Random Stuff

 There is always some random stuff going on.  Some normal but some not.  So a list:

1.  I solved the wristwatch problem.  It's hard to find a wristwatch that is both simple and readable.  I bought one that had a large display that was  easily readable.  But of course it came with features I didn't want.  I don't need a wristwatch with alarm settings, hourly beepings, or countdown or uptime timers.  But every manufacturer assume that I do.

When I received it, every feature was functioning except the actual time.  So I set the time according to the instructions.  That wasn't too difficult.  But a "chronometer" function beeped every hour.  And an alarm went off at Noon every day for 60 seconds.  Drove me crazy.

It is a foreign product, as most small devices are today.  The instructions can be hard to understand sometimes.  The watch has 4 buttons (A to D).  The instructions tell you which order to press them to turn on and off various features.  I tried to follow them for 2 weeks with no success!

The features are tiny little abbreviations in a corner of the watch, and I couldn't even read them with my reading glasses.  It took a magnifying glass (the kind you can wear on your head so both hands are free) to see the letters. 

I know how to follow instructions.  These were like "press B 2 seconds then press C to access "chronometer" and make adjustments as purposed".  Yeah, that's a quote.  I could never get the hourly single beep or 60 second beeps to stop.

Finally, after trying again and failing, I just started pressing the 4 buttons randomly in anger.  And it worked!

The chronometer and alarm were both off.  I have been delighted with the watch since then.  It shows me the time and date in a relatively clear display, and that is all I wanted from it.  I hope it lasts the rest of my life (batteries to be replaced of course) so that I don't have to struggle with settings again.

2.  It has been unusually dry here for months.  Here it is not yet even Summer and the lawn grass is fading and the soil is hard.  We normally have 17" of rain for the year by now and it is just 8" and nearly nothing for 2 months..  I know, things are worse elsewhere, but this is my yard and my plants.  

So I decided to actually water the lawn.  I don't normally do that.  I'm organic, and I accept that grass goes dormant in Summer.  But it isn't even Summer yet.  The WEEDS are even dying.  

So I took out my old lawn sprinkler to at least save the new meadow bed.  It leaked like crazy!  I allowed it because I have a lot of established plants in there and 36 more to add very soon.  But I needed a new one.  I looked up some garden sites about recommendations.  No sites agreed about the best.  So they are probably sort of either all crummy or all good.  I ordered one.  It will arrive Saturday.  At least (being new) it will probably work well for a couple of years.  So many things are just built poorly these day.

3.  The cold nights (and odd tiredness) caused me to delay planting my heirloom tomatoes.  I had too many 40's nights in May and that stunts them.  And after no rain for nearly a month, I can't barely get a shovel in the soil.  So I soaked the soil for an hour.  Tomorrow I can dig good holes and add good organic fertilizer in the soil before I fill it back in around the transplants. 

4.  I mowed the daffodil bed.  They had all died back sufficiently.  And I will spread mostly P and K fertilizer around to feed the bulbs.  Then cover it with black mesh landscaping fabric to smother the grasses and weeds that tried to take over earlier this Spring.  By next Spring, there won't be a living weed or grass in the bed!

5.  Given the failure of the old oscillating lawn sprinkler and until a new one arrives in a few days, I will be setting out some buckets near special plants.  I have some with small holes in the bottom. That allows the water to drip out slowly and get down to shrub and tree roots.  

The Annoyance Of Cheap Stuff

 I smashed a wristwatch a few days ago.  It was relatively new.  

I don't care for fancy watches.  A former friend of mine was so proud of his (actual real) Rolex and never understood why I wasn't all that impressed.  I don't do jewelry.  All I want from a watch is accurate time and day, and ease of reading it.  And that it be digital.

