirs once again. I
used my camera to take some sunset pictures
but the point and
shoot does not do the sunset justice. In a funny
moment one of
the young ladies on our boat went to the bow of the
boat in a
short mini skirt. Of course the wind blew her skirt up
over
head exposing her black panties. The dirty old men sitting in
front
of the bridge thanked her for the entertainment. She said
all
men are dirty old men no matter what their age. She has it
all figured
out! In the evening I once again put a different
shirt on, my
third shirt today!!!! I only budgeted one shirt
per day so this is
not going to work very well this week. We had
a rum drink in the afternoon,
Daniel recommended a Queens Park
Hotel rum swizzle, a rum
drink from London. It was mint, rum, punch,
grenandine and some bitters.
The drink was pretty with multi
layers of color adn tasted delicious.
Dinner tonight was
Corvina, a mild white fish that I also had
in Panama City.
Dessert was a flourless chocolate cake with fruit
sauce. We had
a few glasses of Cabernet during dinner. After dinner
we joined
our Ornithologist Karen in the Lounge for an excellent
but very
very long presentation on neotropical birds. She showed many
many
very good slides of tropical birds. It wasn't over until
9:45
PM. Many of us were very tired.
~
April 04, 2017 Golfo Dulce
---------------
We had a regular breakfast today consisting of bacon, potato and
an egg
sunny side up along with coffee and juice. In the morning
we had
to stay at port docked in the bay while customs boarded
and did our
paperwork. When they were done we moved the boat to Golfo
Dulce in
Costa Rica. After a lunch of black bean and avocado on
a Tostada we
boarded the skiffs and went over to Golfo Dulce
where there was a house
with landscaped gardens and fruit trees
as well as walking paths
in the woods. We did a nature walk
with Archie then did a bird walk
with Karen. The owners of this
property allow Uncruise to use it
for nature stuff and also sell
native crafts in their tiki bar. Libbie
bought a Costa Rican
Rainforest mask for $90 but we had to borrow
the money from
somebody on the ship. Later that evening during dinner
on the
ship we found the couple and paid them back. Dinner tonight
was
a Lligosto fish with veggies and cheesecake for dessert.
After
dinner we went to the lounge and we listened to Erica tell us
baout her home country,
the country of Costa Rica. I'm running out
of clothes and ended up buying
an Uncruise shirt for $85.
~
April 05, 2017 Biologic Research Camp
---------------
Up at 5:50 AM and breakfast at 6:15 AM for an early morning bird
walk.
We boarded the skiffs early and landed at a Biological
Research camp.
Our guide was Karen on a small bird walking tour.
We climbed up
the hill and once in a garden type area of the
camp Libbie spotted a
Blue Macaw but we couldn't get the
spotting scope on him. Walking
into the woods we came across
some smaller birds and then a rare mammal
that looked like a pig
that was called a Tapir. When we got further
back into the
woods we came to a waterfall. Above us were spider
monkeys that
were remarkably agile in how they moved from tree to
tree. At
one point they were throwing branches down at us from above.
On
the way out we saw a baby spider monkey who was cute. it
sat
in the tree and played hide and seek with us. We also saw a
Toucan
with a yellow bill. He was beautiful. In the afternoon
I canceled
my beach time and instead sat upstairs in the sun
area and drank
2 martinis, two distinctly different drinks. One
by jesus hardly had
any Vermouth while the one by Danielle ahd
the normal amount of Vermouth
and tasted much better to me.
Dinner tonight was surf and turf.
I had a ribeye steak along
with a nice fish I couldn't remember
the name of. After dinner
Karen gave a talk about the Ossa Bird Center
that she is a
director of.
~
April 06, 2017 Manuel Antonio National Park
---------------
We went to a sandy beach for a wet landing in pretty rough surf
and walked
the Cathedral trail in Manuel Antonio National Park.
We walked
the cathedral trail with Dani which was fun. Although
there were many
steps, the overlooks out to the ocean were
breathless. We saw
quite a few monkeys down on the beach as
well as many nice bikinis.
The crowd was surprisingly crowded.
We walked past the rest room area
and found a sloth that louis
guided us to. We would not have found
it without him. The Sloth
had a baby with it and just hung out in
the tree canopy. The
surf was incredibly rougher on the way back.
We hung out in the
lounge and drank beer. I finished my bike about
making music.
It was a relaxing day. Dinner was Prawn Shrimp with
Chipotle
sauce. We enjoyed our company with George and Susan from
Richmond
and a couple from Arkansas. After dinner we went to the
lounge
and watched Rey give a presentation about monkeys which
was quite
good since Rey is a dynamic kind of guy.
~
April 07, 2017 Bird Walk
---------------
Early morning wakeup then 6:30 breakfast which was a half bagel
wit egg
and cheese as well as a fruit plate. We saw a beautiful
sunrise
before boarding the skiff at 7 AM for our bird walk with
Karen. It
was noticeably cooler and dryer when we headed out
this morning. We
took two skiffs for a wet landing at Curu
National Wildlife refuge
Park camp. The walk down the gravel road was
rewarding. When we first
came ashore a pair of scarlett MacCaws
greeted us then we started
seeing many varieties of colorful and
beautiful birds including a
woodpecker that resembled the
pileated. There were many many varieties
that we spotted. I
thoroughly enjoyed the walk with Karen and really
appreciated
walking with Karen. She is an open book and shares
her
knowledge freely. We ended up at what they called a lagoon but
was
a large pond with an island. Saw a lot of waterbird birds
in
the pond including an egret and a beautiful family of brown
birids
with green necks with their babies. Came across white
face onkeys along
the river on our way back as well as a few
hummingbirds. Back at
the camp we encountered white face
monkeys again, this time everywhere.
At the lodge we bought
some tee shirts which were made in Costa
Rica and also Libbie
bought a grandchild toy, a pair of monkeys.
Lunch was a
delicious black bean chili with rice and green onion rings.
I
had a blonde ale beer by ???? which was quite good. I was
scheduled
to take a skiff tour this afternoon with Archie but
cancelled.
Tim, the Hotel Manager, sold us a coupon for our
next cruise and
also collected our tip money and the $170 we
owed for the two Uncruise
shirts we bought. We have run out of
clothes. In the afternoon
i downloaded the Camera and got caught up
on some of my writings
of this week.
In the evening we had dinner which is the Captains dinner
which
was a tenderloin in wine sauce with potatoes and veggies.
We
ordered a bottle of Macelus Cabernet with dinner. Desert was
a
delicious chocolate torte. After dinner we adjourned to the
lounge
to watch the uncruise creted slide show for the week. It
was
pretty good. We're going to get the pictures on a thumb
drive from
Uncruise tomorrow morning.
~
April 08, 2017 Flying Home
---------------
Took a shower on the boat at 6 AM then packed up the remaining dirty clothes
before going to early morning coffee. Sat with Karen and talked
about lodging on the Ossa peninsula. Had the breakfast at 7:30 while
they moved the boat to the dock. I had bacon, eggs, fruit and a
cinnamon roll with coffee. We sat with Jane and Dan and discussed the
week. They are pretty negative people and of course their expectations
are much higher than ours for a birding expedition. We got our
passports back along with a thumb drive of all the pictures. Boarded
a very comfortable bus and headed on our way to San Jose. We had to
wait 15 minutes down the road because 2 people were on the wrong bus.
this was the couple that had created many other problems during the
week. Rey was our guide on the bus accompanying us back to San Jose
to the intercontinental Hotel. The hotel is beautiful, we retrieved
our suitcases for the airport transfer which we were doing with another
couple, Muffy and Mark from Palm Garden Florida. They were going
through Panama City while we were going through Miami. We had easy sailing
through the San jose airport which seemed very crowded and confusing
but American Airlines help us tremendously and we even got the
equivalent of TSA Pre through Costa Rica security. We had business
class which included a beef lunch which wasn't very good. it was a piece
of chuck steak that was tough but the free wine was OK. We had
a glass of white then a glass of Cabernet on a mostly smooth flight across
the Caribbean. We checked into the Admirals Club in Miami. This
was pretty good. They had free drinks, peanuts and cheese and chili.
We each had a glass of Champagne. Libbie had the cheese which was
a very good Swiss while I had the black bean Chili.
~
April 09, 2017 home
---------------
After a pretty smooth flight from Miami into Raleigh we got our suitcases
nearly the first. They were marked priority. I guess it was something
to do with business class which I really liked. We also were
the first one off the Park and Relax shuttle. It was cold at 45 degrees.
There was a college girl across from us coming from Houston in
little short shorts. She was concerned about a broken nail she had.
We got home around 1:30 AM and brought the suitcases inside then went
to bed. Woke later in the morning around 7 and did the morning thing.
Opened the mail, paid some online bills, etc. Libbie did the wash
from our trip which was many loads since we went through a lot of
changes of clothes. I worked on classifying and backing up pictures.
Dinner was Libbie's wonderful pizza which was so good after not having
it a while. Everything in the hosue seemed to be OK. The big item
was all the leaves were on the trees and many things were in bloom
including the azaleas.
~
April 10, 2017 taxes
---------------
I made a lot of headway on the taxes today using TurboTax. I also downloaded
the state form. We're going to owe around $3,000. I also contacted
Uncruise about our voucher. They updated our booking to include
the frequent traveler third time discount and the $500 each coupon
but didn't include our $1500 deposit we made April 7. I'm sure the
system will catch up. Dinner tonight was spaghetti with cheese.
~
April 11, 2017 telecine research
---------------
I spent almost the entire day researching telecine machines. I ordered
a Raspberry Pi camera with an M12 lens mount and read about the optics
required.
Did the grocery thing since it was Tuesday. Dinner was
a salad with egg and cucumber.
~
April 12, 2017 tango
---------------
I practiced my clarinet today for the first time since we got back from
Central America. Finished the K-1 partnerships. Now I only need to
edit the stock sales and I can send this stuff in. My goal is Friday.
I ordered a lens from Surplus shed today for the telecine although
my next project needs to be the crawl space. We went to dance today
and did Tango flicks. We didn't do too bad recalling what we learned
so far in Tango. Dinner was a pocket pita stuffed with tomato and
egg salad. We had gone to Trader Joes and picked up Pita Pockets, wine
and almonds. Libbie has been going through invoices from the attic
in prep for Apex shred day on April 22. We brought down three huge
tubs of invoices. There's still more up there.
~
April 13, 2017 lighting
---------------
Our garbage can was super heavy today. We filled it with the discarded
invoices from Bluebird and pushed it out to the street for pickup tomorrow
morning. I installed three more LED landscape lights in the
front yard that I picked up in Lowes. Earlier today Libbie and I went
to AgriSupply and bought a new fence charger. This one was a 15 mile
one that pulses like the one under the dogwood for the azaleas. Dinner
tonight was pork chops and sweet potato with some French Bordeaux
that we picked up in Trader Joes yesterday after our dance lesson.
~
April 14, 2017 taxes
---------------
I finished the taxes this morning and wrote a check for the State. The
Federal taxes were set up to auto deduct when I eFiled. They wanted
$25 to eFile the state but I used a stamp and mailed the state tax
returns with the check. We owed $900 to the State and $1500 to the Feds.
I sent more time today watching DIY telecine machines. The Pi
cameras came today. I accidentally ordered one from Arducam without
an M12 mount so I ordered a second with the mount that comes with a 3,7mm
lens. Dinner tonight was a salad with eggs. We went to dance tonight
which was the first time in a long time. Attendance was light
but we had fun. Afterward we went out to Abbey Road grill in Cary. We
sat outside and had a beer. Libbie and I split a Quesadilla. The
Cains as well as Ken and Lana joined us. We got home around 11:30 PM.
~
April 15, 2017 Shriners
---------------
The lenses from Surplus Shed arrived today. I got 2 lenses, a 27mm and
a 30 mm. I got a Pi running with a new image and hooked up the camera
that came yesterday and then played with the lenses. I was not successful
in rendering a closeup image. I had to leave for Shriners before
I could continue. We left for Shriners around 6 and had no problems
with traffic, mainly because it was Saturday. The band was the
troubadours, a band that played mostly Swing music which was disappointing.
The food was a seafood buffet which was pretty good. I had fried
fish, clams, shrimp and shrimp and grits with a hushpuppy. Veggies
were red potatoes and corn. We stayed until a few songs after the
break. It was a fun night. The only people from our studio were Anne
and Paul. Libbie thought the Rumleys and Lana and Ken High were coming
but they didn't come. We heard earlier from Nancy Leaver that
the band was mostly swing music.
~
April 16, 2017 electronics
---------------
Did some AVSA website editing of the events editor now that Jeri is taking
it over. To have multiple editors of a node, edit the node and
select the tab named "Grant" then search for the additional
ID you would like to have as editor then grant edit and view permission
when found.
In the afternoon I hooked up a DHT sensor which I
had on a length of CAT-5 and verified functionality using the Dewpoint
test program labeled DHTtester. It expects a pullup resistor on the
DHT data pin. I have data hooked to Huzzah GPIO 13. This probe will
be the under the house probe.
I played with the telecine some more.
I decided that I needed a better lens so i ordered an 8 mm lens with
M12 mount on ebay for under $9. I also ordered an adapter to go
from M12 to Canon EOS. This will allow me to attach the Canon 100mm
Macro lens i bought on eBay last year. I also have the extender bellows
for Canon along with extension tubes that could be interesting.
Libbie
made her excellent pizza tonight with fresh tomatoes and fresh
basil. She had a problem getting the pizza out or in, the crust folded
under and some of the cheese and tomato sauce ran onto the stone
making a mess. The pizza still was great. After dinner we watched a
BeeGee tribute which was quite good. Various singers and musicians performed
BeeGee songs rearranged for their voice. The issue with performing
a BeeGee song is the falsetto sound that was unique to them so
when others try to perform the music they need a rearrangement of the
melody.
~
April 17, 2017 Sensor
---------------
I finished the MQTT code for the humidity-temp-dewpoint sensor and mounted
it under the house in the crawl space. I didn't hook it up to the
Huzzah inside yet. I played a little with the lens on the Pi camera.
I certainly need better optics to resolve a little 8mm frame. I
spent the rest of the day reading a many many chapter novel on Literotica
which I became absorbed by. It's quite good. Dinner tonight was
egg salad in Pita pockets which was quite good. Libbie's Irises are
coming along quite good. I mowed the backyard around the Irises as
well as the rest of the backyard grass today for the first time this
season.
~
April 18, 2017 Humidity
---------------
After the grocery run to pick up our weekly essentials I mounted the Huzzah
in a box with power supply and hooked it all up to the probe wires
coming from under the house. What a shock, the crawl humidity is
over 90%. We need to seriously do something about this. I created
some gauges in node-red that i could read easily of the crawl temp, humidity
and dewpoint. I used some manual MQTT commands to activate the
fan and found i can lower the humidity to about 80. I let it run all
night long after we went to bed. Eugene Onegin was live from the Met
this evening. We caught it late but still enjoyed the remainder of
it. I fell asleep upstairs while it was still going on. Dinner tonight
was spaghetti with cheese using fresh basil and leftover grocery
store tomatoes. It came out quite good. The 8mm lens came. i screwed
it into the M12 mount on the Arducam Pi camera and had success in
rendering an image that was only 6 mm wide and spanned the entire horizontal
width of the screen. This used the 8mm lens plus the Surplus
Shed lens. The issue now is the camera has to be verv close to the
film gate and there is no apparent room. Possibly i can remove the
old projector lens housing but i need spring pressure against the film
guide which uses the housing to support the spring loaded fingers to
apply pressure on the gate/guide. Ideal would be a lens that could
be located further away. People seem to use old enlarger lenses.
I have an M12 to EOS adapter coming so I will be able to see how the
100mm macro works with the bellows if needed as optics for the Pi camera.
~
April 19, 2017 dance, crawl spaces and MQTT
---------------
I woke up and looked at the crawl space humidity and was surprised it
went up overnight with the fan running all night long. i then found
that the outside humidity had gone up to 83% due to patchy showers in
the area. I turned the fan off and went under the house to measure
the crawl space vents then went to home Depot and bought some foam board.
They have some very nice 1 inch sheets measuring 24x24 for $6 each.
I bought two for the two foundation vents, cut them up but did
not install them. i worked quite a bit on the MQTT Huzzah gateway that
will bridge a Davis ISS Moteino to WiFi and transmit the data using
MQTT. We had a great Tango lesson with Robert learning some flick
and runs. After having a salad with salad shrimp for dinner we went
back to the studio and learned a Foxtrot pattern. In attendance where
Ken High, Jennifer, Laurie, and Dawn. We were mismatched boys to girls
but learned a fancy pattern I think we can use. I called a crawl
space encapsulation company. Deborah on the phone said it would be
$4400 minimum to encapsulate. Jason will be coming over next Tuesday
afternoon to give me a detailed quote.
~
April 20, 2017 busy
---------------
This morning I worked on cleaning up the Davis ISS moteino code, paring
it down so that it only sends Temp, humidity and dewpoint out the serial
port. This was a success. I also blocked serial port transmissions
until good packets were received for bot the temp and humidity.
Next step is to build a little perf board with the Huzzah, moteino
and power terminals. I'll have to program the Huzzah without the moteino
so I don;t blow it up with 5 volts on the Rx/Tx lines. Once the
FTDI is disconnected the ESP Huzzah to the Moteino communication will
be 3 volt only so there is no danger. I'm going to use the Huzzah
onboard regulator to power the moteino which I hope won't be a strain.
It should consume less that 100 ma worst case and typically 40 to
50 ma.
After lunch I filled the gas tank at Costco at 2.19 since we
didn't have any Kroger points built up to get cheaper gas. You need
100 points for each 10 cents per gallon discount. i went to Walmart
and picked up the Progresso soup which was $1 per can cheaper than Kroger
although selection was limited. nancy came over this morning.
I fooled with her Honda CRV. She said the navigation system was yelling
at her. The icon doesn't seem to be there. She said it acted strange
since her oil change. We left at 5:50 for Esquires and got caught
up in a traffic jam on the beltline starting at crossroads. We decided
to get off at Jones Franklin and eek our way along mostly parallel
to the beltline, going to Hillsborough and then getting on Blue
Ridge eventually getting to the beltline at Lake Boone. I'm not sure
if this saved us anything in time but we kept moving. Our normal table
at Esquires was full, Bill and joan were at the table so we sat with
the 2 pilots , Bob and his wife as well as Jocylyn and Greg. We
stayed until after the break, leaving at 9:30. I was really tired and
hardly made it around the dance floor for our last dance.
~
April 21, 2017 Dance
---------------
Libbie worked on the garden and said the spot where she wants to put zinnias
is like concrete. I decided this was a good time to get one
of those small tillers I was thinking of getting last year. I tried
to buy a small roto tiller at Home Depot with a 10% off coupon but the
Honda they show as being in stock was not there. I picked up a 1x6
board to mount the projector and lens for my telecine machine. I also
picked up a 1x3 for the shelf brackets inside the garage closet where
I'm adding more shelves. Today I managed to wire up the moteino
to the huzzah to grab Davis ISIS packets and put them on WiFi as MQTT
packets. i finished the project but did not have any more 5 volt supplies
to test the combination. We went to dance at 8 and had a great
time. Ken and Anita were even there after a many month absence. Anita
had a stroke which kept her away. After the party we all went out
to Spirits in cary. Libbie and I shared a plate of loaded Nachos
which came with chili, sour cream, guac, tomatoes, cheese and other goodies.
We each had a Red Oak Amber to go with the Nachos.
~
April 22, 2017 Busy
---------------
First thing this morning I hooked up a bench supply to the gateway i built
yesterday and set it up running on the table in my office. I didn't
have time to test it since I went to my Clarinet lesson at 9. In
the lesson we covered holding a note for a while without wavering and
starting the note with a fast attack. He also suggested trying the
scales and fingering in the back of the book. He also detected me missing
the metronome count when I cross the break when taking a breath.
I need to do some breathing exercises to fill my chest with air.
Regarding starting a note, he detected me not starting a note abruptly
but instead ramped up to full volume or full steady tone.
After an
excellent lesson I drove over to Home Depot at Cary Crossroads and found
the Honda tiller was not there even though the website said they
had 10 in stock. I finally found a helpful employee who told me the
tiller was recalled and on a pallet to go back because of the recall.
He suggested a Ryobi string trimmer with a tiller attachment. A few
interesting things about the Ryobi. It is a 4 cycle engine head but
there also is a head available that is battery powered. This gives
the best of both worlds.
I went to Northern Tool and found the honda
tiller but it took almost an hour to get it because i had to wait
for a fork lift operator who also had to move a truck to get to the
tiller. I eventually got home at 11 with the new tiller. Fortunately
there was no assembly, just fold the handle straight and put oil in
the engine. The engine surprisingly holds only 2.7 ounces of oil which
Honda supplied in the box. I like the tiller very much. It's easy
on my back. I tilled the spot for the zinnias and then tilled in
some potting soil across the top few inches which we also sprinkled
with fast acting lime.
Libbie then planted the Zinnia seeds. We now
need to addd the Marigolds. After lunch we listened to Eugene onegin
wich we skipped todayy at the HD performance because we wanted to get
stuff done today. I was so tired I fell asleep during part of the
opera. It was a good afternoon. We had the other half of the baby backs
from our anniversary along with salad, asparagus and Trader Joes
Syrah. After we finished our last glass of wine on the back porch we
went over to Brusters and had ice cream cones. It's expensive but
they have good ice cream, freshly home made on fresh baked waffle cones.
~
April 23, 2017 Node-Red switches
---------------
It rained all day today. I spent a lot of time with node-red getting
the switch widget to work. I wanted the switch to reflect the state
of the fan, this if the fan was turned on by the timer i needed the switch
to reflect that. My problem was because I was mixing string and
number values for the 0 and 1s. I spent most of the day on this. Libbie
made her wonderful pizza again, this time from scratch. After
dinner I practiced my Clarinet for a while, trying to hold a C for a
long time then same thing for the B which is lower on the scale.
~
April 24, 2017 rain
---------------
We got 3.41 inches of rain today and it's not done yet! I went down into
the crawl space to see how we were doing and there is running water
along the front wall. This is a setback to my encapsulation efforts
and must be dealt with before any encapsulation. I reversed one of
the foundation fans in the garage so that it blows in but after looking
at the 16 inch wall fan at 1200 CFM and the little vent fans at
330CFM I probably should just leave the vents open and draw air straight
through. I forgot to practice clarinet today. I'll do it twice
tomorrow. Late at night I smelt something burning and traced it to the
Huzzah chip in the control closet. It was too hot to touch! It looks
like I wired the 5 Volts to the output of the 3 volt regulator which
is a disaster for the chip. I'll fix it tomorrow.
Dinner tonight
was Pita pockets stuffed with egg salad.
~
April 25, 2017 crawl
---------------
I completely removed the 2 foundation fans in the grage and then turned
the fans on under the house. The water has gone down but the soil
is very wet. Jason from Crawl Tech came as expected at 3:30 today.
He and his company are very impressive. He looked under the house and
also under the greenhouse crawl space. The greenhouse crawl has standing
water in it. He also said that he can not encapsulate the crawl
space with the current furnace since it gets it's combustion air from
the crawl space. We need a furnace that uses outside air or we need
to supply make up combustion air. He called the injection of outside
air "fan in a can". It looks like it will be $3500 to
waterproof the crawlspace and over $7,000 to encapsulate. He is supposed
to send a written quote tomorrow and can start at the end of May.
In the meantime I found a device called an In-Forcer which is a blower
fan and a box that takes in outside air through a PVC Pipe and shoots
it out a 6 inch duct into the crawl space. I'm going to use conditioned
air as make up air. Today I put together another Huzzah and rewired
the crawl space controller to correctly use 5 volts into the regulator
instead of the miswire on the one that burned up. Crawl space
humidity monitoring is now back in business! Dinner tonight was spaghetti
with cheese sprinkled on and fresh tomato mixed with the bottled
sauce.
~
April 26, 2017 Leaky Pipes
---------------
The crawl space contract came today. It will be $9500 plus the amount
of the outside air feed for the furnace which is around $300. I called
and accepted the contract and told Deborah to put us on the schedule.
Libbie pointed out that the Hot Water heater was not working and
there was water in the pan. The pilot was out which I relit but I found
a pinhole leak spraying water on the unit. We had a Tango and foxtrot
lesson with Robert then we went to home Depot after the lesson
and picked up some CPVC parts for the heater. I spent about an hour
and a half replacing the leaky pipes with CPVC plastic. unfortunately
the threaded connection to the filter is now leaking. i'll take
it apart and use pipe thread compound to put it all back together tomorrow.
We stopped in Kroger on the way back from home Depot and got
a rotisserie chicken which Libbie had with mac n cheese and I had with
baked beans in Sriracha sauce. The beans were hot but not as good
as with Chipotle. Dinner was the chicken and beans then we went back
to the Studio where Ken and Laurie and Libbie and I had a group class
by Robert. It was a continuation of the Foxtrot from last week and
was quite good. I lent Ken my unlocked phone for his Germany trip
in June. On the way back from dance Libbie and I picked up a Brusters
Ice cream cone. I had the usual, Chocolate Raspberry Truffle which
is over the top good. Libbie is scheduled to fly to RI tomorrow morning
so this was our last night out together
~
April 27, 2017 Alone
---------------
Took Libbie to the airport at 6:07 for her 7:45 flight. Returned home
at 6:47 am. Worked out in the front today cleaning up the azaleas by
the street and picking up various sticks and branches. The 10 power
supplies arrived from Merlin Electronics. They are 5 volt wall warts
and should help power projects for a while. I started looking at
the code for displaying multi pages on the NCID display. This should
be good. I did a little Clarinet practice then went to Lowes and picked
up a union and pipe thread paint to fix where the threaded connection
is leaking going into the filter next to the water heater. I
also bought a CPVC Union for $6. It should have one of these in case
I ever need to change out the Filter. Dinner was a mish mash of everything.
I had some Salsa and chips and then made a can of chicken sausage
gumbo which was quite spicy. I liked it. Listened to Rigoletto
live later in the evening and also ordered Southwest tickets for George's
100th birthday on August 12. The party will be at Bill's house.
~
April 28, 2017 In-Forcer
---------------
The In-Forcer air injection arrived today via FedEx. This thing is much
bigger than I thought it would be. I went out to Home Depot in the
evening and picked up a 3 inch elbow and 10 feet of 3 inch pipe as
well as a inch duct extension to attach to the unit. I went under the
house and evaluated where the unit will go. I had to clear some insulation
between two joists. The insulation is all coming down anyway.
Dinner was a Bojangles chicken dinner.
~
April 29, 2017 yard work
---------------
I had a good lesson with Justin at 9 this morning. He explained the various
keys and handed me a sheet of paper with the keys and how they
are derived. I never knew this stuff. After the lesson I stopped at
Brueggers and picked up some Cinnamon Raisin bagels and then Kroger
for cream cheese and Marinara sauce plus a pizza crust for tonight.
I mowed the front grass by the street for the first time this season.
Two Jehovahs stopped to give me pamphlets. Thanks to a low hanging
Dogwood branch I got my arm cut up pretty bad but it was only a surface
wound.
I came back in and rested while listening to Flying Dutchman
live from the Met. When the Opera was over I suited up and went under
the house and moved the electrical box, added a cover and moved
the associated wiring. This freed up the space between 2 joists where
I plan to mount the In-Forcer. Dinner tonight was a pizza with Marinara
Sauce and cheese. I need to add onions and peppers next time.
~
April 30, 2017 Mounted in-Forcer
---------------
I dragged the In-Forcer under the house this afternoon. This thing is
relatively heavy at 20 pounds. I managed to get it mounted on a floor
joist and routed the wires towards the furnace. Now I need to install
an outlet and wire it into the furnace power and also wire the control
leads up to the furnace. This really wore me out. Tomorrow I'll
install the PVC pipe. The pipe is heavy so I don't think it will
be any easier. I picked up some chopped peppers and chopped onions for
my pizza. Dinner tonight was the pizza which was on a store bought
crust, spicy marinara, shredded cheese and the chopped onions and peppers.
While working on the membership promo back and forth with Joyce
she announced this would have ot be postponed because Kent just had
a heart attack.
~
May 01, 2017 Kent Death
---------------
Libbie got a message from Joyce this morning that Kent was in surgery
for 4 1/2 hours and she has not heard from the Doctors but she was feeling
positive. I read about an hour later on Facebook from Joyce that
Kent had died. So sad and he was only 66 turning 67 tomorrow. I found
a florist near Joyce and ordered a bouquet to be delivered today.
I crawled under the house and moved a cart full of bricks from the
crawl space. I had to repair the cart after the load. The handles became
loose and one screw fell out. The screw had nothing to do with
the load but the handles did. I got the PVC pipe mounted easily. I
used the $34 hole saw to make a 3 1/2 inch hole then cut the pipe to
fit. The jab went well. I went to Lowes earlier and picked up some
screws and perforated hanger which I installed to support the horizontal
pipe run. For dinner I was going to make a Cooking Light Taco Salad
but decided instead to visit Chipotle where i ordered a Burrito Bowl
with Carnitas. I spent the rest of the evening watching YouTube
videos of New Orleans Jazz including a nice one from Lincoln Center
about how to make connected notes on a Clarinet to get the New Orleans
Jazz clarinet sound.
~
May 02, 2017 Gardening
---------------
I did an experiment this morning. I had an order of XLT button down shirts,
4 of them, froom King Size Co. but they were too big. I need
an LT instead. I took a shirt, ran it on express wash with no soap but
very hot water and then dried it. it shrunk to a better size for
me. I left at 10:30 this morning for the airport and picked Libbie up.
After dropping off her suitcases and stuff we headed out to the Farmers
market. I got bedding plants - peppers, cukes, squash and eggplant.
We also bought 2 Oleanders, Rosemary, Lavendar, Marigolds and
Begonias. Libbie planted the flowers while I tilled the other side
of the fence and planted the Oleander as well as 40 Gladiolas bulbs which
i have never grown before. In the PM I went to Kroger and got the
ingredients for a Taco Salad which we had for lunch along with a bottle
of wine. It was a fulfilling and tiring day. I still need to get
into the Crawl space and wire up the power to the In-Forcer but i'll
postpone that for a few days.
~
May 03, 2017 Dancing
---------------
After practicing my Clarinet I called Arlene for her birthday. She was
going to try a hike today in a county park to stress herself walking
up hills. She said they were going West in the Fall to visit 4 national
parks.
I prepared the grow boxes in the morning and planted all
the bedding plants except for the tomatoes. i'll do them tomorrow
although I did prepare the beds today. We went to our Dance lesson
and concentrated some more on the Tango. hopefully we can practice Friday
night on a Tango or two. We had Taco Salad again for dinner.
This is a nice Cooking Light recipe. After dinner we went to the group
lesson which tonight was a Rumba pattern. Including Robert we were
equally split boy-girl with Ken, Robert and I being the guys and jennifer,
Laurie and Libbie the girls.
~
May 04, 2017 Rumba
---------------
I started getting the FC4A app running on my desktop. I had some trouble
with the keys and had to upgrade the bridge app on the phone. I
ended up deleting the app totally and reinstalling including downloading
the 75 megs of photos. Once this was done I'm ready to start importing
the user files. I had lots of trouble just uploading the photo
zip file. It's only 20 megs but is not a quick upload. For dinner
tonight we had the Taco Salad once again. After dinner I stopped work
and entertained myself with YouTube videos of some jazz bands in New
Orleans specializing in Clarinet.
~
May 05, 2017 debug
---------------
It rained overnight. My lens came from Virginia and the 4 Huzzah boards
I ordered also came. I got bad news from my NewEgg tracking. The
disk drive is going to Sarasota, something I did by mistake. Oh dear.
USPS is supposed to forward my mail, I'm wondering if it will be sent
to Downing Place. I continued to work on the user database import.
i think Android is killing the app when it gets imported because it's
a long background task. Libbie walked with Anita this morning after
the rain showers died down. We got over an inch of rain and all the
Growboxes seemed to have held up OK.
The new used lens arrived
along with the 4 Huzzahs I ordered. The lens is great. It's not an
L lens but it has a wider angle at the low end and only goes to 55 which
is a normal range at the higher end. It will be more than adequate
for AVSA photography. The old 24 to 70 lens which is an L will no
longer auto focus. It needs to go back to Canon for repair. We practiced
the Rumba routine a little in the kitchen and then made the sausage
French bread pizza for the Cinco di Mayo party. We picked up a 6
pack of craft beer in Kroger. They allow you to pick your own individual
bottles to make up the 6 pack. The party was small and Mitzi's
influence was definitely missing but we had a nice time. There were
not that many snacks besides our French Bread Pizza. We came back around
10.
~
May 06, 2017 NC Symphony
---------------
I fixed a number of issues with the FC4A data import but could not fix
the slow file upload. We left at 2 for Pirates of Penzance with the
NC symphony. We had great row K center of the hall seats. The performance
was delightful and a fun way to spend a Spring afternoon. It
was fun to watch the Clarinet do his part during the overture. We couldn't
see much of the Orchestra during the performance since they were
behind the performers. After the performance we went straight to
Costco for Rodney Strong Wine and Blueberries then stopped at Kroger
for our freebie which was a Yoplait Yogurt dippers and a bag of Tostada
chips. We also picked up hamburgers and buns for dinner. Dinner
was hamburger on a bun with Farmers Market tomato and baked beans accompanied
by a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon. Dessert was a chocolate
raspberry dipper which is little cookies for dipping into yogurt. It
was OK but I wouldn't buy again.
~
May 07, 2017 FTP
---------------
I'm still trying to figure out how to FTP a file up to the Android device.
I spent the day experimenting and reading. I also tried to access
the device using the USB cable but can not access the storage shown
by the USB connection although I tried a number of programs in B4A
that accessed various memories on the device - internal, external, etc.
Libbie made her pizza for dinner today since it's Sunday. I paid
a lot of the bills including the Stoneybrook membership dues which
are $2202, dollars per 6 months now. Not great. I would like to get
out of this somehow. I went to Walmart this afternoon and bought 4 bags
of the 1.80 bark. There was no one working the garden dept so i
had ot wait a while to check out. A few other people were waiting as
well. I'll wait until tomorrow to spread it since I'm too tired today.
~
May 08, 2017 MR Wonderful
---------------
I played some more with FTP. I ended up having to upgrade both the laptop
and the Desktop with Android software. I needed the latest version
to run one of the sample programs that accessed memory. I think
I'm getting close to a solution with a simple FTP server running on the
PC. I spread the bark around the Irises, Gladiolas and the new Oleander
planting then went to Walmart with Libbie and picked up 4 more
bags. She also bought some tomato cages for her plants. In the evening
we left at 6 PM for the Roadhouse in Pittsboro. We were there for
Mr Wonderful and sat with Bill and Joan. It was Joan's first dancing
after a back injury this past December. We split a Salmon BLT with
sweet potato fries. I had an Iron City craft beer which I thought was
pretty weak. We also took the free group swing lesson from a guy
who teaches out of his house. We covered basics but did learn a few
things about hand holds and turns. We left a few songs after the break.
