Just a few days ago, it was freezing at best in the day. And before that, it was bitterly cold some days. So what should happen the first nice day?
Mosquito bites.
And to make it worse, I got bitten INSIDE THE HOUSE!
Those Asian Tiger Mosquitoes make me reconsider DDT...
Last year, it was so bad I couldn't run out to get my mail without a bite or two. Today, I opened the deck doors for 5 minutes and I killed 5 of the little suckers and there are at least 2 more around I haven't caught yet.
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
Topics
You know how sometimes you want to write, but can't think of what to write about? Me too. That's why sometimes I go on about something badly and then delete it a day later.
So I sat down a few minutes ago and decided to just scribble out some things going on around me, the house, and the yard. I hit a dozen immediately! Some days are like that.
1. Frogs
2. Mosquitoes
3. Crocuses
4. Deer Ate Shrub
5. Car Battery
6. Snowblower Snow Wouldn't Melt
7. Enclosed Garden
8. Tomato Grafting
9. Dad
10. Smoking/Not Smoking
11. Covered Plant Rack
12. Wine
So, how about "frogs"? Now, I generally LIKE frogs. None of them around here are poisonous, they eat mostly bad insects, they are impressively weird, and they mostly don't bother me.
Except Spring Peepers. For a month each year around now, they all start a "chirping contest". And since there are wetlands across the street (used to be a full-fledged swamp) they are a biblical multitude! 10,000 chirping Spring Peepers can be distracting. The chirps are of a sound frequency that comes right through windows and walls. Well, no wonder at THAT, they evolved their sound to penetrate woodsy swamps.
I can live with that; there are so many of them that the sound is constant. Its the 5 or so of them that find my small 4'x6' lily pond that drive me NUTS! The pond is only 20' from my bedroom window, and with only a few of them, the chirping comes and goes. I can't sleep when they chirp randomly.
It was so bad when I worked, that I would sometimes have to go out at night, find the little devils with a flashlight, and stomp on them just to get some sleep. And its not like I didn't try passive frog-friendly ideas first. I put acoustical ceiling tiles covering the inside of my bedroom window. It didn't work! Well, it helped some, but not enough.
Even after retirement, when I can sleep later to make up for the disturbance, it is still aggravating. The past 5 years, I have covered the pond with loose-woven garden cloth. That works. If they can't get to the water, they can't mate, so they don't chirp.
I usually notice them first as I go to bed and it is really too late to do the covering thing that night. But this year, today, I caught them in the act. It was suddenly very warm today (75F at 4 PM), s I had some windows open. It was nice and quiet.
Until... At precisely 5:30 PM, I heard a chirp in the wetland. And 2 seconds later, I heard 10,000!!! They ALL started immediately when the very first one did. I was astonished. At least I have tomorrow to cover the pond. The pond doesn't seem to warm up as fast as the open wetland do, so there is a lag.
Tomorrow, I will take out the garden cloth and cover the pond and ruin the mating possibilities of the several Spring Peepers who chose my pond as their "Dream Seduction Site". Well, they are either the dumbest Spring Peepers and deserve not to mate, or they are the smartest Spring Peepers (choosing a less-competitive location) and just had the bad luck to annoy ME! Either way, I doubt I am affecting the long-term survival of Spring Peepers...
And if I am? Well, MY sleep comes first. Being Top Of The Food Chain has its benefits.
Topics 2-12 to come later, maybe in no particular order, and interrupted by new topics as they come to mind.
So I sat down a few minutes ago and decided to just scribble out some things going on around me, the house, and the yard. I hit a dozen immediately! Some days are like that.
1. Frogs
2. Mosquitoes
3. Crocuses
4. Deer Ate Shrub
5. Car Battery
6. Snowblower Snow Wouldn't Melt
7. Enclosed Garden
8. Tomato Grafting
9. Dad
10. Smoking/Not Smoking
11. Covered Plant Rack
12. Wine
So, how about "frogs"? Now, I generally LIKE frogs. None of them around here are poisonous, they eat mostly bad insects, they are impressively weird, and they mostly don't bother me.
Except Spring Peepers. For a month each year around now, they all start a "chirping contest". And since there are wetlands across the street (used to be a full-fledged swamp) they are a biblical multitude! 10,000 chirping Spring Peepers can be distracting. The chirps are of a sound frequency that comes right through windows and walls. Well, no wonder at THAT, they evolved their sound to penetrate woodsy swamps.
I can live with that; there are so many of them that the sound is constant. Its the 5 or so of them that find my small 4'x6' lily pond that drive me NUTS! The pond is only 20' from my bedroom window, and with only a few of them, the chirping comes and goes. I can't sleep when they chirp randomly.
It was so bad when I worked, that I would sometimes have to go out at night, find the little devils with a flashlight, and stomp on them just to get some sleep. And its not like I didn't try passive frog-friendly ideas first. I put acoustical ceiling tiles covering the inside of my bedroom window. It didn't work! Well, it helped some, but not enough.
Even after retirement, when I can sleep later to make up for the disturbance, it is still aggravating. The past 5 years, I have covered the pond with loose-woven garden cloth. That works. If they can't get to the water, they can't mate, so they don't chirp.
I usually notice them first as I go to bed and it is really too late to do the covering thing that night. But this year, today, I caught them in the act. It was suddenly very warm today (75F at 4 PM), s I had some windows open. It was nice and quiet.
Until... At precisely 5:30 PM, I heard a chirp in the wetland. And 2 seconds later, I heard 10,000!!! They ALL started immediately when the very first one did. I was astonished. At least I have tomorrow to cover the pond. The pond doesn't seem to warm up as fast as the open wetland do, so there is a lag.
Tomorrow, I will take out the garden cloth and cover the pond and ruin the mating possibilities of the several Spring Peepers who chose my pond as their "Dream Seduction Site". Well, they are either the dumbest Spring Peepers and deserve not to mate, or they are the smartest Spring Peepers (choosing a less-competitive location) and just had the bad luck to annoy ME! Either way, I doubt I am affecting the long-term survival of Spring Peepers...
And if I am? Well, MY sleep comes first. Being Top Of The Food Chain has its benefits.
Topics 2-12 to come later, maybe in no particular order, and interrupted by new topics as they come to mind.
Friday, March 7, 2014
Language Pet Peeve
I learned language early. My Godmother/Aunt worked on the big 1976 Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Mom was a dedicated teacher of her children (and as eldest child I got the full attention). I could read before my fellow 1st-graders knew the alphabet, and I had a library card at 6. By 12, I had read all the "young adult" books in the local library and was allowed to read the "adult" stuff (with adult pre-approval). I even use semi-colons; who does THAT anymore? ;) I had a boss who actually removed a comma from one of the letters I wrote. I (and a co-worker) were so surprised we did research in the Government Style Manual about it (turned out he was right) and I don't think I have ever put a comma in front of a dependent clause since. So I should be a language snob, right? Nah... I am WAY more relaxed about it all these days.
I got over that fast in college and in my first job. I can read bad documents and even tweets without cringing. Everyone has different things that come easy.
But I have a peeve. I noticed it a few years ago. The first examples were rare and I considered them editing slips. But I heard President Obama make the same error in a speech recently, and I consider him to be a really careful writer/speaker.
It's "4 times less" (or 3 or 2 or any number). How can anything be "4 times less" than the whole? If a sector of the economy is 10 billion dollars, what is 4 times less than that? The whole of a number is "one times". Well, what is 1 times 10 billion dollars? It's 10 billion. So 1 times less than 10 billion (10 billion minus 10 billion) is zero.
So what is "4 times less" than 10 billion? -30 billion (10 billion minus 40 billion, or even -40 billion if you look it it in a certain way). Well, money can be negative numbers. But what is "4 times less" of a 10 pole? Have you ever seen a minus 30" pole?
I cringe every time I hear the phrase "X times less than". Yes, I know what they mean; "4 times less than" means 1/4. But it just raises all the hackles of my brain (metaphorically speaking) every time I hear that phraseology!
I got over that fast in college and in my first job. I can read bad documents and even tweets without cringing. Everyone has different things that come easy.
But I have a peeve. I noticed it a few years ago. The first examples were rare and I considered them editing slips. But I heard President Obama make the same error in a speech recently, and I consider him to be a really careful writer/speaker.
It's "4 times less" (or 3 or 2 or any number). How can anything be "4 times less" than the whole? If a sector of the economy is 10 billion dollars, what is 4 times less than that? The whole of a number is "one times". Well, what is 1 times 10 billion dollars? It's 10 billion. So 1 times less than 10 billion (10 billion minus 10 billion) is zero.
So what is "4 times less" than 10 billion? -30 billion (10 billion minus 40 billion, or even -40 billion if you look it it in a certain way). Well, money can be negative numbers. But what is "4 times less" of a 10 pole? Have you ever seen a minus 30" pole?
I cringe every time I hear the phrase "X times less than". Yes, I know what they mean; "4 times less than" means 1/4. But it just raises all the hackles of my brain (metaphorically speaking) every time I hear that phraseology!
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
More Snow
I was caught off-guard Sunday to hear we were getting more snow the next day. I really thought we were done with that here, and I hadn't paid attention to the forecast. Then Sunday night, I saw that we were dead center in the storm-track and could expect to get 6-10"!
And sure enough, Monday morning it was snowing. Not hard but steadily. Worse, it had started as freezing rain, so we had a nice later of ice down first. YUCK!
Well, at least it meant I would get a chance to use the snowblower. You may recall that after the previous 8" snowstorm (which ended in the morning) I awoke to find that someone had snow-blowed my driveway for me. I thought I knew who had. I sure appreciated the neighborly gesture, but I was disappointed to not get to use mine for the first time after having it sit around for 3 years. At least I did start it up and widen the driveway clearing by one pass on each side (and mostly hoping that the helpful neighbor would notice that I had a snowblower).
But while it was still snowing in the early afternoon Monday, I heard the likely good neighbor snowblowing his driveway, then a neighbor's, then another neighbor's, so I watched carefully. Seriously, I wanted to use mine, but I was going to wait at least until it stopped snowing!
As soon as he came to the foot of my driveway, I ran down to the garage, pulled my snowblower to the garage door and opened it. When he looked up, I smiled broadly and pointed to MY machine with a big "Ta-Da" gesture. He laughed and came up to the garage and we talked for a while. He admired my snowblower (and it is a good one - I did some careful research before choosing it).
I thanked him very much for doing my driveway previously, of course. He completely understood I was anxious to use my own for the first time. We talked for a while. Which was good, because I don't talk to my neighbors all that often. It's not that I'm unfriendly, its more that I spend most of my time outside in the fenced backyard. And I'm not good at standing around out by the street just "hanging out". I'm more the "you need help, just knock on the door" kind of neighbor.
It turns out he does things like snowblow neighbors' driveways because he's bored all the time. As he said "I watch TV, fall asleep, wake up, watch TV, fall asleep". Which may explain why he has so many "toys". He has 2 cars, a boat, an ATV, a jet-ski, and probably other mechanical stuff I haven't seen. In the Winter, he's trapped inside!
While we were talking, another helpful neighbor came by (with a snow plow blade on an ATV) and decided I needed the snow at the end of the driveway shoved to the sides before I could say anything. What had been light powdery snow became a 2' high block of ice... We both waved at him so he came up and we all talked more for a while.
Well, they were both wearing heavy Winter coats and I was out there in my shirtsleeves, so eventually I had to admit I was freezing AND needed to get back to my lunch (if the cats hadn't already eaten it). They both laughed and went along their helpful way. It was nice to talk to them both though.
Later, just before dark, the snow stopped so I went out and used my snowblower for the first real time. Wow, those things are great! I have to admit that it was actually fun. It really threw the snow well off onto the lawn, and with powered wheels, going back up the sloped driveway was a breeze. 6 passes and I was done. But it is SO COLD that even in my garage, the snow packed around the augers in the front hasn't melted yet.
But funny story: The snow surface all around my driveway is now MUDDY! You see, my asphalt driveway is 27 years old and I've never been one to re-coat the driveway every few years (if things are functional, I don't bother with them much). So grass as grown up through it in places. I didn't realize that the growing grass was creating humps of soil on the top. Things that happen very gradually escape notice. So when I went along the driveway with the snowblower, it cheerfully scraped the humps of grassy soil right along with the snow.
For right now, I would be glad not to have enough more snow to need the snowblower again this season!
And sure enough, Monday morning it was snowing. Not hard but steadily. Worse, it had started as freezing rain, so we had a nice later of ice down first. YUCK!
Well, at least it meant I would get a chance to use the snowblower. You may recall that after the previous 8" snowstorm (which ended in the morning) I awoke to find that someone had snow-blowed my driveway for me. I thought I knew who had. I sure appreciated the neighborly gesture, but I was disappointed to not get to use mine for the first time after having it sit around for 3 years. At least I did start it up and widen the driveway clearing by one pass on each side (and mostly hoping that the helpful neighbor would notice that I had a snowblower).
But while it was still snowing in the early afternoon Monday, I heard the likely good neighbor snowblowing his driveway, then a neighbor's, then another neighbor's, so I watched carefully. Seriously, I wanted to use mine, but I was going to wait at least until it stopped snowing!
As soon as he came to the foot of my driveway, I ran down to the garage, pulled my snowblower to the garage door and opened it. When he looked up, I smiled broadly and pointed to MY machine with a big "Ta-Da" gesture. He laughed and came up to the garage and we talked for a while. He admired my snowblower (and it is a good one - I did some careful research before choosing it).
I thanked him very much for doing my driveway previously, of course. He completely understood I was anxious to use my own for the first time. We talked for a while. Which was good, because I don't talk to my neighbors all that often. It's not that I'm unfriendly, its more that I spend most of my time outside in the fenced backyard. And I'm not good at standing around out by the street just "hanging out". I'm more the "you need help, just knock on the door" kind of neighbor.
It turns out he does things like snowblow neighbors' driveways because he's bored all the time. As he said "I watch TV, fall asleep, wake up, watch TV, fall asleep". Which may explain why he has so many "toys". He has 2 cars, a boat, an ATV, a jet-ski, and probably other mechanical stuff I haven't seen. In the Winter, he's trapped inside!
While we were talking, another helpful neighbor came by (with a snow plow blade on an ATV) and decided I needed the snow at the end of the driveway shoved to the sides before I could say anything. What had been light powdery snow became a 2' high block of ice... We both waved at him so he came up and we all talked more for a while.
Well, they were both wearing heavy Winter coats and I was out there in my shirtsleeves, so eventually I had to admit I was freezing AND needed to get back to my lunch (if the cats hadn't already eaten it). They both laughed and went along their helpful way. It was nice to talk to them both though.
Later, just before dark, the snow stopped so I went out and used my snowblower for the first real time. Wow, those things are great! I have to admit that it was actually fun. It really threw the snow well off onto the lawn, and with powered wheels, going back up the sloped driveway was a breeze. 6 passes and I was done. But it is SO COLD that even in my garage, the snow packed around the augers in the front hasn't melted yet.
But funny story: The snow surface all around my driveway is now MUDDY! You see, my asphalt driveway is 27 years old and I've never been one to re-coat the driveway every few years (if things are functional, I don't bother with them much). So grass as grown up through it in places. I didn't realize that the growing grass was creating humps of soil on the top. Things that happen very gradually escape notice. So when I went along the driveway with the snowblower, it cheerfully scraped the humps of grassy soil right along with the snow.
For right now, I would be glad not to have enough more snow to need the snowblower again this season!
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
Gardening 2
Well, it was my favorite weekend of the years last weekend. Its the day I start seeds of some of my favorite crops. 8 weeks before average last frost day...
It was TOMATO DAY! And bell pepper, broccoli, cabbage, radicchio, celery, and "some other stuff" day.
I love fresh heirloom tomatoes above all individual foods. Right from vine to mouth, sides on the dinnerplate, in salads, as snacks.
But the last few years, my heirloom tomatoes have not produced well (even for heirloom tomatoes) in spite of good care. So when I read about grafting heirloom tomato stalks on disease-resistant hybrid roots, I got interested. Well, almost all grapes grown for wine are grafted on disease-resistant roots, s why not tomatoes?
