Monday, April 1, 2024

Back to regular (or semi-regular) blogging, I ended the month planting. Recently I stopped in town and picked up some American sweetgum seeds I had noticed on the ground earlier when walking along Summit Street. I got 30, which should be plenty for a botanical experiment. Today I filled twenty small pots with potting soil,  planted one seed in each, and watered all of them. They are on the south side of the shop building, where they will be in direct morning sun, followed by shade in the afternoon. If the experiment results in actual seedlings, I will plant a few in the yard near the house, and the rest down in the woodlot.


 Tuesday, April 9, 2024
This morning I hit 151. Six months of lying in hospital beds and just sitting did not make me grossly overweight, but recently I weighed for the first time in weeks and was at 155 pounds. That's at least ten pounds more than I want. I like to keep my BMI at the skinny edge of 19, about 140 pounds. So recently I've been having dinners of large salads. Even with a bit of ranch dressing, that is doing the trick. I will get back to cooked food occasionally, a couple of evenings a week, and maybe cut down on salad nights after I get back to normal. Meanwhile, I have more than enough to do. Jack the dog pursues his hobby of attacking large objects. That includes tipping over trash barrels and scattering the contents, dragging my tray of potted sweet gum seeds out in the driveway, and other delightful fun. The desktop computer I'm using has a cracked  screen in the upper left corner. I don't know for sure if it was damaged in shipping, or by Jack. It was delivered on my front porch, but I found the package out in then yard with the bottom ripped open. Whether it was damaged by rough handling during shipping or by dog play, I aim to put a stop to the vandalism. I have ordered an electric fence charger, and the first thing I intend to electrify is Jack's favorite trash barrel. If that cures him of attacking the barrel, I have in mind a couple of other places to electrify.    


Tuesday, April 16, 2024

Thanks to changes in the hosting company website and my faulty memory, I'm still struggling with links. Not being fluent in HTML, I'm having very little luck in making them work. For now I can make new pages for the website, and edit others, but I can't post them with working links. That's not all that isn't working. Yesterday I had planned to do some overdue mowing, but the mower was hard to start, and would run less than a minute before dying. It occurred to me that the problem might be fuel. I have always been a skeptic when people complain that gasoline containing ethanol will go bad from sitting too long. My splitter has the same problem, running for a few seconds then dying. Neither the splitter or the mower was used while I was away for more than six months, which led me to wonder if the ethanol doubters were right. So I drove down to the gasino with an empty can and brought home five gallons of fresh gas. This morning I drained the mower's tank and put in a couple of gallons of the new stuff. No change. The mower was still hard to start, and still died in  less than a minute.


Friday, April 19, 2024

My internet is a hot mess. It was working normally during the day Wednesday, then went off the rails that night. It's been the same ever since then. Connecting to a website usually fails, no matter how many times I try. "Hmmm, we're having trouble connecting with that website..." or "Server at www.facebook.com not found..." are common excuses, and if I do eventually get a connection the site soon quits working. This morning I phoned Cox about the problem and they reset my modem. No change. I decided to quit wasting my time, went down to the shop, and got back to work fixing the damaged power cord on my saw. That job reminded me of how clumsy I've become, but I got through it. While I was at it I found another job to do. When I grabbed a heat gun to use on the shrink tubing, I found that it has a permanently damaged cord too. I'll fix that later. I used a different heat gun to finish fixing the saw cord. I had to go to town for a gallon can of nachos, which I use in salads, scrambled eggs, and other tasty dishes, then I came home and put that saw to work. I filled a box with firewood, most of it short enough to fit in the kitchen stove, with a few bigger pieces for the fireplace. The good news of the day: this evening my internet service is back to normal.


Saturday. April 20, 2024

"Hmm. We're, having trouble finding that site." Yes, Facebook is hiding from you. So is every other site I tried to open this morning. Another day begins with no internet service. Abandoning that waste of time, I gathered up two boxes of plastic containers and a box of cans and took them to the recycling center. Then I went to Winfield to check out the Defore auction. Nothing there compelled me to stay and wait for it to come up for bidding. I stopped at the hardware store and bought a new plug to replace the defunct one on a scroll saw, and made the replacement when I got home. Farming isn't the only activity where you have to stop and fix the equipment. In the afternoon I gathered up squashed pop cans from the front porch because Jack the guest dog had destroyed the large box that contained them. Treat night was dinner at Pizza Ranch, and the movie was Civil War. The battles were well staged, the actors were competent, and the story didn't measure up to all the hype. Its not one of those movies I have to go back and see a second time.


