Straw bale garden

A few years ago, I jumped on the straw bale garden bandwagon. A guy from MN got interested in it, devised a bunch of stuff, wrote a book or 2 and got somewhat famous. 

He has a FB page.

Fame, fortune. etc.

You may remember that I had a community garden plot a block over, but the property sold and we gave it up. I did enjoy the garden, and Susie had found this straw bale guy and tried it, with some degree of success. 

The only area in my yard with anywhere close to enough sun is on the north side, at the bottom of a hill, against the neighbor's chain link fence. So....I prop my bales against the fence, and used the fence to support my watering system. The straw holds a lot of water, but it holds it at the bottom of the bale, and the plants (most of the plants) grow from the top. You can put plants in the sides and bottom, too, if you want.

My watering system is some rebar bent on the ends 90*, slid into conduit welded to more rebar. That rebar is stuck into the ground and wired to the fence. The horizontal rebar has some bedframe angle iron welded to it and those lawn sprinklers that oscillate back and forth, in a big wave. You can adjust it so it's just one way, or just the other or just the center, etc. I mounted them upside down, set to the center, or just off, so that it rains onto the garden and not the lawn. I don't want to mow any more often than I have to mow....It works fine, or did........this year I acquired another bale. 

The first year I tried it I had 2, I think. Last year I got 4, and put what was left of the previous year's into the old recycle tub. so that measured 12', and worked great with the sprinkler. This year with another bale, I may have to turn the sprinklers over to get more use of the arc. 

Susie wanted a more automated system, and I had the brilliant idea that shower heads would be ideal. So we bought some fittings, some shower heads, I supplied some hose,  and since she had a broken ankle and Dawn had also recently had surgery, I put it together. I didn't work too well....not enough pressure, not enough water, something. The water just kind of dribbled out. Maybe her house has a bad prostate?

What is the point of all of this? Once upon a time when I was picking up pallets and free wood, I got 4 panels at a fireplace store, must have been a crate. They laid around for a long time, and then. THEN! I got an idea.  I put them alongside the bales, which shades them and also protects them from wind and of course that helps them to not dry. 

This year we planted a zucchini and a cucumber and a climbing flower. Hopefully they'll all climb up the fence and watering rebar. I might put some twine as vertical runners. We also planted a poblano, a jalapeno, 2 red bell, an orange bell and a couple of other peppers. A cherry tomato and early girl tomato.  I bought .58# white and yellow onions, at $2/lb.....so hopefully we'll have some onions. 

I also need another tomato cage, and I'm thinking about building one from wire. Just because I don't have enough frustration in my life.

So there it is, a tomato cage and onions planted. 

broken handle

Several years ago, when the city rebuilt the next street over, I picked up a bunch of oak timbers that the fire hydrants were shipped/delivered on. 3" x 4", white oak or live oak or something similar. Heavy, dense and hard, lots of interesting grain. 

I used the table saw to cut it down to the turning blank, and turned the handle. I tried a different shape this time, made it big, left it heavy, for more mass and hopefully more control of the tool. 

With the old lathe, with a 1/2hp motor and a very old vbelt, I didn't worry too much about needing a lot of control. This big lathe has a 2hp motor, serpentine belt, and believe me, it commands respect and caution. 

Wow, I got off topic fast, huh. 

Instead of the grain running lengthwise end to end, the grain switches direction where the nails were and where it broke. Yes, I was not using the tool as it was intended when it broke, but we're not going to talk about that. I've learned my lesson, for now, anyway. I smeared some yellow wood glue on it, after making sure there was no sawdust in the way, clamped it together over night. Works, good as ever again. 

FYI, the tool is made with a piece of shaft that I got from Steve, from where he works. Grind a flat spot on the end, drill and tap a hole and screw on a carbide cutter.

I get some cutters from AZCarbide, and some from Cap'n Eddie Castelin. 

top 10 list

How about another top 10 list?

crockpot
radio
gas grill
coffee
epoxy
cream cheese
free wood
cats
cheesepie
indoor plumbing

Genesis grinder

I went dumpster diving yesterday. 

Diving is not really accurate, since I hardly ever climb inside, but I almost did yesterday, but employing the use of some 2x4 levers, I was successful retrieving a 4 1/2" Genesis angle grinder. It was missing the extra handle that screws into the head area of it, but no matter, that's the easy part. 

Genesis brand....never heard of it. But,  of course Uncle Google was aware of it, and told me that I could get one at Home Depot, Amazon, and some other scumbag place that I don't remember or patronize. 

HD charges about $40 for one....so it's not the cheapest thing available....Harbor Freight holds that honor, if you use a couple coupons, you can get one for about 8. And for what I do, it works pretty well. 

I plugged the Genesis in, and turned it on. Actually, the switch slides, but whatever, and it came on, sounded normal, smelled normal. It has a cut off wheel installed, and that works too. The only obvious problem, aside from the missing handle, is the spindle lock button is damaged, broken, etc. 

