Dental Issues

 Visited the dentist 2 days ago for 6 month tooth-cleaning.  Got bad news.  I am healthy in general.  But my family has a history of bad teeth.  And among family, I may be the worst.  

My dentist thinks I grind my teeth at night.  I don't want to be indelicate, but I have had a few intimate relationships and asked my bed-partner if I grind my teeth (and do I talk at night)?  The unanimous answer has been "no" (but I do toss and turn a lot).  And one partner really did grind her teeth (to the point where I woke her up expecting to see pieces of broken teeth).

What actually happens is "earworms" in daytime.   Some people tap their feet to the tune, some humm.  I slide my lower jaw back and forth.  That is not "tooth-friendly".

So my teeth are beat all hell now.  The dentist said there is severe wear and "holes".  He says that they are worn down so much that the only way to save me from full implants (which he does not do) is to place crowns on most of my teeth.  

I have some crowns, so I know what one involves.  I have had 3 teeth extracted because even a root canal wouldn't save them.  I have a consultant visit scheduled in 2 weeks to have more examination and discussion.  He wants to look at my teeth more carefully and discuss a timeline of appointments to crown teeth 3 or 4 at a visit.

I'm going to have to agree with his expectations.  I know my teeth are bad and getting worse.  But damn, it is going to be a miserable few months!

I always need a 2nd novocaine shot (I am somewhat drug-resistant and pain-sensitive).  And I have a small jaw so it is difficult to keep it open enough for dental work.  Heck, I can't even eat a thick sandwich!

My dentist doesn't push any "special treatments" on me, so when he says I need something, I have to trust him on that.  So it looks like I'm in for a lot of unpleasant dental work this Summer...

More Computer Problems

Photos has messed up my iPhotos folders.  I'm stuck on iCloud and trying to escape back off it.  Hours of work and not much success.

I feel like I've been forced onto iCloud without much benefit and many problems.  I'm trying to undo that.  But it sure isn't easy!

😖

I only mention this now because my original post was rejected and I had to remove some specific complaints that mentioned a Brand Name.  I'm a Mac user, so you can guess the Brand Name...

I'll detail that on another forum...  😐

And The Powers That Be decided my original post was OK after all, but I had already deleted it...  

😄

Meanwhile, I was slowly working my way back through the lost processed pics and re-processing the originals.  I caught up.  It's almost 9 am now, but worth the effort.   I think I'll stay up long enough to mow the lawn (it really needs it) and then let the mews go out while I transplant some tomatoes.  Then we will all come inside and I'll let them sleep around me (after their meal) until 6 PM and totally ruin my sleep cycle.  😎

Losing It

I have fallen behind the tech curve to keep up with some computer apps.  I may have to just give up and stop blogging.

Mac iPhotos has gone away and I need to go to the cloud.   I don't really have much idea what that is other than I have to go "somewhere else" to access my pictures.  

I've been a happy "cat-dad" for a couple decades.  I was able to switch from MS to Mac without major problems.  But Mac is getting kind of weird.  And I don't think I can switch back to MS.  I tried an MS computer 5 years ago and I couldn't make it do anything I wanted.  So it's a $1,000 doorstop.

I'll try to learn about "cloud", but I think my learning days are about done.  I have always been in total control of my computer and files, but I guess that is over now.  

OK, OK, I'm not good at quitting.  I'll try to learn about the "cloud" starting right after I post this.  But I think I;m not going to like it.

Computer Technology Issues

And for once, I don't mean mine.   I mean internet services and commercial computers.  I've been noticing more problems with both lately...

I shop at a grocery store that requires customer use of a touchscreen to pay.  First, the display always asks for donations.  It's irritating to have to deny a donation at every cash register in every store.  But I shop at the grocery store most often.

Sometimes I can't get the "No Thanks" notice to go away.  Tap the button with fingernail, fingertip and card corner and it stays for many tries.  I give directly to several charities, so I don't need the store to get a "cut" of what I donate.

Then I try to pay for my food.  The touchscreen offers tap, slide, and insert.  Tap almost never works.  Slide or Insert usually do. And my card offers all 3 options.  The cashier said they always have problems with Tap.  They didn't used to.

And the cashier's computer monitor shows different items than I bought.  The price is correct, but a peach is not a nectarine, and green leaf lettuce is not red leaf lettuce.  Well, if the price is the same, it doesn't matter too much.  

But sometimes I ask the produce manager why they have so much of one thing and not enough of a similar thing.  He says the store deliveries are based on the checkout data.  Given the inaccuracy of the checkout computer, I can easily see where their problem is.  Seriously, if their computer calls all peaches "nectarines", no wonder they have lots of nectarines and few peaches!

Outside at the store gas station (where I can use grocery-purchase points to get cheaper gas), the pumps no longer want to accept my store loyalty card half the time.  That it does work sometimes and not others means they have a tech problem.  

At a DIY store the other day, the card reader would not accept my card when inserted.  But it did when slide.  

This seems to be happening more and more often.  Are businesses just letting their technology fall behind to save money?  Are their profit-margins so tight that they have to let some things degrade to keep prices down?  I looked up my grocery store.  It had increased profits last year (and so far this year).

On the internet, Google has suddenly gotten worse about Blogger.  Suddenly for a week, when I want to upload images, it fails the first time, blanks the 2nd time, and usually works on a 3rd try.  Is it just me?  I stay updated on all software.

So it is something else.  Do they just not care, or are they just being careless about everything?  It seems to be happening everywhere I shop.

I'm not any sort of conspiracy-theorist.  Most problems are just people not doing jobs very well or getting overwhelmed by tech.  And I love tech!  It makes my world work.  But it feels like we are sliding downhill in some basics.

Do any of you have similar problems?

  

Hummingbirds

 I set out feeders 2 weeks ago.  One is by the kitchen window.  But I never saw any.  I feared that they weren't returning to my yard this year.  

But I heard a hummer-chirp in the yard a couple days ago.  And then I saw a male flitting around.  And if there is a male around, there must be a female.  And yesterday, I saw both at the feeder near the window.  YAY!

Mine are Ruby-Throated.  Not my own picture, but it was very like this...

I was SO glad to see both.  There is probably a nest in the backyard spruce tree.  They like that tree.  I have found nests there after they are unused by late Summer before.  I won't disturb them.

Meadow Garden

I've been trying to establish a meadow garden for years.  I should have followed the original guidelines and just covered the whole 15 x 30 bed with black plastic for a year, but I thought good transplants would grow.  They didn't.

So last year, I bought ten 5 gallon pots to grow tomatoes (my regular garden is too shaded) and stuck 30 meadow flowers around them.  They just sort of sat there all year.

This Spring, they exploded in growth!  All of a sudden, I had 8" thriving plants in 8 of the pots.  A few days ago, I started transplanting them to the meadow bed.  Finally, I had plants large enough to identify (the originals of past years came 2" high and the grass shaded them out)

Transplanting them from the tomato pots to the meadow bed has been hard.  I know how to transplant.  But the soil there is almost impossible to dig into.  It is all rocks in every place I dug.  I removed all the rocks, but it was exhausting works.  The shovel hits a 1" rock and it seems like a brick!  I finally found it best to pry them out with a trowel.