Sunday, April 21, 2024

It seems trying to use the internet is a lost cause on my desktop computer. None of the websites I tried to open would show. The only way to get any of them now is to use the laptop. That means I'll have to transfer all my website files from the big computer to the smaller one, because I can't upload any pages to my website from the big one anymore. Email quit working on the desktop weeks ago, and now this. Would anyone want to buy a computer with no email and no internet service? I suppose I can take it to the computer repair shop in Winfield, but I don't know that it can be fixed. In the real world, Donna brought her mower today and did most of the yard. If the tractor with a loader still works, I'll use it to clear the trailer so I can take my Dixon to the repair guy in town. Meanwhile, I have to install a new spindle in my mowing tractor so I can use that again for most of the mowing. The Dixon cuts a swath less than half as wide.


Monday, April 22, 2024

Change #723: This morning the internet worked perfectly on my big computer. All sites worked as they should, with no trouble at all. Is it cured? As John Wayne said in The Searchers, "That'll be the day." Sure enough, by noon the internet was hopeless, Then, by 7:00 PM, it was fully operational. I took that opportunity to update the blog through today. I spent some time on various small chores: boxing up the remaining squashed aluminum cans from the front porch; cutting the remains of the former can box into pieces of a handy size to fit the fireplace; gathering some dead branches 2" thick or less and cutting them into firewood short enough to fit in the stove.


Tuesday, April 23, 2024

This morning when I stepped on the scales I was at 153 pounds. That's up a couple in two weeks. Obviously the big salads didn't have the desired effect. I suppose that's due to all the ranch dressing. It's time to get serious about weight control. But first, I have things to do. One of those things I did today was fixing power cords. After soldering, I apply electrical tape. Then I hit the shrink tubing with a heat gun to keep the repair together. The tubing I used was 3/8" from the hardware store, three little pieces for way too much. (Ace prices!) So I went online and bought a 50' roll. Even with shipping that doubles the price, that's cheaper than the hardware store stuff. Outdoor highs this time of year are comfortable, but evenings are cool enough for a fire. So I'm still hunting up dead branches and cutting them to fit the stove and the fireplace. I did that again today, but with May only a week away the burning season will soon be over until fall.


Wednesday April 24, 2024

That's better. 150. I don't expect to take off three pounds every day, but it's a good start. Today, far too late, was Garbage Day. I have a five gallon pail on my back porch for onion skins, banana peels, and other food scraps. I should never let it get more than half full. When I struggled to wrestle it out to the yard today, it was well over 3/4. Now that I'm a weak old man, that really is a struggle. Sometimes it's also a struggle to be polite. This morning one of my cousins commented on Facebook about her dislike of Biden. Well, he has disappointed me too. But when his opponent is utterly unfit for any public office, from president to dog catcher,  I couldn't resist the urge to enumerate DJT's many disqualifying flaws. He represents the apotheosis of mendacity. But be that as it may, and I'm sure it will, I continue to piddle along to get my mowing tractor back in service. Today I set the four spindle mounting bolts to soak in Evaporust, and went to town for a rattle can of tractor paint. I intend to paint the bolts and the new spindle tomorrow, and perhaps get the tractor ready to mow this weekend. They sure don't give that paint away That single can cost me $17.35, more than double the price of regular Rustoleum.