So, I found some wood, I found a bolt, I found the lathe and some epoxy, made a handle and will put it all together. You can jam a screw driver in the right place to lock the spindle, and the wrench from my Skil grinder that Val gave me 20+ years ago fits. Maybe the ideal thing for this one would be a cup brush of some sort, so it doesn't have to be changed too often.  

I love it when people throw away perfectly good tools.....I neglected to tell you about the Makita circular saw that I found.....missing the cord. It too works great.

speaker boxes

I was in my woodshop this morning, and  a Journey song came on. Send Her My Love. Of course I had to turn it up. But one set of speakers didn't survive the experience. They came from a radio/cdplayer that I had in my massage office for a while, 4 ohm, 8 watt. 4" speaker, but a pretty big box. I use a Sony receiver that I've had since 93 or 94....that's hooked to a phone found on a bus, being used as a wifi tablet, playing Pandora radio. 

I don't know how speakers work. Magnetism, electricity, etc, magic.  I know that my meters don't show anything when I put them across the wires. 

I mention above that the speakers are in a pretty big box, considering the size. I'm aware there are calculators available, to tell you what size box to make. And if you should ventilate it or stuff it or or or so many variables and options. 

Long time ago, I bought a pair of speakers, with the intention of putting them in something. The honda? the pickup? I really don't remember....it's been more than 10 years, but the speakers were right where I left them.  Still in the box, ready to go.  I think they are 40 watt, and there's no marking on them to indicate ohms. 

Speaker wire? I'm not buying any fancy speaker wire, dumpster wire is good enough for me. LOL.....I lol because this orange wire is WAY more fancy than regular speaker wire. See that it has a metallic shield around the 2 conductors? And it has a ground wire, and it has the string wrapped around there, running the length of it to add strength and to get in the way.....I didn't research what the printing on the jacket says, I just know that it's about 22 AWG, which is quite good enough for speakers. 

I'm using pallet wood, of course. I'm not doing much to get it ready....I ran the boards for the top and bottom thru the table saw 3x, that does a pretty good job of straightening the edges. the sides just 2x. I really don't think I'll sand stain or varnish. I'm going to fasten the boxes between some floor joists and enjoy them. 

For the top and bottom, I had to glue 2 boards together, but I didn't measure them to determine how wide to make the box. I did calculate length of box, based on the length of the boards, so I don't know why I didn't think about the width. It turned out ok, the top and bottom are a little bit narrow. 

I glued and stapled it all together, installed with 2 screws thru the center hole. It was a bit of a challenge to hold the speaker, the grill, the screwdriver, the flashlight.....but I got it done, and it sounds great. 

Rebar, upcycled.

Rebar, rerod, reinforcing rod, whatever you call it, it's the same stuff....except it's not all the same. I've heard that each foundry makes a batch at the end of the day with whatever they have left over, so long as it meets the minimum standards. And it's pretty good steel, too, holds bridges and buildings together for years. 

In the last year or so, I've developed some interest in blacksmithing, to the point where I went to Harbor Freight and bought an "anvil". I give it the quotes, because it's not much of an anvil. The horn is the wrong shape for a lot of work, and it's too soft and it's too light, but it was cheap and it's better than nothing. 

Mounted on a pine block, which is mounted on a disk brake rotor. Hammer hanger is the lid from a ballast. Wire brush handle is from a ball valve. 

I watch some youtube videos about blacksmithing, and have learned a lot. If you're interested, look at Black Bear Forge, Essential Craftsman, Jimmy Diresta, and there's a bunch of other guys that do a little, too. 

I don't have a forge, and my good torch was stolen by the guy that lived next door, along with a bunch of other stuff, so I heat up stuff with a propane torch. It's not ideal, but it works for small items. 3/8 rebar would probably bend w/o heat, if you asked it nicely. Or used a big hammer. But it heated ok, and bends a lot easier hot than cold. 

Muddy, rusty, but just the right size. We found it on our walk the other day...it was standing straight up in a little pile of snow, dirt and gravel, just waiting to stab a tire. 

I'm making this tool to be used with the wood lathe, it's offset so I can cut a recess in the bottom of a bowl while the tailstock is still in position. I heated it and wire brushed and tapped with the peen to remove the majority of dirt and rust. Pretty simple, really, bend an offset in it to get around the tailstock, flatten the end to mount the cutter, do some grinding, sanding, brushing, and it's done. 

Almost. Still have to drill and tap a hole to mount the carbide cutter. Luckily, Dad gave me a tap and die set a long time ago. 

It would be GREAT if the tap and die set came with a set of proper drill bits. Anyone recognize that yellow rag? It was one of my favorite shirts for several years, a gift from my motherinlaw; she got it from the thrift store. 

Ok, obviously I mounted the cutter before cleaning up the steel. But I wanted to make sure it was going to work before doing the cosmetic work. I see that the handle is just in the pic, too. Dawn made that on my new lathe a month or so ago. I drilled a 3/8 hole thru it, which means I had to drill from each end, which is just about as much fun as it sounds. Neither end was cut square.....but the center marks were still there from the lathe, so that helped.