I planted 2x my normal number of heirlooms (Brandywine, Cherokee Purple, Prudens Purple, Aunt Gertie's Gold, and Striped German) and as many of the hybrid Big Beef to use as hybrid roots (plus 4 to grow for themselves as backups).
The idea is that you cut the tops off the heirlooms and the hybrids and attach the heirloom tops to the hybrid roots. I bought small silicon clips to hold the 2 together. It may be tricky to do (I have shakey hands from teenage DDT exposure), but I will give it my best try. And I've planted enough of the heirlooms so that, if the grafts fail, I will have enough regular heirloom plants for the garden.
I will take LOTS of pictures so that I can look back on the points of success or failure.
There is good news on the previous weekend flower plantings. There are SEEDLINGS showing! That is encouraging, because the seed packets said "germination in 7-21 days" and I'm seeing some at 7 days.
I bought a mini greenhouse today. And I mean "mini-mini". Its a steel frame with metal mesh shelves and a vinyl cover with zippers that allow you to adjust how closed/open the cover is. Its for hardening off plants outside before permanent planting, a transition I have always had difficulties with. It's kind of simplistic, but at $30, worth a try. I found it at Lowes.
The other gandenng project I keep working on is an enclosed garden surrounded by chicken wire to keep the squirrels from tearing up the seedlings and eating the ripe veggies. I made a fast and crude attempt last year and it "sort of worked". But not well enough and it was a real effort to harvest anything through the barriers.
I looked up "enclosed gardens", and found a decent design. But it was small and had flaws. I've been thinking of improvements. Thinking of improvements even in my dreams at night...
I think I have something easier to construct, easier to build larger, and sturdier. I won't give out all the details right now (they are changing daily), but basically, its a 20'x20' grid of 1/2" metal pipe built of 10' pipes and connectors, covered all around with chicken wire and chicken wire extended out from the bottom at ground level about 3' to discourage animals from tunneling under.
I'll show pictures when I settle on the design.
I will have a busy early Spring to deconstruct my existing framed beds in early April (falling apart after 25 years) before the planting season starts in late April. But it is either then or not and I want to have a garden free of the evil squirrels.
It was TOMATO DAY! And bell pepper, broccoli, cabbage, radicchio, celery, and "some other stuff" day.
I love fresh heirloom tomatoes above all individual foods. Right from vine to mouth, sides on the dinnerplate, in salads, as snacks.
But the last few years, my heirloom tomatoes have not produced well (even for heirloom tomatoes) in spite of good care. So when I read about grafting heirloom tomato stalks on disease-resistant hybrid roots, I got interested. Well, almost all grapes grown for wine are grafted on disease-resistant roots, s why not tomatoes?
I planted 2x my normal number of heirlooms (Brandywine, Cherokee Purple, Prudens Purple, Aunt Gertie's Gold, and Striped German) and as many of the hybrid Big Beef to use as hybrid roots (plus 4 to grow for themselves as backups).
The idea is that you cut the tops off the heirlooms and the hybrids and attach the heirloom tops to the hybrid roots. I bought small silicon clips to hold the 2 together. It may be tricky to do (I have shakey hands from teenage DDT exposure), but I will give it my best try. And I've planted enough of the heirlooms so that, if the grafts fail, I will have enough regular heirloom plants for the garden.
I will take LOTS of pictures so that I can look back on the points of success or failure.
There is good news on the previous weekend flower plantings. There are SEEDLINGS showing! That is encouraging, because the seed packets said "germination in 7-21 days" and I'm seeing some at 7 days.
I bought a mini greenhouse today. And I mean "mini-mini". Its a steel frame with metal mesh shelves and a vinyl cover with zippers that allow you to adjust how closed/open the cover is. Its for hardening off plants outside before permanent planting, a transition I have always had difficulties with. It's kind of simplistic, but at $30, worth a try. I found it at Lowes.
The other gandenng project I keep working on is an enclosed garden surrounded by chicken wire to keep the squirrels from tearing up the seedlings and eating the ripe veggies. I made a fast and crude attempt last year and it "sort of worked". But not well enough and it was a real effort to harvest anything through the barriers.
I looked up "enclosed gardens", and found a decent design. But it was small and had flaws. I've been thinking of improvements. Thinking of improvements even in my dreams at night...
I think I have something easier to construct, easier to build larger, and sturdier. I won't give out all the details right now (they are changing daily), but basically, its a 20'x20' grid of 1/2" metal pipe built of 10' pipes and connectors, covered all around with chicken wire and chicken wire extended out from the bottom at ground level about 3' to discourage animals from tunneling under.
I'll show pictures when I settle on the design.
I will have a busy early Spring to deconstruct my existing framed beds in early April (falling apart after 25 years) before the planting season starts in late April. But it is either then or not and I want to have a garden free of the evil squirrels.
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
Niece Wedding
My sister's oldest daughter got married Saturday. The wedding was in a fancy old victorian house. I'm told the food was great (I didn't attend - too long a drive, a late ceremony so an overnight stay at a motel was required, etc).
The bride was beautiful.
The couple was thrilled.
So they left the ceremony to go on their honeymoon to the Dominican Republic. At the bottom of the stairs outside, Danielle stepped on a very small patch of ice and fell. She fractured her fibula! What a sad way to end a wedding...
Goodbye Dominican Republic honeymoon!!! She will have a cast on that leg for 3 months.
I plan to send her a card with an letter enclosed. Finding a card may be a challenge. How many "Sorry you were injured on your wedding day" cards do you suppose are available? I may have to make one myself. But my newly updated Photoshop Elements is baffling me at the moment.
So you have a couple days to leave sympathy comments that I can include... Personally, I am going for the light-hearted ("How many brides does it take to screw in a lightbulb? Depends on how awkward the cast is" and I have a good famous one I can adapt rather weirdly to a bride in a cast (no dirty thoughts allowed). OK, OK, I'll work on better punch lines. And feel free to suggest some.
The bride was beautiful.
The couple was thrilled.
Goodbye Dominican Republic honeymoon!!! She will have a cast on that leg for 3 months.
I plan to send her a card with an letter enclosed. Finding a card may be a challenge. How many "Sorry you were injured on your wedding day" cards do you suppose are available? I may have to make one myself. But my newly updated Photoshop Elements is baffling me at the moment.
So you have a couple days to leave sympathy comments that I can include... Personally, I am going for the light-hearted ("How many brides does it take to screw in a lightbulb? Depends on how awkward the cast is" and I have a good famous one I can adapt rather weirdly to a bride in a cast (no dirty thoughts allowed). OK, OK, I'll work on better punch lines. And feel free to suggest some.
Friday, February 21, 2014
Cleaning
Last week, I became obsessed with cleaning the garage and basement.
Now, I'm not saying that you would look at either place and go "Oh
Wow"! That's because you wouldn't have seen how bad they were before I
cleaned. Seriously, all cleaning is relative. Your cleaning compared
to your mom. your mpm's cleaning compared to HER mom. Your floors
compared to a new developement model home compared to a hospital
operating room compared to a science lab. There is always something
cleaner than you.
So my point is that I am WAY cleaner in the basement and garage than I was last week. And in some cases, maybe for 25 years. I used my shop vac BEHIND the water heater and I think that is the first time EVER!
Hey, I've been a bit clutterred since I moved in in 1986.
[Funny story: The first thing I did when I moved in was nail the metal pan that held the fruit my sister sent me as a house-warming gift onto a basement frame board. It's still there]
But anyway, I went into cleaning mode. I spent 4 hours moving stuff around so I could vacuum. I brought stuff to the trash can, I brought stuff to the recycle bin, I brought stuff to a box of hazardess materials. I folded up yards of that brown paper they use for shipping (great weed-reduction stuff between plants), I collected odds and ends of board scraps and piles of sawdust in buckets for future fires, I sorted out all the various odds and ends on the top of my workbench, etc, etc, etc.
My basement space in increased by a 1/3 and that's a lot if you think about it, and my next effort will make equal gains. For example, 5 years ago, I bought an oval maple table at the Salvation Army store that needed "only" some sanding and refinishing. If I don't actually do that work THIS YEAR, I'm giving it back to them. And I have other projects too. The attic needs plywood flooring so that I can fill it with sturdy boxes for when I more "someday".
I want to allow for fires in the fireplace too, finding space to move the fancy tablesaw out of the way of the fireplace heat. And I need more space for woodworking tools and less for boxes of newspapers kept for years do be mulch in the compost pile I have yet to build.
I will solve one problem in the basement each week, and finish one good project in the upstairs twice a week!
So my point is that I am WAY cleaner in the basement and garage than I was last week. And in some cases, maybe for 25 years. I used my shop vac BEHIND the water heater and I think that is the first time EVER!
Hey, I've been a bit clutterred since I moved in in 1986.
[Funny story: The first thing I did when I moved in was nail the metal pan that held the fruit my sister sent me as a house-warming gift onto a basement frame board. It's still there]
But anyway, I went into cleaning mode. I spent 4 hours moving stuff around so I could vacuum. I brought stuff to the trash can, I brought stuff to the recycle bin, I brought stuff to a box of hazardess materials. I folded up yards of that brown paper they use for shipping (great weed-reduction stuff between plants), I collected odds and ends of board scraps and piles of sawdust in buckets for future fires, I sorted out all the various odds and ends on the top of my workbench, etc, etc, etc.
My basement space in increased by a 1/3 and that's a lot if you think about it, and my next effort will make equal gains. For example, 5 years ago, I bought an oval maple table at the Salvation Army store that needed "only" some sanding and refinishing. If I don't actually do that work THIS YEAR, I'm giving it back to them. And I have other projects too. The attic needs plywood flooring so that I can fill it with sturdy boxes for when I more "someday".
I want to allow for fires in the fireplace too, finding space to move the fancy tablesaw out of the way of the fireplace heat. And I need more space for woodworking tools and less for boxes of newspapers kept for years do be mulch in the compost pile I have yet to build.
I will solve one problem in the basement each week, and finish one good project in the upstairs twice a week!
Thursday, February 20, 2014
First Seeds Of The New Gardening Season
I am glad to say the new gardening season is underway. Well, I suppose you could say it started when I ordered new seeds, but it doesn't really count until a seed meets dirt! I started on Sunday.
Does it seem a bit early? Yes. But many annual flowers can be planted indoors 10-12 weeks before the average last frost because they are slow to germinate (7-21 days) and grow slowly at first. And in fact, Sunday was 9 weeks before average last frost, so I am late. So I planted impatiens, salvia, dusty miller, butterfly weed, forget-me-not, and wave petunia. I also planted a dozen leeks, so the veggies are started too.
I love the lighting stand I made from a storage shelf. It originally had five 2'x4' thin plastic-coated wood shelves on a steel frame. I added 1/2" plywood under the top 4 shelves and attached 4' fluorescent fixtures under each plywood shelf (4 tubes per shelf). I can fit four 11"x22" planting trays on each shelf if I want, but I start the trays 2 to a shelf lengthwise to get the maximum light at the start.
It felt SO GOOD to get into the potting soil and fill the cell-packs, read the planting requirements for each seed, and PLANT THEM! The earliest seeds to plant are usually the trickiest. Those are the ones that are tiny, need light to germinate, and are fussy about moisture.
Things will be more traditional this next weekend. -8 weeks before last average frost is the time to start the major veggies. Tomatoes, bell peppers, broccoli, lettuces, will get planted. The tomatoes are always my favorites.
I'm trying something new with the tomatoes this year. In past years, I've grown mostly heirlooms (Brandywine, Cherokee Purple, Prudens Purple, Aunt Gertie's Gold, and Tennessee Britches) with a couple hybrids like Big Beef for backup if the heirlooms do poorly. Over the Winter, I read about tomato-grafting. It's just like grafting grapevines; you put a good fruiting top on a healthier rootstock.
With the tomatoes, you put an heirloom top on a hybrid root.
The plants are more productive because the hybrid rootstock is larger, and the plants avoid many soilborne diseases because the hybrid rootstocks are resistant to them. I've seen comparison pictures of heirlooms alone grown along side of grafted heirlooms and the apparent production differences are impressive. And I mean pictures from agricultural sites, not scammy commercial advertisements.
You can buy the grafted plants from catalogs at high prices, but I am going to try doing the grafting myself. I bought some small soft clips designed for attaching the heirloom tops to the hybrid roots. I just hope I'm adept enough for the effort. I don't have the steadiest of hands (DDT exposure in my youth), so my efforts may not work out.
That's why I will have 2 full sets of tomato seedlings! One set will be let to develop naturally, as if there was no grafting intended. The other set will be for the grafting experiment. I usually plant 2-3 of each type of tomato outside but start 6 seedlings inside of each type anyway, so I don't even have to plant more than usual.
If this works I may be the happiest gardener in the county (just guessing I'm the only person trying to graft tomato seedlings in the county the first time this year).
Does it seem a bit early? Yes. But many annual flowers can be planted indoors 10-12 weeks before the average last frost because they are slow to germinate (7-21 days) and grow slowly at first. And in fact, Sunday was 9 weeks before average last frost, so I am late. So I planted impatiens, salvia, dusty miller, butterfly weed, forget-me-not, and wave petunia. I also planted a dozen leeks, so the veggies are started too.
I love the lighting stand I made from a storage shelf. It originally had five 2'x4' thin plastic-coated wood shelves on a steel frame. I added 1/2" plywood under the top 4 shelves and attached 4' fluorescent fixtures under each plywood shelf (4 tubes per shelf). I can fit four 11"x22" planting trays on each shelf if I want, but I start the trays 2 to a shelf lengthwise to get the maximum light at the start.
It felt SO GOOD to get into the potting soil and fill the cell-packs, read the planting requirements for each seed, and PLANT THEM! The earliest seeds to plant are usually the trickiest. Those are the ones that are tiny, need light to germinate, and are fussy about moisture.
Things will be more traditional this next weekend. -8 weeks before last average frost is the time to start the major veggies. Tomatoes, bell peppers, broccoli, lettuces, will get planted. The tomatoes are always my favorites.
I'm trying something new with the tomatoes this year. In past years, I've grown mostly heirlooms (Brandywine, Cherokee Purple, Prudens Purple, Aunt Gertie's Gold, and Tennessee Britches) with a couple hybrids like Big Beef for backup if the heirlooms do poorly. Over the Winter, I read about tomato-grafting. It's just like grafting grapevines; you put a good fruiting top on a healthier rootstock.
With the tomatoes, you put an heirloom top on a hybrid root.
The plants are more productive because the hybrid rootstock is larger, and the plants avoid many soilborne diseases because the hybrid rootstocks are resistant to them. I've seen comparison pictures of heirlooms alone grown along side of grafted heirlooms and the apparent production differences are impressive. And I mean pictures from agricultural sites, not scammy commercial advertisements.
You can buy the grafted plants from catalogs at high prices, but I am going to try doing the grafting myself. I bought some small soft clips designed for attaching the heirloom tops to the hybrid roots. I just hope I'm adept enough for the effort. I don't have the steadiest of hands (DDT exposure in my youth), so my efforts may not work out.
That's why I will have 2 full sets of tomato seedlings! One set will be let to develop naturally, as if there was no grafting intended. The other set will be for the grafting experiment. I usually plant 2-3 of each type of tomato outside but start 6 seedlings inside of each type anyway, so I don't even have to plant more than usual.
If this works I may be the happiest gardener in the county (just guessing I'm the only person trying to graft tomato seedlings in the county the first time this year).
Monday, February 17, 2014
All That Trash
Re-reading the Wednesday post about the tubs of used kitty litter and bags of trash, I thought I should explain a bit.
I don't pay for weekly trash pickup service because I have so little. I used to pay $40/month for weekly trash pickup, but since I only accumulated enough to bother putting it out once a month, they tended to forget I was on their pickup route. THEY said to just put out my little one bag each week and the driver would remember I was a customer. Still, that was only a 5 gallon bucket per week, and seemed not worth it.