The meadow flowers I bought last year are tolerant of bad soil.  Years ago, it was a ridge in the backyard that I had a landscaper scrape level and add to the soils to a low spot in the front lawn.  That worked well.

Then I used a roto-tiller to mix the clay/sand 4' deep.  And then dragged around a board to smooth the surface.  The surface 4" is all good soil.  But 4" down it is still clay and rock.

Digging holes for the transplants about kills me.  6 holes takes an hour.  It is like I'm prying out bricks with a screwdriver!

But I've transplanted over a dozen 8" meadow flowers in the past few days.  I gave them a deep slow watering yesterday morning and they all perked right up by the afternoon.  I expect they will thrive.

Finally, I will have some meadow flowers that survive and grow!  I still have a few more to transplant, but the heavy sprinkler watering should make digging their holes a bit easier.  

I have some small ones from last year.  They didn't grow, but they did survive.  Since the ones I planted around the tomato pots (in great soil) did so well this year, I expect good results and larger plants next year to increase the size of the meadow bed.  

I'm going to have a meadow bed of plants that butterflies and bees want to visit if it (darn near) kills me.  😩

And some good news about the meadow bed.  Some flowers that seemed dead there last year have exploded with growth on their own.    There is a group of 6 identical plants in one spot, so they must be deliberate plantings.  

And there are 6 scattered around with small yellow flowers already emerging.  So they must be meadow flowers I planted in previous years that are finally maturing and thriving.  

I may have a functional meadow bed emerging!

Annual Flowers

After my Busted Shopping Trip , I sat down here and made a quick list of local flower sources (Lowe's, Home Depot, and Walmart).   Compared Impatiens, Petunias, and Marigolds.  Entered price, pickup vs delivery, and availability.

I like 6-packs.  Cheap and they catch up in size fast to the bigger-potted ones.  And I don't mind routine standard annual flowers; "color is color" on the deck.  Its not I'm listed on any garden tours!  😊

Walmart didn't offer much.  And I've learned they don't water their flowers as often as the should.  Dry soil is a bad sign.  😔

So it was Lowe's vs Home Depot.  Normally, that is not an issue.  Their prices are usually the same right to the penny.  But their garden center prices vary.  I've seen great deals at one or the other most years.  

I discovered that (this year, at least), Lowe's wants to deliver flowers (for a $15 fee) and Home Depot has them available for pickup (no fee).  And Lowe's is $1 more per 6-pack.  With 7 deck pots to fill, that matters.

Guess where I'm getting my standard annuals this year!

New Brother Printer, Part 2

 After a few good prints, the battery backup started screaming at me (only during printing) and nothing would print after.  I went crazy trying to figure out the sudden battery backup problem.  It didn't happen until I used the new Brother printer.

I did some internet searching.  I finally found a mention.  One single little sentence fixed my problem, but it was sure hard to find it.  "One little sentence" in a long list of trouble-shoots the site had me try!  

According to Brother, the printer can't be plugged into the same wall outlet or surge protector as the computer.  I'm no hardware guy, so the idea baffles me.  But when I finally did that "one little sentence" suggestion, everything worked!

It took 2 hours to get at that discovery, but I just printed a color picture and it worked with no battery backup problem.  

Computer problems can be horribly difficult sometimes, but research and persistence always seem to work eventually.  

All the equipment seems to be happy now.  I finally printed out this pic with no noise involved...

YAY!  😎

Busted Shopping Day

😖

I left the house yesterday morning to buy prescription canned cat food (Royal Canin Renal T and D for Marley and Hill's Biome Gastro-Intestinal  for Lori), some groceries, and some cheap annual flowers.

It just didn't go well!  I got to Petsmart and couldn't find the prescription papers.  I was totally confused about that and thought maybe I left them at the checkout station.  And then I realized they were next to my computer.

There was a reason for that.  The last time I bought them at Petsmart, the clerk advised me they would stop selling them in a few months.  Apparently they have to have a Vet onsite to do that, and they were losing theirs.  They  didn't know if it was just their store or company-wide.

So I decided to set up subscription deliveries with Chewy, Petco, and/or Amazon.  Their sites all said they would contact my Vet for authorization (which seemed a routine thing).  All of them later said my Vet would not authorize that.  But that I could email or fax them copies of the prescriptions and they woud accept that.  

I haven't done that yet, but the written prescriptions were all at my computer for copying, so they weren't in the car at Petsmart.  Bummer.  😞

So I drove to the grocery store.  And realized I had nothing I actually needed to buy.  Lots of good stuff I'll want next week, but not Friday.  I'm veggied, fruited , and meated up for a few days...

OK, so I could go to the DIY store for annual flowers (I was lazy and just didn't plant any myself this year).  But we have 3 major cheap sellers of 6 packs of annual flowers here (Lowe's, Home Depot and Walmart) and I had only looked at Home Depot online.  And it is easier to do price research at home.

So I just drove home... Wasted gas, wasted time, some confusion.  I've had better days.

What a lousy start to a day!

New Brother Printer

It's a doozie!  Model MFC-L 8905CDW.  Yeah, I splurged...   

But I can print in color again (and I assume scan and fax).  But it wasn't easy setting it up.  Not the printer's fault, I was just stupid and confused about a few things.  

First, let me say it is very early morning.  I couldn't sleep last night (too much sleep the day before).  So there I was in bed completely awake.  I got dressed and started a load of laundry.  And then I thought about The New Printer.  So I decided to install it.  Three hours later, it works.  And all the difficulties (except one) were completely my errors.

Second, let me say I bought a 1/8th" custom-cut plastic top for the computer desk 2 years ago (for easier cleaning) but never put it on because the (failed) canon printer was too damn heavy to move easily.  So I pulled the Canon off the deck (nearly killed me) and dumped it on the floor.  Moved all the other stuff to one side and lemon-pledged that.  Moved stuff again and did the other half.

I built the computer desk many years ago.  In fact, it is so old it has a slot for fanfold paper to come up from a box on a shelf underneath!  But it is sturdy and nicely finished, so I keep it.  With the old Canon printer off, I slid the plastic top halfway on, moved the smaller stuff onto it, and got it in place.  Looks lovely.

But guess what?  I can't lift the new Brother printer onto the desk!  It sits on the floor, which made plugging cables awkward and I think I'll need to keep it covered to protect it from cat furs.

So I read the startup instructions.  I say "read" but mostly it was just poor images I had to struggle to follow.  It came from China of course.  Pulled off all the packing tape.  Some packaging items were weird.  One part was like 12" of plastic that looked like part of the printer!

It was "oh that's what the drawing was about".  I went on like that for an hour.  Even some tape that looks like it should be removed apparently isn't.  😖

But I did get it properly unpacked.  Then "load paper".  OK, that wasn't a problem.  Next, plug in the printer.  Did that into the battery backup surge suppresser.   For fax capability, I had to connect a phone cord to the router.  On my back with a flashlight.  Struggled for a few minutes.

Finally came to "connect the printer to your computer".  Should be easy, right?  No, that took another hour.  The printer came with a CD for connecting.  It didn't work.  Apparently, my CD is too old.  There was a download site.  That drove me crazy.

The printer was plugged in and connected to the computer.  But nothing happened.  I pressed the on/off power button a few times.