This is to cut a recess, or the tenon, whichever, on a bowl. I have a Oneway 2436 lathe, btw. I think it could be used with a round cutter to be a hollowing tool, but I'm not sure the 3/8 will be stiff enough for that. I'll prob experiment with it. 

Any questions? comments? 

Faucet repair

When we remodeled our kitchen in 2005, that included the sink and faucet, even though the faucet was fine. Sink was too, of course. BUT. Since we were spending the equity from our house, we had to spend it all. Like free money. 

I've learned a lot since then.

But what I knew then was to put in a Moen faucet, because that tagline that they use: Buy it for looks, buy it for life....seems to be true, because 15 years later and it's still working great. 

So if it's working great, why did I fix it? Well, I didn't think to use any sort of loctite on a bolt during installation, probably because I assumed that some water would leak down there and the hard water would glue it on tight. It's really quite a horrible design, from the plumber aspect, and my picture is terrible. 

But. The mount for the spout was loose, that's the left part, the water goes thru a flexible tube, as seen above. Can't get a wrench in there, can't get pliers in there. FINALLY after 30 years, I finally get to use one of these:

Crow's foot. But the size I needed didn't fit over the tube, so I had to grind the opening a little bigger. 5/8, in case you have one too. That pic is of what I needed, but just the 2 extensions on the ratchet were used. I think maybe only 1 full revolution was all it needed, and most of that was fingers.  

Years ago I had to get in that cabinet for something, so I found a way to remove the center divider. The door hinge unscrews from the face frame, 2 screws each door, and then 2 screws on the center part, and the thing is wide open, although not too comfortable. 

On my cabinet, that center part was held in via mortise and tenon, top and bottom, plus some staples. I'm not sure how I sawed off the top tenon or removed the bottom staples. Brute force and desperation, probably. To reinstall, I screwed a small piece of thin plywood to the top, on the inside, and then screwed that to the face frame. Turned out great. 

Took years to get around to doing it, and about an hour to do. Typical project.....Except for when the flush handle wore out/broke.....that didn't take too long to fix, But it did take 2 trips to Menards. 

Chicken hips

I referred to "chicken hips" yesterday to 2 people, both college educated, both pretty good cooks. Neither knew what I was referring to. 

I'm somewhat used to this, because lots of things are not named correctly, and my campaign to educate the people has not been too successful.  "WTF are you talking about"? Thanks for asking. *football* The USA "sport" "football". (we could discuss how the "super bowl" is a "world championship"....America is not quite the world. 

I call "football" throwball. Why? because 99% of it is accomplished by throwing. 

Back to chicken hips. Review this skeleton and focus on the legs. Even when we buy a whole frozen or fresh bird, we don't get the feet or ankle or shin. You can buy them at  wallymart, in the mexican cooler section. Or maybe it is asian, not sure, and really not sure what they make from it or how they eat it. 

The "drumstick" is the part of the bird also called the leg, which is a favorite of kids, but is actually not really worth buying or eating. Unless you cook them with the intention of pulling the meat from the bone and making soup. 

Still with me? The drumstick is actually the chicken thigh, since it goes from the shin to the hip. 

Why they call the hip the thigh, is a mystery that I'm not interested in researching. It might be documented. "this is why we named this that and that this".  

Ok, so I went here and asked. I doubt I'll get an answer. 

curious what you think about it. Am I wrong? Why? Am I right?

Corona virus March 2020

Covid-19, Cororna virus, Chinese Virus. 

Lots of funny posts on the facebook about this virus. Like how it should be named MadDog 2020 instead of Corona. Another encouraging those overbuying TP to also buy condoms so that they don't reproduce. 

My thought on that one: Bold of you to assume that those people have a partner for sex..... 

Hoarding TP and other groceries. I saw some pictures of people with their wagon loaded clear full of TP and others with 3 wagons tied together full of milk. (takes me a month to go thru half a gallon of milk)(and I usually pour half it out) Grocery store out of flour, sugar, oil, rice, gluten free bagels, TP. Restrictions on almost everything. This is an interesting time. 

Interesting is a euphemism

People buying guns. "Stocking up" on ammo. Hand sanitizer, clorox wipes. 

Social distancing. 6 feet apart, 4 per elevator, 10 people only per meeting and sit with an empty chair between you. 

Restaurants closed to dine in: take out, delivery, drive through or curbside only.  Guess what? There's still interaction. Money/credit card.......they're touching the food or package. You're still taking stuff into your house that may be infected. Or is it infectious? Whatever. 

Guess what? none of that will really make a difference. The virus lives on hard surfaces WAY longer than initially thought. First they thought 3 days, and now they are thinking more like 2 weeks.  The virus lives in the air for several hours. Pretty sure that an infected person doesn't have to cough to spread it, just breathing will [probably] put the germs into your airspace. 