I have so little "regular" trash other than the used kitty litter. 50% of my "trash" is recyclable. Another 20% is "film plastic" (shopping bags and shrink wrap) which my grocery store recycles to make new bags. Most of the rest is compostable (almost nothing goes down my garage "dispose-all"). The remainder is styrofoam that nobody will accept, and that gets collected in bags in the garage for months.
That leaves the used kitty litter. I keep a half-gallon lidded plastic container lined with a plastic shopping bag near the litter boxes and scoop everything in there. When filled, I tie the bag up tight and set it into one of the tubs the litter comes in. So I have a tied bag, in a tub with a tight lid, in the garage. You can't tell its there even after several months. And just to be a "little" more environmentally friendly, I'm looking for small biodegradable bags to use for the litter.
The landfill charges a flat rate of $5 for all "household trash" you can fit in your car. You can pay by weight, too (they weigh the whole car going in and then leaving and charge you by the loss in weight), but I found that after 143 pounds, flat rate is cheaper. I usually accumulate about 300-400 pounds in used kitty litter every 4-5 months, plus about 4 large bags of styrofoam and other odd stuff I can't recycle.
So basically, I got rid of 500 pounds of trash for $5 (plus gas) by driving 10 miles to the landfill, instead of paying $160-200 for weekly trash pickup I seldom used and got skipped over most of the time.
I don't pay for weekly trash pickup service because I have so little. I used to pay $40/month for weekly trash pickup, but since I only accumulated enough to bother putting it out once a month, they tended to forget I was on their pickup route. THEY said to just put out my little one bag each week and the driver would remember I was a customer. Still, that was only a 5 gallon bucket per week, and seemed not worth it.
I have so little "regular" trash other than the used kitty litter. 50% of my "trash" is recyclable. Another 20% is "film plastic" (shopping bags and shrink wrap) which my grocery store recycles to make new bags. Most of the rest is compostable (almost nothing goes down my garage "dispose-all"). The remainder is styrofoam that nobody will accept, and that gets collected in bags in the garage for months.
That leaves the used kitty litter. I keep a half-gallon lidded plastic container lined with a plastic shopping bag near the litter boxes and scoop everything in there. When filled, I tie the bag up tight and set it into one of the tubs the litter comes in. So I have a tied bag, in a tub with a tight lid, in the garage. You can't tell its there even after several months. And just to be a "little" more environmentally friendly, I'm looking for small biodegradable bags to use for the litter.
The landfill charges a flat rate of $5 for all "household trash" you can fit in your car. You can pay by weight, too (they weigh the whole car going in and then leaving and charge you by the loss in weight), but I found that after 143 pounds, flat rate is cheaper. I usually accumulate about 300-400 pounds in used kitty litter every 4-5 months, plus about 4 large bags of styrofoam and other odd stuff I can't recycle.
So basically, I got rid of 500 pounds of trash for $5 (plus gas) by driving 10 miles to the landfill, instead of paying $160-200 for weekly trash pickup I seldom used and got skipped over most of the time.
Friday, February 14, 2014
Snow Removal
A neighbor removed the snow from my driveway while I was still in bed Thursday, and I'm annoyed! I think I know who did it, and he did my next-door neighbor's too. He is across the street and he's the only person nearby I've seen using a snowblower (and this obviously wasn't shoveled).
Why am I annoyed? Well, I don't mind a kind neighborly deed. I wasn't feeling my property rights were violated. It was even nice to have a nice clean driveway even though I wasn't planning to drive anywhere. I didn't even hear him doing it. Well, I might have heard and ignored the snowblower noise, assuming it was his own driveway. I tend to ignore extraneous neighbor noises.
But I have my own snowblower. I bought it in Spring 2011 after the three 12"+ storms of the previous Winter. And I hadn't gotten a chance to use it yet. We just didn't get any snow until Thursday worth using it. It sat clutterring up my garage for 2 years until I finally moved it to the toolshed last Spring.
Wednesday, the forecast was for 4-8" of snow, so I wrestled the snowblower around to the garage, gassed it up, made sure it started, and waited with some anticipation of finally using it. I watched the snow fall and accumulate Wednesday night. So when I got up the next day and saw the cleared driveway, I was a bit taken aback! We had gotten about 6" of snow.
Then it snowed more after lunch, then rained most of the midafternoon before changing to freezing rain. Then, in early evening, it changed back to snow. By the time I went to bed Thursday night, we had another 4" of snow. Hurray! Enough to snowblow!!!
I got up early today to make sure my neighbor hadn't cleared my driveway again. I got dressed quickly and went out to use my own snowblower. It started right up, and I had a blast using it. It worked pretty well. With all the rain and freezing rain that had fallen on the lunchtime snow and more snow in the evening hours, it was heavy wet snow! Nearly slush!
Toward the end, the slushy snow froze in the discharge chute a couple of times and I had to clear the chute with a plastic plunger that came with the snowblower. And at the street where a plow had pushed up a wall of slush 2' tall, the wheels slipped a bit.
When I later shoveled a path clear on the deck (for both myself and the cats), I found it nearly impossible to lift a whole shovelful of the stuff up and over the deck rails. I think this was about the heaviest snow (by weight) I have ever encountered! No wonder the snowblower struggled a bit on the driveway.
But it did handle the heavy snow well enough to assure me that regular snow will never be a problem for it.
Next time I talk to my neighbor, I'll ask if he cleared the driveway the first time. If so, I will thank him very much for the kind act. But I'll also tell him the story of waiting 3 years to use my own and we'll have a good laugh. He's a genial person.
My snowblower is a good one. I did a lot of research before I bought it. It's a Troy-Bilt Storm 2620. The number seems to mean 26" width and 20" high intake. It it gas-powered (there are electrics), has powered wheels (because my driveway slopes up toward the house and there's no way I'm going to push a heavy non-powered piece of equipment up a slippery slope), separate controls for the blades and the wheels. It even has a headlight. But best of all, it has electric starting! Not a battery, you plug a cord into an outlet, press a button, and then disconnect it. I'm not 25 anymore; I appreciate all the powered help I can get, LOL!
I admire well-designed and user-friendly equipment...
So while I don't exactly hope for more snowstorms, it is sure nice to have something that will clear my 60' driveway in just 20 minutes. If I had had to shovel that heavy snow manually, it would have taken a couple hours and I would have had to stop for a few minutes many many times and been utterly exhausted by the end.
Why am I annoyed? Well, I don't mind a kind neighborly deed. I wasn't feeling my property rights were violated. It was even nice to have a nice clean driveway even though I wasn't planning to drive anywhere. I didn't even hear him doing it. Well, I might have heard and ignored the snowblower noise, assuming it was his own driveway. I tend to ignore extraneous neighbor noises.
But I have my own snowblower. I bought it in Spring 2011 after the three 12"+ storms of the previous Winter. And I hadn't gotten a chance to use it yet. We just didn't get any snow until Thursday worth using it. It sat clutterring up my garage for 2 years until I finally moved it to the toolshed last Spring.
Wednesday, the forecast was for 4-8" of snow, so I wrestled the snowblower around to the garage, gassed it up, made sure it started, and waited with some anticipation of finally using it. I watched the snow fall and accumulate Wednesday night. So when I got up the next day and saw the cleared driveway, I was a bit taken aback! We had gotten about 6" of snow.
Then it snowed more after lunch, then rained most of the midafternoon before changing to freezing rain. Then, in early evening, it changed back to snow. By the time I went to bed Thursday night, we had another 4" of snow. Hurray! Enough to snowblow!!!
I got up early today to make sure my neighbor hadn't cleared my driveway again. I got dressed quickly and went out to use my own snowblower. It started right up, and I had a blast using it. It worked pretty well. With all the rain and freezing rain that had fallen on the lunchtime snow and more snow in the evening hours, it was heavy wet snow! Nearly slush!
Toward the end, the slushy snow froze in the discharge chute a couple of times and I had to clear the chute with a plastic plunger that came with the snowblower. And at the street where a plow had pushed up a wall of slush 2' tall, the wheels slipped a bit.
When I later shoveled a path clear on the deck (for both myself and the cats), I found it nearly impossible to lift a whole shovelful of the stuff up and over the deck rails. I think this was about the heaviest snow (by weight) I have ever encountered! No wonder the snowblower struggled a bit on the driveway.
But it did handle the heavy snow well enough to assure me that regular snow will never be a problem for it.
Next time I talk to my neighbor, I'll ask if he cleared the driveway the first time. If so, I will thank him very much for the kind act. But I'll also tell him the story of waiting 3 years to use my own and we'll have a good laugh. He's a genial person.
My snowblower is a good one. I did a lot of research before I bought it. It's a Troy-Bilt Storm 2620. The number seems to mean 26" width and 20" high intake. It it gas-powered (there are electrics), has powered wheels (because my driveway slopes up toward the house and there's no way I'm going to push a heavy non-powered piece of equipment up a slippery slope), separate controls for the blades and the wheels. It even has a headlight. But best of all, it has electric starting! Not a battery, you plug a cord into an outlet, press a button, and then disconnect it. I'm not 25 anymore; I appreciate all the powered help I can get, LOL!
I admire well-designed and user-friendly equipment...
So while I don't exactly hope for more snowstorms, it is sure nice to have something that will clear my 60' driveway in just 20 minutes. If I had had to shovel that heavy snow manually, it would have taken a couple hours and I would have had to stop for a few minutes many many times and been utterly exhausted by the end.
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
You Always Have To Do Something Else First!
I had to drive to the landfill today because the snowblower was in the toolshed.
That actually makes sense. Allow me to explain...
I have a narrow but deep yard. The toolshed is in the back about 200' from the garage and the snowblower is kept in there most of the year. While we have had a couple of light snowfalls here this Winter, they weren't worth the effort of pushing the snowblower all the way around the yard and into the garage, so I just shoveled. But we are forecast to get between 4-8" of heavy wet snow and freezing rain tonite and tomorrow, so I wanted the snowblower available.
But the only spot in the garage large enough for the snowblower was occupied by tubs of used cat litter and big honking recycling bin (bigger than any trashcan I've even owned). The only place I could move the recycle bin to was where the golf clubs, a snow shovel, and a hand truck were stored. The only place I could move the golf clubs and handtruck to was where there were bags of dry but uncompostable trash.
So, I filled the SUV with tubs of kitty litter and bags of trash (and accumulated junk stashed out under the deck) and drove to the landfill and returned home. Where the trash bags had been, I moved the golf clubs and handtruck. Where the golf clubs and handtruck had been, I moved the big honking recycling bin. Where the tubs of used kitty litter and the recycling bin had been, I moved the snowblower.
And that's why I had to go to the landfill in order to move the snowblower into the garage. LOL!
That actually makes sense. Allow me to explain...
I have a narrow but deep yard. The toolshed is in the back about 200' from the garage and the snowblower is kept in there most of the year. While we have had a couple of light snowfalls here this Winter, they weren't worth the effort of pushing the snowblower all the way around the yard and into the garage, so I just shoveled. But we are forecast to get between 4-8" of heavy wet snow and freezing rain tonite and tomorrow, so I wanted the snowblower available.
But the only spot in the garage large enough for the snowblower was occupied by tubs of used cat litter and big honking recycling bin (bigger than any trashcan I've even owned). The only place I could move the recycle bin to was where the golf clubs, a snow shovel, and a hand truck were stored. The only place I could move the golf clubs and handtruck to was where there were bags of dry but uncompostable trash.
So, I filled the SUV with tubs of kitty litter and bags of trash (and accumulated junk stashed out under the deck) and drove to the landfill and returned home. Where the trash bags had been, I moved the golf clubs and handtruck. Where the golf clubs and handtruck had been, I moved the big honking recycling bin. Where the tubs of used kitty litter and the recycling bin had been, I moved the snowblower.
And that's why I had to go to the landfill in order to move the snowblower into the garage. LOL!
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
Humidifier Wiring
Frustrated with the poor/confusing installation instructions that came with my new humidifier, I emailed the company. First, I have to admit that one of my questions had an error. I asked about the wires coming out of the transformer when I meant the drum motor.
But the rest of the reply I received was of little help and one part I think is factually inaccurate. But, ONE thing that was mentioned (and not an answer to any of my questions) solved my whole problem!
The wires coming out of the heat pump blower unit were (I assumed) 120v and I was distressed to see 120v going through such thin wires. The included transformer is supposed to reduce the regular household current from 120v to 24v. The technician mentioned looking for a connection on the blower labelled "HUM" (which I assume stands for "humidifier"). I didn't find "HUM", but I did find a spot where regular household wired went IN and the thin wires came OUT.
EUREKA! The current was ALREADY reduced to 24v; no need for the included transformer. And staring at the instructions one last time, I realized that while the existing wiring through the humidifier control LOOKED different from the diagram, it was functionally the same.
I used some doorbell wire I had (which is standard for 24v circuits) and attached the drum motor wires to the existing wires.
It works!
Darn good thing, too, because I called an electrician and was told it would be $90 for a service visit and $120 per hour after that (minimum 1 hour fee). I sure hope the new humidifier works well, because the humidity in the house today is only 19% and I am very tired of all the static electricity!
But the rest of the reply I received was of little help and one part I think is factually inaccurate. But, ONE thing that was mentioned (and not an answer to any of my questions) solved my whole problem!
The wires coming out of the heat pump blower unit were (I assumed) 120v and I was distressed to see 120v going through such thin wires. The included transformer is supposed to reduce the regular household current from 120v to 24v. The technician mentioned looking for a connection on the blower labelled "HUM" (which I assume stands for "humidifier"). I didn't find "HUM", but I did find a spot where regular household wired went IN and the thin wires came OUT.
EUREKA! The current was ALREADY reduced to 24v; no need for the included transformer. And staring at the instructions one last time, I realized that while the existing wiring through the humidifier control LOOKED different from the diagram, it was functionally the same.
I used some doorbell wire I had (which is standard for 24v circuits) and attached the drum motor wires to the existing wires.
It works!
Darn good thing, too, because I called an electrician and was told it would be $90 for a service visit and $120 per hour after that (minimum 1 hour fee). I sure hope the new humidifier works well, because the humidity in the house today is only 19% and I am very tired of all the static electricity!
Sunday, February 9, 2014
Wiring and Cabling, Part 2
Last time I mentioned the (eventually) successful connection of the new HDTV and video components to the old stereo system (with the fancy new tuner). It's working great, even though it means I have 4 remote controls to deal with (5, if you count the "grampa remote" with the big buttons and few features).
The other wiring issue is only electric wiring, and not successful, and I am VERY frustrated. Some background... When I retired 8 years ago, I got tired of static electricity in Winter (I could half-turn-on fluorescent lamps just by touching them and stroking the cats caused sparks. Taking clothes out of the dryer was actually painful) and bought a whole house humidifier. The brand was Skuttle, and it had a cabinet attached to an opening cut in the main heater output duct. In the cabinet was a tray of water and a sponge cylinder rotated through the tray of water whenever the heater blower was on.
I bought it locally and had it installed. It worked great! No static. But a problem with the cylinder/drum humidifiers is that they get "gunky" (mold or something). So when the sponge on the drum couldn't be cleaned anymore (yes I was too stupid/cheap/witless to just buy a new sponge drum), I did some research and found a different kind of humidifier.
The new one had a honeycomb where water dribbled over the top and air blew through it to add humidity. It had good ratings. I installed it myself, but I needed an electrician to come by for a wiring problem I couldn't figure out (an outside humidity detector that adjusted the inside settings to the outside humidity - turned out it was a feature my model didn't have), but he did finish the basic wiring for me since I had paid for a visit). But it has NEVER worked well in 3 Winters. I couldn't get the inside humidity above 23%. The drum type got it up to 35%. At least there wasn't any static shock...
I should mention that I have a heat pump. There are good and bad things about heat pumps, but one bad thing is that they dehumidify the inside air as part of the way they work. Great in Summer, but not so great in Winter. In Winter, I am fighting the design of the heat pump to dehumidify with a humidifier to improve that. The condensation-collection container that pumps the collected water into the laundry tub works overtime in Winter.
So I decided to go back to the drum type. I couldn't find a local retailer/installer, but I found a decent Skuttle brand of the same drum type on Amazon at a great price.