Oops, wrong button!  I finally found the actual power button (unlit little dark circle).  And when I pressed that, the printer made a screaming noise!  I went through several iterations of on/off (saying "bad words" frequently).  

I finally went back under the desk with my flashlight and pulled out the power plug.  I had it in a non-backup outlet and it seems the printer didn't like that.  It stopped screaming at me  after I changed some plugs around to give it a battery back-up outlet.  😣

Keep in mind that the CD didn't work, so I was at a Brother help website...

And then the instructions said to connect the printer to the computer.   I wrote down the menu sequence.  It didn't work.  Drove me nuts.  Then I finally realized I hadn't actually plugged the printer into the computer!   I should be shot for "computer malfeasance".  😢

Hurray, the computer recognized the printer!  I printed out a nice color version of

If you work hard and long enough, sometimes things work!

TV Commercials

I think TV commercial designers are dumb as a pile of bricks!  I watch TV a lot while making dinner.  They don't affect my purchases, but I like good ones and most are not.

My favorite "stupid" one is some company that sells sleeping pills.  They use an owl as their mascot.

OK, think about that.  They are selling a sleeping aide and owls are nocturnal.  How damn stupid do you have to be to use a mascot that is naturally awake all night for a sleeping med?

Illogic is both entertaining and maddening sometimes!

 

Computer Printer

 I've given up on my Canon color toner printer.  I called Canon Help, and after long hold got a really helpful techie.  We tried all sorts of software fixes, but none worked.  And as I was asked to send a couple of screens by email, we got disconnected.

Second call got me referred to some place where no one knew his name.  But this guy was a hardware expert.  Said the "assembly fixture" was broken.  And "couldn't be fixed".  So, essentially, I have a 40 pound doorstop.

I have a closetful of old non-functioning computer equipment.  This is now just another piece that I should just recycle.  

He recommended several Canon printers.  But I did some research (Consumer Reports, some techie sites).  I ordered a Brother 

MFC‐L8905CDW Business Color Laser All‐in‐One Printer, 7” Touchscreen Display, Duplex Print/Scan, Wireless, White.  $700.  But sometimes you just want "the best".  It will arrive in 2 days.

Yay, I should be able to make Christmas cards again!  But mostly, I will be able to scan/copy/fax/color print again.

Sometimes, you have to "pay to play"!

Yappy Dog

 I need some advice.  I've never quite understood dogs.  I've never liked them (my family has a long history of bad events with them with one exception).  But I don't exactly dislike them in general.  I am aware of the long good history of humans and dogs cooperating and adjusting together.

But I need some help dealing with this one.  The neighbor lady speaks better English than I do Spanish, but that's not much on either side.  So I can't just go talk to her about it.

It never stops barking...

When I am out in the backyard, Yappy Dog is desperate to "get at me".  It has made my yardwork "unpleasant".  One part of me wants to just spray the darn thing with a garden hose.  Another part says "make it a friend".  

It looks sort of like this...

I'll consider all suggestions.  👍👎

Yappy Neighbor Dog

I do not love the yappy neighbor dog.  It disturbs my time outside.  It is noisy, annoying, and I don't need some animal trying desperately to find a way through the fence to attack me (small as it is).

But I worry about it sometimes.  I don't think it has a  really good life.  

First, the single Mother there tosses it out into the fenced backyard as soon as the kids leave for school.  So it alone almost all day.  I don't think dogs like to be alone.  It runs around the perimeter of the yard barking all day.

Second, I hear it barking outside late at night.  All Winter.  And even now, it is cold outside.  And there is no doghouse where it can go for shelter and some gradual self-heating.  I mean, I think that a doghouse warms up slightly by the heat the dog produces).

Third, I have never seen the kids actually play with the dog.  I have a deck and can see over the fence.  They just don't give any attention to it.

I don't know why they have it.  The Mother tosses it outside all day, the kids don't seem to play with it.  It is almost as if they think they should have a small yappy dog, but really find it annoying.  

I am not big on dogs, but I don't like the idea that one is "kept but not wanted".  OK, maybe when it is inside, they drown it in attention and love.  But I don't think so.  

Should I ask Animal Authority to look into this?  Or should I just leave the situation alone?  I sure would like it to have a better home, out of my hearing the incessant barking and aggression.

Random Stuff

I got my replacement glasses  Friday.  The store said the lens on the previous pair had been ground just a bit too small, so that is why the lens popped out.  Well, that explains whyI couldn't seem to tighten the frame screws.  They were already as tight as possible.  

And I was fussier than usual about how the new glasses fit.  It took them 4 tries to get the ear-piece to keep them snug but not too tight.  I ended up with the best fit I've ever had.  Two days later and I haven't had to push them back up on my nose a single time.

Renewed my small trailer registration online.  It wasn't completing correctly and sent me back a page several times.  I finally noticed a small print saying I hadn't checked a box about agreeing to "terms and conditions".  So I did and they sent me a temporary registration by email.

Speaking of the trailer, some jerk pushed the front off the support block last Winter.  The ground was muddy from heavy rain so the metal pipe that raises and lowers the front snk into the ground.  And then the soil froze!  I couldn't pull it out.

Now that the soil is thawed, I still can't.  But I have a scissor-jack.  I'll have to put a cinder block under the jack to lift the front of the trailer to pull the support post out of the soil.  And another to rest the freed support on.  Just a real pain.  I already have too many things I need to do.

I'm so far behind everything.  I haven't planted a single veggie or flower seed yet.  My basement gardening bench area is a complete mess!  I actually bought some heirloom tomato plants from Amazon.  And I think I will go to the local DIY stores to buy 6-packs of flowers in a few days.  This is not going to be my DIY growing season.

I had planned to build a new planting box around the mailbox (the old one finally rotted after 25 years) and fill it with better soil.  But my Stella D' Oro lilies have already emerged. So I can't cover them in deeper soil.  I can still build a box around them, but I'll have to wait til Winter to fill it with new rich soil.

The Washington Nationals baseball team bragged all Winter about the improvements they had made on the team.  But they are currently 1-6.  It doesn't seem like it will be even an average season.

My Ryobi self-propelled electric mower got recalled.  Something about a potential fire hazard in the battery connection.  They will send me a replacement.  But I have to cut out 6" of a wire cluster, take pictures of that and the serial number and model plate, email the pictures to them, and wait 6 weeks for delivery of the new one.

At least I just use it for trim work.  My main mower is a John Deere riding mower.  I love it, but there are places it can't get to.  I've gotten it stuck in a couple of places where I needed the car to pull it out.  And one place where I needed my 6' metal bar to wedge it backwards a foot at a time.  

The Mews are doing well.  Lori is calmer about Taz and Binq (shelter cats I adopted late 2023).  She still isn't perfect around them and resents their presence in her house, but "Bad" has become "OK".  I appreciate that.

Spring Has Sprung

I love Spring!  The 2 Saucer Magnoloias are in complete full bloom.  Sometimes a late freeze catches them and damaged to budding flowers, but not this year! 

The front yard tree...

The backyard tree...

I planted them about 30 years ago.  Because in a small park across the street from where I worked, I saw them for the first time (a dozen around a reflecting pool) and thought they were the most beautiful trees I had ever seen.  

