Eye's Healing

I'm sure that's a lot of them. I would guess most people in the construction trades have what would be described as a risk-taking profile and an office or sales job doesn't give them what they need. It's just a good thing there are people out there willing to do the hard, dirty and dangerous jobs. It would also be nice if they were held in a little higher esteem. 

I went to the eye doctor yesterday and he said things are looking good. I need to go back in a month but I'm still going to take it easy since whenever I look down, I'm looking through the air bubble in the eye but it's shrinking daily. Also, it's going to be real cold in a couple of days. I'll get out today and do a little something before the temperature drops again. 

Be nice to post a little sumpin'-sumpin' from a project again. I've got the itch to make things. 

Two Below Honey

 

I checked the temperature yesterday morning at 7:00 and it was two below, honey. That's serious cold my friends. The Missus and I were nice and warm, though. The new windows seem to have been a good investment, and I bought a couple of little heaters that you plug into a regular outlet. I don't know how efficient they are, but I'll find out when the electric bill shows up. I had to run up town later in the day and it only got up to about 13-14 degrees - it was calm and the sun was shining, so it wasn't too bad out. I'm glad I didn't have to be out working in it all day, however. It's been a while since that was a thing but I remember it just the same.

 I checked the weather for Ashville, NC about 4:00 my time and it was 34 degrees there. Of course it would be even colder in the hills and later in the day. Living in a tent would definitely be no picnic. Cold, snow, freezing rain, no running water, no electricity, no indoor plumbing, and no telling when, if ever, things will get back to normal.  California's getting all the press now, but there's still lots to do in North Carolina, Tennessee, Florida, Ohio, and Hawaii and Slo Joe's still sending money overseas and paying off student loans. Thank goodness his reign of terror is finally over.

This is the reason I had to leave the house and go out into the cold. There's an old envelope I purchased from eBay in there. I was surprised when I got the slip in the mail from the post office saying they couldn't deliver it, not knowing I had to sign for it. The package came from India - those are the stamps on the back side of the mailer. 

Supposed to warm up a bit today and a little warmer again Friday. Temps will nosedive again after that. I see the eye doctor today and then I should be cleared to resume my normal activities. However, my normal activities are riding the recliner when the daytime temperatures fall below about 20 degrees. I am making progress on the ham license prep book. I talked with the club president and I'm on the schedule to take the exam at the February meeting. I'll be setting aside at least two hours a day for study time now. I doubt if I'll do as well as I did on the first license exam, but I do want to pass it on the first go-round. 

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes

 

The Raconteur Report normally posts a song every Sunday morning. This week he posted five, all with the common theme of fire. Smoke Gets in Your Eyes is one of the five. This one is a different version than the one he put up, but this is the one that was playing back when I was in knee-pants and out of all the artists that have recorded this song, still my favorite. 

I certainly feel sorry for all those folks who have lost their homes and businesses. We lost a barn to fire when I was a young man. It was arson, as perhaps some or all of the LA fires might have been. While the barn was insured, the insurance money didn't cover all the costs of the material things or the livestock. Take a couple of minutes and try to think of everything that's in your garage or basement. Unless you have a photographic memory, you'll never be able to remember everything that was lost. And if you're like most people you're way under insured if you want to replace all those items at today's prices. Of course, some things can't be replaced at any cost. 

Whether you lose your home to fire, hurricane, tornado, or any other disaster, your life will be changed forever going forward. I bought a small safe form Harbor Freight a couple of years ago for some of my valuables. I also bought a fireproof bag that holds some copies of my important papers that stays in the safe. I don't know if the two together will protect what's inside the safe but I've also got copies in other places. There's a new resale shop close to us. If the house burns down and we lose everything, I'll load up the Missus and get us a new wardrobe, some dishes and utensils, and then find us some shelter. It'll be tough but we'll probably be a lot better off than many of the fire victims or the ones out east trying to recover from the hurricane.

I urge all of you to take a few minutes and give your emergency plan some thought and honestly evaluate your situation. Then do something to improve it.   

Replies

 For some reason, Blogger won't allow me to post comments in response to readers comments. So, in response to the comments from Marshall and Rich on Friday's post:

Marshall: The eye looked worse the following day and the "shiner" grew some. Gruesome maybe a better word to describe my appearance.

Rich: Thanks for the positive thoughts. The sight has improved noticeably as I write this.

Bevin: As to the identity of the bike in Saturday's post, I looked up the Royal Enfield site before writing the post and the case cover didn't look like anything in their current product line but the bump-out on the case cover should have been a dead give-away for me. Tricked out Royal Enfield 500 Bullet, indeed. Thanks for the info. 