Picture yourself at the grocery store, you're pushing your wagon around, picking up stuff that you need. Proceed thru the check out line, and load the stuff in the car. OK, great. Answer this: when do you wash your hands? Before getting in the car? Before going in the house? Do you wipe each item with one of those wipes before going in? OR do you haul it in, put it away and then wash? Or maybe you don't wash at all, since it won't much matter? 

Or you order some stuff from amazon or ebay or chewy or 100 other places. When do you wash it? Where do you "draw the line"? 

I'm genuinely curious what the experts have to say about that....

Pelosi and other Democrats putting billions of dollars of political stuff into a stimulus package. (this coming after trying to impeach Trump for withholding aid to some shithole.....)(Democrats are withholding aid to Americans) $1200 per adult and 500 per kid. Those that are still working will find that to be a nice stipend. I wonder what the taxing rate will be on that.....

I wonder if the Sanders supporters, those that think socialism is wonderful will change their minds now that the government has taken control of everything, closed businesses, told us what to do and how to do it, and there's lines for stuff and shelves are empty?

I'm mostly staying home, just occasional trips to the grocery stores. My favorite liquor store is mostly closing, just delivery and "curbside pickup". 

There are posts saying that no one should have to pay rent during the virus. Turn FB red for first responders. But landlords still have to pay the mortgage, insurance and taxes. And since people are staying home, first responders have nothing to do.  "After this, nurses should have their student loans forgiven."  NO, this is their job. 

I'm not sure what the point of this blog post is about. I know it's not well written and it's jumbled and doesn't flow. But....I'm off work. 
Dad said he enjoys reading these, "seldom though they are". :) sorry, Dad. 

LED light repair

Buy LEDs, they said. They'll last forever, they said. 

Well, I didn't buy it, I found it in the dumpster at work. I remember thinking at the time: I know this is in here for a reason, but it's an LED light, so maybe........

It sat around for a couple weeks before I looked at it. I was working on a few other things, and it was daytime, so I didn't need more light. LOL That's BS right there....I'm getting older, I need more light almost all the time. (Eye guy says there's no hint of any problems, that's just the way it is....which sucks and I apologize to any and all old people I made fun of or heckled due to not being able to see stuff)

First step is to read the stickers; determine what it is and what to expect. Looks like it was made in May of 2013, so clearly that's not forever. 120 volts AC in, 26 DC out. Weird. 

Second step is to connect 120 to the white and black wires to confirm that it's broken. Nothing happens, not even when I put my meter on the output leads. 

Yeah, they are out of order, sorry about that, but know that I have confidence in your ability to figure it out. 
You can can see in the 2nd pic that something burned up, it's considered a "switch mode power supply", which means there's a transistor in there that switches the circuit on and off a LOT so that the end result is roughly 26 volts. And of course, there's a full bridge rectifier in there to convert it to DC. 

I started this post in 2018, or at least that is the most recent time I had typed in it and saved it as a draft. 

How did I fix it? I can't believe that I didn't take pics of that too. But I found a small transformer and a rectifier, mounted it in there, and it works. I really like the light, because the 3 lights can be aimed different directions. I can point one at my  stained glass/leather bench, one at the shelves behind the bench (under the clock) and one towards the drill press and scroll saw. 

Moral of this story, if you have an LED light like this, and it quits, don't throw it away....you can buy a power supply for it from ebay, or send it to me, and I'll fix it for you. 

Motorcycle crash, 2 years later

On September whatever, the Sunday of Labor weekend, 2016, I crashed my motorcycle. Luckily, my passenger wasn't hurt too badly, and for all intents and purposes, neither was I.

Amanda only had some bruises, some contusions on her hands and the indignity of having her bra cut off in the ambulance. Personally, I think she liked showing her boobs to the crew.....and she was only irritated by the loss of the bra. They really didn't have to cut it off.  

You're saying: "just wait a minute, who is Amanda and why didn't we hear about her before?" It's kind of a long story, and I'll just say that the girl I was seeing at the time of the crash probably wouldn't believe that it was a platonic trip, so I sorta simplified life and didn't tell her. Will she read this? Dunno....haven't seen her for a year....

If you don't remember, after the crash, I was in and out of consciousness for quite a while, coming to when there was a great deal of pain, like when they put me in the helicopter. I really don't remember landing, though, or anything of the ER. But I wasn't bleeding, so maybe I didn't have the tv/movie ER experience, of 5000 people running around shouting STAT. There were probably just 4, snickering and saying jeez, he's fat and where's his dick?

My ICU nurse was really great, and of course I don't remember his name. My main complaint with him was when he got impatient when I didn't pee for a long time, so he stuck in a catheter. And then he was upset when there was only like 350mL. I reminded him that it'd been a very long time since I'd had a drink, and they'd only pumped in a quart of juice, saline, whatever it is. I'm sure that I said "a guy's supposed to drink half body weight in ounces, right? I'm dehydrated." 

and yet they kept waking me up every hour asking about silly stuff, the date, the prez, etc. 