I had to research to figure out what they were.  And they require some maintenance.  They grow rather twiggy on their own, and I didn't realize at the time how much effort the Park Service put into keeping the branches "open".  I do some work on them every couple of years, but even with an 8' stepladder, it is hard to get at the crowded top sprouts.

I do what I can.  But I may have an arborist visit and do better work.

The other Spring thrill for me are the daffodils.  Daffodils are wonderful!  The deer and rodents can't eat them (the bulbs are slightly toxic) and they seem to have no disease or insect problems.  They seem to live darn near forever and multiple on their own.  

The only thing I could ask for is more colors.  White/yellow/orange seems to be about all they can  do.  But that is still pretty impressive.

The early daffodils in the front box are blooming.  And there is a later-bloomer variety emerging.  So I get 2 shows in one place for longer.

The old backyard circle is blooming...  Five varieties of slightly different blooming time.  If I had it to do over again, I would have just mixed them all up so the the entire bed was blooming somewhat for months.  To make up for that, I am going to put some thin-bricks in empty spots ( I bought 60 last Fall to hold down landscaping fabric) and add random daffodils there next Fall.  Eventually, it might all look "fuller, longer".  And there are some tulips and hyacinths growing among them.

And I planted more daffodils in front last Fall.  Really late, so I wasn't sure they would grow.  But they are emerging!  

One early bloomer type is planted right around the tree.  A later bloomer was planted around the inside of the border edging.  There is a gap between them which I will mark with nylon rope around tent stakes as a reminder where to plant a 3rd kind next Fall.

And I planted more in the back yard.  I have a 10' circle where I've tried to establish insect pollinator plants for several years, but it has never worked.  So I planted a 4' circle of hyacinths in the middle and daffodils all around them.  The daffodils are up; the hyacinths will emerge later (I hope).

They don't show up really well yet.  They were the last ones I planted.  So, "last in, last up".  And while voles love hyacinth bulbs, I hoping all the inedible daffodils surrounding them will discourage foraging.

Lastly, the old established daffodils keep blooming in the "woods".  A typical patch...

There are others scaterred around...

And some old hyacinths are still surviving in one corner of the yard.  The voles haven't found them!

I do need to clean up that area, though.  Too many brambles and weedy vines.

Now I have to get some tomatoes started.  I'm running out of time.  On the other hand, I've learned that tomatoes planted outside before May just sort of "sit and sulk".  So 6 weeks of growth might work just fine.

Happy Spring flowers and a happy successful Summer gardening season to all!

 

Sports, 2

I've mentioned sports too much.  But I have to tell you about a big event before high school.

I played in little league.  I was a terrible batter.  The bat seldom left my shoulder.  But I was a good fielder (at 2nd base).  

But I did have one great moment.  I made a triple play all by myself.  There were runners on all bases.  The batter struck a line drive but I jumped high enough to catch it.  None of the runners realized that.  

So the batter was out.  The kid on 1st ran straight into me tagging him.  I stepped on 2nd base so that guy was out too.  3 outs in about 5 feet!

And actually it was a 4-out play.  I threw the ball to the 3rd base kid, who stepped on the base and made a 4th out before that runner could return.  It didn't count of course.  But it was wonderful.

Everyone needs some amazing event to keep in memory.  That is sort of mine...

Sports, 1

I've mentioned University of Maryland basketball success the last couple of posts.   I'm a homie.  I went to college there.  When the Univ teams are good I watch.  Watching sports in general is not something I do.

I'd rather play than watch.  I was never good enough at any college-level sport.

But I was good enough in high school (oh so many decades ago).  😁

So I understand competing.  I was on the golf team.  I was the worst golfer on the team (6 of 6), but we went undefeated for 2 years and I helped sometimes.  We won one match because I sank a 30 foot putt on the last hole.  No one was more surprised than I was!  The thrill of success is lasting.

My junior year, we had a male foreign exchange student from Brazil.  We didn't play soccer in my county back then.  But to welcome him and give him something familiar, the school formed a soccer team (and neighboring schools did the same).

It was a hilarious start.  The entire Junior Varsity football team joined as well as some of us who weren't.  Soccer is a strange game.  You don't wear much padding even though there can be a lot of contact.  And you just keep playing constantly.  No football huddles or time-outs.  

The Junior Varsity guys quit after 2 weeks.  They were all beaten up and exhausted.  Big guys don't really play soccer well.  It's all agility and never-stopping.  But I was a small wiry 135 lb kid who had run with the cross-country team (not good enough to be on the team, but I ran with them).

I made the soccer team as a starter in the backfield.  I could run around all day.  Brian ( the Brazilian student) was amazingly skilled.  But he couldn't carry the whole team.  I think we went about 50-50 the 2 seasons I was there.

And that's where I learned that you don't always win.  Yeah, it hurts to lose.  But some team has to.  You congratulate the winners and try harder the next game.  And sometimes a team gets better and sometimes it doesn't.  You lose sometimes.  But you never give up.

So it is wonderful to see Univ of Maryland winning.

BTW, Cal Ripkin came from my high school a few years later...

University of Maryland's Women's Basketball Team

I thought the Maryland Men's basketball survived a tight game NCAA game 72-71 with a buzzer-beater.  But DAMN the 4th-seeded Maryland Women's team went into double overtime against 5-seeded Alabama!  They finally won 111-108.

It was an amazing game.  The after-game announcers said it was THE game of the tournament.  Maryland had been down by 17 but came back in the 4th quarter as the lead changed at least a dozen times.  

Alabama lost, but should not be ashamed.  It was a fierce game right to the last seconds.  And their star player scored 45 points.  Something nearly unheard of in NCAA tournament play!  They all played their hearts out.

But as a post-game announcer said, 64 teams enter the tournament and 63 lose.  Sports can be very cruel, but it is also very definite.  Some team has to win and some team has to lose.  

Maryland's next opponent is Florida.  They are the #1 rated team.  I don't expect Maryland will win.  But you never know.

One unusual thing is that both the Men's and Women's teams are now in the Sweet 16.  Most Universities don't have both teams reaching that far in the same year.  

So cheers to both Maryland teams,  And respect to their opponents who pushed their games right down to the last seconds.  

University of Maryland Men's Basketball Team

It was a real NCAA Tournament thriller.   MD started out so badly, I stopped watching for a while.  But just before the halftime, I returned and they were only a few points behind.  The second half went back and forth, a few points up a few points down.  It came down to single points changes right at the end.  

I should mention that Maryland has had wretchedly bad luck with close games this season.  They lost 7 games, and 6 were in the last 10 seconds.  Normally, a team would win about half of super-close games.  Not Maryland.  It was like the Grim Reaper was stalking them.

So their opponent was 2 points behind and sank a 3-point shot with 3.5 seconds left to play.  So Maryland in-bounded to ball and the player who got it had to shoot immediately.  He sank the shoot beautifully.  Maryland won!

Sometimes there is justice and mercy in sports.  😂

I feel sorry for the other team, but Maryland suffered that kind of loss too many times this season.  It was time for some luck!

 

Grocery-Shopping

After I went to the eyeglass place Wensday, I had some food-shopping to do.  One place is Nick's, which is a small combination liquor/butcher/deli store with a small amount of fresh produce and some canned/jarred goods.  It has a mainly Italian food orientation.   

