Weekend Update

 

Mailbox repair & repaint over the weekend. The handle had come loose on one side - figured I better get it fixed before the other side broke and the mailman wouldn't be able to deliver all the pleas for money I get. I do occasionally get a check once in a while, however. Just not near often enough.

It's basic black rather than blue, but I shouldn't have to fiddle with it for a couple more years.

I made up a quickie sketch for TVI. The sketch went to my buddy Kevin to get the part 3D printed. 

 

Went for a walk with Coach Jen yesterday. The place has a permanent 5K course, so we walked that and got our 3 miles in. Beautiful day for a walk - beautiful setting with a beautiful young lady. 75 degrees, sunny, slight breeze - couldn't be nicer. Especially after a couple of days with a 115 degree heat index. Today's weather is just about the same as yesterday. Life's definitely good.

Got out on the bike this morning - 8 miles - planning on doing both cycling and walking the next few weeks. Need to lose a few more pounds. I'm holding steady at 165, but it wouldn't hurt to get down to 160 and then add the 5 pounds back on with muscle. The shoulder doctor told me to go easy with the weights until things get better. I've been doing the therapy on a regular basis and the shoulder's improving daily. 

More yard work today and some cleaning in the shop.

And if one Taj Mahal is good, two's even better. Enjoy!

Hot Out There

 

Hot and humid the last couple of days. I took the wife to the eye doctor yesterday. The car thermometer was showing 100 on the nose until we pulled into the parking lot at about 4:00 and then it dropped to 99. It was still 91 at 7:30 last night.

It wasn't as humid as Wednesday, but still humid enough to wet the floor of the garage. 

I got up yesterday at 5:30 for a 6:00 start to help out with the "barn raising" for the CSA. It's actually a green house. It has a clever steel frame and trusses with plastic sheeting covering the ends, sides and roof. They started on it Wednesday and had all the steel structure completed by the end of the day. Most everything else was completed by 10:00 Thursday morning. I got home about 10:30 and did a couple of things outside the shack as long as I was already sweaty. Hot out there.

I've gotten enough range of motion back with the shoulder I can raise my arm up over my head finally. I did quite a bit of it in the 4 hours I was helping out. The arm was sore the rest of the day, but it was good therapy.

A couple of big fat peaches from one of my trees. They're not quite ripe yet, but I made a smoothie out of one of them yesterday for breakfast. The peach, a cup of yogurt, a scoop of protein powder, a little honey, and almond milk to fill up the cup. Tasty and healthy as well. I'll have the same thing this morning and as soon as they ripen up a little more, I'll bake myself a pie.

Raccoon Stripper Pole

The grandson and I finished the mailbox job. He had a little trouble with the layout - still struggling with his fractions. The bottom of the box is bent from the accident, so we checked for plumb and square a couple of different ways, got it tacked up and then he finish welded it. His welding is still a little rough but a few years' worth of practice will take care of that.

Two views of the little pepper from my little kitchen garden. I love the stripes. Don't know how it tastes yet but it looks like it would make a nice addition to a salad.

The temperature yesterday was hot. Chicago beat the old record by one degree, plus the dew point was 80 degrees for a heat index of around 115. Might have been a little cooler around here but not enough to make a difference. I'm helping with a barn raising this morning. Six o'clock start and they're planning on being done by 11:30. I don't know if I'll make it that long. The forecast calls for temps a little hotter even than yesterday. We haven't had any hot weather around here - at least not enough for me to have gotten acclimated to it. I've done a lot of hot jobs over the years so I know how to take care of myself, but I'm not a youngster anymore. 

Fuel

The Missus was watching an old Dragnet show the other night and saw a Ranchero in the background on one of the street scenes. She asked me if Ford sold a Falcon pickup truck and I responded with Ranchero. And just like that, the next day went I went to the grocery store there was a Ranchero in the parking lot - even more impressive than mentioning something out loud and then it magically appearing on the computer.

I've been doing a little research into available fuels for the Sportster, primarily, but also for the jitney and a few other things I've got cluttering up the shop and storage. I sent a missive to my brother from a different mother on the subject. He's done quite a bit of research on available fuels in order to get his Camaro to run properly with a high compression, carbureted engine. He tells me most all fuel that comes out of a pump whether that's at a marina or a local gas station has alcohol in it. Might not be ethanol, but there's alcohol in it. He told me there are race fuels available without alcohol. 