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The eye is healing up nicely. The air bubble is shrinking and the vision is fairly clear above the "waterline". No pain but I have to put drops in four times a day. Small price to pay if my vision returns close to what it was prior to the membrane growth.

Working on the study guide for the ham license. It looks like this test is going to be a lot tougher than the first one. I'm in Chapter 4 and it's all about electrical components and the math to calculate impedance, inductance, capacitance and a whole bunch more. Fortunately, the test will only have a few questions from each chapter. If I can do well on the rest of the material, I can miss all the questions from this chapter and still pass. I'm going to read the whole book and then start taking practice exams and see how I do. 

 I might sneak out into the shop today. I need to put a few tools away and make sure the wild animals aren't taking over. I caught another raccoon out there a few weeks back. 

And in closing, I got a statement from Social Security last week. As always, it lists my "voluntary" deduction of federal taxes. However, when they were taking the taxes out of my check when I was working, my employer was kicking in the same amount. Now that I'm getting money back, I'm paying taxes on what I paid in and what my employer paid in as well. I know that isn't exactly how it works, but I'd be a lot happier if I didn't have to pay any tax on money my employer and I had to pay as a tax to begin with.

“The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.” - Margaret Thatcher

  

Saturday Comments

 

I saw this on The Daily Timewaster as part of his weekly Friday feature. I wanted to read what the decal said on the tank, so this is enlarged from the original. I still don't know what kind of bike this is, but I really like the look of this thing. The seat looks like what's on my old Ducati Sport and it's got the same vibe as the old 450 Scramblers. I really like the looks of this thing - the high pipes, assuming it's a twin, especially. However, a trip to the car wash after riding on the beach is going to be a necessity. That salty sand will play hell on all the aluminum bits.

A couple of things about the fires out in California. I've been wondering how the fires started but haven't really seen much on that. However, looks like it might have been the result of humans, either accidently or deliberately. I read that Oregon was sending 60 fire trucks to help out but they had to stop and go through a DOT check before they could continue on. Also, one of the two planes that scoop up ocean water for firefighting had a collision with a drone some chucklehead was flying even though the FAA had declared a no-fly zone over the area. 

And one last thing. Once again, it's been proven that we can't rely on the government to be there for us in our time of need. In California's case, not only not much help during the crisis but at least partly responsible for it happening. Definite shortage of real leadership in this country.

Check your preps, my friends. Review your emergency plans, one for leaving, one for staying, and a Plan B for both. 

Staying cold around here and we got several inches of snow yesterday. I was afraid of that happening since I know the Missus doesn't want me shoveling with the recent eye surgery. I think I could easily push the shovel rather than actually shoveling the sidewalk, but other than getting the mail and checking on the chickens, I'm going to be riding the recliner for a few more days.

Eye Ball

 

I'm not sure but I think this is the version I heard on the Waterford jazz station the other night. It was about 1:30 in the morning and I was in that twilight moment just before falling asleep and this one seems like it was designed for that. Rather long at seven plus minutes, but it's worth the listen. And it's not the kind that will give you an earworm. For me this is the type of background I like when I'm studying and I'm about to embark on that journey again.

The follow-up appointment with the eye doctor went well. He said everything looks good - I'll have to take his word for it because I can't see anything except a blur and that bobs up and down. He said there's an air bubble in there that will slowly go away and my vision will improve greatly after that. I asked him about restrictions and since I had my USA Boxing hat and my eye looked like it had taken a hard shot, he told me no boxing and then he clarified what I'm actually to do. Basically, I'm supposed to just be lazy until I come back to see him in a week. So that's the plan.

Eye Surgery

 

I had my eye surgery yesterday. According to the doctor it went well. The only hitch was I came out of the anesthesia before he was finished. The last few minutes were rather painful but the nurse had told me while getting me ready that if I needed anything I was to say stop. I can normally handle that sort of stuff without crying, however. In fact, I usually get my fillings done at the dentist without getting numbed up. I also had a root canal done that way once. I don't know that I'd recommend that, but my pain tolerance is pretty high if I have a few seconds to get my mind right.

The cool thing about being awake was I was able to see what was going on in my eye in real time. I saw him peel the membrane off the retina using tweezers and then clean up inside the eye with a vacuum - lots to be said for modern medicine, at least as far surgical advancements go. 

Everyone I came into contact with at the out-patient surgery center were nothing but nice and professional. That always helps. I'll find out today what I need to do going forward after the check-up.