I was watching an ambulance show last night, a guy got hit by a car, the crew asked something like "what's wrong, where do you hurt?" He said "that's a stupid question".  I can relate to that, and while I don't advocate that the ambulance crew or nursing staff go out and get hurt to experience what it's like, it'd be helpful if they knew what it was like.  

Based on the dirt marks on my pants, jacket and the scuffs on my helmet, I slid on about every side of me for a ways. I must have landed on my hip and shoulder, or hell, I don't know. EVERYthing hurt for a while. Quite a while. There was no way to single out one area from another. 

Well, actually, my knees didn't hurt.

But when they asked "where do you hurt?" they don't like to hear "everywhere"

And my head/neck didn't hurt, either, surprisingly. Pretty good helmet, for a cheap helmet.

Must have been day 3 or 4 in the hospital when they thought to put some super cold strips of an alleged pain relief on my back. I can't think of what it is, and I'm not sure that it worked. but they asked where they should put it....I probably said "on top of the broken ribs" 

Lidocaine?

I went back to the scene of the crash last July when I rode over for one day of SCRC regional ride in. Of course, there wasn't any sign of the crash, and I wasn't even sure where it occurred. We were on our way to the International Mustard Museum in Middleton, WI  this 2nd linky shows about where I crashed. We were close.  What happened? I thought the car was parked on the side of the road and went around. They were stopped to turn left. 

Everything happens for a reason? I'm still trying to figure out what the reason is. Any ideas?

So, how do I feel? Same as before. Some things took longer to heal than I expected. For example, my right elbow hurt for a very long time, but only when I tried to prop up on it....and I only did that in bed. I could elaborate on that, but I won't. Seems like the skin over that elbow took a long time, too. My right shoulder pops a lot, but it doesn't hurt. Seems like my neck is better than it was before the crash, with less/fewer neck related headaches. Hard to know for sure, when I never kept track of them.

Memory? I was blaming my frustration and irritation toward insurance company on the concussion. But I had that before, to some degree. I'm sure I'll continue to have it as long as I have to deal with insurance. Seems like I really struggle at times looking for the word I want to communicate my thoughts. And sometimes all the words are right there. 

Ribs? I don't notice anything there, ever. Toe? same. Nothing with the hip, and if you recall, that pain went away after the first walk or 2. 

I was dizzy at times for a very long time, esp if I bent sideways and then turned my head to look up. Kind of a weird position, but I found myself in it a couple times...in the bus and also in the basement installing some shelves. That has gone away. 

We had had a really nice ride, so far. Dinner in Balltown on the way to Dubuque. Farmer's market for picnic stuff, and visit the park to see the overlook, and also the shortest steepest elevator place.  We toured the beer museum, researched corn, viewed the Dickeyville grotto and rode a tiny train. 

Dubuque has a nice market. We bought some meat sticks, cheese, vegetables like kohlrabi, carrot, and apples. I had some plums that someone gave me.  It was enough for 2 lunches, maybe more, except it got wrecked. I don't remember if we bought bread or crackers or not. All you really need is a knife, but some napkins and a paper plate makes it more civilized. Plus....you KNOW that people change diapers and have sex on picnic tables. Ziplock bags for leftovers, grab a spork if you get tater salad. Take a bag for trash. 

that's your PSA for the day.

Maybe that's the reason....I'm still here to teach you people how to have a picnic!

This just in. I walked 3 or 4 blocks yesterday to trim a tree that was annoying me and my hip kind of bothered me for half the walk over, as if it's saying:"why are we walking when we could drive?" And I palpated my elbow today and realize that it has some spots that are not quite happy. I guess I better dig around in there to see if it gets better. 

In conclusion: Pay attention so that you don't crash your motorcycle. Hope that you get good nurses, and know that you can tell them no. 

Thanks for reading. I do enjoy feedback.

Vacuum review and improvement

I asked on FB 3.5 years ago (early 2014) for vacuum recommendations. When I was married, we had a Dyson, and did that thing ever suck. 

I got a lot of suggestions, some were expensive, some weren't, and I didn't even look at some because I didn't like the name. I bought a vacuum at Menard's, it was on clearance, and I already had some experience with the name.

Dirt Devil (turbo breeze). I have had one of those little things, and it works pretty well. 

My requirements:

No bag/canister easy to dump
not heavy
not loud
no headlight
on board hose

The Dyson always was plugging up, as was whatever we had prior to that. Of course, that german shepherd hair was asking it to do a lot, esp since Val hated to vacuum almost as much as I do, and would put it off way too long. 

DD has not yet plugged up. I noticed that it was about half plugged where the hose parts connect with the canister part, but that was very easy to pull out. 

A couple months after getting it, I was running it and it died. So of course the first thing I do is check the plug....and it was still plugged in. See...the cord is a little too short....I want to plug it in and vacuum the entire house. (I do have a small house, 5 rooms on the main floor, 2 upstairs and I don't use it in the basement). I left it for a while, and then it worked again. When I dumped the canister, I see there's a filter under there, a foam square on top of a pleated paper filter. The foam is very dirty, so I washed it. Seemed logical. Bit of a pain, though, since I have to let it dry before putting it back together....so it sits in the middle of the room for a day. 