The Sunoco website list quite a variety of race fuels, both leaded and unleaded. According to the description of their Surge fuel, it's an ethanol free fuel that's a real close approximation of the high-octane fuel that was available at the pump back in the day. It also has a two year storage life if properly stored. The website also listed a dealer that carries it less than 20 miles away. In fact, it's right down the street from an Aldi store that I shop at occasionally. Next time I'm up there, I'll stop in and get the scoop.

Going to be hot the next few days. Maybe a record heat on one of the days. Agenda until the weekend?

Exercise early in the morning, do some chores and tinker later in the day after the sun starts going down. Catch up on my reading and inside chores during the heat of the day. 

Nothing Much Once Again

 

Maybe not the safest way to pass, but I it's a cool photograph. It's been a little while since I've done any black & white. Since I bought my new phone, I'm just about 100% digital now. The phone takes nice photos and allows for some editing. However, I have a couple of negatives I'd like to print but I don't want to mix up a batch of fresh chemicals for just a couple of prints. I've got a couple of film holders already loaded up for the 4x5. I should take a day, load up the Himalayan and see if I can find something worth shooting. Probably won't be this week, though. It's supposed to be pretty hot. Heat Index over 100 middle to late week.

Even though it's going to be hot, there's no rain in the forecast. I'm planning on getting out early every day and either ride my bike or do some walking. I did 20 miles on the bike Friday, 8 miles Saturday, and 2 miles walking Sunday. Good start on my training plan. 

Baked an apple pie yesterday. I'm going to slice up a few apples and put them in the dryer. Got new filters and spark plugs for the mower and installed those on Saturday. Planning on sharpening the spare blades today. The grandson welded up a pipe for a job we're working on last week. I ground it down but I want to touch up a couple spots. I'll weld those up and then grind them down while I'm out in the shop. Got a couple other odd jobs I'd like to tackle unless it gets too hot for this old guy. It is National Senior Citizen Day, though.

Much Ado About Nothing

 

I've been listening to Otis Redding in the truck lately - the dude could sure enough sing. Shame he checked out at only 26.

The shoulder's improving daily. I wish they would have given me the steroid shot right away instead of wasting six weeks of therapy. I should be good as "new" by the time I go back for my checkup. I rode the bike 20 miles Saturday morning, 8 yesterday morning. No shoulder issue at all.

Since I'm on the mend, I'm planning on a couple bike rides yet this year and a few more 5K events. The local event I usually do didn't have a walking class this year. With no walking class and a sore shoulder, I stayed home. However, my "archrival" 84 year old race walker did the event. He finished with a 42:15. Pretty brisk pace for an old dude. I finished second to him last year at the 5K I'm planning on doing in about a month. I'm not too far off that pace right now - no where near what I used to do - but now that the shoulder's better, I'm going to start training in earnest. Hard on my ego getting beat by a guy who's 84.

Did a little work on the Sportster yesterday. I put the cams back in and double checked the end play. A couple of them were a little snug, so I re-shimmed them. I decided I should probably put another new gasket on there since I had already squeezed that one with the shimming process. I've got a couple ordered - they should be here in a couple of days. 

I've got a list of things to work on while waiting for the gasket. You'd think after staying home the last few years, I'd be caught up. All that covid hysteria just sucked the life out of me. That and the lead in my ass that comes with old age. 

Good Bye Old Paint

 

Got rid of a motorcycle last evening. A rather rare occurrence around here. Most of the time it's like the Hotel California - you can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave.

'79 Honda 750. I got this thing in payment for repairing another bike. It was in pretty rough shape due to having been stored in a metal shed with a gravel floor. Lots of corrosion and the parts that had been chrome plated had the plating flaking off. With some help from Surly, I got it looking pretty good and running but one cylinder was low on compression indicating a valve problem. At that point I didn't want to pull the head off, so it got pushed to the back of the line - and that's where it stayed.  One of Surly's buddies was looking for a project bike for his son. Seemed like this would be a good fit, so down the road it went. 

I've got a paper to sign at the financial planner's office. I'm thinking I'll ride the bicycle over there - 20 miles round trip. There's a 40 miler Labor Day weekend I want to ride, so this will give me an indication if the shoulder and legs are up to it. The shoulder's doing much better after the steroid shot, even if I didn't get any sleep Monday night because of it. Decent trade-off, though.