It arrived. The required duct cutout was smaller than the current Honeywell honeycomb humidifier cutout, so I had to buy some sheet metal, cut a new smaller opening, and attach the sheet metal to cover the older larger hole. Awkward tin-snip work and getting sheet metal screws holes drilled (never really easy work), but it only took 45 minutes (professional: 10 minutes; me, 45), and I covered all the edges with duct tapes.
I got the water tray and drum installed, attached the water supply, and adjusted the float that controls the water level in the tray (much like a toilet float that keeps the upper reservoir from overflowing).
The last thing was to attach the wiring that makes the drum turn when the heater is on.
BUSTED! I can't make any sense of the (undetailed and simple) diagrams in the installation manual. I've stared at the unit and the instructions 4 separate times over the past 3 days. As far as I can tell (and admittedly, electricity is NOT my favorite stuff to deal with), the diagram instructions are not only incomplete, but also completely wrong.
For example, electric wires are usually color-coded. Red for positive, black for neutral. Not these, they are both black! Sometimes, electrical wires that are joined (like on a lamp cord) have one side that is smooth and the other ribbed for identification. Not these. The system uses a transformer that reduces standard 120 volt A/C current to 24 volt current to power the tiny motor that turn the sponge drum in the water tray.
And they refer to "enclosing the transformer in the metal box" (for safety I assume). No metal box, or any place to attach the transformer on the humidifier cabinet. But there IS a 1" threaded pipe with a nut on it for attaching to SOMETHING.
It is all quite maddening. The Skuttle website provides absolutely NO information about installations. There is a email address for "customer service". I'll try that in a few minutes, but I don't expect it will be useful. I'll probably have to hire an electrician to come by and try to figure it out. Which probably means I could have just bought some other brand (of the same drum type) locally and had it installed at the same total price without any work on my part.
I am so completely annoyed I can't figure this out. It possible the wiring choices don't really matter. Immean, if I hook it up one way, the drum rotates clockwise and the other way it rotates counterclockwise and makes no difference. But it could mean I burn out the whole motor unit. I don't know enough to tell.
If anyone who reads this has any guidance about the wiring, PLEASE leave a comment. I hate to say it, but in my 60s, I'm starting to lose my willingness/ability to "just try it and see what happens"...
The other wiring issue is only electric wiring, and not successful, and I am VERY frustrated. Some background... When I retired 8 years ago, I got tired of static electricity in Winter (I could half-turn-on fluorescent lamps just by touching them and stroking the cats caused sparks. Taking clothes out of the dryer was actually painful) and bought a whole house humidifier. The brand was Skuttle, and it had a cabinet attached to an opening cut in the main heater output duct. In the cabinet was a tray of water and a sponge cylinder rotated through the tray of water whenever the heater blower was on.
I bought it locally and had it installed. It worked great! No static. But a problem with the cylinder/drum humidifiers is that they get "gunky" (mold or something). So when the sponge on the drum couldn't be cleaned anymore (yes I was too stupid/cheap/witless to just buy a new sponge drum), I did some research and found a different kind of humidifier.
The new one had a honeycomb where water dribbled over the top and air blew through it to add humidity. It had good ratings. I installed it myself, but I needed an electrician to come by for a wiring problem I couldn't figure out (an outside humidity detector that adjusted the inside settings to the outside humidity - turned out it was a feature my model didn't have), but he did finish the basic wiring for me since I had paid for a visit). But it has NEVER worked well in 3 Winters. I couldn't get the inside humidity above 23%. The drum type got it up to 35%. At least there wasn't any static shock...
I should mention that I have a heat pump. There are good and bad things about heat pumps, but one bad thing is that they dehumidify the inside air as part of the way they work. Great in Summer, but not so great in Winter. In Winter, I am fighting the design of the heat pump to dehumidify with a humidifier to improve that. The condensation-collection container that pumps the collected water into the laundry tub works overtime in Winter.
So I decided to go back to the drum type. I couldn't find a local retailer/installer, but I found a decent Skuttle brand of the same drum type on Amazon at a great price.
It arrived. The required duct cutout was smaller than the current Honeywell honeycomb humidifier cutout, so I had to buy some sheet metal, cut a new smaller opening, and attach the sheet metal to cover the older larger hole. Awkward tin-snip work and getting sheet metal screws holes drilled (never really easy work), but it only took 45 minutes (professional: 10 minutes; me, 45), and I covered all the edges with duct tapes.
I got the water tray and drum installed, attached the water supply, and adjusted the float that controls the water level in the tray (much like a toilet float that keeps the upper reservoir from overflowing).
The last thing was to attach the wiring that makes the drum turn when the heater is on.
BUSTED! I can't make any sense of the (undetailed and simple) diagrams in the installation manual. I've stared at the unit and the instructions 4 separate times over the past 3 days. As far as I can tell (and admittedly, electricity is NOT my favorite stuff to deal with), the diagram instructions are not only incomplete, but also completely wrong.
For example, electric wires are usually color-coded. Red for positive, black for neutral. Not these, they are both black! Sometimes, electrical wires that are joined (like on a lamp cord) have one side that is smooth and the other ribbed for identification. Not these. The system uses a transformer that reduces standard 120 volt A/C current to 24 volt current to power the tiny motor that turn the sponge drum in the water tray.
And they refer to "enclosing the transformer in the metal box" (for safety I assume). No metal box, or any place to attach the transformer on the humidifier cabinet. But there IS a 1" threaded pipe with a nut on it for attaching to SOMETHING.
It is all quite maddening. The Skuttle website provides absolutely NO information about installations. There is a email address for "customer service". I'll try that in a few minutes, but I don't expect it will be useful. I'll probably have to hire an electrician to come by and try to figure it out. Which probably means I could have just bought some other brand (of the same drum type) locally and had it installed at the same total price without any work on my part.
I am so completely annoyed I can't figure this out. It possible the wiring choices don't really matter. Immean, if I hook it up one way, the drum rotates clockwise and the other way it rotates counterclockwise and makes no difference. But it could mean I burn out the whole motor unit. I don't know enough to tell.
If anyone who reads this has any guidance about the wiring, PLEASE leave a comment. I hate to say it, but in my 60s, I'm starting to lose my willingness/ability to "just try it and see what happens"...
Friday, February 7, 2014
Wiring And Cabling
Darn I hate wiring and cable connections. Give me a shovel and a pile of dirt to move anytime! There's nothing complicated about shovelling dirt.
But I've had 2 run-ins with wiring stuff lately. Both annoying, but at least one finally solved. I'll mention the successful one today.
I've struggled to connect my TV to the stereo system a few times the past decade. It has never worked. Mostly, the audio and video haven't matched up. Watching people talk and having the sound even a half second off is disturbing.
Even with the new HDTV, I couldn't get it to work. The wiring diagrams in the manuals showed wires from the cable box to the stereo. I pulled the TV stand and the stereo cabinet out many times to look at all the possible connections. And I don't mean to say that I understand what all those color-coded plugs mean. But they ARE all labeled better than 20 years ago. Or 10 years ago.
My Pioneer VSX-42 tuner is a wonder. It allows more possibilities than I can even comprehend. I don't even know what "pandora" IS, but I could access it if I wanted to. Maybe I will soon. But the problem was that "audio out" from the cable box did not match the timing on the TV picture.
So, I sat back there and stared at the back of the HDTV and stereo system for a while. There JUST wasn't an "audio out" from the TV that I recognized. Not even an modern HDMI audio outlet I stared, I fumed, I yelled.
But eventually, I saw a weird looking plug on the HDTV labeled "Digital Optical Audio Out". No idea what that meant. But I searched the back of the stereo tuner. The print was so small even my reading glasses weren't enough, I had to crawl out to get a magnifying glass!
Whoever thinks that it is easy to read orange print on white, or blue on green should be summarily executed.
But I did eventually find a similar plug on the tuner. It was labelled "Digital Optical Audio In". I immediately searched the manuals for the HDTV and the tuner. 66 pages of the Pioneer tuner and 35 pages of the Samsung HDTV (estimates) didn't explain WHAT "digital optical" was.
But I figured, if there is a delay in the audio from the cable box through the stereo (and I wasn' getting any sound from the DVD player), if I could get sound direct from the HDTV to the stereo speakers, that would work for all components AND stop the audio delay.
Keep in mind that I had already spent $40 on various cables I THOUGHT would connect the HDTV to the stereo properly...
So I drove to Best Buy. Explained the problem. Asked about "digital optical audio" He said "you need this" and showed me a cable. I said "that doesn't look like the plug, and I even pushed the gateway open with a toothpick". He said that if it has that gateway, this cable WAS the right one cuz that's the only one with a gate. I bought it and went home.
The TV and the stereo cabinet were still pulled out for access. I unplugged the red/white "component cables". I attached the new digital optical cable and turned on the HDTV and the stereo.
And got NOTHING! But the Pioneer tuner has many choices. I rotated the knob (and remembering that the first time I got ANY sound from it took 15 seconds ). When I turned the tuner knob to "TV", I GOT SOUND! From the TV. In perfect synch!
But only one speaker was giving sound. GLOOOOM!
I dragged out the soundless speaker, and it immediately gave sound. Oh man, just a loose wire connection! I fixed that right off.
You want to know something odd about modern tuners? They don't seem to have a speaker balance dial. Matbe it exists and I haven't found it yet, but I've read and re-read all the "speaker" parts of the manuals. OK, I pushed the chair, TV, and speakers around a bit, and NOW it is balanced. It's almost funny, I adjusted myself an the TV to balance the speakers.
Oh and I mentioned previously that I couldn't find the remote control for the Pioneer tuner? I found it. Sitting right on top of the old tuner that died. Buried under other stuff in the computer room.
But now, I am watching great TV AND listening to audio that matches the picture. And since it comes directly off the TV, it works with all components I have.
But I've had 2 run-ins with wiring stuff lately. Both annoying, but at least one finally solved. I'll mention the successful one today.
I've struggled to connect my TV to the stereo system a few times the past decade. It has never worked. Mostly, the audio and video haven't matched up. Watching people talk and having the sound even a half second off is disturbing.
Even with the new HDTV, I couldn't get it to work. The wiring diagrams in the manuals showed wires from the cable box to the stereo. I pulled the TV stand and the stereo cabinet out many times to look at all the possible connections. And I don't mean to say that I understand what all those color-coded plugs mean. But they ARE all labeled better than 20 years ago. Or 10 years ago.
My Pioneer VSX-42 tuner is a wonder. It allows more possibilities than I can even comprehend. I don't even know what "pandora" IS, but I could access it if I wanted to. Maybe I will soon. But the problem was that "audio out" from the cable box did not match the timing on the TV picture.
So, I sat back there and stared at the back of the HDTV and stereo system for a while. There JUST wasn't an "audio out" from the TV that I recognized. Not even an modern HDMI audio outlet I stared, I fumed, I yelled.
But eventually, I saw a weird looking plug on the HDTV labeled "Digital Optical Audio Out". No idea what that meant. But I searched the back of the stereo tuner. The print was so small even my reading glasses weren't enough, I had to crawl out to get a magnifying glass!
Whoever thinks that it is easy to read orange print on white, or blue on green should be summarily executed.
But I did eventually find a similar plug on the tuner. It was labelled "Digital Optical Audio In". I immediately searched the manuals for the HDTV and the tuner. 66 pages of the Pioneer tuner and 35 pages of the Samsung HDTV (estimates) didn't explain WHAT "digital optical" was.
But I figured, if there is a delay in the audio from the cable box through the stereo (and I wasn' getting any sound from the DVD player), if I could get sound direct from the HDTV to the stereo speakers, that would work for all components AND stop the audio delay.
Keep in mind that I had already spent $40 on various cables I THOUGHT would connect the HDTV to the stereo properly...
So I drove to Best Buy. Explained the problem. Asked about "digital optical audio" He said "you need this" and showed me a cable. I said "that doesn't look like the plug, and I even pushed the gateway open with a toothpick". He said that if it has that gateway, this cable WAS the right one cuz that's the only one with a gate. I bought it and went home.
The TV and the stereo cabinet were still pulled out for access. I unplugged the red/white "component cables". I attached the new digital optical cable and turned on the HDTV and the stereo.
And got NOTHING! But the Pioneer tuner has many choices. I rotated the knob (and remembering that the first time I got ANY sound from it took 15 seconds ). When I turned the tuner knob to "TV", I GOT SOUND! From the TV. In perfect synch!
But only one speaker was giving sound. GLOOOOM!
I dragged out the soundless speaker, and it immediately gave sound. Oh man, just a loose wire connection! I fixed that right off.
You want to know something odd about modern tuners? They don't seem to have a speaker balance dial. Matbe it exists and I haven't found it yet, but I've read and re-read all the "speaker" parts of the manuals. OK, I pushed the chair, TV, and speakers around a bit, and NOW it is balanced. It's almost funny, I adjusted myself an the TV to balance the speakers.
Oh and I mentioned previously that I couldn't find the remote control for the Pioneer tuner? I found it. Sitting right on top of the old tuner that died. Buried under other stuff in the computer room.
But now, I am watching great TV AND listening to audio that matches the picture. And since it comes directly off the TV, it works with all components I have.
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
Food
Just some food thoughts that work for me...
Brussels sprouts cut in half or quarters, mixed with 4:1 ratio mushsrooms, steamed fer 4 minutes. With simple butter, melted shredded cheese and milk, or cheese and a little lemon juice.
Or asparagus the same ways... Or broccoli.
Or pork stew. Boston butt cut into 1" cubes, simmered with cubed Yukon Gold potatoes, celery, carrots, and leeks for 20 minutes with a flour slurry or cornstarch added the last few minutes. With crushed garlic and a lot of oregano. Boston butt doesn't get tough.
Or hot italian sausage smothered in onion and green bell peppers.
Or chicken thighs sauteed in little olive oil covered so they sort of bake, but brown nicely. Its hard to overcook chicken thighs.
I love thinking about food even when I'm not hungry, LOL!
Brussels sprouts cut in half or quarters, mixed with 4:1 ratio mushsrooms, steamed fer 4 minutes. With simple butter, melted shredded cheese and milk, or cheese and a little lemon juice.
Or asparagus the same ways... Or broccoli.
Or pork stew. Boston butt cut into 1" cubes, simmered with cubed Yukon Gold potatoes, celery, carrots, and leeks for 20 minutes with a flour slurry or cornstarch added the last few minutes. With crushed garlic and a lot of oregano. Boston butt doesn't get tough.
Or hot italian sausage smothered in onion and green bell peppers.
Or chicken thighs sauteed in little olive oil covered so they sort of bake, but brown nicely. Its hard to overcook chicken thighs.
I love thinking about food even when I'm not hungry, LOL!
Friday, January 31, 2014
Sometimes, Doing Nothing Is Good
And by that title, I mean that good things sometimes come to those who just sit in frustration.
Warning, long post ahead!
Background:
Six years ago, I desired to connect my stereo system to my 1st HDTV because flat screens are too thin to have good built-in speakers. I couldn't get it to work. Oh, I got TV sound through the stereo system, but in one arrangement, I got off-synch sound from both the stereo and the TV which was too annoying to listen to. In the other, I got only stereo system sound but with a 1/2 second delay which was too annoying to watch. So I gave up and separated the 2 systems.
Two years ago, my stereo tuner died and I ended up with a Pioneer VSX-42. It did everything! Way more than I had any use for, as a matter of fact. Not just controlling stereo components, but the TV, the DVD, internet radio, gameboxes, Pandora, bluetooth, and some things I don't even know what they are! All I wanted was a new tuner.
Turns out it made my old "dedicated buttons radio station controller" obsolete. I miss having dedicated buttons to 20 radio stations. With the Pioneer, you just have a single preset button and if you want station #12, you have to press it 12 times. Not exactly the end of the world, but annoying. And instead of dedicated buttons for each function (like radio, CD, tape deck, phono, and all those others I don't understand), there is a dial you turn to see each function choice displayed on a LED screen.
As you might guess, I am not intuitively good at modern electronic components. I have to really work at it. But as a "success through persistence" kind of person person who can (eventually) sift through instruction manuals, I get by. Seriously, sometimes I actually draw flowcharts to figure out what the technical manual is trying (badly) to tell me.