~
May 09, 2017
---------------
I worked on the B4J FTP client. This thing will allow a user to upload
a user db to the Android device. It was a rainy and cold indoor day
today. I tried practicing the Clarinet but it was too cold and my
fingers kept cramping up.
Dinner tonight was a hamburger, leftover
baked beans and a bottle of Craft beer. I had a Troegenator Bock from
Hershey, PA. It was pretty good. We listened to Rosenkavalier live
tonight, the last broadcast of this season. I went to bed listening
to the end of Rosenkavalier. This is a nice but pretty long opera.
~
May 10, 2017 Kodi
---------------
Today is a free day. No dance lesson or anything else. i spent some
of it researching Kodi boxes. I want to have access to our media on
the TV set. this would include music, Movies, Family movies and pictures.
I watched quite a few video reviews highlighting performance
and features. Since they all seem to have USB ports, an external hard
drive will be in order. Dinner tonight was spaghetti with tomato
sauce and cheese.
~
May 11, 2017 Cha Cha
---------------
I worked on the AVSA website vintage listing trying to add another database.
The thing got really screwed up, I couldn't get the right fields
to come out in the view. I later found that I needed a newer version
of Webforms but to do this I had to make some PHP changes to accommodate
our current users of webforms. In reading some more I finally
discovered that the secret to success is to use Entityforms and include
the title in the filter for the view. We had a good dance lesson
with Robert and learned quite a bit of Cha Cha that didn't know plus
we straightened up some stuff that we knew but were getting wrong.
Dinner tonight was going to be Taco salad but we were both tired so
decided to order Chinese takeout which is the 3 meat special we always
get. We had this with a bottle of wine.
~
May 12, 2017 Crawl Space Wiring
---------------
This morning after Clarinet practice i went under the house and started
the wiring project. I drilled up into the technology closet and then
went into the closet and found the wire by cutting a hole in the sheetrock.
I installed a quad outlet and wired it up. Then after lunch
I went under the house again and ran the 12/2 over it's length and
also wired up the outlet under the house for the In-Forcer. I did not
finish tying this into the Family Room circuit. I'll do that tomorrow.
For dinner we had the Taco salad again. Libbie bought a Bell
pepper for the salad. We went to dance later tonight instead of at 8
PM because we were both tired. Libbie painted hallway trim all day
while I was under the house. We went out with the entire gang to BJs
brewery. It was crowded because this is graduation weekend. We had
a flatbread California which was cheese bacon and cheese on flatbread.
I had a BJs Amber Oasis.
~
May 13, 2017 Wiring
---------------
I had a good Clarinet lesson with Justin today. I need to practice the
scales beginning at G which is all 6 holes covered with both hands.
Need to work both up and down the scale. When I came home I got into
work clothes and went under the house i finished wiring the junction
box by the fireplace and the one above the crawl space door. This
complete the AC wiring. Now I need to tie the In-Forcer box into the
furnace as soon as I get a diagram of my furnace controller card.
We
have the Mardi Gras party tonight so i go t motivated to continue my
mardi Gras blog. i added a trip to the French Market. This is slow
going and I have so much more to cover.
The party at the Pub was a
lot of fun. We left at 7:12 for the 7:30 party. Blaise, Darryl and
Cathy all played their instruments and marched through the pub playing
our Second Line songs. What fun. We each ordered a Jambalaya and
split a poh boy shrimp sandwich. The food was yummy delicious. Sharon
made bread pudding which she served to everyone. I started with a
bottled Yuengling but it wasn't great bu I had a Red Oak amber for my
second drink and it was much better.
~
May 14, 2017 In-Forcer
---------------
After the Sunday programs I tried doing scales on the Clarinet before
practicing a little bit of the songs. Next I went under the house and
finished wiring the In-Forcer device. I cut into the furnace control
cable and wired it in series with the gas valve. Now when power goes
to the gas valve, it turns on a relay in the inforcer which starts
the blower. The air flow trips a microswitch which in turn completes
the power flow to the gas valve. I tested it in the house and all
works well. the in-Forcer blower is surprisingly quiet. We had fun
this morning using Google hangouts to communicate with Paige and see
Emily as well as Christa and Joe. I could tell Libbie really liked doing
this.
Libbie made her pizza from scratch for dinner.
I worked
the rest of the day on the Mardi Gras blog. I started this a few months
ago when we returned from Mardi Gras but I needed to follow though.
~
May 15, 2017 Roadhouse
---------------
Now that the In-Forcer project is complete, I didn't have to go into the
crawl space today. I pumped up the wheelbarrow to 30 psi as denoted
on the tire and used it to move the broken blocks i had thrown outside
the door. I dumped them into the power line ditch down by the creek.
I practiced several times today on the Clarinet. I want to be
able to play the scales perfectly by Saturday. I worked quite a bit
more on the Mardi Gras blog and almost finished it. It was fun reliving
our New Orleans trip. Unfortunately I am behind in completing our
Rushmore trip and then adding the Alaska and Costa Rica trips to the
mix. We left at 6 for the Roadhouse. The Triangle Jazz Orchestra
were playing. This is an 18 piece orchestra of 5 saxophones plus lots
of brass and one vocalist. We had fun dancing swing, foxtrot and
rumba. Bruce was there again and gave a free swing lesson. For dinner
we split a flatbread salmon sandwich. i had a Carrboro brewery Amber
which was good and a little stronger than a Yuengling. I liked
it. We left after 2 songs after the break.
~
May 16, 2017 Telecine
---------------
I continued my quest to play perfect scales and think I am getting there.
I finished up the New Orleans blog and started the completion work
for the Rushmore blog. Rushmore was begun 2 years ago but sat there
unfinished until now. I also started taking a serious look at the
Telecine project. I need to set up a work space in the back area of
my shop to disassemble the projector and file off the shutter gates.
For dinner we had the Cooking Light Taco salad with a glass of Shiraz
wine. I called Newegg customer service and reported the undelivered
disk drive that was showing delivery May 11 at 2:09 PM but was not
there on my doorstep.
~
May 17, 2017
---------------
Clarinet is coming along good!!! I can do scales rapidly but not always
perfectly, however my playing is significantly better. I installed
a new version of FC4i on the desktop for the FC4i program. After a
password issue with the remote builder I am able to compile and debug
FC4i. I put a new subscription in the Apple store. My old one says
withdrawn by developer. Now I need to test the program with the subscription.
I wasn't keen on going to the dance lesson this afternoon
but during the lesson I came around. It was a good Cha Cha lesson,
we learned a few new patterns which was excellent. Robert suggested
we participate in the Showcase now rescheduled Aug 5. I would like
to do a Tango. Lib has all kinds of excuses of not doing it.
I finished
the Mt Rushmore blog. Now I need to add Panama/Costa Rica. Dinner
tonight was chicken thighs in Curry Sauce with Basmati Rice and Green
Beans. This is Yummy!!! We finished a glass of Shiraz on the back
porch then got into the car and drove to Brusters for a Vanilla Black
Raspberry Waffle cone. A little league baseball team was there
and fortunately they had already been taken of, all eating their ice
cream outside in the parking lot.
~
May 18, 2017 Cleanup
---------------
After Clarinet practice I joined Libbie under the greenhouse cleaning
out junk. We filled garbage bag full of plastic pots and also hauled
out fencing, pond pumps and parts as well as pipes and rods. We filled
the Corolla with all this stuff along with the crawl space screen
door and 2 folding doors from the garage and took it to the dumpster.
It was almost disaster. The bungy cord slipped and hit Libbie in the
chin. It could have been worse. The rest of the misc stuff I gathered
and took to the street in the rolling garbage can. Dinner was
spaghetti with homemade spaghetti sauce consisting of fresh basil, tomato
chunks, marinara sauce and tomato basil sauce.
~
May 19, 2017 dance
---------------
A lot of the day was spent just watching Youtube tutorials. In the afternoon
the mail came with the Android box i ordered. We had a light
supper of tuna sandwiches before we left for dance at 8 PM. I didn't
want to go but instead stay home and play with the Android box.
After dance we went to the new Ruckhouse Pizza next to Costco. We each
had a slice of pizza with a beer.
~
May 20, 2017 dance
---------------
I had a Clarinet lesson with Justin that was good. He was 15 minutes late
because of a new puppy and said he would not charge for this lesson.
I learned 2 new keys this morning. The register key which exposes
the higher register and then the B flat key which is almost impossible
to get with my pinky.
In the early part of the morning I tried various
versions of Alexa control programs. The multi channel ones off
the Internet seem to crash. I'm hoping to get my own version of multi
channels put together that is more stable.
I went to Walmart looking
for a new cover for my iPad but no luck. i bought one that was for
an iPad Air. It was about an inch too narrow when I tried it in the
car. I took it back into the store and returned it.
The Kodi box came
this afternoon. I hooked it up on my HDMI monitor and started going
through the Android TV screens. This thing is more complicated than
I imagined and may not be a good choice as a media box for pictures
and videos. I will have to see how this works out. I had to stop playing
and quickly get dressed for Century Club. We were running late which
was made worse when enroute Libbie asked if I remembered the wine.
I gave her my smartphone and asked her to find a grocery store near
the shriners facility that we were going to. She found there was a
Kroger only one mile inside the 540 beltline on Creedmoor. We went to
the store and bought a bottle of Rodney Strong for 16.99 which wasn't
too bad but worse than the price we pay at Costco. We really enjoyed
the evening. The band was the two Dons which really is 3 piece which
now includes a percussionist. Their music is quite excellent. They
have a good mix of swing, cha cha, foxtrot and waltz and even had a Tango.
The dance floor is very roomy so we were able to do quite a bit
of dancing of various types of dance. At our table were Art and Nancy
who are now members, Janet and Gary and Jim and jane. We stayed until
quarter after 10, one of the last couples on the floor along with
Nancy and Art.
~
May 21, 2017 movie
---------------
I spent an inordinate amount of time trying to learn the Android TV box
especially all the plugins for Kodi. Apple still hasn't approved my
first class subscription update product. I put the subscription into
the store with a new product ID. I matched up the ID in the program
to the subscription ID which means I will also have to update the
software. Libbie made her pizza for dinner again and it was yummy
as usual. Using Kodi I downloaded the 2016 movie I.T. which starred
Pearce Brosnan as the rich owner of a jet aircraft leasing company.
A disgruntled hacker hacks his home automation system, company, emails
etc. It was pretty good if you like geeky stuff, otherwise it would
be forgettable. It's amazing that i can watch a streamed movie like
this.
~
May 22, 2017 Roadhouse
---------------
It was another day of playing with the Android TV box. It's too complicated
to pick up and just watch TV. I wish it were a lot simpler.
I'm looking at how to get home videos into this thing. i would like
a category for Home Movies which is what it seems to be missing. We
left for the Pittsboro Roadhouse at 6. We had flatbread salmon sandwiches
with sweet potato fries and a bottle of beer. I enjoyed the Triangle
Youth Jazz Orchestra. They were an incredibly talented group of
high school kids and also had 2 high school girls that had unbelievable
voices. Libbie commented on the short shorts that one of the girls,
Emma, had on. Emma was one of the vocalists with an incredible
voice. I told her I saw them a lot shorter on some High School girls.
We danced a few foxtrots and swings to the jazz pieces that were danceable.
We sat tonight with Joan and Bill. They left early but we
stayed until the last number which was a swing which we also danced.
~
May 23, 2017 rain
---------------
It's a rainy day. i went out for groceries then left the car in the
driveway in the rain to get it rinsed off. Later I went out with a sponge
and an umbrella and sponged down the car. Dinner tonight was Taco
salad with the lettuce and beef I bought at the store today.
~
May 24, 2017 more rain
---------------
It's still raining today although the two day total is under 1 inch so
far. I uploaded the new version of First Class for IOS to Apple but
I still need to do something because it's not showing as ready for review.
I need to figure out what else to do. We watched a movie, Zootopia,
on the Android device tonight. It was not as smooth as when we
watched Hidden Figures on this box last night. Dinner was Taco salad
again using the rest of the beef from yesterday.
~
May 25, 2017
---------------
I got all the movies organized and was impressed by the speed of the Android
TV box when it plays a movie. My organization of the movies needs
improvement. Right now they are all coming up displayed in a disorganized
mess. Dinner tonight was spaghetti with tomato sauce and
cheese.
~
May 26, 2017 dance
---------------
It's a nice day. Libbie went out walking while I read some more about
Android TV. I need to organize my home movies as TV shows so they will
show up as series in the listing. Right now it's a disorganized
mess. I picked up Roach gel and glue traps for the Violets downstairs.
The pollen is being eaten on the plants so I'm going to try this
stuff. After a dinner of hamburgers and baked beans we went out to the
studio for the party. Our dancing was terrible tonight, I couldn't
do anything right. After dance we went out to Abbey Road on 1010.
This is a new location for them and was quite nice. We sat outside and
had beer and a Quesadilla.
~
May 27, 2017 cable modem
---------------
Good lesson this morning with Justin covering eighth notes. I have a
lot to do in learning rhythms. I did the First Class update successfully
and also submitted the revise app to the Apple store. Since both
of these jobs were done I worked on the Mary Ellen Condon DVD and made
4 copies plus did an upload to the MS OneDrive site for sharing.
We decided on an all American Memorial day meal so bought a Sirloin Steak,
Ravenswood Zinfandel, green beans and baked potatoes with Sour
Cream. It was all yummy. After dinner I unplugged the modem and the
output went bad. I can't believe it was this simple to destroy it.
This jeopordizes our trip tomorrow.
~
May 28, 2017 internet
---------------
We decided not to drive to FL today. I waited for Best Buy to open at
11 this morning and swapped my cable modem for a new one. It was still
covered by the extended warranty. This is the 4th modem since I
purchased the first one 18 months ago. I hooked up the multimedia PC
on the ethernet output of the modem and authenticated the device. This
went smoothly but I had a little trouble getting the router hooked
up. I noticed it still had the old mac address in the status screen.
I killed the power to both the router and the modem for about 5 minutes.
I then powered both up and WiFi internet came alive!!!! This
whole thing was so frustrating but I'll be prepared next time. I ordered
an ethernet cable adapter for my laptop and I will order a second
cable modem when we return. Lunch today was the traditional Nathans
Hot Dogs for Memorial weekend. Dinner was Libbie's outstanding pizza.
~
May 29, 2017 broken AC - Memorial Day
---------------
I'm very glad we did not go last Saturday. I got aa number of things
cleaned up but unfortunately I could not remember the password for Veracrypt
where I stored a few files I need. Bad news. We had the last
of the Nathans Hot Dogs for lunch then in order to continue the Memorial
Day Grilling tradition we had hamburgers for dinner. We have
a mouse so I put some almonds in glue traps around the back foyer. Libbie
reported that the upstairs AC was sounding bad. I went outside
and found that the fan was not running. i took the cover off the unit
but did not get very far. I'm afraid it's the starting capacitor.
I'll deal with it when we get back which unfortunately is when the crawl
space construction work begins. I packed the rest of my stuff and
am now ready to travel in the morning.
~
May 30, 2017 Drive to Orlando
---------------
We got going today at 7 AM and had an easy drive to AVSA Orlando. We had
a McDonalds biscuit and gas stop at Florence then stopped again at
Lake Mary for a Wendy's Single and tank of gas. The drive was easy,
this was our first time on the new 6 lane I-4 which was nice but we
hit a thunderstorm for about 10 minutes. We got to the Wyndham around
4:30 PM which was great timing.
We met up with Anne and Richard and
were shocked at how deteriorated Anne was mentally. She has very limited
mental abilities. What a shocker. She announced she is giving
up the Library and Penny would be the new chair.
We went to diner at
the FishBones grill which is a private independent Grill and was a
fantastic restaurant. it's a little pricey but so worth it. i had a
Tuna steak and also shared a Shrimp cocktail with Libbie. Wow was the
shrimp great, the salad was out of this world and I loved the fully
loaded baked potato that came with the fish. This was expensive, $126
but was outstanding.
~
May 31, 2017 Orlando
---------------
Breakfast with Anne and Richard today in the hotel restaurant. The buffet
for two with tip was $40. Ouch for breakfast but not bad for what
we had. Coffee, eggs, bacon, French toast and juice.
We took a drive
to Disney Springs and spent the morning walking around the lake.
i don't know how many miles it was but I would guess it was around 3
miles.
When we got back it was almost 1 PM so we went to BJs brewery
for lunch. We had a BJs Amber along with a shared California Flatbread
which had chicken bacon, avocado on flat bread. Yummy.
We had
an uneventful Internet meeting. The todo items for me include making
the newsletter archive secure, adding the userid/password system from
the office, adding a google custom search to the photo gallery.
For
dinner we drove 2 miles to Cuba Libre, a pretty pricey Cuban restaurant.
I had the Visit to Havana with a Mojito. The Visit to Havana was
a Cuban with salad and black bean soup for $20. It was good. We had
to pay $4 for the Parking garage,
When we got back we went to the
Opening Night slide show by Nancy Hayes which was boring and did not
stay for the growers forum.
~
June 01, 2017 june
---------------
I ordered the laptop disk drive again for my computer from NewEgg. This
time I had it sent to Downing Place instead of Sarasota. It's a beautiful
day outside, I want to walk somewhere again but walking opportunities
are limited. We had breakfast at McDonalds across the street.
The food was food, the coffee tasted like hot water.
I had a nice
meeting with Amy and David Kiesler about passwords and the AVSA website.
It was productive, we decided that login will be the AVSA number
only.
At around 2 we went into the Showroom and did our photography
of the show. I worked with a new photographer from Las Vegas, David
and it was a nice time.
Of course I was incredibly tired. We had
a beer and California Flatbread at BJs brewery for lunch. The evening
was the banquet, we sat with Sue and Jeri Anderson, Leonard Rei, 2
ladies from Michigan and a lady from jacksonville. Kurt was the best
in show winner.
After dinner i went to the Wyndham info desk where
they sell Disney tickets. The guy tried to sell us discount tickets
that came with a Wyndham vacation club tour. He was pushy and kept lowering
the price. His Disney tickets were not the correct price either.
We decided to pass and chose to buy our tickets at the ticket booth
in Disney world.
~
June 02, 2017 Epcot
---------------
After a McDonalds breakfast we had an easy drive to Epcot where we paid
the $20 parking fee and parked in Amaze row 32 which wasn't too far
from the entrance. i bought the single day ticket to one park which
was $253 with tax. After entering the park we walked right into the
Epcot ball which was a very nice ride that showcased the development
of man through the ages up to technology and computers. Of course it
wa nicely done. We found a kiosk and put in for 3 Fast Passes. We wandered
over to the Land and used the first Fast Pass and took the boat
ride through the greenhouse. We stopped by the Soarin' desk and bought
2 tickets to the Behind the Seeds tour which began at 10:30, great
timing since it was 10:20. Our host, Whitney, was a Disney intern
and college horticulture student. We started in a room with Integrated
Pest Management. Next stop was the tissue culture lab where we could
peer into a window. After that we entered the greenhouse and studied
many of the vegetable varieties being grown hydroponically. After
the Seeds tour it was time for another Fast Pass into the Pixar experience
for a mini 3D film festival. This was incredible. We saw
Mickey jump out of the screen and onto a stage and then all kinds of
antics. This was highly entertaining. We chose to have lunch at the
Seasons restaurant in the Land pavilion. We split a turkey and cheese
club sandwich with a bottle of water and Dorito chips. This was $19.
Our next step was to cross into the World Showcase where we went
to the O Canada 360 movie narrated by Martin Short. This has been updated
since last time we saw it. It started getting windy while we enjoyed
an English tea garden then listened to a performance of drummers
at the Japanese pavilion. I was a little disappointed in the Japanese
Garden. I thought they were better the last time I saw them. We
picked up 2 craft beers, a light and a dark, and sat and listened to
the American Music Machine, a group of 7 talented young singers reviewing
American pop songs through the years. Since we were in front
of the American pavilion we went inside and listened to an acapella group
singing American folk songs in full 1700 costumes. We then attended
the American experience movie which was about American history
narrated through time with Mark Twain. When we walked outside it was
pouring buckets. We made our way to an umbrella and stood there gathering
a plan. A wine shop a short distance away was selling ponchos
for $10 each, we bought 2. We plodded along through running water on
the walks and made our way to the Mexico Pavilion. Surprisingly there
was no line so we got on one of the boats and rode through what essentially
is a Mexican version of Small World. In the rain we continued
to the Mars Mission. What fun. We were teamed with two teenage
girls who did it before. I was the pilot and had to deploy the shields
and do a few other things. The "cockpit view" was amazing
of our journey through meteorites, other satellites and the Mars
landing. what fun. Meantime the seat vibrates and pitches and yaws.
Next stop was the World of Energy which didn't even look open but
it was. There was no one inside. We took the ride through time with
Ellen and Bill Nye the Science guy. What fun, it was a little campy
and had a smattering of history and science. When we exited we had
a call from Mary telling us that Bill had a stroke during surgery. We
made it back to our car in some light rain but fortunately the car was
in row 32 which is relatively close. I-4 going back was an easy ride
and we made it back to the hotel in 15 minutes. We immediately went
across the street to Fishbones again. We were seated at a table near
Linda Hall and Albert and chatted with them a while. We ordered
a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignnon and also had a table side prepared dish
of Shrimp Cocktail. Wow, good stuff. For dinner I had the Flounder
which was huge and was flash glazed with a sweet sauce, I don't remember
the name. We walked back across the street where it started raining
again. It was a nice night.
~
June 03, 2017 Banquet
---------------
This morning we had the usual breakfast at McDonalds then went to breakfast
across the street. I had a nice chat with Dave Kiesler and Amy
about passwords and decided we don't really need a USer ID. The password
is good enough and we should make it the AVSA number. People will
have that on their magazine label and it won't change. Amy can dump
the member list every Thursday afternoon. Candace has volunteered
to update the website with the passwords. We then went to the Kurt
Jablonski presentation which was excellent. Kurt is a good presenter.
We had lunch at Popeyes. I wanted a Shrimp Po and had one with a cup
of water. It was great. After that we went to the membership meeting.
The banquet stuff started early. We went over shortly after 5
for fruit plates and wine. We sat at table 2 with Janet Reimer, Michael
Jackson, two ladies - TN and FL, and the 4 Russians. Janet is going
to send me the list she made of all the BIS back to 1946. We said
hi to the Nicholas family- Laura, Brian and the two girls as well
as Anne's sister and husband who were all there for the installation
of Richard as President.
~
June 04, 2017 Drive
---------------
We got up early and left the hotel by 7 AM. We went next door to the
WaWa and got a tank of gas. Next stop was across the street to the McDonald's
drive through for coffee and a Bacon Egg and Cheese biscuit.
The drive up I-95 was uneventful. We had a bathroom break at the
GA visitor's center then got gas up in SC around exit 50 where we filled
up at a Marathon and had snack wraps inside at a McDonalds. Our
next stop was to top off the tank in Florence at the Pilot at exit 170.
Wow was it jam packed. There was no parking space free so i had
to leave my car at the pump. We got home around 4:30 PM in time for
the rain to start. Lucky!!! Libbie had time to thaw a pizza crust
for dinner while i went out to Kroger to pick up milk for our cereal
tomorrow. After our dinner of Pizza and a Dos Equus I went upstairs
to lay down and instantly fell asleep. I slept and slept and did not
wake up until morning.
~
June 05, 2017 foundation
---------------
Cesar arrived at our door at 7:15 AM ready to begin the crawl space work.
It was great that they are prompt and ready to begin working. They
started by moving their giant tool trailer into place. The guys
donned hazmat suits and masks and began pulling insulation down and bagging
it into plastic garbage bags. These guys came ready to work.
They next began washing mold off the joists. They worked like this all
day until 4. In the late morning i disassembled the outside compressor
unit for the upstairs air. I pulled the fan motor starting cap
and went to RE Michel on Tryon Rd. They were out of stock but ordered
it for me. It will be here tomorrow morning. I did some website updating
during the afternoon then picked up some groceries at Kroger.
For dinner we made a cooking light recipe of Pork Torta sandwiches.
They were yummy and consisted of pork cutlets on a baguette with crushed
beans and salasa, jack cheese and avocado with slices of tomato.
~
June 06, 2017 Foundation day 2
---------------
The work began today promptly at 7. They started shoveling gravel into
the wheel barrows and putting down pipes into the trenches dug along
the foundation walls. Libbie is pretty sad this morning. She got
a text from Mary that Bill is a lot worse than they originally thought.
We don't know what any of that means yet but she is pretty down.
The gravel trailer is blocking the driveway so we're not going anywhere
this morning. I got the account statement for NC Quick Pass. Libbie
took Anne on a wild goose chase to the orlando airport last week
and had to use the toll road which cost $1.09 twice. This is a discount
over the $1.25 charge.
I went out to RE Michel and picked up the
Fan capacitor for the outdoor AC upstairs unit. After I installed
it I fired the system up and it happily worked . We don't need it though
since the outdoor temp is in the 70s.
It's been a down and sad day,
neither of us wanted to fix dinner so we went over to Ruckus Pizza
near Costco for dinner around 7 PM. The place was surprisingly crowded.
Libbie left her cell phone at home intentionally since she didn't
want any bad news while we were having dinner. I had the chicken
Parmesan with whole wheat penne, Marinara sauce and a Red Oak beer.
Around 9:30 while in the Family Room we got the word that Bill had died.
What a sad day. This is even sadder than when a parent dies since
parents are much older and expected to die first. Bill was 71.
I'm thinking that the last I saw him was shortly after Valentines Day
when I brought the security bits back from our Apex trip to disassemble
his battery charger. We lent him Libbie's charger and said we could
look inside his charger to see if there's a fuse.
~
June 07, 2017 Brick wall
---------------
The crawl is done except for the insulation. Cesar came this morning
to remove the tool trailer. There may be an issue with the In-Forcer
using conditioned air to supply combustion air. Jason said the inspector
may not approve this. I told him I will argue with the inspector
about this. It's a continued day of sadness around here over Bill's
death. Vicki called so we spent some time on the phone with her talking
about Bill. We postponed our dance lesson for today since Libbie
is not in a mood for upbeat music. Maybe Friday. I bricked up the
wall where the foundation Fan was located and instead installed a brick
curtain wall with mortar I picked up in home Depot. The job came
out pretty good, at least it's all covered instead of just foam to
the outdoors. I also cleaned up some of the rocks tossed outside of
the crawl. While making a spacer frame for the PVC vent I also cut up
the supports for the shelves. Now i need to deal with the two holes
in the sheetrock wall in the garage. I'm pretty happy with the progress
so far. Dinner tonight was the Pork Torta sandwiches again. The
baguette was older this time, i liked the fresher one two days ago.
I spent the rest of the evening watching nonsense on YouTube which
was a waste.
~
June 08, 2017 insulation
---------------
The insulation guys came at 9. I opened the downstairs bedroom window
and also the front living room and put a fan in the window to draw air
through the downstairs. While they sprayed the foam in the crawl
space I loaded up my car with a surf board and the misc photo equipment
and hauled it all to the dump to get it out of the garage. Next step
is to build the garage shelves and patch up the hole in the sheetrock
where the foundation vents were added by me. On the way back I
stopped at Walmart for soup and cereal. When I got home the job was
done and the guys were packing up the hoses and equipment. The house
does not have an odor. i took advantage of both cars out of the garage
and blew the garage out and then blew off the driveway. We got the
funeral arrangements for Bill this morning. Two funerals on June
16 and June 17. I booked an Air BnB and also booked some plane tickets.
Still need a rental car.
Dinner was the quick Taco recipe which
is ground beef and salsa with green pepper over a bed of lettuce and
covered with cheese and taco chips. We had this on the back porch with
a bottle of wine. After dinner we released the package of 300 live
lady bugs that came in the mail today. There are Lady Bugs everywhere.
The
iPad cover also came today. It fits perfectly! I'm pretty
happy with it so far. I put it on the iPad and used it to start reading
"The Path Between the Seas".
~
June 09, 2017 wiring
---------------
Cesar came this morning to clean up the last of the crawl job. He pointed
out a pipe to me that's leaking under the kitchen sink. He also
said that the outlet needs to be moved over the sump pump since the
cord couldn't reach. The electrical is not a problem for me, the water
pipe will be an issue since it's right against the foam. I would
love to replace it with CPVC but I'll just put more copper in it's place.
i spent a few hours moving the outlet. I replaced the outlet
with a junction box then put a new outlet in over the sump pump. The
job was easy, a little long, but physically demanding because of the
contortions for my body. i also hooked up a new DHT humidity sensor
in the crawl. The old one was really bad. I bench tested it. I put
the ESP2866 into a plastic electrical box and put the plastic cover
on that I found for sale in Lowes. The crawl humidity is high around
75% but no higher than the outside air. It will be interesting to
see what it will be when the outside humidity goes up.
I'm pretty happy
with the job. For dinner we decided to get Chinese takeout which
is the three meat szechuan along with an eggroll. We picked up a bottle
of Mondavi Woodbridge Cabernet Sauvignon to have with dinner.
~
June 10, 2017 pressure wash
---------------
Good Clarinet lesson with Justin this morning. I still do not have the
1/8 notes correct. He said I'm making them too short. I need to practice
harder. In addition, he had me try some improv on the scale
of G. I tried it but did not know all the notes in the scale, i only
know them in order.
When I came back I dragged out the power washer
and put in fresh gas as well as 35 PSI in the tires. Dragged out all
the hoses and got it running on the front walk. Libbie power washed
the front porch, the steps, walk, garage door and driveway. The original
purpose was to wash the mud from the construction
After lunch
we went to Kroger and picked up steak, potatoes, green beans and Ravenwood
Zinfindel wine for a nice dinner.
~
June 11, 2017 Pizza
---------------
It was a slow day. I worked on the OLED display pulling MQTT packets
from the weather station and displaying them on the display. Dinner
was Libbie's delicious pizza, a Sunday night tradition.
~
June 12, 2017 shelves
---------------
I went to Lowes and bought 3 shelf boards for $52. Thy were better quality
then I wanted but I don't know where to get less than prime. I
cut them up and painted one side with the Blue paint. Dinner tonight
was Chinese takeout, the three meat food We had it with a bottle of
Mondavi Cabernet.
~
June 13, 2017 shelves
---------------
I struggled with programming the Open Garage Hardware and finally achieved
something working but I bricked the thing trying to do an over the
air update. I finished painting the shelves this morning, now I'll
put them into the garage cabinet for all my plastic tubs. We had hamburgers
on buns tonight with Baked Beans, I also picked up 4 ears
of pre shucked corn at Kroger. It was pretty good stuff. We had this
with half a bottle of Mondavi Cabernet Sauvignon.
~
June 14, 2017 dancing
---------------
I went outside this morning to mix up some Malathion to spray aphids that
Libbie said we had on the Oleander. I didn't see any. While I was
outside Jason from Crawl Space Tech came up the driveway to drop off
the building permit sign off card. I spoke with him about the high
humidity in the crawl space, 78%. He said the downstairs air is not
running enough. I don't think so. Can't see how blowing cold air into
the space is going to help anything. Will investigate a dehumidifier.
Spent the morning assembling the garage door monitor froom Open
Door. I broke the sonar sensor so I soldered in one I got from eBay.
It works well. I mounted it on the ceiling and tried it but bricked
the thing when I tried to update it with MQTT. Took it down and
brought it into my office where I used the online tool to upload a boot
loader and then upload the MQTT code.
It correctly sends out door
status packets but does not respond to the button command to activate
the door. I noticed there is no MQTT subscribe in the code so the
callback never gets called.
We had an excellent Tango lesson with
Robert. Our routine is quite fancy. He gave us the music and spent
most of our lesson doing choreography. On the way home we stopped at
Kroger and picked up the ingredients for Waldorf Chicken salad. It
was delicious and was today's cooking light recipe.
~
June 15, 2017 garage door sensor
---------------
The sonar sensor started acting up on the Open Garage mounted in the garage.
I tried taking it apart to replace the sensor but when I mounted
the new sensor it went into a restart loop. I don't know what's
going on. I may have to abandon this and go for an Adafruit Huzzah.
Dinner tonight was the Waldorf Chicken salad again. The Town of Apex
inspector came out this afternoon and looked over the job. It passed
inspection. I was a little worried about using the upstairs air for
makeup combustion air but he passed it. I packed a suitcase tonight
to fly to RI in the morning for Bill's funeral.
~
June 16, 2017 Calling hours
---------------
We left home at 430 AM for our flight to RI today. The Park N Relax lot
was pretty full which was surprising but this was just the tip of
the iceberg. The line at Southwest went from the ticket counters to
the escalators. We stood in line almost 30 minutes to check in. My
bag was tagged late check in but it made it to RI. The flight was
mostly smooth with a few moments of choppiness. At the Baltimore stop
to change planes we picked up coffee and biscuits at mcDonalds in the
one hour between flights. Baltimore has a very nice airport. In
RI we had a long wait at the Enterprise counter. I think RI has the
dumpiest of the airports.
We had lunch with George and Sue and Bruce
at Brookdale. I had a turkey, avocado and bacon sandwich with corn
chowder soup and chips. It was a lot of food. We went down and saw
Barbara and the kids at Barb's house. They made some very nice poster
boards for the funeral home.
We went to calling hours at 4 in a steady
rain. The line to greet Barbara was long. Bil had many, many
friends. We met the Naragansett chorus director, Bill's photo teacher,
the Munks from Annapolis as well as Bill's partner Ken Rix and a host
of other people. We left shortly before 6 to join Mary and John
as well as Sue and Bruce and George in the private dining room at Brookdale
for Pizza and beer. It was a nice party. After the party we
drove down to Barbs to sit and chat for a while. It was a crazy place
with all the grand children running around. We left there in a light
rain and back to our apartment. I noticed that our home in Apex received
over an inch of rain at 8 PM this evening. The crawl humidity
is holding at 79%.
~
June 17, 2017 Bill's Memorial
---------------
After breakfast in the apartment we went early to the Memorial service
for Bill. We got there at 9:30 for the 10:00 service. The tributes
by his kids, siblings and friends was emotional, heart wrenching and
beautiful. Mary wrote a poem, John talked about what a great friend
he was, Libbie read the poem from Arlene's Mass card. After the service
we went to Barbs for some sandwiches and drinks. There was a Champagne
toast to Bill because he always started each vacation with his
kids with a champagne toast. I talked some with Cort and Jacques.