Baking

 

The Missus, being the wonderful baker that she is, usually ends up making her own birthday cake because I'm not a baker and the cakes from the local grocery store aren't really to her liking. She mentioned the other day she'd like a tres leche cake for her birthday on Sunday. After an internet search, I came across a recipe that I figured I could handle. I replaced the whole milk with heavy cream, figuring I would whip it up for the whip cream topping. As it happened, I didn't get the whipping cream done in time but I had some of the canned stuff - not quite enough for everyone but the birthday girl got hers and that's what counts. The cake was even better the next day, by the way. It's a rather expensive cake to make - about $17.00 for the ingredients. About the same price as a couple of pieces at a Mexican restaurant. However, the kitchen never closes around here.

I got some good news at the doctor's office yesterday. No surgery necessary for the shoulder. He took x-rays and gave me a steroid shot. The x-ray showed some arthritis but he said the shot and some more therapy should do it. He gave me the option of going back to therapy or doing exercises at home. Since I just got done with six weeks of therapy at the clinic, I opted for exercises at home. If I don't see any improvement, it'll be on me this time. I go back in six weeks for a check-up.

Happy Birthday!

 

It's the OG's birthday today. Nothing special planned for the day - we did go out for supper yesterday. Typical old people night out. Fundraiser for a local football team. Go out early, home before dark.

I see the doctor about my shoulder tomorrow. I need to get it straightened out. Lots of things I can't do now and it wakes me up at night. Seems to be causing me more pain in the short time since therapy wrapped up. I sure don't want to have surgery but he's a guy who does total shoulder and elbow replacements, so I should be in good hands. 

I've been doing a little work around the shack but nothing much on the projects. I got the grandson enrolled in the OSHA-10 program, with a little help from my friends. I filled out some forms for the hiring program for the college gig they require. They give you a list of documents you should have on hand prior to starting, so I updated my resume and dug out some of my financial records. As it turned out, they only asked for name, rank, serial number and how long I'd lived at my present address. I don't know if that's going to be all there is to it, or if I'll need to fill in more of the work history after passing the initial stage. When that's done, I should be an employee once again.

Signs

Signs, signs, everywhere are signs, including right up the road from me.

I headed north yesterday and saw these signs. The one in the foreground is blank on the backside, so I didn't pay much attention to it. However, when I came home later in the day and saw it I figured I needed to get a picture of it before someone ran off with it. That's a definite stealable item around here!

I went to the doctor for my follow-up visit after the shoulder therapy and he set me up with a shoulder and elbow specialist. I see him next week and then I'll see what the next step is.

After the doctor's visit I headed to the college to take care of a couple details of my becoming an employee again. The young lady in HR was most helpful, and as a bonus, cute as a pup. Genuine "Little Miss Sunshine". After that I got some info on getting the grandson enrolled. I've got the wheels in motion for both of us. My part should be done in about a week and then I'll once again be gainfully employed. Don't know when I'll be working, but I'm in no hurry to get back in harness.

After getting my stuff squared away at the college, I stopped at Menards to pick up a few things for myself and some for the food pantry. The office of my financial advisor is a drop point for donations and I need to go there in a couple of days, so I got a few things. The office also is a drop point for Toys for Tots. It's an absolute shame that so many families are food insecure. I'm guessing things are going to get worse before they get better, too. It's going to be a rough winter for a lot of people around here.

Tractors & Triathlon

Why? I don't know but I found myself humming Momma's Little Baby yesterday. So just for shits and giggles I went to YouTube to see what I could find. I had forgotten all about The Tractors. These guys rock!

Please feel free to crank up the volume. Definite toe tappers.

Tagged along with Coach Jen yesterday morning for her first duathlon - one mile run, 11 mile bike ride, 5K run. Most of the people at the event were there for the triathlon, so the duathlon field was pretty small. However, the top 5 male and female finishers received medals. Jen came in 5th in her group. Real proud of the girl. She's been working out and dropping weight, but not training specifically for this event. She wasn't confident enough in her swimming ability to sign up for the tri but she says that's the goal for next year. 

I had to get up at 5:00 due to the idiotic time zones in Indiana (once again, thanks Mitch), but as her factotum, duty called. Actually, her husband was supposed to accompany her not only to cheer her on, but his son was competing in the triathlon. However, he got called out to work. While I love spending time with Jen and her boxer stepson, getting up at 5:00 is not part of my regular routine. I did enjoy being a spectator, though. I liked checking out all the fancy tri-bikes, it was a nice day on a beautiful campus, there was a real good band providing live music, and Jen and I went out for breakfast on the way home. And it got me thinking if I'm going to get up at 5:00 in the morning, I should sign up for the duathlon next year. Got a whole year to train, after all.