They always have some meats on sale, trimmed and custom-cut.  Among this week's sale was Delmonico at $10.99/lb.  I bought half on one cut 1" thick.  I'll divide those in half and freeze them individually.  4 oz of steak is all I need at dinner (surrounded by several veggies and a salad).  Bought 2 lbs of large frozen shrimp for $10.99.  

Their small produce row is nice.  Only place I can find truly ripe Golden Delicious apples.  And I know they sell certain produce (celery hearts, bell peppers, summer squash) at much better prices than my Safeway store, so I buy those there.  And they are the only place I can find good eggroll wrappers.  And Claussen pickles.

They also accept special orders of wine by the case (and at a discount).  In order 4 cases at a time of Mondavi Private Selection 750 ml Merlot.  They call me when the order arrives and even load it for me when I pick it up.  The store manager even knows me by name.  Well, I buy mostly filet mignon, ribeye, and delmonico.  So he ought to remember me!  😁. But really, he is friendly to his customers (and a good businessman).

One odd thing about the wine orders...  Most of the liquor staff just write down my choice/name/phone number in a small receipt pad.  But there is this one guy who insists I write it down for him.  Well, my printing is not great these days, and trying to do it on a shopping cart handle is worse.  

So I sat down and typed the info into Word.  Copied it 5 times in a page, printed it, sliced the copies up, and put them in my wallet.  Tried one out Wensday.  The guy looked at it and said "that works".

I stopped buying from their deli counter though.  When Boar's Head deli meats were recalled last year, they wouldn't stop using that as their main meat source.  And I don't trust Boar's Head deli meats anymore.

My other store is Safeway.  There are 2 in town, so I just go to whichever is more on my errand path.  The have the best produce section I've found.  And I can download digital coupons to my store loyalty card.  They have really good discounts on those.

Their meat is ridiculously expensive, yet sometimes kind of tough (which I why I get mine at Nick's).    Their deli meats are more expensive, but they don't sell Boar's Head, so I trust it better.  And since my lunch is a half sandwich (surrounded by celery/carrot/cucumber/pickle sticks), the higher cost doesn't mean much.

Safeway also gives "points" for purchases.  You can use them on your grocery bill, but I have never figured out how the calculate that.  But they have their own gas station and sometimes I accumulate enough points to get 50 cents off per gallon.  That's nice!  

So I got home and put all the groceries away.  Took an hour.  Today will be cooking day for sausage, mixing day for meatloaf, and storing day for uncooked steak.  I should explain that.  I pre-cook sausage, chicken and pork and freeze them.  I never pre-cook steak!  Steak needs that "fresh from the grill or air-fryer taste" taste...

It was a good shopping day!  

Eyeglasses - Good News

 I brought the frame and newly-popped lenses to the For Eyes store yesterday and explained why to them.  I said the situation had gotten ridiculous and they probably owed me a replacement.  To my astonishment, both people at the order/repair desk immediately agreed.  No fuss, no debate, no fight...  😌

I asked if I needed to consider plastic frames, but they said no.  And one said they (the lens-makers) probably ground the lenses slightly too small, so they didn't entirely fill up the space.  I asked what made them think that.

Well, apparently it does happen often enough that they notice it.  And 2nd, the screws in the frame were still tight.  The lens shouldn't have been able to just pop out.  The replacement will be free.  The bad news is that it will take up to 2 weeks.  I'm glad I keep my old glasses!

But it means this problem may go away.  😄

Eyeglasses

The new glasses keep dropping a lens out.  I had to visit the store again Friday.  The other lens fell out the next day.  I'll visit again tomorrow.  But this is 5 times in 4 months.  I think it is time they simply replace them.  

I would accept plastic frames.  They aren't as adjustable over the ears, but the lenses stay in better as there is no screw to come loose.

I would use a toothpick to put a small dab of superglue in a couple of spots in the frame and on the frame screws.  But my fingers are too uncertain these days.  The store refuses to do that.

The store tried to suggest it is because my lenses are thick.  C'mon, my uncorrected vision is 20/40.  That's not exactly "coke bottle" lenses.  I can read the computer monitor even without them.  The newspaper is harder though.

One of the maddening parts about this is that I kept my glasses from 2014.  And it was nearly the same prescription.  I only got new ones because 2014 lenses had become abraded/cloudy due to a decade of going in and out of shirt pockets!  And I wanted some recommended features like U/V protections, anti-blue reduction, and scratch-resistance.  

ARGGGHHH!

Best Gadgets

I don't mean jets, cars, and medical equipment.  I mean those simple minor things in life...

1.  Wine foil-cutters.  And the electric cork remover.  LOVE that thing!

2.  My drill auger.  Fits into any electric drill.  Couldn't plant many bulbs without it!

3.  LED bulbs.  My electric co-op sends them for free to reduce energy usage.  And I haven't had to replace a bulb for years using them.  And they don't care if you turn them on and off.  

4.  Spray bottles.  Large one for misting my plants.  Small food-grade ones for olive oil.

5.  Square-drive screws.  Not slot-heads, not even phillip's heads.  These have a square in the top.  The square-drive screwdriver doesn't slip loose.  Second best is hex-head screws.

6.  Teflon pans.  I have cast iron, stainless steel, and glass ones, and I use them.  But Teflon is so great for gentle cooking.

7.  The Jar Opener.  Mine is a triangle with serrated edges and a handle.  It opens anything.

8.  The mechanical can opener.

I can't find the exact image, but this is close enough.  You turn a bar at the top, and then a clip pulls the top off.  The electric types need to be hand-cleaned each use.  This one just goes on the top shelf of the dishwasher.

9.  "Very fine" felt-tipped pens.  These write in my small check register spaces.  A ball-point can't.

10.  Knitted Cotton Underwear.  Not to be too personal, but when I went rom "tighty-whities" to those, I got a whole new world of comfort!

11.  Small Calculators.  The first desktop types were a wonder, but pocket-sized is great!  I have a small plastic container "shopping kit". In it is a hand sanitizer, a small tissue pack, some twist-ties, and a calculator.  Because the stores sometimes label similar products in ounces or pounds and I don't divide by 16 in my mind easily.

12.  My Kitchen Scale.  I buy some meat in bulk and then cook it.  Then slice and divide it.  If I want portions in only 4 ounces, the scale helps greatly.  Putting a plastic container on it and hitting "On Zero". eliminates the container weight.  And I use it for other things.  

13.  Potato-Slicing Device.  

OK, this is for something called a Hasselback Potato you slice mostly through and then bake.  But it is great for slicing anything thinly.  I cut a small bit of plastic to fit the bottom and I can slice all the way through a tomato.

14.  The Bread Slicer.  Like the item above it allows me to cut my loaf into perfect slices.  

15.  The Back-Hanging Aquarium Pump.  I used to use those inside cotton-filled filters that had to have the filler replaced every few days.  And it tended to trp my fancy guppies babies.  The outside-hanging one has washable filters easily removed and rinsed clean.

And a tight intake filter that saves the small new-born guppies.

16.  Headband Magnifying Glasses.  I sometimes need more resolution than my reading glasses will provide.  I have a 10X jeweler loupe that is better, but I have to hold it it one hand when needing 2 hands free.  So my headband frees both hands.