So with the new Samsung HDTV in place, I dragged the old stereo system back into the TV room (I wanted to rearrange the rooms anyway). First thing was to add a surge protector to the new HDTV. A tech guy (not the floor salesman) at the store told me that power surges cause the cycling on/off problem I had with the previous HDTV. So I bought one that had 2 more outlets than I thought I needed.
At home, I discovered I needed a 2nd coaxial cable, so I started a list of more stuff I needed. That's when I decided to try again to connect the old stereo system to the HDTV. I figured that "Hey, this Pioneer control unit seems designed to be the central control point for seriously integrated home theater system, I have to at least be able to listen to the TV through the stereo speakers".
So there I was, with the HDTV stand pulled away from the wall in one direction and the stereo cabinet angled in the opposite direction so I could see all the ports and cables. I had a flashlight and all the manuals by my side. Well, "almost all". I couldn't find the Pioneer manual. But I looked stuff up on the internet and I had some basic diagrams of various cable connections.
First instruction was to find the "audio out" ports on the TV or cable box. Naturally, nothing was labled "audio out" on either. The TV had "audio in" ports and an "optical audio out" with a plug shape I have never seen anywhere. The cable box had some ports just labeled "AV" The Pioneer tuner had every type of plug imaginable. It was daunting! I was very worried that connecting cables to the wrong ports might blow out some piece of equipment.
But I was willing to try. Actually, just re-attaching the stereo speakers to the Pioneer tuner was an exercise in frustration. Whoever designed the connectors was either an idiot or a sadist. There are little knobs to loosen to expose a tiny hole to stick bare wire into. The knobs are so close together that you need tweezers to hold the speaker wires to get them at the connection holes. Anyway, it took me 15 minutes to guide the speaker wire into the required spots. My previous tuner had connections where the wire went into a hole in the facing side just like sticking an electrical plug into a wall socket. Who designs these things? But I got that done.
Then came the cable connection fun. The internet helped. At one site, I found a reference to "unlabeled audio ports" being "out", and the cable box was unlabeled. So I plugged in the red/white/yellow cable there. Looking at the Pioneer tuner ports was like looking at a final exam for The Geek Squad hiring test. The entire back of the thing is nothing but ports of all shapes and labels!
There are 6 different HDMI ports, several pairs of regular round red/white/yellow ports, several "optical", some "component" ports, and "some other stuff".
I finally chose to connect the cables from the cable TV box labeled "AV" to the Pioneer ports labelled "sat/cable" (satellite or cable TV I assume) I crawled out, set the Pioneer to "sat/cable" and counted to 5 (set to "radio", the sound comes on instantaneously). No sound. Discouraged, I crawled back behind the equipment and tried some other connections. When I had the cable box audio cables connected to DVD and nothing happened I just sat there discouraged.
And then, after about 30 seconds, I suddenly heard the TV through the stereo speakers! HAL-aluhiah!!! 30 seconds in FOREVER in electronics time. But I was never going to remember that the TV was controlled on the Pioneer tuner set to"DVD". So I cautiously switched the cables back to the sat/cable ports and waited. Damn, the TV sound came on after only 15 seconds.
And that's why I'm saying that sometimes doing nothing is good! If I hadn't just sat there behind the electronics and glared balefully at the ports for a while, I never would never have known that I had the right connections! Doing nothing for 30 seconds (a really long time to sit sometimes) worked. Just sitting there solved my problem.
After that success, I sat down in my TV chair to listen to the speakers. It was sightly fuzzy and minutely out of synch. So I studied the Samsung manual. I had already set it to "external speakers" so that I would know if the cable connection were working. But I found that I had both the TV internal speakers AND the external stereo speakers on. I shut off the TV speakers. Much better.
But the speakers weren't balanced, so I went to the Pioneer tuner to adjust the balance between the 2 speakers. The left speaker is a little further away from my chair than the right speaker. Guess what? There is no speaker balance on the Pioneer tuner. WHAT? Well, apparently you can download an app to do that. Great, I don't have a smartphone...
There ARE ways though to adjust balance. I moved the left speaker forward a couple feet and angled the right speaker away slightly. I tested it by closing my eyes and aiming my head at the balanced sound point (try it, it works). When I was off the center of the TV, I adjusted them again and again. I have it balanced pretty good now, but it looks a little odd. I'd rather have a speaker balancer.
The Pioneer manual says I could balance the speakers and have other controls I would like using the remote control. I wish I had it. I searched the house for 2 hours looking for it. I know where I would normally keep it. It wasn't there. Nor in any other spot I could thing of. I may have to buy a replacement. Mainly because I change the volume a lot as I move from the TV room to the kitchen (where I can still see the TV as I prepare food), and back. Adjusting the volume manually on the stereo is a bit annoying.
Want to bet that the day I receive a replacement remote control for the Pioneer tumner, I find the ols one within a week? LOL!
BUT, the point is that I figured out all the connections, they work, and I understand the system right now.
This is a MAJOR SUCCESS in a lifelong battle with electronics.
Warning, long post ahead!
Background:
Six years ago, I desired to connect my stereo system to my 1st HDTV because flat screens are too thin to have good built-in speakers. I couldn't get it to work. Oh, I got TV sound through the stereo system, but in one arrangement, I got off-synch sound from both the stereo and the TV which was too annoying to listen to. In the other, I got only stereo system sound but with a 1/2 second delay which was too annoying to watch. So I gave up and separated the 2 systems.
Two years ago, my stereo tuner died and I ended up with a Pioneer VSX-42. It did everything! Way more than I had any use for, as a matter of fact. Not just controlling stereo components, but the TV, the DVD, internet radio, gameboxes, Pandora, bluetooth, and some things I don't even know what they are! All I wanted was a new tuner.
Turns out it made my old "dedicated buttons radio station controller" obsolete. I miss having dedicated buttons to 20 radio stations. With the Pioneer, you just have a single preset button and if you want station #12, you have to press it 12 times. Not exactly the end of the world, but annoying. And instead of dedicated buttons for each function (like radio, CD, tape deck, phono, and all those others I don't understand), there is a dial you turn to see each function choice displayed on a LED screen.
As you might guess, I am not intuitively good at modern electronic components. I have to really work at it. But as a "success through persistence" kind of person person who can (eventually) sift through instruction manuals, I get by. Seriously, sometimes I actually draw flowcharts to figure out what the technical manual is trying (badly) to tell me.
So with the new Samsung HDTV in place, I dragged the old stereo system back into the TV room (I wanted to rearrange the rooms anyway). First thing was to add a surge protector to the new HDTV. A tech guy (not the floor salesman) at the store told me that power surges cause the cycling on/off problem I had with the previous HDTV. So I bought one that had 2 more outlets than I thought I needed.
At home, I discovered I needed a 2nd coaxial cable, so I started a list of more stuff I needed. That's when I decided to try again to connect the old stereo system to the HDTV. I figured that "Hey, this Pioneer control unit seems designed to be the central control point for seriously integrated home theater system, I have to at least be able to listen to the TV through the stereo speakers".
So there I was, with the HDTV stand pulled away from the wall in one direction and the stereo cabinet angled in the opposite direction so I could see all the ports and cables. I had a flashlight and all the manuals by my side. Well, "almost all". I couldn't find the Pioneer manual. But I looked stuff up on the internet and I had some basic diagrams of various cable connections.
First instruction was to find the "audio out" ports on the TV or cable box. Naturally, nothing was labled "audio out" on either. The TV had "audio in" ports and an "optical audio out" with a plug shape I have never seen anywhere. The cable box had some ports just labeled "AV" The Pioneer tuner had every type of plug imaginable. It was daunting! I was very worried that connecting cables to the wrong ports might blow out some piece of equipment.
But I was willing to try. Actually, just re-attaching the stereo speakers to the Pioneer tuner was an exercise in frustration. Whoever designed the connectors was either an idiot or a sadist. There are little knobs to loosen to expose a tiny hole to stick bare wire into. The knobs are so close together that you need tweezers to hold the speaker wires to get them at the connection holes. Anyway, it took me 15 minutes to guide the speaker wire into the required spots. My previous tuner had connections where the wire went into a hole in the facing side just like sticking an electrical plug into a wall socket. Who designs these things? But I got that done.
Then came the cable connection fun. The internet helped. At one site, I found a reference to "unlabeled audio ports" being "out", and the cable box was unlabeled. So I plugged in the red/white/yellow cable there. Looking at the Pioneer tuner ports was like looking at a final exam for The Geek Squad hiring test. The entire back of the thing is nothing but ports of all shapes and labels!
There are 6 different HDMI ports, several pairs of regular round red/white/yellow ports, several "optical", some "component" ports, and "some other stuff".
I finally chose to connect the cables from the cable TV box labeled "AV" to the Pioneer ports labelled "sat/cable" (satellite or cable TV I assume) I crawled out, set the Pioneer to "sat/cable" and counted to 5 (set to "radio", the sound comes on instantaneously). No sound. Discouraged, I crawled back behind the equipment and tried some other connections. When I had the cable box audio cables connected to DVD and nothing happened I just sat there discouraged.
And then, after about 30 seconds, I suddenly heard the TV through the stereo speakers! HAL-aluhiah!!! 30 seconds in FOREVER in electronics time. But I was never going to remember that the TV was controlled on the Pioneer tuner set to"DVD". So I cautiously switched the cables back to the sat/cable ports and waited. Damn, the TV sound came on after only 15 seconds.
And that's why I'm saying that sometimes doing nothing is good! If I hadn't just sat there behind the electronics and glared balefully at the ports for a while, I never would never have known that I had the right connections! Doing nothing for 30 seconds (a really long time to sit sometimes) worked. Just sitting there solved my problem.
After that success, I sat down in my TV chair to listen to the speakers. It was sightly fuzzy and minutely out of synch. So I studied the Samsung manual. I had already set it to "external speakers" so that I would know if the cable connection were working. But I found that I had both the TV internal speakers AND the external stereo speakers on. I shut off the TV speakers. Much better.
But the speakers weren't balanced, so I went to the Pioneer tuner to adjust the balance between the 2 speakers. The left speaker is a little further away from my chair than the right speaker. Guess what? There is no speaker balance on the Pioneer tuner. WHAT? Well, apparently you can download an app to do that. Great, I don't have a smartphone...
There ARE ways though to adjust balance. I moved the left speaker forward a couple feet and angled the right speaker away slightly. I tested it by closing my eyes and aiming my head at the balanced sound point (try it, it works). When I was off the center of the TV, I adjusted them again and again. I have it balanced pretty good now, but it looks a little odd. I'd rather have a speaker balancer.
The Pioneer manual says I could balance the speakers and have other controls I would like using the remote control. I wish I had it. I searched the house for 2 hours looking for it. I know where I would normally keep it. It wasn't there. Nor in any other spot I could thing of. I may have to buy a replacement. Mainly because I change the volume a lot as I move from the TV room to the kitchen (where I can still see the TV as I prepare food), and back. Adjusting the volume manually on the stereo is a bit annoying.
Want to bet that the day I receive a replacement remote control for the Pioneer tumner, I find the ols one within a week? LOL!
BUT, the point is that I figured out all the connections, they work, and I understand the system right now.
This is a MAJOR SUCCESS in a lifelong battle with electronics.
Wednesday, January 29, 2014
Reality TV
All the "reality" shows on TV are utterly fake in my opinion.
But I have a particular dislike for Survivorman (a TV
series). *I* personally consider it all fake. The first episode (years ago),
Survivorman made a big deal out of how he was completely alone. Then, in
that episode, he walked down a path through the woods AND THE CAMERA FOLLOWED
HIM! Think about that...
I was in a human prehistory discussion group at the
time. Another early episode had him "desperate" to make a hole
in 6" ice (to catch a fish for food) but unsuccessful. We
immediately came up with 6 different ways to do that. And then suddenly a
new person joined the discussion, defending Survivorman against every example
of apparent falseness. After a couple days, the site administrator posted
that he had tracked the new member's IP address and (wait for it), it was
Survivorman's address!!!
I only mention that to say this... After some
(14?) years of Survivorman, the reality there is no greater. I saw the teaser ad for the new season and I laughed my ass off. I actually had to pay attention to it several times to be sure.
The teaser ad shows Survivorman cutting a sapling trunk into a sharp spear point. Then you see him standing in the water (with a VERY FIERCE expression) waiting to stab a fish for his dinner. That's OK so far as it goes. If you spear a fish with a good upwards movement, the fish will stay on the spear.
Except... The point of his wooden spear looks bent over! Seriously, it looks like he pounded the point on the ground a few times OR it was deliberately bent to look like a barb. But it won't work either way. Essentially, Survivorman is standing in the water threatening to jab a fish with the eraser end of a pencil, LOL! The fishes scales will block THAT everytime.
If you want to see actual sensible survivor skills without hyped drama, try http://aloneinthewilderness.com/. It's about a guy who simply lived in remote Alaska for some time and succeded in the daily tasks required to get by.
THAT guy was real.
Its available in several versions at Amazon. Just don't accidentally order the Survivorman title of a similar name. Its not the one I'm recommending.
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Miscellaneous
1. I read a cat joke today that I wanted to post on the cat blog, but I was worried too many people wouldn't understand and I avoid insulting people. One never knows sometimes. But I'll take a chance here (because this is MY blog):
Schrödinger's cat walks into a bar, and doesn't.
OK, I'm a bit odd sometimes. Science humor isn't always the easiest to follow. I suppose English majors find puns in Dante's Inferno and Music majors in Mozart.
2. Just had an interesting idea of a way for cats to open doors, but it might be patentable, so I can't tell you about it.
3. The President's State Of The Union speech is on now, but I'm not listening to it. I like President Obama, but I don't pay any attention to speeches. It's what politicians DO that counts, not what they say. And if he says anything really interesting, it will be on the TV tomorrow ALL day.
4. I need some new science/nature/history DVDs. I'm beginning to memorize the narrative on all the ones I have.
5. I spent an hour today trying to make the various remotes all work the various TV devices. Moderate success, but will post in detail some other day.
6. You know those thin magnetic ads (designed to be stuck on the refrigerator) that come on phone books and some few other sources? Did you know that if you stick them on your car they don't blow off? I'm going to use them to make removable "bumper" stickers by glue-sticking messages on a group of them. LOL!
7. I bought new calenders several weeks ago. One was a Wizard Of Oz calendar. It is about 2' high by 14" wide. The actual monthly calendar part is only 5"by 7". That's a calendar? I need my reading glasses to see the dates!
8. I have learned with the new smart HDTV that I am far behind the tech curve. I am debating whether to TRY to catch up or just let it go. I don't even have a smart phone... How old do I have to be before it's aceptable to not even try anymore?
Schrödinger's cat walks into a bar, and doesn't.
OK, I'm a bit odd sometimes. Science humor isn't always the easiest to follow. I suppose English majors find puns in Dante's Inferno and Music majors in Mozart.
2. Just had an interesting idea of a way for cats to open doors, but it might be patentable, so I can't tell you about it.
3. The President's State Of The Union speech is on now, but I'm not listening to it. I like President Obama, but I don't pay any attention to speeches. It's what politicians DO that counts, not what they say. And if he says anything really interesting, it will be on the TV tomorrow ALL day.
4. I need some new science/nature/history DVDs. I'm beginning to memorize the narrative on all the ones I have.
5. I spent an hour today trying to make the various remotes all work the various TV devices. Moderate success, but will post in detail some other day.
6. You know those thin magnetic ads (designed to be stuck on the refrigerator) that come on phone books and some few other sources? Did you know that if you stick them on your car they don't blow off? I'm going to use them to make removable "bumper" stickers by glue-sticking messages on a group of them. LOL!
7. I bought new calenders several weeks ago. One was a Wizard Of Oz calendar. It is about 2' high by 14" wide. The actual monthly calendar part is only 5"by 7". That's a calendar? I need my reading glasses to see the dates!
8. I have learned with the new smart HDTV that I am far behind the tech curve. I am debating whether to TRY to catch up or just let it go. I don't even have a smart phone... How old do I have to be before it's aceptable to not even try anymore?