So I'm in the "cheap" category...  What is it with cheap watches that they have to be black display on a grey background?  That's hard to read.  I was gifted an early digital watch as a teenager (a Quasar - sp?).  Nice black display on white.  Easy to read.  Kept perfect time for 40 years (with a new battery every 5 years).  Sadly, the innards finally failed.  I loved it for the simplicity.  All I ever had to do was change to DST and back to EST.  It had 2 buttons and each did 1 thing.

My experience with watches has been poor ever since.  The best replacement I found at a reasonable cost was black on grey.  And too much information on it.  I know what day of the month/date/week it is.  I don't need an alarm, a countdown function, a countup function, or a timer.

My previous newer watch had 3 buttons.  The first engaged "settings".  The other 2 let me cycle through options to change the time (up and down).

The newest watch had 4 buttons (and the same black on grey screen).  It lost a minute per month so had to be reset sometimes.  I had to read the instructions every time.  And then the buttons stopped working.  Oh, I could move from one function to another, but nothing stayed "set".  Except alarm beeps at midnight.  

I tried everything in the instructions to stop it, with no success.  I finally smacked it a few times on my workbench just to stop the alarm (5 days ago).  Today, it started beeping at me again every 5 minutes starting at midnight.  The alarm refused to die.

So I whapped it again on the desk until it stopped.  Silent for an hour...  (hurray)  I'm wearing my previous watch for now. I like it better than I did before.  😊.   I want a simple to set, easy to read, basic digital wristwatch.

If anyone has a recommendation, I'm listening...

Daylight Saving Time

Saturday night as I went to bed, I moved the bedroom clock up an hour.  That makes it easier to adjust to Daylight Saving Time.  It's easier to think of going to bed late than to suddenly lose an hour the next day.  There is sometimes benefits to playing tricks with one's own mind, LOL!

In the morning Sunday, I just got up and dealt with the time.  Since I don't keep regular hours going to bed or getting up, it isn't hard.  In fact, I got up at a generally "regular" time,  so neither mind nor body objected.

The annoying part is all the other clocks in the morning.  I have an unusual number of them.  There are 4 in the kitchen alone; the oven, the M/W  and 2 analog wall clocks on opposite walls. 

There are 5 in the TV room.  One a radio signal one that tells time, month/day/date, year, inside temperature, outside temperature, and inside humidity.  It a fun item, but mostly it is always accurate with the radio signal update and serves as the basis for setting all the other clocks.    Aside from that one there is the cordless phone, the cable box one, the VCR one, and an analog wall clock.  I don't bother with the VCR one, I put electric tape over the display a decade ago.  I know HOW to change it, I just don't need it.  I'd do the same with the cable box, but it also shows the channel sometimes.

The Living room has only one digital clock, but it is a very useful one.  It shows the day of the week in LARGE LETTERS; something very useful if you are retired and so don't have the kind of schedule that forces you to normally keep track of that.  And it is the first room I walk into in the morning, so that's the best place for it.  Don't laugh TOO hard, but sometimes after I get up and am dressed and about the house, I notice it is "Thursday" when I thought it was "Wednesday".  Its not like it may sound;  mostly I just need to know "weekday" from "weekend" (because I never do shopping on weekends).   Too crowded...

The Bedroom has 3 clocks.  The old digital clock/radio/alarm that I only use as "clock" these days.  The radio part was always awful, the alarm annoying to set.  So I just use a kitchen timer as an alarm clock.  Whenever I go to bed, I just set the timer to 9 hours (so easy).  If I wake up before it goes off and feel rested, I get up.  If it goes off and I don't feel rested, I just set it for another hour.  As I said, my hours are very flexible.

The 2nd Bedroom "clock" is only an analog day clock.  All it does is show the day of the week.  The face is divided into days and that is ALL it tells you.  If you looked at it carefully, you could judge early morning, late morning, etc.  But if you need that level of help, you probably NEED some other kinds of help, LOL!  I only have it because I hadn't found that Living room digital one at the time.