   

17.  Bar Clamps.  

I don't know who invented these things, but I couldn't live without them.  They are designed for clamping wood-working projects, but they are useful in all kinds of ways.  I had a walking shoe where the tip of the sole was separating.  I had some "shoe glue" but that can be tricky to hold the sole in place.  

So a put a shoe tree into the shoe, applying the "shoe glue" to the separated sole, and then clamped several small bar clamps to the shoe using the shoe tree are "firmness".  Worked like a charm!

And some can be reversed to use as "spreaders".  Weirdly helpful sometimes.

18.  The Orange Peeler.  

Such a simple thing.  But it really works.  The top edge cuts just through the peel (I do it in 8 cuts), and the bottom curve fits under the peel to separate the cut peel off!  

I think that is enough for today, LOL!

Changing The Clocks And Watches

As I said yesterday way more briefly than I intended to (I meant to go back and add a lot more Saturday evening) I love Daylight Saving Time.  It was nice yesterday to still have it being daylight a 7 PM.  The Mews can't tell anything happened; they like on suntime, not clocktime.

But the first day is always annoying with all the clock adjustments.  I'm kind of clock-obsessed.  I wear a wristwatch.  Every room has at least one wall clock.  The kitchen has 2 wall clocks, an oven clock, a M/W clock, and the basement has 2 wall clocks.  And the car has a clock.  In fact, I discovered that even my thermostat has a clock!

Fortunately, a few years ago, I bought a bunch of radio-signal controlled wall clocks.  Those automatically adjust daily as well as for DST.  A couple others have buttons to change for DST/EST.  The clocks on the oven, M/W, and car are easy enough to change (just press an "hour" button).

The hard part is the wristwatch.  It does too many things to make the DST change easy.  Time of course, but alarms, hourly chimes, stopwatch (upcount), timer (downcount), time-zone change adjustment, and something called "split-time", etc!

And it has 4 buttons to control various features in different sequences.  Utterly maddening.  And the pamphlet print is tiny, so I have to wear my headband magnifier to read it.  

I actually had less trouble this year.  I'm good with instructions, but these instructions are foreign-written, so of course some of the sentences aren't very well-written.  There is no automatic DST sequence, so I have to change the time as a "correction".  

It took several tries to manage that (even though it seemed to me I ta the exact same thing the first couple of times.  But I got it moved 1 hour ahead.  😀

And with that success, I decided to try a few other corrections.  It beeps at me for a full minute at midnight as some kind of alarm setting.  I think the watch came with that setting.  I learned a few weeks ago that pressing the D button shuts it off for that day, but it does it again the next.  So, I tried the instructions for shutting the feature off entirely.  I'll find out if that worked later tonight.

But now it goes "beep-beep" on each hour.  Not horribly annoying, but I would like to shut that off too.  I'll have to pull out the instruction pamphlet again later today.

When my previous replacement watch died after about 10 years, I tried to replace it with another that was equally simple.  No matter how cheap a watch I looked at, they all come filled with features and buttons I din't want to deal with.  I only want 2 things from a watch.  First that it keep accurate time.  Second that I can read it in sunlight.  OK, one additional simple DST/non-DST button would be nice too.

I bought my current watch because it didn't mention all those timer/alarm features, but it had them anyway.  😖

I sure miss the digital Phasar wristwatch my Dad bought me when I was about 16.  It kept perfect time, only told me the time/day/date, and had a great clear display.  It lasted 40 years!  OK, it needed a new battery every 3 or 4 years and a jeweler had to replace a chip twice.  But sadly there came a day when he couldn't find the chip anymore.  😢

So I've been suffering with these stupid over-complicated watches ever since!

Well, at least it will be 8 months before I have to go through this AGAIN...

Daylight Saving Time

Yay!  An extra hour of daylight for me.  Well, I get up late, so morning light is just wasted on me.  But 6 pm sunset suddenly becomes 7 pm sunset.  I love it!  😍

I know some people don't like it, but I sure do...

Emerging Daffodils

The earliest established daffodils are up.  Not blooming yet, but leaves about 4" high.

They will look like this soon.

I expected the gradual emergence about now.  My excitement is that some of the ones I planted in early Winter are showing up.  Planting was delayed because they arrived late, the weather was cold, it was a new spot, I needed to cover the spot with brown packing paper (to smother grass), shovel several inches on 50-50 compost/topsoil on top of that, my hip hurt, and I had to drill 250 holes.  The drill auger helped...

Because they were planted late and Spring bulbs need a certain amount of "chill time" to get out of dormancy and develop roots, I wasn't sure if they would emerge this year or just sulk until next year (if ever recovering).

So I am pleased to say that at least 25 (so far) have sent up leaves.  That suggests that more are on their way up.  I check each day and see a few newer leaves each time.  

Yay!  😁

Glasses Lens Loose Again

The right lens popped out again.  Fourth time in the four months since I bought them.  It's maddening.  There's no logic to it.  Last time, the technician said the frame screw wasn't loose, the lens just didn't fit the frames well.  This time a different technician said she added "screw-lock" to the screw hole.  Screw lock is tiny metal scrapings in oil that get crushed around a screw when it tightens to help hold it into place better.  Apologies if you knew that, but I never know who knows what.

I can't decide which to do if the lens comes out again.  I could fuss with the store about a free replacement (maybe in a plastic frame).  Or I could put on some latex gloves, grab a toothpick, and carefully superglue the damn lens in place!

My 2014 eyeglasses lens seldom fell out.  About once a year when the frame screw became loose.  And when one did, it was a simple matter to use my magnifying headstrap and jeweler's screwdriver to replace and retighten it.  

But I can't seem to tighten the screw on the new frame.  Even my magnifying headstrap isn't clear.  Maybe it is a hex-head or square-inset type.  I'll have to get out my jeweler's loupe to see it better.  Yeah, I have some weird stuff, LOL!

I'm glad my prescription hasn't changed much since 2014.  The old glasse are about the same as the new ones, but the old ones are a bit abrded from years of being kept in my shirt posket.  But I can still read a newspaper or the computer monitor with them.  They function when the lens of the new one pops out...

  

University Of Maryland Basketball

University teams have good seasons and bad ones.  This year has been good for both the Men's and Women's team.  They are in the "Big 10 Conference", but it actually has 18 teams these days.  The Conference Tournament ended yesterday.   

Both teams ended up the #4 seeded teams.  Which means they both get 2 "bye" days.  Which means lower-seeded teams have to fight it out for 2 rounds before Maryland even has to compete.  Which means no "early-out" and a couple days of rest and practice.

Both teams have been on fire the last couple of weeks, beating ranked teams.  I suspect both will reach the championship games.  Maybe one will even win.  I will be watching...

Go Terps!

I sometimes have to laugh at such an odd mascot.  I mean, a turtle?  But the University of MD started as an Agricultural College.  And we DO have a lot of terrestrial turtles around here.  Not too hot in Summer, not too cold for hibernating in Winter.  So I suppose it fits...  And I suppose enough Universities have Eagles, Falcons, Panthers, and Lions as mascots already.  As far as I can tell, as a mascot, "Testudo" (the diamond-backed turtle) is unique to the University.