They were going back this evening. We had a 5PM dinner with George
at the condo. At the table were Holly and Darryl, Steven and Lib and
I. I had a salad, marinated pork with potatoes and Blueberry Cobbler.
We stayed and chatted a while then took Steven over to his AirBnB
which was a beautiful large carriage house. Our place is an apartment
in a basement and smells a little musty when we enter it each time
but then we get used to it. I won't be back in August if I don't have
to.
~
June 18, 2017 RI
---------------
This morning Libbie was still pretty sad from yesterday. We went to Brookdale
and Libbie put George's laundry in the washer then we drove
to the Kitchenworks restaurant where we had breakfast. I ordered a western
omelet which came with toast and coffee. We went back to Brookdale
to put the clothes in the dryer then back to our apartment. Met
at Brookdale for a Father's Day lunch which was very nice and consisted
of wings as an appetizer, Beef Tenderloins with potato for the entree
and Boston Creme pie for desert. Present were Sue and Bruce,
Mary and John, David, Libbie and George. It was a nice special Father's
Day meal. We went over to Barbs a while. The only ones left were
Katy as well as Corrie & Shane with all the little ones. We stayed
for a while there then back to Brookdale for dinner which was Chili,
Corn Bread, tossed tomatoes and strawberry shortcake for desert.
This was nice. After dinner we went back to the room and watched PBS
which first featured Johnny Mathis then George switched to Lawrence
Welk at super high volume. I needed earplugs.
~
June 19, 2017 Fly Home
---------------
Up this morning at 4:30. Got dressed and suitcase in the car, we were
on the road by 5 AM. Got to PVD at 5:30 with no traffic. Southwest
counter in the airport was empty as well as TSA. Saw the huge line
at the crappy Dunkin Donuts and walked back to the terminal where I found
a Starbucks with no line at all. Bought a medium coffee and went
to gate 21 which is at the end of the concourse and waited. It was
a very smooth flight to BWI. Picked up an egg McMuffin and coffee and
ate it in the food court. Went to gate B02 and took a seat facing
the main concourse where I could read my book and watch scantily clad
women. It was nice to be back in the South with short shorts and tank
tops. I'm really enjoying the Path between the Seas book about finding
a path between the two oceans across Central America. Famous
travel writers and explorers who have never been to Central America have
more say in the path to take for a canal then cold scientific facts.
Running the Panama Railroad was the first step since it revealed
the vast amount of money available people and companies were willing
to pay to cross the continent. The flight from BWI had some pretty
rough bumps somewhere in VA then the whole descent into Raleigh was bumpy
as we went through many layers of clouds. At the airport I was
the only one in the Park N Relax van to the parking lot. I had to buy
gas at Sheetz since my gas light was on. We dropped it off last week
on empty. I stopped into Best Buy and got a price match on the Frigidaire
Dehumidifier. When I got home I was a little disappointed there
were no back issue of the WSJ on the driveway. Larry must have
taken them. he did move the garbage cans which was a plus. I had to
go out to home Depot to get a garden hose for the dehumidifier drain.
I have it emptying into the sump which is where I found the first
problem, the coupling on the Sump output was spraying water. This thing
is not supposed to have more than 5 PSI. It was never meant for
pressurized pipes. The humidity is doing a fabulous job in removing
moisture. It dropped the humidity 20% in a few hours from 81 to 61.
I'll leave it run on continuous for a few days. The next problem I
found was the butterfly valve is damaged with caulk which is stopping
the valve from opening and thus conditioned air is not going into the
crawl space. Dinner and lunch today is the beginning of my reduced
eating. I had a plum and some grapes for lunch. Dinner was the freebee
Ramen noodles, a bag of Southwest peanuts and a bowl of shredded
wheat with milk. I hope this can hold me until morning.
~
June 20, 2017 dehumidifier
---------------
Pretty happy with the dehumidifier under the house. I hooked it into
the AC 3/4 inch drain pipe which allowed me to shorten the hose and remove
it from the sump. Talked to Jason about the furnace tap. He will
send Cesar out next week to replace the tap since the butterfly doors
don't open. In the meantime the dehumidifier took the crawl space
down into the high 40s percent humidity. Picked up a few items at
Kroger and decided to make Greek chicken salad for dinner. I cooked
a chicken breast on the grill using salt and peppercorn seasoning.
It was delicious. I had it over lettuce with peppers, feta cheese and
other ingredients. I'm beyond thrilled at how good this is. I have
half a chicken breast left but will need to get more lettuce. Practiced
the Clarinet after dinner.
Next agenda item is the garage door
opener. I drilled some holes in an electrical box for the sonar sensor
but have to order a relay for door activation since I don't have one.
~
June 21, 2017 humidity
---------------
I was happy that TER gave me a free 30 days for writing a fake review.
It makes entertaining reading until I tire of it. I went under the
house and now have the dehumidifier running on the humidistat which is
set to 50%. I also propped open the furnace takeoff as recommended
by Jason until Cesar can get it replaced. Took a Home Depot trip and
bought a crawl space door handle as well as hinges for the garage closet
doors. I'll use the old doors for the 3 foot wide closet but will
have to buy 2 new 4 foot doors for the garden tool closet.
I have
been on a serious weight reduction plan. I clocked in today at 232
which is lower than the 242 after New Orleans but not low enough. Would
love to see another 15 pounds go away. Did a quick Kroger run for
lettuce plus grapes and chicken for tomorrow's Waldorf Chicken salad.
Dinner tonight was Greek chicken salad. It came out very good, same
as last night. I was lazy and sliced the half turkey breast cold
and put it on the salad. The baguette cubes toasted were once again
delicious. I listened to Parsifal all the way through from 6 AM to
10:36 AM on all the Sonos speakers throughout the house.
~
June 22, 2017 web pages
---------------
Humidity in the crawl is holding at 48%. This is great news but it is
relying on the dehumidifier to cycle. I would love to monitor the on/off
cycle of the dehumidifier. I looked up current sensing so that
I could monitor this thing. I started wiring up the garage door monitor.
Still have a dozen or so wires to add, from the sonar sensor to
the Huzzah and then the power leads. I'll wait for the relay to arrive
before tackling wiring it.
Did a fun research project on Drupal.
Joyce wanted a place to upload documents, not just a link to an article.
I found something called a PDF Reader module which defines PDF
as a field type in the content. It worked well for the few documents
I put into the sample page for her. Barbara thought that was amazing.
Dinner
was the Waldorf chicken salad which once again was delicious.
I grilled a chicken breast to perfection, 8 minutes on each side.
I used half of it for my salad with celery, grapes and walnuts.
I cut back on the amount of mayo and mustard. IT was delicious. A side
note: next day I discovered I had forgot to include the Apple in the
salad.
~
June 23, 2017 walking
---------------
Cesar came out this morning with his sidekick. They replaced the furnace
draft butterfly valve. It doesn't really draft much when the furnace
is running. I doubt if that's going to control humidity. I'll
leave the humidifier running for a month or so to let the wood dry out..
It's been sitting at 90% humidity practically forever. This should
help big time. They also tightened the fitting on the sump pump that
was leaking. After Clarinet practice I finished wiring the sonar
to the Huzzah I think. Need to test it. The relay is not here yet,
maybe some day next week. I also researched current sensing and ordered
some magnetic current clamps and also an A/D converter breakout.
With a little code I should be able to monitor the Sump pump on/off
cycles, the dehumidifier on/off cycle and the furnace on/off cycle.
For the furnace I can put the clamp inside the unit. Both the Sump pump
and the dehumidifier will need the probe inside an electrical box.
I took a walk around Seagroves Farm Lake today and home. I estimate
it's around a mile. It's near 90 today the way I like it but I was
surprisingly tired from the walk.
~
June 24, 2017 garage
---------------
I finished the writeup for the Growing Tip Journal access for the AVSA
membership group. I had to create a new view for editors to list all
the documents that could be deleted or edited since there was no way
to edit existing content in a view. The little editing snowflakes were
not there. I had a great music lesson with Justin. The key points
were to focus the sound, sit up straighter and still need to get better
at 1/8th notes hitting the metronome tone. For lunch I had the
leftover Waldorf salad from yesterday. My weight was still at 232.
I wish it would get down to 230 this week which was the goal. After
lunch I mowed the back yard. Did not do the rough section along the
creek. Maybe I'll get to it tomorrow as well as out by the street.
I played some more with the garage ESP with sonar. I used the NCID code
as a base this time. It's still a little clunky. I was going to
go out to Costco before they closed since I needed coffee in the next
day or two. As I opened the garage door a thunderstorm kicked up.
It dropped a large pine branch into the turnaround in the driveway in
front of me. At that point I decided not to go. That little storm
dumped 1.48 inches of rain on us. I stayed in and got lazy and had tuna
sandwiches made with tuna, celery and mayonnaise on Pita bread.
They were pretty good. I can't believe I'm out of celery again.
~
June 25, 2017 ESP and OTA
---------------
I watched the morning programs then went out to Costco for blueberries
and coffee. I also bought a shower massage with a flow control like
the one they had in Juneau. It seems to cut the force of the water
OK when I installed it and jumped into the shower for a few minutes.
Next I finished mowing the lawn then worked on the hinges for the closet
door. Once back inside I spent time learning about Over the Air
programming of the ESP8266 using the ESPHelper library. This library
seems to be useful. I'm going to switch my garage door code over to
ESPhelper. It looks like it will greatly simplify my code which is
the goal. I'm thinking that I could even use MQTT as a configuration
control for the device. For dinner I had the leftover half of a chicken
breast along with the free Uncle Ben's long grain flavored rice
that was a Friday Freebie a long while back. This was the best dirty
rice and it was DIY instead of Bojangles and was probably healthier
too although it was so good I ate 3/4 of the box so in that respect
it was worse for me calorie wise.
~
June 26, 2017
---------------
I continued working on the garage door code then left for the airport
and picked Libbie up at 9:45 AM. She left PVD at 5:40 AM. That's early.
Throughout
the day I continued working the garage door code and
got the sonar sensor working nicely. It was randomly sending out flukey
values. My solution ended up being a filter that looked for 3 readings
in a row if a dramatic change is noted. Once the reading has
changed it has to do it 3 times in order to be accepted or else it will
be rejected. In the trial run this really worked well. There were
plenty of glitchy readings but the filtering did not let any of them
through to the final readings. Yes!
I spent some time in the garden
tieing the tomatoes, did some light pruning and a tille weeding.
The tomatoes are coming great. I picked a cucumber and ate it with
BBQ sauce. Yum.
I practiced the Clarinet a little. I'm concerned
about my fingering. I'm not sure what the fix should be.
My Ebay
Reeds and the eBay relays came this afternoon. I tried gluing the relay
to the garage door board but my tube of epoxy is hardened. I tried
some super glue but have my doubts. Need a good way to attach this
thing.
Dinner was the waldorf chicken salad sandwiches. After having
these for dinner we went to Brewsters and ice cream on waffle cones.
This breaks the diet but I'll get right back on to it tomorrow.
~
June 27, 2017 relays
---------------
The super glue worked great overnight. My relay board is solidly glued
down in the garage door monitor. I wired it up and the ESP didn't
even boot. I added a driver transistor from some info I googled and
the info was totally wrong. I put another relay and Huzzah on a breadboard
and played with it. Found out to turn the relay on requires grounding
the input to the relay board. About 1.6 ma flows when doing
this as measured by my multimeter. I put a 4N32 optoisolator into
the breadboard and chose some resistors large enough to still work while
keeping the idle current down. The opto output has a 2K and the
input has a 200 ohm. The relay switches reliably now. I put this circuit
into the garage door controller and it works well with MQTT packets.
Now i need to be able to supply config info via MQTT.
For dinner
we had a new Cooking Light recipe, Chicken and Dumplings. It used
a chicken breast along with bag of frozen veggies, flour tortillas
and chicken broth plus a few very mild spices. It was another winner
from Cooking Light and is now added to the recipe file. The hits keep
coming.
~
June 28, 2017 tango
---------------
I found the undercut tool and carved out the top hinge on the closet door.
This was an accomplishment. I continued working on my garage door
monitor. Today I'm adding configuration via MQTT and reporting settings
via MQTT. Settings are stored in on-board EEPROM.
We got back
to the studio today for our Tango lesson. IT was fun as usual and
we even may have learned a few things. I was really tired after the
lesson. Dinner was the leftover chicken with dumplings.
After dinner
we were bad and went to the ice cream shop Brewster's and each had
a waffle cone. I had the vanilla with chocolate covered peanuts and
caramel. Wow, was that sweet. Late in the evening I studied stocks
looking for a replacement for my NGG which is British Power Company that
doesn't seem to be doing too well.
~
June 29, 2017 Door Monitor
---------------
I practiced Clarinet early before Nancy came over at 10. I continued
testing and developing the garage door monitor. I found that recall
using the MQTT-SPY drop down for publishing a topic doesn't send out
the correct stuff. You have to paste or type the topic in. After a
BLT lunch I mounted the device in the garage ceiling and right away discovered
I needed a programming change. Open and Closed were reversed.
I fixed it from my office and was pleasantly surprised that Over
the Air programming let me reprogram the device. It works!!!
Unfortunately
I worked on the Desktop Wx app for a while then switched to
make a tweak to the garage door monitor and uploaded the wrong code into
the garage door because the port was still set to wireless. There
was no recovery because the OTA code was not in what i programmed using
OTA. I had to take the device down, reprogram it with a cable,
then put it back. i learned a big lesson about carelessly programming
a device. Always check the port setting.
Next step is to get the
Desktop Wx device built for my bedroom dresser.
Dinner was Greek salad
which I made from the Cooking Light recipe. I love it but Libbie
said it was not her favorite.
~
June 30, 2017 Tango
---------------
I built the Desktop Wx and put it on my dresser. The font is too small
to read comfortably. I need to search for a better device. We had
our Tango lesson today but it's sort of a waste because we won't make
it to the showcase since it's scheduled for when we will be in Oregon.
I decided to go through with all the moves anyway since it's about
the journey and not the destination. We went back in the evening
and danced a little at the Studio party. Dinner before the party was
spaghetti with cheese over it. After the party we went out with Ken
and Lana to Abbey Road grill. Libbie and i split loaded Nachos because
they were out of Quesadilla. i had 1 1/2 Red oak beers.
~
July 01, 2017 Stuff
---------------
9 AM lesson with Jason today. We covered the C scale which is harder
than the G scale. I have work to do. We also covered some points about
fingering and not taking a break after a half note before the next
quarter note. I need ot practice this. I'm still having trouble with
a basic G (all fingers down). Need to practice, practice, practice.
I saw a young lady lift her dress this morning with no panties on.
It was quite a surprise. They of course kicked her off but not before
I got some screen grabs. I spent the afternoon studying the Davis
protocol learning how I could decode the Rain packet. I think I'll
just send it along and let the ESP deal with it. The ESP also has to
deal with time and barometric pressure. I;ll rely on the ESP for the
majority of this stuff and just pass packets down from the Moteino
which is decoding Davis ISS. We did grocery runs to both Walmart and
Kroger. Dinner was jumbo shrimp, corn on the cob and an Argentina Malbec
that they were sampling which was quite good at $14 per bottle.
We sat on the back porch after dinner but it was a little warm and humid.
Summer is here but drinking wine after dinner on the porch appeals
to me.
~
July 02, 2017 Garden
---------------
After the Sunday programs I went outside and pruned the Roses. It's a
toasty 92 degrees outside. I ran out of Rose food before I could finish
the job. We had Nathans for lunch and then Libbie made her traditional
Pizza for dinner which was very good. I spent quite a bit of
the day working on the Weather receiver. I finally decided to use the
Moteino to decode Raw packets and pass them on to the ESP8266 which
will be hooked to Wunderground. The goal is to put some of them on
MQTT and also directly upload Wunderground. I want to bypass the Davis
console which has a broken barometer and an unreliable USB connection.
~
July 03, 2017 Gateway
---------------
Janet and Anita came here with Libbie this morning after a Lake walk.
They picked up the boxes we had in the garage leftover from BB shipping.
I also gave them a crawl space tour which was bizarre. How many
give tours of the space under their house? The humidity is holding
at 59% down there all because of the dehumidifier. The "Humidivac"
is stupid I think and the business of a tap on the furnace
does not put enough air into the crawl space to make any difference.
I tried testing the code for the Davis Gateway but it won't get off the
ground. I'm not sure what's wrong. I carved out the hinges today
and then painted the carved cavities with the blue paint. I'll hang
the door tomorrow. Dinner was hamburgers with Tomato and Vidalia and
Mondavi Cabernet. After dinner we drove over to Brewsters for Ice Cream.
~
July 04, 2017 Happy Fourth
---------------
This is the Fourth of July. I tried to get the Adafruit pressure sensor
working but no luck. I ended up buying a 5 pack of them on eBay.
We had grilled Hot Dogs for lunch then decided since it was the fourth
we would have hamburgers for dinner. Went to Kroger and got Hamburger
buns, a Vidalia and a bottle of wine along with white corn. I husked
the Corn in the garage then we had corn, hamburger, Vidalia and
tomato slices along with a Mondavi Cabernet for our outdoor grilling.
We watched some of the PBS 4th of July program but i fell asleep through
it as usual. I tried the C scale on the Clarinet. Wow, is that
hard. I'm having real troubles playing the high B which involves
the Register key. I also watched some YouTube tutorials on playing the
C scale.
~
July 05, 2017 sheetrock
---------------
Libbie went out walking with Anita and i worked in the garage on patching
the ventilation holes in the sheetrock for the crawl space. I have
2 rectangles cut each 8" high by 16" wide. I'll have to
cut another 2 inches wider all around to nail a piece of sheetrock over
it. I finally decided to make the cut all the way to the corner
and just put in one longer piece. This will involve a trip to Lowes
with the trailer. I tried some more, several times, to get the correct
note to come out for the B in the C Major scale. I did only twice
I think but it was a real effort to get the note to come out. Wow,
difficult.
Dinner was spaghetti with cheese. The hot tub pressure
switch needs adjusting but when I took the wires off the switch the
terminal broke off the switch. Now I need to replace the switch. I
found the old switch and with luck I can salvage the old micro switch
mounted on top of the switch. I drilled the rivets out of the old switch
successfully. Now I need to do this on the existing switch so
I can replace the microswitch. This may work well. As a backup I ordered
a new switch from Arizona. I need a 1/8 NPT brass plug which Lowes
sells so I can block the hole while I rebuild the switch. I used to
have one of these but the baggie where it's supposed to be in is empty.
~
July 06, 2017 Productive
---------------
What a productive day. We went out at 9 with the trailer and bought a
sheet of sheetrock at Lowes. While there I purchased a brass plug to
use for stoppering the pressure switch on the hot tub while I repair
it. I also bought some Rose Food and a 10 inch wide scraper for the
ceiling in Libbie's sewing room. She wants to scrape the ceiling.
This should be interesting. I swapped the micro switch on the pressure
switch replacing the one with the broken terminal. Unfortunately
the control lacked adjustment as I went throughout it's range. When
the pump is off the switch is open and when it runs the switch closes
but it should be adjustable to the point of open/closed while running.
I hooked it up and closed the panel letting it run as is. Let's
see how this works out. Not good I suspect. Black gunk dripped out
of the pressure part of the device. I wonder if that's a problem indicating
corrosion. The system basically sucks. I would love an electronic
flow measurement. I cut the opening on the first of the two
sheetrock foundation vents and cut a piece of sheetrock to fit neatly.
I'll do the one in the garden tool closet next then spackle them
both at the same time.
Dinner tonight was the Quick Taco Salad from
Cooking Light. This is ground beef with pepper, tomato, cheese and tostada
chips over a bed of lettuce.
~
July 07, 2017 Piddles
---------------
Piddling around today. Did some Atlanta trip planning, locating venues
of interest and logical hotel locations. I settled on Hampton Inn
outside of downtown since no one location offers good public transit
to the Botanical Garden, Art museum or Jimmy Carter Center. Outside I
cut the remaining sheetrock and covered the foundation vent hole in
the tool closet. Now I need to purchase plaster and more sheetrock seam
tape.
Just before lunch we visited the fruit stand in Apex and bought
tomatoes, a watermelon and plums. Unfortunately the plums were
from California but they are good. I swung by Home Depot after the fruit
stand and bought plaster and tape taking care of that problem.
We had tuna salad for lunch then an egg salad pita for dinner. We left
for the ballroom at 8 PM and did quite a few dances. Afterwards we
went to McGregor Tavern and sat outside. It was quite pleasant outdoors.
I had 1 1/2 Red Oak Amber beers and we split a plate of Quesadillas.
It was a pleasant evening.
~
July 08, 2017 Repairs
---------------
Good music lesson with Justin. I got some tips on making the B come out.
He said I'm still pushing down the key between the two holes. It's
time for some training wheels, I'll cement some sandpaper to the
side of the key. Put the first coat of plaster on the two sheet rock
patches. I think I need the baseboard next so I don't crack the plaster
while nailing it down. Did a home depot trip and picked up the
baseboard as well as screen beading then went back out, this time with
Libbie, to get groceries including a ribeye steak for dinner tonight.
Cut up the baseboard 1x4 and installed it both in the corner by
the closet and inside the tool closet. Will sand and apply another coat
of plaster when this dries which will probably be tomorrow. i picked
up some rubber cement and glued the sandpaper on the key on the Clarinet
as suggested by Justin. It should have a more coarse sandpaper,
I can't feel the medium grade paper. The sandpaper fell off a little
later in the evening. Dinner was ribeye with corn and Ravenswood
Zin. Dessert was watermelon. We sat on the porch and watched it try
to rain. There was thunder and lightning but almost no rain which
was too bad. The Simpson meter probes came this afternoon. They are
very nice. They were expensive but not for the Simpson name brand.
Getting new leads was a good thing that was very needed. Also in the
mail today was the new bmp280 pressure sensors. They didn't work
out as well. I still can't get a reading on the Huzzah. After dinner
I went to my office and played with it some more but could not get
it to respond.
~
July 09, 2017 pressure sensor
---------------
Libbie started scraping the ceiling in the sewing room today. I put another
coat of plaster on the crawl space vent patches in the garage.
They surprisingly were not totally dry, especially the one in the tool
closet. Libbie made her outstanding pizza for dinner. I'm still
struggling with getting a response from the BMP280 on a Huzzah. I tried
some 4.7k pullup resistors on the I2C lines which made them look
better on the scope but they still are not going fully to ground. Still
unsure what's going on but the bottom line is that the device is
not recognized on the I2C bus as evidenced by the scanner sketch I ran
on the Huzzah. This sketch is supposed to scan the entire address
range looking for a response. It reports nothing.
~
July 10, 2017 Weathernode
---------------
I hooked up the Weathernode which surprisingly has a BMP280 pressure sensor
onboard. it worked great with a Moteino. I switched to the Moteino
receiving Davis transmissions and it worked there as well. I created
a new packet containing the temperature, humidity and pressure.
This was happiness. Unfortunately some pins shorted together and a
spark occurred. This took out the Moteino. I went back to a Moteino
without the correct frequency radio and at least the BMP280 still works.
I suspect it took out the regulator on the board.
Libbie finished
scraping the bedroom so I went in and scraped around the edges with
the smaller scraper. Now I need to put a little plaster on the torn
seams in a few spots. We went to the Pittsboro Roadhouse for dinner
and dancing to the music of Mr Wonderful.. Left a little before 6
and got there around 6:25. We had 2 Yuenglings and split a Salmon Flatbread
sandwich with sweet potato fries. Ken and Lan and 2 people Ken
works with joined us for dinner although they came a little later.
Ken's friends were ? and Christine. We danced quite a bit. The dance
floor was surprisingly crowded. I like the music of Mr Wonderful.
We left at 9:15PM. We think he only goes until 9:30.
~
July 11, 2017 tape
---------------
This morning I applied sheetrock tape to all the spots where the paper
tape was torn on the ceiling as well as on the crack on the wall and
a few places where the wall separated from the ceiling. The weathernode
continues to perform well as I track pressure vs the RDU airport
pressure readings. Vicki called today to say that i should get gene
tested for a cancer gene signature that both she and Arlene have. She
also said that Barbara has the gene signature. We both went to the
grocery store and picked up the ingredients for a chicken Waldorf salad
as well as picking up the normal Tuesday groceries for Kroger senior
day. Dinner tonight was chicken Waldorf salad with watermelon for
dessert. The porch chair is broken. I'm looking at how to repair it
by reinforcing the joints with steel that I bought in Home Depot.
~
July 12, 2017 mud
---------------
i spread the sheets on the sewing room floor along the wall and began
putting up the Sheetrock mud. This job went well and surprisingly used
almost the whole bucket of plaster. Libbie walked with Anita while
i did this work. Later in the afternoon I backed up the data files
from my Dell laptop and replaced the hard drive with the new 2 Gig
one I purchased earlier this month. I plugged the USB drive into the
laptop and started it up. the drive contained the Win 10 operating
system install image which i downloaded from Microsoft. You can do this
from a legitimate copy of Windows which is what came with the laptop.
Surprisingly everything went well including the install of all
the drivers.
I went to bed around 11 PM while the files were being
copied from the external backup drive onto the new internal hard drive.
We had a good lesson with Robert covering our Tango routine. Dinner
was tuna fish sandwiches on Pita bread that was left over from yesterday.
~
July 13, 2017 sanding
---------------
This morning I booted the laptop with the new install of Win 10 on the
bigger hard drive. I spent on and off most of the day installing the
old programs again that used to be on the laptop. Thank goodness everything
is pretty much open source free software so I got fresh current
versions of everything. I sanded the plaster in the sewing room
which was a horrible job. I got covered with dust. Fortunately I was
wearing a dust mask. It wiped me out for the rest of the afternoon.
We went out to Kroger and picked up the ingredients for dinner. We
made Cooking Lights BBQ Pork Chops with an Asian influence. The marinade
had sesame oil, sake, pineapple juice and brown sugar. It was a
delicious marinade. We had the BBQ Pork chops with Shiraz, Basmati rice
and broccoli. After dinner we went out to Brewsters for Ice Cream.
I had the Lemon Meringue flavor this time.
When we got home from
Brewsters the landscape lights were not on. The Raspberry Pi running
Node Red had a problem with Node Red. I suspect it had something
to do with me pushing on the device in the closet to get it to stick
back on the velcro earlier today.
~
July 14, 2017 Bynum Front Porch
---------------
I worked on getting a new Pi image built as well as the latest version
of Node-Red installed. I spent a lot of the morning doing this then
finally decided to address the sewing room. I used the belt sander
and removed the stubborn parts of the popcorn that would not come off.
I then did the second coat of touch up plaster all around. After
a final sanding it should be ready for paint. What fun (not!).
I rubbed
a rack of baby backs with Smoking Gun rub in prep for smoking tomorrow.
I
got the new Pi image running with Node-red on a temporary
server. I'll transfer over to the permanently mounted one and all should
be good again.
It was a hot day and we agreed to go to an outdoor
concert with the Kretchmans.
Bynum Front porch outside of Pittsboro
was not as hot as I thought. Graymatter was the band which we enjoyed
very much. It's 3 siblings and a spouse. We always get it wrong
who the spouse is married to the girl. It turns out it's the tall
lead vocalist who looks like one ofo her brothers. Their website for
reference is graymatternc.com We each had a hotdog at the general store
for dinner. IT was a highly enjoyable concert. On the way home
we stopped at McGregor Tavern and had wings and beer. The Yuengling
Draft was on special for $3 tonight. We had 1 1/2 glasses each. It
was the end of a very nice night.
~
July 15, 2017 Ribs
---------------
Another good music lesson with Justin. I paid for the next 4 lessons.
Today he encouraged me to go smoothly from A to B in the G Major scale.
We also covered dynamics a little, especially for the William Tell.
I started the Smoker this morning and put the ribs inside at 11:15
then added Hickory every 30 minutes for 3 hours before doing 2
hours of wrap and one hour of wet cooking. The Moteino came today in
the mail. This was an incentive to work some more on the Huzzah portion
of the gateway. I heard from Harry this morning. He was looking
for the Glembocki genealogy which was on the Bluebird site but since
Bluebird is gone it's not there anymore. i need to finish this work
as well as half a dozen other projects around here. Dinner was ribs
with Broccoli and Rodney Strong Cabernet. Before dinner I pumped
up my bike tires and went for a ride to the High School and took some
pre-demolition pictures. The chain link fence is up around the property
and some of the driveway lights have been taken down.
~
July 16, 2017 parsing
---------------
I had some difficulty parsing simulated Davis data with an ESP8266 Huzzah.
My comma parsing algorithm did not work. i ended up suing the built
in string function strtok to locate commas and extract individual
bytes from the line. Now I need to convert from ascii hex characters
to floats or ints. I did the final sanding in the sewing room and
Libbie contributed by vacuuming the place. We're now ready for paint.
I'm still having trouble smoothly going from A to the B above the
break on the clarinet. I practiced twice today. Next lesson is Wednesday
so I have convinced myself I need to have this done by then. Dinner
was Libbie's pizza. Surprisingly we did not have cheese in the
house, I had to go out before dinner to get cheese at Krogers. I also
picked up some Chobani with the crunch ingredients. Libbie had mint
chocolate chip and I had the nuts and pumpkin seeds.
~
July 17, 2017 paint
---------------
I put two coats of ceiling paint on the sewing room ceiling today. It
looks great, no gouges or tooling marks. Yay! 80% of the way through
the job i had to run out to Home Depot to get more paint. While I
put the second coat of paint on the ceiling Libbie put blue tape on
all the trim in prep for painting the walls. While at Home Depot I bought
yellow paint for the walls.
I continued to work on the Davis Wx
to MQTT gateway. This thing is really needed because the console stopped
overnight once again. My standard procedure to get it working
again is to pull the USB cable and plug it into another port.
Dinner
tonight Dinner tonight was the BBQ pork chops with Asian inspired marinade
from Cooking Light. This has sake, soy and sesame and is yummy.
Our veggie was fresh local corn from the Apex fruit stand on Davis.
The corn was especially good.
~
July 18, 2017 Ceasar shrimp salad
---------------
This was paint morning. Libbie did the cut in work and I got out the
roller and painted the walls. Next I installed the light fixture with
2 60 watt LED lights and replaced the light switches and outlets in
the room. I missed one outlet and still have one more to do. I practiced
Clarinet several times today. I still have not mastered a smooth
transition from A to B and C. I'm getting better at B and C but
not smoothly transitioning up from A to B. I can go down from B to A
smoothly. We made Shrimp Caesar salad for dinner. This was with a package
of frozen jumbo shrimp I picked up in Kroger. The shrimp were
peeled and deveined and wild caught USA. The salad uses a homemade
Caesar dressing with Tabasco, Worcestershire Parmesan and other ingredients.
We did not use the Anchovies that are supposed to be in it.
I thought it had a predominant lemon flavor but was still good. After
dinner I went to Home Depot and bought Phillips head screws to screw
the ducts back into the bedroom vents. They are 1 1/2 inch long and
I wanted to use the portable drill to hang the vent.
~
July 19, 2017 busy
---------------
It was a busy morning. I discovered my Visa from Friday Night's Beer
and wings at MacGregor Brew House. I tried driving there but they don't
open till 11 AM. Next stop was Costco for wine and gas then Walgreens
to get wrapping paper and the 8x10 I had enlarged. Libbie walked
this morning but her back was in pain. We canceled our dance class
for today but I went to my Clarinet lesson. The studio was really
busy. Many people, all kids, were taking music lessons. There were
several parents in the lobby waiting. This was quite different from
Saturday mornings. I worked some more on the weather program but then
decided i needed to go under the house and check out the pipe leak.
Surprisingly it had stopped. The tray I put under the leak was totally
dry. We made the Shrimp Caesar salad again for dinner. We had it
with the leftover glass of wine each from yesterday then watermelon
for dessert. The weather program has difficulties. I thought I would
be in good shape picking up some NTP code from a guy who harnessed
a Moteino to receive packets and upload to Wunderground but his NTP
code did not work. I do have working NTP code from ealrier this year
that I will integrate into my program.
~
July 20, 2017 Travel to Asheville
---------------
We had our normal breakfast then I packed a suitcase and gathered everything
to leave. I previously loaded the car with gas at Costco yesterday
for our trip. We got going at 9:30 in a very pleasant drive West.
We made one Rest Area stop then finally got off at exit 55 of I-40
4 hours later. We had lunch at a little hole in the wall Mexican place
called Cozella's Mexican. I had a chicken Fajita which was plentiful
and delicious. We each had a Margarita to start our vacation. The
place was crowded, the parking lot full. It is definitely locally
run and very eclectic, almost overdone in Mexican paintings on all the
booths, paintings on the windows and everywhere else. It was an enjoyable
meal with a good Margarita. Next stop was The NC Craft Center
on the Blue Ridge Parkway which as only a very short distance from
the restaurant. After looking at the crafts Libbie bought a child's
bird book. I didn't care for the paintings very much. There were not
very many anyway. We found that there is a craft fair in Asheville
this weekend. We next drove to the Biltmore where the gate looked us
up and gave us a parking permit with our name preprinted on it. Very
cool. The hotel is wonderful. The service at the front desk went
above and beyond welcoming us. i found we purchased a bed and breakfast
package. The room is very modern, spacious and comfortable. It's
a nice facility. We drove over to the Biltmore garden shop and walked
up the hill through the gardens to the mansion. Libbie loved the
greenhouses at the start of our tour. I liked being outdoors in the
garden although it was a tiring walk but very good for me. It's a
very hot day also. We got back to the hotel and went to the Village
next door and did the wine tasting which was pretty good. We tried about
6 wines, some of them very good and others not so great. My favorite
was a Spanish wine Tempranilla which was full bodied and had a
very nice Tannin finish. I really liked it. We went back to the room,
cleaned up and rested a bit before going back to Cedric's Tavern in
the Village for dinner. We went there because there was live music
but unfortunately the place was incredibly noisy and the sound was boomy.
i couldn't tell what he was playing or singing. We both had fish
and chips with a Fat Tire draft beer. After dinner walked to the
Creamery but they close at 8 and it was 8:20. two woman with two teenage
girls also wanted to go to the creamery and were disappointed as
well. This place closes early. We did the short walk back to our hotel
room and called it a day, a very nice day.
~
July 21, 2017 Happy birthday Libbie
---------------
Slept until 6:30. Had my shower and did the bathroom stuff then gave
Libbie her birthday card while the Keurig cup filled. I drank my Keurig
and did eMail while Libbie got dressed in the bathroom. We then went
to the restaurant on the hotel second floor which is the floor we're
staying on. It was excellent. I had a wonderful stack of Blueberry
pancakes with a side of Bacon and OJ. Libbie had the Scrambled egg
breakfast with English muffin which came with potatoes and bacon.