Life During War Times

 

Seems to be an appropriate time to post this one up - especially after listening to all the "talking heads" on the television yesterday discussing the arrest of President Trump. Not sure if what's occurring is a coup or a communist takeover but we're never going to vote our way out of this mess.

With the antics in Washington and the talk of nuclear war with Russia, NATO and the Ukrainians, I figured it was time for me to take another look at my preps and survival plan. 

Physically, other than the shoulder injury, I'm in pretty damn good shape for an old duffer in his seventies. However, that has put a limit on some of the things in my survival plan. The garden has suffered - hoeing weeds is on the painful side. Even if the garden was weed free, I didn't plant enough for canning or preserving the harvest in any way. The photo above of my lunch yesterday was a combination of fresh produce and things from the pantry and freezer. Normally, it's a good, healthy way to eat. Not so sure if the same would hold true in a SHTF scenario. I've got a bucket of emergency seeds but realistically, I can only harvest produce for about four months, tops. If things were to go bad in November, having a garden plot wouldn't be much help. 

I do have some emergency food stuffs but I need to resupply some of the canned goods and check the expiration dates. The freezer has a decent selection of frozen veggies and fruit but that will require electricity to maintain. I'd like to think I'm pretty well fixed for a short to medium power outage. Again, depending on the time of year, things could get pretty dicey trying to keep warm or cool as needed, as well as pumping water. 

We got the new fireplace insert last year increasing the efficiency of the fireplace. However, to use it to its full potential it requires electricity. The new windows seem to be helping with the cooling this summer but we haven't had the opportunity to see how much they help keeping the house warm.

Since I'm on light duty I'm going to take a couple days and check my food stuffs as well as items like toilet paper, paper towels, plates, personal hygiene items, medicines, and first aid items. 

Even if things don't go sideways due to a political cause, you never know what Mother Nature will throw at you.

Therapy & Employment Report

 

Said goodbye to the therapy squad Tuesday. Depending on what the therapy doc reports to the family doc, more fun stuff on tap. I see the family doctor next week and I imagine an MRI will be next. I rode the bicycle up to his office yesterday to make the appointment and then took the long way home - about 11 miles total. Shoulder was aching a bit when I got home, just enough that I'm wondering how far I can comfortably ride. There's a 42 mile ride I want to do in a month but not knowing what the treatment plan is going to do for me, might not be riding at all. But like they say: That's how it goes, first your money and then your clothes."

I installed the new oil line on the Sportster. I left it loose on the end that goes into the side cover for the time being, but with the line in place I could reinstall the starter motor. Next up is to remove the cover and trial fit the cams. With the starter back in place I can crank the engine over to get the timing mark aligned. I'm getting pretty close now.

I've put this one up a time or two before, but it's one of my all time favorites and I needed a little something after sitting in front of the computer getting signed back up at the college.

I'm going back to work, primarily to help the grandson out, and I've been gone long enough I'm a new hire. I finished setting up my email account and the Workday accounts yesterday. I'm waiting on an email so I can verify I'm not a pervert or child molester, and I need to take my passport to HR sometime in the next two weeks to prove who I am. I don't think I'll actually be working any time soon, but that's fine with me. I'll see about getting the grandson enrolled and then, hopefully, he'll be able to test out of the first welding class and then start working towards getting his AWS weld cert.

Yesterday

 

Yesterday when I was young, my damn shoulder didn't hurt. 

I went hiking with Coach Jen and her husband Sunday. They picked me up in their doorless Jeep. We hiked about six miles on a beautiful Sunday afternoon and on the way home my hat blew off. Fortunately, my reflexes are still good enough that I was able to grab it before it got away. Unfortunately, I used the arm with the bad shoulder and it hurt like a sum-bitch. I also dropped my phone out of my pocket when that occurred, so I went to pick it up from Jen when she was on her lunch hour yesterday. I rode the Himalayan down and the shoulder started hurting about half way there. Same thing on the way home only a little more so. After I got home I mowed the poop park with the old reel mower, which irritated the shoulder a bit more.

I do my last therapy session today but the therapy hasn't improved things much. We'll see what happens next. I hate crying about it when there's so many other people that are dealing with much more serious issues, but as the old song goes, it's my party and I'll cry if I want to.

Jen and I discussed a few boxing things over lunch yesterday and they don't look too promising at the present time as far as the club goes. I told Jen I'll let her decide what our involvement level will be in the future. If she needs help wrapping hands or working a corner, I'll be there. Otherwise, I'll be on an indefinite sabbatical.