There is a large 4' bronze statue of Testudo (in a normal turtle position) in front of the university library.  Students frequently rub the nose before going to take exams for good luck.  

I'm not REAL big on sports in general.  But if I watch them, it might as well be a local team.  LOL!

The Mews

I have mentioned this briefly before, but I want to elaborate...

Dring the day, I feed them, let them go outside and kind of keep s watch over them.   When they are inside, I toss toys and let them sit on my lap when I watch TV.  They are usually around me somewhere in the main living areas.

After sunset, I count them to make sure they are all inside, safe from "whatevers"

But there is a time after dinner when they all seem to want a nap.  It is a quiet time.  They each have some special places they prefer, but it is not always the same places each evening.  

So I get out of the chair and walk around the house quietly.  Four cats, maybe a dozen typical places for them.  I just walk around to look at them at peace.  It soothes my sometimes contentious mind.

Seeing a cat asleep is a peaceful thing.  I'm sure they know I am there (you can't sneak up on a cat even when it is asleep).  But they trust me enough to not even wake up fully.  I think that is wonderful.

So I go around the house, finding where they are and just looking at them trusting in the shelter of the house, stuffed full of food, and feeling safe.

I am sometimes amazed that these essentially wild creatures can live with me.  Dogs came to us as wolves for food scraps and we slowly changed them.  Other animals were forcibly tamed.  Cats don't really need us, but they seem to like us.  They are what they were millennia ago.  OK, a bit of fur-color changes, but the body of a cat is the same as it was.  

I let mine outside several times a day.  I have a tall 6' dog-proof fence.  They seem to understand that it defines our territory.  The younger ones can get up on the fence top, but they seldom go over it.  They know where "we" belong.  

So, when I walk around the house at dark, I'm just looking at them and marveling.  They are here by choice.  They could leave and find a new home anytime.  I'm not saying I am a perfect human, but apparently I'm "good enough" for them.  I like that...

A Small Computer Victory

 My new laptop has only a power port and 2 USB-C ports.  Very annoying.  Couldn't plug in a flashdrive or much anything else.  But I did find a 3" USB-C to USB cable so I could atattch a wireless mouse plug.  So it worked OK.

And it suddenly occurred to me that the same cable would work with any USB connection.  DUH!  I am so dumb sometimes.

I had 4 of those cables already (came in a pack of 5) sitting in a box on the bookcase.  But they weren't in my "big bucket of cables" so I didn't realize I had them.  

Other than that, Sunday was a pretty typical day.  I got up at 2pm after 10 hours in bed (I don't sleep great).  Got up, pulled on sweatpants and a T shirt, fed the cats and then let them outside, and checked blogs and emails.   Got the newspaper and mail (Saturday's).

I'm really going downhill fast.  But my awake time is pretty productive, so maybe that's not all that bad.  I hauled out the stepladder to refill the birdfeeder, did the dishes and 2 loads of laundry.  Added some air to the car tires.  Cleaned the litterboxes.  It's not like I just sit in front of the TV.  I'm actually on my feet about 6 hours a day.  But I do have to stop eventually...

Wasn't hungry, so I skipped breakfast and lunch.  Dinner was ham cubes with cabbage,  And a large tossed salad.  Watched some MSNBC.  Tried to find a movie worth watching.  Started 'Civil War' on a recommendation, but didn't feel in the mood for political thriller. so I turned it off.

Tossed toys around with the cats.  And they take turns on my lap.  Which we all enjoy.  And they were all around me on the bed later.  Hard to get a picture of that though,  If I turn on the bedtop light at night and turn the camera on, they leave.

Went to bed at 11 pm after watching a Bill Maher show I missed Friday.

That's what "old guy" life is like...  👴

Annoying Recall Notice

 The bad...  My electric Ryobi mower is on recall.  I received an email from them about that.  Directed me to a phone number or a website.  I thought the phone call would be easier.  I was sure wrong about that!

I called the number Friday.  Got an agent quickly (yay).  Gave her all the information she asked for (so they could set up a case file).  She said I would immediately receive an instruction email about disabling the old mower and they would send me a replacement.

I didn't receive an email...

So I called again yesterday.  It was a complete experience of ineptitude!  I guessed (correctly) that they had gotten my email wrong.  Even though I carefully provided it letter by letter (and spoke very clearly).  So this time, I had basic military code words written down for my email address ("Alpha" for A, "Bravo" for B, "Charlie" for C, etc.  

The agent still got it wrong 3 times!  It was maddening.  Even when I asked her to repeat it back to me, she used wrong words.  How can you mistake "Bravo" for "Victor"?  But we finally got that worked out.

Then came my address.  I recognize that my street name is not common.  There is a B where a V seems more likely.  But I gave it to her code word by code word.  And she got that wrong twice.  Apparently, she couldn't type accurately.  And let me say that I'm only saying "her" because her voice suggested she obviously was; not some sense of insult.

We finally got through that.  

Then came the Zip code.  I said 2O6O1, and that didn't register in her computer.  I didn't realize I was talking to a Canadian.  They have letters in their postal codes and in the US it is assumed to be all numbers, so saying O and 0 are the same.  OK, my bad!

Once I figured that out, I corrected it.  And apologized.  I repeated my Postal Code as all numerics.

So she read back all the information I had provided.  And had completed botched almost everything.  Still had my email wrong, still had my street name wrong, still had the Postal Code wrong.  Seriously, how can you confuse the spoken word of "one" with "nine? 

So it was another round of correcting the information. 

That was 45 minutes of idiocy.  She finally did get everything right, because I did receive the promised email of instructions while we were still talking.  And then she said to ignore that.  Apperently, she had to register me with Ryobi/TTI.  ARRRGGGHHH!

She said her system said there was still a problem and put me on hold for 10 minutes.  Came back finally and said it was all worked in their database that I was qualified.  Never mind that they had already said I was qualified for a replacement mower.  I might get the replacement in 2 weeks.  After following the instructions about disabling the old mower.  

And that the original instructions were correct.  In a pdf file I had to download and open, and print.  I have to clip off at least 6" of 2 wires and take before and after pictures.   And send a pic of the model/serial number label.  Which is so small and inconvenient that I'm not sure if I can, and then email it to them.  But that is tomorrow's problem.

I really don't need this kind of aggravation!

My new laptop has only a power plug and 2 USB-C ports.  Can't even plug in a wireless mouse directly

Keeping Track Of Pics

I keep a paper list of pics of The Mews.  But sometimes it is hard to find which daily folder they are in.  So I looked at it and asked myself "Self, what would make things easier".  Then "duh",  added a column to list the folder the pics are in.  

Damn, I really love organizing information!  Just saying...

Edited to add:  Oops, I meant that for tomorrow...

The Laptop

 I am not a mobile person.  I don't carry the laptop around with me.  But I have a particular use for it.

If I sit at the desktop computer I smoke.  It is the only place I do.  Can't seem to stop that.  But I don't smoke anywhere else in the house.  So, if I have the laptop in the TV room and I'm watching news or sports, I don't smoke.  