We took a to go cup of coffee back with us. Our next adventure was supposed
to be a walk after breakfast which turned out to be quite hike.
We walked along the sunflower field and down the other side next
to the French Broad River. We originally were going to take the shuttle
back but ended up taking a shortcut walking up 2 hills toward the
Biltmore house. 2 hours later we made it to the house and collapsed
for a while on the steps. Wow, what a trip. We went over to the adjoining
carriage house and bought 2 bottles of water then sat in the
shade in the courtyard. We met a guy from Minn. traveling with someone
from Indiana and chatted with them. We then did the audio tour of
the house which was excellent. It was our first time touring the upper
floors as well as the basement. The house is huge and after a while
i was getting tired of touring rooms and listening to the audio even
though it was outstanding. We met a foursome traveling together and
used their phone to take their picture. The first time was a silhouette
but the next time we shot against the wall and it was much better.
We took a shuttle back down to our hotel but it broke down outside
the hotel. We chose to walk the several hundred feet back across the
parking lot which was nothing compared to what we accomplished this
morning. After washing face and hands we stopped into the tasting room
and had a wine flight of 3 glasses and a cheese board. The cheese
was excellent. My wines were a Cabernet, a Merlot-Cabernet blend called
Hunt Red which was a Blanc de Noir rose sparkling wine which was
a nice finish. We then walked over to the Creamery and bought waffle
cones and sat outside while a 4 piece string and clarinet band played.
While in line in the Creamery there was an attractive young couple
in front of us who couldn't keep away from each other. They were
kissing and staying close. The guy even rubbed his hand over her very
nicely shaped ass. She was wearing shorts that seemed to be a thin
material, I'm sure it felt good to him. We next collapsed on our bed
for a few minutes. I actually fell asleep while reading but woke
up when my iPad fell off my chest onto the bed. I estimate my nap lasted
20 minutes but felt very refreshing. I then gave Libbie her birthday
present which was a Lavender Spa set from Los Poblanos Lavender
Farm that we visited in Albuquerque as part of an AVSA tour. We got
dressed up and chose to drive over to the Restaurant at the Inn. The
hotel is quite fancy, people are nicely dressed and a piano and bass
were playing while a lady sang in the lobby/lounge area. We went downstairs
to the restaurant where they gave us a window table as requested.
How nice. Guys were wearing jackets which I did not have. I
was wearing a new blue button down dress shirt from LL Bean. We started
with a Biltmore Blanc De Noir which is a nice sparkling wine I discovered
at a tasting at Biltmore winery. Service was over the top.
We had a bread man, a water lady, a wine pourer and our main server,
Brian. We started with a course of citrus marinated watermelon with
bits of Lobster Tail. Next course was a porcino mushroom dusted Filet
Mignon with onion and mushroom over truffle mashed potato. For the
main course we had a Biltmore Hunt Red which is a blend of Cabernet
and Merlot. It's a good robust very nice red wine. Dessert for me
was an Opera cake with various fruits and dollops of citrus. it was
incredibly tasty. After dinner we waddled upstairs and sat on the sofas
listening to the last of the little trio in the lounge before we
made our way down the steps to the parking lot for the drive to our
hotel about a mile away.
~
July 22, 2017 trip to Atlanta
---------------
Libbie slept in quite late. I appreciated the quiet time to further write
the weather program for the Davis Gateway. When she eventually
woke we went to breakfast where I had 5 blueberry pancakes and a side
of bacon. Wow, too many pancakes. We then took a walk all around the
lagoon but on the way there i took a wrong turn and we ended up going
all around the estate, a several mile loop. We then checked out
and hit the road at 10, somewhat later than I thought we would be going.
We altered our plans and decided to do half of the Botanical Garden
today and the rest tomorrow morning, allowing time for the High
Museum f Art in the afternoon. We were able to check into the Hampton
Inn at 1:45. What a letdown compared to the Biltmore but it will be
adequate for our stay. We had lunch at a hole in the wall bar consisting
of pulled pork with slaw and French Fries. We had a Sweetwater
420 Ale to complement the meal. We then made our way to the Botanical
Garden where we encountered heavy traffic. When we got inside the
parking garage, the skies opened up and it poured like heck for 15
minutes before clearing. We used an umbrella to make our way to the Welcome
Center where Libbie needed to use the facility. They accepted
our Selby Reciprocal membership so that admission is free. I was quite
tired but we walked through the wet sidewalks and admired the plantings.
The gardens are really beautiful, some of the best I have yet
to see in a Botanical Garden, even better than Dallas. Later in the
afternoon we were tired so left. Met an interesting couple from Alabama
who asked me if we would be comfortable in this environment if
they developed an outdoor restaurant. It was fun talking to them, she
was quite attractive. For dinner Libbie just wanted Pizza and Beer
so I found a place called Shortys Pizza, a neighborhood Pizza joint.
The pizza needed to be cooked longer in the wood oven, it was tasty
but it was quite soggy. Libbie's pizza blows there's away.
~
July 23, 2017 Gardens & Art
---------------
After the hotel breakfast we went to the Botanical Garden. I was a lovely
morning to be in the garden. The sun was shining and the temperature
was perfect. We enjoyed the canopy walk and the well landscaped
gardens with an abundance of flowers. The children's garden especially
was overflowing with blooming colors. After I got pretty hot in
the garden we went indoors to cool off by going to the Longleaf Restaurant.
We split a shrimp salad sandwich and the server brought us a
pound cake slice on cream sauce with a candle covered in strawberries
and blueberries. What a treat. When we left the garden we went the
short 1 mile trip to the art museum. Since it was a Sunday we found
free on street parking instead of paying $15 for the parking garage.
I really enjoyed the Andy Warhol exhibit of a private collector's collection.
Wow, it was plentiful. Some of it was really sexual but
the majority of it was tame. He was a pop icon. I'm surprised at the
number of album covers he was commissioned to do. We did the American
and European wing of sculpture and impressionistic paintings. After
walking around for another 3 hours we left 1 minutes before the museum
closes at 5. It was a great afternoon.. Libbie decided we should
have cheese with the wine we brought from home so we stopped bby
Publix on the way home and got a block of Swiss and a box of Triscuits.
After
hanging out in the Hampton Inn watching 60 Minutes we then
drove down the street 2 miles to LaParilla Mexican Restaurant. This
is a large well run eatery. We had a Margarita and I ordered the Enchilada
De Mare which was 3 Enchiladas with shrimp, Tilapia and Pico de
Gallo. They were incredibly tasty. Accompanying the meal were refried
beans, cole slaw and rice. Way, way, way too much food. One Enchilada
would have been adequate.
~
July 24, 2017 Carter Center
---------------
Hampton Inn Hotel breakfast then we packed out things and left for the
Carter Center at 9 AM. It was a short drive away on local roads. We
paid for our admission at the combination gift shop and entrance tickets.
The museum is small and focuses more on Jimmy Carters post presidential
activities. We walked through and looked at some of the exhibits
as well as watched the movie that told the Jimmy Carter story
from Plains to the White House and beyond. The conclusion was what
we had thought. He was a decent person but not a very effective President.
After the museum we took a walk through the garden in the back
that features a pond with sculpture of a young man leading a blind
elder in Ghana. There also is a pretty Japanese Gardens and two scenic
ponds. The whole thing overlooks the City of Atlanta in the background.
We browsed the gift shop then got into the car and started for
home around Noon. Google Maps kept trying to take us North on 85 but
I wanted to go East on 20 mainly to avoid arriving in Charlotte during
rush hour. We went East to Augusta then to Columbia, SC. We hit
some very heavy rain on this route. The clouds were all along 20 with
some very heavy downpours. There was blinding rain and thunder and
lightning which slowed us to 40 MPH or less. Eventually we got out
into the Sunshine around Columbia and found 521 in Sumter. We headed
North to Route 1 all the way home. It was single lane each way until
around Aberdeen but the travel wasn;t too bad. We got to see quite
a few small towns but kept going. Eventually we got home at 6:30.
We went straight over to Chipotle and used a free BOGO coupon we got
from their website which was great. I had a Chipotle bowl with brown
rice, onion-pepper, Carne Asada, salsa, black beans, corn, guac, cheese
and lettuce. We had this with the leftover wine from yesterday.
~
July 25, 2017 We're Back
---------------
This is the first full day back. I practiced my Clarinet and was surprised
I picked it up OK. I spent some time organizing , downloading
and backing up pictures from the trip. I also worked on the Weather
gateway some more, replacing the NTP functions with a more reliable one.
Still have more to do. We went to the Produce stand and got watermelon,
peaches and other fruits then I did the normal Tuesday groceries.
The crawl space is behaving itself although I had to reset the Crawl
sensor to get a humidity reading. Not sure what happened there but
I will incorporate temp and humidity in the current measuring probe
when I get that built. We had chowder for lunch then had a nice dinner
of fresh corn on the cob and Waldorf Chicken salad. I spent the
evening listening to music and watching some interesting ladies on You
Now.
~
July 26, 2017 busy
---------------
Lots to do today. I managed to put out the First Class update then practiced
Clarinet. Next it was a trip to Home Depot to get landscape
lights and wire.
I reeled off 200 feet of the wire before coming in
to hose off for dance. We had another good dance practice. During our
lesson Robert's old boss dropped in from the old Arthur Murray studio.
The
new Chain Saw came today. I put it together but did not fire
it up. i wish I had it this afternoon when I was putting down the
wire. I have lots of stuff that i want to trim along the path. Today
I was dismayed when I saw a squirrel eating one of our ripe tomatoes
on the fence. It's so discouraging. Dinner was spaghetti with Mortgage
Lifter tomato added and cheese. It was pretty good. After dinner
we went out to Kroger for dish soap and ice cream at Brewster's.
I took the opportunity to get one gallon of fresh gas mixed with 2.6
oz of oil for the new chain saw.
~
July 27, 2017 More Busy
---------------
Lots to do today. Fired up the chain saw and cut some small trees in
the backyard the cut all the saplings along the driveway where I ran
the landscape wire. I raked aside the pine straw and then used the tiller
to break up the ground before using a combo of the pick and the
shovel to clear a trench for conduit. Snaked the wire inside the conduit
and ran it under the sidewalk and in the shallow trench then covered
everything up and repaired the sidewalk I previously dismantled.
The power pack i bought had a digital timer which i did not need,
i only want the thing to turn on or off depending on whether power is
applied or not. I took the thing apart and threw the digital circuitry
into the round bucket. Next i hot wired the 110VAC line cord to the
transformer and reassembled everything. I mounted it on the wall
and plugged it in to try it. The one light does a nice job of lighting
the Cherry Tree. Tomorrow I hope to install the rest of the lights.
My hand is suffering severe cramping this afternoon after the trench
work. I don't know what happened. Libbie said it's dehydration
which i believe after checking Google and the Mayo Clinic. They said
it could be low minerals such as Potassium, Calcium or dehydration.
Dinner was hamburger with tomato and Vidalia onion. Our side was Bush's
baked beans. After dinner i went out to look at my one light on
the Cherry Tree. I'm amazed that so much is lit up with only 3.2 watts.
Wow.
~
July 28, 2017 Lighting
---------------
I continued the lighting project this morning. It's warm and very humid
outside but I got 5 more lights hooked up. In addition, I moved a
wheel barrow of dirt into the tire tracks that the Crawl Space construction
crew made in front of the Red Bud on the turn around. Next major
piece of landscaping is to move the bayberry bushes back where they
are leaning over in front of the big pine and tie them up. I want
to install another light here facing the pine.
I finished the lighting
but had sever cramps in my hand. Libbie said it was dehydration
and google agreed. I drank plenty of water in the evening and also
bought some bananas at Kroger to combat the cramps. For dinner we had
hamburgers before going to the studio for dance. I danced with the
blonde Lisa who is a very good dancer. Not sure what her story is.
After the dance we went out to MacGregor Tavern for fully loaded nachos
and a Yuengling. Accompanying us were the Hyghs and the Kretchmans.
Anita starts work on Monday. I programmed my last Sonoff module
and installed it in the garage hooked up to the new power transformer
for the Driveway West Lights. I had to modify the power controller
since it had a digital timer that did not turn on when you first plugged
it in. This was not acceptable since I need to use the Sonoff to
power the device on and off. In it's current configuration when the
Sonoff would apply power the controller won't turn on. I completely
removed the digital timer making the unit a power transformer only.
We left for dance at 8 PM and sunset was 8:25 so we didn;t see the
lights until we got home. I was thrilled they were all on and mostly
aimed correctly. I adjusted the one on the Redbud at the turnaround
to aim higher.
~
July 29, 2017 Clarinet problems
---------------
I had my morning lesson with Justin and had problems. My thumb cramped
up while trying to do the transition from A to B in the high notes.
I had lots of problems doing this. Justin said that this is the gateway
to progressing further in the book. Uh Oh. I have a challenge
to meet. Practice, practice, practice. I did a light sanding in the
garage but decided that I still needed a little more plaster on the
crawl space vent sheet rock cover. I put a light coating of plaster
in a few spots. Tomorrow I'll sand and paint to finish this job up.
There is a FB discussion thread where many people are reporting missing
pictures in the IOS app. I started looking at the problem and was
able to replicate the problem that Kurt posted, Now i need to find
out why the picture is not being displayed. We went to the produce stand
in Apex and got tomatoes, corn, peaches and a melon. For dinner
we had corn on the cob which is still very good considering it's getting
later in the season. We had the leftover ribs from last weekend
and Rodney Strong Cabernet along with the corn. The ribs burned a little
on the grill because they were still frozen somewhat.
~
July 30, 2017 paint
---------------
I did some final sanding of the garage closet then painted it with the
blue paint. I ran out of paint and ran out to Home Depot to get another
can. The color has changed slightly, the new formulation is a darker
shade. They removed VOC's from the dye used in the tints thanks
to the EPA. I finished the job. Next event was to work on the iPad
version of First Class. I found the error in the missing pictures.
They were being copied to the private directory instead of into the Vcat
directory. I wrote a program to search the directory compared to
the SQL database and found that there were more pictures missing then
just the bad directory. My iPad is missing around 600 pictures which
is disturbing. The people on Facebook were right. Libbie made her
pizza this evening for dinner. It was perfect, the crust was thin
and crisp and quite an improvement over the awful pizza we had in Atlanta.
I continued working on the First Class problem into the night.
In the meantime Joyce had a problem with the website while preparing
her growing tips. Her PDF wasn't there. Apparently she forgot to
save it.
~
July 31, 2017 first class
---------------
I got a new install file from Joe Bruns for First Class. This allowed
me to get my desktop up to date with a version of First Class that was
complete with all the photos. I'm using this as my base. I spent
the day trying then abandoning an FTP function in the FC for M app.
I believe FTP would be faster at file transfers but ended up with HTTP
transfers because they work. I'm using a timer set to half second
intervals to look for download complete and to kick off the next download.
There are 3 retries built into each file download.
I wanted
to get outside and finish up painting the closet but was committed
to finishing this IOS job up so I didn't. Libbie was under the weather
this afternoon so we had a simple dinner of Chinese takeout, the three
meat Szechuan. I ran into Kroger and picked up a bottle of CK Mondavi
Cabernet. CK Mondavi comes with a screw cap. After dinner i
went back to working on the program.
~
August 01, 2017 FC uploaded
---------------
Continued working on the First Class for IOS app. I eventually got a version
working with progress alerts being supplied by the iAlert library.
This is a library that is pretty easy to implement and gives a
very nice alert. I may try to use this to provide progress updates in
the future. I worked on this late into the night and uploaded a version
to Apple. I had to do some editing of the cert certificate to use
the release certificate instead of the development one. Once i got
through all this I jumped through all the right hoops and got it into
the review process before going to bed.
Libbie made the Waldorf Chicken
Salad today in Pita pockets. This was going to be yesterday's
meal but she wasn't up to doing anything hard in the kitchen.
~
August 02, 2017 busy day
---------------
Finally got back to the closet in the garage and touched up the paint
in spots that needed more paint. I then put a new outlet in this wall
and changed one other outlet in the garage, this time on the wall that
is due for painting next. I moved the tools back into the closet
once the paint dried and the electrical work was complete. Next item
on the agenda was the Vintage Violet work. I tried creating a document
stating what I was going to do but that quickly deteriorated. I
ended up calling Tina after our dance lesson this afternoon.
I got
what was needed straightened out with her. Now to do the work!
At our
dance lesson we reviewed the second half of our routine today. There's
a lot of stuff in there that we could potentially use in our dance
repertoire. Dinner was the chicken Waldorf salad again in pita pockets
because we had leftover grapes and apple half from yesterday.
We opened a new bottle of Mondavi Cabernet and finished the whole thing
with dinner. We shouldn't have done that but it was good!
Barbara
pointed out that the member number only as a password would be bad
because someone could guess a member number and if it worked publish
it on social media. Tying the name with the password should reduce that
possibility since it would force a person's name to be revealed and
tied to the leak.
The following was misplaced but found elsewhere:
I
worked all day on the restore function for the First Class for
Mobile photos. I found a very nice notification system called iAlert
which displays a good looking message on the screen. It really looks
professional. I wrote a little routine that deleted a dozen or so pictures
then used the repair routine to step through and fetch the picture
from AVSA.org. Eventually i will have a photo list with file sizes
and the routine will use that to do the checking. It may even be
faster but for now this is a stop gap measure. I eventually uploaded
it to Apple and jumped through all the hoops there to get it to the
waiting for review state.
Dinner tonight was Waldorf Chicken Salad
in Pieta pockets with some leftover wine from yesterday.
~
August 03, 2017 problems
---------------
I did a little better on the A to B transitions on the Clarinet. It's
a matter of practice and making sure my fingers end up on the holes
in the right spots. i spent a lot of the day figuring out how to import
userids and passwords into Drupal. There are several choices of
import and I evaluated a few of them. Reliability is a major concern.
I'm wondering if I should try to figure out how to do this remotely
by accessing the MySQL with a Pi or some other server. I can figure
this out by taking a MySQL dump before and after adding a User, even
a User with special roles. The sky would be the limit with just a
little MySQL. In bad news, Kurt reported that the IOS fix did nothing
on his iPhone. I'm going to restructure the IOS repair program to
give more user feedback. I'll play with the alerts to see what kind
of feedback I can give.
I made wings for dinner tonight. We had the
wings with a beer, Kilians Red, an old favorite. The Kilians was on
sale for 6.99 in Kroger.
I went to bed at 10:30 pretty tired. I was
hoping I could get the IOS software reorganized tonight and submitted
tomorrow.
~
August 04, 2017 trying to do everything
---------------
This was a busy but frustrating day. I t seemed that every time I got
engrossed into something I had to abandon it and go do something else.
I found a problem with the repair function on the IOS version of
First Class. When no repairs are needed the searching message box does
not dismiss. I created version 1.4.1 and started the upload to Apple
process.
I did a lot of reading about how users are listed on the
website. I'm almost thinking I would be better served by own set
of custom routines to initially load and then to maintain the website,
possibly with a chron job. I need now more than ever to clone the
AVSA website to play with.
I did multiple practice sessions with
my Clarinet today. I'm still having trouble getting the A to B transition
to work smoothly. I'm doing better at hitting the notes on the
metronome instead of missing them either early or late. We had spaghetti
with cheese for dinner tonight then around 8 we left for dance.
Anne Cain wasn't there since she's doing wedding things in Houston but
Paul was. We tried our tango routine but we seemed to fail. After
dance we went out to the Ale house with the Cains (Paul and Edward),
the Rumleys and the Kretchmans. We ordered some pulled pork tacos which
were delicious. I had a double barley amber which was good and what
I was looking for.
~
August 05, 2017 Pasta
---------------
Nice music lesson this morning. I continue to have difficulty going from
A to B in the higher notes. We covered dynamics this morning blowing
a note from a soft one to full volume. I got some positive feedback
on FB for a change regarding the IOS version of FC. A user reported
her photos were restored properly. This is good.
I continued reading
about running external programs to mess with the Drupal database.
Some of the more important for my purpose articles and clippings
I put on a new section of my Life Bits under Drupal tips. I was quite
surprised there was no Drupal section in the Life Bits To help with
this effort i started transferring files to a subdomain so I could
run a clone copy of the website.
There was a minor panic in the late
afternoon when Ken Barbi said the MAAVS website was down. The hosting
had run out July 25 so i quickly renewed it and one hour later it
was restored.
I read in the WSJ about Big box wines and they really
liked a Kirkwood Rutherford Meritage. i went over to Costco just before
closing and had a long chat with the Sommelier that was there.
He was a total wine snob but I enjoyed talking with him. The store was
unbelievably packed with people. The lines were long but i stuck
with it and bought my single bottle of wine.
I helped Libbie make our
latest Cooking Light recipe. They screwed this one up, the video
and the recipe didn't match. I eventually found the recipe in a link
on the video. the recipe was a Southern Living recipe and not cooking
light but quite good. I made the ricotta, Romano and other spices
filler. Libbie made the Ziti and chopped the yellow squash and zucchini
then roasted the veggies in the broiler. The Cherry tomatoes went
in whole. It was a delicious dinner that we had with the Kirkwood
Rutherford Meritage wine. This wine reminds me of the Hunt blend that
we had at Biltmore.
~
August 06, 2017 web stuff
---------------
Started the morning with a contact lens in my eye that seems to be behind
the eye. i put another contact in to see but the eye seemed to get
worse during the day. I switched to glasses for the rest of the day.
I
struggled with the vintage violets. Can't get fields to display
from the webforms entries. I also struggled with getting a clone
site running so I could play with some PHP stuff to access the website.
This too ended in failure.
Finally my last struggle was a success.
I transferred the TNG genealogy site over to the new server at glembocki.info.
After setting up the MySQL, assigning a User and changing
the paths in the settings entry of TNG it all came to life again.
Thank goodness for that. I would like to see this become more portable
than it is. I like the idea of using PHP for the genealogy. Hopefully
my PHP hacking skills will also assist me in implementing a smooth
solution for the membership functions on Drupal. After lunch we
drove to Pittsboro because the Lowes there was supposed to have eclipse
glasses. They didn't but I bought a rescue Oleander. When we got
back I moved the ladder to the front of the house. It previously
was outside the sewing room window waiting for me to re-screen the window
which I did do today and replaced the screen. From the ladder I
cleaned the bedroom windows, knocked down the spider webs and washed
the screens. This was for both windows. I chose to delay the Oleander
planting until tomorrow since I was tired. I continued looking at
the webform to content problem once we came back inside. Libbie made
her delicious pizza today and used the scraps of tomatoes from our
lunches. It was delicious as usual. I had a Killians Irish Red beer
as well. My eye is not doing well at all. I think it is abraded and
the contact is still in there somewhere. Cloudy milky fluid is leaking
out of my eye. I hope the damage isn't too serious.
~
August 07, 2017 eye problems
---------------
Libbie drove me to Dr Ira's office when it opened. Dr Amy put dye in
my eyes then used a blue light to see the pieces of my lens in the back
of my eye. She put some numbing drops on and removed the pieces.
It felt so much better. I got a bottle of steroid drops that I have
to put in 4 times a day to help the eye heal. I can't wear contacts
until Wednesday. I resumed working on the Vintage violets which is
a challenge. None of the database entries are showing up in a view.
Lots of reading and then I gave up and created a clone site on Glembocki.info
to play with membership for AVSA. I also tweaked glembocki.info
which contains the TNG genealogy program. This site is working
well. I resubmitted the process to transfer bluebirdgreenhouse from
godaddy to namecheap. I would like all my domains registered on namecheap
for simplicity.
Dinner tonight was the veggie pasta we made
from Saturday. I planted the Oleander we purchased from the distress
table at Lowes Pittsboro then ran out to Walmart and bought 3 bags of
mulch. IT's so dry, the ground was like concrete when I dug. I used
the new tiller to remove all the grass and weeds from a patch of ground
then used it to try digging. I found the conduit that carries power
down to the azaleas. I dug the Oleander hole next to the conduit.
We had corn with it and a bottle of Cabernet. We have to stop doing
this. The veggie pasta is fine but a full bottle of wine is not.
My eye feels tremendously better this evening although it's still a
little red.
~
August 08, 2017 webforms
---------------
IT's grocery day but since we're leaving for RI this week I didn't buy
anymore. I finally got the webforms and views working for the Vintage
Violet group and put together a series of pages. I also ripped many
CDs of our library into MP#s. The CDEX software makes it easy. Eventually
All my CDs will be ripped.
I also did some backups of the Ready
Share which is the drive attached to the router for all this streaming.
A concern is the amount of space available in Sonos. We may
exceed that wo I may be using the Android TV box along with Plex Media
server to handle offloading some of the categories. I'm thinking
that the Opera and Classical can be offloaded while everything else remains
on ReadyShare. I don't know how Plex Media server will work yet.
We finally got a lot of rain. 1.31 inches fell in the evening.
I thought the rain had passed us by. This is good news. Libbie said
she heard the Sump pump running from the Family Room. Pretty Cool!
The crawl is staying at 47% even though it's 98% outside. Dinner tonight
was more corn on the cob along with the leftover pasta. I have
to get up at my computer at 6:30 AM tomorrow to check in.
~
August 09, 2017 plex
---------------
I continued to work at ripping CDs. I downloaded the Plex media server
since it works with Sonos and can handle more than the limited directory
space in the Sonos system. I can run it on Traviata and let it
serve my normal music directory from the hard drive.
This afternoon
we had a good Tango lesson with Robert. The beginning of the routine
is the part we screwed up this time. I came home and ripped a few
more CDs then drove over to my music lesson with Justin at 5:30. We
moved to the page with some duets and full songs. He also recommended
some long tone exercises for developing breath control. Dinner tonight
was the last of the pasta with veggies. Libbie prepared a smaller
amount without the ricotta and other cheese to supplement our dinner.
We had this with water. After dinner I packed my suitcases for
our flight to Providence tomorrow. I got the Plex server installed
but it needed to scan the music drive which was going to take a while.
I left it scanning and went to back. Will check it remotely tomorrow.
~
August 10, 2017 flying
---------------
Up at 4 AM this morning then out the door on time at 4:30 AM. The Southwest
line was light and TSA was easy. The flight to Baltimore was very
smooth. We arrived early. Unfortunately we were planning to have
breakfast at McDonalds and it was boarded up in the airport. The line
at Chick Fil A was very long but we should have stuck with it. Instead
we had a bacon and egg biscuit at Arbys which was awful. A very
old hard biscuit with rubbery manufactured eggs. At least the coffee
was very good. The second flight was totally full but it too was
very smooth. i had trouble with the Enterprise Kiosk, it said my drivers
license didn't match. I need more leading zeroes in my profile.
We stood in line instead. We got an upgrade to a full size car because
an intermediate was not available. We got a Nissan which was old
and had a stained drivers seat but it was very smooth riding and comfortable
unlike that Chevy impala we had last time. We picked up a Sub
on Portsmouth along with some chips and took it to Barbara's house
where we each had 1/3 of a turkey sub. Barbara is trying to get along
without Bill but he did so much with the finances and bills that she
is still bewildered by it all. We then went to check into our Air
BnB. I tried a little Clarinet practice but was concerned about our
hosts upstairs. We went over to Brookdale at 4:30 for 5 PM dinner with
George and the ladies at his table. I had a salad, pork chop and
corn on the cob. Dessert was a slice of pound cake with strawberry
syrup. After dinner we went to Connors for cereal and milk then Spirits
Liquor store for a bottle of Cabernet. We had a glass of Cabernet
with some cheddar popcorn. I was able to access Traviata and play
some music using the Plex server at home. I also was able to organize
some of the CDs that i had ripped and placed on Traviata. Some of
them are still on Manon that need transfer to Traviata so they were no
organized.
~
August 11, 2017 cliff walk
---------------
Breakfast this morning in our AirBnB. This is actually a nice place.
Talked to our host Tom this morning about Newport. He recommended a
little shack for lunch. We went to Newport and looked for parking to
walk the Cliff. We finally found some a few blocks away on the Regina
campus. There seemed to be lots of parking available. We had a lovely
walk along the cliffs and enjoyed the nice day as well as the scenery.
We made it just past the Tea House after starting at the Breakers.
We bought water from an enterprising boy selling bottles out
of an ice chest after the walk. Next we drove over to Tom's recommendation.
We had the two lobster rolls for 15.99. Wow, this was the best
ever. They cut up a whole lobster and filled a hot dog bun with
the meat. The meal came with French Fries. We lucked out and found
on street parking at a meter right near the place. Libbie emptied her
pocket book into it since parking was $2 per hour. We bough almost
2 hours. I enjoyed the views at the restaurant - many women running
around in bikinis. After lunch we walked to the car and stopped at 2
liquour stores to get the beer. The first did not have Yuengling in
bottles, only cans so we bought Sierra then moved on. Picked up 2 packs
of Yuengling in bottles at the next store. Then we crossed the
bridge into Tiverton and ordered 6 pizzas and 2 salads for dinner. We
paid $86 for the food. At 5 Libbie and I went over to set up the plates
and napkins then I left at 5:40 to get the food. Somewhere after
6 Holly and her family showed up. We had not counted on them being
there since they never responded. We were short food and beer so we
ordered another pizza which i went out to pick up. Everything went
well after that. We had a total of 27 people. After the dinner we
went back to the AirBnB. in order to listen to music on my phone I paid
for activation of the Plex client which was 4.99. It streams quite
well from Traviata.
~
August 12, 2017 Lobster Pot
---------------
After cereal and coffee in our AirBnB we tried to locate a tripod. I
brought one but it was missing the adapter between the camera and the
tripod. Libbie supplied 2 hair berets that look like they will be stable
enough. Heather and Corrie could not find Bill's tripod. Nobody
is sure of where it is. It could be at Heather's or under some piles
in the garage or just about anywhere. It's not with his camera stuff.
We'll do the best with the hair berets. We picked up George at
11:15 and got to the Lobster Pot a little early so George wanted to
ride through Colts State Park which is a trip down memory lane for him.
This killed enough time so that we arrived at the restaurant at 11:45.
The meal was unbelievably good. We started with Mimosas then
had a Lobster Bisque. With dinner we had Lobster Roll which came with
French Fries. Then there was the birthday cake with all the traditional
birthday songs. After cake and coffee i set the tripod up, moved
the tables while Libbie arranged people in the corner for a large
group shot. We then did many family groupings before it was time to
leave. Sue presented the birthday gift which was a year of Cox Cable
and Mary presented the Family album she created on Shutterfly. She
also ordered an album for each of the siblings and gave them out. Very
nice!
When we got back I downloaded the pictures and then uploaded
them to Google and sent a link to the family. Around 6:30 Libbie
and I went to Tremblays Bar for a simple pub meal. We had a "Not
your Mamas Mac and Cheese" which was a short rib with caramelized
onions and some cheese in a toasted sandwich. We had this with
with a glass of Yuengling.
We then went over to Barbara's home where
people had gathered. Just about everyone was there except for Mary
& John and Holly & Darryl.
~
August 13, 2017 Brunch
---------------
This morning we watched some of the CBS Morning News then went over to
pick up George for the ride to Barbara's at around 9:45. The Brunch
was catered by Foodworks and was excellent. It consisted of eggs, bacon,
potatoes, sausage and coffee. I really liked the sausage. It
was a nice time. Heather was able to come up with the Mary Ellen Condon
pictures on Bill's computer. I had my Flash drive in my wallet so
she put the directory on there. This really worked well. When i got
back to the condo i uploaded the photos to Traviata into imageDB.
After
we dropped George off we went to the Topiary Garden. The accepted
our Selby recipricol membership so we got in free. The gardens
were spectacular. There were so many blooming things at every turn of
the path. We sat and enjoyed the Monarchs and the flowers. We next
went over to the vegetable garden and admired the bountiful harvest.
Remarkably there are no deer or other critters to spoil the garden.
This wouldn't last in our garden without deer fencing.
Around 6 PM
we went out for dinner to the Lobster Pot in Bristol. We had an outdoor
table on the patio under the awning. We enjoyed a glass of wine
and I ordered a Seafood Casserole which was a baked dish containing
shrimp, lobster, scallops, clams and other goodies. It had quite a
bit of bread topping but it was yummy. After dinner we went over to
Barb's house and joined Sue and Bruce for wine and conversation. It
was a nice end to the evening.
~
August 14, 2017 Rail Biking
---------------
After breakfast this morning we drove down to the Rail Station for our
8:30 rail express ride. We were a little early so we stopped at Dinkin
Donuts for a small black coffee and a glazed donut. We checked in
at 8:15 and were surprised to see around 40 people there. A medical
group from Fall River were having a group outing today. We launched
promptly at 8:30 after some safety talk from Trey our rail guide. Pedaling
was surprisingly easy. Once the car was rolling along there
was no effort to keep it moving. We had lots of fun doing this as we
clicked and clacked down the track. The ride along the bay was scenic
as we crossed a few rail crossings that had cars traveling the road
crossings. One crossing had a live person, a second crossing was an
automatic one with flashing lights and clanging bell. We were each
a few hundred feet apart. We stopped 3 miles down the track to rest
on chairs and benches while the staff turned the carts around using
a hydraulic mechanism. We seemed to get back faster than going down.
The whole thing took just under 2 hours and was a lot of fun.
Next
stop was the bank to drop off a signature card then we stopped at
the apt to download pics a little before going over to Brookdale for
lunch at noon.
Lunch was another birthday celebration. The entire staff
came out to sing happy birthday while they brought out a cake with
candles. George blew them all out pretty well. He's amazingly in
great physical shape. After lunch we went back to the apt to rest before
the 5 PM dinner again at Brookdale. I had the seafood salad and
a cranapple crisp for dessert. Libbie said this was their worst effort
to date. I lucked out with the seafood salad. It was actually good.
After dinner we were going to go to Barb's but she couldn;t move
so she called us off. She's not in great shape.
Back at the apt
we walked to the waterfront and watched the sunset for a while before
gooing back to pack.
~
August 15, 2017 Fly Home
---------------
Out the door at 4:30 AM as planned. There was a light rain falling as
we drove to the airport. We breezed through check in and TSA. Libbie
and i split a cranberry-orange scone at Starbucks and got a small
coffee each. Flights were on time as usual but the flights were pretty
bumpy due to rain showers up and down the East Coast. We got the
exit row both times. Woo Hoo. More good news was that McDonalds was
open again in Baltimore after being closed on the way up to Providence.
It looks like they refurbished the counter with a new one and installed
a McCafe stand as well. It was great to have a bacon-egg and
cheese biscuit again. They know how to make the correctly unlike the
awful Arby breakfast of a few days ago. We picked up our car quickly
and got home before noon. Our mail was waiting for us in the box, the
unknown box on the front porch was a Sonos speaker for the Sewing
Room. Once home we emptied the suitcases, had lunch and did groceries
and visited the produce stand.