That reminds me of my high school years....Jill (wicked stepmother) HAD to have a Rainbow vacuum....are you familiar with those? It's a weird thing, has a bucket of water on wheels, and connects via hose to a powered brush head thing. Anyway, she'd leave that bucket of water sit for WEEKS after a vacuum session. I'm really not sure why she even had such a unit, since there was only carpet in 2 or 3 rooms of that house. 

Now I preemptively clean that filter....so that it doesn't quit mid session. I just want to get it done....I want to plug it in once, vacuum the spare cat out of the carpet, a few spider webs, and be done. That's why I want the hose to be right there. And it is. But it's too short. I have to lift the vacuum to get a cobweb off the ceiling. That's where the Dyson excelled....the hose expanded like 10 feet, had a nice handle on the hose.

Now for the improvement I just made? After about the 3rd use, and having to reposition the cord, I found a 12' household duty flat white cord and just left it on there. It's almost perfect....Except that the 3 plug female end is too big and gets caught on stuff and they don't stay plugged in together. 

For a while there's been this spot on the cord. I don't know how it happened, I don't know when it happened. But it must have happened when I was using it, since I'm the only one to use it. And I grabbed it with my wet hand, and I'm not sure if it was shocking me, or some copper strands were poking me, but it didn't feel very good. So I figgered that was  a great place to cut it and splice in a 10 or so foot piece of cord, to eliminate the problems. I soldered the wires, used heat shrink tube and tape.

That cord....Not sure where it originated, it may have been a vacuum cord at one time, 3 conductor 16 awg. The DD cord is 2 18awg. I do know that I used that cord for a couple years at the Nutrition shoppe when I had my massage biz there.....that was 05-08, and it's just been in a box since. Maybe it was an extension cord that I cut up, since it was the right colour for that project. It sure clashes now, beige spliced into black.

More review? why not. Like previously mentioned, it does not plug, and seems to keep sucking even when the canister is pretty full. The canister is very easy to dump, I like that. No ridiculous light, and it is pretty light. I've used it on the stairs, where it does not excel, but gets it done. The cat must roll around on every step, and btw, the carpet is yellow. The cat is black. If I were trendy, I'd say we "rock the IA hawkeye look..."

I rather despise when some uses "rock" for "wear" or "accomplish" etc. 

So anyway. The cord works.

top 10 list, end of the year....

Here's another top 10 list. It's been quite a while since the last one. 

Simple things:

1. showers
2. pooping/farts
3. sunrise
3.5 sunset
4. eagles soaring
5. coffee
6. cat purrs
7. orgasm with a friend
8. buzz from booze
9. looking at pictures
10. laughing

Recovery, 1 year

It's been a year since my crash in WI, and 6 months or so since I posted an update. There's been no need to post an update, since there's been no change in my condition. 


Recap: I was riding my motorcycle to the Nat'l mustard museum in Middletown WI, when I attempted to pass what I thought was a parked car. Turns out they were turning left. A crash occurred, presenting me with a concussion, brain bleed, 2 broken toes, bunch of broken ribs, some road rash, shoulder and hip pain. Also, some kidney damage, little bit O lung damage, and something else, I can't quite remember what. 

Possibly memory loss? Not sure.  Can't remember. j/k I occasionally struggle to find the right word to say, but I was having that problem before the crash. 

My right toe must have touched down, pulling my leg out and back, causing the broken toes and hip pain. The hip pain went away after just a couple of days. I had a bit of a scuff on my hip, as well. Also scuffed was my right shoulder, and that hurt for a couple weeks. 

I was in the hospital from Sunday until Thursday, and it was a fun ride home. It actually went pretty fast, probably because she drives like a maniac. I slept in my recliner for a while, can't remember just how long, but as soon as I could manage the steps, up to the comfortable bed I went. What a challenge lying down and getting up was. Wow. Dizzy. Ribs. Ouch.

I mowed my lawn, the flat part after 2 weeks recovery and was back to work half time the day after that. Full time (8 hours) work the next week and then regular schedule a couple more weeks later. 

My passengers could tell there was something going on, and a few asked, which was nice...because it seemed as if they actually cared. 

I had some help, and I'd like to thank Lauren, Amanda, Val, Jeff, Karen, Susie, and whoever else helped. A number of people offered to help, and I appreciated that a great deal, even though I may not have communicated it very well. Greg, especially. I couldn't have recovered so quickly without the help from those mentioned above, I hope you know how much I appreciate what you did.   

I'm sure that some people wanted to help, but didn't know what to do. One friend that is a nurse said that she would have helped if I had asked for her help. (dude. you're a nurse. you know...........ah, never mind)  Here's a PSA: if your friend is hurt, you can help....a message helps. A meal helps, a ride, a visit, a card; just knowing/being reassured that you care helps. 