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
Why I hate Microsoft
I play Civilization 2 on the old PC. Its not connected to anything but it does run. After playing a game scenario twice, I discovered that I couldn't overwrite the previous games of the same dates and was slipping into the previous game versions on the same months (the game progresses by months). I was playing the exact same game as previously. The third trip around the game. I caught on.
That kind of thing pisses my off royally. And I really wasn't calm about it.
So I just spent 4 HOURS digging into the PC and deleting most of its functions until it finally stopped fighting me. You wouldn't believe what it was doing. I found where it saved all the previous games. But that wasn't enough. Microsoft insists on protecting you from losing old games.
It kept COPIES of all the previous games! Every *&#$*@g time I tried to replay the designed scenario (designed to be replayed you understand), good old Microsoft insisted on reloading the original version of the first game I played by month of the scenario. It took me a few tries to figure THAT out. Sort of a "Wait, I didn't do THAT this time". But the computer did. Everytime I hit a month file, it loaded the old one. I was going crazy trying to change my strategy and it wouldn't let me.
I had to dig into the actual files and drag them to the death realm. And I'm angry because I spent 5 hours playing a WWII game scenario only to have Microsoft overlay OLD games of the same WWII months over the new one AND I had to spend 4 hours killing the old files it hid very carefully.
I'm going to repeat this so that it is clear. Microsoft not only kept, say,"March 1942" so that it loaded that old file when I started again in Feb 1941 and gradually played to March 1942. It kept a COPY of the old file (really copy.filename) so just finding and deleting the original version on the scenario wasn't ENOUGH to clear the game for a new start.
They are either evil or abominably stupid, I don't know which and I don't care... And this is on a computer I deliberately disconnected from the internet for safety's sake.
There are times when I can barely express my "despicification" of Microsoft's controls.
That kind of thing pisses my off royally. And I really wasn't calm about it.
So I just spent 4 HOURS digging into the PC and deleting most of its functions until it finally stopped fighting me. You wouldn't believe what it was doing. I found where it saved all the previous games. But that wasn't enough. Microsoft insists on protecting you from losing old games.
It kept COPIES of all the previous games! Every *&#$*@g time I tried to replay the designed scenario (designed to be replayed you understand), good old Microsoft insisted on reloading the original version of the first game I played by month of the scenario. It took me a few tries to figure THAT out. Sort of a "Wait, I didn't do THAT this time". But the computer did. Everytime I hit a month file, it loaded the old one. I was going crazy trying to change my strategy and it wouldn't let me.
I had to dig into the actual files and drag them to the death realm. And I'm angry because I spent 5 hours playing a WWII game scenario only to have Microsoft overlay OLD games of the same WWII months over the new one AND I had to spend 4 hours killing the old files it hid very carefully.
I'm going to repeat this so that it is clear. Microsoft not only kept, say,"March 1942" so that it loaded that old file when I started again in Feb 1941 and gradually played to March 1942. It kept a COPY of the old file (really copy.filename) so just finding and deleting the original version on the scenario wasn't ENOUGH to clear the game for a new start.
They are either evil or abominably stupid, I don't know which and I don't care... And this is on a computer I deliberately disconnected from the internet for safety's sake.
There are times when I can barely express my "despicification" of Microsoft's controls.
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
Snow
Well, we are getting our 1st meaningful snowfall in the Washington DC area since 2011 (or maybe 2010 - winters get confusing because they cross over the New Year). Anyway, after that seriously bad winter a few years ago when we had several snow storms over a foot deep, I bought a snowblower. I haven't had an excuse to use it since, so last Spring I moved it into the storage shed in the back yard.
I was caught by surprise by this snow. I had stayed up all night Sunday so I only got up after dark Monday evening. I live alone, I'm retired, and I've never done well with a 24 hour day. So eventually it shifts around the dial so much that every couple of weeks I just stay up all night and all day to get back on schedule.
So I only found out about the snow forecast at 9 pm yesterday. I sure didn't feel like going out to the storage shed in the cold and dark and getting the snowblower running to bring it to the garage. And snow forecasts are often wildly wrong around here. We are in a transition zone between Caribbean Highs and Canadian Lows. A 6" snow forecast is just as likely to be 1" or 12" but seldom what is forecast. Washington DC and all the local schools were shut down in December for what resulted in 2" of snow and then a 1/4" of freezing rain (but the roads stayed clear). I saw a Weather Channel report once that said Washington DC was one of the trickiest places to forecast snowfall. Its a combination of Jet Stream variability, the Appalachian Mountains and the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore to the north is snow country, Richmond to the south is rain country, and we are right in the middle!
I decided to wait til this afternoon to see how much snow we were really getting. If I needed the snowblower, at least it would be daylight! By 3 pm, we had about 3" of snow, and (unusual for this area) it was dry and powdery. If it gets worse (not likely as it is supposed to stop about now), I can still drag out the snowblower. But for 4" of dry powdery snow (we DO usually get heavy wet snow), I'm not going to bother. Two neighbors who I know keep their snowblowers in their garages simply shoveled their driveways just before dark.
I think I will just use a shovel tomorrow. But I also think that as soon as the weather improves a bit over the weekend, I will make sure the snowblower is working and move it into the garage for the rest of the winter...
I was caught by surprise by this snow. I had stayed up all night Sunday so I only got up after dark Monday evening. I live alone, I'm retired, and I've never done well with a 24 hour day. So eventually it shifts around the dial so much that every couple of weeks I just stay up all night and all day to get back on schedule.
So I only found out about the snow forecast at 9 pm yesterday. I sure didn't feel like going out to the storage shed in the cold and dark and getting the snowblower running to bring it to the garage. And snow forecasts are often wildly wrong around here. We are in a transition zone between Caribbean Highs and Canadian Lows. A 6" snow forecast is just as likely to be 1" or 12" but seldom what is forecast. Washington DC and all the local schools were shut down in December for what resulted in 2" of snow and then a 1/4" of freezing rain (but the roads stayed clear). I saw a Weather Channel report once that said Washington DC was one of the trickiest places to forecast snowfall. Its a combination of Jet Stream variability, the Appalachian Mountains and the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore to the north is snow country, Richmond to the south is rain country, and we are right in the middle!
I decided to wait til this afternoon to see how much snow we were really getting. If I needed the snowblower, at least it would be daylight! By 3 pm, we had about 3" of snow, and (unusual for this area) it was dry and powdery. If it gets worse (not likely as it is supposed to stop about now), I can still drag out the snowblower. But for 4" of dry powdery snow (we DO usually get heavy wet snow), I'm not going to bother. Two neighbors who I know keep their snowblowers in their garages simply shoveled their driveways just before dark.
I think I will just use a shovel tomorrow. But I also think that as soon as the weather improves a bit over the weekend, I will make sure the snowblower is working and move it into the garage for the rest of the winter...
Monday, January 20, 2014
Favorite Movies
Everyone has some favorite movies. But I mean the ones you can just watch over and over again. I suspect they are not ones with a surprise ending. Who would watch a surprise ending more then once?
My first is "The Incredibles". Yeah, I know, its animated. But it's non-stop action. And I love the idea that superheros get married and have superhero children. As someone who bought Fantastic Four #1 (and stupidly had no idea it would be worth a lot someday), I like the idea of some real life in comic book heroes. I love all the characters in "The Incredibles", but a real enjoyment of Dash.
The 2nd is 'Independence Day". There is no way I cannot cheer for the human race surviving. Yet we also did in "World of The Worlds" and I find that movie generally boring. So there is something else about "Independence Day'. The characters.
The 3rd is more recent. "Battleship". I read the description of it and went "ho hum" (aliens vs a battleship, right). But I was bored one evening and watched it. Blew my socks off! I've watched it 4 more times in the past month and have thoroughly enjoyed it each time. Twice tonight!
The aliens made some sense. I loved the idea of a hand with only 4 opposable "thumbs" (all thumbs, LOL). They seemed pretty good with machinery. I also liked the chin bristles. No apparent purpose and no consequence to the movie but it probably has some meaning on their world. Maybe they were ancient quills that pevented them being eaten. A little evolution thought in there. I liked the idea that they came from a dark world (or were nocturnal). And I liked that those differences weren't explained. It wasn't related to the outcome of the movie, but it was a nice touch.
There are also some interesting differences with the aliens. They move in sudden jumps with their weapons ships on the sea (just imagine their railroad system). And they were bipeds but had some problems with light. I'm thinking intelligent cave frogs here.
I also liked the way the aliens disregarded perceived non-threats. Anything not aimed directly at them was simply ignored. I could surmise they were once (and recently) a prey species.
But they are all great nonstop action movies of a type *I* can watch repeatedly
My first is "The Incredibles". Yeah, I know, its animated. But it's non-stop action. And I love the idea that superheros get married and have superhero children. As someone who bought Fantastic Four #1 (and stupidly had no idea it would be worth a lot someday), I like the idea of some real life in comic book heroes. I love all the characters in "The Incredibles", but a real enjoyment of Dash.
The 2nd is 'Independence Day". There is no way I cannot cheer for the human race surviving. Yet we also did in "World of The Worlds" and I find that movie generally boring. So there is something else about "Independence Day'. The characters.
The 3rd is more recent. "Battleship". I read the description of it and went "ho hum" (aliens vs a battleship, right). But I was bored one evening and watched it. Blew my socks off! I've watched it 4 more times in the past month and have thoroughly enjoyed it each time. Twice tonight!
The aliens made some sense. I loved the idea of a hand with only 4 opposable "thumbs" (all thumbs, LOL). They seemed pretty good with machinery. I also liked the chin bristles. No apparent purpose and no consequence to the movie but it probably has some meaning on their world. Maybe they were ancient quills that pevented them being eaten. A little evolution thought in there. I liked the idea that they came from a dark world (or were nocturnal). And I liked that those differences weren't explained. It wasn't related to the outcome of the movie, but it was a nice touch.
There are also some interesting differences with the aliens. They move in sudden jumps with their weapons ships on the sea (just imagine their railroad system). And they were bipeds but had some problems with light. I'm thinking intelligent cave frogs here.
I also liked the way the aliens disregarded perceived non-threats. Anything not aimed directly at them was simply ignored. I could surmise they were once (and recently) a prey species.
But they are all great nonstop action movies of a type *I* can watch repeatedly
Wednesday, January 15, 2014
The New TV
I'll admit it, I made a serious mistake buying a Sharp 80" LCD/LED TV. I don't want to insult anyone who likes LCD TVs or large ones. I'll just say the appearance and color didn't satisfy MY eyes in MY TV room. People have different things they value in TV viewing. But I'm not used to making decisions I regret.
So it was some humility I went back to the store and asked what it would cost to get a different TV. Their answer was that they would take back the TV at no cost other than a new deliver fee BUT it had to be an exchange.
That sure seemed fair! It was a slight dilemma that I wanted a Panasonic Viera 65" plasma (like the old one but slightly larger). Panasonic (I was told in two places) was getting out of the plasma business. Maintenence might get tricky. But they DID have the 2nd highest rated (and highest rated Plasma set) by Consumer Reports). Sort of. Not the exact model, but a newer one (5500 series old and 8500 series newer). And it was a 60" vs a 64" 8500. Well how different can the be?
I looked at it for a long time. Actually, I looked at some "4K" sets too. The picture was astonishing. But I don't like being the first user of a technology. That got me a Beta Max once and I learned a lesson there.
So today, they delivered a Samung" 60" plasma in exchange for the Sharp 80" LCD/LED set.
In came the new.
Out went the (sort of) old.
I was thrilled the instant the Samung plasma was turned on. I had to adjust the colors a bit, but it was PERFECT real fast. And it was the right size for the room too.
Here's the 80". That is REALLY too big! I couldn't even see the whole screen from my chair. Bigger is not always better.
And here is the 60".
Never mind the scarcity of stuff around the TV., I pulled stuff away for installation safety. I will move the stereo cabinet with the multimedia controls and the great DCM speakers to the left and right to connect it to the TV for better sound, but not tonight. One thing one day at a time. Do one useful thing every day and you're never unhappy.
Tonight, I'm just enjoying the outrageously "OMG" great picture...
Not accepting my initial poor decision was the best choice in the past year. Sometimes, you just have to admit mistakes and pay what it costs to correct them. In this case. it was an extra $200 delivery fee. And it could have been worse. I was prepared for "worse".
I think I will write a nice "thank you" email to HHGREGG.
So it was some humility I went back to the store and asked what it would cost to get a different TV. Their answer was that they would take back the TV at no cost other than a new deliver fee BUT it had to be an exchange.
That sure seemed fair! It was a slight dilemma that I wanted a Panasonic Viera 65" plasma (like the old one but slightly larger). Panasonic (I was told in two places) was getting out of the plasma business. Maintenence might get tricky. But they DID have the 2nd highest rated (and highest rated Plasma set) by Consumer Reports). Sort of. Not the exact model, but a newer one (5500 series old and 8500 series newer). And it was a 60" vs a 64" 8500. Well how different can the be?
I looked at it for a long time. Actually, I looked at some "4K" sets too. The picture was astonishing. But I don't like being the first user of a technology. That got me a Beta Max once and I learned a lesson there.
So today, they delivered a Samung" 60" plasma in exchange for the Sharp 80" LCD/LED set.
In came the new.
Here's the 80". That is REALLY too big! I couldn't even see the whole screen from my chair. Bigger is not always better.
Tonight, I'm just enjoying the outrageously "OMG" great picture...
Not accepting my initial poor decision was the best choice in the past year. Sometimes, you just have to admit mistakes and pay what it costs to correct them. In this case. it was an extra $200 delivery fee. And it could have been worse. I was prepared for "worse".
I think I will write a nice "thank you" email to HHGREGG.
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
Twitter Vs Blogging
TWITTER: "Got haircut. Then went fud shping. Traffic! Rainy today. Took mins to put all fud away. Fed cats. Ltr, store calld about new TV dlvry tomrw! Cnt waIT.
BLOG: Well I got up early today (early for ME anyway) and went off on errands. First on the list was a haircut. I wait too long sometimes. The side hair was over my ears and the "back of the neck" hair was as long as my sideburns. I was fortunate to catch the barber at the perfect time. The only customer was getting out of the chair as I walked in. No wait, and I HATE waiting.
I don't much like talking to barbers while they work because they usually have weird political or social ideas (like "The trucking industry is about to go on strike and we are only 3 days from starvation!"). But this one was a woman, so she asked about holidays, family, and pets. I can deal with that. She likes cats so I described mine and she described hers. We had a wonderful short professional relationship just as we were done discussing our cats.
The food shopping errand WAS fairly routine. I go to a major grocery chain for most most stuff and then stop at a specialty market (Nick's of Clinton" for meats, deli, and some produce I know they always sell cheaper. And I am loyal to them because they special order cases of an inexpensive wine for me that I really like ("Twisted Zin - made specifically from old Zinfandel grape vines - the large bottle [1.5 l] is only $10). Find one somewhere and try it.
They also had filet mignon at only $9/lb, and they trim it carefully and cut it to any thickness you like. I like 1.5". It freezes well and I have one about once a week, so a whole filet lasts 2 months. I also bought a pork butt. It's a good cut to smoke or to roast at 250F all day to use in pork stews.
They also sell bags of large deheaded and deveined frozen shrimp at $8/lb and I love shrimp! I make a GREAT cocktail sauce. I haven't learned to make a great tartar sauce yet, but I am slowly getting better at it. And they sell a very good basic cooked ham sliced at the deli counter for only $3/lb. It's better than anything I can find elsewhere for less than $6/lb.
At home, I unloaded the car. Meat and milk bags first to get them refrigerated as fast as possible. And into the refrigerator fast to keep the cats away from the meat. Well, Marley and Iza actually. Iza will explore interesting smells, but Marley is becoming more aggressive in searching for food.
In that regard, I give Marley all the food he will eat. But as good the food as I give (and we are talking the quality cubed and minced Wellness canned) he seems to want more. Not more in quantity; I think he misses live mice. So he wants to steal food as a hunting response. Winter is really keeping his outdoor time and mousie-catching time down.