This gave us our dinner for tonight
which was corn on the cob and open cheese and tomato toast. This is
a favorite from childhood.
During the day I talked with Dave Kesler
about the First Class for Mac program and then chatted a bit about implementing
the membership site using a dump from Imis which will be FTP'd
into Drupal.
I did some Clarinet practice today which was outstanding.
My fingers are doing better at finding the keys for the transition
from A to B.
~
August 16, 2017 home
---------------
Today is a recovery day. I started working on the horticulture pictures,
locating the selections, labeling all the pictures and cleaning
up backgrounds. This is a lot of work for 81 selections, Way too many
for this effort. I also started clearing the chrome shelves some more.
There is too much of everything. We canceled our dance lesson for
today and worked straight through the afternoon. My goal is to post
the thumbnails on the website tonight. I have a long way to go.
I tried to buy the flooring at Home Depot but Apex totally screwed up
the ordering. The guy used the online ordering instead of store ordering.
He had the pads sent to my home for a $55 delivery fee and did
not add the promo code I had on the postcard. I went back and had
him cancel the whole thing. I found the flooring in stock in Durham.
I will go there and get the floor and padding. Dinner tonight was
spaghetti with cheese and tomato slices.
~
August 17, 2017 wire shelving
---------------
Today's goal was to get the chrome shelves cleared and moved out of the
office. I spent time going through the folders and boxes full of CDs.
I threw out many folders of old CDs that were Warez and some ImagDb
backups. In the old days I backed up to CD/DVD. The new way is to
back up onto hard drive. In the morning Libbie and I went to Durham
on the 540 toll road to pick up the flooring and the padding. While
in the store we also picked up a Palm Tree and a huge container of
Mop and Glow. The Durham store flooring guy was great. He checked all
our stuff out at his desk but we still had to take his papers to the
courtesy desk to use my card and my coupon to pay for it all. We took
the toll road back home because it was so easy then unloaded the
car into the Living Room. I continued working on clearing the shelves
after unloading the car. At the end of the day I moved the chrome shelves
downstairs with Libbie's help. I then photographed all 3 sets
of shelves, my chrome wire shelves and the steel shelves, and listed
them all for a low price, $25 each for the steel and $40 for the chrome
wire ones. We were both tired from all the work today so we ordered
takeout, the Szechuan 3 meat dish, from China Chef next to Kroger.
We had rice, the three meat dish, eggrolls and a bottle of Cabernet
Sauvignon for dinner. Bad news tonight was I got a tracking order from
Home Depot for the canceled order. I called and they said only half
of the order was canceled. Home Depot flooring in Apex is stupid.
~
August 18, 2017 desk
---------------
I sold both the steel shelves in the Living Room and the chrome wire shelf
in my office today on Craigslist. I listed both sets of shelves
yesterday and today they were picked up. This cleared walls in both
rooms. Libbie started painting the trim in my office while i worked
at cleaning out the desk. By the end of the day I had the desk completely
emptied out and removed the legs then slid the desk out to Libbie's
office where it will remain for a few months while my Office is
refurbished. Late in the afternoon UPS delivered the unwanted floor
padding. I can't believe anyone would buy $89 worth of padding and
pay $55 to have it shipped. What stupidity. I returned the padding
to Home Depot and got full credit including the shipping. Dinner was
bread rounds with cheddar cheese and tomato on top. Also on my accomplishment
list today was the New Introductions. I found 13 of the
14 new intros, framed and fixed the backgrounds then created thumbnails
and posted them in a subdomain on AVSA.org
After a dinner of bread
rounds toasted with cheese and tomato we went out to the dance party
at 8 PM. The usual crowd was there. We met a woman who is living
in the basement of the tuumblins old house, Rita. Seh lives in Jupiter,
FL but comes once a month to stay at her daughter's house visiting
her grandchild. The daughter is a PHD in nutrition in Chapel Hill.
After dance we went to Spirits with the Kretchmans and Cains. Libbie
and I split loaded Nachos with a beer.
~
August 19, 2017 busy
---------------
This is a busy day. I worked on clearing my office some more. I then
went to my music lesson at 10:30. Justin moved it from 9:00 because
he had some cancellations. HE said I should time the long tones and also
covered doing the C Major scale. We played a few duets together.
He said that in the majority of book 2 after this one we play mostly
duets. i came home from the Music lesson and immediately started moving
more stuff out of the office. After a quick lunch of toasted bread
rounds with cheese and tomato we went to Lori and Mark's Wedding
Party at Tyler's tap room. It was a nice time. I had 2 beers and some
wings and other finger food. We brought a bottle of wine I picked
up previously at Costco. We attached a Wedding card to the bottle.
We stopped at the produce stand on the way home for tomatoes and peaches.
The peaches are rotten, not a great choice this time. They look
good on the outside but underneath they are spoiled. I reluctantly
got in the car at 6:15 and drove to Pittsboro. As we drove around the
Pittsboto courthouse I noticed a confederate soldier statue on the
lawn of the court house. We had the usual Roadhouse dinner of Salmon
BLT on flatbread which comes with sweet potato fries.
When the music
started Ken and Anita got up to leave. We did the same and followed
them out. Ken and Lana left also since the music was so loud. It
was a bunch of guys with guitars and drums with the main goal being to
see how loud they could play. We got hoome around 8:30.
~
August 20, 2017 remove carpeting
---------------
I want to remove the carpet today. After the mornging programs I attacked
moving the drawers upstairs to the attic. I cleaned off the desk
and moved outside for a trip to the dump. The legs fell off the desk
when I tried closing it up. they were always a problem. After getting
the last of the boxes out of the rooom I cut the carpet down the
middle and ripped it up and rolled it to carry it outside for the dump
trip. I bagged the padding and also bagged the nailing strips all
around the outer edge. i also did the closet. Checked online and
found that the dump is not open on Sunday so this will for tomorrow for
disposal. I picked up some mini blinds for the living room where
my office is going to be for a while. I mounted one and it looks pretty
good. i was too tired for the other. Libbie made her fabulous pizza
once again which i had with a beer I bought today in Kroger, Killian
Irish Red. I really like that beer.
Late at night I attempted to
splice the Ethernet cables but it didn't work. Next I tried putting
connectors on the wiring. This didn't work either with a switch.
I put my tester on the cable and worked on replacing the connector three
times, each time unsuccessful. I went to bed with the cable being
a failure.
~
August 21, 2017 Dump Trip
---------------
Took the carpeting and the 8 foot table with messed up legs to the dump
this morning. It was an easy trip, there was no line at all at the
containers. I could not fit the folding door from my shop into the
car so that will be another day. Libbie scraped the entire ceiling in
the office today which was amazing. Dinner tonight was hamburger with
tomato slices on a bakery bun. Side was baked beans. We had the
hamburger with Kilians Red Beer. I ran a new cable from the front hall
closet to the Office today to restore Internet upstairs. Now Sonos
and everything else works again.. Importantly, the landscape lights
turn on again. I also mounted the second blinds in the Living Room
to shield my computer from anyone passing by outside the window.
~
August 22, 2017 Dead Prius
---------------
Libbie's Prius battery was dead since it wasn't used all week. I put
the charger on it so she could go to her massage with Jennifer. I made
another dump trip with some junk from the attic as well as the folding
doors that didn't fit yesterday. Check in was late so we got B56
on the flight to Vegas tomorrow. Oh well. We'll survive. I did a little
trip planning for Oregon today. Dinner was hamburger again whcih
was very good with beer and baked beans.
~
August 23, 2017
---------------
I had a bunch of errands to do this morning. First thing was to mend the
electric fence in the backyard. Next i put a drip waterer on the
Hibiscus inside the fence in the backyard. I then practiced Clarinet
before packing it for the trip. At 10 AM i called for an uber. Juan
from Cuba arrived in 6 minutes in his White Toyota Corolla which was
just like mine. He took us to the airport in about 20 minutes. Our
flight left on time but it was the flight from hell. The ride over
the Smokey's was rough and the ride landing over the desert into Las
Vegas also rough. We had 3 girls sitting in the row behind us, all
less than 6 years old and a Mother across the aisle who was a moron.
The girls kicked the seats continuously, the mother had no parenting
skills and did nothing but yell at the poor little girls. At one point
a black woman took the time to sit with them and do an ABC activity
with them but other than that it was hell. I was so glad to get off
that 4 hour flight. We sat in a Beach Bar, Sam's BEach Bar in Vegas
and had an incredibly good Fish Taco and a Sam Adams. We were told
Sam was with Van halen and all proceeds go to children's charities.
Lunch was sup expensive at $75 with tip.Our Portland flight was delayed
by one hour because of the beautiful thunder storm we watched move
across the field. it doesn't rain often in Vegas but when it does it
messes everything up for a while. We finally got in at almost 10 PM.
Our condo is beautiful, very contemporary in an industrial theme.
It's 2 floors and has floor to ceiling glass overlooking the city.
Very nice. It also has all the modern amenities.
~
August 24, 2017 First Full Day Portand
---------------
We had our breakfast in the condo previously purchased in Safeway across
the street - shredded wheat, milk and banana. We then walked to the
street car line and purchased a one day pass on the TriMet system which
includes bus, streetcar and light rail. We took the #20 bus to the
Rose Garden after briefly stopping in to Powell's Books.We went into
the wrong end of the garden and climbed forever and then many hundreds
of feet of walking. The Rose Garden was totally worth it . There
were more varieties than i have ever seen, it was so beautiful and
there were so many varieties and all of them were in bloom. What a
spectacular site. I made note of one couple on a bench doing some heavy
making out. She was holding on to his erection and he was massaging
her breasts and had a hand under her skirt working away while her
head was back oblivious to the world. After walking for ours we grabbed
a water from the snack truck there. Eventually we bought some trail
mix and rode the shuttle all around the park. Next we went to the
Japanese Garden which had an admission charge of $13 for seniors. It
was totally worth it. The garden was so beautiful. Every turn in the
path was a joy to behold. When it was over we rode the shuttle down
to the MAx and took the train to the Library stop at 11th and then took
the streetcar up to Jefferson and 11th which is where our Condo is.
We stopped into the Safeway and bought a bottle of wine, some cheese
and a box of triscuits for our afternoon wine and cheese. Tonight
for dinner we went to Thai Chili Jam which was 2 blocks from our
condo. I had nice sweet sour stir fry with chicken which was outstanding.
Libbie had Scallops Pad Thai but she said hers was too hot. We
both asked for Medium heat. We each had a glass of wine with dinner
~
August 25, 2017 VooDoo - Chinese Garden
---------------
We had breakfast in the condo and then ventured out onto the StreetCar
and got off at Central Library. We then took a Max blue line train to
the Skidmore Fountain stop and walked blocks to VooDoo Doughnut. The
purple donut shop was a treat. There was a line as usual but it moved
quickly. They had many many kinds of donut concoctions. I got a Portland
Creme and the Bacon Maple donut which was something I read about
years ago. it was great. We sat outside with a young couple from New
Orleans and a young man from Birmingham, all visiting. We then had
a nice walk the few blocks to the Chinese Garden. We opted for the docent
led tour which was outstanding. We learned a lot about the architecture,
the stones and plants. Chinese incorporate 4 elements. Plants,
stone, water and architecture in designing a refuge from the outside
world. After the tour we stopped into the tea house and had roasted
peanuts and tea. I had the "8 Treasures" or Ba Bao Cha.
The tea was outstanding with lots of types of leaves, stems and twigs
that were supposed to be a Chinese elixir. The most interesting part
of the tea was the interesting mug. I want a tea mug just like the one
in the tea house. We looked in the garden shop and the tea house where
tea and some mugs were for sale but not the ones they served us
with. We next got onto the Max and then the streetcar and visited Powells
for the rest of the afternoon. It is an amazing place. Four floors
of a building that covers an entire city block is spectacular. I bought
3 used books. One was an Acadia publishing book of Death Valley
history, one was a book of Hemingway Short stories and the last was
an impulse purchase. I was attracted o the title which was "Tampa"
which was a suspense/mystery book on a table advertised as new
books at used prices. When done we hopped the streetcar and went back
to the condo to drop our stuff off, wash our hands and do other bathroom
functions. We sadly learned today that John Carter passed away.
This was shocking although we knew that he wasn't doing very well.
We got more wine at Safeway for wine and cheese then headed out on the
streetcar up to the PSU campus. We got off at a station called PSU
Center which was totally amazing. It was part of the campus with a brick
quad but what was amazing was the number of intersecting light rail
tracks with trains going every which way. The challenge was going
to be finding which Streetcar to get back on to go back. We walked 3
blocks up to Hot Lips Pizza where we each had an Ashland Amber craft
beer. I ordered 2 slices, a Pepperoni pizza and a Sicilian Veggie slice.
The slices were huge and I should have only ordered one. We decided
to walk all the way back since it was only 0.6 miles. On the way back
we stopped at the Old Church since it was before the 7 PM concert
start to find out about tickets. The place was only half full so we
bought 2 tickets for $36. The concert started with local musicians, each
playing 2 songs. This wasn't too bad but then our headliner, Haley
Johnsen came up. Who is a very slim, sexy and pretty lady who was on
American idol She has a great voice but the number of guitars in her
band drowns her out. She is much better without all the noise such
as when she sang solo strictly with an acoustic guitar. It was beautiful,
I wish more of her music was like that. We left a little after 10
and then it was home and to bed.
~
August 26, 2017 Sad Day
---------------
We had breakfast in the condo and then ventured out onto the StreetCar
and got off at Central Library. We then took a Max blue line train
to the Skidmore Fountain stop and walked blocks to VooDoo Doughnut.
The purple donut shop was a treat. There was a line as usual but it
moved quickly. They had many many kinds of donut concoctions. I got
a Portland Creme and the Bacon Maple donut which was something I read
about years ago. it was great. We sat outside with a young couple
from New Orleans and a young man from Birmingham, all visiting. We
then had a nice walk the few blocks to the Chinese Garden. We opted
for the docent led tour which was outstanding. We learned a lot about
the architecture, the stones and plants. Chinese incorporate 4 elements.
Plants, stone, water and architecture in designing a refuge from
the outside world. After the tour we stopped into the tea house and
had roasted peanuts and tea. I had the "8 Treasures" or
Ba Bao Cha. The tea was outstanding with lots of types of leaves, stems
and twigs that were supposed to be a Chinese elixir. The most interesting
part of the tea was the interesting mug. I want a tea mug
just like the one in the tea house. We looked in the garden shop and
the tea house where tea and some mugs were for sale but not the ones
they served us with. We next got onto the Max and then the streetcar
and visited Powells for the rest of the afternoon. It is an amazing
place. Four floors of a building that covers an entire city block
is spectacular. I bought 3 used books. One was an Acadia publishing
book of Death Valley history, one was a book of Hemingway Short stories
and the last was an impulse purchase. I was attracted o the title
which was "Tampa" which was a suspense/mystery book on a
table advertised as new books at used prices. When done we hopped the
streetcar and went back to the condo to drop our stuff off, wash our
hands and do other bathroom functions. We sadly learned today that
John Carter passed away. This was shocking although we knew that he
wasn't doing very well. We got more wine at Safeway for wine and cheese
then headed out on the streetcar up to the PSU campus. We got
off at a station called PSU Center which was totally amazing. It was
part of the campus with a brick quad but what was amazing was the number
of intersecting light rail tracks with trains going every which way.
The challenge was going to be finding which Streetcar to get back
on to go back. We walked 3 blocks up to Hot Lips Pizza where we each
had an Ashland Amber craft beer. I ordered 2 slices, a Pepperoni
pizza and a Sicilian Veggie slice. The slices were huge and I should
have only ordered one. We decided to walk all the way back since it
was only 0.6 miles. On the way back we stopped at the Old Church since
it was before the 7 PM concert start to find out about tickets.
The place was only half full so we bought 2 tickets for $36. The concert
started with local musicians, each playing 2 songs. This wasn't
too bad but then our headliner, Haley Johnsen came up. Who is a very
slim, sexy and pretty lady who was on American idol She has a great
voice but the number of guitars in her band drowns her out. She
is much better without all the noise such as when she sang solo strictly
with an acoustic guitar. It was beautiful, I wish more of her music
was like that. We left a little after 10 and then it was home and to bed.
~
August 27, 2017 Multnomah - Springhill Cellars - Mt Hood Winery
---------------
I went down early and had the coffee at 6:30 which is a very
good coffee.
Breakfast started the day with an egg over easy
with hollandaise
sauce and flat iron steak. We then went first
to Multnomah falls
at 9 AM before going to Spring Hill Cellars
where we had 5 glasses
of wine. The blonde owner gave us a nice
talk about her winery and
how this was a dream to run a winery.
Surprisingly i liked the First
wine served, a dry Reisling. Next
stop was Mt Hood Winery for a box
lunch of a turkey sandwich and
5 more tastings of wine. The owner
there had the same sotry,
Their dream is to be wineaker but their
main cash crop is pears.
Back at the boat in the evening the dinner
was Alaskan King Crab
with the Reisling from Springhill Cellars. We
played a wine tasting game today
where we had 3 wines to guess the varietal.
I can't tell one fromm the other.
I also can't tell these
imaginary flavors they are coming up with such as nose
of fruit or an
after taste of raspberry or a fruity finish. i can tell dry from
sweet
and definitely like the drier much better, especially a well oaked
red
wine such as Rodney Strong Cabernet which is my favorite. After
dinner we had a
nice lemoncello dessert with an apertif of a blend
that was fortified. We had 2
glasses of that it was so good.
~
August 28, 2017 Walla Walla - Basel Cellars
---------------
Breakfast started with an omelet with scallions and jalapenos
and potatoes
with Washington Walla Walla onions. Yummy, served
with toast
and Uncruise legendary bacon. We sat in a booth with
Bob and Bobbie
from new Bern. We departed the park we were
anchored at around 9 am
for the one hour drive to Walla Walla
and basel Cellars whihc was
a resort type winery. They have a
small hotel with accomodations for
16 attached to the iwnery.
We went down into the barrel room and had
a barrel tasting which
was great. We had a Malbec and a Cabernet.
This was after our initial pour of a
sparkling light wine. Back in
the tasting room we had 2 more wines before going
over to Westwood
cellars where we had lunch. We had 5 more samples of their
wines and
a very nice pulled pork tacos with salad and chips and salsa. Wow,
wat
a day. We hen went to the Hotle Westmore in downtown Walla Walla
where we
had an hour to wander the town. Libbie found 2 quilt shops
where she bought
some fabric. I found a nice tea shop where I
was looking for a tea por. Back
at the ship we had a 5 oclock snack
and a little guessing game with a wine
tasting of 3 wines plus a sparkling
variety to start the evening. Our wine
total so far is 30 different
wines sampled.
~
August 29, 2017 Starbuck-Paloose Falls
---------------
Today we are out of range of cell phone service. We are docked
at Lyons
Ferry in the town of Starbuck, not related to the
coffee vendor.
It makes interesting tee shirts. There is
nothing here except for
a KOA campground and a beautiful State
Park containing Palouse Falls.
After a breakfast of poached
eggs on toast containing an avocado
pesto we boarded the buses
and went to Palouse Falls. This is a very
scenicn Falls our in
the middle of nowhere. We took a 1/2 mile hike
out around the
back of the Falls and took lots of pictures. We then
got back
to the boat and had a lunch of baby back ribs paired with
a
Shiraz. The initial pairing was with a Pinot Noir but
previously
we spoke with April who thought a Shiraz would be the
better pairing.
The afternoon was spent with activities on the
boat. They had
a swim call and a Captains poker tournament. I
need to learn to play
poker someday. Just before dinner we
pulled up anchor and started
cruising down the river. Dinner tonight was huge
scallops prepared
in a citrus lime glaze. Three scallops was all I could
handle.
We previously had 3 glasses of Resiling in the lounge and then I had
2
glasses of Pinot with dinner. They also served a very nice apertif
with dessert
which was yummy. I hope we get a list of all the wines
we have had. I
estimated this was my 40th glass full of a wine.
We had dinner with Ken and
Susan and Phil and Karon. They are all
friends of Ken and Susan and are very
nice people. I finished my "Tampa"
novel and rated it so so. The sex was good,
the story
a little weak. I read the whole thing.
~
August 30, 2017 William Clore - Domaine Serene
---------------
This morning we were docked at an industrial area. Next to the
boat
was a junk yard and an uncruise beach with pink Flamingos
and plastic
Palm Trees. How cool, this is the party boat for
sure! Our first
stop after riding 30 minutes along beautiful
scenery of the Washington
fruit growing region was the McClore
Wine Center. We had an excellent
tasting comparing Chilean and
Washington State wines. We tasted
a total of 6 wines in our
"wine class" which was lead
by April, the director of the
center. We then went into the tasting
room where we had 3 more
wine tastings of red wines. Our next stop
was a bus trip to
Terra Blanco winery where the winery is very impressive.
There
literally is millions of dollars invested in a 300 acre
vineyard
where the goal is to make estate bottled wines. They have
their
own grapes, they press them themselves and they ferment the
juice
themselves. We toured some impressive bored out
underground
cellars which were reinforced with steel framework
then sprayed with
concrete. This was the barrel aging room.
It's truly amazing. We
had a lovely lunch of sandwiches and
salads as well as a greeting
Rose then a Cab with lunch. We
next went to the tasting room for another
6 glasses of wine
bringing our total up to 57 glasses. We had
4 glasses of wine
with April's 5 PM tasting then a glass of wine with
dinner and
then an apertif. Dinner was a pecan crusted steelhead
trout.
Dessert was a red velvet cheesecake. Total for the week so
far
is 62 glasses. I tried to get on Republic wireless but my data
had
run out for the month. Theoretically it will renew tomorrow
because
they said one day left. I skipped the 8 PM presentation
and passed
out in bed.
~
August 31, 2017 MaryHill and Sunshine Winery
---------------
This morning we had a breakfast of beef hash browns with an egg
over
easy on top along with toast and jam. The chamber of
commerce came
out dresed in costumes to greet us. A lady with
an umbrella said she
does "undercover" work as a hussy. What a
great group of
people welcoming us to their town of The Dalles.
We boarded the buses
and went to the Maryhill Art Museum. This
place was a total treat.
We didn't spend enough time here.
It's called the little museum
you never heard of. I saw some
Rodin sculptures and some paintings
by Rodin I never saw before.
Next stop was the award winning Maryhill
winery. They have won
over 3,000 awards for their wine with many
best in shows. We
sampled 6 wines there as well as a Merlot in the
tasting room.
The view of the Columbia Gorge from the winery is spectacular.
The
boat provided some chacuitiry in case we got hungry because
we
were not going to return until 1:15 PM. We stopped in the
wine
shop on the way out and sampled some Merlot which we bought
along
with another wine that won he award of Best in show at the
Oregon
Wine Association. We got back for lunch was a seafood
chowder made
from the trout from last night and also a crem base
with potatoes
and other veggies.
After lunch we had the option of walking through
downtown or going out to a
small winery inside an old flour mill.
We chose the winery tour which was worth
it for the building alone.
It is an old Sunshine Bakery flour mill. We enjoyed
the huge motor
that was used to drive many, many pulleys for various milling
machines.
They also had it decorated with old adding machines, an old cash
register
and numerous other antiques. The flour mill was up against
a railroad
yard. I walked outside and took some pics from the tracks
before we loaded up
the bus and headed back to the boat which spent
the day parked at The Dalles
public dock. In the evening we had
another wine tasting of Pinot Noirs, I had a
total of 4 glasses then
we had the drink of the day which was a Margarita.
Uncruise let us
down this evening with dinner. We had the Black Cod which was a
big
mistake. The fish was undercooked and slimey instead of being white
and
flakey. The veggies were not well matched to the dinner and
were bitter. When
dessert came it too was a dsiappointment. It was
supposed to be a pudding but
was a liquid with a Raspnerry and a Strawberry
in it. In the evening they were
having trivia in the lounge.
We listened to it from our room. The questions
were all about
our trip this week and what we remembered about it. My cell
minutes
had run out again so I bought another 1/2 gig even though the plan
renews
tomorrow. I ordered another book on Amazon by the author who
wrote the
Tampa book which I just finished.
~
September 01, 2017 Last Day - Archer and Domaine Serene
---------------
I can't believe it but Uncruise let us down again. I had coffee in the
lounge
until it was time to go to breakfast. We went down to the dining
room and sat
with Karon amd Phil. They forgot about our table
so when we inquired, Jessica
the Hotle Manager served us coffee but
no one took our order. We were able to
flag down Emma who helped but
then the food never came out. People who came
fter us were finished
eating and had left lready. For breakfast I had the
omelet and
bacon which was quite good. We got on the buses and headed out into
the
Williamette Valley. Our first stop was at Archer Vineyards, a tiny
family
owned high quality Pinot Grower. The entire staff gave us
a warm welcome. The
owner spoke to us and then later wandered around
with us as we enjoyed the
outdoor patio and the field of ripening
Pinot Noir grapes. He poured us several
glasses of a wine he made
in honor of his Mother. It was quite good. The
winery also provided
trays of chacuterie with meats and cheese, dried fruit and
nuts.
We then loaded up the bus and went out into the country to the fanciest
of
them all, Domaine Serene. Wow, this was like a fine country club.
The
tasting room was gorgeous. We took a tour first, down 4 floors
to the barrel
storage then slowly made our way up to the pressing
and fermenting operations
receiving a tasting along each step of
the way. We ended up upstairs in their
large dining area where a lunch
buffet of a delicious salad and a turkey
sandwich with lettuce and
peach jam was the lunch. A small square of chocolate
blueberry bar
was dessert. Of course we had this with a nice Pinot the servers
kept
going around keeping our wine glass full in addition to the water
glasses.
We took a look at the new tasting room which looked like
a fine restaurant.
Tastings in their started at $40. Wow. We then
headed back to Portland in
some pretty heavy traffic. We packed our
suitcases and then at dinner time had
the final dinner together, named
the Captains dinner. I had the short ribs in a
reduction sauce
with some broccolini. It was quite good. A glass of Triple
threat
which is a red blend accompanied dinner. They first poured a Cabernet
which
was bad. It had the aroma of nail polish. Our wine host April
then made
an announcement that this was a flawed batch. We stayed
with the triple threat
blend. Dessert was supposed to be a Tiramisu
but it was a chocolate layer cake.
We also had a glass of chocolate
liquour apertif after dinner. This was glass
number 92 of the week.
I skipped glass 93 which was champagne because I could
not drink
anymore wine. The champagne did not taste like a good wine, it was
a
little tart. The tartness combined with not wanting anymore wine
was why i did
not drink it or count it in my pour count. After dinner
Caltain Lyman played
his guitar. Atlanta sang 2 songs for us.
her voice is beautiful. The captain
played some standard covers then
played some original songs he wrote. We bought
the CD of his songs
which was $15.
~
September 02, 2017 Peters
---------------
We got up this morning around 6:30 and packed our bags, tagged them and
put them outside our room for pickup by the crew. We had a breakfast
of a Fritata with bacon and toast then said our goodbyes including
long the line formed by the crew. It was a short ride over to the airport
where we had no trouble going downstairs and across the road to
the rental counter. We luckily got a 2016 Toyota Corolla. Our first
stop was Costco where I was very disappointed by the wine and beer
selection. We moved along and soon found the Metromat where we did
the laundry. While the washers were washing I ran down the street to
the Fred Myer and bought 2 cases of beer for our hosts, Peter and David.
Once the laundry was done we got going looking for the interstate.
We drove i-84 along the river for a while then visited the Bonneville
Dam and watched the fish ladder before proceeding. On our way
into the visitors center our car was searched. No weapons and no drones
were allowed. Back onto the highway we got off at Hood River looking
for lunch. We had a pizza and a beer at Presteni. The pizza by
the slice was very good. It was easy to find Peter's house using Google.
They have a lovely ranch on 8 acres. We toured the property.
i really like the garage and the shop where Peter is working on a car.
David and Alma cam over later in the day and we all had dinner on
the deck. Pete cooked a meal with Tofu, Quinoa, Curry and a salad.
It was delicious. This is what we need to be doing. Katy got a call
to the hospital where a patient thought she was going to deliver a baby.
If there was going to be a delivery then Peter would have to also
go as the attending physician. We spent the night using Peter's WiFi
~
September 03, 2017 hood River
---------------
We had a leisurely breakfast at Pete and Kate's. In the garden Libbie
and Kate started cleaning up the flower garden, pulling weeds and finding
things. In the meantime Peter came home with a 6 point socket set
that worked on the shock absorber bolts without slipping. The 12
point set kept slipping on the bolt head. We finally got the bolts off
allowing him to install the new shock absorber and put the tires back
on the Subaru Brat. Next he is going to replace the front axle.
We
went out to lunch at a Golf Club where the food was excellent and
the bill not very high. I had a Tuna BLT which had a sushi grade Ahi
Tuna and bacon, tomato, lettuce and a large bun. On the side was chips
and salsa. It was great although I ended up not eating the bun top
since it was a lot of bread.
We then went to the Orchard and Farm
house that is owned by David. It's in rough shape and needs lots of
work. Everywhere I look on the farm there is work that needs to be
done. The kitchen is large but it's a disaster also. I would never
sign up for that much work.
We picked a few boxes of peaches out
in the orchard and found out they were for us. I thought we were helping
to pick peaches for the Farmer's Market. From there we went back
to Pete's to drop off the Peaches and the leftover lunch Libbie had
boxed. We heard that Barbara, Kate, Andrew and the baby had arrived
so we went back to the Farm House and greeted everyone. We then headed
down to the Farmers Market where Alma was selling the peaches in
their little tent. Kate, Andrew, Barbara and Dave all followed to the
little town of Mosier where the Farm Market was and a restaurant called
"Press and Cloth". We had interesting vegetarian pizza
and beer. We paid the bill which was almost $200. We also met David's
tenant pickers. A young couple just touring the country out to meet
people. They live in an RV on David's property. I had the peach
pizza and the eggplant pizza. Very interesting. Peter had to go into
the hospital so Kate accompanied us back to her house giving us directions
from the back seat on dark country roads.
~
September 04, 2017 travel
---------------
Peter fixed an interesting breakfast with potato, onion, garlic, tomato,
squash and eggs. We started having the meal out on the deck but got
chased indoors by the yellow jackets. After breakfast we said our
goodbys and headed South to Bend. We tried to stop in a little town
for coffee but there was none at a food truck or at the grocery in town.
We got back on the rod and drove around Mt Hood. Too bad the air
was very smokey. The view was incredible but shrouded in smoke.
At one point my eyes were burning. We stopped just before Bend at a
McDonalds where I had a Big Mac. It was the fastest McDonalds I have
ever been in. They actually timed the employees in how fast they serve.
We easily made our way to Jack's house although there was an accident
that stopped traffic for a while. We only lost 7 minutes.
Jack
and Barbara's home is lovely. Jack has extensively landscaped his
grounds has a beautiful perennial garden surrounding his patio. We
took a ride South of here to Newberry National Volcanic Monument and
climbed the Obsidian pile to the top observing the lava flow. The Obsidian
pile is interesting stuff embedded in the pumice rock and sometimes
veins of pumice can be seen in the pure black Obsidian. We then
went to a very pretty water falls before going to a lava field. The
Lava Field had some pretty gnarled wood and wild flowers of rabbit foot
plant. I was incredibly tired but hiked along. Dinner tonight was
made by Barbara and was a chicken and almond mixture over a bed of
lettuce with a sesame oil drizzled over it covered with fried noodles.
It was accompanied by canteloupe slices. Barbara made a Key Lime
Pie for dessert. How nice. I was incredibly tired and passed right out
when my head hit the pillow.
~
September 05, 2017 John Day Fossils
---------------
We had a breakfast of peaches and muffins then drove out to the John Day
area of the Painted Hills where we first stopped and had a nice picnic
lunch. i like the ham on flatbread with horseradish which was yummy.
We also had grapes and Mandarin Oranges. We did a nice walk through
the varied colors of the hills and admired the beauty that nature
has provided. We walked through two different sets of the painted
mounds then went to another painted mound area which contained fossils.
We found a few fossils of leaves on the rocks before very tiredly
and hot getting back into the car. We stopped at the little town of
Prineville where we stopped for a self serve yogurt. I mixed milk
chocolate and orange yogurt then topped it with honey roastd peanuts.
This is a nice yogurt place. We sat on the sofa in the place and had
our yogurt. On the way back in Bend Barb and Jack showed us their
Senior Center where they play bridge then we went to the Sagebruush Art
Society building which is a coop of sorts where membership pays for
the facility. At 6 PM we went out to dinner to Pastini, an Italian
restaurant on the Deschuttes River. We had a beautiful table on the
croner surrounded by flowers and a view up and down the river. I also
enjoyed the walkers going by in their summer clothes, to quote a Bruce
Springstein Song. For dinner I had the Canneloni Fruiti Di Mare
which was 2 Canneloni in tomato sauce stuffed with shrimps, scallops
and fish. It was yummy. We had a bottle of 2015 Sharecropper Pinot
Noir which was quite good. When we got back from dinner we spent some
time looking at the pictures from yesterday which was the Lava Flow
and the Obsidian glass flow. I also did some online research and canceled
our second night at Crter Lake. in it's place I added a night
in the coastal town of Florence. I found a river view room at the River
View inn. I had to pay for the deluxe spa room because it was the
only river view room left which costed us $50 more. We shaall see.
~
September 06, 2017 smoke
---------------
We had a breakfast of peaches and toast before leaving around 9. We stopped
for a fill-up at 3.09 in Bend then 10 miles down the road we stopped
for Starbucks and bought a picnic lunch and water. An hour down
the road the smoke got pretty thick and the road to Crater Lake was
closed due to fire. We chose to abandon ship and took Hwy 158 to Florence.
We had a picnic lunch stop on the Willamette River at Lowell
Bridge which was a preserved historic covered bridge. We had a nice
walk through the bridge and then headed towards Florence. We found
we could modify our reservation from tomorrow night to tonight which
saved us some money. The bad news was our reservation down in Prospect
outside of Crater Lake is going to cost us $150.
We enjoyed the
little walk down Bay St in Old Town Florence. We had wine and cheese
on our balcony overlooking the water then walked down to the Bridgewater
restaurant where we had dinner. We started with a Pinot Noir then
I ordered Surf and Turf which was Flat Iron steak and mushrooms along
with broiled shrimp.