Well, maybe one thought about that.  The air return vent is just outside of my computer room.  If I set the fan on "continuous" any smoke escaping the room gets drawn straight in there.  And I have a latch hook that leaves the computer room door open just 2".  Enough to direct the smoke to the filter, but not enough to let The Mews in to breathe the smoke.  I am better about their health than mine.  👍

So the laptop allows me to spend time emailing or visiting friends' blogs without feeling a desire to smoke.   And that means we start visiting again!  Way too long and I really apologize...

Computer Madness And Success

 I was using an old laptop last year.  There were problems.  Several keys came loose, the battery died.  I read that both together would probably cost more than a new cheap one.  And about all I was doing with it was using it in front of the TV to visit other cat blogs.

So I bought a new cheap (simple) one.  And I couldn't get it to connect to my Wi-Fi.  OK, it decades past, I was a techie.  But tech slipped past me.  I have trouble with my smartphone (I can't figure out how to navigate to where I want).  So I couldn't get the new laptop to connect to my Wi-Fi account.

One suggestion I read was to bring the laptop closer to the router.  Yesterday, I did that.  It didn't help a bit!  But at least I had both my desktop and the laptop in the same room and could look up stuff on the desktop about the laptop.  

What I found by desktop computer internet queries suggested I was failing getting the laptop connected because I didn't have a WPA2  password.  I had no idea what that was.

Searches described WPA2 but didn't help much.  I'm sure what that is, is obvious to many of you, but it sure wasn't to me.  

Most sites said that if you lost your Wi-Fi password (and I didn't even know I needed or had one), you had to either connect your laptop to the router with a Ethernet cable or completely re-establish your router.  My laptop does have any such port and I definitely didn't want to mess with my router settings!

So. on my desktop, I kept querying about WPA2 in various ways.  For a couple hours (I am persistent) I tried various fixes.  None worked or suggested the "reset router" option.

And then I found a reference on a Mac discussion forum that said that the router comes with a model number and password usually located on the bottom.  OK, I'm not all that agile these days, and the cables are pretty tight.  So it was difficult get at the bottom of the router and I needed a flashlight to read it.  

But there was a model number of the router and there was an original password.  I thought I had changed that for general security.  But when I typed in the original router password to the laptop Wi-Fi query, it WORKED!  Wi-Fi was working.  I don't care why it worked.

I danced around the room, I went out and gave The Mews treats (real ones, not just kibble).  I danced around the living room!

And then I went back to the computer room.  There were browsers to download.  There were some bookmarks to add.  I use Duck Duck Go on most (they don't track queries of send ads).  I got Feedly on the Chrome browser (it seems to work best for me there).

Some things were complicated.  My laptop doesn't even have a port for a flashdrive, so I couldn't even copy bookmarks from the desktop to the laptop.  It just has a power port and 2 very small ports.  I think they are Micro HDMI type D or Mini Display Port.  I can't tell by just looking at the images of them.

I have to laugh.  I have a bucketful of various cables and adaptors, but never the right ones.

But the laptop reaches the internet now, and that's all I care about.  I'll explain why that's all I care about on the laptop next post...

Thankful Thursday

 I am thankful for many things.  Some are important in general, some are more individual and personal...

1.  Generally safe and clean food and water.  It takes work for the Government to assure that.

2.  Cats.  Mine are individually good to me, and getting along better with each other.  And that they use litterboxes.

3.  Inexpensive but decent wine.  A dinner without wine would be lacking something and I refuse to buy wine that costs as much as my dinner.

4.  My Federal retirement annuity.  It is inflation-adjusted and will last until I die.

5.  Computers and the internet.  They aren't exactly the same.  I love the internet for the communication, but I do things on my computer that don't require the internet.  I use Word and Excel a lot.

6.  My local butcher/deli/liquor store.  And the great sales they offer weekly.

7.  High-def consolidated cable TV.  I know a lot of people use streaming services, but I can get 90% of what I want in just one place.

8.  Civilization II.  It's an old game, but it is always a bit challenging.  No two games are the same.  And there is no time-clock.  I can play at my own pace.  Then leave and return to the same game later to continue it.

9.  My house.  I've lived here 38 years.  I can walk around it in the dark by now.  It has an easy circular traffic pattern for the kitchen/living/TV room and then a hallway that leads to 3 "bedrooms".  Of those, one is a bedroom, another the computer/library room, and the 3rd is The Mews Room.  And I own it outright!  And happy for a full basement and built-in garage.

10.  My car.  A nice, practical compact SUV Subaru Forrester.  Also owned outright.  

11.  Credit cards.  A wonder of the computer age.  I withdrew $200 from my bank ATM a year ago, and most of it is still in my wallet.  I only have 3 and they are automatically paid off in full each month.  And I get cash back and discounts from each.  Well, one is from Amazon and is dedicated to purchases there.  A second is dedicated to routine monthly bills.  The third is for all other purchases.  

12.  Sports.  I don't watch them generally, but I am a home-boy.  I watch the local professional baseball and football teams (casually), and University of Maryland football and mens/womans basketball (more intently).  

13.  Modern medicine.  And by "modern" I mean "in my lifetime".  I could have died from a severe hernia as a baby.  I could have died from a nearly-ruptured appendix at 18.  And I love vaccines.  The standard childhood shots helped.  And I'm happy to have gotten the shingles, RSV, and pneumococcal shots.  I get the flu and covid shots every year.  

14.  Books.  When I was pre-kindergarten, Mom home-schooled me about letters and words.  First, I started school with an advantage.  Second, it taught me to love to read.  I read every in the house (dictionaries, encyclopedias, etc.  By the time I was 12, I had exhausted the library's supply of "young adult" books.  Then I switched to adult science and sci-fi.  Books taught me as much as school-days did.

15.  Telescopes.  I am not and never was a religious child or adult.  Science explained things better.  And astronomy was my favorite way of learning.  Telescopes of various kinds have gotten so much better since I was young.  When the Hubble was repaired and started showing fabulous pictures, I nearly cried from joy at seeing them.

16.  Magazines and Newspapers.  Yes I still subscribe to some.  Scientific American, Cook's Illustrated, Wood, Archeology, Consumer Reports.  I get detailed information from each one.  And The Washington Post newspaper.  Regarding The Washington Post newspaper, it feels entirely normal to me that it is my International, National and Local newspaper.  

17.  Career.  Out of college, I ended up in minimum wage department store jobs.  I knew I was better than that, but I couldn't figure out where to try.  I didn't like sales jobs, I'm not good at getting money from others (an ethical problem), and I wasn't mechanically skilled.

A friend suggested I take the Federal Goverment exam.  It was called the Professional Administrative Exam (PACE).  I aced it in all 6 categories at 2 grade levels (99th percentile in all).  I was offerred a job temporary job in "general office" work at the General Services Administration (GSA).  They had WWII veterans retiring and needed replacements.  GSA provided equipment/furniture/supplies/office space/telephone services for the rest of Government.  And this office provided internal agency support for all those things.  Talk about "general", LOL!

After 4 weeks, Management asked if I would take a permanent position.  DAMN HELL YES!  It was the perfect place for me.  I thrived and advanced.  I always got the most difficult jobs and I loved that.  I retired happy, satisfied and missed.

18.  I'm sure I will think of other things to be thankful for in a few hours, but I think it is time to end this post.  You all have other places to visit and I am late to make lunch.