And by the way, those "experts" who say that kittens who aren't taught to hunt early never lear are full of "hooey". Skeeter, Ayla, Iza and Marley were raised as indoor cats with no opportunity to hunt and each one of them gained the skills almost at once. I can't claim that for LC (as good a mosuser as she became) because maybe she learned from Skeeter. But the others really learned on their own and instinctively.
The food times today were unusually "according to expectations". Ayla refused to eat until I put her bowl up on the top shoe rack AND closed the door so she could eat in peace. Iza and Marley traded bowls in the kitchen several times ( gave then each a slightly different canned food and they couldn't decide whose was best.
I went to the HHGREGG store about the 80" Sharp LCD/LED HDTV and bought Friday to see what it would cost to return it. It looked great in the store (perhaps because they are careful to show pictures that make all the TVs look their best). But when I watched it for a day, I was very unhappy.
Still pictures had blurs, talking people's lips had wavy lines around them, the colors washed out at the least angle of viewing, and there was little sense of depth to the picture. I went to Best Buy first to see the Panasonic Plasmas sets they had (HHGREGG didn't carry Panasonic Plasma except one sowroom model that had been there over a year).
I was devastated to learn that Panasonic is leaving the Plasma TV business. They say they just can't make money from them. I also saw something called 4K imaging. It IS impressive. Instead of 1080 by 840 (just guessing) it has like 3600x1800 pixels (guessing), but the resoluton difference is great. The picture is super-real. But I'm not a first adaptor of new technologies. I'll bet that in 5 years there is something else better than this particular version of 4k. I remember Beta-Max that was better quality but failed to VCR.
Anyway HHGREGG wouldn't just take back the 80" Sharp LCD. I could only exchange it for another HDTV or store credit they said. Well, I can't imagine buying anything from them for $3300... I looked at the top rated Consumer Reports models and thought the best picture I saw was on a Samsung PN64F8500 (which they didn't have) but they had a PN60F8500 rating 2nd and I doubt a 60" is very different from a 64" in the same 8500 series.
So it will be delivered here tomorrow. I know I am going to like the plasma better than the LCD/LED!
***********************************
OK, now how did that BLOG post compare to the Twitter post at the start?
BLOG beats TWITTER every time.
BLOG: Well I got up early today (early for ME anyway) and went off on errands. First on the list was a haircut. I wait too long sometimes. The side hair was over my ears and the "back of the neck" hair was as long as my sideburns. I was fortunate to catch the barber at the perfect time. The only customer was getting out of the chair as I walked in. No wait, and I HATE waiting.
I don't much like talking to barbers while they work because they usually have weird political or social ideas (like "The trucking industry is about to go on strike and we are only 3 days from starvation!"). But this one was a woman, so she asked about holidays, family, and pets. I can deal with that. She likes cats so I described mine and she described hers. We had a wonderful short professional relationship just as we were done discussing our cats.
The food shopping errand WAS fairly routine. I go to a major grocery chain for most most stuff and then stop at a specialty market (Nick's of Clinton" for meats, deli, and some produce I know they always sell cheaper. And I am loyal to them because they special order cases of an inexpensive wine for me that I really like ("Twisted Zin - made specifically from old Zinfandel grape vines - the large bottle [1.5 l] is only $10). Find one somewhere and try it.
They also had filet mignon at only $9/lb, and they trim it carefully and cut it to any thickness you like. I like 1.5". It freezes well and I have one about once a week, so a whole filet lasts 2 months. I also bought a pork butt. It's a good cut to smoke or to roast at 250F all day to use in pork stews.
They also sell bags of large deheaded and deveined frozen shrimp at $8/lb and I love shrimp! I make a GREAT cocktail sauce. I haven't learned to make a great tartar sauce yet, but I am slowly getting better at it. And they sell a very good basic cooked ham sliced at the deli counter for only $3/lb. It's better than anything I can find elsewhere for less than $6/lb.
At home, I unloaded the car. Meat and milk bags first to get them refrigerated as fast as possible. And into the refrigerator fast to keep the cats away from the meat. Well, Marley and Iza actually. Iza will explore interesting smells, but Marley is becoming more aggressive in searching for food.
In that regard, I give Marley all the food he will eat. But as good the food as I give (and we are talking the quality cubed and minced Wellness canned) he seems to want more. Not more in quantity; I think he misses live mice. So he wants to steal food as a hunting response. Winter is really keeping his outdoor time and mousie-catching time down.
And by the way, those "experts" who say that kittens who aren't taught to hunt early never lear are full of "hooey". Skeeter, Ayla, Iza and Marley were raised as indoor cats with no opportunity to hunt and each one of them gained the skills almost at once. I can't claim that for LC (as good a mosuser as she became) because maybe she learned from Skeeter. But the others really learned on their own and instinctively.
The food times today were unusually "according to expectations". Ayla refused to eat until I put her bowl up on the top shoe rack AND closed the door so she could eat in peace. Iza and Marley traded bowls in the kitchen several times ( gave then each a slightly different canned food and they couldn't decide whose was best.
I went to the HHGREGG store about the 80" Sharp LCD/LED HDTV and bought Friday to see what it would cost to return it. It looked great in the store (perhaps because they are careful to show pictures that make all the TVs look their best). But when I watched it for a day, I was very unhappy.
Still pictures had blurs, talking people's lips had wavy lines around them, the colors washed out at the least angle of viewing, and there was little sense of depth to the picture. I went to Best Buy first to see the Panasonic Plasmas sets they had (HHGREGG didn't carry Panasonic Plasma except one sowroom model that had been there over a year).
I was devastated to learn that Panasonic is leaving the Plasma TV business. They say they just can't make money from them. I also saw something called 4K imaging. It IS impressive. Instead of 1080 by 840 (just guessing) it has like 3600x1800 pixels (guessing), but the resoluton difference is great. The picture is super-real. But I'm not a first adaptor of new technologies. I'll bet that in 5 years there is something else better than this particular version of 4k. I remember Beta-Max that was better quality but failed to VCR.
Anyway HHGREGG wouldn't just take back the 80" Sharp LCD. I could only exchange it for another HDTV or store credit they said. Well, I can't imagine buying anything from them for $3300... I looked at the top rated Consumer Reports models and thought the best picture I saw was on a Samsung PN64F8500 (which they didn't have) but they had a PN60F8500 rating 2nd and I doubt a 60" is very different from a 64" in the same 8500 series.
So it will be delivered here tomorrow. I know I am going to like the plasma better than the LCD/LED!
***********************************
OK, now how did that BLOG post compare to the Twitter post at the start?
BLOG beats TWITTER every time.
Saturday, January 11, 2014
New HDTV
Well, the new 80" Sharp HDTV was delivered and set up today. After watching both cable TV and a DVD for several hours, I realize that I've made a MISTAKE.
First, while I know that 80" is 30" bigger (diagonally) than the previous 50" set, I did not realize HOW much bigger that would be in the room. The TVs were all gradually bigger in the showroom, so there wasn't THAT much difference from one to the next. Surrounded by other slightly smaller TVs, it just didn't look so huge. Sitting on a TV table in the room (and being only about 8' from the back of my easy chair), I actually can't see the entire screen at once, which is really rather disturbing.
Second, I shouldn't have chosen an LCD TV. My Panasonic Viera Plasma set had black screen technology (as did my older CRT Zenith before that). Even after fiddling with the color adjustments for a half hour, I just couldn't get the colors looking rich enough without them looking oversaturated. I don't know enough about it to explain why, but putting colors over a black background instead of a white background seems to make a difference. I'll hazard a guess and say that somehow you detect the background color between the color pixels on plasma. But everything just looks a bit "thin" on LCD.
Third, there is noticable "motion blur" on the new set. As I walked the 100' from the Plasma sets and back to the LCD sets several times, I couldn't tell the difference. But I sure could tell at home. I knew from reading Consumer Reports magazine that "motion blur" was an issue with LCD sets, I just couldn't see it well enough in the store. Maybe they are clever about choosing what cable broadcast to show on all the sets. Whatever, its a problem.
Fourth, the viewing angle DOES make a difference with LCD TVs. I walk around the house a lot and at 45 degrees, the LCD really DOES look washed out.
Fifth, the sound quality is thin. I could get an enhancement system, or attach my stereo system (I assume), but the old set had better sound with fewer speakers built-in. And that's a brand problem, not a Plasma/LCD issue.
I also made another mistake. I started my TV selection with highly-rated choices from Consumer Reports magazine. Then when I looked at the store's website, I sidetracked myself by paying attention to the store's own '"customer ratings" because the sets I wanted weren't available. I should know better than to do that! But I now see that the list of 4 TVs (2 Plasma and 2 LCD) I walked into the store with had none of the highest rated ones from Consumer Reports. I had become seduced by size... Serious Mistake. Well, I did have a reason. One of the most common complaints people made were "wishing they had gotten a larger TV". That really got on my mind in the store. That might make sense if you are watching the TV from 15' away, but (as I now realize) not in my 10'x10' TV room.
So I made a poor choice. And I'm going to have to pay to exchange the TV. Probably another $200 return/delivery fee. The delivery guys left the box and packing material saying I need to keep it for 12 days in case of a return in order to avoid restocking fees (which I have read can be up to 20%). But which makes more sense? Pay a couple hundred dollars to correct a mistake, or be happier with a different TV for years to come?
I'll get a smaller one (50-60") for the right size for my room, Plasma (for trust in picture quality), and Panasonic (because of familiarity and the lowest repair rate among plasma TVs). I liked their 50" model, I think a slightly larger one would fit nicely and please me for years to come.
It will be a bit embarrassing to go into the HHGREGG store to arrange for a return. Especially since they don't carry the models I want to select from (they don't carry Panasonic). But I have to do it. Monday morning, I think. Sundays get busy around stores here.
But the Panasonic Viera TC-P60ST60 looks likes the right one for me.
First, while I know that 80" is 30" bigger (diagonally) than the previous 50" set, I did not realize HOW much bigger that would be in the room. The TVs were all gradually bigger in the showroom, so there wasn't THAT much difference from one to the next. Surrounded by other slightly smaller TVs, it just didn't look so huge. Sitting on a TV table in the room (and being only about 8' from the back of my easy chair), I actually can't see the entire screen at once, which is really rather disturbing.
Second, I shouldn't have chosen an LCD TV. My Panasonic Viera Plasma set had black screen technology (as did my older CRT Zenith before that). Even after fiddling with the color adjustments for a half hour, I just couldn't get the colors looking rich enough without them looking oversaturated. I don't know enough about it to explain why, but putting colors over a black background instead of a white background seems to make a difference. I'll hazard a guess and say that somehow you detect the background color between the color pixels on plasma. But everything just looks a bit "thin" on LCD.
Third, there is noticable "motion blur" on the new set. As I walked the 100' from the Plasma sets and back to the LCD sets several times, I couldn't tell the difference. But I sure could tell at home. I knew from reading Consumer Reports magazine that "motion blur" was an issue with LCD sets, I just couldn't see it well enough in the store. Maybe they are clever about choosing what cable broadcast to show on all the sets. Whatever, its a problem.
Fourth, the viewing angle DOES make a difference with LCD TVs. I walk around the house a lot and at 45 degrees, the LCD really DOES look washed out.
Fifth, the sound quality is thin. I could get an enhancement system, or attach my stereo system (I assume), but the old set had better sound with fewer speakers built-in. And that's a brand problem, not a Plasma/LCD issue.
I also made another mistake. I started my TV selection with highly-rated choices from Consumer Reports magazine. Then when I looked at the store's website, I sidetracked myself by paying attention to the store's own '"customer ratings" because the sets I wanted weren't available. I should know better than to do that! But I now see that the list of 4 TVs (2 Plasma and 2 LCD) I walked into the store with had none of the highest rated ones from Consumer Reports. I had become seduced by size... Serious Mistake. Well, I did have a reason. One of the most common complaints people made were "wishing they had gotten a larger TV". That really got on my mind in the store. That might make sense if you are watching the TV from 15' away, but (as I now realize) not in my 10'x10' TV room.
So I made a poor choice. And I'm going to have to pay to exchange the TV. Probably another $200 return/delivery fee. The delivery guys left the box and packing material saying I need to keep it for 12 days in case of a return in order to avoid restocking fees (which I have read can be up to 20%). But which makes more sense? Pay a couple hundred dollars to correct a mistake, or be happier with a different TV for years to come?
I'll get a smaller one (50-60") for the right size for my room, Plasma (for trust in picture quality), and Panasonic (because of familiarity and the lowest repair rate among plasma TVs). I liked their 50" model, I think a slightly larger one would fit nicely and please me for years to come.
It will be a bit embarrassing to go into the HHGREGG store to arrange for a return. Especially since they don't carry the models I want to select from (they don't carry Panasonic). But I have to do it. Monday morning, I think. Sundays get busy around stores here.
But the Panasonic Viera TC-P60ST60 looks likes the right one for me.
Thursday, January 9, 2014
Minor But Annoying Problems
I am fortunate to not have any major health or financial problems. But minor ones add up and can be really annoying.
The tire pressure light is on in the car even though I made sure they were properly inflated and checked to make sure they are staying inflated. That means a couple hours sitting around the dealership.
A tooth has gone bad and I had going to the dentist. Its not the dental work that bothers me. It's the bite block. I have a small jaw AND I can't hold it open voluntarily. As soon as that bite block goes in, I start swallowing. Just try to swallow with your jaw wedged open!
It's January, so all the cats have to go to the vet. There goes $800... And I'll have to isolate each one to get identifiable stool samples. It's amazing how long they can go without pooping when they are enclosed alone in a room!
I had an older Mac Desktop cleaned because of fan noise a few months ago. Last week, I learned that my router is wireless-capable, so I decided to set up the desktop and move my Mac Mini to the TV room so I could visit cat blogs while watching TV. After 5 minutes the "repaired" desktop was buzzing loudly again!
But the intolerable annoyance is that my HDTV died! It had been turning itself off randomly for several days. Sometimes it came back on by itself, sometimes I had to turn it on manually. But tonight it just stopped completely.
Anyway, the Panasonic support (phone and website) is a joke! I called the number on the manual and was informed the service department was closed. Hours are 9 am to 9 pm Eastern Time. The time was 8:50 ET. WHAT? They were supposed to be open. So I went to their website find a local authorized service center. They wanted the model number and my zipcode to find service centers within 100 miles. My model number was not on the list. I manually entered the model number (checked it on both the TV and the manual). I got a message saying "no such model number". Hey, its only 6 years old! But then the message was to choose the closest model number on the list. OK. But when I entered my zipcode, it deleted the selected "close" model number! AARGGHH...
After several tries, I found a model number on the list that stayed listed when I entered my zipcode, and got a list of "servicers". One is right here in town. Good thing, too, because the next nearest is 30 miles away! Naturally, the local "servicer" has no answering service, so I will call tomorrow.
The TV is 6 years old (I was shocked when I found the receipt and discovered that - my guess was 2-3 years). If these HDTVs are anything like computers (and I suspect they are), I might just be better off buying a new one.
I LIVE with the TV. I'm home all day and it's too damn quiet. So when I get up, I turn on the TV before I even make my morning mug of green tea. I always look for science or nature shows first, then switch to MSNBC for political talk (sometimes I put on science/nature DVDs and I have a 5' shelf of them). But I have to hear some voices! Fortunately, tomorrow is Friday and I can listen to rational talk from 10 am to 2 pm, and then science discussion from 2 pm to 4 pm on PBS radio. That's almost as good since I mostly listen to the TV most of the time. In fact, if I could simply listen to cable TV channels through radios throughout the house, that would be fine with me. There used to be radios that received the sound from TV stations. Are there any that do that with cable TV?
I'm looking at Consumer Reports reviews of HDTVs, talking myself into buying a new bigger HDTV, aren't I?
Then I'll tackle the other issues. Like, if I am going to have a tooth pulled (which is likely), I will damn well have a working TV to watch through the several days of pain. And if I have to ignore the cats scratching and meowing at the room doors while waiting for them to poop, I will have a TV to watch cuz its too darn cold to sit outside to ignore their pleas to be let out.