~
September 07, 2017 foggy
---------------
It's a foggy and rainy day. We walked into town after the hotel breakfast
and mailed a couple of postcards. Next we stopped at the coffee
roaster by the bridge and picked up some coffee and a donut which we
had out on the back deck overlooking the Siulisi River. On the way out
of town i stopped at the used book store and bought the Lewis and
Clark book which was $12 and is a semi coffee table book. it got pretty
foggy and misty as we stopped at the Heceta Lighthouse. The fog is
pretty intense and it was hard to see the lighthouse. We took the
guided tour and when we were done the fog lifted a little. I took some
pics before we headed North again. The rain picked up again, this
time we needed the low speed wipers instead of the mist wipers. We
stopped at Waldport where I saw a buy Marijuana sign on a business which
I took a picture of for Facebook. We had a nice lunch in a Mexican
restaurant after walking the business district evaluating our choices.
We each had a Margarita and I ordered a Taco Salad with shredded
beef. It included guacamole, sour cream, refried beans, tomatoes and
lettuce in a tostada shell. We continued our travels North and arrived
at the Best Western only to discover i made a reservation at the
non beach front facility. I rented a suite anyway for $250 and then
attempted to cancel the other one which is supposed to be non cancellable.
The nice lady on the phone when I called the hotel directly
canceled my reservation which saved us another $150 that would have been
wasted. The suite is beautiful with a full ocean view off the Lanai.
We had wine and cheese then walked down the street to Kylleys Seafood
which i didn't need because i was so full. I had fish and chips
with a bowl of chowder. We ordered a bottle of Pinot Noir with the
meal which was $36. Individual glasses were $12 each so this was the
more economical choice. We walked back in the dark which was only
about 0.1 miles. We have been monitoring the Northward progress of
hurricane Irma as it marches up the coast. It is supposed to hit Florida
as a cat 4. I hope the condo hangs tough. Before going to bed
I installed a synch program and attempted to download the photos from
Libbie's phone. I need to find a better alternative to get her photos.
~
September 08, 2017 Roses again
---------------
It was foggy when we woke up this morning. I still can't believe how
much room we have in our suite. It can be 2 separate rooms. We stayed
around until 10:15 because we wanted to check in to Southwest. I
got B40 on the PDX to STL flight and A39 on the STL to PDX. We had an
easy drive to Portland. We went over to Salem then up I-5. It was
a Friday afternoon and the highway was full. We chose to go up I-205
around Portland and to our Comfort suites at 1 PM. We inquired and
as luck would have it we they gave us a room which we used to drop off
our bags. We walked to McDonalds for lunch then hopped onto the
MAX Red line and went out to the Rose Garden leaving our car at a park
and ride one mile from the hotel. We met some character who seemed
somewhat insecure and sat near us as we went to Washington Park. He
had stories of his road trip across the country, none of which was believable.
We enjoyed the Rose garden once again. So much had changed
with the blooms. At one time Libbie thought we saw it at peak a
few weeks ago. I doubt it. We did an hour of walking then decided to
take Max back. It was slow going back since they reported a car on
the tracks at 122nd st which slowed the system down. It was still OK.
We met a cute Mexican girl who wanted some assistance with train
routes. She didn't say where she was going but she stayed close to us.
I thought she was pretty cute and hope she wasn't in trouble. When
we got back we went out to dinner at Bistro 21 and also filled up
the gas tank to return the car. Gas was 3.09 which was not great but
we filled the tank as obligated. I had spare ribs for dinner with a very
nice craft lager. Libbie had a cheese sandwich and cup of tomato
basil soup. Wow, her bread was tasty. It was just the right amount
of food for the both of us. At the hotel a large tour bus from MN had
unloaded the passengers for the night at our hotel.
~
September 09, 2017 Travel
---------------
We had the hotel breakfast then drove to the airport and dropped off the
car and checked into Southwest. We breezed through TSA then had a
coffee at Stumptown Coffee Roasters listening to a musician playing
a piano. It was quite pleasant even though we were in an airport. We
walked the long corridor to our gate and there was another musician
playing guitar and singing Jim Croce songs. PDX is quite an airport.
We got on our Southwest flight and even though the flight was full
we got an empty middle seat. The flight was bumpy for the first half
but then smoothed out once we got out of the Rockies. We had a one
hour layover in St Louis which was good because there was no services.
We got the exit row on a brand new plane which was quite comfortable.
The flight was very smooth most of the way which was good. After
we got our bags I called an Uber. We got Matthew who was quite talkative
and a pretty nice guy. Once we dropped off the bags we went
to Kroger to get our milk and cereal for tomorrow and then to Chopotle
to get dinner. We got Carne Asada in a Bowl with all the fixins.
We only ate half at home and put the other half in the refrigerator.
It was the only meal of the day besides breakfast.
~
September 10, 2017 plaster
---------------
Got up at the usual East Coast time today even though it was the first
time back home in this time zone. I tracked Irma quite a bit and then
during breakfast the morning programs were devoted to Irma. Once
the morning shows were done I drove to Home Depot and picked up a can
of plaster as well as did a Kroger stop for fruit. Picked up bananas,
pears and plums. Thy didn't have the containers of blueberries like
in the past. The season is ending. Plastered all along the edge
of the ceiling, will sand this tomorrow. Watched Irma on and off all
day. It looks like good news for Sarasota, the storm may pass East
with less intensity than originally predicted. Our power is still on
and the Lanai Cam works. Did the unpacking today as well although I
am a little weary. When i went by the High School today on the way
to Home Depot i noticed the entire building is down. Libbie had a dough
in the freezer which she used to make a delicious pizza for dinner
with fresh basil from the garden. i wasn't tired at bed time so I
stayed up till midnight reading. I also got all the pics off Libbie's
cell phone and labeled the directories after using Jalbum to sort them
by date into appropriate directories.
~
September 11, 2017 sanding
---------------
The hurricane was less intense than expected in Sarasota which was good
news. Our camera still worked but the right-left control is not working.
After the news I got to working on sanding the ceiling. This
really tired me out and while sanding it was clear that this needs another
coat of plaster in many spots, especially the corners. Once done
I took a shower and rested, debating whether I should vacuum and plaster
today or wait till tomorrow.
i took the shop vac into the woods
and emptied it and banged the cartridge against the tree. It was
full to the top and the filter was really junked up. Would love to pick
up a new filter somewhere or maybe get a Home Depot Shop Vac. For
dinner we made Barbara Shannon's Chinese chicken salad. The rice sticks
got burned trying to flash fry them so I ran out to Kroger and picked
up a can of Chow Mein noodles.
~
September 12, 2017 ceiling
---------------
I finaally got into the office with the shop vac and vacuumed all the
plaster up. Dinner tonight was the Waldorf Chicken salad using some of
the chicken from yesterday.
~
September 13, 2017 ballroom
---------------
I did a little light plastering touch up in the office. We had a pretty
good review lesson with robert today. We concentrated on foxtrot
with a little bit of rhumba thrown in. We did groceries in Kroger today
on the way home from dance. Dinner tonight was egg salad in a bowl.My
new Samsung 9.7 inch tablet came today. This thing is amazing.
The display is the heart of this thing - bright and clear. Plex photos
are really showing up well.
~
September 14, 2017 bulbs
---------------
Thursday was a do nothing day. I was going to start painting but the
only thing i did today was to do a little light sanding and move a few
items out of the room in prep for paint. After lunch we went to Home
Depot and bought our bulbs for the Fall. On the way home we stopped
in Costco and bought blueberries, salmon and wine as well as pickles
For dinner we had the Salmon along with a Squash from the produce stand
and a Pinot, A to Z Winery of Oregon.
~
September 15, 2017 paint
---------------
I started painting the ceiling today but ran out of paint before finishing
the job. I made a Home Depot trip and picked up another can. The
job does not seem to be even so I'll probably go for a second coat
tomorrow which will be a problem because we have an Esquires Tea Dance
in the PM. Dinner tonight was egg salad in Pita pockets. At the last
minute we decided against going to the studio for the Friday night
dance. We heard attendance was way down. Not sure what is going on
with the studio but it is really going down hill fast.
~
September 16, 2017 tea dance
---------------
Ii had a pretty good lesson with Justin this morning. I learned a new
scale, F flat. He had an 8:30 before me and an 9:30 after me Nice to
see that his schedule is filling out. When i got home Libbie was not
here. She went to walk with Anita at 8:30 and still was out. I changed
clothes and got to work on putting a second coat of paint on the
ceiling. I had to do this early since we are leaving for a dance this
afternoon. While i was still dirty i brought the Skill saw upstairs
and cut out a section of the particle board where i need to raise
the floor to compensate for the dip in the joist below. I still don't
know if I want to do a single patch or more of the sheet going under
the trim board. We left for the tea dance at 2:10. Google said it
should take 40 minutes to get to Angier. We took a weird path over
hill and dale in the country side to get there. We found the place
OK in downtown Angier. Grace Ballroom is a pretty nice ballroom with
hardwood floor in a beautiful facility. We had a 5 piece live band,
snacks and finger sandwiches and tea. it was a perfect afternoon.
When we came back I was really tired and lay down and fell asleep. When
I woke i was pretty groggy. For dinner we ordered our Chinese dinner
of eggrolls and 3 meat Szechuan which we had with Kirkwood Rutherford
Meritage, a very nice blended wine from Costco. We did a trip
to Brewsters after dinner for ice cream cones. My favorite High School
girl was working the weekend. She previously worked the summer but
went back to school but now works Saturdays.
~
September 17, 2017 not much
---------------
After the morning shows and clarinet practice I didn't do much else today.
Libbie wanted to paint in the office so I cleaned up the one sheet
of particle board that i removed yesterday and then worked on removing
a second sheet. I decided to go right to the baseboard with the
sheet removal instead of just doing a 32 inch strip one joist or 16
inches from the wall. I worked on freeing up the windows so that Libbie
could paint them with the white trim paint. They were painted shut
from the house painting a few years ago. The rest of the afternoon
was spent reading and viewing some of the live "models"
on porn hub. that channel is amazing, so many pretty women vying for
dollars from so many apparent viewers. I guess this has been going
on forever. I would never pay for a video chat! Along the lines of
videos and images, I'm really liking the Plex server for our media.
For dinner Libbie made her pizza from scratch. She used fresh basil
and leftover tomato slices. The Emmys were on tonight but 'i played
on the computer.
~
September 18, 2017 floor
---------------
i ripped up the flooring plywood sheets where i want to level the floor
in the Office. This was a hard job - Ii couldn't get the particle
board up under the baseboard so i carefully removed the base and the
finished removing the sheets. After lunch Libbie helped me take the
trailer to home Depot and pick up new sheets of plywood. I have a concern
that the new sheets are 1/32 less thick than the sheets they replace.
Hopefully this is not much of a difference. The plywood was of
pretty good quality. After reading the reviews online of plywood missing
ply in the layers I was concerned that if a ply layer is missing
then the floor would be squishy in that area. We examined the 4 ply
sheets that the Apex Home Depot had on the stack and they looked great.
We didn't see any missing layers in any of the sheets. The plywood
rode home nicely on the trailer using the leveling boards I made
a few years ago. The plywood lays horizontally using the leveling gizmos
and doesn't appear to have any issues with lifting or shifting in
the wind at 55 MPH. Dinner tonight was spaghetti with Parmesan cheese
sprinkled on.
~
September 19, 2017 plywood
---------------
I did the groceries today then later in the morning I set up the saw horses
and began cutting the plywood to fit the floor where the particle
board was removed. i did not finish this job. The plywood needs
to be nailed down. Dinner tonight was egg salad in a pita bread sandwich.
I bought eggs today on the Tuesday seniors day at Kroger which
were the eggs for the salad
~
September 20, 2017 plywood
---------------
I put down the new sheets of plywood today and also replaced the baseboard
I had previously removed. I also patched all the nail holes in
the baseboard. Hopefully this completes the prep work before painting.
In the afternoon we had a very good Foxtrot lesson with Robert.
It was back to basics time. I was having trouble performing the turning
box as well as the zig zag twinkles. Robert straightened us out
on this It involved lots of focus on frame and leading with my belt buckle
instead of pushing. Dinner tonight was the Taco Salad, a Cooking
Light recipe that has beef with Salsa over lettuce topped with Cheddar
Cheese and Tortilla chips.
~
September 21, 2017 more plywood
---------------
While Libbie painted the baseboards in the Office I went outside and mowed
the entire back lawn, both the front part and the part by the creek
until the mower gas ran out. I previously went to Home Depot and
bought a gallon of gray paint for the Office and some pans for the kitchen
range to replace the dirty ones. The pans didn't fit so we went
after lunch to exchange them and also to pick up a sheet of Plywood
to replace one more on the Office flooring. There is an uneven spot
between the new plywood and the particle board so this sheet should
be able to fix that. For dinner we had Salmon with butternut squash
and a bottle of Red Blend wine. I found the Prosper wine in Kroger
that Libbie had found last month in the Portland Safeway. The two remaining
books from our order of Tulipmania books recommended by Road
Scholar came today. They are used books, one of them is a former library
book.
~
September 22, 2017 plywood
---------------
I spent the morning removing the additional piece of particle board that
was a little higher than the adjacent plywood. The plywood I bought
yesterday had questionable layers so we hooked up the trailer and
brought it back to Home Depot where it was exchanged without any problems.
That was good because I did not have the register slip anymore.
It turns out I didn't need it, the nice lady at the service desk
called a guy over from the lumber department. I drove the trailer from
the front door to the lumber door and unloaded the bad plywood and
loaded up a better sheet. Libbie and i carried the sheet straight from
the trailer to the office floor. I worked on getting it mounted
although i had to shim up a corner by the room door. The sheet matches
almost perfectly. I only nailed it around the edge because I ran
out of nails. We had a dinner of egg salad sandwiches in Pita bread
then went out to the studio for the Friday party. I finally mastered
FoxTrot!!!! Thanks to Robert's lesson on Wednesday I learned the turning
boxes and the zig zag twinkle. We went out to McGregor Tavern
after the party. I really enjoyed being outdoors in the patio area.
I sat with Terri, Kimber and Jennifer and Nancy and Art. We just met
Kimber, a beautiful tall black haired woman who said she has been coming
to the studio for a year. We ordered Red Oak beers along with
a Quesadilla. The Quesadilla with salasa on it was outstanding. It
came with cheese, chicken and jalapenos inside and sides of sour cream
and salsa. Loved it. It was a fun night we haven't done in a while.
~
September 23, 2017 ribs
---------------
Justin had some cancellations today so he wanted to start my lesson at
10 instead of 9. It was fine with me. I tried changing embouchure
to get my notes in tune with his tuning meter. I need a tuning meter
to practice at home. On the way home I stopped at Lowes to get more spiral
flooring nails. This was the Lowes out on 54. On the way from
there I stopped in Costco and bought wine and blueberries then got a
package of ribs which I ended up smoking in the smoker all afternoon.
They came out quite good. I was happy. We had the ribs for dinner
along with a butternut squash and a bottle of Rodney Strong Cabernet.
Before dinner I put the rest of the nails in the last piece of plywood
then changed the light switch and the outlet that was still one of
the old ones. The room is now ready for painting.
~
September 24, 2017 Paint
---------------
After the Sunday Morning TV shows we got out the paint tools and painted
the office. Once done I finished the accessories putting back the
door handles, the AC duct louvers and a few outlet covers. The last
item was to snake the ethernet wire under the floor to where it goes
upstairs to the attic. The paint really looks nice, it was a good choice
of color. I'll use the same curtains on the windows that previously
were there. I studied some stocks on Scottrade and was concerned
about the financial health of Frontier Cable. I own 10 bonds with
1,000 face value. Current quote is $790. I may bail out before their
finances get worse. I can't see it getting better, so I'll cut my
losses now. Meanwhile I spent a lot of time looking for the group shot
I took at AVSA but could not find it. That directory seems to be
missing. Libbie made her excellent pizza once again for dinner.
~
September 25, 2017 flooring start
---------------
I put down the underlayment pad in the office then started working around
the door to undercut the door jamb and put the flooring in. Next
was to actually start laying the courses of hardwood flooring. I got
quite bit of it going today before tiring out. We heard from Joe
today. He wants to come to TN and bring Paige with him then leave Paige
while he works in TN.
Dinner was the other half of the rack of
ribs from Saturday. We had it with Butternut Squash and Shiraz. This
half of the rack was quite meaty.
~
September 26, 2017 flooring continued
---------------
I continued the flooring job today and got about half way cross the room
before finishing for the day. Cooking Light sent an Enchilada casserole
recipe which we made for dinner tonight. Basically they put some
flour tortillas in a pie dish and layered it with ground beef in
onion, garlic and taco seasoning. The whole thing is then covered with
Monterrey Jack Cheese. I chose the mild Taco mix by McCormick instead
of the Hot which had red peppers in it. I added red pepper flakes
to my serving. It was good although I could tell Libbie was not keen
on it.
~
September 27, 2017 flooring across the room
---------------
Up at 5:45 AM left at 6:15 to take Libbie to the airport for her 7:55
flight. I got back and continued working on the floor reaching the opposite
wall and the attic door before quitting. The job went well.
I picked up the carpet scraps in the attic entryway and removed the
lower step which is insect eaten. I used a flashlight and did not see
any termite tunnels so it may have been a carpenter bee or similar.
I didn't see any other damage so I don't think we have a problem.
I'm thinking I can use the one sheet of plywood I have left to make
risers for the stairs. I'll have to buy stair treads from either Home
Depot or Lowes. Since Home Depot sent me a 10% off coupon i'll try
them first. For lunch today I heated the Hormel freebie i got from
Kroger. It had some kind of meat product, mashed potatoes and gravy.
It was adequate but not great. Dinner was Lloyds BBQ chopped pork
stuffed into Pita pockets. I like the Lloyds in a tub since the sauce
is very flavorful.
I did my normal Clarinet practice today then I
tried to play along with the Bacarole by Offenbach on a German Clarinet
site that i discovered. My Clarinet does not sound as good as the
one in the recording. I think it's embrouchere.
~
September 28, 2017 attic entryway
---------------
Went to Lowes this morning and bought the trim for the office as well
as a stack of stair treads and some 1x4. I'll paint all this before
installing. i put down the underlayment in both the attic entrance and
the closet. I cut both door jambs for both doors and then laid the
floor down in the attic entry. This completed my activities for the
day. While at Lowes I also got two 100 watt LED bulbs for the attic
because the old incadescent bulbs finally burned out. They may have
been the originals from when the house was built. There is one incadescent
bulb left. Should have bought a third LED but they come in 2
packs. Not sure where I would use the extra 100 watt bulb. I also
bought a 3 outlet outdoor cube tap for my extension cord. This really
works well since I can plug all my power tools in while working
outdoors. This includes the jigsaw, the Skil saw and the miter saw.
I used all three while putting down the attic entryway. Lunch today
was the leftover Lloyds BBQ in a pita. For dinner I had Southern Fried
chicken from Kroger along with a Shiner Bock Beer. We have one more
excellent tomato leftover on the window sill. I need to figure out
what to use it for. I may make a chicken and tomato sandwich tomorrow.
The tuner came today. It seems to be all over the place trying
to play a note. i was hoping it would be able to allow me to tune
notes better with my emboruchere. So far no deal.
~
September 29, 2017 flooring
---------------
Today I spent the whole day in the office closet putting down flooring.
This was a harder job than I first thought because of close quarters
and getting the pieces to mesh properly. Dinner tonight was Southern
Fried chicken from Kroger along with a couple bottles of Shiner Bock.
~
September 30, 2017 risers
---------------
I had a good clarinet lesson today as usual. We concentrated on getting
the notes to come out sounding better. Justin played a note on the
scale and I tried to match him. I was not having any luck at home
with the tuning meter.
I got hooked on James Bond using the Plex app.
I watched View to a Kill after finishing watching the old On her Majestys
Secret Service which featured Piz Gloria in the Swiss Alps.
Today
I started on the risers for the attic stairs by cutting up the
leftover plywood from the floor. This is a good use for this piece of
wood. I ended up returning to Lowes for more riser materials. I had
lots of trouble make-ing the door go down. It kept reversing itself.
Eventually the door self destructed going down and bent the drive
mechanism. After dinner which was pasta lasagnas in tomato sauce I
went out to Home Depot at 8 PM and bought a new opener with a 10% off
coupon. I alos picked up a couple of 100 Watt LED bulbs for the opener
since it was all on the 10% off coupon.
~
October 01, 2017 Garage Opener Install
---------------
During the morning shows I spread a couple of sheets out in the Family
Room and assembled the new garage door opener. I spent most of the
afternoon installing it in the garage. When I was done I ran to Lowes
and picked up another 1x8 board for making two more risers on the attic
stairs. I cut both risers and nailed them in. Now I'm ready for
paint but I was too tired and went to sleep exhausted. For dinner
tonight I thought I would make a pizza using a Kroger premade crust.
This was a disaster. The watery pasta souce went thorugh the crust
and glued it to the pan which made a mess trying to get a slice of pizza.
It tasted OK but was a mess. I had this with a Shiner Bock.
~
October 02, 2017 red paint
---------------
I finished the garage door install this morning by installing the control
panel by the house door and also by programming the phone app to
monitor and activate the door. It works really well. The door mechanism
is amazingly quiet.
Next I opened the can of red paint and put
two coats of paint on the risers. I was feeling stressed today because
I had a lot to do. In the morning I practiced Clarinet and also
finished the Sept update for First Class. I also returned Dave Kesler's
phone call. All this was stuff I was fretting about. I made another
pizza for dinner which I enjoyed with another Shiner Bock. This
time it came out a lot better. Talked to Lib this morning. There
is a glitch with the condo sale. There is no deed because the LLC
for the partnership ran out 12 years ago. I didn't even know there was
an LLC. Mary will have to deal with this when she gets back from
Europe.
~
October 03, 2017 stairs
---------------
I cut all the trim pieces for the base in the Office and lay them in place
but did not nail any of them. Next I started cutting the stair
treads one by one. Each one has slightly different dimensions. I got
about half of the treads cut before tiring out in the evening. It
was a long day of walking multiple times up and down the stairs. My
knee is acting up, at one point it wouldn't support me without pain.
I need to take it easy. I also ate too much today. Lunch was Lloyds
BBQ on a bun. I had the same BBQ for dinner on a buun as well as
ravioli and tomato sauce. I really need to cut down the eating. I'm
feeling stuffed the next day as I write this. I got up earlier than
usual this morning and checked Libbie in for her 6:20 AM flight tomorrow.
I also did a grocery run picking up the normal staples in Kroger
then going to Costco and picking up wine and blueberries. In the
evening I listened to Norma live from the Met. I nowo have a different
opinion of this Opera. At first I didn't think much of it but now
I like it. The singing is awesome and the music and the choruses
are great. I listened to it all the way to the end.
~
October 04, 2017 stairs and dance
---------------
I nailed the 6 steps I installed yesterday and then made a cut list of
the rest of the stairs. Next I practiced Clarinet until it was time
to go pick Libbie up. I left at 10:30 for her 10:50 flight. She called
when she was on the ground and had her suitcase while I was just
crossing under the Harrison Ave bridge, about 5 miles from the airport.
After bringing her home I gave Libbie the tour of my new door opener
and in the office progress. I then continued cutting stair treads
and finished installing them before we went to our dance lesson at
2:45. It was a good lesson, reviewing some foxtrot steps including
twinkle into forward progressive steps and also pivot turns from promenade.
Stopped in to Kroger on the way back and picked up pearl onions
and pork chops for our dinner plan. We made Cooking Lights pork
chops and pearl onions with apple slices. It was quite yummy, served
with a side of rice. Chicken broth and flour along with apple cider
vinegar made a nice dressing over the top of this. Quite yummy! We
had this with some Kirkwood Rutherford Meritage. We went out to Brewsters
for Ice Cream after dinner.
~
October 05, 2017 Room Finishing
---------------
I hauled the nail gun upstairs and worked on getting the base tacked down.
The gun does a great job since it also counter sinks the nail.
Libbie painted the stairs with polyurethane while I did this. The room
is really finishing up. The extra remote button for the garage door
arrived today from eBay. I'll mount this by the side door and hopefully
it works along with the remote panel at the house entry door.
Freddy came out this morning to diagnose the generator surging issue.
It appears to be starving for air. He replaced the air filter.
This cleaned up the surging and made it run smoothly. I can't see it
as being a solution but I'll try it to see. The issue was I changed
the air cleaner after it was surging. He said the generic filter has
more air flow. He also suggested the possibility of drilling more
holes in the air filter housing. I'll do that the next time it surges.
My issue is that I used WD40 one time and it fixed the issue until
the next time. Freddy used WD40 so I'm suspicious as to whether this
is short term or not.
Dinner was a salad with Cucumber and Tuna.
I used spicy thousand island dressing which Libbie didn't care for.
~
October 06, 2017 Finished
---------------
Libbie put another coat of urethane on the stairs then we went to Woody's
furniture to look at wooden file cabinets. The one I liked was $329
unfinished. We did find 2 lamps that seemed perfect for the downstairs
bedroom so we bought them for $30 each. I put 2 LED light bulbs
in the lamps. Now I need to address the fan relay so I can control
it via MQTT. I finished spackling all the nail holes then painted
them. This concludes the office remodeling work. It's been a long 2
months but is finally done. Dinner was Libbie's Quesadilla with cheese,
tomato and salsa on flour tortillas. She never made them before.
We went to dance tonight and enjoyed ourselves then went out to BJ's
Brewery for flatrbead California Club and 3 Red Oak beers.
~
October 07, 2017 moving day
---------------
I had an excellent lesson with Justin. I learned a new note, b flat,
then learned emphasis on marked notes. My music is coming along. On the
way home from the studio I stopped into Trader Joes and bought Apples
then looked at floor mats and file cabinets in staples. Came home
to help Libbie sweep the floor then went to Office Max and Lowes.
Bought furniture coasters in Lowes then went back to Staples and purchased
2 of the floor mats for the office. Came home and had a nice bowl
of tomato soup for lunch then went out in the rain with Libbie to
Walmart and bought a table for my computer. After lunch today I also
slid the big steel desk into the office and the file drawers. The other
drawers are in the attic and because the stairs are painted will
have to wait. Instead of moving my computer I spent some time ripping
CDs from our audio collection. I did about 30 but still have literally
hundreds more to do. I'm amazed that even though our online collection
seems huge it barely is 25% of our CD collection. Dinner was
a rib eye steak with sweet potato and Rodney Strong Cabernet. After
dinner I worked a little more on organizing the CDs I ripped, transferring
them to Traviata.
~
October 08, 2017 computer move
---------------
I disconnected my Desktop computer, Manon 3, and moved it up to the new
office. I had to take a scrap of 1x8 and mount it to the side of the
table to get the switch off the floor for Ethernet. This worked pretty
well. I wanted the floor clear for future passes with the Swiffer
cleaning pad. I spent quite a bit of time getting everything hooked
up again. When it was all done I fired the thing up and it worked.
Yes!
Libbie vacuumed the attic since we didn't want any of the sawdust
and crap on the floor to track down the nice newly painted stairs.
This allowed me to bring the desk drawers down which I washed before
installing in the desk.
I did some diagnosis of the garage door
control and think that maybe the wire was broken that hooked to the
red terminal. Either that or I broke it removing the panel from the
wall.
Dinner tonight was Libbie's great pizza which I put some red pepper
on. We had the pizza with water then had Key Lime yoghurt by noosa
which was the Kroger freebie. It was great but at 310 calories
it's a bit rich.
~
October 09, 2017 Roadhouse
---------------
This morning I shut down Traviata and moved it to the new office. After
many trips I started the Server and everything worked including the
printer. Hurrah! I need to build a step stool for Paige so she can
use the toilet when she gets here next week. I have some scrap lumber
in the side yard that was going to the dump but I'll use some of this
first. I took some time off this afternoon and read on the tablet
in bed as well as viewed some phub. My favorite girl, Emma Lovett,
was topless in her hot tub outside. Very nice. I went back to Staples
and exchanged the small chair mat I bought for the larger variety.
While there i went into Trader Joes with Libbie and bought some
popcorn that Joe said Paige likes and also picked up some two buck
chuck. On the way home we stopped in Kroger and bought the ingredients
for Taco Salad which we were going to have tonight until Libbie remembered
that tonight is Mr Wonderful at the Pittsboro Roadhouse. We
had a very nice time at the Roadhouse. Ken and Anita as well as Ken
and Lana joined us for a table of 6. It was fun when we have more friends
there at our table. We stayed part way through the second half
of Mr Wonderful's performance. Dinner was below Roadhouse standards.
The salmon had way too much mayonnaise and the sweet potato fries
were very greasy. The dinner was a salmon BLT that we split accompanied
by Sweet Potato fries. I had 2 craft beers, a dark porter to accompany
the meal.
~
October 10, 2017 cd rips
---------------
I made 2 stepping stools for Paige with the scrap stair treads lying in
the side yard waiting for a dump trip. I did a Kroger run for the
weekly groceries but no dinner plan since we have the ingredients for
tonight's dinner. We had taco salad with Shiraz for dinner. After
dinner we listened to the Magic Flute live on Sirius XM from the Met.
I ripped a pile of 30 CDs today now that the office computer is back
online. I'm amazed at how many we have yet to be ripped. I'm barely
at 25% of our media library.
Dinner was the Taco salad which we had
with a bottle of Shiraz.
~
October 11, 2017 garage and dance
---------------
I moved more stuff into the office since it's getting more difficult finding
stuff in crates and tubs. I have too much junk! I fixed the garage
door button finally by taking it apart and putting new wire to
the junction by using solder and shrink wrap so a single wire comes out
of the wall to the button terminals. i also installed the single
button at the side door. The door opener is now reliable. Dinner tonight
was the leftover Taco salad which we did not have with wine this
time. Water only. What a disappointment.
~
October 12, 2017 everything
---------------
I continued ripping CDs and working on the timer program throughout the
day. In the afternoon I took the saw and chopped up the pile of scrap
lumber from the flooring job and the attic stairs. It filled the
garbage can to the top. I did a Costco trip today to get blueberries
and wine. The blueberries unfortunately were from Argentina. I sampled
a pretty good frozen Margerita pizza and a chicken wing. Both
were good. I also found 14 hands wine for 7.99 which was $1 less than
Trader Joes. While there I went next door to Academy Sports for the
first time. Nice store but they didn't carry zip lines. Dinner was
Salmon with rice and Shiraz.
~
October 13, 2017 no dance
---------------
The garbage guy took our scrap wood. The can was super heavy but it's
all gone now. I ripped all of the CDs Libbie had in a crate in the
Plant Room. i finished up the Timer program for the ceiling fan this
afternoon. Dinner was spaghetti with tomato sauce and cheese. We went
to dance at 8 and found from Robert he was going to end it at 9 PM.
Not sure what's up for that. After dance we went out to McGregor
Tavern. Libbie and I shared a plate of fully loaded Nachos which had
Jalapenos, chicken, cheese, Olives, etc It wasn't too good. We had
this with Red Oak beer.
~
October 14, 2017 shelves
---------------
Good lesson with Justin. My homework is to practice with the tuner running
scales before I start playing songs. After the lesson I went to
Lowes in Apex and picked up a stud sensor because the Stanley quit
working. This tool worked well finding studs for me to hange the 2 shelves
I bought for the Navajo art. Libbie went with me to get another
shelf since I needed 3 instead of 2. I hung the last shelf and then
installed the art. It looks great. I spent a lot of time looking
for the Android TV box and finally found it in the Jtag container.
I hooked it up and got the Sweet Adelines convention competition from
Las Vegas streaming on our big TV. We both watched the finals including
Sue's Harbor City chorus which ended up placing 6th. The show was
enjoyable, next year they will be in St Louis. During the competition
we had Chinese Szechuan 3 meat wit eggrolls and 14 Hand Red blend
wine for dinner.
~
October 15, 2017 Paige
---------------
After the Sunday morning shows I went to work on the ceiling fan timer.
Unfortunately I had many problems trying to get the serial port to
work for debugging and status. I got MQTT working but not the serial
port. In the meantime I put up the Rose Parade poster and the bulletin
board in my office in a further effort to continue moving into my
office. My Clarinet practice today was awful. I tried running the
scales using the tuner and had many shrieks. When I switched to playing
a song the shrieks continued. Worse, I couldn;t do the scale that
crosses the break. I need to keep trying. We left at 5:45 PM for
Joe's 6:20 flight. I chose to park in Premium parking which used to
be called short term. It's $3 per hour. We ended up paying $3 after
picking up Joe and Paige. It was dark when we got home but Paige seemed
to settle right in to playing with Joe's old toys that Libbie dug
out of the attic and washed this week. We had Libbie'a outstanding
pizza with a Killian Red. She made 3 pizzas which were perfect. I
had one beer which wiped me out.
~
October 16, 2017 rain
---------------
It's a rainy day. We tried walking to the park in Seagroves but it started
raining on the way there so we turned around at the pond. Joe
left around noon before lunch. We had lunch then drove over to Trader
Joes for Apples. The weather was misty and cold but we drove over
to Crowders Park and enjoyed the Park. This was a huge park with lots
of play areas. After the park we came home and stopped at the library
for a pile of books. Dinner was Waldorf Chicken salad in Pita pockets.
Paige liked the chicken but didn't eat much. We had a glass
of wine with dinner.
~
October 17, 2017 Paige Day 2
---------------
We went to the library after a breakfast of pancakes. Paige had a melt
down because the animals were not arranged the way she wanted them
in the car. We fixed a picnic lunch then drove to the State Fair. We
parked at the far end of Carter Finley in the first row. It was a long
walk. We got some free hush puppies and Cheer Wine then went to the
Kids Barnyard. Paige wanted to have lunch so we found the picnic
area and had our sandwiches. She had an American Cheese on white bread
with fruit punch juice while we had tuna sandwiches. After lunch
we went over to the Sky Ride and bought $15 worth of tickets and rode
across the midway. It was a great but expensive way to get back to
the entrance and exit the fair. We found a pedicab and got a ride for
$10 plus $5 tip back to our car. This was worth it because of having
to carry Paige which neither of us could do for a long distance. Dinner
was white spaghetti with tomato sauce and cheese. We had a glass
and a half of Shiraz since it was a very long day with Paige. I tried
and failed to get the ceiling fan timer working with MQTT. I removed
the interrupt without much luck. Next I will try to remove ESPeasy
to see if I can make it to work. I'm quickly running out of ideas.
Late in the evening we listened to Turandot live from the Met.
I
had some interesting eMails with Joe regarding credit card rates.
he calculated what the break even would have to be between a free card
rewarding 1.5% and our $59 card paying 2%.