Thursday, April 25, 2024

Best laid plans. Today I was going to paint mower parts, but my paint booth in the shop has been so blown apart by the wind that it will need some new plastic sheeting before I use it again. I still have some plastic left from when I first set the thing up, so I'm hoping that will be enough. I did spend some time on the ongoing chore of paying bills. At 3:00 PM I headed north for a meeting of the Flatlanders Model T club. I stopped in Wichita to gas up the Camry, and still arrived in Hesston about a half hour early. So I took a nap. It's a longstanding practice for many of the members to have dinner at El Cerrito before the club meeting. I thought I knew right where to go, but during the months I was out of circulation El Cerrito moved to a new location. That was pretty easy to find, so I was in time to eat. At the meeting the entertainment was pictures projected on a screen. Some of them were of the tour Ed Emerson and I planned almost six years ago. A couple of the guys remarked that they would like to do that trip again. I don't know if I'm still up for it, but we'll see. Ed is gone, but I think I remember most of it. Coming home, between Hesston and Wichita the speed limit is 75 mph, but I kept my speed down to a more comfortable 70mph. 75 is just too fast for me, especially at night.


Saturday,  April 27, 2024

I spent way too much screen time today, trying to get my old screen saver shots to show up on my current desktop. Disgusted, I griped about it on Facebook. Sometimes that's a way to get a solution to a problem. We'll see. This afternoon about 3:30 my phone sounded off with a severe weather warning. There was some very good lightning and thunder, then rain. Another warning came about 4:00 PM, but here there was only rain, pretty heavy at times but not dangerous. This week's Saturday treat night dinner was carnitas at La Fiesta. The movie after dinner was Challengers. The story is about three tennis players, and the tennis scenes are well one, but the movie is more about the players than the game. All three lead actors are new to me, and they are very good. This one gets a thumbs up from me.


Sunday, April 28, 2024

My online gripe about not being able to use my screen savers brought a suggestion on where to look, and it was from somebody much more computer literate than I am. Armed with new knowledge, I had the screen savers working in about two minutes. I put it off as long as I could, but I did some laundry today to replenish my supply of clean sox. They were still a little damp this evening when I took them off the line, but they will finish drying inside before I need to use them. I had to go to town this afternoon for dog food and groceries, and when I got home Zack was here delivering some of the firewood he cut today. This young cousin, half my age, has progressed from a party animal in his twenties to a responsible dad at 41. One of the blessings in my life is having so many relatives who are people I admire.


Monday, April 29, 2024

A favorite phase of mine was in full effect this afternoon. I've become fond of saying, "Don't get old. You won't like it." It's a bit alarming how much I have deteriorated since last summer. The cat feeder was empty, so I went to town and brought home a new 44 pound bag of food. The feeder is in the garage, up on the rafters where dogs can't go. It was my practice to use a gallon scoop and carry food in the scoop up a step ladder and dump it in the feeder. Last year I had no trouble with this. I would put five or ten scoops of food into the feeder, and in a few days all the food would be up there. Today I had such a time struggling up the ladder and keeping my balance that I quit after the first scoop. I don't know if this job will ever be as easy as it used to be, but I hope some practice will make it less of an ordeal than it was today.


Tuesday, April 30, 2024

The month ended with a bit of success in returning to normal life. For several years it has been my practice to stream the radio station of my choice from its website and feed the signal to a small FM transmitter. That allows me to listen to the station not only in my office, but also downstairs in the shop. This works with not only a local station like KMUW in Wichita, but also lets me listen to a station anywhere in the world, as long as it has a website. One of my favorites is Radio Ranchito in Morelia, Michoacan, because it helps me maintain my Spanish and even improve it a little, and they play a lot of music I like. It could just as easily be KSL in Salt Lake City, KOA in Denver, or a live broadcast of the Grand Ole Opry from Nashville. After being without that setup for quite a while, this morning I got it working again. With that little chore out of the way I went down to the shop and worked on my Microtorch, which is usually better than an electric soldering gun. It's also handy for melting butter on my rice or rolled oats. A bigger job that ate up more of the day was cleaning up in the west porch where I keep the Maytag. When I have laundry to do, I roll it into the bathroom where there's hot water. The dog feeder is also in there. And why did I need to clean up in there? Because Jack the extra dog was chasing one of the cats and spilled detergent and borax and made a general mess. He also managed to break the key to the cabinet of cleaning supplies. So when I went to town for groceries I stopped at the hardware store and bought a new lock. I made some progress on cleaning up the mess, but there's more to be done tomorrow.

    
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