The 3rd Bedroom clock is equally not mainly for telling time but it does have a clock on it.  It is really a digital indoor/outdoor thermometer that tells me the minimum and maximum temperatures and the click of a button.  It's for gardening information but of course they just HAD to but a time display on it.  I will say, that since it is in the Bedroom and battery powered, it the electricity fails (so the clock radio blinks at me, it is easier to tell the time than finding my eyeglasses to read my wristwatch to tell what time it is. 

The Computer room has 3 clocks in it.  Two are on the computers.  One computer is online, so it automatically updated.  The other computer is standalone (for games but also security; I keep my passwords and asset trends on a spreadsheet there.  The clock there doesn't actually matter, but it can being confusing if I want to make sure I stop playing a game by a certain planned bedtime.  And I'll be darned, THAT'S the one I forgot to change today (doing it now).  The 3rd is a digital wall clock.  Well, just because I don't always wake up the computer when I walk into the room...

The Basement has 2 analog clocks.  One is a cool/unusual.  It is a woodworking equipment company brand one.  I was buying something and one of those exhibition shows and knew they were selling the item at a discount.  But I was negotiating.  I was asking for more than the demonstrator was willing to give and noticed he had a 12" analog clock showing the company (which I liked).  So I said "Throw in the clock and you have a deal".  He looked back at the clock and said "You have to be kidding".  But I now have the bench planer and the clock (which has kept perfect time for 20 years, is easy to read [large black hands on a yellow face], and gets comments.  The other clock is a standard cheap analog type for where I can't see the large.  I actually need clocks in the basement.  Otherwise, I stay down there too late...

The Cat room has no clocks in it.  Well, there IS one, but I keep the battery out.  It ticks loudly.  Same for a pendulum wall clock in the Computer room, BTW.  I sleep lightly

That leaves 2 clocks.  One is my wristwatch.  I hate my wristwatch.  I can set it, but it takes work and experimentation.  The buttons aren't labeled, not are they intuitive.  And with buttons sticking out of it, I am constantly accidentally changing it to 24 hour time or timer or alarm.  And it has a black display over a grey background.  But other ones were more complicated or gaudy.

My previous wristwatch was a Sears Phasar with an easily readable black display on a white background.  My Dad gave it to me when I left for college in 1968.  It kept perfect time.  The replacement battery was inexpensive.  The settings buttons were recessed (which meant that you needed a paperclip on old pen to depress them, but you couldn't change things by accident. 

The last clock is in the car.  Easy to change.  Dedicated hour and minute buttons, so today it was just one push and I was done. 

The Fall changeback takes longer.  Digital clocks beed to be advanced forward 23 hours, not 1 forward.  Many analog clocks get messed up being turned backwards, so you have to manually turn a slow button on the back 23 hours. 

But I love Daylight Saving Time.  Same TV schedule, but an hour later of light.  And since I never get up at dawn, I personally DO get an extra hour of light each day.  I spent my extra hour today deciding where to transplant some specimen tree saplings to in the area I chopped out the brambles in the far back yard, snipping out old growth on perennials, and cutting out some small briars and brambles from around flowerbeds preparing for new growth. 

The Wristwatch, Part 2

I still miss the look of the old Phasar watch.  And I'm keeping it in case I find a good repair site.  Not that I expect to, but the little watch doesn't take up much space in a drawer I keep weird stuff in.

Here is a picture of the new watch from the selling site...


Ignore the resin watchband; that's what I tore off.  But do note that the display shows time to seconds, day and date above, and 'PM" to the left of the time (not shown).  I don't have to push any buttons to know everything I want from a watch.

There is still too much unnecessary junk wording around the top and bottom,  but that was the simplest I could find.

The new band is a double velcro type that is hard to find.  But it is also black, and that suits me.

I expect to have to change the battery soon.  Very oddly, the watch came with a notice that the installed battery was for testing and evaluation and may not last as long as a new commercial battery.   Somehow, they managed not to mention that on the sales site.   Well, that's OK, I have the tools to replace it.