Healing is a long drawn out affair, it takes time obviously, because I'm redundant. This is the PSA continued, btw. Be patient, esp with those that bumped their head. Do continue to check in with the crippled one for months after the incident. We really will appreciate it. 

Everything happens for a reason, right? I crashed because I wasn't paying enough attention to the road and traffic. I survived because of the people that stopped to help. Is it more complicated than that? Are there stronger or stranger forces at work? I don't know. I'm sure that some would say yes, but more would say no. 

Something I've paid a little attention to, in the last year, is the number of "go fund me" pages and benefit rides/events. I think that I shared on one of these, that my bill from the hospital and helicopter was just over $84,000. Those of you that's bad with math: If I had to pay the whole thing, that'd be $100/month for 70 years. I don't intend to live 70 years. No one offered to set up a fund raiser thing, but then....the oBamacare insurance that I complained about came thru and paid my bill. 

I'm sure I'm forgetting something.....if you know what it is, let me know. :)

vehicle service records

Since I'm in the process of selling my 2003 Yamaha RoadStar, I got to thinking about service records.

You know, when did I replace the tire, brakes, oil change, etc.  Of course, none of that matters with the pickup.

What I've done with the bikes, is write it in my pocket calendar. That means, of course, I had to go searching back thru several of them to find the front tire. 

What I did with the pickup, is write the event on the oil filter box lid. This worked really well, actually, using either a pencil or pen: mileage, date, event. I've got at least 3 of them, going back to near the beginning of time. 

Brakes, shocks, adding transmission oil, changing differential oil, clutch, wipers, power steering oil, brake lines, tires, etc.

It's a nearly rhetorical question, since so few comment, but what do you do to keep track of stuff? I'm sure there's online programs, apps, etc. I think I'll stay with the box lid. Maybe not be too stingy with space, write as legibly as possible.

Those that know me well are laughing about that.

Commitments. Or lack thereof

For better or for worse, in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer, until death us do part. 

This is not about my divorce, that was final 2.5 years ago (already...time flies)(and I'm amazed that some FB friends still don't know, guess they don't pay attention....)
  I confess, I've engaged in clickbait,or sensationalism. You know....provide a sensational or emotional headline to encourage people to click the linky, and once the page finally loads, you find that you have to page down past a metric shit tonne of ads and other BS and click thru 10 pages of that crap to be disappointed in the story that they didn't tell, but promised to tell in the headline.

The story may disappoint you, but I'll tell the story and you won't have to endure 10 pages of ridiculous ads.

Cancer is a horrible thing, isn't it? In this story, I'm not referring to the kind that kills people, pets or relationships; but the kind that everyone that enjoys the kind of commitment that I'm going to talk about has encountered and worked thru or succumbed to. 

Hydrated Iron Oxide. Fe2O3.  

This story begins in April 1999, I was working as maintenance at an apartment complex, my 84 Ranger was wearing out, and not entirely meeting our needs any more. I had a list of pickup requirements: I6 5speed, A/C, etc. I assumed this would provide a combination of reliability, economy and acceptable power. I was wrong. It could all have been worse, but it could have been better, too. If we'd bought the V8 automatic, it'd would have had more power and economy would have been about the same. Reliability? maybe better, maybe worse. 

Zumbrota Ford had it, so we bought it. Offered them less than they were asking, of course, and took out a loan for 8k. So begins my 3rd longest major commitment. I've had many much longer commitments, but only with tools. (1st (longest) major commitment was/is the house, 2nd longest was my marriage.)

Bought the 94F150 and sold the 84 Ranger, which I'd had for about 10 years. So begins the commitment. 

Seems like most people don't keep their vehicles very long. I'd keep this one forever, if I had the shop space and skills to fix it. And the money for the parts. I don't know what people use for rationale to determine when it's time to trade cars. I know some simply can't imagine not having a newish car. That means they have a payment, always. They justify it by saying they never have any repairs. Can't embarrass the kids with an old car...

I can tell this bloggy post is just going to ramble around and not make any sense. 

I think where my original intent was to go is this: People are never satisfied with what they have. I was thinking about this the other day, and started analyzing my life with that in mind.  Perhaps more on this later.

People really don't (or) don't really commit to things. How many people do you know that built their "barbie dream house" 5 years ago and are now building another? Or moved into their dream house and are moving again. Or those people that keep changing jobs. As soon as it needs some repairs or has a little rust it's time for a new one. 

I dunno, maybe that's ok. But maybe it's not. I wonder how much debt those people are carrying. If they just keep adding the old debt to the new debt, if the trade from the old car didn't pay off the loan, just add that to the new loan. New couch? Credit card! I digress, if that's even possible. 

For the record...other than the house loan, I have no debt. 

My 94F150 had 76k miles when we bought. It now has 137k. The transmission leaks, the differential is going bad, it has broken springs, some suspension brackets are perforated by rust. . The fenders are rusted thru, the cab floor is rusted thru, and the clutch has broken springs. The horn doesn't work, the cruise control doesn't work, either. The topper is still excellent, as is the hood and engine. The doors are pretty good, the seat is fine. 