~
October 18, 2017 Crowder park
---------------
Libbie went with Paige to the library for story time while I redid the
timer program with debugging enabled over the serial port. I had to
get rid of ESPhelper to do this since I have not been able to get ESPhelper
to work with the serial port. I found a few errors in the program
this way that I am going to fix. After our lunch of BLT sandwiches
we went to Crowder Park for play on the gym equipment and turtle
watching from the zigzag bridge. After the park I was really tired
but we kept on going. Dinner was hamburgers with butternut Squash
and a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon. My Logitech hub arrived. I can control
the TV with Alexa but am having trouble with the DVR. I have
yet to get it to come on. During the night we had an issue with the
light over Paige's bed. She wanted it on but the 60 Watt bulb gets really
hot so we wanted to turn it off. Paige wanted it on. I ended
up taking a 60 Watt LED and putting it in this fixture. I need to buy
a case of 60 Watt LED bulbs.
~
October 19, 2017 Pullen park
---------------
This morning I rewrote the ESP8266 program which was working in order
to use the ESPEasy library. After i got it all compiled and loaded
it did not work at all! Next step is to strip back all the options on
the one that is working so I can get it to do timings better. I have
not been having much luck with this thing. Libbie packed a lunch
and we went to Pullen Park with Paige. After the playground and walking
through the Caboose we had lunch on the bandstand stage then went
over to the Carousel. Paige and Libbie rode before we went to the train.
While waiting for the train Paige rode the boats which used one
of our tickets so I walked to the ticket booth and bought one more
ticket. Tickets are only $1 each. We all rode the train around the
park which was not very comfortable since Paige decided she wanted to
sit on the bench instead of Libbie's lap. She can be stubborn, going
through the terrible threes. We drove home in the afternoon after
a tiring day at Pullen. Dinner was waldorf chicken salad once again.
Libbie spilled her wine which was the last of the 2 buck chuck Shiraz
so we opened the bottle of Rodney Strong and had Cabernet Sauvignon
with dinner. Clarinet is getting better. I'm doing scales using
the tuner and am now managing to stay in the green mostly by putting
more pressure on my lower lip. Today's practice session was the best
so far. Earlier this week I couldn't play anything after doing the
scales with the tuner.
~
October 20, 2017 Paige in the Park
---------------
Another busy day with Paige. While Libbie went to story hour I continued
working on the timer. I stripped down the interrupt function eliminating
a few MQTT status calls. Before reading hour I ran over to
Kroger for supplies and the Friday freebie which was Idahoan loaded potato
soup. I finally got the Timer functioning correctly. After lunch
we went over to Seagrove Park and played on the slides and climbing
wall. I actually climbed the tree ladder and then the climbing wall
and went down the slide with Paige several times. There are two side
by side slides. The 3.0 reeds came today so I fired one up and tried
it with my tuning meter. It seems to work a little better than
the 2.5 reed. Most of the notes are coming in on the green of the tuning
meter.
Dinner tonight was the awful seasoned hamburgers along with
baked Honey Chipotle beans and Columbia Crest Cabernet Sauvignon.
We were so tired we collapsed in bed at 8:30 PM. Paige is a beautiful
little girl but she is a bundle of energy which far exceeds our level
of energy
~
October 21, 2017 Clarinet practice and new clarinet
---------------
I went to my music lesson at 9 this morning. I was using the new 3.0
reed but was still having some trouble. Justin tried my Clarinet with
his mouthpiece and determined that it may be time for me to move up
to a Yamaha Student Clarinet. He wrote some models down in my music
book. I had a little bit of a shock upon waking. Where was no hot
water for my morning shower. I tried a little bit of a cold shower but
not too much. My most sensitive area for cold is from the waist to
my neck. My lower body and my face are not sensitive to cold water.
When I came back I worked on the heater. I found an online forum
that discussed the 4 flashes that my controller was putting out. Sediment
in the tank causes the sensor to cause the controller to go into
an over temp lockout state, the fix is to perform a reset protocol
using the gas control. I posted the protocol on Google Keep for the
future. After I got the heater going again I retrieved the hot tub
drain hose and hooked it to the bottom of the heater and flushed it.
There was a lot of sediment, rusty water and a gelatin like substance
in the tank that I flushed out into the laundry tub. I kept flushing
the drain until it ran clear. Libbie raked the driveway with Paige
and I picked it up with the cart. Paige got a ride back in the cart
after I emptied it. In the afternoon i read the WSJ on the back porch
while Paige took a nap. I then took down the fan in the back bedroom.
This is going to be an issue trying to fit the Huzzah chip and
the relay into the ceiling. I may end up putting a false junction box
cover in the ceiling for access to the electronics.
For dinner we
had Chinese with Paige. She ate some rice and an egg roll. We had an
egg roll, 3 meat Szechuan with rice and Cabernet Sauvignon.
~
October 22, 2017 visitors
---------------
Up early with Paige this morning. She is quite a handful. We still were
able to watch our CBS Sunday morning program. This was a good one
with a story on the Cloud. I took the ceiling fan down in the back
bedroom. I decided I am going to provide an access hole with a white
cover next to the fan. This hopefully won't look too terrible. I
can put the timer and power supply up in the ceiling through this hole.
We walked back to Seagrove Park and had a delightful walk as well
some play time before Paige decided we weren't going back the short way
we both wanted to. Melt down time but she settled down after a while.
I think it's a phase, sort of like the terrible twos but at three.
Libbie made 4 pizza crusts for our guests tonight. Cole and Emily
came for dinner to meet Paige. They brought a Wolfpack tee shirt and
hair bows for Paige which she modeled for me. I posted the pic on
Facebook and Cole forwarded a pic to Joe. Josh commented that it was
nice. Cole said best tee shirt ever. Funny. We had a delightful
evening with Cole and Emilie. Cole brought Pepperoni and mushrooms as
well as some shallots to top the pizzas. They came out pretty good.
Paige was delightful throughout the evening. Accompanying the pizza
tonight was some Killian Red Beer. Tonight I made the decision to
buy the Yamaha intermediate Clarinet YLC255 which lists for $1270 but
is listed on Amazon for $589 plus shipping. Bottom line was $597.
which I thought was a good price. It's coming from New Hampshire.
~
October 23, 2017 retirement
---------------
I had an early morning, 8:30 am, dentist appointment. I learned that
Dr Paul is going to retire at the end of June. We need to get placed
with a new dentist.
We had some of the leftover pizza for lunch then
Libbie went to the craft store for paint for Paige and then Kelly Road
Park. I stayed home and cut the opening for the timer access panel
to the fan. Unfortunately I ran into the joist blocking that I had
to chisel out with the oscillating saw and the chisel. This really
tired me out. I didn't do much for the rest of the day. It was a cloudy
and misty day and then finally later in the evening around 10 PM
it started raining. This is our first real rain in 2 months. For
dinner tonight Paige had some pasta bowties with tomato sauce that Libbie
cooked while I went over to Chipotle Grill and ordered 2 Chipotle
Bowls to go with Carni Asada, rice beans, cheese, salsa, Sour cream,
corn and peppers and onions.
~
October 24, 2017 Natural Science Museum
---------------
After breakfast we headed out to the 10:30 AM story hour at the Natural
Science Museum in downtown Raleigh. This is really a nice museum.
Paige of course had 10 seconds of attention span at each exhibit. We
spent the most time playing with the stuffed toys in the Discovery Room.
We luckily found metered parking in front of the museum for $1 per
hour. After the museum we went to McDonald's in Crossroads. This
is a really nice McDonald's with a 2 story play area and it wasn't busy.
I had a big Mac. Paige had a Happy Meal with nuggets and Ranch dressing
with chocolate milk. After lunch I walked over to Lowes for wire
while Libbie watched Paige in the Play area. When I got back I put
the ceiling fan back on the ceiling and did all the wiring. This ran
me down. The music chair arrived when we got back from the museum.
I really like it as a proper chair to practice Clarinet. Dinner tonight
was pork chops with rice and squash and a bottle of Mondavi Cabernet.
Hoffman was live from the Met tonight. Very nice.
~
October 25, 2017 prototype
---------------
This morning I used the Adafruit perma proto board for the first time
and really liked it. It makes wiring so much easier because rows of
pads are tied together. This means each pin of the Huzzah is brought
out to multiple pad holes. At first it didn't work when I plugged the
relay into the proto board. Eventually I found that the relay input
had 4.5 volts floating on it when not attached. The huzzah max is
3.3 volts. I put a 2N2484 NPN on the input with a 1K resistor driving
the base from the Huzzah GPIO 15. This did the trick and it all worked
perfectly. This is now ready to go into the ceiling. I installed
misterhouse on the Node Red Raspberry Pi. I'm going to use this
to experiment with voice recognition by Alexa and voice feedback from
IBM Watson.
Dinner tonight was Spaghetti with Cheese and 14 Hands
Red blend wine which was great.
~
October 26, 2017 Fans and BBQ
---------------
Today I turned the ceiling power off downstairs and hooked up the relay
to the ceiling fan and then packaged the Huzzah into another electrical
box and tucked them both into the ceiling space. I put the cover
on the ceiling cutout and put the fan back together then tested it.
Surprisingly the Huzzah is able to attach to WiFi while inside the
electrical box in the ceiling. This was my biggest worry. I did all
this while Libbie took Paige to the library for another costumed story
time and then Crowder Park. Joe arrived at 3 PM after his drive
from Clinton, TN. He took the Northern route from Virginia and said
it was better. Paige was almost in tears of happiness when she saw her
Daddy in our kitchen. We took a walk in the back to the little play
area in Seagroves. On the way there we stopped at the pond and fed
the turtles some crackers. Joe, Paige and I drove to Smithfield BBQ
on Davis to pick up dinner. We picked up a BBQ pack which was 1 pint
of BBQ, 1 pint of slaw and 12 hush puppies. We added a pint of potato
salad and a pint of beans to the mix. On the way home we stopped
at Foodlion and picked up a 12 pack of Yuengling bottles. I only wanted
6 but Joe said he would take some home. The meal was great, it has
been a while since we had BBQ.
~
October 27, 2017 dance
---------------
Up at 5 AM this morning. I set up the coffee the night before then went
downstairs at 5 to turn it on. We left at 5:30 for the airport with
Joe and Paige. They have a 7:30 AM Delta flight. We parked in the
Premier parking which used to be called short term parking. It costs
$3 per hour, we stayed less than an hour. We accompanied Joe and Paige
to the check in then left them at the TSA entrance. We got home
tired but happy with the 2 week visit of Paige. She is a delight but
certainly has her own way.
I got a new printer installed in place
of my old one which quit. I needed to print the IRA distribution request
then carried it to the Scottrade office in Durham. They were
helpful. I made some errors in the form and the person at the desk was
helpful in the corrections. I need to transfer 17,555 to my individual
account. I really don't want to withdraw anything but IRS rules
force me to do a withdrawal.
We left for Esquires at 5:50 and had
an easy drive to North Ridge Country Club. The band was the Continentals
which had 4 Sax players across the front of the orchestra. The buffet
dinner was excellent as usual. I had the top round and a piece
of the seared Salmon. I really like their salad. We each had a glass
of wine with dinner. We sat with Jocelyn and Greg and also Bob and
Phyllis. Bob is one run on sentence but his wife Phyllis is pretty
nice. She is taking jazz piano lessons which is interesting. She's
also a singer and uses the singing to help her piano playing.
We left
shortly after the announcements during the break. Others were leaving
as well but not because there was anything wrong. We were incredibly
tired.
~
October 28, 2017 stairs and steak
---------------
It was hard getting up this morning. I did a short warmup on the Clarinet
at 8:15 then left for my lesson with Justin. He taught me a Pentatonic
blues scale which I need to memorize and then improvise.
I
had lunch on the back porch with Libbie, it was soup today. After
lunch i did some measurements of the side deck height for stairs. It's
about 50 to 55 inches high. I went to Lowes and bought a pair of
6 step stringers and 6 stair treads. Unfortunately when I got them home
I measured them against the deck and they seem to be 2 or 3 steps
short. I will have to purchase some 2x12 planks and make my own stringers
this long.
We did a trip to Kroger for dinner fixings and bought
a package of steaks on a WooHoo special for half price. They expire
tomorrow. Dinner was the NY Strip steak, broccoli, baked white potato
with sour cream and a bottle of Rodney Strong.
~
October 29, 2017 stringers
---------------
I bought the 2 2x12s today in Lowes for the stringers. They were heavy
and hung out the back of my trunk. I kept them in the garage since
we had a little bit of rain during the evening. Libbie made her pizza
from scratch, she didn't have any saved dough. We had this with the
leftover Yuengling Black and Tan that Joe bought on Thursday.
~
October 30, 2017 Clarinet
---------------
While Libbie borrowed my car I went outside and cut the 12 foot boards
into stair stringers. I ended up with 9 steps cut out. I'm 3 treads
short since I only purchased 6. These boards were heavy and that concluded
my activities for today. I brought them around and tried them
out but just placed them there without nails to see how far they extend.
We signed up for an Aetna PPO today which was a long process on
the phone with the representative. My Clarinet arrived late in the
day after I returned from a Lowes trip to get 2 bags of gravel. Dinner
tonight was Salmon with broccoli and Mondavi Cabernet.
~
October 31, 2017 Happy Halloween
---------------
This morning Libbie came with me as we returned the 6 step stringers.
While in Lowes I got new HVAC filters for upstairs and down. We then
bought $185 worth of groceries in Kroger on seniors day. Most of it
was the fruit cake ingredients. IT's the season! I absolutely ran
myself into the ground when I dug out the landing for the steps, poured
the 2 bags of gravel and set the stringers in place. This stuff
is heavy. The new Clarinet does sound better than the old one. The high
notes seem easier to play as well.
We left for Greg and Jocelyn's
Halloween Party in Sanford at 5:40. Libbie made her ham delights for
the party and we brought a bottle of Chateau Michelle. We arrived
at 6:10. Their old restored house is a few blocks from downtown so
there were quite a few trick or treaters. They were cute, some of their
parents came with them up on the porch and they were costumed as well.
I wore the purple and green wig and Libbie was a flower. It was
fun. We had lots of wine and then the meal of pasta and meat sauce
with sides that people brought. For dessert i had a slice of Key Lime
Pie. We left the party at 9:01 after a wonderful night. The temperature
was perfect so we sat on the front porch which is up high. It
gave us a nice overview of the trick or treaters.
~
November 01, 2017 fed ex
---------------
I had horrible cramps in my legs last night, the most pain I have ever
been in. Ii need to hydrate more. The pain continued into the morning
but cleared up when I started working on the steps. I got all the
ones installed that I had after going to Lowe and picking up some material
for the risers. I am short 3 treads to complete the job. We
heard from Mary Benziger this afternoon. Libbie is going to get the
closing papers for her parents condo via email. They need to be notarized
and then Fed Ex'd to the lawyer in RI but my printer doesn't work.
I reinstalled the printer driver and printed the pdF directly from
the Server. We then drove to the credit union and got the notary
work done with me as witness. We then drove to FedEx on Maynard and
overnighted the 23 pages along with a copy of Libbie's license. I chose
this FedEx because it was near Lowes where I bought the missing
3 steps for the fence project. On the way home we gassed up the car
at Krogers and got some wine for dinner. Tonight we will have hamburger
with mushrooms, beaked beans and cabernet sauvignon. This afternoon
I stopped into Walgreens and bought some Hyland Leg cramp pills.
Lets see if that works.
~
November 02, 2017 drive to Sarasota
---------------
I went through the entire night without a single cramp. I can easily
proclaim that the Hyland pills work, either that or it's a placebo effect.
We left this morning at 8:20 according to the time stamp on our
outdoor driveway camera. We saw on TV this morning that I-95 was
closed at Lumberton due to an accident so we took Rt 1 South to 501 in
Aberdeen then to I-95 just before Pedros. It was a mostly easy drive
but it was long. We had a Mcdonalds bathroom and biscuit stop in
Florence then a lunch stop at McDonalds in Savannah. I got gas at both
stops. We took 301 down to just before Ocala and then I-75. Our
later start successfully got us past rush hour in Tampa although we got
in later than desirable because it was dark. The time was 8 PM.
We unloaded the suitcases then went out to dinner at Evie's Spanish Point.
There was an old guy playing guitar to some older 60s music.
Lib and I danced 2 Rumbas to his music. I ordered Fish and Chips with
a Yuengling draft which was delicious. Libbie had coconut shrimp.
On the way home I picked up a tank of gas at Murphy in front of Walmart
because they are across the street from Evie's.
~
November 03, 2017 prius V
---------------
It was an easy morning. I unpacked my suitcase and spent some time online.
We decided to take a walk to the club house for lunch which was
nice. For lunch we had the waitress Tommie. I ordered the provolone
and tomato flatbread and a Yuengling. It came with a side of lettuce,
tomato and cucumber with Zinfandel Vinaigrette dressing. We then
did a Walmart trip. I needed a contact lens case since I threw my old
one out at home but did not pack a new one. I needed a backup wetting
solution anyway, A new case comes with the Optima brand wetting
solution. We then went over to Sunset Dodge where they had a used Prius
V Model 5 with 52,000 miles. The car was beautiful and I really
liked the test drive. It was the deluxe model with lots of stuff I do
not want. Heated seats, leather and a moon roof are the things I do
not want at all. The other issues were they valued my Corolla at $4050
and they wanted $800 dealer fees. The car price was good at 17k
but mileage was high at 52k. The RI condo closed today. Everybody got
their notarized papers overnighted on time and the closing proceeded.
I am estimating each sibling will be getting $40k+. I studied some
preferreds yielding a minimum of 5%. The issue is that $40k is not
much money so %5 is only $2,000 a year.
For dinner we had wine and
cheese on the Lanai during sunset then went over to Evie's Spanish
Point for dinner because there wa music there again. I had fish tacos
which came with nachos and chili head salsa which I really like. A
Yuengling complemented the meal. The singer was really good with an
amazing guitar. We danced a Rumba for our last song before leaving.
~
November 04, 2017 Selby
---------------
We left at 8:15 for Selby Members Day. The parking lot was full when
we got there but we squeezed between an SUV and a tree in the upper corner
of the lot. Check in was at the Payne mansion where we selected
our plants and turned in the slip with our plants on it. Then over
to the meeting room where we were wrist banded. They ad coffee in
the room. We watched the status of Selby from their CEO. Everything
is going really great. Chagall brought in 100,000 visitors last year
and membership was up 9%. They had a very good year. Next the plans
for Selby's future were presented with a parking garage and rooftop
restaurant. We then went into the tent on the great lawn and went
to the members plant sale. I picked up our free plants while Libbie
went plant shopping. We got quite a few members plants, mostly foliage
types. We brought one batch of plants out to the car then returned
to tour the mansion and the tropical house before buying some more
plants. Libbie got a large philodendron and an annual type plant with
pretty foliage. We then had lunch under the Banyan trees. It was a
turkey wrap that we split along with a bag of chips and a cup of water.
We then left pulling a cart of plants. Rather than pull the cart
all the way to the car, Libbie waited in front while I fetched the
car and loaded it in front of the entrance. We put the plants in the
condo for now on the Lanai and collapsed on the bed. At sunset we
had wine and cheese then went over to the Italian Grill where I had a
glass of Pinot with eggplant Parmesan. It was delicious but our waiter
really needed more training. In addition there was a birthday party
going on with some rude behaving people.
~
November 05, 2017 traviata
---------------
This morning I continued researching cars looking for a Prius V. I looked
at the Carmax offerings as well as cars in the Raleigh area. I
found two promising offerings - a Carmax in Columbus, GA and one in
Naples, FL. i skipped lunch except for a banana then left for the Opera
at noon. We found parking on Palm a short distance from Main St
further from the Opera House. We picked up our tickets then sat in the
courtyard chatting with a couple from Michigan. He's a retired fireman
living in Bradenton. They do season tickets in the balcony each
time. We were in the second row of the balcony. Not as great as being
up front in the orchestra section but the performance was outstanding,
the music fantastic and overall a very enjoyable experience.
I heard Opera i a whole new way. During a duet I noticed on Clarinet
followed the Soprano while another clarinet followed the tenor then
both Clarinets played the duet. Very, very good.
We ordered a Dominoes
pizza online for dinner - extra cheese and extra mushroom on a large
Brooklyn crust for 7.99 using online coupons. Our pizza wasn't ready
even though online tracking said it went into the oven as we were
leaving the condo. they apologized and said they got behind and gave
us free Parmesan bread twists which were delicious. The bread came
with Marinara dipping sauce. Very good.
~
November 06, 2017 Happy Birthday
---------------
This morning I decided to chase down the Prius in Naples. Google said
it was a 104 mile drive. I setup an online appointment for noon and
left at 10 AM. We got there without issue at 11:45 AM. We met our
sales guy Joe who was an incompetent moron. He didn't know how to start
a Prius and told us he would never buy one. Every step of the way
he seemed to be frustrated and took us to task when we asked Carmax
managers for help with some things. We didn't have money with us and
did not have the Corolla title but worked things out. They financed
it 100% and arranged to buy our car with the closing of the Corolla
title transfer occurring in Raleigh. We have 3 days to payoff the loan
without penalty It took 3 hours to do this, mainly because of the
incompetence of our sales guy. The Prius starter battery was dead
but they gave us a new one from NAPA. At delivery the key FOB was dead.
The service department handled it nicely and replaced the button
battery but the sales moron was having a hard time dealing with it.
It was great to get out of there! We stopped in a Ft Meyers McDonalds
for lunch on the way home. Later we went out to Evie's Spanish Point
and had a nice seat next to the bulkhead next to the water. It was
our own private table. I ordered the nachos to get Chili Head Fries
then ordered the special which was a Salmmon BLT. We had this with
a Yuengling. I picked up a 12v adapter at Walmart across the street
and soldered it to the Sirius Radio but it didn't do any good because
next morning it did not work. We have a nice new used Prius V for
our trip home tomorrow.
~
November 07, 2017 drive home
---------------
We did last minute packing this morning and got on the road at 8:20 PM.
Traffic was not bad. Our first stop was for Libbie at a truck stop
just before Gainesville. A crummy place to stop. While she went to
the bathroom I topped off the gas. Next stop was for lunch at exit
36, Brunswick GA. It was a very nice McDonalds, either new or remodeled.
I had a Big MAc and shared a small fries. We got gas across
the street at Raceway and were on our way again. We topped off at the
exit 170 Pilot for 2.12 per gallon. The Prius V is very comfortable
but has a noticeable tire vibration at 70 MPH. The tires may need
rebalancing. We arrived home at 7:45 PM. It was a dry and event free
drive. Dinner was tomato soup and cheese and tomato sauce on a toasted
bread round.
~
November 08, 2017 Errand day
---------------
This was a busy run around day with little accomplished. I started with
a trip to the Credit Union to get a Bank Draft for 15, 757,91 for
the Carmax payoff. After this I went to Lowes an dbought 50 feet of 8/2
wire but they did not have 50 feet of metal sheatthing only 25 feet.
I then went to Investment Blvd looking for the NAPA store that is
supposed to be there but had no luck. I brought the wire home then
left for the Carmax store on 70 in Raleigh. Hannah in the finance department
was proficient and handled the transfer of the title to Carmax
including the notary and payoff of the temporary loan I had to take
out in Naples to bring the car home. She is mailing the title, the
check and the Corolla keys to Naples via Fedex overnight. There was
a Lowes next to Carmax on 70 so I went inside and found the cable in
a 50 foot roll. They also had 8 packs of LED light bulbs 60 watt equivalent
for $10. That's 1.25 each which is great for 2017. I came
home had soup for lunch then went out again to the NAPA store on the
traffic circle where Chatham St meets Old Apex Rd. They actually had
the Prius 12V battery in stock. The guy said there is a person who
rebuilds hybrid batteries in Apex and buys a lot of the 12 volt batteries
so they stock them. I brought it home, installed it in Libbie's
hatchback without any problems. Watching the YouTube installation
video a few days ago was helpful. I then took the old battery back to
NAPA for an $18 core rebate. The whole thing was a good deal, less
than $200 for the battery bottom line. The previous cheap one i found
was for $202 on Amazon. For dinner we made Chicken Parmesan from
cooking light. Libbie made a side of spaghetti which we accompanied
by a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon. I did some diagnosis on the Sirius
XM power cable and verified with my meter that 12 volts is not coming
out the cable.
~
November 09, 2017 Sirius
---------------
I practiced Clarinet a little before Nancy came then while she was here
I did financial stuff. Payed the bill for Stoneybrook the Visa card
and figured out how to pay everything we owe this month. When Nancy
left at noon we had lunch then drove to Scottrade in Durham where Libbie
deposited the proceeds from the condo sale almost 46k$. It was
an easy drive up 751. We found that when the merger with Ameritrade
is complete there will be a Cary office out by the old Sams club on
Harrison. When we got back I started working on the Sirius XM. The receiver
fits nicely in the corner of the windshield mounted to a side
triangular piece of glass. I spent the afternoon hiding the various
wires then backed the car out and tested the Sirius Radio. It worked
fine. I had some trouble figuring out how I was supposed to select
the Aux audio source but soon found the correct menu. This is pretty
nice.
Dinner tonight was the leftover Chicken Parmesan breasts with
a side of spaghetti. We had another bottle of Cabernet with the Chicken
Parmesan. I need to stop eating like this.
~
November 10, 2017 drive to va beach
---------------
The garbage man came today but not the recycling guy so we'll leave it
out while we're gone this weekend. FedEx overnight delivered the check
from Carmax as well as my old license plate from the Corolla. I took
this to the Credit Union and put it in checking to pay the real estate
taxes. A quick trip to Lowes while at the CU yielded some glue
on cable clips for the Sirius wiring in the Prius where it's exposed.
Next was a trip to Kroger to top off my gas tank for the trip. I used
the new Citi card. We got going a little before noon with a planned
lunch stop on 58 in Emporia once we got off I-95. The trip was easy
as we arrived at the Hyatt lobby simultaneously with the Benzigers.
We hung out in Mary and Johns room a little bit and had some wine
Mary had with her. At 7:30 we went down to the bar for some hand munchies
and wine. While there we also ordered a "Sammy" which
was grilled chicken on a bun with bacon and Fries. The bar was incredibly
loud with young people making lots of noise having drinks and
just hanging out. We left around 10:30 and went to bed.
~
November 11, 2017 wedding
---------------
Watched the sunrise on the ocean today from our 8th floor balcony. This
is a beautiful hotel. It's brand new and has the Hyatt quality.
I ordered a Southwest omelet for breakfast which was yummy except it
had too much salsa for breakfast. Mary and John joined us. We made
plans for going over to the Back Bay Wildlife refuge which was 18 miles
south of here. Mary and John came with us in our new Prius. The
center was great with boardwalks in the marsh and sea grasses that were
over 8 feet tall. It was cold but the brush sheltered us from the
wind a little. We saw the first of the migrating Swans. there were
about 70 of them. The ranger lady said that the peak is 1000 swans that
migrate from Canada and spend the winter on the VA and NC coast.
We saw a nice variety of other birds including Herons and some small
warblers in the grasses. The swans were Tundra Swans which i found
on iBird. We had a nice lunch at Panera bread on the way back. i had
a half sandwich which was a turkey cranberry that was yummy. The
others got soup and half a sandwich, I skipped the soup. We got back
in time to get ready for the wedding. First shuttle was at 3:20 to
the art museum. The wedding ceremony of Michael and Sasha was lovely.
We had some Family photos afterward then on to the reception. A little
Pinot Noir with the hand passed hors d'oeuvres hit the spot. She
crab soup in little glass vials was outstanding. The band was a rock
band with 3 guitars and drums but they were very good. We did quite
a bit of dancing with much swing, some rumba and a foxtrot and Texas
two step. Dinner was filet mignon with rice and asparagus. The wedding
cake was dessert with blackberries, blueberries and strawberries.
A perfect cake. We did quite a bit of dancing including hold and
sway then left on the shuttle at 9:30. What a nice wedding.
~
November 12, 2017 travel
---------------
We had breakfast at 8. I had a Western Omelet which had peppers, onions
and cheese in an engg mixture. I had bacon and hash browns with it
and then a donut later. We waited around until everyone had gathered
around 10. We saw Sasha and Michael and a lot of the rest of the
wedding party. We said goodbye and left around 11. Sue and Bruce were
staying another day. The drive back was pretty easy. I used the
new Costco card in VA to get gas. We had a McDonalds stop at Exit 4
just before NC for lunch then got home around 2 PM which was good. I
was a little tired and did not play the Clarinet when we got home.
Libbie made her outstanding pizza once again from a crust she had in
the freezer. it was quite good. Tomorrow I will deal with titling the
car.
~
November 13, 2017 Title
---------------
I went to the DMV in Cary around 10 and they would not title the car because
the Bill of Sale showed I financed the car which i did for 3 days
but paid it off. I drove to Carmax on Glenwood to see what i could
do and they said to have the bill reprinted by Naples with a zero
balance. I called Naples an got a person who said they couldn't do that
and instead sent me a pretty stupidly worded piece of paper that
said i was going to pay the loan off someday. I already did! I called
back and got a person named Haley who helped me by doing what the
first one should have done which was print me a new bill of sale showing
no balance. They finally sent it and after lunch Libbie and i went
to the holly Springs DMV and got the car titled and registered. Hooray!
We had a very nice looking young lady who took care of us including
not charging sales tax for $500 a second time after we already
paid Florida $589. Next we went hunting for Lemon fruit for the fruit
cake. We tried both Lowes foods and Kroger as well as Foodlion on
Old Raleigh Rd on the way back home. No luck. I got out my electric
drill and remmoved the cardboard temp Florida license and installed
my own plate. Dinner was sweet potato, steak and Fetzer Cabernet. A
successful day.
~
November 14, 2017 Stairs
---------------
Today Libbie checked into Southwest for her flight. i went out for groceries
then came back and installed the piece of metal under the stair
wooden footer to stop moisture from wicking from the ground into the
wood. I also installed the bottom two steps but not the top one.
I need to find what to do about the riser before installing the last
one. i came inside and studied some pages of BP and wrote a fake review
for TER to get access. I also did some more genealogy research
using the newspaper.com I created. Dinner tonight was a side of spaghetti
wth Cooking Light style chicken Parmesan. We had the leftover
Cabernet from yesterday which was half a glass each.
~
November 15, 2017 trees
---------------
I left at 8:15 and took the Cary Pkwy to drop Libbie off for her 10:10
flight to PVD. Once back home I got the equipment out and took down
a Sourwood tree in the front yard. The Poplar is next, it's a much
bigger tree. I'm clearing a spot for the tomato garden in a cage.
Inside the house I cleared the path in my workshop for the cable to run
inside the closet for the greenhouse heater. This involved moving
a lot of stuff. I'll start the wiring tomorrow. Dinner tonight was
BBQ chicken from Kroger along with a Lemon Meringue pie. I wwent to
bed early watching youtube videos. A new Sonos speaker arrived. To
my delight it was a Sonos One which has Alexa built in. It's still
pretty buggy.
~
November 16, 2017 wiring
---------------
I spent the whole day working on the sheathed 8/2 going to the greenhouse.
I almost had a disaster when I drilled into the sheathing for a
live cable. I nicked the neutral with the drill. It could have been
worse. I had to take apart the entire plywood where the cables go
into the electrical box. I'll have to cut a new one to replace it.
I did a lot of running around up and down the stairs pulling the cable
a few inches ata time. Eventually I got it where i could hook it up
but discovered the circuit breaker was too wide. I exchanged it at
Lowes for a thin 50 amp breaker. Dinner was loaded potato soup which
was a freebie a while back. it wasn't too bad. I got the new breaker
installed. Now I need to nail down the cable before drilling the
greenhouse wall. The heater came in so I went to Northern Tool to pick
it up. I also bought an LED shop light to work on projects. This
was badly needed.
~
November 17, 2017 Wiring
---------------
Inside the garage I Fastened down the armored cable from the panel to
where it goes into the duct leading to the upstairs workshop. I need
to cut a piece of plywood for under the panel but have not done that
yet. I had 2 clarinet practice sessions today since it's been a while
since I've seen Justin and I want to be in top shape. In the afternoon
I mounted the heater inside the greenhouse. This involved moving
the ladder inside the greenhouse then locating a stud and drilling
2 holes for the bolts. I decided to use the wall mount since it seemed
simple. I had to run out to Lowes to get 2 4 inch galvanized lag
bolts which I screwed into the wall stud. The bracket seems sturdy.
Mounting was easy and consisted of lifting the heater onto the bracket
then placing the bolts in to hold it in place. While in Lowes I
picked up some fittings to fasten the BX cable to the unit. Also in
Lowes I found a woman who was doing similar, hooking up BX cable with
#8 conductors to a new oven. For dinner I went to Chipotle and got
a Chipotle bowl with carnitas and all the fixings such as rice, beans,
lettuce, salsa, etc. Yum.
~
November 18, 2017 heater explosion
---------------
Ran the thermostat cable along the upper conduit in the greenhouse and
wired it into the hanging unit. I did not install a thermostat yet
but i picked one up in home Depot. I flipped the breaker and nothing
so i climbed the ladder and pressed the power on switch and there was
a huge flame with a bang that blackened the siding in the greenhouse.
I decided to let this go for the day. Obviously some more debug
is needed. Dinner tonight was some St Louis ribs precooked in BBQ sauce
that I heated and ate. I treated myself to some Cabernet with the
wine. I did not drink the good wine I picked up in Costco, saving
that for hopefully when Sue and Bruce visit after Thanksgiving.
~
November 19, 2017 heater redux
---------------
I studied the heater and discovered the thermostat wire which carries
240 VAC was pinched to ground which caused the flash bang explosion.
i cut the bad part of the wire away and hooked it up so I could remotely
activate the heater. First time I powered the unit up it displayed
a "P" and the fan ran without heat. Closing the leads
with a jumper turned the heater on. I pressed the power to off. The
"P" went away and the fan stopped running. I then jumpered
the thermostat leads and nothing or so i thought. While doing a few
other things in the greenhouse i noticed the overheat light came on.
It looks like the fan doesn't turn on but the heating elements do.
This is wrong. I took the heater down and started tracing out the
controller board so i could add some enhancements to make this perform
like a conventional furnace.
Dinner tonight was two mini pizzas
that i made using Kroger crusts and some tomato, pizza cheese, frozen
onions and tomato mushroom sauce. I did not taste the mushrooms.
~
November 20, 2017 plane
---------------
Up early. I have a lot of stuff to do today. Put my clothes from yesterday
into the dryer after breakfast and was able to pull them out before
I went to pick up Libbie. Her plane was on time as i picked her
up at 10:30. I resumed on the heater, fixturing it with some wires
to see how it operated. Great to see that it does cycle down when the
thermostat and power are off. The fan does it's one minute timeout
before turning off. This means i can remotely activate the power switch
when heat is needed and turn it off when done. The surprise was
the turn on relay signal is -12 VDC. An optoisolator can still detect
that. I'll model that and hook it up. We did a grocery run for dinner
tonight. We made the Cooking Light curry fall veggies which has
tomato, sweet potato, cauliflower and curry in a veggie broth. Wow,
yummy. We had this with Cabernet. We also had cheese and triscuits
with wine before dinner. The Kroger cheese guy told us this cheddar
was well aged. We bought it for 7.99 for a small brick. It really
was good. I did some research about SSL certificates responding to a
query from Richard via a members concerns. I can get a website from
namecheap for under $10 including an SSL and xxx.website name. I'll
choose glembocki.website.