UPDATE! Bought a new HDTV. 80" Sharp LCD/LED. Sharp and LCD isn't my favorite brand or type, but I really couldn't see the difference from the better plasmas and the plasmas don't come that large. If I'm buying a new one, it ought to at least knock my socks off. The only step up from 80" has to be a whole wall (probably 5 years from now).
I may go back for the sound enhancement. They showed me the sound on a regular HDTV playing a tiger roaring (from The Life of Pi). It was good. Then they showed me the same scene with the sound enhancement speakers. I JUMPED BACK and I bet every cat tail within a mile was POOFED!!! It was astonishing. But I want to see if hooking my stereo to the new TV is nearly as good. I bet it is close.
BTW, there is something called "4K" now that is way better than HDTV, I wanted to reach in and touch the person in the screen. It was "that real". But maybe next time. For what I watch, I don't need that. And it was "super-tech", which I also am not. But when this HDTV wears out, there may be even better stuff. I can wait.
Should have delivery Saturday afternoon. I can't wait.
The tire pressure light is on in the car even though I made sure they were properly inflated and checked to make sure they are staying inflated. That means a couple hours sitting around the dealership.
A tooth has gone bad and I had going to the dentist. Its not the dental work that bothers me. It's the bite block. I have a small jaw AND I can't hold it open voluntarily. As soon as that bite block goes in, I start swallowing. Just try to swallow with your jaw wedged open!
It's January, so all the cats have to go to the vet. There goes $800... And I'll have to isolate each one to get identifiable stool samples. It's amazing how long they can go without pooping when they are enclosed alone in a room!
I had an older Mac Desktop cleaned because of fan noise a few months ago. Last week, I learned that my router is wireless-capable, so I decided to set up the desktop and move my Mac Mini to the TV room so I could visit cat blogs while watching TV. After 5 minutes the "repaired" desktop was buzzing loudly again!
But the intolerable annoyance is that my HDTV died! It had been turning itself off randomly for several days. Sometimes it came back on by itself, sometimes I had to turn it on manually. But tonight it just stopped completely.
Anyway, the Panasonic support (phone and website) is a joke! I called the number on the manual and was informed the service department was closed. Hours are 9 am to 9 pm Eastern Time. The time was 8:50 ET. WHAT? They were supposed to be open. So I went to their website find a local authorized service center. They wanted the model number and my zipcode to find service centers within 100 miles. My model number was not on the list. I manually entered the model number (checked it on both the TV and the manual). I got a message saying "no such model number". Hey, its only 6 years old! But then the message was to choose the closest model number on the list. OK. But when I entered my zipcode, it deleted the selected "close" model number! AARGGHH...
After several tries, I found a model number on the list that stayed listed when I entered my zipcode, and got a list of "servicers". One is right here in town. Good thing, too, because the next nearest is 30 miles away! Naturally, the local "servicer" has no answering service, so I will call tomorrow.
The TV is 6 years old (I was shocked when I found the receipt and discovered that - my guess was 2-3 years). If these HDTVs are anything like computers (and I suspect they are), I might just be better off buying a new one.
I LIVE with the TV. I'm home all day and it's too damn quiet. So when I get up, I turn on the TV before I even make my morning mug of green tea. I always look for science or nature shows first, then switch to MSNBC for political talk (sometimes I put on science/nature DVDs and I have a 5' shelf of them). But I have to hear some voices! Fortunately, tomorrow is Friday and I can listen to rational talk from 10 am to 2 pm, and then science discussion from 2 pm to 4 pm on PBS radio. That's almost as good since I mostly listen to the TV most of the time. In fact, if I could simply listen to cable TV channels through radios throughout the house, that would be fine with me. There used to be radios that received the sound from TV stations. Are there any that do that with cable TV?
I'm looking at Consumer Reports reviews of HDTVs, talking myself into buying a new bigger HDTV, aren't I?
Then I'll tackle the other issues. Like, if I am going to have a tooth pulled (which is likely), I will damn well have a working TV to watch through the several days of pain. And if I have to ignore the cats scratching and meowing at the room doors while waiting for them to poop, I will have a TV to watch cuz its too darn cold to sit outside to ignore their pleas to be let out.
UPDATE! Bought a new HDTV. 80" Sharp LCD/LED. Sharp and LCD isn't my favorite brand or type, but I really couldn't see the difference from the better plasmas and the plasmas don't come that large. If I'm buying a new one, it ought to at least knock my socks off. The only step up from 80" has to be a whole wall (probably 5 years from now).
I may go back for the sound enhancement. They showed me the sound on a regular HDTV playing a tiger roaring (from The Life of Pi). It was good. Then they showed me the same scene with the sound enhancement speakers. I JUMPED BACK and I bet every cat tail within a mile was POOFED!!! It was astonishing. But I want to see if hooking my stereo to the new TV is nearly as good. I bet it is close.
BTW, there is something called "4K" now that is way better than HDTV, I wanted to reach in and touch the person in the screen. It was "that real". But maybe next time. For what I watch, I don't need that. And it was "super-tech", which I also am not. But when this HDTV wears out, there may be even better stuff. I can wait.
Should have delivery Saturday afternoon. I can't wait.
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
Snow Memories
I was posting about the Mews reacting to a 4" snowfal, and it brought back memories of snows of year past. Maryland had unusually cold and snowy weather in the late 60s.
I was a Boy Scout in the 60's. And every winter there was a camping expedition of multiple Boy Scout Troops, called "Operation Icicle" because it was held on the last weekend on January each year. In 1965, it was the hardest ever. There was 2 feet of snow on the ground and the actual temperature (F degree) got into negative territory. Looking back, I can see it was a struggle for the Dads to make sure none of us froze to death. At the time, it was the hardest few days of my young life. But we sure learned a LOT about the importance of keeping dry.
It wasn't like you could get your boots filled with snow, run into the house and Mom would take them off and give you hot cocoa... You got cold THERE and you had to work through it. Get into the tent and get into dry clothes. Take the cold clothes to the fire that you had to attend constantly (at least we didn't have to chop down trees to do it (though we DID have to cut the trees into fire-sized logs).
And we had to cook all our meals outside; on fires hot enough to keep a dozen people warm. That's no way to cook. But it was almost all seared meat. I bet we kids were burning up 4,000 calories a day. It was amazing.
We also had a horrible snowstorm in late January 1966. Mom was pregnant and ready to give birth. The snowstorm last 5 days! The snow was 2 feet deep, but the winds had whipped banks of snow covering the first floor windows. You couldn't see out. But the baby decided it was time to see the outside world. There was no way out through the street in front, but the "main road" behind us was plowed slightly. 200' away from the garage. Dad tossed me the warmest coat and handed me one of the 2 snow shovels. "We're digging to the main road: he said, "and we aren't stopping until we're there".
I understood why. It took 3 hours of rather desperate digging, but we had enough of a path for Dad to drive Mom off to the nearest hospital. I collapsed inside; Dad was still working on adrenalin. I took care of the younger kids. There were 7 babies born in Harford county that day. The other 6 mothers were flown to hospitals by helicopter.
And then, in March 1966, we got another major snowstorm of near 2'. This one was loose wind-driven snow and it filled in every spot as levelly as could be. Dad and I shoveled our driveway. I was exhausted. Then he handed back a snowshovel and said "the Johnstons (elderly couple 3 houses away) needed their driveway cleared and don't ask to be paid, it's a Boy Scout Good Deed thing".
So I went and looked. They had a sunken driveway with cinder block walls from the street to the garage. 5 feet deep at the street, 2 feet deep at the top. It took all day. And I could barely move near the top end. Throwing the snow to the top of the driveway wall wasn't enough, because it simply got too high to toss the driveway snow on. I had to shovel it off the top of the wall too just to make room for more driveway snow.
I think I came close to a heart attack at 16 . My heart was pounding like I couldn't believe. But I couldn't go home and say "I gave up". So I finished it. Mrs. Johnston gave me a cup of cocoa. I wish it had been something stronger, but I was only 16 AND a Boy Scout.
But their driveway was clear of snow. And I gad done my Good Deed for the day. I slept deeply that night. And hoping no more Good Deeds came my way for several days.
I survived all those snowy events (obviously)... But I don't mind saying that, to this day, I cringe when there is a lot of snow in the forecast. I learned to hate the stuff. But old habits die hard. When I moved to my house 27 years ago, and elderly lady moved next door. The first heavy snowfall, I shoveled my driveway and then I looked at hers and I just had to go shovel hers too. Once a Boy Scout, always a Boy Scout; I got a quart of homemade chicken soup in return. It was the worst chicken soup I ever ate in my life.
But I sure thanked her for it...
I was a Boy Scout in the 60's. And every winter there was a camping expedition of multiple Boy Scout Troops, called "Operation Icicle" because it was held on the last weekend on January each year. In 1965, it was the hardest ever. There was 2 feet of snow on the ground and the actual temperature (F degree) got into negative territory. Looking back, I can see it was a struggle for the Dads to make sure none of us froze to death. At the time, it was the hardest few days of my young life. But we sure learned a LOT about the importance of keeping dry.
It wasn't like you could get your boots filled with snow, run into the house and Mom would take them off and give you hot cocoa... You got cold THERE and you had to work through it. Get into the tent and get into dry clothes. Take the cold clothes to the fire that you had to attend constantly (at least we didn't have to chop down trees to do it (though we DID have to cut the trees into fire-sized logs).
And we had to cook all our meals outside; on fires hot enough to keep a dozen people warm. That's no way to cook. But it was almost all seared meat. I bet we kids were burning up 4,000 calories a day. It was amazing.
We also had a horrible snowstorm in late January 1966. Mom was pregnant and ready to give birth. The snowstorm last 5 days! The snow was 2 feet deep, but the winds had whipped banks of snow covering the first floor windows. You couldn't see out. But the baby decided it was time to see the outside world. There was no way out through the street in front, but the "main road" behind us was plowed slightly. 200' away from the garage. Dad tossed me the warmest coat and handed me one of the 2 snow shovels. "We're digging to the main road: he said, "and we aren't stopping until we're there".
I understood why. It took 3 hours of rather desperate digging, but we had enough of a path for Dad to drive Mom off to the nearest hospital. I collapsed inside; Dad was still working on adrenalin. I took care of the younger kids. There were 7 babies born in Harford county that day. The other 6 mothers were flown to hospitals by helicopter.
And then, in March 1966, we got another major snowstorm of near 2'. This one was loose wind-driven snow and it filled in every spot as levelly as could be. Dad and I shoveled our driveway. I was exhausted. Then he handed back a snowshovel and said "the Johnstons (elderly couple 3 houses away) needed their driveway cleared and don't ask to be paid, it's a Boy Scout Good Deed thing".
So I went and looked. They had a sunken driveway with cinder block walls from the street to the garage. 5 feet deep at the street, 2 feet deep at the top. It took all day. And I could barely move near the top end. Throwing the snow to the top of the driveway wall wasn't enough, because it simply got too high to toss the driveway snow on. I had to shovel it off the top of the wall too just to make room for more driveway snow.
I think I came close to a heart attack at 16 . My heart was pounding like I couldn't believe. But I couldn't go home and say "I gave up". So I finished it. Mrs. Johnston gave me a cup of cocoa. I wish it had been something stronger, but I was only 16 AND a Boy Scout.
But their driveway was clear of snow. And I gad done my Good Deed for the day. I slept deeply that night. And hoping no more Good Deeds came my way for several days.
I survived all those snowy events (obviously)... But I don't mind saying that, to this day, I cringe when there is a lot of snow in the forecast. I learned to hate the stuff. But old habits die hard. When I moved to my house 27 years ago, and elderly lady moved next door. The first heavy snowfall, I shoveled my driveway and then I looked at hers and I just had to go shovel hers too. Once a Boy Scout, always a Boy Scout; I got a quart of homemade chicken soup in return. It was the worst chicken soup I ever ate in my life.
But I sure thanked her for it...
Thursday, January 2, 2014
Trying To Quit Smoking
Well, as the joke goes, "quitting smoking is easy, I've done it 100
times"! It isn't of course. I have quit for months on occasion only to
fall back into it. The saddest time was in the 1980s while on a
camping trip to Canada with my former friend.
On our last day of camping, he was down to his last 2 cigarettes and
said he was quitting and did I want to share 1 of the last 2. I know
now it was astonishingly stupid, but I felt immune immune. It tasted
GREAT!
You know, I've actually wondered since then if my "friend" did that deliberately. At the time, such a thought would never have occurred to me. But these days, I consider the possibility. He DID frequently mention how envious he was that I had quit when he couldn't...
When we got back to the Park convenience shop, he immediately bought a carton of cigarettes. I stole several and smoked them stealthily. We drove back to NY City where he lived at the time (and yes, I had done all the driving in my car). But I had to drive back to MD from NY and I suddenly couldn't face the long boring New Jersey Turnpike without smoking. And there I was smoking again.
I've stopped a few times since then for a few weeks at a time. But then I face a long drive, a stressful event, or a long night at the computer and I give in again. I wish the damn things were illegal. It's just too hard to stop smoking when they are available 24/7 on every street corner.
I'm convinced I'm habituated to the "process" of smoking and not the nicotine. I think that because sometimes I don't light a cigarette for several days at a time and it doesn't bother me. And because I've been "vaping" an e-cigarette for 2 days which provides nicotine but is not in any way psychologically satisfactory.
The e-cigarette is completely unsatisfactory. It's a ceramic rod that is way too heavy, unwieldy, and (in spite of best efforts of designers) just doesn't work like a real cigarette. I admire that it provides nicotine (in gradually reducible amounts), the appearence of smoke (its water vapor), and none of the carcinigens of actual cigarette smoke.
But they just don't quite work yet. They need to be as light as a regular cigarette, have a paperlike feel to the "filter" end, and provide a better fake smoke.
And don't wish me good luck for stopping. Between the 5th and 6th paragraphs, I drove to the nearest convenience store and bought a new carton of real cigarettes... ARGH!!! I just CAN'T be on the computer and not smoke... I need a better fake cigarette.
You know, I've actually wondered since then if my "friend" did that deliberately. At the time, such a thought would never have occurred to me. But these days, I consider the possibility. He DID frequently mention how envious he was that I had quit when he couldn't...
When we got back to the Park convenience shop, he immediately bought a carton of cigarettes. I stole several and smoked them stealthily. We drove back to NY City where he lived at the time (and yes, I had done all the driving in my car). But I had to drive back to MD from NY and I suddenly couldn't face the long boring New Jersey Turnpike without smoking. And there I was smoking again.
I've stopped a few times since then for a few weeks at a time. But then I face a long drive, a stressful event, or a long night at the computer and I give in again. I wish the damn things were illegal. It's just too hard to stop smoking when they are available 24/7 on every street corner.
I'm convinced I'm habituated to the "process" of smoking and not the nicotine. I think that because sometimes I don't light a cigarette for several days at a time and it doesn't bother me. And because I've been "vaping" an e-cigarette for 2 days which provides nicotine but is not in any way psychologically satisfactory.
The e-cigarette is completely unsatisfactory. It's a ceramic rod that is way too heavy, unwieldy, and (in spite of best efforts of designers) just doesn't work like a real cigarette. I admire that it provides nicotine (in gradually reducible amounts), the appearence of smoke (its water vapor), and none of the carcinigens of actual cigarette smoke.
But they just don't quite work yet. They need to be as light as a regular cigarette, have a paperlike feel to the "filter" end, and provide a better fake smoke.
And don't wish me good luck for stopping. Between the 5th and 6th paragraphs, I drove to the nearest convenience store and bought a new carton of real cigarettes... ARGH!!! I just CAN'T be on the computer and not smoke... I need a better fake cigarette.
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Happy New Year
Well, I've always thought the new year should begin on the Winter Solstice because the days start lengthening again. Or perhaps the Vernal Equinox because the weather starts getting better. But sometimes I bow to convention.
Happy New Year!
May 2014 be a better year, because quite frankly, sometimes 2013 sucked...
Happy New Year!
May 2014 be a better year, because quite frankly, sometimes 2013 sucked...
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