I am actually quite pleased with the new watch.  Black suits me, the small amount of blue is not especially obvious in daylight, and the replaced velcro is soft and comfortable. 

Here are pictures of the assembled watch and bands...

The Wrist Watch

I have been wearing the same wristwatch for about 40 years.  It is so old, there isn't even one on ebay.  It is a Sears Phasar digital watch.  There is a Phasar 1000 and a Phasar 2000, but not the original unnumbered one. 

I love that watch.  It loses about a second per day, but it does NOTHING other than show time and day/date.  But is a little line at the bottom that underlines the day of week.  There are 2 buttons.  One selects something to change, the other changes it.

Simple, straightforward, and the buttons are so small you can't activate them by accident.  It was a gift from my parents the day I got my first career job in 1975.  I have had the battery replaced about once a year, and every 10 years, the velcro band has worn out and I replace that with my favorite watch band "sharkleash".  It has 2 velcro straps, so working while wearing it, it doesn't loosen.  Watch and band are so part of me.

The watch finally died.  Well, gee, who would imagine a cheap digital watch from 1975 would only last 40 years?  ;)  A jeweler replaced the battery and it only worked when cold; arm-warmth stopped it.  So, time to replace it...

WAAAHHHHH!!!!  I loved that watch...

But everything good goes away eventually, so I looked for a decent replacement.  I learned that I hate all modern watches.  They DO too much.  Alarm features, Stopwatch features.  Even "foreign time zone" features whatever that is.

All I want is time, day, and date.  And small is good.  I don't want some big clunker on my arm.  I would happily wear a "ladies" watch, but they are too small.  Having to put on my reading glasses just to read the watch sort of defeats the purpose.

So I found one that didn't have too many features (and WOW had the sharkleash band), and it arrived a couple of weeks ago.  I struggled for 2 hours to program it.  The manual was only on line and deciding which manual to use was iffy.  No specific model identifications on any of the manuals.   Utter frustration.

I barely got it to show time, but every time I touched the darn thing, it seemed to change displays.  I got permission to return it to Amazon.

But before I did that, I really had to find a better one.  I found one that seemed better at Sears, a Casio Illuminator with a simple resin watch band.  It had fewer features and one less side button.  I went to Sears and bought it.  But I hate the watchband.  Its a buckle type and I LOVE the velcro type.  But it just takes popping the watchband pins and replacing the band.

Wrong!  This watchband doesn't have the old removable pins.  The pin is solid and would not be removed.  Internet searches suggested you could just push the pins out, but these were unpushable.

I DON'T GIVE UP EASILY!

I have a set of watch repair tools.  They didn't get the solid non-spring pins out.  OK, I have bigger tools.  With a small slot screwdriver, I bent the damned pins and pulled them loose with a vise-grip plier.  I was only risking $16 if I destroyed the watch anyway.

The watch repair tool kit has, among other things, a bag of dozens of spring watch pins.  I found 2 that would fit in place of the solid rod pins.

So I ripped the damned solid pins loose and that got the stupid resin buckle band off.  My sharkleash band was wider than the watch so I used a pair of surgical scissors I got from the doctor who removed my appendix in 1968 (I keep everything that seems useful) and cut a notch in the sharkleash band to fit.

It only took 15 minutes of fighting with the spring-pins to get them in.

But now I have the simple straight-forward cheap digital watch I preferred on the watch band I preferred.  It only took 2 online orders, a trip to the local Sears store, and about 3 total hours of work, but I have what I wanted.

For $16 for the Casio watch and $15 for the watch tool kit, I can return the $49 clunky watch I hated to Amazon for free.  And I don't care about the money.

I'm a persistent type, LOL!  I got what I wanted at the end...

A Difficult Errand

I have a watch that is 50 years old this month.  It was a gift in 1966 when I was 16.  It is the only wristwatch I have ever owned.  It was one of the earliest cheap digital watches.  I love it! 