~
November 21, 2017 groceries and heaters
---------------
I did our Thanksgiving grocery purchases including a very expensive butterball
turkey for 2.99 per pound. I also went to Walmart for toilet
paper and paper towels. I had to go back later for a shower curtain
and progresso soup, things I had forgotten. Libbie is under the weather
today with chills and a headache.
I modeled the optoisolator
and found that I can detect the relay activation -12V signal. I'll package
this up and mount it inside the heater. I'm going to have a 6
conductor cable going to the controller box. The 2 relays and opto will
be inside the heater. Dinner tonight was the cauliflower curry from
last night with a squash substituted for the Yam. It was different
but good. We had this with cabernet sauvignon. Once again, before
dinner we had cheddar cheese with triscuits and wine.
Today I ripped
the stack of CDs that Libbie brought back from Sakonnet.
~
November 22, 2017 heater
---------------
Today I installed the relays and an optoisolator in the heater then wired
it all up to an ethernet cable repurposed as a control cable. The
ethernet has 8 conductors of which I'm only using 6. I'm thinking
of adding a DS18B20 temperature sensor to the other 2 leads although
it's unclear if the ESP82266 has the timing resolution to do one wire
measurements.
In the garage I cut the remaining plywood for below
the electrical panel and put a coat of white paint on it. It may need
another coat of paint since the wood seems to be showing through.
Libbie
made chicken parmesan ala cooking light for dinner. We had this
with a side of spaghetti and mushroom pasta sauce. Accompanying the
meal was a bottle of Woodbridge Cabernet Sauvignon.
~
November 23, 2017 Thanksgiving
---------------
Today is Thanksgiving. Traditionally I go get the Black Friday paper which
is published today with all the ads but I chose to skip that this
year. Instead I worked on the controller program for the heater.
I pretty much know what i want to do. I watched the Macy's Thanksgiving
parade which was pretty good as usual. Libbie had a few crises throughout
the morning as she tried to make fruit cake. First she lost
a piece of plastic in the mix. I helped her look for it but we didn't
find anything. Next she needed some help putting the turkey in the
bag. This was not a problem. i held the bag open and she put the
bird inside. We had a very nice traditional Thanksgiving dinner with
turkey, stuffing, potatoes, green beans, cranberry sauce, gravy and
Cabernet Sauvignon. I had to run out an hour before Kroger closed (they
close at 5 PM today) because there were not enough eggs to make
the pumpkin pie which was our dessert with a whipped cream topping.
The heater is going to take some time before everything is gathered together
to make this thing work.
~
November 24, 2017 Garage work
---------------
I started constructing the board for the heater controller and got it
all done today. It was not bad wiring it up. I took a break in the
middle and installed the piece of painted plywood to cover up the hole
below the electrical panel Libbie and I went out to Western Wake Food
pantry to donate the leftover depends diapers from her Mother. They
were closed on Fridays. Two days ago we tried this and found they
were closed the day before Thanksgiving. While there we went to Publix
and got bread for our turkey sandwiches and a bottle of wine for
tonight. The Publix looks similar to the one in Florida. The Macintosh
APples i bought there by the bag were excellent. The best of the
season so far. The store is a little pricey. Dinner was leftover turkey
with mashed potato, cranberry sauce and the bottle of Mondavi Pinot
we picked up in Publix. The Pinot was very smooth as Pinots go.
I started reading Artemis, the Andy Weir book. It's quite good. I
really like the Apollo 11 visitor center on the moon. Tourists can
go by on the train or can go out on an EVA and get a guided tour,
~
November 25, 2017 Power up
---------------
I did not have a Clarinet lesson today. Justin is on vacation, he said
he is going to bring a camper to Pennsylvania to visit relatives. I
powered up the controller card and could not program it. I found a wiring
error that stopped the device from being programmed. Once I repaired
that it was a go. I found quite a few mistakes in the code.
MQTT was not working, there were some logic errors in timing and handling
of if statements. Later in the evening I found the optocoupler
wired worng. I think I now have it all straightened out. I drilled
a hole between the house and greenhouse and installed a conduit. My
control cable will pass through the conduit as well as the thermostat
leads. I may also mount a camera in the greenhouse up by the heater
using this conduit to pass the cable to ethernet. I finished up the
garage part of the heater wiring including labeling the new breaker.
All day long we have been following the travels of Sue and Bruce who
are coming to stay tonight. They didn't get going until around 8:30.
They arrived at 7:45 PM, 11 hours of driving, a much longer trip
than it would have taken us even with stops. We had wine and cheese
before dinner then for dinner we had grilled turkey and ham from
cooking light along with tomato soup.
~
November 26, 2017 Heater Mounting
---------------
I was up early but Sue and Bruce didn't get up till 8. Sue is unbelievably
tired looking in the morning. She looks like death warmed over.
I don't get the issue. They left at 9:30 and then we watched CBS
Sunday Morning before I brought the heater into the greenhouse and live
tested it with 240 VAC. I had a few minor changes to make before
I mounted it overhead and ran the control cable and spliced the thermostat
cable to also go into my shop.
Libbie made her excellent pizza
again. She is having trouble with a cold with all night long coughing
spells. Dinner was her fabulous pizza from scratch. Our lunch today
was the ham and turkey sandwiches with the Dijon and mayo and tomato
grilled. Quite good!!!
~
November 27, 2017 Christmas Lights
---------------
Today is Cyber Monday. I bought a $9 voucher for a photo book. We finally
visited the Western Wake Crisis Center when they were open. On
the way home we visited Publix where Libbie got her cough syrup and
lozenges. We went the long way around down Kelly and stopped in Lowes
for a Smart Things socket and a can of spray foam. I sealed the hole
where the cables enter the wall below the electrical box. I did this
to thwart rodents from building a nest in there. This morning I
made the booking for our Road Scholar trip to London and Amsterdam.
The price was an attractive $2000 for all the flights. Great deal!
We
put the lights on the tree on the porch and I hooked up a Smart things
hub to a device named Christmas Tree for Alexa to turn off and on.
Dinner was warmed up turkey slices with stuffing and cranberry sauce
and a sweet potato. We had a glass of Cabernet with the meal.
I
tried browsing AirBnB listings but the site was pretty slow. After
an hour or two I gave up. I'm looking for an apartment for the week
in London for our trip there in the Spring.
~
November 28, 2017 sandwich
---------------
Did the grocery run today and picked up the ingredients for a chicken
and bacon wrap sandwich for dinner tonight. I hooked up the heater and
controller for real today and then started moving back the stuff in
the shop. This pretty much concludes the backup heater project. Dinner
tonight was a bacon chicken wrap sandwich wrap from cooking light.
The Mayo had lemon juice and fresh chopped tarragon in it. I served
it with the recommended sweet potato chips. Libbie didn't like the
chips but she wanted her other half of the sandwich that she only
thought she could eat half of.
~
November 29, 2017 trailer hitch
---------------
We put 2 strands of warm white LEDs on the corn plant today and removed
the strand of cool white leds. I went over to Lowes and picked up
another smart things outlet. We now have three outlets on the back porch.
I was able to make a smart things group by making a virtual switch
inside smart things which Alexa recognized. The group of 3 trees
can now be turned on and off via voice. "Alexa turn on the porch
trees", etc. I evaluated Imperihome today for home automation
but instead decided on using Home Assistant on a Raspberry Pi.
I
went to Home Depot and used my 10% off coupon and bought a battery
operated impact wrench to help with the trailer hitch. Unfortunately
it didn't work out. I don't have enough 1/2 inch extensions for my
impact sockets. I also do not have any metric sockets, only a set of
standard ones. I used the manual ratchet to remove the bolts and then
used a hydraulic jack to jack up the hitch assembly so I could bolt
it in place. The job went well. Later in the evening I ordered
a keyless chuck adapter for a half inch drive so i can use the impact
wrench as a drill or driver. Drill bits or driver bits for deck screws
could be used in the chuck giving me two tools for the deck next
year instead of changing back and froth from drill bit to driver bit.
Dinner was the bacon and chicken wrap sandwich wrap again from Cooking
Light. Libbie is still under the weather with a bad cough and cold.
~
November 30, 2017 user db
---------------
I started looking at writing a Drupal database with php and was successful
at adding a user with a role of member. In the process I learned
how roles are stored in the database. I used this info to store a user
with a role. This is great news for me but still a long way to go
for a membership database.
In my office I tried to get a Pi 3 running.
Eventually I got it working when I changed power supplies to one
i took from the stereo in the plant room.
Libbie is still suffering
the effects of her cold and spent the whole day sleeping. Dinner
tonight was the leftover roasted chicken along with Bushs's Baked beans.
I listened to the Magic Flute live from the met this evening. It
was quite enjoyable.
~
December 01, 2017 php
---------------
Most of the day was spent learning PHP for the membership database on
AVSA. I'm learning a lot about this language starting with how to execute
programs and printing to the screen for debugging. I have it reading
a CSV file which was difficult in itself since I originally had
the file with an extension. i found that the CSV extension was preventing
the file from being read. Once I deleted the extension it was
all a go. I now have all the pieces to read a file line by line, extract
the relevant data, insert it into a record as required by the
Drupal API. I tested this on a subset of the AVSA database with some
success. I also need a way to submit a list of member IDs and roles
to the website for inclusion into the database. I may have to write
an app to do this which would call a PHP program under the covers.
Lots to do and think about. I think it's all fun.
Dinner tonight was
spaghetti with cheese and tomato sauce. Libbie is getting better but
still has a bad cough.
~
December 02, 2017 AVSA passwords
---------------
Lesson with Justin this morning was very insightful. I learned about
placement of the pad on the Clarinet and holding it for good playing.
I continued to try expression with the instrument. Came home and worked
on the AVSA user password problem. I'm making quite a bit of headway
with my PHP script. I'm learning by trial and error and I'm happy
with the result although the pace of change is slow.
Dinner tonight
was the last of the Delmonico steaks we bought in Kroger last month
as well as a romaine salad with carrots and sweet potato. A bottle
of Rodney Strong Cabernet completed the meal.. Later on we went out
to Brewsters for ice cream cones. I had Chocolate Raspberry Truffle.
My favorite girl was serving. She's a high school junior and has
the prettiest smile and is super friendly. Lucky 16 year old boys
in her class!
~
December 03, 2017 password continues
---------------
I continued the password program and now can successfully write to custom
fields programmatically. I also worked on the renaming of the file
so that it won't be read into the system again. The only thing remaining
is to put the membership file into another directory away from
root. The php file will remain in root because that's where cron is
located and the recommended placement of the file is the cron directory.
I would really like this to go in the scripts directory. I'll
try it both ways.
I enjoyed watching Carol Burnett reviewing her
show for the 50th anniversary. In addition we watched 60 Minutes which
was a review of 50 years of 60 Minutes. It was a pretty good show.
During both shows, Carol Burnett and 60 Minutes, I worked on php file
renaming and successfully figured that out. Dinner was Libbie's
fabulous pizza which gets better and better. Fresh tomato pieces and
a very thin crust made for a very nice pizza, one of her best to date.
~
December 04, 2017 paint
---------------
I put two coats of paint on the 2 drawer file cabinet that will go back
into my office. The brush did not do a good job. I need to get more
paint and roller it on. I continued to work on the password program
testing the inactive members vs deleted members. This thing is almost
ready to fly!
Dinner tonight was chicken bacon rollup sandwiches
on the last of the flatbread.
~
December 05, 2017 paint
---------------
Today was a quick trip to Lowes for more paint and some felt feet for
the file cabinet I am painting. I picked up our groceries today as well
since it was Kroger Seniors day. This time I used a roller to apply
paint to the metal cabinet and it looks much better. Tomorrow I'll
put it all back together. We used the leftover rotisserie chicken
from yesterday and had a Waldorf chicken salad in Pieta pockets for
dinner.
I'm still having some trouble with the messages for login with
the new membership passwords. One of the messages is correct but I
don't know where the other message is coming from.
~
December 06, 2017 Clarinet
---------------
I tried playing Clarinet along with the background tracks i uploaded to
Google Music. This worked well showing me how bad my playing really
is.
I moved the file cabinet into my Office. I'm leaving the drawers
open because the paint is still tacky.
We left for the airport
at 5:15 and got into some pretty heavy traffic in Morrisville. We parked
in the parking garage near terminal 2 and walked into the terminal
just as Joe and Paige were going down the escalator to baggage claim.
We came back in rush hour traffic taking Evans Road which cleared
up once we got on the Cary Parkway.
At home Libbie made 4 pizzas
with pepperoni for dinner which we had with a 12 pack of Yuengling that
we bought on Tuesday. Paige is an energetic and busy little girl.
We were all tired at 9:30 but she still wanted to play games.
~
December 07, 2017 homesick
---------------
A slow day today. I dropped joe at the Enterprise place where he rented
a car to drive to TN. After this I went to the Library and watched
the Bach to Rock Story Hour. It was enjoyable. Joe came over and
joined Paige and Libbie sitting on the floor. We then had lunch then
Joe left at 12:30. In the meantime Libbie and Paige raked the driveway
and also decorated the Christmas Tree. Paige was a little homesick
tonight and had her bath right after we had cheese and crackers.
We watched some movies via Plex from my server then Paige napped on the
couch. For my part I got the Harmony Hub set up with a watch movies
activity where it switches the Android box to on and also tunes the
TV to the HDMI2 input. Clarinet playing using the sound tracks I uploaded
on Google Music continues. Dinner tonight was the rest of the
rotisserie chicken and baked beans.
I spent some time on the AVSA
website updating the current magazine with the materials sent by Sue
Hoffmann. I would like to use her teasers on a full page of indices
for 2017 where each cover would be a thumbnail and the thumbnail would
be link to the teaser for that issue.
~
December 08, 2017 everything
---------------
I did a lot of practice today using the musical accompaniment tracks to
my lesson book. This was great! I have improved my playing quite
a bit. We watched Moana using Android TV and the Samsung. This works
very well streaming movies off my server. I'm happy with the combo.
Dinner was spaghetti and meatballs with a glass of Shiraz. Paige really
likes this meal. I downloaded some more Pixar movies for this week
and also played some more with the password system on the AVSA website.
While I was at it I also updated the magazine section of the
AVSA website with Sue's teaser for the november issue. Ken sent the
MAAVS Memo. The minutes said they are discussing what to do with MAAVS.
Attendance is down, volunteers are tired and there are no new members.
~
December 09, 2017 clarinet lesson
---------------
Off to practice this morning. Justin is keen on the idea of online tutoring.
I spent the day looking for the power supply for my Chromebook.
No luck. It's in this house somewhere. I spent a lot of time with
the AVSA website trying to do updates that will be needed for the
new password system. I need to do more. We watched some Pixar movies
on the Android TV box. This is really working well. I ended up downloading
some more Pixar material. There is a sound issue when content
is recorded in Dolby AC4 5.1, we don't get sound on the Android
Box but the media player on the PC plays them well. It's been raining
all day yesterday and today. Paige was house bound. Dinner was Salmon
with Sweet Potato and Shiraz.
~
December 10, 2017 busy day
---------------
I crashed the AVSA website in a failed update. Fortunately when I restored
some modules it came back. We need to update the site totally.
I had good Clarinet practice today. I focused on making a good sound
and also on playing a difficult section from the "On the Housetop"
music with some back to back eigth notes I wasn't playing as
eigths. I practiced this many times until it registered. I found
a synchronized lighting house in Cary that we went to tonight and parked
on the street then walked over to the mailbox where there was a
speaker. There was also FM on 90.3. Surprisingly the signal continued
from Waldoo Roo Rd and Davis Drive all the way over to Davis Drive
School. Nice!
I did a lot of online reading and viewing of blogs with
the telecine subject, specifically concerning the Wolverine MovieMaker.
I looked on eBay but found it at BH Photo for $244 as a Holiday
Special.. This was low enough that I though it worthwhile to get one.
Most of the reviewers realize this is not commercial quality but
for the price is more than worth the investment. I'm sure the optics
and image sensor can be upgraded but first I'll try it as is. Libbie
made pizza from scratch and thanks to Paige we had her favorite topping,
Pepperoni. We each had a Yuengling Black and Tan with the pizza.
~
December 11, 2017 bulbs
---------------
I went outside today, first for a walk to the Seagrove Park with Paige
and then out front with the drill to drill holes for bulbs. We planted
a whole package of 40 daffodil bulbs. Yesterday we planted a bag
of 20 Allium bulbs in front of the dogwood and cedar trees. I spent
some time updating the AVSA website. I had one instance of the site
not working after I installed the panels update and the site souldn't
work until I updated the ctools as well. This was an easy fix since
Ctools updated easily.
Dinner tonight was meatballs and spaghetti
which seems to be a Paige favorite. Paige is such a delight but she
is very high maintenance. Today Libbie took her to Bach to Rock which
she said was not worthwhile. They had a young teacher who was unqualified
at handling this age. Libbie was really disappointed. I watched
some more reviews of the Wolverine that is in transit from BH Photo
in NY. I know it's not professional and the reviews are either
high at what it does or low because it is not of professional quality.
Ideally i would like to modify it with a new camera and optics as
well as firmware that lets you access the individual frames.
~
December 12, 2017 nice day
---------------
Libbie took Paige to the Natural Science Museum. This gave me a little
break which meant some quiet time. I painted the first coat of urethane
on the new shelves for my office then spent a lot of time figuring
out Fancy Login. I finally got it mastered to the point where it's
usable. Later in the day I went outside and planted the 10 Hyacinth
bulbs next to the garbage can. That's another bag of bulbs completed.
Two more bags to go I think. For dinner we made meatloaf muffins
which we had with leftover baked beans and Cabernet Sauvignon. They
were yummy as usual. After dinner I continued on the login work.
I'm happy with it so far.
~
December 13, 2017 dance
---------------
I put another coat of polyurethane on the office shelves today. After
it dried it's still a little rough. I'm thinking of putting some rubbing
compound on it. i'll research this online. We went to the studio
this afternoon. We were surprised there were others in there. Melanie
was with Butch and Robert had a student. Paige accompanied us
which i didn't think was going to work out but it was fine. She patiently
sat and watched while holding Moana. After a nice lesson where
we reviewed Rhumba and cha cha we went to the Cary Post Office on Wrenn
Drive off Kildaire Farm and mailed three of Paige's home made Christmas
cards to Craig, Debbie, Grannie and possibly Christa. Dinner
tonight was leftover meatballs with slice and baked potatoes accompanied
by Cabernet Sauvignon.
When we got home the Lavender from Los Poblanos
was waiting in our mailbox. Also on the front porch was the Wolverine
Movie digitizer and also a 32 Gig SD card for the digitizer.
I ordered this from BH Photo on Sunday and it was surprising that they
arrived Wednesday via UPS because it was free shipping and $50 holiday
savings. I tried the digitizer on one of Dad's movies which was
labeled Barbara Petroski wedding. It was pretty awful. Next I digitized
a 1964 Worlds Fair and a 1964 Beach movie which were better but
not spectacular. The bonus was a rell labeled "Grandmas".
It's an old black and white film of my grandmothers which has pics of
my Mom and her sister Helen walking along. Because it is Black and
white the images are preserved nicely. It was 11 PM at night so I didn't
didgitize it completely and went to bed. I'll clean this one
tomorrow and digitize it.
~
December 14, 2017 film
---------------
I continued digitizing the 8mm films. i was especially interested in
the one labeled "'grandmas" film. It was scenes from the 40s
as neat as i could tell. Also included was a lot of scenes of the
Petroski home. That place used to be so beautiful with gardens and
formal hedges. Future generations were more interested in hanging out
at bars than gardening at home which is a shame. Of course this is
coming from one who prefers gardens over bars. I tried several types
of video editing, each time with failure. Corel Studio which I purchased
5 years ago did not do the job I needed. I then tried an Open
Source product but it did not have contrast and color correction. i
ended up with the standard of them all, Adobe Premiere Elements. I;m
on a 7 day free trial but will probably end up buying it. Libbie is
really sick. i went with Paige to the grocery store and then she helped
take the garbage to the street. She is a little helper with energy,
animation and a very strong will. Dinner was steak and baked potato
with a glass of Cabernet. For the first time in a long time i
did not practice Clarinet today.
~
December 15, 2017 busy
---------------
The roll of Aunt Helen's film turned out to be a duplicate of the film
labeled "grandas" but in much better condition. It was with
extreme sadness that I opened one of Dad's reels of my early childhood
and found the film was completely disintegrated. I'm not sure if
i can recover anything from it. I'm am extremely sad over this. Libbie
is down and out but Paige is as busy as ever. We chose to let
her watch TV almost all day. I took her out for a home Depot trip where
I bought a sanding pad and some minwax but it wasn't good enough
to sand down the rough surface on the shelves. I may just go with it
as is.
Joe arrived around 3:30. Paige was happy. They went out to
a park on Kelly Rd then i met Joe at Enterprise rent a car on 55 in
Apex and picked he and Paige up when they dropped the car off. I started
smoking ribs today at 12:30. When Joe arrived he informed us that
Cole and Emily were also coming for inner. I went to Kroger and got
some Italian Sausage and more baby back ribs. We had more than enough
ribs and sausage. Cole made some awful Farfala "bricks"
which had chick peas and other stuff. We tried making Hush Puppies
but they didn't come out very good. It was a nice evening anyway.
~
December 16, 2017 Paige leaves
---------------
We left home at 5:15 for RDU with Paige and Joe. The airport is amazingly
busy at this time of the morning. It's also a cold 28 degrees outside
which I guess is seasonal for December. Libbie went back to bed
while i gathered my things and went to my Clarinet lesson at 9. Justin
said i have finished Book 1 and should either get book 2 or another
book of my choosing. I didn't accomplish much today. I listened
to Norma which was the start of the season of afternoon broadcasts
from the Met. Later in the PM I went out to Music & Arts in Crossroads
which is an excellent music store I found via Google. Christmas
shoppers have made Crossroads a crowded place to be but I came via
Tryon which was an easy way to get there. I picked up 3 books because
it was 30% off when you buy 3. I got a book of Christmas Carols,
an "I used to Play Clarinet" book and a book called Advancement
Series. I ended up ordering a used Essential Elements Book 2.
Libbie was really out of it. I made her a Chicken noodle soup for
dinner while I had ribs, a salad and a glass of "14 Hands"
wine. I tweaked the login screens in the AVSA sandbox and sent the URL
to Barbara for testing.
~
December 17, 2017 busy misc
---------------
I managed to move the server over onto the new shelves and remove the
table from the office to give me more floorspace. Today I also wrote
all the Christmas Cards to my side of the family. I used all the stamps
we had so will have to go out tomorrow for more.
I got the chains
hooked up to the tree out front that is coming down to make room
for my cage for the grow boxes. I also finished planting the Spring bulbs
by planting a bag of 25 Tete A Tete daffodils. The drill chuck
I bought for the impact tool got stripped since the hex socket was only
biting the very end of the chuck hex. I need a deep set socket that
is 11/32 to fit the chuck.
Libbie made her epic pizza for dinner
tonight. Yum.
~
December 18, 2017 tree down
---------------
I mailed my christmas cards and bought more stamps at Kroger. Then before
lunch I went out with Libbie to AC Moore where she bought more cards
and I bought a picture frame for the Butterfly poster in my office.
I hooked up the come-along and cut down the large poplar in our
front yard. It was right on in the direction of the notch. I used a
wedge to prevent it from tilting backwards and the come-along cable
as insurance in the front. Dinner was spaghetti with meatballs and cheese.
Temp is in the 60s which is not bad for December. Tomorrow it's
supposed to be near 70 as I move the logs to the brush pile.
~
December 19, 2017 sick
---------------
I did the grocery thing today and bought a Christmas Ham. Dinner was
the ham with a baked sweet potato. I have a full on cold. In the evening
my nose was running so I took some meds that kept me up almost
all night. It dried ny sinuses but bad news for getting through the
night. In the morning I worked on the Poplar i dropped and got most
of the crown cleaned up. The big job is going to be the huge and heavy
logs. While playing with Node-Red I found I can get it to be an
endpoint for Alexa. i used Alexa to turn the landscape lights on and
off by voice.
~
December 20, 2017 my cold
---------------
It's an all day rain today so I worked out on the back porch figuring
out the Wifi thermostat. I spent a lot of time locating tools and materials
but did not finish the job since i needed to kill the power and
Libbie was watching something on TV. We had Ham, apple sauce and
sweet potato for dinner. It was a horrible night for me. My legs were
twitching severely keeping me up most of the night. I finally wrapped
my leg tightly with stretch bandages. This may have helped since
I did fall asleep.
~
December 21, 2017 home automation
---------------
When I found out imperihome went to a subscription service instead of
a buy once app I revisited Node-Red once again. This potentially can
be all I need. I configured an eMail alert for the electric heat.
I probably need a better alert system, one that will only send an alert
once or maybe once every few hours.
I went down the breakers one
by one in the garage until I found the one controlling the back porch.
It's the same one as the outlets in my office. While Libbie went
to her Quilt Christmas party I worked all day on the thermostat and
finally got it running just as she came home around 4 PM. It works
with Alexa and is a 4 times a day scheduling system. y
Dinner tonight
was ham with sweet potato. I stayed inside most of the day with my
cold. I tried practicing Clarinet but it was hard with my poor breathing
due to the cold. Dinner once again was ham with apple sauce and
sweet potato.
~
December 22, 2017 log moving
---------------
I went with Libbie to Nancy's to deliver the fruit cake and then to the
Kitchen store where I bought a nice $50 pepper mill. It has a stainless
and ceramic griner which I like. It's also adjustable for 3 different
size grindings. We got back and had ham sandwiches for lunch
before I went outside and worked on moving the heavier logs down to
the wood pile. The big logs were too big for the wheelbarrow so I rolled
them down the hill. I stopped when I got tired. The rest of the
logs need some chain saw work. I looked up the chain saw blade for
the new saw and it's an S57 which I don't have. May order one or two
from eBay.
Dinner tonight was ham, sweet potato, apple sauce and for
the first time in a while, Cabernet Sauvignon. Libbie was very sad
tonight reading Cort's Xmas card. He talked about a great trip to
Portugal in May with Bill then Bill died in June. So sad. We skippe
dance tonight since both of us have not really recovered from our colds.
~
December 23, 2017 chain saw
---------------
I used the saw and cut up the logs that were too big to move. I got the
saw stuck in a maple tree I was trimming and the clutch froze. I
found there is a safety mechanism that locks the blade when tripped.
Thanks to YouTube I unlocked the blade but not before doing some disassembly
to examine the clutch. Thank goodness I found the online troubleshooter.
Picked
up a couple of LED accent lights in Home Depot
and added them to the end of the driveway string. Went out with Libbie
after dark and looked at the two new lights and was not happy with
how dim they were on the magnolia. Needs re-aiming.
Dinner was Sirloin
steak with baked potato, sour cream and Cabernet. Afterward we had
some peanut brittle sent by Darrel and Holly.
~
December 24, 2017 Logs
---------------
After the Sunday programs I went out and moved quite a few logs. Stopped
when I was down to 4 logs left. It was only 50 today. I had very
good luck getting sensor readings into an SQLite database on node-red.
I'm unsure about how hard I want to hammer the SD card. Will probably
go with some kind of USB stick instead if the database could be
located on it. I did some reading about how it has to be at the Pi
root level.
Talked with Vicki today and her plans for Christmas.
Libbie made some of her excellent pizza from scratch today which I had
with a Yuengling.
~
December 25, 2017 Quiet Christmas
---------------
We had a quiet Christmas with no presents except for some shirts from
Joe and Christa. We took a walk to Seagroves in the back but it as freezing
cold at 38 degrees. i spent more time on node-red. I tried
getting the alert working for the electric heat in the greenhouse. It
sends both texts and emails to Libbie and I when the electric heater
comes on. It took a little debug but I got it working. I really like
node-red. I used the Scargill script to build a new installation
and then transferred my old flows over to the new installation. now
I need a USB drive of some type to handle the multitude of writes to
the database. The fear is an SD card may fail due to the number of
writes. Dinner was ham, Apple Sauce, Sweet Potato and Cabernet Sauvignon.
We talked to Christa today. Joe is sick with some kind of bug,
she was driving to her brother's for Christmas dinner. She sent the
proposed Hawaiian villa. The two choices look excellent, about $3,000
each for a 3 bedroom for 1 week.
~
December 26, 2017 spotlight
---------------
Today I purchased a larger spotlight for the magnolia tree and hooked
it up. In the evening I was disappointed because all it did was flash.
Possibly this is too much power for the power run. I also bought
the materials to start the watering project on the back porch. We are
going to have computer remote control programming of our back porch
watering. I moved 3 of the 4 remaining logs down to the brush pile.
Now there is just one left. Dinner tonight was the last of the ham
with sweet potato and apple sauce. I spent some time today getting a
nodered sqlite database implemented on external storage. I was persistent
and finally got it working on a USB stick.Now for some charting
of the saved data.
~
December 27, 2017 water solenoids
---------------
I started working on the back porch watering at 10 this morning and made
it pretty far. I got the line tied into the main water line. The
solenoid apparently is open all the time so I need to address that issue.
I picked up a new solenoid at Home Depot this afternoon along
with some fittings. I was too tired to continue on this today. We're
having some trouble booking the Honolulu condo. It's not available
starting the Tuesday instead of Monday. Dinner was a fantastic 16 bean
soup with ham bone. Libbie made fresh corn bread to accompany the
meal.
~
December 28, 2017 water
---------------
I continued working on the water line and got the new solenoid installed
and the water line run along the hot tub. The water line is fastened
to the brick wall by drilling some 3/16 holes and using a masonry
fastener and conduit clamp every few feet. The run to the other side
of the porch was trickier. I used a tee at the pressure reducer just
past the solenoid and sent a roll of tubing down through the hole in
the floor hooked to the tee. The crappy job was crawling on hands
and knees to the roll under the porch. Just as I got to the other end
Libbie called and said Christa was on the phone. I continued unrolling
the tubing and fastening it to the existing water line along the
length of the porch. I pushed the tubing up through the other hole
in the floor then came in to talk to Christa. She agreed to shift the
vacation dates back one day to accommodate our host. After the phone
conversation I booked the penthouse condo with the new dates. On the
porch I'm pretty happy with the construction work so far but I still
have more to do. Dinner was spaghetti with meatballs and cheese.
Before
dinner i started digitizing another of Dad's films. This time
it was graduations. I did not finish this roll, will continue tomorrow.
~
December 29, 2017 more waterers
---------------
I got to work on the rest of the scan for the graduation video of Dads.
It's broken in a few spots but I managed to digitize all the pieces.
It was 16 degrees this morning outside. I turned the porch heater
on ad began working outside at 11. I have a painful pain in my right
side which is impacted me. I managed to get the solenoid wired all
the way to the control box then vacuumed up the space so Libbie coud
sort through the bottles under the sink. After a lunch of a delicious
16 bean soup I resumed working on the other side, the run behind
the big Ficus tree, This got harder and harder to drill holes into
into the mortar. I think the bit is shot. I have one more to do but
I was too exhausted to continue. I'll add the last clamp tomorrow with
a new drill bit or at least a different one. I monitored I-95 and
I-75 all day today and it was really stopped. Today is a Friday which
makes the Holiday traffic worse anyway. I'll be happy when we get
to Florida. We were both exhausted so decided to do chinese takeout
instead of cooking some leftovers. I picked up a bottle of Prophecy
Red Blend at Kroger while Libbie picked up the food which was a 3 meat
Szechuan with 2 eggrolls. I used the self check but had to get approval
for my wine. It took a while because a totally stupid old lady
needed help with her Freebie. These kind of people need to use the
non self check lanes.
~
December 30, 2017 Water again
---------------
I made a morning run to Home Depot to get foam boards and a drill bit
and more pipe hangers and a package of drippers. I came home and installed
the last of the hangers which involved drilling another hole in
the mortar. i tested the system with one dripper and quickly found
a leak where the 2 pipes join together. The insert was too small of
a diameter. I repaired this and got the dripper working then discovered
the end of the tubing which is crimped is leaking. Libbie needed
to go to Home Depot to get another plastic saucer so I took advantage
of the trip to get a pipe plug for the leaking end and also to return
the foam board. I only needed one foam board cut into 2 pieces to
block the hatch to the crawl space and I bought two. The board cut
up should work well. To assist with filling the voids i also sprayed
some foam around the pipes and wires. I did another test of the water
pipes and all seems better. We put one dripper into the corn plant
on one run and two drippers into the ficus tree. One minute of time
should put 5 cups of water out of each dripper. On the way back from
Home Depot we stopped into Kroger and bought the ingredients for the
Quick Taco Salad. Dinner was Taco Salad with Cabernet. I'm satisfied
tonight that the waterers are done on the back porch and that the
pain in my side has subsided. I was really worried by the pain but
it was great to see that after 2 days of severe pain it has gotten down
to a dull soreness. Good deal!
~
December 31, 2017 drippers
---------------
I want to take it easy today in order to dance tonight at the New Years
Eve party. i added one more hanger to the drip watering line then
used mason jars on each dripper to measure their output for 1 minute.
One dripper on the ficus was low so I opened it up another half turn
and ran the test again. Each dripper should be opened one full turn
to get 20 oz of water in a one minute period. I then put the drippers
back into their respective plants. After a lunch of leftover ham
buns we ran the water live and looked at the saucers. All seems to be
well.
I rigged up a second projector as a take up reel for the Wolverine
so i could digitize rolls that are larger than 5 inch. My results
are mixed. I gave up 3/4 of the way through and cut the film
at a splice. I'll digitize the rest of the roll onto a 5 inch take up
spool.
It was freezing cold when we left for the Matthews house party.
I wore Dad's overcoat which fit perfectly and was quite heavy
and warm. I don't know why I did not wear this until now. We sat with
the Kretchmans, Art & Nancy, the Rumleys and the Cains There
were some very nice hand passed snacks going around including shrimp,
crab cakes and chicken. there also was a small buffet of snacks and
an open bar. The poor bar tenders were outside in the freezing cold.
The music turned loud and club like in the final hours so we bailed
out and went over to the studio to see if the party was still going
on there. only Mitzi, Robert and another couple were there which was
shocking. Brian and Jennifer ended up at the studio as well, leaving
the Matthews house behind. We had a nice quiet pay at the studio
from 11:30 until midnight. It was perfect.
~