For the past several years, I've put a post on FB announcing every April that I renewed my commitment and paid the license fee/tax. I'm not doing that this year. It's $51, and I'm spending that on a different pickup this year. 

I'm going to sell the tires to a coworker and the rest of it to the tow shop across the street. They have a couple tow trucks that are about the same age but aren't rusty (how can that be??)....I heard the mechanic say something about a wiring harness and I know they'll put the seat in one. It'll be a donor, sacrificing itself to ensure others live on. 

Back to being satisfied....I said I'd keep the pickup if it wasn't so rusty. As an aside....it has a sticker on it that says "Northland edition"...clearly that doesn't mean "rust protection/rust proof". It has met my needs for 15 or so of the 18 years I've had it. I'm happy with my car, my house, my cat, my job (most days), my computer, my phone (almost 4 years old), my shop tools, etc and so on. 

If it's not broken, don't fix it. If the item is meeting your needs, don't replace it. 

Leave a comment....how long do you keep your car, your house, your phone, etc, and why do you change?

Recovery, week 23 or so

I'm so frustrated irritated and pissed off with the clinic, the pharmacy and insurance that I am inclined to just quit taking the damn pills and sedan how long I survive. Fuck it.

That, of course, was my FB status today. Irrational overreacting, to be sure....and maybe I learned a little or realized something? I doubt I will articulate it here, but I will attempt it. 

It started in October, when I found out that my employer was finally offering health insurance. Yes they are cheap ungrateful bastards. I don't know if it's a good policy or not, actually. I tried to figure it out, but wasn't able to. 

What irritates me is that health care costs so much that we have to have insurance to pay for it. If they'd just charge a modest profit instead of accumulating billions of dollars excess....

But I digress.

Ok, so as soon as I got the insurance card, I should have ran down to the pharmacy (and I probably could actually run that far)(I'd have to collapse in a heap to recover when I got there, though) but I didn't. Wanted to be sure to use up the insurance I had first, in case the coverage was better. Dumb. But that really doesn't matter to the story.

Last week, I stopped in, let the little dude do his thing with my card, and came home to figure out how to get the Rx to the new pharmacy. I think I have to use a different pharmacy, don't I? If so, then why did I stop at the old one? Just in case? I guess.

So today, I pick up the phone and call the number on the card. All it was was a bunch of offers from different sponsors or advertisers. About 40 of them.  Call the other number. I get frustrated with automated voice things. They never understand what I try to tell it, possibly because I can't refrain from swearing at it. The fuckers.  Finally get a dude on the phone, and it wasn't Jake from State Farm, and he did speak English, and sounded like he was in America. I had high hopes. I generally give up half way thru the options and start pressing 0, since I can't pay enough attention or understand or process what it's saying quickly enough. 

So, dude. How do I get Rx.  Blah blah blah blah. Clearly, he thinks I'm stupid, and it is a stupid question. But I can't figure out the answer. Finally get some things figured out, like call the doctor, and give him a credit card. 

Call the doctor. HA good luck with that one, I'm already irritated and feeling dumb as a rotten post when I call the clinic. Clearly I called the wrong number. But notice that they always just transfer instead of saying: you should call this number next time....

Nurse dude couldn't be bothered to help much, kept saying that my pharmacy would ONE TIME ONLY send my Rx to the new pharmacy. And I'm thinking: you have it, why don't you send it, you lazy bastard? Why would the old pharmacy send it? They don't want to lose business.....

Never mind about the next call; it was short and a waste of Verizon minutes.

What I learned from this, or realized. I may not be fully recovered from the concussion. I see 2 issues. Memory/cognitive ability and irrationalness. 

I can't remember if the insurance co sent a packet of information to tell me about the pharmacy or not. And if they did, where did I put it?  I don't remember what I did last year to get Rx to the new pharmacy, or the year before that. (I think it's been 3 years since I lost mayo insurance.)(If you like your doctor you can keep your doctor. HA) 

It seems like more and more when there is putering or phone stuff to do, I'm less able to handle it, and that is frustrating. Because I can figure out other stuff very well.

For example, how to make George purr. Or how to make this: 

But I don't remember recipes, or where I put stuff, or directions to somewhere. 
But I've always been bad at directions....Sometimes. Sometimes I have no problem with them. And it's frustrating that I don't know why.

I've been irrationally emotional for a while now, but I'm pretty sure I can't afford the doctor bills to find out why. (If they even could find out why.) But maybe I can't afford to not find out, also. 

My ears work pretty well. I hear all sorts of conversations in the bus, and usually there's no problem talking on the phone. But when I start talking insurance or money or a few other things, like mentioned above, either I can't pay attention, or maybe trying to translate the words into a format that I recognize takes too long and I can't keep up. 

The doctor gives instructions, but 5 minutes later I don't know what I was supposed to do next. Or when. 

Makes me feel pretty stupid....and that never goes well.