It doesn't do anything but tell time.  Well, I mean it shows the day with a line over a row of letters and there is a smaller number for the date.  And if I press an awkward button, the date goes away and shows seconds.  And another push shows m/d/y (12 8 16).  But that's all.  No timer, no weather, no footstep count, no anything else. 

I have to have the battery replaced about once a year.  Any jeweler will do it for about $10.  It requires  weird tool to get the back off or I would do it myself.

So I went to me usual place to have the battery repaired.  There was no jewelar there.  There was no building.  The spot had been scraped clean.  Wow!

So I went to a new place I had found called "Bulbs & Batteries".  Their watchpin removal tool was broken.  Well, I needed to buy some groceries and I knew there was a jeweler nearby, so I did my shopping and stopped there. 

Oh boy, was I surprised!  They wouldn't replace a digital watch battery.  "You need to return it to the manufacturer", the store manager declared!  "Otherwise, the circuits will get shorted out".  I pointed out that the watch was 50 years old and the batteries had been replaced many many times with no ill effects.  He replied that "That's why the battery only lasts a year, it gets shorted - a battery should last 5 years".   It was a high-end jeweler (Jared's) and he looked down his nose at me (and my watch) as if I had walked into his cocktail party wearing dirty gardening clothes.

Well, Exxxcccccuuuuuuujse Meeee!

So I stopped at the last place to replace my battery.  It had only lasted 6 months, so I was doubtful about the freshness of their batteries, but a working watch is worth a few dollars.  They were closed.

At home, I looked up the manufacturer of the watch (Phasar).  They are long since out of business anyway.

The next day I went back to the place that was closed.  They were happy to replace the battery.  By good fortune, they had a new employee, so the main person was explaining about changing watch batteries.   I couldn't have asked for a better refutation of the Jared guy's claim...

She explained the watch back removal tool to the newbie and demonstrated how it worked.  She explained how to insert the new battery without shorting it or the circuits, she showed  a small insulating collar to prevent that.  She mentioned "these old digitals are long-lasting" (so she recognized it's age).  She even mentioned that batteries in new watches last several years, but after some years of corrosion and dust; last only a year.  So much for that snooty Jared's guy's claim...

But upon replacing the battery, the display was pale.  She said they could try cleaning it, failing that, finding a replacement circuit insert.  But I would have to leave it and they would call with an estimate.  She showed me the watches they sold, but they were all analog.  And they were all a bit too fancy and "jewelry".

I don't wear a single piece of jewelry.  I'm not a metal kind of guy.  Even my watchband is velcro...

So I left it with them went home, and looked at cheap digital watches on Amazon.  They all displayed Too Much Information at once.  And that means ALL the info is small.  I don't want to have to put on my reading glasses just to see what time it is!

So I was sad.  First, the watch means a lot to me personally.  I am a dedicated watch-wearer.  It has gone everywhere I have for 50 years.  It has been through below-zero Winter camping, it has gone into Canadian lake water when a friend tipped the canoe over, it has gotten me to countless meetings on time over my career, and it has reminded me when to stop working outside and go inside to feed the cats.  It has reminded me when to turn on the TV for Specials I wanted to see.

How much more can you ask of a watch? 

So 2 days later, when the jeweler called (VM message) and said I could pick up the watch, I was worried.  I assumed they could get the part to fix it.  But I had a pleasant surprise when I arrived.  The watch was suddenly just fine.  The display was strong.  No reason, it just was. 

Hurray.  But gosh, that sure was a lot of effort to find a place that would replace the battery!

BTW, seeing what the watch back removal tool looked like, I went to Amazon to see what one costs.  The jeweler charged $15 to replay the battery.   The battery itself costs $3.  Guess what, the watch back removal tool costs $3 at Amazon. 

I think I'll buy one. 

And I'll NEVER shop at Jared's...